#occassion

I slip into the vintage black dress; which hugs my figure and flares out slightly at my waist; stopping at my knees. I adjust the straps so they sit where I want them to before pulling on my matching platform stilettos. Oh if my grandmother could see me in these shoes now. ‘You’ll break your ankles in those ridiculous things. Men appreciate small women, why can’t you just wear flats.’ Like her, I’m not the tallest person in the room. She’d always chastise me about wearing heels: I was either sending the wrong message to men, or I was going to fall and break something. Well she ain’t here to stop me now.     I accessorise with jewellery before heading back downstairs, my heels clicking over the hardwood floors. Loki fiddles at the door before entering and tossing his stuff on the bench. His eyes lock onto me like a radar; his pupils dilating. I grin wickedly at his look of surprised appraisal, walking around to greet him. “Silver tongue turned to lead?” I don’t have to reach up as far to kiss him on account of the heels. I cup his face gently, bringing his lips to mine; but his surprise fades quickly and his hands are on my hips; tongue requesting entry into my mouth. “You okay?” I smile when we part.

“Yes, just … it was a long day.” He returns my smile, kissing me lightly once more.

“Well I’d say let’s just stay in, if you’re tired. But I haven’t eaten and I’m already imagining what my dinner is going to taste like.” He grins at that, pulling my body more firmly against his.

“Oh I wouldn’t dream of robbing you of that.” He kisses the edge of my nose. “You look breathtaking.” He looks down, but being so close, all he’s admiring is my cleavage.

“Why thank you.” I put on my best southern accent; twirling out of his arms. “Now you have to get ready or we’ll be late.” I smile devilishly as he rolls his eyes and heads up the stairs.

“How was work?” He calls down.

“Pretty calm. Two of the new girls have already got the hang of it.” I sigh in praise. “I left early after the latest reminder from my phone.” I can hear him chuckle at that; coming into view as he buttons up a white shirt.

“Well they worked then.” He laughs.

“I would have remembered without them.” I narrow my eyes at him.

“Just a precaution.” He saunters back down the stairs, adjusting his cufflinks. 

“So what’s so special about tonight?” I question. “Why so dressed up?” He always dresses sharp but tonight he looks particularly schmick.  

“And you’re not dressed up?” He arches a brow at me.

“Only because of the big deal you’ve made about going out tonight. I figured you’ve got something planned.” I place my hand on my hip in a questioning manner. He’s been up to something all week; I can see it in his eyes.

“Nothing’s planned.” He smiles charmingly. “I just want to take my queen out.” He pats his pockets to make sure he’s got everything and I grab my clutch off the counter and slip my phone inside it.

“I swear to god if you’re up to something –”

“I’m not love.” He smacks my ass lightly as we file out the door.

    My stomach rejoices as we arrive at the restaurant; both of us getting a number of looks, and each of us sending threatening glares to the other’s onlookers. But Loki hands down wins at the ‘fuck off she’s mine’ glare; where as I have mastered the ‘that’s right bitch, this piece of ass is mine and not yours’ smile. We walk out into the main floor and are greeted by the Maître d. Loki gives the name for the reservation and I could have sworn that her eyes lit up for a second before she finally looks at me and smiles, leading us to our table. We follow her through the main level and then up the stairs to the balcony level. I gasp slightly as the railing banister which encompasses the level holds the most divinely coloured blue orchids. We’re seated right up against the giant window, overlooking the city. And we have the level all to ourselves. We’re seated and given our menus before she departs with a smile.

“Oh my god…” I whisper and give him a look. “Did you do this?” I demand.

“Do what?” He asks innocently and opens his menu.

“This!” I wave my arms around, gesturing to the whole room. “You know they’re my favourite.” I touch centrepiece. “You’re going to tell me that it’s just a coincidence that we get this whole floor to ourselves and that they’ve decided to fill the room with blue orchids?”

“Oh, so they have.” He gives the room a once over like he hadn’t noticed when we walked in.

“Oh come on.” I scoff. “You did this, didn’t you?” I cock my head to the side and his smile gives it away. “It’s beautiful.” I smile genuinely, stroking his leg under the table. “But why?”

“You’ve been having a hard time at work; I just wanted to give you night where you didn’t have to think about it. You deserve it” He shrugs slightly.

“Well, mission well-done.” I laugh. “But sweetheart, just coming home to you every day is distraction enough. You didn’t need to go to such extravagant lengths.”

“It was no trouble.” He gives me such an adoring look – so much love spilling from his eyes, it makes me blush.

“Well it’s very beautiful. You’re definitely getting a treat when we get home.” I press my foot against his crotch and he makes a gasping noise, grinning wickedly at me. A waiter comes back to take our orders and my stomach growls as he walks away. Lordy I’m starving. We occupy the time waiting for dinner by talking about our weeks; well, mainly me and he just continues to gaze at me like I’m a goddess on a pedestal. Though, I do manage to pry information from him and discover that he’d been invited out tonight to go partying with Thor and the other avengers. And my heart dropped for he’s reason. “Baby…” I coo, reaching across the table and grabbing his hand. It’s definitely no secret that the others don’t like him. And despite him pretending he doesn’t care and the feeling is mutual – I know it bothers him. He may be a God, but that doesn’t mean he’s soulless.

“It’s fine.” He smiles.

“You don’t have to lie to me …”

“Sweetheart, I promise you, I wanted to be here. With you.” He encompasses my hand in both his.

“I know,” I mumble, “but you know, Thor has a point, as much as it pains me to say.” I add quickly so not to ruin his mood. “I mean, I know how fantastic you are, how kind you can be, just amazingly … amazing.” I gesture to the room as an example. “And you know, it sucks that they don’t know that and they treat you like something you’re not.” He ducks his head with a sigh, and I can’t tell what he’s thinking. “Look, I’m not pressuring into it baby; I know that it has to work both ways, and believe me I know it’s them that’s the problem. But I know it bothers you, even though you pretend it doesn’t. So maybe it would be good just to think about it, huh?” When I get no response I lean across the table as far as I can without standing up, I pucker my lips and start making fishy noises, causing him to crack a smile.

“Alright, I’ll think about it.” He finally sighs, smiling at me.

“Thank you.” He meets me halfway across the table, kissing me gently. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He then goes on with another to conversation to forget the previous one, and then our dinner arrives. Oh sweet realms of foodgasmic pleasure. After dinner I look out the window to observe the view, blown away by the heavenly display in the distance. A well-defined range of cumuli float along the horizon, sunbeams pouring through the narrow openings in-between plumes, casting tones of rich oranges and pinks through the sky. Magnificent. As I continue to stare transfixed, with every second of the setting sun the vibrant colours begin to fade before my eyes into an array of purples.

“Beautiful.” I murmur, not expecting an answer, but he supplies one anyway.

“Yes.” I turn to him to find him looking at me and not the sky; making me blush again with a small, shy smile. Damn he’s good. “You’re adorable when you blush.” My cheeks burn redder. He recites something in a language I don’t understand yet it has me grinning like an idiot.

“What does that mean?”

“When I saw you, I was afraid to meet you. When I met you I was afraid to kiss you. When I kissed you, I was afraid to love you. Now that I love you, I am afraid to lose you.” He repeats so I can understand. Damn bastard and his charm, there’s fricken tears in my eyes.

“That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.” I smile trying to will away the tears. Stupid emotions.

“Violet, I’ve never met anyone as extraordinary as you. As kind or brave or loving. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.” Each enthralling word as me falling more in love. “I can’t imagine my life without you; you’re my reason for getting up in the morning.” He knows how easily I cry; god damn what’s he trying to pull. “I find love to be a weak word to describe what I feel for you.” Oh I do too. “Violet –”

Boom.

A huge explosion shakes the earth and shrieks of terror follow. I turn, looking out the window, a blazing fire coming the building across the road. People rush out the door with billows of black smoke; flames flicking higher and higher from the second storey.

“Oh my god!” I exclaim as everyone on the lower deck rushes to the window to see what’s happening. “Loki,” I turn back to him in urgency, and he just stares straight ahead as if I had rabbit ears. “Loki, you have to do something.” I plead, standing up. He nods slowly and just presses his hand to the glass. A think frost begins to gather around his hand and then spreads down our building, across the street, and into the burning building. Within a minute the flames retreat and die; only smoke continuing to trickle out the windows and door. Everyone in the restaurant gasps and wonders what the hell just happened; pointing and staring as I turn back to Loki – who still continues to look dumb folded. I kneel down next to him, kissing him on the cheek. “Oh,” I sigh in relief, “thank you baby.” I kiss him again and he seems to come out of whatever trance he was in. “This, is another reason not to hate being a Jotun.” I laugh lightly to try and disperse some of the tension. “My hero.” I kiss him again and he stands, pulling me to my feet.

“We need to go.” He finally speaks.

“Sweetie, are you okay?” He seems so distant from the charming poet he was five minutes ago.

“I’m fine.” He says, attempting to smile for me but he quickly abandons the attempt. “We need to go. We can’t have people following the ice trail up to us.” Right, yeah that wouldn’t be good. We head down stairs and everyone is still looking out the window as the sound of sirens begin to arrive. We have to wait until the Maître d slowly begins to return to her post, looking like a startled bunny. We pay for a meals and she doesn’t even bother goodbye pleasantries. I don’t think she even blinked. We make our way downstairs with Loki’s arm wrapped around me protectively. Out on the street our progress is slowed however by the large horde of people. Listening to a few of their mumblings, it seems to be speculated that it was a gas leak that caused the explosion. And I hear a firefighter singing out across the road; baffled that everything inside is completely frozen.

The ride home was quiet; Loki seems … uneasy? On the radio it was announced that no one was killed, only two slightly injured.

“Baby, are you okay?” I ask again, grabbing him by the arms and forcing him to look at me. He sighs, cupping my face as he looks at me.

“Yes.” He answers after a moment. “That’s not how I wanted to spend the night.” He laughs mirthlessly.

“Neither did I.” I reach up and kiss him. “I was enjoying you complimenting me.” I grin. “But there’s no need to sulk. Darling you saved a lot of people tonight. That’s something to be happy about.”

“I know.” He looks down, still despondent.

“I’m proud of you.” I wrap my arms around him, embracing him tightly. “You’re my hero.” We stay embraced for a few minutes before I pull away slowly. “So stop looking like someone just killed your dog.” I pout and he gives me a small smile. “You saved people tonight: which calls for a celebration: which calls for vodka.” I grin and we kiss; our movements becoming more passionate each second. I thought we’d be skipping the vodka all together and he’d take me here and now. But reluctantly we break about, and I head to the kitchen to get us a drink whilst he goes and collapses on the couch. I bring over our drinks (making his rather strong) maybe it’ll loosen him up from whatever the fuck shoved a stick up his ass in the first place. “Okay, here we go.” I pass him his glass and propose a toast. “Here’s to my, strapping, brave God who saved a lot of lives tonight. And though it was not the ending he had clearly hoped for; it was still a wonderful night.” That coaxes another small smile from him. “And plus, I know something that will cheer you up.”

“And what’s that?” He basically downs his glass in one go.

“You know what’s better then after romantic dinner sex? After saving the world sex.” I grin wickedly. We always have incredible, earth shattering sex after he gets back from a mission, or does something like tonight. He raises his eyebrows, jokingly questioning me as he finishes his drink. I nod eagerly, straddling him and attacking his neck with hot kisses.