The Tear of Celeste

Chapter 48: The Stars

You slowly open your eyes and the sight in front of you makes you gasp. For a moment you are back in the planetarium, watching the Asgardian sky for the first time, except it's so much clearer now!

You know it's an illusion, the green magical shimmer around tells you that much, but you don't care! It looks so real and it's like you are standing in the middle of the stars!

You twirl around in awe for a while, just gawking at the beauty all around you, until you turn to Loki, who is just watching you.

"It might not be a perfect representation," he tells you, glancing at the stars around him, "but I think it's much better than on a screen." You run over and hug him tight. "Loki, it's beautiful!" You say, looking all around you again before looking up at him.

"Not as beautiful as you," he says, his eyes deep with emotions as he slowly raises his hand, stroking your cheek and leaving a trail of the icy tingle behind, making your blush deepen.

He gives you a cheeky smirk, stepping back and offering you a hand. "May I have this dance with you among the stars?" He asks as he lifts his other hand, snapping his fingers and you are suddenly surrounded by music.

You give him a warm smile, taking his hand without hesitation. "Yes."

You dance around a little with Loki, letting him lead as you are unsure of how to dance formally. You give him a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I never really slow danced before," you said with a blush as you watch your feet, "don't wanna step on your toes."

Loki gives a thoughtful hum, and then gracefully lifts you and places your feet on his, giving you a smirk. "I can take it," he says as he places a hand on your waist and leads you around in a waltz, keeping your feet on his and your body close.

You laugh happily, as Loki leads you around in the dance effortlessly, twirling around with him among the stars to the music.

The song is ending and the dance is slowing down. You look up at Loki, a deep blush on your cheeks. You see he is blushing too and you gaze deeply into each other's eyes.

His eyes truly are like two perfect stars in the night sky, sparkling at you as your hand slowly moves up to cradle his face, fingers slowly stroking his cheeks, tracing the shape of his cheekbone, his jaw lines, and his lower lip.

His mouth opens softly under your touch, his cold breath sending shivers down your back that pools into something warmer in the center of your body. He is leaning down slightly, making his face all you can see.

His hands move to rest on your hips as you stare deeper into his eyes, feeling yourself fully engulfed in him as he draws you closer, a predatory look in his eyes that makes your heart beat faster.

One of his hands starts stroking up your side, the other slowly sliding behind you so that it was resting on your lower back, pulling you closer to him.

His nose is against yours, his eyes all you can see in the void of darkness his hair is creating around you.

"Loki," you whisper at the same time he whispers your name.

Your lips are so close together, but he won't move any closer, his eyes searching for the answer to an unspoken question in yours. You feel his cold breath against your lips and know what he is asking. He is asking if you want this.

You do.

You close the small space between the two of you and close your eyes as you kiss him softly.

His lips are cold, but smooth, like soft silk against yours. He kisses you back gently, the hand going up your side settled into your hair, stroking your head softly.

One of your own hands finds its way into his hair, and as the kiss deepens your nails softly scrape his skull, making him make the most delicious groan you ever heard, his hands tightening around you as you feel his teeth against your lower lip.

And then all the unseen lanterns around you start to suddenly crackle violently with the overload of energy and burst one by one.

Loki quickly lifts his head, the illusion around you gone as he shields you from any glass shards that might reach this far. You realize as you look around Loki had taken you to a big open space in the path so that you could dance without restrictions.

You both stare in shock as all the lights have gone out, and you take some calming breaths and blush. Oh shit, that was probably your fault.

But somehow it was Loki that was apologizing. "I'm sorry!" Loki said, shaking his head. "I should not have done that, it was stupid." He lifts you off his feet and lets go of you.

You look up at him shocked. "What do you mean? I'm pretty sure I was the one blowing up the light." Loki shook his head. "Yes it would seem like it, but you did that because of me right? Did I scare you? I'm sorry!" He was taking a step away from you now.

"Scare me? Loki, what are you talking about?!" You asked confused, taking a step toward him.

"I'm sorry!" Loki is shaking his head and takes another step away from you. "I won't do that again! I should not have done it in the first place! I just... I just wanted to be closer to you, but it was wrong of me, you deserve so much more, and I am-"

"Loki." You try to interrupt him, but he is not listening.

"-so sorry! I should have better control of myself, I have been doing good, and I promise to do better now! I lock myself in my room if I have to!" He was looking so scared. "It was just the way you were looking at me, I got lost in the moment, but it's-"

"Loki!" You try again, walking closer to him, but he just keeps rambling.

"-really not an excuse, I should not have pushed that on you, I am very sorry, I will behave better, I overstepped, and I-"

You could tell he was spiraling out of control, talking himself into a hole and nothing you would say could stop his mouth from going off like that.

So you decided to stop it in another way.

You grabbed Loki's cheeks, forcing him to face you while he was still just going on and on with his apologies, and decided to show him just how stupid he was.

You pulled him down and kissed him quickly.

Loki froze at that, his brain seemed to not be able to tell what was going on.

You released him after a moment and looked at him, checking if he was done being an idiot.

"... Don't... Do that again," he says, but before you could feel your heart sink he continued. "I would hurt you." He shakes his head slightly, you still holding his cheeks. "I'm not a good person I-"

You kiss him again, holding it longer this time. You would let him pull away if he wanted.

But he didn't. His lips were not frozen this time but instead moved a bit with yours.

You pull away slowly and look at him again, raising an eyebrow.

His breathing was faster, and he was looking at you, tears in his eyes. "... Y-You don't have to do this for me," he pleads, "I can handle rejection, I-"

So you kiss him again, deeper this time, one of your hands moving to his hair and you pull him closer.

His arms go around you, lifting you slightly to get a deeper kiss in.

You break the kiss again, looking him in the eyes and chuckling. "You are surprisingly stupid sometimes."

He looks deep into your eyes, smiling with clear relief. "I'm sorr-" He starts, but you interrupt him with a: "Just shut up and kiss me."

He gave you his classic grin and chuckle. "Yes ma'am." And he kisses you again.