Abandoned Control

There was a tradition amongst the students of the Shield College – every Sunday there would be a trip to what everyone referred to as ‘the Village’ and it was of belief that if you did not visit the patisserie and buy at least two pastry goods for yourself, you lacked soul. But the Village wasn’t even a village anymore, it was given town status two years previously, but calling it ‘the Town’ didn’t exactly stick as well, plus there wasn’t much there. It was just some shops next to a golf course (that Sebastian Shaw had major shares in and Nick Fury played at every Wednesday morning with some rich American business men).

But honestly, the point of the trip wasn’t really for entertainment, more of a necessities kind of trip with three charity shops, one second-hand music/book shop, the patisserie, various restaurants, newsagents, two off-licences, a Blockbuster and a Budgens serving their purposes. Oh, and the betting shop where Remy LeBeau had made thousands – but where he was making his money was confidential amongst the students.

Loki needed a new book – he was hoping for something by Bret Easton Ellis (but he doubted the people of this upper-class area were interested in the escapades of characters such as Patrick Bateman). He’d asked Natasha to help him find his things and with the promise of a slice of carrot cake, she came with little hesitation. Next to Raven (who was unavailable), Natasha was probably Loki’s best friend. Erik was up on his list too, but he hadn’t given Loki blood (Raven) or lost his virginity to him (Natasha). It was that lack of extreme intimacy that left a slight gap in their closeness.

Everybody knew that for two years, Loki had pined for the Russian exchange student from afar. Unrequited love. He took action in late year nine, after the mixing of the genders, and they dated until the mysterious leave of absence, when it was decided that it’d be better for them to be best friends. It worked out well.

Natasha had move onto Clint and Loki remained on his own. He was relatively happy that way.

Further up the carriage, a quiet bickering could be heard. Tony, Charles and Bruce (well, Tony) were trying to work out how to buy alcohol from Oddbins without looking suspicious. Tony was going to have to find somebody who acted more maturely than himself, didn’t have a slight gap in between their front teeth (that was being fixed with a retainer that nobody knew about, thank you very much) and who remembered their fake ID. He did not want to risk being reported to Fury again – he’d had enough of that eye-patched wonder already. But it was an off day for Tony, he was a bit more concerned hiding the big (horrific) red patch on his neck with a scarf than rummaging around in his drawers for his ID and then missing the train.

Charles had an old receipt in his hand and stood up on his tiptoes, writing down any names of people who could potentially buy him and Tony scotch. He sat back down and frowned, “Right, I think Logan’s over there; he’d do it, right?” Bruce took the receipt from Charles and gazed at it.

“There’re only three names here. And Steve’s in brackets. Explain?” He said, his eyebrow raised slightly.

“Oh, Steve said he’d be coming later. But I don’t believe he’ll break the law willingly.” Charles said, chewing on the end of his pen.

Tony snatched the receipt off Bruce and looked at it with great concentration, “Should I ask Loki? We’re good now.”

“What do you mean ‘we’re good’? That’s worrying.” Bruce rubbed his eyes and gave Tony a look.

He shrugged at Bruce’s look and sighed, “He’s alright. I like him. I’ll ask him. He’ll say yes, I owe him something.” Tony’s eyes shifted slightly and he stood up, straightening his worn shirt featuring the face of Don Corleone. He walked down the carriage to the table where Loki and Natasha were facing each other. He picked up Natasha’s umbrella and put it on the table, she glared at him and he sighed, putting the dripping object in his lap. She smirked and he grinned at Loki. “Hey.”

“What in the world could you possibly want now?” Loki said, studying his hands and attempting to rid his nails of the invisible dirt that wasn’t there. “Didn’t I make myself clear yesterday?”

“Yes, but I’m an annoying little fuck, I’ll just keep coming back.” Loki and Natasha shared a look, “You’ll come to love me eventually. And anyway, Natasha, we get along – we both love Bruce!” She pursed her lips and Tony continued, “But, I’m not here to pester you about what we discussed yesterday. I was just wondering if you could possibly buy me and Charles alcohol.”

“Why would I help you?” Loki asked, letting his hands meet at the fingertips. “What do I get in return?”

“You’d help me because we’re together the rest of this year and if you do this, I’ll be forever in your debt. Come on, I don’t want to risk not getting my weekly fix because I forgot my ID. My fucking Bambi eyes make me look fourteen; if they weren’t so pretty, I’d look about twenty four.”

“You’re waffling.” Natasha pointed out, crossing her arms.

“Yes, Stark – get to my part of the deal.” Tony rolled his eyes, stood up and ran to the other side of the table, sitting down next to Loki and cupping his hand around his left ear.

“Sexual favours?” Tony whispered, his tongue snaking out and running along the edge of Loki’s ear. A shiver ran up the taller boy’s spine and he closed his eyes to regain his composure, shaking his head weakly. “Fine – I’ll leave you alone until it is absolutely necessary that we talk. Like English or Drama for example.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Give me the money in advance.” Loki rubbed his eyes and leaned his elbow on the window sill, his warm breath steaming up the window slightly. Tony handed him the forty pounds and left quietly, which Loki had not expected. When he opened his eyes, Natasha was staring at him with a smirk playing on her lips. “What?”

“You got it bad.”

“What’s ‘it’, Miss Romanoff? Please elaborate.”

“You want the d.”

“Stop spending so much time with Clint, please. And I do not.” Loki made a noise, something like ‘pft’ and felt his cheeks redden.

Natasha cackled at his blush, “What even is that? Since when have you blushed? God, Loki – this is awful.”

“I cannot lie to you. You know that.” He admitted, muffling his speech with his thick woollen scarf, “It’s always been that way; you and Frigga.”

“But you want his dick. So fucking badly, Lokes.” She laughed, running her finger along the condensation on the window, “He’s quite irritating, yes, but you could go worse. At least he’s attractive and has an intellect to match yours.”

“Hush, Natasha – you giving me relationship advice is giving me an aneurysm. I dislike him immensely.” Loki sighed, glancing down at his hands again.

“The way you looked when he whispered in your ear was a look of sexual frustration and lust. You’re buying him a drink; from what I’ve learnt from sitcoms and romantic movies, this is the first step towards sex. You want him in your bed so much, my long limbed friend.”

“If only you knew the whole story – you would not be saying that.”