The White Rose (Painted Red) (5/6) | NC-17

[meh_forget_it]

White Rose (Painted Red) Part Five

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Fifty-Four Years Earlier

Loki was bored. Nothing exciting had so far happened in the nineteenth century and he was beginning to ponder over smiting random people just for shits and giggles. He'd taken to wandering around aimlessly and trying to find new people to play tricks on.

And hide from Kali. Apparently she felt he had done something wrong - again - and was out for his blood. She was a very scary goddess when she got it into her head that you'd wronged her in some way.

The only thing he could think of that he actually had done wrong was avoiding her and actually hiding from her that one time in 1786. He didn't think that was all that good a reason to want to torture him slowly. She was psychotic. He was certain he wasn't the only sane person around that hid from her.

Besides that though, he had nothing else to do. And so he was bored. Which was never a good thing. Even back when he was in Heaven, his brothers knew to keep him occupied and never let him get bored. A bored Loki - or Gabriel - was a dangerous and annoying thing.

It also gave him the time to think. Which was what he was doing that moment whilst also sitting, legs swinging, on the edge of London Bridge, watching the people construct the new London Bridge just upstream of where he was. If anyone were to ask him, he never actually saw anything wrong with the old one, besides the fact that it was falling apart. He still didn't see the need to build a new one. Humans confused him sometimes.

Whilst absently watching them build the new - unneeded - bridge ahead of him, Loki considered what he was doing. Which brought his musings around to Veles, as his thoughts so very often did. Not for the first time he considered telling Veles the truth about who he was, but he didn't know how to go about it.

He was also, possibly, a little scared to do so. He truly had no idea how the God would react to the news.

Scoffing quietly to himself, Loki stood up and hopped off the wall he'd been sitting on, shaking his head at his thoughts. He wasn't going to tell Veles. It was a stupid thought and was just giving him a headache. He barely even knew the God. It would be foolish of him to just tell him his darkest secret. Not even Kali knew the truth. No one did.

Loki glanced back to the nearly finished bridge and breathed a deep sigh, closing his eyes and then opening them again with a huff. He would just carry on as he always had done.

With that decided, Loki gave a decisive nod, clicked his fingers and disappeared on the hunt for his next victim. Behind him, the workers on the new London Bridge gave scared yells as the brick work they had been working on, caved away and feel into the river below them.

”I told you not to let go!” Gabriel felt himself gasp as he was brought back into… it wasn’t consciousness, but he was aware once more. Not that he was entirely sure that was a good thing. Whatever was happening, wasn’t going well. Even Gabriel could work that out.

“Quit using the voice! It gives me jaw ache!” Gabriel wished he could laugh, as he felt exactly the same way.

“Sorry, now, this time, don’t let go.”

Thirty-Seven Years Earlier

Loki was confused and lonely. And homesick. He'd never admit it out loud, but he missed Heaven, he missed his brothers and he missed his Father. He was feeling out of sorts and so he went to the one place that seemingly always helped him to get his thoughts back into order.

It struck him as a little amusing that, for him, the one place he could feel closest to his Father was a place mankind had created. He moved to the same place he normally sat, against the wall underneath in famous painting my Michelangelo. Loki had actually sat in that spot watching the artist as he worked for years, and he still came to the same spot whenever he just needed… to rest.

He sighed softly in relief as he felt the tension that had been building up for centuries in him just slowly start to leave him. He felt his Father's conscience brush over him soothingly and smiled softly to himself, settling in to stay there until he felt ready to leave once more. The visitors and cardinals would ignore him unless he chose for them to do otherwise, so no one would bother him.

"Loki?"

Which was why he was a little shocked to hear someone called his name in a distinctly Norse accent a few days into his reminiscing. He was actually a little grateful for the interruption - no matter how unexpected it was - as his thoughts had slowly been getting more and more maudlin.

Looking up, Loki gaped in slight surprise when he saw Veles looking at him. He quickly stood up, brushing himself down before turning to fully face the other Trickster. He wondered why on earth Veles was there of all places.

"What are you doing here?" Loki finally blurted out, his curiosity becoming too much to contain, and finally breaking the silence that had fallen between them - confused on Veles' part, stunned on Loki's.

"Er… where is here?" Veles asked him, looking around the chapel in appreciation, though Loki smiled a little at the hint of confusion still being given off of the God.

"The Sistine Chapel in Vatican City." Loki told him quietly, not wanting to totally break the calm that the chapel gave out by speaking any louder. Veles just glanced at him briefly and then nodded silently, looking up at the ceiling that was the reason for so many visits.

"Okay. Er… why? And… Lo, what's wrong? You haven't once demanded anything sugary, or even smiled. Are you alright?" Veles asked him, giving Loki a look of such genuine concern that Loki took a step back in shock. He wasn't used to people actually caring about him anymore. He held back the instinctive urge to flinch when Veles placed a hand on his arm, stopping him from backing up even more.

"I'm fine, Veles. I just like this place. It's… peaceful," Loki told him, not completely lying though he admittedly wasn't being entirely truthful either. Loki looked up at the painted ceiling and nibbled his lip as he realised just how much he missed his Father at that moment. He wished he could go back in time - which, to be fair, he could - and catch his Father before he abandoned them - which he couldn't.

"Yeah… I guess it is. I wonder… I wonder if their God ever feels disappointment over what his children have done to each other," Veles muttered, making Loki drag his eyes away from the painting to look at Veles staring at the other people wandering around the large chapel room. Loki frowned and nibbled his lip, clearly he wasn’t the only one having a personal crisis.

"He does," Loki finally told him, feeling as weary as he probably sounded and just wondering if it was worth it. He wondered how good an idea it would be to just admit to Veles who he was. One less secret to hide would surely get rid of some of the stress and depression he was feeling. Or it could just makes things worse for him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Veles look at him questioningly, and expanded on his answer, "what god doesn't? I'm lucky, I don't have any worshippers. I'm just feared as being someone that will put a person in their place. But for this God and all other gods that have given a part of themselves to the humans? Who wouldn't feel disappointment and shame? All they do… all they do is kill one another. For petty reasons."

"It's free will. They all have it, and they all abuse it. Free will… it makes people go crazy. They are filled with all these emotions and they… they don't know how to express them. Unfortunately that means that most choose to express them through violence," Veles said with a sneer, and Loki finally dragged himself away from his own issues and decided to help Veles, who clearly needed someone to talk to about something. Why else would he hunt down Loki? Well, unless Loki's accidently fucked something up and Veles was just waiting for him to relax in his presence and then torture and/or kill him.

"Why are you so depressed? Why did you come to find me?" He asked Veles, looking over at Veles briefly before turning his eyes back to the other people who were appreciating the place and completely unaware that they were in the presence of two gods.

"I came to the realisation that… no matter what I do, my people will twist it and do something that will anger me and make me regret what I gave to them," Veles admitted with a heavy sigh, not looking at Loki and Loki didn't really think he was seeing the people in front of them either, "they felt they needed to slaughter an innocent to appease me. I'm… they seem to think their God is some fearful being that will strike them down in fury if they should put one foot wrong, but they don't get what it is that angers me."

"Huh, do they have a reason for believing that?" Loki asked him, and he couldn't help but wonder just how powerful a god Veles was. He was beginning to think that Veles was possibly a monotheistic God. If he was though, Loki couldn't understand why he would be content just hanging around talking to Loki of all people. Loki shifted a little, then slid down the wall to sit on the floor, he got the feeling this could be a long conversation and he wanted to be comfortable for it. Veles glanced at him, then joined him on the floor, shrugging when Loki glanced at him for an answer. With another sigh, Veles dragged a frustrated hand through his hair and then down his face before finally answering him.

"I punished a country for what they did to others," Veles whispered, then frowned, hands clenching into fists, "other than that, nothing! I tend to stay out of most things; I learnt that lesson decades ago. Now… now I will just take the troubled and lost souls on to their destination," Veles finished with a small shrug. Loki sighed and shifted to lean against Veles in an attempt to give him some comfort. He certainly wasn’t one to judge Veles' ideas on how to deal with his people.

"So what is the domain of the God of Death like?" Loki asked him instead, deciding to change the subject slightly to a more light-heart - he hoped - topic. Of course, he knew what one domain looked like. Hel's underworld was actually quite tastefully done. He rather liked it when he went there to visit his daughter. Veles chuckled and moved to rest his head on Loki's shoulder, Loki actually didn't know what he had done to deserve it, but he truly hoped with all his being that he never did anything to mess up the relationship he had with Veles.

"Nice. I like it. I'll show you it one day," Veles told him, and Loki's smile grew wider at the promise. The two of them then fell into a peaceful silence, watching the people pass though the building, until, as one, they both stood up and disappeared to different destinations.

Forty-Seven Years Earlier

Loki was in a small village in Germany, he'd had an eye on one of the residents of the village for a couple of weeks now and had decided to finally strike. The man had been acting like he owned everyone in the village ever since he had claimed to have hunted the wolves that had terrorised the village during the previous winter. He hadn't, but he hadn't told anyone that, and was using his power to be lazy whilst also live in a luxury that wasn't his to live. And he really annoyed Loki.

He had decided on the perfect punishment for him, and it had had the bonus of him getting to see at least one of his children again, it had been a while. He called for Fenrir, and grinned when he arrived, yipping in pleasure and bowling Loki down to the ground, slobbering over him both in sheer joy of getting to see his father once more, and also, Loki felt, as a punishment for Loki having not met up with any of his children for a good couple of centuries. He did feel a little bad about that. Actually, he felt awful about it and endeavoured not to go so long before the next visit. And to also go check on Sleipnir.

"Okay, Fenrir. I'm sorry, stop it! Stop drooling on me! Change back. Stop it!" Loki grumbled, pushing the over-grown puppy off of him, and then smirking when Fenrir huffed before he shifted into a tall - which was just unfair, why was he so short? - broad-shoulder man and glared playfully down at his father.

"Father. Anything you need me for?" Fenrir asked, holding out his hand for Loki to take, and then pulling him up to stand when Loki took it. Loki brushed his clothes of dirt, smoothing them down and then looked up at his son, smiling softly at him.

"How have you been?"

"Alright. Me and Jorgie have been keeping an eye on Nir, and Hel has made a visit or two to make sure he's been okay as well. How about you?" Fenrir asked him, moving to lean against a tree and crossing his arms over

"I've been well. But enough about how we've been. We should get to why I called you here, if you don't mind working with me on this," Loki said, and Fenrir grinned mischievously at him, which Loki took as an agreement to help. "So, how'd you feel about putting the fear of Thor into an annoying man who hates wolves?"

The next morning, after having spent a couple of hours with all four of his remaining children, Loki went back to the house of his latest victim. Fenrir had made sure to make a suitable mess and leave no evidence other than a torn-apart body and a wrecked house. He was rather proud of the end result and of his son's resourcefulness.

However, upon walking up to the house, he felt a strange, yet familiar magic wash over him, making him realise that there was someone else at the scene of the trick, and it was someone he had previously met before at some point. He just couldn't quite think who it was, or could be. It wasn't any of the other tricksters that he knew, he knew that much, so that meant it was someone else. Someone there for another reason.

He walked into the house, smirking smugly when he realised that the body had been taken away at some point that morning, and then looked at the short - shorter than him, it was saying something - black haired man standing in the centre of the room. A black haired man that he remembered and, to be completely honest, was surprised hadn't aged.

At all.

"Well… you weren't a very bizarre dream of mine," Loki said, smirking when Veles shrieked in shock and then spun around, choking on whatever was in his mouth and looking through the tears gathering in his eyes at him.

"You! This… you? What? Who are you? What are you? You're not one of my people!" Veles exclaimed, making Loki wonder what in God's name he was talking about and if the small man in front of him had some strange delusions of grandeur. Loki ignored that, however, and just smirked at Veles, leaning on the doorframe.

"I told you. I'm Loki. Don't tell me you forgot about our night of passion. It was magical. It was awe inspiring. It was the best night of your life. It was also the first time I ever passed out. Those wizarding folk make some brilliantly strong drinks. Got to commend them on that," Loki added absently, then he locked eyes with Veles. His smirk grew wider when Veles gaped at him, and then shook his head.

"Thank you," he deadpanned, and then sighed and rolled his eyes, "what are you? You haven't aged at all since I last saw you, over thirty years ago! So? And how have you got magic. I didn't give you any," Veles added, narrowing his eyes Loki, which made Loki narrow his eyes back in return, having no clue what he meant by that.

"You give me magic? Why would you give me my magic?"

"Just answer my questions, you infuriating man! And stop answering them with more bloody questions!" Veles demanded and Loki chuckled, and pushed off the wall, walking over to stand in front of Veles and looking down at him slightly. Which he felt very happy about, as it really didn't happen that often.

"I'm Loki, the Norse Trickster god. I enjoy… messing with people's minds. Didn't work on you though. I tried, I really did, just… fell flat. It was a little annoying. Now, back to my questions, what are you, and what did you mean by you didn't give me my magic?" Loki asked, standing close enough to Veles that he could feel the heat radiating from his body and feel his own body start to react to the close proximity. He was possibly also reacting to the fact that their magic seemed to be curling around each other. It was baffling. Not just because that wasn't supposed to happen.

Actually, mostly just because that wasn't supposed to happen.

"Veles, Trickster God of Magic and Death, and protector of souls. I choose who gets magic and who doesn't, normally. But I guess, being another god, that you got given it by the same people that gave me mine," Veles told him, and Loki kept his face blank, not giving away anything about the origin of his own 'magic'.

"Possibly. Another Trickster god, huh? I have competition! Can't have that!" Loki told him, grinning and placing a hand on Veles' waist, which just made Veles narrow his eyes at him and press back like he wanted to step away. Loki's grin possibly got a little more smug when Veles didn't actually do so.

"I am also a God of Death, do not annoy me, Loki," Veles warned him, and then placed a hand on Loki's chest, which stopped Loki from getting any closer, though given they were practically pressed against one another, Loki really wasn't seeing to point behind it. And the threat really didn't do much either. Well, it turned him on a little more.

"Ah, you don't scare me. You're tiny," Loki told him and then leant forward slightly so that his mouth was by Veles' ear, "and I know how to make you beg."

"Ack! Don't try to seduce me! I don't trust you to not… do something nefarious or something." Loki chuckled when Veles looked up at him with narrowed eyes, leaning back a little so he could clearly look up at Loki. The novelty of that never actually getting old with Loki. Judging by the annoyed expression on Veles' face, he was just as annoyed by his short stature as Loki normally was by his own.

"Aw, nefarious? Why… that's practically against my nature! I wouldn't know how to be… nefarious!" Loki told him with wide eyes and pout, which sadly just made Veles scoff at him. He never had gotten that trick down. His fledgling had been much better at the innocent, naïve eyes.

"You're a damned Trickster god. Your very being is nefarious. And your eyes are too close together. Sure sign of nefarious… ness." Loki mentally conceded that he had a point there. Well, maybe not about his eyes. They were perfectly spaced.

"Nefariousness? Is that even a word?"

"Yes. Don't argue with me. Don't make me drag your soul down to my underworld and leave it there for all of eternity," Veles warned him. Loki just smirked at him, ignoring the flaring magic and just pressing closer, despite the hand Veles had on his chest, which, really, was just feeling him up by this point.

"Ooh, don't be making promises now. What shall you do to me when you get me to your lair? Will it be… nefarious?" Loki asked him, moving a hand to curl around the back of Veles neck and moving to press his nose to the patch of skin behind his ear. He heard Veles gasp, then quickly try to cover the reaction with a cough, which just made Loki smirk. His smirk just grew when Veles gave a feeble shove to his chest.

"Loki… look, we wouldn't work out. We're both too… different," Veles told him in a shaky voice, stopping in his attempts to push Loki away. Loki grinned wolfishly at the god and chuckled. Hook, line and sinker.

"Different? We're both Tricksters! How is that different?" Loki asked him, scratching his nails slightly against Veles' neck and giving an inner-cackle when Veles' breath hitched. Loki took a small step back from Veles and turned the god's head so that their noses were brushing lightly.

"We're… we shouldn't… what was I saying?" Veles asked, and Loki chuckled when Veles looked up at him and finally moved to touch Loki in a positive manner by tangling his fingers into Loki's hair. Loki moved tilted his head back a little to press against the fingers, almost purring at the feeling.

"You were agreeing that my idea to go back to my place is a brilliant one," Loki told him, lowering his head a little more and pressing his lips against Veles', just in case the stubborn god tried to deny it. A muffled squeak against his lips was all the protest Veles gave, but it was soon countered by Veles fisting his hand in Loki's hair and pressing closer to him, moaning and Loki took advantage of his parted lips and thrusting his tongue inside.

"I agree. Brilliant idea. Let's go now," Veles gasped out when Loki pulled back a little, lips still brushing as they stared at each other with darkened eyes. Loki pressed a sharp kiss to his lips and then moved his hand from Veles' neck and clicked his fingers.

A second later, and Loki had taken them back to the house he was currently inhabiting. The actual owners having had an unfortunate accident with a large mother bear and some sharp sticks. It was actually the same house he had taken Veles too all those years before. One could almost say he was feeling nostalgic. He didn't give Veles much time to notice that fact however, as he soon began to nibble at the soft skin of Veles' neck, causing Veles to groan and cling to his shoulders to keep standing.

Loki let Veles push his robes off of his shoulders, helping him to shrug out of his own robes, but not really helping him all that much, preferring to pay more attention to the delicious skin he was licking and nibbling at. When their robes dropped to the floor and pooled around their feet, Loki barely gave them much notice, but nipped sharply at Veles' neck when Veles dragged his nails down Loki's chest. Loki decided to up the game and moved to dip his own hand down the back of Veles' trousers.

Loki moaned when Veles moved and kissed him deeply, he could feel Veles' fingers untying the ties on his shirt, before he pushed it off of him. Loki groaned in the back of his throat when Veles moved away, but the groan was cut off and changed from disappointment to lust when Veles started to press kisses to Loki's chest as his skin was revealed. Loki glanced down at Veles in time to see Veles wink at him and smirk against his skin when he deliberately tangled Loki's hands in his shirt sleeves. He then pulled down on the shirt, forcing Loki's arms to straighten behind his back, and making Loki gasp out a chuckle.

"Knew you were kinky."

"Knew you couldn't shut up," Veles muttered as he backed Loki over to the bed and then pushing him down on to it, smirking down at him, when Loki just stared at him in sheer lust. "I should make a gag." Loki just groaned and arched up a little at the threat, making Veles leer at him.

"Didn't think you were that kinky," Loki told him, smirking even as he fidgeted to try and get comfy, whilst still being trapped. He wasn't really going to make much of an effort to get loose. He really liked this part of Veles. Drunken sex hadn't even let him see a small inkling of how kinky Veles could be, apparently. Loki bite back the groan he wanted to let out when Veles winked at him, making a black tie appear in his right hand, whilst the shirt vanished leaving Loki free and Veles moved to straddle him. However, before Loki could actually do anything, Veles tied the cloth around his wrists and then connected them to the cast iron headboard. "Thought that was a gag," Loki admitted, though he wasn't actually all that disappointed by the actual use of it.

"You want a gag? I can make one of those for you, dear," Veles told him in a sugary sweet voice, making Loki shift and narrow his eyes at Veles warningly. So he may have a lied a little. He liked talking. Even during sex.

"Will you do something?" Loki muttered, then frowned when he tried to get rid of his binds and nothing happened, "and how have you blocked my magic? How did you do that?" Loki struggled and tugged at the binds around his wrists. Finally he stopped and just gaped at a grinning Veles.

"God of Magic," Veles reminded him in a sing-song tone, wiggling his fingers at him and smirking when Loki's eyes widened in realisation. The realisation that he was pretty much fucked. In both ways hopefully. "So now… you have no choice but to let me take control." Veles moved to rub their crotches together and moaned when Loki finally decided to take a little control and thrust up into him. Veles groaned and waved his hand, getting rid of their trousers and making them both gasp at the sensation, Loki arching up to try and get more friction.

Loki tilted his head up a little to meet Veles and crushed their lips together, moaning into Veles' mouth as he rubbed against him and tugged on his binds, trying to get free. He felt Veles grip his hair tightly, and Loki arched up into, twisting and pressing his tongue against Veles'.

Loki gasped a little and arched up even more when he felt Veles wrap his fingers around his erection and cover it with lube. Veles pulled back from the kiss, making Loki try to follow him, then drop back onto the bed with a groan. He nearly choked on his groan seconds later, when Veles shifted and moved so that the tip of Loki's erection was just penetrating him. Loki gasped and locked eyes with Veles, who just smirked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Should I move?"

"You're evil! Move!" Loki gasped out; thrusting up as far as he could and making Veles gasp. He then met Loki's thrust and soon Loki was fully inside. Loki groaned, and yanked at his ties, watching Veles shut his eyes and moan loudly, not moving. Loki stayed as still as he could, allowing Veles to adjust to him, before it became too much and the need to move rose to uncomfortable heights. "Move."

Veles opened his eyes and then moved, slowly pulling up and leaning forward to bite Loki's bottom lip. Loki groaned and jerked when Veles moaned telling Loki he'd just hit the God's prostate. Veles leant forward and pressed a quick kiss to Loki's lips, but sat back before Loki could deepen it. He moved his hands to lean them against Loki's chest, biting his bottom lip as he and the trickster god began to move faster, making the magic in both of them slowly begin to rise and clash. Veles cried out, dragging his nails down Loki's chest, making the other man groan and throw his head back, thrusting up sharply and getting a gasp from Veles.

Loki tugged at the bonds around his wrist, and then stopped when he felt his orgasm rushing through him, curling his toes and making him thrust up into Veles, just as the other god cried out and arched his back, eyes clenched shut as he too climaxed.

They stayed like that for a few moments before Veles slumped forward onto Loki's chest, letting his magic run over them to clean them and also get rid of the tie around Loki's wrists. Loki brought his arms down and wrapped them around Veles' waist tightly. They moved until they were lying on their sides, cuddled together, Veles hissing slightly when Loki pulled out and then moving to entangle their legs.

They lay like that, basking in the others magic humming under their skin, for a few hours. Neither one having the need to sleep, and just lying in silence, enjoying the after glow. After a few hours, however, Veles shifted and moved to sit up in the bed, making Loki open his eyes to look at him questioningly.

"I've got to go," Veles muttered to Loki as he got out of the bed, pressing a kiss to Loki's lips. Loki leant up on an elbow and made Veles moan loudly when he dragged his nails down Veles' chest. "No, gotta go. Sorry. If I bump into you again, we should definitely do this again," Veles told him, pressing another kiss to his lips and then turning around and getting out of the bed.

"Well… I may have a way for you to find me. Should you need me," Loki added hastily, when Veles turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. He wasn't too sure why he was going to do this, but for some reason he didn't feel like it was a bad idea.

"And how is that, exactly?" Veles as him, and Loki floundered for a second and then smirked. He noticed Veles bite his lip, clearly holding himself back from jumping back into bed with Loki, and Loki's smirk just grew wider

"Well…." Loki drawled, before sitting up in bed properly and clicking his fingers. A white feather appeared in his hands, and he smiled softly at it for a few seconds, actually missing Heaven a little, before he shook himself out of his nostalgia and handed it to a curious looking Veles.

"What is it?"

"A feather!" Loki told him with a cheeky grin, and Veles shot him a withering glare. "Fine, fine. Let's just call it my calling card and leave it at that. You hold that and think of me, you should be able to find me, or I'll find you. Either one."

"Right… and this will work?"

"You don't trust me?!"

"No." Veles told him and Loki just smiled at him widely.

"Probably a good thing. Just use it, don't use it. Up to you. But don't throw it away. Keep it on you. Please? It's kinda important. Don't just give it away or something," Loki told him, silently hoping that Veles would listen to him and starting to wonder if his plan had been all that wise. Veles shot him a narrow-eyed look, then looked at the feather in his hands.

"I'll keep it safe. I really have to go now though. See you around, Loki."

”This will work, right? We’re not completely screwing up everything that we’ve ever created, are we?” Gabriel frowned at the concern in the younger voice, and mentally screamed his frustration at not being able to see or even remember who the voice belonged to.

“Are you prepared for if it does? Do you really want to stop this?”

“No.”

“Then the questions don’t need to be answered.”

Thirty-Six Years Earlier

Loki sat at the bar in a small pub in Wizarding Italy, slowly drinking the highly sweet and sugary concoction he had convinced the bartender to make for him. He'd found out about these strange little, seemingly godless people a century or two ago and had decided that he really did rather like them. But, given the questionable state of their deity, and whether or not they actually had one, made him leery of tricking any of them.

Plus, they were magical, which made Loki at least want to consider how he'd trick them first before he did so. If that had taken him two centuries, then so be it. No one ever said he rushed into things. Well, okay, a fair few people said he rushed into things without giving them any thought. Still, this time, he wouldn't. Tricking people that could turn their enemies into newts and then use them for potions would be a complex thing. They would be hard to impress. He just knew it. Awkward bastards.

Still, he really did enjoy their alcoholic drinks. They actually had the ability to make him a little tipsy. Or completely off his head, if he was being totally honest.

He watched silently as a short man wandered into the pub, wearing a long, dark blue robe. Loki watched the dark haired man with narrowed eyes, noticing how the mans skin seemed to have an unearthly glow that just wasn't human in the least. If he was pressured into it, he'd admit that he thought that this man was possibly more than he seemed.

Which was part of the reason for his uncertainty on whether or not these unusual people had a god or two. He couldn't tell. Their magic fucked with his senses completely, and then they went ahead and made the most random products to give them ethereal appearances.

Though admittedly, it was normally the females that used these potions, but the strange young man was really pulling the glowy skin off. However, he looked exhausted and drained, and Loki couldn't help but feel an urge to find out what had happened to make him look like that.

He shot a glance at the bartender cleaning a glass - which had been the same glass he had been cleaning since Loki had turned up a good hour before - and then turned his attention back to the other man. Who was actually quite attractive.

And men couldn't be quite as volatile in a relationship as females, could they? Loki had learnt that lesson from Kali, psychotic harpy that she was. Shuddering, Loki snapped back to attention when he heard the stranger speak.

"Whatever you have that is strongest, please," the strange young wizard told the bartender, and then he let his head fall down onto the bar with a rather large thump when the bartender just nodded his head and turned to get him his drink. Loki decided to make his presence known, because really, if anyone needed cheering up, it was clearly this man.

"Whoo! Whatever is wrong in your life, surely it can't be bad enough to pickle your liver!" Loki exclaimed, and the man turned to look at him, blinking in shock a little before he frowned in confusion, clearly wondering why Loki was talking to him. Loki just shot him a wide smile and moved to sit on the stool next to the man.

"How about genocide?" So that wasn't exactly what Loki was expecting to hear, and to be fair, he wasn't too sure on how to deal with that. Plus, surely he would have heard about a small matter of genocide, right? Maybe the man was exaggerating a little. Maybe it was just er… ritual slaughter?

"Really? Huh, in that case, I'll have what he's having," Loki stated, having decided to maybe accept it as it was, and besides, even ritual slaughter brought a strong need to forget. The bartender gaped at him, then shrugged and turned to make the drink for the second time. "So what's your name?"

"Why?" The stranger asked suspiciously, looking at him with narrowed eyes, then downing the drink and wincing at the taste, making Loki wonder what it was he'd just asked for when his own drink was placed in front of him, "another, please." If that was the case, then surely it couldn't be that bad.

"So suspicious, if it helps, I'll tell you my name!" Loki told him cheerfully, downing his own drink and then choking in surprise as it fizzed its way down the back of his throat then felt like it was growing something when it settled in his stomach. Settled possibly wasn't the right word to use for what was happening however. "What in God's name was that?"

"Which God?" The man asked dryly, making Loki turn to look at him with wide, amused eyes, clearly there was a story behind that question.

"Which God would you like? I'll be your God, if you wish," Loki told him with a lascivious wink, making the other man snort and then shake his head in amusement at him. Loki mentally cheered for finally getting the stranger to smile, maybe he could get his name next, or at least how the hell he's glowing.

"I follow no god," the man informed him, then took his second of the strange, fizzy-stomach-monster-spawning drink from the now wary looking bartender with a smile and turned on his stool to fully face Loki. "I go by Veles."

"Veles? Great to meet you! I'm Loki!" Loki said, holding out his hand for Veles to take, which he did, cautiously, and shook it. He forced himself not to show his shock when he felt a shock of lightning run down his spine when they touched. That was new.

"Good to meet you, too. Why are you drinking the same things I am? What do you wish to forget?" Veles asked him as he took a sip from his new drink, and then looked at Loki sitting next to him with shrewd eyes. Loki just smiled wide and unerringly, shaking his head.

"Nothing! I've actually had a fine day! Caused some chaos, had a good laugh, found a new sweet treat! You should try it! It's called chocolate." Loki told him, feeling his excitement as he remembered the milky sweet treat he had discovered earlier, and looking at Veles, hoping this new man would share his love of sugary treats. Though he wasn't too sure why he hoped that, nor was he going to look into possible reasons for it.

"Chocklit?" Veles asked, slightly mispronouncing it, which made Loki's lips twitch in amusement, before Veles raised an eyebrow and Loki nodded enthusiastically in his seat. He then began to rummage around in his dark brown robes - which he'd bought just for the sake of fitting in - for the chocolate, pulling out a small, crinkled paper bag with a triumphant noise when he found it.

"Here!" Loki said, offering the bag to Veles, who eyed him (and the bag) warily and then pulled out a small ball of chocolate from the bag, looking at it with a small frown on his face and making Loki chuckle at his hesitance.

"What is it?" Veles asked him, still looking at the treat warily, rolling it between his fingers lightly. Loki rolled his eyes, wondering if the other man was waiting for it to do something spectacular right before his eyes or something.

"Eat it! Go on!" Loki urged him, making an encouraging motion with his hands, which just seemingly made Veles even more suspicious of the chocolate.

"Why are you offering a complete stranger food?" Veles asked him cautiously, once more looking down at the dark brown chocolate ball in his hands. Loki was actually a little taken aback by the question, because part of him had been asking the same question and he still didn't know the answer. Instead of answering - either Veles or his own mind - he huffed and took the chocolate from Loki's hands. He then, before Veles could do anything to stop him, stuffed the chocolate into Veles' mouth and pushed his mouth shut with a gentle finger under his chin. Really, he wasn't going to waste any chocolate whilst Veles decided whether or not Loki was trying to poison him or something.

Loki grinned widely when Veles looked at him with wide, shocked eyes. Then Loki quickly placed his hand over Veles' mouth when it looked like the man was possibly going to spit the chocolate out. Veles narrowed his eyes at Loki, who just grinned even wider, and then Loki gave a mental cheer when he stated to chew at it, then practically cackles when Veles gave a moan of pleasure.

"Good, isn't it? I think I have found my reason to carry on in this world!" Loki told him, smiled widely when Veles opened his eyes and gave a slightly nod. Deciding he really had no other reason to keep it there, Loki then removed his hand from Veles' mouth and spent a microsecond to wonder why he felt disappointed over the loss of contact.

"It's very good. But doesn't help me forget. Which is why I'm here. Barkeep! Two more of those smoking drinky things! And er… whatever the man beside me wants," Veles demanded of the shocked bartender, making Loki chuckle before smothering it when the stunned bartender turned to look at Loki, still a little dazed. Clearly still standing after having one or two of the drinks wasn't something that was normal. Which Loki could understand, given he was beginning to feel a little tipsy already. It normally took him a good couple hours of non-stop drinking to even feel a little light-headed.

"Sir?" The bartender asked, making Loki snap out of his daze of trying to think back to the last time he had actually managed to get drunk. He was fairly certain it involved Odin.

"Ah, whatever he's drinking is good with me!" Loki told him with a wide smile, digging another chocolate from his bag and popping it into his mouth. The bartender nodded his head, and with a weary sigh, turned back to making drinks.

Four and a half hours later and more drinks than the bartender ever wanted to sell in his whole career, Loki and Veles were well on their way to forgetting pretty much everything. Except the fact that chocolate was good and they had run out of it three hours previously.

"Youateallmychocolate," Loki slurred, mentally congratulating the wizarding world for getting him absolutely off his head. He waved the bartender down and blearily pointed in the general direction of where he was sure his empty glass was, hoping that the man would get the hint, and smiling widely, or at least he thought he did, he attempted to at least.

"More, sir?" That was certainly a positive hint that at least Loki's vague rambling motions were at least interpreted correctly by the man. Though, Loki considered, the man likely dealt with drunken people on a regular basis.

"Yez'pleeze," Loki told him, nodding his head vigorously, before stopping and moving his hand to grip at his hair tightly when it felt like something was trying to escape from his head in the most painful and fastest route possible. "Ow."

"Dun move. 'Urts," Veles told Loki from his slumped position at the bar, and Loki blinked at him dazedly, wondering when the other man became so wise, or if he had always been that smart. Because not moving sounded like the best idea he'd ever heard. "S'more f'me to," Veles added when the barman glanced at him warily, clearly not too sure if he wanted to ask but feeling it was his job, the man sighed when he got the response however, but turned to make their drinks.

"You glow. How'd'you do tha'?" Loki asked as he squinted at Veles, which, given he'd been wondering it since Veles had walked in, really shouldn't have been too surprising he asked it. Though it wasn't what he thought he was going to ask Veles, who made a drunken, uncoordinated attempt to shrug at the question, but actually looked like he had lost control of his limbs for a brief moment.

"S'oo y'am," Veles muttered as he looked at his hand for a good five minutes intently, he then looked over at Loki, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head slightly. "So d'you."

"I do?" Loki asked him in shock, looking down at his own hands and then frowning when he didn't see anything glowy about himself. Sure he had been an angel and they… glowed. Really bright. Like… burn your eyeballs out of your socket bright, but his vessel didn't. He didn't quite get what Veles was apparently seeing. "Don't see't."

"I do. You glow. S'all bright 'n'… shit," Veles finished lamely, limply waving his hand in Loki's general direction and then slumping even further over the bar, grabbing the drink that had magically appeared next to him. Loki really didn't recall them getting their drinks. One had appeared next to him as well. Magic was awesome.

"Huh. M'I pretty?" Loki asked, still looking at his hand and really trying to make himself glow, because Veles was really pulling the glowing look off. Clearly it was a mind thing. He was certain he'd be able to glow if he put his mind to it. He was awesome at putting his mind to things. He was so gonna glow by the end of the night.

"Yup," Veles agreed, nodding his head and making Loki practically beam at him, then he slid off his stool and moved to stand right next to Veles. Feeling the hotter than normal body heat from Veles against his own skin.

"You're pretty too," Loki told him with a firm nod. He then surged forward and kissed Veles, missing his mouth slightly and getting the corner but he figured that was as good as anywhere to get the message across that they should really go somewhere where they could see if they glowed all over. With less clothes. He felt Veles' eyelashes brush against his cheek when the man blinked in surprise, before he turned his head and pressing his lips fully against Loki's. When Veles pulled back from the kiss a moment later, he looked at Loki and grinned.

"We should go s'm'ere private," Veles told him and Loki nodded his head eagerly, because he was totally down with that idea. That idea had the high chance of leading to something even more awesome than this night already had been. And nakedness. Which was also awesome.

"Yeah, you should. Leave my bar before you scar any more of punters for life with your bizarre stories," Loki and Veles both turned to look at the barman, and Loki didn't know about Veles, but he had no idea what the man was talking about, there was nothing bizarre about his stories. He then snapped his fingers whilst Veles winked and they both disappeared from the bar, leaving chaos behind them.

Loki watched Veles sway a little and then blink when he took in the large bedroom Loki had taken them to. It was his master bedroom in the house he normally stayed in whilst he was tricking people in Italy, though was, admittedly, a little further away from where they had started the night. Grinning at Veles, who finally looked like he had mastered control over his stomach and was no longer in danger of throwing up everything they had eaten and drunk that day, Loki placed his hands on Veles' chest and shoved him onto the bed behind him, chuckling when Veles squawked in surprise and flailed when he fell. He lay sprawled across the bed and glanced up at Loki who was standing over him, still smirking.

With a blink, both their clothes were gone, though admittedly Loki had no idea if that was a neat trick wizards learnt, or if his own magic was acting to his desires. He was possibly a touch too drunk to actually care, plus they were now both naked, so who needed to care?

Loki crawled between Veles' legs, smirking at him, whilst Veles shuffled to lie on the bed completely, as opposed to hanging half off it.

"S'lube?" Veles asked huskily, looking at Loki kneeling between his legs with heavy-lidded, lust-darkened eyes. Loki decided that if Veles had enough wits about him to ask anything, then he was either too sober, or not turned on enough. Or both. Leering at Veles, Loki dipped his head down and licked up, from the base of Veles' erection and sucked lightly at the head, tasting pre-come spill over his tongue.

Loki chuckled lowly when Veles whimpered quietly as Loki lowered his head and took Veles into his mouth completely, silently boasting about his lack of gag-reflex, allowing him to take Veles deep into his throat. He moved to press Veles' hips down on to the bed, preventing him from thrusting up and causing Veles to whine in aroused distress. Loki moved one of his hands from Veles' hips to run his hands down the others thighs, and smirked around the erection in his mouth, sucking and bobbing his head in reward when Veles moved to spread his legs further apart. Loki then sucked hard on his erection at the same time as finally thrusting a lubricated finger into the other man, looking up through his lashes when Veles cried out in shock and thrust further down onto his fingers.

"S'goo-ack!" Veles cried out when Loki added another finger, stretching and curling his fingers, searching for the spot that would make Veles. Loki moved away from Veles' erection, making Veles moan more in disappointment

"You ready?" Loki asked him, still hastily preparing him and pushing a third finger in
and finally finding the bundle of nerves and pressing against them, chuckling when Veles yelled in pleasure and arched off the bed.

"M'ready! Pleez'ki!" Veles begged with a small whimper, and then smiling up at Loki a little drunkenly when Loki finally removed his fingers and moved Veles' legs over his shoulders. Loki locked eyes with Veles, and, upon getting a frantic nod, began to push inside him. He gasped and then groaned loudly at feeling the heat and tightness of Veles embrace him, and couldn't control himself as he thrust in all the way and made Veles grunt and arch up into him.

Loki paused slightly once he was inside to the hilt, allowing Veles the time to adjust. As soon as Veles nodded, Loki was quick to pull out almost entirely and then slam back in as hard and deep as he could, making Veles practically scream his pleasure, clenching around Loki and making Loki moan loudly as sparks erupted behind his closed eyelids.

Given the amount of alcohol both had imbibed and the state they were both in, it came as no surprise to either when they didn't last very long. Veles came first, crying out a garbled word that neither could understand, and Loki soon followed behind him, thrusting once more into Veles as he came with a wordless shout, and then collapsed heavily onto Veles.

"Muv," Veles muttered, weakly pushing at Loki's shoulder, tapping it when it seemingly had no effect. Loki grunted and shifted just enough that he wasn't smothering his bed partner any longer, pulling out as he shifted and making Veles twitch slightly before shifting to get a little more comfortable, still mostly covered by Loki, "thnkss."

The next morning, Loki grunted and opened his eyes, groaning in pain as soon as the bright sunlight burnt his retinas out of his skull and made him, for a brief second, think he'd been found by his brothers. He then remembered what he'd done the night before, reminded by the headache slamming into his skull and making his baulk slightly as he tried to keep his stomach contents in. It took him a couple of minutes to realise that he was alone in the bed and he threw his arm over his eyes to block out the light, still feeling pleasantly heavy-limbed from the previous nights activities.

"Those wizard people managed to get an angel drunk. I'm impressed. Knew I liked them for a reason," Loki muttered to himself, and had the vague thought of finding out Veles at another time, before he pushed it to the side and ignored it as a flight of fancy. No need to encourage a mortal into thinking he could have a relationship of any kind with him. It just wouldn't work.

”Vel-“

“Shit! He spoke! How’d he speak?”

Thirty-Three Years Earlier

Loki sneered at the people passing by him in London. He had thought things had been bad in Delhi, but that wasn't anything compared to how the people in the streets of London were being treated by their richer counterparts. Apparently, being rich made you immune to the Bubonic Plague that was sweeping through the back streets of London. Boy were they in for a surprise, Loki thought to himself, snarling wordlessly when another person bashed into him, then looked at his less than stellar appearance and took a wider step away from him, looking at him in disgust and crossing themselves. Yeah, because that was going to work. Loki was fairly certain he was more liked by God than they were right at this moment.

He made his way down Baker Street, and narrowed his eyes as he pondered over what to do, then smirked. Nothing said that, whilst teaching a lesson to all those that thought they were above the ill and scared - not to say the rich weren't scared - he couldn't also help everyone else. To be fair, it was about time that this plague business stopped, and short of using his Grace, he had to work with what he had.

It just helped that he would be killing two birds with one stone with the plan he had brewing in his mind. Deciding to wait until the opportune moment, and ignoring the niggling feeling of doubt and guilt over what he was about to do, he stood back into the shadows of an overhang of a shop.

When night fell and things in the bustling city became quieter and noises changed to less innocent shouts and yells, Loki stepped out from the shadows, closing his eyes to make sure that most people were asleep and giving a sharp nod when he was happy that enough were. He then snapped his fingers and made a small spark appear in the bakery opposite him.

He disappeared from the streets without a sound as the fire in the small bakery grew and soon overwhelmed the packed together, thatched houses. He may have destroyed lives and business, but at least he'd managed to also stop the worst of the plague.

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