New Year, Same Habit

NEON ch 1

Shoulders slumping at his ineptitude with numbers, Loki groaned softly. Once again, he was allowing New Year’s Day to screw with his head. This hyper self-critical analysis of the previous year was a beloved annual tradition that brought with it as much joy as the forced familial civility at his parents’ holiday dinner. Happy Christmas, and god bless us all for not giving in to that hour-long desire to stab each other with our fancy forks. Now get out of here because SOMEONE’S unaddressed daddy issues are two seconds from turning this place into a bloodbath.

New Year Ch 12

No way in hell did he want to get back together- he was just here because New Years had made him extra sad.

You don’t know that, hon.

Okay, well, considering what she’d done to him, it seemed the most likely reason for his presence. How in all the world could she at least get him to consider… friendship? It wasn’t the whole package, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Show him the letter, hon.

Oh god… but…. what if he hates it?

We’ve been over this, Sigyn. He wrote a NOVEL for you. He showed it to the entire PLANET. So, buck up, and show him that letter that you should have sent to him when you wrote it THREE WEEKS AGO.

New Year Ch 11

Despite feeling like a pathetic, undeserving thing, Loki chuckled, then gestured to Carol with his chin. “They might believe you are into girls when you get married to one on December 8th, Val.”

Once again, his best friend beamed at him, radiating warmth and happiness, and he hated himself for wishing that smile was coming from someone else. Someone who wouldn’t stick by his side for three decades like Val had. Someone who couldn’t even give him three years.

New Year CH 10

“I don’t know how the hell to make it through two more weeks, Sig,” he said, sounding so SAD suddenly.

Looking sideways out the window, she swallowed, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She could feel a thick layer of darkness in his tone, the same tone of Starboy’s unnamed narrator. She had always imagined his voice while reading it, but she’d never actually heard Loki speak like this. It wasn’t just dark. It was…what was the right word for it? Dangerous. Downward-spiral dangerous.

Bottle of oxy dangerous.

Not that she could ever be ready for hell, but she needed more time to heal from this awful year before she had enough strength to wrap her arms around him and kick and kick and kick to keep his unbearably heavy head above the water

New Year CH 9

Her responding flinch was violent as her hands flew up to cover her mouth, and he knew that was the exact moment he should drop to his knees and apologize until he was blue in the face. Had he just told her that she should be SCARED of him?! What was this, his own damn villain origin story?!
Eyes blowing wide, he held his hands up as if in surrender.

“I did not mean that…” he swallowed, shaking from the adrenaline, from the norepinephrine, from the testosterone, from a cocktail of hellish over-stimulating chemicals that seemed to think some hungry lion was ten feet from him instead of a picturesque beach and a gorgeous girl who loved him infinitely more than he deserved.

“Sig, oh my god, sweetheart, I am so unbelievably sorry. That was an absolutely unforgivable thing to say to you. I don’t even…” he trailed off, hanging his head so he wouldn’t have to see the damage.
He rubbed his temples for twenty seconds or so before looking up at her again. Her lips were trembling, and the pained look in her eyes made him want to throw up. It made him want to turn on his heel and run away like an absolute coward. It also made him want to run straight to her, wrap his arms around her, pick her up, and carry her with him everywhere. He opened his mouth to say more, but she spoke first.

“Thank you for apologizing,” she blew out a breath. “I would be out of here otherwise.”

“And you would be right to go,” he swallowed again, even more nervous now. But oh dear god please DON’T.

New Year CH 8

“Loki Odinson, you sold your soul to be able to drive like that,” she said, shaking her head. “It is the only explanation.”

Killing the engine, he grinned crookedly as he unbuckled his seat belt. “Yet another reason to think I’m the villain in this story.”

He then carefully leaned over the parking brake, slid one hand up her inner thigh and the other behind her neck. Just as his lips touched hers, the cars that had been stuck behind the red light a block behind them drove by, several of which honked, then they heard several shouts and whistles.

“Look at this slick motherf-”
“He said SWERVE.”
“God. DAMN. That job was clean as HELL.”
“Boy told Vin Diesel HOLD MY BEER.”
“YOU HAVE LEVELED UP, SON.”

Other words and phrases were spoken, but he had no clue how the hell to translate what he assumed was Gen Z slang. Her shoulders started shaking, and he laughed out loud when she snorted against his mouth. The rapid fire back and forth conversation on the sidewalk outside was absolutely bonkers.

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