Schmoop. ((for magpiemythos))

[alittlehinky]

After a few hour's consideration, Cricket realizes that the chances of him coming up with something Loki hasn't seen or thought of before for a date are pretty much nil. So a surprise isn't very likely. In that case, best to just stick with what he knows and make sure he does it right, and since sensible attention to detail is a strength of his, anyway, it's a good decision. If he'd tried to hire a ship to take them to Alpha Centauri or something, he'd only have overreached and got himself in trouble, but what he's actually done--well, he thinks it'll make Loki feel cherished, if nothing else.

He has his favorite fishing spots in the wild, and most of them are best reached by footpaths, but there's one little clearing above a green, calm river that he can get his car to and find reliably, so he scrambles to set up a simple lean-to tent there, clean up the firepit he's built for his own use, and hang a few supplies in the trees close by. After some simple decoration, he thinks it's good enough, and goes back home to pick Loki up.

Cricket has a car. The chassis is from a Ford Model A Phaeton, and it might have originally been blue, but it has been repainted in a sleek dark gray with some metallic hints. The top has been removed entirely and the back seat is cleared out for extra space. Usually he carries crates there for deliveries, but he has some cushions padding the area right now, and a picnic basket tucked in the corner. The engine, which he's altered quite a bit, sticks out from beneath the hood and looks a little like Steampunk and Modernism got drunk together and threw up there, but with a little help tweaking from Palmer, it runs beautifully, smooth as you could want and much quieter than a 21st century vehicle. He pulls it up in front of the apartment and bounds inside to fetch Loki, driving cap in hand.

"Y'ready? Do you want your coat back for the ride? It's kinda windy."

Comments

[magpiemythos]

To be fair, Loki wasn't expecting it to be some great grand gesture. Cricket didn't strike him as the sort comfortable with those things, more the sort to go for the more personal touch, something a bit more mellow but all the more memorable for it. Because it wasn't often that someone went at it from that angle with him- focused instead on trying to impress, or intimidate, or dazzle him. There were no ulterior motives with Cricket, which was new.

But Loki liked it plenty. And the sight of Cricket, wrapped in that oversized coat, windblown and excited just earned a smile from the trickster.

"The big benefit of the blue skin is I'm rather immune to most cold." Aka keep it for now Cricket, he thinks it's cute to see you wrapped up in the fluffy coat. "But I am ready."

[alittlehinky]

At the party before Caspar warned him about how gods seem never to be able to see humans as equal, in the stories. It's easy to say 'but he's different' when you're dealing with someone who you've got feelings for already, and Cricket's already told himself that, but the conclusion is still there to be drawn. There've been humans he spoke to in the Nexus that he got the feeling they didn't feel like he was their equal. Humans and demons. But even when Loki teases it doesn't feel like he's being patronizing.

There's a tacit acknowledgement that they're different, from different worlds and backgrounds, but it seems to be a source of mutual curiosity, not a thing to make them class and rank one another and push them apart.

He's made an effort to dress nicely. Not formally, just slacks and a good sweater, because they're going to be on a picnic in the woods, but it's all clean and his hair would be swept aside pretty if he hadn't just been driving in a topless car. The overall effect is boyish and eclectic, and when Loki smiles at him he just beams wider and half-struts over to him to offer his arm.

Today is a good day. He's got the braces on, but no cane needed, and once they get to their place, the ground by the water is nice and soft to walk on. "Goin' into the wilds for a picnic. I'll light a fire when we get there."

He leads Loki outside and toward the car. "'Course, there ain't no hurry either, if you want to drive around some. Y'like her? I found the chassis in the junkyard and fixed her up myself. With some help from a friend."

[magpiemythos]

With how Loki had been before, the reputation he'd rightly earned, those three words would certainly be enough to win his heart. Proof that he had changed. If no one else saw it, who cared? Cricket did. Cricket saw Loki as the man he wanted to be, rather than who he'd been, and that meant more than he could possibly say.

The trickster might be dressed a bit more casually, jeans instead of slacks, but in deference to the holiday season he'd found a cozy sweater, only partly because wearing something soft and warm would certainly encourage more snuggling. He accepted the offered arm with a kiss to Cricket's cheek, pleased at how happy he seemed.

"A picnic?" He sounded pleased by the idea, and really he was. "Can't even tell you the last time I went picnicking."

The car though catches his attention. He never really bothered with them himself, not with his tricks and ways of getting around but even he knew an older model car when he saw one, and the information that Cricket had fixed it up himself, help or no, earned a low, impressed whistle. "She's gorgeous. Look at you, man of many skills. You're just full of surprises!"

[alittlehinky]

Cricket's view of Loki may be a little bit rose-colored. He knows the myths, and he has an easy enough time believing the darker ones of the other Loki, but this one seems like the fun kind of trouble, not the frightening kind. He may learn different eventually, but honestly, his tolerance for iconoclasm and general resistance to authority is extremely high, too.

Oh good, good. Cricket was hoping a picnic wouldn't be too cutesy or pedestrian, and Loki's reaction is satisfactory. The weather is actually a little cool for it, but they'll have shelter and fire and apparently Loki doesn't get that cold anyway, so it'll be perfect.

He turns pink, as usual, at the kiss. Pink on pink, really, since the wind tends to whip up a flush on his face. There is something prouder than usual in the way he leads Loki outside, and the way he watches for his reaction to the car. Cricket is, in general, a humble person. Sometimes even timid. He knows what he's good at, though, and fixing engines vies with making moonshine at the top of the list.

He worries his lower lip briefly, like he's trying not to grin too foolishly, and run his free hand through his hair before planting the cap back on his head. That was a preen, if you like, Loki.

"Used to work on engines back home," he says. "I fixed up Jack's car to make runs fast and quiet on less gas. Building an engine from scratch is harder, but she works."

Here, have another surprise. He opens the door to the passenger side for Loki like a gentleman. This ought to be interesting. Cricket's never stepped out with another man before, and he hasn't really paused to question gender roles in a relationship. He's just going to act like he would on a date with a gal in Franklin, getting doors for Loki, etc, because that's what you do, right?

[magpiemythos]

Cricket absolutely had some rose-colored glasses where Loki was concerned, and he was well aware of that fact. It did scare him a little, what might happen if his companion was disabused of that in some way, if he learned the whole of the trickster he'd come to like. All Loki could do was enjoy this while it lasted, hope that it was a good long while before he managed to somehow blow it all up in his face.

But then who knows? Maybe it would work out in the long run. Optimistic to be sure, but it was a nice idea, when the idea of the long run didn't send tingles of panic up his spine that is.

"Well then, you'll have to show me what she can do, hm?" Cricket's confidence was definitely attractive in this moment. It was cute when he was shy, and Loki found him endearing in general, but he liked seeing this streak of pride from him. And why shouldn't he be proud?

And really, Loki wouldn't mind Cricket's getting the door for him. Just another little thing that added up to make him smile, certainly enjoying the consideration and attention that came with the gesture, giving the arm he'd been on a light squeeze before he was slipping into the passenger seat.

[alittlehinky]

At the moment, all Cricket really needs is for this not to be some sort of mindgame, and he's positive it's not. Even if Loki only likes him because he's a warmer, gentler alternative to what he's left behind, he still likes him.

And the more time he spends with him, the more Cricket likes Loki.

Oh, but now you've really done it, Loki. There's a flash of delight in his blue eyes, a little glimmer of adrenaline leveling up, and he closes the door gently enough, but when he circles around to the driver's side he all but vaults into his own seat, without opening the door. Shit, he's showing off now.

"Well, sir," he says in a slow, pleased drawl, "I reckon I can just about do that. Hold on; ain't no seat belts yet."

Really, it's Jack Bondurant who was the crazy-ass driver. A born blockade runner. But Cricket can drive, too, and moreover he can drive on a winding mountain road without flinching. The Nexus is a piece of cake. He'll just have to...go around the Plaza so he don't run over no one.

The engine makes a quiet, deep thrum. He didn't design it for noise, just performance, but when he puts his foot on the gas and puts it in gear, the car leaps forward like it was ready to run.

[magpiemythos]

If Loki wasn't already sunk, that would do it. That glimmer of something wild and free-spirited, maybe even a little reckless in that gleam of blue that has the trickster's heart doing a little flip at the playful response he was getting.

To be honest, this sort of car, without a top, and no seat belts made him think more of a chariot than anything. And Loki had enough experience both in driving and riding shotgun in those to know how to keep his spot. So when the car springs into motion, he lets out a little noise of surprise, but if Cricket glances over, the grin on Loki's face definitely hints to it being a fun sort of surprise.

[alittlehinky]

Cricket is pretty sure he can't out-reckless Loki. Hell, he wasn't able to out-reckless Jack, and he was just a human. Herein, though, may lie one of the secrets of Cricket's psyche. Some people look only for common ground in a relationship, whether friendship or romance. Others look, unconsciously, for someone to balance them out. Cricket is gentle-natured, and he's good at staid and responsible behavior, but some part of him is always drawn to a wild, charismatic person. Someone for whom he can keep the home fires lit, metaphorically speaking, but who can pull him out of that mindset, too, and unlock his own sense of adventure.

If anyone was going to be that key, it's Loki, obviously.

He peels out of the space fast, but he's careful around the buildings, unwilling to risk running a living being over. Once they're out of the neighborhood, though, if there were a speed limit in the Nexus, he'd be breaking it.

He glances over at Loki with a grin, and grabs at his hat as the wind starts to carry it off. "Shit--here, hold this for me?"

Here, Loki, have a hat. Cricket has to focus on driving right now. They're headed across flat ground, toward the edge of the Wilds.

[magpiemythos]

Loki had suspected that Cricket had a bold streak to him. A sense of adventure despite how mild-mannered he sometimes came across. He was pleased to be proven right in this case. So far, they seemed to be well-matched from what the trickster was seeing. Someone to help reel him back to rationality at times, someone he knows will be there for him, but clearly also someone who might sometimes be coaxed into some game or adventure himself. Loki normally didn't look for balance in relationship, but this might be a very good argument why he should have started a long time ago.

"Got it handsome!" Loki called back in response, laughter in his tone as he took the hat so Cricket could focus on his driving, hair windblown, cheeks ruddy from the wind and the exhilaration as he returned the man's grin.

[alittlehinky]

There is a tableau at work, even as Cricket floors the gas and puts his handcrafted engine to the test. Him in Loki's coat, Loki holding his hat, both of them on the edge of laughter with the wind caught in their hair.

The chill stings his eyes a little; he'll be blinking back tears from it eventually, but it's well worth it. The path he's taking into the wilds is barely a suggestion of a road; it's flat and not too rocky, but it's dirt and not pavement, and Loki might justifiably wonder what other modifications the kid has made to this car, because the tires bite just fine, and--okay, the shocks aren't perfect, they end up bouncing a couple inches off the seat when he goes over a rut, but it's still handling pretty well under the circumstances.

As they get closer to the water (why are there rivers in the Nexus, anyway? who cares, they're great to have), he runs his tongue over his teeth, considering, glances at Loki, and gives him a little 'hold my beer' kind of smirk. An abrupt twist of the wheel sends the Phaeton into an actual drift, swishing around a sharp bend and kicking up frost as the wheels hit a patch of grass.

Cricket gives a little whoop and laugh of delight at his own success. A Phaeton is really really not built for drifting; from the outside it probably looks objectively insane, but whatever mods he and Palmer have made seem to have made it possible.