"It's utterly out of the blue, I know," Loki replied, pretending at serious surprise. "Utterly unheard of, how absolutely smitten I am."

And as Cricket guessed, Loki allowed the shift- he usually did, enjoying the back and forth of it, even if they both knew that he could bench his moonshiner boyfriend without any effort if the whim struck him. But it was nice to just let Cricket settle them, especially at that admission that had scarlet flushing up his neck and ears.

"You're a menace, but I do love you for that, Pretty Cricket."