Chapter 2

There was no denying that Ian Boothby came close to being brutally murdered by Loki himself that Thanksgiving night. The fallen prince had been on edge at the very start of the night and Ian exaggerating his thanks throughout the night to everybody was basically begging to be the object of Loki's wrath.

As they all gathered around to watch the Macy's Day Parade, Erik topped off Ian's glass of wine.

Loki watched with his fists clenched and his eyes narrowed, practically challenging Ian inside his head to try and push him over the edge.

Ian was a very oblivious guy, however, and he did what was natural and continued on with his joke.

"Thank you, Erik."

Loki gritted his teeth in annoyance and practically growled, "You do know you are not required to express your gratitude in every opportune moment."

"Thank you for that clarification."

As soon as he had said those words, Ian noticed the darkening in Loki's eyes and he swallowed hard, slightly scared.

Loki stood quickly, "Will you still be thanking me when I've turned you into a ferret?"

"Loki." Thor gripped his shoulder tightly.

"Okay, that's it." Darcy said getting up from her seat and coming toward Loki with something in her hands. Despite his protests, she placed a pilgrims hat upon his head and smiled with satisfaction. "This baby is tradition in my family. You cause trouble, you wear the hat."

Loki's eyes found Thor's in hopes to have him deny such ridiculousness. But he wore a smug expression, and his eyes seemed to say, 'Their realm, their rules.'

With grumbling he fell back into the couch, and everyone's attention was brought back to the parade.

Loki could not see the amusement that the others gathered from watching the bulbous and uncoordinated figures moving down the streets. Ignoring the giant turkey decked in a pilgrim's hat appearing on the small screen, Loki tried to occupy his mind with means of escape as the couples chatted happily amongst themselves; but he could not turn his mind to such plots. He tried to blame it on Erik's watchful and glaring eye, but eventually he had too many glasses and his guard was dropped.

Loki lacked all motivation to leave, and he could not understand why.

He had changed quite a bit since the encounter with the Dark Elves. He had found less joy in his games and nothing seemed to fulfill his desires.

Staring at the wine in his glass, he was left to wallow in his self pity and utter boredom. But even that was interrupted.

"Something's burning." The conservation died as if Loki had spoken of an evil omen. Everyone sniffed the air with wide eyes, but none was more mortified than Jane.

"NOT THE TURKEY!" She yelled as she ran to the kitchen with everyone in tow.

Everyone huddled around the small entryway of the kitchen as Jane opened the oven door to only revealed a crispy turkey. Everyone coughed as the thick black smoke filled the room like a mournful prayer and collected above their heads.

"Well, it could be in worse conditions." Darcy said with a shrug, desperately trying to lighten the devastating mood.

As soon as the words left her mouth, however, the turkey was erupted into a flame and the shrill sound of the fire alarm went off in the house.

The house erupted into chaos.

Thor tried to kill the flames by beating it with a cloth, A drunken Erik was looking for marshmallows to roast, and Darcy was yelling at Ian to find the fire extinguisher as she consoled an almost in tears Jane Foster.

With a wave of his hand Loki was able to extinguish the flame, but Ian came in yelling some sort of battle cry and dosed the smoking turkey with the extinguisher. He had it pointed the wrong way, however, and sprayed himself with the white foam.

Silence fell upon the room as they all stared at the burned bird, dismayed. The way they were gathered made it appear as though they were mourning the meal they would never have.

"I'm sorry guys," Jane said softly,"I just wanted this to be perfect, but I've messed it all up."

She quickly ran outside the kitchen and out the front door, Thor, looking greatly concerned followed behind her.

Loki was left in the kitchen alone as Darcy set off to clean up Ian and open some of the windows to let the horrid smell of disaster leave the house.