You have heart

You looked at the black words that appeared to be tattooed on your arm. Everyone had such marks. They were the first words you would hear from your soulmate. Some people's were written in childish scrawls, those people met their soulmate when they were children. Some were written in adult writing. As was yours. The words on your arm were written in an elegant masculine hand, looking almost like calligraphy.

You still hadn't met your soulmate yet. The words were still dark and black on your skin. Most of your friends had found theirs by now, but not you.

You also had long ago noted the strange words. Soulmate tattoos tended to fall into two categories. The first were standard greetings, though you usually saw those on the older generations. Then people started figuring out that they could more easily identify their soulmate if they greeted every stranger with a weird phrase before they began the proper greeting. So those became the second category of tattoos.

It wasn't surprising to see people with things like movie quotes, random exclamations, things about purple unicorns, or 'the sky is orange', or "I wonder if fish get thirsty". One poor girl had "I can't believe Dumbledore died" on her arm and cried when she first read Harry Potter and already knew that Dumbledore was going to die even in the first book, years before the sixth one had been written.

You were pulled from your thoughts by your phone ringing. Who the fuck called anyone anymore? You grabbed your phone and looked at the display. At least it wasn't your mom, who was one of the few people who actually called. You didn't feel like talking to her today. Instead, it was your best friend. You pressed the green answer button and lifted the phone to your ear. "Hey Soph," you greeted and started to pace your apartment. You never could just sit still while on the phone.

"We're going to see the movie today, right? You promised!" Sophie replied. She was always like that, always starting conversations like she was already in the middle of it.

You hesitated and paced a couple more steps. "I... don't know, Soph..." you hedged. "Isn't seeing a movie about real people who are still living kinda weird?" You asked her. She'd been begging you for months to see the Avengers movie with her when it came out. She was obsessed with the team, as was pretty much everyone in the known world after the Battle of New York.

"They're superheroes," she reminded you. Again. "Besides, we were all there and the actors are hot. Please? You promised!" she begged. The movie had come out that day and you knew she was desperate to see it.

You sighed heavily into the phone. "Fine, but you owe me," you told her.

"I'll buy the tickets. And I'll owe you a favor if the movie is bad," she promised and you could hear the grin in her voice at winning. "I'll text you the details,"

"You already bought the tickets, didn't you?" You asked, rolling your eyes.

"Months ago!" She agreed and cheerfully hung up.

You couldn't help laughing at your friend's antics and went to find something to wear to go see a movie in. You chose jeans, and on a whim, one of your Avengers T-shirts. You had to admit to yourself that you were just as obsessed with the superheroes as the rest of the world.

Soph texted you the movie information while you were changing. You texted her back 'You're also buying me popcorn'

'Fair'

At least she was being reasonable.

She hadn't found her soulmate yet either, which was why the pair of you hung out so much together. People had a tendency to pair off with their soulmates, or other couples, once they found them. Which got to be more and more lonely for those of you without your soulmates as you got older. Dating... wasn't really a thing after you experimented a little in high school and college. Most people waited until they found their soulmate, anything else seemed like either... a waste of time or practice.

You weren't cruel enough to do either to another person.

You grabbed your purse and headed out to meet up with Soph. The theater was only a few subway stops from your apartment, but the weather was decent, so you decided to save the money and just walk it.

Plus, you would walk past the Avengers tower as you did. You couldn't help feeling the allure of the place. You always felt drawn to it, though you didn't know why. There was nothing for you there. The Avengers lived there when they were in town. Not much else was known about the place as it wasn't open to the public. Still, you were drawn there. Drawn to the slim chance of seeing the jet coming or going, or Iron Man or Thor flying.

You kept your distance, though. The tower was no place for someone like you. You had no powers, no abilities. You were just... a normal girl.

You glanced at the tower as you passed by that day too and saw nothing going on. Though there was a fairly fresh Bifrost circle in the grass outside the tower. Thor was back, it seemed. You shook your head and kept walking so you wouldn't be late meeting up with Soph.

When you arrived at the theater, you saw the huge crowd waiting for the movie and looked around for Soph. She was at the concessions stand getting your popcorn and drinks. You made your way through the crowd to get to her. "This place is packed," you greeted her and took the drinks from her, letting her carry the giant popcorn you would share through the movie.

"It's opening weekend," she replied easily. "Glad I got our tickets early. C'mon," she said brightly and led you to the theater and your seats. They were great seats.

"Did you preorder these or something?" You asked when you were settled.

She nodded "Yeah, the second tickets went on sale. I wanted to make sure we could see it opening night," she replied with a grin. "I know you're just as obsessed with the team as I am,"

"You know me too well," you grumbled with a blush.

She laughed "I've only know you since the first grade," she teased you. You laughed and shoved her playfully as the theater was quickly filling up around you.

You settled into your seat and started munching on popcorn while you watched the previews. You still weren't sure what to think about the actual movie, and hoped it did the battle justice. You'd heard that Thor and the team were heavily involved in making sure the events depicted were accurate. You were about to find out.

The movie started and you watched with interest at the opening. This part of the story you didn't know. The explanation of the Tesseract, then the events in the SHIELD base where they were studying it. The portal opened and Loki appeared on the screen.

You had to admit to yourself that the actor playing him was as hot as Soph had promised. That was a good sign.

Then he spoke. His accent was beautiful, almost British, but with a deeper, more regal tone to it.

But that wasn't what made your heart stop.

Or what drew your gasp.

The character's, no not character, it was Loki, Loki was a real person. And his first words in the movie were to Agent Barton while he held him in place. "You have heart,"

The same words that were on your arm.

The same words that now glowed with the soulmate bond being activated. They flashed with power, then the glow faded. Suddenly, the words were no longer black, but looked like they were now tattooed in emerald ink with gold speckled into it.

You have heart

Your soulmate was Loki? Maybe it was just the actor?

But no, you knew in your very being what that glow, what the colors and the words, what all of it meant.

Your soulmate was Loki, prince and god of Asgard.

Oh gods.

What was going to happen to you now?