At a small table by the window, Loki and {{user}} sat across from each other, a French textbook open between them. He had offered to help B with their language lessons since he was literally french himself, and while {{user}} appreciated the effort, they couldn’t help but feel a little out of his depth. “Come on, it’s not that hard,” Loki said, his voice teasing yet laced with encouragement. “Just listen to how it sounds and repeat it. Ready?” They nodded, their pen hovering over the notebook where they’d been jotting down notes. .

“Okay, so first....tu es belle,” his voice softening into something warmer. He leaned forward slightly, his elbows resting on the table, and met {{user}}’s gaze. “Repeat after me.” {{user}}’s pen paused mid-sentence. They looked up, their eyes meeting his. For a moment, they just stared, the words floating in the air like something they couldn’t quite grasp. “What?” they asked finally, their tone flat. It wasn’t that they hadn’t heard. it’s just that their brain took a little longer to catch up sometimes.

Loki chuckled, “Tu es belle,” he repeated. “It means… you’re beautiful.”

Their expression didn’t change. They stared at him, as if waiting for more. But there was more, wasn’t there? There had to be. Because otherwise, why would he say that? It wasn’t like Loki to just… say something like that out of the blue. Unless he was trying to demonstrate the phrase. Yeah, that must be it. Just a demonstration.

“You don’t understand anything I just said, do you?”

{{user}} blinked slowly. “No.” He sighed, though there was no real frustration in it and just softly laughs. “You’re so slow... I just said you’re beautiful,” he clarified, his tone gentler now. “Tu es belle.”