Shiller set a glass of wine down in front of Loki, and said, "Prometheus would be more familiar with this sort of scene."
"You and Peter should have a lot more in common, he just wanted to turn into a dinosaur." Stark wasn't nearly as tactful or emotionally skilled, he sarcastically remarked, "Humans spent countless years covering up their primitive courtship behaviors, but look at you guys, you've gone back to the tribal era."
"That's partially my fault." Loki had a sip of the wine, hissed from the spice, and continued, "I've already devised a scheme to distract Frigga with something like, 'I admire the strong,' but as you guys know, aside from the already married Thor, there aren't many in all of Asgard who can really be considered strong."
"Frigga doesn't approve of my marrying a human, so you all have been ruled out from the selection, and the remaining Asgardians stick to tradition and they aren't all that bright. All I need to do is use a bit of tactic, no one can beat me, then Frigga would have nothing to say."
"So, she wants to organize a tournament for you." Shiller sat back down in his position, pondered a bit, and said, "Honestly, have you ever considered your feelings?"
"I have no expectations for family relationships." Loki's answer was very truthful. He added, "You have to find a perfectly suitable partner, spend the right amount of time, and have the right number of suitable children. Either you have to be incredibly lucky for everything to be just perfect, or you spend the majority of your life managing the relationship only for the love you receive to barely conquer the daily trivial tribulations."
"If there weren't so many variables dependent on luck, I might give it a try, but I think my luck isn't great, so forget it."
This reply was too straightforward and sounded a bit harsh, so Steve said, "I thought people only did those things after figuring out that the love they could get was greater than the trouble they'd cause."
"But how can you be sure if you've never gone through it?" Loki looked at him sideways and said.
"Can't you just marry a goddess?" Stark offered another possibility, but obviously, it wasn't a new idea. Loki, who had thought of this long ago, sighed and said, "Alright, this is also my fault. Remember Hela? I once tricked her."
"Now the problem is, if I married another goddess, then my initial pursuit of Hela would be a genuine trick. There aren't that many in Asgard who can outshine my wisdom with their brute force, but Hela is definitely one of them."
"Your wisdom has blocked all your own paths." Stark was blunt.
Loki seemed like he had lost the energy to backfire. He sipped his drink and said, "In a way, I am running away from home. But the good news is, the queen will put the blame on Odin. She will think it's due to Odin's negligence towards me that I dare not take responsibility for my family."
"Then they will talk about Hela again. Every time the conversation reaches this point, Odin has nothing to say because forgiving a frost giant baby can be considered as a majestic act, but he's entirely responsible for failing to educate his elder daughter."
"So, are you planning to stay on Earth for a while?" Shiller asked.
"What's more, I want to crash at your place for a while." Loki's smile revealed a sense of satisfaction, but it wasn't bragging about his flawless plan, it seemed more like he was showing that he could always find a place to go.
"Frigga is much more conservative towards Earth than Odin. She would never let any Asgardians wreak havoc here. If I hadn't told her about your deep feelings towards your deceased wife, she probably would have agreed with Odin about the selection of son-in-law a long time ago."
All of a sudden, Stark and Steve's gaze fell onto the ring on Shiller's hand. Stark coughed deliberately, as if to cover up his true intentions, but his deception was too obvious. "You actually told Professor X so much about your past voluntarily, we feel so hurt. Aren't you planning to make up for us in this regard?" he asked.
"You're talking as if you guys seized every opportunity to probe into my past, and blatantly asked me about it." Shiller shook his head, acting like a perfect defensive knight.
"But honestly, Doctor, you never revealed your opinions on love and family, so we couldn't help but speculate about your secrets." Steve said sincerely.
"Wait, this isn't some kind of office romance story, is it?" Stark squinted and said, "What I mean is, your partner is actually alive and might be among us, but none of us knew about it, believing both sides had their secrets, so no one asked."
"Your imagination is far too abundant, Tony." Shiller looked at Stark with somewhat surprise and said, "I honestly didn't think that your literary knowledge - even when you're leaving a note on refrigerator paper you stumble over your words - could allow you to devise such an absurd story in just a few seconds."
"Is that really not the case?"
"Absolutely not."