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“Lady Y/N, I’m so glad you could make it.” You looked to your left and saw Thor walk towards you.
“Thor, you know your father throws great parties. How could I have missed this?” You smiled politely. Every single year, Odin throws a party for reasons you didn’t know of. You always got an invitation from an anonymous person each and every year. You tried to figure out who would invite you. You weren’t royal, you didn’t live in the castle so why would anyone ever think of inviting you?
You had a small flower shop that you owned. Everyone who came into your shop left with a smile on their faces. You gave free flowers to children that passed by and always welcomed everyone with open arms. You didn’t think someone from Thor’s family would ever take interest in you.
The only person who you could think of was Loki. He came to the city often but you never talked to him. You always observed him from afar. The only reason you think he came into the city were for women. Every time you saw him, he had a new woman on his arm. You didn’t think he was that kind of man but if you were named the God of Mischief, you figured you would be doing the same thing.
Every year, a note with fancy lettering would come to your door. Every year, it’s addressed to you but it was never signed. Each year you accepted the invitation, hoping that you would find out who was sending you the notes.
You never did.
Along with the note, you were always given a beautiful dress. Each year the dress would be different. You had a closet full of the dresses you wore to the balls. You never wore them outside of the annual ball. You figured your mysterious inviter provided the dresses. Judging by the quality of the dress, you figured someone in the castle was inviting you.
Why would someone from there ever pick you? You would never know. You weren’t interesting, you didn’t go out besides to go to work. But you made it your mission to find out the culprit.
“Still, I am glad you’re here,” Thor said, taking your hand and kissing the back of it. “My, look at your dress. You look beautiful.” He twirled you and you laughed, blushing at the attention you were getting.
“So, you’re not the one sending me these dresses?” You asked.
“It is not me. Forgive me, my father is calling me over. I must go.” Thor said but you stopped him from walking away.
“Where is Loki? I haven’t seen him all night.”
“Over there,” Thor pointed across the room and you saw Loki sitting at a table all by himself. “He never wants to go to these things. My mother forced him to come this year. Listen, go talk to him. Make him feel welcomed. I’m sorry, but I really have to go.”
“Okay,” You said but Thor was already walking off. You looked over at Loki and decided to go talk to him. If you were being honest with yourself, you were more attracted to him than Thor. Thor was nice and he always greeted you with a smile but there was something about Loki that was pulling you in. He was misunderstood and you could tell all he wanted was an ear to listen. You picked up your dress a little and began walking to Loki. He looked annoyed that he was here because every single year you were here, you never saw him dance once with someone.
“Don’t you look beautiful?” You looked to the right of you to see a man checking you out.
“Sorry, not interested.” You said before quickly walking away. You walked to the wall and began making your way to Loki but stopped when his mother got to him first.
You knew Loki wasn’t biologically Frigga’s but she did a good job raising him.
“Loki, what are you doing sitting? Get up, mingle, dance.”
“No thank you, Mother. You know I hate going to these things.” Loki grumbled.
“I wish you would meet someone. Look at your brother,” Frigga said and you peeked at Thor who was laughing with a group of women.
“Yes, be more like Thor.” Loki sighed.
“Go mingle. I didn’t make you come to this for you to sit on the side and watch everyone else dance and have fun.” She said before walking away. You bit your lip and picked up your dress before walking over to Loki.
“Hello, Loki.” You said and he looked at you. He looked at the dress you were wearing and you could have sworn you saw a smirk. But it was gone as quick as it came.
“Y/N, you came.” He sounded surprised.
“I did. I got an invitation. It would have been rude to ignore it.” You said, walking over to his side and taking a seat next to him.
“Don’t you have better things to do than to sit here with me?”
“I could but I like where I am.” Loki’s mouth tilted upwards as he looked at you but it quickly went away.
“You’re foolish to waste the night away speaking with me. Go dance, Thor’s really good at it.” Loki leaned back in his chair. You looked over at Thor to see more women around him. You knew they wanted to dance with him.
“Thor’s not the brother I’m interested in.” You said truthfully.
“Me? You’re interested in me?” Loki asked, both his eyebrows raised up.
“You sound surprised.” You chuckled.
“Intrigued.” He corrected you.
“I’ve seen you around the city. You’re very easy to spot.”
“What, I can’t be in the city?”
“I didn’t say that,” You said as you stood up.
“Leaving already?” Loki stared at you.
“Would you like to dance?” You asked him, holding your hand out. He looked at your hand as if it would poison him.
“I don’t dance. Go away, you’re wasting my time.” You weren’t going to let him get away that easily. You rolled your eyes and walked to him before grabbing his hand.
“I’ll go away after one dance.” You smiled at him before pulling him to his feet. If he really wanted to get away from you, he would but the fact that he’s following you to the dancefloor meant something to you.
“You’ll look like a fool dancing with me,” Loki muttered.
“Then so be it.” You said. You noticed the people around you move away to either give you some room or to get away from Loki. You couldn’t decide. You noticed people looking at you and Loki but you didn’t care about them.
“They’re all staring at you,” Loki said. You chuckled and grabbed his hand before placing it on your waist. You wrapped one arm around his neck and grabbed his other hand with yours. You moved in closer to him and started moving slowly to the song that was playing.
“I bet they wish they were me.” You smiled at him.
“I don’t think that’s it, love.”
“Let them stare. I didn’t peg you as the type of person who cared what others thought of him.”
“And what about you? Do you care?”
“I wouldn’t be standing here if I did,” You said truthfully. “You have to give yourself credit, Loki. You’re not as bad as you think you are.”
“Then you don’t know me very well.” At the change of tempo, he pulled you closer to him and slid his hand down your back until it rested on the small of it.
“I would like to.”
“That’s a beautiful dress you have on.” Loki moved with you. The more he talked with you, the more the people surrounding you two faded away.
“Thank you. I wish I knew who gave it to me. A new one comes every year along with an invitation to these balls.”
“What’s your favorite color?” Loki suddenly asked. At the confused look on your face, he just smiled. “Humor me.”
“Alright. Red. A deep, dark, red. I think it compliments my skin tone.” Loki just smiled and tightened his grip on your hand before twirling you away from him. Before you could process what was going on, he pulled you right back into him, his front to your back.
“I’ll make sure to send you the deepest red we have.” He whispered in your ear. You gasped and looked at him. Loki turned you back around and placed both hands on your waist, letting you slink your arms around his neck. You blushed and rested your head on his chest. You knew Loki was much more than the God of Mischief.