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Loki was moping. Again. He felt like drinking hemlock. Or hang himself. Any painful death would be welcome. With only a few hours left of school, things were untenable.
First, the whole school was decorated. There wasn't a single corridor without all those garlands and lights. Loki wanted to claw his eyes out.
Secondly, all the students had conspired to wear infamous Christmas sweaters according to this stupid tradition. Red, green, Santa, reindeer... it was torture. Not to mention the Christmas songs heard everywhere, every second.
In his last attempt at solitary rebellion, Loki had been careful to wear only his usual black leather clothes, to apply black eyeliner, and to paint his nails black. He hummed his best hard-rock out loud. The tyranny of Christmas had to be resisted.
Loki hated Christmas. Christmas was a family holiday, and he hated his family. Christmas meant endless, icy family meals, scolding from Odin, presents for Thor who would jump around like an excited puppy, because Thor was the golden boy, favored for Christmas like he always was. Loki would feel alone, in the shadows, and he'd be forced to stay there, because his mother would give him a reproving look for the sake of “family cohesion”.
Christmas was a holiday where the whole world seemed merry and excited, everything Loki wasn't. Nonsense.
And finally Loki was moping around because, as if to complete this horrific picture, Tony Stark had to be the eye-catcher. In his hideous Christmas sweater, the popular boy managed the feat of looking just as handsome as usual, and his brilliant smile was a sight to behold.
Loki did his best not to look. He looked down at his table and the professor's equations, ruminating more and more dark thoughts. Tony Stark, as cute as he was funny and intelligent, with whom he'd spoken a few times when they were paired up in science. Tony Stark, whom the whole school adored, and of course Loki had to give in to his charm too.
He'd rather die than admit it. Tony was a nice guy, but it wasn't as if he'd hit on or even consider the sarcastic goth who was his occasional nerd buddy.
From the loudspeakers came the ringtone, and Loki had to endure yet another Christmas song about love and presents. Gathering his belongings, he mentally prepared himself for the nightmare that would be the family festivities, listening to the other students babble ecstatically. He looked down at his feet as he walked towards the exit, sighing heavily.
- Loki, wait!
Loki almost told Thor to shut up, out of habit, when he realized it wasn't Thor's voice calling him.
He turned and froze. It was Tony.
Tony in his adorably hideous sweater, Tony smiling. Probably as a courtesy, like “happy vacations”. Oh, no. Loki would rather die.
- Happy holidays, Anthony, he mumbled quickly, wishing he could turn away and keep his eyes from lingering too long on the other boy.
- Hey, Lokes.
Surprised by the affectionate nickname, because everyone knew Tony Stark only nicknamed his friends, he shifted his gaze back to him.
Tony raised his hand in the air. Loki looked up. At first, he saw nothing but the ceiling. Then he heard a soft laugh, and lowering his eyes a little, he saw what Tony was holding in his raised hand.
Just above them, Tony was lifting a distinctive sprig of leaves.
Oh, this had to be a joke.
But Tony was smiling almost shyly, and Loki felt his heart speed up against his will. He must have stood still too long, because Tony's hand began to lower sadly.
The other boy's mouth slightly opened like he was about to apologize.
Oh, no, no, no. Impulsively, he grabbed the other boy's hand to keep it in place, and closed his eyes to press his mouth gently against his own.
With amazement, he could feel Tony's exhale, then the delighted smile against his lips, and they kissed, and Loki's belly filled with silly butterflies. When they parted, Tony smiled even more brightly.
- I've wanted to do this for a while,” the boy admitted, beaming. They say there are Christmas miracles. Looks like they might be right after all. Even though I wasn't sure you'd like all this sappy Christmas stuff.
As he kissed him again, for the first time, Loki, stunned, thought that a bit of Christmas spirit might not be so bad after all.