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Christmas music was thumping through Tony’s speakers, shaking the floor and sending warm vibrations of a joy she hadn’t truly ever felt before shuddering through her.
Raya tried to copy Natasha and Wanda as they jumped around, their stumbling gait and giggly demeanour infectious as the glittering lights of the room blurred and weaved before her eyes, but she failed miserably again and again.
For once, she found that she didn’t care about the failure. Just about the way it felt to hear their laughter, to feel the thud of their happy hearts echoing through her ears as their blood rushed through their blushing bodies.
It was… freeing. As if she had broken a chain she hadn’t even realised was tethered to her wrist.
She staggered around, falling into Wanda, and the woman caught her with a slurred laugh, tipping unsteadily, and Raya couldn’t help but follow suit, her body fuzzy and warm in a way she hadn’t really felt before.
Clint was watching them from afar, his eyes flicking down to the young child in his arms and back up to them, and as she spun around, Raya heard the small creature stir, fussing slightly at the loudness of the music.
Tony was dancing with Pepper, fresh faced and clean shaven as he dipped her low to the ground, and the orange-haired woman’s face was red with exertion as a smile stretched across her crimson lips.
Bruce was swaying slightly back and forth to the music, tapping his fingers against his drink as he nodded up at Thor, his eyes wide and shining, almost as if he were in another world entirely. Thor was waving his arms about, clearly demonstrating something, but he kept knocking his flask into things and descending into loud bellows of laughter.
Steve was nursing a whiskey while chatting animatedly to a very unsure looking Bucky, who was glancing at the dance floor with the nervous eyes of a prey animal near a lake (Raya was very happy with herself for that description; Loki’s lessons in Midgardian literature and language were finally yielding some results). Sam was at his side, Sunnie attached to his hip, both smiling and pressing their faces awfully close, and Sunnie’s pale face was aflame as the man wriggled his eyebrows at her playfully.
Raya found herself spinning in an instant, unable to stop the joyful exclamations from spilling from her lips as the world became a dizzying blur, and then she was clapping along to a song she did not know but felt from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
The drinks Thor had let her sample seemed to be taking a strange toll on her; she was incapable of shifting her face from a smile as she wobblily made her way towards the three men and Sunnie.
She swung out her arms wide as she jumped from side to side in front of Steve, and his deep laugh as he took her hand and helped her spin made her smile even wider; truly, could a face hurt so much from a simple expression? She couldn’t get rid of it.
“Looks like someone is having fun.” The Captain said, his voice gentle, and Raya nodded excitedly back at him.
“Very, very, very, very much fun.” She agreed hurriedly, dropping his hand and extending it to Bucky, who stared at it in something close to abject horror. “You look scared. Do not. You need to…”
She pondered for a moment, Loki’s voice echoing in her head with the correct Midgardian phrase, and swallowed the saliva in her mouth before adding,
“Relax, man. Take a… chill pill.”
She had no idea what pill would make someone chill, and doubted it would succeed in ‘loosening up’ a human, as most frozen things just hardened, but by Steve’s choked laugh and Sam’s harsh cough into his elbow, she knew she must gave used the correct terms.
Bucky was looking at her with wide eyes, his gaze still uncertain, and he seemed to bow his head in shame as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“I just haven’t... done this in a while.” He muttered, and Raya waved away the words, marvelling at how her fingers seemed to multiply with the movement.
“I have never done this, and yet it is easy. You just move your body around in a fashion that is ‘jovial’.” Yet another word from Loki. He would be proud, if he had been here to hear it. “We can try together!”
Bucky looked far more apprehensive than she would’ve liked, but at a nudge from Steve, he sighed, shrugging his shoulders and pushing himself off the bar.
“If you insist.” He said quietly, and Raya caught the moment his eyes flickered over her shoulder, no doubt landing on Natasha.
Raya tightened the glove up around her bicep and took his hand, tugging him onto the dancefloor, ignoring the huff of indignation that escaped him at being dragged around.
“Fun, Bucky. We are supposed to be having fun.” She murmured, and she pulled him right up beside Wanda and Natasha, who were falling into each other’s arms and laughing noisily, waltzing to and fro. “Now, dance.”
She pointed at the ground and swayed herself hurriedly from side to side, quite unable to match herself up to the rhythm of the music but barely registering it anyway. She preferred the vibrations through the ground; they were calming, easier to figure out than the loud noise surrounding her.
She yanked on Bucky’s hand, and he jutted forwards, his body moving mechanically, as if it were a car that had not been properly greased (thank you, Tony), and Raya felt a sense of kinship as she twisted her head around in circles.
A ghost of a smile seemed to crack Bucky’s anxious features as he watched her, and a thrill of excitement rushed through her at the splinter in his mood, wanting to keep it going for as long as possible.
She reached her other hand out, and after a moment of hesitation, Bucky took it, gripping onto her fingers slightly, and Raya began swinging her arms to each side, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet every so often for a bit of added pizazz.
Bucky moved with her, his arms strong as he stepped with her, and as she began to sing loudly and offkey, messing up the lyrics of the song she did not know, she heard him stifle a breathy laugh.
Yes.
She could feel Natasha’s eyes on them now as they danced and noticed the shift in the woman’s heart rate almost immediately; thunderous as she looked towards Bucky, her pulse sputtering and then exploding into a pleasant hum.
It wasn’t hard to manoeuvre herself to knock lightly into her friend, and as she stumbled, she pushed Natasha towards Bucky’s spread open arms, glancing back to see her tumble right into his chest.
Both of their faces lit up instantly, and Raya found it rather fitting that humans burst into flames upon touching the one they loved. After all, there was no other way to describe the wonderful sensation, than the soft warmth of a blazing inferno.
Was that wrong? Where was Loki to correct her rambling thoughts?
“Don’t you just look a sight, my love.”
Loki’s voice, deep and smooth as it trickled in through her ears and sent her heart hammering wildly, made her look up, and she caught sight of his easy smile, his sparkling eyes.
She felt the wind rush out of her as the mess of warm feelings flooded her, the only sound escaping her a rushed, stammering muddle of giggles, and as his gentle hands pulled her in closer, pressing in carefully at her waist, she threw her arms over his shoulders.
“You are so pretty.” She mumbled into his cheek, and she felt his chest jump as his laugh rumbled through it. “Where have you been?”
She pulled back to look at him, admiring the dark green eyeshadow and glitter painted meticulously over his eyelids, and ran her thumbs over his cheeks excitedly as she leant up to kiss his forehead.
The mark of her lipstick rested in the centre, bright against his pale skin, and she smiled widely as he playfully dug his fingertips into her ribs.
“I was wrapping presents, my star.” He murmured, tucking a piece of her hand behind her hair, his fingers tracing down along her jaw as he pressed light kisses to her nose and cheeks. “I have gifts for everyone; especially you.”
His gaze was kind, soft, and Raya felt her skin burn as his hand trailed over her shoulder, clearly appraising her, giddily swinging out in his arms.
Loki easily guided her steps, pulling away to let her twirl beneath his hand, and when he pulled her back in, Raya threw herself at him, kissing him hard.
Their lips clashed, somehow gentle yet devouring, and she gripped the back of his head to keep him there, swallowing the warmth of him, before she sunk her fanged teeth softly into his bottom lip.
Loki made a surprised noise, before a chuckle pressed against her lips, and her shocked shout dissolved into breathless chuckles as he dipped her low to the ground.
Her heart was racing as they pulled apart, resting their heads together, and she let her hands slip up to hold his face, cradling it in her palms.
“I love you, Loki.” Raya whispered, the music, the lights, fading out as she met his eyes, skewed by how close they were. “I love you.”
Loki’s familiar smile played across his lips as his eyes shimmered with green light, and he leaned forwards, kissing her softly, before pulling back and murmuring,
“I love you too, Raya.”
The humans had it right.
Christmas really was the most wondrous of all their traditions.