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“Oof, that looks like it stings.”
In the common room, Loki stood before an armchair that you had perched yourself on. You pushed up into a standing position on the chair, raising about a foot taller than him, gently grabbing his face to look at the bad split in his lip.
He licked his lips, tasting the blood from the small wound. You followed the movement with your eyes, quickly averting your gaze to other parts of his face, checking for injuries. You asked how it happened, and he hesitated to answer.
The mission was short, about 2 hours. In and out. Loki was assigned with his brother, their commonly known team name being 'Brains and Brawns.'
There was an explosion, but that was their own fault. There were booby traps around the abandoned HYDRA facility they were in and Thor accidentally set one off.
Loki didn’t want to tell you how he really got the cut, for he was quite embarrassed by it. There was a large crack in the concrete as they were leaving. And he tripped. He used his magic to cushion the fall, but not before his mouth hit the edge of something very hard…
Thankfully they were in the dark, so no one saw him trip and get a busted lip over a slab of concrete. If anyone found out, he would never live it down.
He decided to say he had taken down an enemy agent of HYDRA, even though it was supposed to be abandoned. The agent had one upped him but only for a short second, before he was overpowered by the strength and skill of the mage.
You frowned, not believing him for a second but deciding to play along. “I’m glad you’re okay, but it still looks bad.”
“I’ve had worse,” he murmured, trying to look anywhere but your eyes. His body betrayed him by how much he had already leaned into your touch, even if it was only a tiny bit. If you noticed, you didn’t say anything.
“Come on, let’s patch you up.” You hopped off the chair, holding out your hand.
Loki glanced at it before turning away and crossing his arms. “I don’t need it.”
Not having it, you grabbed his arm anyways, tugging him towards the elevator. “Stop being stubborn. It’s okay to ask for help sometimes, you know?”
He’s had worse wounds before, but something moved in his chest when you wanted to attend to such a small problem. He figured it was probably heartburn or something. Had to be. “Really, I feel fine. It will heal in a matter of hours.”
The doors shut and you turned to glare at him, although there was no real malice behind your gaze. “I am still going to clean it up. God or not, even the tiniest cuts continue to sting or throb. Plus, you don’t want it to get infected.”
He stared straight ahead, well aware that your hand was still tucked in the crook of his arm. He fought hard to not let a smirk appear.
Once in your quarters, you dragged him to the bathroom, pointing at the counter. “Sit.”
He did as said, albeit grudgingly, sliding back onto the counter with his hands clutching the edges. You blinked, shaking your head. “You’re still too tall. Sit on the edge of the bath instead.”
This time he did let his mouth curve into a smirk at how bossy you were. “Not even a please?” He teased. Nonetheless he obeyed, perching on the edge of the tub that was against the wall.
It was absolutely insane how much power you had over him. One touch or one command from you had his heart racing. If you had asked him to get on his knees he would’ve sunk to the floor with no complaints. But you didn’t have to know that, and he would prefer to keep it that way.
You opened the cabinet beside the shower and took out a red bag. Loki recognized it as a first aid kit. He watched as you took out cotton swabs, antiseptic, two jars he did not recognize, and a few little butterfly bandages.
You stood before him, his knees stopping you from moving any further. You used your foot to tap his own, motioning for him to move his legs. When he didn’t, you let out a little huff, now using your foot to nudge his feet apart.
The little grin he had on when you let out that huff widened as soon as you stepped in between his legs. Loki forced himself not to look down at your new position, instead focusing on how you were holding his face with one hand, dabbing the antiseptic soaked swab onto the cut on his lip.
Once you were done, you dipped the tip of your little finger into one of the jars. You held it up so he could see. “Permission to touch?”
Gods yes. “No! What is that?”
“Vaseline. Or petroleum jelly. However you want to say it. It’s supposed to help speed up the healing process by keeping your lips moisturized.”
You pushed your finger closer and he grabbed your wrist to push it further back. “Jelly? You want to heal me via breakfast spread?”
You couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re funny.” His breath stuttered when you smiled at him, your face way too close for him to even think about breathing. “No this is not a breakfast food. It’s not something sweet, although there is a cocoa butter option if you’d rather something vanillaey.”
Loki looked down his nose at your finger, the small amount of product not seeming harming enough. “If you think it will work…” He let your wrist go.
Your smile never dropped as you tapped the finger against his lip, coating it in the vaseline before rubbing it in. He couldn’t help it, but he looked up into your eyes. You were so concentrated on your task you didn’t notice, but he didn’t realize how close you were leaning towards him. This is arguably the best day of his life since he was banished to the compound.
After a long moment you pulled back, wiping your finger on your knuckle. He blinked at the action, watching you take some more of the vaseline out of the jar to rub on your hand.
You noticed his confusion. “Vaseline or Aquaphor is a good alternative for a moisturizer.” Holding up your hand, he saw you massaging it with your other. “If I can’t find my lotion, I use this instead. The skin around my knuckles gets dry quickly.”
“Fascinating,” he mumbled. Oops. He didn't mean to say that aloud.
“I don’t know about fascinating,” you let out a nervous chuckle, now folding your hands together as a distraction. “It’s annoying really, I hate the feeling of dry skin.”
Loki knew that already. Everyday you put on your favorite scented lotion, rubbing it into your skin till it feels smooth. There was one time you had offered him some, and he couldn’t just say no. The rest of the day he could not stop smelling the back of his hand, the scent of you following him everywhere he went. He loved it.
You grabbed another cotton swab soaked in disinfectant, noticing an odd distant look in his eye. “While I’m here, I can take care of the other little scrapes you got. If that’s okay?”
He blinked out of his daydream, realizing he was staring at your hands for a bit too long for him to play it off. At his silence, you dropped your hand, but he immediately caught it. “No, I mean…you may.”
Once you were done with cleaning up all his cuts, you put the butterfly bandages over the little deep slashes across his face, then stepped back to admire your work. “You’ll live.”
He turned to look at himself in the mirror, taking that opportunity to take in the back of your figure. He inwardly frowned when you stepped back, cleaning the supplies up.
Before you left he quickly grabbed your hand, causing you to freeze. You looked down at your conjoined hands, where his thumb was brushing against your smooth knuckles. “Thank you for your kindness.”
You swallowed heavily, feeling the room slowly charge up with a certain kind of tension. Tension you did not want to acknowledge.
“You’re welcome,” you muttered, needing space from the growing heat in the room. He let you go, watching as you rushed out of the enclosed space.
—
After two days have gone by, Loki bumped into his brother.
Thor furrowed his brows, dropping his gaze to his mouth. “When did we go on that mission?”
“Don’t tell me you still have not filled out your paperwork?”
“What? No, I have. It was three days ago.”
“Why would you ask such a thing if you already knew the answer.” He rolled his eyes, not wanting to give his brother anymore time to do whatever he is planning on doing.
Thor pointed to his face. “Why hasn’t that healed yet?”
Loki subconsciously touched his lip, then shook his head in dismissal. “It will heal in a matter of time.”
Thor was confused. They both had rapid healing abilities. There was absolutely no amount of magic that he could have been exposed to on the mission that would cause his healing ability to diminish so easily.
Coincidentally, you passed by, greeting both Asgardians. Eyes settling upon where Thor looked, you sucked in a breath through your teeth. “Why is it not healing?” You muttered to yourself. Louder, you got his attention. “Let me dress it again.”
You grabbed Loki’s hand and pulled him away. Surprising Thor, he went along with no hesitation, a small smirk forming on his face. He turned his head towards his brother who was staring after them and winked.
Oh! Thor finally understood. “Clever, brother. Clever.”
—
Just a few hours later, moments after dabbing the split with the tip of his finger to see if it was still tender, Loki found himself once again before you, listening to you chewing him out over how he was not supposed to touch the wound before it healed.
He stood there, taking all the heat with a smirk on his face. If he was to be honest, a first for the God of Lies, he was just happy to be there. You took a short break to take a breath, giving him the perfect opportunity to interrupt you. “Not that I don’t love to see you getting all worked up over me, but I need you to believe me, it doesn’t hurt. It’s practically healed.”
“Oh, so you’re telling me you just feel ‘fine?’” You used air quotes.
“Precisely. Do you want to know how fine?”
Within a second, he had you in his arms, lips against yours.
Before you had the chance to realize what was happening, Loki pulled away, hands still on your face as he assessed your reaction. Not waiting for you to say anything, he dropped his hands and abruptly left.
You stood there in shock, not knowing what to do or say. Out of all the techniques you had expected him to use to prove he was fine, that was not one of them.
But, unfortunately for you, you liked it. That would never be admitted, ever, but you were glad that you had come to terms about your feelings for him. This kiss solidified it. You liked him. Although there was no way he liked you back. That would be insane.
—
For five days, you did not see Loki. There was only one time you did, but before you could go up to him, his eyes locked on yours and he made up a lame excuse to whoever he was talking with in order to make a beeline for the door.
You don’t know why he is ignoring you. That’s a lie. You knew exactly why, you just didn’t want to believe it. He was avoiding you because of your kiss.
Another week passed by, and you tried hard to not let it get to you. But it was. And you hated it. You even knocked on his door a couple times to see if you both could talk, but both times there was no answer.
You promised to yourself that the next time you see him, you would force him not to run. You would force him to listen to you. You would force him to explain himself.
Yes! You grinned, nodding to yourself. Excellent plan.
—
Loki was going insane.
He could not stop thinking about your kiss. No matter what he was doing, you intoxicated his thoughts.
Training in the gym? He was kissing you against the weapons wall.
Stuck on mission paperwork? He swiped everything off his desk in order to lay you down on it.
On a mission? He kissed you in the middle of the battlefield as if no one was watching.
Making himself lunch? You sat on the counter rambling about something, only for him to spin around and interrupt your rambles with a kiss.
It was so bad that you were the first and last thought of the day. He was frustrated, upset with himself over how he used to be the most feared prince of Asgard, yet he melts into a puddle if you—a mortal— even breathe in his direction.
The only solution Loki could think of was to isolate himself for the sake of his own sanity, hoping these ridiculous fantasies would stop.
Hint: They didn’t. He just wanted you more.
He has successfully hidden himself from you on multiple occasions, afraid he might do something he or maybe you will later regret if left alone in your presence.
Today he wasn’t so lucky.
The team had a mission that did not require his skillset, nor yours. You were both left behind along with a few others. He had to make sure he would not run into you.
It was half past noon when he was in the kitchen, fixing himself up a sandwich, a food which he has found is quite tasty, and quick to assemble. Loki turned with the plate in his hands, only to come face to face with you.
Much to his chagrin, he slightly jumped, surprised at how you could sneak up on him like that.
“How were you so silent?” He huffed after taking a steadying breath, which wasn’t the best idea since he inhaled your sweet perfume.
Thankfully he managed to keep a hold of his plate, his sandwich safe from its floor demise.
You disregarded his question. “Why are you ignoring me?”
He scoffed. “How sore are your knees from jumping to such wild conclusions?” Loki tried to slide around you, but you easily blocked his path.
"Every time I enter or already am in a room, you come up with a reason to leave. I tried to talk to you, but you refused to answer the door.” He opened his mouth to speak, but you interrupted him. “And do not come up with a stupid excuse to justify your silent treatment. I saw your shadow under the door.”
He saw your chest heaving with every breath. You were angry with him. Rightfully so.
“Just tell me why. Why have you been ignoring me for two weeks? I want to hear it from you. You owe me that much at least.”
Loki stayed quiet. His eyes never strayed from your face, his gaze occasionally jumping between both of your eyes.
You sighed at his silence, tearing your gaze from his. “Fine. Don’t tell me. I already know why anyway.” That made him raise a brow. “You regret kissing me.” You dropped your head, picking at your hands. “But you don’t have to be so… so mean about it.” Your eyes watered as they looked back up. “You should’ve just told me instead of disappearing, making me think that I was the one to do something wrong. I thought our friendship was ruined.”
His heart broke upon hearing your confession. He didn’t realize how much he was hurting you. He spoke without thinking. “Our friendship is ruined.”
Oh, by gods. No. That didn’t come out right. He knew he messed up when two tears simultaneously rolled out of your eyes.
“Oh.”
“No. Wait. That’s not what I—”
“No, that’s exactly what you meant.” You cut him off and to his horror, backed away. “Thank you for telling me. I won’t bother you again.”
Setting the stupid sandwich plate down, Loki grabbed your hands in his to force you to stop in your tracks. “Stop. “Let me explain.” You tried to pull your hands away, not wanting to hear any more excuses, but he didn’t let you. His grip was gentle, yet firm.
“Please let me go,” you whispered, eyes downcast, not feeling like being humiliated anymore than you already felt.
“No. I need you to listen to me. Just for one minute.” He waited for a moment to see if you would try and leave again. You didn’t. “Maybe I was ignoring you, but not for the reason you think. I was thinking about our kiss, but if you believe I regret such a thing, you are mistaken.” That made you look up.
“What?”
“I…” he couldn’t believe he was confessing to you over his lunch break. How romantic. “I cannot stop thinking about you. Every day, every night, every hour you are on my mind. You frustrate me to no end with your kind actions, but that’s what I admire about you. I had to put myself into a sort of quarantine, in order for me to reclaim my sanity. But it did not work as well as I had hoped. It in fact had the opposite effect.”
You could do nothing but just stare at him. You don't know if your jaw is open or slack, or if you were still crying. You felt his fingers brush against your cheeks, proving the latter to be true. “...It did?”
“You have no idea.” He said, a nervous chuckle escaping from him, to hopefully ease a bit of the tension. You watched him lick his lips, eyes darting down to see they were smooth. You were glad that his healing powers kicked in, that he wasn’t in any physical pain anymore. You didn’t know about this internal battle he was struggling with.
“Um…d-does that mean you liked it? The kiss?” You cursed yourself for stuttering, not happy to be making a fool out of yourself in front of him, more than you already were.
A smile of relief crossed over Loki’s face, features soft yet actively brightening as he looked at you. “Yes. I have wanted nothing more than for it to happen again. I gave you space because I did not know if you felt the same way. I did not want to scare you off with my forwardness.” He suddenly turned serious. “Although I would like to sincerely apologize. I did not mean to force myself upon you like that. I value the use of consent, and am ashamed I disregarded it in a moment of weakness. It will not happen again.”
You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. First, the guy you liked kissed you. Next, he hid from you because he liked you back. Then, he apologized for kissing you without your consent and hiding from you in the first place.
You stayed quiet, replaying this entire interaction in your head. Loki didn’t like this quiet. This quiet unnerved him. “Is this a good quiet or bad quiet?”
“Sorry, just trying to process the last few minutes,” you murmured in a bit of a daze, eyes downcast to the floor. “How long?”
“How long?” He repeated in confusion.
“How long have you liked me?”
No response. You lifted your gaze up to find him just looking at you. He didn’t want to answer.
Now things were beginning to make sense.
It was only a few times that you had noticed, but at your weekly team meals, Loki would wait for you to take a bite of your food before eating his. How long had he been doing that? You thought it was just because he wanted to check to make sure the food wasn’t poisoned. Or if he was the one that prepared dinner, he wanted to see what everyone’s reactions were.
Or he would insist on offering to walk you somewhere even if you said you didn’t need him to.
Oh. The signs were everywhere.
“I am surprised you had yet to catch on. The others have noticed a lot faster than you have.”
“What?”
He moved past you towards the fridge, taking out a package of deli meat. “I have already been chastised by all who live in this sub-par compound. Told me if I ever hurt you there would be ‘consequences.’” It was his turn for air quotes.
“They what?”
“You know, I was so sure you knew. I even significantly slowed my healing process in order for you to attend to me everyday to ‘dress my wound.’”
You choked on air, spluttering out an expression in disbelief. “You what?!”
He licked his lips. “See? All healed. There was no reason to withhold my magic anymore once I had decided to isolate—”
“—Ignore.”
“Potato, potahto,” he shrugged his shoulders, not sure if he even used that phrase right. “Now, are you going to keep saying ‘what’ or are you going to join me?”
“Join you for what?” You hadn’t noticed that during your mini heart attacks, he was making another sandwich. For you.
“Sit.” Loki pointed to the island with a butter knife.
You stood frozen before feeling something snap you out of it. He tapped your forehead twice, not glancing up from buttering the bread. You decided to just obey, using your hands to push you up onto the counter. You swung your legs as you watched him make your lunch just how you like it.
He kept stealing glances at you out of the corner of his eye. This was just like one of his…fantasies in his mind, although there was a lot less kissing. Baby steps.
He took a steadying breath, then held the plate out to you. “Here.”
“Thanks.” After eating in what was half awkward half comfortable silence, you broke it, resuming the swinging of your feet. “So…uh, what now?”
“What now?” Loki took both your plates and put them in the sink. “What now is that you will go about your day up until 6 o'clock. From then you will get ready in order for us to make our 8pm dinner reservations.” You gaped at him. “Unless you have other plans?”
“Wha–”
“Or maybe you do not share the same feelings as I. Quite the shame.”
“Loki, are you asking me on a date?”
“Depends. Are you going to say yes?”
“Depends. Are you going to be worth my time?”
He took a step towards you and leaned forward. “Are you scared?” He smirked. “Understandable, it’s not everyday a God asks a mortal to join them for dinner.” He stood. “Ah, not just dinner. A romantic dinner. With me.”
“Ugh,” You scoffed. “Aren’t you just a charmer?”
“Only the best,” he winked. “So, dear one, what do you say? Care to be whisked away for a very fulfilling and rewarding evening?”
“Ooh, tempting.” You hummed, pretending to think hard. “How about this? Kiss me again, and I’ll think about it.”
“Are you manipulating me?” He put his hand on his chest. “This is such a shock. You? The sweet little healer who runs around to bring the Avengers back up to 100%? I am very impressed. In fact—”
You took a page out of his book and surprised him with a kiss. Loki fell silent, wanting to kiss back but you released him before he could. “Now we’re even.” You hopped off the counter and grinned at him, escaping the kitchen before he could attempt to grab you. “See you at 8.”