I have secrets hidden in my hair.

You weren’t sure how it had happened, you were just an administration assistant for Stark Industries, who suddenly found themselves lounging around on a couch next to some of the most powerful beings in the world. You sat on the long curved sofa, flicking through the channels on an extravagant flat-screen TV as you tried to find something that you hoped would entertain the sunny God that sat next to you.

The setting sun poured through the immense high rise windows that surrounded the room, casting a dark shadow over you as the light illuminated Loki’s tall figure from behind as he watched the two of you. You snuck a small smile at Loki as you skipped yet another chick-flick, while Thor groaned in frustration, fidgeting as he propped his bandaged leg up on the footstool. He was technically meant to be on bed rest while healing up from a particularly nasty wound he earned during one of the Avenger’s missions. You were supposed to make sure he stayed in his room, but after three days in near isolation, he hobbled to your desk, sweating and breathless to tell you he was losing his mind all alone in there. So you took pity on him and helped prop him up in the common room.

You thought back over the last few months and laughed to yourself as you realised that doughnuts were the likely culprit responsible for your newly found friendships. You had brought in a generously sized box for your first day on the job, in the hope to make a good impression. You left the container wide open on your large, curved desk, hoping it would be a welcome invitation for the tower’s slightly intimidating inhabitants to come say hello.

The effort had certainly earned you some polite smiles and friendly introductions, but you had never expected the God of Thunder to take such a liking to them. He had eaten nearly half the box in one go with astonishing speed as he started rambling enthusiastically about their fluffy texture and variety of intriguing flavours.

The success of the first treats pleased you so much that you decided to buy another box the following week, and the one after that until it had become a habit. Conversations between you and your new friend eventually progressed beyond sweet treats to more personal matters. This led Thor to encourage the other Avengers to get to know you better, until you felt you were good friends with all of them.

You had settled into a routine, seeing the same faces each morning, having movie nights and drinks with your extraordinary friends. One day, Thor burst excitedly through the glittering reception doors with a dark, brooding figure in tow. Thor waved enthusiastically to you as he dragged his companion towards your desk, instantly spotting the fresh box of doughnuts as he dived in to take two at once, while his company strictly avoided meeting your gaze. Looking at his striking outfit choice of black leather and vivid green, you suspected he was a new recruit. However, he hardly seemed enthusiastic about the situation.

Thor offered a doughnut to him, but the recruit simply grimaced in response, earning a chuckle as Thor pounded him on the back with an open hand. He swallowed his mouthful and finally introduced the stranger to you as his brother, Loki, explaining that he was going to stay at Stark Industries for a while. Loki finally looked over at you, so you offered him a kind smile, and he instantly darted his glance away from you to fixate on the floor instead, his jaw clenched as he crossed one arm over his torso in a defensive stance.

You had hoped his initial disinterest had just been first-time nerves, but you slowly realised over a few more weeks that he seemed to have little interest in talking to you, always allowing Thor to do most of the work while he skulked silently behind him. You were pleased to see that he had at least warmed up to some of the snacks that you had set out. He didn’t have the same intense love his brother expressed for them, but he would now occasionally take one and mutter a stifled “Thank you.” As he scurried past your desk as soon as you buzzed him into the rest of the building.

His cold attitude towards you would have felt more offensive if he hadn't also treated everyone else in the tower exactly the same way, choosing to shut himself in the library as much as he was allowed to instead of joining in with the weekly gatherings. Socialising was an important part of your job, and it made your life easier if you fit in with the group but it didn’t mean that you didn’t understand how he might feel. Perhaps Loki preferred to be alone, and that was fine, but perhaps he was struggling to find common ground with someone.

You could understand how it felt to be an outsider. After all, you were fairly ordinary compared to the company you worked with every day. You fondly remembered how much smoother it was to make friends once Thor had extended a friendly hand to you, so you swallowed your anxiety and decided to do the same for Loki.

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You tapped on the side of a large white mug with a little silver teaspoon as you fidgeted with your shirt, waiting for the kettle to boil. You poured the hot water and swirled the teabag around in the mug as you tried to rehearse what you were going to say to him. You attempted to come up with a few subject topics that he might find interesting, but came up short every time you pictured his face. Your hands shook as you removed the teabag, fumbling as you dropped it into the shiny metal bin. Your face burned as hot as the tea as you held it in your hands as you started heading down one of the corridors towards the library.

You prayed you wouldn’t bump into anyone so that no one would question who the tea was for. To your dismay, you nearly collided with Thor’s gigantic frame as you briskly rounded a corner. He greeted you as enthusiastically but then paused as he eyed the cup in your hands. “Going somewhere?” He asked, figuring out quicker than you expected that your desk was nowhere near this part of the tower. You stammered as you tried to think of a valid explanation, the only rooms in this direction were the library… and the men’s bathroom. You sighed and tried to avoid looking him in the eye, “I just need a break for a bit, I’m taking an early lunch.” You explained as you wanted to facepalm yourself. It was barely mid morning. You hoped Thor’s understanding of Midgardian mealtimes still had much to be desired.

You held your breath as he finally nodded with a smile, wishing you well while waving you goodbye as he continued on his way. You let out a huge sigh as you felt the tension in your muscles release, feeling grateful that you had bumped into your closest friend here and not any of the other inhabitants living in the tower.

You started moving again, your legs trembling as you pushed open the big, grey double doors that led to the library. You propped the door open with your elbow as you glanced round, Loki was the only person in here at this hour. He sat by the window on a sofa seat while flicking through an ancient looking book that looked like it was almost falling apart at its binding. You let the door swing behind you, cringing as the loud squeak cut through the heavy silence. Loki instantly glanced up at the noise, turning his head to watch you as you cautiously approached him.

You set the cup down on a coffee table next to him as he continued to silently observe you, waiting for you to speak first. It felt like your lungs were going to give out as you tried to find the right words to express why you had come out of your way to see him. “Uhhh. Tea.” You offered as you gave him a curt nod goodbye, smoothing down your top as you turned to leave. “Don’t go on my account.” You heard him suddenly mumble as you stopped in your tracks, turning back around to face him. He shrugged towards a plush chair opposite him as you wandered back over, crossing one leg over the other awkwardly as you perched on your seat.

You waited for him to speak again, but he simply returned his attention back to his book, however, you noticed he hadn’t actually turned the page for in while so it gave you some courage to pipe up again. “Do you like the book?” You questioned meekly, trembling in your seat as you caught the tiniest of glimmers in his eye as his attention settled back on you “It’s a bit too stilted for my liking. I’m not used to Midgardian literature, what would you recommend?”

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On your lunch break, you would disappear from your desk to bring Loki tea, and the two of you would sit alone in the library. This pattern slowly became part of your routine too, he would ask you for reading recommendations which you would eagerly provide him with, and the following day, he would tell you his thoughts. You would bring tea for both of you to sip as you dissected each novel, making sure to include the occasional sweet treat to accompany his drink. You would always try to rescue doughnuts with the little silver sprinkles on top from Thor as they were Loki’s favourite.

The two of you continued like this for a couple more weeks, slowly, you started to realise you missed his company if you had to skip your lunchtime chats to focus on any admin duties instead. He wasn’t what you expected when you first met him, only was he intelligent, but also funny - his sharp wit often had you in raptures to the point where you were scared the whole building could hear your laughter. When he spoke of what he read, his thoughts weren’t one-dimensional, but we were always multifaceted. He wanted to delve deep into the topic of the book with you, and he was always eager to hear your opinions too.

You often found yourself a bit preoccupied with thoughts of your lunchtime discussions during Tony Stark’s long staff meetings. On one day in particular, Loki had offered an incredibly insightful perspective regarding one of your favourite books, and you couldn’t help but let your eyes wander over to him as you thought about it. Loki smirked back as he caught you looking, causing your face to burn hot as Thor nudged you when he noticed you weren’t paying proper attention to your notes.

Eventually, Loki admitted he wasn't fond of tea, confessing that when you were together, he sipped as much as he could stomach before giving the rest to a poor, unsuspecting potted plant (that was already looking worse for wear) once you had left the room. You were mortified that you hadn’t caught onto how much he disliked it, but he laughed and assured you it was fine. He told you that even though he didn’t want the tea, he still wouldn’t mind if you kept coming back to give him more book recommendations. You felt too shy to mentioned it to him, but you secretly thought it was sweet that he had kept drinking it for this long - he had a very considerate side that you hadn’t expected from him based on your first encounter.

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Since your visits, you were pleased to see that he had gotten a little more confident outside the library. Today, he had chosen to hover around the common room where you and Thor now sat together. This time, Loki held your gaze and didn’t shy away as you smiled up at him, shifting yourself closer to Thor to make some room as an invitation to him to sit on the couch next to you. He took a step towards the two of you, but before he could get any further, Thor shouted enthusiastically at the TV as the channel changed to a colourful, action packed movie commercial. “Aha! Yes, I liked this one! There is going to be another! We need to go see that one together too!” He beamed at you while you nodded enthusiastically. The rest of the gang hadn’t been interested in seeing the first movie, so you and Thor had decided to go together.

The two of you had been having a great time watching the movie until he accidentally dropped his entire drink onto your lap, losing control of it as he cheered a little too enthusiastically at a particularly intense action scene. You reminded him of this clumsiness now, elbowing him in the ribs as you joked about how you hoped his movie theatre etiquette would be better this time round. He laughed with you, forgetting his tender leg for a second as he winced with the sudden movement, you watched him fold over his frame to inspect it as you glanced round to look for Loki, your smile vanishing as you noticed he was nowhere to be seen.

You stood up so you could get a better view of the room and noticed he had wandered over to the little kitchen in the corner, his concentration strictly focused on pouring himself a drink, swirling the dark liquid with one hand as he watched it flow inside its container. You decided to approach him to make sure he was okay, his eyes snapped from his drink onto yours suddenly as he knocked it back in one, finally setting the glass back down on the counter as he looked away from you. He stared at the decanter resting on the tabletop as you wandered slowly over to him, glancing back behind you to see Thor was fully occupied with whatever he had found on the TV.

“Are you doing okay over here, Mischief?” You asked cautiously, placing a hand on his arm as you stood next to him, leaning against a counter as you looked up at his large stature, towering over you. His face was blank as he studied you for a second, before shrugging, choosing to pour himself another drink instead of answering you properly. His reaction surprised you, he wasn’t as expressive as Thor, but he had at least started talking properly with you so you knew there was something going on. You considered approaching the subject tactfully, but dismissed it. He had a frustrating habit of instantly shutting down if he thought you were trying to weasel your way into his mind, so you decided being direct was the best option in this situation.

“Tell me what’s going on with you Lokes.” You demanded as gently as possible, his hand hovering over the decanter as he swallowed, watching you out of the corner of his eye as he stuttered over his words a little. You gave him what you hoped was an encouraging smile as he swallowed, trying again to get the words out. “Are you two…? Uh.” He struggled as he gestured vaguely in Thor’s direction and then back to you. It took you a second to register, but when you finally realised what he was implying you snorted, thinking he was joking at first until you noticed his normally pale cheeks had darkened.

You stared up at him with wide eyes and shook your head furiously, “No… no! We are just friends, never anything more.” You insisted as Loki slowly nodded, his lips parted slightly as he stared at you. You knitted your eyebrows together as you studied him. Is this what had rattled him so much? He didn't seem like the overly protective brother type, but… hang on.

“Wait… Loki, would it have bothered you if me and Thor were an item?” You asked as innocently as possible, thinking you already knew the answer, but you still wanted to hear it from him - just to be sure. Your suspicions were quickly confirmed as Loki suddenly backed away from you, attempting to abandon his drink and your line of questioning, but you grabbed him by the wrist before he could escape. He froze and turned back to face you, his skin now flushed crimson as he struggled to look you in the eyes. You let your hand slide down from his wrist to join with his as you reached up to place a small kiss on his cheek. His skin felt soft and cool as you pressed your lips to his cheekbone, causing you to blush yourself as it dawned on you how bold you suddenly were.

However, your affectionate gesture seemed to provide him with a little encouragement as he finally looked at you. His tense expression was visibly relaxing as he processed what had just happened. “It… might have bothered me a bit.” He confessed finally, a smirk on his lips as his earlier shyness suddenly vanished as a new confidence took over. He tilted your head up to look at him as he pulled you into a deep kiss. You wrapped your arms around his neck and started to passionately kiss him back, but you were interrupted by Thor whooping from the sofa.

You pulled yourself away from Loki, the two of you still flushed and gasped for air as you glanced over your shoulder at Thor, who watched the two of you with a gigantic smile on his face. “It’s about time!” He chuckled as he shook one fist in the air. “You knew!?” You cried, your arms still round Loki, while Thor continued to beam in your direction. “You can hardly blame me, what with the two of you making eyes at each other all the time!”

You scoffed, but wondered if it really had been that obvious to everyone. You turned your attention back to Loki, but Thor still wasn’t finished. “And brother, you constantly kept mentioning them! It was so obvious! I knew-“

“Say another word, I dare you.” Loki growled, cutting Thor’s speech short as he shot him a menacing glare. You laughed at the exchange between the two of them before deciding to pull Loki back into the kiss, causing him to relax again as he started running his hands through your hair. He hummed happily as he held you, but the moment was short lived as Thor started to call both of your names from the other side of the room. “Aargh! What do you want Thor?” Loki shouted back after he broke the kiss. You watched the muscle under his cheek twitch slightly as he stared Thor down again with icy blue eyes.

“Sorry… sorry guys! But are there any doughnuts left over there?”

✧. : ･. ☽˚｡ ･ﾟ ✧: ･. :. : ･. ﾟ✧. : ･. ☽ Tags: @lokisninerealms @lokixryss @just-someone11 @lokisgoodgirl @mischief2sarawr