restless-lee wild

“I don’t know the specifics of how your Seidr works, but from my half-assed observations, you can heal wounds, right? Does that extend to headaches?” You didn’t even greet him when you entered his room and flopped on his bed, laying flat on your back beside him. Turning your face to look at the handsome God of Mischief, you took notice of how he was sitting up, his back against the headboard, reading his novel. 

Well, he was reading it, until you barged in his room unannounced. He peered at you, looking both vexed and curious, seeing as you have never once sought out a conversation with him and yet here you were, laying in his bed beside him as though the two of you were good buddies, but he didn’t say anything.

“Can you fix it, Loki?”

“Why exactly do you believe I’d be eager to squander my abilities in such a way?”

“You’re not squandering them, and it’d be a good use of your time because I’ll stop annoying you about my headache if you fix it.”

Scoffing in amusement, Loki set his book on the nightstand beside him and refocused his attention on you. “Until now, I have never heard you utter more than a sentence to me.”

“Fix it.”

“I am not one to honor demands from mortals.”

Groaning in annoyance and throwing your head back against one of his pillows, you pleaded, “Loki, I have tried everything to make it go away.”

“You have yet to try requesting it. Kindly.”

“Please fix my headache.”

“No.”

“Loki!” 

Loki didn’t have a distaste for you by any means, or at least, you hoped he didn’t. You weren’t shy or anything, but you sure as hell weren’t a social butterfly either so when it came to how you spent your free time, you never sought anyone out. Loki included.  

It didn’t help that you were downright awful at talking to people. Sometimes you’d try to participate in conversations, but without fail, you always seemed to turn them in the awkward direction. Generally you avoided them as best you could.

Until now, that is. Your head was killing you and nothing seemed to be working. You had hoped that because you and Loki were acquaintances and civil with each other that he’d have at least liked you enough to be willing to do such an easy thing to help you out, but it seems you were wrong. 

“What if we made a deal?”

“You haven’t any possessions I desire, my dear.”

“Information? You’re the God of Mischief, I could give you dirt on me.”

He looked at you in disbelief. “Is your pain truly so atrocious that you’d wish to divulge something such as a secret to cure it?”

“If that’s what it takes.” You shrugged.

Loki smirked, then turned his body to face you. You reasoned that that meant he was now interested in this conversation, which would hopefully work out well in your favor. You’d realized pretty quickly, though, you didn’t really have any dirt Loki could hang over your head. Even if you did, you were in too much pain to properly think of something valuable.

You knew Loki wouldn’t fulfill his end first, though, even if fixing your headache would serve him in the end. You had to come up with something quick if you wanted this damned headache to be over. You inevitably settled for what was already on your mind, which had to do with your anti-social tendencies.

You’d been thinking about it because you were pondering whether or not it was worth it to try and enlist Loki to help you out in the first place. You certainly didn’t have anyone owing you favors, Loki least of all. Even with how little you’d spoken to him, you knew he hated being on the backfoot, and he’d never put himself in a position to owe anyone anything. Additionally, you weren’t exactly too keen on being vulnerable with anyone ever, which is why you didn’t try too hard to make friends with the other Avengers once you’d become one yourself.

It’s not that you didn’t want to. You’d just never really gotten the hang of it. You were kinda hoping the others would make their own efforts to get to know you, but they didn’t, and you didn’t blame them either. It was fair, considering you don’t really like people, and you reasoned they were just giving you space. No problem with that. The problem was that you didn’t know how to fix it. You weren’t well-versed enough in socialization to know how to bond with someone casually. 

For all this bonding you didn’t know how to do, there was one thing that could have worked if you weren’t built the way you were. A couple of the Avengers would show their playful side and affections through little tickle fights here and there. It wasn’t something anyone made a deal about; in fact, it happened so little you didn’t think anyone else would really consider it bonding unless you explicitly pointed it out. 

However, if someone pulled a prank on the wrong person, or Peter got too arrogant with Tony, or even if it casually came up in conversation because Vision was trying some new form of affection with Wanda, that was a way the team members would bond with eachother, even if they themselves didn’t realize it.

It was so rare and treated so casually that you probably wouldn’t have noticed it otherwise, but it stuck with you because you’d figured ages ago that it would be your perfect ice breaker with the team. You didn’t have to open up about your past, or even talk, you just had to get too cheeky with the right person and they’d get ‘revenge’.

The issue lied in the fact that you weren’t ticklish, not really. I mean, sure, you smiled, even giggled sometimes in the right circumstance, but overall you were not substantially affected by it. The few spots you did have you’d get used to rather fast, and the one time someone had made an attempt - Thor - he didn’t get enough of a reaction out of you to keep going. 

If you happened to be in the right place at the right time and it came up in conversation, you never knew what to say; that seemed to be the pattern for just about any non work-related conversation you were a part of. The first time it had come up around you, Thor told everyone you weren’t ticklish; they tried to prove him wrong, it didn’t work, and they agreed with his assessment.

Which now led to the ‘dirt’ you could give to Loki. You wanted to be ticklish. Yeah, it’s stupid intel on you, but it’s embarrassing, and the team would probably love the idea that you actively liked the idea of being tickled. It was definitely mischievous knowledge to have on someone, and the exact secret Loki was looking for.

If it were under any other circumstances, you wouldn’t ever divulge this information, but this headache was bordering on the worst migraine you’d ever had, which is bad, and you were sure you’d take on some kind of brain damage if not cured soon. You would likely regret this decision later, but right now you did not have the capacity to overthink it. Begrudgingly, you told him. You spoke quietly, hardly above a whisper.

“Sometimes I wish I was more ticklish than I am.” Loki whipped his head around to look at you once more.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Fix. The. Headache. I will elaborate once the pounding in my head is gone.” You’d muttered through gritted teeth. Silently, he’d pressed two fingers on your temple, and after a small wave of feeling washed over your head, the pain was gone. You were so relieved you could cry. 

“Are you alright?” He questioned. You glared at him, and scolded, “I would have been fine much sooner if you weren’t being so difficult! I was in pain!”

“I underestimated your struggle. My apologies.” 

You scoffed. “That doesn’t help now.” 

“Now, I believe you owe me elaboration. You wish to be ticklish, of all things?” There was a cheeky lilt in his tone, and you blushed, but nodded.

“It’s not that I’m completely immune, I just…barely react. Makes it difficult when the others try to be nice to me for once and it just doesn’t work, which makes the moment awkward, like every other time they try to interact with me, and suddenly the little bit of cordiality we did have is weaker than it was before.

“So, you are susceptible to it, but you feel it’s not substantial enough. And it matters to you so deeply because…” he trailed of in question. You nodded and turned on your side, your back facing him. You tucked your hand under your cheek and finished his sentence.

“I just want to bond with them. It’s the only way I think I could, but it doesn’t work.” You heard Loki chuckle, this time a little more empathetic-sounding.

“If you are not immune, then I’m inclined to wager that you’re more affected by it than you believe. If that is the case, it is simply a matter of locating a spot that would be… effective.”

“I guess.” 

“Ah. Well, I suppose that information is sufficient enough for me. You may leave now.”

You chuckled and stood up to leave. You walked out of his room, quietly thanking him and bidding him goodnight. You wandered through the halls, mind rather quiet now that your headache was cured. It was pretty late at night by the time you’d finally relented and sought out Loki’s help with the pain, so after you got to your own room you went straight to bed.

It wasn’t until you were about to fall asleep that you actually registered the gravity of what you’d done, what you admitted to the God of Mischief, who would undoubtedly use it against you in due time. You were too distracted by pain to really feel the embarrassment about what you’d confessed to in the moment, but now that you were lying in bed and your mind was beginning to wander again, it actually settled into your awareness. You started feeling sheepish, not really sure what he’d do about it. 

He didn’t say much about it, other than he thought it may work under the right circumstances. You tried to push that thought away. It would be too much of a distraction if you let yourself worry about what he might do later on. Accepting the consequences of your actions with a small sigh, you reasoned you’d find out what he was planning sooner or later, seeing as there was no way he wouldn’t take action eventually, and subsequently let it go. You fell asleep.

Over the next few weeks, although nothing truly fruitful came out of the conversation with Loki, it had resulted in you having to confront that fact that bonding with the others was really important to you, but you also had to face the reality that you didn’t know how.

You never had the chance to learn how to bond with people, seeing as you grew up in a Hydra facility. You were kept in the dark about how and why you wound up there at such a young age, but naturally you had grown curious as you got older and you began to investigate, sneaking on a computer to look into the files on your circumstance. When you had accessed the files about your situation and read through them, the terminology felt unintelligible to you, but you had picked up the basics of what happened, and that’s all you really wanted anyways.

Turns out, you were born in some small town in the middle of nowhere. Because of the location, the government had no clue when terrorists - or whatever they were, you didn’t care too much about the official name - had taken residence and started experimenting on the poeple. You mostly ignored all the information explaining what the actual experiment was, how it happened, or its effects on the town itself in the aftermath. 

After everything was said and done, they kidnapped a handful of people, you being the youngest, and brought them to the facility where you were raised. You were taught how to fight, how to sneak around, and you even went undercover a handful of times. You don’t know what happened to the others you arrived with, but you didn’t care enough to find out. Reading the last sections of the file, you couldn’t understand all the science and biology mumbo-jumbo, but from what you could gather, you being taken had to do with your genetics? 

It wasn’t until the Avengers arrived to stop them and save you that you learned there was some plan to alter you genetically and use you as a weapon, which was what the Avengers had shown up to stop. When they had a sit-down with you to explain what Hydra had done and were going to do with you, you honestly found it hilarious how in the dark you were about it all. I mean, you had literally read the file and just didn’t bother to look into the ‘mumbo jumbo’ you didn’t understand. 

After the small bout of laughter from you, made worse by the little ‘we’ll return you home safely’ speech, you clarified that you didn’t have a home to go to, so the Avengers recruited you, of all things. The offer made you laugh anew, but you accepted it nonetheless. 

Which lead you to the whole problem you were dealing with now. You realized very fast after settling in that you didn’t know how to get along with people, or talk to them, or anything similar. Every time you tried to, it only seemed to make things worse.

A perfect example being this morning. You had just come back from a rough mission that night, and after you had woken up you immediately went to the kitchen to get some water. When you arrived, there was playful banter sounding through the room. Thor, Nat, Steve, and Bucky were talking about comfort food, but it had spiralled into a conversation about weird food combinations they’ve come across and/or enjoyed.

It was actually a funny topic, but you weren’t sure how to add to it. Even so, you tried to push yourself and as you made your presence known and got yourself a glass of water, you leaned against a counter to face them and tried to relate to what they were talking about.

“I eat cottage cheese straight out of the container when I’m stressed.” You had shrugged to make it seem casual, but you had realized your fatal mistake when everyone looked mildly grossed out. Naturally, you tensed and got defensive. “Wait, no, I didn’t mean the container in the fridge everyone uses, that’d be weird, I just meant I would buy my own and eat out of that. I left out the context, I-” You had stopped yourself when the others began to chuckle and mutter things akin to ‘whatever you say’. 

Well, great. You just said something awkward as usual, and then ruined the mood by being too defensive about it. Thor had this look of pity in his eye, or at least that's what it felt like in your heightened state of emotional sensitivity. Run by your emotions and feeling embarrassed, you set your glass back down on the counter. You had put a little too much force behind it, though, and the glass shattered, spilling glass shards and water all over the counter and floor. You threw your hands up exasperatedly and stomped out of the room.

You were mortified, but the only thing you could really think of to try and shove that emotion down was to go outside and jog. You weren’t sure why the moment had gotten to you the way it did, seeing as it was easily something everyone would forget happened in a weeks’ time, but you had been harder on yourself about trying to connect with the others. When the few attempts you made didn’t work, you really beat yourself up over it. 

After a good bit of jogging, you slowed your pace and chose instead to walk. It was cloudy and cold, just the kind of weather you liked being outside in. The other Avengers didn’t seem to share that ideology, because you were the only one outside. At least, you thought you were. 

“I was led to believe weather at this temperature was distasteful for mortals, and yet you-” he stopped mid-sentence to suppress a laugh as you all but screeched and dropped to the ground at his sudden appearance. You couldn’t help it. When you weren’t particularly on alert, it was quite easy to scare you, and you were told your reactions could be dramatic. 

Great, making a fool of yourself again. You hated being laughed at. Amused, Loki reached out a hand for you to grab, and lifted you back up to stand. Blushing at your small outburst, you tried to hide how fragile your emotions were at this moment. You were all but ready to cry at this point, but you were not about to do that in front of Loki, so you tried to hide the fact you got teary eyed by huffing and looking in the other direction. You’d rather him think you were embarrassed or annoyed than sad.

You stated, “There’s more interesting things to talk about than the weather, you know.”

“You are quite right. I’d like to bring up the little factoid you’d given me that night you had a migraine.”

Taking a deep breath, you decided to humor him. “Um, what about it?”

“I’ve decided it was not sufficient information.” 

You scoffed at him, starting to get a little nervous, as you weren’t sure what direction he was trying to take the conversation. “Loki, you can’t just change your mind about it weeks later. I really appreciate the assist, but we had a deal and I fulfilled my end.”

He smirked, a devilish look in his eye. “Strict rules were not set. The boundaries of the agreement were left up in the air, therefore I can change my mind whenever I’d like to.” 

In an attempt to deflect how on edge this conversation was beginning to make you, you rolled your eyes. Before you could make a snarky comment, though, Loki had continued. 

“The issue, Agent, is that I have realized I am not yet able to use the information against you. There is no leverage to be had if I don’t know where your sensitivities lie.”

You almost choked. “e-excuse me?” You asked, willing him to continue. 

“I suppose, if you were to ever cross me, I could simply tell the others you enjoy it, but they would think I am lying, seeing as to their knowledge, you aren’t even ticklish. But for me to know, and it to be truly valuable information to have, I should know how to use it against you myself, should I not? I’m more than willing to get my hands dirty.”

He was regarding your confession from weeks ago so casually, making it a little game of semantics. You couldn’t tell whether that was to fluster you or not. You were completely bewildered that he’d even try to make this a conversation, so much so that you all but forgot why you had gone outside in the first place. 

You’d assumed he’d just try to, well, do it if he wanted to know how to tickle you, but here he was, completely nonchalant while addressing his ‘issue’ with you. Was he asking you to tell him where you were ticklish? After how down you’d seemed about it all those weeks ago, wouldn’t it have been obvious that you literally didn’t know?

He continued. “Should you cross me, I’d find much more amusement in taking it out on you personally, than simply embarrassing you in front of the others with your little confession.” You refused to look at anything but the ground. This chat was not going in your favor.

“Um. Let me get this straight. It’s not enough to know that I…um. Wish I was less immune.” Yeah. You weren’t just gonna refer to it as saying you liked it. “And now, you need to know where I’m susceptible to it? I don’t even know that, what good did you think asking me would do?”

He smiled wickedly. “Ah, so I have permission to take this information for myself?” You widened your eyes, and took a few steps away from him, putting your hands out in front of you. “That is absolutely not what I was implying! Permission denied.” 

You weren’t really sure why you were letting yourself get worked up with anticipation. You didn’t even think he’d be successful, but his confidence in himself really got to you. You reasoned he was the God of Mischief, and that if anyone would somehow be able to figure out how to tickle you to pieces, it’d be this guy. 

So, when he quietly chuckled and told you to run, you did not hesitate. It didn’t stop you from looking behind you and trying to make some sarcastic remark, but the statement was interrupted by you slamming into the actual Loki, and him wrapping his arms around you. He lifted you off the ground by a few inches, but your momentary confusion was resolved when you’d seen what you thought was him two seconds earlier dissipate in green smoke, and you laughed. 

“Okay, I’ll admit, that was funny. Making me think I actually had a chance, that was-” you were huffing out your comments from the exertion of suddenly bolting in the way you had.

“Mm, yes, I agree. I’m quite hilarious. Now,” He laid you on the ground, and flipped you over so you were lying on your stomach, sitting atop the backs of your legs. You didn’t put up much of a fight. It’s not like you’d win.

You scoffed in a sarcastic manner, leaning on your forearms and burying your face in your hands. “I’m not getting out of this, am I?” You muttered. You knew the answer was no. You brushed the hair out of your face.

“Any attempts at escape or prevention of the inevitable will result in my using my abilities to keep your wrists in place. For your own sake I’d advise against trying.”

“Wait, you can do that?” You laughed. “That’s actually so cool. If you don’t kill me or whatever, it’d be cool to learn more about your abilities.”

Loki seemed caught off guard by your lack of protests, and queried, “Do you genuinely believe your compliments will appease me? What you are facing cannot be avoided, Agent.”

“What? No, I know that!”

Chuckling evilly, he said “Enough delay,” and sprung his hands into action, rapidly squeezing at your sides, only for you to snicker but otherwise have no reaction.

Deciding to be a little sassy, you quipped, “I told you. The basic spots don’t work on me.” 

Part of you was worried that would throw Loki off completely, and he’d let you both go about your day, as Thor had done when he tried these games, but he didn’t. He just seemed amused. 

“Thank you for the insight, Agent. Fortunately, I’ve planned for that, and it is precisely why you are in the position you are. This way, I have access to the spots that are not-” you cut him off, having way too much fun being cheeky with him.

“Aw, I didn’t know you knew how to thank people! That’s so sweet!” You knew that deep down you were trying to egg him on, but you weren’t going to admit that to yourself. You continued with the flippant remarks, “Did being an Avenger make you soft? I mean, they taught you manners and everythi-”

“Mortal, you have wished to see more of my abilities, and I promise if you do not keep these commentaries to yourself, I will make you silent. It is not wise to trifle with the God of Mischief.” The threat properly shut you up, despite having so many more things you could say to irk him. You just snickered into your hands instead.

Pausing for a moment to confirm that you had indeed chosen to be silent, he then continued his original line of thought. “Now, if you are not susceptible in the common places, perhaps an uncommon one would suffice.” He decided to lightly trail a finger down your spine, which made you bite back a smile.

Seeming pleased that you were affected by it, he continued all the way down your back and trailed up again. He decided to bring his hands to the small of your back and using very light touch, he trailed two fingers from each hand along it. You tensed your shoulders, twitching at the feeling, a small giggle escaping your lips.

“Well, I’m sure this will become quite the discovery for both of us, won’t it? I take it you’ve yet to have anyone make an attempt on your back when tickling you, which is likely part of your problem.” 

You groaned and hid the blush dusting your cheeks. Loki tilted his head, and deciding not to waste time on anticipation, simply went for it. He began to scratch at your shoulder blades, and the sensation genuinely took you by surprise. Giggles were pouring out of your mouth immediately, and you attempted to scrunch up your shoulders to fight him off. It didn’t work. 

Your next move was to try wiggling out from under him, but he was a god and keeping you down was child’s play for him. Embarrassment settled in as you realized this whole situation was child’s play, and you were stuck in it. After a few moments, right as you began to get used to it, Loki switched tactics and began digging into the backs of your ribs. 

It sent you reeling, leaving you perplexed that your body even reacted the way it did. That it could react like this. You were laughing loudly, and failing at bucking your hips, involuntary pleas leaving your mouth with a few added ‘what the hell?’s and ‘I didn’t even know’s. 

You tried moving away from his hands, but it didn’t do you any good. To your dismay, you couldn’t even so much as swat him away from you while he followed your movements. You had tried to take comfort in the fact that you’d get used to it, but the mortifying realization set in that you never did.

It tickled just as bad as when he had first started, and you weren’t used to it in the slightest. Nothing had ever tickled for more than a few seconds, and suddenly being trapped in the unbearable sensation for whole minutes had seemed like an unobtainable dream mere hours ago.

“It has only just occurred to me this is the first time I’m hearing your laugh, Agent. I have to say, your laughter being this endearing is not any kind of incentive for me to withdraw myself.”

“Shuhut UP! Gohod!” You’d thought his silence was annoying, but that little comment made your blushing worse, which in turn made the whole ordeal more intolerable, and-

“OH MY GOAHAHA!  NO!” You screeched. Screeched. Him changing targets and scratching at your shoulders, shoulders of all things, is what did you in, and your train of thought outright dissipated. You completely stopped thinking as ticklish euphoria overwhelmed you and your struggling increased tenfold. It didn’t do anything to help, though, and boisterous laughter you’d never even knew you could have escaped your lips.

“Oh my. Uh oh. Well, this is unfortunate for you, isn’t it?” You could barely hear him through your own laughter and didn’t have the wherewithal to respond to his remark. It flustered you to no end, of course, and in all your struggling the instinct to hide your face was ever-present.

However, you could not withstand it for much longer. You’d never been this undone from tickling before, much less for so long, and after another few moments of being breathless in your laughter, you caved.

“ALRIGHT! Alrihight! Uncle! I cahan’t!” You were frantically smacking the ground with the palm of your hand, not sure if he would relent or even pick up on the fact you were seriously tired. To your luck, he did have mercy, and stopped. He made an attempt to massage your shoulders to help you settle down, but to both of your surprise, that tickled too. He decided instead to stand up, reaching out a hand to help you do the same.

Once you’d flipped yourself over and taken his hand, rising to your feet, you took a second to rub the feeling out of your shoulders. Your face was still on fire, and there were a few residual giggles as you took a second to try and regulate your breathing. 

Loki didn’t say much, but had a smug look on his face. 

“What’s the look for?” You didn’t make eye contact with him, but awaited an answer.

“Nothing spectacular. I simply enjoy being correct. It was just a matter of finding the right spot, as I’d predicted. Furthermore, I am now able to take it out on you personally when you’re being arrogant with me, which I do quite like the prospect of.”

Letting out a long breath, you ran a hand through your hair. It irked you how cocky he seemed about the whole situation, so you decided to try and get back at him, make him squirm a little. “Oh, absolutely. I’m sure you love the idea of putting your hands all over me again, huh?” 

You expected him to immediately retaliate, but he momentarily froze, which caught you off guard. You might’ve been kidding yourself, but you thought you saw a small blush, too. You didn’t focus on it, though, because he very quickly composed himself again, eyes darkening, and said, “I’d suggest you leave my sight, Agent. I assure you if you don’t, and I ‘get my hands all over you’, I won’t relent until your lungs collapse entirely.”

You blushed hard from that threat, and ran from him once again, but this time there were no illusions. He’d let you go, which you’d hoped was because of the way you caught him off guard, but you knew better. He had a plan. 

His plan did come to light eventually, but not in the way you’d expected. You’d wandered around the compound cautiously in the hours following the threat, but there was never a surprise tickle attack like from him like you’d anticipated.

It wasn’t until you finally got brave enough to enter the common room that you realized what he’d done. Your first indicator that something was off was that when the same group of heroes from this morning noticed your presence, the conversation didn’t cease entirely. Then, Natasha greeted you. Natasha. 

She never did that, only ever just nodded in acknowledgement of you. This time when she nodded, it was to point out an open seat on the couch. They were inviting you to join them. You cautiously said hello back, and sat on the cushion Nat had nodded to, which resulted in you sandwiched between Bucky and Thor.

Everyone had continued their conversation like nothing happened. Not sure what to do, you just tried to sit and listen. You were really stiff, though, and it seemed Bucky picked up on it. 

“Loosen up, giggles, this isn’t a mission briefing.” He elbowed you in the ribs, which made you twitch, and you blushed at the nickname. 

“What did he tell you?” You asked flatly. 

“Ah, yes! My brother has informed us of your lies, little mortal!” Thor piped up.

“What lie? When?” You tried to play dumb. So that was Loki’s plan. You didn’t think he’d tell everyone so soon, especially not after having made such a deal about him enjoying it more if he just, well, did it himself, but you didn’t want to let up too quickly. He might not have told them everything.

“You really thought just hiding the fact you were ticklish would work? You had to have known someone would figure you out eventually, given who we live with.” Nat clarified.

“Okay, can I just expla-”

“You’re tense, giggles. What’s that for?” Bucky reached for your arm, and anticipating where this was headed, you shot up and tried to promptly exit the room, but Thor had grabbed you by the waist and sat you right back down, your back against his side while Bucky grabbed your legs and set your ankles in his lap.

“What’d Loki say again? Uncommon spots, right?” Bucky asked. You didn’t respond.

Fight or flight kicked in, and your body had chosen fight. You struggled ‘valiantly’, as Thor had called it, but it was no use with him wrapping one arm around your torso, effectively trapping both you and your arms, and your ankles in Bucky’s iron grip. With his free hand, Thor began to poke around the backs of your ribs. 

Simultaneously, Bucky had pulled your ankles closer to him, straightening out your legs to try fluttering his fingers underneath your knees. Both sensations at once already had you giggling like a kid. It was embarrassing, having this happen in front of the entire group. You flung your head back in laughter as Bucky had switched to squeezing right above your knees and Thor began to scratch at your shoulder blades.

This was so unfair. You had already been attacked once today, barely had time to recover before you made it worse for yourself and started running from the next anticipated attack, and right when you let your guard down, this happens. Loki couldn’t give you even a day before exposing this information to the others. What a jerk.

After Thor and Bucky had messed with you for a few minutes, Bucky released your ankles and you immediately curled in on yourself, pulling your knees to your chest. Thor let you go as well, but without really thinking too much about it, you let yourself stay where you were leaning against his side. 

“That was uncalled for!” Everyone in the room seemed amused by the situation. For once, you didn’t get defensive over the silence in the room. It felt comfortable this time.

After a minute or so of everyone settling back down and Steve saying something about how ‘giggles’ was an accurate nickname, you had the courage to ask what exactly Loki had told them. 

“Well, you seemed quite on edge this morning! I asked my brother if he would try to cheer you up, because you have always seemed more comfortable around him than the rest of us. I was sure he’d know what to do!” Thor began to explain. 

“Imagine our surprise when he comes back letting us know you lied to us about something so…trivial. Made a big deal about your ‘misdeeds’, then told us how to get back at your for it, said something about it being the most effective way to put you in your place. That’s all.” Nat finished.

The revelation hit you like a truck. He didn’t just tell them about it as a way to get back at you. It was more than that. He made a big deal about it, told them to make it their first resort with you whenever you acted out. If he wanted to embarrass you, he would have told them you liked it, maybe playfully tease you about it to them, and went on about his day. 

But he didn’t do that. He wanted them to seek you out. You remembered how you’d told him all those weeks ago you felt it’d be the only way you’d be able to bond with them, that you wanted them to try and seek out connection with you. He didn’t embarrass you. No, he told them exactly how to connect with you in the only way you knew you couldn’t mess it up.

That little…God. 

You teared up, but to play it off, you yawned. “Well. He’s a jerk, trying to embarrass me like that.” You tilted your head up to Thor. “Thank you. For wanting to look out for me. I’m, um, sorry for being all touchy this morning.”

“It’s quite alright, little one!” You laughed, and Steve had began to talk about some memory he and Bucky shared. It was a fun story, one that you didn’t make comments about, but you enjoyed being in the conversation nonetheless.

After everything had settled down, you made your way to the library in search of Loki. you found him lounging on a loveseat, reading. His arm was hung lazily over the back of the furniture piece, his other one propped on the arm of it and holding his book, his posture casual and yet elegant as ever. You were not that kind of graceful, and never have been. He was literally doing something mundane and looked majestic. 

Chuckling once to yourself as you walked over to where he was, you took the seat next to him, leaning your back against the loveseat arm opposite to him and pulling your knees up to your chest. You wrapped your arms around your shins, and rested your chin on your knees, peering up at him. 

It was likely that you looked a little worn out, but he didn’t turn his concentration away from the pages of the book, not until you said something to grab his attention.

“I know what you did.” Flitting his eyes in your direction, then returning his gaze to his book, he replied, “I made no efforts to conceal that I briefed the others about your sensitivities, and you are no imbecile. Of course you know.”

“No, I meant that I know why you did it. Means a lot.” He scoffed.

“I did it because you were being snide with me far too much for me to allow for no repercussions. I simply did not want a lack of action on my part to get to your head.”

You smiled softly at that. “Okay. I believe you.” 

“I am the God of Lies. You absolutely do not believe me.” He set his book down and turned himself to face you. “I don’t appreciate the implications of me having gone soft.”

You eyes wandered the room for a moment, but eventually your gaze drifted back to the God before you.

“It worked, you know. They invited me to the next game night a few minutes ago. I didn’t even know they had those until today.”

“It had nothing to do with me.”

You laughed. “I get it, I get it, you have an image to uphold. Fine. I won’t say anything about it. But, thank you. Really.”

He didn’t respond, but he did pick his book back up, seeming to have a more content look on his face. Deciding to leave him to his antics, you got up to exit the library. On your way out, you added, “Also. I won’t tell anyone about how you got all freaked out when I implied you wanted to put your hands all over me, or whatever it was I said. Promise.” You ducked and covered your head, narrowly dodging the book that went careening by you immediately after your remark, and laughing, you went back to your room to go to sleep. 

************************************************************************

When Fury said it would be cold during your mission, and you volunteered, you didn’t know at the time that he meant Switzerland in fucking January cold. You didn’t dislike it by any means, and you actually preferred being chilly over being warm, but you felt as though it would be difficult to accurately prepare for the low temperatures and crazy snow. Thank the lucky stars you at least didn’t have to go in alone. You were tough, you knew that, but sheesh, this task was a grueling one and you didn’t think it’d be safe to only send one or two people in. 

Now, you weren’t supposed to be running head to head with any enemies, but you had to map out a snowy forest by hand because Fury caught wind of a rumor that the aforementioned forest was to be some kind of weapons-he-didn’t-like-the-sound-of drop site in the future, and he wanted to be ready. That particularly woodsy area wasn’t ideal for any kind of machinery to map anything out, though, hence the team being sent in.

You admit it might be a little redundant, sending in two whole avengers and a freaking god for this task, but you and Bucky weren’t entirely sure what awaited you there, and the extra reinforcement of Loki may or may not have been influenced by his insistence that he be there to protect his dear love. This was one of those cases where only two people going in wasn’t entirely ideal, but three was also a bit unnecessary.

You were thankful for it having been a bit stale in the missions department lately, at least, because if this basic “explore a cold forest” mission took three avengers, it was good that there weren’t any other big missions that would actually need the help, happening at the same time.

The three of you were boarded on the Quinjet, en route to said location now, where you had been told an abandoned cabin awaited you. You began to notice that the closer you got to your destination, despite not even having landed yet, you were already starting to feel cool. It wasn’t uncomfortable, as you were used to low temperatures and even welcomed it, but if you were already feeling the chilly air while inside, outside could only be far worse.

After having landed, the three of you quietly stepped off the Quinjet and onto the snowy terrain ahead. You could see the rickety cabin in the distance, but you appreciated that there was a short walk to get to it. You wanted to take in the beauty of your surroundings before the mission ruined how stunning the landscape was. 

It was a bit windy, and you felt the biting cold hit your face, but you had quite a high tolerance for it and took comfort in knowing that your first moments in this environment were going to be enjoyable, even if it would grow to be an annoyance later down the line. 

Turning your head to look up and smile at Loki, you took his hand in yours and walked together to the cabin, Bucky quietly following along. 

“For how worried you were about your abilities to withstand this arrangement, you appear to be content.” Loki stated softly, squeezing your hand. “Your own worries about this mission did not help to stifle my own.”

You chuckled, and nodded your head in Bucky’s direction with a small smile on your face. “It’s bearable right now, but soon enough Bucky and I will probably start whining about it.”

“I don’t whine.” 

“Oh, I forgot! You’re absolutely right, Norway didn’t happen, and you definitely weren’t a big old grump about the weather. I totally fabricated that entire mission. Silly me!”

Loki let out a small laugh, and seeing as you were nearing the cabin entrance, he stepped forward and opened the door for you, Bucky trailing behind, shaking his head in annoyance. Walking inside, you took in your surroundings. This place was clearly deserted ages ago. The cabin was all one large open space, save for a door that, after checking, led to a bathroom. You’d assumed there’d at least be a fireplace, but after looking along each wall, you didn’t see one.

You’d been warned this place didn’t really have any accommodations, but you were taken by surprise anyway despite knowing this is quite literally what you expected and had planned for, seeing as you’d minimally packed pre-made food and a few blankets. In the far wall there was a worn-down table with two chairs, and in a nearby corner sat a four-tiered shelf that one would probably find in a garage. 

Inspecting the shelf, you gasped shrieked and jumped back as you almost came head-first with a spider. Loki was at your side in a moments notice, wrapping his arms around you and asking what was wrong, but you exhaled sharply and just mumbled “spider.”

Bucky thought this was hilarious, and after a small bout of laughter, had said “serves you right! I may have been a grump in Norway, but at least I don’t scream over seeing a spider.” 

Glaring, you pointed at him and muttered “This is precisely why I dumped you.”

After silently looking at eachother for a moment, you and Bucky both fell into a laughing fit over the lighthearted jab. Loki stood there, confused, arms still wrapped around you. 

“What exactly do you mean, you dumped him?” 

“Oh! Jeez, okay, this was like, ages ago, way before you joined the team, but, uh,” still chuckling, you turned around in Loki’s arms to face him. “Bucky and I were stuck together on this one mission, and it had been a rough month for everyone, but I guess he was just feeling like a loner or something-”

“-that’s inaccurate, but we were both feeling that way-”

“I dunno, but we’d been such good friends for so long, because obviously we would be, I’m literally awesome. Anyways, after a long conversation we’d decided to just try out dating, because we kinda thought there was something between us?” Looking over at Bucky, you were snickering at the thought of your younger selves actually believing you  two shared a spark.

“I don’t know what delusions I was experiencing to think I liked that guy, but we tried it out anyways. Bucky sucked, we ended, and now it’s just a running joke between us.”

Laughing, Bucky added, “we’re just friends. The physical affection side of things was nice,” Loki bristled at the thought of you, his beloved, being physically affectionate with the brute, but intently listened. “In the end, we just weren’t feeling anything. We had a good friendship, and still do, to be fair, but that’s all it is.”

Nodding in agreement at Bucky’s closing statement, you looked back up at Loki with a smile. “You are the best decision I’ve made, though, Loki, just to clarify.” Looking into your eyes, he let out a sigh. “I do hope so. I could never see you as anything less than my dearest love.” You giggled and pressed a peck to his lips before turning your attention to the actual reason why you were here. 

Grabbing your bag, you dug through it and looked at the supplies you’d brought. “Sundown is soon, but we need to be out mapping the place first thing when we wake up. It is pretty outside, but I really don’t feel like being here for very long and god forbid getting caught up in a blizzard or something.” After going through the game plan with everyone, changing into sleepwear, and making little makeshift beds on the floor with the blankets that’d been packed, you quickly dozed off after settling in.

The next morning was a blur. I mean, it started off normal, despite you being a bit chilly. Exploration was fine, seeing as you were a bit cold, but again, fine. Then, the wind picked up and suddenly you were very much not fine. You’d highly underestimated just how piercing the wind would feel against your skin, how the biting cold would render your hands numb. Loki was fine, and Bucky was nothing more than a little uncomfortable, but you reasoned that that’s because his ability to regulate body temperature was enhanced from the super soldier serum, or something similar. 

You were freezing, but to mask any weakness you’d tried to ignore it, continuing your job to map out the area, and you were successful. Well. You thought you were successful, but somewhere in the mix, all coherent thought fled, you were just so exhausted all of a sudden. You might have passed out, or, you almost passed out? You couldn’t tell the difference. All you remember is Loki swiftly picking you up bridal style, yelling, and their voices were so loud, why did they feel the need to yell so loud? 

There was the soft crunching of the snow that felt as though it lasted both forever and only a moment. Then, there was a sudden shift in atmosphere as the sharp whistling of the wind traded for nothing but the sound of a door closing, and breathing. 

…and clicking sounds? Were your teeth chattering? You’re pretty sure Loki changed you into different clothes, because one second you got colder and the next it felt like you were overheating. You hated being too warm, and you vaguely remember weakly trying to stop him from putting the clothes on you, they were just so hot. 

You heard noises that more or less felt like arguing until you were lying on the ground, wrapped in Loki’s arms, and you think there was a blanket over of the two of you as well. Eventually, that god-awful chattering noise stopped, you didn’t quite feel like you were overheating anymore. You dozed off.

When you woke up, your sense of time was completely botched. We’re heading out to start the mission soon, right? But…didn’t you already do that? When had you gone to bed? You sighed, but snuggled in closer to Loki. He was warm, and it was pleasant.

…

Loki isn’t supposed to be warm.

You snapped your eyes open, only to be greeted by the worried face of your friend. Your friend, Bucky. Yelping and practically throwing yourself off of him, rolling out from the covers, you were hit with the cold air of the cabin. 

You wrapped your arms around yourself and, shivering lightly, you asked, “Where’s Loki?”

“I’m right here, love.”

You turned, seeing him sitting on the floor nearby with a book. He seemed bothered. “When are we going back out?”

He scoffed. “You’re hardly in proper condition to be doing anything but resting. You’re too cold.”

“Am not!”

“You’re shivering, my dear. You…need to lie back down.” The last part was quieter, and he seemed hesitant. 

“With Bucky? Loki, I’d rather not. In fact, I don’t appreciate me having been in that position in the first place.” 

“I’m warm, shortstack. Loki isn’t, you definitely aren’t. It’s not weird. Just come here.”

After looking at Loki hopelessly, and him nodding towards Bucky, you finally relented, begrudgingly getting back into the spot you’d woken up in. After a few minutes of shifting in your place, tossing and turning, Bucky finally just wrapped his metal arm around your waist and pressed your back flush against his chest. You groaned loudly, and complained, “Seriously, dude?”

“You’re not going to get warmer just by being under the same blanket. You know that.” You sighed and looked over to Loki. He seemed tense, but otherwise distracted by his book.

“It’s not that bad. It’s just like old times,” Bucky chuckled. 

“That’s part of what makes it so bad. Loki, how long exactly do I have to be laying here for?”

Loki sighed, and peeked up at you from behind his book, then moved his eyes back to the page. “Until you’re warm.” 

You crossed your arms. To try and lighten the mood, you assumed, Bucky lightly pinched your side, which elicited a squeak from you and you promptly smacked his hand away. 

“You know what, Bucky? The real heroes are the people that have to deal with you on a daily bAHASIS!” you squealed as he pinched your side again, this time closer to your hip, and you jolted. 

“What are you doing to my girlfriend, Bucky?” Loki put his book down. 

“-oh, just tickling her,”

“-being a JEHERK!” You both said at the same time. He started squeezing your side, clearly with the intent to get you laughing. It worked, and you’d flung your head back against Bucky’s shoulder, giggles bubbling from your mouth. “Buhucky, stop mehessing with mehe!” 

“You need to lighten up! I’m not so bad, you’re just exaggerating.”

“I agree with her, Bucky. You’re to make her warm, nothing more. Why are you condoning this, darling? I understand you two have history and such, but this is ridiculous!” Loki spat. He was clearly frustrated, and for some reason that irked you. I mean, you didn’t choose to be in this position, and Loki was encouraging it moments earlier. If anyone should be pissed, it’s you.

Despite the fact that you were more annoyed with Bucky at the moment than Loki, he’d stopped his attack at Loki’s harsh tone, so you fixed your attention to the god, lifting your head back up to look at him. “Stop being such a hypocrite! I didn’t want to do this in the first place! I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m guessing that it’s probably hard to pronounce!”

Bucky laughed at the snarky comment, covering his mouth with the metal hand that he used to attack you with moments earlier. Loki’s eyes darkened for a moment, then turned mischievous. 

“Hm. Now that I think about it, Bucky, wouldn’t a little bit of tickling get her heart rate up? That should be effective in warming her.” Your eyes widened, and Bucky caught on to what Loki was implying. 

Before you could make any moves, Bucky had sat up, kneeling, and pushed you flat on your back, pressing his hands against your biceps and leaning his body weight into it, looking to Loki awaiting further instruction. You could struggle, sure, but your arms were stuck on the floor to either side of you and with a grunt, you realized you couldn't exactly get up.

Registering that trying to fight off Bucky wouldn’t do you any good, you turned back to Loki, and watched helplessly as he slowly walked up to you, arms crossed and head tilted in amusement. The nervous giggles kicked in, and you tried the only escape option you had left: pleading.

“L-Lohoki, my dear sweet prince, love of my LIFE-” he was kneeling down next to you as well now, and wordlessly poked your side, making you squeal, “I dihidn’t mean it, I prohomise, I’ll behe good just DOHON’T!” Loki wasted no time in latching his hands onto your sides, kneading into the sensitive skin he found there while you kicked out helplessly, laughing with new vigor. 

“Hm, it appears this is as good a first attacking point as any.” Loki mentioned casually, as he repositioned himself from kneeling next to you, to settling himself atop your thighs, significantly reducing your ability to struggle and kick your legs out.

“hEHEY! Jeheherk!” You wanted to wipe the smirks right off your attackers’ faces, but Bucky had switched from pressing your arms to the floor to holding both your wrists in his human hand and pressing them to his chest, and you couldn’t exactly do anything but watch hopelessly as Bucky began to lightly poke at your ribs with his newly freed metal hand. 

With the pokes added to the mix, there were squeaks laced in with your laughter. Your ribs weren’t that bad a spot, but it certainly didn’t help either.

Bucky had switched tactics, though, and was quickly attacking different tickle spots he knew you had to get you squirming, his excuse being that you ‘needed to warm up’. Your squeaks and giggles altered in varying degrees as his hand was at the middle of your stomach, gently contracting his fingers, only for you to jerk and him moving to pinch at your hip, then change direction and quickly flutter his metal fingers under your arm. 

During Bucky’s onslaught, Loki’s hands persisted at your sides, squeezing up and down your torso. The two different sensations were driving you mad, and you tugged at your wrists helplessly, but to your dismay, they were stuck at Bucky’s chest and they weren’t gonna budge. He was too strong. 

Once your laughter had begun to sound more akin to wheezing, the two men retracted their hands to let you breathe, but made no move to release you from your makeshift prison. You took deep breaths, and looked to Bucky with a pout, knowing that Loki, being the God of Mischief and all, wouldn’t relent, but Bucky might. He chuckled and shook his head. 

“I’m not letting you go.” Your pout traded for a glare, and you huffed, laying your head on the ground. After a few moments of silence, you mumbled, 

“This is why I dumped you.” 

“it wahas a mutual decision!” Bucky chuckled with a shake of his head.

“Yes, yes, the two of you together was a disagreeable arrangement. I for one, would like to talk about something that actually holds relevance, now. Such as the fact I never knew you were ticklish! Why would you hide such things from me?”

Shifting your gaze to now rest on Loki, you said, “Is that some kind of rhetorical question? What, are you having a chuckle? Ha, ha, very funny, but we both know if I told you that information I’d be exactly where I am now! Which is not favorable to me! So if you would kindly remove yourself from- AHA LOKI STOP IT!-”

You were cut off as he tutted and brought both of his hands to lay at your stomach, gently scratching against the fabric of your shirt. His fingers found purchase at a particularly sensitive patch of skin on either side of your stomach, directly in the middle between your navel and sides. You snorted, and proceeded to laugh uncontrollably.  

As Loki made an attempt to sneak his hands under your shirt to make a play at your bare skin, Bucky stopped him, quick to explaining why after seeing Loki’s confused expression. 

“That’d work and all, but for some reason the fabric layer of her clothes makes her more sensitive. Dunno why that happens, but I figured that one out pretty quickly,” he mentioned matter-of-factly.

“Besides, the shirt is soft, so it’s a double whammy anyways. Especially if you get her riiight-” using his free hand, he ever so gently pinched at the patch of skin directly above your navel, and chuckled as you yelped and jolted away form his touch. “-there.”

“WHYHY ARE YOU HELPING HIM?!” you sceeched, glaring at both your captors. 

“Perhaps if you hadn’t been such a thorn in our sides as of late, being so cheeky and all, this may have played out in a direction suited more to your favor. Alas, your decision was to be testy with us, and this is simply the consequence.”

Loki proceeded to make a show out of slowly lowering his hand to that wretched spot Bucky had so rudely pointed out, and in a desperate attempt at escape you lurched away and yanked at your wrists. Loki’s balance swayed, as he was surprised and not expecting you to fight so hard to avoid his attack, but he didn’t move from where he was seated. You did, however, manage to get your wrists free. 

Knowing that Loki kept you firmly in place, and your wrists’ newfound freedom would not aid you in getting out of this mess, you instead chose to half-heartedly take a swing at Bucky, not wanting to hurt him, but to make a point that you were annoyed with his antics.

“Woah-ho, you’re getting feisty, shortstack!” Bucky caught your wrists, and having some semblance of mercy, knowing he had just outright told Loki your worst spot, he decided he wouldn’t be assisting in your untimely death and instead chose to use both of his hands to keep your own out of the way, once again kneeling over you and using his bodyweight to press each of your wrists to the floorboard. 

This time, though, your hands were right next to your head, and your heart dropped to your stomach when you noticed your new position left you feeling far more exposed than before. 

This time, Loki wasted no time in bringing his hands down and very gently digging into the spot that Bucky had shown him, practically vibrating his fingers into the skin as he widened his eyes and chuckled at the sheer scream that escaped your lips.

You supposed it was a good thing that you were in an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere, because your reaction certainly would have alerted any being within a mile radius of you to your demise. 

After a few moments, he switched from lightly digging in to gently scratching at the skin, and with one last shriek, your laughter fell silent as your body shook with the exertion of being attacked so ruthlessly. 

With tears of mirth forming in your eyes as your body went limp, Loki finally let up, laying his palms flat on your stomach and rubbing affectionately for a moment, using enough pressure not to tickle you before removing his hands and getting up off your legs and sitting beside you on the floor. 

Bucky released your hands and after you sat up, and your first move was to lightly punch Bucky’s shoulder. Afterwards you covered your midsection with your arms, a few giggles still finding their way out of you, and you glared at Loki. “I don’t like you.”

“If you want more, dove, all you have to do is ask.” he winked, wiggling his fingers in your direction

“Absolutely not!” You spluttered, using your legs as momentum as you scooted yourself further away from the smiling god. Bucky chuckled, and lightly tapped your knee, asking if you were at least warmed up, and you noticed then that yes, actually, you were. Rolling your eyes, you stood up. 

“What do we have left to do on our mission?” You walked towards your bag to reach for your supplies, but Loki had stood up and gently grasped your elbow to pull you into a hug from behind, nestling his face into your shoulder.

“While you were asleep, love, I went out and finished the job. There wasn’t much left when you had to come back inside, and the weather was child’s play for me. Transportation back to the compound is now on it’s way, all you have to do is relax.”

You paused your actions to affectionately lift your arm up and wrap it around Loki’s head, gently squeezing and pressing his head closer to you, then turned to face him. 

“Well. I brought a deck of cards. Y’all up to playing War?” You pecked Loki’s lips as you looked expectantly at Bucky, who’s face had lit up like a child.

“I love that one! Does Loki know how to play?” Curiously, Loki eyed the deck of cards you now had in your hands, after having ducked down to grab it from your bag.

Hesitantly, he responded, “I do not. I assume you’ll teach me?” 

And so you did. You and Loki played on the same team for his first round, and the lot of you enjoyed the few hours to relax that you had before the quinjet arrived.

You remember it vividly, the moment your stupid band teacher from middle school told you becoming a famous singer wasn’t an achievable career. That you needed to ‘pick something realistic.’ It had all but shattered your worldview, that moment. Apparently dancing, your runner-up, wasn’t a suitable career either. Ah. You were pissed, and he was too, after you’d made a remark about how you felt that ‘settling for teacher’ was not a decision you’d be interested in making. 

Regardless, you weren’t surprised that you spent the rest of the period in the principal’s office, left to ponder whether or not you wanted to consider a different occupation. Ultimately, you decided you should, and thus began the search for a profession that would be tolerable, but also easily achievable. 

You’d realized as you advanced through high school that those two requirements were a far cry from synonymous, and the topics that piqued your interest would require hard work and grit to make a career out of. Inevitably, your determination to make an enjoyable life for yourself surpassed your commitment issues, and teenage desire to procrastinate.  You decided you would focus on physics and astronomy. 

Despite the inconvenience of having to give something your all, as you progressed through the early stages of adulthood, you grew more and more thankful you’d made the choice to commit to something you truly wanted. Not only was it rewarding, achieving a long term goal, but you landed what you eventually concluded was your dream job.Your stupid band teacher changed your life. Taking a deep breath, you admired where the hell you managed to end up with a smile. It was downright amusing that you’d acquired a job as a lab assistant to Bruce Banner. 

Now, how you’d ended up living in the tower, too, was beyond you. Your father lived out of state, but in pursuit of your career, you’d moved in with your mom not too long before you’d been hired. Her being herself, though, she’d had unrealistic expectations of you and was not particularly fond of your attempts to set boundaries with her over them.

Her favorite tactic was to do everything in her power to tear apart the person she was arguing with by claiming she knew their intentions and beliefs better than they did, and would argue their integrity as a person. It always got under your skin but as you grew older you learned how to reason, at least a little bit, with an unreasonable woman, although not without its side effects. For one, you despised anyone trying to get a read on you. You took it personally, especially if they were wrong. 

Another thing that only proved to worsen your relationship with your mother was that nervous habit you had; smiling when accused of something. The look on your face would always be pure guilt, regardless of if you were actually guilty or not. Your mother seemed to use this against you, as proof that she was right in questioning your character. 

The way she’d use these things to tear you down every single time you’d get into a fight hindered your overall communication skills, especially when it came to disagreements. In some attempt to avoid issues with others, you’d put up a facade for all the people you weren’t close with. At the current stage of your life, though, that list happened to contain everyone. 

After having moved back in with your mother and relentlessly trying to reason and set boundaries with her, there’d been a few weeks of a useless power struggle because she refused to compromise or ‘lose’. In order to finally gain the upper hand she’d all but kicked you out, expecting you to not have any other options and just do whatever she wanted. 

That next day, Banner had noticed you were distracted and you’d tried to brush it off, as it wasn’t his burden to deal with, and the last thing you needed was to jump into the politics of your mother. He seemed insistent that he help if he could, though, and in an attempt to veer the conversation elsewhere, you’d asked about the current housing market. 

After a long conversation with Banner and him trying everything he could to convince you it was okay, and no, you were not intruding, it would actually be more convenient for him if you did, you found yourself moving into the tower within the week. Your mother was not happy about that, but you were at your wits end and couldn’t find it in you to care. And now, here you were, in the kitchen at two in the morning, drinking hot cocoa and enjoying how still the world felt at this hour.

Somewhere in your train of thought, you snapped back to the present moment. The warmth of the mug in your hands bringing you a sense of calm, the soft glow of the light in the kitchen adding to the peaceful atmosphere. It was quiet, save for the gentle buzz of electricity emanating from the light fixtures. Tonight was one of those nights where you couldn't quite sleep, mind still restless despite the fact bedtime was ages ago. 

You knew distress wasn’t your source of insomnia, thank goodness, but you chose to seize the moment and bask in the tranquility of this late hour.  It wasn’t exactly healthy, you knew, but there was a nostalgic feeling in your chest from the lack of sleep. Letting yourself stay up so late into the night gave you a sense of control over your time, which wasn’t a feeling you were graced with very often. Additionally, your body’s physical exhaustion hadn’t caught up just yet, making the bout of insomnia all the more easy to enjoy. 

Soon enough, you began considering the pros and cons of pulling an all-nighter, but your thoughts were interrupted by a quiet grunt, then, “What, pray tell, has got you sleepless at this hour?” Snapping out of your thoughts, and registering the fact you’d been found, you turned to face the source of the question with a slight blush dusting your cheeks. You had to fight a smile, seeing the dark-haired god that stood before you. He was wearing a thin cotton t-shirt, pajama pants, and you’d never seen him so informally dressed. It was endearing.

“Nothing in particular. Seems to just be one of those nights.” You wished you were better at eye contact, but the best you had in you was to look down at the drink in your mug and bite your cheek. You were awful with small talk, which was only worsened in the moment with how nervous you got around Loki. You weren’t entirely able to place why, but one reason definitely being that you always felt he could see right through you, and it was unnerving. You hated being underneath any kind of scrutinizing gaze, especially not from the God of Lies himself.

“Ah. Well, enlightening me on your worries is hardly any trouble for me, should you choose to.” Loki sidestepped you to make himself a drink; tea, it looked like. You’d quietly stated that there were no worries to enlighten him on. He didn’t push, and left as quickly as he’d appeared, albeit pausing in the doorway. Turning his head, he added, “I refuse to endure later complaints of tiredness, so do try to avoid that outcome and rest.” 

You smiled slightly at that, but you’d done nothing more than a quiet hum in response and watched as he disappeared down a hall. Taking a moment to wonder about his lack of jests this evening, the argument that he simply did not have the motivation to be anything other than affable right now quickly resolved your pondering about the subject. You’d clearly not had the energy to be talkative, either. You supposed nighttime just had its way of doing that. 

You and Loki had a bit of a cordial friendship, but you weren’t really sure how to deepen it. It’s not like you had many run-ins, seeing as you kept to your room or the lab, and he the library or his room. You supposed that’s why it took you so long to meet him. 

It had been your first game night with the team, which, to be honest, was weird to say. You hadn’t expected your taking residence to be anything of interest, but Bruce had invited you and you felt it couldn’t hurt to formally meet everyone. You weren’t one to really start little chats, so the few times you’d be in the same place at the same time of another avenger, you never progressed further in conversation than a small ‘hello’, followed by a quick exit.

It was relieving that everyone seemed to take kindly to your barging in on their game night. You’d been stumped as to how you’d manage to break the ice with the group, but the card game you were playing resulted in a lot of laughter and talk seemed to flow easier, after getting to know the more vulgar sides of The Avengers’ humor that Cards Against Humanity had brought out. You were astounded they even played it regularly, to be completely honest. 

What caught your eye about Loki, though, was how exceedingly unimpressed he looked to be with the game. He refused to actually play, choosing instead to people watch and read. From the few bits of attempted persuasion you had heard from Thor, Loki’s presence tonight didn’t appear to be his own decision.

His attitude made you bristle, and in that moment your had been reminded of the way your mother used to ridicule you for being negative in such a way, especially about ‘spending time with your loved ones’. At the same time though, you related to how Loki seemed to be feeling. It was conflicting and you weren’t particularly fond of it.

After the game had wrapped up and the group had begun to file out of the common room, you found yourself caught walking beside Loki, who was grumbling about how his night had been wasted. Already on edge, you blurted without thinking, “Maybe it wouldn’t have been a waste if you actually bothered to appreciate it.” The incredulous look he gave you somehow got you on the defensive, and without any forethought, you kept rambling, “if you go into these things determined to be a pissy toddler, you’re not going to get anything productive out of it by the time it’s over. So, yes, your night was wasted, but that’s on you.” 

Loki opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and walked past you, refusing to dignify your comment with a response, but you heard him mutter “the nerve,” under his breath as he walked away. You’d felt a little guilty, but he didn’t seem hurt by it, so you let it go. Wonderful first impression.

After that, though, you observed that he seemed to make a point to be snarky with you anytime the opportunity presented itself. He was never outright mean, but he was witty and had a sharp tongue. The fact that it didn’t deter you at all, though, had slowly resulted in him loosening up. 

You were relatively unphased by the God, seeing as you had bigger issues in your life and he wasn’t presenting himself to be anything more than vexing on occasion. Well, relatively unphased by him except for how you increasingly became more timid around him, reasons unbeknownst to you. 

Over the next few weeks, him loosening up made way for the two of you to fall into a more comfortable routine, but even so, you weren’t sure how to break your friendship past the surface level, seeing as your best wit, the kind that the two of you got along best over, the kind you’d given him the day you had met, was always impulsive and accidental. It didn’t leave much room for segues or lighthearted conversation. 

At some point, though, It seemed he’d caught on to how you’d be more prone to such quips whenever you felt tense and defensive, and after one particular snide comment from you he’d responded by simply chuckling and calling you ‘little spitfire.’ You weren’t opposed to the nickname by any means, but you didn’t exactly appreciate how much it had made you blush, or how Loki noticed it made you blush. Suddenly, you were hearing it far more often.

The following morning, or, well, a few hours after your run-in with Loki in the kitchen, you awoke feeling groggy as ever. Seems those few hours of sleep weren’t enough. How you were going to manage to stifle your irritability today, you weren’t sure. Thank goodness it was the weekend, at least. You couldn’t fathom going to work in the lab in this state. Trading your pajamas with a thin white t-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants, you quickly made your way into the kitchen. 

This time around, coffee was your drink of choice. As it was brewing, you ran your hands through your hair and back down to rub your face. You weren’t really sure what you wanted to do today, seeing as you didn’t have much mental capacity for anything that required brainpower, but after flipping through a few different options to waste the day with in your head, you settled on reading. 

You’d swung back by your room to grab the first book from a series you loved as a young teen, and made your way to the library to settle into the couch and read it, stretching your legs across the cushions and laying on your back.

It was some fantasy romance novel, and the main character was incredibly stupid. You couldn’t help but lovingly tear apart the poor logic she’d had. If you discovered this book series for the first time today, you’d likely find yourself disliking it; the writing was poor and the Chosen One plotline wasn’t your cup of tea. But what was one to do? Twelve year old you was enamored with the series and it, unfortunately, became a piece of you. 

As you let yourself zone in to the worldbuilding and awkward remarks the main character would make, you felt the world around you slowly haze into nothing, as the words on the page began to feel less like words and you felt more like you were in the novel itself. 

You rarely allowed yourself to read like this, completely engrossed in the novel and completely oblivious to your outside surroundings. Which, you suppose, is why you didn’t hear the muffled sound of an airhorn going off somewhere down the hall. And also why you hadn’t realized Loki had stormed into the Library only moments later. Additionally why you’d been oblivious to his aggressive body language, the way he leaned against the doorway in contemplation, eyes locked on you.

Honestly, you’d been particularly distracted by the current scene unfolding in your book. The love interest held the main character in his arms bridal style, while they were trying to figure out a puzzle of sorts. She’d needed to be held that way because the riddle they were working with had mentioned something about her ‘needing to be in between the ground and the sky’. 

While in his arms, she’d gotten distracted looking at him, and found herself smiling lopsidedly. Or, rather, he found her smiling at him. He’d asked her what she was thinking about that had her smiling in that way, and she refused to enlighten him. ‘Need I remind you, you are in prime tickling position, and there’s no escape. Tell me.’ was what he’d quipped back. That part got you to squirm every time.

Still engrossed in the book, you shifted your posture, pressing yourself a little further into the couch, and bit your lip, a blush spreading across your cheeks. Loki had unfortunately seen this, and had then made his decision to approach you, practically stomping across the floor to where you lay on the couch. Grabbing the book from your hands and lifting it above his head, you yelped in surprise and covered your mouth with one hand while your blush deepened, only just noticing his presence in the room.

You knit your brows together, looking up at him as you lowered your hand and opened your mouth to ask what was that for? The look on his face in which he was peering down at you with, though, that off-putting smile and the mischievous glint in his eyes, had led you to ask a different question. “...why are you looking at me like that?” 

“You truly believe attempting such a weak prank, on The God of Mischief, no less, was an intelligent play?” 

“Loki? I hate to tell you this, since you seem to have hung your hopes and dreams on the notion that I do, but unfortunately, bud, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I thoroughly doubt that, spitfire. But, no mind. It seems I’ve happened upon something far more intriguing that requires my immediate attention.” Confusion etched onto your face, you watched curiously as he lowered his arm, the one that contained your book in it’s hand, only for the realization to hit you like a truck. He’d seen you blush only moments earlier.

No.

Hell no.

He’s about to read that page, isn’t he? 

Dread began to settle into your chest, and without any true thought going into it, you leaped up to try and wrangle the book from his hands, throw him off balance, make him lose the page, something, but he seemed unfazed as he pushed you back onto the couch in the same spot you’d been in before.

Seemingly deciding one hand wouldn’t be enough to keep you in place where you lay, he settled for sitting on your upper legs to get the job done. You’d sat up as well as you could, and a small smile adorned his face as he bore witness to your struggle attempting to prevent his next actions. Simply playing your little game and letting you attempt to wrestle with the one free hand he had, he extended his arm over his head once again fought to contain his chuckle at the high-pitched grunt of frustration that had left your lips.

“My, you feisty thing. What might you be trying to prevent me from discovering here?” He was going to try to incapacitate you further, but quickly, he’d realized that simple nickname had all but done it for him. You squeaked loudly and immediately stopped struggling, practically collapsing into the couch behind you and opting instead to hide your face in your hands, peeking your eyes out to look at him between your fingers as a few strained giggles bubbled from your mouth. Loki could only imagine the blush had gotten worse since it first appeared on your cheeks.

Impulsively, he’d let out a laugh and lowered himself closer to your face, leaning on his free hand, which was now beside your head. Voice barely above a whisper, he uttered, “You are in trouble.”

You giggled again, and he sat upright, straightening his posture.  He brought his arm that was holding the book down once more, now at reading level. You instantly lunged for it again, only for him to glare at you and use his free hand to push against your shoulder, successfully getting you lying on the couch flat on your back yet again. After threatening to use his magic if you refused to just sit still for a minute, you’d finally half-accepted your fate and stopped trying to fight him, instead crossing your arms and trying to talk him out of it.

“Put it down Loki! Please.”  He glanced over once, otherwise pretending not to hear you as his eyes flitted over the page, trying to unravel where exactly you had wound up so flustered. 

Despite it being a poorly written novel, and wracked with an excessive amount of cliche, he hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary, unless you got flustered at even the idea of physical contact. Which, looking over at you now, he supposed wouldn’t really be too far off. He’d never seen you red like this, but no. You wouldn’t be practically fighting for your life over the fact a girl was being held in someone’s arms.

As he read a bit farther, he caught it, and a small smile graced his face once again. It was the boy’s threat. His threat to tickle her. Somehow, tickling being something that flustered you felt fitting to him, and he was more than prepared to use it against you, as payback for that little stunt that sent him careening into the library in the first place. 

He tossed the book onto the floor, and your heart was racing. You were screwed. The devious smile on his face told you everything.

“Well, it appears I’ve found you out, haven’t I?” You shook your head rapidly, quietly managing to ask if he’d please get off you now, to which he’d responded, “Oh, darling, I have hardly begun with you. Now, allow me to ask again; You truly believe attempting such a weak prank, on The God of Mischief, was an intelligent play?”

“Is that what this whole ordeal is about?! I didn’t even do anything!” you yelled and partially sat up, bringing your hands behind you and leaning on them for support. You felt incredibly nervous, and were partially trying to make your point, partially trying to keep the conversation going as to avoid the inevitable. But, he gave you an accusatory look, and gods, you knew your face was betraying you. You could feel that stupid guilty smile creeping onto your face again. That smile had lost you so many arguments. 

“Wrong. That little look on your face is quite telling. You have guilty written all over you.” You groaned in frustration.

“It’s not something I can control, Loki! My smile is irrelevant to my innocence!”

You didn’t know what prank he was talking about, but it seems as though if you didn’t figure it out fast, Loki would unleash his wrath on you. While you were stuck. Of course this is somehow the life you’d gotten yourself into, being trapped underneath a god who was deadset on pinning something on you that you had nothing to do with. Loki grasped both your wrists in his hands, tugging them towards his chest, and glared at you.

“What, exactly, led you to believe you’d get away with it? That I wouldn’t come seeking you out, finding leverage to exact my revenge with?” Your smile grew wider, to your dismay. You kicked against the couch cushions, still trying to throw him off, but said nothing in an attempt to keep him monologuing.

“Or, maybe, you were expecting that. Perhaps you eagerly hoped I would come after you? Something as blatant as what you did will not go without discipline, little spitfire, surely you knew that.” You being unable to hide your face through this ordeal made it worse, and you were pretty sure Loki was flustering the life out of you on purpose. He could see the flame that engulfed your cheeks, there was no way he couldn’t.

“Loki. I don’t know what you think I’m trying to get away with. I don’t even know what happened.” You breathed out desperately, trying to plead your case, and tugging at your wrists with all your strength. 

Unfortunately for you, your ‘strength’ barely held a candle to his. The gravity of the situation began to set in, and nervous excitement bloomed in your chest. This was borderline mortifying, but you reasoned that despite that, you’d live.

You knew Loki wasn’t judging you, and playfulness like this wasn’t something you had growing up. You weren’t entirely too eager to dismiss it so quickly, now that it’d found it’s way into your lap for what felt like the first time. Accepting your fate, you stopped sitting up and let yourself fall back into the couch with a grunt.

“Playing this ignorant isn’t assisting you, my dear. Your feeble attempts to hide the truth is precisely what is giving you away. You should know better than to lie to the God of Lies himself.” 

He placed both of your wrists in his right hand and tugged them above your head, effectively pinning you. Okay, so maybe you’d accepted your fate, but your self preservation kicked in anyway. You fought with new vigor, trying to squirm away, throw him off you, or anything that would get him to not fluster the ever living hell out of you like you knew he was about to, but all to no avail.

In the mess of it all, you’d made a comment that was more of a question about how he would know what the truth looks like if he’s such a God at lying, but it was one of your weaker retorts and it fell on deaf ears as the poised his free hand over the middle of your stomach and lowered it, his fingertips gently resting there. Giggling already, you tried to suck in your stomach, but it was proving to be a futile attempt at avoidance. His smile only grew.

“You’re going to be incredibly sorry, once I’ve tickled you to pieces. Ah, how had your book-boy worded it? That’s right. You, little minx, are in prime tickling position, and there is no escape.” He winked. Your face burned hotter, somehow. Then, his hands on your stomach sprung into action, clawing at the sensitive skin he found there, and you immediately squealed, slamming the back of your head against the couch and falling into high pitched giggles as he used feather light touches to torment you. 

“Oho, this is undoubtedly going to get worse for you, if you’re already giggling this much. I’m hardly even touching you.” He tutted and added, “You poor, ticklish little thing.” 

“shuhut UHUP!” Your giggles had gone up an octave after his commentary, and Loki decided to change tactics, switching to pinching and squeezing at your sides, moving his hands up and down the length of your torso. 

Your giggle fit had noticeably decreased, but he happened to dig into a spot just above your hip, and seeing you violently jerk, chose to keep his hand there. Squeezing rapidly and digging into the sensitive skin, he relished in the squeals and loud laughter it extracted from you. You tried fruitlessly to tug your arms down and protect yourself from his ticklish onslaught, but it was a fruitless endeavor. As you began to run out of breath he rested his hand for a moment, letting you breathe.

“Lohohoki!” You whined, a few residual giggles spilling out.

“Yes?” he traded his hands, the one previously holding your wrists now stilled at your hip, ready to jump into action on your other side, and the old tickling hand now keeping your wrists in place.

“This is freaking stupid.” You mumbled bashfully, avoiding eye contact. You hated that you were enjoying his little game, and even moreso, you hated that he knew you were. 

“Hm, agreed. It was quite reckless and, to use your own words, ‘stupid’ of you to allow me such dangerous information.” You glared at him and tugged on your wrists for emphasis.

“As you can see here, good sir, I didn’t allow shit!” You sucked in a breath at the gleam in his eye resulting from your comment. 

“That’s pretty bold language for someone so…devastatingly ticklish. And in such a helpless position at that.” Without warning, his hand that lay at your other hip began squeezing at a rapid speed, and you burst into laughter once more, thrashing against his hold. That reaction didn’t seem sufficient for him, though, and he released your wrists in favor of using both hands to now drill his thumbs into your hips. 

You shrieked, and your laughter became louder and more frantic, but Loki was keenly aware of your choice to hide your face instead of fight off his hands, seeing as your first move was to grab a nearby throw pillow and wrap your arms around it, crushing it to your face. You weren’t even trying to stop him. He chuckled. 

“Don’t believe I’ve failed to notice your lack of resistance to me. Silly girl, leaving yourself vulnerable like this.” 

Testing just how much you’d allow him to get away with, he left your hips alone, making both of his hands into little claws and ever so gently trailing his fingertips along your torso. Dragging up the length your sides and nearing your ribcage elicited a squeak, and he took note of how your breathy giggles seemed to increase in volume the higher up he got.

“Lohoki, we are in a frEHEAKING librahary!!” You squealed when he reached your underarms, and began lightly scratching at the sensitive skin, giggles now pouring out uninterruptedly. “Yohou’re supposed to behe quiet in libraries!!” Your words were heavily muffled by the pillow, but he seemed to hear you fine.

“Darling, the severity of your laughter is not my responsibility. You have a pillow to reduce the noise, do you not?” He continued his attack in that same spot, gently wiggling his fingers into the hollows, but in an attempt to get more laughter from you, he began to drill into the spot just above your highest ribs. Your giggles grew to soft laughter, and your grip around the pillow tightened as you pressed it harder into your face.

He paused, his hands wandering downwards once more, as he was trying to give you another breather. He lightly traced circles along your ribcage, attempting to pinpoint where you seemed most sensitive. The light touches sent ticklish shocks through your body, and it was nearly unbearable, how gentle he was being. You began to stomp your feet against the couch cushions behind him, but had yet to make any move to stop him, despite unsuccessfully twisting and turning in your place beneath him.

Observing how your giggles got louder the higher up your ribs his fingertips went, he settled his hands into little claws on the front middle of your upper ribs. shit. You tensed, but before you could make a move, he quickly began drilling into the spot. Gods, it was awful. You had no idea just how bad that spot was, how sensitive your ribs were, until that split-second of a moment where he dug in.

If the deafening screech that escaped your lips afterward wasn’t what caught him off guard, it was certainly when you flung yourself upwards and slammed the pillow into his face at full force despite having been completely docile moments before. It hadn’t moved him from where he sat, but he did pause for a moment, chuckling.

He stilled his fingers, but kept them poised at the spot, smiling down at you after you sheepishly brought the pillow down and apologized for the outburst, looking down and avoiding eye contact.

“Now, what ever could have brought on a reaction such as that, little thing?”

With a giggle, you answered, “you knohow what.”

“Well, I’m most certainly going to be doing that again,” he mused.

You dared a peek at him, smiling, and meekly asked, “Can you pause for a second, though?” Loki wasn’t entirely able to piece together why you’d asked, seeing as you seemed to be enjoying yourself, but he decided to play it safe and retract his fingers, crossing his arms across his chest. 

Still, though, he’d made a point not to get up from his spot, as to allude to the fact that we’re not done here. He found it rather cute, how you seemed perfectly fine with that notion. He raised an eyebrow at you, willing you to say what was on your mind.

“What exactly was the prank?” Loki bore an incredulous look on his face. He sighed, but took a moment to gather his thoughts.

“I can’t decipher exactly how many tricks you have up your sleeve if you’re unable to recall mine, but the one that started this whole mess was the airhorn duct-taped to the office chair in my bedroom. You clever thing.” laughter tumbled out of your mouth, and he took that as an admission to guilt. Continuing, he added, “I was distracted reading and didn’t notice it. I sat in my chair, and after that wretched noise went off I came seeking the revenge I so dearly deserved.”

“I am soho sorry,” you started, and Loki tilted his head slightly. Apologizing for it so easily? “Buhut I am not the one that did that. One, I have never even attempted a prank on anyone in this tower, two, I am not sneaky enough to pull a stunt like that off, and 3, even if I was, there’s no way I’d actually believe you’d fall for one that obvious, that’s just stuhupid!”

As Loki stared at you, he realized you made a good point, but now you were laughing at him. You’d called his brief lack of attention stupid. He simply would not let that go.

“You’re getting awfully cheeky there, considering how easily I’m able to do this.” he slammed the pillow back into your face, using it as leverage to shove you back down against the couch, and immediately attacked that spot on your ribs that had previously made you shriek.

And shriek you did. Laughter exploded from your chest, and you tried using the pillow to whack his face, but after a moment he flung it across the room and continued his attack. Not actually pushing him away but feeling the need to retaliate somehow, you had a death grip on his wrists as your feet were once again stomping behind him.

He was relentless, harshly working his fingertips into every crevice. When he hit that one specific rib, and attacked the same spot on your other side simultaneously, your laughter fell silent, and you let the ticklish feeling overtake you as you went limp. After a few more moments, he finally let up, letting you breathe and standing up. Reaching a hand out to help you stand, you took it, but picked your book up off the floor on your way up.

Looking at the cover of the book, he asked, “What exactly is the appeal of such a cliche-ridden novel?”

“I will have you know my twelve year old self was in love with the main love interests’ brother. I was a hopeless romantic..” quickly getting yourself into a long-winded conversation about the stupid things about the book your younger self enjoyed, you’d slowly evolved into rambling about the character you used to have such a big crush on.

Halfway through, some part of your brain clicked and you’d realized a large chunk of your ramblings were also traits Loki shared with this fictional character...which explained a lot. Your newfound timidness around him began to make a lot more sense. Once you’d caught onto that little fact, though, you abruptly stopped talking about it. 

“Seems you might have a type, spitfire,” he winked at you, and you realized with a blush that he’d caught on as well. You...were definitely not going to be addressing this any time soon.

“Um.” You quickly averted your gaze, refusing to look at him, and settled yourself into a seated position onto the couch and opened your book back to that godforsaken scene that had all but gotten you into this whole mess. “I’m gonna finish my book now.” 

“Mind if I join you?” Willing yourself to look at him, you saw that he had conjured a book of his own in his hands. You gestured to the seat next to you, and smiled lightly to yourself as he settled in too. Feeling a bit confident, you turned yourself to face away from him, leaning your back against his arm and pulled your knees up to lay the book on.

It was a comfortable silence that fell between the two of you as you both read the rest of the afternoon away. You eventually finished your book and set it down, but not yet wanting to get up, you let yourself take a nap leaning against the god and resting your head on the back of the couch.