“Oh shut up.”

“You’re blushing, you know.”

“You’re just eating this up, aren’t you?”

“Utterly and completely.”

“I get dressed up for one night and you mercilessly tease me about it.”

“As the small spider boy would say, that’s ‘my whole thing’.”

“Can we actually do some work, Loki? We’re in some fancy place with way too many people, I just want to get intel on this guy and leave.”

“I already sent a copy of myself to follow him, it’s alright. He left a while ago.”

“What?” You hiss at him, jumping to your feet and looking around the crowded luxury club for any sign of your mark. Nothing.

Loki stands, taking your hand in his. You roll your eyes again, pulling it away.

“Quit it.”

“Why? I just want to treat you to a dance.”

“No, you ruined the mission and I’m tired of being near you.”

“I didn’t ruin a thing.”

“You did! You distracted me with your mean little teases and I don’t care if you sent a copy after him; I’m not the one tailing him right now. The mission is done for.”

“What mean little teases?”

“All of this, Loki!” You say this louder than you expected it to come out, and the people around you turn their heads to look at you. Awkwardly you cross your arms and look at the floor.

“All of what? My compliments?”

“They’re not compliments when they’re not true.”

“Whoever said they’re not true?” His voice is softer, less crooning than what he normally speaks like. You glance up at him, and he’s not smiling. Not even his customary smirk.

“You can’t play with me like that, Loki.”

“You seem to think I’m playing a game.”

“Please.”

“I’m not playing a game with you.” He insists in a softer tone and takes your hand again. When he brings it to his lips this time, he kisses it gently.

“I’m not going to let you hurt me.” You say this with conviction, looking into his eyes and he nods solemnly.

“Just one dance then. Could I have just one dance with the loveliest person in this room?”

“I thought you were the loveliest.”

“No, I just said I’m lovely. You beat me in that regard.” He extends his hand out to you and after a moment’s hesitation you accept, placing your hand in his. It’s not like the mission could get derailed any more.

“Just one dance.”

He smiles at you. A real smile, not the smirk you’re used to when he’s gotten away with something he’s been planning. He leads you out to the dance floor, placing both hands on your waist as yours settle around his neck. You both start to move slowly, just swaying to the music instead of doing any sort of footwork.

“Where’s the guy now?” You ask after a moment, and he thinks.

“Some alleyway. I think he’s on his way home. Should find it quickly. That’s some good intel, no? Objective complete?”

“Yes, but we could have also found that by doing the actual mission ourselves.”

“Oh, mission whatever. This way we both get the mission done, and I get to dance with you.”

“You get to dance with me? That’s much more humble than you usually are.”

“I can be humble!”

“I’m pretty sure the first thing you told me when you met me was I only deserve to kneel before you.”

“Well, now I say you have a choice.”

“And what choice is that?”

Loki comes close now, his cheek against yours as he whispers in your ear.

“Either you can kneel before me, or I can be told to kneel before you. Equal partnership.”

Your breath catches in your throat, and he backs up to his original position. He smiles again as he looks down at your face.

“You’re blushing again darling.”

“I really hate you.”

“I know you really don’t.”

You have to catch your breath for a moment, so both of you continue to sway in silence to the slow song that the band is playing.

Looking up at him, you sigh. No smirk on his face, just a contented smile. He’s looking all around the room and usually you would be too, but you realize how nice it is just dancing with him.

You bring yourself closer, pressing your chest against his and leaning your head on his shoulder as you sway.

“Don’t you want to watch the room? Ask about the mission?” He murmurs down to you, and you shrug.

“You have the copy out there, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re here, dancing with me. Right?”

“Correct.”

“And you’re not playing a joke on me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Then I’m fine just where I am.”

Your heart is against his heart, both in rhythm. You can feel his skip a beat when you speak, and you allow yourself a contented smile too.

“Wow” You stated back flatly. You pushed your body finally away from the support behind you. Now standing face to face with the woman in front of you. You saw confusion in her eyes now, as you steadily began to close the gap between yourselves. Slowly you leant in, your mouth now inches from her ear. “Wow, as in how could someone be so incredibly stupid to transform outside of the bathroom and not expect me to notice” You pulled away again, a grin planted on your face. This was the mood booster you needed. With that you pushed past her and made your way out to the hall. “Bye Loki” As you left, all you could hear was a loud “Shit” from behind the wooden door.

You quickly found your way back to Thor, he had returned to his original post high above the crowd. His hands frantically waving up to you, as you returned to the grand hall. After handling the royal prick, you couldn’t think of anything better than going back to the easy conversation you had with Thor.

“My lady” You felt your cheeks blush as he leant down and offered you his hand, helping you climb up the last few steps.

“Where have you been?”

“Your brother decided to follow me into the washroom” Confusion twisted its way into Thor’s brow, his eyes saying “Should I even ask you about this” as he nudged you in the side. “Nothing like that!” The words rushed out of your mouth quickly, at a speed almost hard to catch. But why would you ever want Thor to assume you had quickly run off to have a secret moment with his brother. As Thor nudged your side again, the halls doors opened again.

The golden horns glinting as they entered the room. “I have a theory” Thor mused aloud, tapping his finger slightly along his rough jaw. “Do you trust me?”

“Father did say tonight was about creating relations” You joked back light heartily. This was the man you would have to spend years working with to keep your kingdoms alive. You had no choice but to trust him.

“Perfect” His voice drenched in excitement, as his arms quickly made his next movement. Within seconds you found his arm resting lightly on your hip, as his hand gently pulled you closer to his body. “I am going to count to five” His breath was hot on your shoulder, as the numbers started to fall from his lips.

“What are you doing?” Before he could even answer, you felt another presence join you both.

“Brother” Thor cheered, pulling him into his arms as well. “Isn’t it nice for the three of us to be reunited again”

“You two seem to truly be relishing in it” Loki spat back, shoving his brother off of him with all of his might.

“You followed me into the washroom?” You questioned, now moving from under Thor’s arm.

“You can’t prove that”

The other’s face was more twisted in confusion. His brow pulled together tightly, as he questioned his vision. His golden helmet was covering his now longer black hair, while also settling nicely on his pronounced cheek bones. His eyes blue and intense, as if he could make your whole body run cold with a single look. But the face still clearly read Loki.

“I should hope so” You finally managed to choke out. “I did used to run this place” You could feel the confidence growing within you.

“Excuse me” Loki addressed you for the first time. “It is our palace, I doubt you could ever run something so grand” A smirk danced across his lips, as he waited for your response. Your eyes trailed over to Thor, throwing him a look you used to reserve for him, before turning your vision back to Loki.

“Interesting, if my memory serves me correctly, it’s your fathers” You could see his eyes roll slightly, as his head cocked to the side.

“What’s his, shall be ours” He almost spat the words out, any sense of humour in the conversation quickly stamped out. Your attention turned back to Thor, as he nervously watched from the side.

“Please tell me you did not grow up to be so boring as well” A smile quickly painted itself across his face, as his hand looped its way around your arm.

“Of course, not” His grin continued to grow, as his body started to move the pair of you towards the crowds. “Let us get drinks and continue to catch up” With that Thor turned you on your heels and dragged you across the room. Leaving a snarling Loki in his wake.

“So, then I won the fight, and father was so proud” Thor had returned with you to your seat, taking the one meant for your father. Both of you drinking in the moment, as you recalled memories from the years you had spent apart. It truly felt like old times again, as if a breath of fresh air had blown through your life. If only the same statement could be said for the mountain goat looking God, who returned to his seat above the crowd. His body pressed back deeply into his throne, as his hand twirled a small dagger around.

“Why is he, well like that?” You questioned, your head nodding slightly to signal the target of your question.

“Well as you know, there are those of us who are born to lead. You know my brother, power struggles are kind of his thing” Thor let out a hearty laugh, as he finished another drink. “He is either sulking because he isn’t the centre of attention or he’s planning a way to be” with that your laughter joined his. Images of childhood running through your mind, of Loki performing various magical acts to try and gain the rooms attention.

“Well at least you are glad to see me” You raise your cup to Thor’s as a toast, and took the last of your drink in. All while a pair of eyes burned into you from a far.

“If you will excuse me, I need to relieve myself” Thor used his body weight to heavily push his way out of his chair, slightly staggering as he took to his feet to stand.

“You are excused” you laughed, waving the man away. It seemed with his age, Thor had also learnt how to out drink that of an entire village. You let your body melt back slightly into your seat, using the moment of peace to regather your thoughts.

“Stop that” In what felt like less than a second of Thor being gone, a tower of leather and green stood before you.

“Pardon?”

“You know what” He snapped back again, dropping his body into the vacant seat.

“I’m sorry if I offended you, but I have been catching up with an old friend. You are more than welcome to join us?” You watched closely as a sigh left his lips, his body flopping back into the chair like a slouching teenager.

“Why would I want to do that?” He threw the question your way, but still gave you no attention.

“Well why have you come over here then?”

“Because….” You can see his brain scrambling to string a sentence together, his teeth chewing gently against his lip as the words waited to form. “Bored” He stated simply. “Jealous” you told yourself internally, as you rolled your eyes at the man child in front of you.

“This has been a lovely conversation, but if you will excuse me” As you went to push your chair out, his hand quickly found its way snaking around your wrist. His hand tugging you in slightly, but not with enough force for anyone else to notice.

“What happened to “you’ll always be my favourite Loki” he said the second half in a slightly higher pitched mocking tone.