#blue partner

You were sick. Absolutely miserable and sick. And your partner was nowhere to be seen.

The temperature in the room was stifling, and you had no energy to get up and change it again. Your body couldn’t decide what it wanted—hot and cold battled back and forth in waves, leaving you sweaty one second and shivering the next.

You’d come up with a game plan: one leg in the blanket, one leg out, same for your arms. It kind of worked. Barely.

Groaning, you glanced around the room once more, your eyes searching for any sign of Loki. Your head felt like a rock as you lifted it, the effort draining the last bit of strength out of you. Letting it fall back against the pillow, you stared blankly at the ceiling, completely miserable. With nothing else to do, you gave in and tried to fall asleep again.

After lots of tossing and turning and probably some mumbling to yourself, at some point you must’ve passed out.

When your eyes blinked open again, something was… different. You no longer felt overheated. In fact, the room felt… *cool*. Peacefully so.

Eyes narrowing, you looked around suspiciously, trying to figure out what had changed.

Next to you was something blue.

Something *blue* and large and—

A *giant blue man* was in your bed.

A scream immediately ripped from your throat as you thrashed away, tumbling off the bed and hitting the floor with a loud thud.

The blue beast jerked upright, blinking groggily. It looked around in confusion, red eyes glowing softly in the dim light, then started patting the bed like it had lost something important.

You scrambled backward, heart pounding, eyes wide. The thing in your bed had *glowing red eyes*?! Oh god—no, no, you needed to get out of here.

“Love? Where’d you go?” the giant said.

**Love?!** What??

“…Loki?” you squeaked, peeking cautiously from the other side of the bed.

“Hi, love,” he said softly, offering a sheepish smile. “This isn’t how I thought I’d show you…”

You stared. Completely dumbfounded.

You’d seen him shift before—Lady Loki was a favorite of yours. Tall, elegant, with flowing black hair and a presence that made everyone shut up and stare. Just as striking as your classic Loki.

But *this*? This was entirely unlike anything he’s shown you.

Standing shakily, you reached out a hand as if to confirm he was real. “Loki… love… is that really you?”

You could see it now—the curve of his lips, the shine in his eyes, the set of his brow. Even the way he reached out for you was so unmistakably him.

Sure, he was blue now. But he was still beautiful. *Maybe even more so*. Darker blue lines trailed along his skin like frosty symbols and patterns. His fingers and ears were tipped in soft white, like he’d been sculpted out of midnight snow. The sight was stunning.

And he was *rambling.*

You had no idea what he was saying because all you could focus on was how massive his hands were—and how desperately you wanted to hold them. To trace those glowing lines that danced across his skin.

“…and I thought, hey! This is a quick way to cool you down, and I could still cuddle you without making you overheat—” He tripped over his words, voice rising slightly in panic. “I mean, it *worked*, didn’t it?”

A fumbling, slightly panicked, giant version of your Loki. Yeah. That was definitely him.

So you reached up, cupped his cool face in your hands, and kissed him.

——

One week later, *he’s* sick in bed, groaning dramatically and begging you for soup.