#kaogasm

He leaned his head over his fist, elbow propped over the armrest of his favorite armchair and closed his eyes. If he could just get a few minutes of shut eye, maybe he can be bothered to get cleaned up before you came back home from your visit to Frigga.

He was just too irritated by Thor’s carelessness to be able to get some rest. So, he opened his eyes and stared at nothing, while in his mind he was plotting how to teach his brother and the Assholes Three a lesson.

You arrived home in the evening. Knowing Loki was out on a hunt meant you didn’t have to cook dinner and could do with the leftovers from lunch. He wasn’t supposed to be home yet when you arrived, but there he was, staring daggers onto the wall and did not even acknowledge your presence.

You set the basket of fruits Frigga had sent off with you aside and walked over to him. You looked at him with concern upon seeing the state of him. His clothes bloody and ripped in several places, his hands and face covered in dried blood. But you knew it wasn’t his. He would have had a different look on his face if he was injured. He would be trying to hide it from you, so you wouldn’t worry. But him sitting there with blood all over him was confirmation that it belonged to whatever animal they were hunting that day. And your husband just looked <i>tired</i>. Someone had crossed the line, you thought.

His eyes moved to your direction when you approached him and he straightened up in his seat, allowing himself to smile. One of the things you loved about him is that no matter how exhausted, how angry or how sad he was, he would always smile when he looked at you.

You smiled back and reached for his face, resting your palm over his cheek. The moment your hand touched his skin, Loki closed his eyes and let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. He leaned into your touch and you could see his facial muscles relaxing.

You always did that whenever he was tired. Neither of you knew why, but it had become a habit. Loki always said you had healing magic in you, even though you knew that was not true. But your touch always helped him relax. If that was magic, then so be it.

When you finally decided on a restaurant, Le Bernadin in Midtown Manhattan, you agreed to meet up on the weekend at 7pm sharp. It was probably going to cost you half your rent, but you’ll manage. There were still a few days until then, so you used the time to plan your outfit. Loki was going to take care of the reservations.

As the days went by, you found yourself getting excited about your first date. You were already making up scenarios how the evening would go. Starting with dinner, probably followed by a walk through Central Park. Maybe he’d even kiss you when he would walk you to your front door. You liked the idea and were looking forward to it.

When Saturday came along, you felt quite nervous about the whole thing. Sure, you liked him, and he probably liked you, otherwise he wouldn’t have agreed to go out. But what if he got cold feet? What if he was turned off by your outfit? Or your makeup?

Your roommate helped you get ready, even smacked you over the head for starting to doubt your decision to ask Loki out. You were thankful for that, even though it hurt. Luckily she didn’t hit you on the forehead, otherwise you would have been sporting a nice bruise by the time you got to the restaurant. Curse that sensitive skin your parents have passed down to you.

You picked up your phone, checked that you had all your payment apps updated and ready. You hated taking more items than needed. Especially when it meant having to use a bag. Your outfit style didn’t allow a bag, maybe a small clutch at most and you were quite pleased about it. You won’t need to bring your keys, since your roommate would be home by the time you got back and you could put your phone in the pocket of your outfit. No extra luggage. Perfect.

By quarter past six you left your apartment and made your way to the restaurant. You had arrived early, since you couldn’t afford being fashionably late, because of your reservation. You decided to wait for Loki before going in. The restaurant looked simply exquisite, to the point that even standing outside of it made you feel small and insecure.

You hoped Loki wouldn’t find any problems to get there soon.

The problem was, it was almost 7pm and he was nowhere to be seen.

Alright, maybe he was held in traffic. It could happen! But then again, he could move around with magic. So traffic was no issue.

At least you hoped it wasn’t. Did teleportation have traffic jams as well?

You decided to wait, nervously looking at the time on your phone screen. It was quarter past. You cursed the fact that Loki refused to carry a mobile phone. This was one of those times where that would have been quite helpful! People were starting to stare at you standing in front of the restaurant, so you started casually pacing, pretending you weren’t waiting there for someone. You weren’t being stood up.

Tears welled up in your eyes as you looked at your phone again and saw that it’s been half an hour since the agreed upon time and Loki was nowhere to be seen. You have definitely been stood up.

All the trouble you had gone through to make this happen, and he stood you up.

Trying and failing to stop the shuddering sobs, you walked to your car that you had parked at a parallel street, where parking was a bit cheaper, and drove back home. You hoped your roommate would be there, otherwise you’d be sitting at the door waiting for her to come back and open the door. You really should have grabbed your keys.

You parked your car on the street where you lived and walked the short distance to your apartment building. You had stopped trying to hold back your sobs the whole drive back. Your makeup was running down your face and you were a complete mess. You felt humiliated, disappointed and angry. Not only at Loki for standing you up, but also at yourself for being such an idiot and believing that the Trickster God would actually have feelings for you. You have fallen to one of his tricks!

As you reached the entrance to your apartment building, you saw a silhouette of a man sitting at the bottom of the stairs leading to the main door. You wiped your cheeks and as you got closer, he stood up and you noticed he was holding a single white rose in his hand. Your favorite flower.

“Y/N?”

You stood in your tracks. In all the anger and disappointment going on in your head, you had neglected to notice that the man at your front door was Loki. He was dressed in what seemed to be an expensive slim fit, grey 3-piece suit, with a black shirt and a black tie. His hair was tied neatly at the back of his neck and not a single strand out of place.

“Are you alright?” He took a couple of steps towards you but halted in shock when your hand landed across his face as you slapped him.

“How could you do this to me?” You snarled at him, tears resuming their flow over your cheeks. “I’ve been waiting for you for over thirty minutes! Do you know how humiliating it is to be stood up?”

“But…” He stood there, dumbfounded and not knowing what you were on about, while you pushed passed him and climbed the stairs to the main entrance and started ringing the bell to your apartment. You hoped your roommate was home and would open the door soon. You didn’t want to stay out there with Loki around.

For once in his life, Loki was speechless. He hadn’t stood you up! He had been waiting for you at your doorstep since 7 o’clock just as you had agreed on!

“Y/N,” he called after you and stood at the end of the stairs, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you lie to me!” You practically hissed at him, seething in anger. You wiped your face and turned away from him, ringing the bell once more and kept pressing the button for a good measure.

Loki set the rose on one of the steps before he climbed up the stairs. He placed a gentle hand over yours that was pressing the doorbell button. You jerked your hand away, as if his touch was a jolt of unwelcome electricity that you didn’t want anywhere near you. “Please leave.” You said, your voice almost a whisper.

“No.” He crossed his arms, realizing that touching you in any form wasn’t welcome at that moment. Yet, he was not going anywhere before sorting this out. “Look at me, please, Y/N.”

When you refused to do so, he sighed and repeated his request. “Y/N, please look at me. I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

That seemed to irritate Loki, for his nostrils flared at your harsh tone. Too many people in his life refused to hear him out. He would be damned to let you fall down to the ranks of those. He grabbed your shoulders and forced you to turn to him, though you kept your face to the side, not meeting his eyes.

“I did not stand you up! I was here waiting for you like we had agreed on! Seven o’clock! If anything, you are the one who stood me up!”

If the words hadn’t registered within your anger fuelled brain, the exasperated tone of his voice definitely caught your attention. You finally turned your face to look at him. You stared into his eyes, looking for a lie and you could find none.

“We agreed to meet up at seven.” You finally said, realization finally reaching the part of your brain cells that were not blinded by your anger. You haven’t actually specified where you would be meeting up.

It seemed that Loki had come to the same conclusion as he looked at the confused look you were suddenly giving him. “We never mentioned a meeting place.” He concluded for you.

“I’m such an idiot.” You sighed, dropping your gaze to the ground and tightly shutting your eyes. If you were feeling humiliated earlier for being stood up, you were now feeling it ten times worse and you wished the ground would rip and swallow you whole.

“You’re not.” His voice was soft and you could hear a gentle smile in it. He carefully raised your face to meet his gaze with two fingers under your chin. You kept your eyes shut, though. You were too embarrassed at the way you lashed out at him for something that wasn’t his fault. “We agreed on meeting at seven, I assumed I was going to pick you up. That’s how Midgardian men do it, isn’t it?”

The gentle palm against your cheek prompted you to finally open your eyes. The way he smiled at you sent a chill down your spine and you couldn’t help but to smile back. “Sometimes, yes.” You mumbled, feeling your anger dissipating. So he had done some homework. 10 points to whichever house he would be sorted into.

“Our reservation was at eight.” He looked at his watch and shrugged. “And we just missed it.” He grinned.

“I’m sorry.” You whined your apology, leaning your forehead against his chest. He really had the whole thing planned. Being picked up at 7, dinner reservation at 8. All nicely timed and you fucked it up by not talking about where you would meet after having decided on the when portion of things.

He pulled you closer and wrapped his arms around you. “No, I’m the one who needs to apologize. I should have asked you where we would be meeting. I’m really sorry, Y/N. I’m sorry I made you cry. I promise to do better next time.”

Hang on. Next time? You raised your head and looked at him. He looked down at you with both eyebrows raised in confusion.

“You said next time.”

“Well…” He relaxed, realizing your own confusion and smiled. “I was very much looking forward to our evening together. I think it’s only fair we reschedule.”

“Are you sure about that?” You looked at him apprehensively.

“Have you checked your desk? I keep telling you to organize it. You must have left them there and now they’re under a pile of papers or something.” Her mother shrugged, bringing her attention back to the book.

“I never put my jewellery on the desk, mother, and you know it.” She ran back to her bedroom, knowing full well what her mother said about her desk being a mess was true, though not the part about her not putting her jewellery there.

“What’s going on here?” Loki waltzed into the living room, sitting down next to his wife and planting a soft kiss over her temple.

“Anna’s panicking about her earrings again.” She turned to look at him, with a knowing smile on her face. “Where did you put them this time?”

“Why do you think I have anything to do with it?” he raised an eyebrow, trying to look insulted by the notion. Though he knew his beloved wife could read him like an open book, God of Mischief or not.

“Loki,” she gave him a warning look, one that he loved seeing on occasion and one he also dreaded when she was about to unleash her wrath upon him. Right now it seemed to be a benign one. He was safe. He never liked upsetting her.

“Alright, alright!” he sighed, shifting closer to her as he slithered an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, bringing his lips to her ears. “It’s somewhere she’d never think of looking in.” He whispered, nibbling at her ear lightly.

She giggled as her ear tickled and pulled her head away. “You’re being mean to her.”

“I’m being protective of her.” He smiled lovingly. “Besides, if you didn’t want me to intervene, you wouldn’t have told me she had a date.” His smile changed into a smirk.

“No,” she put the book aside and turned to the side to face him. “I told you because first of all, we have no secrets. And secondly, you’re her father and should know what is happening with your daughter.” She poked at his chest with every word to emphasize them.

“And that means taking action to ensure her safety whenever needed. And right now it is very much needed.” He leaned forward and stole a kiss from her lips.

“Will you tell her where the earrings are or should I?”

“Neither of us will tell. She’ll have to cancel the date first.”

“You’re behaving like one of those overprotective fathers.” She pursed her lips. “I’m not sure if I like that.” She scrunched her nose.

Loki was slightly taken aback by that. His wife loved him the way he was. The good, the bad, the ugly. With all of his flaws. Though he didn’t see his overprotection of their daughter as a flaw, it seemed to be the one thing she has admitted to not like about him.

“Alright, now I feel like banning her from dating ever again.” He declared, standing up.

“What? Why? Just because I said I’m not sure if I like you being overprotective?” she stood up as well, reaching out to grab his hand.

“Darling, in all the years we’ve known each other, you have never mentioned not liking anything about me. And now there’s an unfortunate bloke coming into our daughter’s life and he is causing all this!” he held her hand firmly as he looked into her eyes.

The look he gave her spelled “WORRY” in all caps. She had a hard time keeping a straight face, so she pulled him into a hug. That way she’d conceal the grin that she had going ear to ear.

“Honey, she is only sixteen. Whoever she’s seeing today is not causing anything. They’re only going out for ice creams at that vegan cafe she loves. It's her first date, let her experience that.” She ran a hand through his hair and pulled away just a bit to look at him with a warm smile on her face. “And when I tell you there’s something I do not like about you, does not mean it’s the end of the world. I still love you just the way you are, Loki.”

“I love you too, my dear.” He leaned in and kissed her lips tenderly.

“MOOOOOM, I’m going to be late and I still can't find them!” Anna came back to the living room the moment her parents kissed. “Ew, you guys, get a room!”

Her parents laughed at that and Loki turned to look at his wife, who nodded with her head towards their daughter while smiling at him. He rolled his eyes and sighed, turning his attention back to Anna. “They’re inside the freezer.”

Anna glared at her father, nostrils flaring as she realized she should have known he had a hand in this. She stomped to the kitchen to get her earrings out.

Loki held his wife tightly in his arms as she tried to run to the kitchen when a high pitched shriek was heard. “Three, two, one..” he whispered.

“DAD, DID YOU HIDE MY EARRINGS IN FROZEN MEAT???”