Hanging with Loki during a heat wave :(
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A/N: Some more silly fluff for you. Never mind that it’s January and most places are probably having the Opposite of a heat wave right now. Enjoy~
WC: 1050
Rating: G
TW: None
The seasons in New York were a whole amalgam of a mixed bag.
Sure, the winters were terrible, with the snow and the cold sometimes bad enough to make you want to hibernate like a bear and not come out again until well into spring, and sure, spring and fall were mild and cool, with bearable weather that required a light jacket, if that. But when it came to summer…
New York had two types of summer.
Manageable, and all hell has broken loose and there’s no escape from the sweltering heat of a thousand suns raining down on any who step outside.
Although, to be fair, being inside typically didn’t help matters much, either. It was just that at least you had shade, and air conditioning, if you were lucky and the weather hadn’t caused a grid brownout.
The Compound, it seemed, was not exempt from heat-induced power outages, as you had quickly come to find out when you woke up one morning, drenched in a layer of sweat that let you know the day was going to get off to an absolutely fantastic start.
After changing into some clothes that didn’t threaten to suffocate you where you sat, you trudged yourself into the main living room, curious to see if anyone else had woken up in a similar manner.
The sight of half the team absolutely thrown across furniture in an attempt to stay cool would have been amusing, if you hadn’t been cursing to yourself that all the good spots had been taken.
Natasha had set up camp by the patio door, which she had propped open in hopes of catching any sort of breeze that might pick up. Thor was sprawled across the couch, fanning himself with a handheld fan made up of folded papers that you sincerely hoped weren’t anything important. Sam was in the kitchen, taking ice cubes out of the freezer every five seconds while Steve scolded him that opening and closing the door was going to cause everything to melt much faster.
And then there was the fact that almost everybody was in the bare minimum amount of clothing to keep themselves decent while cooling off.
It would have been a funny sight, if you all hadn’t been absolutely miserable.
“Where’s everyone else?” You glanced around the room, trying to figure out who wasn’t accounted for.
“They either left in hopes of finding somewhere else that has power, they’re soaking in a cold bath...” Steve spoke with an apologetic smile, as though the heatwave was his fault entirely. “…or they’re down in the basement arguing with F.R.I.D.A.Y. about getting the power back up and running.”
Well, that explained where Tony had disappeared to.
You nodded, and heaved a sigh, wondering how you were going to figure out how to stay cool when it dawned on you that someone else was missing from the room.
Someone who would be particularly helpful at the moment.
“Loki in their room?”
“Are they ever not?” Bucky quipped from somewhere out of sight, but you simply couldn’t be bothered to figure out where he was. You were now on a mission.
“I’m gonna go… check on them. See if they need anything.”
Before anyone else could do the math that you had, you turned on your heel and made a beeline straight to Loki’s room, knocking politely exactly one time before heading in anyway.
“You know, you defeat the purpose of knocking when you just barge in, Y/N.” Sure enough, Loki was sat comfortably on their bed, looking like they had no care in the world as they glanced up from their book to look at you. “You look…”
“Like I just ran a marathon in a hundred degree marathon? Yeah. It’s hot as shit.”
Loki shrugged a shoulder and glanced out the window boredly. “Is it? Hadn’t noticed.”
“Exactly. Hey, quick question. Your dad was a frost giant, right?”
Loki didn’t tense at the question; they’d long since come to terms with their parentage and all the messiness that had come along with it, and it wasn’t (usually) a topic of distress for them anymore.
“…yes?”
“Does that mean you’re, like, eternally cold and don’t have to worry about getting hot at all?”
Loki narrowed their eyes at you, quickly putting two and two together quicker than you had. “Y/N, don’t you do it.”
Too late.
You’d already jumped toward the bed, landing halfway on top of Loki, who gave a rather loud “oof” as you got yourself comfortable, laying perpendicular of them, with your shoulders and head against their chest.
The relief was, frankly, instantaneous, and you couldn’t help your content little sigh at finally not feeling like you were going to melt right where you stood.
“Gross, I don’t want your sweat on my clothes,” Loki complained, but they didn’t move away or try to get you off of them.
“Oh, give it a few minutes and there won’t be any more sweat left. You’re like a freezer. How have I never noticed that before?”
“Well, I promise you this isn’t something that started today, so…”
“Are you calling me stupid?” you whined, giving Loki your best, albeit playful, look of offense.
Loki grinned in that cheeky way that made you want to throttle them. “I mean, I was going to say imperceptive. Unobservant, even… But you said it first.”
This time, you really did look offended. “Hey! Not nice.”
“Neither is tackling someone because you know they’re going to keep you cool.”
“Keep it up and I’ll remind everyone else of your little party trick, and then you’ll wish it was just me in here bothering you.” This time, it was your turn to grin cheekily. How the turn tables.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
You shrugged, and looked toward the door, opening your mouth as though you were going to call for someone, and Loki immediately covered your mouth.
“Fine. Fine. You can stay. But if you leave sweat stains on my shirt, you’re buying me a new one.”
“Such a priss. Deal.”
“Deal. Enjoy your personal air conditioning unit.” With that, they opened their book again and went back to reading, and you got comfortable, closing your eyes with a content little hum.
Perhaps this heat wave wouldn’t be so bad after all.
