Green sunrise | Loki fanfiction

Part 24: In the broom closet

I hold Loki's sleeve, letting him pull me through the hallway while the others seperate from us one after the other.
"Hey", Loki protests. He grins and tries to shake me off. "I may know the best hiding spots, but I surely wont wash the dishes tonight. And with you, the chance of me being found will be much higher."
"Well, I don't plan to wash plates this evening either. That's why I am coming with you", I give back. "Also, I am never letting you go again, Laufeyson."
He raises his eyebrows.
I blush but hold his glance.
Loki smiles honestly. "Thank you."
I smirk. "Can I come with you then?"
His answer is easy. "Woops", he says, as he splits into many different Loki's who all run in different directions.
"Hey!", I laugh. "Not fair." I come to a halt, unable to decide who to follow. I sigh and go to find my own hiding place.
As Thor has counted down to zero, I stand in a broom closet, perking my ears. The closet is not exactly the best hiding spot but it is very far away from the control room and I hope Thor will find the others first. Behind me is the tube of a vaccuum cleaner and a few buckets with sponges in them. The silence feels heavy as I excitedly wait for noises.
"Hello, darling", a dark voice whispers into my ear.
I flinch and almost stumble over one of the buckets. I look around the closet but nobody is there.
"It seems like you have found me", the voice chuckles.
"L-loki? Where are you?", I hiss, partly scared that I just imagine his voice.
"Right here."
I screw up my eyes and begin to wonder if he has shapeshifted into the vaccuum cleaner, but then I see him: Loki not bigger than a barbie is sitting on the tube, swinging his tiny legs.
"Oh my god", I breathe. "You can do that?" I reach for him.
"Don't you dare -", he starts, but too late. Before he can finish that sentence, I hold him in my hand, grinning brightly.
"How cute are you?", I say with a squeaky voice, admiring him.
He crosses his arms and looks up at me. "I am not cute. I am the mighty god of mischief." He smirks. "Do you find me cute?"
I open my mouth for a protesting answer and close it again. Instead of saying something, I hold him at his foot and let him dangle down from it.
"Hey!", he calls as his hair blocks his view. Loki swings up again and transforms into his usual size.
"Revenge for this morning is nice", I say and grin while looking up in his face.
Loki smirks and raises an eyebrow. "Do you really want to start a prank war with me?"
"No, but that doesn't mean I have to endure everything without giving something back. What did annoy you again? Hm ..." I pretend to think as he listens amused. "Your hair looks nice. And you are so good at training ... and how your green magic flows so perfectly ..."
Loki groans quietly. "Oh no, not the compliments again. Stop it, (y/n)."
I giggle as I finish the last one. "You can stop pretending to hate them."
As usual, he rolls his eyes, but he can't help to smile a bit.
We fall silent in the broom closet, standing on the opposite walls, just half a meter apart. My thoughts wander to him as I examine his form, his arms crossed over his chest, lightly breathing, calmly looking around the closet. Then he catches my glance and my stomach suddenly feels like it falls half a meter.
A smirk finds its way onto his face and he opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, a noise from outside the closet reaches us.
We both look to the door, suddenly remembering we still play hide and seek. We exchange a glance, hear a door open and stay quiet.
"Seems like Thor doesn't suspect us", I whisper.
"No, seems like he doesn't." Loki examines me and something in his eyes tell me he has an evil idea.
His hand shoots forwards and pokes me in the side.
I hold my mouth shut with my hand to cover up my yelp. "What are you doing?", I whisper.
His grin grows wider as he starts tickling me, trapping me between the wall and himself. "Someone has to wash the dishes tonight and it will not be me", he purrs.
"No, no, no, no!", I hiss, desperate to not make any sounds. "You are getting both of us caught!" A high squeak and a laugh escapes my mouth and I try to raise my hand to my lips just to pull it down to defend myself again.
"Well, then you will have to stay quiet", he chuckles, now openly having a lot of fun.
I am now trapped in some kind of hug and try to keep my hopeless giggling down. If his arms wouldn't hold me in place, I would have fallen to my feet. "Why do you always tickle me?", I laugh.
"Oh, let's count the reasons as I count your ribs, shall we? One, it's fun, two, I like to tease you, three, you are so sensitive to it ..."
I am reduced to a laughing fit. In my attempts to pull his hands off me, I hit the wall with my elbow with a dark thump.
"I think I got one", we hear Natasha yell from the hallway. Steps come closer and we don't have time to seperate. Loki shrinks quickly and I lose my balance because of that and fall into the buckets and the vaccuum cleaner on the ground.
The door opens and I look up into Nat's face. She raises an eyebrow and smiles. "Now what happened to you?"
I blush. "Um, you see- aaah!" The tiny Loki runs around under my shirt and in a few attempts I grab him and pull him out.
Natasha now raises both her eyebrows a lot higher and grins. "Loki, what are you doing in (y/n)'s shirt?"
He puts his little arms akimbo. "Trying to find her gracefullness, but the search has been unsuccessfull."
"Hey", I protest weakly while Natasha bursts out laughing. "Did we lose the game now?"
She shakes her head. "No, Bruce did. He hid under the kitchen sink. Only Tony is missing but I strongly suspect he is hiding between his spare Iron Man suits."
We get out of the closet and help the others' search. Natasha is right, Tony is standing very still in his current suit between his other ones. After we find him, we joke about our hiding places and at dinner I think that the team building exercise maybe worked. Everyone is much more relaxed and Loki laughs almost as much as Tony. I find myself very happy in this atmosphere.
After dinner, Bruce stays in the kitchen to wash the dishes and everybody goes to do their own stuff before bedtime. I decide to clean my room a bit, it feels weird to sleep in my own bed after the last days.
As I hum to myself while changing the sheets, a soft knock resounds from my door.
"Come in!", I call.
The door opens and I see Loki leaning in the doorway, holding two books. "I found these two in my room", he says.
I come closer to look at them and see that it is his spell book and the dictionary Thor gave to me.
"I thought maybe you would like to have them in your room to read them sometimes?" He scratches his neck nervously.
"Oh, thank you!", I say and smile brightly. "I would love to!" I take them and go into the room to place them on my nightstand. Loki still leans at the doorframe, now fidgeting with his fingers.
"Is everything okay?", I ask him. "Do you want to come in?"
"No, no, it's okay, I just ... wanted to ask you something."
I watch him, now he is clearly being nervous. What on earth could make him nervous?
"Go ahead", I say and try to smile in a reassuring way.
"Well, it is, uhm, I ..." He swallows. "I have made my mind up about Tony's party. And ..." Loki blinks and spits out a question really fast: "Would you accompany me to the party?"
A rose colour creeps up my cheeks and my heart beats faster. "Oh. You mean ... as a date?" My breath hitches as I wait for his answer. I definitly didn't expect to be asked that this evening, but now I am deeply interested in his answer.
"Uhm, yes. Only if you want to of course?" He breaks his eye contact with my carpet and finally looks at me.
"I ... I would love to", I press out and my cheeks start to burn.
"Oh. That's great! I mean ..." He clasps his hands behind his back and smiles his usual mischievous smile. "I am glad to hear that. I hope you have a good night ... sleep well."
I still can't believe my luck. "You too", I say with a dry mouth, and the door closes.

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Sorry for not updating for two weeks! I was really busy with school, but now I will be able to write more again. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and it didn't feel out of character! Have a good night and week-end!