Loki oneshots

Bring a God to Ballet (Thor and Love)

A/N Loki's not in this one. It takes place after Love and Thunder. It's a birthday gift for my friend caitlynsnow-yayyy on tumblr/ChocolateXMyMouth on ao3 who you should totally go check out on both those sites rn

"Are you ready, Uncle Thor?" Love asks, a big grin on her face.

"I'm nervous," Thor says, in that way adults always lovingly lie to little kids.

Love cocks her head to the side, confused. "Why are you nervous?"

"I'm going to look ridiculous," Thor says. "How am I supposed to pretend I know what I'm doing when you're right here next to me and doing it a million times better?"

Love giggles at that. "I won't be a million times better."

"Oh, I think you will."

"Mm-mm." Love shakes her head. "Maybe a hundred times better, but not a million."

Thor stifles a laugh as the teacher calls for everyone's attention. He will admit, he was a little wary when Love asked him to be her guest for this special "bring a boy to ballet" edition of her weekly dance class, but Love seems to be in high spirits, and that's enough to convince him he's done the right thing by agreeing to this. When Love's happy, he's happy, even if he has to make a fool out of himself in front of a bunch of little girls and their dads and brothers do get there.

After a brief welcome spiel, the teacher demonstrates the first combination that they're going to do at barre. He feels like he's seen Love do this a million times from the dance studio waiting room, but he's never really paid attention to it. It seems fairly straightforward: four tendus to the front, side, back, and side. He can handle that.

He faces the barre – which is conveniently placed in the middle of the room, so if he somehow forgets this incredibly simple combination, he can follow along with the young dancer in front of him – and waits for the music to start. He spares a glance at Love, who's making a point to stand up very tall. Her arms are held low and rounded, and a glance around the room shows that the rest of the girls are standing the same way, so Thor awkwardly does the same.

The music begins, and he does his best to copy the weird breathy arm movement the dancer in front of him does, and then it's time for the easy part; tendus, which seem to be quite literally just sticking his foot out. He can handle that. This doesn't seem that hard at all. And he has the barre in front of him, so he doesn't even have to worry about balancing. This is going to be the easiest thing ever.

"Uncle Thor," Love whispers loudly. "Your foot's sickled."

Thor blinks at that. "My foot is what?"

"Sickled!"

"And is that... bad?" he asks uncertainly. What even is a sickled foot?

She nods. "Mm-hmm."

"How do I make my foot... not... sickled?" He's not even sure what he's asking.

"I'll show you before we do the other side."

Thor furrows his brows. His sickled foot must not be that bad if he can finish the combination, but he's weirdly intrigued now about what's wrong with his foot. The suspense over the next 90 seconds is much more annoying than it should be.

Love finishes in the same position she started the combination, her arms held rounded and low in front of her, so Thor copies that. She holds it until the teacher begins to speak, but apparently whatever the teacher has to say doesn't matter because she immediately begins teaching her uncle about feet.