The Smell Of Books - Loki x Reader

One

"I can't believe you told Peter we'd give him a job," Eva says, coming down the stairs into the shop. We had yet to open, both of us carrying down boxes of books from our house that we had picked up the day before. We were still in our pyjamas, not prepared to open for another half hour.

"I just felt bad!" I try to redeem myself but Eva rolls her eyes at my excuse, setting down her box of books on the counter.

"We already have Michelle, we don't need a fourth person to run the store," Eva complains and I roll my eyes, opening the box I had set on the chair behind the counter desk.

"You just don't like people,"

"Correction - I don't like most people," I laugh at that and Eva flashes me a grin.

"Why are we dwelling on this again?" Michelle asks, unlocking the front door to the shop as she enters.

"Morning MJ," I greet and she uses her free hand to wave back, balancing a tray of take away mugs and her bag in her other hand.

"Y/N has hired someone," Eva informs her, relieving the girl of her tray of drinks and picking up one of the coffees, taking a sip of it. "We don't even know who he is!"

"How'd you hire him if you don't know who he is?" Michelle asks, looking through the pile of books Eva and I had found the day before.

"Peter asked me to hire him," I say, leaning over the desk to pick up my own coffee. "And I felt bad saying no,"

"What's the name of this dude?" Michelle presses, jumping up onto the counter, clearly done with investigating our new books.

"I... don't know," I admit sheepishly and Eva rolls her eyes.

"You didn't even get this guy's name?" She asks and I shrug.

"It didn't occur to me!" I try to defend myself and Eva scoffs at my excuse.

"Are you two planning on greeting him in your PJs?" Michelle asks us.

"If he has a problem with me working in my pyjamas then he can go suck my cock," Eva scowls and the comment results in both Michelle and I laughing our heads off.

"We will get changed, but we don't open for another half hour, I don't even know what time he's meant to be arriving today,"

"On time," Eva offers and I roll my eyes at her.

"Get over it!" I groan and Michelle chuckles at the two of us.

"You guys are weird,"

"I'm not weird, she's weird," I argue and Eva gasps as though I've truly offended her.

"Fuck you, that's bullshit, I'm normal as fuck," Michelle and I stare at her for a few moments before I shake my head a little in bewilderment.

"I don't even know how to respond to that," I say and Michelle laughs loudly just as there's a knock at the door.

All three of our heads whip around to look at the glass door leading out to the street. Peter stands there, a cheerful grin on his face, dressed in his work clothes. He's accompanied by a tall, severe-looking man, dressed in an all-black suit and looking at us with distaste clearly written on his pale face.

I gesture at them to come in and Peter pushes the door open, holding it for his friend to enter through before passing through into the shop himself.

"Morning!" Peter chirps and even Eva can't scowl at his cheerful attitude, the kid was too sweet for the world.

"Morning, Peter," I reply, "we, uh, weren't expecting you to arrive so early," I tell him, casting a quick look down at my attire and feeling my face flush. I was dressed in an oversized shirt and cotton shorts, my hair in two plaits running down my back.

"Evidently." The man accompanying the boy agrees, also taking in mine and Eva's sleepy appearances.

"Hey, fuck you dude, we don't actually need to hire you. We're just doing it because Y/N is too nice to say no," Eva speaks up, glowering at the somewhat arrogant man.

"I'm Y/N, by the way, in case you didn't get that," I say, trying my hardest not to laugh at the look on the man's face as I hold my hand out. He takes it, shaking it up and down slowly three times before dropping his arm back to his side quickly.

"I'm Loki, of Asgard," I move back from the revelation, back to the counter which both of the two other girls were sat on.

"Dude, you hired the asshole who tried to take over Earth a few years ago? Good going, man," Eva comments, taking another drink from her coffee as she watches her interaction.

"Peter didn't tell us who you were," I tell Loki, not exactly feeling apologetic for Eva's reaction and feeling more wary than ever of Loki's presence.

"I'm Michelle," MJ speaks up after a few moments of awkward silence.

"But we all call her MJ," Peter adds cheerfully, clearly glad of the change in topic.

"Yeah, but only my friends can call me that," every feature on her face as she says it simply screams sarcasm as she gives a clearly forced smile and swings her legs a little.

"I'm Eva, but you can't call me that," Eva adds and I furrow my brows, looking at her in confusion.

"Dude, your full name is Eva, that's not a nickname," I point out and Eva shrugs nonchalantly.

"He doesn't have to talk to me," Michelle laughs at Eva's words and Loki lets out a huff of frustration.

"Look, man, basically just do what any of us three tell you to do and be friendly to customers and we'll all get on just fine," I tell Loki, going around the counter and picking up one of the two boxes there.

"And don't try to kill any of us either, we will sue," MJ tells him.

"I think we'd do more than sue, actually," I point out, "like, call the police?" I offer and the two girls and Peter snort a little at my words.

"I should probably get to work, I told Ron I'd be in late but..." Peter trails off and we nod, waving him off.

"One of us will probably be around later to pick up coffee," Eva tells him and he nods, smiling and waving goodbye to the God he had brought in on his way out of the door.

"So... you can start by unpacking these books," I say, placing the box on the floor in front of him.

"Uniform," Eva says loudly and I nod, rolling my eyes.

"I was just getting there!" I say, looking at her over my shoulder and my best friend hold her hands up in mock surrender. "We have a kind of uniform here. I'll go grab you a shirt and then it's black jeans with it," I tell Loki, turning back towards the God who looks utterly lost as he stares down at the open box of books that lay on the floor in front of him.

"Alphabetical order, I assume they taught you the alphabet in Asgard," MJ comments, noticing his confused look at the same time as I did.

"MJ, you help him, alright." I sigh, "we need to go change, you guys can open without us?" MJ nods.

"I do it most mornings," she points out, sliding off the counter and making her way over to Loki, dropping down onto the floor and bringing out five books.

Eva and I make our way up the stairs at the back of the shop to our apartment above.

"So we could die," Eva comments finally and I laugh. "I mean, I know I always say I want death but I wasn't expecting it to actually happen,"

"Give him a chance, Eva, I'm sure it will be fine," Eva gives a non-committal hum, unconvinced by my statement.

"You need anything from the store, by the way, I'm going to head out to the supermarket," she asks and I nod.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll write it down,"