We walked back towards the party to avoid any suspicion. I immediately went for the bar, this time not asking for a soda but a glass of wine, while Thor continuously slammed one beer after the other. At one point in time, the two of us got separated by friends, leaving us both drifting apart from each other towards different areas of the penthouse.
Steve found his way to me again, pulling me towards the dance floor a second time that night. We danced for a while, laughing as we both failed to pull off even the simplest of dance moves like a bunch of idiots until Natasha came in and stole me away from him.
She pulled me to a small lounge area, where she sat me down on the love seat and pushed a new glass of red wine in my hand. She looked at me knowingly, clearly waiting for me to speak, but I silently sipped my drink instead.
"What?" I asked after several minutes of her intensely gazing at me, "don't look at me like that!"
"I can't believe you're keeping me in the dark here," she shouted over the music, "How are things with thunder boy?"
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently, trying to hide my smile behind the glass.
"Oh please," She rolled her eyes, "Did you forget I'm an assassin? I see everything, you know? Including that little moment you two just had out on the balcony."
She nudged me and winked, causing me to nearly choke on my drink.
"Don't give me that look, sweetheart. I didn't need to see that to know. He's been nothing but smiles from ear to ear for the last two days and it hasn't rained or even been somewhat cloudy once."
"So?" I asked.
"It's New York City," She stated, "Come on, you can tell me! I'm happy for you guys. Kind of jealous, but very happy."
"Jealous? You clearly didn't see the look on Bruce's big green face when he saw your video log in the Quinjet on Sakaar," I nudged her back, "That's gotta be worth something, right? Besides, Thor is an actual God and I'm... not? I may have some abilities, but I'm still very much human and very much mortal."
"Sounds to me like you think about this stuff a lot." She said as she straightened out her dress.
"I have thought about it, yes," I found Thor, laughing loudly at something Tony said, "He's too great for me. Is that even possible?"
Natasha's eyes followed mine across the room, where the God of Thunder and the birthday boy were sharing laughs while drinking. Several agents joined them and they began having a drinking contest; who could chug a glass of beer the fastest won. The prize? Another glass of beer.
"I think you should stop letting your fears affect you so much. I watched you train, you're dedicated, you're one of the strongest people I know and you're more brave than you lead on. You guys would be so good together." Natasha stood up and once again straightened her dress.
She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the bar, where we refilled our drinks before heading back to the group. Steve and Banner had now joined the drinking game - not as contestants, but as jurors. I laughed when I saw Steve yelling 'Chug, chug, chug' and wasn't surprised to find out Thor had won.
As the night was slowly coming to a close, most S.H.I.E.L.D agents had left. Many of them had work the following morning and others simply only showed up out of respect. There were still a couple of them sitting by the bar, slowly sipping on drinks after the music had died down to a jazzy instrumental.
The lot of us sat on a bunch of fancy looking red couches, laughing, having drinks and sharing stories. My palms firmly gripped the glass of wine I held between my fingers as I watched Thor being completely himself, loud and happy in the company of his best friends.
The crackle of electricity inside of me sent shivers through me and I couldn't help but to continuously eye Thor from where I sat. He didn't once look at me, but I could feel him even without physically touching him.
I was pretty buzzed at this point, my memory of how many drinks I'd had started to get fuzzier by the minute and I couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable my shoes were. I had to suppress a yawn and finished off the rest of my drink before setting it down on the coffee table.
When I looked back up, I could see Thor looking at me with starry eyes, a widespread grin all across his beautiful face. My heart raced, pupils dilated when I found myself unable to look away. I immediately felt my cheeks heating up and the electric current became more noticeable than before.
I didn't dare to say it, hell I didn't even dare to think it, but I needed him. He'd never looked better, confident in a group of amazing people, witty and funny in his own odd way. I could tell he was letting himself stare at me while Bruce tried to re-tell the tale of what happened during Ragnarok and I couldn't help but bite my lip at the sight of his greatness.
I mentally slapped myself for drinking so much. For the love of gods, why couldn't I just have stopped after two drinks? I made a mental note to kick Natasha's ass later for giving me wine all night, even after Steve had tried to start me off with bubbly sugar water.
I didn't usually drink, so when I did, it hit me hard. I had trouble focusing on people's words, only laughing when I heard the others laugh as well. I could only describe it as being stuck in a daze, fueled by the warmth of alcohol and sneaky glances across the table.
A sudden grip around my upper arm shook me out of it. I looked up to find Thor in close proximity to my face, his eyes on mine while his lips showed a small, gentle smile.
"You must sleep," he said in my ear, "it's late."
I noticed Natasha had left for her room already, as had Steve and Bruce. Tony had gotten up as well and was making his way to the elevator with Clint following close behind him.
I nodded slowly and took the hand he offered me, letting his strength pull me up from my spot on the couch.
I didn't exactly know how to walk in heels, but walking in heels whilst being drunk was a completely new thing. I stumbled across the penthouse, tripping over my own feet and nearly stepping on Thor's toes in the process. A giggle escaped my lips when the God of Thunder groaned, but the grin was quickly wiped from my face when I felt him pick me up and fling me over his shoulder, much like he'd done on Sakaar.
"Stop it," I murmured, "I'll hurt you!"
"And how would you do that?" He asked, a cheeky smile on his lips.
Instead of answering him, I stuck out my finger. I placed it on his bicep and smirked as I saw him twitch and heard him curse under his breath.
"I'll zap you again if you don't put me down." I warned.
"Just because you know how to use my power, does not mean you get to use it against me." He pushed the button to the 8th floor and watched the elevator doors close on us.
"Oh yeah? What are you, my boss?" I teased, "Should I start calling you your majesty from now on?"
Thor led us through the hallway, down to his room. I didn't even notice where we were going until he'd stepped inside, but still the realization of not sleeping in my own bed failed to come to me.
"Perhaps you should," Thor replied, "I quite like the sound of that."
He gently set me down on his bed. It felt so wrong, being in his bedroom with him alone, but the alcohol induced buzz added fuel to a fire I didn't know was raging inside of me. He stood with his back turned to me, facing the dresser Tony had filled for him with Midgardian clothes. He took out a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, before putting them back.
I slipped off my shoes, grateful for the feeling the soft carpet beneath my toes provided. I got up, gripping onto the bedpost at first to stop myself from toppling over. Thor didn't seem to notice me walking towards him while he was busy rummaging through stacks upon stacks of designer clothes, cheerfully humming a song I didn't recognize to himself.
I bit my lip as I gently placed my fingers under his t-shirt. His hands were pressed firmly against the top of the wooden dresser, almost creating enough pressure to splinter the damn thing beneath his grasp. As my hands traveled up the soft, smooth skin on his back, I couldn't help but sigh deeply when I felt his muscles relaxing beneath my touch.
I could tell he was trying to say something, but couldn't find words.
Thor turned around to face me. I'd dropped my hands to my sides and slightly wobbled on my feet. I shouldn't want him, but I did and I hated myself for it. I knew this couldn't end well, but I didn't care.
He'd already kissed me - twice - and both times had been the best experiences of my life. I didn't want him to leave again without him knowing how I felt. How much I truly needed him.
It was as if though somebody had nailed me to the ground when his hands traveled to the hem of his beer stained shirt. I watched him take it off, my breath hitching in my throat when it landed near the bathroom door.
He looked down at me with a pained expression on his face, as if being this close to me physically hurt him. The smell of him, the sight of him, the way his hot breath flew on my forehead, all of it caused me to stumble on my feet again. I placed both my hands on his chest to stop myself from toppling over, causing Thor to inhale sharply.
Goosebumps lifted all over my skin when I touched him, feeling the irregular rise and fall of his hard chest beneath my shaky fingertips. I couldn't for the life of me understand what I, of all people, had done to cause the king of Asgard to have trouble breathing, but I couldn't say I hated it either.
Me and Thor were nothing alike. He was loud and extroverted where I was quiet. He was strong, confident around the most important of people and didn't care what others thought of him when all I wanted to do was hide myself. He'd been made to perfection and the women on Asgard were beautiful, I'd seen them with my own eyes... yet he was not there with them, but with me.
His left hand found its way to my hair. He struck it gently, pushing stray strands of it behind my ear.
"What are you doing to me?" He asked quietly before kissing the top of my head. His lips lingered there while I tightly shut my eyes, wobbling on my feet as I took in his presence.
I nearly crumbled under the weight of his words, but couldn't find any of my own. I knew exactly what he meant, I could feel it in my bones, yet my brain couldn't find a way to express what I was thinking into words. My lips moved, but my voice failed to form any coherent words. All I could focus on was the feeling of Thor's body so close to mine.
"I'm tired," I mumbled, "so tired."
Thor chuckled softly, before placing his hands on my hips. He pushed my hair over my shoulder and slowly moved his hand to the zipper of my dress. I was sure my heart was going to explode when I heard the sound of it being dragged down towards the clasp of my bra. Thor paused momentarily, but continued to pull down the zipper until it was low enough for me to be able to step out of the constricting piece of fabric.
My diaphragm tightened as I breathed as if my lungs were deprived of oxygen, fast and shallow inhales followed by even smaller exhales. His hand touched my shoulder and he kissed it. I couldn't even tell you how much I enjoyed the feeling of his facial hair against the softness of my skin, because it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced.
With a kiss to my cheek, Thor slid one of his shirts over my head. He kissed my cheek with his body pressed up against mine and allowed small spurts of electric energy to flow between our fingers when he took both my hands in his and led me to his bed.
That night, I slept with Thor's arms wrapped around my waist, his face buried deeply in my hair.