This wasn't really the first time you had to go through this. Every time, in order to spur away at least some awkward conversation that may arise over time, you would come out to the person you were dating. It wasn't a big deal to you exactly. To you it seemed like you were setting boundaries on the spot, hoping to start the relationship off well.
Sometimes your date didn't react well though. A comment would be thrown here and there about how those pronouns didn't make sense or why you didn't look like a certain way if you were nonbinary. Talk about killing the mood.
But here you were, coming out to your date, again. This person was different though. The way his wavy raven hair fell around his shoulders, half lidded green eyes as a smirk was plastered on his face. He was wearing a black suit and tie for the occasion. You were dressed formally as well, he requested it after all. You were hoping at this point he wouldn't be disappointed.
You recalled the past couple of days. How you managed to meet him in the first place and him then asking you out to a fancy restaurant of all places. Either he was rich or wanted to show off but you said yes anyway. Walking the streets of New York is an interesting experience. After all, you were the one who helped this man after he was harassed and beaten.
"Thank you for your kindness, but it's unnecessary," the man said, as you helped him up. He was covered in cuts and bruises, his lip split from being beaten up.
"Well, if you didn't need my help, you wouldn't have taken my hand," you smirked. He opened his mouth to say something and then chuckled.
"I suppose you're right on that," he gave you a smile before walking off. You couldn't help but notice that his lip wasn't split anymore and blinked for a moment. Did he heal that quickly? He wasn't one of those super heroes, was he? You stood and pondered for a moment before going off on your day. It was to your surprise that you saw something written on your hand.
"What the-" It was a phone number. How that got there in the first place was something you had been thinking about for a while, even now. Under that phone number read: "Thank you - L" Thus started the week of you sitting on your bed, wondering whether or not you'd call this number. You met this man on the street. Beaten up to be exact. So why exactly was he so adamant on you calling him? And why did you want to call him so badly? You finally called him after thinking about it for a couple of days, sighing as you dialled on the keypad.
And here you were. Sitting in front of him on a goddamn date. You scolded yourself internally. You never met this man before, he could have been a serial killer or one of those supervillains that kept popping up on the news. You cleared your throat as you felt his gaze on you and took a sip of the champagne he ordered earlier.
"So what exactly is your name?" you asked. Ever since you entered the restaurant with him, people kept giving him glares. There was something you were missing but you couldn't place what it exactly was. He straightened his back as he went to answer.
"Loki," he replied. The air around the entire restaurant went cold and the ambience fell silent. You then remembered the news from a few years ago. A man named Loki and what he did in Germany and New York. You weren't in New York at the time. But the news was all over the world, covering what the Avengers did and specifically what happened to New York.
"You're... Loki?" you asked. "As in the guy who-"
"Tried to take over New York and the entire world yes but that's because I was being manipulated," Loki explained.
"Uh...huh." It's not that you didn't believe him. Just the fact that you did in fact have a literal (former?) supervillain sitting in front of you made your palms sweat and heart race. "You're uh not gonna try to take over the world again, are you?"
"Of course not, I'm not that person anymore," Loki replied. He took a sip of his champagne and drew his mouth into a tight line as he set it down. "You remember when I was beaten on the street?"
"Yeah." Of course you did, the memory was still fresh in your mind.
"Well, it's because I'm not allowed to fight back. It's an enchantment I placed upon myself that I can remove any time but it takes hours to remove it. And my brother makes sure I don't remove it unless we... have to engage in combat but nevermind that." He waved his hand as if to wave the thought away. "When I first appeared on Midgard after 5 years, people wouldn't give me the time of day. I was just a stranger to them. But it seems that the anger's resurfaced and now everyone hates me again. Which is fine, I just wish it didn't result in getting beat up in the streets."
"Then why walk about New York?"
"I'm currently housed in the Avengers Tower and I was bored. Might as well go outside and take a stroll in the gross streets of New York." He then paused for a moment and leaned forward slightly. "What's your name? I apologise for not asking earlier," Loki's voice trailed off on the second sentence but you smiled at him. There was a certain warmth to him, former supervillain or not.
"I'm (y/n)," you held out your hand as if to shake it but Loki gently took it and kissed it. Interesting. His lips felt kinda cold.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, (y/n)," Loki smiled and you felt the heat rise up in your cheeks. The food you had ordered earlier came and the two of you began to eat. You ordered a small dish that had individual stacks of ciabatta bread, mozzarella, tomato slices, and basil coated in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Beside it was a bowl of carbonara, inside had pieces of soft bacon and onions. Parmesan cheese was sprinkled on top of it. Loki had a pasta dish mixed with truffle and olive oil, the top of it was garnished with truffle flakes and microgreens.
After eating dinner together, Loki asked you if you would like to talk a walk in a park. When you politely declined he then offered to take you to Avengers Tower and give you a tour instead. You always wondered what it was like inside there so you shrugged and said yes. Loki held his hand out for you to take it and you cautiously grabbed it before being transported to the Avengers lounge. A bar was tucked into a wall and a set of stairs led down to the couches for people to sit. It was oddly quiet. The Avengers must have not been there then.
"It feels kinda..."
"Empty?" Loki finished.
"Yeah."
"Well, I can explain that. The rest of the Avengers placed me here because... well they don't exactly trust me yet. The only person who really visits is Thor. And of course there's Friday, who is in charge of what areas I can access or not, but she's just a Midgardian technology so she doesn't really count," Loki explained. A voice chimed up above the two of you saying 'I heard that.' He sighed and walked over to the bar, taking out two glasses and pouring some scotch into it. "Luckily, Stark left his expensive alcohol so I can at least drink with refined tastes." He took a sip of the scotch and motioned you to come over to the bar stool, offering you the glass of scotch. You took it and sat down, intrigued more than ever.
"So in other words, you're kinda stuck here," you said.
"More of a... being closely watched to make sure I don't do anything bad here," Loki gave a wry smile. You chuckled a little and he then smiled genuinely, his eyes half lidded. You decided it was the best time to tell him now. You were unsure whether or not you'd date this person in the future, but at least you wanted to be his friend. You gulped down some scotch and set it down gently before looking into Loki's eyes.
"There's um something I should tell you," you started. Loki cocked his head to the side with curiosity, he placed the glass down and looked at you intently, ready to listen. Your eyes trailed down as you started, nervous over how he'd react. "I'm... nonbinary, as in I use-"
"They/them pronouns." Your eyes shot up to Loki's and you didn't see any negative feeling in his eyes. Instead he looked absolutely elated. His face broke into a grin and he laughed softly, closing his eyes and looking down before looking up back at you.
"I use they/them too," Loki said. "But I'm more... genderfluid than nonbinary." Before your eyes you saw them change into a more feminine looking version of themself. They smiled at you and pushed a strand of hair behind their ear. Your face flushed and you cleared your throat, a laugh bubbling up in your throat. Loki then looked at you and raised their brows, noticing your happiness.
"Would you like to go on an actual date this time?" they asked. You replied with a 'yes' a little too loudly and they laughed. Loki leaned forward and kissed your forehead. "Does next Saturday sound good?" You were speechless.
-END-