Hey! How are you guys doing? Hope you're doing well.
Anyway, this part is a request by kalemuffin. The plot, as described by the requester, is the following:
"I was wondering if you could do a student!Reader X professor!Loki? It is based on a university (AU) where she's an engineering student, and he's a professor of English/History (So it is perfectly legal, as she's 18+ and he isn't her professor). Could you base it when they're already dating (maybe living together) and she's feeling unsure about why he's with her when he could be with someone more 'grown-up' than her, who's more sociable than her?"
So, here it is! Enjoy! ♥
Publisher on March 2020
...
Loki opened the door of the apartment, using his keys, and got in. He shut the door behind him and placed his bag on the sofa.
"I'm home", he called out loudly but tiredly and walked to the kitchen.
Y/N turned around and smiled when he walked near her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek, then leaned and kissed her lips softly.
"Have you been here for long?" he asked, his arm still around her shoulder, and then he smiled as he looked at the spot on the stove, where Y/N was preparing food.
"I finished my lessons about two hours ago. Take away the fifteen minutes I was on the bus... I thought I could make a little something before starting with homework".
"How sweet of you -no sarcasm intended!" Loki commented, "Anyway, I would have come sooner, but there were some students who had questions, and then I had to do some paperwork... Sometimes I regret I became an English professor -it can become really annoying at times..."
"Well, I'll ensure I don't become an engineering professor, so that I won't have the same problem".
"Hmm..." Loki hummed, "I should have applied for the physics department when I finished high-school, I just was bored to study more, and English was easier".
"Really? Are you sure that physics was simply not your forte?"
"Y/N, I nailed all the subjects, kids used to call me a geek because of that".
"Ooh, if only they saw that 'geek' now..." Y/N mouthed.
"If only..." Loki muttered and puller Y/N into a kiss.
They kissed for a few seconds, then Y/N pushed him away gently, causing their lips to part.
"Alright, if you want to eat actual food and not a burnt mass, I'll have to concentrate on cooking now".
Loki grimaced and took his hand off her shoulder.
"Okay then, I'm gonna have a shower now, if you don't mind", he murmured and kissed her cheek before walking away and out of the kitchen.
Y/N smirked as she turned her face towards the pot and focused on preparing dinner. Soon, she heard the sound of the shower. Oh, Loki has so great. So nice. Too good for her. She was now in the second year of her engineering studies at the university and still remembered the first time she met him.
~Flashback~
Y/N was running in the campus quickly, holding a few books in her hands. Oh, it was the first day of university, and she managed to get lost! She was going to be late! She mentally cursed herself once again. Where the heck was her class?
She turned around the corner and suddenly bumped into someone, causing all her books to slip off her hands and into the ground.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" she muttered as she lowered herself to pick her books from the ground.
She heard a sigh, and then the person on which she had bumped into knelt next to her and helped her pick up her stuff.
He was a tall, handsome man, with long black hair, sharp cheekbones and -as she noticed when he looked up at her- beautiful emerald eyes. He looked... educated -if one could tell if someone was educated based on their appearance.
He asked her if she needed anything. His voice was deep and beautiful -damn, what was going on with her mind? She told him she looked for the engineering department.
He gave her instructions on how to go to her department, and she left hurriedly after having thanked him more than times.
A couple of days later she met him again, that time in the library, and this was when she learnt he was a professor of English in the university. His name was Loki Odinson -"I know it's unusual", he added when he introduced himself.
"You look young to be a university professor", Y/N commented.
"I have the gift of looking younger than I am", he replied with a smirk and then focused on his task.
~End of flashback~
Y/N hummed a soft tune as she prepared the salad. It was as though there was some kind of unknown power that brought her and Loki together -they had a lot of random meetings before they hooked up.
She sighed. Why did Loki stay with her? Why did he ask from her to move in with him when he could find someone of his age, more mature and sociable? This question bothered her in a while, and she obviously didn't dare to ask him. How could she ask him anyway? "Am I really a pain in the ass and you're just looking for a chance to get rid of me?" No, that wouldn't work. And, besides, what if she was wrong? In that case, he would be hurt -and Y/N didn't want that.
At that moment, Loki got in the kitchen, wearing some casual clothes and having made his wet hair into a half-bun. He approached Y/N and, without saying anything, he began helping her lay the table.
When everything was ready, they sat down and started eating silently. Why were they so silent?
"So, what are you gonna do afterwards?" Loki asked, trying to break the ice.
Y/N shrugged.
"I guess I'll study a little bit", she answered.
Loki didn't fail to notice the melancholy in her voice. He bit his underlip as he placed his fork down, thinking whether he should bring the subject up.
"Is there anything that bothers you?" he finally asked her, looking at her sternly, "You look thoughtful".
"Huh? Oh, umm... no, I'm fine".
Loki raised his eyebrows with disbelief, then sighed softly, and his hand shot out to take hold of hers.
"You can talk to me about anything -you know that, don't you?"
Y/N pulled her hand out of his grip and supported her head in her palm, rolling her eyes.
"It's nothing".
"Oh, no, there is something, right?" Loki insisted, but then remained silent for a couple of seconds, "Did I do something wrong?" he finally asked.
"No", Loki answered a few moments later, "No, you haven't hurt me, you haven't broken my heart... Not yet. What are you waiting for? Why... why do you bear with me, Loki? There are so many people out there, more grown-up and... extroverted than me. You deserve better".
Loki's expression softened, and then he sighed.
"Y/N", he mumbled, "How on earth did you even think of that? I love you, Y/N. That's why. You're younger than me, so what? You have a place in my heart that no one else could ever fill. You might have the age of my students and like staying at home instead of going out -but that doesn't matter. And, what people say -I don't care".
Y/N remained silent, thinking of what he had said with disbelief clear on her face. And this hurt Loki -the fact that she didn't believe in his love. And then it made him angry, very angry.
"Look", he said gravely, looking at her, "I have told you how I feel a million times, I've opened my heart to you -and this is not something easy or usual for me. In fact, it's very difficult, and I've tried so much, and I have no idea what I should do to make you see!"
While he had started talking considerably calmly, at the end of the small speech he was shouting, slamming his hand down the table, standing up. His fists tightened, and his eyes sparkled -were those tears?
"And this hurts, Y/N", he blurted out, and his voice cracked with pain and rage.
Y/N glanced at his eyes for only a second, only to notice she was right -there were tears in his eyes- before lowering her head again. Loki looked at her and pressed his lips together. He stood like that for a couple of moments and then turned around, pushing the chair away violently before rushing to the bedroom and slamming the door behind his back.
He felt weak, as though he was going to collapse, and his hand shot out to take hold of the wall. He bit his underlip to suppress his sobs. Why no one ever understood him? Why no one ever felt his love? What was he doing wrong?
He walked across the room towards the french door. He sat down on the floor and pressed his forehead against the cold glass. His look wandered out of the transparent material, to the balcony's tiles and the part of the road he could see through the railing, as tears kept rolling down his cheeks. What a stupid reason to cry, really!
There was a knock on the bedroom's door; Loki wiped his tears away quickly but didn't turn his face towards the door.
"I-I'm sorry", he heard Y/N saying.
He didn't answer, just fixed his eyes on a crack of a tile at the balcony's floor.
"Can I come in?"
No answer again. Loki kept staring at the cracked tile. More tears came up, and he blinked them away.
"I'm coming in, okay?"
Again, he said nothing. Loki heard the door cracking open, and light steps approaching. He felt her eyes staring at him but didn't turn to look at her. Instead, he looked down at his hands and said:
"Open my nightstand's drawer".
"What?" Y/N asked in confusion.
"Open my nightstand's drawer", Loki repeated.
Y/N walked to the nightstand and pulled the drawer.
"There's something in it", Loki muttered, "A small red box".
Y/N searched for it for a few seconds until she found it. A small red box with a velvet texture. A box for a ring. Her hand froze for a second, hovering over it, and then she tentatively wrapped her fingers around it, brought it out and stared at it.
"Loki, I-"
"Go on, open it".
She did what he said. And here it was, a beautiful diamond ring. Was he planning to propose to her?
"I bought it some time ago", he answered as though he had read her mind, "I wanted to propose to you, but then I thought... You're still in university; it's too early for you. In case you sai yes -and don't get me wrong, I don't doubt your love, but love and accepting a wedding proposal are two different things- you would be distracted from your studies. A marriage is a big thing, and I wanted you to be ready for it -the last thing I ever want would be your giving up your education and your dreams for me. I said I'd wait until you'd take your degree".
He stopped. Nothing sounded for a couple of seconds, which made Loki extremely nervous. He finally looked at her.
"Is this enough?" he asked with unease.
Y/N's lips remained sealed, but she shook her head as tears ran down his cheeks -tears of love, joy, relief and surprise. Loki smiled softly.
"Put it back now", he soothed, "It's not time yet. You need to focus on your studies".
Y/N placed the box back into the drawer and closed it. Then she sat on the bedside and let out a sigh. Loki stood up, approached her and sat at the mattress beside her.
"You want to spend your life with me", Y/N muttered, looking at her hands, "and I doubted your love".
"Doubt is... understandable. I cannot say it didn't hurt -it did- but I can understand it", Loki replied.
"I'm sorry..." she muttered and leaned her head against his shoulder.
Loki wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her a bit closer. He let out a soft sigh.
"It was a fight. A rather unpleasant happening, but still something that must happen from time to time. Families fight all the time. It shows that its members care about each other; because you fight for the ones you love. Even if the one you have to fight against is them".
Y/N looked up at him as he furrowed his eyebrows. Then he let out a burst of small laughter.
"Well, that", he said, "was surprisingly profound".
A grin appeared in Y/N's lips. Loki unwrapped his hand from her waist and stood up, receiving an inquiring look from her this way.
"We have a meal left unfinished", he said and waited for her to stand up.
There was that loving look in his beautiful emerald eyes as Y/N approached him. This, she realised, was what she needed the most; someone to love her as Loki did.
...
Anyway, how was it? I hope you liked it! If so, vote and let me know in the comments!
I am working on one more request, which will hopefully be ready by the end of the week.
Until then, take care of yourselves and your loved ones. ♥