Green sunrise | Loki fanfiction

Part 26: The party

We end up chatting late into the night, but the next morning, I stand up quickly with happy expectations for the day. After breakfast, Loki accompanies me to the gym. Before meeting him, I thought that maybe it would be awkward between us because of the date, but the contrary is the case: He is all in all super happy, holds doors open for me and even spins me around at training two times. I laugh and have fun with him, this happy Loki is definitly my favourite.
We still tease each other, and now with a certain flirtatious undertone. I mean, we kinda had that before already, but ... it feels different now. He teaches me the firework again (I am really getting better by now), shows me how to fight with a dagger and how to hold people down in different positions. The last one he likes the most, Loki can't stop grinning while pinning me to the ground in numerous variations of fighting techniques. And I have the feeling he enjoys letting me try the techniques on him.
I can tell that Loki saves up his best trick for last. While not being able to really fly, he can levitate a few inches over the ground. I am super excited when I finally succeed, and then I discover that it is very difficult to navigate in the air, kinda like ice skating. But when I fall, Loki catches me and brushes a wet strand of hair (wet from my sweat at training) out of my face.
"Maybe we should stop for now", he smiles and slowly puts me back on my feet.
I don't want to stop, but it's time for shopping and I am exhausted. I nod and he removes his arm from my waist. Before I can leave on my own, he lifts my hand and kisses it.
"It was a pleasure to train with you, (y/n)."
My face flushes and I barely stutter the words: "Thank- thank you."
He examines me and I feel like I missed a step on the stairs. "Maybe you will find a red dress matching the colour of your face."
I open my mouth indignantly. "Hey!"
He smirks amused, then it turns into a grin and we both burst out laughing.
"Don't think you wont get that back!", I laugh as I turn to leave.
"Oh, I am terrified of your revenge", Loki says and winks.
I try not to blush harder and go to the shower to make myself ready for shopping. It takes a while to get the butterflies in my stomach back to normal.

"Ready?", Natasha asks in the hallway on the way to the elevator.
I check for my purse and phone in my handbag. "Ready."
We ride down the elevator and go by foot to the mall (it's not very far away). We meet some fans, mostly fans of Natasha, but there are two young girls who are quite thrilled about me being there. I am positively surprised and clumsily take a picture with them.
When we arrive at the mall, Natasha takes my hand and dives into shopping. We go through every shop, and Nat knows the best sections with the most beautiful dresses. After she catches me staring at the window with the wedding dresses, we even go into this store for a short time. I gravitate towards a deep, black tulle dress, but as Natasha giggles and remarks that it would rush things a bit if I show up to my first date in a wedding dress, I put that idea out of my mind and we switch the store.
Finally, after a long afternoon of searching (meanwhile my feet hurt), we have to decide between two dresses. One is yellow with little glitter flowers on it, the other in an elegant green with glittery stripes that look like crystals.
"I mean both would fit kinda well", I say and my glance switches between them.
"Loki wears his black suit to parties", Natasha responds, "but sometimes he wears little green accessoirs. If we think about that, you could choose the green one."
I think for a moment. "You are right, good point. Well, then we have our choice!"
We happily pay (I get a bit nervous about the price, but Natasha assures me it's fine) and go back to the Tower. As we enter, we see that a bunch of people, conducted by Tony, prepare the ground-floor for the party. A bar is being set up, lights, technique for music ...
I watch in awe and go with Natasha to the elevators. Now I just have to wait until it's time.

I tug at my dress and turn around in front of the mirror, critically examining my make-up and my shape. It does look good. But I am too nervous to stop searching for flaws. A look on the clock tells me it's one minute before 9 p.m. and I know Loki will not be late. He just is not the person for that.
I swallow and try to smoothen the dress for the 100th time. I can almost hear Natasha lecturing me about being proud of myself and not so insecure about my looks. I take a deep breath. She is right.
A soft knock on my door.
My heart feels like it wants to jump right out of my chest, I turn around and almost hop to the door in nervous excitement. I close my eyes for a moment, then I open and step outside.
Loki stands next to my door, and damn, he looks breathtaking. I don't want to be so superficial, but saying anything else would be a lie. His hair is sleeked back like always, lightly shimmering because of all the hair products, I assume. His body is in a fitted black suit that really compliments his shape, his broad shoulders and his hips seem to just have the right form to be impossibly attractive. He wears polished black leather shoes and in his shirt pocket is a yellow rose.
"Hi", Loki says and his glance travels over my body. "You look amazing."
"Mhm", I say. I caugh slightly. "Thank you. You too."
He smiles. Then he points at the rose. "I really thought you would wear something yellow."
I grin. "I really thought you would wear something green. Sorry."
Loki chuckles. "That's no problem for a powerful magician like me." He makes a proud face, snaps and the rose turns green.
I giggle. "Wow. Impressive."
He grins. "I know. Do you want to go now?"
I nod and nervously close the door behind me. We go down the hallway on the way to the elevators.
"You know, I, uhm, I am pretty nervous", I tell him shyly.
Loki smiles softly. "That's okay. It's a big party. I will pay attention and you can always tell me if you want to get some fresh air." He pauses. "Or did you mean because of me?"
The blood rushes into my head and I stutter around flustered for a few solid seconds. Eventually, I decide to say: "... both."
Loki smirks. "You mean you don't want me to make you flustered on purpose?"
I am about to say yes, but then I have a change of mind. "How would that look like?", I whisper, half afraid of the answer, half excited.
He winks and as the elevator in front of us opens, he pulls at my hand to kiss it while going into the elevator, and as I take a step forwards, he spins me around like a dancer only to have me pressed against his chest with my back for the exact right amount of time before letting go.
My head spins with emotions, the smell of his perfume still in my nose. "I ... I think I wouldn't last long for this party if you keep doing this", I say with a hoarse voice.
Loki chuckles darkly what doesn't make it easier to stand on my own legs.
"But I like you better in leather", I add.
Now it's Loki's turn to cough and blush a little. If there is a way to make this man blush hard, I will find it some day.
We arrive at the party and it is a flood of people, light, movement, music, dancing, people calling, laughing ...
I am glad that Loki maneuvers us safely to the bar, taking my hand. We meet most of the other Avengers on the way, Tony winks at me, and the others compliment me and Loki. At the bar, Loki orders us drinks and I get used to the raw feeling of the party. I notice that Loki's eyes are glittering as he looks through the crowd. For the god of mischief, partys have to be one of the best places to be, I think to myself. So much flirting, teasing, dates, chaos ... I can see why Loki likes Tony's partys so much.
As he finishes his drink, he grins and leans to my ear so I can understand him. "Let's dance!", he calls and grins.
I make a shocked face and shake my head.
He laughs and puts his cocktail away. Then he takes mine and places it at a nearby bar table. "We can get you a new one later!"
I can only follow as he takes my hand and goes up to the dance floor. As we stand between the dancing people, he starts to move a bit and gestures me to do that too. I stand there very stiff and nervously shake my head.
He laughs again and takes both of my hands. "Just move one foot to the other, like this! This is all you have to do for the start, the rest will come by itself!"
It's hard, but I follow his instructions and slowly I loosen up. I begin to smile, and with time, the happy feelings win over the nervous ones. We jump around between the dancing people, celebrating and having a lot of fun. Loki has a lot of dance moves, he looks like he is born for this. Sometimes he dances with me in a really old-fashioned way to this modern music, and it still fits, and the people around us laugh about and with us. And sometimes he dances in a modern way, sliding and shuffling his way through the crowd. Many people cheer and Loki's hair loses its grip, it tousles and some curly strands frame his face. It doesn't matter, he just becomes more beautiful by the second. And there it is, this honest, cheerful smile I love so much.
After an exhausting while, we leave the dance floor to get something to drink. We take the drinks and go to a less crowded area, where the music isn't as loud as right next to the dance floor. We stand at an empty round bar table.
"And how do you find the party?", Loki asks and smiles. "Not too much?"
I brush a sweaty strand of hair out of my face. "It's ... very trying, but also a lot of fun! It's a good thing that you accepted Tony's offer to throw the party. You two get along better now, right?"
Loki looks into his glass. "Yes, I suppose we do. It feels nice to be appreciated, but I am also a bit worried that it won't last." He looks up at me, his expression half happy half sad.
I look back. "I really think it will last. They had to overcome their prejudices, and now they see you as the person you are." I pull myself together and ignore my ridiculously fast pounding heart, and link my arm with his. "I will never stop appreciating you, Loki."
His glance becomes soft. His fingers entwine with mine. The other hand lets go of the glass and cups my cheek. I feel the cold of his skin. "I wish I could give back all the affection you welcome me with." Loki smiles and his thumb caresses my cheek. "Thank you", he whispers and leans down.
My breath hitches and I close my eyes. But before his lips reach mine, the music and peoples noises get drowned in another sound.
Loki's and my eyes fly open and we turn our heads, we see the red light of the alarm illuminating the building. The loud, ringing sound fills our ears and people shout over the crowd. Another monster attack.