All I Want For Christmas / Where the Lines Overlap
Or the one where Ashleigh can't stop blushing and Loki can't stop smirking.
Ashleigh always loved Christmas – the peppermint smell, the crinkle of wrapping paper, the ridiculously large Christmas pudding her aunt always made whenever she went home for the vacation. Something about bundling up in layers upon layers of knitted Christmassy jumpers and scarves to walk around town in just made her feel really happy and her absolute favourite thing to do during the break was to paint little cards for her overseas family and attach little candy canes as gifts. Singing cheesy carols while drunk off her ass off the eggnog that her asshole of a cousin, Jesse had spiked and hanging up her grandparents' ridiculously extensive collection of crappy handmade ornaments.
She'd never really expected to be spending the Christmas break with a Norse god, his arm slung over her shoulder as he pulled her in close to his warm body. He was always so warm, his heat burning through his cargo jacket and seeping into her. Her head rested against his shoulder, a familiar and habitual gesture, as they ambled back to Ashleigh's apartment with bags of Christmassy things in hand, pushing the lobby door open and climbing up the numerous flights of stairs. It was freezing in the little town she lived in, the sky was a sombre grey and the wind was sharp and piercing, but snow lightly dusted the rooftops of the houses and the wet sidewalk, the aroma of peppermint and spicy Christmas candles wafting through the air.
"You know what my favorite part of Christmas is?" she asked the god beside her, tilting her face up to him with her eyebrows raised. He smiled down at her, golden eyes twinkling fondly and that warmth in her chest bloomed up all the way to her cheeks, turning them scarlet.
"What?" Loki asked. His cold fingers brushed her hair out of her face and tucked it back into her terribly knitted, handmade beanie (from when she was fifteen and hanging out at her grandparents house in Georgia).
She shied away from his freezing fingers and hip-checked him slyly, rolling her eyes at the fake pout he'd put on to try and guilt trip her. "The weather," Ashleigh answered simply. She shook her hair out of her face and tilted her head to look at him. "It's all cold and windy, which means you get to wrap yourself in layers and stay inside all day and marathon Christmas movies while pigging out on popcorn and peppermint hot chocolate," she said dreamily. Back in college, she and her roommate had always decked out their dorm room (even though they were both going to be away for the break, it was still nice to have the festive decorations up during finals and exam weeks). Maya, her roommate, was obsessed with scented candle – to the point where their entire dorm building stunk of gingerbread spice and peppermint candy canes for a couple days into January.
When Loki looked down at her (fuck, she hated being so short), she immediately noticed the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Peppermint hot chocolate, eh?" he asked, curling his arm tighter around her body as they ambled slowly down the street. "I can make mean peppermint hot chocolate, kiddo."
Ashleigh snorted. "And there goes my heart," she proclaimed dramatically, shaking out of his embrace and thrust an arm out, putting on her most hyperbolic expression. "You've swept me off my feet, Loki! Take me, I'm yours!"
He blinked. And blinked again, shaking his head with a lengthy sigh. "For someone so antisocial, you're really dramatic." Loki pointed out matter-of-factly, practically jogging up the creaky wooden stairs.
Her hopeful expression dropped and she retorted faux-grumpily: "Fuck you." Thunder rumbled outside and she could see rain beginning to pour outside, the water trickling down the windows. She remembered being little and on a road trip (to where, she'd forgotten) and sitting in the car with her face pressed eagerly to the window, watching two raindrops race each other down the glass as they sped down the asphalt.
His response was instantaneous and delivered with a wink so cheeky (and attractive) that it should have been considered illegal. "Only if you buy me dinner first."
"…I hate you." She resumed walking closer to him with her hands shoved deep into her pockets and her shoulders slouched. Ashleigh struggled to hold onto her grumpy expression as she pushed the key into the lock, fumbled with it a little due to her cold hands – something else Loki seemed to find funny – and opened the door, letting him in first with a teasing, "Age before beauty."
"Aw," he said and jutted out his bottom lip, blinking at her with wide and innocent eyes. "You love me, and you know it." He poked the tip of her nose gently for emphasis and she swatted his hand away.
"Yes, Loki," she rolled her eyes – honestly, she'd rolled her eyes more than what she'd considered humanly possible in the short time she'd known Loki."I love you sooooo much," Ashleigh drawled, dragging out the 'o' and began to strip off her wet jacket. "Happy?"
"Immensely." Loki shot her another wink, to which her insides curled at again and she flushed, tucking her hair behind her ears.
"My face is freezing," she mumbled, not looking up at him because of the butterflies in her stomach – shit, she was so awkward. She didn't think that it was humanly possible to be worse at socialising and she heard herself laugh nervously and say, "I don't think I can feel my nose anymore."
"Aw… it's cute," Loki's fingers tilted her chin up so she was looking directly at him. He regarded her with curious eyes and his body was so close she could feel the warmth radiating off him, see his tongue flit out to lick his lips quickly. "Your nose is all red and cold – maybe I should call you Rudolph instead of Ash."
She snorted, breaking the moment and stepped back, waggling her finger and correcting: "That is a terrible idea and if you call me Rudolph, I will not hesitate to punch you right in your dumb face."
"So violent," he remarked, shrugging off his jacket and dumping it on her coffee table – something she rolled her eyes at because it was so classically Loki. "So much anger," his smirk didn't just irritate her, it caused something in her chest to clench, all coherent thoughts to dissipate from her mind and all sense of logic to fly out the window.
"Like I said before, fuck right off," she managed shakily, fiddling with one of the decorations on the Christmas tree Loki had helped her to set up, and her hands were tucked in the overly long sleeves of her sweater because it was so fucking cold.
"Wow, feisty," Loki wisecracked and when she turned to him and marched over, a perfect insult right on the tip of her tongue, he snapped his fingers which mystified her for a second until she looked up, her breath catching in her throat and her whole body freezing. His voice rang out, "Oh, will you look at that – there's mistletoe. How on earth did that get up there?" he smirked with a mock-innocent gleam to his expression, gazing at the mistletoe hanging just above her head and her flustered expression that she could see reflected in his eyes – that was how close he was, his presence scrambling her thoughts and the proximity of his mouth to hers
"Uh – I don't know," she stammered, moving to step back, but Loki and the mistletoe moved with her and she moved to clarify, "We don't have to –" Ashleigh cut herself off abruptly, shaking her head because she was messing this whole thing up and her cheeks were on fire, the blood searing from her cheeks to up across her hairline and down her neck. Shit shit shit she was fucking this up big time, he was close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath and she stumbled over her words again, "I mean, I'm not being rude but – mmph!" He'd dipped his head down and she'd been too preoccupied to notice, but when his nose brushed hers, it'd been too late, because his lips were on hers and he was kissing her, his mouth moving against hers softly. Her arms came up to twine around his neck, pulling him closer to her because this felt right, completely and irrevocably right. He tasted like cinnamon and sugar, the same as he always had, the scent she remembered from when he'd teleported her to the pier after they'd first met and her hand tangled in the hair at the base of his neck to pull him closer.
After a few seconds, he pulled back, and he was breathing a little heavier than usual. Loki rested his forehead against hers, golden eyes boring into hers. "Merry Christmas, Ash," he said in a softer voice, brushing her hair away from her face in a tender motion.
"Merry Christmas, Loki," she replied, a nervous smile beginning to break out across her face. "We should probably get to baking," she gestured to the bags of flour and sugar on the bench, both of which he grabbed and hauled off to her kitchen, his silly grin matching hers almost exactly
The afternoon dissolved into handfuls of flour and icing sugar being thrown, melted chocolate being streaked across faces with messy fingers and then the two of them singing along (badly singing, might she add) to Christmas carols – and considering that Loki was drunk off his ass, she'd hoped he hadn't noticed that she'd videoed him singing along to All I Want For Christmas is You. But he had and his hands had come up to her sides and dug in, tickling her until she relented and handed over the camera so he could delete the video.
All in all, she thought, staring at his peaceful sleeping face as she curled into his side, trying not to fall off the tiny couch, it was the best Christmas she'd ever had
Author's Note: So I had the overwhelming urge to write Loki/Ashleigh fluff. Awww… too cute! But their relationship won't actually start until later, the feels were just killing me and I wanted to get something out as an apology for not getting chapter 12 out earlier. Soulless!Ashleigh is just stressing me out because she's harder to write than normal!Ashleigh, the words don't come as easily – you know? Anyways, I hope you all have an incredible Christmas and get lots of awesome presents!
Drop a review and tell me what you think!