Hey, it's me! I kindof fell upon this pairing when I lost grip of the cliff face that was my life, and I just love writing dialogue between them! They just seem so dynamic and hilarious. Anyway, hope you enjoy it? I'm trying to mix light and fluffy and angstyness. But I'm bad at angstyness and stuff, but have fun anyways.
Oh and pardon the mistakes, I'm still a little distracted from my inevitable freefall into an ocean of fandoms and parental disappointment.
Steve thought he'd be happier once the whole aliens taking over the Earth problem was resolved. He had helped with the rebuild and cleanup of the city for as long as possible, and actively avoided the fact that he had no idea what a VCR was. Once the city was on its way to full restoration Steve realized he would soon have time to catch a baseball game or maybe frequent the bars with his new found friends and colleagues. He was somewhat glad that he'd get time off, and possibly be able to relax before the next global crisis.
Steve was horribly wrong about that.
Once Fury finally relived to the WWII vet from his duties (Not before promising to call back next time he was needed.) Steve was given enough time to realize that he was completely and hopelessly lost. Sure, a lot of the streetnames were the same and landmarks remained, but now everything was so unnecessarily oversized and impersonal. Nobody put milk out in the morning and there was no time for casual greetings as you walked by. Steve had accidentally started a conversation with a woman who was speaking to a device attached to her ear. Steve figured it was something like a small telephone. The woman had eyed him suspiciously and brushed his apology off with a hair swirl. She then crossed the street briskly, leaving Steve to stand in his own mortification.
Even the baseball was different. All of the players looked like juiced up replicas of himself, rather than the skinny, more lifelike men of his day. He learned the hard way that his team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, had moved to LA once while he was frozen. He took the news hard and consoled himself in purchasing Dodgers paraphernalia, and ignored the LA printed on the t-shirts.
The subway was crammed as he boarded the train. He made a face once he realized that he had to to stand, and had to press uncomfortably close to a small redhead. The girl looked to be seventeen, youthful freckles peppered her face. He caught her staring more than once and she giggled. Steve could only look away shyly.
"Um, excuse me?" a voice sounded to his left, where he found a small, skinny boy with glasses gaping up at him.
"Oh my god." The twelve years old almost gasped, and Steve was legitimately concerned. "Hey, Jim! It's him. It's really him!" A dark-haired boy drew near and looked slightly less excited. He was taller and better built than his spastic friend, and carried himself with more confidence.
"Sorry sir, but my friend here's a huge Captain America fan." The boy explained, and Steve recognized a familiar relationship between the two boys.
"Oh, well, thanks. . . I guess."
"I can't believe it's him! On the subway! He should be flying a jet or something!" The soldier chuckled at the thought of him even driving a modern car, let alone any newfangled jet that SHIELD had up their sleeve.
"Can I, um, can I just get your autograph?" The kid held out a notepad and a black marker, and Steve was taken aback. He wasn't any famous singer or athlete, he was just some skinny kid from Brooklyn who couldn't say no. He took the pen and realized that he didn't know whether to write Steve Rogers or Captain America. He panicked for a moment and scribbled a star in the middle of the page, which he quickly turned into an A followed quickly by a merica and then a Captain added to the top. He saw that his stop was coming up and scribbled a doodle of himself giving the cliché salute, not wanting to disappoint his "fans." He said his goodbyes and handed the paper back, not looking for a reaction as he hurried off the train. He caught the flicker of green eyes on a giggling redhead before stepping into the subway.
He had found a small apartment in Brooklyn rather than use Stark towers as a living place, more because or nostalgic regret than anything else. His greasy landlord had told him the building had "history" but more specifically, it was a pre-WWII building less than three blocks away from his childhood home. The flat was small but open, bordering on loft like. The bathroom being the only thing closed off. The sweaty man told him it wasn't much and said it would cost extra for wifi. Steve thought it sounded important so he agreed to the extra charge. Being the saviour of the Earth tends to pay well.
He switched on the radio in the tiny bathroom and listened to the news as he started the shower. The old pipes rattled in the wall and temporarily drowned out the loud commercials. He stepped into the shower and let the announcers dramatically retell the amount of deaths and assaults in a day. The voices were so loud that he barely heard the knock at the door. Steve swore under his breath and rinsed the suds from his hair, "In a minute!" he called, turning the water off and quickly wrapping a towel around his waist. His wet feet slapped against the floor and he made his way over to the door, and he wiped the water from his face.
He peeked through the door as he opened it, keeping a hand clamped on the small towel around his hips. The cold air meeting his damp skin made Steve shiver, and he immediately recognized a red-haired girl with green eyes blinking up at him. Her eyes wandered over Steve's bare chest, and a muted smile speed across her face.
He considered leaving to change, but thought it might be rude, "Um. . ."
"Sorry about the way I look, I have to be careful." Steve tensed and furrowed his brow when the girl spoke, because it was certainly not that of a 17 year old. It was male, with a familiar cleverness to it. "May I come in?" She/he asked, and Steve confirmed who it was.
"Loki." he said almost defiantly, straightening his spine and widening his stance, "What do you want?"
The girl only rolled his eyes and squeezed in between Steve and the door, "Though out of all of my friends here, you'd be the one with some good tea." Steve didn't know whether he'd looked away or blinked, but suddenly his intruder had black hair and a tall, slender body with long limbs and clever eyes. He leaned back on the counter casually in what Steve noted to be a forest green shirt and dark jeans. Loki smirked at him and inspected the apartment.
"You don't have any friends," Steve retaliated, "not here."
Loki's smile fell and Steve immediately regretted what he had said, "I suppose not."
"Why are you here?" Steve repeated, body still rigid. Loki flicked his eyes over Steve's damp body, and the soldier suddenly felt very small.
"Regrettably, you may need to put some clothes on first."
Steve lost all of his assertive control in the situation, and felt himself flush. He felt something clench in his stomach when he saw Loki's absolutely feline grin. Steve retreated back to the bathroom, where he stuffed himself into a pair of ripped jeans and fumbled with a black T-shirt before returning, half expecting all of his stuff to be destroyed or stolen. He came back just as flustered as he had left, and Loki looked just as amused.
"May I sit?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure," Steve indicated the usually empty seat across from Steve's normal chair, and naturally, Loki took the chair opposite to what the soldier was pointing to. Steve's chair. Steve kicked himself for not seeing that one coming, and walked around the table to ease into the unfamiliar seat.
"So," Steve began, mostly to break the awkward silence. He played with his fingernails and ignored Loki's playful stare.
"My apologies, I did not mean to embarrass you."
"Yes you did." Steve countered, and Loki's smile was all the confirmation he needed.
"Why are you here?" Steve was tired of Loki's games and tricks. He knew from Thor's story's that the younger brother liked to dance around a subject rather than outright lie. The god enjoyed watching people almost fool themselves rather than having to trick them himself.
Loki sat back in his chair with all the poise and grace of a prince, "it seems that Odin has lost all creativity when it comes to punishment." his voice was sharp, "The Allfather has sent me here as penance for my disobedience."
"Like your brother, Thor, right?" Among the happy stories that Thorin told, he also told the ones of how he came to find his fair Jane.
"He is not my brother." Loki bit, voice even more venomous than before.
Something gripped in Steve's chest when he saw the agony flash in Loki's eyes. Even the God of deception had trouble hiding that much pain and anger. "That's not what Thor seems to think." Steve said carefully, standing and walking over to the fridge.
"It matters not what he thinks. I am easily seen as equal to the favored child." Steve grabbed two beers and handed one to Loki, who looked surprised for a moment before removing the cap.
"So you think you're above Thor?" Steve asked more than stated, and realized he sounded like the shrink Fury had him referred to.
Loki didn't answer, but rather cast his eyes down towards the bottle in his hands, absently picking at the label. Steve continued to sip his beer and waited for the god to look back up at him. When the trickster didn't glance upwards, Steve noticed his mistake. Loki's eyes were drawn and and the corners of his mother twitched, almost nervously.
"Oh," Steve cleared his throat, "So why don't you just, y'know, leave again?"
Loki's eyes were sharp and accusatory once he did glare up at the soldier.
"Do you not think that if I could just leave it would have? Odin has restrained my magic to the most basic of power, otherwise I would never have come."
The comment stung a bit, but Steve tried to forgive the god. After all, being thrust into a world where you didn't belong did suck really hard. He watched Loki fidget, for the first time he looked bare and uncomfortable. It didn't take long for the prince to compose himself, slowly regaining his regal grace. It almost looked as if he were searching for a switch in the darkness of his head, finally flicking it and letting the light back into his green eyes. He sipped his beer quietly and did not speak.
"So what's up with the costume on the bus?" Steve didn't feel uncomfortable when Loki smiled slyly.
"I knew you had a fancy for redheads." Steve felt his face and ears heat up again, and Loki's smile grew wider. "After coming to earth I soon realized that many of the midgard people could easily recognize me."
"Well, trying to enslave humanity tends to do that to people." Steve answered sarcastically, face still hot.
"Cheeky." Loki smirked despite the comment. "But maintaining that form is rather taxing, and i can only do it for so long before it begins to wear on me."
Steve hummed, looking at his half-empty beer. "How long have you been here for?" he noticed that Loki looked more relaxed, allowing himself to slump into the chair comfortably, bottle hanging out of his hand. It was odd seeing the prince looking so casual.
"I landed in Arizona a few days ago." his voice was soft, but neither afraid nor sad. Just Loki.
Steve blinked for a moment, surprised at the idea of the asgardian making it to New York. "And you got here. All by yourself."
Loki chuckled, light and cheerful, "How you underestimate me, Captain." he smiled and drew himself up from where he was sitting. "You have been most hospitable, under the circumstances, and I must thank you." When Loki stood Steve finally remembered that this was the frost giant that had tried to enslave humanity, and he stood up with him nervously.
"Yeah! Well, uh, going so soon? I mean, well. . ."
"Thank you, Captain Rogers, I can see myself out." With that Loki dipped into a shallow bow, turned on his heels and left Steve alone in his apartment, baffled and and mumbling something about horses.
Comment if you liked it! I personally love writing shy and awkward Steve and the proud Loki being brought to his knees. I'm off to try and claw my way back home the cliff face of life that I took a nose dive off of when I joined tumblr.