The Consequences of Evening Wear
Vexie-Chan
(TaserTricks (DarcyXLoki) fluff drabble)
Prompt by Kai-Face: Tasertricks fic where Darcy doesn't normally shave her legs but has to for some special event where she has to wear tights or something, and Loki is completely fascinated with the Midgardian fashion of removing hair from one's body (because they don't do that in Asgard) and just keeps petting her legs in a mix of interest and horror.
Fic:
She stared at the menacing black…thing hanging on her bedroom door and scowled. There was no way in hell. What was Jane thinking?
"I didn't sign up for this!" she called down the hall. From somewhere deep in Jane's office Darcy heard the rustling of papers being thrown about, followed by the sound of a door slamming open. Moments later, a very disheveled Jane was standing in her doorway. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were wild. She shoved a finger into Darcy's face.
"Darcy, I am not in the mood. I am giving this paper at eight o'clock tonight and you are going to be there in that dress looking decent and on your best behavior or so help me I will not sign a damn thing and you will not graduate. Ever."
"But—," Darcy began to protest.
"Eight O'Clock!" Jane repeated, stomping back to her office.
"You hired me! You know what I am!" Darcy called after her half-heartedly.
"I'm not even into physics," she murmured in the general direction of the short black dress which still looked pretty menacing. The dress did not reply, but continued to hang on her bedroom door, giving off an aura of formal sexiness. Darcy sighed and looked at her clock. It was just after five, but they would probably leave at seven, knowing Jane. That gave her two hours to shower, style her hair, and put on makeup. Well, at least she had an hour to kill. Snack time.
As Darcy left her room, her shoulder brushed against the dress. It responded by falling to the floor. She sighed even louder and picked the damnable garment up from the floor. She held it up for a moment and looked down, trying to picture herself in something that wasn't made for comfortable studying or lounging. Mid-thigh dresses did not fall into that category.
Wait. Mid-thigh. Fuck.
Darcy sighed again—the loudest yet. In fact, it may have been more of a growl. She tossed the dress onto her bed and shuffled into the bathroom. She looked around. Did she even have any razors? She shrugged and grabbed Jane's pink and silver razor off the side of the bathtub. She picked up a can of shaving cream, then set it down. Empty….Darcy shrugged. Conditioner should work. She passed over hers and grabbed Jane's conditioner off the shower caddy. After all, it was all Jane's fault. Why shouldn't she donate her conditioner to the cause?
Hopping up onto the sink, Darcy turned the tap and set to work. She rubbed down her left leg with conditioner and started shaving. How long had it been since the last time she'd shaved her legs? She couldn't remember. Probably the last time she'd had a boyfriend. Or, at least a boyfriend who'd cared.
"Stop!"
Darcy jumped, nicking herself in the process.
"Goddammit Loki!" She turned to stare at the "god of mischief" in confused annoyance. Though he'd been visiting her for a few months, she still wasn't used to his tendency to simply appear in the room. "What is your problem?"
"Why are you harming yourself?" Loki asked in return, nodding toward the razor still in her hand. Darcy followed his alarmed gaze and frowned. Did he think she was a cutter or something?
"What do you mean? The only person harming me is you. You've got to start, I don't know, calling ahead before you just show up like that. Look, you made me cut myself," Darcy gestured to the nick on her leg with its thin trickle of blood.
Loki gave the small cut an unimpressed glance before returning his gaze to Darcy's face. His icy eyes searched her own, a tiny frown shaping his lips.
"Then tell me what you were doing," he said.
A little shiver ran through Darcy as it always did when the Asgardian (or whatever he was…no matter how many times he'd explained it she couldn't quite wrap her head around it) used his commanding voice. It wasn't that she let him boss her around or anything…that voice was just so silky and calming and…Darcy shook her head.
"I'm just shaving my legs," she explained, waving the razor for emphasis.
"Shaving what?" Loki's eyebrows met in confusion.
Darcy leaned down and wiped the blood from her leg and ran the razor up it again. Loki made a small concerned noise, as though he couldn't help himself. Darcy looked up at him with raised eyebrows. What was wrong with him?
"I'm shaving my legs," she repeated, "you know, because I'm kinda…fuzzy."
A light came on behind Loki's stare.
"You're shaving hair from your legs?" He wrinkled his nose. "What a ridiculous thing to do."
"Thank you! At last, someone agrees with me," Darcy said, rinsing off the blade under the faucet and continuing to make long strokes up her left leg. She measured with her hand about where the black dress should sit and made sure to shave just a little above that point. No need to shave all the way, after all.
"If you find it ridiculous, why are you doing it?" Loki asked.
Darcy glanced up at him, smiling to see his eyes following the strokes of the razor.
"I am shaving my legs because Jane is giving a paper tonight and I have to wear a short dress which will show off my legs," she explained.
"I don't understand. Why would that require you to remove all of the hair from your legs? Women in Asgard often wear clothing which displays their legs. Never have I seen one remove their leg hair first," Loki said.
"Maybe I should move there. Sounds like my kind of place," Darcy said, lifting her leg to shave her calf. Loki's eyes continued to follow her movements with a mixture of concern, fascination, and confusion. Darcy took pity on him.
"On Earth…well…okay, some of Earth, it's socially unacceptable to have hair on certain parts of your body if you're a woman," she explained.
"Why?" Loki asked, looking more confused than ever.
Darcy paused, frowning.
"You know, I don't know," she said.
After a quick inspection, Darcy deemed her left leg finished. She rubbed it down with a towel to remove the excess conditioner, then put it out straight toward Loki.
"I will admit, it feels nice when they're shaved," she said.
Loki tentatively reached out and touched her leg with his fingertips. His eyes widened and he placed his whole palm on her shin and ran it up toward her thigh. Darcy bit her lip and tried to focus on the Asgardian's fascination rather than his soft, cool hands—both of which were now stroking her leg as he explored this new texture, sending little electric tingles through her.
"The shaven leg feels like silk," Loki murmured.
"Yeah. But you have to stop so I can do the other leg," Darcy breathed.
"Oh…"
Loki pulled his hands away from her leg as if he'd just realized they were there. He looked away as Darcy rubbed down her other leg and started shaving.
"Your Midgard customs are strange," he said. "I still do not understand why you would choose to rake a blade across your skin like that. It seems dangerous and useless…"
"And time consuming and annoying," Darcy added. "Hey!"
"My apologies," Loki said, pulling his hand away from her leg again. "I rather enjoy the effect."
"Do you want me to cut myself again? Don't touch until I'm done," Darcy snapped.
Loki put his hands behind his back demurely, but his icy eyes remained on her legs. Darcy felt as though she should probably be uncomfortable with his unabashed stare, but she wasn't. She did, however, feel a blush rising to her cheeks.
"They even look different, like carved marble in the light," Loki commented softly.
"You know, for someone who doesn't understand this custom, you're getting off on it a fair amount," Darcy replied.
Finished with her right leg, Darcy toweled it off. She rinsed the razor under the water one last time and turned off the tap.
"While you're standing there, do you mind handing me the lotion on the top of the towel closet?" she asked.
There was always something amusing about asking favors from a mythological figure…and it was even more fun to watch a man who had demanded that people kneel before him obey her. She watched as Loki located the lotion and held it in his hands thoughtfully for a moment.
"Are you going to give it here or…?" Darcy held out her hand impatiently.
A slow smile spread across Loki's face. He looked up at Darcy and her breath caught. His eyes were almost entirely mischief…with just a hint of lust. Meeting him stare for stare, Darcy reached for the lotion. He held it out of her reach easily.
"Ah, ah. Allow me. I wish to explore more of this strange human custom," Loki said, spinning the words in a silky, mischievous innocence only he could produce. His smile widened.
Darcy retracted her hand and stretched out the leg closest to the Asgardian. As he opened the bottle and the scent of jasmine filled the air, Darcy smiled.
Maybe shaving her legs wasn't all that bad after all...