For Hellion-Kat who prompted: Loki never understood what mortals meant by "the Christmas spirit" until a certain intern shares her ideas of what it means to her and how it all relates back to them as a couple. ;p must have mistletoe in it and perhaps its connection to loki and balder or mention Odin as Santa Claus.
A/N: I believe this to be most OOC thing I have written, so word of warning.
Darcy loved Christmas, oh it was very cliché in her part to do so but she couldn't help it. Maybe it wasn't so much that she loved Christmas as much as she loved the things that came with it.
There was something magical about the crispiness of the air, the crunching of the snow underneath her feet, the cute winter clothes she adored so much finally coming back into season but maybe her favorite thing about it was the fact she could get sappy and no one could tell her anything about it. She was expected to watch horrible TV movies, while drinking hot cocoa and nagging at Jane to join her so they could be sappy together.
It would a lie to say she didn't love the presents too because she still was enough of a kid inside to care, the thrilling of opening a present hadn't faded yet and she was hoping it never would.
Christmas was her holiday, the happy and fluffy atmosphere of it was totally her cup of tea which is why her emo, god boyfriend probably didn't like it.
"You misunderstand, I just do not understand the whole point of this charade, what does it accomplish?" Loki's annoyed voice carried through the throng of people they were currently fighting through, his hand was firmly holding hers not as a romantic gesture but as a way to not lose her again after she saw a would be present for Jane and ran away from him.
Maybe it had been a mistake to take Loki to the mall with her, she could have done the present shopping by herself but walking around with Loki sounded more fun and maybe it was that she wanted to wear the matching dark green pea coats she bought for them. They were one hot couple if she did say so herself, which she did about ninety percent of the time.
"It accomplishes an... awesome sense of fluffiness deep inside your heart." She put a hand to her chest and gave him a big smile. "And presents, it gives you presents too."
"Fluffiness?" Loki said dubiously.
"Yeah, you know that feeling of being with family and friends? Asgard doesn't have anything like that? Just a day to celebrate you're alive and happy?" She scanned the stores as they walked, wondering what would be appropriate for someone like Natasha.
"In Asgard we feast after battles and...battles, mostly battles." Loki seemed to shock himself with the answer, though she couldn't see why.
"That's really sad, no wonder you turned out the way you did, no offense."
"Some offense taken." Neither one was shock by that, sometimes Loki took offense when someone breathed too close to him.
They entered a candle store, looking for nothing in particular but Darcy did think maybe Bruce could do with some nice, calming scents in his lab. Though Bruce worked with Tony most of the time and Tony near an open flame seemed like a bad idea.
"For Bruce?" Darcy picked up a candle with a scent of camomile, she knew Bruce liked the tea and maybe it would help him when he felt one of his projects was too much.
"Perhaps..." Loki said in an thoughtful tone before dragging her to another part of the store and reaching in a higher shelf for a big, purple candle. He didn't smell it before handing it to her. The label read Blackberry Sage.
"Oh, this is his favorite tea." The tea Bruce was really peculiar about, the one he only bought from India or something. She brought Loki down for a quick kiss for being so thoughtful.
Loki held the bag with Bruce's present while they continue to walk around the mall, still holding onto her tightly with the other. She liked this, just a girl holding hands with her boyfriend inside a crowded mall in December, she and Loki rarely got little moments like that.
They visited a couple more stores with little success, mostly because she couldn't make up her mind about what everyone would like and most things felt very impersonal.
Darcy finally suggested lunch and Loki took them to the fancy restaurant in the mall, because Loki wouldn't eat fast food even if Bruce threaten to go all Hulk on him.
"I still do not feel 'it' as you call it." Loki said once they were seated and scanning the menu.
"You don't feel the fluffiness of the heart? Even after you pick that awesome candle for Bruce? I'm shocked." She gave him a mock hurt look before going to her menu.
"Darcy, this holiday is important to you. I wish to understand it so that I may share with you, I wish not to be just a spectator." Loki waved the waiter aside as he talked and Darcy felt a little flutter in her stomach.
"How you do feel about me?" It was a question she asked him once before, Loki gave her a short 'I feel you may be special' before stopping the conversation. She needed more than that now.
"I...is this really the best setting for such a conversation?" He had a point, the only time they talked about their feelings was underneath the sheets away from prying eyes.
"Yes." And she wasn't changing that.
"I...love you?" It was soft, tentative like the words had never been spoken before from those soft lips. Darcy had a soul crushing thought maybe they hadn't.
"I know, I love you too but what in particular?" The butterflies in her stomach were getting stronger, making the blood in her veins hum.
"I... love the way your hair falls when you release it from that infernal thing you call a scrunchie, I love you laugh when you believe I said something funny, I love when you wake up in the morning and the first thing you speak is my name, I love how you do not mind my habits because they are mine and you do not mind me." Loki's gaze was firmly on her and it was the sweetest thing she had ever seen and maybe she was tearing up a little because Loki had never been that open.
"And how does it make you feel?" Her hand was shaking as reached across the table to grab his.
"Exhilarated." Loki breathed out the word like it had been choking for a long time, his eyes were shiny and maybe it had been a mistake to do this in the middle of a crowded restaurant.
"Exhilarated was how I felt the first time I opened a Christmas present, the same way I feel when you take out the scrunchie from my hair when you want to run your hands through it. It was how I felt when I tried my first time cup of hot chocolate sitting in my mom's lap, is the same way I feel when I open my eyes in the morning and the first thing I see is you. It was how I felt when I sang Christmas carols with my family and it's the same way I feel about your habits, not because they're cute but because they're yours." She was choking up now, in the middle of a restaurant no less.
"I see. Fluffiness of the heart." Loki gave her a happy smile, the first one he ever had. Usually his smiles were mischievous or bitter, she would cherish this one in case it was the only she got.
"Let's go home." Because now she just wanted to cuddle, holding on to Loki until every limb in her body felt asleep.
Loki put an arm around her shoulders when they stood from their table, Darcy could have sworn the entire restaurant was looking at them but she didn't dare look.
They were back in Avengers Tower, the cuddling feeling growing into something more inappropriate but Darcy was willing to bet Loki wouldn't mind her change of plans.
"Well, well if it isn't the happy couple." Clint was waiting for them by the elevators, a cardboard box resting in front of feet.
"Clint, what's up?" Darcy intervened before Loki said something to piss Clint off.
"Nothing, Stark is paying me to hang up Christmas decorations around the tower, I was wondering if you guys wanted anything for your floor." Clint kicked the box in front of him and Darcy bent down to see what was in it.
"You guys went shopping? Present shopping?" Clint was many things, a glutton for punishment was one of them because he dove for the bag in Loki's hand only for Loki to swat him back with his magic.
"Ow!"
"Not for you." Loki gave him a wicked smile before swaying the bag in front of Clint's face.
"Oh, mistletoe!"
Three things happened very quickly after her announcement, the first one was Clint's second grab for the bag shoved tauntingly at his face, the second was Loki's scream of 'What!" and the third was the sound of Bruce's candle smashing into little pieces after Clint's force brought him and Loki down on the floor.
There was a moment of shocked silence, though Darcy knew everybody's shock came from different places as soon as Clint spoke.
"Dude, you were suppose to stop me! You always stop me! What the hell?!" Clint was quick to get up and Loki wasn't far behind him, Loki looked a little odd almost like he seen a ghost.
"Barton, does Thor know about the decorations?" Loki said calmly, picking up the bag with the broken candle.
"No, he's been out of the tower all day with Jane." Clint was giving her a look, the look he usually got when Loki did something weird.
"Good, Darcy let's go."
"Loki what-" She didn't get to finish before Loki was dragging her inside the elevator.
"Jarvis, inform me once Thor gets in the building."
"Of course, sir."
Once inside their apartment, Loki opened the bag and scattered what was left of the candle on their coffee table, green magic travel from his fingertips to the scattered pieces and they begin to fix themselves.
"What the hell was that?" Darcy said once the silence became a little tense.
"I might as well share, since it appears we are doing quite a lot of that today." Loki ran his hand through his hair before motioning for her to sit down on the couch. Darcy obediently took the seat.
"It is said that in the deepest part of the forest of Asgard, something stranger resides. A being so frightful not even the bravest warriors dare cross its path, which is why naturally Thor decided to slay it." Loki laughed a bitter laugh before he kept going. "It was in our youth, that tentative time when our footfalls did not fall as men but we believe they did. It was suppose to be Thor and I, unforeseen circumstances however, changed that. There was a young man our age, Baldr, was his name. A quiet, shy scholar with no interest in fighting. Thor decided in all his infinite wisdom that perhaps Baldr needed to see a real battle to find his true calling as a warrior of Asgard, so we persuaded him to come along. It started like any other excursion, there was a campfire and stories, mostly my own."
Loki sat down next to her, a sigh escaping his lips.
"We finally made it to the deepest part of the forest, except there was not a monster for us to slay but...a bush of the greenest plant. We were understandably confused, a plant where a monster should be? Unspeakable. There was still an aching for battle among us, so to relieve it we dared each other to remove a piece of the plant without touching it. I was the first to succeed, Thor took longer but he is delicate when he wants to be, Baldr however..."
"He..." Darcy prompted him, there was a feeling in her gut that told her she was waiting for the punchline to a very stupid joke.
"He tripped and fell into the bush." Loki looked at her like he couldn't fathom why he said those words.
"And?"
"He convulsed, red wells exploded all over his skin and before we knew it Fa-Odin was standing above us. We knew we were in trouble, in more trouble we had ever been before."
"He was allergic to mistletoe?"
"All asgardians are, we of course did not know before that day. Afterward the bush was expelled from Asgard, lest Thor decided to mess with it again, as we all knew he would. The only asgardian weakness is suppose to be extinct."
"Expelled it? Where?" Her question brought them both to a standstill, Loki groaned before letting his head fall on her lap.
"They brought here to Midgard, I believed... mistletoe only grows under very special circumstances. It should not have been able to survive in your climate." Loki's voice was muffled by her pants, a deep sense of resignation in his voice.
Darcy realized a moment too late that she had started to laugh, before she knew it her entire body was shaking with her laughter, tears were forming at the edge of her eyes and her stomach began to hurt but she couldn't stop.
"Stop, this is serious." Loki's petulant pout only made her laugh harder.
"Why..." Darcy let out another tiny giggle before she took a deep breath and tried to continue. "Why didn't they just burn it or something?"
"There was fear the smoke could be just as deadly." Loki was eyeing her warily, clearly expecting her to start her crazy laughing again.
"Have we watched Superman yet? We are so watching Superman after this because what the actual hell?" It was amazing to know Thor of all people could be taken out with leafs.
"How much mistletoe is there on Midgard?" Loki's question made her start laughing again, he put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stop her and she retaliated by putting her own hands over his face. He playfully bit her hand and she would've run away from him had he not been resting his head on her lap.
"I don't know, I just know there is a ton of it and during Christmas is everywhere, so good luck on not dying this holiday season." Her own joke made her start laughing again, which was not cool because she couldn't even breath anymore.
Loki in all his infinite wisdom in all things Darcy, decided to fix that for her.
"Odin is known by many names, however the most common one is-"
"Don't you say it, you little-" Because she knew the story, but she refused to believe it.
"Santa Claus." And now Loki was the one laughing at her misfortune, choking slightly when she raised her legs to hit his forehead.
"You bastard, I'm going to-"
"Mr. Odinson has just entered the building, sir."
"Excellent, inform him I would like to see him." Loki raised himself to sit next to her, finally taking off the green pea coat. Darcy barely remembered they were still wearing them.
"Of course, sir."
Darcy slipped a hand inside the pocket of the coat, looking for the woolen hat she had taken off after going the mall but instead finding something smaller and slicker. Between all the excitement she had completely forgotten about slipping the plastic piece of mistletoe in her pocket, it give her an idea and for a fraction of a second she debated about how not okay that idea was but then Thor walked through their door and she knew she had to do it.
"Hey Thor, catch." She threw the fake mistletoe at him and for the second it took it to fly between them, she shared a look with Loki that told her that he was both horrified and proud of her.
Later, after Thor had calmed down, Jane gave her the usual lecture about being sensible about things, and the usual team meeting to discuss this new but important development; She would remembered Thor catching the piece of mistletoe followed by the unmistakable shrill scream after he realized what he was holding.
It was her new favorite Christmas memory.