Hi, Kereea here! This is the kickoff: And I don't own Thor. If I did, Loki would be an antihero instead of a villain.
I Blame You
"And how exactly is this my fault?" Loki asked casually, reclining on the bed. Darcy threw another textbook at him, only for it to halt inches from his face. He pulled it out of the air and glanced at the title, "You have a journalism class next semester?"
"Pay attention!" Darcy snapped.
"Tell me why you think you possibly, and I might add that you don't even know for certain, flunking a paper is my fault?" Loki asked, opening the book. Darcy stormed over and snatched it. "I was looking at that. Ow!"
Darcy blinked, surprised that she had actually managed to hit him with the book. It wasn't like when she had tased Thor; Loki had all of his powers at his disposal. There were at least ten ways that she knew of that would allow him to avoid getting hit.
"Are we feeling better now, Miss Darcy?" Loki asked dryly, rubbing his head. "Are we willing to tell our favorite God of Mischief why we are screaming at him when to his knowledge he has not wronged us recently?"
"You're talking in the third person," Darcy said, before kicking herself for saying that out loud.
"Yes. Would you rather I not?" Loki asked, moving over in an indication for her to sit on the bed.
"Please," Darcy replied, sitting.
"Fine. Now, as I said, to my knowledge, outside of the indecent two days ago where I hid your cell phone in the freezer, an incident that I apologized for, and I hope you know that's a big deal, I do not believe I have wronged you recently. Or in any way affected the writing of your paper on…whatever it was on," Loki said. "So I think I need to know what I am being accused of before making my defense."
"…It's not really your fault," Darcy admitted. "Well, not entirely."
"Go on. I still don't know if I need a lawyer yet," Loki drawled. Darcy elbowed him. "Is that the best you can do?" Loki purred in her ear. Darcy mentally insisted that it was completely sensible for her to go as rigid as she did.
"Excuse me for hitting too lightly for you to feel it," Darcy huffed. "In my defense, you've gotten back up from getting thrown through three walls."
"You weren't there when Black Panther did that," Loki said, frowning.
"Wasp told me. So, that guy was a real jerk when he first came to work with the Avengers, huh?" Darcy asked.
"Yes. He drove Thor insane back then, and decided since I was not listed as a team member, I must have been an enemy who snuck in," Loki muttered. "He's better now that he has real-world social skills. And would you please tell me how the problem with the paper is my fault already? Or "not entirely" my fault, as you have now clarified?"
"…It was for that writing class I'm doing for an English credit. We were supposed to discuss why ambition is often seen as evil in fiction."
Loki frowned, "I thought you were a Political Science graduate student."
"I am!" Darcy argued. "Look, it fit with the class, okay?"
Loki held his hands up in mock surrender. Darcy stared at him, trying to gauge just how much he was teasing her, before continuing, "I ended up writing on why ambition shouldn't be considered evil."
Loki's eyes narrowed, "I still fail to see how that is in any way my fault."
Darcy pointed at him, "Because I hang around an ambitious, egotistical pain in the ass, that's why!"
"I value our friendship too," Loki drawled sarcastically.
Darcy shoved him, only to be annoyed when he didn't budge. "You know what I meant."
"Well, if I am an egotistical pain in the ass, when why did your paper say that ambition such as mine is positive?" Loki asked. "Would you then not have plenty of negative qualities to write about, such as being egotistical and a pain in the ass?"
"Except you're my friend and I've seen that ambition can be a good thing," Darcy replied.
"Really? Do trying to usurp a throne, destroy a planet, and kill one's older brother count as good ideas?" Loki asked dryly. "Because if they do, Midgard is more warped than I thought."
"Not those," Darcy said. "And that therapist SHIELD had you talk to, before you drove him nuts, said that most of that was depression and a need to prove yourself, not ambition."
"And then I convinced him that he was a Hobbit in the Matrix," Loki replied. "Thank you very much for letting me borrow those movies, by the way."
"…You're despicable," Darcy sighed. "And I meant about how you're always trying to improve and learn new things because you want to be the greatest sorcerer ever, or how you always push yourself to do better than you currently are, that kind of ambition. Then I went into how by making ambition evil, humanity's effectively enforcing a class system by saying that people have to be happy with what they have and never try to improves, yadda, yadda."
"Don't most of your papers require examples? Who could you possibly find-it is not like you could actually use me," Loki said. "I rank just above Spiderman in the public's opinion."
"Yeah, so I went with Tony Stark. He's ambitious for the betterment of mankind. Plus, we're not allowed to use any "close" sources, so I couldn't even have used you as Lukas Blake. Who would believe I know him?"
"Not many, since you've never been reported to sleep with him," Loki replied.
"…that would be cold if it wasn't true," Darcy sighed. She noticed Loki had an arm around her. She wondered when he'd done that. It was probably gradual, so she wouldn't notice. She leaned against him. "So, any plans for the weekend?"
"I may or may not be helping the Avengers on Sunday if the lead on Dr. Doom pans out," Loki grimaced.
"Oh, don't want to see the dear doctor? I thought you liked it when people flirted with you."
Loki pulled her closer and he leaned back, "Only when I am encouraging the flirting. I am running out of ways to say no to that…do you have a Midgardian insult more appropriate than jerkass?"
"Douchebag," Darcy offered.
"Isn't douche a way of saying excrement?" Loki asked.
"Yes."
"Then I very much like that insult."
"You know," Darcy mused, "You might want to skip "telling" him no and just beat him senseless. He strikes me as the type where that would understand that better."
"I think I will do that," Loki said. He turned inch from so his lips were an inch from her ear, "And you, Miss Darcy? What are your weekend plans?"
"Studying mostly. I have a test Monday," Darcy replied. She tried hard not to blush. That was what Loki wanted-a reaction.
"I am free Saturday, pending any massive Avengers-need-help disasters," Loki said. "How about I help you study?" He levered himself up so he was leaning over her, elbows on either side of her head and leaning way too close to her face for comfort.
Loki, Darcy knew, was weird because while he didn't like having his space invaded he loved invading other people's. Thor never minded, and neither did his mother, but her? Yeah, it was awkward. That might have been karma for her giggling to herself every time he did it to Hawkeye or Captain America, though (the man was an equal-opportunity flirt, after all). "Well, it's boring stuff."
"Oh, it's not from the class on dictators, then?" Loki asked, pouting theatrically. Darcy tried not to zoom in on his lips, and was really, really glad that his eyes were a distracting enough shade of green to make the effort not as hard. Of course, looking Loki in the eye had its pitfalls too.
"Nope. That class was the ambition essay."
"I see," Loki said, one hand moving to play with her hair and wow this was way, way, way too intimate for two people who weren't dating.
Then again, they were living together-mostly so Jane and Thor got some privacy and Loki had social contact to keep him out of trouble…and she got a nice check every month for "housing a valued associate of the Avengers" from Tony Stark, who usually wanted Loki nowhere near the mansion or his Malibu house. "This test is on Public Interest."
Loki leaned close to whisper in her ear and holy crap their chests were touching and if she turned even slightly she'd end up kissing his cheek and were those checks worth it (even if they paid off her student loans)? "But Miss Darcy, you know I love to interest the public. Like when I turned Hawkeye's uniform pink and white during that fight in Central Park. A lot of people found that interesting."
"Public Interest means "common wellbeing" and "general welfare of the people" you idiot," Darcy laughed.
Loki moved again, resting his chin on his hand in a way so that his collarbone met her jaw. "Hmm. No, that's not as interesting to me. Thor and Tony might like to hear about it, but me, no. I like the "common chaos" and "general disorder of the people" myself."
"Like embarrassing Thor's teammates at every given opportunity?"
"I do not embarrass Spiderman," Loki said, rolling so he was next to her again. "Then again, underneath his snark I sense somewhat fragile self-esteem. It would be rude to break one so ordinarily quick-witted."
'Translation you kind of see yourself in him,' Darcy thought. "Figures you'd like the fast-talking, "I Shall Taunt You" hero."
"He is fun to chat with," Loki acknowledged, looping his arm around her shoulders. "Now, what area of "general welfare" is this test on?"
...
One week later….
...
Loki stared blankly at the stack of books on the coffee table, "What is that?"
"Harry Potter, the complete series. I thought you'd like it," Darcy replied, digging around the fridge.
"Mortal, these are hardbound…and in a "this is a set" box. It does not look cheap," Loki replied. "And you do not often acquire any gifts worth more than ten dollars for me without a reason."
"Yeah, the ambition essay? I got an A-plus. Thanks!" Darcy said, walking over and hugging him. "Turns out that I just had to say why ambition was shown as evil, and I did that, and then formulate an opinion on that idea. Best grads in the class. So here's my thank you."
She kissed him on the cheek, and went back to the fridge, "Dinner's going to be sandwiches in about fifteen minutes."
Loki didn't hear her. He was too busy trying to convince himself that he was not blushing and that he shouldn't ask her on a date then and there.
On the other hand, he liked her sandwiches. And could come up with some other way to thank her later. And ignore the fact that she looked really, really nice in the tank top and shorts she had on. And maybe think up a better way to say "I think I like you" than something a teenager would come up with.
He needed to talk to his brother…and his brother's male teammates…and then Spiderman to make sure the advice he got was good…after he read these books.
...
A/N Yeah, so, Loki likes her. As in, really, really likes her. And he doesn't get why she doesn't respond to his flirting (not realizing that she equates it to the lesser-but-still-occurring flirting that he does with other people to fluster them). PS, I think Darcy's about 23-24-ish.
