A/N: Just a heads up I will be switching a couple of times this chapter in terms of Loki's pronouns. I've gone from the viewpoint that this chapter's Loki is quite fluid with their gender, being a shapeshifter, so is comfortable referring to themself with any pronouns.
Loki sat in his small apartment contemplating the best way to get revenge on the Avengers for humiliating him and once again spoiling his attempt at world domination. Really, he though Midgard would have been better off with him as a ruler, but Thor would always ruin everything for him.
Now frowning he switched on the thin black box which was called a 'flat-screen television'. Loki had to admit some of the entertainment was good though most of it was extremely dull. He flicked through the channels not really paying attention to what was on each one, randomly stopping on one when pressing buttons became annoying. He happened to have stopped on a programme about a matchmaker who helped millionaires and some celebrities find their 'true love'.
"Sentiment." Loki said in disgust, tutting at how unnecessary it all was. The matchmaker - named Patti - would set up a mixer consisting of many potential matches before letting the millionaire/celebrity choose one person to go on a master date with. Wait... This was his way in! He would seduce one of the Avengers! It would allow him much more intimate access to all the workings of the group, and by using his shapeshifting they would never be able to guess it was him until it was too late! Oh this was brilliant, yet another perfectly devious plan by yours truly! Only which Avenger to choose... He immediately ruled out Banner because in all honestly, the beast inside that man scared him. He shuddered, remembering how easily the green man could toss him around. He could also rule out Thor because there was a line he would not cross and incest was on the wrong side of that line. The two assassins, Barton and Romanov could also be ruled out because he'd messed with the archer enough and out of the people he'd met in his lifetime the Widow was one of the few people who could get close to seeing through his lies. That left the Man of Iron and Captain Rogers. He had to admit he'd always wondered what it would feel like to be fucked by Captain America, his thick cock pounding into him, those muscled arms wrapped around him... Loki licked his lips, yes, it would be Captain America, with his trusting personality and idiotic patriotism he was the ideal target!
Loki spent the next few days watching and plotting, he even paid a stealth visit to Tony whilst he was sleeping, using an incantation to plant an idea in his mind, an idea to sign Steve up to the millionaire matchmaker. When he signed himself up, he chose to go for a variation of his normal female manifestation, but with a 1940s twist: shoulder-length black hair, curled in the style he had studied; full, red lips; his usual, pale skin; and of an hourglass figure, again, what Loki knew had been attractive during the Captain's era. When asked for a name he supplied 'Lauren', using a drop of magic on his silvered tongue to ensure he was chosen to be in the Captain's group.
Loki embraced the excitement that hummed through his veins, oh this truly was a brilliant plan!
"Really Tony? Please tell me you're joking." Steve said in disbelief.
"No, the idea just came to me one night! Come on Steve, Patti is an amazing matchmaker as well as a close friend of mine, she won't let you get away now that you've signed up." Tony replied casually, still amazed by the genius of his idea. They all knew Steve had to meet someone and this was the perfect way, especially with Patti's high success rate. "You need to find a lovely gal' sometime, you can't wait around forever." He added.
Steve sighed in resignation, now knowing the destination of their mystery car ride.
"But I'm not a millionaire." Steve said, brows creasing slightly as he frowned. Tony scoffed.
"Haven't you looked at your bank account recently? All that back pay as well as the money from S.H.I.E.L.D.! You've got a fucking fortune!" In complete honesty Steve hadn't looked at his bank account, trusting it had enough in it for him to get by, but surely he couldn't have that much money! Well, as soon as possible he would be making charity donations, that was far too much money for him to feel comfortable owning. With this matchmaker business there was also the problem he had about his orientation... Okay, he'd had the odd time where he was attracted to girls but he liked men in general, he was gay, and as much as he knew the world had changed it was still deeply ingrained in him for this aspect of himself to be something he should hide, something to be ashamed of. In his day if you were openly gay you would be dead within the week. Steve couldn't bring himself to tell Tony and the gang that little secret about himself. He was nothing if not an actor though, he'd been hiding that particular secret his whole life and wasn't going to stop hiding it now.
The day of the mixer arrived and Loki - Lauren - was standing amongst a group of about a dozen women, all different in age, height, looks, but not really in personality, they all seemed - at least to the casual viewer - sweet people. However, being the God of Mischief as well as one of the master Liesmiths - yes, master, there was even a coven which she was right up in the top ranks with - she could spot the ones who were faking and the ones who were being sincere. From what she could see there were four girls here who were lying through their teeth, excluding herself.
Today, back in the body of 'Lauren' she was dressed in a blue dress that hugged her now snatched waist, accentuating her curves in the right places. Matched with some red heels and a thick red belt even Loki had to admit this figure was quite desirable. It had taken a lot of fine-tuning with her magic to get this figure exactly how I wanted, shapeshifting wasn't as easy as it looked, especially if it wasn't a form she manifested as often. Normally she went for a lither body, but being a curvaceous woman for a change was refreshing. She had pinned her hair in a style more reminiscent of the forties, and gone for bright red lipstick, to match the shade of her shoes and accessories.
Tony had kindly volunteered to be the other millionaire, to make it a real 'Avengers special' much to Patti's delight, though she'd warned him she would not take any of his bullshit or rule-breaking, even he wasn't past getting kicked out of the club.
Tony looked at ease as he walked into the room where the mixer was being held, smiling and winking at some of the girls who'd been set up as one of his matched. About half of his prospective matched were Japanese, the rest were blonde bombshell, predictable, Tony just wanted some eye candy, he never took things like this seriously. Steve's half on the other side, he glanced over the dozen or so women until his eyes met with one woman who stood out, maybe this would be one of those few times he liked a woman. She looked stunning in that blue dress-
"You ready to meet our millionaires?" Patti shouted, making Steve pull his gaze away from the woman back to the crowd in general. Her shout was met with a lot of whooping from the crowd of women.
"I'm sure you know these two here but I'll introduce them anyway. This is Steve, aka the one and only Captain America and here on our left is Tony Stark owner of Stark industries and the famous Iron Man! Remember, two drinks maximum and no sensitive subjects like politics and religion." Patti carried on for a little while longer and then they were free to go talk.
Steve was a little overwhelmed with all the women directing their attention towards him, when all he really wanted to do was talk to one specific person. He made sure to stand closest to the woman he had his eyes set on, who he had now learned was called Lauren but still talked to everyone, asking about where they came from, what their jobs were, polite conversation.
"District Web Developer? What does that entail?" Steve asked, not really listening to the answer of a woman named Abigail's question, though he made sure to look as if he was interested, the internet wasn't his forte, actually, technology as a whole wasn't his strong point, it was so different to how it was in the good old days. The full colour television was a nifty development though.
Finally the time came to choose his mini-dates. He chose Sarah and of course, Lauren. The ten minutes with Sarah went well, nothing spectacular, they talked but there was nothing there. At least it wasn't awkward, although it was slightly unnerving being in front of the cameras, you would have thought with the past year or two spent as the lead Avenger, doing all the talks he would have got used to cameras and the media, but he hadn't, particularly not in such an intimate scenario.
Loki was happy to know she had been picked for one of the mini-dates, this meant her plan was working so far, the Captain was intrigued, she'd chosen this appearance well, or maybe it was just her amazing personality she thought cockily to herself. Now it was time to turn up the charms to make sure 'Lauren' was the one chosen out of the two mini-dates to progress to the main date. She'd kept rather silent during the main part of the mixer, the odd touch, wanting to see what the Captain reacted positively to in terms of demeanour. She came to the conclusion Captain Rogers liked people who were independent enough, could support themselves properly without his help, someone who probably wouldn't be stunned with his lifestyle, maybe even someone who was a bit dominant, but most importantly he liked affectionate, kind people. Pretending came easily to someone like her, it was hilarious when they mistook the constant dripping of sarcasm as sincerity.
"Hey," Loki said, in a kind but strong voice, before giving Steve a hug in greeting, silently laughing as she saw Steve blush at the contact. Sitting in one of the small booths she faced the Captain as they chatted.
"So, have you lived here long, Lauren?" Rogers asked.
"No, I moved here not long ago after a trip here, it's a very big change for me. How are you doing? You know, after waking up to find yourself in such a different place too." The best lies were always half-truths, she had moved here fairly recently after the world domination hadn't really gone to plan. She was also genuinely curious to know how the Captain had adapted, what he thought of this new world. In the seventy years he'd spent as a capsicle the world had made great advancements, going leaps and bounds when it came to technology, mortals were tenacious like that.
"It was hard, ma'am. Even if things looked similar to me at first everything was new, all the people and places I grew up around were gone, but things are a lot better now. Attitudes have changed, everyone's more accepting, and the world is so much more connected now! There's just so much more to do these days," He replied modestly, Loki loved how he used the older terms that had died out over the years, he had a sense of respect a lot of mortals lacked these days.
They carried on conversing, skipping from subject to subject and Loki found that Steve had more in common with her than she'd first thought, for example they both loved to sketch. She made sure to keep up with the odd touch, briefly putting a hand on his, brushing against him until their ten minutes was up, Loki had a good feeling about this, she found she actually wanted to see the Captain again just so they could talk, he was pleasant company.
Steve couldn't stop staring at her as she walked away, her pale skin and raven black hair, he couldn't help but find her familiar somehow... When he'd looked into her eyes it was like he was looking at someone else, she was kind and lovely but there seemed to be a mischievous glint there, again he recognised it but couldn't place it. What a spectacular woman, but that gut feeling just kept telling him something was up. A sign things weren't meant to be perhaps.
"I hope everyone enjoyed the mixer!" Patti shouted, again the reply consisted of various shouts from the crowd, some of who seemed to have had a little more than the two drink limit. Loki was confident that 'Lauren' would be picked, how could he not pick her? She was his ideal match, she'd made sure to think of every detail, using her magic to find out some of the important characteristics and traits she needed to have, who would turn down their perfect match?
"So... Tony here chose Cara! ...And Steve chose... Sarah! Go meet your millionaires!" Loki was in a state of utter shock, trying her hardest to keep the glare off her features, Steve had chosen Sarah? Had chosen Sarah! It took a lot of effort from her not to ensorcell something extremely unpleasant onto Sarah as Steve walked up to hug her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, but she resisted the urge, if only because this might be redeemed. After the weeks of effort, she put into getting everything ready the selfish bastard didn't choose his perfect match! And now her plan was ruined because Tony also had someone new to toy around with, a month's work up in smoke.
She did note, however, that even as they all left the mixer, Loki pulling a beige trench coat over her shoulders, that Steve was staring at her and not the mortal Sarah. Perhaps the Captain had realised a mortal does not merely turn away from a God. Tsch, never mind, she would take her revenge some other time, of that she was sure.
Loki couldn't understand why she was so angry, sentiment whispered the voice in the back of her head in a taunting manner, no, anything but that, she would not allow himself to feel, every person one cared and loved for was a weakness, the more sentiment you had the weaker you became. It was not sentiment it was a matter of pride, this was a humiliation! Loki had been rejected, for a mortal no less!
"Cold is power." Loki muttered to herself, repeating the mantra over and over in her head as she walked out of the production building, noting it was now evening. She aimed for the nearest bar, it was surprisingly full and Loki could see a few men eyeing her curved, angular female body as she brushed by them to order a drink.
She found herself drinking for a while before someone approached her asking to dance, a silent promise for more hidden in his tone. The man that stood in front of him had blonde hair, bleached by the sun as well as tanned skin, called himself Alex. Loki looked the man over and shrugged,
"What the hell." And reached for the preferred hand of the other man, who then dragged her to the dance floor. Dancing in modern Midgard was not like dancing on Asgard, but Loki learned quickly, grinding her hips against Alex's. It was such a freeing form of expression compared to the stuffy dancing at Asgardian balls, she loved it. Loki found her mind wandering to what it would be like for Alex to fuck her in this pretty little body, she smirked, and sure enough it wasn't left to her imagination for long.
Patti now sat in her usual spot ready to give the commentary that she usually did for the show.
"I think Tony definitely made the right choice, he chose the best woman there but I really don't think it'll turn out to be anything long term, he's looking for a total O.N.S. type of gal'. Steve on the other hand, he wants long term, you can see that but he didn't choose the right girl! He didn't choose the test girls I put in there but I can't believe he didn't choose Lauren! She was my idea of a perfect match for him, and they got along so well, I really have no idea why he chose Sarah, they do have potential though." Patti said to the cameras, still confused by his choice but went with it anyway.
"And that's a wrap everyone, see you all on set tomorrow." She said, always liking to act as a director, even though there was none because it was all reality here baby. She wondered what Steve had planned for Sarah, he was certainly the romantic type...
