RATING: T
GENRE: Non-magical AU, Olympics AU
PROMPT: rosalysaoirse sent the following prompt on Tumblr: "Lokane. Gold and Glory."
SUMMARY: Olympian Jane Foster isn't happy to have a run-in with Track & Field's bad boy, Loki Odinson.

GOLD AND GLORY

Jane ran into him on her second day in the Olympic Village. She hadn't planned to be out so late, but her roommate decided to take advantage of the "free love" environment that night. Qualifiers were a couple of days off, otherwise Jane would have put her foot down. Instead, she grabbed her copy of An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics and left Darcy to her hook-up with some Don Juan from Great Britain's archery team.

She settled on a small couch in a corner of the nearest lounge. Fortunately the place was quiet at this time. The televisions were muted, and aside from the pair playing a half-hearted game of table tennis, the smattering of athletes had their noses pointed to phones or laptops, earbuds in. Jane checked her watch. Two hours was all she was giving her roommate, then she was taking her dorm room back. She wanted to hit the gym early tomorrow to refine her balance beam routine. Her landing was still a bit wobbly.

It didn't take long for her to get lost in the book. Lately, she'd been toying with the idea of retiring from Gymnastics after this year. The sport wasn't exactly kind to the body; she'd collected more injuries in her twenty-one years than people twice her age. Most of them have been minor, but these days, a hard landing was more jarring than it used to be. She wasn't interested in becoming the next Oksana Chusovitina, not when she had another passion to fall back on: science.

She involuntarily glanced up when the door swung open and immediately wished she hadn't. She raised the book to her face, stealing another look over the pages. Yep, it was him. There was no mistaking dark hair framing pale, aristocratic features. Loki Odinson, the infamous bad boy of Track and Field who moonlighted in the world of Parkour. No, wait. He was going by Laufeyson now after some horrible falling out with his family.

Not that Jane cared about him or his career. The little she did know was thanks to the earful Darcy gave her on the trip here, all about her list of "Dudes I'd Totally Bang." Loki made the top five—along with his brother, Thor, a wrestler. As Darcy went on and on, Jane made unintelligible noises, but otherwise kept her opinions to herself.

Because she'd cross paths with him before, four years ago at the last Olympics, though she'd never told anyone.

She was barely out of high school then—as much as you can call being educated by private tutors so it didn't interfere with her training schedule "high school"—and not yet eighteen. High on USA taking gold in the team all-around, she'd let Darcy talk her into sneaking away from their chaperone to celebrate. There weren't really parties in the Village, but still, it had felt exhilarating to have a night to herself. No coaches, no parents, no babysitters. She thought she was so grown up, especially with the makeover that Darcy had given her.

Loki had been younger then too, in his early twenties, raven curls barely reaching the nape of his neck. He was wild, unpredictable, fun. And more. She shut away the memory, tried to return to her reading, but her gaze kept drifting to him as he surveyed the lounge. He was different, not only broader in the shoulders and hair long enough now to tie back in a knot. It was those eyes. Years ago, there had been a broken vulnerability written in them, the kind that had a naive teen secretly wishing she could make it all better—whatever "it" was. But now? Now she saw only cold calculation.

Maybe that was how he'd always been. She'd learned the hard way that he was a champion liar. All the more reason to avoid him like the—

Dammit.

He'd seen her. His mouth stretched in a wide smile, tongue grazing briefly across his bottom lip as he made his way to her. She rolled her eyes and, in a pointed motion, brought the book up higher, hoping he'd get the message. That her middle came alive with tiny flutters was merely leftovers from when she stupidly believed everything that fell from his silver tongue.

"If it isn't my favorite gymnast," he said. His voice had changed too, a little deeper, a little raspier. Still rudely British. "Jane Foster. It's been far too long."

She snorted, but refused to look at him. To her chagrin, the couch dipped next to her, and she heaved a sigh, redoubling her effort to read the same paragraph for the second time.

He clucked his tongue at her attempt to ignore him, and the cushions shifted again, his long arm stretching uncomfortably close to her. He definitely had that same crisp, wintery scent. A beat passed in tense silence before he snatched the book out of her hands.

He flipped through it, losing her place. "Thinking of trading in your leotards for a lab coat, little bird?"

She scowled at the nickname he'd give her back then. My little bird soars through the air in grace and beauty. "That's none of your business."

"Oh, why so fractious?" Loki splayed his long fingers against his chest, pretending to be hurt by her curt tone. "I'm only making friendly conversation."

"Maybe you should make it somewhere else," Jane said with a flat look.

He grinned, dimples hinting in his cheeks. "But I much prefer the company I already have, even if it's a bit prickly."

Jane made a noise of disgust. "You just don't quit, do you?" She grabbed the book from him, snapped it shut, and rose to her feet. "Tell Lorelei that she can sic her boy toy on me all she wants, but I'm not going to fall for it. I'm taking the gold in the all-around this time."

Loki laughed softly, not bothering to deny her accusation. "I like that fire," he said with an appreciative hum. "You can't get rid of me that easily, little bird. You made me a promise."

She scoffed, heat rushing to face. How dare he bring that up! And after what he'd done. The gall of this guy! "In your dreams."

"Oh, yes," he agreed, gaze dropping in blatant perusal of her.

She hated the onslaught of unwanted memories, of her head against his chest as they talked about nothing and everything, of his mouth on hers, exploring and then devouring, fingers knotted in the hem of her shirt as if he were keeping them from wandering where she wasn't ready for them to be. If you wait just a little longer, she'd told him, I promise it will be worth it. She hated the way that bald hunger in his eyes still made her stomach flip in kinetic anticipation.

How was it that the one person she was insanely attracted to—physically attracted to—was the biggest self-absorbed jerk on the planet?

She really didn't need this right now, not before the games.

"Whatever, Loki," she said. "Don't trip on a hurdle this week." She spun on her heal and made for the door, anxious to get out of his oppressive orbit before she did something idiotic like fall for his charms again.

"Don't worry about me, darling," he called to her retreating back. "I always get what I'm going after."

Loki grinned as Jane yanked the door open with a huff and stepped out into the damp night. It would have been so easy to correct her erroneous assumptions about what transpired four years ago. He could have told her that his ex, Lorelei, had ambushed him with that kiss, that she'd taken a photo of it without his knowledge. He could have told Jane that he'd never conspired with her rival, and by the time he learned of what Lorelei had done to shake Jane's confidence, his favorite gymnast had already left the Village. All he had was a scathing note that she'd slipped under his door.

He could have told her too that his life had imploded shortly after, that the dust from the fallout had settled only recently, and that was why he hadn't sought her out to set the record straight.

But as he leaned back in the cushions of this abominably uncomfortable couch, he decided that it would be so much more fun to get her to fall for him while she still believed him to be an unremitting bastard.

After all, what kind of runner would he be if he didn't like the chase?

~FIN~

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! If you have a minute, I'd love to know your thoughts!