Hi! I honestly love these two, they painfully remind me of Freddie and Sam from iCarly with all their bickering and the care they take of each other without saying it.
This is set nowadays since I wanted to write something about Covid and the lockdown. Actually writing is the only thing that's keeping me sane these days.
Anyway, I hope you like it!
DISCLAIMER: Sadly, no, I don't own the Young Avengers. If I did then Patriot would still be part of them.
The young woman didn't take her eyes from the screen as she typed as fast as she could, challenging her brain to find more words that made sense together so she could finally send the stupid document.
"What?" she asked without letting her eyes drift off her essay. Finally, she opened her email and typed once more. The man beside her chuckled and uncrossed his arms, sitting next to her, passing an arm through her shoulders just as she pressed 'send' and sighed, relieved. It was only ten minutes before three, and she managed to write a 2,000-word essay in less than twenty minutes. She slumped over the raven-hair man, drained, and hid her face on the crook of his neck.
They weren't even in an established relationship. Both were aware of their feelings, but none liked to talk about it. Maybe it was just the sheer panic of rejection, or their defense mechanisms going through the roof, they ignored them as much as they could.
"You okay?" he mumbled with his lips pressed against her scalp. She nodded and moved a hand to close the computer. This was their routine since the lockdown happened. And it wasn't even a coincidence that they were locked down together. Stark made it happen.
He said that it would safer if they stayed in pairs. Of course, Billy and Teddy were together, as well as Tommy and Kate; David and Noh-Varr seemed to have a great connection, so that left them there, in Brooklyn. The smirk that crossed Tony's face was enough to let them know what he was thinking.
Either you two kiss, for fuck's sake, or I'm gonna lock you inside an elevator and never let you out, read the text he sent her a few days ago. She laughed at it and answered with a middle finger and a heart. But now, with her lips at mere inches from his neck, his scent making her feel dizzy as if it was the most poisonous venom and his arm around her shoulders, pressing her against him, she wasn't so sure if she wanted to laugh at the man again. Perhaps he was right, they should kiss.
Should being the operative word, since the doorbell rang and they had to get up. Well, he had to, because she just watched him go, paying attention to the way his shoulder blades moved as he took his t-shirt from her doorknob and ran downstairs.
She stretched like a lazy cat and got up. His t-shirts were far more comfortable in her opinion, especially when it came to stressful moments like that one, but they were big enough that she had to push them up every now and then if she wanted to keep the grey one she took on. She made her way downstairs, where two pizzas waited for her; the front door was just closing and she flashed the delivery man a tiny smile
She went to the kitchen and took out two beers, opening them before she came back to the living room, where Loki searched for another thing to watch. They finished Game Of Thrones in a week, Brooklyn Nine-Nine in another, and Mad Men was done at last.
"Thank you," he said, taking the beer and pushing the remote to her belly, poking her so she could take it. She smiled and dropped herself by his side.
"I'm thinking 'The Mentalist'." She looked at him for confirmation. He shrugged and settled the beer down.
"I bet you're not. We both know the show you want to watch," he arched a brow and stared at her.
"It's not what I want to watch. You want to." She shot him an amused look and started a new search without taking her eyes off his. Finally, she stopped again, the show on the screen.
You could cut the tension between them with a knife.
The first lines of the show were said and Loki groaned in an effort to pretend disgust, but the smirk that quickly crawled to his face said otherwise.
As Kristen Bell said her famous lines, America opened a box and shoved a slice to Loki's mouth, shutting him up.
"What a bitch." He muttered at Blair before he reached out for his beer. America snorted in amusement while licking the grease off her fingers without taking her eyes from the screen.
"I know. She's kinda exasperating, too." She grabbed another slice and plopped back again. He took another sip of his beer and the cold glass fell against her naked shoulder, sending a shiver down her spine. At one point, she decided to rest her head against his shoulder, and then his chest, and he had put his arm around her, bringing her closer; now, his back was against the arm of the couch, his feet up on the coffee table and America on his arms.
It felt oddly new, and yet familiar. They weren't anything more than friends, and he didn't even know they were even that.
But for just a tiny moment, just as the credits of the fifth episode rolled through the screen, he allowed himself to inhale deeply and enjoy the warmth that had made its way through his chest. He paused the show and looked at her in amusement.
She moved closer to him, clenching a handful of his green t-shirt, burying her nose in his chest. He swallowed hard while he passed the empty bottle to his other hand and discarded it on the carpet, not caring much about where it fell; he let his arm slip pass her shoulder and rested his hand on her hip, spreading himself even more on the couch so they were finally laying down.
That was new.
America could feel Loki's frantic heartbeat through the cotton, and she was completely sure that his hands were trembling. She couldn't blame him though, she was as excited as he was, perhaps even more.
Years and years of saving her feelings, of locking them up inside a cage inside the depths of her mind and heart, and now this cocky bastard had opened it with his sarcasm and annoyance.
Damn you, Stark.
Loki let his hand travel up, stopping at her waist, trembling. The rush of adrenaline going through his veins scared the living hell out of him; through the years he had plenty of lovers, more than what his conscience would let him recognize because he wasn't proud of it, and yet this angry woman carved her way through his skin.
They were drifting into sleep when a phone started to ring. Both groaned but didn't make an effort to get up.
"Andy, ¿quién es y qué quiere?" she grunted, not lifting her head from his chest. Of course, the house had an AI. It was Tony who put them there, after all.
"That would be Mr. Stark. Apparently, they need your help." It was Loki's turn to grunt.
"Tell him to fuck off," he said, tightening his grip on America's waist.
"Woah, thanks for that, kid. I love you too," Tony's face appeared in front of them. Neither cared at this point nor did the man who looked at them in amusement. "Someone is trying to take Loki's title for 'The Biggest Douchebag in all the Earth' and, uh, we kind of need you two here." He pointed behind him, where he could see the right amount of panic to make them sigh and get up.
Two minutes later America closed a portal behind them, clearly not happy.
"Who and what?" she hissed, the stars on her wrists violently glowing a bright shade of blue. "I'm gonna rip its fucking head off." Wanda snorted by her side, her eyes glowing red and energy accumulating on her hands.
"Tell me about it. Vis and I were kind of in the middle of making another kid." Banner raised an eyebrow while pressing buttons on his 'magic pad' (as America liked to call it, she never understood what the hell it did).
"I thought he cannot... you know..."
"And I can't, Mr. Banner. It's a way of saying that..."
"You were having sex. Copy that, Vis." Said Tony while his armor wrapped him. "Sorry for interrupting your date, I'm gonna make it up to you." The last glimpse they caught of the man was an apologetic smile before he took off.
Basically, America kind of snapped at the giant white and red woman and her army, sending punches and turning into literal pieces everyone who got in her way.
"Is it wrong that I'm kind of turned on by that?" asked Loki to his brother while taking his dagger from someone's chest. Thor laughed slightly and shot his hammer against a new wave.
"I don't know. I guess not. I mean, I do get turned on when Jane goes into Lady Thor mode." Just as he said it, the woman passed beside them, shooting her boyfriend a kiss. "You do realize that things are gonna be awkward between you two, right?" Loki punched another man and sent his dagger to someone behind his brother.
"Oh, brother, you have no idea." He muttered, looking up, finding America and the white and red woman in the middle of a literally heated fight.
And now she was almost dead. Good. Ignoring his brother, Loki made his way to the top of the collapsing tower, trying desperately to find the woman.
The sound of metal and concrete moving was enough for him to breathe in the dust and ashes in the air. His relief didn't last long since the entity took him by the neck and shoved him to the roof next to the Avengers tower. Turns out that, yeah, her name was actually Entity. The air escaped his lungs quickly as she overpowered, punched, and choked him.
First, it was a glimpse of metallic red and blue, and then Captain America's shield flew from the other side of the building towards the now very much enraged woman, whose eyes were now completely white. She had a cut on her cheek and another on her leg, and her shirt was a complete mess, barely hanging from her frame.
"Get your filthy-ass hands of him, bitch." She punched Entity, rage running through her veins, not thinking much. The other did not even have time to fight back, by the time it tried to America had already frozen her and was ready to punch her to oblivion.
"Wait! We need her alive!" yelled Tony, stopping by her side. Since she was not a fan of the idea, Wanda took it from there.
"You okay?" America asked while looking at Loki, concerned to the limits.
"I'm pretty good all things considered." He tried to smile but ended up coughing blood.
"Like hell you're good. We need to get him out of here and into the infirmary." She opened a portal, not caring about how dizzy that left her, or how the corners of her vision were blurry and darkening with each step she took.
Two hours later he was finally awake and everything was back in place.
"Geez, you look like hell." He joked. She smiled weakly and dropped herself on the chair next to him. "I'm getting out in a few hours. You need to rest, I'm pretty sure you were exhausted when you opened the portal here." She looked at him in the eyes, then nodded.
When they came back, it was no surprise the fact that a bottle of wine and the most cliché dinner were on the table, as well as soft old music playing from somewhere (Andy wouldn't tell them from where).
They laughed and talked while eating their pasta, saving the dessert for later.
Later being after they took a shower and changed into something that wasn't either tattered, full of blood, or smelled like ashes and desperation. She showed up in yet another shit of his, this time an emerald green one, his favorite one.
But it sure as hell looked better on her. He adjusted his green plaid pajama pants so they wouldn't fall and pressed the peach cobblers against his naked torso in an effort to take them along with the bottle of wine and the two glasses, failing miserably.
"I'll help you." She said, taking the bottle and the glasses, then running back to the kitchen to find spoons. When she came back, he was already set the same way he was the last evening, with the show already on the TV.
"What can I say? Gossip Girl has a way of telling stuff." She laughed and filled their glasses. "Let's not mention that to anyone."
"Not even dead." America carefully snuggled against his side, taking a long sip of wine to gather the courage she needed to push herself from the couch, leave her glass on the table, and press her lips against his.
Soft was the only word to describe them, and yet it felt painfully wrong to downgrade them to just that word.
Damn you, Stark, for always being right.
Word count: 2,224.
That was it! Don't forget to review 'cause it makes us writers happy, and if you have any ideas for further one-shots then let me know too.