"You know, I can't thank you enough for sneaking me out of detention. That was awesome," Clint turned to look Loki in the eye as they paddled the boat with their feet.
"No problem. Really."
"I was sure I was busted when I started climbing out of that window. How did you distract him?"
"I dazzled him with my," Loki paused. "Wit."
"Mm. So what's your excuse?"
"For?"
"Acting the way we do."
"I do not care to do what everyone expects me to do. Why should I care about anyone's expectations but my own?"
"So disappoint everyone from the start, then you're covered?" Clint could understand that. It made sense.
"I suppose so."
"Well, you sure screwed that one up."
"How so?"
"You've never disappointed me," Clint grinned broadly. Loki returned his gaze almost affectionately. Clint noticed a sign along the edge of the water with an arrow; the sign was titled "Paintball" and was decorated with multicolored spatters. After a moment he asked "So, are you up for it?"
"For what?" Loki wrinkled his brow questioningly. Clint nodded and gestured towards the paintball sign.
Loki laughed as he beaned Clint in the back with a pouch of green paint, swiftly turning on his heel and taking cover behind a paint spattered wall. He waited, quietly giggling. He heard Clint's footsteps and raced over to a pile of hay bales and threw himself behind them, hunkering down out of sight.
Clint crept around the stack of brown hay and Loki whacked him with another splat of purple, and Clint dropped down next to him with a goofy smile. Loki stared at Clint, slightly hesitant because he could mostly remember how this went that night in the car. Clint was smiling broadly and that did wonders for Loki's confidence and ultimate decision to lean in.
Clint closed his eyes and moved to meet Loki's lips, and they were both glad for it. Clint's lips were a little rougher than Loki's, but they were warm and more than welcoming. He couldn't help but let a corner of his mouth curl up against the softer lips, and his hand came up to touch Loki's side. Clint pulled away from the soft, tentative kiss with a sheepish expression to match Loki's.
Loki laughed as he asked Clint about the various stories he had heard about him, pulling into the driveway of Loki's house.
"Lighting a state trooper on fire?"
"Fallacy."
"Eating a whole duck?"
"Lies." Clint shut the engine off and stepped out of the car as Loki helped himself out of the vehicle on the other side. They walked up to the porch together and dropped next to one another on the top step.
"Good to know. I am certain the porn career is also false."
"Are you?" Clint winked as he leaned in to press another kiss to Loki's cheek. Loki would forever deny his cheeks warming up at the touch.
"Tell me something true."
"I can't stand creamed corn."
"Something real. Something no one else knows."
"You're sweet," he kissed Loki's forehead. "Sexy," he kissed his cheek. "And totally hot for me." Clint pressed a final kiss to the side of Loki's neck.
"You are incredibly self-assured, has anyone ever told you that?"
"Go to the prom with me," Clint looked Loki in the eye, and felt his stomach drop when Loki's smile quickly disappeared.
"Is that a request or a command?"
"You know what I mean."
"No."
"No what?"
"No, I will not go with you."
"Why not?"
"It is stupid and I do not want to go." Loki was frowning deeply by this time, and Clint felt helpless, both because he sincerely wanted to go with Loki and because he had accepted money for it. But he was more than aware of what he was doing was wrong, and furthermore he was going to continue pressing the matter despite the lead seeping into his stomach.
"No one will expect you to go,"
"Why are you doing this?" Loki's eyes burned and he was losing his temper. "All of it? What is in this for you?" Loki stopped and waited for Clint to say something, and uncertainty and disgust were growing at equal rates inside as Clint held his silence. "Create some drama? Have a little fun with a new rumor? What?"
"Oh, so now I need some ulterior motive to want to spend time with you?" Clint meant it except for the part where he was, after all, accepting money to take Loki out on dates and bring him to the prom.
"You tell me."
"You need therapy, did anyone ever tell you that?" He regretted it the moment the words fell out, but he he couldn't retract it.
"Answer the question, Clint."
"Nothing! Okay? The pleasure of your company is all I need!" Out of both frustration and a nearly dead habit, Clint dug into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. With a snarl, Loki snatched it from his fingers and broke it in half before standing up and storming inside his house. Clint sighed, deflated. He got to his feet and walked away from the house, starting up his car and pulling into the street.
On his way home he stopped at a red light and looked out the window to see a homeless man. He crammed a hand in his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, taking out about half of the cash given to him by Stark. He unrolled the window and whistled to the homeless man and stuck his hand out, offering the cash. The light turned green a few seconds after the man accepted the money with a look of appreciation and bewilderment. Clint nodded and drove away, knowing what his next stop would be.
Loki scrubbed the last of the paint off of his face when Thor nearly broke the bathroom door down, poking his head in. "Quick question - are you going to the prom?"
Loki smacked his brother in the face, barely pushing his golden retriever head out of the way before slamming the door in response.
"Then he said 'if you work out anymore you're gonna look like one of those professional gym trainers.'" Thor finished some story with no point.
"No," Steve answered.
"Do you actually listen to all of this garbage?"
"What garbage?"
"Me. This endless stream of dumb blonde babble? I am boring myself, I cannot imagine what you think."
"Thank god! If I was going to listen to some more of that," Steve lifted his pencil and pretended to stab himself in the throat. Thor laughed and knocked the pencil out of Steve's hand. "I figured I would get to the good stuff eventually."
"What good stuff?"
"The real you. Things other people don't really know."
"Like my severe dislike of beige?" Thor opened his eyes wide like he was admitting he killed a man on his way to school this morning. Steve's hope went into hiding and his face went blank. "I am kidding," Thor remedied Steve's stricken face with those words before continuing. "Have you ever created a persona for yourself? And after a while, you more or less forget to turn it off?"
"No," Steve answered honestly. He was always just Steve.
"Okay; you need to learn how to lie," and Steve knew there was a little more depth to Thor than Armani pants and expensive blow dryers.
Natasha was about to get irritated when she went on her fourth try of trying to open her locker. On the fourth try, it finally unlocked for her. Her eyebrows knit together when she swung the door open to find a long-sleeved red dress with a golden rope-like belt and a simple black corset style front. A note in browned paper was pinned to the front, and she took a breath before loosing the pin and detaching the note. "O, fair one, join me at the prom. I will be waiting. - W. Shakespeare" she was in disbelief, to put it lightly. She reached forward to lift the skirt of the dress and look at it closer as a guy from her gym class walked by.
"You're gonna look splendiferous in that, Natasha." She looked up at the statement, brow still furrowed. "That's cool to say," he defended.
"It is," she smiled.
"Father, I wish to speak to you about the prom," Thor requested his father's attention moments after arriving home after school.
"The prom? Loki has a date?"
"No, but-"
"But nothing. It is that jackass Tony Stark, is it not?"
"No, actually-"
"I am not bending the rules. If Loki goes, you can go. If not, then you must stay home as well, and that is final."
"What do you believe happens at prom?"
"Enlighten me, Thor, tell me what happens at prom."
"We dance, we kiss, we come home."
"Kissing does not keep me up to my knees in STDs and HIV."
"Fine. I am a prisoner in my own home, and I am not a son but a possession." Thor turned sharply and went up to his room.
A knock quietly sounded through Thor's room as he watched the Vampire Diaries. He rolled over on his bed. "Come in." Loki entered and took a seat on the edge of Thor's bed, lifting the remote to mute the TV.
"Listen," Loki spoke in earnest. "I know you are upset because I do not want to run around going to parties and date boys."
"Like you care."
"I do care, but I firmly believe in making decisions for myself and not yielding to others' desires for me."
"I wish I had that luxury. I am the only sophomore invited to the prom and I cannot even go because you do not want to go."
"Stark never told you we went out, did he?" Loki asked after a pause in the conversation.
"What? You are joking, right?"
"Freshman year, for one month."
"There is no way. Why?"
"Because Tony's, like, a total babe," Loki made himself sound like an idiot on purpose, bringing a slight smile to Thor's face, only to be replaced by confusion once more.
"But you hate Tony."
"Now I do. At that time, things were different."
"As in?" Thor couldn't contain his curiosity or his disbelief. Loki took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he was about to confess.
"He told me everyone was doing it. So I gave in. I did it."
"You did what?" Thor felt like he knew what Loki was referring to, but just to be certain he asked.
"It was just the one time. Then I told him the truth; I told him I was not ready for that. He got pissed and broke up with me."
"But..." Thor trailed off.
"After that, I swore I would never let anyone else sway my choices. I promised myself I would never do anything just because everyone else was doing it, and I never did. Well, until the party."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Shocked only covered part of what Thor felt.
"I wanted to let you make up your own mind about him."
"No! You didn't care about that! You just wanted to help father hold me hostage in this house!"
"That is not-"
"I am not stupid enough to repeat your mistakes," Thor hissed.
"I thought I was protecting you."
"You are just like father. Keeping me locked away in the dark and never letting me experience things for myself."
"Not all experiences are good, Thor. You cannot always trust the people that you would like to," the last sentence hurt Loki to say, what with everything that took place between himself and Clint.
"I guess I will never know," Thor spat, holding the door open to indicate he wished Loki would leave. Loki stepped out and the door banged shut behind him.
The next morning, Loki woke up early and showered and dressed himself for the day. Then he laid back down in bed and stared at the ceiling in thought before an idea blossomed in his head. He rolled off of his bed and went down the hall, tapping on Thor's bedroom door.
"Come in," Thor responded around a mouthful of cereal. He was in a red t-shirt and black jogging pants, watching I Love Lucy with a bowl of cereal in his lap. Loki peered in at him.
"Do you want to go out for a tux?" Loki looked at Thor with hope.
Thor descended the stairs, outfitted in a new tux and a deep red tie. He stepped in front of Odin with a golden smile.
"Hello, father."
"I am missing something."
"I have a date, father. And he is not the captain of oppression like some men we know." Thor went to the door when the doorbell sounded and went off arm in arm with Steve, leaving Odin spluttering something like "Who- what," behind him. Loki tore down the stairs moments later, in his own black tuxedo and emerald green tie, his hair slicked back and a red rose in his breastpocket.
"I am going to the prom, see you in a few hours," Loki called as he raced out the door behind Thor and Steve.
No more than fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang once more. Odin sighed and went to answer it and found Tony Stark on the steps. "I'm here for Thor." Odin wordlessly shut the door in Stark's face, leaving him there, dumbfounded with his arms up in a silent what the hell.
Loki parked near the school and stepped out, and as he neared the school he spotted Clint waiting on the steps, his hair gelled up and a royal purple tie on with his neat black tux.
"Where did you get a tux so last minute?" Loki asked as Clint rose to his feet.
"Daken. His date was convicted. Where did you get yours?"
"Just something I had laying around."
"Uh huh," Clint held out his hand and smiled. Loki accepted his hand and they went up the steps together and into the school.
"I must apologize for questioning your motives. I was wrong," Loki offered. Clint winced but quickly grinned again to conceal it.
"No problem," he managed. They had stopped just outside the gym doors, not quite ready to go in. The music pulsed through the floor.
"Are you ready?" Loki asked after taking a deep breath and nodded at the doors. Clint nodded after inspecting Loki and his clothing just a little closer than before. "Let's get this over with," Loki pressed against the gym door and went in first.