Steve entered the cafeteria and quickly saw Thor smiling at him like a maniac. He made his way to the table, sitting across from the long haired blond.
"Hey Thor," Steve smiled. Thor had a look in his eyes like 'I know something and it's freaking hilarious.' Steve fidgeted a bit. "I'm worried, should I be worried?"
"What would you have to be worried about, Steven?" Thor asked. Just then, Natasha sat herself next to Thor, and a boy with brown hair next to her. Steve assumed this was the friend that Natasha had spoken of earlier, was it Clint?
"Hey Steve, this is Clint, I told you about him before." Nailed it.
While Steve's head was throwing him a 'you have an awesome memory' party, it totally missed the body that slid into the seat next to him. It wasn't until Loki's voice pulled him out of his trance that he realized he was there.
"Uh Thor, is there something you need to say?" The black haired boy asked. Steve looked over to said blond who was still smiling at him.
"Oh no brother, if I had something to say, it would have passed my lips already," he put to much emphasis on the word lips.
'Oh God,' Steve thought. 'He knows.' His face became hot.
"That was an odd choice of words to say the least," Clint said, chuckling. "So what is it you aren't telling us then?"
Loki was totally oblivious to what was happening. He apparently had no idea his brother knew what he had been subject to in his physics class. "Yeah, please enlighten us, dear brother."
"No, please! Uh... Etslay otnay elltay emthay Iway issedkay Okilay?"
"You kissed Loki!" Natasha laughed.
"How did you get that out of the gibberish he just said?" Thor asked, obviously amazed.
Steve smacked his hand on his forehead, entirely unsure of why he thought speaking pig Latin would work. Clint couldn't suppress his laughter, he cracked up, laughing at both Odinson brothers- Loki because he was blushing profusely and Thor because he was so amazed by the pig Latin.
When they all calmed down, Clint was the first to speak. "So, Loki, what's it like not being a lip virgin?" Thor laughed, and Natasha cracked a smile.
Loki smacked his head on the table, resting his hands on top of it. Steve moved closer to him, feeling bad for sort of being the cause of his current embarrassment.
"What about you Steve?" Clint asked.
"For your information, I wasn't a 'lip virgin' before," Steve draped an arm across Loki's shoulders.
"Who was the lucky girl? Or was it a guy?" Natasha asked.
Steve turned red, avoiding eye contact. "I don't want to talk about it."
It was obvious he was extremely serious about it, so the three on the opposite side of the table nodded. "Loki, stop being so dramatic, your boyfriend didn't kiss you so you could pretend to be a turtle." Thor said. Steve turned extremely red, but Loki did sit up, so he tried to hide it.
"So are you two a thing now?" Clint asked, pointing back and forth between the two. Steve looked down at Loki, who was looking up at him.
"I... Well, we've only known each other two days, and I- well we aren't a thing persay-"
"You're way too cute when you do that." Steve said, placing a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Uh... I think I'll take that," he pointed at Steve, putting a lot of emphasis on the word 'that'. "As my answer."
Time passed, the school year ended, and Loki and Steve began spending every waking -and most not so awake- moment with each other. Thor, Natasha and Clint learned to live with the googly eyes and kissy faces that the two made at each other whenever they were around. Steve's uncle remained oblivious to it, as did Loki's parents and everyone had to laugh when the two would sit in opposite sides of the room whenever an adult walked in.
Loki's birthday past, but the two stuck to kissing, hugging, and nonchalant cuddling, which they were bother extremely content with. School started back up and it became apparent to the entire student body that they were together. The homosexual jokes had practically stopped after Steve had been suspended for a week because he gave a kid a black eye, there was a wise crack once and awhile, but no one really wanted to have to deal with not only Steve, but Thor as well.
Steve had all but forgotten about the Tony Stark incident, although he often saw the brunette before he left school after sitting in the library with Loki, waiting for Thor to finish practicing whatever sport it was he was currently in (football in fall, wrestling in winter).
He paid no mind to the overwhelming feelings of guilt that would wash over him when he would see Tony doing whatever to avoid meeting the blonds' eyes. After the incident in English, they never spoke. Steve would see Tony with the red head he had been with in the hallway the day after they made out, he learned her name was Pepper and that they had been dating long before Steve had come. He couldn't help but feel a bit hurt whenever he saw a small exchange of intimacy between the two. Loki would often see his hurt expressions and follow his gaze at which point he, as hurt as he was, would do something adorable to regain the blonds' attention and make him smile.
September turned to October, October to November, and November to December. Winter break started and Steve was over at the Odinson household as soon as it had.
They were sitting in front of the fireplace, wrapped in an oversized blanket, each holding a mug of hot cocoa that had been graciously topped with whip cream -courtesy of Loki's mother.
"What do you want for Christmas?" Steve asked. Loki looked up at him, surprised by the sudden question, although he wasn't sure why.
"I have all I need right here," he replied. Steve smiled. "I mean this hot chocolate is the greatest thing I've ever had." He smirked.
A fake expression of hurt flashed across Steve's face. "You're evil. How could you do this to me?" He pressed the back of his arm to his forehead for dramatic effect.
"I'm sorry Steve, it's just such a delicious warm beverage, I never meant to hurt you!" He rested his hand on Steve's shoulder.
Steve smiled, re-situating himself so he was comfortable once again. Loki wrapped his hand back around his mug, taking a sip of his hot chocolate.
"Boys," they both turned to Loki's mother, who was standing in the doorway of the living room. "We're heading to bed now, Steve you're welcome to stay. Loki, make sure you put out the fire before you fall asleep."
"Right mom, I will, don't worry. Goodnight." Loki smiled to his mother.
"G'night Mrs. Odinson," Steve said.
"Really, Steven, just call me mom." Steve nodded. "Goodnight boys." She retreated to her bedroom with her husband.
Steve set down his mug, taking Loki's and setting it down too. He pulled the boy onto his lap, then handed him his drink. "Now seriously, what do you want for Christmas?" Loki curled up in Steve's arms, resting his head under his chin.
"I mean it, I don't need anything, I have you." Loki took another sip of his now lukewarm drink, sighing in contentment.
"You're too sweet." He kissed the top of his head lovingly. "But I can't just get you nothing. There has to be something you want."
"Steve Rogers, the only thing I want for Christmas is to have you by my side." He set down his cup and slid his arms around Steve's waist. "But what do you want for Christmas?"
"You are evil!" Steve replied, putting a lot of emphasis on the word 'are.'
Loki smiled to himself. "Why yes I am, but I thought you had that figured out that first day in physics class."
"Sorry, I was distracted by your cuteness."
"Are you hitting on me?" Loki joked.
"Only if that's what you want."
"You two are so cute that it's really kind of super disgusting." Thor walked across the living room and sat down beside the two.
Loki blushed profusely; Thor rarely ever interrupted them when they were having a moment alone. When he did, though, it was normally to say something super embarrassing, like the one time he told Loki to make sure and practice safe sex, which was probably the worst thing that ever happened, that was until Steve retorted that it was too late for that (which was a lie) and then they high-fived because they thought it was the funniest thing that had ever happened. It took Loki a solid two weeks to stop blushing every time the three of them were in a room together.
"Do you need something?" Loki asked tiredly.
"Don't be so hostile. I'm not here to make fun of you, I promise." Thor smiled.
Loki just pressed his face into Steve's chest and tried to resist the urge to sleep. He wasn't really winning the battle.
They sat quietly for awhile, until Thor broke the silence. "Is he asleep?"
Steve shifted his head, trying to get a good look at the boy in his arms. "Yeah, I think so." He thought wrong.
"You really do mean a lot to him." Thor didn't even skip a beat.
"I- he means a lot to me too," Steve was taken aback.
"I know that." Thor sounded exhausted. "It's just..
I've never seen him care about someone so much. I don't want him getting hurt, he is my brother, after all."
"I assure you, you have nothing to worry about." Steve wrapped his arms tighter, causing Loki extreme discomfort, despite the fact, he remained quiet.
Thor sighed. " I knew that... Just don't break his heart, or I'll have to break your face. And I like you, so don't make me have to do that." They both laughed lightly.
"If you'd break my face and you like me, I don't want to know what you'd do to someone you hated." Thor smiled, pushing himself up. He smacked Steve's shoulder as he walked away. "Good night Thor."
"Night Steve."
Steve allowed Loki a few more moments of sleep before waking him up. "Loki, you need to put the fire out so we can both sleep."
Loki sighed, pushing himself up. He quickly put the fire out and threw himself on the floor. He wasn't in the mood to walk up stairs. Steve sighed, stood up, and scooped Loki up in his arms. He carried the boy up the stairs into his bedroom and laid him down on the bed. He slid in next to him, pulling the blanket around them. He forced the thought of how similar it was to what he had done with Tony out of his mind.
"Are you okay?" Loki asked, pulling Steve from his thought.
"As long as I'm with you I'm always alright." Steve slid his hands down Loki's arm, intertwining their fingers. He ignored the scars, knowing that Loki preferred to not talk about them; it was a mutual, unspoken, agreement.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" Loki asked, he was really just trying to avoid sleep.
Steve thought for a moment. "I'm going to go Christmas shopping, then take you out for dinner, is that okay with you?"
"I'll be waiting." Loki smiled.
Steve smiled back, placing a quick kiss on his forehead. "Good, I'll see you at seven." He pulled the boy into his form. "Now go to sleep."
Loki obeyed.
Steve woke up to a violent knocking on the door of his boyfriend's bedroom door and instinctively pulled away, rolling onto his back. The lack of warmth caused Loki to awaken as well. He groaned and rolled onto his other side, facing the wall his bed was pushed up against instead of the blond beside him.
"Come in!" He called, sleep still quite evident in his voice.
Thor slammed the door open, looking to the bed, Steve looking back at him. "Clint and Natasha are here. Oh yeah, and breakfast is ready!" He hastily retreated from the room, slamming the door equally as boisterously as he had when he entered.
Steve got out of bed, pulling Loki after him. The black haired boy bent down, grabbed a sweatshirt, and pulled it over his head. He allowed Steve to lead him out of his bedroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen. He was still trying to get his brain to accept the fact that it was time to wake up.
The two took a seat at the table where Clint, Thor and Natasha were laughing and eating. Mrs. Odinson quickly put a plate in front of each of them before retreating from the room.
"Good morning sleeping beauty, did you have a wild night?" Clint asked Loki, taking an entire piece of bacon in his mouth.
Loki was too exhausted to reply. Why was he so tired? He just needed more sleep was all. He lazily pushed his plate out of his way and rested his head on the table.
"What did you two do?" Natasha asked.
Steve kept his eyes on Loki. "We slept, I swear." No one spoke. "Loki, are you alright?"
"I'm just sleepy is all." He yawned loudly. "I'm going back to bed, I'll see you later guys." He pushed his chair out and stood up. They all watched as he walked back up to his room.
"Seriously, what did you do to him?" Clint insisted.
"We didn't do anything. He seriously got more sleep than I did." Steve replied.
"He probably has a cold, he acts like that when he's sick, he'll be better when he wakes up," Thor explained.
"Good, we have a date later," Steve smiled and the other three groaned.
"Speaking of which, I have Christmas shopping to get out of the way first. Without further ado, I bid you
Adieu." He stood and bowed for effect, receiving a round of applause from the table's occupants.
He waved to his friends, then left.
Okay, so thank you to all my wonderful reviewers and subscribers and favoriters and what not! You all make this totally worth it with your kind words and energy to press the alert/favorite button! You make it totally worth getting up in the morning solely to update.
Anyway, this chapter is quite a bit longer than the others because well the next section, once again, is a chapter in and of itself. Although I'm quite nervous because it is the main reason the story is rated M… And I don't know if I like that… And maybe I'll go and change it… but I'm really lazy.
So I'll stop boring you with my nonsensical rant about not wanting to do stuff (plus I'm going on a hike) so peace out readers!