Hey guys.

I know I've had a few readers get impatient for something to happen but I'm really REALLY grateful to everyone who's stuck with me for this long. I'm not that great a writer, but I LOVE to write and I love Steve/Loki and I'm sorry that the Steve and Loki thing is taking forever...I wanted to really draw out this relationship between them.

I promise things will really start taking off soon. :)

Disclaimer: Do not own Marvel Universe

Warning: If anything it's language

Comments/critiques are welcomed!

"Did you ask Jane to homecoming?"

Steve was starting to go insane. Loki was on his mind every second of every day and he wasn't doing anything about it. He needed to hang out with some friends to calm himself down. Having other guys around would keep his mind from working against him and Thor was always happy to have company while his parents were away. Clint and Bucky had tagged along as well.

Thor shakes his head. They all jeer and shove at him playfully.

"What? Come on, man, why not?"

"Yeah, dude, Jane's cute."

He grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I—my friends asked if we could attend as a group and I could not refuse."

"And you couldn't ask her because…?"

"My friends do not have such a thing as a homecoming at their school."

"Prep school friends?"

Thor nods. Bucky bites into his pizza. "Yeah, well…you can still dance with her, right? Me—I'm just going with Nats and she's not always so big on dancing in public."

Clint snorts. "Too bad I'm going with Bobbi Morse, isn't it?"

"Shut up, dick, you should've made up while you could-"

Steve laughs and kicks Bucky. "Shut up." He yawns, rubbing his eyes. Sleep wasn't much of an option right now. After Loki had left Sunday night, Steve regretted not saying everything that was on his mind. He regretted not grabbing Loki and telling him how much he liked him, how much he wanted for them to just sit and talk, how much he wanted to ask him to the dance instead of going with Carol.

But Carol was so great. She was funny and smart and Steve could see them being great friends but not—well, she just wasn't Loki.

There was so much about Loki that he didn't know, so much he wanted to find out, and Steve had to really work at it. It had taken him almost a month before Loki was starting conversations with him, before he was laughing and using facial expressions and telling him what was on his mind. Steve was actually attracted to the idea of just pushing and pushing until he could find every little thing about Loki that he could. He'd come up with so many scenarios in his head where he told Loki how he felt but they all ended with Loki either laughing or never talking to him again. The worst ones were where Thor never talked to him again.

"What about you Steve?" Bucky nudges him.

"Hmm?"

"Well…Carol was the one that asked you. Do you even want to go with Carol?" Bucky finishes off his crust, licking his fingers. "What happened to that one you liked?"

Steve glares at Bucky.

Thor grins. "Steven likes someone? Who?"

"Yeah, who?"

The three of them start chanting 'who', Steve turning bright red. He laughs and waves them down. "It doesn't matter who…I don't think they like me back." They groan. "What? I don't want to get rejected, that would be embarrassing."

"Steve…" Clint rolls his eyes. "That's why you reject them before they can reject you. Rejection is hot, dude, it makes them want you more."

"Yeah, except with Natasha, rejection is a major turn on because she likes it when the submissive tries to become dominant." Bucky smirks.

The three of them laugh. Clint takes his shoe off and throws it at him. "Shut up!"

Thor clears his throat, nudging Steve. "Steven, my friend, why would you agree to go with Carol if you like someone else? I do not believe it is fair to her."

"I know, I just—Carol's really nice though and I couldn't say no…" Thor raises his brow. "I'm not going to keep going out with her afterwards unless I actually make a connection, don't look at me like that."

"Why do you not tell this other person that you like them? Are they seeing someone else?"

"No, nothing like that…"

Bucky shakes his head, laughing. "Steve, quit being such a wuss. Just admit your feelings and move on with it. And, hey, Carol's a babe. If you get the cold shoulder just cuddle up to her—OH SHIT—did you see that?! Brady just got sacked—hard—looks like he's down-" He grabs for the remote, turning up the game.

Steve sighs.

He had to tell Loki how he was feeling. He knew he had to. Steve couldn't sleep, he couldn't focus, all he thought about was Loki. Of course it didn't help that Loki was home. He walks downstairs, a book open in his hand and glasses on the tip of his nose. Loki gives Steve a small and walks into the kitchen, grabbing a water and wandering back up to his room.

Steve was going to do it. He was going to tell Loki by Friday.

Friday came.

The team had lost by one. Northend got the ball in range for a field goal and took it, it was good strategy and they still qualified for states. Steve didn't particularly care for how the other team played though…a lot of name-calling, swearing, things that really didn't need to be brought onto the field. In the end, Steve found himself distracted but by what he didn't want to admit. It was stuck in the back of his head and driving him crazy. His mind was drifting the whole game. He'd made several technical errors but luckily nothing that cost them any points. Coach was proud of them and congratulated them despite their grumbling. Most of the school hated the students from Northend. They were…different.

He takes a few minutes longer in the shower—waiting until the rest of the team was on their way out—slicking his hair back with both hands. The hot water relaxed his aching muscles but he still felt so tense.

Steve had to get Loki out of his head.

"Good game, Rogers." The coach says as Steve rubs a towel over his wet hair. "See you at practice on Monday—take it easy at the dance this weekend," he teases, winking.

"Yes, sir, I'll try."

Steve pulls his shirt on and slings his bag over his shoulder, sighing. He didn't feel like going to the post-game party…he needed a night alone with laundry and leftovers. Hopefully there was something good on TV. His brain was torturing him though. Steve was supposed to move on from Loki but everything was just drawing him in. It didn't help that despite everything and all of his faults Loki had to seem like this really great caring guy that people couldn't see. Everyone was too busy dwelling on what was wrong with him and half the things that they thought were wrong didn't even matter. Steve couldn't stop thinking about him. He'd gotten a C on his last history test because he was so engulfed into his daydreams. He was going on a date with Carol now. What if she wanted to keep going out after homecoming? What if Steve wanted to like her? She was nice and smart and funny but she just—she wasn't Loki.

Thor was standing against the fence of the parking lot when Steve walked out. He was talking to Ororo Munroe—a girl from Northend—but most people just called her Storm. She and Thor had dated at one time but she ended it. They still hung out a lot and Steve was a little jealous of them. Thor always made everything so casual, he wished he could do that. Steve sneaks past them.

He takes a deep breath to clear his head. When he got home he'd eat some of that leftover pizza, watch some movies, and get the laundry done. Tomorrow he needed to pick up his dress pants and shirt from the drycleaners and remember to pick Carol up by six. Hopefully his mother wouldn't make too much of a fuss about him going to a dance with a girl she hasn't met yet. She could be rather intolerable. He tosses his stuff into the back of his truck and checks his phone. They were out of milk. Steve grumbles to himself. The gas station was three blocks from where they lived, he didn't understand why she couldn't walk to get some. He opens the door and swears under his breath. Loki was sitting on the hood of his truck, his head resting against the windshield, feet on the bumper, and smoking a cigarette.

Steve shuts the door. "Hey."

"Hey," Loki snuffs his cigarette and sits up. "Mind giving me a ride?"

"Did Darcy ditch you?" Steve motions for him to get in.

Loki hops off the truck and fixes his shorts. How was he not freezing? "Not exactly…I came clean and talked to her but she's bitching at me now for not saying anything so I told her I was going to a party with some of the guys from Northend." He gets in the passenger side.

"Lying, Loki?" he smirks. "Isn't that what got you into your Darcy mess to begin with?"

"Hey, I was sincere and apologized…she should've asked you out when she had the chance."

Steve takes a deep breath and starts the truck. "Well…you know I like spending time with you…" Loki smiles at him and puts his feet up on the dashboard. He had such long beautiful legs. Steve tried not to stare at them as they pulled out of the lot.

Steve pulls into Loki's driveway and turns off the car. He looks to Loki. Loki pushes the hair out of his face; his eyes were so big and green. His knees were curved up, his feet resting on the dashboard. The shorts he was wearing only came down halfway on his thighs. Loki's legs looked so soft and smooth and Steve wanted to touch them; they were so pale though—no freckles or bumps or moles just inches and inches of beautiful skin.

"Thanks for the ride."

He was looking at Steve the way Steve wanted him to be, the way Steve resisted to look at him. Steve reaches out to rest his hand on his knee. Loki's skin was so cool to the touch. He lets his hand glide down his leg slowly, experimenting how far he could take this; his skin was as soft as he imagined. Surprisingly Loki lets him, Steve's fingers teasing the hem of his shorts. Loki bites his lip and hums. Steve loves that little noise. He takes Steve's hand in his; he shifts, crawling nimbly onto Steve's lap and straddling him.

"I have a confession to make, Steve…" Loki blushes. "I…really like you…"

Loki places Steve's hands on his hips and tells him to close his eyes. He feels him run his hands through his hair, tracing his face, shoulders and arms; he makes a small noise when Loki kisses his neck. Loki was only teasing him. Steve's heart starts to pound when he feels Loki lean forward slowly, their lips brushing together-

Steve sits up abruptly when the movie he'd been watching screams. It wasn't quite Halloween yet so all of the movie channels were playing slashers. He rubs his eyes and checks the clock. Two AM. Steve sets the laundry aside and slumps down the hall to his room, crawling into bed without bothering to move the sheets…he was too exhausted. The cat howls at him as it jumps onto his bed, curling against his side and rubbing him for attention. Steve grumbles to himself. It was too hot in his room. He takes off his shirt and jeans and lies back down with a sigh. His mind starts to drift once more…

His mother coughs in the room next to his. Steve needed to sleep. Peacefully. Without any dreams. But in order to do that Loki needed to get out of his head. He picks up the book next to his bed and tries to read that; it had taken him a while but he was nearly done with Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth was about to confess her feelings to Mr. Darcy.

Loki's hair was wet from the early morning mist but Steve runs a hand through it. They shouldn't be doing this. Loki presses into Steve's advances, taking his hand in his and laying it against his chest. Steve caresses his cheek and pulls him closer, the sun starting to rise in the east as their lips meet for a first sweet kiss-

Steve groans.

The animal shelter got really busy during Halloween. Since animals—especially black cats—became targets of violence Halloween night, they'd put out flyers for months asking people to bring in any strays off the street to keep them safe and find them a home. Loki had been working the front desk since 4am and he'd seen more animals brought in in an hour than he had in one day. At least people were bringing them in…he'd hate to hear about all the horror stories the next day he came in to volunteer.

Loki flips through his book, the amount of people coming in and out finally calming down. The homecoming dance was tonight. That would at least keep the kids from their school off the streets. With the city only a few minutes away he was surprised Frigga still let them out on Halloween. Darcy still didn't want to go to the dance, and Loki wasn't able to sway her mind, but he sort of wanted to. It was always fun to see what couples crashed and burned.

"Lokiiii…" a co-worker comes out from the back, holding their hands at shoulder level. "Do I really have to clean the kitty boxes? I just got my nails done."

He closes his book and turns on his stool to scowl at them. "Tanya, I told you half an hour ago that you could choose between the dog pens or the litter boxes…why haven't you done either of them yet?"

"Because I got my nails done, I just told you…make Ida clean the kitty boxes, she's being a bitch today anyway…" Tanya walks in the back, still holding her hands up. All of the dogs bark once Tanya enters their pens.

Loki rolls his eyes, returning to his book.

The buzzer above the door sounds when it opens. "Are you still taking food donations?"

"You can just set them on the counter, thank you for your patronage," Loki sighs, turning his page. "If you would like to further your contributions to the shelter you could adopt an animal in need of a home or perhaps you'd like to sign up for our volunteer program? Our shelter is open for 24 hours and we could use all the help we need. If not than thank you and have a nice day."

"A bit robotic, you may want to work on that," Steve snickers.

Loki looks up with a smile, closing his book. "Nice to see someone from our school contributing to animal needs…" He looks over the bags of food Steve had brought in. "These look brand new."

"I uhh—I needed a reason to come inside and talk to the guy behind the counter."

Steve leans on the countertop, Loki smiling and tucking his hair behind his ear. "So…you came all the way to this side of town and bought $30 worth of pet food just to talk to me? I'm afraid to ask what I did."

"No, no, you didn't—you didn't actually do anything—I mean—umm—I mean, I just-" Loki quirks his brow. Steve turns red, fiddling his hands together.

"You're flirting again."

He groans and lays his head down on his arms. Loki places a hand on his, jostling him slightly until he looks up. He smiles lightly. "Are you nervous about your date tonight? Because if you are I'm probably not the person to talk to."

"Well it's—it's not technically a date-"

"Are you and Carol matching your corsages and all that cheesy shit?"

"Umm…yeah, but-"

"It's a date."

Steve furrows his brow and opens his mouth to counter Loki's argument.

"Hey, Loki," a blonde with a deep voice pokes their head around the corner. "Did we have anyone bring in cat litter? We're running low in the back." The blonde looks Steve over and smiles. "Ooo, he's cute…you single, sweetie?"

"Yes, and he's also sixteen and wouldn't know what to do with the mess you have going on downstairs," Loki rolls his eyes, grabbing a box of litter and handing it to them. "Make sure all the cats have clean water too, okay?"

They laugh and walk back the way they came. "Give us both two years and we can make it happen."

Steve looks to Loki, smiling and raising his eyebrows. Loki shakes his head. "I don't take you as someone to know many pre-op transvestites." He makes note of the food Steve brought in and heaves each bag up, placing it under the counter.

"I'm not that sheltered." Loki laughs at him. "So is everyone here…?"

"Ida and Donnie are both pre-op, Tanya is post-op, and I'm neither," Loki smirks and pulls out a binder from under the counter. Steve watches him as Loki writes him out a receipt, pretending to have been looking around as Loki tears it out and hands it to him. "Now…what did you want to talk about? I mean, you came all this way…" He smiles and leans forward on the counter. Steve looks away bashfully and stares at his shoes. Loki furrows his brow. He starts to say something but then cuts himself off, shaking his head and mumbling. Steve was acting weird…weirder. When he drove him home last night he kept looking at him like Loki was going to stab him in the neck. He was probably just nervous about the dance…especially since it seemed like Carol had somewhere along the line taken Steve's interest. Too bad Loki wasn't so sure Carol liked Steve…she kept flirting with him and then turned her eyes towards Bucky. It wasn't coincidence, Loki knew that trick—his name was Tony Stark.

The door buzzer goes off when a woman with a cardboard box comes in, a disgruntled looking man following her. They whisper harshly at one another while Steve continues to stumble over his words, the added audience seeming to make him more nervous.

"I'll be right with you," Loki tells the couple, looking back to Steve. "Steve?"

Steve takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair. "Look, I…I've been wanting to tell you something all week I just—I don't know how to word it…" he sighs. "And I really like spending time with you, but I—I uhh…"

"Is he droppin' off an animal?" the woman interrupts. "Because I have animals to drop off…he doesn't have anythin' with him."

"Ma'am, I said I'd be right with you."

Loki nods to Steve to keep talking. "I just—I'm not very good at talking about stuff like…this and I don't—I don't want you to get mad or…and I'm kind of terrified of your brother—of Thor…"

"These kittens ain't gettin' any lighter!"

The man grunts. "Will you shut up, woman, he said to wait a minute! So just sit yer ass down, you don't know what's what."

Steve raises his voice a little to draw Loki's attention back to him. "What I'm trying to tell you is that…is that I-"

"You don't know nothin', you old bastard," she snaps. Loki sighs. Steve looks at him desperately and Loki really wanted to talk but… "C'mon, kid, I just wanna get rid of these little fucks."

"ALRIGHT! Okay, just bring them up…" Loki leans over the counter to Steve. "Give me one minute, this won't take long. I'm really sorry." The woman places the box on the counter, Steve having to move to get out of her way. There were five kittens, all different colors and spots and stripes. They were all playing with each other. "They're so sweet…"

Steve smiles softly to himself…Loki's eyes were sparking green.

"At least you think so," the man grumbles. "Wanted to give 'em to my niece but she has to be a bitch about it."

Loki forces a smile. "Okay…umm—where did you find them?"

"What kinda question is that?!" the woman defends, scowling at him. "You want 'em or not?"

"Ma'am, I have to make sure they're not stolen-"

Ida pops their head around the corner. "Loki, where's the scrub brush for the bowls?"

"Ask Tanya-"

"Who are you to accuse me of stealin' kittens?! I never stolen a thing in my life!"

"He ain't accusin' you of nuthin', leave the poor kid to do his job!"

Loki grumbles to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. He glances up at Steve who seems more disgruntled than he is as he rocks back and forth, his shoulders tensed and face an odd mix between flushed and paled.

"Loki—the scrub brush isn't by the sink!"

"Oh shut up, you son-offa-bitch!"

"You're the one that wanted to drown the li'l devils like we were savages, you passive-aggressive bitch!"

"Stop! Okay, look, just fill out your information in this book," he turns the binder towards them and sets a pen down on the pages. "I'm not going to check if it's correct or not just-"

He makes a surprised noise as Steve grabs both his shoulders firmly and pulls him up onto the counter. Their faces were inches away from each other, Loki's face burning. He wasn't used to being this close…especially not with Steve. One of Steve's hands holds Loki on the counter and the other holds Loki's neck in place.

Steve's face was burning too. Loki could feel it.

"I'm sick of the interruptions, okay? I—I can't take this anymore and I need to tell you…" Steve takes a deep breath, opening his eyes to look Loki in the face. "I like you. And I like you a lot. I don't know why, I don't know when it happened or even how but all I know is that I can't stop think about you and it's—it's driving me crazy. I wanted to ask you to the dance tonight but—but Carol asked me first and I just-"

Loki's eyes widen when Steve's lips press against his. He pulls away from him, Loki slumping back down onto the floor. Steve keeps his head low and fixes his jacket as he slips out the door.

"Loki, the scrub brushes! I can't clean the bowls without them!"

"Ohhhh, Loki has a boyfriend!"

"Shut up, Tanya, you're going to embarrass him! Loki? Loki, you don't look so good."

"He just got kissed by Prince Charming, how would you feel?"

"Loki? Loki? Loki…"

Loki just touches his mouth.

What just happened?