#TPSL Chapter 1

[latent-thoughts]

The Pursuit of a Simple Life (Chapter 1 - PAC & Co.)

[Co-Authored with @emeraldrosequartz​]

Rating : 18+ (there be lots of citrus here).

Warning: None

Pairing: Loki/Original Female Character

Summary: Three years after returning to Earth with the other Asgardians following Ragnarok, Loki finds himself working for SHIELD, truly just trying to fight the boredom. While on an undercover mission, he unexpectedly begins to fall for his co-worker, Gemma, and she seems to feel the same way…about Dave, his alter ego while in disguise. Can Loki continue a relationship with her while keeping his true identity a secret? How many lies can the ‘God of lies’ spin to keep his pursuit of a simple life? 

[Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017); THOR IS A GOOD BRO AND TOTALLY NOT HOW HE WAS IN RAGNAROK, THNX; Infinity War Doesn’t Exist; Everyone lives]

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IMPORTANT NOTES: Bold Text = Loki’s POV Normal Text = Gemma’s POV

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Loki sat at his desk, going through a list of mundane tasks that he had to perform today. Most of them were meetings.

Those just bored him enough to make him contemplate another take-over of Midgard.

At least it would be an exciting endeavour!

But… Loki wasn’t the same as he was during the campaign of 2012. He had recovered and dealt with his demons, as the Midgardians would say. It also helped to not have a constant psychotic influence on his mind.

He still suffered from the consequences of his actions, though, in certain ways. But over all, he was faring well, if he’d say so.

After landing on Midgard, post destroying Asgard, Loki had tried to settle down with other Asgardians in New Asgard (still counted as part of Norway). But, that hadn’t really worked out for him.

Thor was their king now, and Loki just couldn’t stand being relegated to his brother’s shadow while he ruled. He had himself ruled Asgard for more than three years, and now, the demotion just rankled.

The issue was, Loki wanted to carve out a niche for himself, a space where he belonged, where he could not be held down by the stuffy Asgardian values.

Hence, one day, just weeks after landing on Midgard, he had shown up at Nicholas Fury’s office. The man had nearly ruptured a vein in his head upon seeing Loki there. That was fun.

But it had worked out in Loki’s favour in the end, for he had offered his services to SHIELD off his own volition, explaining - in great detail - how he felt responsible for the safety of Midgard.

Surprisingly, Thor had supported him in this endeavour when Fury had contacted him, entreating Fury to give Loki a chance, since he had recently rescued all of the Asgardians and been on ‘good behaviour’ ever since. He had a sneaking suspicion that Thor just wanted him off his back, since he wouldn’t stop nagging him about his kingly priorities and unwise administrative decisions.

For some reason, Fury hadn’t put up a lot of resistance, agreeing to take Loki in as an aid to SHIELD.

Hence, here he was… trying his best to do his job.

Well, not quite.

He was undercover, investigating PAC & Co., the company he was pretending to work for. This was, by far, his most boring assignment in the last three years of his association with SHIELD.

The only bright point seemed to be the pretty young woman who sat a few desks away, in just the right location for them to be able to look at each other from time to time.

Her name was Gemma…… he forgot her last name, for it was something of a tongue-twister. Ah, Spitznaegel.

She was easy on the eyes, and she wore those pretty short skirts to office, something an Asgardian lady would never do. Those lovely legs were a sight for sore eyes, a great distraction for a wandering mind.

“Dave, man, you got a meeting upstairs. The boss is already there,” someone called from behind him as he admired the woman, pulling him out of his reverie.

Ugh, he hated his undercover name.

“Yeah, going man.” He stood up and rushed off to the elevator, making sure to give Gemma a smooth smile as he went by her desk.

Gemma immediately slammed her hand over the doodle she had been working on when she realized that Dave might see it. She smiled back, hoping the blush she felt rising to her cheeks wasn’t too apparent. She was trying to be cute and flirty…but honestly she just hoped to God she didn’t come off as manic or overly excited or…anything that might make Dave think she was weird.

The doodle said “G+D”. It was really stupid and immature and something that a middle schooler would do…but this job was SO BORING. Any kind of creative outlet helped her get through her day. And daydreaming about the hunky new sales rep - with a British accent…. uuunnngggghhhh–seemed to be taking up more and more of her time.

After Dave passed by, she leaned back so she could look at his little cubicle - it was even smaller than hers, but he kept it impeccably tidy - everything had a home and it stayed there until he needed to use it, then it was immediately returned to its place. He wasn’t there often - as one of the Outside Sales Representatives, he was usually on the road, meeting with existing or potential clients who may have a need to buy any of the wide variety of cardboard packaging and janitorial supplies made by PAC & Co…

God, this job, this company, her life couldn’t be any more dull…

The one bright spot was this awkward, budding infatuation with her hot co-worker.

Suddenly, a little fire ignited in her gut. If I don’t like it, I have to do something about it… she thought. Before she could talk herself out of it, she ripped a clean sheet of paper off her notepad and wrote: “Drinks later? Call me - 231.555.6743. 💗 Gemma”

Then she immediately crumpled it up, threw it in the trash, and got another piece.

“Hey cutie, how about—”

Crumpled. In the trash. New sheet.

“Dave - would you like to get drinks with me sometime? Circle Yes or No.”

Gemma groaned and threw that one away too, then put her head down on her arms over her desk. What was the point? She’d just blow it anyway.

With a sigh, she went back to running the sales analytics.

An hour later, Loki came down to his floor, feeling quite stabby towards his so-called boss, Oliver. The man was an absolute twit, with no manners to speak of. He had literally wasted his last work hour in that stupid, meaningless meeting.

He’d never have spoken to him so high-handedly had he known Loki’s true identity.

And that was the rub–he had to keep his true identity completely hidden. Pretending to be someone else entirely.

He had done so in the past, and he knew he was quite good at it. But Norns, he had not done so for this long (well, except when he was playing Odin). It had already been more than three months in this stupid disguise of short golden hair, ocean blue eyes, and appropriately priced Midgardian clothes.

As he passed by Gemma’s desk, he saw her trying to furiously write something on her notepad. She was so preoccupied with it that she didn’t even look up.

Oh well…

Setting his office folder on the desk, he set about completing the rest of the tasks he had before calling it a day.

Once that was done, he remembered that he had to take out some prints for his sales meetings the next day. So he gave the printer the appropriate commands and then went off to fetch the prints from the corner cubicle dedicated to the enormous machine.

Most of the office was empty now, and it suited him just fine. He could use some solitude in this mad place.

At the end of the day, most people had already gone home. But…her program had crashed several times that day. IT didn’t respond to any of her calls or emails, and now she had to complete the analytics by hand before she could leave.

F. M. L….

Not to mention…she hadn’t really given up on writing that note to Dave. She was on her 32nd attempt when he walked by, leaving his meeting, and she hunched over trying desperately to look busy so he wouldn’t ask what she was doing…

Oh, you know, just trying to craft the perfectly written 10-word letter to see if you want to get drinks with me sometime. Please don’t talk to me, or I may vomit on your shoes from the nervous breakdown I’m about to have over it. Thank yooooou…

Her pencil tip snapped off. Of. Fucking. Course.

Gemma stood up and headed to the cubicle where the printer, the pencil sharpener, and all the other “shared” office supplies were. And she was pleasantly surprised/utterly horrified to see Dave waiting at the printer.

Don’t blow it don’t blow it don’t blow it…

She walked up and stuck her pencil in the sharpener without saying anything, and it loudly started grinding away at her pencil. Dave immediately jumped and looked at her, shocked by the sudden noise. Gemma just…smiled, feeling her face turn beet red.

“Uh-hum….sorryyyyy….”

Oh God, kill me now…

Loki was pleasantly surprised to see that the disturbance in the supply-cum-printer cubicle was being caused by none other than his lovely colleague, Gemma.

She sweetly apologized to him for the noise, turning a pretty shade of red as he kept looking at her. Really, she was quite a fair maiden, and also, seemed to possess all the qualities of a lady of good breeding.

“It’s not your fault,” he replied, leaning against the printer as it churned out the prints for him. “These contraptions are far too noisy for their good, no?”

Oh God oh God oh God… Gemma’s stomach was in knots as she tried not to look like she might pass out. Come on…it’s just a person…HE’s just a person…you talk to people all the time, just open your mouth and SAY SOMETHING.

“Yea…yup…they sure are…”

GOD DAMNIT FUCK SHIT FUCKITY FUCK FUCK WHY?????

“So…um…whatcha printing?”

If he hadn’t been looking right at her, she would have facepalmed. Ugh…smooth, Gemma…

He smiled at her question, adding a bit of flirtation to his tone as he replied.

“I think you know what I’m printing, Gemma.” He licked his lips and watched her keenly as she turned redder still.

This was infinitely amusing. The girl was indeed attracted to him. Well… to his persona.

He licked his lips…HE LICKED HIS LIPS!!! Does that mean something? Is he flirting with me? Or are his lips just dry? Does he need chapstick? Should I offer him chapstick? Shit, it’s in my purse…should I offer to GET him chapstick?! WHAT THE HELL, GEMMA, HE DOESN’T NEED CHAPSTICK! STOP BEING WEIRD!

“Um…reports, I would assume?” Gemma kept her cool as best as she could. The pencil sharpener kept grinding away noisily as the printer churned out page after page. She tried to turn her attention to…well, anything other than his clear, blue eyes or that gorgeous stubble on his chin or his chiseled pecks she couldn’t help but notice through his button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up over his forearms that looked like they’d been crafted by Hephaestus himself…

She ended up staring at a worn bit of the carpet on the floor, but she couldn’t help looking up at him every few seconds.

He was quite disappointed that she pried her eyes from him. Mayhap she needed more… encouragement to talk?

“Smart girl,” he praised, crossing his arms as she fidgeted with the edge of her blouse. “I have a meeting tomorrow, so these are for that. Pitches and estimates, mostly. So tell me, what are you up to?”

Her heart pounded in her throat and her chest tightened.

Don’t say writing you letters…don’t say writing you letters...

“Writing…my mom…letters…?”

Suddenly, her fingertips touched the front of the pencil sharpener, and with a jolt she pulled her writing utensil from the device –it had been reduced to nothing more than a short, sharp stub.

“Oh…geez…” She looked at him, embarrassed, and the sudden silence without the grinding noise made her discomfort even more palpable.

“I’m…sorry. I’m finishing up some analytics - my computer crashed and I lost all my work and it needs to get done before I can leave, so I’m trying to do it by hand but now…” She held up the little nub of pencil. “I should probably be using a mechanical one anyway…”

Just then, a familiar and disturbing sound came from the printer…paper jam.

They both looked at the malfunctioning machine, and Gemma sprang into action.

“Oh! I can fix that. Happens all the time. I’m usually the one that has to deal with it so I’ll just—“

She unlatched the panel to the paper feed, but as soon as she opened it, a huge cloud of black toner shot out and covered her brand new blue blouse.

She froze, embarrassment taking over, and she looked up at him with terrified brown eyes, split between laughing at herself and crying in shame, but really waiting to see how he reacted before she did ANYTHING else…

Loki nearly burst into laughter upon seeing her present condition.

“Oh dear,” he said, biting his lip as he pulled the girl away from the printer. “I think you ought to rush to the washroom to try and clean that up. Do you need help?”

He deliberately added that last question to see her reaction. He was enjoying this far too much, even though the printer had malfunctioned and his work was stalled.

She almost sighed when he touched her. Oh, that contact was already more than she’d ever hoped for…even though she had to get attacked by office equipment for it to happen.

And the way he said “washroom” instead of “bathroom”… so charming! She almost swooned.

Then she remembered…he asked if she needed help…

“Uh….ah, no. Shit, I MEAN…um. It’s ok. I have my workout shirt in my gym bag…I’ll just go…put that on…”

With another nervous giggle and an apologetic smile, she excused herself from him, racing back to her desk, pulling her (thankfully clean) gym shirt out of her bag, and then power-walking down the hallway to the ladies room while calling back to Dave, “Be right back!”

He waved at her as she disappeared down the hallway, smirking to himself.

The girl was so nervous around him, it was endearing.

While she was gone, he fixed the printer himself–without any mishaps–and headed for his desk to give the print command again.

On his way, though, he stopped at Gemma’s desk and observed the chaos spread across it. The girl was quite disorganised, but then again, most Midgardians were.

He also took notice of her near overflowing trashcan, which was full of crumpled papers. He was going to simply roll his eyes and move on, but something caught his attention there.

On one of the unfurling crumpled paper, he saw his persona’s name, written in her messy scrawl.

That piqued his interest, and hence, he pulled the paper out of the can and read its contents.

And then he smiled mischievously.

Poor little Gemma wanted to get drinks with him… hmmm…

This could get interesting…

Pocketing that piece of paper, he left her desk and went about completing his prints.

Gemma came back soon after, looking rather awkward in that gym shirt of hers. It had the Avengers logo on it, at which Loki couldn’t help but groan.

Damn those annoying, self righteous imbeciles. At least Fury was honest about his less than savoury methods.

“So,” he said as he approached her at her desk, carrying his sheaf of prints, “are you done with your task? I was thinking we could have dinner together before heading home. What do you say?”

She almost - almost - lost it. Dave. THE Dave. Was asking her. If SHE. Wanted to get dinner.

She was fairly certain she wasn’t able to contain just a bit of surprised and half-elated laugh she instinctively made, but she caught just enough of it not to embarrass herself further. Her gym shirt embarrassed her plenty, with the faded Avengers logo emblazoned across her chest. She was outing herself as a huge nerd…

“I-ah…that would be great, but…well, I need to finish those analytics, and I’m not exactly dressed for the occasion anymore…”

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! He just asked YOU out! It’s not a date…it’s just co-workers getting dinner, that’s it. Casual. Cool. Nothing to freak out about…SAY YES!

“You know what? That sounds great. Yes, yea, let’s get dinner, Dave.”

She thought she might die. Dinner with Dave. Dave dinner. Dinner dinner dinner…with Dave.

“Um…where were you thinking? Hopefully not the Ritz…” She laughed too hard. And snorted.

He chuckled at her attempt at jesting.

“Perhaps one day, when I’m not weighed down by the burdens of my present situation… we’d go to the Ritz,” he replied, speaking plain truth cloaked in disguise. “But for today, I was thinking about this new pizza place, opened only a few blocks away. Do you like pizza, Gemma?”

He let his voice drop lower, making it sound as though he was asking about some dark secret, not pizza.

“I looove…pizza…” she said, finding herself lost in his eyes and realizing far too late that she wasn’t talking about pizza either.

She couldn’t move or talk or think or do anything except watch him…now that he was so close to her…

Oh. My. God. He IS flirting with me!!!

She swallowed hard, feeling her palms getting sweaty. She played with the hem of her shirt and fidgeted just a little bit, really unsure about what to do now…

“Then let’s go,” he said, offering her his hand.

In the back of his mind, he scolded himself for leading the poor girl on. He was, after all, a temporary presence in her life. He shouldn’t be making any personal connections on his missions.

He had been so strict about following that rule till date. He shouldn’t falter now.

Well, it’d just be this one-off dinner. Nothing else.

Soon, he’d expose the company he was employed in for its true crimes, and then he’d be on his way… soon to be put on another mission.

Gemma would just be a distant memory. And hopefully for Gemma, he’d be the memory of a pleasant distraction.

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[NEXT CHAPTER]

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