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annachum · 5 months

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Through the Shards of Time ( a Loki x Sigyn fanfic )

* This is co written by me and a good friend of mine on Instagram - Hannah LaTray. Enjoy 😊😊😊 *

She hated the color orange now.

But how?

She, orchestrater of light, detested the beautiful autumn hue of whirling leaves and round citrus, and dumpy pumpkins? How could she decide to show contempt toward one of the warmest colors of nature? The strong hue of a sunset?

Because it was the stiff orange she hated. The artificial glow of old, 80s lamps or a traffic cone or...

The dull, soulless orange of the prison cells of the TVA. The smell of old, dusty computers mingled with a strange, metallic undertone. She couldn't describe it. (Midgard mechanics were of no significance in Asgard, and she wasn't too interested in the darkness of the forges to linger long amidst the pouring liquid steel.)

And after however long cuffed in an orange prison box, devoid of any life beyond her own, her spirit withdrew.

Marks that should have faded over time blazed against her skin. There was no time in the TVA. No one aged. No wounds healed. She might have been in there for years, decades, but how would anyone tell?

Now she told herself, no more orange. Not for a long time. They say Time heals all wounds, but she wasn't sure it would. Not when Time gave her this pain to bear.

With every step her foot took, a ribbon of colors whirled to catch her shoes. She walked up and up around the ruins of the palace on a bridge of glowing particles. Bricks fell as vines wove through shattered stained glass windows. Where once the most selfish, conceited being to ever existed was now crumbling away.

They really ought to start putting this place back together. Especially if they were about to be... well, not so alone in a few months.

Thankfully, she was passed the worst months of morning sickness. And now, deep within, she could feel the two of they starting to kick and roll.

She put her hand to her stomach as she ascended higher. One of them was really excited today.

She closed her eyes and smiled as a rudh of wind blew through her acorn colored locks. How wonderful to feel the air again.

Here at the end of time, the world was nothing like Asgard. Of course, Loki said it was quite different after he took the throne. He mentioned all that stayed the same was the gaudy castle, and the wall of roiling smoke.

"Unfortunately, I am not sure how to rid us of that," he mused as it thundered moodily outside the fallen study wall.

It only snarled when Renslayer got too close.

As she was today, it seemed.

"Deviants! Strayers from the Sacred Timeline! You will not destroy his work! Your impure, chaotic magic shall not taint our victory!"

Everyone had that odd neighbor.

Sigyn paused in her ascent. The winds whipped her braids about as the sparkles of the Aurora borealis held her miles above the ground.

"Midgardian warrior, your hands cannot subdue the growing branches. No science could bind their vines. How would you rule? What magic lights your soul to hold such power?"

Renslayer went silent.

Then, rather icily, she shouted, "Magic is as corrupted as your meddling with the chosen path. He rid us of your trickery in the TVA."

"Your lord built a cage, to stop our gifts. Outside his bars, even here, he could not take away what was ours to weild."

"He should have!" Renslayer said. It was a flat retort, and for a while, their furious neighbor was silent.

Perhaps Loki would do her a favor to send her somewhere else where she could live out her bitter life in peace. It must irk her to have to deal with so many rogue Lokis wandering in the void. Granted, wih the new Keeper of Time, the land was no longer barren.

Now, everywhere, the end of time bloomed.

Thick bushels of grass rolled together with moss.

Water bounced through rocks and wound between the twisting boughs breaking through the mud.

Even the sky, once a thick smog of gloom was changed. It was as though all the rays of the sun must break through a thick sheild of leaves before it streamed to the world below. Everything was washed in a glow of rich green.

Loki decided he might actually, as inconceivable as it sounded, hate the color orange now. Such a gawdy, eye grabbing corperate color. It wanted so much to be gold. But instead, it was more like gold with a terrible burn.

It was so irritating for the eye. A wonder at all why Kang would choose the color for his oddball band of pencil pushers from across time and space. It was bound to aggravate them in opposition to relaxing their minds. And here Kang would sit in a much more calming palace of purple starlight. He really had been a tyrant.

But now, the purple was washed away under the flourishing greens and golds. If only Thor could see him now. A higher ruler than either of them could dream. And there went Thor, still shirking his kingly responsibilities in a little hut, playing 'dad'. Well, Thor was always a bit daft. Affectionate, energetic and loyal, but still daft.

Loki opened his eyes.

Thor.

Thor thought he was dead. He really ought to let him know, somehow, that he was alive. He wasn't sure what to say to him, though.

"Hello, brother. Sorry to give you a scare, but I'm quite well and very much alive. And, you won't believe this, but I rule EVERYTHING."

What would Thor say to that?

Honestly, Loki had died in Thor's mind so many times, it might just be a funny surprise. But then again, technically, he wasn't the one his brother held in his arms as his vision went gray with death. So would it be best to let his brother live his own life?

Loki walked across the chamber to a row of mirrors. He drew his hand across the glass of one lined with silver and gold.

The colors rippled away to reveal a room where Thor hunkered down over a table. His great arms were bent around him as with deep precision, he squeezed a tube of frosting over the gingerbread cookie, lacking its lower leg.

His hand wobbled. The gingerbread man's mouth became less of a smile; instead akin to seeing an old acquaintance you really did not want to talk to.

Thor sighed. "I'm afraid my skills are not as well versed in the arts of confectionery decorating."

A young girl entered the kitchen. Humanoid, but not of Midgard, so not from that Meteorologist Dr. Foster. But her hair was braided in Asgardian style, which would mean Thor did it himself.

Loki smiled.

"Oh, sure you can," she said, "You told me you used to paint the walls with the vengeful blood of the dark elves all the time."

Thor shuffled. "Well, yes, of course. But that type of artwork is quite different this."

"You just need bigger cookies," she said, practical as always.

Thor rose in his seat. He clapped a huge hand to her tiny shoulder.

"I will never turn down Bigger Cookies." And he wrestled her into a bear hug as she laughed.

Loki slid his fingers over the cool glass once more to close the window into his brother's life.

So ironic to think, these two princes of celestial power, orphaned, kingdoms destroyed, split apart by time, and yet still, peicing the shattered glass of their lives together. Thor, a father? Perhaps a husband soon, judging from the glances he and Sif exchanged. And here he was himself. He'd lost everything, but yet now had all he'd ever wanted. A purpose, a kingdom, and... the love of his life climbing up the stairs toting the bagful of food from her trip to New Asgard.

What was she thinking? She could fall to her death from such a height!

He hurried from the mirrors to her side. "Sigyn! Love, allow me to help you with--"

She gasped as she finally reach the top. She smiled, clearly not fine as she said, "Loki, dear, I'm fine! There were more stairs than this to the river tower back home!"

He hoisted the bags from her. "You can't have walked all that way. You do know you can ask me anytime to open a doorway for you."

She patted his cheek. "I did, you old fool. You didn't answer."

Loki spun around. Indeed, his mirror specifically linked to Sigyn danced with the fragments of light to signify her request for a portal.

"That can't be right," Loki rushed to the mirror. "I'd never miss your request. When did you ask?"

"I'm here now, so I don't see how it would make much of a difference. Unless," she smiled demurely, "of course, there's a chance you happen to know a magical trickster who controls the flow of time itself who could go back and offer a lady a hand."

"That's just it! I should know if anything is wrong!

"Don't tear yourself apart. This is a new world for us. You hold every reality in this palace.

One singular soul could slip past your notice."

"But I shouldn't!" He whirled. "You, most of all!"

The ice in his eyes turned sharply to green. She was alarmed for a moment; it took a great deal to get him to start shouting. But she knew the anger was not directed at her. She looked him directly in the eye.

"Now, please. You're not the one meant to deal with temperamental instability at this time."

He stared at her. "What?" Then, he closed his eyes. "Oh. Of course."

"It is a lot of power for one man to hold alone," Sigyn assured him.

He sighed. "Any weight of power is too much for a man," he returned, coolly. Then, he added, "But, I am no mere man."

She was surprised he would admit to such a blanket statement of the burden of his new position, but seeing he accepted her suggestion with no further batting her worries away meant the sudden promotion was no

the root of his outburst. She knew him well enough after centuries growing up together.

She ran back through the moment in her mind, and reached the answer.

"You aren't going to lose me," she said softly.

He stood straight. He lifted his head. His smile was airily dismissive. "Of course I won't. How could I ever let you slip away? I'd know the second something was wrong."

"Then why don't you trust yourself?" She asked.

"I do," he said too quickly.

She folded her arms. She tipped her head to one side. "The hunters won't search for us anymore. There is no one out there who would know who I am. And no one in the Nine Realms knows you're here, or even alive. I can fend off a midgardian. I'll restrict my visits to there if I must go out, until you're sure there's a way to safely leave with me."

He scoffed. "Nothing is going to harm you." He looked down toward her middle, and

added, with notable definity. "Any of you."

"I trust you to keep us safe," she said. "I know, no one should have to stand by and see their homes destroyed. The weight upon the soul to see your people killed, one by one, is a grief no heart was meant to carry."

She put her arms around his shoulders.

His muscles were tensed under her touch. He turned his eyes to the side. "... I've already watched you die once before. And, I assume, you saw the same of me. The only family I have left is my brother. It doesn't seem my fate deals kindly with those I love, dear Sigyn. I fear all too soon, you might rise to join the ones who are gone."

"Wouldn't be much trouble for you if you can pull me back."

His hands held her upper arms. "That does not matter. I cannot bear to watch it happen again."

She nodded. "I know. Even if I knew I had the power to bring you back, it wouldn't change

what I knew you would go through."

Loki lifted a hand. Carefully, he curved his fingers to catch the side of her hair. He lifted the locks up and around the points of her ear.

"I wish you didn't have to hide them," he sighed. "They're quite becoming for your face."

She smiled. "You don't don't have to hide yourself either, if you like."

He knew he could, but after all this time, he found it harder to slip back into the form of his bloodline. He thought it would become easier after Odin faded away, but it changed nothing. His mind must have settled on this. Not a small frost giant prince, but not quite Asgardian. Something strange and odd in between.

He looked upon his fingers. "Do you find it strange, hands that only could bring death and ice, somehow had the magic to bring this to life?"

She looked up to the great boughs of branches rising around them.

"It doesn't surprise me at all. Your color has always been green."

She reached out her finger to touch one of the vines. From the weaving emerald spirals within, the magic shifted. And then, over the pathway, a flourish of blossoms moved over the vine, before vanishing again.

In that timeline, there was suddenly a strange rush of hope from the people moving about their lives. A sudden burst of light in their hearts, from the richest emperor to a mother with her child on the side of an alleyway waiting out the rain.

Loki took her hand in his. They walked to the shattered window. Renslayer remained silently sulking, so there wasn't much to disturb the sanctuary under the cheery rustle of leaves. Even if there wasn't much sky to speak of, the way the colors changed from peridot to a more peacock hue, they could tell that night was approaching. Dots like fireflies flitted through the vines, as if to compensate

for the lack of stars.

"Do you miss the sunset?" Loki asked.

"Not at the moment," Sigyn shook her head. "I can do with... less orange in my world for the time."

Loki glanced at her. He smiled. "So could I, my love."

#loki x sigyn #logyn mcu #justice for sigyn #this is set sometime after loki series #mcu fic

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cleo-fox · 2 months

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Daylight

Summary: Despite your best efforts, Sunday morning doesn’t go as planned…and you couldn’t be happier about it.

Pairings: Loki x Female Reader

Warnings: Smut, 18+, Minors DNI, shower sex, fingering, vaginal sex, soft sex, sex that causes you to be several hours late for work, Loki being a (respectful) horn dog.

Series: Overtime (I don't have a masterlist for this yet, but the first fic is here). A/N: This started out as a scene in Overtime that kind of took on a life of its own. You don't necessarily need to read Overtime in order to enjoy or understand this fic, but you'll have more context if you do. Anyway, it was fun revisiting these two idiots--I've got a few more ideas for them up my sleeve, so there will be more in this series at some point.

The sunlight wakes you the next morning.

It’s the same sunlight as always, but it looks different coming through Loki’s window and streaming across his bed. It looks better, you think, splashed across his sheets.

Or maybe it’s the addition of your hand clasped with his resting on those same sheets. Or perhaps it’s the sight of your clothes and his, discarded on the bedroom floor in a pool of sunlight, combined with the fact that you’re still wrapped in his arms. Maybe all of that is why it seems better.

That seems more likely.

You lie still for a moment, simply enjoying the feeling of his arms and the heat of his skin against your bare back. You are reasonably certain he’s asleep from the steady rhythm of his breath on your neck, but you’re not about to disturb the sleepy calm of the morning to confirm that.

The clock on his bedside table says it’s just after six. Before last night, you would have said that this was a reasonable time to get up—early enough to ensure that you’re in the office by eight, which would hopefully give you enough time to meet this evening’s deadline, but not so early that it makes you question your life and your choices.

But that was before. Now…well. You suddenly find that your priorities look very different from the comfort of Loki’s bed.

You decide that you didn’t really see the clock. Neither one of you thought to set an alarm last night. Sleeping in was inevitable. That’s not your fault. No harm, no foul.

You close your eyes and allow yourself to fall into a light doze, warmed by the sunlight and Loki’s embrace.

Sometime later, you’re woken by the soft brush of a kiss against your neck.

“Did you sleep well?” he murmurs against your neck.

“Yes, though I did have a bit of a late night,” you say. “Someone kept me up.”

“Really? That was rude of him.”

“Very.”

He’s noticeably—achingly—hard. His lips brush against your neck again. “Perhaps he might make it up to you?”

Your intention is to open your eyes, roll over, and allow yourself to be ravished. But in a development you can only describe as tragic, you happen to catch sight of the clock on his nightstand.

7:38 am.

“Shit,” you say. “It’s almost eight.”

Loki is predictably unconcerned about this. “We don’t have any official hours to keep,” he says, his hand skimming along your ribs and down the curve of your waist. “We have all day.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got a ton more to do,” you say, trying to ignore how good he is at kissing your neck or how his hand is drifting down your hip toward the aching pulse between your legs. “We really need every minute.”

“That is true,” he says solemnly. “Perhaps we ought shower together to save time.”

You can’t help but smile. “I kind of feel like you have another agenda.”

“I’d never,” he says.

“The raging hard on pressing against my ass would suggest otherwise.”

You can almost hear him smirk as he gives his hips a teasing little thrust against you. “I contain multitudes.”

You wiggle out of his embrace and slip out of bed. You intend to look back and give him a coquettish look and say something sharp and teasing, but instead, the sight of him takes your breath away. He leans back on his elbows, looking everything like the sort of lounging god you would see depicted in marble at the Parthenon, all chiseled, sharp muscles and clean lines. His cock stands fully erect and deliciously thick, flushed with wanting.

“I can’t help but notice that you didn’t reject the offer,” he says, seemingly fully aware of the path of your gaze. His hand drops to his cock and he strokes himself casually, which very nearly sends your sprinting back to bed.

“You’re right,” you say, trying to keep your cool as you throw him your most beguiling look. “So you should probably hurry up.”

You turn and start walking toward the master bathroom. You don’t need to look over your shoulder to know he’s following you, his gaze hungrily devouring every inch of skin, eyes dark with purpose.

You walk into the master bathroom and are immediately confronted by several flagrant violations of the residential handbook. The TVA is many things, but it is not the sort of place that deviates from set floor plans, nor is it the sort of place that deviates from those plans to install a rainfall shower and soaking tub—in marble, no less.

You think of the stark, vaguely institutional aesthetic in your own master bath and you can’t decide if you’re annoyed at his rule breaking or jealous that he could get away with it.

“I’m not even going to ask if you got approval for this setup because I know you didn’t,” you say as you reach in to the shower to turn on the tap.

“Do you think of anything other than that cursed personnel manual?” he asks as he comes up behind you, his arms snaking around your waist and his lips again finding your neck as he draws you to him.

“First of all, it’s not the personnel manual, it’s the residential handbook, which you specifically agreed to abide by when you signed off on your lease.”

He turns you around so you face him and draws you close, a wicked gleam in his eye, “Oh, I’m going to make you forget all about those ridiculous rules.”

“That’s a pretty tall order—oh.”

His hand is slipping between your legs, stroking your already slick folds.

“I think I’m quite capable of inspiring other passions,” he says, rolling his fingers in a broad circle over the hood of your clit

You loop your arms around his shoulders. You can already feel your knees starting to tremble, but you know he won’t let you fall.

“Bold claim,” you say, “I’m going to need more evidence.”

“Oh, you’re going to get a lot of evidence,” he says softly. He curls a finger inside of you, pressing his thumb against the hood of your clit. “You will have no doubts by the time I’m done presenting my argument. You will be weak-kneed with evidence.”

You shudder as he rocks his hand slowly. He’s touching you enough to stoke the flames of desire, making your hips rock helplessly toward his hand as you try to create that extra friction and pressure that you know will send you flying over the edge. But Loki is meticulous—perhaps even ruthless—about not giving in.

“Not yet,” he murmurs softly when your latest attempt is thwarted. “Slowly.”

Your pleas become louder and more frequent, but his answer remains the same: slowly. You whimper and beg, but he is resolute.

Steam has fogged up the mirrors and is curling around you when your orgasm finally begins to crest. You suddenly find yourself grateful for his pacing as the intensity builds to a level that makes your knees shake.

“That’s it,” he breathes as you tremble in his arms. “You can come for me now, lovely.”

Like magic, the coil inside you snaps at his command and you cry out as your cunt shudders around his slowly thrusting fingers. Your arms looped around his shoulders are the only thing keeping you standing.

“Beautiful,” he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss against your temple as you sag against him. “Beautiful.”

He gives you a moment to get your bearings before leading you into the shower. He sits down on the marble bench, spreading his thighs wide and pulling you into his lap so you straddle his hips. The spray of the water hits your back as he kisses you again, slow and hungry.

You love everything about this. The heat of the water on your back. The closeness. The way his thighs are spread wide. How his cock presses against your bare cunt. The noise he makes low in his throat when you start rubbing yourself against him.

“Need you,” he mumbles against your neck. His hands squeeze your hips and you reach between the two of you to line his cock up at your entrance.

It occurs to you that you could take the opportunity to tease him, to make him beg for you, but pretending that you have any control over your aching need for him is several degrees beyond impossible. So instead, you slowly ease yourself down onto his cock while he groans against your neck, dragging his lips down to the curve of your shoulder.

The feeling of him inside you is still so new that it feels just a little unreal. After all that wanting and yearning and thinking that he was too handsome, too divine, too out of reach to have, he’s suddenly yours and it’s absolutely dizzying.

You pause for a moment, eyes closed, savoring the feeling of unyielding fullness, of connection. Of him.

“All right?” he asks softly.

You open your eyes and his look of sweet concern makes your heart swell. “Yeah,” you say, a lazy, satisfied smile tugging at your lips. “I just—I needed a moment. You feel—” You pause for a moment, searching for the right words, sifting through the effusive and flowery and the things that are true but too early to say. “You just feel really good,” you say.

It sounds wildly inadequate, but he seems to understand, to hear all of the unsaid parts that you’re keeping close to your heart. He could turn away, say it’s too much too soon, that you haven’t even said what you are yet, much less committed to anything serious, but he doesn’t. Instead, he leans forward, drawing you into a slow kiss, his hands framing your face, tracing the curve of your cheek and jaw with the kind of reverence that makes you want to say everything you feel.

“You’re perfect.” He says it in between breaths, with such a disarming sincerity that you can’t bring yourself to try and deflect, to name a flaw or even make a joke.

Later, he will tell you that he was struggling with a similar battle, trying to reconcile how new this was with the depth of feeling that was already blossoming in his chest. He will tell you later that he couldn’t believe you were his, just as you couldn’t believe he was yours, that there was something about you that felt right in a way that made him feel like he knew even then.

But right now, he simply kisses you with a fervor that makes your toes curl and your hips start to move.

It’s only the second time that you’ve done this, but there’s a strange blend of both the new and the familiar. The shape and feel of his body pressed against yours is new, but the way that he moves, the way that he touches you is as though he’s loved you for centuries.

The rhythm you fall into is slow, despite the excuse that this shower was to save time. His hand slides down your stomach, his fingers finding your clit to add another layer of bliss to the feeling of his cock inside you. Despite your slow pace, your ascent rushes in fast and brilliant as a comet blazing through the night sky. Your back arches, almost as though you’re presenting yourself as an offering to him as you come undone in his arms. Loki watches you with a kind of breathless wonder, brow furrowing in pleasure, his lower lip caught between his teeth at the tight clench of your cunt around his cock.

Your legs are rubbery with pleasure, but you keep going because you need his release as much as your own. You need to feel him empty himself inside of you, to hear the low groan he makes as he unravels, to see the way his eyes flutter shut. You want crescent moon marks on your hips from where his hands gripped you too tightly in that final ascent, physical proof that you can make not just a god forget himself, but Loki specifically. Loki with all his masks and tricks and artful poise; Loki laid bare below you, free from all artifice and glibness, raw and real and just as he is. All the parts of him that make you think that down this path lies something wonderful (not that you’re ready to call it love. Yet).

But Loki is nothing if not predictably unpredictable and he seems determined to make you work before granting you that little glimpse at the heaven that is the god of mischief coming undone beneath you.

“Let me feel you come again,” he murmurs as soon as you catch your breath.

“Is once not enough?” you say, trying and failing to sound cool and calm, like you’re not completely wrecked for him.

“Hardly.” His eyes flash in a way that makes you shiver as he urges your hips into a faster rhythm. “I am not so easily satisfied when my need has been so great.”

You can feel the coil in your hips beginning to tighten again.

“I’ve burned for you for years, my love,” he says, his voice going a little shaky. “Would you deny water to a man dying of thirst?”

You shake your head, your words lost to the oncoming wave of your undoing.

“Then do not deny me your pleasure, I am desperate for you.” He’s panting, barely holding on to his composure. “Now come for me again, let me feel you.”

You are so far gone that it only takes a few more strokes to make you come undone and the first shudder of your climax takes Loki with you.

You savor his pleasure more than your own release, memorizing the sound he makes, the way his lips form a silent plea in the shape of your name until he slides a hand up your neck and pulls you down to kiss him.

His kiss is fierce and hungry at first, but it ebbs to something slower and sweeter as he empties himself into you. He sighs as you tangle your fingers in the wet tendrils of his hair.

It’s a long moment later when you finally break the kiss, resting your forehead against his.

“I don’t think we saved any time,” you say.

He doesn’t even open his eyes. “I cannot overemphasize how much I do not care about being late in these circumstances.”

You grin. “Not even a little?”

He kisses you sweetly on the mouth before opening his eyes, his lips curling into a slow and satisfied smile. “I would be late every day for the rest of my life for just a few seconds of that.”

His words spark something warm in your chest and you try to hide it with a wry look. “I’m not sure that you’re getting the better end of the deal.”

He kisses you softly. “You don’t know how good you feel.”

“You’re one to talk,” you murmur against his lips and he smiles as he deepens the kiss.

The warmth of his body pressed against yours and the feeling of him smiling as he kisses you is a kind of luxury you’ve never imagined. It takes you a while to untangle yourselves, but you can’t find it in yourself to move any faster.

The actual showering part of your shower is slow and unhurried and you find that Loki’s hands are equally gifted at these mundane tasks. His fingers have a knack for finding every stubborn knot in your neck and shoulders, which he explores leisurely under the pretext of washing your back. The press of his fingers unwinds the tension in your shoulders, loosening up muscles that have been too tense for too long.

“You are way too good at this,” you say.

“Just one of my many talents,” he says, dropping a kiss on your shoulder. “Though perhaps I ought to stop—I wouldn’t want to make you late.”

“I’m so relaxed I’m going to ignore that little bit of sass.”

He chuckles against your shoulder. “You’ll forgive me.”

“We’ll see.”

The sweet, almost chaste kisses he’s been pressing against your neck and shoulders are gradually growing slower, more insistent. When you feel the tip of his tongue draw a quick, teasing line on your neck, you know that you might be in trouble.

His hands slide to your waist, drawing you close enough that you can feel that he’s hard again.

“I’m sensing some ulterior motives,” you say.

“A bold accusation,” he mumbles against your neck, pressing himself more firmly against you.

“We can’t have sex again,” you laugh.

“Mmm, we could,” he says in between kisses. “There’s nothing stopping us from having sex again.”

“We are already running late—”

“I thought I was very clear about my feelings on timeliness in these circumstances.” He nips at your earlobe and you shiver. “And would you really deprive me of the utter bliss of coming undone inside you?”

“It’s more like rescheduling than depriving you of anything.”

“I’ve waited so long, darling.”

“We just had sex like…less than an hour ago,” you say through a laugh.

“Ah, but the days before that were so terribly long,” he says.

You turn to face him, thinking this will make things easier for you. This turns out to be a grave miscalculation because now you have to contend with the fire in his eyes and the twin flame that it summons low in your hips.

Fuck.

You are definitely going to have sex again.

His eyes glitter like he knows and he slowly walks you backwards until you’re pressed between him and the shower wall.

“You are absolutely incorrigible,” you say as he peppers your neck with slow, decadent kisses. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

“Funnily enough, I don’t think you’ll be complaining about my mouth in about thirty seconds.”

And with a wicked and hungry grin, he slowly sinks to his knees.

It’s 10:48am when you finally walk into the office.

Even though you are now several hours later than you intended and the stack of files is no less imposing, you feel nothing but a pleasant glow of happiness as you take your seat. Loki sits down in the chair next to you and this time, he sneaks his foot underneath your desk and hooks his ankle under yours.

He catches your eye and smiles. “I can be a little more obvious now.”

You put on your most exaggerated expression of mock seriousness. “Only a little. This is a workplace, after all.”

He adopts a similar expression and nods. “Of course. I imagine there will be paperwork as well.”

“There actually is a form we’ll need to file with HR,” you say.

Loki frowns. “Wait, you’re not being serious about that, are you?”

“Yep. We’ll need to file it by next Friday.”

He sighs and throws his hands up in the air. “Is there anything that this place hasn’t managed to weigh down with the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy?”

“I see we’re in a good mood this morning.” Mobius has arrived, cup of coffee in hand. He nods at Loki and looks at you. “How long has he been raging against the machine?”

“Not terribly long,” you say as Loki rolls his eyes.

“It’s not raging against anything,” he says. “I just fail to see the point of some of this organization’s operational practices.”

Mobius raises an eyebrow at you. “You told him he has to fill out a form, huh?”

“Got it in one,” you say as Loki scowls.

Mobius chuckles and takes a sip of coffee. “You should hear him during performance evaluation season. I get entire monologues. It’s like Hamlet meets HR.”

Loki’s scowl deepens and you have to bite the inside of your cheek in order not to laugh.

“It looks like you made good progress, though,” says Mobius, looking at your completed stacks of files. “I took a look at what you pulled earlier this morning and there’s some good stuff.”

“Oh, good,” you say, hoping he doesn’t think much of the fact that neither one of you was in the office earlier this morning. “What time do you think you’ll need the rest done?”

“Right, about that,” says Mobius. You steel yourself for bad news. “I took a look at what you pulled so far and I think I’ve got what I need.”

You blink at him. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, you’re off the hook,” he says. “Go enjoy the rest of your weekend.”

You look at Loki, who looks just as pleasantly surprised as you feel.

“In fact, you can take the rest of the week off,” says Mobius. “Triple overtime, right? You earned the time.”

“This feels like a trick,” says Loki. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” says Mobius. “You did good work.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “However—”

“And there’s the catch,” says Loki.

“There’s no catch,” says Mobius. He gestures at you with his coffee cup. “I’m just going to need you both to turn in the relevant paperwork to HR by next Friday.”

Loki sighs, though you can tell he’s fighting a smile. “There’s absolutely no privacy here.”

Mobius raises his eyebrows. “You’re playing footsie under the desk. It’s not exactly rocket science.”

You look at Loki and shrug. “He’s got a point.”

“You’re taking his side?”

You roll your eyes and stand up. “Well, you can sulk about it if you’d like, but I’m going to go enjoy the rest of my weekend.” You share a sly, secret smile with Mobius. “I’ll see you next week, Mobius.”

It takes Loki approximately twenty seconds to catch up with you.

“And you say I’m incorrigible,” he says as he falls into step beside you.

You smile at him. “I think you’ll get over it.”

“I’ll consider it.” He catches your band, fingers twining with yours. “What are your plans for the rest of the week?”

“Hadn’t decided,” you say, biting back a smile. “Did you have any suggestions?”

“Well, I’d like to start by going back to bed.”

“To sleep?” you tease.

“Eventually.” He licks his lips. “And since our respective schedules have been cleared for the week, we’ll be able to take our time.”

The hunger in his eyes is still so new and intoxicating that you can’t help the shiver that works its way up your spine.

You give him a slow smile. “Lead the way.”

#loki smut #loki x reader smut #loki x reader #loki laufeyson smut #loki x female reader #loki x female reader smut #loki laufeyson #loki fanfiction #loki fanfic #tva loki x reader #overtime series

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lokisprettygirl · 1 year

Text

Under his influence (Post Avengers! Loki x female reader)

Read chapter 1 here // Series Masterlist

Chapter 2

Summary : The friendship between you and Loki grows as you both learn more about each other.

Warning: Soft loki alert again, Y/n is the type of y/n that says you know after every sentence..you know?, Mention of trauma and torture, drinking, cuddle bug do do do do, 4.5 k words approx

Loki took a deep breath as soon as he got inside the bathroom. Heavens Goodness this woman was choosing to trust him for some reason and he didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize her faith in him. He looked at himself in the mirror and out of nowhere it suddenly hit him that you were the only person who had trusted him in a very long time. Nobody trusted him. He was a trickster, a liar and now he was a mass murderer.

He clicked his fingers and the armor disappeared from his body, there were millions of bruises on every inch of his skin. That Hulk smash was brutal. He got under the shower and turned it to the coldest setting, as soon as the cold water hit his skin he was finally able to relax.

You kept hearing the knock on the door and you had a strong feeling who it could be. Mrs. Geller ofcourse

"Helloooo Mrs Geller" you gave her a fake cheery smile and you could tell she was trying to peek into your apartment.

"I thought I heard ya screaming" you gulped as she said that.

"I didn't scream..ohhh i actually did ..it was a rat..I saw a rat" you blabbed nervously.

"In your apartment?" She was disgusted by the notion.

"Yeah he was huge..bigggg bigg rat"

"Umm I hear the shower running" she said and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes. Sometimes you wanted to snap at her. Badly.

"Oh I was going to take a shower but then I heard you knocking soo"

"You know if there's a man in there you can tell me, i would be happy for you.. finally right?" You chuckled as she said that.

"There's no man i promise, you can come check if you don't believe me" you told her so she shook her head.

"Was only making sure you were safe dear"

"I know..I'm grateful.. thank you" you smiled and hugged her. She was just looking out for you but it felt like having a photocopy of your own mom, you didn't need another mom in life.

"I'll set a trap at my place..you do that too" she told you so you smiled.

"I will. Thank youuuu" As she went back to her apartment you took a deep breath. Okay there was still time, you could just call the Avengers and get yourself out of this situation before it would get even messier, you didn't even know this guy. What if he was just playing with you, they didn't call him the god of tricks for shits and giggles. Right?

"Y/n" you heard your name being called so you stepped closer to the bathroom door, he was peeking at you with his head out, his naked body remained hidden behind the door. He gave you a smile and that smile was going to be the death of you. Maybe you can get to know this man, he had given you no reason to not trust him until now. Besides you had the helpline number.

"Can I please get something to dry myself with?" He asked you so you walked towards the closet and came back to him with a towel. He had clothes in his vault but he needed an excuse to talk to you. Once he came out your eyes widened for two very different reasons, first of all those deep purple bruises on his body terrified you, he must had been in alot of pain and second of all you weren't expecting to see such a chiseled lean body hiding behind all that leather and metal.

"Ummm you could have just stayed in you know..you're barely clothed" you said to him so he gave his typical teethy smile again. For a terrorist, he did smile alot.

"Oh is this a nuisance?"

"You being half naked- dripping water everywhere in my living room? No it's not a nuisance at all" you answered sarcastically.

"Well nudity is a man-made construct..in Asgard--" He noticed the deathly glares so he decided to eat the rest of his words, you passed him an another towel and he used it to dry his hair.

His hair didn't look like a tree anymore, it looked soft and smooth and–

"Earth to Madame" you snapped out of your thoughts as he clicked his fingers. Should he tell you that he had clothes of his own? Probably not. "Do you have something for me to wear?"

You stomped on your feet and looked around your closet, there was a pair of black sweatpants and the matching t-shirt you had stolen from one of your boyfriends so you passed it to him, you turned around again as he dropped the towel from his waist to change.

"Thank you lady y/n" he mumbled after he was dressed. That shirt looked indecent on him, you were able to define every muscle underneath that tight constricted fabric.

"I'm going to shower too ..no funny stuff alright?" You warned him but he only got confused, his brows furrowed again, that gesture always made him look so innocent like an infant, a baby animal, a toddler.

He sat down on that ugly sofa and then he heard you yelling at him again which made him squeeze his eyes. The water must have been too cold for you, he'd have to keep that in mind, you were allowing him to stay here so graciously, he didn't want to ruin it. As you came out you asked him to stay right where he was, you wanted to put a bra under your clothes. He might have been a terrorist trickster god but he was still a man.

Grabbing the first aid box you made your way to the sofa and sat down next to him, he looked at your attire and it made him smile, you were matching with his attire from head to toe

"Ummm your cuts..will get infected..did they not patch you up?"

"Oh yes, they definitely patched me up before they arranged a feast to celebrate my presence here" you squinted your eyes in order to avoid an insulting retort. You poured the rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab then passed it to him. Should he tell you that he'd probably be alright by tomorrow?

"What shall I do about this ?" He asked you so you huffed before you snatched it away from him and rubbed it right on the long slit over his nose. He winced so you dabbed it in a gentle manner.

"Do you guys not have doctors or medicines on your alien planet?" He chuckled as you questioned him. Adorable. He found you adorable.

"Oh we do have our mighty healers over there. But it is all purely natural"

"Like ayurveda?"

"I suppose so"

"So what is your plan here? What are you trying to do" you asked him

"You want me to be entirely truthful?"

"There shouldn't be an alternative"

"I just want to loosen myself for a moment if you'd allow me to. It's been a while since I have had the pleasure of doing absolutely nothing"

"Awnnnn it must be a tough job terrorising other planets I am assuming" you pouted at the end of your sentence but he looked down in shame and it made you purse your lips together.

"I'm sorry..I am sorry I don't mean to be so snarky all the time"

"It's alright. I deserve that" his eyes teared up and then you felt even worse.

"Maybe you don't.. I..I don't know you or what happened with you and I shouldn't be judging you like this..so I just..it's just weird for me and I'm usually not this snappy. It's just ..things like this don't happen to me, it happens to other people you know? You know what I mean?" He shook his head as you said that. You suddenly leaned into him and his heart skipped a beat "What is that smell? My body wash doesn't smell like that?" You asked him and he gulped.

"Uhhh it's a scent"

"Like a perfume?"

"Yes"

"Huhh where did you get it from?" You asked him as you crossed your arms.

"My vault "

"Your what?"

"Vault..It's similar to that of a closet like the one you have..there"

"Uhhhuhh I hear you..And where exactly is this vault of yours?"

"In the outer space somewhere" your eyes widened as he said that but you didn't want to snap at him again, especially after you noticed the way he had flinched the last time. Was he used to being yelled at a lot?

"It smells expensive" he smiled as you said that. You saw the green shimmer you had seen before whenever he did magicky stuff, he waved his hand and there it was in his hand. A delicate looking bottle with the most intricate designs you had ever seen in your life.

"You can have it"

"Oh no nooo..I can't"

"I have plenty more where that came from, please have it for me. Just a small token of appreciation for the kindness that you have bestowed –"

"Okay I'll take it" you smiled and it made him smile too.

The door buzzed so you got up. It must be the pizza guy. You gave him a piece too but he didn't really like pizza, and found it too greasy.

After dinner you looked at him curiously. Where was he going to sleep? The couch was too small for him and-- there was only one bed.

Cliche. Cliche.

"So we sleep now?" He asked you

"Yeah, where are you planning to sleep?"

He looked at your bed and you shook your head immediately,

"Is this bedding pleasant enough for you? It looks small" he walked closer to the bed to inspect it as if he was the king of beds or something.

"It's all I can afford right now, after a long day I don't really care I just want to sleep..the apartment had all the other stuff but the thing I needed the most..I bought this one..it's my baby" he smiled and sat down on the bed. Your bed.

"Would you mind me asking about your occupation?" He asked you

"Yeah I'm a prostitute" he tilted his head and thought about it, he didn't want to say something offensive.

"Uhhh it serves you well?" You chuckled as he said that. He was adorable, if you hadn't seen his face all over the news you probably wouldn't have believed that this was the same guy who had supposedly terrorized the earth yesterday.

"I'm joking. I work in a gym, it's temporary..I .. have done a lot of things and changed a lot of jobs and anyways I'll sleep on the sofa because that's even tinier than the bed I got here and you won't fit in there because heyy you're taller than some of the buildings in Minnesota" you smiled at him but his eyes teared up instead. Why were you sacrificing your comfort for him? He didn't deserve your kindness.

"I am honored but –" he waved his fingers again and you gasped as you saw a bed a few feet away from your own. It was a lavish queen sized bed taking most of the space in your apartment

"That was in your closet?"

"Vault"

"Cool cool cool ..very well then.. get on your bed"

"No it's for you.. please take that one"

"Oh no no I'm not taking your princely sophisticated bed..noo" you said to him.

"It's for you" you took a few steps back until you hit the side of the bed

"I said no..are you listening to me? It's your bed, you'd fit in there and I want you to…ohh my godddd!!!!" you exclaimed as you sat down on the softest comfiest surface your butt has ever met with. He couldn't help but smile at your reaction

"Okay maybe I'll rest here for a minute..just 60 seconds okay?" you laid down and a small gasp escaped your throat, it was like floating in the heaven itself. This must be the bed they probably provide in heaven for all the heaveners.

"You do that"

"Just a minute"

"Sure" he laid down on your bed and it smelled like you, thoughts of wanting to cuddle with you infiltrated his mind so he smacked himself mentally, he can't possibly think about a woman he just met today in this sort of way. He turned the lights off as he watched you drifting into a deeper sleep and after several months he was finally able to fall asleep with no fear or threat looming over his head.

The next few days were insane, everyone was talking about him everywhere you went to and you were just seething internally everytime someone mentioned that war criminal Avengers were looking for. You hated how people talked about him and made assumptions, you didn't blame them, people got hurt in that attack, you were doing the same thing before you got to know him a little.

You had started to see him differently when he told you about his life in Asgard, he was a prince, a literal prince living under the shadows of his older brother, you have had friends and family members who wanted to upstage you so you understood his plight. When he told you about how he was the son of the monster all the Asgard despised, your heart rendered for him, everything he thought to be true about himself just didn't exist. One day he was the prince of Asgard and then in a moment his whole world was turned upside down.

"I just don't know who I am anymore, where do I even belong?" He mumbled and your eyes teared up, you didn't understand him completely but you understood some of it. You had felt lost most of your life. You placed your hand on his so he looked at you, his eyes were moist too and the sad look on his face always made you want to wrap your arms around him and hug him as tightly as you could.

"Ummm maybe with time everything will fall into the right place" he grabbed your digits in his large hand and then you felt his thumb rubbing against the back of your fingers, and it made your breath hitch in your chest. Everytime he touched you, you just wanted him to keep going but he never crossed that line of decency and you weren't sure if you wanted that either because you were enjoying having a friend who didn't seem completely selfish to his core.

"Time for margaritas" you got up and ruffled his hair with your hands before you moved to the kitchen. He probably wouldn't have allowed anyone to do it to him, nobody gets to touch his hair, but he owed you for literally saving his arse. Also because he enjoyed whenever you touched him like that.

"So do you have a girlfriend or something on your planet?" You asked him sheepishly as you sipped on your drink, it's been more than a week since he basically begged you to stay here and that particular curiosity has been bothering you since.

"A girlfriend?" He giggled

"Yeah like a lady friend, companion, consort sort of thing etc" That's right. You had books, you had Google on your phone.

"I do not have one at the present, ofcourse"

"But you used to?"

"I have been alive for a thousand years darling" your face flushed at the pet name. Damn!! he was a grand grand daddy.

"Yeah but not every person we are attracted to turns into a special person you know?" You asked him and he nodded.

"Well I was betrothed to the princess of Vanaheim, father - Odin wanted the alliance for political and regional purposes, safe to say I crushed all of his ambitions under my boots" he chuckled and you looked at him curiously.

"Arranged marriage? Did you like this Princess? I mean I don't know why you won't..she's a literal Princess but did you like her..like like her?" He kept staring at your face as you blabbed, his mouth curved into a smile and you just wanted to knock it off because it made you feel nervous.

"We met on every auspicious occasions, she was .. beautiful certainly " he let out a nervous laugh "Perhaps our affair would have developed further or not. Will never find out because I was thirsty for blood" he quoted his brother and even though he was smiling you could see the sadness on his features.

"Do you miss her?" You fidgeted with your fingers as you questioned.

"I only wish for her to be well. Enough of me, what about you? Are you of proper age to be wedded?" You burst out laughing as he said that

"Am I of age? I'm gonna be thirty in a week, THIRTY is like sixty for a woman here.. that's what my mom says by the way. Did you know I'm losing my eggs with time and I'll regret being alone if I don't find a guy right this moment and let him breed me so I could raise an insufferable depressed child just like me?" his brows remained furrowed as you finished your sentence.

"But you do not want to marry and have a child?" You sighed as he questioned, this was the part where it got really hard for you to explain what you wanted in life because everything you wanted was taken from you or just not meant for you. You turned your body towards him and he was looking at you with such intensity that you couldn't even maintain a proper eye contact, not for long anyways.

"I want it, I'm not against it but I want it with someone I want it with?" Your eyes teared up, you were slightly tipsy and you had someone listening to what you wanted to say, a man like him wanted to talk to you and all of it was making you emotional. He noticed the change in your mood so he scooted closer to you and placed his hand on yours again

"The first guy I ever remember liking was when I was 20, I was a late bloomer you see" you chuckled and he brought his fingers up to tuck your hair behind the ear, why would he do that? WHY WOULD HE DO THAT? God that tingled.

"What did he do?" He asked softly.

"He didn't do anything, he was just so confusing. I mean why would a guy talk to me everyday and flirt with me all the time if he didn't want to have something? One day he was into me the other day he was too broken from his past relationships, the third day he was again into me and then he'd ghost me point blank for two days and then he'd come back to repeat the cycle for months and I allowed it..it messed me up for a long time because he always made me feel as if I wasn't enough..as if I was doing something wrong and I continued to approach him even though he made it clear that he didn't want anything, because then i wondered if he'd come back in three days and change his tune again" as the tear slipped past your cheek he wiped it with his thumb, you felt his fingers running through your scalp and it calmed you down a little bit it was also making you feel several other things.

"You did nothing wrong my darling. He was a selfish,immature, pompous arse in the dire need of a distraction, i know of their kind very well" Well he grew up with their kind

"He's married now and I didn't even want to marry him because he was the least attractive man there ever could be. I don't even know why I liked him but it still hurts.. seeing people who had hurt you so much be so happy in life…it hurts" as your voice choked he instantly pulled you closer and wrapped his arms around you to hug you.

"Do you want to hear more?" You asked him between your silly cries.

"Yes" he answered instantly.

"The second guy was the guy who actually wanted to date me..I was 23, he was a year younger than me so it definitely was my fault, and it was a long distance relationship "

"Long distance?"

"Yeah like we were geographically apart?"

"So you never met each other?"

"We met twice" you facepalmed as you reeled in your stupidity "Long story short after a few months of the relationship and me not willing to put out for him, as in I didn't send nudes when he asked.."

"Nudes?" God he was so clueless about everything.

"Naked pictures of myself

"Understood"

"All of a sudden he didn't love me anymore you know and guess what? He fell for his best friend who had to be a girl of course.. you know what I ended up becoming? That girl in movies who comes between two obviously in love best friends. I got cheated on, I was led on, I got hurt and abandoned but somehow I was still the villain here..worst part is I liked him so much that even after he broke my heart we stayed friends and he'd ask me for tips so he could impress this best friend turned lover of his"

"And you gave him these tips he asked for?" He scrunched his nose

"Fucking yeahhh..I'm so stupid oh god..he broke up with me over the text, it was two days after he had told me that he loved me and saw a future with me..I'm so stupid"

"You're not stupid darling.. merely gullible"

"That doesn't make me feel any better"

He smiled as you said that but you weren't done talking. You'd talk until you'd drive this one away too. He'd probably get himself arrested after this. "Unfortunately I didn't just stop there ..i continued to befriend and get involved with selfish assholes all my life and now I'm old, I wasted my youth on those jerks and now I'm not as wanted as I was in my early 20s.. worst part is I wasn't even in love with those guys but I still allowed them to waste so much of my time and break me so much that I can't even trust anyone anymore"

"You're so far off the reality little one" he smiled so you glared at him.

"What?"

"You are ethereal, so very youthful as opposed to what you may choose to believe about yourself and you're so…" he gulped as he looked at you intently "Intriguing..any man would be fortunate to have a woman like you, but you do not deserve just any other man..you deserve the noblest of them all.. perhaps the reason you haven't found one yet " you sniffled as he finished his sentence.

"You are sweet"

"So you were not in love with them? Any of them?" He questioned so you shook your head in response. You loved some of them but you weren't in love.

"Noo..never. Maybe my perception of love has been skewed because of those romantic movies but I have never felt that intense type of love in my life..like ever. Never felt the chemistry..that bubbling scorching heat" he gulped as you said that as you got more and more animated with your hand gestures .

"Heattt?"

"Yeahhh you know when you're just so in love with someone that you just want to fuck them so hard, anywhere, everywhere..all the time.. and it doesn't matter how they look.. you just want to go wild on them because you're in loveeee"

"Perhaps you're confusing lust with love?" he blushed as he questioned so you shook your head.

"Noo the lust would mean you want to have raunchy sex with them and then go your separate ways. I don't want just thatttt..no no..i want to be there for this man..not just for the sex but for the bad and tough times..harddd hard times and for those insecure moments" you looked into his eyes and you could see his mouth open and close, because he had nothing to say. He was charmed.

"I want to treat him like he's the best thing to ever exist and I want to fuck him day and night because I'm so attracted to this gem of a man and then cuddle him until he's all happy in his head. And i want to gush about him all the time to every person i know and bite their ears off while I tell them how fucking gorgeous the love of my life is.. you knowwwww" he licked his lower lip as he looked at your heavy breaths after you finished your sentence. All of a sudden he wanted to be that man, he yearned to be the object of your fascination, he needed to be the man that you wanted to love and be in love with so deeply.

You couldn't stop staring at his lips and you kept wondering how it would be like to kiss him.

Oh god you were so very much attracted to him..oh fucking god.

Of course you were attracted to someone who you knew was way out of your league and practically non attainable. He wasn't even from this planet.

"You know if I'm ever talking too much especially after drinking margaritas you can just shut me up real quick" he chuckled as you said that.

"Pardon me for being unresponsive darling. I was just thinking about what you just said. It's uhh ..sweet and Passionate, it's alluring.. i understand now" Stop looking into his sea green eyes. Especially when he's talking.

"That's a relief..okay we should sleep" you gave him an awkward hug as you wished him good night. You could smell that cologne that you loved so much, the smell that resembled bergamot and roses.

Next morning you didn't have to work so you spent the day teaching him basic things in the kitchen, for example turning the stove on, making a nice cup of tea, or just simple eggs, he had never stepped a foot in the kitchen before but he was a fast learner. You noticed though that the heat was bothering him so after a while you threw him out of the kitchen.

That night you woke up and saw him trembling with fear on that tiny little bed, his knees were curled into his chest and he kept mumbling, asking them to not hurt him, he was begging someone to spare him today. You quickly got out of the bed and walked towards him, he always insisted on sleeping on your kiddie sized bed even though he was definitely too tall for it.

"Lokii?" You placed your palm on his forehead and he was sweating alot, you wiped the sweat beads off his skin with the sleeve of your shirt before you bent down on your knees at the edge of his bed.

"Looo? Wake up ..it's just a nightmare" god knew what he was seeing in that moment, he didn't tell you everything about him, or how much he had suffered. His eyes opened slowly and the lights were off but the window behind the bed made you able to see him.

"Are you okay?" You asked him softly and he sniffled in response then he shook his head, he sat up a little and you thought he wanted to talk to you but instead he leaned into you, wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you on the bed next to him. God he was soo strong.

Also you didn't have a bra on.

He laid down with you, one of his arm stayed curled around your waist, you gasped a little as he hid his face between the crook of your neck, his lips too close to your cleavage but you didn't think he was even thinking about the closeness at the moment. Maybe he just wanted to hold someone and be held in return so that's what you gave him, you lifted his head up for a moment just so you could place your arm underneath, sure your nerves would be dead by tomorrow but you figured it would be worth it.

You had not even hugged him for more than a few seconds before this but then how come this didn't feel weird at all? Why did holding him so close felt so natural? You heard his little whimpers and it snapped you out of the daydreaming.

"You're okay I promise..you're okay" you mumbled softly as your fingers ran over his scalp while the other hand caressed his back, his hair was as soft as you had imagined it to be. His hand lowered down from your waist, it briefly brushed over your cheeks before he grabbed your thigh and hooked it around his waist then his arm held onto your waist again. Okay you were physically, mentally and officially turned on now, you could feel your lips quivering because of the intimate position. Both of them. You felt afraid you'd start to hump against him in the middle of the night.

He fell asleep soon after, leaving you all warm and tingly inside. You may or may not have kissed his forehead once he did.

The next morning you thought things would get awkward between you two but you had no idea that this innocuous cuddling thing was about to become an important part of your bedtime routine.

🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

Tag list (if you want to be tagged or removed let me know)

@annoyingsweetsstranger @mcufan72

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@whylokiissocute @hyperlokilover

#loki x female reader #loki #loki x reader fluff #loki x reader #loki x reader insert #loki x reader fic #loki x you #loki x reader angst #post avengers loki #canon divergent au

568 notes · View notes

veltana · 4 months

Text

Mafia AU prequels - Reader's break-up

✦ Pairing: Stucky/Fem!Reader, mention of Loki/Fem!Reader

✦ Word count: ~1.9k

✦ Rating: Teen

✦ Warnings/tags: hurt/comfort, angst, heartbreak, alcohol consumption, lots of fluff and feels, cuddling, sharing a bed, unrequited love/crush.

✦ Summary: Bucky made it his mission to get you to laugh at least once a day, telling stories about Steve and him growing up, or finding a list of dumb jokes and reading them out loud until you found one funny.

✦ Note: This is a prequel to No one as sweet as you set while they were living together in college, which focuses on their growing relationship and how Bucky and Steve started to develop feelings for Sweets as more than just their best friend. You don't need to read No one as sweet as you to get this but I recommend it. (Also posted on AO3)

Series masterlist

Masterlist | AO3

You knew it would hurt when Loki left but you didn’t think it would feel like your heart had been ripped out of your chest. After kissing him goodbye and watching the taxi leave for the airport you collapsed on a nearby bench, unable to move.

The tears had been streaming down your face and you realized you wouldn’t make it home by yourself, so you called Steve and he had dropped everything.

That’s how you find yourself leaning on him, trying to breathe between fits of tears as you walk home. Bucky is waiting inside the door, taking you from Steve to lead you to the couch. You curl up in a ball, trying to lessen the hurt in your chest and Bucky puts his arms around you while you ugly-cry yourself to a headache.

The sun sets at some point.

“Sleep?” Bucky asks into your hair and you nod, not really able to form coherent sentences at the moment.

Steve leads you into his bedroom and gives you a moment of privacy to change into your pajamas that he got from your room. He couldn’t have known that the t-shirt you’ve been sleeping in the past week is one that Loki gave you when he noticed how much you liked it.

Through sniffles, you manage to get it over your head and then get the soft shorts on. You open the door, signaling you’re done before crawling onto the bed and collapsing among the sheets.

The exhaustion makes you crash and you don’t even notice when Steve and Bucky have to move you because you somehow managed to lay on everyone's covers.

Morning comes regardless of your broken heart. The first thing you notice is that the sheets smell odd, and then it hits you. It’s not Loki’s smell surrounding you and it makes you start crying once again.

Finding a pillow you hug it to your chest, curling up on the side. Sometime after that, the door opens, and the bed dips behind you. Soft hands caress your hair and down your neck, rubbing your back soothingly. It makes it slightly better, makes you feel less alone in the hell that is your broken heart.

The person behind you lays down, hugging you close to their chest, resting their cheek at the side of your face.

“Hey, Sweets,” Steve whispers. His soft voice and warm embrace calm you down.

Ever since you found out Loki was going back you’ve been trying to keep up a brave face, because you didn’t want your last weeks together to just be filled with sadness. But when you were at home, and Loki wasn’t there you could let your face fall and shoulders sag.

They were always right there beside you, with food, encouraging words, or helping you get through assignments. Bucky made it his mission to get you to laugh at least once a day, telling stories about Steve and him growing up, or finding a list of dumb jokes and reading them out loud until you found one funny.

You kept telling them you were fine but they didn’t buy it, and after a while you accepted the help, the hugs, and the dumb jokes.

"I'm going to need you to eat and drink something," Steve continues to speak softly. "I know you don't want to. But just something, okay?"

You nod into the pillow.

"Okay," you manage and Steve moves before you get up and drag yourself to the kitchen.

Bucky hands you a Nutella sandwich and a cup of coffee as you sit down. You eat with no enthusiasm, knowing that when you're done you can go back to wallowing. They don’t try to talk to you, only sit beside you in silent support. After washing down the food with the last of the coffee you get up with a quiet “Thanks,” and walk straight back to Steve's room.

Even if the bed makes you feel safe and comfortable you can't seem to go back to sleep. You toss and turn and no matter what you do, blessed sleep refuses to retake you.

After a while, you sigh and find your phone. The first thing you see is that Loki posted a picture from London, looking happy and not at all as heartbroken as you. At first, rage boils in your blood but it’s quickly replaced with sadness and the tears start rolling down your face once again.

Now you feel stupid. Looking back, maybe you’d taken the whole thing too seriously, and to him it had been a fling.

You lay there, thinking of revenge and if it would be too unreasonable to fly to London to give him a piece of your mind. Bucky and Steve would go with you if you asked.

Instead, you text Darcy, wondering if she wants to day drink. She responds quickly, asking if you want to come to her place. Apparently, Jane is equally upset with Loki’s brother Thor.

Bucky watches you walk out of Steve’s room and into your own, closing the door behind you. A second later music starts blaring. He scowls and gives Steve a look but the other just shrugs. “She has her way of working through it, just like me and you.”

An hour later you emerge with your hair and make-up fixed. Bucky feels disgusted by himself when his first reaction to you is lust. You’re looking fantastic but your eyes have no spark in them. The shell might be pretty but the soul underneath is suffering. He wishes he had a way to fix it, make you happy again, bring Loki back if that’s what you need. Even if it will make him suffer watching you with someone else he will gladly do it, if that’s what will make your eyes twinkle with life again.

His big fat crush on you has not diminished one bit since coming to the realization a couple of months ago. Instead of telling you he asks, "Where are you off to, Sweets?"

As you grab a bottle of wine off the shelf and put it in your bag.

"Darcy’s," you answer, and a moment later you're out of the apartment, the door shutting behind you.

“But I mean, Steve is nice. Bucky too I suppose, if he ever stops doing the staring thing,” Darcy comments as she pours you another glass of wine. You shrug, there is no denying they’re handsome and you love them as your friends, but you’ve never thought of them as potential boyfriends.

“It never crossed your mind?” she asks and sits down next to Jane.

Another shrug. “Why would it? They’re my best friends.”

“You say that like it’s two opposite things,” she points out. “It’s not.”

“Well, it’s not going to happen, I don’t have those kinds of feelings for them anyway.”

Jane laughs, “I’ve heard that one before!”

“Can we not talk about new potential boyfriends?” you complain. “I’m trying to forget the old one first.”

It's after three when Steve’s phone rings.

"Hello?" he answers, sleep still clouding his brain. Bucky stirs beside him.

When Darcy says, "Can you come and get your roommate?” he is suddenly wide awake and Bucky sits up. “She's had way too much and I'm too weak to even begin to drag her home," Darcy continues. They are up a second later, grabbing discarded clothes and pulling them on while Steve gets the details.

The grass is cool against your overheated flesh. Somewhere above you, there are stars but you can’t see them for the streetlights shining so bright. After drinking at Darcy’s you decided to go to a party and there had been multiple rounds of shots and way too much wine. Now your head is spinning a little too fast but the good news is that your heart stopped aching after round number four of shots.

Suddenly the light is blocked out by a dark figure. It takes a second for your eyes to adjust and you can make out Steve with a frown on his face. Darcy had said he was pretty and you can see that, you guess.

"How are you doing Sweets?" he asks with a light smile when you wave at him.

"Would you still love me if I was a worm?" you decide to ask.

"Of course, I would!"

He isn't even phased by your question, crouching down to pick you right up.

He’s strong, Bucky is too. Loki couldn’t lift you but Steve manage without a problem to hoist you into his arms and carry you towards the car. Your stupid heart does the last thing you want, a little double beat, but you press that down firmly.

This is all Darcy’s and Jane’s fault. They kept on talking about how good Steve and Bucky would be as boyfriends.

"We would fill your whole room with dirt,” he says.

Bucky is leaning against the car, all tall, dark, and handsome, even though his face is laced with worry. Your heart does another stupid double beat. Clearly what you drank had not been enough if your heart is still able to do that.

Even if it’s in the middle of the night, they’re both here for you. You don't deserve them, you decide.

"Why are we filling her room with dirt?" Bucky asks, confused. Before you can answer Steve does.

"Because we love her."

That makes you giggle in his arms and Bucky shrugs with an, "Okay."

Finally, at home you somehow manage to remove most of your makeup and change clothes, opting for one of Bucky’s old t-shirts instead of the one Loki left you.

When you’re done, you peek into Steve's room where they have already crashed and you bite your lip, not wanting to disturb them. As you turn to leave Bucky says, "Get over here."

This time the smell of the sheets only brings you serenity. It makes the wild thoughts a little calmer and the returning ache a little more manageable.

With the aid of the alcohol, an unbidden thought pops up. The three of you, like this, forever. If they weren’t your best friends, just two guys you met somewhere, could this be a thing? You shake your head, dispersing the thoughts, and when you do, Bucky grunts beside you. His thick arm comes around your waist and it grounds you.

Another morning dawns and with it a vicious hangover. You try to recall what happened last night but the memories end sometime after you arrive at the party.

Somehow you got home, changed, and slept. The bed is empty of course and even if you feel the nausea creeping up your throat, you do feel a little better in the heartbreak department.

After a while, you manage to get up and find Bucky and Steve in the living room. When you plop down Steve’s hand comes to rest at the back of your neck, thumb brushing against your skin.

“How are you feeling?” he asks.

“I’m not sure,” you answer and tell them about the gaps in your memory. They fill in what they know and then you text Darcy to apologize, before grabbing a blanket.

“What are we watching?” you ask and yawn.

Bucky shrugs. “Some superhero movie.”

Even if you’re hungover the whole day, it’s still great, just the three of you on the couch watching bad movies.

When you retrieve your cover and pillow from Steve’s room later that night you get a weird feeling in your chest, like you want to stay there. But then you dismiss it, taking your things and crawling into your bed.

prev | next

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lokiondisneyplus · 7 months

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Sure, the “time slipping” phenomenon that Loki experienced during Thursday’s Season 2 premiere couldn’t have been achieved without some excellent visual effects.

But it also couldn’t have happened without series star Tom Hiddleston “performing his heart out” to make the time slips look believably exhausting, which he did to great success on Loki‘s set, exec producer Kevin Wright says.

“Those are going to be really fun behind-the-scenes [reveals] when that eventually comes out,” Wright divulges to TVLine. “It’s all Tom’s performance.”

Loki‘s sophomore debut picked up where Season 1 ended, with Loki having been pushed through a time door to a different iteration of the Time Variance Authority — one where Agent Mobius and Hunter B-15 had no idea who Loki was. As we came to find during Thursday’s premiere, that version of the TVA wasn’t actually a different one, just a past version of the TVA that Loki had come to know. And as the episode unfolded, Loki began to time-slip more and more, which resulted in him getting abruptly and chaotically pulled back and forth to different places in his current timeline. (“It’s terrible. It looks like you’re being born, or dying, or both at the same time,” Mobius explained to Loki after witnessing the time slips up close.)

And though visual effects were responsible for Loki’s actual vanishing and reappearing, Wright tells us that Hiddleston completely committed to the full-body physicality of the time slips, even giving “eight to 10 different performances” for every time slip that occurred. And Episode 1 featured quite a few.

“There is a ton of raw material of him. If he’s being pulled in five different directions, he’s giving you those bespoke performances for each one of those,” Wright explains. “If you were on set, what you would see is Tom Hiddleston performing his heart out and acting those things. And so much of the pain that comes through is because it is baked into his performance.”

And unlike what you might see on other Marvel sets, Hiddleston’s time-slip performance included nary a harness or motion capture suit, Wright confirms.

Elsewhere in the Season 2 premiere, Loki introduced us to way more time travel jargon than just “time slipping,” as Loki, Mobius and TVA tech guru Ouroboros (aka O.B., played by recent Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan) attempted to stop the time slips and get Loki permanently restored to just one part of the timeline. But even as the show hopped between the past and present, throwing out terms like “temporal aura extractor” along the way, Wright says it was crucial to him and the writers that Season 2’s timey-wimey logic stay understandable for viewers.

“We would often write for ourselves the really long, detailed version of how all this is working… and then often, as you get into it, it’s about slimming it down, condensing it. Because sometimes, the more detailed it is, the more confusing it becomes, or the more logic loopholes that you make for yourself,” he admits. “Oftentimes, it was about simplicity and visuals. You want it to be fun and intriguing, never confusing and like homework.”

h/t @honeyfromtheweed

#tom hiddleston #time slipping #loki s2 #kevin r. wright

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twh-news · 7 months

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Those Loki Premiere Time Slips Were All Tom Hiddleston ‘Performing His Heart Out,’ EP Says

Sure, the “time slipping” phenomenon that Loki experienced during Thursday’s Season 2 premiere couldn’t have been achieved without some excellent visual effects.

“Those are going to be really fun behind-the-scenes [reveals] when that eventually comes out,” Wright divulges to TVLine. “It’s all Tom’s performance.”

[Possible spoilers ahead]

And unlike what you might see on other Marvel sets, Hiddleston’s time-slip performance included nary a harness or motion capture suit, Wright confirms.

“It’s his physicality,” the EP says, adding with a laugh, “He was pulling from many years of dance lessons.”

#loki #loki series #tom hiddleston #review #loki season 2 #TVline #article #interview #kevin wright #loki spoiler #spoilers #loki spoilers

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cleabellanov · 6 months

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It's a countdown!! (is it though?)

Last Thursday, thorofficial posted the first *oddly* related Loki thing from a series of such posts that had my kind spiraling, so welcome to me putting it here.

Last week, I thought we'd get a surprise and Thor would make an appareance in that post credit-scene already, but that wasn't the case. Instead, the clock started ticking.

🕖

This starts, as any other stories that we know of, at the beginning. It starts with two brothers that don't know a lot about the world and will, inevitably, shape it after the words of their father. They don't know they're not blood brothers yet, but are growing up as they were.

Loki is being told that they were both born to be king, and he believes it, not seeing the lie in beLIEve yet. But it is true, he too was born to be king, only not in Odin's eyes. Odin, aware of this fact...doesn't really care. Not enough to treat his sons equally, only enough to keep Loki as a bargain for when times ask for it. In the first Thor movie, Loki's villain arc begins, once with the pain of finding out who he truly is. More than that, in this first movie, we get to see her rage unfiltered. The "What happened on Earth that turned you so soft" and "Tell me", for example. He is the God of Mischief, but mischief has its dark side as well.

That being said, it makes sense for these messages (so to call them, if I may) to start here. And the clock!! It is at 7:00, and how many days were there left to the finale? Seven. But hang on, it's set to drop more!

🕕

We all remember all too well (2 h 23 minutes version) that The Avengers 2012 was the next movie Loki was in. Now we are one hour/ day closer - see how the clock is now at 6 instead of 7. And it's a double countdown: to the season 2 finale AND to Loki's journey on the original timeline.

The sequence that was posted is significant for the movie, it's when we first hear Loki say the famous: "I am burdened with glorious purpose". But with unusual blue eyes and sweat dripping off their forehead, not to mention the tripping and overall tiredness of these first scenes; this also seems to come with a lot of pain.

And ohhh lord, there is a lot of pain bottled up in their character in The Avengers movie. The desire for a throne (together with the need to prove himself), the revenge, the mentaining of the illusion by fear and hurt...the constant manipulation Th@nòs put him through.

🕓

But that could make a whole other post. The desire for a throne, remember? "What's wrong with wanting something, Loki?". Well, when he tried to get back promise to be king, something that was claimed and was, truly, his birth right, Loki was told his birth right was to die. It feels ME with rage to even picture that scene!!! Imagine being the one who is told this, then put in a cell "for the rest of your days", all after the battle of New York.

And this is the point where the clock in the caption is one hour/ day closer, at 5'oclock...

🕒

Ohhh well, isn't this a beautiful image? The "your savior is here", Loki and Thor having a more lighted relationship, even though Thor thought his brother was gone at the start of the movie. This is a very important sequence, because it shows Loki finally turning back to his brother and to Asgard, on a ship to take them away from the ultimate destruction of Ragnarok. It's the first time we get a glance at the God of a Mischief using her villanous traits more for the good side, and it's amazing. With the time being 4 o'clock, there are only 4 days separating us from the finale. Just like the flow of time: never feeling regular, sometimes I wish I was closer, sometimes farther away.

6. 🕑

Oh, look at that! We're getting closer to midnight? But what does it mean? Once the clock strikes 00:00, what happens? Could it be hinting to a reset..?

In today's post, we saw Loki picking up that Tessaract and escaping the avengers, which would ultimately cause the events of Season 1. This is the last time we saw him on the original timeline and the first introducing TVA, or variant, Loki. This right here was their nexus event, the something that changed everything. According to the TVA, that wasn't supposed to happen, it was wrong. But under who's rules? Season 1's socialist-like approach, hwr's script, the flow of time itself, those are all behind us now. Everyone can write their own stories, right?

bonus: mini-theory

My theory is that, instead of altering the story, they're going to ask all their different variants in these specific points in time for help. What would they do? And imagine the power of all these Lokis, or making them work on a team! Either way, I see it as a captivating thought.

It's more likely that this episode will center more around the TVA than the past and the Sacred timeline. But even so, the countdown is still there!!! WHAT ARE YOU UP TO MARVEL

As long as everyone is fine by the end, I am happy.

I hope you enjoyed my insomnia activities and thanks for reading ✨

Also thank you to the Gif creators, those look amazing

#loki #genderfluid loki #listen well sun you better shine on thor and Loki again #marvel #marvel universe #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #mcu loki #midnight #except on midnights like this #tick tock on the clock #speculations #thor ragnarok #thor the dark world #mobius #lokius #what on earth #what on asgard

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kitsune024 · 2 months

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Loki Fic Recs || Part 1 ||

WinterFrost Fics

IronFrost Fics

undetermined intervention by camomiletea I Chapters 4/4 I Completed Time Travel Fix-It, Good Odin

Loki had survived death before. This was the first time he had woken up in the past though.

I’ll Cover You by Ishantah I Chapters 2/2 I Completed Thor & Loki, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, Loki Lives, Powerful Loki, Infinity Stones, Time Travel, Brotherly Angst, Bromance, Good Loki

Instead of snapping his neck, Thanos decides to take Loki up on his “offer” to help collect the stones, and forces Loki’s loyalty by holding Thor captive. Loki has no choice but to comply… for now.

Fate's Guardian by @peaceheather I Chapters 28/28 I Completed sort of good Loki, BAMF Loki, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Set roughly a year post-Thor:TDW, reference to events in Guardians of the Galaxy. Pretty much a shameless fixit fic. No pairings. A being shows up on Earth looking for Loki, the Avengers get pulled in to see what's going on, and they all learn what Loki has *really* been up to all this time. I dunno, I was in a mood to write something like this, so I did. First posted to FFnet, if you prefer to read it there.

Because I Could Not Stop For Death by @soulessrobot I Chapters 6/6 I Completed Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 Compliant, Fix-It, Big Sis Hela, BAMF Hela, Loki has a plan

Warning Infinity War Spoilers Loki has a plan. Sometimes all you need to kill a Mad Titan is a Goddess of Death.

Withering Away by @galaxythreads I Chapters 10/10 I Completed Loki & Thor, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame, Fix-It of Sorts, Whump, thor whump

[ENDGAME SPOILERS!] Thor failed. He failed his family, his people, his friends, and drinking solves nothing. When the Avengers arrive to initiate their plan, they find a much different Thor. One who’s only willing to agree on one condition: When they get the Tesseract, it will be on the Statesmen, and Thor will bring back Loki with him. (Fix-it) Avengers as family! Whump!

Changing the odds by Ikajo I Chapters 13/13 I Completed Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame, BAMF Loki, Time Travel, no one dies, Good Loki, Loki Does What He Wants

Doctor Strange saw over fourteen million different scenarios and only victory in one. He had not counted for a certain god of mischief however. Because who else would turn the certain to uncertain it would be him.

Mischief on Midgard by Areitheperidotdragon, Moonybird I Chapters 68/68 I Completed Banished Loki, Loki Does What He Wants, Trauma, Implied/Referenced Torture, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship

Takes place after the first Avengers movie, then goes AU. If Odin truly sees Thor and Loki as equal, they ought to face equal punishment for equal crimes. Thor's suggestion is granted and Loki is stripped of his powers as he is banished to Midgard where he has to either prove himself worthy or spend the rest of his life on earth without any special powers. Loki though is not so easily broken. He might not have magic nor supernatural strength. But he still has his wits, his gift of deception, his knowledge, and his basic skills as a fighter. And he is not ready to just lie down and admit defeat. He is ready to do what it takes to rise once again and handle the incoming threat from the void.

Bookmark Series

Let It Burn by ShatteredGlassWings I Part 1-2 I Loki & Thor, Gladiator Loki, BAMF Loki, they're all BAMF, Revengers team Chaos Reign by @fourth-rose I Part 1-14 I Loki & Asgard, BAMF Loki, King Loki, Jotunn Loki, Infinity Gems, Family Issues, Endgame Fix-It A Deep Mark by @withthekeyisking-writer I Part 1-2 I Avengers Team & Loki Loki Lives. Infinity Gems, BAMF Loki, Bruce Is a Good Bro The Deal by orphan_account I Part 1-2 I AU - Canon Divergence, infinity war and endgame fix it, loki lives, it's gonna get a bit dark The Trickster Universe by Shadow_Chaser I Part 1-4 I Completed BAMF!Loki, Epic Bromance, Loki's "kids" are not his "kids" - they are his coterie, Thor tries to make Loki become friends with the Avengers-But it doesn't quite take, Loki Does What He Wants - Series by @shieldcodex SHIELD Agent Loki Part 1. SHIELD Codex I Part 1-14 I Complete Part 2. The Codex 'Verse I Part 1-6 I Complete Part 3. The SHIELD Codex: Judicium I Part 1-14 I

Loki Fics with Fanart

Portal To The Past by @worstloki I Chapters 23/? I BAMF Loki, Jotunn Loki, so just to clarify Thor IS a good bro he's just also still getting there ya know, Crack Treated Seriously, Toxic Asgard, Loki Does What He Wants

Bookmark Series

Oh, Hey There, Mister Blue by @iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid I Part 1-6 I Guardians of the Galaxy Team & Loki, BAMF Loki, They're All a BAMF in Some Way, Fix-It, AU - Canon Divergence, Team as Family

#links without fanart go straight to the fic cause I got too many loki fics to post them one at a time lol #loki #fic recs #fanfic rec #ao3 fanfic #i love loki #loki fic recs #mcu loki

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darsynia · 1 year

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Repeat After Me | Oneshot

(Tony Stark/Reader, Soulmate AU Canon Divergence 'Mob AU')

Summary: You're thriving in Loki's Empire as the most respected smuggler out there. You earned that reputation by remaining neutral, traveling between the city-states run by powerful Magnates like Loki's thrall Tony Stark in NYC or the relocated Wilson Fisk in Miami. It's lucrative business, but the real reason you have to stay moving is written on your arm.

Length | Rating: 3,635 | T (for language)

Notes: Set ten years after Loki successfully mind controlled Tony Stark and took over the world in 2012. My tongue-in-cheek take on a mobster-style AU, series potential if folks are interested.

THIS IS MY VOTE FOR 'SOULMATES' IN ROUND 1 OF TROPE MADNESS 2023 which is run by @thestanceyg! (note: also posted on AO3, same title tho!)

Also written for @caplanbuckybarnes's Three Words Challenge, using 'Don't look back.'

Tags: @ronearoundblindly @chickensarentcheap @themaradaniels @starksbf @tiny-anne @starryeyes2000 @my-soulmate-is-mycroft

Repeat After Me

You might be the only person who has both soulmate Words written on your body.

Repeat after me: don’t look back.

At first, you’d found them comforting. After all, they’re predictable in a way almost no one else’s Words are: if you’re right about them, it means you can choose whether to speak those fateful Words aloud. Then Loki came with his Chitauri army, and everything changed.

It’s been ten years since Lord Loki became the ruler of the world; ten years of societal restructure and bleak acquiescence. It turns out that humans are well adapted to be ruled, just as he’d said-- but perhaps not quite in the way he’d intended. Everyone has figured out their own way to survive, whether it’s in one of the densely populated city-states, the agricultural backwaters, or the uneasy suburban sprawl that straddles both extremes.

You’re one of the few who can travel easily through all three, and you pride yourself on that. Pre-Empire, you’d been a top exec at a shipping company, and your talent for managing large egos, ability to memorize maps, and knowledge of machinery was easily translated to a life as a smuggler. Your top rule? You do not take sides. Ever. It’s what made you successful, what kept you alive.

And no one knows the real reason.

“Zephyr, how long before you head out?”

You’re half-in, half-out of your truck, the open door heavy on your ass thanks to all the armor plating. “Weather looks like it’s gonna hold for another hour and a half, I was thinking forty-five minutes?” you guess, squinting up through the tint on the upper part of the windshield.

“Got time to meet with a potential?” Karl laughs at your obvious groan, adding, “Fancy suit says D.C., maybe New York. Probably shouldn’t risk skipping.” You trust your second in command, even if you don’t want to take his advice. Karl Mordo is pragmatic, honest, and a baronic pain in your ass sometimes.

“Fuck. Okay. But I’m going right now, before I de-grease for the trip.” You hop down and hold up your dirty hands, wiggling your fingers.

“What if they’re from Stark?”

You clench your jaw. “His people should know better, even after two years. We just did Fisk a favor, maybe he’ll remind Loki’s strongman that there’s a reason he relocated to Miami.”

Karl nods and heads back to the house, and as soon as he’s gone, you hold still and count to ten to calm your breathing. Tony Stark rules the northeast with a literal iron fist, and no one’s sure whether the mind control has turned him cruel or he’d been released years ago and just likes it. Only people Stark trusts have been close enough to know for sure.

Despite your reputation for neutrality, a few years back he’d sent his clever and ruthless ex-turned-CFO Pepper Potts to ask you to spy on some of the biggest players on the Eastern Seaboard.

It had been the first time you’d gotten close enough to see the electric blue of Loki’s mind control first-hand. Her threats had been articulate and terrifying, but your response ended up having a lasting effect on the way Lord Loki does his business. Word is that the emperor includes additional spells and enchantments to prevent a simple blow to the head from releasing a thrall and undoing years of work.

You still get messages from Potts, filtered heavily by word of mouth, through the Resistance.

When you get up onto the porch, you note with approval that someone’s already gotten the burly, suited visitor some sweet tea. He turns around, and your heart sinks as you recognize him from news articles. Tony Stark’s sweet-faced associate, Happy Hogan.

“Zephyr, is it?” he says warmly, reaching out a hand to shake. You offer him your left hand, and he immediately grins. You wear a binding on your right forearm, and it’s basically an open secret that your Words are there. Words you’ve made very clear you intend to remain a secret, on pain of death. “We have a job for you.”

“That’s truly unfortunate,” you say with a smile. “Your boss burned that bridge years ago. All I have is my integrity, I’m sure you understand.” Leaning up against one of the porch pillars, you send all of your anxiety to your legs, to hold you up and maintain the illusion that you’re not distressed. “Since you’ve come all this way, I can offer to connect you to one of the reputable smaller orgs.”

“Interesting you mention integrity. Did you know your right hand man is a known member of the Resistance?” Hogan’s tone is light, almost teasing.

You do your very best not to react, but on its face, you doubt the accusation. Karl had come to you deeply disillusioned by the Resistance, after working with them openly for a year, spending double that in prison, and being released with an interdict that prevented any employment but fieldwork. By the time you brought him in, he was full of quiet fury and determination to survive. The money you spent to clear his interdict was some of the easiest you’ve ever spent.

“I assume you have newer information than 2013?”

Hogan pulls an envelope from his lapel pocket and hands it over. Inside is a set of pictures showing Mordo speaking with and shaking the hand of Steve Rogers, the most wanted man on the continent. Karl’s hair has only been in that particular style for a few months.

You hand them back, keeping your hand steady. “If you can point and shoot pictures, why not point and shoot that particular problem?” The question is important to your public front, but you also want to know what kind of answer you get, whether it’ll be something you want to pass along.

“One step at a time,” Hogan says, walking over to you. He stops only inches away, a physical power play that masks the psychological threat.

“Which step are you on?”

“The one where you come with me to speak to Stark in person, or we reveal how thin your claims of neutrality really are.”

You nod as though you’re considering it, then say, “What if I dismantled everything and moved to Arizona? Started over.” It’ll sound like a joke, but you’ve considered it. You want nothing to do with Stark.

“You’re welcome to make that decision after the meeting.” The guy’s so confident he slides his hands into his pockets, fully relaxed except for the way his pulse is jumping in his neck. There’s zero chance that Hogan’s anxious because of you, so that means it’s important to his future that you leave with him today. If you have to, you’ll use that.

“You act like meeting with Stark won’t destroy my reputation just as much as your false accusations would,” you point out.

Happy Hogan shrugs. “Stark is prepared to offer you one alternative. Meet with him or give us a credible way to contact Pepper Potts.”

You want to swear under your breath, but instead, you channel all your frustration into a single act of defiance. Lifting your grease-stained right hand, you press it right in the center of his chest, fingers spread so you get his white button-down and both lapels.

Then you shove, letting your hand slip against the resistance he immediately puts up to avoid moving backwards and show weakness. You would have expected anger, maybe even to be thrown to the ground, but Hogan just chuckles. It’s dismissive, diminishing, and does nothing to lower your level of fury. Especially not since he’s got you over a barrel.

You push past him toward the house. “I’m sending Mordo with my load. Your guys fuck with him and I’ll tear down every fucking thing you’ve built or die trying.” Given the clout you’ve accumulated in the last decade, which one depends on whether the emperor is in town to shield his pet Avenger or not.

You hadn’t told Hogan you’re coming with. You both know you have to.

The flight to New York City is stressful, but most of that is because you know how much effort and care it takes to maintain a fleet of airplanes. Now that flights are nearly all restricted to just the Magnates, you doubt the due diligence of their maintenance teams. This is reinforced when you land and walk down a presidential-style rolling staircase instead of into the abandoned airport. It’s hard not to think of what air travel could do for your business. One flight would take so much food from one place to another-- but the safety margins are horrifying.

“What’s with the face?” Happy Hogan asks, after the two of you get into the waiting limo.

“Just imagining how much work it would be to get an orange to Maine nowadays.”

“You don’t have to live in Georgia, you know. The offer’s always open.”

“Fuck your offer, and fuck you,” you say coolly, crossing your arms and looking out the window. There’s a non-zero chance he’ll kill you, but you’ve got a trick up your sleeve that might just carry the kind of irony that would make even a man as powerful as Tony Stark cry. It’s the reason why Hogan wants Potts back, the reason she won’t go, not while he’s in Loki’s thrall.

Midgard hadn’t been interesting enough for the trickster god. No, he’d grown bored by the way most of his new subjects had responded to his rule. Too many of you had accepted that you weren’t strong enough to resist him, and so, with the power granted to him by the staff he always carried, Lord Loki had bestowed each soulmate pair on the planet a random power set.

Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan’s version had been the ability to detect lies.

Tony Stark’s inability to find his soulmate had been newsworthy before the attack on New York, but now that he’s the de facto ruler of the place, his search has become an obsession.

It’s the reason you live in Georgia, the reason you wear the distinctive binding around your right forearm, the reason you’d balanced yourself on the knife-edge of neutrality instead of choosing a side that’s not Stark’s and then leaving yourself vulnerable to being discovered.

Stark’s Words are well known: ‘Don’t look back.’

Ironically, you don’t think he has connected your well-known quirk about protecting your forearm with his soulmate search. He wants you because Lord Loki wants Pepper Potts’ lie detecting powers, and Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff’s soulmate bond is keeping her hidden. Karl Mordo has forsworn his connection to the Mystic Arts, but a man will do many things to prevent his own death, including oathbreaking, so instead of putting pressure on him, they’ll put pressure on you.

And somehow, you’re going to have to resist without speaking a word.

The car is underground when it stops. You nod at Hogan in thanks for his hand as you exit the vehicle, and he cocks his head to the side and looks at you.

“Passive resistance, eh? Good luck.” He leads you through a warren of hallways, stairwells, and locked doors. This display of strength is clearly designed to intimidate and/or give you time to think and fear what comes next, but you wonder whether it’s annoying to Hogan. Undoubtedly he’d be taking the short way if it weren’t for this task, and that kind of time-wasting adds up.

Sure enough, the last leg of the trip is an elevator ride. The doors open out into the wide expanse of the penthouse, a rich space with wall-to-wall windows looking out over the city. A man in a well-fitting white suit walks out from behind a bar area, and you recognize him to be Tony Stark himself. Instead of a tie, the signature blue of his arc reactor glows against the buttons of his shirt, and as he approaches you, you see that it’s matched by the blue tint of mind control in his eyes.

That knowledge is dangerous; already, this man’s leverage over you has doubled. You wonder what you’ll have to promise to get out of here alive.

Tony Stark stops a foot away and looks you over. His brown-blue eyes linger on your right arm, and as you’d planned during your pseudo perp-walk, you shift into a challenging pose, popping your hip out and lifting your chin. Stark’s lips curve into an appreciative smile. It’s attractive, he’s attractive, and you’re annoyed that you’ve even noticed. Everything about him exudes the confidence of a man who is never challenged, and that’s always been your catnip, your kryptonite. You love to bust egos, it could even be said that you live for popping that bubble. This man might be the first one you’ve ever met whose arrogance is well-deserved, though, and that could be a problem.

He gestures, and behind you, Hogan answers.“No weapons that we found, multiple scans.”

Ah, so the many doorways and long hallways had more than one purpose, you think to yourself. Well played. You stay still and expressionless as Stark looks you up and down, eyes lingering on your chest and your arm. He lifts his glass in an appreciative salute before finishing off his drink. Something about the way his throat works makes you feel the burn of the alcohol in your own chest.

“What’s under the armguard?”

“A nasty burn. Sunlight makes it worse.” It’s the truth-- you’d tried to burn off the words as soon as you’d heard about Tony Stark’s search for his soulmate. The magic of the mark protects it, so all you’d managed to do was destroy the skin around it, causing a wound that never fully healed. The vambrace you wear is for concealment, yes, but it’s also there to keep the damaged skin protected and dry. You turn your head and direct a grumpy look at Hogan. “To be honest, this whole meeting could have been an email. What is it that you two want?”

Before you can stop him, Stark steps forward and slides his hand into the hair at the nape of your neck, forcing you to meet his eyes. With a fierce, determined expression, he says, “Repeat after me: don’t look back.”

You can feel the strength in every single aspect of the man, voice, personality, grip, but that just fuels your need to fight back. With all your might, you manage to shake your head just enough to convey your refusal.

Tony Stark’s expression lights up. You realize your mistake immediately: if it didn’t mean something, if the words weren't important, you would have had no trouble repeating them. A million impossible escape routes spill out like marbles in your mind, scattering every other thought.

“Go on, Hap. Keep this to yourself for now,” Stark says. The triumph in his voice is as frightening as it is sexy.

“You got it, boss.”

You fight back a strong feeling of desperate inevitability. Really, your only hope now is to wrench free and follow your contingency plan: to say the words and play them off, avoiding the physical contact that reinforces the bond. If you can convince this man that you planned to trick him into thinking you’re his soulmate, you might still get out of here with your free will intact.

That’ll be easier to do without Hogan there, so you force yourself to remain still. Stark sweeps a broad, warm caress along your neck with his thumb, and god, it’s been so, so long since anyone’s touched you like that. There’s something insidious about it, like some part of you is already lost to him if you enjoy it even a little bit. All you can do is close your eyes, clench your fists, and wait.

The elevator doors close, and Stark starts pulling his hand away, stroking your neck possessively on the way. You do your very best not to like it. In truth, Tony Stark the billionaire, Tony Stark the Avenger was absolutely your type. You imagine that after ten years of mind control and cruelty, there’s probably little of that man left.

“You might as well say it,” he tells you with a smug little quirk in his voice. You open your eyes to see that Stark’s headed back to the bar. “Got a favorite drink?” You shake your head. “You strike me as a Tequila Sunrise type. Fun to look at, goes down easy.”

You cross your arms and glare at him, but it was a cute line for such a tense situation. Wrong, but cute.

Stark gestures to you with the Tequila bottle. “So, what, did you think you’d just stay quiet and run back home to Georgia? Happy says it didn’t take much persuading.”

You smile at him, but not warmly. One thing you hadn’t considered was that Stark might be pleased, might be looking forward to the other… perks of having a soulmate. That might make him more inclined to be kind to you, at least until you try to bluff him. You can use that.

“Don’t think I can’t see how furious you are, little one,” Stark purrs. “I’m still figuring you out, but I’ve had a file on you for years. You want to know what people say about you?”

He rests a large hand on a folder you hadn’t noticed before, pushes it across the bar in invitation. You shrug and turn your head to look out the window, the picture of indifference. You hope it pisses him the fuck off.

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s all trash now anyway, now that you’ve met with me.” Stark holds it up. “They’ll never trust you again.” He tosses it behind him. When it strikes the wall, the many single pages that made up the bulk of the file fly out around him like some kind of monstrous confetti, to the accompaniment of breaking glass. You wonder how many bottles he just wasted, whether they’re even replaceable in this brave new world you’re all trapped in.

You nod, feeling the weight of the coming moment. Mentally you gird yourself, but physically you try to adopt an attitude of casual discourtesy. You want Stark to hate his soulmark, to hate you, enough to send you away or destroy you.

Anything, anything but touch you again.

Letting out a sigh, you spread your hands in a ‘what can you do?’ gesture and say, “Don’t look back.”

The words strike him, so much so that he chuckles ruefully on an indrawn breath. A bitter disappointment sweeps across his face before it hardens into anger. You're grateful; you'd expected something-- a thunderclap, a rush of adrenaline, a gust of magical wind, but there’s nothing to indicate that you’ve both said the Words. Maybe, maybe, you can get out of this, if you’re careful. If you’re just the right level of heinous bitch.

“Did you practice that?” Stark finally says. He walks out from around the bar, and you take the opportunity to make your way over to the window, the picture of unconcerned, unattached, unbothered.

“What do you want, Mr. Stark?” Shit, your voice is shaking.

“I want a challenge,” he snaps, his voice closer than you expected. He’s just a foot away, and you can’t hide your shock fast enough. “You think that file was just for show? I read the whole thing.”

“Then you know I don’t want to be here. I have a business to run, a business you’ve fucked over with--” you back away in the guise of making a dismissive, furious gesture; “--whatever this is. What do you want, so I can get the fuck out of here?”

“What’s wrong, pet? Foot caught in a trap?” he asks, tone suddenly gentle, soothing. You scoff, turning on your heel to stalk away from him--but Stark reaches out swiftly and catches your hand in his.

A jolt of pleasure-fueled electricity floods you with an almost overwhelming need for closeness, companionship-- to be known. It's as if until this exact moment, you’d been empty, and you gasp, screaming against the sudden, insidious desires that have cropped up in your mind.

Oh god, no, this is too much, this is--

What you don’t expect is for Stark to answer.

Oh FUCK yes, telepathy. My second favorite superpower, right after flight.

You snatch your hand away and fall back onto the window, eyes wide. Stark shakes his head almost imperceptibly, then throws both hands in the air as if in disgust.

“You really had me, but there’s just… nothing. I should toss you off of the roof, you know that, right? Faking soulmark words? Ballsy.” He twitches his lips as though he can’t decide whether to be angry or not, and steps closer. “Hold out your hand?”

There’s vulnerability in his expression, something you hadn’t at all expected to see, but you are still reeling from what had passed between the two of you. Tony Stark is one of the smartest men on the planet, and certainly one of the most ruthless. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants-- and it’s well known that every inch of his penthouse is under surveillance, not to mention whatever Lord Loki has monitoring his most powerful thrall.

Just like the words written on both of you, neither of you can look back.

Sullenly, you lift your hand, and immediately, Stark engulfs it in an angry grip.

Okay here’s how this is going to go: Do as I say, and we can keep this our little secret. Resist me and I’ll tell Loki I’ve finally found my soulmate. Believe me, you do not want anything to do with what he has in store for us.

Possibly TBC if there's interest...

#threewordsforcaplan #trope madness 2023 #tony stark x reader #tony stark x you #tony stark imagine #tm2023 #marvel fanfiction #marvel fic #tony stark fic #tony stark fanfiction #soulmate au #canon divergence #mob au #but only if you squint #tony stark x f!reader

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thespectralvision · 1 month

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Mr. Victor Shade, SWORD's leading expert on AI, aka The Vision's mundane alias.

More concept work for my comic plans, where after Westview Vision is found by Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy who help him build a life and remember who he is. Monica offers him a job at SWORD with Hayward out of the way, to reform it and return it to her mother's vision (pardon the pun). Vision helps out with this process, because who better to be watching and ensuring there is ethical treatement of AI and other 'sentient weapons' than the most advanced synthetic being on Earth? It will also give him an opportunity to explore who he is, and how he ended up being turned into Hayward's weapon in WandaVision.

(I have no affiliation with Marvel/the MCU - this is purely a fan project, and I know if we get Vision Quest as a series it will likely go in a very different direction. That's the joy of the Multiverse though - anything is possible, and I love telling *my* Vision's story through art and my stories.)

Breakdown of my process below the cut, as this was painted as a quick demo for a friend asking about how I do things and I enjoyed it enough to finish it:

My process has changed a little over the years but remains roughly the same. The level of depth and detail just means more hours refining the painting down more and more with additional layers and passes of light, shadow, and texture.

Before I start a piece, even just sketches to unwind, I gather reference. Sometimes I'll just see a photo I like of Paul/Lizzie, or sometimes an unrelated image where the pose or lighting or ambience speaks to me. I also use my collection for reference - my statues and Hot Toy figuresm to get the right lighting and angles, especially for Vision and all his robot lines (though admittedly these days I don't always use a reference and just go from memory...I think I draw this silly robot too much).

Once I've got a concept and some references gathered I set up my canvas. Currently I use CSP and I love it, and I have a variety of texture files I've purchased that mimic different types of paper. I like working on these as it feels more natural with the pencil, ink, and marker brushes I use. Once I have my references set up in the file I'll do a rough sketch, blocking out proportions and basic shapes. I'll set a mid-tone grey background as well, and I almost always sketch in color. I like choosing a color that represents the character for me - bright blue for Vizh, red for Wanda. I have a Loki sketch I need to finish for my sister and I used green for him. It helps me capture the 'energy' of the character, and this sketch remains a part of the finished painting even as I refine.

Once I've got a rough sketch down I'll start working on more detail. Sometimes this will be inks, sometimes just another pass with pencil. Depends on the piece and what I'm going for. This step can happen multiple times for complicated paintings, and usually I'll cycle through steps 2-6 multiple times for a large piece.

Once I have the lines down I'll paint flats. Most of the time I'm using a big brush that emulates a marker, because I like the texture it gives, especially when layered. I'm very mess and use an eraser brush to clean up the lines, and sometimes I'll go back and tweak the line art until I like the look. During this phase I'll also lay down some details - freckles, scars, details like eyes, tattoos, jewelry as well. When painting Vizh I like getting the texture in his robotic eyes done early on, and usually refine them again towards the end.

The real fun starts here - I'll block in my lighting, usually just going with whaveter I'm feeling in the moment. I like playing with gradients and layering them in different ways to create a more dynamic image, and then I start blocking in shadows with soft brushes.

More lighting. I start adding top layers to further stretch the dynamic. I like overlays, and adding a sort of dreamlike/surreal filter through the color. I'll also start adding in highlights to contrast the shadows and work in small sections to render the details. I always start big and decrease my brush sizes for detail and work in layers and stages, checking the reference as well as the painting's lighting (which is not always the same as my reference) as I go.

Texture texture texture. I like texture. This step sometimes happens earlier, but once I'm happy with my actual *painting* of my subject(s) I'll start figuring out background elements and textures for visual appeal.

#the vision #white vision #wandavision #paul bettany #wandavision fanart #marvel fan art #mcu fanart #digital art #art process #my art

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so-i-grudgingly-joined-this-site · 1 year

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Part 6: “I reject your reality, and substitute my own”: Maybe There is Hope After All

Note: this is a part of my essay "The Awkward Meta-Tragedy of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman", see [here] for the masterpost of all links, reading order, and content warnings.

Well, despite everything the author might have possibly intended, I still do care about Morpheus and his fate. To paraphrase Ludo’s 2008 album title, “He’s awful, I love him.”

And that’s part of why the most common interpretation of his ending—as both a fully planned suicide and a tragedy—disturbed me so much. At best I could metaphorically “scoot” it around to interpret it as a traditional tragedy where his fatal flaw was his inability to seek help/treatment or cope with his issues, and thus the warning to the audience is a positive one to seek help if you’re struggling. Once again, though, given the way depression sometimes works, that still feels vaguely close to victim-blaming.

Another way to get around the unfortunate implications would be if his death was not, in fact, a carefully planned suicide. Maybe he just fucked up enough that eventually the various things he fucked up all stacked properly to be his downfall without any intent involved? But, that does raise the huge question of who got Loki to kidnap Daniel, provoking Lyta and thus causing the rest of the dominoes to topple. In the suicide interpretation it’s implied to be Morpheus himself who intentionally set the situation in place; without that explanation that’s an odd open thread left. But still, an accidental buildup of issues rather than intentional suicide would make things a lot less uncomfortable. Somehow, “you can do everything you can to change and still have negative and destructive consequences come your way” or “you can try your best and still fail” feels more reassuring than the alternative of “he did change, but he still decided to die—in the end, it didn’t even matter.”

Totally replacing a dead loved one still feels weird, regardless of their manner of death; I don’t think there’s any way around that. But, at least if it was not a suicide, then it doesn’t validate the “my family would be better off without me” sentiments that might be present in suicidal ideation.

And then, there’s the theories about how Morpheus might not be dead—at least not completely—and that he might have found peace and happiness outside of oblivion after all.

One major factor is the fact that Hob dreams about seeing Morpheus and Destruction together after the events of The Wake. While Hob himself dismisses it as “just a dream,” there’s the fact that both Morpheus in-universe and Neil Gaiman out-of-universe both insist that dreams in this series are never “just a dream.” Combine that with what I pointed out about “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and how the story is meant to let the fae live on despite leaving Earth, and it paints an interesting possible picture.

Maybe Morpheus did find a way to leave his job after all. To live on as something else, as Morpheus rather than Dream of the Endless, as a dream or a story or a memory or a friendship, but no matter what, separate from the responsibilities that so stressed him—and with a responsible and eager successor to take up the reins in his place. Maybe Hob’s example of living through everything even showed him that changing with the times is possible. Just walking away like Destruction did wasn’t an option for him, and not just because Morpheus felt he couldn’t abandon his realm without leaving someone to be responsible. He also couldn’t just walk away because, probably, it wouldn’t be dramatic enough!

Come on, Morpheus is a (possibly literal) Drama King; of course he’s not going to quit quietly. Plus, he knows from Destruction’s example that just leaving also leaves open an eternity of the other universal powers trying to nag you into going back. What’s more dramatic, and conveniently going to prevent anyone from coming after you, than making sure everyone thinks you’re dead?

Or, well, actually dying. Sort of. I have no doubt that some aspect of Morpheus died. Perhaps the aspect that was Dream of the Endless, died, but, as I mentioned, left Morpheus to live on separately in some other form. “You cannot kill an idea” can go both ways; it can mean that we’re not supposed to care that Morpheus is dead, or it can mean that Morpheus lives on. He, as an independent identity, with a specific name he has chosen, is also an idea. If the question is “change or die,” it obscures the fact that this is also a universe where people can change by death.

Heck, there’s even an example in this series of people deciding to finally live upon finding themselves post-life. Chapter 4 of Season of Mists introduces the Dead Boy Detectives. At first, much like “Façade,” this chapter seems to have little to do with the overarching story; besides showing how bad it is to have the formerly hell-bound dead returning to Earth and featuring a cameo by Death, there’s little to connect it to the primary narrative. The majority of it is just about two random boys dealing with supernatural bullies, and both ending up having been murdered by the bullies at the end. But, the story ends on the fact that they choose to “make the most of their afterlives.” They leave behind the crappy situation assigned to them by their circumstances by living on in a new form (in the boys’ case, ghosts). If two random kids can do it, why can’t Morpheus do the same?

Actually, there’s a whole lot of events in Season of Mists that I’ve seen propped up as evidence that Morpheus was settling his circumstances to prepare for his suicide, but I believe can just as easily be interpreted otherwise. It could either be him setting up backup plans in case of his accidental imprisonment or death, or even intentional preparations for a successor to take over for him when he dramatically retires rather than straight-up dies. I could fill an entire other essay with that evidence; I planned to include it here but my page count is already far exceeding what I intended, so I’ll save that for a possible later time. If anyone reading made it this far, let me know if you’d like to read that!

So, do I believe in these more optimistic interpretations of the ending? In terms of authorial intent, I’m not sure. I think there’s certainly a reason everything seemed so shockingly pessimistic at first read, and possibly that was the intent. The books were written at a different time, when the author was at a different place in his life. But stories are also about belief. And when the author straight up says that it’s open to interpretation, well… I’d rather choose to believe that this grand, sweeping, thought-provoking narrative isn’t about an irredeemable depressed asshole being rewarded for suicide, with the reader being scolded for caring.

Perhaps asking whether or not that’s “true” is missing the point.

#the sandman #the sandman comics #the sandman spoilers #the sandman comics spoilers #neil gaiman's sandman #the sandman comics meta #the sandman comics analysis #literary analysis #my writing #sandman essay

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muniimyg · 26 days

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KIMI'S FAQs

INTRO

hi ♡ i'm kimi

gemini & a filipina (yikes) ...

i'm in preschool teaching and specializing in children's special needs ! my favourite colour is pink but lilac is a close second . i love matcha . i have 11 piercings but no tattoos . summer is my favourite season but fall feels more romantic . i love picnics . i have a cat named loki . yoongi is my bias but i write more jungkook fics . sue me !

Q&A

what app do you use for your social media fics?

for my smau fics, i use the app social dummy. i've been using the app for almost 3 years now and it comes with formats for twt, insta, lock screen, facetime, imsg, youtube, news, etc. i've made a few one-time payments for the app to unlock specific features like unlimited msging and profiles.

for more recent social media features like insta dm's "replied to your story" formats, i use my own insta accounts and photoshop them into my msg edits. for the most part, i am using picsart, pinterst, or make-shifting the edits on my own.

with all that being said, i have been told that social dummy is no longer available on the app store. there are a few alternatives i've been looking into but ultimately have not been satisfied with the way the edits turn out. i will update this faq if and when i find something new and available for all.

what's your update schedule?

currently, i’m living the kdrama life of the poor full-time student girl with with 2 jobs. as much as i want to commit to updating on a regular schedule,, i can not. my work is usually a tba kind of vibe lol. for the most part, i update when i can and when i want.

what is your content style? what is the kimiverse?

a lot of my fics follow simple storylines imo. i think i end up writing a lot of college/uni au's because that's where my current state in life is so it's a lot easier to relate and gain fic inspo.

kimiverse sums up my fics & characters . it’s more known for the connection between fics like your universe & nonsense ,, casual & sour candy kisses ,, and paraluman & chaebol!jk

my fics are heavily influenced by ariana grande songs and tiktok edits lol

why do you content dump?

haha.

i go through impulsive moments of jus wanting to update. it usually happens when i'm avoiding school work.

how do i get added to your permanent taglist? fic taglist?

to be added to my permanent taglist, send in an ASK. the cut off of my 2024 permanent taglist will be may 1, 2024. i will reset sometime next year!

to be added to my fic taglist, send in an ASK with the fic name.

i will not be adding anyone who comments on the posts / series m.list. i feel more organized when the taglist inquires are all in my inbox and i can answer with a tag like #fic taglist: aao jk.

the alternative is to turn on my notifications!

what are your favourite fics?

my all time favourite fics are linked here.

@munirecs is my fic rec page where i reblog my current reads or my reading list.

why is your anon off?

anon is off so i can keep my blog as lighthearted as possible. i had it on for a while now but after a few asks that made me feel meh, i figured this is the best way to set my boundaries. let’s keep the asks kind!

if you want to send in but don’t feel comfortable with me posting my reply, you can send me a msg.

which order am i supposed to read the series if there are extras with the chapter numbers?

read the series parts first. the extras can be read after. i usually put a note in the beginning of the extras to state the time placement for the fic.

why are there so many typos?

it is what it is!

as much as i’d love to edit my work into perfection, i can’t. after i post a texting au, i’d recommend waiting 15 mins because i’m usually doing last minute edits. after i post a written, i’d recommend waiting 1 day because i’m usually re-read it again and again and again and making tweaks. no matter how much i reread or re-edit, i’m always going to be finding little things to change. so, for my own peace of mind.. i give myself the 15 mins or the 1 day before letting it be what it is.

can i critique your work?

no thank you.

i write because i like to write. i write and post content that serves my creative drive and growth as a content creator. i love positive feedback and getting to hear your opinions on characters, but i’d simply like to have my work remain as it is. i worked hard and spent time writing / making the content so jus enjoy it!

i’ll fix my grammar, my wordy sentance, and mis-punctuation when i get paid for writing fanfics… which will be ???

this is art! … and it’s literally fiction.

my main thing has and will always be to write something that makes people feel. if i’ve done that and you’d like to express it kindly, i await your words!

NOTE

— minors are denied from all of my content !

— i do not allow reposts, revisions, or translations of my work on any other platform or any other account ! if my work is being posted elsewhere, please let me know ><

— requests are closed !

— consider sending an ask / interaction for more updates and consistent activity !

#ask muni #🌱: kimi writes #kimi’s faq #bts fic writing #bts writer

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muse-write · 28 days

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Fic Recs

I’ve spent a couple months rereading two of the absolute BEST Loki-centric fanfics I have ever read:

The Relic by @mareebird

This is…just so good, guys. It’s one of the best character studies I have ever read, it has such a wonderful view on sitting with pain and knowing you will not be fixed, necessarily, but you can become something better than you used to be. Mareebird has such a way with words and just gets Loki, Thor, and Stephen Strange in ways I’ve rarely seen. She shows love between broken people who are trying to be better and sometimes just crash and fail but continue marching on. Also her OC is a wonderful addition to the MCU, and to Thor and Loki’s lives.

Ain’t No Magic, Ain’t No Lie by @iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid

This one is more plot-centric (and is the second longfic in a series set in this AU). After being tortured by Thanos, Loki joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, rethinks his life, and becomes best friends with Peter Quill despite his better judgment. Loki just fits so well into the Guardians, which isn’t something I would have expected until reading this series. This entire series is hilarious and poignant in turns, and every time I read it I just want more of these characters (luckily there are 5 or so parts to the series).

#fic recs #mcu #fanfiction

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lokiondisneyplus · 2 years

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Marvel’s Phase 4 has seen Thor and Loki going separate ways, and now the Loki series and Thor: Love and Thunder have proven Thor needs Loki more than Loki needs Thor. Following the game-changing Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the often intertwined journeys of Thor and Loki became separate for the first time since the beginning of the MCU. Loki is now the star of his own show while Thor has been in his first major adventure without Loki, and the way Loki and Thor: Love and Thunder were received shows that the former worked better than the latter.

Technically, the Loki who had been slowly redeemed after Thor: The Dark World and that was willing to die to save his brother no longer exists. That Loki died in Avengers: Infinity War, and while Avengers: Endgame’s time-heist made it so that a version of Loki could return, the character Tom Hiddleston now plays is not the same character whose death Chris Hemsworth’s Thor cried for. More than allowing Loki to return after his death in Infinity War, the time travel and multiple realities set up made it so that Thor and Loki could finally walk separate paths in the MCU.

Thor and Loki needed to be in separate stories after a decade of fighting either against each other or side by side. Keeping Thor and Loki separate would allow the MCU to take both characters to unexpected places, and it would assure that their roles in Phase 4 and beyond would feel different from what audiences had watched throughout the Infinity Saga. However, Thor: Love and Thunder struggled with tone and with how to nail its main character whereas the Loki series knew exactly how to craft a Loki solo adventure. This shows that, while splitting the pair up was a necessity, Loki is actually faring better by himself than Thor.

The Loki Series Worked Perfect Without Thor

Taking a character who is usually tied with gods and mystical arts and placing them in a sci-fi background could have gone incredibly wrong. However, Loki season 1 proved that Loki works surprisingly well as a sci-fi character within the MCU’s multiverse. One of the first Disney+’s Marvel shows, Loki was released far before the MCU announced its plans for the Multiverse Saga, yet it was the franchise’s first step into the journey that will lead to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

There were little to no references to Thor in Loki, and while Loki missed his brother and cried upon learning the events of the Asgardian Ragnarok, the emotional weight of the series was not Loki’s Asgard story. Loki was a character study, one that purposely removed everything familiar from Loki to then deconstruct the villain. Essentially, the reason that Loki worked so well without Thor or anything Asgard-related is that it asked the question of what it means to be a Loki – and the answer had to be more meaningful than just “Thor’s brother”.

Loki Could Have Improved Love & Thunder

The first Thor film not to feature Loki, Thor: Love and Thunder struggled to recapture the magic of Thor: Ragnarok. Love and Thunder had the difficult challenge of repeating everything that worked in Ragnarok while continuing to reinvent Thor as a character, but the result was an unbalanced film whose tone did not match its story. Ragnarok brought a breath of fresh air to Thor’s character, replacing the soulless broody temper seen in Thor, Thor: The Dark World, and the first two Avengers films with a more charismatic, relatable Thor. Ragnarok reinvented Thor while still giving the character and the world around him some level of emotional weight, something that Love and Thunder failed to replicate.

Love and Thunder’s Thor felt sometimes more like a parody of Ragnarok’s Thor than an evolved version of the character. While that is a consequence of Love and Thunder’s tonal problems, it could have been eased by Loki’s presence in the film. Loki is Thor’s emotional anchor in the MCU even when the brothers are placed in comedic moments like Ragnrok’s “get help”, and that is exactly what Love and Thunder lacked.

Thor’s Best MCU Moments Are Still With Loki

The Loki series has some of Loki’s best moments in the MCU, including Loki watching a movie of his life, his earnest conversations with Mobius, and his dynamic with the Loki variant Sylvie. However, when it comes to Thor, the God of Thunder’s best MCU stories are still the ones featuring Loki. The MCU’s Thor is defined by his relationship with Loki, especially because Marvel’s Phases 1 and 2 still hadn’t nailed what the Chris Hemsworth character should be like. The Thor audiences cheered for during Infinity War only came to be because of Loki’s death, which exemplifies how essential Loki is to Thor’s story and how significant Loki’s absence from Thor: Love and Thunder was. As a villain who later becomes an antihero, Loki would always have an easier path to become a “solo main character” himself. Thor, on the other hand, will forever be a hero, which means he will often be defined by his villains.

#loki #thor #there is no thor without loki #there is loki without thor

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deathmetalunicorn1 · 8 months

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Can you do hades , Poseidon, and Loki with a fem Marie Antoinette reader from majo taisen please ?

I’ll make her older (because in the series she looks like a child still)

-You were definitely… difficult, to put it ‘gently’ you were very arrogant and demanded obedience from everyone around you, viewing them as beneath you as you were a queen, and you should always be treated as such.

-Yes, while you were alive, you had been a queen, and while surrounded by other rules, king and queens, emperors and empresses, you still viewed yourself as superior and you wouldn’t hesitate to let others know it.

-While you were a queen, you were naïve and just sometimes downright ignorant, not understanding why those who were less fortunate than you were complaining about you being so wasteful and prideful when you were born into nobility and they were not.

-You ‘tried’ to solve problems using your own experiences in life and death, like when people were hungry, you just told them to eat cake instead if they wanted something like bread. (History Fact: there is no evidence that she actually said ‘let them eat cake’)

-You were definitely lovely, catching the eyes of everyone around you, but you had your eyes set on only the worthiest of partners, a god, because you were the pinnacle of humanity, and the only ones above humanity were gods.

-You wanted that for yourself, wanting to become a goddess, and you were willing to do whatever it took.

-Hades- Admired your drive and your tenacity, once you decided you wanted something, you didn’t stop until you got it, something he had to respect you for. Your personality was rather difficult, especially since he was a king himself, as he was hesitant on being with someone so naïve, he didn’t want to put his subjects at risk with your… inexperience with truly running a kingdom. You didn’t remain long by his side, running off with your next target, much to his relief, but he had to go to Zeus to let him know not to make you a goddess.

-Poseidon- Your beauty is what caught his eye and you used it to your advantage to get into his good graces, for him. What he wasn’t expecting was your difficult personality once he started spending time with you. You were vain, spoiled, and rather childish, despite your age, making outlandish demands of those around you, including of Poseidon himself, when you told him to make you a goddess as you deserved to be perfect in every way. He dropped you faster than a bad cold, much to your extreme confusion on why he was so cold all of the sudden.

-Loki- Loved to tease you, you were so much fun to rile up and tease, telling you ways to become a goddess, which would only humiliate you. When you confronted Loki about it, he wasn’t expecting you to pull out a riding crop, a cruel smirk on your face, “Seems like you need some obedience lessons!” Loki was torn, on one hand he could get a real fun time if he continued to misbehave~ but on the other hand, he wanted to keep teasing you. He grinned up at you after you surprised him, sweeping his feet out from under him so you were standing over him, “If I keep misbehaving will I keep getting punished?” you slapped the crop down into your hand, “Wanna find out~?”

#record of ragnarok #ror x reader #ror hades #ror poseidon #ror loki

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asgardian--angels · 2 months

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I've been seeing a lot of mixed emotions and frustration surrounding what we heard today from Samba on Wee John Wondays, regarding the immense amount of deleted scenes, cut material, original episode concepts etc, from season 2. And I just wanted to give my two cents here.

Look, it is absolutely valid to be pissed at HBO Max right now. They slashed OFMD's budget, cut their runtime on a per episode and a season basis. This resulted in plotlines having to be reworked, character & relationship development compressed, and some minutiae & connective scenes omitted. The thought of that sucks! It would have been nice to see the polycule shown more directly onscreen, and to see Ed & Stede dance, have a longer goodbye to Izzy, and maybe work through Ed and Stede's relationship rollercoaster a little more gradually. I'm sure this hurt no one more than David himself, who's had a clear vision of all three seasons from the start - who's now had to deal with not only a truncated s2 but a cancellation soon after to boot.

But I think it does a great disservice to the entire cast and crew who worked immensely hard on season 2 to dwell overlong on what we could or 'should' have gotten. They worked their asses off to bring us something phenomenal! Season 2 was incredible - and your mileage may vary, but all analytics indicate season 2 was even more popular and well-received than season 1 by audiences and critics alike. There was a whole team of writers who worked deftly and skillfully to crunch ten episodes into eight without compromising the core elements, themes, and plotlines they wanted to include to tell this story, plus a talented cast who brought their own improvisation to set every day and gave us some of the season's most iconic moments. Everyone on the OFMD crew is proud of what they made, as they rightly should be. It was beautiful television.

Expressing dissatisfaction with what was cut is fine to an extent, but let's not let it take away from our enjoyment and appreciation of the final product we did get, or give the crew the impression that what they worked so hard to give us wasn't good enough. They want more than anyone to have had those extra scenes in there to show off the hard work of the whole team! I'm seeing this a lot especially with the talk about the early draft of Calypso's birthday (and this info is not new, Samba spoke at length about it during his baking class back in November). Regardless of your opinion on whether you think that would have been a 'better' version of the episode, it was just that - an early draft, that never came close to being filmed. David and the writers revised this concept because, apart from time constraints on the season, ultimately they felt that the concept they ended up going with best served the narrative. Even Samba agreed that he preferred the final version. There's no secret footage of this other version, we didn't 'lose' anything - this is one of the dangers of scripts getting released for any piece of media, because the mind runs astray dreaming of the possibilities of what may have been, when the reality is all shows go through moderate to sometimes heavy editing before the final version, and the audience probably doesn't need to see that process!

The fact that season 2 turned out so beautifully, with some of the most moving and iconic sequences television's seen in quite a while, and a love story that has touched so many, is truly a testament to the passion, dedication, and skill of the entire cast and crew. They have achieved the status of cultural phenomenon, season 2 was the 5th most watched series in the entire world on streaming services, outperforming shows like Loki. They've got several dozen articles with glowing praise from major media outlets, a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, multiple award nominations, and more than anything a loyal fanbase who's in it for the long haul to fight for a season 3. They have succeeded to this level despite all the stumbling blocks HBO Max has thrown in their path. If season 2 was OFMD held back from its full potential, then I think they should be damn fucking proud of what they've made.

Samba pitched an official bts documentary for both season 1 and season 2 and was turned down. This show deserved better than HBO Max was ever going to give them. He's going to try and post deleted scenes and a blooper reel if he can (not all heroes wear capes, folks). And it's very likely none of these things will ever be officially released (though, we can make a stink about it!). Be angry about it, absolutely. But we need to channel that energy into the fight for renewal. Double down on efforts to get the attention of Netflix, Prime, Apple TV, and FX, get more signatures on the petition (87k as of this writing!), and just keep talking positively about the show on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook with our hashtags. We need to show the crew that we're upset for them, but so grateful for the beautiful season we got too.

So let's not bicker and wallow about what was 'stolen' from us - the final canon product is ultimately the final canon product, and any other tidbits are fun but neither owed nor necessary. They trusted that we could put the pieces together, that we'd be able to read between the lines when scenes that would have made things more explicit, or developed them further, had to be shortened or cut. And that trust was well placed! We sussed it out. Celebrate the ofmd fandom for all the excellent meta, art, fic, we've gotten, and celebrate season 2 for its joy, its profoundness, its nuance, its enduring hope and how much it's given to so many. Air your grievances respectfully, and then get back to fighting to give OFMD the well-funded third season it deserves!

#our flag means death #ofmd #personally i'm glad we got the version of calypso's birthday we did #the matchmaker thing did not really jive with the sort of seriousness and softness they were treating the ed/stede relationship with #it's a good comedy trope but i think it'd work better on a side pairing than on them #THAT BEING SAID i think it would be hilarious in season 3 to have the crew give bad advice to both ed and stede at the same time #about how they should propose to each other #until they fumble the whole thing so badly they just give up and be like 'hey you wanna just ditch these guys for a bit' and take a walk #and do this sweet soft proposal together (still not realizing that the other was planning to)#those sorts of hijinks would be hilarious. anyway

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