Somewhere Along the Way... (Loki x Reader)

And the Thunder Rolls...

The rest of my two week vacation flew in, between working with the horses, training at the compound and feeding two Gods three times a day! I didn't have much time for myself.

Tony had agreed Loki could come with me when I was returning to work to make things easier. He was not impressed, mumbling something under his breath about 'mewling quims', thankfully, Tony didn't quite catch it but I did.

I had slowly made some progress with him over the two weeks. However he was still very closed off and I didn't want to push my luck. I hadn't felt him trying to get in my head since that evening either.

A few times when returning from working with the horses I would find the two Brothers huddled near each other, talking too low for me to hear. I had no idea what it was about and none of them were clearly going to tell me.

This morning after breakfast, Thor had got called onto a mission. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before disappearing and I was surprised when no one appeared to babysit us. After I cleaned up the kitchen and the breakfast dishes I got myself ready to head out to ride the horses. While getting changed I had a thought.

As I came down the stairs I gave myself a pep talk before I finally built up enough courage to go ask him. He was in the corner of the living room flicking through his book, concentration written all over his face.

I stood at the door internally fighting with myself to open my mouth and speak.

"Darling? You have been standing there fighting with yourself over something for some time now. Out with it." His cool voice broke me from my own mind.

"I...Ah...Umm.Well I just wondered, maybe? Maybe you would like to come out a ride with me?" I stumbled over my words, why was I so nervous? What was the worst he could do? Turn down my offer.

I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, eagerly awaiting a reply.

His touch made me jump as his cool fingers found my chin, pulling my gaze from the floor to his eyes, "That sounds rather pleasant Darling."

I couldn't contain the excitement that washed over me in that second. I forgot myself and threw my arms around his neck, "Oh this will be so much fun! You can ride Thunder! We can teach you how to jump!"

His hands gently landed on my ribs, I pulled back suddenly very aware of what I had done, my hands falling to my sides again. I went to move back to put some distance between us but he held me in place, "Lead the way." His eyes gleamed at me and he sported me a swift smile.

After taking him a hack up to the lake and cabin at the back of the farm, we headed back towards the arena. Once we were close to the stables again, I squeezed Max, my horse pushing him into a canter, "LETS RACE!" I squealed as I took off leaving him in a cloud of dust from Max's hooves and the dry ground connecting.

I pushed myself up out of the saddle encouraging Max into a gallop, as I peered over my shoulder I was surprised to see Loki close on our tail.

"Faster boy c'mon!" I squeezed him again.

Max skidded to a halt in the arena as I laughed at Loki who was clearly unimpressed at losing, "You're getting rusty old man!" I teased.

That earned me a smirk.

After about an hour Loki was successfully jumping, he was a natural on horseback and a fast learner. As I watched him my heart skipped a beat, was I really crushing on a God?

"Well that was rather quite glorious, now I see why you like jumping!" He beamed clearly proud of his accomplishment. I could do nothing but grin back at him as a blush crept over my cheeks, rendered speechless.