All Work and No Play - Loki x Female Reader

Nine

The dinner went off without a hitch, surprisingly.

Usually someone would have said something controversial by the third bite of food and the afternoon would turn into mayhem until Frigga calmed them again, instead on that particular visit the conversations stayed amicable and away from work topics per Odin's demand.

"It's Loki's week off, no work talk at the table."

Even Thor had let out a sigh of relief and happily steered the conversation towards a sport that had caught his eye while he was out partaking in some Midgardian mead, the bar had apparently been playing it on the big screen and he'd found himself enraptured.

This carried on to Odin indulging everyone on his current favourite pastime when not in work, fishing.

It didn't particularly interest anyone else, but they listened politely as he divulged the best catch of the group and what techniques or equipment he had learned about during some of his weekly fishing research.

This helped Frigga transition the conversation to the next lot of fish she wished to put into her pond, a select few specimens having already been picked out with the help of the experts in the shop.

Everyone knew that they would be something to behold, Frigga had an eye for picking out things of beauty from a bunch after her years of being Queen, everything she did had a touch of regality to it, no matter how simplistic.

Loki was happy to sit there in silence, sipping his wine as he listened and laughed with the family, simply enjoying the moment as they waited for dessert.

Then all eyes were on him and he knew what was coming.

"So, what do you plan on doing with your time off?" Frigga asked, resting her hands atop the table.

He took another sip of his wine, the third glass since he'd arrived, in order to stall.

"I can't say that I have anything planned," he eventually answered, setting the glass down and starting to twist the bottom of it between his fingers.

Thor laughed, shaking his head.

"Most people have a plan, maybe to go travelling or meet up with old friends."

"Well, I do have books to catch up on," Loki said quietly, as though he were distracted. "I've had enough travelling for the time being, I've seen many realms in my lifetime and wish to be a homebody for this break."

"You make that sound like something new," Thor retorted, reaching over the table to grab the pitcher of mead and refill his cup.

Loki hummed an unamused laugh, making eye contact with his brother.

"Only since we arrived here."

It was no secret that he had been less than happy about the move to Midgard.

His distaste for the realm long standing and unrelenting, despite how long they had been living there by that point.

Could he fully determine why?

No.

He just believed the realm and its ilk were beneath the likes of Asgard and truthfully, the time spent there hadn't exactly deterred that feeling, hence why he swanned around and rarely went anywhere but to work and home.

Sure, he'd sucked up the fact that they were there for better business and risked a smaller chance of being attacked in Asgard directly, a rather morbid decision on Odin's part, but that didn't mean he liked it any better.

Granted, he also could have moved but they had wisely played to his ego upon the request and he was in a comfortable zone, standing above the puny humans as a literal God.

On the other hand, they were useful for when he wanted to indulge in his vices and his ex-boyfriend also came from the realm but that was a special case.

So what of the girl from Friday night?

He still wasn't so sure why he stuck around until Saturday afternoon, maybe he was wilfully ignoring the answer.

That was most likely.

He could admit that he couldn't shake the feeling of being a fish out of water but nothing more.

Wilful denial was a state he was happy to live in, that and introversion.

"Do you not like it any better?" Frigga asked, sounding hopeful with an expression that almost pleaded with him to find something he liked, to actually put some seeking thought into his answer before giving it.

Loki lingered in the expression for a moment and then gave a one-sided smile, picking the glass back up.

"I suppose there may be a thing or two."

"And let me guess," Odin said with the faintest of amused chuckles, "you won't tell us."

"What is the point if I may not do them?"

Odin's eye rolled as he shook his head, though he still looked mirthful...or as mirthful as Odin could look.

"Still believing yourself to be the philosophical type, I see."

Loki shrugged, his mouth quirking into a smirk.

"I'm no Lord Henry but I can think wider than Dorian Gray," he chuckled, "and I'm better looking."

"Who is Dorian Gray?" Thor asked, looking between the three as they shared a soft round of laughter.

"Someone far more sophisticated than you shall ever be," Loki replied with a teasing look. "Which is rather sad considering that he's fictional."

"Loki, do behave," Frigga tutted before standing up, her hands resting delicately on the edge of the table. "I believe the crumble should be done."

"I'll help you heat up the custard," Loki said, standing up, feeling the relieving stretch of his legs after sitting down for a while.

"You really don't need to."

"I know, but I want to."

Frigga smiled at him with that kindly, motherly smile that always made his stomach flutter pleasantly then she turned and made her way into the grand kitchen, him hot on her heels as Thor and Odin started to talk between themselves behind them.

Something clicked in his brain out of nowhere, an epiphany that snapped into place and gave him something to consider as he whittled time away during his days from work.

This, what he had with his family in that moment, was something he wanted for himself.

He had never considered it before but for a flickering, almost world-lighting moment, Loki had the distinct thought that he wanted to be more than an overworked business-God, he wanted something to call his own.