The Consultant (Loki x Male Reader)

part: 18

song: get in the ring - guns n' roses

3rd pov

y/n woke up, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light shining through the window. he sat up and brushed his hair out of his face, sitting there for a moment as he let himself wake up. he slipped out of bed and walked to his bathroom, washing his face and brushing his hair before he stepped out of his room.

today was his first day supervising loki. he really, really didn't want to, but he couldn't resist thor's puppy dog eyes, so here he is. he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, only to find out that there wasn't any food. he opened the cupboards, nothing. the pantry, nothing.

he sighed in annoyance. tony had this floor for them but didn't stock it with food? y/n groaned and hit his head on the wall, knowing he'd have to go to the store and bring loki. he took deep breaths as he mentally prepared himself to talk to loki.

he walked to loki's door and stood there, glaring at it. maybe he thought that would make the door and everything behind it disappear. it didn't.

he lightly tapped on the door with knuckles, waiting for a response.

"come in," he heard loki say.

he slowly opened the door and peaked his head in, and saw loki sitting on a small chair in the corner of the room, a book in his hand. it was twilight, the book y/n had given him back when they first met.

"i have to go to the store," y/n said flatly, "and you have to come with me."

loki raised his eyebrows. y/n just huffed and walked away, pushing the door all the way open.

"right now, loki!" y/n shouted from his own bedroom, where he slipped his shoes on and grabbed his phone and wallet. he heard loki huff and mutter from the other room.

"what was that?" y/n shouted back.

"nothing," loki said curtly, appearing at y/n's door. he was no longer in his asgardian clothing, but in a simple black t-shirt and black jeans. y/n squinted at him.

"right."

there was a moment of silence as they both just stood there.

"so... do you think stark will let me drive one of his cars?" y/n asked, but yelped in surprised when he felt a hand wrap around his waist. by the time he turned to glare at loki, he realized that they weren't in stark tower anymore, they were standing in the parking lot to the grocery store.

"oh. that works, i guess," y/n muttered, pushing loki's hand off of him as he started walking towards the store. loki frowned a bit at the action.

they entered the store, and loki received a lot of dirty looks. he glared back at everyone, trying to intimidate them. he turned when he felt y/n tap his shoulder.

"if you want people to stop looking at you like that, then start smiling at them first. if you want change then don't just wait for it to happen. you have to be the change, loki," y/n said, looking at loki.

loki just blinked at him, not knowing how to respond. y/n shrugged and grabbed a cart, wiping it down with an alcohol wipe.

he pushed the cart forward and loki followed behind him. they walked to the dairy isle.

"do you really trust me enough to bring me out in public like this?" loki asked as y/n reached for a carton of eggs. y/n turned to him and looked at him stoicly.

"i trust the avengers' ability to absolutely bust your ass if you act out of line," he said, and loki shut his mouth quickly and looked away.

"i also trust that you're actually trying to change. so don't ruin this for yourself, loki. because i want it just as bad as you do," y/n said, grabbing shredded cheese and putting it into the cart. loki just stared at him, zoning out as he focused on y/n's features.

out of nowhere, y/n moved and stood in front of loki, holding onto the sides of his arms. just then, a tomato hit the back of y/n's head. it exploded all over his hair and clothes, only a few drops of tomato juice landing on loki. loki stared wide-eyed in shock and then looked up to look at whoever threw the tomato.

it was an older man who looked just as shocked as he did.

"hey, kid! why'd you shield him? he's evil!" the man yelled at y/n, who stood there and looked at the ground. he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, and then looked up at the man.

"so you threw it at him because you don't like him?" y/n asked, and the man seemed shocked by that question. y/n bent down and picked up the burst tomato off the ground.

"well-- i mean, yeah? but that's n--"

"right! so, using your logic, i should throw this at you because i don't like you?" y/n asked, throwing the tomato in the air and catching it.

the man opened his mouth to speak, but instantly got a mouth full of tomato as y/n threw it straight at his face full force. the man stumbled back, falling into a shelf a knocking it over.

loki watched the whole scene play out, and he smiled an turned to y/n.

"that was absolutely extraordinary!" he said, laughing a bit. his smile disappeared when he saw y/n, who looked very upset.

"are you alright? are you hurt?" he began asking, looking over y/n to see if he had gotten hurt at all during the encounter. y/n shook his head.

"no, i'm fine. just a little pissed off," y/n said, feeling the back of his head that was wet with tomato juice.

"thank you for shielding me," loki said, finding y/n's gaze and looking his eyes. y/n could see how sincere he was being, and looked down as he felt a bit of heat pool in his cheeks.

"you may be an ass, but you don't deserve to be humiliated like that," y/n said, turning away and walking down the isle.

loki turned around and glared at the man who threw the tomato, who was struggling to get up off the ground. with a flick of his hand, he summoned a pile of tomatoes to fall and explode on top of the man. the man yelled in shock and slipped on the tomato juice, falling back to the ground.

loki smiled in satisfaction and turned to catch up with y/n who was further down the isle.

y/n pulled butter off of the shelf and put it into the cart before moving on, and loki watched his every move.

"is there anything you want from here, loki?" y/n asked, and loki thought for a moment. he didn't really know about any midgardian foods.

"what is sushi?" loki asked, and y/n turned to look at loki.

"only the lords greatest creation, my friend," y/n said. loki tilted his head.

"we'll stop by a sushi place after this and get some, yeah?" y/n said, and loki just nodded.

loki was afraid that if he brought up how y/n called him his "friend" he'd take it back. y/n seemed to read his mind, though.

"yes, loki we're still friends," y/n said, "we're just not... whatever we were before."

loki sighed, looking at the ground. y/n really knew how to make him feel guilty for his actions.

"when i brought you back to asgard, i planned on never seeing you again, i was so angry. and hurt. because i really cared about you, you know?" y/n said, avoiding loki's gaze as he looked up and down shelves for items.

"but i had time to think it over, i think i'd forgiven you already at some point. and then you showed up and it was like watching you die all over again," y/n said, laughing a bit as he felt his eyes burn with tears. loki looked at him sadly.

"ugh," he muttered, hiding his face in his hands. he didn't want loki to see that he was crying. but loki knew.

loki didn't know what to do, he just watched y/n try to get ahold of himself. he slowly reached his hand up and put it on y/n's shoulder. he stepped closer to his body and wrapped his whole arm around him in a side hug.

y/n turned and wrapped his arms around loki's torso, and loki's breath hitched. he slowly wrapped his arms around y/n. y/n hid his face in the crook of loki's neck.

"please don't leave me again, loki," y/n said, hugging loki tighter. loki reciprocated.

"i won't. i won't," he whispered back.