What's a God to a Barista? (Loki x Reader)

Ten - Alleyway

"So if you were to open the Bifrost while inside a building, it would rip off a good chunk of that building and-"

After two days straight of bringing Loki to work, your shift had ended, and now, you were walking him home with you, and you were beginning to notice that he had a lot more energy than usual.

"You know," you sighed, resisting the urge to throw yourself into the traffic beside you "I'm beginning to regret giving you that coffee."

"Oh, loosen up." He joked, elbowing you in the shoulder. As he grinned, a slight gap came between his teeth.

"I'm not taking trash from you after you smashed a mug and left it for me to deal with." You hissed.

Loki rolled his eyes. "How was I supposed to know that it was against Midgard's traditions."

"Well, you were here before, but to quote you, you were getting beaten up the whole time."

"Right. So you can't blame me, can you?" You hated his smugness, and locked your eyes to the path ahead of you, actively avoiding his presence.

"What's wrong? Not enjoying my company, are we, l/n?" Even if you weren't looking at his face, you could picture his mischievous smirk. "Fine. Would you better enjoy walking with one of your heroes?"

Despite your best efforts, it was kind of impossible to avoid looking at him after you caught a flash of green light from the corner of your eye. Within the next second, you had dragged him into an alleyway and pressed him into the shadows. Well, you had pressed Steve Rogers into the shadows.

"Dude!" You whisper-shouted, "Remember my whole not-attracting-attention thing? Well, you don't do that by walking around dressed as Captain. America."

Loki snickered, the illusion slowly fading away. To be honest, you were surprised he didn't fight back. "Oh, ease up. I'm only trying to lighten the mood."

"I'm sorry, Captain, but were you not pressing a knife to my throat two days ago?" You spat.

His face fell, sea-green eyes drifting downward. Hesitantly, you let him go, falling back onto the opposite wall and massaging your temples. "I'll be out of your hair soon," Loki suddenly broke the silence. You popped your head up and cocked it to the side.

"What?" You whispered, still trying not to draw attention, as Loki had let go of his illusion already, and was now running his fingers through his raven-colored hair. "Loki, that's not what I meant-"

Despite you jumping to fix it, he just put his hand up in dismissal. "I just mean that I'll hopefully be able to leave here soon." There was a hint of defensiveness in his voice, maybe even embarrassment, which gave you a tinge of satisfaction.

"Where... where are you even planning to go?" You had been trying to figure out how to ask that for a while, not really wanting to risk it. But, you stuck by what you had said back at the coffee shop.

That Loki really wasn't as bad as he was making himself seem.

He fumbled with the question for a second. "I suppose... New York is all I truly know here. The only place familiar. And with the city just far enough away...." He trailed off, silver tongue turning to lead. (Hahaha im not creative so i stole from Thor 1)

"Did you want to be close to your brother?" You spluttered before you had time to think about what you were saying. Loki clenched his jaw, and you jumped to fix it once again. "I mean, I guess that makes sense. Sorry. Counter question - why here? I mean, we aren't really a well known town. It's mostly just broke college kids like me." You insisted.

Loki snapped his fingers, as if to confirm the question. "You see, that's just it. Broke college kids. It's just like I said when I first came here. Made to be ruled. I suppose I thought of it as an easy win," his eyes flashed back up to you, the little sunlight in the alleyway reflecting in them. "Clearly, I was wrong."

"That's a new low. I mean, what would you be? The king of crippling student debt?" You teased, a smile creeping to the edges of your mouth.

Even Loki snickered a bit. "I think I just have a superiority complex," he admitted, "really. What's a king to a god?"

"And what's a god to a barista?" You countered.

"I'm still thinking about that one." He said, and in sync, you started to laugh.

It felt surprisingly good, being able to laugh with him. You hated to admit it, but he didn't feel like a danger anymore. You wouldn't call him your friend though.

Maybe.

Probably.

Ughhh, how dare you, Loki, you internally yelled at him. How dare you make me like you!

You might have acted on that thought, if it weren't for a sudden shuffling at the end of the alleyway. Instinctively, Loki summoned one of his daggers. You flinched as you caught sight of it, stomach contorting in a familiar fear. He tucked it in his fist, slowly approaching the edge of the passageway.

His eyes flickered back to you, and he held up his hand, signaling you to stay where you were; which, under the circumstances, you were perfectly fine with. He inched closer, slowly twisting the handle of the blade between his fingers before stopping and holding it steady. Although you couldn't hear anything, it was blatantly obvious that something was very, very wrong.

Loki's steps crunched on the gravel as he whipped around to face you. Before you had time to question it, he was bolting towards you, with one word spilling from his lips and reverberating around the brick walls:

"Run."