Friends with Benefits

17

It had been two weeks, two weeks of you trying to seduce Loki and getting absolutely no where. You took Buckys useless advice which mostly consisted of biting your lip more and twirling your hair in Lokis presence which left him either asking if you were in pain or if you needed a hair tie. On the plus side, you and Loki had been spending a lot more time together recently but it was all purely platonic. You wondered if it was in fact better this way, to remain just friends with him to not have a repeat of the whole Thor situation.

On most days, you were left feeling confused. Loki didn't make any moves to suggest that he liked you romantically which was absolutely fine but then sometimes he'd randomly stop and look at you as you spoke and it felt as if the world around you stopped. He'd lean slightly forwards which left your heart racing. Sometimes he'd even dare to tuck some of your hair behind your ear which left you having to turn away feeling flustered. You were supposed to just be friends, why was this so difficult?

Often you wished that things would go back to how they were before, minus sleeping with Thor who you now no longer saw through rose tinted lenses. You wanted to go back to a time where you'd hang out at Thors flat not caring about your appearance and exchange no more a few words with Loki. At least then you didn't have to be so close to him and yet so far away. Now you found yourself always trying to make an effort if you knew you were going to see Loki which was ridiculous considering he was used to seeing you underdressed with messy hair as opposed to exchanging joggers for skirts and simple hair ties for clips and colourful scrunchies. Despite all of your efforts, it was clear that Loki didn't like you in that way or so you thought.

It had been three weeks now and so you decided you wouldn't pursue Loki any longer. He didn't like you and you'd learn not to like him. You assumed that it was simply a crush considering how kind to you he always was. A crush that you'd soon forget about. Tonight was the long anticipated fancy dress party hosted by the drama students that happened once a term on campus. You'd usually go with Thor but this term he insisted you go with Loki because he had apparently planned an outfit with a different girl. Shrugging off the offence, you decided that you would go with Loki. Together you planned a last minute outfit where you'd dress as some sort of folklore princess whilst he dressed as a prince.

"Guys goo I'll meet you there." You told Nat who was dressed as an assassin and Bucky who was dressed as a soldier. You had just gotten out of the shower and they were already ready and you didn't want to keep them.

"You sure? We can wait." Bucky offered.

"No, go I'll see you guys soon." You insisted.

They both left whilst you laid out your outfit on your bed. You were still in your bathrobe with a towel wrapped around your hair when the door knocked. Sighing to yourself, you assumed Natasha had forgotten something including her key so you made your way towards the front door.

"Natasha you forgetful—Loki!" You gasped, eyes meeting Lokis when you opened the door revealing him standing in his costume with his hair tied back with two trendells out shaping his face. You quickly grabbed the towel off of your head and threw it on the floor.

"Oh sorry I thought you were ready." He spoke, smiling nervously as he tried to ignore the fact that you were practically standing naked in front of him. "For you." He added, handing you the bouquet of flowers he had in his hand.

"You um—you brought me flowers." You answered, swallowing thickly as you took them. Do friends buy friends flowers? Yes! This was a friendly gesture.

"Yeah I-I saw them in a florist window on my way here actually." He smiled, running a hand over the back of his neck "they looked really pretty and reminded me of you."