The Grumpy Sunshine Series

Forced Proximity

Originally Posted: 02/13/2022

"Bye, James!"

"Bye, Sam!"

"Bye, Steve!"

"Bye, James!" you repeat, waving all three men off.

"What was that?" Loki questions, a smirk tugging at his mouth as the two of you walk away from the hangar and back into the compound.

"What?"

"You said bye to Barnes twice," he points out.

"Oh," you shrug, walking faster through the halls. With the three men off on a mission and the others working on different missions of their own, it left you all alone with Loki until they got back- much to Bucky's dismay.

"Does someone fancy a certain super soldier?" Loki teases, picking up the pace so he's walking just in front of you.

"What? No," you over-dramatically scoff, abruptly turning down another hall to avoid any more of Loki's questions.

"You do remember that I can tell when you're not being truthful, right?" he reminds you, his voice falling further and further behind as you make random turns through the halls to get away from Loki.

"Right," you mutter, continuing your walk to the kitchen until Loki suddenly pops in front of you. "Jeez," you squeak, your hand flying over to your racing heart.

"That's what happens when you try to avoid me."

"Hey, why didn't you go on the mission today?" you ask, deflecting from Loki's current line of questioning.

"I'm feeling a bit mischievous today," Loki wickedly smirks.

You make your way around him, nodding along to his response. "Oh, makes sense."

Loki continues his pace right behind you, following your every step. "You're not going to ask me what I'm going to do? You're not going to try and stop me?"

You shake your head, stopping at the kitchen island to rearrange a bouquet of flowers that you'd already arranged this morning. Anything to take your mind off of Loki's interrogation. "No, I trust you."

He looks at you in confusion, sensing that you're not lying. "Most people that trust me end up regretting it."

"Eh," you shrug, turning away from the island and walking over to the sink to wash your hands. "I'm not one to judge."

"And you're still not lying. Interesting..."

"Why would I lie?"

"Aren't you scared of me?"

"No," you chortle.

"I'm not sure if I should be offended by that or not."

"You shouldn't be," you smile.

Loki looks around the room for a moment. The pink flowers, your pink dress, the sugar cookies you'd made yesterday with heart shaped sprinkles on it. "What is all this pink?"

"It's Valentine's Day," you explain, trying to find something else to distract you. You see the confused look on Loki's face and remember that he probably doesn't know about this Earth holiday. "Right, Asgardian. It's...it's a day to celebrate someone you care about- someone you love."

"You need a day to show someone you care about them? You all have the strangest holidays. "

"I think it's sweet. You ask someone to be your Valentine, show them that you care about them. A day dedicated to that one person in your life, it's nice."