Kneel Before Loki [A Loki Romance]

Family fun

Bowling Center, New York

Isabelle's POV

"Why did I have to be in a team with Mr Sleep-all-day?! ",Tony complained loudly. I laughed at him, looking at Hawkeye, who apparently decided to take a nap in his chair and abandon his bowling team partner aka Tony. Not that he would have been much of a help awake. Bowling wasn't his thing, as Natasha had told me. "It's called team balance.", Natasha yelled from the other side of the room. I laughed and shrugged. "She said it." Tony stomped away grumpily, muttering something to himself.

I grinned and turned away, when suddenly, a pair of cold arms sneaked around my waist from behind. "Hello beautiful.", a dark voice whispered in my ear. I turned in Loki's arms so I could face him and a smile formed on my face at the sight of him.
"Hello handsome.", I answered, studying his beautiful face. He smirked. "Ready for the next round?" I winked suggestively. "So ready." He released me, so I could take my turn. Did I mention I am... not exactly good at bowling? And not normal not good like 'damn I only got one bowling pin thingy'. No, more like 'whoops, the ball accidentally got off its course and gosh I don't know how it happened but I think it kicked off the glasses off the old lady's face and then drifted into space and destroyed the Taco planet' not good. And yes, I truly believe there is a taco planet out there. Gotta have to ask Loki about that sometime.
Anyway, needlessly to say I totally nailed the throw and- thank god my dad practically owns the place.

Tony had come up with the idea of a thrilling bowling battle, so we had teamed up. Natasha was with Bruce (I was still not sure how that happened tho), Cap and Thor (same thing?!), Tony and Sleeping beauty aka Hawkeye, who apparently just started drooling and- well, lucky Loki and me. Natasha and Bruce were already out, they had claimed that 'their specialities laid in a different area' and had headed to the bar. So now there were only three teams left and gosh our change to win was probably as high as Leonardo DiCaprio's chance to win an oscar. Loki was surprisingly good though, once he had understood how the weird human game worked, he constantly striked. Seriously, it was to get inferiority complexes. I focused back on the game, in which Cap and Thor were both equally as clueless, it was just hilarious.

"Thor that's not how it works! You can't just grab humans and use them instead of a ball, just because it 'adds speed'!", I heard Steve protesting from the front. Thor lowered the poor, utterly terrified looking staff member and frowned. "WHY NOT?" Steve tugged at the poor man's sleeve and managed to free him from Thor's firm grip. "Goddamn it, Thor!" Loki, who watched the whole scene next to me, snickered.

I turned my attention to him and watched him for a moment. "Are you okay?" Loki lowered his gaze until his eyes met mine, his smile fading. "What do you mean?" I sighed and made a gesture around the room. "I don't know. All of this. Human stuff, don't you despise that? How do you cope?" He bit his lip and remained silent for so long, I had already given up the hope, I'd get an answer, when he spoke up. "You know... when I first came here, I was full of hatred. Driven by my deep desire of revenge, that seemed more important than anything else. Since I came here again.... things have changed. I believe, I am starting to see this earth- a little bit different." When he noticed my stare, he added: "Humans are still pathetic creatures, though."

For a moment, I just stared at Loki, completely speechless. Then, slowly, a smile spread across my face. That was the first time, we had actually spoken about this topic and- he seemed so much more open than barely a week ago. That was a progress, wasn't it? Suddenly, Loki looked me dead serious in the eye and took a deep breath. "Maybe... you should know that-"

He got interrupted by a loud scream that sounded suspiciously like Thor.
We exchanged one look and then ran to the front. I turned to Loki. "Save that for later." He nodded shortly and then we had the opportunity to witness the cause of Thor's pain. Tony groaned as he saw what happened. I was tempted to laugh, Loki actually did. All we could see from Thor were his wriggling legs, as his body was stuck under the thing that went down after a ball hit the pin things.

"...How did he manage to do that?!", Tony slowly asked Steve who looked like he would rather be in a team with a gigantic, poisoned tarantula at the moment. "He got the glorious idea to strike by gliding on the floor with his hammer into the pins.", he explained. Oh my god, the head cinema was strong with this one. I stifled a laugh. Holy mother of god. "Somebody has to get Thor out of there.", Tony remarked. Yeah, my dad's one hell of a smartass. Loki rolled his eyes. "I got this." He raised his hands and the thing Thor was stuck under was coated by a layer of ice. "Loki!", I hissed quietly, "what are you doing?!" Cap, Tony and I watched in awe, as the frosty grid stopped moving and Thor's face with messy hair appeared under it. "...And how did you do that?!", Tony asked sourly. Loki shrugged. "Odin did not take all of my powers." He didn't explain that further, so I guess, I'm gonna have to talk to him later.
Tony clapped his hands and grinned. "Well, that definitely kicks Team dumbass out of the game- leaves Team Unfair-cause-Loki's-a-god and Team Surely-gonna-win-anyway."

Even though Thor and Cap protested, they were out and took a seat next to Bruce and Natasha on the bar. Loki smirked at me and took the next turn. Strike. Of course. I jumped up and high-fived him. Then I turned to Tony. "Make that Team We-are-so-gonna-win." He raised his eyebrows and pointed at sleeping Hawkeye. "My team is dysfunctional! That's not even fair!" Loki raised his eyebrows and grinned. "What am I supposed to say?!" He pointed at me. "Hey!" I smacked the rude god in the chest hardly, but had to bite back a laugh. He was right, after all. Tony laughed. "It's true though, honey." I snorted. "I kick your sorry ass with a blindfold over my eyes." Not.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Ohh is that so? Consider me scared and intimidated..." He mouthed a 'not' to the others, who grinned. I huffed. "Just take your turn." Tony smirked, took the ball, reached out and threw.   All of the pins fell to the floor. Of course. He punched his fist in the air, a dramatic expression on his face. "VICTORYY!" Then he walked over to the sleeping Hawkeye, took his hand and high-fived it. "Guess who's winning, mate!"
Hawkeye's eyes flew open and he grabbed his bow and arrow. "Waitwhat'sevengoingon?!Tony?Wherearewe?", he said sleepy. Tony raised his eyebrows. "Alright, alright, go back to sleep." He returned to us. "My team's obviously got my back.", he commented sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "Great, dad." Tony grinned and handed me a bowling ball. "Last throw, sweetie. It's up to you now." Wait, what?! Oh right. My turn. Goshdangit, why. Loki noticed my hesitation and walked with me. As he looked me in the eye, he noticed my fear.. "It is just a game, love.", he said frowning. "I do not mind who 'wins'. I just want you to have fun." I smiled, as the pressure fell off me. Nasty flashbacks of the time with my ex-boyfriend had sneaked into my mind and made it unable for me to see the real situation. "I know.", I said, now honestly. "But I want to." Loki smirked and I could have sworn he murmured "That's my girl." Then he stepped behind me and embraced me, his hands over mine, who held the ball. His body pressed against mine and his very own smell distracted me. "Focus.", he said and with a bit of grief I forced myself to fade out his smell and presence and just focus on his directions. "He is four points ahead of us, but you can beat him. Hold it in this angle. Relax the arm, pull back your shoulder a little. That's perfect. And now imagine if you throw it, with power and precision. Can you see it flying?" I breathed slowly. "Yes." "Good. Then throw it. Now."

I took a deep breath, focused on his calming presence behind me and knew he got my back. I threw the ball and closed my eyes. When I heard the noise, my eyes flew open and I expected to see shattered glasses in the bar or maybe a hole in the ceiling, but instead- "STRIKE!", Tony yelled disbelievingly and a wide smile appeared on my face. "Oh my god!", I said excitedly, "I actually striked!" Leo must have won an Oscar. I turned around and hugged Loki tightly. I knew that I had just been able to do this, because he believed in me. He released me smiling. "See. I told you." Tony pouted. "Yeah yeah. Congrats, you two." "Aww, somebody jealous?", I mocked. He smirked. "Nah, no way honey."

The others came and congratulated us too, then Natasha said: "I guess you have no other choice then, Stark. They won." She was alluding to the price, Tony had set out for the winner of the Bowling battle. Probably because he was a 100% sure he would win. "Yeah daddy, what about it?"
Tony sighed. "Sure, princess. Anything you want." Aww. He didn't call me princess since I was five.
Hawkeye, who had stayed awake after Tony managed to wake him up, frowned. "What was the price?" "The winning team gets free donuts for a month, delivered to their house. As many as they want.", Bruce explained. That's right. FREE. DONUTS. God, I died and went straight to heaven. I grinned. "Donuts are the reason I'm alive.", I explained. Loki laughed. Tony nodded. "Since you were three."
"Aww.", Natasha said, winking at me.
What?! Donuts are life.