(Loki x reader) The Evil One

34: Black Roses

Wanda carefully and lovingly smoothed the fabric of the delicate white veil over my hair.

I held Natasha's hand, staring at myself and them in the mirror. I held the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen; a dress that would fit and cater to my curves until just after my hips, where it fanned out into a wide tail. The whole white mass had an intricate pattern of lace woven into it with a silver thread.

At the top of the dress, it stopped with a sweetheart neckline, but the delicate lacy pattern went all the way to my collar bone and down my arms. In it, I felt like a fairy tale come to life. And that was a first. I hadn't put the dress on yet, I just stood in front of the mirror in a dainty slip, hair curled and makeup done.

For once, I could stand here and cry happily over a love I'd been told I couldn't have, and told myself I couldn't have.

"You look so beautiful," Tasha whispered, squeezing my hand. A knock at the door broke her soft reverie, bringing out the hard Tasha. She turned to the door, gathering up her gold skirt. "If you're the groom don't you fu-"

"Tasha," I said calmly.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you dare."

"Uh..its actually Tony-"

Wanda opened the door with a simple flick of the wrist. Tony stood there, looking oddly short and out of place in a suit. He held a single long-stemmed rose in his hand.

The oddest thing about the rose was the pitch blackness of it. The stem was green, but the petals were black as midnight.

It was undoubtedly gorgeous.

"What do you want Tony?" Tasha asked, not without the unkind undertone to her voice.

Tony shifted uneasily before walking in and closing the door. "U-uh, I wanted say that I am very happy for my Assassin Baby...and I never wanted her to be any other way. And even if it means marrying a slightly scarier Kiss member, than I guess that's fine."

Wanda turned to Tony with a fierce glare at the nickname, so Tony amended himself.

Again. "I meant Loki, okay? Look, I'm here, I'm apologizing, you're welcome."

I actually stepped off my pedestal for that, smiling softly at Tony. "You're actually admitting that's an apology?"

He just handed me the black rose and left.

Tasha had almost strangled him out of pure boredom, and now she looked at me like I'd taken her toy away. "Do I have to?" She whispered to Wanda when I turned away.

"Yes," Wanda hissed.

"Well that's just great," she grumbled.

This was the ninth time she's asked Wanda if she had to say nice things about Loki in her wedding speech.

So I chose to ignore it.

Another knock at the door made both girls snap to attention. This time, Steve was allowed in. He donned the same suit Tony did, all black with a pale gold button down and black tie. All the Avengers wore them today, and they all looked amazing. Especially Steve. In his hands was a single black rose. "Hello," he said, a sad look on his face. "I came..in hopes of apologizing for all the times I fought your relationship with Loki, and all the times I was ever rude to him."

There was no sarcasm, no vibe of 'I wanna get out of here asap' and no embarrassment. Steve meant it.

I hugged him, and took the rose as he gave me a soft smile, bowing out.