A Whole Bunch of Loki's

Let's Play Pretend - Actor AU

(This morning I was looking up something about divorce for a kind of request and somehow found myself falling down a rabbit hole of blind items and some interesting articles and this is the result.
Hopefully won't be going back there for a while.)

You flopped onto the couch and kicked your shoes off with a long sigh.

May as well get comfortable, you were going to be there for a while, at least until paparazzi got lost.

It had been a long night and you had hoped to go straight home after the event, instead you found yourself stalked my paps who near chased you to your co-star, and rumoured boyfriend's, place instead.

Of course, according to the world this would be completely normal for a couple and the pictures would sell but he nothing spectacular for a typical couple.

But you weren't a typical couple.

"This was a stupid idea," you sighed, running your hands into your hair, "why did I agree to this?"

"To what?"

You looked towards the doorway to see Loki walk in, loosening his tie to slip it off.

"This, us."

"Us? I think we make quite a good couple," he smirked, giving you a wink.

You rolled your eyes to try and hide the fact that your heart just fluttered like a million butterfly wings.

"Yeah, maybe we would if we were real."

He shrugged, throwing his tie onto the nearest chair before working on the buttons of his suit jacket.

"According to the world we are."

You scoffed and shook your head, smiling scornfully.

"Please, the public aren't as stupid as companies would like them to believe, you really think they can't figure out the convenient timing of all this?"

Loki looked over as if he were staring down a disobedient child, a look of irritation and exhaustion on his face.

"You still agreed to it, your people called my people, deals were made and here we are."

"I know and now I'm here I kind of hate it."

"You just have to wait until the contract is up in a few months, you did only agree to a year one."

An uncontrollable frown furrowed your brows at his blasé attitude, not that you really expected anything else.

Beyond the odd appearance here or there and having to work together, you hadn't spent too much time free time together, at least not as much as your teams would want people to believe.

There'd been an odd trip here or there, friends hanging out and pretending to be more than friends to either please the public or face the harsh judgement from the court of public opinion, but you hadn't really spent extensive time at his place nor him yours.

However, unfortunately for you, you had found yourself getting just a small crush on your co-star and found it increasingly difficult to face the reality that this was all make believe and it wasn't likely that he saw you how you were starting to wish he would.

A small part of you wanted this to turn from something set up to something real, but it didn't appear to be going your way.

What a surprise.

You were reaping the rewards of the agreement, your names were on many people's lips, your movie was getting a lot more attention and, if your star on the movie database site was anything to go by, you were gaining popularity quickly.

Though it lingered in the back of your mind that that was probably all down to Loki's star power alone, he had been in the business longer than you had.

You hadn't, however, wanted to actually start falling for him.

You weren't stupid and knew the likelihood of this continuing once the contract was up was slim, the numbers of it leading to something more were slimmer than you'd want to believe.

That was the nature of the business, it was harsh, it was cruel and it was deceiving, but it was the price to pay.

"I know," you finally answered after staring at his too large TV that sat across from you, "I just feel stupid, why did I sign a deal with this Devil?"

"Because you wanted some notoriety and people enjoy seeing pretty things together, especially stars."

"No, the star," you said while indicating to him before pulling your hand back to yourself, "and the unknown."

"Not unknown, upcomer."

"Near enough the same thing."

Loki let out a long sigh and walked over, sitting down next to you and placing his hand on your knee, which made you flinch as the chill from his seemingly always cold fingers seeped through the fabric covering it.

"If it bothers you that much then try and get out of it," he shrugged, "people break up all the time."

"I know," you frowned, looking at him, "and I don't even know if that is what I want."

"Then what is it? You can't to and fro like this, you need to know what you want."

"I kind of do."

"Then what is it?"

You found yourself unexpectedly choking up as your eyes watered.

Before you answered, your tongue flickered across your bottom lip.

"I want something real, genuine."

Loki pulled his hand away and sat up straighter, looking at you as if you had three heads.

"What?"

You rolled your eyes again and sat straighter yourself, looking at him seriously.

"I want to be in love, real love, not obviously contractual love."

"I wouldn't say obviously."

"That isn't the point here Loki, I didn't think it would hit me as hard as it has but I've come to realise that I want something real."

The room fell quiet and Loki stared at you, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly until he shifted and let it hang down as he clasped his hands between his open knees.

A stray tear slid down your cheek, which you felt foolish for, getting emotional over something that would soon be nothing but a blip in your past on the rise to stardom.

He ran a hand through his hair, tousling the strands with his fingers, then he finally looked at you.

"Who is to say this couldn't become something real?"

You scoffed, shaking your head and wiping your eyes.

"Don't humour me."

"I'm being deadly serious."

"You'd really want to go out with someone like me?"

"Why not?" He shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "You're nice, weird sense of humour and a little off the wall, it's interesting and we won't know how we'll be as more than friends unless we try."

You let out a small laugh and nodded.

"I suppose."

"There's no suppose," he chuckled. "Tell you what, I'll arrange a few dates, real dates, private ones and we'll see how it goes when we aren't being hounded by cameras."

"And no chaperones?"

"Definitely no chaperones."

You sniggered again, wiping more tears from your now aching eyes as you looked at him.

"I think we have a deal."