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He was watching her from afar, didn’t dare to get any closer to her. People around him were laughing, having fun, but he didn’t notice any of it. Not even how his brother was trying to talk to him. He couldn’t take his eyes of her. She was so young, so beautiful. So innocent. And Loki? He was a mess because of her. She was mesmerizing. Her laugh echoing through the hall warmed his heart.
“You should talk to her” Thor had long given up on talking to his brother, instead following his gaze to find the source of his distraction. “How could I? Just look at her!” He had never seen anybody more beautiful and he could only imagine the finest men fighting over you. That you were surrounded by admirers didn’t help his situation much either. “Don’t be foolish brother! I can’t believe you haven’t noticed the looks she is giving you.” Thor told him, a hand on his brother’s shoulder. On any other occasion, with any other woman, Loki wouldn’t have cared. But something about you was making him nervous. Even making him worry about all the ways he could mess up.
He couldn’t bear it anymore when he heard you laugh about a remark one of the men around you had made, he had to get out of here. Leaving his brother behind, he left for the balcony, the fresh air helping him clear his mind. Leaning against the banister he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, silently cursing himself. When had he become such a coward? Why was he unable to talk to you? He couldn’t stand the thought of someone else winning your heart but he couldn’t bring himself to do something about it.
As lost in thought as he was Loki hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t alone anymore until he heard a voice behind him. “My prince. May I keep you some company?” Turning around he could barely believe his eyes. “Of course. You are very welcome to.” If it was possible you were even more beautiful in the moonlight and the smile you gave him made him weak in the knees. You joined him at the banister, looking up into the sky with sparkling eyes, a light breeze blowing through your hair. He was speechless. Who had thought that would ever happen, but Loki was speechless.
“So how come you’ve decided to join me out here?” He asked after finally finding his voice again. “It’s awfully loud and crowded in there. And it’s surprisingly exhausting to be the only entertainment for a group of desperate bachelors.” “You don’t enjoy the attention?” “I thought I would, but they’re so characterless, all they do is compliment me on absolutely everything, you can’t have a real conversation with any of them. It gets incredibly boring very fast.” “Well, I can’t blame them for giving you compliments, they’re not wrong.” You laughed and he couldn’t deny this might have been the clumsiest compliment he had ever given. He had thought this all trough so well but nothing could have prepared him for talking to you. “Oh please don’t, you’re even worse than them. Where’d that famous silver tongue go?” “Your presence has turned it to lead it seems.” This time you weren’t laughing but shyly looking away and he could see the blush creeping onto your cheeks. Pleased with himself and slowly finding his cool again he wanted to say something else when you were interrupted.
“Brother! Mother is looking for you!” Thor shouted before registering what was happening. Before Loki could answer Thor seemed to finally notice you. A grin on his face he told his brother, “I’ll just tell her I couldn’t find you”, before he left again. Though displeased by the interruption Loki was still glad Thor hadn’t torn him from you, who knows when his next chance to see you would have been. He felt your hand on his arm and as he turned to his side he looked into your eyes. “Why don’t we go for a walk before we get interrupted again?” You suggested. He nodded, “yes, come, let us go to the gardens.”
You walked side by side under the night sky in silence for quite a while, simply enjoying each others company. “You know, I’ve noticed you staring at me” you suddenly mentioned. Loki abruptly stopped. “You… you have?” “Yes, it wasn’t exactly hard to miss” “I have to apologize. I really didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable” “You didn’t. I don’t really mind, as long as it’s you.”
Loki couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and even less could he believe that you were so much braver than him. He wasn’t willing to accept that. Grabbing your hands and looking into your eyes he decided that he was done being a coward. It wasn’t like him to fear rejection but he couldn’t even begin to understand what you were doing to him anyway. “Those men weren’t the reason you came to join me on the balcony, were they?” “Well, they were part of the reason, because they weren’t you” “Good, because I can’t stand to watch you around them. Everytime I fear to lose you to one of them.” “You should have told me” “Yes, I should have. But I was a fool and too much of a coward to talk to you” You freed one of your hands from his and he felt your fingers graze his cheek. Closing his eyes he leaned into the touch. Just why had he waited so long? “Well, better late than never,” you whispered and he opened his eyes, realizing just how close you were now. He wrapped his now free hand around your waist and pulled you towards him so you were chest to chest.
“Yes better late than never and now I will relish every single moment of it. If you are willing to be mine that is.” You laughed again and he couldn’t have been happier that he was capable of bringing you such joy. “I can’t believe you still have to ask. I will be yours until the end of our days. Not even Ragnarok will keep me from you.”