What A Nightmare

Let’s just keep this between us

[just-a-limabean]

Sweet Tooth

masterlist | word count: 2.6k | fluff

"Do you not have candy on Asgard?" you ask.

"Nuts and grapes…" your charge had offered as you yanked a file from one of the higher shelves.

Loki had landed in the lap of the TVA six months ago and had been employed for almost two. The friendship forged between you both was rocky to say the least. However you, unlike the rest of the workers at the institute, knew how to crack tough guys like him. Loki was especially easy to pin down once you were given access to his file. A Frost Giant stolen away as a token and kept in the Realm Eternal all the while being taught to hate the very thing that he was. Throw in a dash of Odin favoring his biological son and a pinch of his mothers’ gaslighting him for his entire life and you have Loki: a classic case of teenage rebellion carrying over into adulthood despite his awful upbringing.

Oh… not to mention the raging daddy issues.

You knew what Loki needed. What he craved so desperately but never received growing up. First up was attention. Thor had stolen the majority of the limelight during his childhood and, thus, this lack was manifesting into rebellion. In Loki’s mind he had made the unfortunate connection that if he did bad things it got his parent’s attention, even when this attention was always negative. However, for Loki, attention was attention no matter what.

He also seemed to have developed quite the penchant for self-reliance. This lack of trust was no doubt spurred on by the fact that he was… you know… never told about his true heritage and was *cough* *cough* promised a throne that he would never get.

So, what did you do to combat this? Well, it was the little things. Offering your full and undivided attention when he spoke to you, never interrupting and telling off others when they tried to interrupt him, being almost completely unarmed when in his presence, et cetera.

It wasn’t long before Loki built up a tolerance for you and, soon enough, a soft spot.

You were the only one who came to his defense before he was reset. You were the only one who didn’t wave a melting stick in his face while in a room alone with him. You were the only one who didn’t dismiss his feelings when he came to work in a sour mood. 

You were the only one who gave him a second chance.

It wasn’t long before you were the only one he wanted anything to do with at the TVA. When he had his weekly evals he only permitted you to administer them. When he had his interviews to begin training with the TVA he only allowed you to be in the room. He even found a way for you to sit in on his psych evals (he couldn’t quite persuade Ravonna to let you do those by yourself as well. Something about that being “not within her pay grade” and “not her responsibility”).

“No wonder you're so bitter”, you commented teasingly under your breath as you scooted past him and walked back to Loki’s desk where you had both set up camp. “We need to do something about that.”

“Do something about what?” he questioned. You couldn’t tell if he was being serious or if he was merely teasing you back.

“ We need to get some candy in you.”

Loki just rolled his eyes and breathed out a chuckle. “Are nuts and grapes not enough for you?”

You just stared at him wide-eyed for a bit.

“This is just unacceptable.”

You finally said after finding your footing. You looked around his cluttered desk for a moment and finally located a pen and scratch paper. Loki looked on as you began to scribble furiously.

“Okay-” you began. “This is what we’re gonna do. There are two main types of sweets. Baked goods, and then candy.”

“There’s a difference?” Loki questioned reluctantly as he moved to cradle his head in his hand. In your daily briefing, Loki’s psychiatrist told you that his nightmares had been flaring up this week which, you guess, explained why he seemed so tired today. All of that lack of sleep was finally catching up with him.

You made a mental note to send him home early so that he could get some well-deserved shut eye. Or, at the very least, some relaxation.

“Within the candy category there are also two categories, fruity candy and candy bars. Fruity candy is your standard “it’s imitating fruit” ordeal while candy bars-” your mouth was watering just thinking about them. “-have some nuance but their main ingredient is chocolate. Unless it’s like a PayDay or some bullshit but I’m not going to subject you to that.

When you looked up from the diagram you had drawn him you don’t think you’ve ever seen Loki so confused in the six months you had known him. He tried to speak and his mouth even got to the point of trying to mouth a sentence but nothing came out.

You just decided to continue.

“I am going to try to find a candy that you like, although they’re all pretty good.”

Finally Loki found something to say.

“What has you so infatuated with this… candy nonsense?” he interrogated, genuinely curious to know the answer.

“You’ll know why when you try it.”

Loki sat back in his chair. The pen he had been fondling was now in his mouth as he chewed on the tip. His eyes raking over you as his brows knit into… what? Confusion? Curiosity? Maybe a little bit of both. Your cheeks took on the faintest amount of color.

“Alright, I’ll bite,” he said while still leaning back in his chair. “Where do I obtain these delights that you speak so fondly of?”

You quirked an eyebrow, regaining your composure.

“Oh don’t you worry about that, I’ll bring you some tomorrow.

And so, as you set your keys down on your counter after a long day at work and an arduous hour at the grocery store trying to find various candies, you immediately began making the pièce de résistance Loki would be trying tomorrow: brownies. 

Ravonna had allowed herself in shortly after you had begun the process, making good on her plans of coming over for a glass of wine.

“I’m here-”, she chirped before rounding the corner and finding you working in the kitchen.

“Ah… what are women if not made to work in the kitchen?” Ravonna jested, commenting on the absurd Earthling tradition. She had been working on a few cases of people who strayed from their timeline who, coincidentally, were all from the place Loki dubbed “Midguard” so she no doubt had some Earthly knowledge swimming around her head.

Ravonna set her bag down before allowing herself into your kitchen and immediately gravitating toward the bottle of red.

“We are but simple creatures,” you answered, playing along. You hear a pop and then the sound of liquid being poured and, soon enough, a glass is set in front of you as she takes a seat at the breakfast bar overlooking the counter you were working at.

“No but seriously, what the hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” you ask with a grin as you crack an egg into the bowl. Is Loki allergic to eggs? Do Asgardians even have allergies?

“Well you're obviously making something intended for consumption but at the odd hour of nine o’clock at night.”

You snort. “Oooooh, you’re good. You should apply for that detective position that just opened up.”

Now it’s her turn to snort. “Please, applying for that position is suicide. They’ve had so many die on the job.”

“I can’t argue there.” you concede as you mix the batter. You look up for a moment from stirring to ask, “Did you know that Loki has never had candy?”

Ravonna looks up from her drink with a puzzled look.

“Yeah... he said that all they had on Asgard were ‘nuts and grapes’”.

“Weird…” she replies.

“Right?!” you exclaim, resuming your stirring of the thick, chocolatey batter.

“But you wanna know what’s weirder?”

You begin to pour the batter into a pan and beckon Ravonna to continue. 

“You staying up at night to make him these damn things.”

You screw your face into a stubborn glare. “Everyone deserves to at least try a brownie” you reason, more to yourself than anyone else.

“You’ve always had a soft spot for the broken,” she sighs with a smile and a sip of her drink.

“He’s not broken-”

She immediately shoots you a look that screams “Really? You’re gonna go with that justification?”

“I’m being serious. He’s just had a rough life and I know that brownies won’t fix years of trauma but… I’m sure gonna damn well try,” you finish with determination, scooping the last ropes of batter into the bowl.

“He’s lucky.”

She answers. You give her another puzzled look. “He’s got you in his corner.”

-The next morning-

Ravonna had sent you down to floor E for the day but you thankfully passed by Loki’s desk while on your way to a meeting. As you slid the Tupperware container filled with the brownies you made last night, he looked up from his lunch with a confused look. He never bothered to venture to the cafeteria when all that was waiting for him there was an empty table so he decided that day to remain at his desk and eat.

“What the hel is this?”

He asked through a mouthful of salad. You didn’t have a ton of time and you were walking up to floor T so you merely answered his question and carried on your way.

“Brownies. A sweet that I talked about yesterday.”

As he watched your coworker steal you away, he ventured to peer into the container and my what a dreadful sight he was met with. Sure, the act of you going out of your way to deliver him a gift didn’t go unnoticed by the god but this “treat” you had left for him looked appalling. It was a hideous dark brown color with chunks of black buried within and it looked to have the consistency of wet bread.

No he really didn’t know why you went bananas over the idea of him never having candy.

That is until he tried the damn things.

Loki unlatched the plastic lid and swooped his hand in, grabbing a square of the… what did you call it again? Brownie? Nevertheless, he brought it up to his nose and inhaled.

Not bad. Let’s give it a try.

And upon first bite, Loki was in Valhalla.

It was like nothing he had ever tasted before. It was sweet enough to make his jaw tingle upon first taste but with this sweetness came a rich and creamy side to it.

What kind of sorcery…

He then proceeded to devour six more of the squares, each going down smoother than the last. Now he understood why you were so fond of your baked goods. It also only made sense that such a sweet creature like you could concoct such an addicting combination like this. This thing could have never been conceived of in the Realm Eternal by even the best chefs the palace could find yet, here you were, giving them away freely. In a way the sweets almost reminded him of you: the sweetness drawing you in but it’s richness keeping you hooked and craving more. After Loki’s ninth and final piece that the container boasted, he had accumulated not only one mighty food baby, but a bellyache to match.

I guess that’s what happens when you overindulge.

-That night-

Loki knew this was a mistake. Not only was looking up your address in the system a massive privacy violation but he has also been standing outside your door hesitating to knock for the past five minutes.

Would you think it weird if he just showed up on your doorstep?

Nevermind the fact that he wanted another brownie, he didn’t get to see you all day and was… well… missing you. He had grown so accustomed to having access to your attention, time, patience, and even your understanding so much so that when it was taken away, if only for a day, he longed for it. 

Ached for it.

So, what was his solution? Well, it was simple. He would come to you asking for more treats and, hopefully, you would let him in and he would bask in the attention he didn’t get from you all day as you both chatted over brownies at your kitchen table.

Only that was crazy and you would no doubt have questions about how he found your house and oh Norns is the door knob turning or am I just imagining that?

As luck would have it, Loki was not imagining the turn of the door knob because you were now standing directly in front of him with a confused look on your face and a bag of trash in your right hand.

You looked… drained. Your hair was pulled up messily and you now had glasses that Loki didn’t know you even needed perched on the bridge of your nose. Your pajamas hanging loose on your frame that he had noticed, admittedly, more than once and bags under your eyes were quite pronounced.

Darling, what did they do to you today?

“Loki?”

“I can see this is a bad time,” he says before turning around quickly. However, he only makes it down two steps from the porch when you say,

“Wait!”

He halts immediately but doesn’t venture to turn around.

“Turn around,” you command. He slowly pivots until he’s facing you, a confused look still plastered on your features. To help lighten the mood he flashes you a fat smile.

Alright, he thinks, you caught me.

You narrow your eyes more. “What are you doing here?” you question, putting the garbage bag down, crossing your hands over your chest, and leaning against the door frame. He looks guilty as he lets out a muted chuckle.

Loki: I uh- you know…

He begins to explain but he trails off.

Is he, you ponder, blushing?

You just shrug your shoulders. No, you didn’t know why your coworker was on your doorstep at eleven o’clock at night.

Loki huffs at your lack of, what? Not being able to read his mind and know why he’s here?

“I just-” he starts, followed by a roll of the eyes.

“Do you have any more brownies?” he spits out with resignation, trying desperately to keep his dignity intact.

You immediately break into a grin and this settles his nerves.

“So… let me get this straight. I don’t remember ever giving you my address so that means you a) looked up my address in the system and b) drove all the way here for another brownie that I c) gave you a full pan of earlier today. Am I getting warm?”

Loki narrows his eyes at your teasing. It wasn’t his only motivation for coming here but you didn’t need to know that. Not yet at least.

“I suppose,” he replies through gritted teeth. “Though I’m quickly regretting it.”

You chuckle and Loki breaks out into a genuine smile.

“Oh you poor thing. I gave you my entire pan of brownies save for the one I had this morning but I did just finish up some blueberry muffins to sate your sweet tooth.”

Now that got Loki’s attention.

“Show me to these… muffins.”

You mock a salute. “Yessir!”

[just-a-limabean]

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About Me

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Loki Laufeyson

Sweet Tooth

[just-a-limabean]

About Me

Hi my name is Bee!

I am a recent college grad but back in high school I would write for fun. I used to have some fics posted on here but took them down for a while. I recently wanted to reupload a few with the hopes that it would get me back into writing.

I also want this blog to be a space where I feel I can write about whatever. I'm not exactly sure yet where I want to take this or if this blog will be abandoned in a month. We'll see!