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cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

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As the Clock Strikes Midnight Masterlist | AO3 Pairing: Loki/Reader Rating: Explicit

Summary: Once upon a time, you sneak into a masked ball and accidentally attract the attention of a very handsome prince. One problem: you’re a servant and you kind of didn't think any of this through.

Warnings: Smut, Porn with Plot (but more porn than plot), oral sex, sex, teasing, orgasm delay, praise kink, light dom/sub. I have honestly lost track of the amount of canon I’m ignoring, so to be super succinct: everyone lives, no one dies, Asgard has stupid rules. There’s also a lot of sex starting in chapter 3.

Also: I did my best with warnings, but if you think I missed one, please send me an ask so I can add it!

Taglist: @mad4marvelloki

* Part VII

Getting through the next day is a challenge, to say the very least.

Your day typically includes a fair number of mindless tasks–peeling pounds of potatoes, kneading bread dough, scrubbing pots and pans, and so on. Normally, you don’t mind it; normally, it’s an opportunity for your mind to wander, a way to distract yourself from the neverending drudgery.

Today is a different story. Today, the only destination for your wandering mind is what awaits you at the end of the day. And what awaits you at the end of the day, well…those sorts of thoughts tend to leave you flustered and checking the time.

The others, thankfully, are too preoccupied with their own tasks to pay you much mind, which feels like a small blessing–you couldn’t even begin to come up with a believable excuse for your inattention.

You’ve taken care to maintain a sort of playful distance from Loki as a matter of protection–the more detached you appear, the less likely you are to be hurt when this ends. Not that you’re having any feelings you need to protect yourself from, of course–this is just a precaution. The practical part of you knows that you should probably wait a little after dark before making your way to his chambers. Unfortunately, the part of you that has been anticipating this all day (to say nothing of the last three) is not particularly inclined to listen to practical advice; consequently it is barely dark when you arrive at his chamber doors.

He notices. Of course.

“You’re awfully early,” he says as he lets you in, not bothering to hide his smirk.

“Yesterday you scolded me for being late. Today I am too early,” you say, arching an eyebrow at him. “Perhaps the problem is that you are too particular, your highness.”

“An artful deflection,” he says, taking your hand and leading you to the bedroom. “There’s no shame in admitting you couldn’t wait for me to ravish you.”

A huff of a laugh escapes your lips and you give him a look. “That’s awfully bold of you.”

You say this largely to bait him and he gives you a catlike smile as you come to a stop in the bedroom. He looks you up and down and wets his lips. “I suspect I’ll find you slick and aching under your skirts.”

He’s right, though you don’t intend to admit it. You simply raise your eyebrow and he smiles like he knows exactly what you’re hiding. Bastard.

“And similarly–” his voice drops as he guides your hand to the front of his trousers, “I’ve been contending with this for much of the day.”

His cock is hard and straining against the material of his trousers, which only fans the ache between your thighs.

“Oh.” You wish you had something clever to say, but lust has made your brain pleasantly foggy. You run your hand along the length of him and he watches you with hooded eyes, the slight intake of breath his only tell. You move to undo his trousers and his fingers wrap around your wrist, pulling your hand away.

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,” he says. “I want to take my time with you.”

As much as you want him to finally, finally take you, the thought of him taking his time is also wildly appealing. His eyes remain hooded as he trails his fingertips down the curve of your jaw, across your lips, along the column of your throat and down to your collarbones. His touch is light and reverent, like he wants to know every part of you and commit it to memory. It’s entirely chaste, but still somehow erotic and you can’t hide the way that you tremble in the wake of his gentle caress.

His fingertips trail down your sternum, skimming along your ribcage, then down the sides of your waist to your hips. He pauses for a moment before reversing his course. He does this several times before your resolve begins to waver.

“Loki.” Your voice is a strained whisper.

He brushes his lips against your forehead, his fingertips still following that light and teasing path. You tilt your head up in the hope that he’ll kiss you; instead, his lips ghost against yours, pulling away before you can draw him deeper.

His light touches and barely there kisses are inspiring a specific sort of madness in you, one that feels particularly unbearable after three days of waiting. After another brief pass of your lips, it’s enough to override your remaining shred of pride and self-control.

“Kiss me,” you breathe.

The flash of a wicked smile makes you wonder if this was merely another ploy to make you admit to wanting him, but the thought is fleeting and dissipates completely when he finally brings his lips to yours.

This is different from the other times he’s kissed you–it’s deeper, more searching, hungry. You wind your arms around his neck, twining your fingers in his hair and pressing yourself against him. His hands slide along your hips to the buttons at the back of your dress, nimbly slipping them free, trailing his fingertips down your spine as he goes. You release your hold on his hair to help him pull your dress off, leaving it to pool on the floor at your feet. Your hands slide to his tunic, tugging insistently at the fabric until he obliges you and breaks away long enough to pull it up and over his head. Your shift and undergarments are next to go, joining the other clothes on the floor in quick succession.

He pulls you back to him and the heat of his bare chest pressing against yours feels so good that you almost don’t notice that he’s walking you backwards toward the bed until you feel the mattress brush against the backs of your legs.

“On the bed,” he says roughly. His voice is commanding and stern and it goes straight to your aching cunt.

You slide onto the bed, relishing the feel of silk against your bare skin, your eyes locked on Loki as he starts removing his trousers. He looks like something out of a figure drawing, all lean muscles and understated strength. Your eyes drop to his cock as he removes his trousers. He is achingly hard, the tip flushed. You can feel yourself tense in delicious anticipation of what he will feel like buried to the hilt inside of you.

Your gaze trails back up to his face and you find that he is looking at you with the same sort of appraising, lustful look. His gaze roams over your breasts and down to your hips and back again before he finally meets your eyes.

“You look so pretty in my bed,” he says. “Even better than I imagined.”

“Were you not paying attention? I’ve been in your bed these past few nights,” you say.

“Not like this,” he says. “Not bare and waiting for me to fuck you into the mattress.”

You shiver, but you manage a sardonic smile. “To be clear, I wanted that last night and the two nights before. You simply chose to be a tease about it.”

“Trust me, darling,” he says, his gaze dark and hungry, “I’m about to make it up to you.”

You lick your lips and smirk. “Prove it to me, then.”

He allows himself one wicked grin before he crawls up the bed on top of you, looking as intent and hungry as a caged panther stalking its next meal.

You inhale sharply at the first brush of his bare skin against yours. He lowers himself on top of you, his cock resting hard and heavy against your stomach. You’re fairly certain you’ve never wanted him as much as you do right now. He leans in and kisses you deeply, his fingertips stroking along the curve of your jaw and the column of your throat before wandering lower to cup and caress your breasts.

You wrap your legs around his waist, arching against him and trying to angle your hips so that his cock rubs against you. His right hand trails down your body, pausing briefly at your hip to hold you in place.

“So eager, so slick,” he purrs. He kisses you again and you feel him take his cock in his hand and drag it in a slow circuit from your clit to your entrance and back again. You moan into his mouth and he chuckles. “It takes so little to soften that sharp tongue.”

You arch your back and press your breasts against his chest, your hands twining in his hair. He strokes his cock along you again, like he’s getting ready to fuck you properly and put an end to your aching need. You rock your hips forward, trying to encourage him.

But the moment you feel him smile against your mouth, you want to kick yourself. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

And indeed, he begins kissing a leisurely path down your neck mere seconds later.

“Loki,” you groan as he begins slowly easing his way down your body.

“I need to get you ready for me, darling,” he murmurs, sliding his tongue over the curve of your right breast.

“I’ve been ready for the last three d–”

You gasp as his teeth lightly graze your nipple, his tongue darting out to sweep over the sensitive skin before drawing it gently into his mouth and sucking as his hand cups your other breast, fingers gently rolling and pinching your nipple until it becomes pebbled and hard.

“I do so enjoy quieting that wicked tongue,” he murmurs.

You open your mouth to say something, but Loki is quicker, sucking your nipple back into his mouth, teasing it mercilessly with his teeth while his hand redoubles its efforts with your other breast. Your complaint fades away into a whimper that would be embarrassing if you had the capacity to care about anything beyond his mouth and hands. Your hands tangle in his hair, your hips rocking fruitlessly as you try to find friction that evades you as he lavishes attention on your breasts.

No amount of pleading seems to persuade him to go any faster, but eventually, he begins slowly kissing his way down your body, trailing his lips along your ribs, then down your stomach and to your hips. He looks up at you from in between your spread legs and you swear you can feel your arousal practically dripping out of you when he gives you that hungry smile.

He brings a single forefinger to the very top of your slit, his gaze locked on your face. Your breath hitches.

His finger skims but does not part your folds. It’s a soft, barely there touch that makes your aching cunt clench tightly around nothing. He takes his hand away and brings his face closer and for a moment, you think he’s finally going to give you some relief, but instead, he repeats that same feather light gesture with his lips, lightly pressing closed mouth kisses along the very edge of your slit.

He looks up at you, his eyes hooded and hazy with lust, though not so lazy that you think he’s lost any amount of control. He didn’t even really touch you, but you can still see a faint glint of moisture on his lips from how wet you are.

He licks his lips and your resolve breaks, abruptly and completely.

“Loki, please.”

He draws back slightly, his fingertips grazing your folds as he parts you gently, staring greedily at your exposed cunt.

“Look at you,” he breathes, his voice a low, dark purr. “Absolutely soaked and begging for me.”

You whimper.

“Such a pretty, needy cunt.” He licks his lips again and looks back up at you. “Shall I taste you, or do you want my fingers?”

Whatever shred of pride you still possess has long since vanished, your entire focus zeroing in on the throbbing ache between your legs. “Both,” you say, without a thought.

He raises an eyebrow, but there’s a spark of delight in his eyes. “Greedy girl. Do you think you deserve it? You’ve been awfully pert.”

“Loki, please,” you whimper. “I need you.”

“You need me?” he says, his lips curling into a teasing smirk. “Darling, you have me, I’m right here.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” you say.

“And what did you mean?” His voice is low, the warm exhale of his breath lightly brushing against your folds.

He’s played this game before, making you say exactly what it is that you want, no matter how filthy or indecent it may be. The prideful part of you isn’t fond of letting him win, but this is largely overshadowed by the desire that’s coiling like a snake in your belly and making you desperate.

You lick your lips. “I want you to put your mouth on me. I want to come for you.”

This particular turn of phrase seems to stir something in him–he gives you a wicked smile that is almost feral, his eyes darkening with lust. Slowly, he lowers his lips to just above your clit, pressing another chaste kiss against you, drawing forth another whimper from your lips.

“Say my name,” he breathes against your cunt.

“Loki, please.”

You can feel him smile just before the warm blade of his tongue presses forward, parting your folds in one long stroke.

You are so slick and sensitive and his mouth is so warm and perfect that for a moment, all you can do is moan as his tongue lightly brushes against your clit. He seems determined to continue things on his terms, working at a slow, leisurely pace that is enough to nudge you closer, but not quite enough to pull you over the edge. After a few minutes of just his tongue, he slides one finger inside of you, curling it so that it brushes ever so slightly against that soft, tender spot that can so easily unravel you. It’s not enough to make you see stars, but it’s enough to make your breath hitch and your hands tangle in his hair to pull him closer. He chuckles against you, but does not change his pace.

Just when you think you may start to go mad with wanting, a second finger joins the first, his fingers drawing sparks from where they graze against that spot inside you.

“Loki.”

His tongue flattens against your clit and his fingers curl just a little bit more.

You are panting, your heels digging into his back as he draws you closer to the starry oblivion that you’ve been thinking about all day. You are a mess of half whimpered pleas and breathy moans as he keeps you balanced on the edge, his fingers gradually curling more to rub that aching spot inside you as his tongue works your clit. The knot in your hips is impossibly tight, the heat in your belly smoldering. Distantly, you wonder how much more of this you can take.

He sucks your clit gently into his mouth as his fingers simultaneously hit that spot in just the right way and all at once, the heat and ache inside of you reaches its peak and breaks like a wave on the shore and you utterly unravel.

At first, you can’t even make a noise—all of your energy and focus is zeroed in on the way that your muscles are spasming and releasing and everything feels so good. But then that next wave pulls an obscene moan from deep in your chest and your fingers grip his hair so tightly that you think it might actually hurt, but he merely purrs against you as his tongue continues to stroke your clit.

You’re not sure how he manages to draw it out for so long, but it seems to last forever, every part of you fizzing like you’re filled with champagne and stardust. Eventually, the tingling pleasure of the aftershocks blurs into your second orgasm, stealing your breath and bending your body upwards like a bow pulled taut as you moan Loki’s name like a prayer.

He doesn’t stop, though–not until he draws a third one from you, making you cry out so loudly you almost expect half the palace to come running.

He finally lifts his head as you come down from your high, his lips and chin coated in the evidence of your arousal as he gives you a ravenous smile. “You taste so sweet when you come,” he says. “I could stay between your legs for days.”

Just the thought of that makes you shiver and his smile widens. You reach for him, arms trembling and you’re a little surprised when he obliges, crawling up your body and into your arms with little more than a pleased smirk. Your arms wind around him as he settles on top of you, his cock pressing enticingly against your stomach. He kisses you and you melt, your hands moving again to tangle in his hair.

“Please,” you breathe when he brings his lips to your earlobe, gently worrying it between his teeth, “don’t make me wait any longer. I need you so badly.”

His hand slides down your thigh, hitching your leg up over his hip. “You’ve had my mouth and my fingers and now you want my cock?” he says, pressing a kiss just behind your ear.

“Yes.” There’s no point in denying it, not when he’s felt how wet you are, not when he’s so close to finally taking you, not when you still want him so badly you ache.

“Hmm.” He shifts slightly so that his hips align with yours, dragging his cock along your sopping cunt until his full length is covered in your slickness. He frowns thoughtfully, like he’s genuinely weighing whether you want him, whether you’re ready, though that mischievous glint in his eye is a dead giveaway of his true intentions.

You decide to try flattery once more. “Please, Loki. I need you.”

You can feel him, hot and hard, poised at your entrance. When he doesn’t immediately push forward, you are not surprised to find him smirking down at you. And as much as you need him, as desperate as you feel, you can’t help but scowl at him.

“Must you always be an insufferable tease?” you say.

“I’m merely savoring the moment,” he says, though the spark in his eyes says otherwise.

You roll your eyes. “I’m sure.”

“There’s a lot to savor.” He presses his hips forward ever so slightly and you gasp as the tip of his cock slides into you. “That right there,” he says huskily. “That lovely little sigh.”

You try and thrust your hips forward, but he’s got you pinned against the mattress. “Loki,” you whine.

“Be good.” He creeps forward another inch and his eyes close, his breath hitching. “Norns, you’re tight.”

This gives you an idea and you intentionally clench your muscles around him. He’s not expecting that and he groans, his teasing expression yielding for a moment to a pure, unguarded pleasure. His eyes refocus and he grins at you. “Vixen,” he says.

“Stop teasing and fuck me properly,” you say.

“Ah, but you make such pretty sounds for me when I tease you,” he says, pressing forward another inch. A breathy whine escapes from your lungs before you can stop it and he indulges in a catlike grin. “Just like that.”

“Loki.”

“Yes, darling?” He says this with a smirk, like he still has the upper hand.

“Fuck me. Please.”

“Such filth coming out of that pretty mouth,” he says, his hips pressing forward another inch. You tense your muscles again and his groan is delicious. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” you say.

“Filthy girl.” But at last there’s a crack in his impeccable composure and he slides forward those last few inches.

Your head tips back and you moan as his hips finally press flush against you. You knew he was big, but you still weren’t entirely prepared for how full you would feel, how he seems to press against every sensitive part of your cunt. His fingers and mouth were incredible but his cock may very well send you to another plane of existence entirely.

You are so distracted by how good he feels that you’re almost taken aback when he begins to move. He feels so good when he’s seated fully inside of you, but when he’s moving —when he’s moving, it steals your breath away and sends sparks shooting all over your body, even at the slow teasing pace that he’s currently employing to try and drive you wild.

It’s so good. It’s so good and you don’t want it to end, but after so many days of teasing and the three orgasms he’s drawn from you tonight, you can feel your end quickly approaching, inevitable as thunder after lightning. You try to fight it off, wanting to make this last as long as possible.

“You’re holding back,” he says as you struggle to keep yourself on the edge. “I want to feel you come.”

“Don’t want it to end,” you manage to gasp.

To your surprise, he gives a low chuckle. “If you think I’ll be done fucking your exquisite cunt so soon, you are quite mistaken.” His eyes darken as he gives a particularly sensual thrust that makes you keen. “Now be a good girl and come on my cock.”

You try to hold back even so, but it’s no use: his words speak to some hungry, feral part of you and your orgasm overtakes you, sudden and swift as a riptide pulling you under. His pace never falters, his hips continuing to move in steady, powerful thrusts as you shudder around him. You ache for him even as he fills you, his cock rubbing against all the sensitive places deep inside you and drawing out a raw, primal pleasure that makes you cling to him, your fingernails painting long scratches down his back.

You expect your orgasm to drive him quickly to his own end, despite his assertion otherwise. His eyes flutter shut when you come and he allows himself a soft groan, but his pace remains steady and even as he fucks you through your orgasm. As you tremble through the aftershocks, he offers you a rather wicked grin and leans in to kiss you.

“You’re going to do that again for me,” he says against your lips. His husky voice alone is enough to make you shiver.

“Do you think you can manage it, your highness?” The effect of this retort is immediately ruined by the obscene moan that falls unbidden from your lips as he pulls your right leg up higher and presses even deeper inside of you, his hand sliding between your bodies to find your clit.

“Your mouth says one thing, but your cunt—“ He punctuates this with a rough thrust that makes you keen, “—says something else entirely. I can feel you fluttering around me.”

You whimper as his too clever fingers stroke your sensitive clit and slow, deep thrusts drive you closer and closer to the edge.

“Yes,” he breathes, his gaze intent on your face. “Give into it. Let me feel you.”

Your back arches and your nails dig into his shoulders. It’s only a matter of time, a few more thrusts. His eyes glitter like he knows this. His fingers press against your clit.

“Come for me,” he says and you do without hesitation, careening headfirst into another starry euphoria. Your cries mingle with a low groan from him, but his pace never falters as you tremble around the thick girth of his cock.

His cool facade is starting to falter, if the desperate way that he kisses you is any indication. His fingers leave your clit so he can shift his position above you, putting his weight on his elbows to drive himself even deeper inside of you. His pace is still slow and steady, but there’s a slight wildness in his movements that makes you arch up into him. His hands roam your body, gripping your hips, kneading and squeezing your breasts. His mouth covers yours, his teeth nipping at your lower lip, his tongue sliding in and out of your mouth in the same rhythm as his cock sliding in and out of your cunt. He overwhelms your senses in the best way possible and all you can do is wrap yourself around him and meet the maddening rock of his hips with your own.

He pulls back slightly, resting his forehead against yours. His eyes are slightly unfocused in a way that makes you ache because you immediately know he’s close–and the fact that he’s close because of you is incredibly arousing.

“I’m going to come inside you,” he says, his voice rough. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” you breathe, tensing around him.

“You’re going to come with me,” he says, and despite the wanting in his voice and the desperate hunger in his eyes, his tone is still commanding and sure in a way that makes you shiver in anticipation.

And despite the fact that he’s already made you come so many times already, you know that he’s right.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” he says, somehow managing another one of those wicked grins that goes straight to your cunt. “You’re going to come on my cock like a good girl while I spill myself in your tight, wet cunt.”

“Yes.” Your brain works in fits and starts now as he takes you higher and higher. Yes. Yes. More. Please. More. Please. Yes…

He grinds his hips into you, his pubic bone pressing against your clit in a way that makes you see stars.

“Come with me.”

Bliss overtakes you and you come hard, only this time, it’s different because this time Loki is cursing and moaning with you and shuddering through his own orgasm and that alone seems to extend yours as he spills himself deep inside you. His thrusts become erratic and slow until he finally stills, pressing his face into the crook of your neck.

The weight of him is comforting and solid, anchoring you as you slowly regain control of your senses. You can’t help but feel a small flash of pride over the way his breath is still a little ragged against your neck, how he stays pressed inside you, how you can feel his heart pounding hard.

After a few minutes, he lifts his head. You expect him to set about the business of cleaning up, but instead, he kisses you. It’s surprisingly tender and slow, especially for a tryst that you fully expect he’ll end tonight. Now that he’s had you, surely there are others who will occupy his attention.

The thought makes you a little sad, though you don’t like admitting it.

He pulls back slightly after a moment. “I believe I’ve properly atoned for teasing you these last few days,” he says with a lazy smirk.

You raise an eyebrow. “There was an awful lot of teasing, your highness.”

He grins. “I suppose I’ll have to try harder tomorrow.”

It’s probably not a good idea to continue this, but it’s more difficult to keep yourself from smiling as he kisses you again.

#fic: as the clock strikes midnight #loki smut #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagine #loki imagines #loki laufeyson #loki odinson

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cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

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Hi your Loki fic is a banger 10000/10 I’m so excited for the next chapter !!

Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying it. 😁

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cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

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Part VI

As the Clock Strikes Midnight Masterlist | AO3 Pairing: Loki/Reader Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Smut, Porn with Plot (but more porn than plot), oral sex, sex, teasing, orgasm delay. I have honestly lost track of the amount of canon I’m ignoring, so to be super succinct: everyone lives, no one dies, Asgard has stupid rules. There’s also a lot of sex starting in chapter 3.

Also: I did my best with warnings, but if you think I missed one, please send me an ask so I can add it!

Part VI *

You decide that you’re going to approach things differently tonight.

These encounters have been physically satisfying. Even if he hasn’t fucked you properly yet, he has made you come several times. It’s hard to find a fault with that.

But there’s also this: he has seen you naked. He has touched you, tasted you, made you come...and you have yet to do any of the same to him.

And you want to. A lot.

You spend much of the day mulling over the best way to express this. While your arrangement has blurred if not obliterated some of the lines that separate you, it’s not to the point where you feel you can make such a request without devoting some thought to it ahead of time. How do you explain to a prince that you want to touch him in such an intimate way? It’s not as though there’s an established protocol for this…though that would be something, indeed.

“What’re you smiling about?” asks Grete as she passes you a basket of peas that need shelling.

You shake your head and bite the inside of your cheek, hoping your embarrassment doesn’t show. “Nothing,” you say. “It’s just a pleasant day.”

“A pleasant day,” she says, giving the word far too much emphasis to not sound like the innuendo that it is. “Reckon that’s got anything to do with your midnight walks?”

You roll your eyes and shake your head again. “Your imagination is far too fanciful, Grete.”

The conversion ends with a wink and an all too knowing grin from Grete--you’ve worked together long enough that she knows she’s not likely to get anything else out of you...and for that, you’re grateful. The fewer questions you have to answer, the better.

Though you’d never tell her about your dilemma, there’s part of you that wishes you could--Grete was wise in the ways of romance and would probably know exactly what to say and how to say it. Left to your own devices, you are much less certain.

You’re still undecided when you arrive in his chambers later that night--in fact, the thought has you so preoccupied that you’re a little later than you intended.

“You’re late,” he says as soon as the door shuts behind you.

“You said after dark,” you say, raising your eyebrows as he takes your hand and leads you to the bedroom. “Is it not after dark?”

There’s a slight glint in his eyes that makes you think he’s rather amused. “You’re dreadfully impertinent.”

“You wouldn’t keep inviting me back if you didn’t find that quality appealing,” you say with perhaps more confidence than is warranted.

He stops in front of the bed and raises your hand to his lips, brushing a light kiss against your knuckles. “I ought to punish you for your cheek,” he says, raising an eyebrow, “but I rather think you’d enjoy that too much.”

You give him a dry, sardonic look, pretending as though his words haven’t conjured a dull ache between your legs as you imagine what a punishment from him might entail. “Like I said, I think you find that quality more appealing than not.”

He draws you close to him, his hips pressing against yours so you can feel the hard length already straining at his trousers. “Shall I show you how appealing I find you?” he asks, his voice a low, hoarse purr. “Would you like that?”

The slickness between your thighs is the most straightforward answer to his question, but somewhere in that haze of lust, you remember the dilemma that you’d been wrestling with for most of the day...and you realize that your opportunity to voice that desire is slipping away the longer he looks at you like that.

You clear your throat. “Yes, but--”

Words fail you abruptly and completely and you want to kick yourself for being so foolish, for thinking you were capable of saying these things aloud.

“But…?” he says after a moment of silence from you.

“It’s just--” You clear your throat again, like this would somehow also clear your mind. You are not surprised to find that this doesn’t really work. “I--I want…” The words stutter in your throat again and you find yourself wondering if you should have just kept your mouth shut altogether. What right do you have to ask such things of a prince?

There’s a momentary softness in his gaze as he reaches up to trace the curve of your jaw. “What do you want, darling?” he asks and you can’t help but feel a little braver

“I--” You wet your lips. “I--I want to touch you.”

The softness in his gaze yields immediately and completely to a dark lust that makes you ache. “Do you?” he says, his voice dropping low and sounding like sin.

“Yes.”

He contemplates this for a moment, slowly running his thumb along your lower lip. You catch his thumb between your lips, running your tongue over it and sucking gently. He watches you, transfixed, a slight smile curling at his lips and you wonder if you’ve finally succeeded in surprising him.

You release his thumb slowly, suggestively. “Please,” you say.

The hunger in his eyes makes you ache. “I suppose I can allow that,” he says with a slow smile. His large hands cover yours and he guides them to the fastenings of his surcoat.

The surcoat is straightforward and easily slipped from his shoulders, but his tunic is a little more difficult because he’s so much taller than you. After a moment of struggling, he takes pity on you and pulls the garment up and over his head, fabric yielding to bare skin. You find yourself staring at him, lips slightly parted.

Marble statues are what come to mind, but marble seems far too cold to be an accurate comparison, especially not with the way his gaze is smoldering into you. His chest is all muscle and taut flesh, though not in an unappealing or overpowered way.

Hesitantly, you reach out and place your palm flat against his chest, just above his heart. You trail your hand over his chest, your fingers following the gentle curve and dip of his muscles, tracing the lines between his abdominals and the sharp v that curves up both hip bones and disappears beneath the waist of his trousers. You tilt your head up to capture his lips in a kiss and he practically devours you, his tongue delving into your mouth, his hands cradling your head. You get the sense that he’s trying to hold back and barely succeeding and that pleases you immensely.

You pull away from his lips and turn your attention to his neck. You taste and tease all along the column of his throat until you find a place along his collarbone that makes his breath hitch. You pay special attention to this spot, sucking and nipping at it while your hands map the smooth expanse of his chest and back. You feel him shiver when you lightly rake your fingernails up his back, his cock pressing insistently against your belly.

You press lightly on his shoulders and he takes the hint, stepping back to the bed and lying down, his eyes never leaving yours. You kneel next to him on the bed, your hands sliding over his chest and then down to his trousers.

Despite your trembling hands, you manage to undo his trousers, sucking in a deep breath as his cock springs free, large, thick, and flushed. Achingly hard. You barely suppress a shiver as you think about how he’ll feel inside of you.

He lifts his hips so you can pull his trousers off and you do, tossing them to the floor. You pause for a moment, your gaze raking over his form. He still looks relatively composed, all things considered, but his breathing is a little heavier and the lust in his eyes is unmistakable. The sight of him laid out and bare before you is beyond enticing and you allow yourself to look your fill.

Eventually, the desire to kiss and touch him outweighs your other senses. You lie down next to him, turning so that you’re propped up on your side. You gently run your fingertips from his temple to his jaw, cupping your hand against his cheek when he leans into your touch

“You intend to make me beg for you,” he says, his gaze scarcely leaving your lips.

You smile slightly. “Perhaps.” You lean in, brushing your lips gently against his and pulling back the moment he tries to deepen the kiss. “You were awfully cruel to me last night. And the night before.”

“As I recall, you rather enjoyed both outcomes,” he says.

“And you will, too,” you say.

His grin is slow and he reaches for you. “You are wicked.”

You bat his hands away and lower yourself to his neck. “Patience, your highness,” you say as you press your lips against his pulse point.

The title has the intended effect: he lets out a low, frustrated groan.

Your path down his chest is a leisurely one, partly because you’re enjoying it and partly because you want to make him squirm. Your lips and tongue map the warm expanse of his skin, memorizing the taste and feel of him, the sound he makes when you scrape your teeth against the flat of his nipple or suck a mark just beneath his collarbone. Something roughly akin to a whimper escapes his lips when you nibble at his hip bone and you press your pleased smile against his skin before you do it again (and again).

But finally, you reach a point when you can go no lower and so you turn your attention to his cock.

You almost miss the way he sighs when you finally take him in your hand, so distracted are you by the warm, silky heft of him and how the tips of your fingers don’t quite touch when you wrap your hand around him. You stroke him once, your fingers squeezing gently as you feel him surge in your hand, his hips lifting slightly. You rub your thumb on the underside of the tip and he sucks in a deep breath.

You look up at him through lowered lashes and make sure that he’s watching when you let your lips brush lightly against the tip of his cock, just enough to gather the salty bead of moisture on your lips. You look up at him again and slowly and intentionally lick your lips.

He swears and you hold back a smile as you lean in again and brush another feather light kiss against the tip of his cock.

You continue like this for a little while, pressing soft, almost chaste kisses against the tip of his cock, gently squeezing his shaft every so often. He communicates mostly in gasps and groans, his hand eventually going to your hair, trying to encourage you to give him what he wants.

You want to hear him ask for it, though.

He holds out for longer than you expect, but eventually you hear it: “Please."

You look up at him, making your eyes wide and pushing your lips into a slight pout. “Did you want something, your highness?”

He looks rather pleasingly disheveled--there’s a flush to his pale cheeks, a dark hunger in his gaze, and his hair is slightly mussed. “You know what I want,” he says, his voice rough with wanting. “I’m not accustomed to begging.”

His words make you shiver, but you manage to maintain your innocent expression, stroking his cock once for good measure. “You need only ask.”

“Filthy girl,” he says, but you can tell he’s pleased. “Put that wicked tongue to better use.”

You raise an eyebrow and look up at him. After a moment, he relents. “Please.”

You decide that this is sufficient. You lightly brush your lips against him and then slowly take him into your mouth.

The sound he makes as your tongue finally touches his cock is deeply gratifying and you can feel the dull ache between your thighs intensify. You fall into a slow rhythm, swirling your tongue around the tip before pushing your head forward to take more of him, your hand squeezing and stroking what doesn’t fit in your mouth.

You work him up slowly, hollowing your cheeks and sucking until you find the point that makes him groan and tangle his hand into your hair. He tries to encourage you to go faster, gently tugging on your hair as his hips thrust up, muttering absolute filth, but you are relentlessly slow and deliberate. Sometimes you pause and let your tongue work him over a bit, just so you can listen to the desperate, keening sound he makes in the back of his throat.

You don’t need him to tell you he’s close: it’s obvious from the way his hand grips your hair, how his groans suddenly turn into wordless gasps, how his hips stutter slightly in their rhythm.

The sound he makes when he comes is one you will not soon forget: a low, satisfied groan that makes your aching heat tense in response. His release is sweet and hard won on your tongue and you swallow it down greedily as you lick him clean.

When he’s finally spent, you carefully ease his cock from your mouth, placing a gentle kiss on the tip before you sit up. He’s sprawled on the bed, panting and you feel rather pleased with yourself for reducing him to this state. He reaches for you and you lean over him and allow him to capture your lips in a slow kiss.

His kiss is searching, breath-stealing. His hands cup your cheeks and stroke the column of your throat, making you shiver against him. You think he’s going to pull away, but instead, he rolls you over, pinning you beneath him as he pulls your skirts up and your undergarments off.

He slips his hand between your thighs and chuckles, the sound seeming to vibrate against your very core. “Oh, you enjoyed that,” he purrs as his fingers slide along your slick folds.

You’re only able to offer a faint whimper in return, your hips thrusting forward as he pointedly avoids your clit, his smile practically vulpine.

“You enjoyed being on your knees and having me at your mercy with those pretty lips and wicked tongue wrapped around my cock.” It’s not exactly phrased as a question, but he still waits for an answer, his forefinger teasing your entrance.

Your first instinct is to lie or to at least make him work for the truth, but that message doesn’t quite make it to your traitorous lips. “Yes,” you breathe out, your hips thrusting forward again

His eyes darken slightly. “Did you want to touch yourself?”

Once again, your lips betray you. “Yes.”

He sinks one, then two of those long and clever fingers into you while his free hand guides your hand between your legs, pressing your fingers against your clit. Under normal circumstances, you might feel a little shy and awkward, but the steady throb of your swollen clit mutes the edges of your embarrassment.

“Show me,” he says and that silky stern authority in his voice is enough to make you tense around his slowly thrusting fingers.

Your lips part slightly as your fingers graze your clit. You knew you were wet, but you didn’t realize the full extent of it. You’re sensitive and you find that you have to rub yourself gently and indirectly through the hood of your clit. Your cunt tenses and Loki curls his long fingers just so.

Oh.

He’s rubbing a particular soft spot inside you that makes you arch against the mattress, a familiar knot tightening in your hips. Combined with your own fingers on your clit and Loki’s hungry gaze and filthy whispers, you know you won’t last long.

“I can feel how close you are,” he murmurs. “Your greedy cunt is gripping my fingers so tightly.” He lowers his voice and scrapes his teeth against your earlobe. “I can’t wait to see how well you take my cock.

You tighten again around his fingers and he notices, his hand picking up the pace to match the frantic movement of your fingers.

“Are you going to come for me, pretty girl?” Loki purrs in your ear. You keen something that sounds vaguely like an affirmative and his fingers curl again, pressing hard on that spot inside of you. Your back arches, like you’re trying to get closer to that blissful height that is so close you can almost taste it and then, quite suddenly, you are there and you are coming undone.

“Oh yes,” Loki breathes as he watches you, gaze rapt as his fingers thrust into you in time with the shuddering aftershocks. “That’s perfect, darling, you’re so good.”

His words and hungry eyes are enough to make you want to come again. And evidently he has the same idea because with no more warning than a heated look and a wicked grin, he slips between your legs, removing his fingers to press his mouth against you in a long and slow kiss, licking you from the still fluttering entrance to your cunt all the way up to your clit. You’re sensitive from your orgasm, but he licks your clit so slowly and gently that it’s not long before you’re tangling your hands in his hair and trying to urge him closer, faster, more. He sucks your clit into his mouth as he slides his fingers back into you and soon enough he’s bracing his free arm against your hips to keep you still as he works you over.

It’s the sight of him naked with his face between your legs that sends you over the edge this time. Your hands slip from his hair to grip the bedclothes beneath you as you cry out, your cunt pulsing in time with his tongue and fingers.

He seems determined to draw every last shudder from you, keeping his mouth between your legs until you sigh with a satisfied whimper. He presses a few gentle kisses against your hip bones and lower belly before resting his head against your stomach. Your hand goes almost automatically to cradle his head, your fingers twining through his hair. You both lie there catching your breaths, lost in the heady afterglow of what you’ve just done. It’s comfortable, a sleepy intimacy that you rather like.

Loki lifts his head after a moment and repositions himself next to you, cupping his hand against your jaw and pulling you into a sweet kiss that tastes like sex and desire. He pulls back after a moment.

“Come back tomorrow after dark,” he says.

You can’t help but raise an eyebrow. “And what do you intend to do tomorrow?”

A slight smile plays at his lips. “I intend to thoroughly bed you.”

Your eyebrow remains raised. “And how exactly do you define thoroughly bedded?”

His lips curl into a smirk and his gaze drops down to your lips for just a moment before trailing back up to your eyes. “My cock buried in your sweet cunt.”

You barely manage to hold back a shiver. “No more teasing?”

“Oh, there will be some teasing,” he says, “but it will end with me buried inside of you.”

“Is that a promise?”

He presses a sweet, soft kiss against your lips as the clock strikes midnight. “You have my word.”

#fic: as the clock strikes midnight #loki smut #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagines #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki imagine

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cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

Text

Part V

As the Clock Strikes Midnight Masterlist | AO3 Pairing: Loki/Reader Rating: Explicit

Also: I did my best with warnings, but if you think I missed one, please send me an ask so I can add it!

Part V

It’s a little easier, going to him a second time. Sort of. You don’t jump at quite as many shadows and though your heart pounds hard in your chest, it feels a little more bearable than the previous night. His rooms are still beautiful and you still feel a bit out of place, but the feeling isn’t quite as bad as it was before. You at least know to expect it the second time.

This time, he takes you by the hand and leads you straight to the bedroom. His bed is a massive, luxurious thing, all draped in silk and satin and more pillows than seems practical. Desire and anticipation wage a silent war inside you, sending goosebumps running up and down your spine.

He stops at the foot of the bed and raises your hand to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against your knuckles.

“You were lovely last night,” he says, “but I have one complaint.”

You raise an eyebrow.

He turns your hand and kisses the tender skin on the inside of your wrist, his eyes never leaving yours. “I did not hear you say my name,” he says.

You press your lips together. Normally, you would have no cause to use his first name, not unless it was immediately preceded by his title.

“I didn’t think it would be proper,” you say finally.

He raises an eyebrow. “Less proper than you finding your release on my fingers?”

You roll your eyes, even as your cheeks burn. “You know what I meant.”

“And you know what I want.” His voice takes on a depth that makes you shiver.

You lick your lips, hesitating.

“Say it,” he says.

You take a deep breath. “L-Loki.”

You feel as though Fritjof is about to barge in and scold you, but the slow smile that Loki gives you blunts the edge of your anxiety slightly. He closes the distance between the two of you, lowering his head to the spot where your neck meets your shoulder, his lips warm and insistent against your skin. “Again,” he murmurs.

“Loki,” you breathe, shivering as his teeth scrape lightly against your skin. Your fingers twine into the soft, silky strands of his hair.

“I want to hear more of that tonight,” he says, his fingers alighting on the buttons that secure your dress.

“You’ll have to earn it, then,” you say.

He chuckles, the sound vibrating pleasantly in the hollow of your collarbone as he unbuttons your dress. “Careful, love. I might make you pay for your cheek.”

“Would you really deny yourself the pleasure of my release?” you say, trying to make your voice as throaty and seductive as possible.

He chuckles. “I wouldn’t deny either one of us that pleasure,” His lips trail up your throat to the lobe of your ear as he pulls your dress off your arms, “but I might make you beg me for it.” He punctuates this statement by catching your earlobe between his teeth and you shudder.

Seized by a fit of boldness, you slide your hand to palm the hard length already straining at the confines of his trousers. “Two can play that game, you know.”

He breathes out a half groan, half laugh as he pushes your dress over your hips and lets it fall to the floor, leaving you in nothing but your thin shift. He grabs both your wrists, pinning your arms between your bodies.

“Have you forgotten already how you pleaded with me last night?” he murmurs. “A few strokes of my fingers and you were a trembling mess.”

He kisses you and walks you slowly backwards, easing you down onto the bed, his large body covering you fully. You try and wrap your legs around his waist, to fit your hips with his, but he pulls away from you, drawing up so that he sits back on his knees. The teasing smirk he gives you quickly gives way to a dark-eyed hunger as he takes in your form: the thin cotton shift clinging to every enticing curve of your body, you sprawled in his bed, hair mussed and lips parted.

You want to say something smart and sarcastic, but you find that being the subject of his gaze--the pure lust and hunger of it--produces nothing but a pleasant static in your brain and a smoldering ache between your thighs.

He seems to notice your silence because a rather smug smile stretches across his lips. “I rather like you when you’re speechless.”

You manage to scoff fairly convincingly, though he doesn’t seem particularly moved. “I’m hardly speechless.”

He raises one elegant eyebrow, his fingers wrapping around your ankle. “No?” He presses a soft kiss against the tender skin just next to the tendon of your heel before dragging his lips a single inch higher. “You’re awfully quiet for someone who is not speechless,” he observes.

You swallow as he brings his lips a little higher. He hasn’t even begun to touch you and you’re already trembling, desire coursing through your body like lightning through the night sky.

“I’m thinking,” you say. It’s a poor excuse and you can feel him smirk.

“And pray tell, what subject is so demanding of your attention?” he asks before licking a long stripe along your calf and drawing a sigh from your lips. “Perhaps you’re thinking of my hands on your body as they were last night,” he muses when you don’t immediately reply. He waits a beat and then: “Or perhaps my tongue bringing you to ecstasy.”

His lips have reached the soft skin of your inner thigh and the anticipation is making your body hum. His tongue and teeth have become more involved as well, which is not making your current predicament any easier. You bite your lower lip hard.

He lowers his voice to a whisper that is positively sinful as he hikes the skirt of your shift up around your waist. “Or perhaps you’re thinking of my cock inside you, hard and unyielding in your dripping quim.”

You can’t help it: you whimper and a breathy Please falls from your lips.

His hands slide up to your hips to tug your undergarments away. “My wicked, filthy girl,” he says, though the desire in his voice and the lust in his eyes makes it sound like praise.

You expect him to continue his path up your thighs to the pulsing need between your legs, but instead, he sits up and takes hold of your opposite ankle and begins the entire process again with your other leg, inching upwards at a glacial pace. A frustrated whimper falls from your lips as you fruitlessly roll your hips upward, seeking relief that isn’t there.

“Did you want something?” he asks, looking up at you with a smile that looks like sin.

You huff, trying to ignore the way your muscles are clenching around nothing. “Do you genuinely require further instruction? I thought you were supposed to be clever.”

It’s impertinent, borderline rude, but the smile he gives you is indulgent, maybe a little fond, even as he raises an eyebrow. “That’s rather bold of you,” he says, pressing a kiss against your calf.

Your eyes narrow. “You know exactly what I want and you’re feigning ignorance.”

“That’s quite interesting because you--” He kisses a little farther up your calf. “--know exactly what I want.” Decadent, sinfully slow kisses trail up to the bend of your knee. “In fact, I’ve told you exactly what I want and yet I remain unsatisfied.”

Truthfully, he has you so flustered that you’ve nearly forgotten his request to hear more of his name tonight. You’re hardly about to admit that to him, though--it would just fuel his ego, no doubt.

“You were awfully smug about that request, your highness.” You try and emphasize his title, adding a little depth to your own voice.

He chuckles. “A valiant effort, but you know that’s not what I want to hear.” His eyes glitter. “Not tonight anyway.”

You can’t help but scowl a little and he laughs again, lowering his head back to your inner thigh.

“Are you always so terribly conceited?” you ask, barely repressing a shudder as he scrapes his teeth along your skin.

“I think you’ll find it’s part of my appeal.”

You snort; he retaliates with a long, sensuous swipe of his tongue along the inside of your thigh and you barely hide the way your breath stutters in your throat.

“Are you always so needlessly hard-headed?” he asks. “Seeking to deprive yourself of something that you so desperately need?”

“And what do you know of my needs?”

Without warning, his lips find the tender skin in the crease where your hip and your thigh join, the heat of his breath fanning across your dripping sex. His lips are soft as his tongue creeps out to stroke one wicked line against your skin.

“A fair bit, I imagine.” The husky depth of his voice feels especially intimate now that he’s so close to where you need him.

Another slow, seductive kiss. This time, a soft whine slips past your lips. You feel him smile against you.

“You want me to touch you,” he murmurs and it’s not a question but a statement of fact. “I can feel you trembling.” Another soft kiss; your eyes flutter shut as your hands grip the silk bedclothes beneath you.

He moves slightly, gently nuzzling the tip of his nose just above the top of your slit. He exhales and his breath is so warm against you that it makes you ache.

“Say it,” he murmurs.

Your self-control is already so frayed and having him in between your legs like this is just too much. The words fall from your lips before you can convince yourself otherwise: “Loki, please.”

“Good girl.” His voice is somewhere in between a purr and a growl, but you don’t have all that much time to consider it because he’s pressing his mouth between your legs.

He has your hips pinned to the mattress with a strong forearm and it’s a good thing he does because you can’t help but writhe under him when his tongue first strokes your clit. The heat of his mouth pressing against the heat of you is exquisite and at first all you can do is gasp and try to press yourself closer.

You have the presence of mind to note that it feels rather unfair that he should already know your body so well. This is the first time he’s touched you like this, the third time he’s been between your legs if you count the brief encounter in the library, and yet he moves with the surety and skill of someone who has done this thousands of times before. He somehow knows that the tip of his tongue drawing slow, purposeful circles on your clit will make you breathless, your hips rolling against his mouth. He similarly seems to know that sucking your clit between his lips will make you whine his name and that the well timed addition of his curled forefinger into your slick channel will render you speechless and then begging for your release.

Loki was not so easily persuaded, though.

Your orgasm is curling low in your hips and you’re nearing that blissful edge when he pulls away.

“What are you doing?” You are surprised you remember how to form words.

His hands are at your waist, tugging your shift up and over your head, his gaze dropping immediately to your breasts. “It occurred to me I haven’t tended to these properly.”

You’re panting and confused. “I rather think there are other priorities that require your more immediate attention.”

He cups your breasts in his hands, thumbs brushing over your nipples as you arch into his touch. “All in due course.”

You manage a scowl. “I was about to come.”

He looks up with a wicked smile as he lowers his mouth to your right breast. “And you will, darling...when it pleases me.” He pauses long enough to trace a lazy circle around your nipple with the tip of his tongue, causing your eyes to roll into the back of your head. “You were awfully impertinent earlier,” he muses before gently taking your breast in his mouth. ”I think you’ve earned a bit of a delay.”

You whimper, your hand sliding up to tangle in his hair. “Loki, please.”

“I do love hearing you say my name like that,” he says, his voice rough with wanting. “Perhaps I might be persuaded.”

There’s part of you that still doesn’t want to fuel his ego, but it is easily drowned out by the throbbing, unsatisfied need that still sits low in the cradle of your hips, your inner muscles aching as they clench around nothing, desperately seeking relief. He keeps your hips pinned to the mattress with his body, easily keeping you from rocking against him and seeking relief on your own terms.

You moan his name, keening when he sucks a small mark into the side of your breast, soothing it with his tongue before giving you a matching one on the other side. It’s rather crude, but the thought of him claiming you in this way--marking you as his--only increases the molten ache in your hips. Your pleas turn a little more desperate, your need for him and your need to come blurring together into a murmured chorus of please, Loki, please, please, I need you, Loki, please.

Eventually, this seems to sway him (or perhaps he decides you’ve suffered enough) and his lips begin trailing down your ribs and stomach, lingering to nibble at your hip bone.

“So good for me,” he murmurs, pressing kisses down to the lowest part of your belly.

“Loki, please,” you whine, spreading your legs.

He hooks one of your legs over his shoulder, again gently nuzzling the skin at just the top of your slit, inhaling deeply. “So good, so sweet.” He presses a soft, sweet kiss against you, not enough to ease the throbbing ache, but enough to feel the soft, hot exhalation of his breath.

“Loki.”

This time, he parts you with one languorous swipe of his tongue and you cry out in relief, your fingers finding his hair. His tongue is hot velvet rubbing against your clit, simultaneously soothing and stoking the fire that is burning within you.

He’s going so much slower this time and you think that must be what you need because it feels so good, even as your body is crying out for him to go faster.

One long and clever finger slides inside you, joined shortly by a second. He curls them slightly, finding that soft, sensitive place inside you that makes you see stars.

He’s taking his time, but you can feel your orgasm building slowly back up. Your body is coiled tight like a spring, poised to snap.

“Please.”

He strokes the flat of his tongue against your clit once, twice and then you shatter.

You come hard, the force of your orgasm stealing your voice and blurring the edges of your vision with a white hot euphoria. When you do finally make a sound, it’s a low, guttural scream that starts low in your chest. It’s practically animalistic, but you don’t have the wherewithal to really be embarrassed. Your muscles spasm around his slowly thrusting fingers as your fingers grip his hair just as hard.

It seems to last forever and he keeps his mouth on you, gently stroking and kissing your clit. It’s only after a moment or so that you realize that he’s trying to coax another one out of you, followed swiftly by the realization that it’s going to work. You come a second time, his name falling from your lips like a benediction and a plea. The third follows almost immediately after, catching you off guard and robbing you of your breath.

He gently soothes you down from your high before releasing you with a lazy lick and you lie there panting, bare and utterly boneless. You’re filled with a possessive satisfaction when you see how his mouth and chin gleam with your arousal. You taste yourself as he kisses you and desire flickers in your belly. There is a low, empty ache in your hips that only he can soothe. You reach for the fastenings on his tunic as he kisses you--he grabs your wrists and pins them above your head. You stare up at him, wide-eyed and trembling in anticipation.

He presses a sweet, suspiciously chaste kiss upon your lips. “Come back tomorrow night,” he says, his eyes glittering with wicked delight.

Stars above, you may actually kill him.

#fic: as the clock strikes midnight #loki smut #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagines #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki imagine

24 notes · View notes

cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

Text

Part IV

As the Clock Strikes Midnight Masterlist | AO3 Pairing: Loki/Reader Rating: Explicit

Also: I did my best with warnings, but if you think I missed one, please send me an ask so I can add it!

Part IV

In the light of morning, this all looks like a very bad idea. You are a servant; he is a prince. There is no future with him, certainly, and while he seems to be infatuated with you at present, there’s no telling how long that particular whim will last. You have no guarantee that he has your best interests in mind. Sneaking around after dark was risky enough in itself when you were just going to the library to read--sneaking to a prince’s bedchamber for activities that most would consider indecent is a level of recklessness that you’ve never even come close to before. If Fritjof finds out about this, you are fairly certain you’ll end up in the dungeons.

But at the same time...the idea is appealing in a way that makes the risk seem worth it. Loki is handsome and clever and you like how his wit is as sharp as your own. You like how he makes you feel. You’d had some relationships before--a short-lived tryst with a handsome stablehand, a brief infatuation with a valet, a whirlwind romance with a merchant--but none of them had ever been quite like this. You hadn’t wanted them like you want Loki...and the thought of Loki wanting you is far more intoxicating than it has any right to be.

You should not go. You want to go. You shouldn’t. You want to. You go back and forth with yourself on this for most of the day, to the point that Anja scolds you for your inattentiveness.

There’s part of you, though, that knows all along what your choice will be.

And so, against every shred of good judgment you possess, you find yourself walking to Loki’s chambers later that evening. It’s a nerve-wracking walk and you find yourself jumping at every shadow, your heart nearly leaping out of your chest with every unexpected noise.

He opens the door before you can knock, almost like he can sense how fragile this is, how close you are to turning around and running back to your room, how wildly your heart is beating in your chest.

You’ve never been in any of the royal chambers before and you’re surprised by how immediately out of place you feel. His rooms are beautifully appointed and it only makes you more aware of the plainness of your work dress, reinforcing the fact that you’re not supposed to be here. You smooth your hands awkwardly against the fabric of your skirts as the door clicks shut behind you.

“Are you nervous?”

His voice startles you slightly, though you certainly haven’t forgotten his presence. You turn to face him, your chin jutting out defiantly.

“I am no maiden, if that’s what you’re asking,” you say.

He laughs quietly. “I wasn’t, but I shall take that under advisement.”

Your cheeks burn--you really need to think more carefully before you speak. It’s just that you’re so wildly out of your element right now that you don’t really know how to act, especially not with Loki looking like he means to undress you with his gaze. At least the library is familiar and dim enough to blunt the wrongness of what you’re doing. These beautiful rooms make you feel exposed and awkward.

You square your shoulders and stare him down as he approaches, trying to ignore the obvious smirk pulling at his lips.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he says softly, stopping mere inches in front of you. He reaches up, fingers tracing the line of your jaw. “Are you nervous?”

You swallow and try to keep your face expressionless, even though he can surely feel your heart pounding when his thumb grazes your pulse point. “I suppose I don’t really know what to expect,” you say.

He gives you a rather devilish grin and heat flares between your legs. “I rather think you’ll enjoy it,” he says, taking both of your hands in his as he leads you over to the couch in a little sitting area. “In fact, I intend to make sure of it.”

“Once again, your confidence is inspiring,” you say, though your bravado is mostly to hide your nerves.

He chuckles as he sits down, pulling you into his lap so that you straddle his hips, your skirts riding up to the middle of your thighs. “I am looking forward to quieting that wicked tongue.”

“I thought you were going to endeavor to make me scream,” you say.

He chuckles, his large, warm hands stroking up your legs, pausing at your knees. “So dreadfully impertinent.”

“You like it.”

He hums, his hands inching up your thighs. “Not nearly as much as I like the idea of you becoming pliant and yielding under my touch.”

“You certainly have a high opinion of your ability.”

You say this to bait him and you’re immediately gratified by the dark look in his eyes and his hands coming to rest at the juncture where your hips meet your thighs. Your stomach muscles tense in delicious anticipation.

“Do I?” he murmurs, his fingertips gently grazing the thin layer of fabric that covers your sex. “I can feel how slick you are already and I haven’t even touched you.”

Without realizing it, you’ve tilted your head so that your forehead rests against his and he takes advantage of the closeness, slanting his mouth over yours, sliding his tongue along your lower lip until you open your mouth to him. He is equal parts rough and tender, a combination that leaves your head spinning and intensifies the ache between your legs as his fingers press lightly against you. He nips at your lower lip, soothing the sting with a sensuous swipe of his tongue before luring you back into a slow and seductive rhythm that makes it difficult to think about anything other than the taste of his lips, the dull ache building between your thighs, and the hard length straining at his trousers.

He breaks the kiss to look at you, green eyes boring into yours. Your breath hitches as he pushes the fabric of your undergarments aside, his fingers hovering teasingly over your sex.

Your breath has become rapid and shallow. He looks at you, eyes lust glazed, but still cool and calm and completely in control.

“Tell me what you want, darling.”

There’s a small part of you that still has the wherewithal to be a little annoyed. Of course this is just another game, another trick to play. The bastard has the gall to look amused at how flustered you are, how you’re practically trembling and panting in anticipation of his touch.

But you’re just lust-crazed enough to play along with his tricks and games and his hand is so deliciously close to where you need him. “Touch me,” you murmur.

You decide to ignore the teasing, triumphant glint in his eyes--for now, at least. One finger strokes the very edge of your sex--not where you need to be touched, not anywhere that brings you relief.

“Here?” he asks, his eyes wide with feigned innocence.

You have enough presence of mind to scowl at him. “You know what I want.”

His grin is devilish. “Perhaps I want to hear it from you.”

You sigh, but you decide it’s worth it. “I...I want you to make me come.”

His eyes take on a dark and hungry focus that makes you shiver and his fingers finally--finally--part the slick folds of your sex, circling the swollen nub of your clit. Your eyes close and you let out a breath, a soft moan falling from your lips.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” he murmurs.

“Smugness doesn’t suit you,” you say.

He gives a low laugh. “We both know that’s a lie.” He slides one finger inside of you and you can’t help the whimper that falls from your lips. “So slick already,” he murmurs, his thumb sliding up to rub your clit. “Did you touch yourself after I left you last night?”

You had certainly considered it--he had you wound so tightly that it took you nearly an hour to fall asleep. But you also suspected that he would make you wait another night if you took matters into your own hands and you were fairly certain you would die if you had to wait any longer, so you refrained, as difficult as it was.

“No,” you say and the look on his face when he realizes that you’re not lying almost makes the sexual frustration worth it.

“No?” he says, pressing a kiss against the side of your neck. “Even after I left you so terribly unsatisfied?”

“You told me you would make it worth my wait,” you say, your hips rocking with his hand. “So I waited.”

The look he gives you is dark and hungry and a little wild. “Good girl,” he purrs and you tighten reflexively around his fingers. You’re almost embarrassed by the effect that his words have on you, but you can’t bring yourself to care overly much, not with the way his fingers are moving inside of you and how his thumb is rubbing those perfect little circles against your clit. Your eyes shut and your head tips back as you moan. A warm, pulsing heat is building in your belly, rising like a tide, waiting to sweep you under.

“Yes,” he breathes, “that’s lovely, darling, you’re so responsive.”

You keen at his words and his fingers curl inside of you, pressing firmly against a spot that makes you see stars.

“Look at me,” he says in that purr of a voice. You somehow summon the concentration to raise your head and lift your eyes to him. “I want to hear you, do you understand?” he says. “No holding back.”

The pleasure is becoming unbearable and you can feel yourself tensing around his fingers, poised on the edge, about to fall. You whimper, your fingernails digging into his shoulders, hips rocking.

“That’s it, you’re almost there.” His breathing is slightly heavy and he’s looking at you like you’re something wonderful. The hunger in his eyes summons a bolt of longing in you that translates to a physical ache in your hips. The thought of him wanting you like that is a kind of intense thrill that you’ve never felt before--so intense, in fact, that it’s enough to give you that final nudge over the edge and you come with a soft cry.

“Lovely.” He reaches for you and pulls you into a lazy kiss as you ride out the wave of your high. You sigh against his mouth and he nips at your lower lip. “But you were holding back,” he says.

You’re about to ask him why he thinks that, but his hand is moving again and it’s distracting, to say the least.

“I suppose I’ll just have to make you come again,” he says with a mock sigh, his voice coming out as a bit of a growl. “Do try to follow my instructions this time.”

Distantly, you note that this is the sort of thing that requires a smart and snappy reply, which would be forthcoming if his fingers weren’t doing such unspeakably good things between your legs. With anyone else, it would be too much too close to your previous orgasm, but Loki has an almost uncanny sense of how to touch you. He is coaxing something warm and wicked out of those aftershocks, something that is building low in your hips, making you tighten around his fingers. You’re panting, a needy whimper falling from your lips.

“Yes, darling,” he murmurs, his eyes sliding over you appreciatively. “I want to hear you scream for me. No holding back this time.”

The thing is, you’re not sure you can hold back, even if you wanted to. It’s become rapidly apparent that you’re going to come again and by the way your whole body seems to be anticipating it, you’re fairly certain it’s going to be more intense than the last time.

“Oh, you’re so close,” he purrs. “I can feel that.”

Your breath stutters in your throat as you feel your body tense tighter and tighter, hurtling toward a glorious release.

But then just before you tip back over the edge, he stops, his hand stilling, lips pulling into a smirk. You let out a frustrated whine, your hips moving fruitlessly as you try to capture what had been so easily in your grasp mere seconds ago.

“Something you want, love?” he asks lightly, not even bothering to hide the laugh from his voice.

There’s some distant part of you that’s a little disappointed by how quickly you resort to begging, but you can’t bring yourself to care right now, not while you feel so wildly unsatisfied. “Please don’t stop, please.”

“Are you going to follow my instructions this time?” he asks. “Are you going to scream for me?”

“Yes, yes, please, I promise, please don’t stop, please, please--”

His fingers curl inside of you and begin moving again and you moan loudly, partly from relief and partly because you’re so close and can’t help it and partly because you don’t want him to stop again.

“Yes, that’s it, let me hear you,” he breathes.

Everything seems to slow as the building pressure in your hips suddenly crests and expands. You cry out--almost embarrassingly loudly--as your muscles spasm and release into a rush of feeling that makes your insides fizz. It seems to go on for ages, the aftershocks rolling through you, coaxed on by Loki’s still thrusting fingers and the soothing rumble of his low voice in your ear.

“Beautiful,” he murmurs, pressing a sweet kiss against your neck.

You lean on his shoulder, your legs trembling as you try to catch your breath. He runs a hand down the column of your spine, gently pressing you against his chest.

You allow yourself to rest for a moment as he strokes your back, your head pillowed against his chest. It’s nice, sitting here like this, though you know you can’t allow yourself to become too sentimental, grow too attached. This is lovely, but temporary. You’d do well to remember that.

After a moment, you sit back up, leaning in to kiss him. He’s soft and languid in his movements--every time you try to draw him deeper, he resists just slightly, giving you just enough to make you long for him even more.

“Do you want more?” he asks, his lips barely moving from yours.

You’re well past the point of pride now. Sated and sweaty as you feel, there’s a lingering ache between your legs, a need for something more than what his fingers could provide. “Yes. Please,” you sigh, fingers tangling in his hair.

He presses a chaste kiss against your lips. “Come back tomorrow after dark.”

You pull back from him, frowning. “You’re not serious,” you say.

“I’m quite serious,” he says lightly, not quite able to hide the amusement from his expression. “I would hate to overexert you.”

Your eyes narrow. “My constitution is quite hearty, I assure you.”

He chuckles and slides out from underneath you. “I believe a very clever woman once told me that a little chase makes the conquest all the sweeter,” he says, standing.

You are not sure if you are more furious with him or with yourself. Of course that line would come back to bite you. Of course. You are slightly too distracted by your own fury and absentmindedly take his hand when he offers it to you.

“Perhaps I won’t be inclined to participate in the conquest,” you say sourly as you stand. “Perhaps I won’t return tomorrow.”

He leans in and kisses you, his tongue expertly parting your lips and returning some of the ardor that he had denied you earlier and that’s all it takes for you to immediately undercut your own point. You press wantonly against him, your fingers threading through his hair.

He is smirking when he pulls back. “I rather think you will.”

You scowl, knowing that he’s right.

#fic: as the clock strikes midnight #loki smut #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagines #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki imagine

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cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

Text

Part III

As the Clock Strikes Midnight Masterlist | AO3 Pairing: Loki/Reader Rating: Explicit

Also: I did my best with warnings, but if you think I missed one, please send me an ask so I can add it!

Part III

It’s difficult to return to your life the next day.

You try to be pragmatic about it: you’ve told yourself over and over that what had happened in the garden was a fluke, a once in a lifetime bout of extraordinariness that would not--could not--be repeated. You know this and you accept it.

But the magic of last night lingers in a way that makes you feel a little melancholy and wistful. You’re distracted the whole day, your thoughts wandering back to the feeling of soft lips on yours, warm hands on your waist, the glimmer of emerald green eyes.

“Are you well?” Grete asks you that afternoon. “You’ve been quiet all day.”

You force a smile. “I didn’t sleep well,” you say, which isn’t exactly a lie, but also isn’t the full truth. Either way, it’s enough to fool Grete, who returns to her work, chattering about something that happened with Solvi and one of the stablehands.

Even if she wasn’t a gossip, you could never tell Grete what happened in the garden. You could never tell anyone. A sudden, lonely feeling rears its head and there’s an ache in the center of your chest. You’re used to being lonely, but this feels different, sharper in a way you’re not expecting.

It doesn’t seem like it should be possible to miss a life that you never had, but you find yourself consumed with that notion.

Maybe it would have been better if you hadn’t gone at all.

You don’t go to the library that night. It’s largely because you don’t want to risk the chance of him recognizing you so close to the masquerade. The more time between you and the masquerade, the better: better that you fade from his memory rather than inadvertently jog it

But it’s also because you’re not sure that you can bear to be in the same room as him when you’re feeling like this. Better to wait until your heart felt a little less tender.

You avoid the library for six days. On the seventh day, you decide that you’ve waited long enough to return.

In hindsight, though, it was the height of hubris to think that you could pull one over on the god of mischief and lies.

In making this bargain with Loki, you were making several assumptions. You had assumed that his memory was imperfect enough to not recognize you without your mask and that your very dull and ordinary life had such a vise grip on you that no force--not even the attention of a handsome and clever prince--could possibly disrupt it.

How very wrong you were.

You’re initially quite relieved when you don’t see him in his usual chair. You’ll be able to fully enjoy yourself without worrying about looking over your shoulder as you wander through the stacks.

You’re feeling rather pleased with yourself and a little giddy with relief and you’re not exactly paying attention as you round a corner in the stacks, a fact that becomes apparent to you when you crash into something rather warm and solid. Hands grab your elbows to keep you from falling and you look up, your mouth half open in an apology.

It is at this point that you begin to process that the warm and solid thing that you’ve bumped into is, in fact, a person.

More specifically: it’s Loki.

For a moment, you think you might be able to wiggle your way out of this particular snag without any problem. But then he locks eyes with you and you immediately, instinctively know that it’s too late: he knows exactly who you are.

His smile is wide and sharp. Predatory--but not in an unappealing way. “Hello, little mouse.”

Your mouth is paper dry and suddenly your legs feel too unsteady to even attempt a clumsy curtsy.

“Your highness, I--” You’re struggling to string a pair of words together and this is made all the more difficult by the fact that he hasn’t let go of you. “Forgive me,” you say, “I can explain.”

You are not entirely sure that you can, to be quite honest, but it seems like the right thing to say.

“You can explain why you thought it clever to lie to your prince?” he says lightly, his voice rich with mirth. He doesn’t look angry--on the contrary, he seems amused. You’re not quite sure if that’s a good thing or not.

“Nothing I said was a lie,” you say. “I only did not tell you who I was.”

“Clever girl,” he says. His voice is low and intimate and it’s doing something delicious to your insides, even as your heart threatens to pound its way out of your chest. “Tell me,” he says, “how does a servant come to be so clever as to read Auber and sneak into libraries and fool princes at masquerades?”

“Perhaps I was not always a servant,” you say and then, before you can stop yourself, you add, “And at any rate, I don’t read Auber when I can avoid him. I’m a sensible person, after all.”

It’s an impertinent thing to say and you’re already in enough trouble as it is. But Loki merely chuckles.

“You have a wicked tongue, my dear,” he says with a catlike smile. “That will get you into trouble someday.”

“One could argue it already has,” you say before you can think better of it.

“Indeed,” he says and his eyes glitter like the edge of a knife. “And now that I’ve found you, I believe you made me a promise.”

You almost want to laugh. The very notion of him still wanting to kiss you is several different kinds of absurd. “Surely you don’t intend to carry on with that game now that you know who I am,” you say.

There again is the catlike smile. “On the contrary, I quite enjoy our merry little chase and I intend to continue it now that I’ve found you.”

“I’m beneath you.”

He gives you a wicked grin. “I’d rather like you to be.”

You’re confronted with two opposing feelings. You can’t deny that you’re flattered: he’s handsome and you’re wildly attracted to him despite the fact that it’s inconvenient, to say the very least. But at the same time, you’re not about to just cede all power to him just because you’re flattered. At the end of the day, he’s a prince and you’re a servant--you won’t let him take advantage of that imbalance.

“I won’t be your conquest of the week,” you say sharply, using a tone that most would consider inappropriate for addressing someone of his status. “I’m some toy you can play with and discard when you tire of me.”

You expect him to reprimand you, to remind you of your place, but instead he laughs. The sound surprises you, even as it does shameful things to your insides. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he says.

You’re skeptical of this and your expression shows it. He registers this and he becomes a bit more serious. “Darling,” he says, placing his hands on the shelves behind you and casually cageing you in, “I’m not letting you go that easily. You have my undivided attention.”

The prospect of receiving his undivided attention sends a shiver up your spine--it’s as intimidating as it is appealing.

“Now,” he says, his voice lowering as his fingertips graze the curve of your jaw, “I’d like to collect on a promise.”

Your breath stutters in your throat as both of his hands cup your cheeks. He looks down at you, his eyes hooded and focused on your lips. He waits one long, agonizing moment, and you remind yourself to breathe and forget the instruction a moment later when his lips brush lightly against yours. Were it not for the heavy, coiling heat he was summoning in your hips, it would almost seem chaste. You feel him take a breath and then his mouth is opening against yours, his tongue tracing your lower lip and then sliding smoothly past it.

That last kiss was supposed to last you a lifetime--you were not expecting another one ever, let alone so soon. You feel drunk on the taste of his lips and his tongue has you thinking wicked thoughts. The longer it goes on, the more your knees wobble and the more breathless you feel.

You catch his lower lip between your teeth and tug on it gently; he inhales sharply and presses against you like he has half a mind to take you right there up against the stacks and stars above, you can’t help but want that just a little.

His thigh slots between your legs and your body sings as you arch against him.

Maybe you want that a lot.

His hands have moved from your cheeks to your waist, pressing you against him, stroking up your back and sides. His thumb barely grazes the underside of one of your breasts and a low whimper escapes the back of your throat.

You lose all sense of time and it feels far too soon when he pulls away from you, even though you can hear the clock chiming midnight. You find that you’re rather gratified and proud of the slight redness in his cheeks, how his breathing is slightly labored. You grip the shelf behind you, knees trembling.

He licks his lips as he surveys you. “This isn’t over, little mouse,” he murmurs.

You’re not quite sure if you want to kiss him or scold him. “What do you mean by that?”

He smirks. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

And with that, he turns on his heel and leaves the library, leaving your head spinning.

You return to the library the next night. There is no reason for this--or, rather, there’s no good reason for this; while you’re enjoying your book well enough, you can’t say that it’s compelling to the point of interrupting your thoughts.

There are other reasons that have been, though.

Well. One reason, if you’re being honest.

Your feet take you to your usual place in the stacks, you find your latest book, but your mind is elsewhere, listening for the telltale tap of a booted foot on the stone floor, the creak of leather.

If someone were to ask you what you were expecting, you wouldn’t know what to say. Obviously, you’re hoping to see him again--and as much as you know it’s not a good idea, you’re also hoping that he’ll kiss you. You’re hesitant to allow yourself to think much farther than that, simply because the fact that he wants to kiss you still seems rather impossible. You learned early on in your days at the palace that daydreaming was almost certain to lead to disappointment. You’re reluctant to allow your mind to stray too far down that path.

It’s easier said than done, though.

You’re not exactly sure how he arrives, just that he suddenly has--there is a presence behind you and when you breathe in deeply, you swear you can catch the faint scent of leather and something wintery and masculine.

“Your highness,” you say coolly, like you haven’t been waiting for him with bated breath.

“Are you really enjoying your book that much?” he says and you have to force yourself not to jump when his voice is much, much closer than you thought he was.

“It’s not Auber, so yes, I should say I am enjoying it,” you say before you can stop yourself.

He chuckles and the sound sends a shiver up your spine. “Always so sharp tongued.”

You force yourself to turn around then and stars, he is so much closer than you thought. You tilt your chin up to look at him. “Why are you here?”

His smile is wide, like he finds you especially amusing. “I am often here late at night. You know this.”

“You do not usually loom over me in the stacks,” you say.

His eyebrows lift. “Is that what I’m doing? Looming?”

“You are standing awfully close.”

Any other person might take a step back: he takes a step closer so that your back is pressed against the shelves, lowering his head so that his lips are right next to your ear. “Perhaps I’m looking for a book,” he says.

Your heart is pounding wildly in your chest. “Somehow, I doubt that.”

He laughs and you feel his breath warm on your neck. “Clever girl.” His lips brush against your collarbone, his teeth nipping lightly at the delicate skin there.

“I don’t understand,” you say, even as your eyes flutter shut and you lean into his embrace. “I’m no one--why are you here?”

“Did I not tell you this wasn’t over?” he says against your neck, allowing his tongue to dip into the hollow of your collarbone, making your knees weak.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” you say, but it doesn’t matter because he’s now covering your mouth with his and you can scarcely remember your own name, let alone what you were going to say next. He’s demanding and hungry, one hand tipping your head back, cupping the curve of your jaw, the other sliding to your waist, pressing you flush against him.

You’re not entirely sure what his motivations are or how far he intends to take this, but it’s hard to convince yourself to care when he’s kissing you like this. Fire is racing through your veins, filling you with a kind of reckless wanting that makes your toes curl in your shoes.

His hand slides from your waist, skimming up your side to cup your breast over your dress. He is cautious, seeming to wait for your muffled moan before taking it more firmly in his hand, expertly kneading and squeezing in just the right way until you’re half considering guiding his hand down the front of your dress.

It’s at this precise moment that he steps back from you, his dark pupils and the slight catch in his breath the only indication that you’d exchanged anything more than polite pleasantries. You lean against the shelves panting, your entire body crackling with a strange kind of heat.

“Goodnight,” he says, seemingly unable to resist a smirk as he leaves you once again in the darkness of the library as the clock strikes midnight.

He’s playing a game with you. That much is clear. You’d like to think that you’re sensible enough to know not to take his bait, to stay away from the library after dark, but you appear to be mistaken on that count. You spend most of the next day trying to keep your treacherous mind from wandering too far. You are only moderately successful--you nearly burn an entire batch of biscuits due to a particular daydream that leaves you staring out a window for a minute too long.

He’s waiting for you in the stacks this time, giving you the same smirk he did last night when he left you. You decide to keep your distance for the time being--you’re not sure that you can ever say that you've got the upper hand on him, but you’re more likely to have a chance at it the farther away he is.

“Your highness,” you say.

“My lady.”

You give him a stern look. “You needn’t mock me, I know I’ve no titles.”

“Oh, I’m not mocking you, sweet,” he says and you are fairly certain he’s being sincere. “You are an impressive woman. You ought to have titles.”

“You’re trying to flatter me,” you say, folding your arms over your chest.

“Of course I am. Did I not tell you that I was trying to charm you?” he says, taking a step toward you.

You swallow and stare at him. “You said that when you thought I was someone else.”

Another step. “You seem to think that I ought to have lost interest when I found out who you are. Why is that?”

You tilt your chin up and stare at him defiantly. “When has a noble ever taken a genuine interest in a servant? It’s not done.”

He smirks again and takes another step forward and once again, you’re pressed between him and the bookshelf. “You know my reputation,” he says, his fingertips trailing against your throat. “I care very little for rules.”

His gaze meanders over your face, lingering on your lips, but you hold steady, despite your pounding heart. “So you’re using me to disrupt things because it amuses you.”

“You misunderstand me,” he says, the backs of his fingers stroking your cheek. “I find you enticing. I’m not inclined to be bothered by rules that say I ought not to because it isn’t done.”

You press your lips together and look at him warily. “I don’t know that I should trust you.”

He shouldn’t look like he finds this amusing, but his eyes glitter in the dim light. “And why is that?”

“I know your reputation,” you say. “You are the god of mischief and lies. I ought to stay away from you.”

“And yet, you’ve turned up here for the last three nights and uttered not a word of protest when I’ve kissed you,” he says.

“I said I ought to stay away,” you say. “I never said I would.”

His smile is slow. “Clever girl.”

He kisses you again, slow to start, like he’s giving you an opportunity to turn him away. When you don’t, his movements become hungrier, his tongue tangling with yours, his teeth grazing your lower lip.

His hand slips down the front of your dress and you gasp as his fingers pinch and tease your nipple into a stiff and aching point, igniting a smoldering ache between your legs. You’ve never wanted anyone like this and you resolve in that moment not to say so because telling him is the same as giving him leverage and you’re still fairly certain that that is a bad idea.

His thigh has nudged its way between your legs and you press against him as much as your skirts will allow, shamelessly trying to generate enough friction and pressure to provide yourself some relief.

The clock chimes midnight and he steps away and you wonder how much more of this you’ll be able to take.

He’s late the next night--so late, in fact, that you almost give up and leave because you think he’s not coming. You try not to dwell upon the disappointed little twinge that blooms in your chest when you think this is the case.

But then you hear soft footsteps in the quiet of the library and you look up and find him leaning against the end of the stacks, looking far more comfortable than he has any right to be.

“You’re late,” you say before you can think about it.

“Did you think I wasn’t coming?” he asks with the slightest of smirks. “Were you disappointed?”

You attempt to keep your expression cool and composed. “I didn’t think anything.”

He chuckles. “You tell such pretty lies, my dear.”

You want to deny it outright, but that feels like playing right into his hands. You consider your next moves as he approaches you, again backing you up against the stacks.

“Do you know what I think?” he says, his hands sliding to your hips. “I think you’re rather fond of these little interludes.” He tilts his head to the side, eyes glinting with a kind of mischief that makes you press your thighs together. “Shall we find out how fond?”

You’re fairly certain you know what he’s implying, but you’re also fairly certain that he’s not going to actually go through with it. It’s one thing to kiss you like he has been, but it’s another thing entirely to actually touch you. Surely he’s not that bold.

His left hand slides from your hip over the curve of your ass and then along your thigh, raising your leg to hook around his waist. You grab his shoulders, still certain that he’s bluffing even as he pushes the hem of your skirt up.

His hand trails along the inside of your thigh, expertly navigating your petticoats and undergarments. He watches your face intently as his hand inches up your thigh, seemingly cataloging every time your breath hitches, every time you bite your lip in anticipation. You try to keep yourself contained and calm, even as you can feel the slickness between your thighs growing with every passing second.

You realize that he’s not bluffing precisely when his fingers part your dripping sex. You gasp as his fingers lightly brush against your clit and you catch his greedy, triumphant smile as your head tips back against the shelf.

“Oh yes,” he breathes, sliding one finger inside you as his thumb presses against your swollen clit. “What filthy thoughts have left you so wet and wanting, my pretty little kitchen maid?”

This should bother you: you’re not his and you’re more than a kitchen maid. Instead, your body seems focused on its mission to betray you, as his words only make you whimper and tense around his slowly thrusting finger.

“I could make you come right here,” he says, his eyes raking over your body with a raw hunger.

“Would you like that?”

“Please,” leaves your lips before you can ask yourself what you’re thinking.

“So polite,” he breathes into your ear. “Had I known it was this easy to tame that sharp tongue of yours, I would have buried my face between your thighs in the garden.”

Your cheeks burn, though you’re not sure if it’s from his fingers or his words. “I would not claim that victory yet, highness.”

His eyes flash and his hips press against you when you use his title--you file that little fact away for later.

You can’t even pretend that there’s not going to be a later.

“If my hand slowed, you would beg for me,” he says with a smirk that is slightly too self-assured.

You tilt your chin up, staring at him defiantly. “You flatter yourself.”

His smirk widens as his hand slows and you immediately regret challenging him. He slides his hand away from you, holding your gaze. He pauses for a beat and when you continue your silence, he raises his fingers to his lips and slowly draws them into his mouth. You catch a glimpse of the pink tip of his tongue as he carefully licks your essence from his forefinger and thumb, closing his eyes like he’s tasting something divine. It’s indecent--everything about this is indecent--but you can’t look away.

Your resolve crumbles abruptly and completely. “Please,” you whisper.

He releases his fingers and gives you a lazy smile. “Can you be quiet like a good girl?”

You nod fervently. “Yes. I’ll be quiet, I promise.”

He leans in and kisses you. “That’s a shame,” he murmurs against your lips, “because I want to hear you scream for me. And we can’t very well do that in the library.”

He draws back, smirking, and you suddenly know that you’ve lost another point in this strange game that you’re playing.

“Come to my chambers tomorrow night after dark,” he says.

Stars above, you’re going to kill him.

“You’re an ass,” you say.

He chuckles and kisses you again. “I’ll make it worth the wait.”

You hate how much of an effect that has on you, but you’re reasonably certain that you’ve managed to hide most of that from him.

“Your confidence is inspiring,” you say.

“And your tongue is wicked,” he says, stepping away from you and it takes every ounce of pride you have not to reach for him and pull him back to you. He takes your hand and brushes his lips against your knuckles, his emerald eyes never leaving yours and somehow it feels just as intimate as what had just happened. “Until tomorrow,” he says before dropping your hand and walking away, leaving you with your heart pounding.

#fic: as the clock strikes midnight #loki smut #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagines #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki imagine

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cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

Text

Part II

As the Clock Strikes Midnight Masterlist | AO3 Pairing: Loki/Reader Rating: Explicit

Also: I did my best with warnings, but if you think I missed one, please send me an ask so I can add it!

Part II

It’s a strange feeling, walking into the masquerade in your mother’s dress. You’ve thought about this so many times that parts of it feel oddly surreal, like you’ve somehow wandered into a memory you’ve forgotten you had.

You’re not entirely prepared to feel so visible. Your dress is a shade or two too fine to be owned by a servant, so most people assume that you’re a noble--when a footman calls you “my lady,” you have to bite your tongue to stop yourself from correcting him. People smile and incline their heads slightly, whereas before their gazes would simply slide right past you. You find that you have to remind yourself to take slow and deep breaths. Inhale, exhale. Just breathe.

You’d caught glimpses of the ballroom before, but it, too, feels different now that you’re actually here as a guest. Garlands of exotic flowers drape from the walls and ceilings along with strands of crystals and colored glass beads that sparkle like diamonds when they catch the light. The remnants of the feast that you helped prepare are a rainbow of colors that seem grander than they had in the kitchens. Even the cakes--the same ones that you’d barely finished icing before Anja shooed you away--even they seem a little extraordinary.

People are dancing, a glittering array of fabrics, sequins, and masks swaying in time to music played by a small orchestra. You keep to the edge of the room, taking in the sights, keeping a weather eye out for Fritjof. You’re content to watch the crowd for a while--you’re too nervous to eat and dancing seems similarly risky. It’s enough just to be here, wearing your mother’s dress and pretending that you’re someone who you used to be.

You’re not sure when all the noise and color starts to feel a bit too much, just that your focus on your breathing suddenly isn’t doing enough to combat the tightness around your ribs that squeezes at your lungs. It’s been so long since you’ve attended an event like this that you’ve forgotten how claustrophobic it can become. The room is just a degree or two too warm and the mingling smell of the food, sweat, and perfume is starting to feel suffocating. You’re not used to people noticing you and every pair of eyes that lands on you squeezes your ribs just a little more and you can feel beads of sweat beginning to gather at your temples and down the column of your spine. You catch a glimpse of Fritjof far away in the crowd--

Air. You need air.

The ballroom looks out onto the palace gardens and winter lingers enough to discourage most people from venturing outside, so that is where you decide to go. It doesn’t take much effort to slip out the door unnoticed and the moment you step outside, it’s a relief. You can still hear the rumble of voices and the swell of music, but it’s more manageable, especially with the balm of the night air so blessedly cool on your cheeks. The tightness around your ribs loosens and the sweat on your brow and spine cools and suddenly you can breathe without feeling like you’re about to choke.

There’s a circle of benches surrounding a fountain not far down the garden path and you make your way to one of them, sitting down heavily. The chill of the stone beneath you is soothing, anchoring you more firmly in the moment and easing the trembling in your arms and legs until you feel more like yourself. You take a few deep breaths. After a moment, a weak, shaky laugh falls from your lips.

“Norns, this was a terrible idea,” you say. “I never should have come.”

“Come now. It can’t be all that bad.”

Your heart leaps wildly into your throat at the sound of another voice and belatedly, you realize that there is a figure standing just in the shadow of the empty fountain, easy enough to miss if you’re not paying attention--which of course, you haven’t been.

The air leaves your lungs when you realize who it is. He wears a mask, but there is no mistaking that buttery smooth voice, those emerald green eyes, or the sardonic tilt of his lips.

Your legs feel as steady as overcooked noodles, but you scramble to your feet anyway. “I beg your pardon, your highness,” you say, dipping into a curtsy. “I didn’t realize anyone was out here.”

His lips curl into a catlike smile as he approaches you. “Isn’t the point of a masquerade that you’re not supposed to know who I am?”

The prince is as imposing as he ever is, but there’s something about the protection of the mask, the glamor of your dress, the crispness of the night air, and the wild and giddy relief of being away from all those people that makes you feel like you can be yourself. Besides, it's not like he knows who you are--he’s only seen you in the dim light of the library; surely the moonlit garden will provide him with no further clues.

“Well, either I am very clever or you are very obvious,” you say. “I’ll leave it to you to decide.”

He chuckles quietly and you can’t help but feel rather pleased with yourself. “And tell me, what is a very clever lady doing hiding in the gardens during the biggest event of the year?”

“I should ask the same of you, your highness.”

He grins. “Ah, but I asked first, my lady.”

You tilt your head to the side. “You act as though you are expecting something scandalous of me.”

“You must admit the circumstances suggest that you have a good story,” he says.

You laugh, partly because he has no notion of how ridiculous your circumstances actually are. “There could be any number of unexciting reasons why I’m out here.”

He folds his arms across his chest, smirking. “Name one.”

“Perhaps I don’t know how to dance.”

“Doubtful. Even if you didn’t, I should think there would be a score of gentlemen eager to show you. Try again.”

“Perhaps I don’t know how to dance and I am very shy.”

He chuckles, a low throaty sound that makes your spine tingle. “If you were very shy, I think you would have taken your leave of me almost immediately.”

“Perhaps I am all of those things and unfailingly polite,” you say.

“Unfailingly polite, yet here you are, skulking in the garden, hiding from your hosts.”

“And again, your highness, I am compelled to note that you are out here as well.”

“Perhaps I am looking for stragglers in order to reprimand them.”

Before you can stop yourself, you snort. “I doubt it.”

“Oh?” he says, his voice sounding lightly amused. “You would doubt a prince?”

“You do not seem like a man who concerns himself overly much with the affairs of others.”

“You are astute, my lady.” He taps a finger against his lips and you’re fairly certain he’s raising an eyebrow underneath his mask. “But you’re trying to distract me from my question.”

You give him a coy smile. “Will you like me as well when my answer is as dull as I promised you?”

“You have my word.”

You lower your voice as though you’re sharing something scandalous. “I needed some air and a moment or two to be myself. Are you terribly disappointed now?”

“Not at all,” he says, giving you a smile that feels like a rather thrilling secret. “We have that in common.”

“Do we?” you say. “I should think you would be used to these events by now.”

“They tend to make for poor conversation,” he says. “Present company excluded.”

“You flatter me, sire.”

“I was hoping that enough flattery might convince you to tell me your name.”

You smile. “Of course not.”

Defying royalty was probably not a smart thing to do (another reason why it was perhaps wise to keep you in the kitchens), but Loki’s lips curl into another smile, like this is all a rather delightful game. “You would deny a prince a simple request?”

“Isn’t the point of a masquerade that you’re not supposed to know who I am?”

You’re using his own words against him and his smile grows even more foxlike. “But you know who I am. It seems only fair that I should know who you are.”

“Well, then, you must be very clever and guess,” you say.

“And how should I know you are telling the truth?”

You allow yourself a coquettish smile. “They call you the god of lies, do they not?”

“I see my reputation precedes me,” he says.

“You are a prince,” you say.

“That I am. And you are…?”

“Not telling you my name.” You raise your eyebrows at him. “I hope you didn’t actually think that would work.”

“Not especially,” he says. “Though I can’t help but wonder why you insist on being so mysterious.”

You grin. “You seem to forget where we are, your highness. Shall I quote you again?”

He laughs and it makes your stomach flip. “If you will not give me your name, then tell me something else about yourself.”

“Hmm.” You pause for a moment. “I am reading a very good book.”

“And what book is that?”

“The Cloistered Heart.”

He makes a face. “That drivel?”

You laugh. “I take it you are not a romantic.”

He scoffs. “I’ll have you know I’m very romantic, I simply prefer more sensible writers.”

“Like who?”

“Auber.”

You can’t help the bark of a laugh that falls from your lips. “Auber! Now I am convinced that you are not possessed of a beating heart.”

“You wound me. What fault could you possibly find in Auber?”

“He describes emotion like he is writing a technical manual.”

“His prose is a triumph of language.”

“He’s boring.”

You continue like this for a while, playfully arguing about books. His taste is quite different from yours--his interests tend to skew more toward the philosophical and dryly intellectual, which is the sort of thing that makes you want to claw your own eyes out--but you share some surprising overlap on a few notable titles. The more you talk, the more you find yourself wanting to stay, even though you shouldn't. He’s still imposing in a way that makes your heart beat a little faster, but it’s also easy to talk to him when you’re an anonymous masked noblewoman. You’re perhaps slightly too informal with him--you scoff at his bad opinions and tell him precisely what you think, but he only seems delighted by these barbs.

More concerning, though, is the fact that he is very charming and handsome and the more you talk, the more you are tempted to let this go on a little longer. You find yourself wondering what it might be like to kiss him, to run your hands through his raven dark hair.

“Is something the matter?” he says.

Your stomach drops as you realize you have been staring at him for just a second too long dwelling on the possibility of a kiss. “Forgive me, my mind wandered for a moment.”

“Am I truly that dull?” he says, sighing rather dramatically.

You breathe a quiet laugh. “You’re trying to bait me into complimenting you,” you say, giving him an arch look. “It won’t work.”

“I rather think I’m deserving of a few compliments after so many cruel blows to my ego,” he says.

“If you had better opinions on books, I would not need to strike so many cruel blows.”

“You wound me.” He is smiling as he says this.

“I rather think you enjoy such unfiltered honesty,” you say. “You could have stormed off in a huff or ordered your guards to throw me in the dungeons, yet you are still here.”

“That I am.” He looks at you for a moment and you feel as though something has changed, though you can’t quite put a finger on what. “I confess, I’ve grown rather enamored of your wit, my lady,” he says after a moment.

Oh.

You swallow. The way his gaze sweeps over you makes you quite glad for the half-dark of the garden and the shield of your mask. “You flatter me, your highness.”

“What, no witty riposte?” he says. “Are you feeling quite well?”

“I often find myself unmoored by compliments,” you say.

“I should hope so,” he says, his voice lowering and taking on a depth that makes your stomach flip. “I’m trying to charm you.”

“Oh? To what end?” You are amazed that your voice remains steady.

He takes your hand and brushes his lips against your knuckles, his eyes never leaving yours. “A kiss, perhaps.”

“How very proper of you.”

The corners of his mouth lift ever so slightly. “I did say perhaps. The garden is dark and my chambers are close should a more intimate setting be agreeable.”

“Are you always so forthright in your pursuits?”

“Only when the lady is enticing.”

You swallow. “And you find me enticing?”

There is a hunger in his eyes that you can’t help but be thrilled by. “Extremely.”

You raise an eyebrow, hoping that your voice does not betray the fact that you are trembling. “You don’t even know who I am. You could find me quite dull without my mask.”

He laughs quietly and gives you a look that conjures a dull ache between your thighs. “Would you care to make a wager? It’s nearly midnight.”

Panic cuts through your false bravado like a hot knife through butter and you raise your eyes to look at the clock tower. You’ve lost track of time--it’s five minutes to midnight.

Your first instinct is to flee and you try to do that, but Loki is quicker, his hand closing around your wrist.

“Fleeing without a farewell?” he says. “That would be terribly rude, my lady.”

You fight to tamp down the growing panic in your chest. “I’ve my reasons for not wanting to be seen here tonight.”

“Oh?” he says. “Do tell.”

Your heart is pounding. He thinks this all a game, a small obstacle on his path to seducing you. And of course you can’t tell him that the stakes are much higher, that this is a matter of being found out by a man who goes out of his way to make your life miserable, possibly a matter of being thrown in the dungeons for defying orders. Anja would probably be in trouble as well. His grip on your wrist is firm and his smile is teasing and you’re not sure how you’re going to get out of this.

Unless…

Perhaps you can play along, pretend this is all a game. It’s not certain, but it’s the only plan you have.

“I’ll make you a bargain.” The words fall out of your mouth quickly, albeit with some uncertainty.

Perhaps it’s the slight quaver in your voice that intrigues him, or maybe it’s the lure of a bargain with a mysterious masked woman that he can’t quite resist. “Go on,” he says and you can tell he’s raising an eyebrow behind his mask.

“You let me go tonight and we let the chase go on a little longer,” you say. “You come and find me in the coming days.”

He chuckles softly and it sends a shiver up your spine. “Now why would I do that when I have you here in my clutches right now?” He pulls you closer, one hand snaking around your waist, his palm pressing lightly on your back so that there is very little space between you.

You wet your lips and try to summon your sultriest look. “Would it not make the conquest all the sweeter?”

He smirks, his voice dropping to a low purr. “And when I find you? What then, little mouse?”

“A kiss, perhaps.”

“A kiss?” he muses softly. His gaze trails over the curve of your lips and it’s all you can do not to shiver.

“Yes.”

“A kiss is a rather dangerous proposition, my lady,” he says and he’s so close that you can feel the whisper of his breath against your lips. “A kiss may stoke other...appetites.”

Despite your fear of being found out, there is part of you--a large part of you--that would gladly let him take you right here, right now in the garden if he wanted to. Instead, you summon every ounce of self-control that you have in order to ignore the heat that stretches like a panther low in your hips.

“I might be agreeable to stoking those appetites,” you say, “but you have to find me first.”

His lips twitch into a slight smile. “Your proposition is intriguing, my lady,” he says, “but I would request one small gesture of your good faith.”

He’s staring at your lips as he says this and you know without a doubt that he intends to kiss you before he lets you go. And it’s probably not a good idea, but you are inclined to allow it.

You lick your lips. “What sort of gesture?”

He smiles and there’s time for you to draw a single, shaky breath before his lips brush ever so softly against yours.

You’ve been kissed before, but not like this. Never like this.

Loki kisses you like the world is ending and the only salvation to be found is on your lips. His movements are lazy and languid, but there’s a hunger that simmers just below the surface, promising you something more than a breathless kiss in a moonlit garden. He tastes your lips and tongue, first as though he’s tasting a fine wine and then like a man dying of thirst. His hand curls around the nape of your neck, his thumb resting in the hollow of your throat. It’s entirely proper, but something about it is so intimate that it feels like it should be scandalous.

You try to memorize every part of this moment because after tonight, you will return to your life of drudgery. No more stolen kisses in the last days of winter, no more flirting with a prince in the moonlight. And because it has to last you the rest of your life, you give yourself fully to the sensation, kissing him back with the same intensity, your hands winding around his neck, pulling yourself closer, pressing against him in a way that borders on indecent.

You don’t want it to end.

He is the one to break the kiss, to draw back just a little, resting his forehead against yours for just a moment before taking a step back, his eyes sparkling with mischief. He’s probably only thinking of leaving you wanting more, not realizing that your little flirtation will go no further than tonight. The thought pains you just a little, but you stifle the feeling, keeping your expression neutral.

“Until we meet again, my lady,” he says.

You force a small smile. “Until then, your highness.”

With one last look at Loki, you turn and walk away, the feeling of his kiss burning on your lips.

The clock strikes midnight as you exit the garden. You turn back, half expecting to find him chasing after you. Instead, you see him standing there, a pale figure in the moonlight, his eyes still trained on where you disappeared into the darkness.

#fic: as the clock strikes midnight #loki smut #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagines #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki imagine

22 notes · View notes

cleo-fox-archive · 3 years

Text

Part I

As the Clock Strikes Midnight Masterlist | AO3 Pairing: Loki/Reader Rating: Explicit

Also: I did my best with warnings, but if you think I missed one, please send me an ask so I can add it!

Part I

Once upon a time, you had a family and you were happy.

Your father was a lord with a modest estate to his name. You had enough money to live comfortably and pay your servants well, but not so much that you lost all perspective. Your parents were good, kind people who were well-liked and well-respected, and they loved you very much. Though they had been married for many, many years, they still behaved as a couple newly and madly in love. Your mother’s eyes lit up when your father walked into the room and your father looked at your mother like she was the sun and moon and all the stars combined in one dizzying and glittering person who lit up his entire world.

In the darkest part of the night, when all your tears had been spent and your heart felt as though it would never stop breaking, you wondered if it would have been better had he loved her a little less, if that would have made things easier for him in the end. It’s the sort of thought that you feel guilty having, the sort of question that you know you’re not supposed to ask--after all, some stones are better left unturned.

Your bright and glittering mother burned too brightly for this world and it seemed rather bitterly poetic that she should be taken by a fever. Her eyes shone bright as new silver coins as the sickness burned through her, her fevered mind conjuring demons and shadowy figures from the flickering firelight in her chambers. The shadows in her mind made her weep and scream so loudly that you couldn’t help but hear it, even though your father tried to shield you from the worst of it. Worse, though, was when she went very still and quiet, her rattling cough the only sign that life still lingered in her too bright eyes.

She was only sick for a fortnight, but it felt like months of pressing cool cloths against her burning brow and waiting with bated breath for relief that did not come.

She died at sunrise, leaving you alone and taking a part of your father with her.

He tried, your father. He really did. He got up and got dressed every day. He still took you on rambling strolls through the city, still took an interest in your studies, still quizzed you on history at the dinner table, still told you he loved you. But his eyes never really regained their former sparkle and his face grew hollow and just a shade too thin. He drank more--always at night after he thought you’d gone to bed. Sometimes, you would find him staring empty-eyed into the fire, like if he looked hard enough, he might catch a glimpse of your glittering mother dancing in the flames just beyond his reach.

The worst part of it was when you tried to talk about it, he insisted he was fine, even as he began to neglect the house, even as he did not hire replacements for the servants who had begun to leave. You suspected--but could not say for certain--that if you were to look at the house’s accounts, you would find a good deal of red in the ledger. He grew weaker and thinner, like he was trying with all of his might to just disappear.

Your father died like your mother--in the quiet of the night before you could say goodbye.

But your problems were only just beginning.

You hadn’t expected them to bring you before the king’s steward, but that is where they take you when you arrive at the palace. The palace as a whole is light and airy and bright, but Fritjof’s office feels like a dungeon--largely because of the man himself. Fritjof is a thin and reedy man who would seem less imposing and severe if he were carved from granite. He sits at his desk as he looks you over, his mouth drawn into a thin hard line like you've already disappointed him.

“Do you know why you’re here, girl?” You don’t know it yet, but this greeting is a rather apt example of what your entire relationship with Fritjof will be: cold, distant, and abrupt.

You’re not sure if you should look him in the eye--he seems like the sort of man who would interpret a direct gaze as a sign of impertinence while simultaneously demanding it as a sign of respect. There is no winning with that sort of man--you’re young, but you know this.

Ultimately, though, you decide to look him in the eye. Not for him, but for yourself--it at least gives you the illusion that you’re somewhat in control. It’s a comforting illusion, even if it is a lie.

You clear your throat. “My father’s debts, sir.”

He sniffs slightly and it’s somehow dismissive, like you’d said the wrong thing and he’d expected that. “No.” He picks up a quill and makes a careful note on one of the papers sitting in front of him. “You are here,” he says as he writes, “because of the Allfather’s generosity.” He looks up, fixing you with a stern gaze. “You will do well to remember that.”

“Yes, sir,” you say.

He returns to his writing. “You are not of age and you have no family to take you in.”

This is a fact that you’ve become quite well acquainted with, but you are still surprised by how painful it is to hear Fritjof say.

“The Allfather has settled your father’s debts and you are now a ward in the employ of the crown. You will take no wage until such a time that your debt to the crown has been repaid. You have ceded all claims to your title and any property of significant value.”

He sets his quill down and looks up, his expression devoid of any warmth. “You are a servant, you are indebted to the crown, and you will remember your rightful place at all times. I do not tolerate foolishness, laziness, impertinence, or stupidity. Do I make myself clear?”

You swallow, your fingernails digging hard into the palms of your hands, any hope of finding kindness at the palace well and truly extinguished. “Yes, sir.”

Fritjof stares at you for a moment longer and you get the sense that he’s trying to decide whether you’re truly clever enough to have answered his question. You bite the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from squirming under his gaze. Finally, he clears his throat.

“You will work in the kitchens. Grete will see to your training. You are dismissed.”

You don’t really know where the kitchens are or who Grete is, but you exit as quickly as possible, desperate to leave Fritjof and his icy gaze well and far behind you.

Years pass and you come of age in the punishing pace of the palace kitchens.

You are an average worker, precise and methodical, but not exemplary or incompetent enough to draw much attention. You like it this way--the less conspicuous you are, the less likely that you’ll stumble into Fritjof’s crosshairs. While Fritjof spends very little time in the kitchens, his general presence in the palace has the same effect as an icy draft on a guttering fire. He doesn’t exactly seem to like anyone in particular, but it feels like he reserves a particular kind of disdain for you especially. You’re not entirely sure why--it’s not as if you’ve done anything other than simply exist in front of the man--but you try not to think on it much. At some point, you mention it to Grete and she laughs.

“That man has never smiled a day in his life,” she says. “His soul’s made of vinegar. Keep your head down and pay him no mind.”

You laugh, but you still can’t quite shake the feeling.

Grete is something like a friend, you suppose. She’s around your age and prone to gossip, but she’s pleasant enough. She makes an effort to include you in her small group of friends--Marit, Solvi, Lise, and Ylva. It’s not quite the same as your life before, but you have something that resembles a social life, which is more than you expected given Fritjof’s icy reception.

The head cook, Anja, also turns out to be something of a blessing. While the details of your current situation have left you feeling a little wary about trusting anyone, Anja proves to be the exception to that rule. She’s not exactly a warm person, but when she finds you crying in the pantry one night not long after you first arrive at the palace, she sits you down in front of the fire and fixes you a mug of warm milk.

“I’m not one much for sentiment,” she says gruffly as she hands you the mug.

You tense in anticipation of the lecture you’re certain is coming.

“But losing both your parents in such a short time, that’s a heartache I understand.”

You don’t really know what to say to that, so you nod and take a careful sip from your mug.

“I won’t tell you it gets easier,” she says, “but the pain dulls after a while. It’ll become an ache you can live with.”

Anja is quiet for a long time as you sip at your milk, but it’s not an uncomfortable quiet. “You’re a smart girl,” she says eventually. “This--” she gestures broadly at the kitchen, “--this is just a short season in your life. You won’t be a ward of the crown forever.”

It’s the first time that anyone has said anything like that to you, the first time that your debt has felt like anything other than an immovable and immutable obstacle. It’s a hope that feels practical and you feel something lighten in your spirit.

You blink away more tears and Anja pretends she doesn’t see. “Thank you,” you say.

Anja pats your shoulder as she stands. “Wash the cup before you go to bed.”

For the most part, you keep your head down and focus on your work, dreaming about the day your debt is repaid and you can leave the palace behind.

Though you’re curious about your outstanding balance, you decide that you cannot ask Fritjof about it for a while yet. While Fritjof’s general unpleasantness and seeming dislike of you is a motivating factor, the main reason is because the amount you owe is large enough that it doesn't seem particularly prudent to check until enough time has passed for your work to start to make a difference.

So, you wait and work.

It’s many years after your arrival that you finally drum up the courage to knock on Fritjof’s office door. Though you are now a woman grown, you can’t help but feel like you did on that first day: wide-eyed and terrified, your fingernails digging into the palms of your hands in an effort to maintain your composure. Even though you’ve never asked him about this before, Fritjof still looks annoyed as he hauls out his ledger, licking his index finger as he flips through the pages.

Your knees are shaking when he finally slides the ledger across his desk for you to inspect. You suck in an uncertain breath while your eyes scan across the page until you find your name.

And there in Fritjof’s precise script is a horrible truth: your balance owed has barely moved at all.

You have worked until your body ached, forgone sleep and many other comforts, and it all amounts to a raindrop in the ocean. At this rate, you will be an old woman by the time it is paid off in full.

You have years of practice holding back tears, but this creeping sense of despair and the lump in your throat are both new. You feel as though you’ve lost something important and after a moment, it occurs to you that the feeling you’ve lost is hope.

“Will that be all?” Fritjof says gruffly.

You jolt. “Yes. Thank you, sir.”

You only allow yourself to weep later that evening under the cover of darkness.

But despite that loss, this is the year that everything begins to change, though you won’t know that until much later.

You spend the first week after Fritjof’s revelation walking around in a dazed fog. You eat little and sleep as soon as your work ends in the evening, clinging to what scant comfort your dreams are able to provide. But from that consuming fog of hopelessness emerges a strange kind of freedom. It’s not exactly apathy so much as it is perspective--suddenly, the little things that bothered you seem pointless, arbitrary rules that kept you in line feel less consequential. Does it truly matter if you sneak an extra pastry into the pocket of your apron when so many more years of backbreaking work lay ahead of you?

It’s this change in perspective that motivates you to begin visiting the palace library.

Reading is a pleasure that was taken from you when you came to the palace. You had managed to keep four favorites from your parents’ library, but you have read them so many times over that it is difficult to enjoy them in the same way that you had before. With all of your wages going toward your debt, you have no money to buy books of your own, not even the cheap paperbacks they sell in the marketplace. From time to time, you might be able to arrange a trade with one of the other servants--bartering an extra shift for a borrowed book--but your reading interests and theirs did not always align. A library is a luxury that you can barely even begin to imagine--and one day, it occurs to you that maybe you shouldn’t have to imagine it.

You’re not exactly breaking a specific rule. That is the story you intend to tell if you are ever caught. The library is open to the entire palace and no one has ever specifically said that servants are excluded. Granted, if you have to guess, you’re fairly certain that you’re not supposed to be there, but you’re prepared to play dumb if it comes down to that.

You are still careful, though. You only go very late at night during your free hours. You don’t stay long--maybe an hour at most, the clock chiming midnight always serving as your cue to exit. You never take anything with you--you read quietly standing in the stacks, your eyes straining in the dim lamplight.

You like this new rhythm to your days--it gives you something to look forward to, a glimmer of light in an otherwise exhausting existence. The only person who notices you coming and going at late hours is Grete, but she easily convinces herself that you’re sneaking about because you’ve taken a lover. You roll your eyes and tell her that you’ve simply grown fond of a late evening walk. She doesn’t believe you, but she doesn’t try to stop you either, which is the only thing you care about.

It’s three weeks in when you’re caught. You expected this would happen at some point, but you didn’t think it would be so soon and you didn’t think that one of the princes would be the one to catch you.

Your stomach drops as you recognize the emerald gaze boring into you from across the room. You hadn’t seen him sitting there, hadn’t heard him come in, and there is no way to hide the open book in your hand. It’s not like you could pretend that you are here on urgent kitchen business, either. If Thor had been the one to find you, you might have had a hope of pleading your case, but Loki...well. Loki isn’t exactly known for being particularly merciful.

You meet his gaze dead on, your chin jutting out almost instinctively in quiet defiance. He looks at you, utterly unreadable, his gaze flitting briefly to the book in your hand. There’s a slight twitch at the corner of his lips--something that could be a hint of amusement, though you can’t quite imagine him smiling in this moment.

He holds your gaze for a moment more and then his gaze drops back to his book.

You stare at him for a few seconds before retreating back into the shadows of the stacks, your heart beating wildly. You’re not entirely certain what this means. Perhaps he is biding his time; perhaps he will go straight from here to Fritjof’s office after he finishes his book. Perhaps he will wait until morning.

You consider this for a moment. If he intends to report you, your time in the library is surely limited; you’ll be back to rereading your own books and making bargains with the other servants. This could be your last chance to enjoy a new book for quite a while. You might as well make the most of it.

It’s not easy to bring your focus back to the text, but you manage, even though your heart is still thundering in your chest. Your legs are a little wobbly, but you convince yourself to stay until the clock chimes midnight.

Loki looks up as you are leaving the library. You keep your eyes on his, chin tilted up as you dip into a perfunctory curtsy. You’re not quite sure if it’s amusement or something darker that makes his eyes glitter like jewels, but it’s out of your hands now and you’re resigned to whatever fate has in store. You leave the library with your head held high, the hairs on the back of your neck prickling under the weight of Loki’s gaze.

When all is said and done, though, he doesn’t report you.

He’s there the next evening when you return and most of the ones after that. You seem to have reached some sort of unspoken agreement with him, though it baffles you. You are not entirely certain of his motivations--perhaps he sees you as an amusing curiosity, perhaps he does not care enough about rules and protocol to be much concerned when someone breaks them. Perhaps it’s simply the fact that you never seek to deprive him of the chair that he favors--the red one right by the window. Or perhaps he still intends to turn you over to Fritjof and he’s merely waiting for the right moment to do it. Whatever the reason, he seems content to allow you to go about your business and you decide that it’s a reprieve that’s best not questioned overly much.

Still, even with this silent truce between you, even with your vow not to think about all the ways this could go wrong, Loki gives you the same feeling you get when you discover a wasp trapped indoors: a slight sense of unease, the feeling that you must be aware of his presence at all times or risk some sort of danger.

Careful, you think.

Sometimes, you lock eyes and it’s hard to ignore how hard your heart beats in your throat, how difficult it is to hold your head high and not look away. It gives you a strange feeling, but not necessarily an unwelcome one.

He’s also rather absurdly handsome, which doesn’t help matters.

Careful.

Every year, the palace hosts a masquerade ball. It’s meant to be a celebration for all of Asgard--everyone is invited, even the servants. Inviting the servants is a nice gesture, but a slightly thoughtless one--a ball requires an enormous amount of work, especially from the kitchen staff. If everyone took the night off to attend, there would be no celebration at all.

Many years ago, Anja had implemented a solution to this problem. There would be a rotation--the full staff would work together the day of the ball, with one third being dismissed a few hours early to attend and the other two thirds remaining in the kitchens to work. The assignments would change every year so everyone got the chance to attend. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fair and no one could find any fault with fair.

The problem for you was that Fritjof was the one who actually arranged the staffing for this. And every single year, you are assigned to the group scheduled to work. You know that this is intentional on Fritjof’s part: it is the sort of pointless, petty revenge that he is fond of and it requires little effort for him to accomplish.

It doesn’t really occur to you to complain about it. You’re trying to keep your head down and complaining to Fritjof is not worth the trouble it would cause, even though you would very much like to go. So, every year you ignore the sympathetic looks from Grete and the other girls and try not to think about the dress you have tucked away in the trunk in your room as you work the night away in the kitchens.

Among the few belongings that you were permitted to take with you to the palace is a gown that once belonged to your mother. You wanted a bright, glittering reminder of her when she died and this dress was the brightest and most glittering one in her wardrobe. It is several seasons out of fashion, but it is beautifully elegant, all ivory silk and lace and hemmed with silvery embroidered leaves. The matching shoes are encrusted with blue and silver beads that glitter like glass when they catch the light. A matching mask of silver filigree accompanies it--your mother must have worn it to one of the masquerade balls many years ago.

It is an impractical dress to keep--you have never worn it anywhere outside of your own room--but it’s nice to put it on and pretend sometimes. If you ever get the chance to go, this would be the dress you would wear--everyone dressed a little outlandishly for the masquerade and a gown a few seasons out of fashion would draw no special attention.

It’s a silly, passing thought--just another daydream that makes your old life seem not quite as far away.

But in the year that everything changes, your absence from the ball is finally brought to Anja’s attention.

On the day of the masquerade, Anja summons you to the larder on the pretext of helping her with some pastries. The moment the door closes, she whirls on you, fixing you with a stern gaze. You tense and for a moment, you think she must have found out about your trips to the library.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’ve been assigned to work during the masquerade every year since you’ve arrived?”

Your relief is immediate, accompanied by a dizzying rush of adrenaline that almost makes you want to laugh. “I didn’t think it mattered.”

“Of course it matters,” says Anja with a level of feeling that surprises you. “Everyone's meant to have a chance to go, not everyone except for one person. You should have said something to me.”

You know you’re speaking out of turn, but the indignation in Anja’s voice is oddly disarming. “I didn’t think Fritjof would allow it,” you say.

Anja’s shoulders sag slightly and there’s a flash of softness in her eyes that disappears almost as quickly as it appears. “I’ll thank you not to repeat this, but that man is too hard on you.”

You shrug, not really sure what to say.

“Luckily, he’s predictable,” she continues. “He’ll be in and out of the kitchens early on in the evening, so I can’t change your assignment without him noticing. Once desserts go out, though, he’s likely to stay in the ballroom. After the cakes are iced, I’ll send you to go get dressed. You won’t have more’n two hours in all, but it’s enough time to get cleaned up and dressed and have a dance or two before the unmasking at midnight.”

Your mouth hangs open. This was beyond what you had hoped for. “Really?”

“Don’t gape at me, girlie, it’s unbecoming,” she says, lightly tapping your cheek. There’s something warm growing and expanding in your chest and you realize there are tears brimming in your eyes. “Don’t you cry on me either or I’ll change my mind,” says Anja gruffly, though there’s warmth there.

You nod, hastily wiping your eyes. “I just--I never thought...thank you, Anja.”

“It’s the decent thing to do,” she says, brushing you off. “Now look lively, there’s a lot of work to be done yet.”

You think of your bright and glittering mother and your kind father and the life that they wanted for you. It’s just a masquerade, but you can’t help the small, hopeful feeling that blooms in your chest.

Little do you know that this will be the start of something rather extraordinary

#fic: as the clock strikes midnight #loki smut #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagines #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki imagine

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