Chapter Text
It had been a long, stressful day at work.
The client wanted one thing while her boss wanted another. It made working the assignment very hard.
If he didn't like what the client was going for, why agree to take job in the first place?
It might've had something to do with the fact that the client was the son of one of the hire ups just wanting to cause trouble. But they couldn't say anything on account of that little fact, so her and her boss struggled through the workload. Well, she struggled. Her boss kept denying everything, tying up the project so that it'd never see the light of day.
She didn't blame her boss, but she resented him for putting her on the project. Lyla was just as good as any of her other coworkers. But being tied up in this labyrinth of a project that led nowhere made it hard to prove that fact.
Lyla let out a frustrated sigh as she put her things on the table by the door, her coat on the wrack beside it. She was just ready for the day to be over so she could collapse into bed.
"But first, a drink," she said to no one in particular. Living alone, she tended to fill the silence with her own voice. It made keeping her commentary an inner monologue a hard thing to do, especially in the presence of the creep, but she managed.
Deciding to check her social networks, she booted up her laptop before heading to the kitchen to get herself a drink. "One beer wouldn't hurt," she thought aloud. Drink in hand, she made her way back to her laptop in the living room to browse her bookmarks.
She saved Tumblr for last, knowing she could spend hours on it, reblogging and posting. Scrolling through her dashboard, she came to a stop when she found a post that caught her attention. One of her favorite fanfic writers had posted a new oneshot Loki fanfic.
Eyeing the post with curiosity, Lyla bit her lip. She had told herself, no more fanfiction. It was becoming a habit to check for them every night, especially for smutty ones. There was nothing wrong with fanfiction, writing or reading it.
Lyla was just afraid that she was letting it interfere with her love life. Fanfic writers painted a desirable picture with such sensual, sometimes rough, brush strokes. She became addicted to it. And with little to no sexual encounters, reading and fantasizing became a great way to de-stress and relax.
Rolling her bottom lip between her teeth, her fingers hovering over her touchpad, she gave in and clicked the link.
~x~
Lyla jolted awake, the feeling of falling hitting her body like an electric shock.
Keeping her eyes shut, she rolled her eyes beneath her eyelids. It was ridiculous, the brief moment of panic she felt whenever that happened.
She shifted to make herself feel comfortable again, only to stop mid shift. Something was off. Her sheets were too soft. On top of which, she felt the fibers of her sheets on more of her skin than she should have.
Knitting her eyebrows together in confusion, she felt around with her hands. These sheets were definitely not her own. They felt like water caressing your skin. Moving her hands under the blanket she made a different discovery, she was naked.
Her eyes shot open at that, widening even further when she saw that the room she was in was not her own. Lyla rose up with a gasp, ensuring the sheet stayed clung to her form as she sat up to take in her surroundings.
The walls of the room were bronze. Candles were flickering from various points around the room, illuminating the vast space. Candles? Who uses candles anymore?'
There was a desk by the window and multiple bookshelves along the walls of the room. They were filled with books, old by the looks of them and frayed. As her eyes continued to scan the room, she froze, stiffened by the sight before her. Across from the bed was a fireplace, a fire lit before its hearth. Standing in front of the fire was Loki, in all his leather-clad glory.
Lyla let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
Oh, thank god. It's a dream, she thought, putting her hand to her chest in relief. Looking down at the sheets, her mind started racing incoherently at the idea of dreaming about Loki. It had never happened before. She'd fantasized, but never dreamed. It didn't feel like a dream. Usually her dreams consisted of jumping from scene to scene with vague, instantaneous moments where she 'knew' what would happen next...
A voice cut through her rambling thoughts, "Are you alright, mortal?"
She looked up, raising her eyebrows, to see Loki watching her. Oh, right...
Covering herself over the sheet, she cleared her throat and answered. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just having a crazy dream, is all," she mused aloud.
"A dream, is it?" He inquired, his lips quirked. "Are you sure of that?"
"Yeah..." She replied, confused. "How could it not? I mean, I'm,...I'm going to hazard a guess, in Asgard, and you're here. So... yep. Dream." As an afterthought, she added, "Oh and there's the whole 'being naked' thing..."
He looked at her, amused, waiting for her to continue that thought.
Lyla blushed, "You know...How one generally has a dream about being naked in a situation they'd prefer to be clothed in.."
"You wish to not be naked with me?" He teased.
Her eyes widened, "NO! I mean.. yes, I do... well, would wish it, if you were real, but not... well, you'd have to wine and dine me first." She finished with a snicker. Her inner monologue might as well be outward. It was a dream, after all.
"You seem rather insistent that this is a dream," he mused.
"How could it not be?" She asked. "I'm sitting in the bed of Loki, naked, talking to the god of mischief, himself. There's no way that's reality." She shook her head.
"What makes you so certain?" He continued.
Man, dream Loki certainly is inquisitive.
"Well, for starters, you look like Loki." She stated.
He looked at her, confused.
"MCU Loki," she continued. "You look like Tom Hiddleston's portrayal." She brought her knees up to rest her arms upon.
She thought about that and continued, "Well, yeah..though, I guess.. You are a master of magic. So, you could look like that if you wanted to. But why would you choose to look this way for mere mortals? If, in fact, you were the real Loki, wouldn't you not care how us Midgardians saw you?"
"You do not believe this to be my true form?" He replied. He almost sounded irritated.
Lyla pondered that briefly before giggling and replying, "If that is how you look, then someone on Earth was definitely made in your image."
"I could be that very person," he said, walking to the foot of the bed. "Walking amongst you, and you wouldn't even suspect."
"You could," she agreed. Then she remembered something, "Actually, people on Tumblr have kind of already guessed at that, admittedly as a jest, but still.."
"So you admit, it is possible," he tried.
"Y-yes," she answered hesitantly. It was imaginable, but she still wanted to believe it was a dream.
Loki walked around the bed to her side while speaking, "And yet, you still hold fast to the notion that this is a dream?"
Suddenly registering his towering presence, Lyla scooted away from him towards the center of the bed. He sat down on the bed next to her, looking into her eyes for an answer. She stared back, becoming entranced by his emerald green gaze. Her cheeks reddened under the intensity she saw there. It took her a minute to remember she had yet to answer his question.
She swallowed, unable to speak. So she nodded, looking from the sheets in front of her to him and back.
He tilted his head to catch her eyes, questioning, "If it is a dream, why so nervous?" He reached up to trail her shape from shoulder to elbow with his fingertips. She shivered at the contact. His eyes left hers to follow his hand as he retraced his path, diverting to where the bed sheet met her skin.
"Surely, then, there is no need for such modesty," he spoke softly. His finger dipped beneath the sheet at his words, tugging. His nail tickled the skin of her breasts as he ran along the sheets edge and back. He met her eyes again, waiting for her answer.
"Maybe," she squeaked. His lips quirked up again. She cleared her throat and tried again, "Maybe I'm just awkward. And again, there's that whole, 'naked in a situation I'd prefer to be clothed in' scenario that's always a possibility."
"Perhaps," he conceded, his finger still tracing the blanket. "Or-" he continued, moving his fingers up her chest to her opposite shoulder and down her other arm as he spoke. "You could have been transported here, your appearance giving way to your true desires."
She watched as he moved closer while he spoke. His words a whisper against her skin by the time he finished at her ear. Trying to keep her composure, she countered in his ear, "True, in some manner if I understood that such means existed outside the realm of dreams."
Thinking along those lines, another thought occurred to her. Lyla leaned back from Loki, looking into his eyes as she thought aloud, "But if this wasn't a dream, and I somehow ended up here. How do I know it wasn't an act of your doing? You are considered a god of mischief and lies, after all. Messing with a mortal such as myself is not outside the realm of possibility. The question I would have then, would be why. Why go through all that trouble?"
Putting his finger under her chin, he smirked, and said, "Clever little kitten, aren't you? Well.."
He moved to whisper into her ear, "That is for me to know and you to find out."
He huff a laugh at her ear. She could feel him smirking. Loki then licked the side of her ear with the tip of his tongue, causing her to jump in her skin.
She blinked, her eyes briefly shrouded in darkness before they opened again.
Lyla was back in her room. Her alarm was going off.
Groaning, she reached over and pressed the snooze button.
Definitely no more fanfiction.