Chapter Text
Laying out on a beach towel, wide brimmed hat casting your face in shade, you glanced over at Loki. He sat under an umbrella; pale skin protected from the sun.
“Can you believe less than a week ago, this was completely frozen over?” You asked.
A volleyball landed in the sand near you and you scrabbled away from it. With a scowl, you looked to see who had thrown it.
Tony already was at your side to retrieve the volleyball. “Technically the oceans weren’t completely frozen, just the shores. Can you imagine how much worse things would be if the oceans had been cold enough to freeze?”
“There was snow on the equator. More than a foot in some of Africa’s deserts. The Amazon had snow.”
Loki sighed, legs crossed as he leaned against the umbrella pole. He held a book in one hand, glancing up at the conversation.
“Humanity has bounced back from worse.” Tony shrugged. “Besides, there’s nothing we love more than a shared enemy to unite the world. Thanos? Russia and the US are besties. Frost giants? There’s peace in the middle east.”
“Humanity has always been good about putting aside differences for the greater good, when it comes to having a common enemy.” You agreed.
“Imagine if a bunch of tiny Thanos’ had showed up. All immigrated here as purple people. We’d be solving human racism in days." Tony laughed.
You rolled your eyes and shook your head. “Uh-huh…” The sarcasm was heavy in your voice.
“You two wanna join us? Got the whole crew back together.” Tony paused, tossing the ball in the air and catching it. “Well and a bunch of new people too.”
Doctor Strange walked past the three of you at the moment, talking with a serious looking man.
Tony jerked his chin up, up-nodding the two men. “Wizards. Yea, I know those guys.”
“Tony! Hurry up with that, T’challa is up fifteen points.” Steve called.
Tony grunted. “Well yea.” He muttered under his breath walking back. “It’s him and Bucky against us.”
Loki stood after Tony had returned to the volleyball net. He brushed the sand off his swim shorts and moved over you. Gazing down at you, he smiled. The sun glinted off his features and he seemed to shine in the light. His black hair was more vibrant than ever. You could stare up at him standing over you all day.
“Shall we go to the water?” Loki offered you his hand.
You flushed, cheeks heating not from the sun. “With you? I’d go anywhere.”
Loki chuckled and tugged you to your feet. “So I’ve discovered.”
“How are your eyes?”
“They’re fine.”
“Odin?”
Loki shrugged, hand in hand as the two of you walked towards the water’s edge. “I’ll never be worthy by his standards. It’s lucky Stark had been able to remove Asgardian handiwork.”
You scowled.
The water splashed against your feet as the two of you moved further into the depths. The waves were gentle this afternoon. They did not slosh you around as they might on other days. You and Loki stood just deep enough that the water came up to your shoulders, though he seemed to be crouching slightly.
The water felt cool and refreshing from the hot summer sun. Nothing like the bitter cold that had infected the world a few weeks ago. This, this was nice.
“You’re more than worthy by my standards.”
Loki looked at you and a small smile grew on his face, matching yours.
“And who knows, maybe when real winter comes again, you’ll have to show me those eyes again, pretty as they were.”
“You want to see me like that?” Loki asked incredulously.
“Thor said you were unhappy with your appearance that way, not that he had seen it.”
“Of course.”
“And who knows, maybe in the next few weeks it’ll be hot enough that I’ll miss the cold.”
Loki shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I doubt any human will miss the cold ever again.”
You tossed your arms around Loki’s neck and gazed up at him. “Your cold? I’ll miss that always.”
Loki slid his hands down your sides, pulling you close to him. He hummed softly. “And what of your warmth?”
You bit your lip. “I can think of more ways to warm up than I can to cool off.”
Loki nodded, breathing out softly. A breath of cold air came from him, fluttering across his face. “If you can’t think of how to cool off love, you’re just not being creative enough.”
A splash of water hit the two of you and you both irritably turned towards the volleyball floating a meter away.
“Tony!” You yelled angrily.
“Save room for Odin!” Tony called back.
Loki extricated himself from your grasp and glared back at the man standing on the water’s edge. With a burst of energy, the volleyball sailed through the air and slammed into Tony. The man toppled over, and you and Loki burst into laughter.
“C’mon, we have a lot of summer left to enjoy.”