A/N: I got bored on Valentine's Day this year, so I wrote this. I had fun with it and hope you enjoy reading it!

Disclaimer: Nope, sadly it's Marvel's, not mine. All I own is the plot.

Loki hated Valentine's Day.

It was a day of love and teasing and all things pink, and Loki despised it all. He'd much rather have a private heart-to-heart than be showered in pink and red confetti as he (loudly and often drunkenly) proclaimed his love for a certain individual. It was beyond him why some people actually liked to do that.

Also, Loki really hated the color pink.

This Valentine's Day would be especially hard on him, though, as it would be spent among people he'd once called enemies but that were now supposed to be his friends.

Namely, the Avengers.

After he'd (accidentally) led Thanos straight to them by stealing the Tesseract - which a) he hadn't known Thanos could track and b) he'd wanted for much less sinister reasons than the Avengers believed - , Loki had redeemed himself in the eyes of most of the Avengers by siding with them to try and kill Thanos. After failing and being mortally wounded, Thor had convinced Tony Stark to fly him back to Fury's base to be healed. While he'd been in the infirmary, the Avengers and Fury had held a brief meeting and decided to let Loki join their ranks. They had no idea that the Trickster had sent one of his illusions tailing Thor and eavesdropping outside, and Loki intended to keep it that way. As it was, he'd joined them, and they (along with literally every other superhero that Earth seemed to have to offer) had converged against Thanos and killed him just before he could snap his fingers and use the six Infinity Stones to murder half the universe.

Loki and Thor had been living on Earth at Avengers Tower with the other Avengers ever since.

And now the infamous Tony Stark was throwing a Valentine's Day party that Loki was expected to attend.

Why were the Avengers so damn forgiving?

The worst part of it was, he'd be expected to mingle. With Thor. And things between Loki and Thor at this point were fragile.

Namely, they hadn't spoken to each other for a week.

It wasn't entirely Loki's fault...okay, scratch that, yes it was. It was entriely Loki's fault. He remembered before the mini-war with Thanos, just after they'd unleashed Ragnarok on Asgard and relocated its population to a spot on Earth that the Asgardians designated "New Asgard." They'd then rushed to New York City, but before that, on their way to Earth, Thor and Loki had had a conversation that ended awkwardly.

Loki thought back...

[flashback]

Thor picks up a small object, a three-dimensional diamond of sorts (Loki identifies it as a decanter top after a moment), in his hand as he looks up at where Loki stands with his one good eye. Hela had done a lot of damage, Loki thinks, taking in his brother's ragged appearance and the eye patch that was so much like Odin's. And Fury's.

"Maybe you're not so bad after all, brother," Thor says, bouncing the object.

Loki allows himself a faint smile, trying in vain to quell the emotions raging through him. The desire. The passion.

The love.

"Maybe not," Loki replies, his poker face still mostly intact. But that's just a glamour. The smile is real, but the poker face is not. In reality, under the illusion, Loki is blushing, hard. But he won't let Thor see; he is too proud for that.

Thor contemplates the object in his hand for a moment before looking back up at Loki with his one good, crystal blue eye. "Thank you. You know, if you were here, I might even give you a hug," Thor says. Loki knows what he means: If he's here and not just an illusion, a trick, a lie. Only part of him is illusioned; Loki himself is here in the flesh, but Thor is not entirely sure. Loki's pulled the "I'm here - psych!" trick on him countless times before, after all.

Anticipating his adopted-brother-turned-crush's next move (considering he's done this often enough on Sakarr), Loki fights to control his blush and lets the illusion drop once he's sure he has it in check. He wants there to be no games, no lies, no tricks this time. He wants Thor to know that this is really him, here, in the flesh.

Thor throws the object he was holding, with perfect aim. Loki half-sidesteps and reaches up to catch the object.

This time his smile is real and genuine when he says softly, "I'm here."

Thor smiles back and crosses the room to where Loki stands. The God of Mischief fights hard to control his blush again - but even still, he can't help a little color from going into his cheeks as Thor stops in front of him. He's barely an inch away, and Loki has to resist the urge to close the distance between them. He doesn't think Thor would take too kindly to that.

"I'm glad you're not an illusion this time," Thor murmurs, his hand absently finding Loki's free one. Loki can't fight the blush this time, so he averts his eyes, looking down at their intertwined hands. Thor's is warm and rough; Loki's is cool and smooth. Complete opposites, and yet somehow it feels right.

"So am I," Loki finds himself whispering.

He doesn't entirely know how it happens. One moment he's just standing there, holding hands with Thor (who's a little closer than strictly necessary), and the next moment, without a conscious decision to, Loki's kissing him.

It was Loki who initiated the kiss and it is Loki who pulls away, embarrassed. He sets down the object, muuters a hasty and almost inaudible, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have," and then runs out the door.

Embarrassed. Cursing himself.

Wondering if he'd ruined his relationship with Thor for good.

[end flashback]

Loki had regretted the kiss ever since, and wondered heavily if he'd ruined whatever chance he might have had with Thor. He was head over heels for his fake brother, and had been for quite some time now. Possibly ever since he'd started dating Jane. But he'd been too scared to do anything...at least until he'd kissed the thunder god.

Loki was laying on his back in his room, dreading the upcoming party, when a knock at his door startled him.

"Come in?" Loki said hesitantly, not sure who it was.

It was Thor.

"Loki," Thor said, "can I...talk to you?"

Loki nodded once, confused. His heart rate quickened, and he felt a blush start to rise to his face and fought it down.

Thor walked farther into the room, closing the door behind him. He came over and sat down next to Loki, tentatively taking his hand. Loki was surprised, but didn't pull away.

"About...before," Thor said awkwardly. "When you..."

"Kissed you?" Loki groaned.

"Yeah," Thor said. He dropped his voice to a murmur for no apparent reason, putting his other hand over Loki's so he was holding the Trickster's with both of his own. "Listen, Loki...when you kissed me...I wasn't...ugh, I'm not good with words, I don't have a silver tongue like you do. But, Loki, what I'm trying to say is..."

Loki barely dared hope. He was barely breathing, hoping against hope, his heart running a mile a minute...could Thor really...?

Thor regarded him for a moment with those brilliant blue eyes of his (he'd gotten his other one replaced), and Loki realized he was hardly breathing. But that's not what Thor was looking at, looking for in his face.

And then Thor leaned in and kissed him.

Loki, caught by surprise, opened his mouth automatically beneath the pressure of Thor's lips, and to his surprise and delight, Thor took the kiss deeper. Thor's tongue started to gently explore Loki's mouth, surprisingly soft and gentle, until Loki moaned and Thor went in harder. Loki returned the kiss, stunned but exhilarated. Thor seemed to be enjoying this as much as Loki was, which just made it better.

Loki's hand slipped from Thor's grasp to pull him closer before wrapping around Thor's waist, keeping him there, while his other one migrated up to bury itself in Thor's short blond hair. Thor kissed him harder, if that was possible, and Loki felt Thor wrap him in a surprisingly gentle embrace.

Only when air became an absolute necessity did Loki and Thor pull apart, and Loki looked deep into Thor's eyes, wondering what he'd find there.

"...I love you." Thor finished his statement from earlier in barely a whisper.

Loki smiled softly, overjoyed. Yes! He wasn't the only one who felt that way!

"I love you, too," Loki breathed, untangling his hand from Thor's hair to bring it down and touch his face. "I've loved you for a long time."

"I've loved you for a long time, too," Thor murmured. "Even while I was with Jane...I always felt like something was wrong, something was missing. And then I realized what it was...you."

Thor studied Loki before continuing, taking in his past-shoulder-length raven-black hair and his beautiful emerald eyes that shone with love and mischief. Loki, in turn, studied Thor: the electric blue eyes (yes, even the fake one), the short blond hair that he'd been devastated about at first but that Loki thought looked perfect on him. Both were thinking the same thing: He's beautiful.

"When I thought you'd died, on Svartalfheim, my world felt like it was falling apart. Sure, I had Jane safe, but I couldn't bear the thought of living without you, even after all you'd done in the past few years. All the death, all the destruction, all the chaos; none of it mattered as I held you in my arms, as you - or who I thought was you - drew your final breath. And then, after Ultron back here on Earth, well, when I returned to Asgard and found you, alive...I was both overjoyed and absolutely furious with you for letting me believe you dead all that time. On Sakarr, even in those moments where I thought for sure you were just trying to betray me again, I could never stop thinking that I could never lose you like that again. So when you showed up in Asgard, even shouting like that, I was overjoyed to see you still alive. After the battle with Hela, when you kissed me...I didn't want you to stop, Loki," Thor said.

Loki smiled. "Since when are you so good with words?"

"I'm not," Thor laughed. "That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

That actually made Loki laugh, a sound so warm and pure that it surprised even Loki himself. He hadn't laughed in a long, long time.

"Okay, now I know you're the only one for me," Loki teased. "You made me laugh."

"Like that's so impossible?" Thor teased back.

"Actually, it is," Loki said. "I haven't laughed in years. At least, not like that."

"Would it be terribly inappropriate if I kissed you again?" Thor asked.

"Not at all," Loki replied.

Thor did just that, kissing Loki fiercely. Loki returned it, closing his eyes.

"I love you," Loki breathed when Thor pulled away.

"I love you, too," Thor murmured. "Now, come on, we don't want to keep Anthony waiting."

Loki reluctantly untangled himself from Thor's embrace and stood, straightening his tunic a little as he did so. Thor took his hand, and together they left Loki's room to go down to Tony Stark's party.

Maybe Valentine's Day wasn't so bad after all.

FIN.

Reviews would be nice!