Chapter Text
The annual TVA “festive-all” party.
Christmas light sparkling, Ranshi Day ships floating through the air, hamantashen filled with poppy seeds and Nutella.
Too many glasses of champagne.
You and Loki arguing again about who should take the lead on the next case.
The fortune teller, holding your hands and Loki’s, her voice foreboding.
“A journey begins
A prize reflected in another’s eyes…”
Doors in the hall opening and closing.
The bustle of the morning rush.
Your neighbour’s shower sputtering to life as they hum off tune.
“...When what you see is what you lack
Then selfless love will change you back.”
You open your eyes and the world starts to swim back to you. You lay there for a few moments, trying to process the strange dream you were having. You’d been at a party last night. That part was true. You’d had your hair and nails done for the occasion, and you’d worn a particularly revealing cocktail gown. Had you been hoping to annoy Loki with it? Yes, you supposed that you had been. He was so cocky. Just because you were partners didn’t mean that you had to like him. But you loved to get a rise out of him, remind him that even if he didn’t like you, you still had control over him when it came to his baser instincts.
You stretch your arms over your head, spreading your fingers apart and letting out a yawn.
You freeze, your heart hammering in your chest.
That wasn’t your voice.
In fact, as you start to wake up, you start to feel like you’re occupying the bed a little differently somehow. You can’t explain it, exactly, but it just doesn’t feel like YOUR body.
You hold your hands in front of your face.
Long, elegant fingers. Short nails, a little nibbled on. A scar on the back of the left hand.
The left hand. Because your left hand would be the incorrect term, wouldn’t it?
It’s not your left hand at all. It’s very distinctly and frighteningly someone else’s.
You try to calm your breathing as you peel the sheets away from your body.
Flat, broad chest. A dusting of dark hairs nestled between the pecs. Curls of dark hair poking out from under the armpits. Stomach rising and falling in time with your breath, but paler and more muscular than your own. Muscles along the hips pointing in a V down to a neatly trimmed patch of dark hair between sinewy thighs.
And between those thighs…
The sight of it is shocking but also undeniably arousing. You feel a heat pooling in your core and it reacts, stiffening slowly. You stare, shocked and curious, as the cock between your legs grows hard. Your run your hands over the ridged muscles of your stomach and thighs, sighing as you reach to wrap your hand around it. You stop before you let yourself. It feels wrong, somehow. Sure, this body is technically yours now if you’re inhabiting it, but you can’t be touching yourself right now when you have no idea what got you here. Yourself? Himself?
Your pelvic muscles clench as you try to regain focus.
This is not your body.
But this is your bed.
This is definitely your mind.
But this is not your body.
You reach down beside the bed and retrieve your bath robe, wrapping it around your waist and trying to cover the offending appendage. “Out of sight, out of mind,” you mutter, reeling at the sound of the voice that utters the words. You know that voice.
No, no, no….
You push yourself up out of bed, noting the size of your feet, the dark hair on your long thin legs. You approach the full length mirror in the hall, heart pounding. You cover your face with your hands at first, then spread your fingers apart slowly to reveal your new face.
Dark, curled hair. Sharp cheekbones. Green eyes.
Loki.
You stare at the face in the mirror, trying to process the shock. You are still you. All of your thoughts are your own, you remember your past and what you looked like when you went to sleep last night. But when you look into your eyes in the mirror, Loki’s eyes stare back at you.
You try to arrange the expression on your face into one that Loki would never have. You screw your nose up and stick your tongue out. You laugh, and Loki’s laugh reverberates through your sparsely decorated TVA studio apartment.
You sit on the floor in front of the full length mirror, legs crossed and arms resting on your knees. You close your eyes and try to sense yourself inside this foreign body. You try to remember what happened last night. You were definitely drunk. Wasted, one might say. You remember the fortune teller. What had she said? A prize reflected in another’s eyes . You recall an Earth movie that started with that incantation. Jaime Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan had swapped bodies and hijinx had ensued. Was Loki in your body right now? You smirk as you realize that if Loki is in your body, he’s finding out for the first time what it’s like to inhabit a mortal body with all of its wear and tear: Your tense shoulders, your chronic back pain. He always nagged you about how often you needed to take time off because of your back, insinuating that he should take the lead on all of your joint cases because he was more reliable. The dull ache that had been torturing your uterus yesterday was gone, too. You laugh when you imagine Loki in your body, experiencing menstrual cramps for the first time. The laugh sounds purely Loki, and you look at yourself in the mirror, surprised by how easy it is to feel self righteous when you feel and look this good.
Yes: Loki does look good. You’ve never let yourself admit it because you wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. But here in the privacy of your apartment, you allow your eyes to full appreciate him. You shrug the robe off your shoulders and flex your chest in the mirror. You tilt your chin up to expose your neck and ghost your fingertips over the tendons flexing against the pale skin there. You slide them along the collarbones, smirking at the pleasure it gives you. You can see Loki’s face flushing as you stare into his eyes in the mirror. You move your hands lower and roll his nipples in your fingers. You bite your lip and watch as Loki’s teeth press into his.
Fully entranced, you pull the rest of the robe open and arrange yourself in front of the mirror so that you’re sitting on the floor with your legs spread, knees bent. You lean against the bed behind you and get comfortable as you take in the wickness that you’ve just laid bare. The cock between your legs is rock hard now, and you take it tentatively in one hand as you allow the other hand to rest on your stomach, feeling the muscles there tighten as you let out a moan of relief.
Loki’s voice falls from his lips again, and the sound is deliciously vulgar. Goosebumps form on your skin and you try to gain control of his body. Loki’s body’s reactions combined with your mind’s arousal are threatening to break you apart. You take a deep breath and release it as you look down and strengthen your grip around your cock before giving it a few slow, cautious strokes. It feels good , familiar and foreign all at once. Beats of pre-cum start to form on the tip as you stroke and you run your thumb across to gather it, sending a jolt of pleasure through your body. You swipe your thumb back across again and toss your head back with a wanton gasp before sliding your slick hand back down to the base of your cock. Your hand tightens with increasing confidence as you increase the speed of your strokes and begin to find the rhythm that makes you shake with animalistic hunger. Sounds are coming out of your mouth again, and you hear Loki’s voice breathing heavily, rasping low and desperate, cursing and pleading. You know that they’re your words but his deep voice reverberating in your chest as you say them sends shockwaves of pleasure through you as you feel yourself reaching your peak.
You’ve closed your eyes at some point, but you open them now and look in the mirror again. Loki’s body is glistening with sweat, his face flushed. His lips are wet and red, his mouth held open in ecstasy. All of his muscles are tense with your impending orgasm, and the corners of his mouth turn up into a self-satisfied smile as you take it all in, trying to commit this image and feeling to memory, as you –
You’re vaguely aware of something buzzing behind you. Breaking through the haze of your arousal, you cast your eyes around the room for your Comm-Pad and see it on your bedside table. The holo-ID shows that it’s coming from Loki’s number. Weak with arousal, you crawl over to the com and press the answer button. The holoscreen flicks on and you see your face (your real face; the one from the body you had yesterday). You smooth Loki’s hair and fix your robe as the face on the holoscreen contorts in confusion, then smirks. “Me, I presume?” your voice says with a ring of confidence that it’s never had when you’ve been the one using it.
“Loki… Um, hi,” you say, your stomach twisting. It’s weird to hear your own voice and see your face like this. You feel uncomfortably exposed, both because he’s caught you in the middle of touching his body and because you suddenly realize that he could have just finished doing the same to yours. You feel a flutter of want, and your neglected cock twitches.
“This is an interesting development, isn’t it?” Loki asks with your voice, and then pauses to take in the scene. “What have you been doing, exactly? You look… Flushed.”
Panic sears through you. “Of course I’m flushed, you lunatic! I woke up inside your fucking body and I don’t think you showered last night before you went to sleep. Your pits stink.”
Loki laughs and it sounds absurd in your voice. “If we’re comparing notes, your body isn’t so great either. I’ve heard tell of the crimson tide, but it’s horrific. Is this normal, how your body is reacting to it? The pain is intolerable.”
You relax a little. There’s no way that Loki has taken your body for a test drive the way that you’ve done with his. He’s been too busy adjusting to the disappointments of morality.
“Yeah, it’s pretty standard period stuff, pal. Listen, are you in your room? Let me clean this body up and I’ll come over and help you deal with it.”
He pauses for a second, clearly weighing his desire for the upper hand with his need for help. Through the holoscreen, you see your head nod tersely before the image flicks off.