Laughter at First Sight
When Loki awoke to delighted laughter floating in through his open window, he didn't think much of it. In fact, he assumed it must have been the children next door playing outside. It took him much longer than he'd ever admit (though, in his defense, it was barely dawn) to realize that there weren't any children next door, and that the only occupant living next door was a man in his early thirties that he hadn't ever spoken to.
Of course, this peaked his interest and he slipped from his warm bed, grabbing his robe from the bathroom door and wrapping it around himself as he went. He stepped out the glass doors and onto his balcony, squinting his eyes against the too bright, early morning sun, in an attempt to see into the backyard next door.
Nothing that looked even remotely fun was going on: the man with the strange glowing circle in his chest was simply raking the mid-autumn leaves, nothing that accounted for the laughter he'd heard naught five minutes earlier.
A dog- a large, black and white Husky, to be exact- darted out from beneath the other mans balcony, tripping over its own feet as it went and scrambling back up like nothing had happened. It must have been a puppy. Even Loki had to admit it was slightly (slightly, he said, as he was more of a cat person) adorable.
A moment later, however, he understood why the man next door had been laughing as if he was having the time of his life...in his large backyard with his dog (puppy).
The man (whose name Loki had never heard, as the man had just moved in last week, though really, that was no excuse for not going over to say hello and welcome the man to the neighborhood) had just finished raking his leaves into a large pile and, after dropping the rake onto the grass beneath his feet, backed up to the edge of the patio beneath his balcony and took off running at his leaf pile and then dove into it with another round of laughing. The dog joined him shortly, diving head first into the man’s lap with a happy yip and the mad wagging of his tail.
Loki stared in open-mouthed shock, watching as the man rolled out of the pile, leaves sticking to his back and hair, raked up the pile and then jumped in it again like a child would do after their parents had finished an hour of raking.
Loki couldn't help but chuckle at the childlike glee on the man’s face as he rolled in the large leaf pile with his large dog, who looked positively delighted, like he was rolling around in a pile of meat instead and someone had told him he could have it all.
His own quiet chuckle apparently hadn't been as quiet as he'd hoped and both the mans and the dogs heads snapped up to look at him, the dogs ears perking and the man’s cheeks reddening as he realized he'd been caught (likely, he'd been hoping that he'd woken up early enough that no one else would be up as well). The man quickly rolled out of his leaf pile and picked up the rake once more, eyes leaving Loki's as quickly as they'd found them, raking the leaves back into a sloppy pile and throwing the rake in the shed before walking with the hastiness and shame of a child who had been caught with their hand in a cookie jar back beneath the balcony. A moment later, Loki heard the telltale sliding sound of a door opening.
"Rocket!" the man called and the dog, which had remained behind in the leaf pile, gazing up at Loki with his ears perked and his head cocked, took off after his master. The door slid and shut once more, leaving Loki with a smile on his face and a warmth in his heart (next to the initial surprise) because really, how long had it been since he'd seen anyone do that, no matter the age? It had certainly been too long; it was something he vaguely remembered doing as a child with his older brother, but that had been ages ago, while things were still moving smoothly between Loki and his family.
No, he chided himself. None of that.
Shaking his head, he made his way back inside to shower. Normally, he wouldn’t have woken until eight (when his alarm went off so he could be at work by nine) but it would appear that the man next door had other plans. No matter. Loki could admit that he had been rather delighted to witness what he had. It had been heartwarming and had made his early morning rise more tolerable, even enjoyable, he would say. Not to anyone else, but to himself surely.
Making his way to the bathroom, he shed his robe and sweatpants before turning on the water, waiting for it to warm before stepping beneath the spray, tipping his head back into it with a content sigh. He stayed like that for a while before deciding he should probably get out (he couldn’t be late to work, especially not during the holiday seasons) and quickly washing his body and hair, rising just as quickly before stepping out and wrapping a towel around his waist, running another through his hair as he set off to find something to wear. He settled on a comfortable forest green pull-over sweatshirt and black jeans.
After he’d dressed himself, he wandered into the kitchen, relishing in the warmth the sunlight gave the house through the windows, and made himself a cup of coffee (with cream and sugar, of course). Toast with jam came next, and he plopped himself down comfortably in the plush leather chair by the window in the living room where he could sit with just the right amount of sunlight warming him without it blinding him. He grabbed up his worn, dog-eared and scribbled in copy of The Great Gatsby and read and ate until it was time for him to leave for work nearly an hour later.
The coffee shop wasn’t far from home and traffic wasn’t particularly bad.
Walking inside, he saw Natasha was already there, her unruly red curls bright against the black long sleeve she chose that day.
“Good morning, Natasha,” he said with a cheery smile as he flipped the sign on the door to ‘Open’ and pulled his apron over his head, nametag already attached.
“Morning, Loki,” she replied and plopped herself down on the counter. “So. That new guy who moved in next to you is kinda cute,” she said conversationally, head tilted and green eyes wide and innocent.
Loki narrowed his eyes.
“How do you know someone moved in next door to me?” he asked, arms folding over his chest. “Have you been following me again?”
She snorted. “No, I have not been following you again. You can’t even prove it was me who let that dog loose in your house. The guy has been coming in here every morning since he moved in.”
“So, what, all four days?”
“Yep. He’s some rich asshole from New York.”
“You thought I was some rich asshole too, Natasha.”
“Well, yeah, everyone who gets a beach house is a rich asshole. But you’re a nice asshole from London: besides, that accent of yours makes everything you say sound less asshole-y.”
Loki snorted and was about to reply when the bell rang, signaling someone was coming in.
Sighing internally, he turned with a perfected smile plastered on his face, but said smile morphed into a true one when he saw it was none other than his neighbor enter and freeze rather abruptly. The only reason Loki recognized him was the glowing circle in his chest, seeing as how that wasn’t anything like a common occurrence, well, anywhere. Yes, as it turned out, Natasha was right. He was rather…cute. He looked to be in his early thirties, skin golden and naturally tanned. He had a neatly trimmed beard to go along with his neatly trimmed chocolate colored hair. His eyes already had little wrinkles around them, barely noticeable, and Loki was unable to tell whether that was from stress or smiling often. He wasn’t tall, but he wasn’t short either, standing around perhaps six feet, maybe an inch or two less. He wore black sunglasses with red colored lenses, and a Black Sabbath tee shirt, clearly worn and well used, and dark jeans, equally worn and used. On his feet, he wore oil stained work boots (odd, the man didn’t look to be a mechanic, especially if he was living in a beach house).
“Hello,” Loki said with a brilliant smile, and the man returned it with a shy but dimpled one of his own.
“Hi. Um, I’ll just take a black coffee. Large.” He took out his wallet and pulled out two ten dollar bills, throwing them down on the countertop next to the spot where Natasha still had her ass planted.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. It’s on the house,” Loki said, smile never faltering as he stepped behind the counter to make the man his coffee.
The man just nodded and took up the bills again, stuffing them in the tip jar like he had no better use of them. If what Natasha said was correct (though he was seriously doubting that having met the man…unofficially) then he likely didn’t.
Making his way around the counter once more, Loki handed the man his coffee.
“You haven’t been here the last few days,” the man blurted, and then looked horrified with himself. “I mean, I didn’t know you worked here and…” The man paused and shook his head, clearly realizing he’d dug himself into a deeper hole. “You haven’t been here the last few days and I was wondering if you’re going to be here the next few because you’re kind of cute and now I’ll actually have a reason to come here, a real reason, not just because I’m too lazy to set up my coffee machine.” Loki blinked at the frankness, and felt a slow smile begin to pull up the corners of his lips.
“I’ve been sick,” was all the answer he gave to the babbling man.
“Right. Thanks.” The man turned and hurried to leave, his cheeks tinged pink, likely remembering their…slightly awkward meeting earlier, if it could even be considered a meeting.
“Wait,” Loki called just as the man opened the door, causing him to pause halfway through and turn to face Loki. “I don’t recall catching your name, and I certainly can’t continue calling you ‘the man’ or ‘neighbor’.”
“Tony,” the man said, a smile quirking his lips. “Tony Stark.”
And then he was gone.