Thaw

"'𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬,' 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭, '𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠.'"

❅

"Well, I saw her in the ballroom, and I said, 'you're making everything look so beautiful; we should have a dance tonight.' I never imagined that she'd actually say yes," Loki gushes, looking through his large wardrobe of mostly unused clothing as Thor and Clint listen in amusement. "What was I thinking?!"

"No, Brother, it's perfect!" Thor consoles. "The rose has only four petals left, which means tonight you can tell her how you feel!"

"I don't give a damn about the rose," Loki scoffs, throwing another shirt that he deemed unworthy across the room. "And I feel like a fool. She will never love me."

"Don't be discouraged," Thor reaffirms. "She is the one!"

"I really wish that you would stop saying that," Loki huffs. "There is no 'one.'"

"You care for her, don't you?" Thor asks.

"Yes. No. Ugh- I don't know!" Loki sighs.

"That's a yes," Clint says.

"Woo her with beautiful music and romantic candlelight!" Thor says, giddy with childlike excitement for his brother. "Don't worry, Brother. You'll be fine!"

"Just stop being so nervous, and tell her how you feel," Clint adds.

"When did you become an expert in romance?" Loki scoffs at Clint.

"I have a wife and kids, dipshit."

"Oh, yeah."

❅

"Oh, beautiful!" Natasha exclaims as she, Mrs. Potts, and Wanda all gaze at Belle.

Dressed in the most beautiful emerald green dress that she had ever seen, Belle, for the first time, actually feels like a true princess worthy of the castle that she is living in. The floor-length dress is paired perfectly with a small, ornate pendant with a small, teardrop-shaped emerald encased in a thin layer of gold hanging from the chain (readers of "Shattered", my other Loki fic, know what I'm talking about ;)).

"It's still missing something," Wanda says, observing Belle head to toe before letting out a small gasp. "I've got it!"

"The finishing touch," Mrs. Potts agrees as small flake of gold shimmer down from the ceiling, forming intricate, leaf-like designs on the bottom of Belle's gown.

"Wow," Belle gasps, examining herself in the mirror.

"Now go, go, before you're late!" Natasha squeals excitedly, pushing Belle towards the door with her feather-duster wings/hands.

"Thank you all," Belle says with a smile, her fingers wrapping around the doorknob as she attempts to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

Was this a good idea? Belle asks herself as she slowly descends down the stairs, having to put conscious effort into not tripping on the long trail of her dress.

Before Belle has a chance to answer her own question, however, she comes to the bottom of the staircase, and looks up to see Loki fidgeting nervously a few feet away from her.

Belle's eyes widen as she looks at Loki, his hair swept back in neat waves forming a onyx sea extending just beyond his neck. Loki's ruby-red eyes shimmer brightly in contrast to the dark, forest green of the polished armor that he was wearing, and his pale blue skin illuminates his sharp jawline and chiseled nose.

"Hi," Belle says breathlessly as she approaches Loki, who looks to be as nervous as she feels.

"Hi," he replies, his cheeks turning purple in a small blush as he offers his arm to Belle, who gladly takes it with a smile as they descend down the small staircase into the ballroom.

Thor, who is hiding not-so-subtly behind one of the pillars, gives Loki one last cheeky thumbs up and winks at his brother before hopping away to give the pair space.

The grand piano in the corner begins playing softly, and Belle can only assume that it is another servant-turned-object as Loki leads her into the middle of the ballroom.

As they reach the center of the room, Belle drops her hand from Loki's arm and turns to face him as he does the same. Relying solely on what she has read in books, Belle drops into a deep curtsey, looking up at Loki with a challenging smile before standing back up.

Loki, in turn, bows slowly, his eyes flickering back up at Belle with a mischievous glint in them.

"May I have this dance?" He asks with a boyish grin.

"Hmmm," Belle hums, pretending to think. "I suppose so."

Belle reaches up and places her left hand atop of Loki's shoulder, her other hand finding the cool embrace of Loki's as the pair sway back and forth.

"You look beautiful, by the way," Loki says, looking down at Belle affectionately.

"You don't look too bad yourself, Prince Loki," Belle says jokingly, and Loki feigns a scoff, although his eyes betray his true amusement.

"Don't start treating me like royalty now," he laughs, twirling Belle before resuming their prior position.

The music slows as Loki leads Belle into a dip suddenly, his hand pressed to the small of her back as they both gaze into each other's eyes longingly, their foreheads inches away from each other. Belle's eyes flicker down to Loki's blue tinted lips for a fleeting moment before the music resumes, and Loki pulls her back up, his eyes glinting in the warm lighting.

"I haven't danced in years," Loki confesses and he and Belle stand on the balcony off of the ballroom, both getting some well-needed rest and cold air. "I'd almost forgotten the feeling."

"I only danced as a child, and I certainly wasn't any good," Belle remarks after a moment, her and Loki both erupting into laughter at her words.

"If it makes you feel any better, I couldn't tell," Loki says truthfully. "You're a wonderful dancer."

Belle's cheeks flood with warmth at Loki's words as she looks out into the forest beyond them, purposefully avoiding Loki's eyes in the hope that he wouldn't catch her blushing.

"It's foolish, I suppose, for someone like me to hope that he might earn your affection," Loki confesses suddenly, and Belle's eyes snap to his at his unexpected words.

"I don't know," she whispers softly.

"Really? You think you could be happy here?" Loki says before he can stop himself, shocked at Belle's statement.

Belle's eyebrows furrow in thought as she gazes back out to the forest, her eyes tracing the path back towards her village where she knows her father is.

"Can anybody be truly happy if they aren't free?"

Loki's crimson eyes glimmer sadly in the moonlight, as he too looks out at the trees in the distance.

"My father taught me to dance," Belle says finally, hoping to break the awkward silence that she knows she was at fault for. "I used to step on his toes a lot."

"You must miss him," Loki says softly, and Belle looks back up at him to find him already looking down at her.

"Very much," she confesses breathlessly.

"Would you like to see him?" Loki says suddenly, confusing Belle, yet she agrees nontheless.

Loki leads Belle into his chambers in the west wing, picking up a small, handheld mirror coated in a small layer of frost that was laying next to the infamous blue rose, still encased in it's glass prison as the four petals remaining looked worse than ever.

Handing the small mirror to Belle, Loki spots his reflection in the mirror behind Belle's beautiful, sparkling one, and his heart pangs for a moment as he is reminded what a monster he is compared to Belle's beauty.

"I'd like to see my father," Belle says softly, cradling the mirror gingerly as it flickers for a moment before showing Phil.

Belle smiles instantly at the sight of her father, but her smile falters as she sees him being shoved along by a few village members that she recognizes.

"What are they doing to him?" She gasps, looking back at Loki with a panicked look on her face. "They're hurting him!"

"Then you must go to him," Loki says after a moment, ignoring the painful aching of his heart in his chest as the words leave his lips.

"What did you say?" Belle looks up at him, confusion written all over her face.

"You must go to him."

❅❅❅