It was by accident you just happened to find out that Loki’s birthday was tomorrow. No one had mentioned it, but you happened to be in the lab shuffling items around, had unearthed an old file, and as all the pages fell out as you picked it up saw all what was inside. Reading the contents of files, especially ones you had no business reading, was almost half of your job at Avengers Tower.
The other half was knowing to keep those secrets.
You might not have been an a scientist, a doctor, assassin, or Asgardian god, but your job helped those that were, and allowed you to live comfortably while you could create everything and anything in your own time. It was a better life than being a starving artist dying of illness in a cold garret apartment, which lets be fair would actually be very expensive, or worse, living at home with your parents. This way you had a comfortable place to live inside the tower, and could say you were helping folks. Plus if actually necessary, you could say you were “friends” with the Avengers.
Everyone’s schedules were arranged just like it was any other day though, as you saw in the calendar that you helped to manage. Natasha was going to be away from the tower, and you knew it was for an information gathering mission, even if it didn’t say why. Pepper added that Tony was going to dinner with her, and little random things of that ordinary ilk. Nothing that marked the occasion, which was unlike how the other members handled their birthdays. Natasha took the day off and booked several treatments at her favorite spa. Tony threw a lavish party with rivers of alcoholic drinks, catered by the most exclusive places in the city. Rogers went to a dive bar in Brooklyn with Bucky, and they came home stumbling singing songs that you have never heard before, but felt old. Thor asked if he could host a feast, which ended up like a BBQ on the balcony patio. All things that ended up on the calendar.
Loki’s was just another day at the Tower.
This brought back flashes of your freshman year of college, fresh into the world, living in student housing, with a roommate you rarely saw, and if you did, they were wearing large headphones. You struggled in making friends living so far from home, at least that first year. February in New York was a vast landscape of gray snow and ice. You missed the sun, you forgot warmth. And in the middle of that, your 19th birthday was forgotten. You hoped you’d talk to your mom, your younger brother, any family for that matter. But it didn’t happen, you went to class per the usual, got food like normal and went to bed after midnight filled with so much sadness and loneliness. It was one of the worst sensations you’d ever experienced up until then in your young life.
It was hard to explain how much it broke your heart to see Loki exposed to that. You saw how everyone else always had a measured distance from them, even after multiple missions where they had been the difference between victory and defeat. Even after you had overheard the conversation where you’d learned the hidden truth behind the Battle of New York, where your heart had shattered to hear how much they had endured at the hand of Thanos. You noticed how the group tended to do their own things, with out including Loki. It wasn’t fair, and so you not so subtly had started playing favorites.
You had noticed things that the others at the tower just didn’t. What food Loki seemed to choose, their routine, how much the god read, and collected art. Not in the way Tony collected art, just getting whatever piece that seemed to be hyped. No, you noticed how Loki would randomly come back to the tower just holding a canvas. Eventually you became bold enough to ask them about it. Loki had shrugged it off casually, saying “I liked it.” Apparently they would walk around the city looking for street artists, random people selling items on the sidewalk.
At first you were too intimidated to share your own work with them, but eventually you did. You’d thought that Loki would be interested in painting or making something themselves, but no, contented to just appreciate. You thought their silence was more of a judgment against your style, but accepted that Loki wasn’t going to be an easy critic. “Thank you for showing me your paintings.” they had said politely. It was more than you noticed with the other Avengers. You didn’t show them your work, that would have been too awkward for certain, them not really paying too much attention to you either.
It was in that moment, staring at the calendar, you decided that you were going to celebrate Loki’s birthday. Instantly you formulated a plan. It wasn’t too elaborate, as you thought that would make them feel uncomfortable but certainly enough to demonstrate how valued they were, at least to you. You immediately called up your favorite bakery nearest Avengers Tower and ordered a Mexican Chocolate cake, knowing the god would love the addition of cayenne pepper and the cinnamon butter cream frosting. Lucky for you they knew you worked for the Avengers and were happy to accommodate the last minute order. Maybe they wouldn’t have if they knew it was for Loki, but of course you didn’t mention it.
Then you grabbed your jacket and headed out into the cold December weather to hit a few shops for a few things. First, the book store, then the art supply store; you needed a fresh canvas. It would be rude to make a gift on the ruins of your perceived failures. As you attempted to stealthily get back into the tower and into your quarters, Loki was apparently doing the same. They gave you a quizzical look, and held the door open as you attempted to balance the shopping bags and the stretched canvas at the same time. You just smiled and said “thank you.”
Once in the elevator together, you noticed Loki’s complete lack of coat, even though the temperatures felt so cold to you. “Aren’t you cold without a jacket?” you asked.
“Not hardly” they chuckled with a bit of a grin. “I don’t get cold like other folks.”
You were torn between between bringing up the topic of the birthday, or keeping the surprise, and choose the latter, hoping it would have more meaning that way. You noticed the expression Loki made looking at your canvas. “Are you planning on starting this one tonight?” They asked as you stepped off the elevator into one of the residential floors.
“I am.” you replied, scared of saying too much.
“Well, I’d like to see it when the time comes.” You hoped your expression didn’t reveal too much excitement at the statement.
“Of course, your highness.” You used the honorific just to see the amused reaction Loki always seemed to have when you did. He knew you did not use it out of mocking superiority, but playful respect. It was something you used occasionally when others weren’t around to start arguments. Tony stuck to “reindeer games” and felt pretty clever at that, which was fairly annoying in your opinion. The look made your heart feel full of joy. You did not do this with Thor or the other Avengers.
Once back in your room, you didn’t want to waste time and got straight into working on the painting. You put on your head phones and started playing a playlist you’d been curating for some time. It was an eclectic mix, but suited the head space you loved for painting. This was when you felt most alive, brushes and paint around you, just you and the canvas and paint. This was meditation and worship. Just creation. Now you wanted to make something specifically just for Loki, something to show them that they were worthy and worth celebration.
The Sun was peaking through the gray clouds at dawn when you finally felt completed enough to put the brushes down. You had, as often the case, lost all sense of time when painting, and were quite stiff from sitting at the easel. Stepping back and stretching at the same time, you smiled feeling content with the results of the nights effort.
A deep tired sat inside you, but you made a strong coffee and powered through your day. Noticing how others were doing the same. Perhaps you were the only one who knew it was Loki’s birthday? No, Thor would have know too. He could have chose to do something for his brother. On your lunch break you ran back out in the cold to pick up the cake and quickly returned back. Many folks might have chafed at living in the same building they worked out of, but you relished it, as it saved you more time for doing the things you wanted. Today that was making sure that Loki could feel like they had a Happy Birthday.
You placed an order from your favorite Szechuan restaurant, easily enough food to feed an army. As soon as it was delivered you set your plan into action and stopped in the communal kitchen for a few plates. Before you knew it, you were taking a deep breath outside Loki’s door. You weren’t in the habit of knocking on any other Avengers doors, and they weren’t in the habit of knocking on yours either. You reminded your self that fortune favors the brave, and rapped almost confidently on the door.
“Dinner?” you asked when Loki opened the door, dressed in a green button down shirt, cuffs rolled up to his elbows. Their eyebrow raised, as you showed the bag full of containers of food. You noticed how he subtly sniffed the air, clearly noticing the garlic and pepper’s scent wafting from the food.”I also brought wine?” you added into your temptation. You knew they wouldn’t be able to resist. Loki threw the door fully open and welcomed you into his quarters.
They were certainly more spacious and well appointed compared to yours, There was a full on sitting area with coffee table and TV and more space for the large bed. One thing was similar. Art lined the walls, comfortably at home next to more than a few books on tall shelves. Loki’s quarters even had a wide floor to ceiling window that overlooked the city below, now lit up in artificial light in the darkness. It suited Loki well and yet still felt comfortable.
Casually you and Loki ate around the coffee table, and soon the wine and the good food, albeit spicy, had both of you laughing and cavorting like old friends, the conversation with an easy flow. It only baffled you more as to why the others distanced themselves so greatly. Long after the wine was gone, the conversation turned soft from the gregarious nature before. It all just felt natural. You didn’t even want to leave to get the cake and gifts, until Loki flashed a smile, that was tinged with sadness.
After excusing yourself, promising to be right back, you grabbed the gifts and the cake, pausing in the hallway to light the candle. You weren’t sure how old Loki was turning, so you opted for the safe route of one singular statement candle in the middle of the beautiful cake that just begged to be eaten. You opened the door carefully, and once you started in you started singing Happy Birthday.
The look on Loki’s face was priceless. It was confused, amused and shocked. They just looked at you with an embarrassed grin that reached up to his eyes, which were glassed over with a sheen of tears starting to form. When you finished singing, they just looked at you.
“You’re supped to blow out the candle” you prompted.
“Beg your pardon?”
“You blow out the candle and make a wish.” you told him. “I'd hurry before the wax ruins it.”
Loki then jumped up to take the cake from you, and blew out the candle.
“Don’t tell me your wish or else it won’t come true” You teased with a wink.
They put the cake down on the coffee table as you turned to grab the smaller of the two gifts for Loki. You passed it over for them to unwrap, a smile on your face.
“You didn’t need to get me anything.” Loki calmly but warmly spoke.
“Just open it?” you begged. And they did. They gently turned the green leather bound volume in their elegant hands, running a finger down the gold gilt on the spine before delicately opening the cover and seeing the signature of the author, eyes widening.
“Happy Birthday?” you asked. Hopeful that this reaction was positive. Loki smiled graciously, and tipped their head to one side, in a salute. “Oh I have one more thing, “ and you slid back to the hall way to bring the painting inside. “This. Is for you.”
Loki looked up from the book to the painting. He shifted his stance and put his one hand on his hip, with a wide grin that was his whole face, even so much as it reached his eyes with a slight crinkle. You swore you almost could see the god blush.
“I hope that means you like it?” You asked nervously.
“How could I not?” he chortled. He moved to put the painting in easy eye line from the bed. “It’s quite like you know me well. “
“I have tired, your majesty.” you beamed, the praise feeding your soul with joy.
You both sat back around the coffee table and began attacking the cake in turn with forks, forgoing the formality of slicing and plates. Loki closed their eyes and made a few, less than chaste noises at the first few bites. “This is amazing. I have not had anything this good on midgard before. If I knew this was here all along I may have not acted so brash before.” They joked.
You smiled warmly back at Loki, full of joy. It was a deep satisfaction. They grabbed your free hand and squeezed it.
“Thank You.” Loki said looked directly into you, as you felt your stomach do a somersault. “You’ve been a true friend, and this has in fact been a happy birthday.”
You may have been an ordinary person, no Avenger with super powers, super suits or even super skills. But in that moment it didn’t matter. You had accomplished your mission.