1.
He absolutely didn't feel that way.
In fact, it kind of irked Steve how much he understood Loki once he got to know him, how much he was able to relate and more or less forgive what he'd done. They were similar in unexpected ways, were much more alike than he would have thought.
They'd been bullied as kids, but knew themselves to be smart and so they had fought so that the world knew their value, knew that they could be as important and useful in battle as their more muscly brothers/best friends. Sometimes lying, sometimes tricking people but feeling that it was for a good cause -convincing themselves and if possible the rest of the world that what they were doing was right, regardless of laws and/or rules that were often unjust.
Steve did like Loki, sometimes in ways he maybe shouldn't have liked him (but not in that way, never in that way).
Like this one time. The plan was clear - they were supposed to attack the centres of operations of this new bad guy and with a strike team, bring them down as swiftly and quietly as possible. But Loki proposed to try and sweet talk the head of security into letting him in so that he could dismantle the organisation from the inside.
They decided to give it a try and it worked like a charm. Loki was in that moment effectively in the middle of bad guy HQ opening all the cells to release the prisoners where some of the heroes were being held, while gassing the places were the bad guy's cronies were. No death, no violence, just seduction and an IT guy with his mouth duct-taped shut.
And that bastard from Asgard was waving at them from the security camera after managing the whole thing using zero bullets, zero explosions, just Loki using his good looks and charm to get the upper hand. A brilliant strategy that the god could pull off flawlessly.
Steve uttered a single "Bravo!" into Loki's ear comm and Loki blew a single kiss into the camera, making all of Steve's body shiver.
But he didn't like Loki in that way.
2.
Loki and Bucky had become friends, and Steve really didn't know what to make of it.
At first, he was wary of the Asgardian getting close to his best friend, because Bucky really didn't need anyone to screw with his head, and Loki was famous for doing so, so both he and the rest of the world warned Bucky to be careful with the guy and not to let him mess with his head. Bucky insisted that there was nothing to worry about, and Steve decided to trust his friend's instincts and let it be.
The truth was, Bucky could tell Loki about things Steve would never understand, about things that would probably hurt Steve too much. Loki was a friendly ear who had gone through hell as much as he had, sometimes even through worse things, and who never judge what he did or even what he thought. He didn't get super worried at some of Bucky's intrusive thoughts, but replied but a single "yeah, me too" and offered something to drink.
He didn't look at him with the betrayal some of them did, with the hatred of Stark, with the longing for times past of Steve. He was just there, being his tricky self, knowing what it was to be broken into little pieces and then trying to reinvent yourself. And in the bad moments, Loki was there too, because Loki knew everything about bad moments, and he could be comforting when he wanted to.
Steve walked in on them hugging one time and felt something flutter inside of him.
But nothing like that, of course. Never like that.
3.
Loki was dancing his ass off to some weird electro indie song and Steve was mesmerised. There was something... ethereal about the guy, genderless, boneless, fluid. Maybe it had something to do with the magic, or the fact that he could shapeshift. But there he was, with his hair still wet from a shower, barefoot and wearing only a loose linen green shirt and pants....
His skin was white like marble and he smelled like mint and Steve kind of watned to bury his face on the crook of his neck.
Which meant nothing, because of course Steve didn't like Loki like that. He never would, what are you talking about?
4.
Loki was an overdramatic bitch, and Steve loved it.
All those grand entrances that he did when he decided he was going to save everyone's asses, with those excessive lines "The rescue has come!", "your salvation is guaranteed", I mean, Loki, man, talk about unnecessary self-pampering. But it always brought a smile to Steve's lips.
Sure, that green cape was unpractical and could get in the way of an attack, block the view and so many other things, but who cared when it flapped in the wind behind Loki's tall frame and gave him some sort of green majestic halo?
This was part of Loki's personality, and part of Steve's too in occasion (the "on va voir" moment came to mind, apart of many others), like Peggy had pointed out (you were always so dramatic) and it wasn't something Steve thought he would have in common with a formerly criminal alien wizard god, but there they were.
And when they teamed up, they were extra-super-dramatic. It was glorious.
Which of course didn't mean anything. They were just friends, ok? Loki was nothing more to Steve than a friend.
5.
They were watching a film on the couch when Loki fell asleep on his lap, tired after a very eventful week. His head of black hair was on Steve's legs (he put himself like that sometimes but only because it was comfortable, there was nothing else going on) and Steve was humming a lullaby while caressing the other man's cheek and neck, and this was the most peace he had felt ever since he came back from the ice.
He could be himself with Loki, all layers of himself: the small kid from Brooklyn, so eager to prove himself; the soldier everybody expected so much of; the rebellious fighter, who didn't care all that much about countries and governments as he did defending the people he considered important; the drama queen; the man whose whose time and world was unreachable and had to get used to this Earth, at this time.
And Loki looked at him, with his pale eyes, and told him that he was more interesting than he thought, took his opinion into account, considered him a valuable person. It was getting more and more difficult to not feel that way about Loki, specially with both of them being sinlge and spending so much time together.
But even when his heart beat faster, and he blushed and his hands tingled at the other's man sight, Steve convinced himself that really, he didn't feel that way. Although, would it be so bad, if he did?
+1
Shit. Shit, shit, shit-
Loki had been impaled by some weapon and was bleeding out on hte floor, his gut with a hole in it.
Steve was putting pressure on the wound, but Loki was spitting out blood, and looking at him with anguish and despair in his eyes, and he didn't seem to be able to heal himself, and oh god the wound was turning blue what if the weapon was poisoned?
Steve didn't know what more to do, he had called everyone but he knew thatmoving Loki right now would be too dangerous, so he was just waiting and applying pressure and Loki was going to pass out and...
"I love you." It escaped him, without thinking, without doubt."God, Loki, I love you so much, and I don't know why I didn't say anything, I should have, I wasted so much time with my stupid denial, I should have told you long ago... I love you, as a friend, as a lover, as everything."
Loki wanted to say something, but couldn't, and just coughed up som more blood.
"You can't leave me now, all right? Not when I managed to tell you, not when there's so much we could still do...."
Loki grabbed him with one of this blood soaked hands and made him come closer.
The kiss tasted like blood and tears but it was perfect.
Then Loki passed out, and Steve cried out in pain.
When Loki came to, there was an elegant dinner served in his hospital bed tray and a blond soldier with a rose waiting for him.
"Happy Valentine's day, love. I'm not wasting any more time."
And there was a longer, calmer kiss, that felt like heaven.
Ok, maybe he id like Loki that way.