Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of Winteriron & Stoki
Stats:
Published:
2018-04-16
Words:
1,049
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
16
Kudos:
329
Bookmarks:
26
Hits:
4,385

Matchmaking Trickster

Summary:

Barnes is in love with Stark, but other than Loki, nobody seems to realize it. Loki decides to take matters into his own hands, in his very Loki way.

Notes:

I tried finding a way to write a short fic about my three favorite characters, and here it is! Hope you like it :)

Work Text:

Loki had noticed the way Barnes looked at Stark right away. It was so painfully obvious that it was beyond him how nobody else had seen it yet. Everytime Stark was going on and on about something, Barnes would be sitting there, his head in his hand, listening with a dopey smile while probably only understanding half, at most.

He always tried to get close to him, too. During movie nights, he’d be sitting next to him, and on missions he always tried to get paired with him - always looking slightly disappointed for getting Steve as his partner instead. It was a good thing that Steve was usually too busy ogling a certain trickster god to notice - or so Loki liked to think, anyway.

It was getting to a point where watching this play out was becoming painful. For some reason, Barnes seemed entirely unable to open his mouth and tell Stark that he liked him. Maybe not for the wrong reasons, Stark was a force of nature, being intimidated by him wasn’t all that surprising. But Loki had decided he had to do something, and he decided to do it in his very Loki way: Make Barnes so jealous that he can no longer control himself.

He started the plan first thing the next morning, when he was up before everybody else was. He made coffee and turned when the first few of the team came in, smiling brightly at Stark. “Good morning, darling,” he purred, offering him a cup. “You look like you need to relax a bit. Did you stay up late?” Stark looked rather perplexed when he was sat down and suddenly getting a massage from their local troublemaker, but he didn’t seem to mind when Loki started working on the kinks in his shoulders.
“Ohh god, Lokes, that’s amazing,” he sighed, letting his head fall forward. Barnes, who had just stepped into the kitchen, had a frown on his face, but said nothing. Loki kept a close eye on him as he moved to get himself breakfast.

The next occasion Loki used was their almost traditional movie night, when Loki just sat in the spot usually occupied by Barnes and wrapped his arm around Stark. He sent a smirk in Barnes direction, who was pursing his lips, but still saying nothing. It seemed Loki had to try a little harder.
All throughout the movie, Loki whispered things into Stark ear, making the man chuckle quietly. Then he ran his fingers through his hair and played footsies with him, all the while glancing over at Barnes from time to time. The man was doing his hardest not to look in their direction, but Loki could see the tension in his shoulders and his jaw.

Over the next couple of days, Loki kept upping his game, shamelessly flirting with Stark, touching him, getting very familiar with him. Barnes had admirable self-control, though, and while the anger and jealousy was obvious in his eyes, he never said a thing. It wasn’t until almost two weeks later that he finally broke.

They had just returned from a mission, everybody was kind of tired. Stark exceptionally so, because his sleep schedule was probably the worst out of all of them.
“I’m dead,” Stark whined, tugging at his undersuit a bit sluggishly, “I don’t want to do anything anymore.”
“You can come join me in my bed, it’s closer,” Loki suggested with a sly grin. “I can help you out of your undersuit, too.”
Tony never got a chance to reply, because all of a sudden, Loki found himself tackled to the ground by the fully geared up Winter Soldier. The air was knocked out of him and a fist collided with his jaw, then another, and another. It started quite a commotion, there was a lot of yelling, and it took Steve’s, Barton’s and Wilson’s combined efforts to drag Barnes off of Loki. Thor helped his brother up, immediately fussing, but Loki was watching Barnes, smirking knowingly. His jaw was aching and there was some blood running out of his mouth, but he didn’t care, because that was exactly what he’d wanted.

“What the hell, Bucky!” Stark was yelling now, quite in shock. “Why did you do that?!”
“He’s using you!” Bucky yelled back, still fighting against the three men holding him back. “He’s always touching you and flirting and - and - “
Suddenly, everybody got very quiet. Stark was the first one to speak up again, clearing his throat first. “Bucky, were - were you jealous?”

Barnes head shot around and he looked at Stark, his eyes wide. “No! No, I mean - I just - “
“He’s head over heels in love,” Loki said now, all eyes returning to him. He’d shoved Thor off him and was nursing his split lip with a tissue. “Come on, it’s so damn obvious.”
“You knew?!” Barnes hissed, starting to struggle again. “You knew and still you hit on - “ He trailed off again, realization hitting him. “You - You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”
Loki was grinning again now. “Aren’t you a clever boy?”

“You’re in love - with me?” Stark asked, having only just recovered from those news, staring at Barnes in disbelief.
Barnes swallowed hard, then nodded. “Have been for ages.”
“Why did you never say?” Stark moved over to him now, smiling brightly at him. “You really should have told me that, Sunshine. I just thought - I thought I’d never stand a chance with a guy like you.”
That made Barnes’ eyes go wide again. “You mean, you - ?”
“Yes,” Stark confirmed, grinning.
Barnes didn’t need more incentive than that. By the time they parted from each other’s lips, the rest of the team had long cleared off.

________

“You’re quite the matchmaker,” Steve said, leaning on the bar and handing Loki an ice pack for his bruised jaw.
“Aren’t I just?” Loki asked with a bright grin. The skin beneath the ice pack turned a slight tint of blue.
“But that - that does mean you’re not actually interested in Tony, doesn’t it?” Steve asked, the casual tone in his voice betrayed by his hand nervously picking at his fingernails.
Loki tilted his head aside curiously. “No, I’m not. Never have been. Why are you asking?”
Steve shrugged, hiding a small smile. “I was just wondering.”

Series this work belongs to: