Work Text:
Loki had beautiful hands. This was a problem.
Natasha wasn’t sure when she’d first noticed them. Maybe it was when he had lunged at her from his prison on the helicarrier, pounding the window with his fist, or the way his fingers splayed on the glass as he watched her leave him after defeating him at his own game. She couldn’t remember, but in recent weeks they were becoming harder and harder to ignore.
It should have been a simple assignment. When Asgard had remanded Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of his punishment, Fury had assigned her to be his handler, not only for her professionalism but for her ability to see through his deceptions. Her only duty was to head the team charged with escorting him to and from the laboratory where he was tasked with aiding Drs. Foster and Selvig with rebuilding the Einstein-Rosen bridge - a babysitting job if ever there was one.
Every morning, she and six armed guards went to his cell on base to retrieve him. Natasha was responsible for locking him into the deceptively weak-looking handcuffs provided by Odin that dampened his magical abilities. Together they would escort him to the lab and she would remove the cuffs, guards taking posts at every door while she sat in the lab itself to keep an eye on him. The procedure was repeated in the evening, cuffing him at the lab and taking him back into his cell.
Unfortunately, this gave Natasha the opportunity to admire his hands up close several times a day. Long slim fingers with immaculately manicured nails, skin smooth and unblemished as befitted a spoiled prince...it was all rather distracting.
The everyday tedium of her post also didn’t help. Every day, all day, her job was to sit in the lab and watch Loki for any signs of violence or trickery, of which there were - surprisingly - none. Loki was arrogant, certainly, and so hostile she was amazed that anything was accomplished at all between exchanging barbs with Dr. Foster and glaring threateningly at Dr. Selvig. All it took when things got heated was a stern word plus casually reaching for her gun to defuse the situation, so there was little for her to do.
This meant much of her day was spent watching him write down notes, flip through paperwork and manipulate intricate equipment and tools with those divine hands for hours on end, so daydreaming was inevitable.
She wondered how his smooth palms might feel stroking her arm, or shoulder. How those strong, elegant fingers might twine through her hair or knead her flesh, how his nails might scrape across her back. She could vividly imagine his thumb and forefinger twisting her nipples deliciously, or better, stealing between her legs to find the secret places that made her moan in delight.
All of this she pushed aside at the end of the day, maintaining her cool exterior as she locked him back up and escorted him down the winding halls. They never spoke or made eye contact, so she doubted Loki noticed any stolen glances towards his bound hands as they made their way back to his cell.
The day everything changed was like any other.
She was putting him back in his cell at the end of day as was usual. It was always she alone who went inside to remove his cuffs, as none of the guards wanted to be an enclosed space with the mad alien.
She was unlocking the bonds from around his slim wrists when she saw the scratch on his right hand.
It wasn’t bad. Already closing, it would be gone by tomorrow, but it was such an unusual sight it gave her a start.
“What is wrong, Agent Romanoff?” Loki’s voice was as silky as his skin, and she realized she’d been staring.
“Do you need anything for that?” It came out in a rush, and when he appeared confused she gently touched the small wound.
“Oh, that. I merely nicked myself working on some equipment today,” he said casually. “But how kind of you to notice,” he continued, smirk creeping over his face.
Natasha quickly let go of his hand. She hadn’t realized she’d still been holding it, and she made quick work of removing his cuffs and hoped her face wasn’t as hot as it felt.
The room felt suddenly too small for both of them and she started to back out, when he looked at her oddly. “Wait,” he said. “You have something just there...”
He reached down and ran his thumb across her lip. Smooth and light, just like that.
And to her great surprise she closed her lips around his thumb.
She didn’t suck his finger, not really. Barely a kiss, but she was silently amazed at herself as she teased the tip with her tongue before letting go.
Loki’s face was unreadable, but she did see his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed slowly before pulling away.
They looked at each other for a long second and the atmosphere just shifted, somehow.
She backed away to go. “I’ll see you in the morning, Loki.”
“I look forward to it, Agent Romanoff.” He wasn’t smirking now but stood completely still, watching her as she shut the door.
Her mind raced as she left the cell block, stomach churning but also full of butterflies. This was stupid, she knew, but she could tell the job would be much more interesting from here on out.