Chapter Text
Loki never believed in luck. Only in hard work and more hard work.
And seeing Thor across from him, lacing up the skates .. it seemed impossible. There was no way Thor had gotten in a position to try out for the competition without cheating. His comment ‘oh, just lucky, I guess’ made Loki suspicions as hell.
But.
He would give him benefit of the doubt. First he needed to see if Thor won’t fall on his face in practice.
“Alright, finish up. Your first task, and this is crucial.” Loki looked from one eager face, to another, and another, already ready to crush their dreams. “I’ll be in the middle of the ice rink. Your task is to catch me.” And with a smirk, he clicked the music on, before leaving the remote on a chair and getting on ice.
Two of the eager competitors almost face planted in the ice as soon as they got on it, They wouldn’t get their potential team through inter-college competition, not to mention regionals.
National competition seemed like a far-off dream.
He let them suffer on their own, and instead watched the others. Three of them were better—holding on their feet and more or less fluidly skating towards him.
Thor was the last to come on ice.
Thor. Loki had to frown at him. Thor was a scholarly nerd, no matter how buffed he looked. He loved libraries and his glasses. He had no place in a college ice skating tryouts. And yet here he was.
Skating, and rather quickly towards Loki. “Shit.”
Backing up, Loki smirked. Well. It looks like this year they won’t be as hopeless as last year. Someone on team actually knew how to skate. There was an obvious heaviness to Thor’s movements, betraying a past of playing ice hockey. And yet, here he was.
“Missed the ice?” Loki was skating backwards, evading Thor and swaying in the music a bit.
“Actually, yes.”
And now that was unfair. Thor’s smile was the nicest and brightest Loki could imagine, already shivering a bit. This was bound to become complicated. But then—Loki liked complicated. And trophies, but with him and Thor, and three other trainable skaters, they had their shot.
Perhaps they could even reach regionals.
~~
Waking in Thor’s arms was pleasant as hell. Especially after the exhausting kinda-marathon sex they had last night.
“Three days before the competition, you ready?” Loki crawled over Thor, caressing his cheek. Fingers running lower, tickling a bit at Thor’s chest. Contemplating teasing at Thor’s nipples.
“Probably more ready than you.” Thor smirked, one of his hands sneaking under the blanket to pinch Loki’s butt. “Being sore won’t help you win.”
“Hmm. But it will make me feel better.” Smiling, he leaned further to kiss Thor. Those lips were the most kissable of all the lips Loki had the pleasure of tasting in his life. Thor had the best pout—whenever Loki tracked him down in the library, concentrating on a study report—he wanted to pounce, and have him there in the library.
They had already scared a few other library goers when Loki lost patience and corralled Thor into the book stacks to kiss him senseless.
“We should get up.” Thor whispered between the kisses, touching his lips to Loki’s.
“Should. But will we?”
~~
Group routine was easy. Single performances as well. Now a duo—that was a challenge. But a pleasant one. And one they absolutely perfected.
They already had heard all the possible whispers and comments. Thor didn’t look like a slim ice-skater. He had the hockey player’s build. But Loki was a very very good partner. He was also an even better coach.
And getting Thor to be more fluid, graceful, and all over sexy was something he excelled at. Bedroom gymnastics only helped.
They scored well on the group routine—not excellent and it was clear that here they wouldn’t get any further. There was nothing bad about their group, others were just better. But there was always next year, and Loki could already see determination on other’s faces. They would score much higher next year.
In single performances Loki aced it, but he wasn’t overly surprised about it. He had been skating for most of his life and had tried out of Olympics as well. He was good enough for it, but his ambition was to get another person on his level. Showing the world that not only he was good enough, but he could get anyone else just as good at it.
Thor finally looked nervous enough for the competition. But as soon as they stepped on ice .. they were in the zone, smirking at each other. Daring the other to do better.
The song started and they were off. Thor did the most perfect lifts, twirling Loki in air. They had worked on the choreography long enough to be able to perform it in their sleep. And it was always Thor who pushed for more daring moves and transitions.
So Loki just put them in, and in the end it payed off. Not a single deduction and the only place someone could complain would be the rather explicit posing. But from a technical standpoint everything was perfect.
The scores proved that. They got less on the interpretation score, but overall they came in second. Which was enough to qualify for regional competition.
~~
Loki was nervously awaiting the complete list of other colleges that had qualified for the regionals. And in the end he was right to be nervous.
With a sigh, he leaned back in the couch, snuggling up to Thor. “You will have to be perfect. Well. You already are, but you will have to be more perfect.”
Thor didn’t even ask why, just ruffled Loki’s hair and kissed his temple. Loki would explain on his own.
“We’ll be up against my brother, and Byleistr is damn good on skates.” He poked the laptop screen, still open on the list of colleges, with a toe. Pulling the leg back, he pressed more closely to Thor, finding a place in his lap. “Everything will depend on who is skating with.”
“We’re very good at this, Loki.” Thor smiled at him, his hands pulling Loki closer to him, surrounding him on all sides with warmth.
“Yeah. I want to see his face when we take the first place.” While their relationship wasn’t bad per se, it wasn’t the overly friendly kind either. But competing for the same goal, that could either push them apart, or bring them closer.
“You will.”
~~
Putting a number together was best meditation for Loki. A Thor laying about in his field of vision distracted him a great deal, but it always was good distraction. Giving him ideas and even more moves they could put in.
Bedroom gymnastics was as fun as ice skating for Loki. And Thor was a very good partner.
They were determined to win, and enjoy every second of doing so.