Magic

The very first time they brought you in to start experimenting with Loki’s look, you were more than a little nerve wracked. You’d met Tom before, but not at too much length- just lunch and a bit of time in the makeup studio with dozens of others- and today you were going to be spending a lot of one on one time with him.

Joss had already explained what he wanted, the costume designers showed off the detailed outfit Loki would be wearing, and now all you had to do was construct it. Build all of the bruises and sweat and sunken eyes and just flawless cheekbones into a wrapped up package of crazy cats that would satisfy the fangirl army you had learned Tom had.

The task seemed daunting, confusing, and yet you knew that you had all the power in you to accomplish it (taking four years of Cosmetology in college plus fifty million other classes to help along with it). Everything would be fine.

Everyone had been called to makeup, Robert Downey Jr. winked at you as he passed and you almost fainted, Hemsworth greeted you with a warm smile and a small wave, and then you saw your client: tripping through the studio door.

“Sorry I’m a bit late,” he immediately apologizes, smiling like Gatsby and holding out his hand for you to shake it, “Traffic was killer.”

“Perfectly fine,” you smile back and gesture to the open door on the small room designated for the experiments on his makeup, “Shall we get started?”

You hated how robotic you sounded.

“Wonderful,” he replies and breezes through the doorway to sit in the chair in front of the large vanity mirror.

You follow closely behind and shut the door, “Alright, so I’m also the one doing your hair extensions.”

“Are you? I thought they’d have someone from the hair department for that?” Tom looks up quizzically, but it’s not a type of look that would make you feel self conscious- he’s not insulting you. 

“I’ve been trained for that too,” you say, working a shake out of your voice that you hadn’t noticed before.

“Awesome,” he smiles and it crinkles at his eyes, “I will love getting to know you Joanna, master of hair and makeup.”

“Just call me Jo,” you chuckle, while grabbing the apron that’ll keep makeup from staining his blue button-up.

After four hours, three face washings and going out to the photography crew to get pictures, the two of you find it.

The perfect look for Loki.

It’s like the dawning of the sun when you finally finish with the eyeshadow and he looks up into the mirror, seeing his complete negative in the reflection.

“I am Loki,” he says simply, a menacing tone creeping into the crevices of his vocal chords.

But you’re not even thinking about him really. All you can concentrate on is that you’ve finally done what you’d set out to do. You had created a character from powder, blush and eyeliner. You’d made a man feel like he was someone completely different just through the tools you’d learned so much about.

You’d created a work of art and now millions of people would see it.

“I did it.” You whisper, staring at Tom in the mirror with wide eyes.

“Yes you did,” he grins, nodding, “I look horrid.”

 ~~

Thor 2 started filming in three weeks and no matter how many times you tried to get the image of Tom with that mess of unruly, long black hair out of your mind, you couldn’t. 

Granted, he’d gotten a haircut and instead of raven black it was now almost a ginger color- you couldn’t shake the thought. The two of you had gone through the normal phase of experimenting with his look again, trying to figure out what physical trauma Loki had been through in the span of time between the Avengers and Thor 2, and on a rainy afternoon, safely tucked away in a quiet white room you’d found it.

The director, Alan, had of course explained what he’d expected Loki would look like, but ultimately it was up to you to make the final judgements on where everything would go. Tom was ecstatic to be doing this with you again, giving him an excuse to be within a close proximity to you without being harassed by Hemsworth.

He had walked in, slipping a leg of his sunglasses into the collar of his shirt, stopping in the doorway.

“Hello, love,” he grinned, “I haven’t seen you in... oh... two hours?”

You finger the engagement ring absentmindedly from your seat on the vanity, “Um, closer to three, I think.”

“Oh,” he smirks, “I apologize for my lapse in time.”

“Whatever, loser,” you chuckle, reaching down for your phone, hair shading your eyes, “In the chair, please.”

“Mmmhmmm,” he hums, plopping down.

You finish your text to your sister-in-law, Rachel, who’s asking about wedding colors and flowers and all sorts of things you didn’t have time to think about. Standing and circling around Tom, you begin letting your fingers tuft at his hair, feeling cold droplets of water buried in the locks.

“It’s still raining?” You ask, glancing at him in the mirror.

“Yep,” he replies shortly, eyes closing. His hands clasp together and place themselves over his stomach as he leans down in the chair.

“Don’t fall asleep,” you smile, finishing up the perusal of his hair. You start for the vanity, intent on getting a brush- but he stops you with a hand on your forearm.

It takes a good minute to convince him to let you continue with your job and quit running your fingers through his hair. 

“You need to look like Loki before Alan comes in,” you lean down to whisper in his ear, “Or I’ll get fired.”

Kissing him quickly on the cheek, you grab the brush and begin the work on his messy hair. 

 ~~

“Tom, don’t,” you squeal, trying to escape his long arms.

“I’m not Tom,” he replies easily, “I’m Loki, and my Sigyn will be coming back to Asgard with me, whether she likes it or not.”

“And how do you suppose we get back to Asgard?” You ask, glancing at the clock on the wall- he had to be on set for the first taping of his much anticipated “Loki” movie.

“Hop a bolt of lightning. Yell for Heimdall- whichever.”

“Let’s get going, don’t want to keep the kingdom waiting,” you tell him, pulling on his arm as you drag him out of the trailer, into the bright Californian sunlight.

~~

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