Sif had long since abandoned the notion that she would one day marry and settle down in a quaint life away from public scrutiny, and she'd long forgotten what it felt like to even hope for such a thing.

Her daydreams of Thor, her yearning and overwhelming desire for someone that could never be hers, managed to fade into mere background noise throughout her young years, managed to become an afterthought as she grew older and more focused on another.

And suddenly, she remembered what it felt like, and that became all she wanted.

A life, a love, a family.

Happiness.

And so it was that Sif found herself dreaming of Loki, and she could do nothing to stop herself from watching him pass her in the corridor, or taking note of the exact angle of his grin in the sparring yard, or wishing that he, too, would see her as vigilantly as she saw him.

And so it was that Sif found herself breathless from his presence, found her body aching for him like it had never done for any other, found herself overcome with the futility of every single one of her emotions.

It was a very sad way to find oneself in, and Sif was a very sad girl, in that regard.

But perhaps only Loki could ever be able to see past the front she put up for everyone else's sake, so that they wouldn't worry.

Perhaps Loki was the only one that was meant to be able to see.

Perhaps Loki was the one meant, only and forever, for her, and perhaps it would never be.

So she sparred more fiercely than ever before, strove to win and deny defeat for as long as possible, and devoted herself to being the best warrior in Asgard. She spent her time practicing fighting strategies, and made sure to ignore Loki as much as she could.

In the end, though, she couldn't refuse his existence, and so she pretended like she hated him, hated him with a deep, heated loathing that could melt the soul, and she busied herself with the notion that she was in love, determined to while away her eternity with the belief that she was madly enamored with a certain blond, blue-eyed god.

Based on a prompt given by Geek-Fest.

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