a/n: written for a request for a high school AU on norse_kink, but after I tried to find it again, it mysteriously disappeared? ; A ; I'm posting this here in the mean time, then put it up there once I find it again~

again and again, I apologize in advance for any OOC behavior. ; w ;

i. Tangent Lines

Loki was one of those slightly-above-average students who actually liked school. Granted, it was mostly because he found his classmates rather gullible and they fell for virtually any sort of shenanigans that he played on them - which were carried out when he wasn't being a good student, of course. He was always careful enough that everyone - teachers and the student body alike - knew it was him, yet made sure that there was an insufficient amount of evidence for them to actually accuse him.

This might have led him to making a few(read: not so few) enemies, but there was seldom he ran into that wasn't an imbecile. So he digressed.

It was the beginning of the fourth marking period of his junior year - he was well on his way to graduating early - when Darcy succeeded in her umpteenth attempt to get him drunk. "One drink," Loki told her pointedly - he was feeling a little stressed lately - and tilted the glass back and drank the unnamed alcoholic beverage in two gulps. Turned out that he was a lightweight - but in his defense, how was he supposed to know? He'd never been intoxicated before!

"That's the spirit!" Darcy cheered next to him as she passed over a fifth glass. Their science textbook was knocked to the ground and, as her best friend steadily got more drunk, Loki ignored it in favor of staring at his laptop screensaver of a comic book villain - he couldn't recall the name at the moment, but the guy had two weird horns, which made Loki think that he resembled a cow, and subsequently burst out into hysterics.

"You know what we should do," Darcy slurred, leaning heavily on his shoulder. She was practically draping herself all over him. "We should break into Mr. Banner's classroom and - hic! - screw with his chair or something. And then, and then…" She paused, her eyes going glassy for a moment as she reveled in thought. "Can you imagine his face when he sits down and then falls over?"

Loki personally had nothing against the science teacher. Rather, he was fond of the way the man occasionally let his temper loose. He could, unlike a majority of the other teachers, actually keep his students under control.

But by the seventh glass, the imaginary line between right and wrong was quickly blurring and Loki allowed himself to be led out of his own house(his parents, thankfully, were working late), slipping a black jacket on hastily. Darcy, who seemed to have done this countless times, pulled him along the short walk from Loki's house to the school, where she proceeded to find a way through the metal fence via wire cutters(both were surprised at the dexterity she had despite her sluggishness).

The rest of the escapade would be a gaping black hole in Loki Laufeyson's memory by the next morning. All he'd remember is running into an extremely muscular chest, looking up to confused cerulean blue eyes, and feeling the strangest feeling he'd ever ever before in his life.

"You two are not supposed to be here," the man said with a frown, catching the raven-haired teen's forearm in a firm grip.

A sharp tug on Loki's arm from Darcy reminded him that they weren't supposed to be caught.

Loki wrenched his arm out of Darcy's hold and placed it delicately on the man's chest and, in a burst of either stupidity, drunkenness, or both, purred, "Are you going to punish me, hm?"

He couldn't see very properly, it being dark and him being hammered, but the man must have been mortified, because the grip on his arm slackened. Loki easily withdrew his arm before turning and taking down the hall with Darcy at his side.

The next morning, Loki awoke with a hangover and a feeling that this was not going to be a good day. And his premonitions were usually right.

But he decided to ignore that - he couldn't remember much of the previous night anyway, so they might have ended up not doing anything in the end. Plus, he had other pressing matters to worry about.

Like Darcy.

"I hate you," he said gravely at the moment she sidled up next to him as they walked through the school's front gates. "I hate you in every way imaginable." He glared at her, but the effect was ruined with the large, dark sunglasses he was wearing.

Darcy pushed her own sunglasses up her nose. "I love you too, sweetheart," she replied in a tone that suggested she wasn't fully coherent yet.

But that was okay. Loki wasn't, either. "I feel like my brain has been smashed open, glued back together by a blithering five-year-old, then smashed again. And I've taken painkillers."

"Obviously you didn't take enough," Darcy countered.

Loki gave an aggravated sigh. They passed by a large mirror on their way into the building, but he didn't want to see how disheveled he probably looked. "I don't even remember a single thing from last night," he lamented.

"Seriously?" Darcy laughed, although it was hoarse. "You don't remember sneaking into Mr. Banner's office, then almost getting caught because you decided to flirt with a freaking teacher?"

"I...what?"

"Never mind. You'll see in second period."

With those cryptic words, she patted her best friend's shoulder before ambling off to her locker, stumbling slightly along the way. Loki looked after her in worry(for himself, not her).

Maybe today really wasn't going to be a good day after all.

. . .

Oh.

So that's what they did last night.

Loki watched as Mr. Banner was loaded onto a stretcher, then carted away to an ambulance. Who knew one could break their back through falling off of an unstable chair?

"We are going to be in so much trouble," Darcy muttered next to him.

Loki raked a hand through his already-tousled hair. "Aren't you a genius." They stood there, along with other students and teachers, as the medics disappeared in the back. Then the ambulance rumbled away. "Not a word of this to anyone, and deny all accusations, understood?" Loki whispered to Darcy as the crowd began to disperse. He felt like it was their only choice in the mean time - at least, until he'd figured out a way to talk them out of this mess. "Or, I swear to whatever holy being resides up in the heavens, I will-"

The sound of someone clearing their throat cut him off in the middle of his creative threat. "Mr. Laufeyson. Miss Lewis."

Both students turned slowly.

The principal stood there with his arms crossed. Behind him was a familiar looking blond man.

Loki thought he would have a repeat of this morning(in other words: excessive barfing) when he realized that it was the same man he had practically rubbed up against last night.

"Good morning, Mr. Fury," Darcy greeted in an overly bright tone, but the principal's expression remained unamused.

"You two, in my office. Now."

Yes, today was definitely not going to be a good day.