When Loki Odinson entered his freshman year at Sregneva University he was a veritable typhoon of joy. He hopped into his older brother's car with a big, shit-eating grin on his face, screamed "Onward!" then ignored the raised eyebrow his sibling directed at him and practically bounced in the seat the entire drive to campus (all ten minutes). He was so looking forward to getting out of the house and moving into a place where he could call all the shots: he could eat what he wanted, sleep when he wanted, and spend time doing what he wanted. Loki technically could have done that during high school but he had this uncontrollable urge to please his parents, so he had been largely a goody-two shoes, recluse during the previous four years. But when he got to college his parents would only know about his grades and whether or not he kept out of jail and this left a lot of room for Loki to do all the things he had always wanted to: get drunk (just once and on a Friday – he wasn't crazy) and join the choir. Fucking badass.

Loki's joy only lasted the ten minutes it took to arrive on campus. There was chaos everywhere: new students and parents were flitting about to different tables and booths trying to get their lives in order, there were school colors – red and gold – adorning everything, and there was generally a lot of noise. After Loki took in his surroundings he remembered that he hates people and has been grumpy ever since.

His freshmen year had passed very quickly. He had joined the choir, and told absolutely no one about it although his best friend had found out and chided him for not confiding in her sooner. He had gotten drunk, on a Friday, with said best friend and they watched Kung Pow and made friendship bracelets out of string. They came out looking like shit, due to their incredible levels of inebriation, but they never took them off after that night. Loki had a 4.0 GPA, much to his parent's pleasure, and they had rewarded him with a car. It was a ten-year-old, standard, Mazda and Loki loved it like a person. He went to every one of the Thor's football games, partly to be a loving, supportive brother and partly because he was actually quite proud of what an athlete Thor was. He and Thor had lunch together every Monday and only scheduled it because they were both so busy. Loki made a few miscellaneous friends in his introductory psychology classes and he had attended their parties, but his freshman year passed much like high school: he ate well, he kept up his grades and he made good, sensible decisions. At the end of the year one of his professor's had approached him about potentially submitting a proposal for a research grant that would fulfill and independent study course. Loki was fairly sure that he wanted to major in psychology and knew that this would really make his parents proud, so he had submitted a proposal, for a topic he was very interested in, without reading the fine print. That 'fine print' was a stipulation that Loki would agree to work with another student, not necessarily from the psychology department. When Loki received the e-mail saying his proposal had been accepted he – again – read the word 'Congratulations', immediately called his mother and ignored the rest of the e-mail. It was not until Thor, of all people, approached him the day before they were to move back to campus that Loki had any idea at all he was working with someone else. The youngest Odinson was not pleased.

Today, the day before term started, Loki was headed to a meeting to meet the board that was funding his project, as well as his professor's who had approved it, and the blob he was supposed to work with. He still had no idea who this person was. The woman who guided him toward the administration building was secretary to the president of the college. Loki did not like her.

"It is a very big honor for a sophomore to be awarded a research grant," the woman whispered excitedly. She was a little too close to Loki's face for his liking and he could see the way her pink lipstick was rubbing off on her teeth. Who walks around like that? Someone should have pointed that out to her or she should be checking for it or something! It's like walking around with food in between one's teeth: disgusting and unsightly. A small voice in Loki's head pointed out that he could very easily be the person to point this out to her, especially since he was taking such personal offense to it, but he was in a spiteful mood and the little voice could suck it.

"It has only happened twice before in the entire history of the school. Of course, the board trusts that you will be reliable – we know your father, of course," she continued in her almost breathless way. Was this woman tired from walking down the hallway? Out of shape and sporting tacky pink lipstick on her teeth. Loki did not like this woman.

"When the school received your and your brother's applications we were just so excited! Your father has done a lot of good for this community over the last twenty years. It was so generous of him to donate all of that money to the athletic department! Of course, your brother would have made the varsity team even without the donation but it certainly made a lot of parents and players very happy! Of course –"

Does this woman know other words besides 'of course'?!

"We were just as delighted when you sent in that research proposal. It is such a shame that academics are not always as celebrated as athletics…"

Loki was going to punch this woman.

They arrived at their destination just as the dark haired teen was weighing the pros and cons of hitting her in the mouth and claiming that it was an attempt to remove the lipstick. She turned to face Loki full on with that ridiculous grin that had not left her mouth in the last ten minutes. The campus was too big if students could be forced into awkward ten minute long walks with faculty members just trying to get from one building to another. Why this woman wanted to meet him at the psychology building and walk over was a mystery. Loki was staring at her heels, which had made the most horrid noise on the polished floors of the administration building they currently stood in. The nineteen year old was of the opinion that unless a person could walk in heels correctly they had absolutely no business wearing them. Personally, he had the grace and gate to pull off heels but hated them because they were uncomfortable. Also heels did not go with his outfits. And he was a boy.

"Well, are you excited to meet your research partner?" she questioned in that same breathless almost hysterical way.

Loki looked up from her horrid leopard print shoes and shrugged at her. He was being difficult on purpose. Today had been a long and particularly taxing day. He had woken up far too early because the gods had decided that thunder was the best alarm clock and it is best to start off the day terrified and confused as to why it sounded like your dorm was being bombed - and that was at 5:00 a.m. Then he had accidentally started to eat a rotten apple (that's what he gets for trying to buy fruit in bulk) and after he spent a good hour in the bathroom retching over the toilet (only partly because of natural functions, it was mostly a desire to make sure all of the horrid apple was out of his system – he was a dramatic boy!) he decided to go for a run. Unfortunately the ground was so soaked he could not take his usual path through the woods located behind the football fields and was instead forced to run on the track with the other students. This was really not that big of a deal, but Loki really hated to exercise in front of other people. He knew that he was in shape and there was nothing to be embarrassed about, but there was something about breathing heavily and sweating and having flushed cheeks that just seemed so personal to him and he did not like sharing that with other people. By the time he was back in his dorm is was 9:00 a.m. He had showered (in the gang bath, because sophomores still lived in dorms), and forgotten his towel in his room. Loki never forgot his towel. So he pulled his dry clothes over his soaking body and attempted to sprint back to his room – but his older brother spotted him and insisted on having an unnecessarily long chat in the hallway DESPITE the fact that they had their standing lunch date on Mondays and they would see each other in a few hours anyway. Now, at 11:00 a.m. he had his meeting.

Loki not only had no idea who the other student was – he also had no idea why in the hell they were working together. The only thing he knew about this person was that they were in the engineering department. What ever the fuck engineering and psychology had to do with each other was a mystery to Loki. He hated the idea that he was going to be accountable to someone else during this process – but that's what he gets for not reading the fine print. Fuck life for being that way.

Loki realized that the woman was waving her hand in front of his face with a concerned expression. Oops – they had been standing there for five minutes while his internal monologue raged.

"Are you alright?" she questioned, moving like she was going to put a hand on his shoulder.

Loki moved away as subtly as he could and nodded once more. "I'm ready to go in now. I just had to mentally prepare myself…"

"Oh. Oh… okay…" the woman replied slowly giving him a look out of the corner of her eye. She probably thought he was a freak and that made Loki smile. Act like a weirdo and people will leave you ALONE.

It wasn't that Loki was friendless, or that he exclusively enjoyed solitude, no he very much loved his previously mentioned best friend Natasha Romanov; whom he had met during freshmen orientation. They immediately bonded over their mutual hatred of people. She was quick, witty, and fierce and Loki loved how she always called him on his bullshit. In the brief year that he had known her she had already helped him grow up more than she knew. The pair did almost everything together: study, watch movies, eat meals, occasionally sleep and, on one very drunk night (but it was a Friday so that makes it okay), go to the bathroom. (Neither of them had been as weirded out as they should have been by that – but that story is for another time).

The woman, although Loki preferred to think of her as a pink-spotted leopard harpy, opened the large wooden door in front of them and stepped through. "I have our grant recipient! He is so excited to meet everyone!" she called as she waddled into the room.

Lies! Screamed the little voice in Loki's head. I never said I was excited about anything! This woman must be punished… I'm sneezing on her when this is over…

Loki's eyes swept around as he took in the room before him: grand, expensively furnished, everything was either hard, polished mahogany or gold plated, and it smelled like leather and money. Loki was ashamed to admit that he liked those smells because they reminded him of his father. What had happened in his childhood to make him so slavishly devoted to his parents?! When his eyes landed on the board members he gave a cheery smile and tried to look charming. He recognized his professors and was comforted by their presence. He did not, however, see any other students.

"Well the other student has not yet arrived, but Loki you can go ahead and sign your part of the grant contract. It simply states that you need to complete your research within the allotted time and all that," said one of the board members through his walrus sized mustache.

Loki nodded and signed it without thinking. It did not occur to him that there was probably fine print in there he should be paying attention to.

The next several minutes passed with Loki standing awkwardly trying to appear confident, his professors talking to each other about their fall semester thesis students and the board members discussing their summers (a lot of them involved country clubs and yachts – barf). The generally calm atmosphere of the room was interrupted by a student bursting through the door. He was wearing grease-stained pants and a black tank top. His hair was disheveled and he looked like he had sprinted here and had probably not bathed or slept in days. Loki did not like this student.

"Sorry! I was caught up in the engineering lab, we just got this new laser and I was playing and I wasn't looking at the clock and then my professor had to come yell at me, they aren't coming by the way and then I sprinted over– oh hey Mr. Johnson, how you doin'?" This male said all of this in one breath and directed his question to one of the board members who was glaring at him.

"It would serve you well in life to arrive on time and well-kempt to meetings with people giving you money," the man, apparently called Johnson, replied. "Your father would be very disappointed."

The student visibly crumpled at that – but his expression steeled itself again so quickly that Loki had to wonder if he was the only one who noticed it.

"Well then it's a good thing he's not here," the man snipped back before turning to face Loki. "Are you my assistant?"

Loki almost burst into flames. He opened his mouth to give some sort of angry retort but ended up sputtering instead.

"Silver tongue turn to lead?" the man said with a wink. "I'm just kidding – I know you're not my assistant. My name's Tony," he said through a grin, reaching his hand out for Loki to shake.

Had there not been important people in the room he would have probably bitten this man. Or maybe not bitten because Loki was not a rabid animal, but he would have done something. Why were all of his comebacks suddenly lost to him?! There was something so incredibly infuriating about this man – Tony - on a purely base level that Loki found himself put out simply by being near him. As it was, there were important people in the room so he extended his own hand to shake the one being offered to him. "Loki," he said quietly.

"That's a weird name," Tony replied off handedly while Loki gaped next to him. He turned to face the board members and asked, "So what do you need me to do? I wanna get back to my laser!" His eyebrows wiggled a little when he said laser.

The board members all grumbled to each other and Loki's professor's looked horrified that a student would speak to his superiors this way. The Johnson man (hehe) slid Tony's contract over the table towards him.

"Just sign this."

Tony did exactly as Loki had and signed the thing immediately without giving the text above the blank spot for a signature a second glance. When he put the pen back he clapped his hands together and asked, "So am I good, then?"

Loki did not like this student.

"There's just one thing we want to make clear to the both of you," another board member began as he stood. "You are working together because you are the son's of very influential men in this community,"

Ahh, there it is.

"This makes the university look very good to see you working together, so it is absolutely imperative that you submit those time cards and provide proper documentation," he finished grimly.

Loki had no idea what they were talking about but Tony got there first. "Time cards?" he asked.

The board members scowled. "You just signed a contract stating you agreed to them! Good god man - take this seriously!"

Tony blanched and glanced at Loki to see if he had known about the time cards. Of course, Loki hadn't, but he settled for giving Tony a disappointed headshake.

"You will both be required to spend at least 15 hours a week together working and we will need documentation of what you worked on every week. These will be submitted to your advising professor,"

It was possible that Tony and Loki's hearts both stopped at that moment, but Loki wasn't feeling generous so his heart stopped when he heard that. 15 hours a week?! That was ridiculous! LOKI HATED PEOPLE.

"We look forward to the work you boys produce," a board member said as he nodded toward the door.

The boys nodded numbly and took their exit. Once they were on the other side of the door Loki turned to Tony to let him know exactly how this was going to work, but once again the engineer got there first. He had pulled out his phone and was presenting it to the dark haired man in front of him.

"Here, put your number in my phone and I'll text you later today so we can work out our schedules. I would do it now but I really want to get back to that laser," he explained in that same one-breath way.

Tony had a weird phone.

Once his number had been forfeited to Tony's technology he opened his mouth to speak again only to be interrupted once more.

"I guess Loki's kind of a cute name. It's weird though. Listen, I don't know about you but I didn't really read through the proposal or anything that told me I had to work with someone else – so this was kind of a shock," he rambled. "I'm glad I got someone handsome though, it will make our long nights so much easier to deal with. Anyway – I'm gonna go, I'll text you later!" he said before running off in the opposite direction towards his precious laser.

Loki stood there dumbfounded. He had only said one word to the other man and it had been his name. And what the hell guy?! Who flirts like that with their research partner? 'I got someone handsome' Loki barked out a laugh that he was almost certain startled the board members on the other side of the door. This Tony did not 'get' him. The dark haired teen scowled to himself in the empty hallway of the administration building and for the hundredth time that day cursed himself for not reading the damn fine print.

Fuck sophomore year.