you see me rolling up, pops, you step aside

in honor of my dear, beloved @queenofthecute having finally watched thor (2011)…

PERFECT, AMAZING, RIDICULOUS, ACCIDENTAL OTP: A SIF/LOKI FIC PRIMER

The Feelings (big plot; big characterization; big ideas; big word counts)

Pre-Film

All the Reasons I Gave by Peripeteia (@glamaphonic) I alone know, as I think I do know, / your love beside Thor, / and that was the wicked Loki. Loki and Sif’s relationship leading up to the film. 4k.

Lying Tongues by Memlu (@roxanneritchi) As Loki knows it, the art of lying is simple enough: never tell a lie too big to maintain, sprinkle in bits of the truth where needed, and don’t ever lie to yourself. Loki plays tricks, but the worst ones are on himself. 11k.

Paper Planes & Playground Games by Memlu (@roxanneritchi) When Sif was but a girl, she met two princes, one like the sun, the other like the moon. Sif, Loki, and Thor through their adolescence. 14k.

So Will You Swim for Me by newredshoes (@keeptomandcarryon) “But what the young warrior didn’t know was that the dragon was walking, step for step, just behind him — one foot — after the other—” Loki and Sif navigating their new relationship. 5k.

Post-Film

Enveloped In A Sad Distraction by hariboo_smirks (@hariboo) Sif is well aware she shaped her own life but at times it feels like Thor handed her the hammer and Loki the chisel.Sif on Asgard, thinking back. 7k.

on the rise, your footprints on the sun by bantha_fodder Later, she will try to convince herself that she was surprised; that she was taken unawares; that what occurred was unexpected. Loki lurks; Sif is wary.

The Salt Skin by hariboo_smirks (@hariboo) There had been a choice there, somewhere between the words they had spoken and the words they had not. She felt like she had missed it. Sif falls through the broken Bifrost and ends up stuck on Earth, where she once again encounters Loki. 45k.

the second hand unwinds by VegaOfTheLyre (@vega-ofthe-lyre) She’s on the bus when she sees him for the first time. Post-Ragnarok reincarnation fic!

steel in your hand by Mira_Jade For war and trickery have been entwined from time’s beginning, until star’s last light. Sif seeks Loki. 33k.

Yggdrasill Dreaming by Memlu (@roxanneritchi) The Bifröst is broken and the roads between the worlds are lost; so, too, is the treacherous king Loki lost. Yet in Sif’s dreams a shadow walks, and it wears the face of Loki Odinson. Is she going mad, or does Loki yet live? If he does live, then how is she to find him? Through dreams, through memory, Sif seeks Loki. Utterly flawless, breathtakingly lyrical epic charting Sif and Loki and their relationship throughout their entire lives as they attempt to make their way back to each other. 77k.

Sif & Sensibility by newredshoes (@keeptomandcarryon) The fact of the matter is that Mrs. Aesir has too many sons and no one to inherit the estate. Someone must marry Thor, particularly if that someone is Lady Sif, recently returned to Asgardshire, and Loki will ensure that it happens by any means necessary — even at the cost of his own heart. Austenian delightfulness. 15k.

Winter’s Heart by Peripeteia (@glamaphonic) When the last great war ends, Asgard and Jotunheimr retreat back behind their own borders. In Jotunheimr, Prince Loki grows up never having known the true splendor of his home. When the tentative truce between the two realms is tested, Loki finds himself traveling to Asgard, where a volatile and intense bond is struck between him and the woman warrior-in-training, Sif. Does what it says on the tin. In progress. 35k.

The Porn (we specialize in cunnilingus)

Hand to Hold by Memlu (@roxanneritchi) A formal dinner goes poorly for Loki, but there’s home, still, and there’s Sif.

Hulinhjálmur by RunRabbitRun Loki wants cast a protective spell on Sif. Sif is not so sure. Then she is VERY sure.

Like a Shotgun Needs an Outcome by Memlu (@roxanneritchi) Like a shotgun, Sif can’t be outdone.

Some Shadowed Corner by Memlu (@roxanneritchi) When a formal event drags on, Sif and Loki make their own amusement.

Shield and Maiden by RunRabbitRun Sif is a badass warrior, but in the bedroom she likes to be treated like a Lady.

All links, except “on the rise, your footprints on the sun,” are to AO3. Nearly all of these authors have written more (imo pretty excellent) Sif/Loki than listed here which can be found again on AO3 or their other haunts. And there are dozens of other fics by yet more authors to be found on AO3, at thor_het @ LiveJournal, and at the Norsekink meme.

DISCLAIMER: This is not really a rec list! Which is to say, I thoroughly enjoy and would rec all of the fics contained herein (except… my own, but that’s a whole other thing), but this is really just a compilation of most of the earliest and most substantial fics that popped up (to my knowledge) when folks started writing Sif/Loki, also of fics that I feel more or less helped shape some parts of the fanon for the pairing. Exclusion is not meant as an insult! This is just a primer, as noted, and not a list of every enjoyable Sif/Loki fic in existence.