Chapter Text
Samuel woke with the sun. If it weren’t for Loki’s seidr, he might not have sensed the boy rise, not even with his rather enhanced other senses. He’d always had exceptional hearing and vision. Yet Samuel’s moves were whisper-soft. What that spelled out to Loki wasn’t all that reassuring. It seemed like every passing moment with Samuel only served to reaffirm Loki’s decision to take him. The child deserved much better than what life had already granted him.
By the time Samuel finished with the bathroom and made his cautious way out towards Loki, the trickster was seated at the table with a cup of tea and a plate of breakfast the hotel had brought up. Really, Midgardians only seemed to get more and more inventive as time went on. Loki had been astounded by plenty of things during his visits to this realm – which were far more frequent than either of his parents would approve of, and would continue to be so – but sometimes he had to admit he dearly enjoyed the way that food continued to progress. These pastries were delicious.
The door to the bedroom opened quietly. Loki looked up and made sure that he was smiling when Samuel caught sight of him. The surprise in those too-big eyes was sad to see, yet not unexpected. What reason would Samuel have to trust Loki to his word after one night, when his life had so far taught him to believe no one? No one except his brother, Loki would bet.
“Come.” Loki let his smile grow and gestured to the seat across from him at the table. “I ordered breakfast through room service. It’s quite tasty, I assure you. Come help yourself.”
There was a brief hesitation on Samuel’s part. Then he pushed away from the door, hunger or curiosity, or both, winning out over his nerves. “You ordered breakfast?”
“We need to eat, do we not?”
Samuel sank down into the seat that Loki had gestured him to. He didn’t move to reach for the food, not until Loki made another gesture at the plate to indicate that he should help himself. Even then, he only took one pastry, and he nibbled at it. Loki hoped that this was just because of nerves; perhaps the boy was worried about what might be coming with the day, and it made him less than hungry. That was a far better option than any others Loki’s mind conjured up.
So far, Loki had stuck to honesty with this little warrior here, and it had gotten him quite further than one would expect. He’d decided at some point during the night that he was going to continue along in that vein. Samuel deserved honesty from at least one person in his life. With that in mind, Loki rested his elbows on the table, cup in front of his mouth, and fixed his focus on Samuel. “I believe I found a situation to our problem last night.”
The boy just barely kept from fumbling his pastry right out of his hands. He kept a hold on it somehow. His soft “Yeah?” was hesitant and yet bracing at the same time. It was clear he was waiting for what he was sure was going to be bad news.
Damn you to Hel, John Winchester, for the damage you’ve done to this child. Loki kept that thought locked away inside and made sure it didn’t darken his smile. “Indeed. Much though I may wish to have you wish me, Asgard is no place for a human child. The Allfather would never approve of your presence. Nor would he approve of my taking a permanent residence here on Midgard.”
“Oh,” Sam said softly. He set the pasty back down on the plate and then lifted his chin. It had his hair finally sliding back from his face and giving Loki a clear view. There was determination in the set of his jaw and the way he made himself meet Loki’s stare. “So I’m going back.”
The “No!” Loki gave was sharp enough that it had Samuel flinching. Mentally cursing himself, Loki took a deep breath and forcibly gentled his tone. “No, child. We made a deal, you and I, as did your father and I. You will not be going back there.”
Speaking of their deal also worked to remind Samuel of what it was he’d asked for. Every bit of him perked up with pure excitement. His eyes were wide and positively begging as he said: “Did you find Dean?”
Loki smiled and dipped his head. “I did indeed. Your brother is safe, Samuel.” For one second Loki hesitated. This was going to hurt, he knew. There was no true way to soften that blow. John Winchester had lied, and finding that out would hurt Samuel. But he had the right to know where his brother was. “Your brother was not lost on a hunt. He was arrested, it would seem, and sent to what I believe was called a… boys’ home.”
Seeing the heartache that flashed through Samuel’s eyes was devastating. Worse was the way the child slumped down in his seat. “Oh.”
There wasn’t much that Loki could do here to reassure him. Perhaps he could offer him some comfort, though. Knowledge of his brother’s safety. “The man there, Sonny, is quite taken with young Dean. He has offered him a home there with him. Should John stay away, it is where Dean will stay, and I do believe he will be happy there. Just as I believe that you will be happy where I am taking you.”
It was clear there were countless questions that Samuel had. Things that he wanted to know. Yet he held those other ones back and focused on what was the most important. “Where are you taking me?”
“As I said, I cannot take you to Asgard with me, though you are mine now. Instead, I have found a human who I believe is capable of giving you the home and life you deserve. He is someone who has the wealth and means to care for you properly, and the open mind capable of understanding someone with your gifts.”
“What gifts?”
This was a part of the conversation that Loki hadn’t been sure he was going to have yet with Samuel. Nevertheless, it was better that he say something now and get the child used to the idea. Loki lowered his cup to the table and leaned his weight forward onto his arms. “Your father asked me last night to clear from your system whatever had been done to you. When we shook hands, my seidr – my magic – felt the presence of demon blood inside of you. Not your own, little one.” He hurried to add that on when Samuel clearly started to panic. “You are not a demon. All it means is that you were given at least a few drops at some point. Why, I cannot be sure. But I can tell you that those few drops blocked off your own natural abilities. I could sense it the instant the summoning spell called to me. There was power in your blood. The kind of power that only comes from a mage.”
“Do you mean that I can…” Samuel paused, swallowing down something in his throat. “I can do magic?”
Loki carefully observed his face while nodding. “Indeed. Judging by the power I felt inside of you when I cleared away the demonic taint, I would say you’ll grow to have quite a lot of power.”
Though Loki hadn’t quite expected bouncing excitement, he’d figured that Samuel might be somewhat happy about this news. Humans had always been a bit excited about the idea of magic. However, he hadn’t taken into account the fact that Samuel hadn’t grown up as a simple human. He’d grown up as a hunter. And few hunters carried any tolerance for anything that was not human.
The look of devastation that crossed Samuel’s face would’ve been enough to crack the most hardened of hearts. “Do you… do you think Dad knew?” he whispered achingly, eyes everywhere but on Loki. A shudder shook his small frame, and he drew his arms down to his body as if to try and hold himself together. “Is that why he, why he tried to get you to fix me?”
So far Loki had been quite restrained when it came to this poor child. He’d held back from the parental urges that demanded he embrace him and soothe him and try to make everything better. But this? This was beyond Loki’s control to ignore. There was no way he could keep his seat after such a painful confession.
In an instant, Loki was up out of his seat and coming around the table. Samuel flinched, hard, when Loki got to him, yet he didn’t try and pull away. It made it easy for Loki to reach down and actually pick him up, drawing the child in against him in a reassuring hug. “Oh, little one.” With one arm under him and the other up to cradle the back of his head, Loki held Samuel close and swayed from side to side as he would with any of his own children. “There is nothing wrong with you. I do not care what that pathetic little human ever tried to tell you. There is nothing about you that needs to be fixed.”
Though most of Samuel’s body was stiff, like he didn’t quite know what to do with himself, he had his face tucked in against Loki’s neck in a small gesture that spoke of just how desperately he wanted to lean here. How much he wanted to accept the comfort being offered. He wanted it, he was just too afraid to trust it.
Odin and Frigga both could’ve called on him at that moment, and Loki wouldn’t have moved. He would not turn away from a child in such desperate need of affection.
It took a long moment, but just as Loki prepared to set Samuel down, he felt the boy melt against him. Too-slender arms came up to hug Loki in turn.
The mage’s heart melted further at that little gesture of trust.
He kept Samuel close to him. Despite the fact that the boy was older – though small for his size – he was as light as a babe to the Asgardian. Loki kept him in the hug even as he started to speak again; his voice just a soft murmur. “I know that life has treated you hard, little one, and I would take that all away from you were I able. But if I cannot keep you with me, I can do the next best thing. I found you a home where you will be cared for. Where you will be loved. He has no care of your powers. Indeed, he seems fascinated by the idea.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Samuel whispered against Loki’s skin. The words were spoke softly as if he were imparting some shameful secret.
Loki closed his eyes. “My sweet little one.” Following instinct, the mage pressed a kiss to Sam’s hair. “Would that I could stay with you.” He smoothed a hand down Samuel’s hair and then used that hand to reach in and tug at his chin, pulling him up so that he’d be able to see Loki’s face with these next words, and read just how honest he was being. Only when their eyes were locked did Loki speak again. “Do not think that this means you will not see me. I swore to you I would not abandon you. You are mine, Samuel Winchester. I will be back to check on you, and to start your mage training. You shall not be rid of me so easily, I’m afraid.”
Cautious hope flickered to life in the back of Samuel’s eyes. Whatever it was that had inspired him to trust Loki, it seemed that he had given that trust quite strongly, and his faith as well. Loki suspected it was due in part to the bond made by the spell, and by the touch of their seidr together. But he also thought it might just be an innate part of this boy. A piece of his innocence that had somehow managed to survive.
Loki pulled him in close once more. The rest of the story could wait just a moment longer. He could let Samuel have this. He could let the both of them have it.
It was only thirty minutes later that the two of them arrived in the middle of Stark’s living room. The joy Samuel got out of their travel gave Loki hope that perhaps the boy would be a bit more eager about his own seidr. But any pleasure that Samuel had felt vanished as his brain caught up to where they were and what was going on. When JARVIS greeted them – “Welcome back, Prince Odinson. And welcome to you, young Master Winchester” – Samuel actually leaned in against Loki’s side before abruptly stiffening and straightening himself back up. It would seem their moment together was quite done. Either Samuel was putting his walls back up, or the idea of someone else seeing was holding him back.
None of it kept Samuel from looking around the room, though. He took in everything from behind the screen of his hair. There was a hint of childlike wonder as his eyes ran over everything. When had the child ever seen or stayed in a place of such comfort? Judging by what Loki had learned, he doubted Samuel had ever stayed anywhere nice before. Or in a house, for that matter.
Loki felt Anthony making his way towards them. Because of that, he didn’t startle when the other man spoke up from off to their left. “You’re back.”
Samuel, however, didn’t know how to use his seidr for that purpose yet, and he had been too caught up in staring all around him to really register what his human senses might’ve picked up on. The sound of Anthony’s voice was enough to have him jumping and his whole body slipping down into a defensive crouch. His actions and posture screamed of one not reaching for a gun, but a knife. Even the way he held his arms was a pose that Loki knew quite well.
Knives had always been a preference of his.
Anthony must’ve recognized the pose somewhat as well, because he stopped halfway into the room and held his hands up, palms facing towards them in a gesture of peace. “Woah there, kiddo. Cool your jets. It’s just me – the dude who owns this place.”
Color flooded Sam’s cheeks. Instantly he dropped his hands down and straightened up, while also ducking his head and curling his shoulders in. Every inch of his body language was defensive now. Just, in a far different way than his battle-ready one had been. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t realize you were there.”
“Ugh.” Anthony dropped his hands down and fixed Samuel with a curious, slightly sad look that showed nowhere in his gently mocking tone. “That’s the first thing that’s gonna have to go. The only people who get away with calling me ‘sir’ work for me, and you’re not an employee, kiddo.”
His reaction clearly wasn’t what Samuel had been expecting. The boy was still, and Loki could feel the tension in Samuel’s seidr that showed all his body language did not. He was looking through Anthony’s words, trying to make sense of them, to understand the layers and loopholes that might be found within. It was something that Loki did all the time. He never trusted anyone at their word; there was always more to things that people never truly said. How had such a small boy come to learn that same lesson already?
To give Samuel time to come to terms with his thoughts, and to draw the attention off of him, Loki took a step forward and put his hand on Samuel’s shoulder. With his other hand, he brought a stack of papers from the small pocket dimension he stored things in. Then Loki held those papers out to Anthony. “I believe you’ll find these are completed, as requested.”
When Anthony and Loki had finally come to terms on things last night, and Samuel’s presence here was finally accepted, Anthony had bluntly told Loki that he couldn’t take a kid in without some sort of adoption papers. He’d explained what they were, and once Loki had left, he’d paid another visit to John Winchester. He had to admit, it’d been pleasing to watch the way the man paled, and to see how quickly he signed the papers Anthony had claimed were necessary.
According to Anthony, with these papers, there was no legal way that John Winchester would be able to take his son back. Samuel would legally be Anthony’s. That would provide him with quite a bit of protection in this realm.
Anthony didn’t reach out to take the papers from Loki, though he did gesture to the nearby bar. “Just put ‘em down up there, I’ll take a look in a minute.” Then his attention turned fully to Samuel. Ah, this was likely to be the other part of things that Anthony had requested. He wanted to meet with Samuel, to speak with him, without Loki’s interference.
Loki gave Samuel’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I believe Anthony wishes to speak with you, Samuel. To make sure I haven’t harmed you in any way.”
“Or kidnapped you, or anything like that,” Anthony amended. He shot Loki a dry look, which Loki easily returned as he stepped away from the two. The minute that Loki was away from Samuel, Anthony shifted almost directly between them, keeping them apart. His attention was focused solely on Samuel. “If he’s hurt you, or taken you away from your family, or anything like that, all you gotta do is say the word, kiddo. Hell, just wink. I don’t care. You let me know, and I’ll make damn sure I get you back home. I don’t care if he’s some super space mage or what. If he’s forcing you to do this, I’ll protect you.”
There was a moment where Samuel didn’t say anything. Loki had reached the bar, and he set the paperwork down on top of it. Just as he turned to watch them, slightly curious, he heard Samuel’s reply.
“If he really had kidnapped me, and you wanted to get me away from him, wouldn’t the smart thing to do be to wait until after he was gone to ask me about it?” Samuel sounded curious, and a bit sharp. Full of false bravado. It was like a skin he’d pulled on just for this conversation. One that just didn’t fit quite right.
However, it was enough to have Loki smirking and to have Anthony chuckling. “Maybe. But then he’d just get to run away, and I wouldn’t have a chance to stop him.”
“Do you really think you could?” Samuel countered. The way he said it made sure that Anthony knew that he didn’t believe it.
Instead of being offended, Anthony laughed, and his body relaxed. He obviously read the same things in Samuel that Loki did. The boy wasn’t upset about being here, nor was he afraid of Loki. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a sassy little shit?” Anthony asked.
Samuel flinched only slightly, yet now that Anthony had leaned to the side again, no longer feeling the need to keep between them, Loki was able to see how Samuel lifted his chin as well. “Once or twice.”
“I kinda like it,” Anthony said. “I probably shouldn’t, but I do. I’ve always been a bit of a shit myself. Pep keeps telling me my mouth is gonna get me in trouble one of these days, an I won’t be able to buy my way out of it. Shows what she knows.”
The way that Samuel was watching Anthony made it clear he wasn’t sure what to make of him. At the same time, his seidr was relaxing a little. Less tense.
A familiar sensation pinged its way across Loki’s seidr. It drew his attention away from the two in front of him and had him focusing inwards briefly.
It was Frigga.
It was time to go home.
Loki sighed heavily. He used that touch with his mother to let her know that he would return shortly, and then closed it off again. Now was the time that Loki was looking forward to the least. The very last thing he wanted was to go home and leave Samuel here. The boy had grown on Loki so quickly, worming his way past the defenses that Loki kept up around adults, and making space inside the Asgardian’s heart. A feat very few could lay claim to. Yet, Loki had fully claimed Samuel in every way that mattered. Though this boy was not from his body, he was Loki’s now – by blood, by choice, and through their seidr. He was as much a child of Loki as any of the others that Loki had borne or sired. And yet again, I must leave one of my own in the care of another.
At least he had chosen well. Everything that Loki had learned about Anthony Stark this night, and witnessed just now between these two, said that Loki had made a good choice.
That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t watch, though, or be prepared.
When Loki went forward, Anthony must’ve sensed something because he moved to the side to allow Loki space. His face showed surprise when Loki went down to one knee in front of his child.
This was a moment that Loki normally wouldn’t have dared to show in front of anyone. Yet, he would not deny himself nor Samuel this moment, no matter who was watching. He would not simply leave him here without anything.
The way Samuel was watching made it clear he’d read something on Loki’s face. “You gotta go,” the boy said softly.
“Aye.” Loki reached one hand up to brush a bit of Samuel’s hair back from his face and tuck it behind his ear. “I will be back, though. I have given you my word, have I not?”
A person’s word only held so much weight. Especially when they were still so new to one another, and it had yet to be tested. Samuel had no way of knowing if Loki would return to him or not. In his eyes, those shadows rose once more, and his seidr rolled with the sensations of resignation and heartache that a child should never have to know or understand. “It’s okay,” Samuel tried to reassure him, putting on a brave face. “You’ve… you’ve probably got family and stuff back home, right? They need you.”
My sweet little warrior. Loki gentled his smile into the one reserved solely for his children. “They do.” He would not lie about that. “But you are my family now as well, sweet one, and I will not abandon you. I will return as soon as I am able.”
“Magic training, right?” Samuel asked.
Loki nodded his head. “Indeed.” He reached out with his own seidr and let it brush against Samuel’s – adding protections and spells that would alert Loki to the slightest sign of trouble with his child. It also allowed Samuel to feel the warm affection that filled Loki. “I would return even without that, however. A being such as myself does not lay claim lightly, Samuel. No matter what happens…” Loki reached out and caught Samuel’s hand, turning it so that the inside of his wrist was exposed, showing the mark that Loki had laid there earlier. His symbol marked on the light skin. Loki made sure that Samuel saw it before he smiled at him. “You are mine, little one. Nothing will change that. Should you have need of me, focus on this and on your memory of me, and call to me. I will come.”
A little tremor ran down Samuel’s body. His eyes darted over to their silent watcher, back to Loki’s face, then down to his own wrist. Loki wasn’t quite sure what was going on behind those hazel eyes.
Then Samuel surprised him yet again by almost flinging himself forward. It was easy for Loki to shift, to catch the boy up and tug him in close for the contact he so dearly needed. Samuel clung as tight as he could, his little body trembling against Loki in that brief moment he allowed them to hug. It was short, though. After just a moment, he was pulling back, drawing himself together as he went. Bit by bit, the masks that his life had taught him were pulled on, layer upon layer laid over one another until the little boy was hidden inside.
There were no more words that either one of them needed to say. Loki smoothed Samuel’s hair from his face again and leaned in to press a kiss against his forehead.
Pulling back, Loki turned his head to look up at Anthony, and he made his expression hard and let his seidr flash in his eyes in open threat. “Take care of him.”
“With my life,” Anthony said.
With a final deep breath and one last look at the child who had taken his heart, Loki gave a nod. Then, he reached out with his seidr to the threads of the world around him, and he gave a tug.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone.