Chapter Text
Everything was as silent and dark as a grave.
Thor found himself lying on the ground, flat on his back with the weight of the world sitting on his chest. His heart felt like it was bleeding inside him, as if he was the one who had been stabbed and torn. He tried to breathe, but his muscles were tight around his lungs and didn’t want to work.
Why would they want to work? Everything was darkness, and the tear in his heart was threatening to break him apart.
To kill him as surely as it killed his brother.
“Loki,” he whispered into the darkness, hoping against hope that his brother would answer back. Loki had survived a sword to the chest once, surely, he could survive another?
But even as Thor thought the sentence, he recognised how futile it all was.
Thor had been trained all his life to kill. He knew his own aim. He knew how true his strike was and how Loki’s ribs would have shattered and how his delicate heart would have given way. He could imagine the feeling of the strike even now, the feeling of his brother’s life slipping through his fingers.
And if the knowledge of his own deadliness wasn’t enough proof, the lack of the draugr’s screams was the final nail in Loki’s coffin.
Loki’s plan had worked, and Thor hated him for it.
Because of course it worked. Loki was too clever to devise a plan that wouldn’t, even if it cost his own life.
The tears sprung to his eyes immediately, only small drops of the tidal wave of sadness that was inundating him and filling his lungs.
Loki had probably thought it had been a small price to pay—his life in exchange for Thor’s, Peter’s, Tony’s and Natasha’s. One life for four lives plus the potential people the draugr would have hunted.
The math was savagely efficient.
And among the drown of his sadness, a vicious spark of anger lit. It kindled on the broken pieces of him until it became just as consuming as the sadness.
Why would the Norns do this to them? Why would they give Loki back only to place him in a position where he was forced to choose between life and his loved ones again?
He was so much more than something to be sacrificed. Why couldn’t the Norns let Loki live long enough to prove that?
Why couldn’t… why couldn’t…
Why couldn’t he just have his brother back?
“I got the translation wrong.”
Thor froze.
No, no, no… That was impossible. It was impossible. He felt the sword go through Loki’s chest. He felt himself cracking his brother’s ribs to puncture his beating heart.
It was impossible for Loki to be speaking again.
But it wasn’t the first time Loki had begun speaking when it was impossible. It wasn’t even the first time in this cave.
He felt the candle flame of hope gently light in his chest, and he was too afraid to let it grow. He was too afraid of what he would do if he was forced to snuff it out again.
“I got the Norns-damned translation wrong,” Loki repeated, his voice breathless, but so painfully and miraculously alive. Loki kept repeating the phrase until the words slipped into a hysterical laugh that verged on a sob. The sound was wet with his brother’s emotions, and the frantic edge of it triggered every protective instinct in Thor.
That flame of hope grew.
Finally, he found himself able to move again, and he crawled towards the voice that might be Loki’s. He wished he could see. I wished he could convince himself that he hadn’t just killed his brother.
His hand hit flesh, and Loki’s laughter stuttered into a hiccup. It sounded like it was coming from right next to him.
“Thor?” He heard Loki say his name, but it hardly seemed to register. It was hard to think of anything over the roar of impossibility ringing in his ears.
He closed his hand around something he recognised as an elbow. A bony, thin, achingly familiar elbow. He traced down the limb until his palm met another’s, and he realised he knew this hand.
He knew this hand. He knew the callouses that decorated the crest of the palm. He knew the tiny crick in the pinkie finger from a badly healed weapons accident when they were young. He knew its warmth, and its strength, and the magic that so often flickered in it.
He knew his brother.
“Loki?” The name was heavy with Thor’s hope. It hung in the air until he felt another familiar hand land on his.
“I’m here.”
Thor’s world broke in the best way possible.
He lunged to where he thought Loki was, slamming their bodies together in a satisfying ‘oomph’. His arms found chest and he wrapped them around Loki, determined to never let go again.
He felt his brother’s breath and the bumps of his ribcage as they expanded and decompressed with air. He felt how the rhythm of his heart beat strongly, though stuttering in desperate sobs. He realised how much feeling came with being alive.
His hands followed up the curve of Loki’s spine until he felt hair. He recognised the nape of his brother’s neck, and gently guided Loki’s head into the crook of his shoulder. Loki allowed himself to be tucked into Thor, and Thor didn’t need to see his brother to know that he was stubbornly holding back his tears. The motion between them was achingly familiar, and the weight of Loki clicked some of the broken pieces of Thor’s heart back together.
He turned his face, taking a guess to where Loki’s was, and pressed a kiss against the side of Loki’s head. He was aiming for his temple, but missed a bit and kissed an ear instead. Thor tried again, managing to find Loki’s temple this time, and continued along his hairline. In normal circumstances, Loki would have never allowed this amount of affection. But both of them had been so sure that they were lost to each other, so instead of pulling them apart, Loki only leaned in further.
The darkness was curled around them, but it didn’t hold the sense of wrong that it held before when the draugr stalked them. Instead, it felt comforting like a familiar blanket wrapped around them.
Though, he did wish that he could see his brother’s face, if only to finally confirm that Loki was safe in his arms.
Eventually, when both of their hearts had settled to an even beat, and they weren’t so rattled, Thor sat up, pulling Loki up with him. His brother was still collapsed against him, boneless and letting Thor take all his weight.
“Are you well, brother? Do you have injuries?” Thor asked, his voice soft. Loki shifted as if he was going to look up at Thor.
“No, I am not injured. The exchange seemed to have healed my wound.”
The wound that Thor had caused. The wound caused by the sword he put in his brother’s chest.
Guilt swelled up, ghastly and immediately, cutting straight into Thor’s own chest.
“Did I,” his voice stuttered, “Did I cause you too much pain?”
He felt Loki shaking his head quickly. “Thor, do not worry yourself with that. It was quick, too quick for me to feel much before I was already pulled back into life. Please brother, do not pain yourself for pain that I hardly even felt.”
“But I still did it, Loki, I still did it.”
Loki gave him a swat on the shoulder as he sat up. He didn’t leave the circle of Thor’s arms though. “Yes, and you did the correct thing. Think of the alternative. You and your Midgardians killed, so your lives could be used to fuel twisted magic. Me trapped in this cave between life and death. And the draugr released to hunt down the remaining villagers. You did what you had to, and I like to think it worked out rather well for us.”
Thor felt his brother’s chest rising and falling in time with his and he couldn’t help but agree.
“Did you know?” Thor asked.
“Know what?”
“That killing you in death would revive you back into life?”
Loki was quiet and the silence held the answer. After a moment, though, Loki began to explain. “No, I didn’t know. I thought the rites required a sacrifice, but I translated the ancient language wrong. It was not a sacrifice that was needed, but an exchange. A creature of death acting within life traded for a creature of life acting in death. I was brought over firmly into this side of the veil while the draugr was locked into death.“
The trickster paused for a second before continuing. “I probably should have recognised the translation error earlier. There were runes for “economy” and “trade” scattered throughout this cave. I should have been able to link everything together. The signs were there, the runes had the same morphological ticks. Tutor Sigur would have been ashamed that I missed such an obvious similarity in the runic tendencies.”
A laugh rumbled in Thor’s chest and he hugged Loki tighter. Only his brother would be able to narrowly escape death and then focus on complaining about a small academic mistake he made.
“Thor, are you laughing at me?” Loki barked, sounding completely affronted by Thor’s gall. He struggled in his arms and gave Thor a not-so-gentle jab in the ribcage. Thor only tightened his grip, pinning Loki’s arms to his sides. “Don’t laugh at me, Thor, this is important.”
That did nothing to tamper down Thor’s laugh, and instead the sound became richer and fuller. He couldn’t see Loki’s face, but he knew that he would be undoubtedly pouting.
“You’re an idiot,” Loki growled, ceasing his struggling and settling against Thor again.
Thor liked this rare, affectionate version of his brother, and he wondered how long he would be able to keep him around. But Loki was like a cat. Accepting pets in one moment, and ready to claw your arms to pieces in another.
He could feel Loki getting more restless in his hold and knew that if he didn’t release him, he risked a gentle dagger in the ribs.
Grudgingly, he loosened his grip on Loki and allowed his brother to have use of his arms again.
He heard the trickster sit up, and immediately missed his brother’s weight on his chest. There was a rustle of clothes as Loki shifted and suddenly the flicker of light from his hand. He lifted the witchlight, letting it float up towards the ceiling.
Thor was glad to see his brother using magic again and it finally banished the little bit of doubt that bled into his heart. A small part of him had feared that his brother had been an illusion all along. Just like when he first heard Loki’s voice in the cave and he couldn’t completely believe it until Loki was clearly visible and standing before him. But now with the glow of the witchlight casting down on them, Thor didn’t have any more doubt that Loki was truly, solidly and alive. There wasn’t even that slight translucency to him anymore.
He felt tears begin to tickle at his eyes again and Loki gave him an exasperated look.
“By the Norns, Thor if you start crying again…”
“What? Am I not allowed to cry when my brother comes back from the dead?”
“Not when it’s the third time. Perhaps in a couple more deaths you will finally be put off of tears?”
A shiver passed through Thor’s spine as he thought of the mere possibility of another one of Loki’s deaths. “Please do not joke like that. I don’t wish for you ever to die again.”
Thor caught Loki’s green gaze and found his brother wordlessly analysing him under his scrutinising judgment. He was searching for something in Thor’s face, but the god didn’t know what.
His brother often did this. He fixed Thor with a look that was so endless and so deep that Thor never knew whether to straighten his spine or cower away. It was as if Loki’s eyes could be as sharp as one of his daggers, sharp enough to flay Thor’s chest open and make an appraisal on the innards of his heart.
There were a couple more heartbeats between them before Loki came to a decision, and his placid face changed into something more affectionate.
“Come, Thor, let us go check on the mortals. We need to make sure they have not expired in all the time we’ve spent blubbering.”
A little bit of shame rose in Thor; he hadn’t even thought of the Midgardians once since the felling of the draugr.
He turned so he could look behind him and saw all three of the humans slumped on top of each other and unconscious. They must have been knocked out by the same force that knocked Thor out.
Loki walked up to them before crouching in front of the group. He hummed, tilted his head a little, and wiped a finger across Peter’s brow. He drew the hand back, looking down at his own finger with a careful consideration.
“Are they alright?” Thor whispered, crouching beside Loki. A little thrill of happiness rushed through him when Loki’s thigh brushed against his and there was warmth shared between them.
He let out a breath of relief when Loki nodded. “Yes, they are only unconscious and not anything worse. I can wake them if you wish?”
Loki met his eyes quietly asking for permission. Thor smiled again. There was the little brother in him and the silent way he looked to Thor for guidance. He had thought that most of instinct in Loki had been wiped out, and yet it still came back to surprise him.
“Yes, please. I am sure they will appreciate it.”
Loki nodded, his fingers glowing with his signature green seidr. He started with Natasha, placing a careful hand on the crown of the woman’s head.
He whispered the Asgardian word for “wake”, and Natasha shuddered back into awareness under his hand.
She tensed immediately, looking for an opponent before her eyes widened in recognition between the two gods. When they registered, she slumped back and lost the wary edge in her gaze.
“Hey boys, glad to see you both here with all your limbs,” she said with a small smile. Then her look sobered, “is it done?”
Loki nodded in affirmation. “Yes, Lady Natasha, the draugr has been banished.”
“Nice…” she trailed off and looked like she was going to close her eyes, but then another realisation hit her. “Wait, didn’t Thor stab you in the heart?”
Thor flinched, but Loki only gave the assassin a grin that was pure mischief. “You will find that death is a rather slippery condition when it comes to me.”
Natasha laughed and did something he never thought he’d ever see someone do. She ruffled Loki’s hair. “You did good, brat, you did really good.”
Loki looked just as shocked as Thor felt. He feared for a second that Loki might retaliate, but instead his brother just gave Natasha one of his rare smiles, cautiously accepting the compliment.
“Thank you, sometimes I do try to not be completely horrible.” There was just a bit of self-deprecation in his little brother’s voice, and it broke a piece of Thor’s heart.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed either. Natasha caught it just as clearly as Thor.
“You didn’t get many compliments when you were little did you?” she asked and Loki startled.
“I don’t see how that is relevant?” he said with a tilt of his head.
“We will have to fix that,” she declared as she began looking at her other companions slumped against her.
Loki only seemed more confused and risked a glance to Thor with a raised brow. Thor couldn’t agree with Natasha more, though.
“Loki,” she said, and he jerked his head forward, “you can wake them too right?”
“Oh, yes.” His little brother laid a hand on Tony Stark’s head like he did Natasha. He whispered the magic word, and Stark came back into consciousness with a start.
He groaned and shifted immediately letting out a hiss of pain. His hands went to what was probably a broken leg underneath his mechanic armour. “Ah shit, I forgot about that part.”
Loki laid a hand on Tony’s knee and there was a soft flash. Tony gasped and furrowed his brows. “How…?”
“It’s still broken,” Loki insisted, glaring at Tony as he immediately tried to move the injured limb. “I just quieted down the pain receptors.”
“That’s handy.”
“And dangerous, if someone tries to ignore the injury and exasperates it,” Natasha says with a scoff. “So take it easy, Iron Man.”
“Hah, that word isn’t in my dictionary.”
Loki rolled his eyes, “That isn’t difficult considering that your dictionary is the size of a children’s book.”
Tony sputtered, “Thor, is your brother always so sassy?”
Thor made his face grave. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Awesome. Great. I can’t wait. That’s just what I need another smartass to run around my compound.”
Loki blinked, “You’ll let me come to the compound?”
Tony gave a chuckle. “Letting yourself be shish kabobed through the chest to save our lives, at least earns you a chance to come to family dinners. Hell, I’ll even let you set up a room as long as you promise me you’re not going to obliterate my appliances like your brother does.”
“I…” Loki was lost for words. “But I threw you out of a window?”
Tony shrugged, “Believe it or not, you’re like the third person to do that. Plus, that was ten years ago, a lot has changed and going from supervillain to self-sacrifice shows a hell of a lot of character development. You wouldn’t be the only Avenger to go through that arc.”
The trickster’s eyes were impossibly wide and he looked incredibly small in the face of Tony’s forgiveness. He obviously didn’t completely believe the human, but also didn’t have the words to argue back.
“Now,” Tony said, as he shifted to look at the teenager pressed against his side. “Magic Man, can you wake up Petey?”
Loki nodded, but held back. “I can, but I was thinking of waiting until we got out of the cave. His injuries are the worst, and it might be more of a mercy to wait until we can get him more medical help.”
Natasha made a sound of agreement. “That’s logical, but we haven’t been able to get out of the cave yet. I’m not even sure we are making progress to the exit.”
Thor spoke before his brother could beat him to it. “The draugr and its magic are locked in the realm of the dead. The cave should no longer be twisted by its will; it should be much easier to leave. If we find ourselves getting lost again, we can wake Peter and tend to his injuries the best we can.”
The group nodded and began to shift to begin their trek to the exit.
Thor came to Stark’s side, helping take some of his weight so he wasn’t forced to balance on his broken leg. The man hissed in pain again, and his breath was heavy against Thor.
“Hey, big guy,” Tony said through his teeth with a grimace. He was obviously biting down a lot of hurt. They were going to need to get out of here quickly, or else they were going to risk worsening the wounds or infection.
“Hello, friend Stark,” Thor greeted.
Together they watched as Natasha helped lean Peter onto Loki’s back, so he could lift the boy up. The god stood, putting his hands under the boy to balance him and carrying the teenager easily. Natasha moved Peter’s arms, so they crossed over Loki’s chest instead of flopping uselessly at Peter’s side.
Loki and Natasha murmured a couple of words between them that Thor couldn’t make out.
“Oh hey, your brother is all physical and stuff. How did that happen?”
Thor shrugged though it was hard to do so with Stark leaning so heavily on him. “It was part of his sacrifice. Some kind of magical exchange. Loki understands it better than I do, and I’m not asking any questions.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s better not to look a magical gift horse in the mouth.”
Natasha set out first. She was the least hurt between the humans even though the wound on her arm was still bleeding sluggishly. She clutched the witchlight that Loki had conjured between her hands.
In the soft, golden light, Thor thought she looked like a Valkyrie, fresh from battle, and still strong enough to lead them forward into a brighter place.
They all set out, tracing their way through the cave tunnels.
It was instantly noticeable how different the cave felt. It was no longer seeped in the dread and the sense of wrong that the draugr brought. Instead, it felt sombre and still.
People had died here, but instead of feeling anxious about the fact, Thor only felt a solemn respect. The kind of reverence that all graveyards deserved. Silently, he mouthed a prayer, wishing the human lives a safe path towards Valhalla and the final rest they deserved.
It was almost ridiculously easy to leave the cave now that the draugr was gone. They were walking for, perhaps, twenty minutes before a light began to shine at the end of the tunnel
“Oh, thank the Norse gods,” Tony groaned when his eyes caught on the brightness. Thor couldn’t agree more, though it was a bit strange to be thanking himself. The sentiment still stood.
They all breathed a collective sigh of relief when they finally stepped out of the cave and into the fresh, forest air.
The scent of pine trees immediately flooded his nose, and he didn’t think he had ever smelled anything sweeter. He hadn’t even realised how used to the wet rock smell he had gotten and how much relief smelling something different would be.
They were out, a little battered but all alive. Loki had even come back to life and was physical again.
If only they had been able to bring the missing people back, then it would have been a near perfect mission.
Shame sunk deep in his chest when he realised that he was going to have to tell the townspeople about their dead.
He was going to have to see the mothers’ tears. He would see the loss flash in fathers’ eyes. He would see siblings realise that they wouldn’t be able to talk with their sister or brother ever again.
He imagined that small bloody shoe they had found at the beginning of their journey.
Whose child wouldn’t be coming home?
Loki came to Thor’s side. His breath was puffing in the winter air and rising like a smoke. Thor knew he wasn’t cold, though. His brother had always had a high tolerance to frost, (which made since more now that Thor knew his lineage) and it took the cold of either the deepest Asgardian winter or Jotunheim itself to get him shivering.
Norway was colder than Asgard, though.
And yet, with Loki by his side, Midgard felt a little bit warmer.
The trickster shifted the boy on his back, repositioning his clasped hands. Thor knew that the boy wasn’t heavy for him, both of the gods could lift far more than a Midgardian boy, but his brother seemed to be worried for the child’s comfort.
Thor was tempted to rest a hand on Loki’s shoulder, and he probably would have if he wasn’t sharing Stark’s weight.
“The sun is shining on us again, brother,” Thor said softly, and his quoted words brought a smile to Loki’s face.
“You are such a sentimental oaf,” Loki snapped back, but there was warm affection in his tone. “And, it seems more like the sun is setting on us, so perhaps we should hurry back to civilisation before we get caught in the dark.”
“The living dead is right.” Tony’s voice startled Thor. “And we should probably get the kid back before it really starts getting dark and cold.”
“Yeah, of course.” Thor turned towards the village. Natasha walked ahead with the witchlight held aloft. Loki began trailing after her, his footsteps creating a trail in the snow. It made Thor unbelievably happy to see Loki’s figure silhouetted in the golden light and the winter air.
This was going to be his life from now on. Loki by his side (as long as Loki wanted to be there) and in his adventures and at his right hand. Never again was going to feel like that part of him was missing again.
“Thor, oh my god, you are such a sap,” Tony hissed, but there was a little laugh in his voice. “Stop making googly eyes at your brother and get me someplace warm before my toes .”
“I am not making these ‘googly eyes’,” Thor said, while leading Tony forward.
Tony scoffed. “Yes, you are. The brotherly love is practically emanating from you. You’re stinking up the place with it.”
“I am not.”
“You are. You light up like it’s Christmas morning whenever you look at him.”
Thor was quiet for a beat. “I missed him,” he admitted quietly.
“That’s an understatement. You were practically comatose when you came back to Earth without him.”
“I missed him a lot,” Thor defended himself, and Tony just gave him a knowing smile.
They didn’t speak after that, but there was something peaceful about the silence.
The town flickered into existence like a flame on a candle. The glow of the warm light coming from the window panes made the snow glimmer in the early evening night.
“Looks like we will make it home before dinner,” Tony said on Thor’s shoulder. He hadn’t straightened since the town came into view and seemed to hobble forward a bit faster.
In front of them, Loki laughed and the unconscious boy shook on his back. “Norns, what I would give to have a meal right now.”
“Oh yeah, I guess there’s not much eating while ghostified.”
The trickster shrugged. “There’s not much of anything. Your insides feel empty all the time. It’s like there’s a black hole caught under your skin.”
Thor paused for a second, and Tony seemed equally unsettled. “Well, that’s disturbing,” he said as they began to walk forward again.
Natasha was the first to reach the village and to call for medical help. The village stirred to life as they arrived, people beginning to emerge from their houses to watch the superheroes.
Within a few moments, the doctor came forward and began to guide them towards her office.
She was a brisk older lady that reminded Thor heartachingly of Eir. She barely came up to Thor’s shoulders, but had absolutely no problem ordering the god around. She commanded them all with a quick word and a tone that was not to be argued with. Thor helped Tony onto a bed before aiding his brother in getting Peter off his back.
The doctor peered at the boy.
“What is wrong with him? Why doesn’t he wake up?” she said, while taking his head in her hands.
She spoke to them in Norwegian and Loki answered back in a similar tongue. “He is asleep through magic, but I can wake him. I kept him asleep to save him some of the pain.”
The doctor turned to face him, her serious face softening a bit. “And who are you, lad?”
Loki’s eyes flashed to Thor, before he answered. “My name is Loki.”
The doctor glanced between Thor and Loki and the Asgardian garb Loki was still wearing. “You are from the stories also?”
The trickster shrugged. “I guess so.”
“You were always my favourite. I used to get into great heaps of trouble as a child.” She patted Loki’s cheek in an affectionate motion that shocked him, before moving to Tony to tend to his leg.
Loki met his eyes, looking a bit lost. Thor smiled and ruffled his little brother’s hair. He wondered how long it would take for Loki to begin to get used to casual affection.
“Why don’t you wake Peter now?” Thor suggested and his brother nodded.
Loki stalked towards Peter’s bed and stood over the boy. He reviewed Peter’s face with an unreadable expression and gently brushed a lock of hair away from Peter’s face. He sighed, and summoned an office chair to him so he could sit down. He gingerly placed a hand on Peter’s forehead, magic glowing on his fingertips. He whispered a word and Peter jerked, immediately groaning.
“Here, I can take some of the pain.” Loki said, already using magic to take the bite out of the wound. Peter sighed as it left and gave Loki a grateful smile.
“Thank you, Mr. Loki,” he whispered and coughed.
Thor surged forward with a glass of water, which the boy took thankfully. He gulped it down and asked for another.
That was the moment when he realised that they weren’t in the cave.
“Wait a minute,” he said slowly taking in the bright, artificial light and the industrial equipment of the doctor’s office.
“This isn’t the cave,” Peter gasped, “Oh my god, this isn’t the cave and we are alive!” He cheered, throwing a punch into the air. Which wasn’t a good idea considering the pained expression he made immediately after.
“Mr. Thor. Mr. Loki. I am so happy that we didn’t get eaten by the monster. I was so scared and the monster was going to break in and we definitely would have been killed if Mr. Loki hadn’t…”
His voice trialed off as he remembered the events that had happened and his eyes got impossibly wider. His shoulders slumped down and his mouth became a tiny, thin line.
Thor thought he saw tears at the corner of the boy’s eyes.
“You sacrificed yourself to save us.”
“Well, yes,” Loki said, forcing his tone into something flippant. As if letting Thor put a sword through his heart was nothing of consequence. “But you see that the sacrifice part was unsuccessful. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Loki raised a hand and curled it into a fist.
“Fist me.”
From the other side of the room, Tony made a laugh that sounded like he was choking.
Peter stared down at the fist and then slowly reached his arm out. He gently moved his fist forward, clearly thinking that it was going to go right through Loki’s hand.
But then, it didn’t.
“And fireworks,” Loki said, flashing a small bit of gold magic from his fingertips.
Peter didn’t even look at the magic though, his eyes were only on the god. His eyes were glassy and wide with disbelief. “Mr. Loki, you’re alive?”
Loki gave him a small, true smile. “Yes.”
His brother barely had time to catch the teenager as he lunged forward to tackle Loki in a hug. He wrapped his arms around Loki’s neck and buried his head into his collarbone. He talked in a rush and in a voice that sounded dangerously close to tears.
“Mr. Loki, I’m so happy you’re alive! I can’t believe it. I thought that maybe you would be a ghost forever and I would never be able to actually give you a fist bump. But you’re alive now! And you’re physical!” Peter caught Thor’s eye over Loki’s shoulder, and his face was filled with a huge, brilliant grin.
“Mr. Thor! Mr. Loki is alive!” he cheered, not letting go of his grip on Loki.
Thor laughed and ruffled Peter’s hair. “I noticed, young Peter, and I will admit that hugging my brother was my first instinct also.”
Loki chuckled, and Peter bounced a little on his shoulder. He didn’t need to see his brother’s face to know he was smiling too.
“Oh my god, did you two have another moment?” Peter gasped, his mouth becoming an ‘O’.
His younger brother scoffed. “I will say this again, Spiderchild, I do not have these so called ‘moments’.”
Thor winked at Peter and silently mouthed, ”it was definitely a moment”.
The teen giggled and didn’t make any move to remove himself from where he was now curled on Loki’s lap.
“Peter, you need to get up. You will aggravate your injuries,” Loki said, though he didn’t make any movements to nudge Peter away.
The boy just hummed and leaned his head on Loki’s shoulder. The trickster huffed, but didn’t argue anymore. He tried to make an angry expression, but it was betrayed by the way he shifted to get Peter into a more comfortable position.
They chatted for a while after that, and Thor filled Peter in on what happened while he was passed out. They spoke until the doctor came over and yelled at Peter in Norwegian about how stupid it was for him to leave the bed. The boy didn’t understand any of it, but her anger was scary enough to frighten him back into bed.
After that Loki dutifully translated the doctor’s orders with an altogether too smug grin.
Peter got away with a couple broken ribs from the incident, which narrowly avoided piercing anything life-threatening. They were already half-healed, which probably had something to do with Peter’s natural spider-healing and the influence of Loki’s seidr. He was ordered to take it easy for three weeks and not do any physical activity, which would be difficult for the overly excited child.
Natasha had the concerning gash in her arm but was otherwise unharmed. The doctor sutured the wound together, gave her some additional medication, and let her go.
The worst hurt was Tony and his broken leg, which was going to put him out of commission for about two months.
The doctor allowed them all to leave, except for Tony who she was going to keep overnight to ensure that his cast set properly.
After the doctor let them go, Thor and Peter guided his brother back to the small hotel they had stayed at two days earlier. It was hard for Thor to believe it had only been two nights when it seemed like a lifetime had passed. When Thor had first checked into this inn, he had been a broken man, without a family and hollow from the loss of them. He still missed his mother, his father, and the people he had been raised to serve, but having his brother returned to him made the grief feel like less of an impossible task.
The brothers wished Natasha and Peter goodnight before heading to their own room. Loki followed half a step behind him, taking in the small details of the traditional inn.
They stepped into the darkened room, and Thor moved to light the small fireplace.
“It is like Asgard,” Loki whispered, more to himself than to Thor. He had seated himself on the bed and was looking listlessly at a Nordic painting. Thor nodded anyways.
“Aye, that is what I thought when I saw it also.”
“It’s really gone isn’t it?” Loki said with clear sadness. The loss of Asgard was much fresher in his mind than Thor’s. “You haven’t somehow managed to recover it while I was gone?” There was a naked hope in Loki’s voice that Thor hated to crush.
“I’m sorry, brother. But not all hope is lost, our people have survived and we have made ourselves a small village that we call ‘New Asgard’. It is humble, but it is becoming my new home.”
Thor paused and looked his brother in the eyes. “If you would have it, it could become your home too? I would be honoured to have you at my side again.”
Loki met his gaze with an unreadable expression. It was impossible to tell what Loki’s thoughts were, and for a terrifying second, Thor thought Loki would say no.
But then, some of the ice melted from Loki’s face and he gave Thor a hesitant smile. “I would like that.”
Thor laughed, landing heavily beside Loki and sweeping him into a sideways hug. He felt Loki’s shoulder bones and the laugh that was shaking them.
“Thor, you oaf, get off of me.” His voice was annoyed, but there was a clear smile in the sound of it. “What is with you and all the hugs?” Loki tried to struggle weakly but didn’t put much effort into it.
Thor didn’t let Loki go and instead pushed him back so that they were both lying on the bed. All the exhaustion hit Thor like a pile of bricks, and he felt truly content. Maybe he could stay like this forever?
Of course, that’s when his little brother started squirming in his arms as slippery as a snake.
“Thor, let me go. You smell worse than a rotten Bilgesnipe corpse. If you’re going to smother me to death, at least take a shower before you do,” Loki whined, still trying to shove Thor’s arms off him.
“Are you implying that I smell bad?” Thor questioned innocently while tightening his hold.
Loki’s struggles became a little stronger, and Thor was faintly surprised he hadn’t been given a knife between the ribs yet.
“I am going to give you three seconds before I force you to let go of me,” growled Loki, low and dangerous. It was a tone Thor knew well and one that promised some kind of magical motivation if Thor didn’t listen.
The thunder god instantly let go, not willing to risk whatever punishment Loki had in mind.
“You know what, I believe I will take a shower.” Thor said as he got up from the bed. Loki laughed as he walked away, and he narrowly dodged a pillow that was thrown at him.
Thor took a quick shower, eager to return to his brother. He enjoyed the feel of the warm water and the renewal it brought with it, but he had this sinking fear that when he returned to the room Loki would be gone, a ghost once again.
He hastily washed and returned to the room. Relief immediately swept over him when he saw Loki laying on the bed, dressed in sleeping clothes and twirling a knife. He looked freshly washed, even though Thor was sure his brother had used to seidr to get through the process.
Loki eyes flicked to Thor before he vanished the knife with a wave of his hand. “You’re staring.”
“I am just happy you are here.”
Loki scoffed and made a motion with his hand. Suddenly, there was a set of clothes in his arms, which he offered to Thor.
Thor grinned. He has missed Loki’s magical pocket and the thousands of useful things he kept in it, including many sets of clothes that would fit Thor.
“Thank you, brother.” Thor took the clothes and was delighted to find one of his favourite sleeping shirts. He didn’t even know that Loki had had it. He briefly wondered how many small pieces of Asgard Loki was going to be able to give back to Thor.
He silently changed into the pyjamas and sat down next to Loki. His brother sat up, a comb flickering into his hand, and he began to run it through Thor’s wet hair.
“I’m glad you grew this out,” Loki said mildly, “It was too strange to see you with short hair. It was like you were 400 again.”
Thor chuckled. “I like it longer too. Be glad you didn’t see it when it was in between short and long. You would have hated how terrible it looked.”
“How dare you think I would have wanted to miss out on such a humiliating sight.” Loki finished with the combing and gently began to deftly twist the hair into a complicated braid.
They were silent and the mood quieted.
Loki broke the silence hesitantly. “Brother, you were serious about me coming back to New Asgard correct?” He sounded incredibly small, like he had when he had begged Thor not to leave him behind in the cave.
Thor tried to look over his shoulder, but was stopped by Loki’s hands.
“Head forward, Thor,” he hissed, and he tugged on the braid a bit.
“Loki, of course, I want you to come with me to New Asgard.”
“But what of the people? Would they accept me back?”
“You are their prince as much as me. I also believe that they would be happy to have any piece of Asgard back. You will be seen as a blessing.”
Loki snorted. “Imagine me as a blessing.”
“Perhaps if you are on your best behaviour, I will allow you to build another statue of yourself.”
Loki thwapped his shoulder. “You are an impossible oaf. How did you survive without me?”
“Terribly,” Thor admitted, “The council is a mess and I have no idea how you manage to handle politics.”
“Politics is simple. All you have to do is be beautiful and excellent at lying. Two skills that I excel at more than anything.” Loki finished the braid, tying the end off and patting Thor’s shoulder to let him know that he was done.
“You think very highly of yourself, brother.”
Loki flashed him a winning smirk. “I think of myself as everyone should think of me. Most people just haven’t gotten the message yet.”
His little brother was impossible, always caught somewhere between self-deprecation and unflinching vanity. And yet, Thor wouldn’t have it any other way. He had missed Loki. He had missed Loki like he would have missed his own heart, even all for all of his bratty remarks and cutting barbs.
“I missed you, Loki,” Thor said, drawing his brother forward and kissing his forehead. Loki didn’t struggle and accepted the kiss with a hum.
It was like they were little again, sharing a room together and whispering childish plans to each other.
“You really are the biggest, sweetest idiot in all the Nine Realms.”
Thor didn’t answer, he just listened to Loki’s breaths until they both fell asleep.
Thor woke up the next morning to find Loki already awake. That wasn’t usual considering that he was normally an early riser, but what was strange was to find him peaceably sharing breakfast with Peter at their small dining table.
Loki was dressed in an emerald silk robe slung off his shoulders and around his elbows. He delicately sipped at a cup of tea, faintly smiling as he listened to whatever wild story Peter was telling. He was using seidr to float various utensils and a muffin around them. A superfluous use of magic that Loki wouldn’t usually allow.
The boy looked like he was trying to stuff as many eggs as possible into his mouth while still motioning with the other hand.
Three days.
All it took was three days and Peter already had Loki wrapped around his finger. His brother would probably pull down the moon for the boy if he asked him to.
“Mr. Thor, you’re awake!” Peter said through a mouthful of eggs. Thor sat up and stretched the sleep from his muscles.
“Swallow Peter,” Loki said.
The boy did in fact swallow before speaking again. “I brought breakfast.”
“I can see that.” Thor walked up to the pair, plucking the muffin from the air. He took a bite and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.
Loki scowled up at him. “That was mine.”
“I didn’t see your name on it.” Thor shot back. They had done this dance a thousand times.
“It was literally covered in my seidr. How much more identification do you need?”
Thor shrugged. “Be quicker to eat next time, brother.”
Loki’s scowl deepened and shared an incredulous look with Peter. “I died and rose again, and yet I still do not get the respect I deserve.”
Peter looked a little lost. He was more unfamiliar with their banter and obviously didn’t know where the line between play and fight was. “I, uh, can get you another muffin, Mr. Loki?”
The trickster dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand. “No need to bother. My brother will simply pay for his misdeeds later.”
There was another knock at the door, and Thor idly wondered how many guests they were going to be welcoming into their room before breakfast was over.
Loki silently flicked it open with a single finger, and there Natasha stood with her hand still raised to knock again.
A tiny flicker of a smile came on her lips, and she smoothly walked into the room. “Tony is already up and complaining about his injury. We are planning on leaving here about noon if that’s alright with you?”
Thor took a quick look at Loki and Peter, who both didn’t seem to have any objections, and nodded to Natasha.
“That is fine with us. We will make our final preparations to leave.”
She turned cleanly on her heel and left just as quickly as she came.
Loki hummed, rising in a single, fluid movement. He placed the breakfast items on the table and met Peter’s eyes.
“Finish your eggs, Spider Child, and then I believe you have to go pack.”
Peter pouted, slumping a little in his seat and pushing his eggs around on his plate. “My name is Spider man , not ‘boy’. I’m practically a grown-up.”
Loki raised a delicate eyebrow to the child. “I would be hard-pressed to say you are ‘grown up’.”
“I will be!” Peter argued back, childly indignation clear on his face. “My doctor says that I’m going to be taller than Mr. Stark.”
“That’s not very hard, now is it?” Loki said flatly, and Thor had to force himself to not choke on his own laughter. Even Peter, who usually came to Tony’s defense, seemed to stifle some chuckles.
After a couple of minutes of peace, the boy declared himself finished with breakfast and got up. He said goodbyes before scurrying off to pack (or rather stuff his belongings into a duffel bag because Thor had seen Peter “pack” before).
After Peter was gone, it left Thor alone with his newly resurrected brother again.
Loki sat at the table, lazily swirling a cup of tea and staring out the window with a distant expression on his face. As always, Thor had no idea what was going through his head and doubted that he would understand it even if he did know.
He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but paused after he realised that he had no idea what he was going to say.
He hardly knew how to talk to Loki when they were both alive and before they had thought of Midgard as more than a backwater planet. Even back when they were both boys, he talked at Loki and never truly to him.
Those weren’t conversations. They were Thor boasting and Loki listening for a chance to finally cut in.
And now with all their history and deaths and knives in each other’s back and apologies, where did that leave them? Thor didn’t know and he didn’t know how to even go about figuring it out.
“Thor,” Loki snapped, jarring him out of his own mind.
He snapped up to meet Loki’s eyes and found his brother analysing him like he was one of his brother’s experiments.
“I can hear the sad amount of rusty gears in your head turning. Please just say whatever you want to say before they start smoking and breaking down.”
Thor scoffed and sat heavily across from his brother at the table.
“What’s next, Loki?” he asked because that was the biggest question hanging between them.
His brother shrugged, summoning a small bit of seidr and forming it into a glass ball. With another tiny movement, he shifted it into the form of a magpie that balanced on his hand. The bird warbled and fluttered black and white wings.
Thor smiled, remembering thousands of times that Loki had done similar transformations. He made it look effortless like twisting seidr was the easiest thing in the world when really transformation magic was among some of the hardest skills to learn. Great magicians spent entire lives trying to achieve just half the mastery that Loki could control.
“I don’t know,” Loki admitted. “I truly did not intend to come back to life this time. I guess, perhaps, I’ll disappear. I still have enemies and I do not want them to know that I’m back on this side of the veil.”
It made sense. Loki had always had enemies and he had spent much of his life running from them. It figures that his first thought would be evasion but…
The words still sent a spike of hurt through his heart.
For once, he wished that Loki wouldn’t have to run.
“Or,” Thor mused, “You could come to New Asgard. It is small, but I’m sure you could see the tactical advantage of having others to protect your back. And… I’d like to have a brother again if you would let me.”
It was a thin disguise over the burgeoning hope that flared in Thor’s chest. He knew that Loki could see through it too. His brother was way too sharp and way too cunning for Thor to trick him.
But he wasn’t exactly trying to trick his brother. Tricks were traps, and the last thing he wanted to do was force Loki into another trap.
His brother stared at him, expression unreadable and purposefully blank. Thor had no idea whether he was about to laugh, or get angry or do… anything really. Loki did sometimes dismiss his problems by simply ignoring them.
But, slowly as if he himself didn’t quite know what he was doing, Loki smiled.
“Yes. I think I’d like that too.”