Box of secrets

                                    

                                          
Chapter Seventeen
                          
The group all headed out of the dancing hall, grabbing their jackets as Tony pulled out his phone and asked Jarvis to find the closest shawarma joint. It was on the corner of Second Street and Main. Loki smiled, watching Tony, who still wore his crown and was waiting for his car to be brought around. Loki looked behind them.
                          
Thor was holding Becca around the waist; both of them laughing about something they had said to one another. Clint was holding back a still angry-looking Natasha, and was whispering things in her ear in an effort to get her to calm down. Loki then took notice of Bucky and Steve just sitting on the stone bench by the entrance, waiting for the car. Loki turned his head away from them to see that the last member of their group was now missing, "Umm, guys, where's Bruce?'" 
                          
The others all looked around, frowning and finally noticing that their friend was gone. Natasha said, "He was just here a second ago."
                          
Tony sighed, "He went to go get something he left inside; he'll be here soon."
                          
Loki nodded and looked up at the sky. It had started to snow. He smiled. He loved the cold and snow, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tony give a shiver. He smiled, going behind him, and wrapped his coat around him, "Here, you need this more than me."
                          
Tony smiled and thanked him. He held Loki's favorite, long jacket around him and kissed his nose, "You sure you won't be too cold?"
                          
Loki, smirking and thinking sharp, replied, "Well, if you're that worried, we could always share the coat." With that, Loki took back the jacket, put it back on, and, with the extra room, he wrapped his arm around Tony, covering him with the jacket. He held Tony close to him, and kept the jacket closed.
                          
Loki smiled, feeling Tony relax in his arms. They both watched the road. Just when the car had pulled up, Bruce reappeared with Loki's crown that he had forgotten. Bruce smiled, "Thought maybe you'd like to wear this, seeing as how our king has apparently grown quite fond of it."
                          
Loki smiled and chuckled,"Right, of course; thanks, Bruce." Bruce just shrugged and put the head piece on the taller boy's head. He then went inside the car with the others.
                          
Later that night, the group had eaten and chatted at the shawarma place, but now they were all very tired. They all parted ways, all of them calling cabs or walking, promising to see each other tomorrow night for the Christmas Day Stark Party at the expo.Loki was standing on the curb beside his brother and Becca, waiting for their cab, when Tony walked up to Loki.
                          
Loki looked at him, smiling,"Yes, Tony?"
                          
Tony looked at his feet, rubbing the back of his neck with seeming nervousness, "Well, I, um, was wondering . . . Now that we're, um, kinda a thing . . . I was wondering if you would like to, um, maybe be my official date for tomorrow's event? I'd really like you to."
                          
Loki smiled, finding Tony's being suddenly bashful and nervous adorable and cute. He made Tony look up at him, and smiled, "I'd love to, Tony." With that Loki, getting braver than he had been lately around this boy, bent down and kissed Tony very lightly on the lips. Just when the cab pulled up, he pulled back, smiling a crooked smile, "I'll see you tomorrow night, Anthony." And with that, he turned and got in the cab with his now widely grinning brother, which looked like the cat off of the movie, "Alice in Wonderland," that they used to watch as children. Becca just gave a small smile and a playful nudge to Loki, as if to 'say way to go, buddy'.
                          
Loki got home around midnight, and sighed, smiling happily about the night's events. He flicked on his living room light, only to be suddenly brought back to reality. The room was still filled with untouched boxes containing the boys' father's stuff. Loki sighed, now wide awake with the dying urge to clean this all up. He started to move all the boxes to the edge of the room, making a spot in the middle of the room where he could sit and go through each box. Loki grabbed the first box and sat down, opening it. He took a deep breath as he looked inside, only to see that it was just full of Odin's cloths. He looked through some of it, he couldn't fit in any of it, and neither could Thor. He only wanted to see if he liked any of the material or patterns so he could use them for other projects, but he found none that he seemed to want to use, so he closed the box and put it in the "donate" pile. This went on for hours; finding stuff that was not worth keeping, and then finding some things that were worth keeping for Thor. Loki had no interest in any of his father's things. They brought back the memories of how he had always came in second when compared to Thor as a child, and how he had always seemed to feel alone around his father, or never good enough, which, in the past, had lead him to always try harder at being perfect in his schooling. This had caused him to be in college-level classes before he was even a freshman. It lead him to have his room spotless and perfect, and even the house, when Odin or Thor didn't want to clean up. He'd also tried out for sports when he was really young, but he always seemed to fall short when it came to those; unlike Thor, who was good at any sport he tried. That part always seemed to be more important to Odin than the things Loki had tried to do. Loki had always felt like he was under Thor's shadow, and that he could never come out from under it, at least until he met their new friends. He had came out to be equal to Thor as a person, and this made him happy.
                          
It was about seven in the morning when Loki had finally found a small box that was labelled, "Loki's Old Paperwork." Loki frowned a bit, seeing as he had already came across Thor's box that Odin had kept, which had been bigger, and actually spanned out for three boxes filled to the top. Loki sighed and opened the box. He went through it, smiling a bit, and found one of his top book reports that he had done in the third grade, along with a few photos of him as a baby with his brother holding him, or even his mom. Loki looked at a photo of him and his mom, and was close to tearing up about how much he had missed her, but noticed something in the background where she was. Loki looked closer to the building behind her, and it read, "Washington State Orphanage and Adoption Center." 
                          
Loki frowned, wondering why they were there, when suddenly his blood ran cold, and it hit him. It made sense why he didn't look anything like his parents or brother. It hit him why Odin would give him the cold shoulder. Loki frowned, not believing it to be true. He dug deeper in the box and found a file. To Loki, it reminded him of his medical file from the hospital that he'd always look at whenever he opened it. Sure enough, it was one of his files from when he was a baby. Most of it was a list of his illnesses--he would always get sick as he grew up--and then he found what he was after: his birth certificate. It read: April 1, 1997, at 3:25 a.m., Loki Loufyson, born to mother: Loufy Loufyson, and father: Grant Sr. Loufyson, and twin to Grant Jr. Louyfyson. Loki read it, frozen in shock. He then started to look more, and found adoption papers. April 25, 1997, Loki Loufyson, now Loki Odinson, adopted to Fregia Odinson and Odin Odinson. Loki stared at the paper, and, shaking, he went back to his birth certificate,rereading it. Loki sorted through it all in his head.
                          
First, he was adopted. Second, he was in a family that had a murderer for a father, and a mentally-ill woman for a mother. Third, he was a twin. He was a twin to his all-time arch enemy, Grant. Grant was his biological brother. Grant; his brother, his bully. Loki started to cry, suddenly filled with self-hate, confusion, and anger. His whole life was a lie, and now he had to face the painful truth.
                          
Loki sat there, crying, for a long time before he fell asleep.