
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/3478418.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Thor_(Movies)
  Relationship:
      Loki/Thor
  Character:
      Loki, Thor, Jane_Foster_(Marvel), Frigga, Sif, Heimdall, Odin, Fandral,
      Volstagg, Hogun, Darcy_Lewis, Steve_Rogers
  Additional Tags:
      Alternate_Universe_-_Human, Alternate_Universe_-_Bikers, Loki_Has_Issues,
      Protective_Thor, Biker!Thor, Slow_Build, Author_Knows_Nothing_About
      Motorcycles, Minor_Original_Character(s), Violence, Falling_In_Love,
      Happy_Ending
  Series:
      Part 1 of Biker!Thor_'Verse
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-03-04 Completed: 2015-08-13 Chapters: 18/18 Words: 51520
****** A Poison that Never Stung ******
by thisdorkyficthing
Summary
     Loki is a seventeen year old runaway that gets taken in by Thor.
     (Thor's probably gonna regret it)
***** Chapter 1 *****
Loki whimpered. His whole body throbbed in pain, though his main focus was on
his chest, each breath excruciating. The skin on the side of his face felt
scraped raw from the concrete (that was probably littered with broken glass)
and the coppery taste of blood was heavy on his tongue, making his stomach feel
weak and roll.
Fuck his stupid, running mouth. Fuck. He took another shallow, shaking breath.
Hearing the scuffing of boots made him brace himself for another blow, his
whole body clenched tight and heart thumping wildly in his ears as he waited.
He flinched with each dull thud of body parts colliding together, realizing
slowly that it wasn't him getting hit anymore.
He raised his head and peeled his eyes open. Before him were the two guys he'd
pissed off, one was in a heap on the ground like Loki was, while the other was
hoisted up by the collar of his shirt and being pummeled by a third guy. He was
bigger than either of the other two, black leather jacket stretched tight over
a broad shoulders and long blond hair tied loosely into a bun at the nape of
his neck.
He dropped the other man to the pavement when he went limp in his grip, turning
and walking to Loki. He shuddered and dropped his head, curling up
automatically to shield himself. The third guy tugged Loki's hands away from
his face. “Damn, kid,” he said as he carefully took a hold of Loki's chin and
turned his head from side-to-side. Loki wheezed and winced from the pain.
Loki let out a weak yelp as he was suddenly pulled up to his feet by his shirt
and jeans, the pain piercing and making his vision go white. He was dragged
back into the bar, straight into the grimy bathroom and set on the counter,
between the two dirt encrusted sinks. He forced his eyes open when he heard the
paper towel dispenser give a metallic whine, the old pipes clunking loudly as
the sink was turned on. Loki studied the face before him through the haze of
pain and bad lighting as his savior dabbed a wet paper towel on his cut up
face.
His eyes looked blue, as far as Loki could make out in the dim lighting. His
thick eyebrows furrowed as he carefully wiped Loki's face, the creases between
them deep.
“Hold that there,” he demanded softly as he pressed a clean sheet to a large
cut on Loki's eyebrow. Loki reached up with a unsteady hand, swaying where he
sat.
The man sighed. “You need to go to a hospital.”
Loki straightened and went still, eyes opening wide. “I'm fine, seriously.”
That made him laugh and shake his head. “Got a reason you can't go to a
hospital?”
Loki drooped back down, grimacing at the pain in his chest. “I just don't want
to.”
The man sighed again, turning away and pulling his phone from his pocket. “Hey
Jane, can you do a tiny favor for me and swing by my place after your shift..?
No, it's not for me. I just got this kid who got the shit kicked out of him and
he doesn't want to go to the hospital... Yeah, that's great, thanks Jane.”
He hung up and turned back to Loki, shoving the phone back into his pocket.
“Come on, kid, let's get you out of here.”
He pulled the paper towel out of Loki's hand, helping him off the counter top
and dragging him back out of the bar. Loki remembered that he didn't have his
bag with him and dug his heels into the floor, forcing the man to come to stop.
Loki turned, narrowing his eyes and trying to remember where he set the damn
thing. “My bag.”
“Where is it at?”
“I – Um.” Loki turned slowly, trying to see the black lump somewhere along the
walls.
“Forget about it, kid. Someone's probably already went through it anyways,” he
said, dragging Loki forwards again.
Loki's shoulders slumped. “I had my favorite book in there...” Loki shivered
violently as they stepped outside and were hit by a gust of cold air. He also
had his his favorite hoodie in there.
The other man guided him up to a motorcycle with gleaming red paint, the silver
flecks sparkling in the light of the neon sign in front of the bar.
“I hope you're not about to pass out.”
Loki shook his head weakly in answer. He looked at Loki for a moment before
pulling off his leather jacket and helping him into it. The leather felt
indescribably heavy on Loki's shoulders, the whole thing sagging and drooping
weirdly on his narrow frame. Loki watched as the man slipped on a pair of
glasses and hopped on to the bike, starting up the thing with a rumble that
made Loki flinch.
“Come on kid,” he shouted after Loki just stood there and stared at him. Loki
carefully climbed on behind him and fisted his hands into the thick cotton at
the sides of the man's navy blue hoodie.
The ride was excruciating, the constant vibrations and bumps reverberating
through his wrecked body made his teeth clench and eyes tear up. He sobbed in
relief when they finally came to a stop. He let himself be helped off the bike
and herded into the small, well cared for house they parked beside.
“Hard part's over,” the man said as he pulled his jacket off Loki and lead him
to a old, but soft couch, laying him down on it before disappearing and
reappearing with a few pills and a glass of water.
“It's just a few ibuprofen to hold you over until my friend can get a look at
you,” he said when Loki eyed the pills suspiciously.
Loki took them, guzzling down the water and not even particularly caring if he
was getting drugged at that point. He laid back with a groan.
He sat down on the scuffed up coffee table beside Loki, empty glass dangling
between his fingers. “What's your name, anyways?”
“Loki,” he answered softly. “Yours?”
“Thor,” he answered. Loki repeated it a few times in his head, making sure to
remember it. Thor Thor Thor.
Loki dozed on and off to the sound of boots thumping softly around the house,
twitching when there was a sharp set of knocks on the door.
Thor ran to answer it. “Hey. Thanks again for coming.”
“No problem,” came a woman's voice. Loki forced his eyes open as the two walked
up to the couch.
The woman came and sat where Thor had before, while Thor hung back, hands
pushed into the pockets of his jeans. Jane opened the bag sitting beside her
hip, pulling out a small flashlight and shining it into Loki's eyes. “What's
your name?”
“Loki,” he snapped, squinting and trying to swat the light away.
Jane just pushed his hands back down, checking both eyes again. “I'm Doctor
Foster, or well, just call me Jane, since I'm technically off duty.”
“Great,” Loki grumbled, blinking the spots out of his eyes as the flashlight
was finally turned off.
“Where's the worst of the pain, Loki?” She asked, pulling out some wipes and a
few large bandages from her bag.
“My chest,” he said with a slight wheeze as she went to work on his various
cuts and scrapes.
Jane hummed and nodded, lifting his ratty t-shirt after she finished bandaging
him up, carefully poking and prodding at his ribs, making him hiss and try to
twist away.
“It looks like they're just bruised, luckily. It's gonna hurt for a while
though.”
“Wow, brilliant fucking deduction, Doctor.”
He could see Thor covering his mouth and trying to hold back his laughter.
Jane just raised an eyebrow at him. “You might want to be nice to me, I've got
the good painkillers.” She pulled some out of her bag just then, jiggling the
bottle for emphasis. She twisted towards Thor and held it out to him. “I can
trust you with these, right?”
“Of course,” Thor said with a smile as he took the bottle.
“He's just gonna need a lot of rest and ice, I think. Call me if anything gets
infected or he keeps having trouble breathing.”
“Alright,” Thor said distractedly as he looked at the label on the orange
bottle. Jane turned back and closed up her bag before standing. “Well, Loki,
nice meeting you.”
Loki groaned and draped an arm across his face. He listened as Thor and Jane
talked at the door, their voices too low for him to make anything out. He
dropped his arm when the door shut, watching Thor slowly strut back into the
living room and lean against the wall. Now that the rush of fear and pain had
begun to subside, Loki realized with a start how hot Thor was. Jeans slung low
on his narrow hips, the sleeves of his hoodie pushed up to reveal muscular
forearms with thick veins running along them – Loki could only imagine what the
rest of it was hiding. He had his thumb pressed between his full lips as he
chewed on the nail and read the label of the pill bottle again. Loki licked his
dry lips, raking his eyes up and down Thor a few more times, just to make sure
he had it burned into his memory.
Loki had done quite a few seedy things since fleeing his last foster home
months ago, all for far less noble reasons and with guys he would otherwise
never give the time of day too. He could enjoy this, though.
Loki swallowed. He sat up slowly, his body protesting and making his jaw
clench. He scooted to the end of the couch, closer to Thor, taking a deep
breath to steady his voice. “Thank you for helping me. I think those guys
would've killed me if you hadn't stepped in.”
Thor looked from the bottle to Loki. He said nothing and just shrugged a bulky
shoulder.
Loki took that as his cue, ignoring the pain and moving the to edge of the
couch, reaching for the buckle of Thor's belt. His wrists were caught in one of
Thor's big hands before he could even start undoing the thing.
“Whoa! What the hell are you doing?” Thor looked down at him with wide eyes,
pill bottle still clutched in his other hand.
Loki blinked, the confusion probably plain on his face. “I – I want to repay
you?” He hated how unsteady his voice sounded. And how Thor was looking at him
like he'd just grown a horn out of the middle of his goddamn forehead.
“You look like couldn't be any older than fifteen and like you just got hit by
a goddamnmack truck.”
Thor released Loki's wrists and he yanked his hands back, cradling them against
his sore chest, the rebuff stinging him more than he'd like to admit. “I'm 21,”
he said petulantly, the lie slipping out of him easily, almost automatically.
Thor let out a huff of laughter, shaking his head. “Sure, kid.”
There was an intensely uncomfortable minute of silence before Thor sighed and
asked, “when's the last time you ate?”
Loki glanced back up at him, barely able to look at Thor's face, the
combination of pain and shame making his throat tight. He clenched his hands in
to fists on his thighs. “I had a snickers bar this afternoon.”
Thor just nodded, looking like he expected that sort of answer and shoved the
pill bottle in to his pocket, clomping off towards the kitchen. Loki followed,
hobbling behind and leaning in the entryway as Thor looked through his fridge.
“You like scrambled eggs and toast?”
Loki sniffed and nodded. Thor looked back at him, his face twisting into a
grimace as he pulled out a carton of eggs and a stick of butter and shut the
fridge. “Go and sit down, you're making me sore just looking at you.”
Loki made his way to the table nearby, the hard, wooden chair digging into his
aching body and making him hiss. He pillowed his head on his head on his arms,
biting his lip to hold back the tears as he listened to Thor cook.
He must've dosed off at some point, his head feeling fuzzy as Thor tapped his
shoulder.
“Hey kid, eggs are done. Come on, wake up.”
Loki lifted his head slowly, wincing at the pain. Thor set the plate in front
of him, holding a fork out to Loki. Loki rested his head in one hand, taking
the utensil with the other. Loki looked at the pile of eggs and toast before
him like they were a daunting task while Thor fished the pill bottle out of his
pocket. He poured out a couple and placed them beside a glass of water set out
just beside the plate.
“Eat first, then take those,” he said firmly, adding, “I'll set up the couch
for you while you do, alright?”
Loki nodded numbly, poking at the eggs with his fork. Thor stood there staring
at him for a moment before walking away.
Loki's appetite came surging in on the first bite, making the task of eating
much easier. His plate was empty in minutes, along with half the glass of water
before he'd even remembered the painkillers that were sitting beside it. He
gulped them down with the rest of the water and sat back in the chair, already
feeling slightly better from just the food alone. Thor came walking back in
moments later, smiling at the sight of Loki's empty plate. “Good?”
“Amazing,” Loki groaned. Thinking on it a bit, he didn't actually remember the
last time he ate something that hadn't come from a vending machine.
Thor nodded and took his plate and glass back in the kitchen. “You want more
water?” He asked as he dropped the plate and fork in to the sink with a
clatter.
“Yes.”
Thor came back in with the refilled glass, wordlessly pulling Loki up from the
chair and leading him into the living room. He helped Loki to the couch,
setting the glass down on the water-ring stained coffee table and laying a
blanket over him. Loki pressed his face deeper into the pillow, his eyelids
already beginning to droop even with the pain.
“Those pills should really kick in soon.”
Loki nodded.
“Well, if you need anything, I'll be in my room.”
“'Kay,” Loki mumbled, tugging the blanket under his chin.
Thor's hand hovered above his head, hesitating for a moment before patting it
gently. “Night.”
Loki just nodded again, his eyes following Thor as he walked across the room
and shut the light off before walking through another door.
Loki woke with a dry throat, lead-filled limbs, and freezing cold. Spotting the
glass of water on the table with bleary eyes, he snatched it and drank the
whole thing in one long pull, feeling slightly less parched now, at least. He
was still cold, the thin blanket tangled in his reedy limbs not helping him
much. He managed to unravel himself after a few tries, moving with half-open
eyes to the door Thor had gone through and making a beeline for the bed,
shivering a little as he slipped under the thicker blankets. He scooted up
close to Thor, curling in to a ball against his broad, warm back. He barely
noticed Thor silently waking up, his whole body going still as Loki pressed his
forehead to his shoulder.
“Loki,” he said cautiously, his tone giving just a hint of warning. Loki
shivered.
Thor sighed, his body sagging. “How old are you,really?”
“Seventeen,” Loki mumbled, not even thinking to stick with his lie.
“Where are you supposed to be right now?”
Loki's face twisted up as his cotton filled brain very clearly remembered the
tiny-ass room he was forced to share with a psychotic ten year old and a pair
of four year old twins with a bed wetting habit, and the screechy voiced woman
who constantly made him clean all their messes. He'd put miles and miles
between them, and every other family he was forcibly shoved in to since he was
12. He didn't realize he was crying until a sob escaped his throat. “Don't send
me back there,” he said meekly, wedging his face between the mattress and
Thor's body.
Thor moved slowly, forcing Loki back as he rolled on to his back and lifted
himself up on to his elbows. The details of his face were impossible to see in
the dark as he stared down at Loki. He let out another hiccup of a sob, wiping
his bandaged face roughly with the back of his hand.
“Shit,” Thor breathed as he looked away, rubbing his eyes roughly. He turned on
to his side, facing Loki now, and raked a hand through his greasy hair. “Don't
worry about it, kid. Just go to sleep.”
Loki sobbed harder and nodded, curling even tighter into Thor as he looped his
arms around Loki. He took short, stuttering breaths as Thor's hand ran up and
down his back, the motion lulling him and making him calm down, his hard sobs
eventually turning into sniffles that eventually led to him relaxing entirely.
The world fading in to dark nothingness as he fell in to a dreamless sleep.
***** Chapter 2 *****
Thor watched his mother from the doorway to his bedroom as she sat down on the
edge of his bed next to Loki, tossing her thick blonde hair off her shoulder as
she leaned closer to get a look at him. “Where'd you find him?” She asked as
she pushed Loki's hair back, her mouth twisting into a sympathetic frown at the
sight of the cuts and bruises on his sleeping face.
“Getting his ass kicked by a couple of guys in front of The Snakehole,” Thor
answered, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the doorjamb. “I
bet his chest looks like a rotten piece of fruit by now.” Thor's gaze dragged
itself back to Loki, pale skin swollen and mottled with purple and black
bruises. He wanted to wince just looking at him. He'd only been driving past
the bar when he noticed the two guys -big, bald fuckers- gleefully kicking at a
small body lying in a heap on the ground, probably unable to fight back even if
he had wanted to. He whipped into the parking lot before he could even think
otherwise. The kid had probably said some shit to get such a thorough beat
down, but it still rankled Thor that the two men had seen it fit to go at him
so hard.
“Poor thing,” his mother whispered.
“I think he's a runaway. He said “don't send me back there” last night. He was
kind of half asleep and the painkillers had set in by then, though.”
“Has he seen a doctor?” She asked as she turned towards Thor, Loki still curled
up and sound asleep behind her.
Thor nodded. “I had Jane come by and take a look at him after her shift last
night, since he didn't want to go to the hospital. She said it was probably
just bruised ribs along with the cuts.”
Frigga hummed, crossing her bare arms. “What are you going to do?”
Thor sighed, sagging against the door frame and running a hand down his face.
“I'm not just gonna kick him out like this.”
“So you're gonna let him stay?”
“Until he's better, at least.”
Frigga nodded, looking back at Loki and pushing his hair back again. Thor
chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Well, I always wanted a little
brother, right?”
Frigga laughed too. “Yes you did, until I told you if you got one you'd get
half the Christmas presents you usually got.”
“Can you watch him for a while while I go run that errand for dad?”
“Of course.”
“Great, thanks. I'll head off then.” Thor turned away and started heading
towards the front door before he suddenly remembered something that made him
duck back in to the room. “Make sure he eats. I fed him last night but I don't
think he's been eating that much actual food for a while.”
“Who do you think you're talking too?” She said with a wink.
Thor smiled back and shrugged. “Just making sure. It has been a while since
you've had to take care of a kid.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and waved a finger at him, her numerous gold
bangles jingling on her wrist. “You watch your mouth,” she said in mock
warning.
Thor dashed away with a laugh. He sighed as he stepped outside, glancing along
the street as he walked towards his bike. It was still and quiet, only a few
barking dogs could be heard, left behind by their families for sunday morning
service. He pulled out the pair of sunglasses he had tucked into the neck of
his sweatshirt, slipping them on before swinging his leg over his bike and
settling on to the seat. It started up with a satisfying rumble and he backed
out of the driveway, mindful of his mother's SUV parked beside it, before
zipping down the street.
He flew through the town, avoiding the main streets since the churches were
probably starting to let out and people would be going to get breakfast and
driving way too fucking slow, going through quieter streets and back roads
until he saw Sif in the parking lot of a decrepit liquor store. Arms crossed
over her chest, she was perched on her own bike, a white, retro looking
sportster with maroon accents. A few locks of dark hair had managed to escape
her braid flew around with the breeze.
“Good morning,” Thor cheerily shouted over the rumble of his bike as he pulled
up beside her, noting her slight grimace. “Have a good Saturday night?” He
asked after he cut the engine.
“Too good,” she grumbled. “I almost told Heimdall to fuck off when he called me
this morning.”
Thor wolf-whistled. Sif just groaned softly.
She stole a quick glance at her phone, tucking her arm back against her chest.
“This guy better get here soon, I got shit to do.”
“Got a guy still passed out in your bed, I assume?”
“And a girl,” she mumbled.
Thor raised his eyebrows and chuckled, “Damn. You had a great night, didn't
you?”
Sif's frown cracked into a smirk at that, shrugging her narrow shoulders. “How
about yours?”
“Ah well... I saved a kid from getting beaten to death. So that's something.”
Sif's eyebrow arched over one bleary eye. “Really?”
Thor shrugged. “I wasn't just gonna drive past that.”
Sif just hummed and nodded her head slowly, the both of them turning to look
down the road at the sound of a car puttering towards them.
The car was a beater, huge patches deep blue paint rusted off while what was
left was caked in dirt. The driver made a sharp turn in to the parking lot, the
brakes grinding loudly and bald tires skidding to a halt beside them. Thor and
Sif shared a disbelieving look before standing from their bikes. They stood
side-by-side as they watched the driver fumble around in his car before finally
stumbling out, a few empty cans from energy drinks tumbling out to the cracked
pavement. Thor scrunched his nose at the smell that rolled out along with them,
a mix of stale cigarette smoke and B.O. and a few other scents Thor didn't feel
inclined to try to pinpoint. The driver's head barely reached Thor's shoulder,
his heavily hunched shoulders doing nothing to help his stature. His grimy
hands twitched and scratched at the red plastic lunchbox he hugged to his
chest, his bloodshot eyes flitting back and forth between him and Sif.
“You guys have my stuff?” He asked, voice high pitched and scratchy.
Thor said nothing and stepped forward, making the man flinch. He held his hand
out and the man quickly handed him the lunchbox, practically cowering back
against the car. Thor gave him a hard look before opening the box, finding it
filled with crumpled bills that had been carefully flattened and stacked. He
sifted through it quickly, finding it to be the right amount.
He looked back to Sif, giving her a nod. She pulled a large ziplock back from
the inside of her leather jacket, the man's eyes practically lighting up at the
sight of the little white pills inside. He practically ran at Sif, stopping
dead when Thor's hand shot out and met his sternum over his ratty t-shirt. He
wheezed and pulled back just as fast, bumping against his car again when he saw
the hard look Thor was giving him.
“Careful there,” Thor grumbled. Sif muttered something under her breath,
tossing the bag at the guy, who caught it with a surprising amount of ease. He
looked at it like it was more precious than gold.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Sif said, quiet and bland.
The guy acted like he hadn't even heard her, diving back into his car and
peeling out of the parking lot with a screech.
Sif curled her lip over her teeth as she turned back to her bike. “Eugh.”
Thor looked down at the lunchbox in his hand, the superhero sticker on the
front peeling away from the scratched. He really hoped some kid wasn't gonna be
missing this tomorrow morning. “Promise me you won't ever get into this shit.”
“And end up like that guy? Fuck no,” she said as she swung her leg and settled
back on to her bike, starting it with a rumble. “You gonna take care of that?”
Thor smirked at her, swinging the lunchbox on his index finger by the little
white handle. “What? Are you offering to take it for me?”
Sif let out a bark of laughter before backing up, zipping around Thor and
leaving him alone in the lot. Thor snorted and hopped on to his own bike,
tucking the lunchbox into his leather jacket before speeding off, heading
straight for the clubhouse.
The place was near empty, since everyone was likely sleeping off hangovers or
spending time with their families. Thor headed towards the back, where his
father's office was, one of the two windowless rooms in the building, the other
being where they held the club meetings. His father and Heimdall were hunched
over his dark stained wooden desk, talking too softly for Thor to hear. They
both stopped and turned at Thor stepped inside. Heimdall gave Thor a
disbelieving look when he spotted the lunchbox in his hand.
“Seriously?”
Thor shrugged, holding the box out to him. “He had the money, at least.”
Heimdall sighed, scratching his goatee with one hand as he took the lunchbox
with the other. Thor watched as he started counting out the money, organizing
the bills in stacks on his father's desk.
He leaned against a filing cabinet and looked over to his father, exhaling in a
huff. “Got anything else for me to do?”
Odin hummed, rubbing a hand over his good as he thought. “No, I think that's
all I'll need you for today. You talk to mom?”
“Yeah,” he answered, feeling uneasy at the thought of telling his father about
Loki.
“So, are you coming over for dinner tonight?”
“Uh.” Thor shifted his weight, reaching up to scratch his neck. “Ah, I don't
think I'm gonna make it tonight.”
His father looked at him as though he could see right through him, blue eye
narrowing at Thor slightly. He let out a heavy sigh a moment later, looking
down at some papers in front of him. “Alright, don't party too hard though, I
expect you at work on time.”
Thor relaxed. “Of course.” He looked over at Heimdall who was just finishing
counting up the money. “Everything there?”
“Looks like it. The lunchbox is still weird though.”
Thor chuckled. “At least you didn't have to ride through town with the thing.”
                                       -
Thor sighed as he felt the bed dip behind him, the small tremors running
through Loki's skinny limbs as he pressed himself to Thor's back. “Loki,” Thor
said with an exasperated sigh.
“I'm cold,” he said in a tiny whisper, his breath a hot puff of air on Thor's
skin. He squirmed a little closer, and Thor could feel the t-shirt and
sweatpants he'd lent to Loki sliding against him.
This goddamn kid.
Thor exhaled slowly through his nose and turned over, letting Loki curl against
his chest. He draped an arm over Loki's waist, the other arm wiggling under his
head and resting his chin on the top of it. Thor tangled his fingers into
Loki's inky hair, still a bit damp from the shower he'd taken before they went
to bed, as he rubbed the base of his skull.
Loki let out a small grateful moan that sounded close to a purr, unfolding his
legs to press himself tighter against Thor, his arm snaking around Thor's
waist.
He was staying on the couch when he wasn't all fucked up on painkillers, Thor
decided, and really hating how much he liked having someone curled up beside
him. He was a teenager.
Thor sighed as Loki nuzzled his face into Thor's bare chest. He needed to
remember to put a goddamn shirt on when he went to bed tomorrow.
“Your mom is nice,” Loki said softly. Thor felt his lips brushing against him,
the sensation making his skin tingle.
“She is,” Thor replied, voice tight, acutely aware of every part of him that
was touching Loki. “So, she took good care of you?”
Loki nodded a little, the tip of his nose rubbing against Thor's pec. “She made
me pudding.” Thor cleared his throat and shifted his hips away from Loki a bit.
“I'm glad you like her, because you're probably gonna be hanging out with her
while I'm at work tomorrow.”
Loki furrowed his brows and looked up at Thor. “What's your job?”
“Construction.”
“You ride there on your motorcycle?”
“Nah, I got a truck in the garage.”
“Oh,” Loki said, tucking his head back against Thor's chest.
“How are you feeling? How's your chest? Breathing okay?” Thor asked in quick
succession, pushing Loki's hair back behind his ear to distract himself from
how his cock was stirring at the close contact.
Loki shrugged a shoulder, his eyes shut and looking completely at home tucked
against Thor. “Tired.”
“Oh,” Thor said, his mind going blank. Loki's chest was expanding slowly and
steadily, his mouth curled just slightly into a smile in his sleep. Thor
reached up before he could think better of it and lightly traced the tip of his
thumb along the edge of Loki's bottom lip, skimming over a scratch. He
swallowed hard and tore his hand away, wanting to slap some sense into himself.
“He's seventeen he's seventeen he's seventeen,” he muttered to himself, rolling
carefully on to his back and pushing the blanket off, his skin feeling hot and
too tight. He shut his eyes tight, trying to ignore how his cock continued to
show it's interest in the whole situation.
“Fuck.”
***** Chapter 3 *****
Loki watched Thor's face, slack with sleep and lit softly by the early morning
light. There was a lock of blond hair flung across his scruffy cheek and
slightly dry looking lips. Loki curled his hands under his chin to keep from
reaching out and brushing it back.
His bruises had mostly faded away, the cuts and scrapes almost completely
healed. His chest was still sore, but not enough for Thor to let him keep
taking painkillers. So now he was stuck taking ibuprofen of it got annoying. He
had also said Loki was gonna be sleeping on the couch when he started feeling
better, but he hadn't kicked Loki out of his bed yet.
Loki knew he was in a gang of some sort, since he made way too much money to
just be a construction worker. That and the big insignia on the back of his
jacket gave him away. Not that he minded though, since Thor had taken better
care of him than his mother or anyone else ever had in his life. He liked
Frigga too. They pushed the hair back from his face in the exact same way.
Loki licked his lips as his gaze flitted down from Thor's face to his chest,
eying the shadows of dusky pink nipples that were unfortunately covered by a
white v-neck, and then a little lower to where Thor's cock was hidden by the
comforter and a pair of dark red boxers. Loki had made sure he burnt the image
of them into his mind the night before when he pretended to be asleep while
Thor changed, raptly watching the muscles of his back twitch and flex under his
tattooed skin as he got undressed - he needed to figure out what that mess of
symbols meant - silently mapping out all the veins that ran along the dips and
curves on his thick limbs.
He spent a few minutes fantasizing about diving under the covers and waking
Thor up with a blow job, his own cock growing hard in a pair of borrowed
boxers. The only thing stopping him from actually doing it was the knowledge
that he would definitely be kicked out of Thor's bed if he did.
When the pressure became too much, he slipped out of bed and into the bathroom,
tugging the boxers down his hips as he stood at the sink. He bit back a moan as
he wrapped his hand around his cock, bringing vivid images to his mind of Thor
standing behind him, his hands grabbing Loki's hips roughly. He called back on
all the times he'd had Thor pressed against his back when they were in bed
together, imaging how it might feel when it was tensed from fucking him, all
sweaty and hot and hard with muscle. Loki gripped the edge of the sink with his
other hand, his mouth hanging open in a silent wail as the hand on his cock
moved faster. He envisioned how a kiss from Thor might be like, thinking it
would probably be overwhelming, hard and possessive and intense, his hands
holding Loki still as he took what he wanted.
Loki came into the basin of the sink with a sharp gasp, feeling dizzy as his
body came down from it. He rinsed the spunk from his hand and the sink before
stumbling back out, sliding under the covers and snuggling up against Thor once
again, his body shivering from everything but the cold now. Thor let out a soft
hum, shifting on to his side and slinging his arm over Loki, the heat radiating
off his skin making Loki shudder. Loki bit down on his lip as adrenaline rushed
through him, making his heart flutter and stomach flip with giddiness. He
nudged his head under Thor's chin, pressing his nose to Thor's throat and
getting a whiff of the cologne still clinging on to his skin.
God, he just... he just wanted Thor so bad. He ached for Thor, as cliché as it
sounded. He wanted Thor to want him back even more. He was still a bit stung
from Thor's refusal his first night here, his throat would even get a bit tight
if he thought of the look on Thor's face for a little too long.
But it was also a bit funny, too. Like Thor was somehow surprised that Loki
expected he'd have to give him something in return for his kindness. No one had
ever did something for Loki and expect nothing back from him. No one, except
for Thor, obviously.
It was becoming really annoying, to be perfectly honest. The first guy he meets
and actually wants to sleep with has to have a fucking hangup about it or
something.
Loki huffed. Slowly he pulled his head back, until he was able to look at
Thor's face again, licking at his own lips as he eyed Thor's. Glancing up at
his eyes once more to make sure Thor was still completely asleep, he leaned
forward, closing the bit of space between them and pressed his tightly shut
mouth to Thor's. Loki groaned softly because he just couldn't hold it back, his
eyes closing as he simply kept his lips pressed to Thor's. He let out a shaky
sigh when he finally pulled back, dropping back down and wiggling back into
position.
Dammit.
                                      ---
“How you feeling?” Thor asked as they ate breakfast at Thor's little, dinged up
wooden table. Sun flooded in through the open windows beside them, a gentle
breeze blowing into the room. A few birds were even chirping somewhere.
Loki looked away from the scratch he'd been digging into with his fingernail
while he ate and cocked an eyebrow at Thor. “Fine,” he answered, taking another
bite of his eggs.
Thor gave him a lopsided smile that made the skin on Loki's arms and nape of
his neck tingle. “Feel up for a ride then?”
Loki sat up a little straighter in his seat. “On your motorcycle?”
Thor nodded.
Loki's eyebrows rose up high on his forehead. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Thor chuckled, “I figured since I have nothing to do today and you're
feeling good why waste a nice day just sitting on our asses watching tv? Again.
So?”
“Yeah!” Loki said, sounding a touch more enthusiastic than he intended. He
relished in the grin Thor aimed at him though, feeling his cheeks heat when
Thor reached over and roughed up hiss hair, then gently combing his fingers
through it before pulling back.
“We'll get ready and go after breakfast then,” Thor said as he looked back down
at his plate.
Loki started to practically shovel his eggs into his mouth, his leg bouncing
under the table in excitement.
                                      ---
Loki stood by the bike, scraping the worn-down toe of his sneaker over the
pavement with his hands shoved in to the pocket of the hoodie Thor lent him, as
Thor trudged through his garage for something. Thor was crouched down on the
gas and oil stained concrete beside his pickup, digging through yet another
disintegrating cardboard box.
“Ha!” Thor hopped up from the ground, holding up a shiny black helmet
victoriously in the air. “I knew I had this thing somewhere!”
Loki whined petulantly as Thor waltzed out of the garage, leaving the door wide
open. “You're not gonna really make me wear that thing are you?”
“Yep,” Thor said as shoved it on to Loki's head unceremoniously. He knocked on
the top of it a few times as Loki glared at him through the tinted visor. “You
don't want to take a chance on cracking that pretty head of yours, do you?”
Loki's stomach did a flip and Thor cleared his throat, quickly turning away
from him and towards the bike.
“Why aren't you wearing one, then?” he asked as he adjusted the helmet as much
as he could, voice muffled.
“Are you kidding? I look like a total idiot in that thing,” Thor scoffed as he
hopped on to the bike and started it with a rumble. Loki's indignant huff got
lost in the noise.
Thor looked back at him as he slipped on a pair of reflective sunglasses and
laughed. He gave the raised seat behind him a pat, yelling over the exhaust,
“come on!”
Loki grumbled to himself and climbed on, wrapping his arms tightly around
Thor's waist, feeling slightly unwieldy in Thor's borrowed clothes and the
helmet.
“Good?” Thor shouted over his shoulder.
Loki gave a short nod of his head, squeezing Thor just a bit more tightly. Thor
backed them out of the driveway with practiced ease, speeding off as soon as
they were on the road.
Well, this is much better than the first time, Loki thought, the smile on his
face squashed slightly by the stupid helmet. They passed through one
neighborhood after the other, with little kids playing out in their front yards
and on the cracked sidewalks, a few people watching as they passed. Thor turned
on to the highway eventually, speeding up and forcing Loki to cling even
tighter to him. He could feel Thor's laugh, his chest expanding in short bursts
– and then out of nowhere they were going goddamn sideways. Thor whipped around
a car and pulled between the two lanes, going even faster over the dotted line.
A few cars blared their horns at them, and Loki would've probably been leaving
marks on Thor chest if he hadn't worn his jacket with how hard he was digging
his nails into it.
“Fuck fuck fuck,” Loki yelled into his helmet, clamping his eyes shut as they
started to come up behind a semi-truck. He felt the bastard laughing again as
he turned back into the lane, slowing down a bit. One of his hands came to pat
Loki's thigh, lingering there for just a second.
Jesus Christ. The visor began to fog a little from Loki's heavy breathing,
shaking faintly as his heart fluttered against his ribs. He took a deep breath
as Thor turned off to one of the exits, taking them down a single lane road
surrounded by recently plowed fields and farms that sat far off the road. Loki
relaxed more and more the longer they rode, his arms going a little more slack
around Thor's waist and the tension easing from his thighs.
They came up to a beaten up looking gas station and Thor pulled in, puttering
up to one of the empty stations before coming to a stop and shutting the whole
thing off. Loki jumped off as Thor put down the kick stand, yanking the helmet
off his head and taking a big breath of slightly less than fresh air.
Thor smirked at him as he got off the bike, pushing his sunglasses up on his
head. He pulled his wallet out from inside his coat, pulling out a card to pay
for gas. “Having fun?”
“Yeah, except for the whole part where I thought you were gonna kill us, it's
been super fun.”
Thor rolled his eyes as he swiped his card and punched a few numbers on the
keypad. “I wasn't going to kill us.”
Loki leaned against the painted red cement pillar just beside the station, arms
wrapped around the helmet. “Really? Because that looked like one of those
things you do to end up as a smear on the road. I may have skipped most of my
health classes but I am pretty sure I'm right about that.”
Thor just smiled at him, shoving his wallet back in to his jacket and opening
the motorcycle's gas cap. “C'mon, it had to have been at least a little fun.”
Loki huffed, fingers twitching while Thor grabbed the gas pump, turning his
back towards him, and began filling the tank. “It was more thrilling than fun.”
“Thrilling is good,” Thor said brightly, shooting another smile at Loki over
his shoulder.
Loki just smiled back, shrugging his shoulders.
“You wanna ride for a while longer or head back home?” Thor asked a minute or
so later, as he pulled the pump from the tank and shoved it back into it's
proper place.
Loki blinked, Thor's words setting off another nervous flip in his stomach. “I
can go for a while longer, I think. Do I have to wear this, though?” he asked,
holding up the helmet as he pushed off the pillar.
“Yes you do,” Thor said, climbing on to the bike and kicking the kickstand
back. “Mostly because it gave you the worst helmet hair. Seriously it is so
bad.”
Loki glared at him, shoving his head back into the helmet before he had a
chance to blush and climbing on behind Thor a bit less gently than he did
before.
Thor chuckled, patting Loki's knee. “I'm just kidding.”
Loki flipped up the visor. “You're sunglasses make you look douchey.” He
flipped it back down, the plastic snapping back into place. He regretted the
words instantly, his stomach dropping to his feet. Why would he do that? Thor
had no reason to keep him around – he had no reason to keep him around in the
first place – Loki couldn't start fucking talking back now.
But then Thor cackled, bending forward in his seat as someone in a grimy white
compact gave them a dirty look.
“Okay, you're touchy about your hair, got it,” Thor said as his laughter
trailed off, finally starting up the motorcycle again.
“I'm not touchy,” Loki grumbled, hugging Thor's waist again, tightly, but
breathing a little easier.
***** Chapter 4 *****
“You could give me a hand,” Thor called out to Loki as he fiddled with his
lawnmower, trying to get the goddamned thing to start. Loki sat on the steps to
the front door of his house, nose buried in a ratty paperback Thor's mother had
given to Loki, along with a pile of others that were now residing in clusters
in various places on Thor's shelves.
Thor could see the hint of a smirk hidden behind said book as Loki answered
with a quiet “I'm good.”
Thor scoffed and rolled his eyes, giving the cord a few good pulls before the
damn lawnmower finally rumbled to life. He sighed as he stood, pulling his
sunglasses off the top of his head to slip them over his eyes and began taming
his overgrown lawn. Everyone seemed to have the same idea, the entire
neighborhood filled with the smell of fresh cut grass and the screeching cries
of kids playing on the first real hot, sunny day of summer. Thor hadn't noticed
the out of place van parked a few houses down until he'd stopped briefly to
wipe the sweat from his face, it's nondescript navy paint glaring in the
sunshine while deep tinted windows hid anyone who might be inside. Thor took a
breath, looking over his shoulder back at Loki, green eyes darting back to the
book in his hands as soon as he did. Giving the van another quick glance - the
fucking license plate was mostly hidden by his neighbor's little silver hybrid-
he went back to mowing the lawn, attempting to look like he hadn't noticed it
at all.
It was gone by the next time he looked. “Fuck,” he grumbled, wiping the sweat
dripping off his forehead with the back of his hand.
“What?” Loki asked, thin, pale neck stretched so he could see Thor where he
stood by the corner of his house.
“Nothing,” Thor answered quickly, adding, “it's just really hot out.”
“Do you need a drink?”
Thor opened his mouth to answer but Loki had already dropped his book and
sprinted inside. Thor couldn't help but laugh at little at how Loki would in
turns be the typical sullen teenager, seeming annoyed by anything and
constantly snapping back at Thor, or he'd be bending over backwards to do
things for him and getting excited about things with an almost childlike glee.
Thor went along with it all pretty easily, but damn, was he glad to not be a
teenager anymore. He could hear Loki's footsteps thumping as he ran back
outside, though he slowed down to a walk as he came through the door, his chest
heaving just a little as he crossed through the fresh cut grass to bring a
glass of water to Thor.
“Thanks,” he said as he took the glass from Loki. Loki just gave a small nod of
his head. Thor drank the whole thing in a few gulps – realizing that he really
was thirsty – before he handed it back.
“Do you want more?” Loki asked, eyes darting down to Thor's chest and arms.
Thor found himself acutely aware of how the thin white cotton tank he wore was
clinging to his skin from sweat.
Thor shook his head, lips pulled into a tight line, trying to ignore the added
rush of heat washing under his skin from Loki's gaze. “I'm good, but thanks.
You know, it's probably not going to take me too long to finish the rest of the
lawn, why don't you go figure out what you're going to want for lunch?”
“Alright,” Loki said, eyes raking over Thor once more before turning away. Thor
watched as he scooped up his book and walked inside, the door shutting with a
thunk and a click.
Thor sighed and wiped his face again. Starting the mower again, he began mowing
down the narrow path to his backyard, muttering a string of curses that were
drowned out by the rumble.
                                      ---
Thor's parent's lived in a small two-story house along the outskirts of town,
just off a cracked one lane road where they sat between a pair of cornfields.
Thor slowed and made the smooth turn into the long gravel driveway, puttering
to a stop beside his father's gold painted trike. Loki hopped off first,
yanking  off his helmet and fluffing up his hair with one hand.
“You look fine,” Thor said as he stood from his bike, since apparently his
attempt at a joke had made Loki more than a little self conscious. Loki
narrowed his eyes at him slightly, scrubbing his hair a little more roughly
before letting it drop to his side. Thor smiled softly and reached up to rake a
hand through Loki's hair, bringing a small smile to Loki's lips as well.
Thor quickly dropped his hand and looked away when the screen door screeched
open, Frigga's head poking out of the house to grin at the both of them.
“Darlings!” she called as she stepped out to meet them, wrapping them both up
in a hug. “You're just in time, dinner is gonna be done in a few minutes.” She
gave Thor a quick peck on the cheek before turning her attention to Loki,
taking him by the arm and taking the helmet from him.
“How have you been liking those books I gave you?” she asked as she lead him
towards the  house. Loki's eyes lit up and he began rattling off the titles of
the ones he'd already finished, his mother barely able to get a word in as he
veered off into tangents about various plot-lines and characters.
Thor smiled and laughed to himself, following a couple feet behind. He watched
as Frigga walked arm and arm with Loki towards the kitchen, turning down the
short hall that lead to his dad's home office, knowing he'd be in there. He
found him squinting his one eye at the flat screen monitor Thor had insisted on
getting him the year before.
“Hey.”
Odin grumbled a greeting as he turned away from the monitor, clicking away from
whatever window he'd been on to give his full attention to Thor. “What was the
'concern' you were telling me about earlier? You've had me worried sick all
damn day.”
Thor sunk into one of the worn leather chairs in front of Odin's desk. “Sorry
about being so vague earlier, I had Loki around and you know...”
His father's face went a bit hard at the mention of Loki’s name. He hadn't
liked it when he found out that Thor had been letting him stay at his place
and, more importantly, not telling him about it. He didn't trust Loki – that
was made clear. We have enemies, Thor. You can't just let anyone have that much
access to you – even if he's “just a kid.”
“I think someone was scoping out my place today.”
Odin furrowed his eyebrows, resting his chin in a weathered hand. “What makes
you think that?”
“I know all my neighbor's cars, this one was – I know I’ve never seen it on my
street before.”
“What'd look like?”
“Dark blue van, tinted windows. I barely even noticed it sitting there.”
His father nodded, obviously thinking it over. “Got a license number?”
“I saw a 7 and a 9, but the rest of it was blocked. You think Heimdall would be
able get something out of that?”
“Probably not, but he's surprised me before,” Odin sighed, looking grim.
“You think we should tell anybody else?”
Odin looked back at him and shook his head. “Not until we know if there is an
issue. Not even your mother, you know how she gets.”
“Boys! Dinner's ready!”
Odin sighed as they both stood, running a tanned hand through his snowy hair.
“I'll call Heimdall after dinner, so if he can find anything he'll be able to
tells us on in the morning.”
“Sounds good,” Thor said, opening the door for Odin. “What did mom make for
dinner?” he asked, sniffing the air.
“Chicken with mashed potatoes and all that.”
They filed out into the living room and walked straight to the dining room at
the other side, finding his mother and Loki finishing up setting the table.
“Looks amazing as always,” Odin said, leaning forward to plant a kiss on
Frigga's cheek before sitting down at the head of the long, oval table.
“Agreed.” Thor sunk down into his usual seat, rubbing his hands along the tops
of his thighs. Loki sat in the seat beside him, so he was sandwiched between
him and Frigga, looking nervous and oddly meek.
“Jacket off,” Frigga said to Thor as she sat in the seat at the other end of
the table, voice light but with a hint of sternness to it.
“Mooom,” Thor whined, throwing his head back dramatically and pulling a small
laugh from Loki.
Frigga smiled softly. “Now, sweetheart.”
Thor huffed once more for good measure before getting up, tugging off the
leather jacket and tossing it on to the couch in the living room. He tugged the
sleeves of his t-shirt back in place as he walked back into the dining room,
flopping back in to the hard, wooden seat.
“Thank you,” his mother said brightly, already dishing out the sides.
The room went silent after that, the clatter and clank of cutlery filling the
space as they loaded their plates. Thor glanced at his father, his mouth set in
a tight line and his hard gaze focused steadily on his plate. He looked over to
his mother next, whose expression was much lighter. He returned her smile when
their eyes met a second or so later. Loki was looking down at his plate too,
shoulders hunched and head turned down.
Thor moved his hand under the table with barely a thought and reached over to
give a comforting squeeze one of Loki's knees, pulling it back almost as soon
as Loki's wide-eyed gaze turned to him.
Thor cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, speaking to Frigga and Loki.
“So, you guys got anything planned for tomorrow?”
Frigga hummed, poking her her small mound of mashed potatoes with her fork.
“We'll just be running errands, I think.” Looking down at her hand, she added,
“I may drag you to the nail salon with me though, I desperately need mine
filled in.”
Loki shrugged his shoulder. “That's okay. They have good magazines.”
Thor smiled, resisting the urge to grab Loki's knee again. He looked back to
his father again, his expression still tense and annoyed, though he was at
least looking up from his plate now. Thor held back a sigh as another uneasy
silence fell on the table.
                                      ---
“Your dad really doesn't like me,” Loki blurted out as soon as Thor had closed
the front door behind them. The air was slightly cooler than it had been a few
hours before, though it was just as humid, the sky clear of clouds to allow an
uninterrupted view of the stars and sliver of a moon. Loki clutched the helmet
to his chest as they walked side-by-side across the yard towards the driveway,
scraping at a small nick in it's black paint with a fingernail.
Thor exhaled audibly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
“It's not-”
“I know when people don't like me,” Loki snapped, his sharp jaw clenching.
“He'll warm up eventually. Just try not to let it get to you too much, alright?
He's just a crabby old guy you have to deal with sometimes.”
The tension in Loki's shoulders relaxed a little and Thor took that as a good
sign, grinning and roughing up Loki's hair. Loki made an odd squawking sound,
darting out of Thor's reach and running the rest of the way to Thor's bike.
Thor ran after him, catching him around the waist and pulling him off the
ground, they both of them laughing loud enough that his parents could probably
hear it from inside the house.
Thor sighed happily as he set Loki back on the ground, scrubbing his hand
through Loki's hair once more before climbing on to his motorcycle and starting
it up.
Loki's face twisted into a grimace as he looked at the helmet in his hand. “Do
I always have to wear this?” he called out over the roar of the exhaust.
“Yes, you do,” Thor called back over his shoulder, reaching behind himself to
pat the seat behind him. “Now put it on and get on. I'll get you some ice cream
as a reward for dealing with my dad.”
Loki rolled his eyes and scoffed. “I'm not five.”
Thor raised an eyebrow. “You want ice cream or not?”
Loki huffed and shoved the helmet on to his head, quickly settling behind Thor.
Thor chuckled, to himself mostly, and patted Loki's knee, carefully turning
around in the driveway and peeling out onto the dark road.
***** Chapter 5 *****
Loki stared off at a row of framed certifications that hung along the wall, his
mind wandering as a tiny, ornery woman carefully painted his freshly groomed
nails a with a black-green polish. She had spotted his hands as he sat beside
Frigga, chatting idly with her nail technician, and promptly began chastising
him for his overgrown cuticles like he did it to personally offend her. He was
pretty sure she was just trying to wring twenty bucks out of him since she
almost instantly began insisting that she needed to give him a manicure now. He
had looked to Frigga for help and was met with a sly smile. Then she had
shrugged her shoulder and asked, “well? Do you want one?”
Loki answered with a mumbled “I don't know.”
He was being pulled to one of the stations moments later, his forearms resting
on the padded edge of the table and being told to pick out a nail polish he
liked.
Thor always did his best to not wake up Loki as he got out of bed to get ready
for work, carefully rolling Loki to the other side of the bed, moving slow and
quiet around the house. It only worked about half the time but it made Loki's
stomach flutter anyways and he definitely didn't want Thor to stop doing it, so
he always stayed limp and kept his eyes closed to at least make Thor think that
it worked.
This morning had only been very slightly different, and Loki still couldn't
keep his mind off it. A lingering touch on his waist after Thor had tugged his
t-shirt back in place and a tiny – longing, he desperately hoped – sigh before
he pulled himself out of bed and carefully walked to the bathroom. Loki had
stared at the stripe of light leaking out from the bottom of the door, Thor's
touch still burning him. He rolled back on to his other side as the shower shut
off, pressing his face into the pillow so Thor couldn't tell that he was awake,
listening to him move through the house until he heard the front door open and
shut, then a dull growl of his huge pickup a minute or so later. The headlights
flashed against the window and Loki had let out the breath he felt like he'd
been holding for the better part of an hour, flopping on to his belly on Thor's
side of the bed. He buried his face into his pillow and breathed in again and
again, his hips moving in tiny circles that quickly became bigger, until he was
desperately humping the mattress and whining into the soft, red sheets. He
pulled himself away before he could come, not wanting to deal with trying to
wash them before Thor got home or with the repercussions of leaving Thor's bed
all streaked with come.
The idea of it was thrilling though. It quickly pushed him over the edge when
he finally shoved a hand into his boxers and stroked his aching cock, spilling
all over his belly with a cry.
“Much better,” the nail tech said, sounding genuinely relieved.
Loki looked down at his nails, flexing his fingers so the fresh paint glinted
in the florescent lights, a smile tentatively curling his lips.
“That color is nice,” Frigga said when they were back in her behemoth of an SUV
and driving out of the strip mall the nail salon was set in.
Loki looked up from where he'd been admiring his nails in the sunlight, sinking
down into the seat without thinking. “My nails are really... shiny.”
Frigga let out a small laugh that was interrupted by the muffled ring of her
phone. “Would you get that out of my bag for me, sweetheart?”
Loki pulled the brown leather bag on to his lap, finding it buried under a pack
of tissues and a assortment of lip balms, and handed to her before setting the
bag back between their seats.
“Hi honey. Everything okay?” Loki could hear Odin's voice on the other end,
deep and garbled enough that he couldn't make out the words.
Frigga's eyes darted over to him, and said, “yeah, I think I can make a quick
stop. See you soon, bye.”
She hung up and dropped her phone back into her bag while Loki watched.
“I just got to pick something up for Odin and bring it to him, shouldn't take
too long.”
Loki nodded, sinking back into the passenger seat and gazing at his polished
nails again.
They pulled in to the parking lot of one of a almost windowless, rusty-brown
building in one of the more rundown parts of town, coming to a stop about
twenty feet in front of man standing by a row of dying shrubs.
“What's this place?” Loki asked as he looked for a sign of some sort, squinting
his eyes.
“I think it used to be a carpet store,” Frigga answered. She rolled down her
window as the man approached the car.
He looked about thirty, Loki guessed, wearing a baggy pair of jeans and a grey
zip front sweatshirt, dark, short hair, cut into a plain looking style. Very
average.
He smiled slightly and nodded towards Frigga. “Good morning, ma’am.”
“Good morning.” Frigga's voice was still pleasant and soft, but her words were
slightly clipped, and Loki couldn't help but look at her in confusion.
He nodded towards Loki then. Loki tensed up a bit, hands curling into loose
fists in his lap. “Got a, uh, friend with you.”
“I do,” Frigga answered with that same pleasant but tense tone, “I don't have
much time, so...”
The man reacted instantly, mumbling a little as he pulled an envelop from his
pocket and handed it over.
Frigga snatched it from him, opening and running her fingers over the the edges
of the stack of bills. “I'm sure you have the full payment this time?” She
asked without looking towards the man.
The man flinched, blinking rapidly and blurting out, “yes ma'am.”
“And interest?”
He swallowed. “Yes ma'am.”
“Good. I'll tell Odin you said hello,” Frigga said, giving him an insincere
smile and rolling the window back up. She started up the SUV again, pulling
away as she stuffed the envelop into her purse, leaving the man behind in a
cloud of dust.
Loki couldn't help but gape at her.
She glanced over at him and sighed, “I'm sorry, I just hate that little prick.”
Loki raised an eyebrow at her. “What'd he do to piss you off?”
She was silent for a minute, tapping her nails on the steering wheel and
turning down a different quiet street. “Oh, Thor is not going to like that I'm
telling you any of this, but. That guy gambled away all his money a few years
ago – even his kid's tuition savings – put himself deep in the hole. And since
no bank was going to give him any help, he came to Odin.
I knew his wife. The poor girl had no idea what the jackass was doing until it
was too late and they were wrung dry. She managed to leave him pretty soon
after that, but I still hate the bastard.”
Loki looked out the windshield, his eyes unfocused on the road before them. “So
Thor is definitely in a biker gang? All of you are?”
Frigga laughed and reached over to push Loki's hair from his face. “I told Thor
you'd be able to figure it out. And I'm not technically a member.”
“Why didn't Thor want me to know?”
“He didn't want you to know at first because he didn't know how long you'd be
staying, now I think he's been worried about you getting mixed up in his
troubles. He's gotten a bit protective of you.”
Loki's face went hot and he sucked in a breath before he could control himself.
He forced himself to relax and tried to look sullen. “I've got my own troubles
I've already mixed myself in.”
Frigga laughed and raked her fingers through his hair once again. “Well, he
didn't want to get you into any more of it.”
After a short, quiet drive Frigga pulled up to another building – a squat, red
brick building with old looking windows and black shingles glinting in the sun
– and drove through an open wrought-iron gate and parked at the back of the
building. He spotted Odin's motorcycle parked farther down in the lot and a
little red compact parked close to the entrance.
“This is the clubhouse,” Frigga said, seeming to read the question on Loki's
face as he squinted out the window. “It's usually a bit dead in the daytime.”
Loki hopped out the SUV and followed Frigga inside, going through a short, dark
hallway before coming into a big room that looked like some sort of lounge.
There was a bar on one side, stocked with liquor in all the shades of brown you
could imagine, and a flag on the opposite side that matched the emblem on the
back of Thor's jacket: a helmet with wings stretching out from either side and
horns curving sharply upward, the word Asgardia written below it in a heavy but
ornate script. Black leather couches that sagged in the middle lined the walls
and scuffed up wooden tables and chairs filled the rest of the room.
Behind the bar sat  a busty young woman with long, dark brown hair, shellacking
full lips with a cherry red lipstick in the reflection from the bar top. She
nearly smeared it across her cheek as they came in and startled her.
“Hello Darcy.”
“Hey Mrs Borrson!” She said brightly, tilting her head at Loki. “...and Not Mrs
Borson.”
Frigga laughed and gently dragged Loki to the bar. “This is Loki, he's a friend
of Thor's.”
Capping her lipstick and tossing it into a clear plastic cosmetics bag, she
leaned on to the bar top “Ah. Well nice to meet ya, Loki.”
Loki said “hey” back and sat at one of the stools in front of the bar.
“Odin's in his office?” Frigga asked Darcy.
“Yup,” Darcy answered with a pop of her lips.
“Good, I'll be right back then,” she said, patting Loki's arm as she turned and
walked away. Loki looked over his shoulder and watched Frigga head down another
hallway, turning at a corner to disappear entirely.
“You want something to drink?”
Loki turned back and looked at the shelves full of liquor, tapping his fingers
on the smooth wood. Darcy followed his gazed and snickered, looking back at
him.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
She snorted. “How about a soda?”
Loki sagged a little. “That's fine.”
She squatted down and Loki could hear the sound of a little fridge door opening
and shutting before she shot back up and set a can of Coke in front of him.
Leaning on her forearms she said, “you need to stick in the teens if you're
gonna lie about your age.”
“Most guys believed me,” Loki grumbled. He opened the can carefully, not
wanting to chip his nail polish so soon.
“Mostguys would fuck a tree if the hole was wet enough... Did Thor believe
you?”
“No,” Loki answered, and sounded really whiny. Darcy laughed.
Loki looked down at his soda, running his fingertip through the condensation
already collecting on the can. Darcy tilted her head at him again, her eyes
darting from his face to his hands.
“You've got nice cheekbones.”
“Thanks,” Loki said with a self-conscious shrug of his shoulders.
“Would you be, like, totally opposed to me putting makeup on you?”
Loki looked back up at her. “...No?”
Darcy grinned.
                                      ---
“Stop blinking! You're gonna make me get mascara all over your face.”
“I can't help it! It feels weird,” Loki giggled. Darcy held his jaw with one
hand, doing her best to keep him still while the other tried to sweep the
applicator over his lashes. They both stopped when they heard the clomping of
booted feet coming into the lounge. Thor was the first in the room, followed by
a few other men, all dressed in sweat stained t-shirts and dirty blue jeans.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Thor looked distraught, his attention
almost instantly turning to Darcy. “And what the hell are you doing to his
face!?”
“I'm putting freaking makeup on him. Why have you been hiding him!? He's fun!”
“You're mom brought me,” Loki interjected meekly. He hadn't considered that
Thor might get angry about him finding out about his little not very well kept
secret.
Thor groaned, walking towards the hall Frigga had gone down and shouting
“mother!”
The men that had followed Thor inside – another blond with short hair and a
goatee, a portly redhead with a long beard and a longer ponytail, and an Asian
man with his hair wrapped neatly in a bun, had watched the short interaction in
silent confusion. All three pairs of eyes fell on Darcy and him.
Darcy scoffed and gave them a dismissive wave as she turning her attention back
to Loki. “Go bug Thor about it.” The three looked back at each other for a
moment before doing just that.
Loki wrung his hands in his lap, doing his best to not chew on his lip, Darcy
had spent a good ten minutes slapping different shades of pink lipgloss on them
to get the color just right, and keeping himself still so she could finish.
“Perfect!” she said as she pulled away, sliding the applicator back into the
tube and tossing it into her bag. “If only I had some hair stuff to push this
all back,” she added as she reached over and pushed Loki's hair back roughly,
making him wince.
Loki made a noise in his throat and swatted her hands away. He ran his own hand
through his hair, slouching back into the couch.
“Oh yeah, I bet you wanna see yourself.” Darcy dug into her bag once more,
pulling out  her mirrored compact and thrusting it into Loki's face. Loki took
the mirror, holding it far enough so he could see his whole face. He blinked at
his reflection, turning his head from side to side. His eyes were surrounded in
black eye shadow and eyeliner, making his irises look paler and sharper in
comparison. It was a bit... shocking. His lips were definitely the perfect
shade of pink though.
“Well!?” Darcy asked as she bounced excitedly beside him. “It's kinda goth-
chic, right? I don't know, I just kinda went with it.”
Loki blinked, turning his head again. “I think I like it.”
“Yay!”
“Well, look at you.”
The two turned as Frigga walked back into the lounge, smiling as she walked
over to the couch Loki and Darcy sat in, smiling softly at him as she grasped
his chin and tipped Loki's head back. “Oh to be young and able to pull off that
sort of makeup again.”
Darcy grinned up at Frigga. “Take a seat Mrs B. and I will show it is still
possible.”
Frigga chuckled and shook her head at her. “Maybe another day, sweetie. I have
to go to the store right now.”
“I'm holding you to that,” Darcy said as she grabbed the mirror from Loki and
dropped into her bag.
Frigga chuckled and finally let go of Loki's chin. Then she looked back at him
and said, “Thor wants you to go home with him, so you get to stay here for a
while longer.”
“Oh,” was all Loki managed to say. Frigga didn't seem to notice his trepidation
though, and roughed his hair up before turning and walking away.
Darcy leaned over and nudged Loki's side with her elbow, giving him a
conspiratorial wink as she asked, “want me to show you where they keep the
video games?”
                                      ---
Loki gripped his knees tightly and kept his face turned away from Thor, his
heart thumping dully in his head, the cracking radio filling the silence in the
cab of the truck. They pulled to a stop at an intersection and he felt Thor's
hand on the back of his neck, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I know Darcy can be a bit exhausting to be around but I never thought she
could leave someone shell-shocked.”
“I'm sorry.” The words spilled out of Loki instantly, whipping his head around
to look at Thor.
Thor gave him a bewildered look. “For what?”
“I- I know you were trying to keep me from finding out you're in a gang but
your dad called your mom and she had to get money from some guy and – she was
mean, Thor – and she had to tell me but I already kind of knew because of the
jacket and stuff-”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Thor interrupted, chuckling softly and pulling his hand back
to grab the steering wheel as they started moving again. “I'm not mad at you. I
get what happened, it's okay.”
Loki let out a long breath, sinking into the passenger in relief.
“So, how long did it take you to figure out?”
Loki shrugged. “Like, a couple weeks. Probably would've been sooner if I hadn't
been asleep constantly.”
“Damn,” Thor sighed. “Had an exciting day then?”
Loki curled his fingers on his thighs, his foot tapping on the floor of the
truck. “Kinda.”
“Mom said you got badgered into getting a manicure when you guys were at the
nail salon.”
Loki smirked. “Yeah.”
“So that and then Darcy got her hands on you – I hope it wasn't complete
torture.”
“I liked it,” Loki said as he looked down at his nails.
Thor looked over at him, watching Loki for a moment before looking back at the
road and nodding. “That's good.”
“Do you like it?” he asked, eyes darting to Thor.
Thor opened his mouth, a drawn out “uhh” falling from his lips. He looked back
and forth from the road to Loki a couple times, drumming his fingers on the
wheel. “It – I think it's – It's nice. It suits you, I guess.”
Loki smiled, leaning his head against the window and biting his lip. “Thanks.”
***** Chapter 6 *****
“He looks young,” Steve said as he took another sip from his beer, his tone
casual. Loki had just darted out from the bedroom to grab a slice of pizza and
a soda, looking vaguely sulky with his hair hanging in his eyes and shoulders
hunched in one of Thor's over-sized hoodies. He'd given Steve the barest
greeting he could manage before slipping out of the living room to go back to
whatever the hell he was doing on Thor's laptop.
“That's because he is,” he replied as smoothly as he could.
Steve raised an eyebrow at him.
Thor laughed, fighting back the guilty feeling that was making his stomach
lurch.
Steve looked back at the bedroom door. “What's his story?” he asked as he
looked back to Thor.
“Foster kid. Bounced around from one shitty home to the next until ran off a
few months ago. Doing tricks to get from point A to B - you know that whole
story. I found him getting beaten up to him in front of a bar a couple months
ago.” Thor shrugged. “I've been letting him stay here since.”
Steve nodded, looking down thoughtfully at the floor.
“Got Cop Steve out of your system now?” He gave Steve a cheeky grin.
Steve laughed, shaking his head. “Shut the hell up and pass me the pizza.”
Thor laughed too, pushing the box across the coffee table with his foot. They
both sat back into the couch with a sigh, falling into a comfortable silence
and watching Die Hard for approximately the millionth time. Thor chewed slowly,
his stomach still rolling and making his pizza settle like lead. He took a deep
swig of his beer to wash it down, a much more pleasant fuzzy feeling floating
through him a few moments later.
“So how's the right side of the law been treating you?” Thor asked a little
while later, feeling warm and more relaxed as he cracked open a second beer.
Steve shrugged. “It's been quiet lately. Clint says hi, by the way... So, how's
the wrong side?” Steve bounced back with a smirk. Thor laughed and shook his
head.
“Aw come on, I'm not Cop Steve right now, remember?”
Thor huffed, still smiling in amusement as he took another sip of his beer.
“There hasn't been too much going on, actually.”
Steve's expression changed just slightly.
“What?”
“You just got a weird look on your face.”
Thor raised his eyebrows at Steve. “I've got a weird look on my face?”
Steve rolled his eyes.
Thor sighed, glancing towards the closed bedroom door, he said quietly, “I just
saw this van the other day, that's all. It's been making me a little paranoid.”
Steve looked thoughtful. “What'd it look like?”
“Just a plain old dark van. Didn't catch a glimpse of the license plate or
anything.”
“Hm.”
“It's probably nothing,” Thor said, partly trying to convince himself.
They sat in silence for a few minutes again, and then Thor spotted his
sunglasses sitting on the table, another question niggling at him.
“Hey,” he started, looking over at Steve again. “You think my glasses make me
look like a douchebag?”
Steve's face twisted in confusion. “What?”
“My sunglasses,” he said, gesturing towards them.
“I like your sunglasses.”
“Loki thinks they make me look douchey.”
Steve let out a bark of laughter. “Your glasses are fine.”
                                      ---
When Thor walked in to the bedroom after Steve had left Loki was already fast
asleep, curled on his side. A puddle of condensation surrounded the bottom of
his lukewarm can of soda sitting on the nightstand and the open laptop set
Loki's pale face in an eerie, bluish glow. He pushed the lid closed with one
finger and set it on to the floor beside the bed. After stripping down to his
boxers and undershirt he climbed into bed behind Loki. He stared at Loki's back
in the darkness. Thick, dark cotton billowed around him and obscured his narrow
body. Thank fuck.
He'd caught a glimpse of what was hidden beneath that sweatshirt and flannel
pants  earlier that day. A slim, pale body no longer marred by the bruises he'd
come here with or distressingly visible bones. A small trail of dark hair
trailed down from a tiny dip of bellybutton and disappeared behind the towel
slung around his narrow hips. His rosy nipples had really sent Thor's mind
straight to the gutter though, vivid images flooding his mind of pinching them
between his calloused fingers or latching on to them one at a time with his
mouth, sucking on them hard and scraping his teeth lightly over the sensitive
skin until he had Loki mewling.
Thor swallowed, trying to blink away the images again even as his cock throbbed
and began to swell.
Luckily, his phone rung a moment later, forcing him to climb out of bed and
follow the sound into the darkened living room, scooping it off the coffee
table and answering it in one move. “What's wrong?”
His dad cleared his throat on the other end, though he still sounded tired and
rough as he spoke. “Your mother spotted someone watching our house. A dark van
with their lights off.”
Thor was already moving to his own windows, pushing the blinds out of his way
with a couple fingers to peer out at the street, dead still and quiet at this
time of night. “You thinking it's the same one I saw?”
“Yeah.”
“Did see she the license plate?”
“No. Too dark.”
Thor sighed. He moved all around the house, looking out the windows and
checking that they were locked. “They're gone now?”
“Yeah,” Odin said wearily, “she'd went to get her pistol and gotten to the door
just as they drove off. Everything thing good at your place?”
Thor went to the backdoor when he heard a rustling, the screen door squeaking
loudly as he shouldered it open and startling the raccoon that had been digging
through his knocked over garbage can. “Yeah,” he said as he ducked back inside
the house, shutting the door firmly and locking the deadbolt. He heard his dad
hum quietly.
“We're having a meeting first thing in the morning. I want everyone on the
lookout now.”
Thor nodded. “I'll get the word out.”
“Good,” Odin sighed. Thor could practically hear his father pressing his
fingertips into the temple beside his missing eye. “I'm going to call
Heimdall.”
“Okay. Tell mom I love her.”
“Will do. Goodnight.”
“'Night.”
Thor hung up, bending forward and resting on his elbows on the kitchen counter,
yawning as he started sending out texts. Emergency meeting. Everyone at the
clubhouse by 8am.
He jumped when he heard another yawn. Loki walked into the kitchen, bare feet
slapping on the linoleum and soda can in hand. With eye's half open he walked
past Thor, to the sink and poured his flat soda into. “Everything okay?” he
asked, his words a little slurred from sleep.
“Yeah,” he said, sending out one final message before putting his phone to
sleep. Thor lifted his arm as Loki tossed the emptied can into the garbage,
wrapping it around Loki's shoulders. He fit himself against Thor's side as they
walked back to the bedroom together. They broke apart and each made their way
to their side of the bed. Thor set his phone on the nightstand and climbed back
under the blanket as Loki slipped out of the hoodie and sweatpants. Loki
scooted up beside him and Thor, somewhat reluctantly, lifted his arm, letting
Loki curl against his side and pillow his head on Thor's shoulder. Loki let out
a quiet, contented hum as he settled, his eyes closing immediately.
Thor studied his face as he fell back to sleep, swallowing back the urge to run
his fingers through Loki's hair or... caress him or something.
He liked this too much. Way too much. He should've kicked Loki out of his bed
ages ago, when he was just healing up and they hadn't settled completely in to
this habit. He really should kick Loki out of his bed now, before anything
could happen, but he could just imagine the rejected and deeply hurt look Loki
would give him if he did. His stomach twisted. He couldn't do it.
He sighed, his head lolling on his pillow to stare at the closed blinds,
thinking of the van and wondering who could be in it. Who might be watching
them and more importantly why. Not knowing anything made him feel irritated and
itchy. It felt like when he was seventeen and he hadn't been allowed to join
the club just yet, his mother and father still steadfastly refusing to tell him
anything detailed about what the club did. Thor was left to wonder when Odin
would leave in a rush, hearing snippets of hushed conversations between him and
Heimdall or another member of the club that would be cut off as soon as they
noticed Thor was in earshot. He hated it at the time, it made him feel small
and useless and angry.
He looked back to Loki, sleeping soundly. He hadn't asked Thor much about what
the club did, not yet at least, and now he was the one who was going to have to
hide things.
He grimaced at the ceiling. He felt old.
                                      ---
“You're grumpy in the morning,”  Thor said brightly as they walked to his bike.
Loki glared at everything, shoulders bunched and arms swinging limply at his
sides, the dreaded helmet held in one of his fists. “I don't get why I just
can't stay here and sleep. I don't think your dad is gonna even want me there
anyways.”
Thor stopped, turning to Loki with a sigh. Putting his hands on his hips, he
looked up and down his quiet little street. He decided to bring Loki along just
before he finally fell asleep. Something about the thought of leaving Loki
alone, when he truly had no idea if someone was going after the club, had made
him uneasy. “We'll get breakfast and then afterwords I'll explain. And my dad
will just have to deal with it.”
“How long is this meeting going to take?”
“About an hour, maybe?”
“I'll be timing you,” Loki let out in a grumpy huff, shoving the helmet on his
head.
Thor gave him a smile, reaching out and squeezing Loki's arm before climbing on
to his bike, Loki hopping on right after. The ride to the clubhouse was quick,
and about half the members where already inside, milling around in the lounge
by the time they arrived. He spotted his father taking to Tyr and Heimdall
towards the back of the room, their eyes meeting for a moment. He didn't miss
the grim expression that passed over his face when he spotted Loki. Thor
sighed. He looked over to Loki, who seemed to be getting nervous again, curling
in on himself and subtly hiding behind Thor.
“These people are my friends, relax kid.”
Loki gave him a wary look and hugged his arms around his waist, his eyes
darting around the room.
“Darcy showed you the rec room the other day, right?”
Loki gave a small nod of his head.
“Then go knock yourself out, I'll come and get you when we're done,” Thor said,
giving Loki what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Loki gave a small smile in
return – he took that as a success – and darted away, heading off to the
staircase that lead to the second floor.
“So you're finally bringing your little secret friend around?”
Thor sighed again, turning back to be met by matching smirks from Sif and
Fandral. “Yes, but do you have to say it like that?”
“How should we we say it?” Sif asked, one dark eyebrow arched.
“I don't know – But I wasn't trying to keep him secret or anything like that.”
Fandral snickered, leaning over to whisper into Sif's ear, “someone's
defensive.”
Thor leveled a glare at his friend, resisting the urge to fidget as Sif and
Fandral's amusement grew. Maybe he was being a bit defensive. He took a breath
and schooled his features, narrowing his eyes at a spot of Fandral's cheek.
“Hey man is that... an ingrown hair?”
“What.” Fandral's smile dropped and his eyes widened, touching the spot Thor
had been looking at. He spun around to find the nearest reflective surface.
Which happened to be the top of the bar.
Sif gave a snort of laughter as she looked back to Thor. “Nice deflection...
And I actually think what you're doing is very sweet. A bit noble even.”
Thor rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”
“I mean it!”
Over at the other side of the room, Odin cleared his throat. “Lets get this
started, shall we?”
The filed into their meeting room, taking seats around a long table. Odin sat
at the head, with Thor at one side and Heimdall at the other, the rest taking
whatever seat they could. The prospects, three fresh-faced kids who were
probably only a bit older than Loki, were forced to stand at the back of the
room.
Something about thatthought set him on edge. He leaned forward and rested his
elbows on the polished table, running the tip of a finger along his lip.
Odin cleared his throat again, commanding the attention of everyone in the
room.
“I've called you all here this morning because I think we have an issue that
needs all of our attention. Last week Thor saw someone watching his house and
then, just last night, Frigga saw what I believe to be the same van watching
ours.”
I want everyone on guard, we don't know how big of threat whoever is doing this
is. Watch your streets carefully, and I'd advise everyone with families have
safe spots set up for them in case things do get hairy.”
There were a few nods from the members, and Thor spotted Volstagg and Hogun
both pulling out their phones.
“What did the van look like?” Hogun asked, glancing away from his screen for a
second.
“Dark blue, tinted windows, nothing really stood out about it,” Thor answered.
Hogun looked at him and nodded, typing something else into his phone before
slipping it back in to his pocket. “I still have a few connections in the
Vanir, I can give them a call and see if they've heard anything.”
Odin gave a slow nod of his head, his lone eye looking distant as he thought.
“Could it be someone from Jotunheim?” Sif chimed in, “Someone still holding a
grudge over their club being disbanded?”
Thor absentmindedly chewed on a thumbnail. He remembered it, and disbandedwas a
more diplomatic word than he might've used. It had happened just after he'd
been sworn in as a full member of the club. It was the first time he'd aimed
his gun at something that wasn't a target. Odin had come up to him as Thor sat
in the gravel beside his bike in a daze. The others were still inside the
abandoned factory, chatting idly as they planted evidence and cleaned whatever
needed cleaning. He had set his hand on Thor's shoulder, saying nothing for a
couple of minutes before giving it a firm squeeze and walking away, leaving
Thor to continue to stare off at the open expanse of grassy plains and clear
night sky.
He'd met his father's eye for only a moment when he finally stood an eternity
later, tearing his gaze away and climbing on to his bike to get away as fast as
he could. His hands felt shaky and weak and he had to stop to vomit in a ditch,
thinking: This is what you wanted? You dreamed of this your whole life?
He was still in a daze when he came back to the apartment he had lived at the
time. Only then realizing that he was covered in spatters of blood when his
girlfriend had started screaming at the sight of him.
“The ones left are still in prison,” Odin said gruffly. He scratched at his
snowy beard and added softly, “though they might have someone on the outside
working for them.”
Thor's attention wandered as more voices chimed in, his focus set on the dark
stained table. He wondered how Loki was doing.
“You seemed distracted,” Odin said after the meeting had ended and the last of
the members filed out of the room.
“Just tired,” he said, scratching the back of his neck and shrugging a
shoulder.
“Had trouble falling asleep after you called.”
Odin hummed thoughtfully, nodding. There was nothing but silence for a minute.
Thor noticed his father's brow furrowing.
Thor let out an exhausted sigh, already having an idea of what was coming.
“What?”
Odin finally looked at him, hard and focused. “I don't trust that kid.”
Thor scoffed and rolled his eyes, he couldn't help it.
“Thor.”
“He's just a kid, dad.”
“It doesn't seem odd to you that we have someone sniffing around a few weeks
after you bring him home?”
“Not really, actually.”
Odin practically growled, turning from him sharply.
Thor sighed, sitting forward and resting his forearms on his thighs. “I've been
very careful, he only knows the bare minimum about the club and what we do. And
he doesn't seem particularly interested in it too be honest.”
Odin shook his head, rubbing the temple beside his missing eye. “He might not
have to know things about us, he might just need your trust, Thor.”
Slapping his hands on the armrests of his chair, he pushed himself up to stand.
“Well then, I guess he has it.”
It was only with years of experience that he didn't flinch at the glare Odin
threw at him.
“Can I go now, sir?”
Odin grumbled under his breath, shooing Thor away with a rough gesture of his
hand as he turned towards the windows.
Thor huffed, nostrils flaring, and turned to the door, stomping towards it.
“Mom likes him.”
                                      ---
He stopped in the doorway to rec room, an uneasy feeling coming over him as he
saw two of the prospects sitting with Loki, watching him play some bright,
flashy game.
“Seventy-six minutes,” Loki said without looking away from the tv.
Thor let out a snort of laughter when he remembered Loki saying he'd be timing
him. “Yeah, yeah, you're good at keeping track of time. You wanna get breakfast
or what?”
“One second.” Loki's face twisted into a strange grimace, thumbs pressing hard
into the controller's buttons, the game becoming louder and louder until it cut
hard to some fast paced, electronic sounding song. Loki grinned victoriously.
“Nice,” Roald, one of the prospects, said. A lanky kid with stick-straight,
sandy brown hair that stuck out all over. Loki handed the controller to the
other and popped up from the couch, walking towards Thor.
Unable to completely stifle his annoyance at their presence, Thor snapped,
“don't you guys have something more important to do now?”
Loki stopped beside him in the doorway, eyes a little wide. Thor did his best
to not pay attention. The prospects both stammered for a moment before Roald
managed to spit out, “he got to play.”
He could feel Loki watching him. “Does he look like a prospect?”
The other prospect, Nico, gaped at him, blinking rapidly.
“Go clean the bathrooms,” He said, forcing himself to speak more calmly and
quietly. But the prospects jumped at the command just the same, scurrying
between him and Loki and heading down the hall. Thor groaned inwardly.
Loki, on the other hand, was grinning. “Shit.”
Thor began walking down the hall, in the opposite direction. “So, breakfast?”
“You get to boss them around like that all the time?”
“Technically, I can, but I usually don't.”
“Why not? That was awesome! They looked like they were gonna shit their pants!”
Thor took a deep breath, Loki bouncing along side of him.
“Can Iboss them around?”
“No, not unless I tell them you can.”
“Would you?”
“Probably not.”
Loki rolled his eyes.
Well, at least Loki was in a better mood than he was earlier.
                                      ---
Thor slipped his jacket off as soon as he walked through the door, hanging it
up and flopping on to the couch with groan. He pulled his sunglasses off and
tossed them to the coffee table, pressing his fingertips to his aching eyes.
“I wanna take a nap,” Loki said through a yawn. Thor grunted in agreement.
He grunted again as Loki flopped on top of him.
“Do I look like a bed to you?” Thor asked, chuckling as he draped an arm around
Loki's waist.
“You do, actually.”
Thor growled, pinching Loki's side and making him laugh and squirm.
Oh no – He can't do that again, he thought as his cock stiffened a bit from
stimulation. Thor cleared his throat as Loki calmed and shifted him to lay more
towards Thor's side. Loki sighed happily, his head tucked under Thor's chin,
his body slack on top of Thor's. Thor's momentary panic began to subside, along
with the slight erection. He relaxed, running his hand up and down Loki's back.
A little while later, when Loki's breathing had gone slow and steady, Thor
carefully pressed his mouth and nose to the top of Loki's head, inhaling deeply
and pressing a tight-lipped kiss to his hair. He exhaled as he let his head
drop back, warmth flooding his chest.
This was nice.
***** Chapter 7 *****
Loki watched Thor as he ate breakfast, resting his chin in one hand.
“So, like, have you ever had to kill someone?”
Thor's paused with a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth. He stared at Loki
for a moment before shoving it in.
Loki nudged his foot under the table when he stayed silent. Thor's shoulders
tensed and relaxed, his free hand curling into a loose fist on the table.
“That's really the first question you're going to ask me?” He asked, raising an
eyebrow as he looked back up at Loki.
“Seemed as good as any other question.” Loki shrugged, picking up a slice of
bacon and chomping into it.
Thor sighed and dropped his fork on to his plate, pinching the bridge of his
nose.
They sat in silence as Thor seemed to mull over the question. Loki dropped his
bacon and shifted in his seat, scooting closer to the edge of it to be a little
closer to him. “I won't hate you, or get freaked out or whatever.”
Thor sagged, looking up at Loki. His fists had curled again, and he had to
force them to relax, spreading his long, calloused fingers over the table in
slow motion. “I... have.”
“Really?”
Thor nodded.
Loki scooted closer. “Did they owe money or something?”
Thor laughed, his smile not reaching his eyes. “No. You tend to get more money
back from people who are still alive.”
Loki raised his eyebrows. “What have you killed people for?”
Thor looked Loki in the eye at that, his expression serious enough to make Loki
sink back into his seat and look away, down at his own plate.
“I'm not going to talk about that with you,” he said, his voice stern, but
soft.
Loki nodded a little, not looking away from his plate. Thor sighed, reaching
over and clasping his forearm, giving it a squeeze so Loki would look at him.
He said gently, “I'm not mad at you for asking. Got it?”
Loki's eyes drifted from Thor's face to his hand, nodding again. “Sorry.”
“It's fine.” Thor gave his arm a final squeeze before dropping away.
Another few quiet minutes passed. “What was the meeting about yesterday?”
Thor picked up his fork again, taking another bite of breakfast. “There might
be someone staking out the club. Everyone needed to know to be on the lookout
just in case.”
Loki stared at him. Thor chuckled, his good mood coming back in an instant, and
knocked his foot in to Loki's. “You don't need to worry about it, okay?”
“Okay,” Loki whispered, poking at his eggs again.
Thor exhaled. “I wasn't sure if I should tell you. My parents didn't tell me
any of this kind of stuff when I was your age, and I hated it, but now... I
think I can kind of understand where they were coming from,” Thor added with a
halfhearted chuckle.
“Why?”
“It's kinda hard to explain.”
Loki waited, his fork dangling from the tip of his fingers
Thor set his fork down on to the plate, pushed it away, and rested his head
against his fist. “I just... don't think you need to deal with this shit.”
Loki bristled, snapping back with, “I can deal with it.”
“Maybe you can,” Thor said with a soft smile. “But you shouldn't have to.”
Loki huffed, his jaw tightening as he looked back down at his plate. There was
something about that that made a well of emotions swirl up in Loki, all so
twisted up that Loki couldn't even make sense of them. A hard lump began to
form in his throat.
They finished breakfast in silence. Loki walked straight for the bedroom as
soon as he had dumped his plate in the sink, grabbing Thor's laptop off the
coffee table as he walked through the living room. He opened almost as soon as
he flopped on to the bed. Setting his blank, unfocused stare on the generic
background.
He hated this. Loki swallowed hard, taking a few slow, deep breaths to try and
keep his vision from blurring. Why couldn't Thor be fucking normal and just
have Loki blow him. At least then he'd know exactly what the fuck he was here
for.  He was dreading the day that Thor was finally done with him. He didn't
know what to do, he never actually cared about someone getting sick of him
before.
He uncurled his fists when Thor turned on the stereo in the living room, the
bass making the floorboards vibrate as some classic rock song played. He looked
down at the stinging, red crescents he'd dug into his skin, taking a few more
deep breaths. He shut the laptop and set it aside, walking silently out to the
living room.
Thor was stretched out across the couch, head on one armrest, sock covered feet
propped up on the other. He had an arm draped over his face, pulling the hem of
his grey t-shirt up to show a sliver of his hip, the other laid across his
stomach. Loki just stared at him for a few minutes. Fear and confusion and a
million other feelings twisting around in him.
“Why are you so nice to me?” he blurted out. His voice cracked on the words,
making his cheeks burn in shame.
Thor startled, lifting his arm from his face. Slowly he sat up, his eyes steady
on Loki. “I don't know, you just seemed like you needed someone to be nice to
you.”
Loki sniffed, vision blurring and fists curling tight enough that his nails bit
into his palms again. “Is it just because you feel bad for me?”
Thor gave him a confused look. “Well... Yeah, that's part of it. Or at least it
was. I mean, you were kind of pitiful looking when I found you,” he said with a
lopsided grin.
Loki glared at him.
Thor's smile fell. “Why do you think I'm nice to you?”
“I don't fucking know!” Loki shouted, tears streaming down his cheeks. “People
have only ever done anything for me if they got money for it or...” Loki cut
himself off with a huff, his eyes darting to Thor as he remembered the look on
Thor's face as he reached for his belt that first night. He clenched his hands
at his sides.
Thor gave him a sad look – a pitying look – and Loki snapped, “STOP!”
Thor stood from the couch, sighing Loki's name as he reached out for him.
Loki ran back in to the bedroom, slamming the door shut and locking it. He
stuffed himself in the corner of the room farthest from the door, curling
himself against the wall and pressing his head between his knees. The music was
turned down and he could hear Thor shuffling up to the door, and another sigh
as he jiggled the knob.
“Loki?”
Loki hiccuped, hugging his legs tighter. There was another quiet rustling, and
then nothing but the muffled sound music. He sat there until his sobs turned
into sniffles, standing up and walking to the door, opening it. Thor sat on the
floor, his head turned up and greeting Loki with a small, slightly cautious
looking, smile.
“C'mere,” Thor said, patting the floor beside him. Loki sank back down, letting
Thor pull him against his chest.
“I did, at first, let you stay here because I felt bad for you. I still feel
bad for you sometimes, okay? But I also just like having you around now,
whether you want to believe that or not.”
Loki nodded, curling a little more tightly against Thor, relaxing as Thor
stroked his side.
“And maybe it's a little bit because I don't exactly feel great about a lot of
the things I do, and it feels nice to actually make someone's life a little
better for a change. So, if you're looking for a more selfish reason, there you
go.”
Loki looked up at that, finding a sad smile on Thor's face once again. Loki
sucked in a shaky breath and tucked his face against Thor's chest, exhaling as
Thor gave him a gentle squeeze.
They sat there for a while, bodies tangled awkwardly on the floor, until Thor's
phone began chiming on the coffee table. Thor sighed and patted Loki's shoulder
before they both peeled themselves off the floor and Thor went and looked.
He smiled at Loki as he looked up from the screen of his phone. “Want to go
hang out at the clubhouse for a bit?”
Loki smiled back and nodded.
                                      ---
Loki watched Thor from his seat in one of the couches beside Darcy,
unintentionally tuning her voice out as he watched Thor laugh at something
Volstagg said while they played a card game at one of the tables farther away.
“That's so cute I'm not even annoyed about you not listening to me.”
Loki blinked, turning his attention back to her, already shrinking away from
her knowing smirk. “What?”
Darcy giggled, “you're ginormous crush on Thor. It's precious.”
Loki's cheeks went hot, and he tried to cover his blush with a glare. Darcy
just laughed at him and cuffed his arm.
“Relax buddy! It's hard not get the hots for him.”
Loki flopped back against the seat and crossed his arms over his chest. He
looked back to Thor just as he slammed his cards down on the table, letting out
a victorious hoot that was followed by a chorus of boos from his friends.
Darcy pulled on a loose thread on the sleeve of his shirt. “You know, you might
have a slightly better chance if you dressed a little less like a twelve year
old in hand-me-downs.”
Loki shrugged. “These are hand-me-downs. Thor gave them to me.” And part of him
loved that, but he couldn't help but agree with Darcy. He felt like a scrawny
little kid in them. Thor probably thought the same.
“Hmm.” Was all she said, looking over to Thor now as well. A smile slowly slid
across her face and it made Loki slightly... worried.
“Come on,” she said as she grabbed Loki's wrist, pulling him from the couch and
dragging him over to the table. She pushed him in front of her, her hands
resting on Loki's shoulders as they came to a stop beside Thor. She had to push
herself up to her toes to look over his shoulder.
Thor looked up at the two of them. “Yes?”
“It has recently come to my attention that our dear little Loki here has been
living in your old clothes for weeks now, and as someone who was a teenager in
the not so distant past I know just how much shitty clothes can affect the self
esteem.”
Thor's eyebrow rose slowly on his forehead. “O-kay...”
“I wanna take him shopping.” Everyone at the table sniggered.
“Oh,” was all Thor said, blinking up at them.
“Well, she presents a convincing argument,” Volstagg added with a jovial laugh.
Loki wanted go dig a hole and die in it. Thor scanned him from head to toe, his
friends looking on expectantly as they waited for Thor to answer.
“That sounds alright to me,” he said, finally. His eyes darted between the two
of them before settling on Loki, silently asking if he was okay with it. Loki,
gave a small nod of his head, wringing his hands in front of himself.
Darcy cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows at Thor.
“You need money don't you,” Thor sighed. Darcy bounced on her toes, tugging on
Loki's shirt as Thor stood and reached into his back pocket.
He cleared his throat as he thumbed through the bills in his wallet, pulling
out a stack and holding them out to Loki. He pulled his hand back as he and
Darcy both reached for it. Using his other hand, his wallet still clutched in
it, he pointed his finger at them and said sternly, “this better get spent on
clothes.”
Both of them nodded enthusiastically. Thor let out a small groan as he handed
the money to Loki, sinking back to his chair with a huff. Darcy squealed behind
him, dragging him away while he was still in a haze of shock.
“How much did he give you?” Darcy asked as soon as they were in her car.
Loki bit his lip, counting through the bills a second time, just to make sure
he wasn't hallucinating. “There's like, eight-hundred dollars.”
“Holy shit!” Darcy laughed. “Hello, sugar daddy.”
Loki felt his cheeks turn crimson. He folded up the money and stuffed it into
his front pocket. He exhaled slowly, tapping his feet on the messy floor of
Darcy's car.
“Where should we go first,” Darcy sang as they pulled out of the clubhouse
parking lot, drumming her fingers on top of the steering wheel. Loki sunk
deeper into the passenger seat, filled with a strange mix of nerves and
excitement.
                                      ---
The first store they went to was filled with all things neon, which wasn't
really Loki's taste, but he ended up with a couple pairs of jeans and a few
practically see-through t-shirts anyways. They went and got him underwear next,
since Darcy couldn't help but notice the oversized boxers he'd been wearing.
She laughed at Loki's embarrassment and threw pair after pair of briefs at him
in the store. They decided to go look at shoes next.
“Ooh, look at these babies,” she said as she pulled out a pair of black patent
leather heels. Loki looked up from the boot he was trying on, raising his
eyebrow at the smirk on her face.
“Wanna try 'em on?” She bit her lip as she asked, swinging the shoes in her
hands.
Loki smirked back at her, pulling off the other shoe and setting it aside. He
slipped on the heels and stood up carefully, hanging on to the shelves for
balance as he looked down at himself.
“I like them.”
“They don't make me too tall?”
Darcy snorted and rolled her eyes. “What the hell are you talking about? You're
already too tall.”
Loki laughed and sank back down to the padded bench in the aisle, stretching
out his legs to admire the shoes some more.
Darcy rested her chin in her hand, smirk back on her face once again. “Are you
worried Thor is gonna think you're too tall?”
“Shut up.”
Darcy snickered, picking up another one of the shoes they grabbed to try on and
looking at it.
Loki pulled off the heels and set them aside, drumming his fingers on his
thighs. “So... What kind of, um, girl does he usually date?”
Darcy gave him another knowing look, setting the shoe down and sighing as she
pushed her hair back. “Well, actually, I don't know. I haven't really seen him
date since I've known him.”
Loki looked over to her, not wanting to feel too hopeful.
“I heard he was pretty wild when he was a bit younger, but that might've been
just gossip.”
Loki just nodded, curiosity making his thoughts whirl.
“So, are we getting the heels, or what? I'm putting my vote in for the heels.”
                                      ---
“Come out, I wanna see!”
Loki shuffled out of the dressing room, smiling as Darcy wolf-whistled at him
from her seat on a bench just outside the dressing rooms. He looked at himself
in the body-length mirror attached to the door, twisting a bit and admiring
himself.
“Those pants make your butt look super cute.”
Loki raked his hands through his hair. The overgrown mess of black waves
flopping back into his eyes.
“You know, I know a hairdresser nearby, we should totally get your hair done.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, she's super good too. I bet she can give you one of those cute little
hipster haircuts.”
“My hair used to be kind of long,” he said with a wistful sigh, tugging on his
hair in the mirror again.
“Really? What happened?”
“Got stuck in a home with this prick who had a military boner who gave me a
fucking buzzcut.”
Darcy gasped, a hand going to her own hair. “That fucker.”
“Well, I did take a baseball bat to his Hummer, so I guess I got him back for
that.”
Darcy gaped at him.
Loki shrugged. “He shouldn't have given me a shitty haircut.”
                                      ---
Loki had changed into one of his new outfits in a McDonald's bathroom on the
way to Thor's house. He shivered with nerves the rest of the way there. Darcy
made him walk behind her as they went up to the house, forcing him to hide
beside the door so Thor couldn't see him right away.
“It'll be more fun with a big reveal. Trust me.”
Loki bit his lip as Darcy knocked on the door. Thor answered moments later.
Darcy held out her hand as if to stall Thor.
“I'd like to present to you the new and improved Loki.”
Loki turned on a heel and stood beside her, twisting his hands nervously behind
his back.
Thor blinked at him, his mouth hanging open at him for a few long moments
before shaking himself. He let out a shaky laugh and rubbed his forehead. “Wow.
You look really- You changed your hair!”
Loki reached up and touched one of the shaved sides, feeling self-conscious all
of a sudden. “Yeah...”
“It looks good! Great actually. It really... suits you.” Thor blinked rapidly,
his eyes skirting down Loki's body before he forced them back up to Loki's
face.
“We should go get the bags,” Darcy interjected, making the both of them jump.
Loki nodded quickly and followed her back to her car.
Oh my god, she mouthed at him when they were bent over her trunk. “Did you see
the look on his face!?” she whispered.
“Yeah.” Loki laughed shyly and looped a few bags on to his wrists, his eyes
darting back to the door where Thor was still standing.
“Oh my god,” she wheezed as she hefted a few bags out of the trunk. Loki took
the rest. Thor seemed to snap out of his haze when they were about halfway to
the door, coming and grabbing a few bags from each of them.
Thor looked down at all the bags in their hands and chuckled. “Guess I'm gonna
have to make some room in my closet, aren't I?”
Loki shrugged a shoulder, laughing softly.
As soon as Darcy had fluttered out the door Loki looked over at his pile of
bags, the excitement of the whole excursion draining away and filling in with a
strange sense of dread. He looked over to Thor, who quickly looked away from
him to the tv.
“Is that too much?” he asked, pointing towards the bags.
Thor laughed, something about it making Loki relax, and said, “I did give you a
lot of money and you did spend it on clothes... Do you like you're stuff?” He
asked, his eyes looking pointedly up at Loki's face.
Loki looked down at himself and tugged at the hem of his shirt. “Yeah.”
Thor smiled. “Good.”
“I guess I should put this stuff away.”
“You need any help?”
Loki crouched down, looping his hands through some of the bags. “Um, I might.”
Thor grabbed what Loki couldn't carry and they dragged it all in to the
bedroom.
Thor pushed his own clothes aside and dug out some hangers from his junk
closet. He even helped Loki hang up his new clothes.
Thor picked up the bag with his new underwear in it as Loki hung up one of his
new pairs of jeans, pulling out a little green pair just as Loki turned back to
him. They both stood there, gaping at each other for a moment before Thor shook
himself. He dropped the briefs back in to the bag with a nervous laugh and
handed to Loki.
“I, uh, think you've got it from there,” he said as he began backing out of the
room. “Just clear whatever drawer you want. I'll be in there. Uh, yeah.” He
cleared his throat and left the room, leaving the door cracked open behind him.
Loki stood there, listening as Thor turned up the tv. His face felt hot.
He definitely had a chance now. He let out a giddy laugh and hopped in place
for a moment before forcing himself to calm down and put the rest of his stuff
away.
He opened the shoebox with the heels, giving them a long look before closing it
back up and shoving them into the back of the closet. He wasn't one-hundred
percent sure about those yet.
                                      ---
They both woke to the sound of Thor's phone ringing. Thor rolled up, swinging
his legs over the edge of the bed as he answered, his voice extra deep and
gravelly. “Yeah?”
“You saw which way they were going? ...Yeah, I'll be right there.”
He yawned as he hung up. Looking over his shoulder at Loki, he said, “Sif
thinks she spotted the van at her place. Her and a few of the other guys are
going to go see if we can find anything.”
“You're going?”
“Yeah,” Thor sighed, standing and stretching with a heavy groan. Loki watched
Thor as he walked around to the other side of the room and pulled on his jeans.
He grabbed his socks and boots and moved back to the bed, sitting on the edge
bed beside Loki to put them on. “I should only gone for an hour or two,
hopefully.”
Loki nodded, watching Thor's hair slide over his shoulder and cover the side of
his face.
Thor stood and bent over Loki, his hand resting heavily on Loki's hip. “You
just hang tight here and sleep, and don't answer the door if anyone knocks.”
Before Loki could even comprehend what was happening, Thor's head dipped down
and he pressed a quick kiss to Loki's temple.
Loki was still blinking in shock as Thor pulled back and began walking away.
His steps faltered at the doorway to the bedroom, seeming to finally realize
what he'd just done. He looked back over his shoulder, the two of them just
staring at each other for a second before Thor looked away and began walking
again.
Loki dropped back down on to the bed when he heard the front door shut. A
small, giddy laugh escaping his chest as he listened to Thor rumble away.
Oh, he definitely had more than a chance.
***** Chapter 8 *****
Thor scrubbed his hair with a vigor that was only brought on by seeing one tiny
thing that managed to completely fuck your day in two seconds.
He was turning thirty in two days.
It wasn't turning thirty in itself that he particularly cared about. Not
really. It was more the reminder of how fast time was passing and how that
amplified the vague dissatisfaction he felt with his life.
And maybe it had just a little to do with Loki. Pretty, too goddamn young Loki.
He was almost regretting giving Loki the money to buy clothes, purely because
of how it was chipping away at his own sanity. Though with the way Loki's
confidence had shot up, he could only manage to feel bad for a few moments.
He huffed, staring off at the beige tiles as hot water pounded on his chest. He
grunted, scrubbing his hands over his face once more before shutting it off. He
robotically wrung out his hair and dried off with a towel before stepping from
the tub.
Maybe he was just tired.
Wiping the condensation from the mirror, he spent a few minutes looking at
himself, running his fingers over the stubbled edges of his short beard, his
eyes flicking over to his trimmer, Loki's razor sitting just beside it.
He shaved it all off with hardly a thought. He looked at himself in the mirror
in something close to shock when he had finished. He looked a bit younger with
a clean face.
He cleared his throat at tossed the razor in the trash, grabbing a fresh one
from the medicine cabinet and putting it in it's place. Wrapping the towel
tighter around his hips he made his way out of the bathroom. He moved quietly,
mindful of Loki curled up under the covers, and got dressed. He spared one more
glance over at Loki, a sharp pang of want stabbing through his chest as he
thought of going over and doing something stupid again like kissing the top of
his head.
He went and made coffee instead, shoveling cereal into his mouth as he waited
for it to brew. He didn't go into the bedroom again and finished getting ready
for work in the living room, silently hating how he felt like he was dragging
himself out the door.
                                      ---
“I'm just putting this out there: The Velvet Lounge.” Fandral shouted as Thor
hammered the frame of the wall into the concrete foundation. Thor let out an
exasperated sigh as he gave the nail a few more whacks before dropping the
small sledgehammer. He looked up at Fandral from where he was crouched on the
ground, squinting a little since the sun was beating down on them now.
“Come on!” Fandral said with a shrug of his shoulders, leaning against one of
the studs. “It's your thirtieth birthday! The big three-oh! You've had quiet
birthdays for like, three years now. Guys help me out here.”
“How's the buffet?” Volstagg asked as he laid out the wood for the next wall.
“Amazing, but more importantly:there's naked women.”
Thor wiped away the sweat dripping down his face and adjusted his sunglasses,
crawling to the next spot he needed to nail down. “I really don't want to make
a big deal out of it, okay? Lets just hang out and drink,” he said, fishing
another nail from his tool belt, holding it in place as he grabbed his
sledgehammer.
“I didn't think you'd be so touchy about turning thirty,” Sif said, leaning
against the stud at the other side of Thor. She pushed her sunglasses up on to
the top of her head and raised an eyebrow at him.
Thor shrugged and began hammering. “I'm not being touchy, I don't care. It's
just another day.”
“Then let it be just another day, but with strippers and a big cake,” Fandral
chimed in again, grinning.
“My wife will kill me if I go to a strip club,” Hogun added behind them,
picking up where Volstagg had left off as he took another break.
“Then just don't tell her.”
Hogun and Volstagg shared a look. Hogun cleared his throat and asked Fandral,
“do you ever wonder why you haven't had a relationship that lasted longer than
a month?”
Fandral blinked. “No. Why?”
“Because you shouldn't.”
Thor stopped hammering, looking back up at Fandral, and said, “I don't want to
go The Velvet Lounge or any other strip club. I mean it.”
Fandral's shoulders slumped, huffing as he stomped off  to go sit on top of his
toolbox. They all rolled their eyes simultaneously at his pouting. There was a
rumble as a familiar SUV pulled into the site, up next to the trailer where
Odin dealt with the club's more legitimate business from. Thor watched as his
mother climbed out of the driver's seat, bag of fast food in hand. Loki hopped
out just after, with his own bag. Thor quickly looked away and went back to
hammering, hitting the nail a little harder than might've been necessary..
“Ah, I see,” Sif said, crouching beside him.
“What?”
“Is that why you shaved and are trying to act like you're birthday isn't a big
deal?”
Thor's blood drained from his face. He glanced over at her, swallowing hard at
the smirk on his friend's face.
“Being a surrogate big brother is making you feel all old and shit,” she
laughed, nudging him with her elbow.
Thor let out the breath he'd been holding with a forced laugh. “Yeah, I guess.”
God. He's a really fucked up big brother, then.
Loki came up just then, smiling brightly in a transparent white t-shirt and a
pair of black jeans that looked they were painted on. “Hey- Whoa. You shaved.”
His eyebrows raised in surprise above the frames of the black sunglasses he
also wore.
“He's freaking out about turning thirty,” Sif answered oh so helpfully.
Loki gave him a confused look. “It's your birthday?”
“On Thursday,” Sif added.
Thor forced out another laugh, giving up on getting any more work done for now,
and set his sledgehammer down. “So...”
“I brought you lunch,” Loki said, holding the bag up.
There was a chorus of aww's and Thor had to resist the urge to toss something
at one of his friends heads. “Great- Uh, let's go somewhere not covered in
sawdust.”
He led Loki back to where he had his truck parked, the both of them sitting in
the cab with the doors open to let the hot breeze drift through.
“I can go back and eat in you're mom's car if you'd rather be with your
friends,” Loki said as he played with the corner of the wrapper to his burger,
his voice soft.
“Oh no – It's not like – They're just being annoying today, it's not you.”
Loki smiled a little, taking a bite of his own burger. Thor followed suit, the
silence between them easy and backed by the sounds of whining saws and hammers
banging a little ways away.
“Is it really your birthday on Thursday?” Loki asked after a few minutes.
“Yeah. I was kind of trying to ignore it. Which is impossible, apparently.”
“Is that really why you shaved?” There was a teasing lilt to Loki's voice, pink
lips curving into a smirk.
Thor laughed around a mouthful of fries. “I guess so, I wasn't really thinking
when I did it.”
“You look good without the beard. You look good with it too, though. Really
good.”
Thor stuffed more fires into his mouth, mumbling out a thanks as a hot breeze
blew through the truck.
Just as Thor crammed the last of his burger into his mouth, he spotted Heimdall
strolling towards them, lit cigarette hanging from his mouth. Thor finished
chewing quickly, crunching up the bag and shoving it under the seat.
“Shit, I better get going. You can finish eating here if you want.” Loki nodded
and Thor really had to resist the urge to lean over and give him a peck on the
cheek.
Quickly pushing that thought down, he jogged up to Heimdall, the two of them
nodding in greeting. They walked back to the site side-by-side.
“Odin's got something for you to do. After work, of course.”
Thor held back a groan. “Great.”
“Don't sound too excited,” Heimdall said with a smile, pulling the cigarette
from his lips to offer a drag to Thor.
Thor chuckled and shook his head. He pushed back a few sweat-damp locks of hair
that had fallen from his ponytail. “Can't you go go hassle Fandral or
something? He's probably trying call up a bunch of strippers for my birthday
right now.”
“Why would I want to stop that?”
Thor laughed, smacking Heimdall on the arm lightly as he turned towards the
trailer. His mother stepped out just as he came up to it.
“Loki's by my truck out back.”
“Alright,” she said, voice bright and cheery as she hoped down the steps. “You
be safe, sweetheart,” she called as she made her way to her SUV.
“You too,” Thor called back.
He shivered as he stepped inside the trailer, the small AC unit puttering away
in the window and filling the small space with chilly air. “Heimdall said you
got something for me?”
Odin nodded, pushing aside some of the papers he'd been looking at. “Arnie
Fowler has come up short in his last three payments. I just need you to go and
make sure he has his priorities in order.”
Thor nodded, a sort of numb feeling washing over him. “No problem. He'll be in
the usual places you think?”
“I wouldn't be surprised,” Odin said with a lazy gesture of his hand.
“I'll go after work.”
“Thank you. That's all I have for you for now,” Odin said as he went back to
his paper work. Thor stepped out to find his mother's SUV, and Loki, long gone.
He walked back to the site feeling hollow, the smile on his face forced as he
was greeted by his friends again.
                                      ---
The club Arnie did most of his dealing at was a place called Snickerdoodles,
which was possibly one of the stupidest names for a nightclub Thor could think
of. The plain brick building was set between a mattress store and a run-down
gas station on an other wise empty stretch of road, it's cracked and glass
covered parking lot nearly empty since the sun hadn't set yet. Thor parked his
bike under the club's dated, fading sign, the once bright red paint the club's
name had been written in now a sickly shade of pink.
Arnie's shit car was there, as expected, and parked crookedly. Thor climbed off
his bike and made his way inside, approaching the bar that some wrung out,
overly made up redhead was scrubbing. She looked up as Thor approached, her
eyes going wide at the site of him. She ducked behind it.
Thor rolled his eyes. “I need to see Arnie Fowler.”
Frizzy hair and a pair of dark eyes surrounded by smeared eyeliner peaked over
the bar. “You ain't planning to shoot up the place are you?”
Thor put on a cheery grin. “Not if I don't have to. Where is he?”
“I'm pretty sure he's in the office with Walt,” she said, cocking her head
towards the dark hallway tucked in the back corner of the main floor.
“Thanks,”Thor said, marching towards it. The hallway was nearly pitch black,
the only light coming in a sliver from the bottom of a door. The office, he was
sure. He gave the door a few hard knocks, the whole thing rattling under his
fist.
“Oh for fucks sake, Marla! Fuck off already! I'm doing business in here!”
“Is Arnie Fowler in there?”
There was a chorus of thumps and curses from inside the room. The door swung
open to reveal a paunchy, balding man that stood to about Thor's shoulder, the
pissed look on his face melting away as he looked from Thor's jacket to his
face. Thor looked away from him and into the office, full of dark, cheap
furniture that looked like it was bought in the attempt to make the place look
classy. Any effect it might have had was ruined by the musty smell of weed and
booze.
He smiled as he spotted Arnie, with his pasty skin and fuzzy brown hair,
cowering behind a filing cabinet. He looked back down at the other man.
“Walt, right? Care if I have a word alone with good ole Arnie for just a
moment? It's business.”
Walt opened and closed his mouth a few times.
Thor stepped aside, giving him a stern look and said with a snap of his
fingers. “Outnow.”
Walt scrambled out of the room and Thor stepped inside, shutting the door and
locking it.
“Shitshitshit-”
Thor leaned against the cabinet, looking down at Arnie as he clutched his head
in his bony hands. “So, I'm guessing you know what I'm here for.”
“I'll get you guys the money I owe, okay? I just need a little extra time!
Business has been slow.” Arnie shot up from the floor, looking frantic with
dark circles around his dingy grey eyes.
Thor smiled and tilted his head. “Business hasn't been slow, Arnie. All the
other dealers have been paying the right amount just fucking fine. You've been
dipping into your supply.”
“No I haven't! I swear, people are just not buying the pills right now.”
Thor leaned forward, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He spoke softly, but every
word made Arnie jump anyways. “Do you think I'm stupid, Arnie? Do you think I
can't see how fucked up you are right now?”
“Shit,” Arnie whimpered, teeth chattering. He buried his face in to his hands.
“This isn't going to happen anymore, right?”
“No- nonono.”
“Good,” Thor said pleasantly. “Now, give me you're hand.”
Arnie looked back up at him, eyes wide. “W-what?”
“Give me you're hand.”
Arnie reached out, his whole arm trembling. Thor grabbed his wrist with one
hand, his fingers with the other. Arnie began to babble – Wait! No! I'll get
you're money tomorrow! – as Thor pulled his fingers back, his eyes darting from
their hands to his face.
Thor spoke softly, Arnie's clammy skin forcing him to adjust his grip.
“Consider this your gentle reminder to not snort what you're supposed to sell.”
Arnie's fingers folded back with a sickeningly loud set of cracks, his sharp
scream ringing in Thor's ears.
                                      ---
Loki smiled brightly at him from the couch as he walked through the front door,
sitting up and shutting the laptop and setting it on the coffee table. “Hey.”
“Hey you.” Thor smiled and shrugged off his jacket, feeling lighter already.
Thor toed off his boots and made his way to the couch, flopping down beside
Loki with a yawn.
“What'd you have to go and do?” Loki asked. He pulled his legs up on the couch,
folding himself up tightly.
Thor felt his mouth twitch. “Just club business.”
“Ah.”
Thor leaned over Loki to snatch the remote, flipping through the channels
mindlessly. Loki scooted closer, resting his head against Thor's shoulder. He
lifted his arm and wrapped it around Loki, pulling him against Thor's side.
Loki brought his arm around Thor's waist, hugging him tight. Thor let out a
heavy sigh, relaxing further into the couch and settling on some mindless
reality show.
                                      ---
The next morning, Thor came to a sudden stop in the doorway as he left for
work. The van was sitting directly across from his house. The low rumble of
it's engine that had been lost when he was inside was now seemed thunderous out
in the open, the street otherwise silent this early in the morning.
It peeled away before Thor could react.
He snarled and slammed the door shut. He ran towards his garage, yanking his
phone out of his pocket and dialing the first number, adrenaline coursing
through him.
“Yeah?” Sif answered. He yanked the garage door open
“He was sitting outside my fucking house, right across the fucking street,” he
growled. He hopped on to his bike and started it with a roar.
Sif's voice was nearly blocked out by the sound of it. “The van?”
“I'm gonna try and follow it, you call the others,” Thor said before hanging
up, shoving his phone back into his pocket and pulling out. He sped down the
street in the direction of the van, his eyes narrowed as he looked down
intersecting streets, the job made much more difficult with how dark it was.
He spent an hour weaving through the streets, the rush of anger dropping off
more and more the longer he went without finding any sign of the van. He
stopped in the middle of a dead end street, the pavement ending abruptly at a
grassy field with a patch of trees in the middle of it.
He sighed and slumped forward on to the handlebars, feeling exhausted and
irritated. His phone began ringing, forcing him to move and fish from his
pocket.
“You better not be fucking dead, you dipshit,” Sif snapped.
Thor let out a tired chuckle, running a hand down his face. “I'm fine. I
fucking lost him, but I'm fine.”
Sif sighed.
“We're gonna catch him eventually,” she said a moment later.
“We fucking better. He's pissing me off now.”
Sif laughed. “I'll make sure you get the first punch, then.”
***** Chapter 9 *****
“I want you to start carrying this with you.”
Loki blinked at the knife Frigga slapped into his hand, it's blade folded back
into the handle.  They sat on the porch of Frigga and Odin's house, on a pair
of comfortable patio chairs as they looked out to the backyard and the field
that surrounded it.
He was just trying to figure out what he was going to wear to Thor's birthday
party. He had a feeling her could at least get Thor to let Loki blow him if he
played his cards right.
“Just so you have something to protect yourself with, should the need arise,”
she added, a muggy breeze blowing her hair off her shoulder.
“I've never stabbed anyone,” he said for lack of a better response.
She let out a quiet laugh. “I figured,” she said as she moved closer. She took
the knife back out of Loki's hand, flipping it open with a an unsettling ease
before placing it back into Loki's palm. She wrapped his fingers around the
handle carefully, his thumb resting where the blade met the handle.
“Holding it like this will give you the most distance.” A soft smile crossed
her face and she patted Loki's hand as she sat back in her chair. “Play with it
a little bit, get used to having it in your hands.”
Loki's mouth hung open for a few seconds before he went to fold the knife
again. He struggled with it for a minute before the blade snapped back in
place, making Loki flinch. He stared at it, flipping it from palm to palm
before looking back at Frigga again.
“So, have you ever...?” he asked, waving the knife a bit.
Frigga laughed again and then took another sip of her iced tea. “I've done what
I had to do.”
Loki nodded, exhaling slowly as he slumped back into his chair.
                                      ---
“What's this?” Thor asked, picking up the folded knife from the coffee table.
“Your mom gave it to me today. She told me to start carrying it around in case
I need to protect myself.” Loki shrugged, his fingers still on the keyboard of
the laptop resting on his belly as he laid on the couch.
Thor glanced back down at him, flipping the knife in his hand before letting
out a resigned sigh and nodding. He set the knife back down and sank on to the
couch, Loki moving his feet out of the way as he did. Loki stretched back out
after he settled, resting his feet in Thor's lap. Thor's hand came to rest on
Loki's ankle, his fingers kneading into it gently.
[who's thor??]
Loki peeked over the screen, gnawing on his lip as he typed out the guy i've
been living with and hit publish. Another question popped up a minute later as
he scrolled. [is he hot?]
Loki bit harder on his lip. [unbearably] He clicked on to another tab and began
scrolling again.
“What you spend so much time doing on there?” Thor asked with a chuckle.
Loki shrugged again, stopping on a gifset of a man with thick arms muscle a
smaller one on to his hands and knees. “Just looking at stuff.” He exited out
quickly and shut the laptop, setting it on the coffee table and hoisting
himself up.
“I'm gonna take a shower.”
Thor answered with a grunt while Loki walked towards the bedroom, a hot flush
creeping up his neck.
                                      ---
Loki eyed the heels for a moment before shaking his head and shoving them back
into the closet. Not tonight. He slipped on his more clompy boots and took a
final look at himself in the cracked, full-length mirror inside the door of
Thor's closet. He smiled at his reflection, twisting and turning, tugging on
the hem of his loose tank top and smoothing his hands down his hips.
He ran his hands through his hair once more before he walked out to the living
room. Thor was tapping away on his phone on the couch, his body slumped and
looking decidedly unhappy.
“How do I look?” Loki asked brightly. Thor looked up from his phone, crystal
blue eyes scanning him.
He blinked and tore his gaze away to look down at his phone. “Good... really
very good.” He cleared his throat and stood. “So, ready to go?”
“Yup.”
“Grab the helmet and we'll head out.”
Loki groaned. “Come on.”
“You're wearing it.”
Loki huffed and stomped over to the coat hooks where it hung, snatching it off
a glower before continuing out the door.
The party was already in full swing by the time they arrived. Motorcycles and
cars packed the lot and the street that the clubhouse sat on. Thor wove through
them all to get to the spots specifically for the members. Out back, in the big
plot of land that made up the clubhouse's backyard a bonfire was burning high
into the sky. Women danced around it to music filtering from a banged up
looking radio, while more music came muffled from inside.
“Holy shit,” Loki said as he pulled off the damn helmet, the excitement making
him jittery.
Thor let out a heavy sigh and kicked down the stand, taking the helmet from
Loki after they had climbed off. Loki headed towards the door to the club, only
to be stopped by Thor's hand on his chest.
“I have one rule: No drinking. Got it?”
Loki blinked up at him. “Okay.” One drink couldn't hurt though.
Thor let his hand fall, his fingers skimming down Loki's front and leaving him
momentarily distracted. He shook it off and ran inside, heading straight for
the bar to find Darcy.
The lounge was packed. Loki couldn't even spot any of Thor's friends in the
crowd. There were plenty of guys in leather jackets, but the insignias were
different. A few strippers clad in nothing but gaudy looking thongs swayed on
the tables, surrounded by hollering men and a haze of smoke. Loki pushed his
way through the throng to get to the bar, finding a few women he didn't
recognize behind it serving drinks.
“Darcy!?”
She popped up from behind the bar, eyes scanning over the people before landing
on him. “Loki! You're here! I almost thought Thor wouldn't let you come out to
play.”
Loki leaned over the bar. “Can I have a drink?” he shouted over the music.
Darcy narrowed her eyes – wrapped in dark, smudged eyeliner – at him. “Is Thor
okay with you drinking?”
“No,” he replied with a grin.
Darcy's eyes narrowed further, ignoring someone shouting a drink order at her
and asked, “you won't tell him I was the one that gave you booze?”
“Course not.”
Darcy smirked. “Pick your poison, my rebellious little friend.”
                                      ---
Loki stumbled through the packed hallways for excruciating minutes in attempt
to find a bathroom before giving up and going outside, walking to the deserted
side of the building, a small patch of overgrown grass cluttered with beer
bottles and cans. He sighed, leaning heavily against the wall as he emptied his
bladder.
“-Really? Him? You know there are a million chicks here tonight, right?”
“A mouth's a mouth, bro. And that Loki guy seems pretty easy.”
Loki peeked around the corner, recognizing both guys as prospects from the club
as they walked out the same door Loki had. The blondish one – Ronald? Something
like that – he vaguely remembered meeting.
“I don't know – Ain't he like, Thor's property or somethin'? I don't think I'd
fuck around with him.” said the other, scratching at his frizzy brown hair and
sliding his hand over a fresh, blob-y tattoo on the side of his neck.
Ronald – Roald? Roald! Roald scoffed, “so? That guy's an asshole.”
The other one laughed. “You've got a fuckin' death wish, dude.”
Loki's mouth twisted in to a snarl. He tucked himself back into his pants and
walked as steadily as he could from behind the corner, following a little
farther behind the two.
“Hey!” he called out a few moments later, running up to them. They both stopped
and turned. Loki skidded to a stop, swaying on his feet. He let out a
breathless laugh. “Finally, people I recognize.”
“Hey Loki,” Roald said with a lecherous grin, the other prospect sighing
softly.
Loki smiled as though he hadn't noticed either of those things. “The bar is
fucking swamped in there, do you guys know if there's anywhere else to get a
drink?”
“Oh yeah, there's some coolers by the bonfire. Me and Max were just heading
over there.”
“I'm going to head back inside, actually,” Max said, rubbing at his tattoo
again as he began walking back to the clubhouse. “Good luck,” he whispered just
loud enough for them to hear.
“Guess it's just the two of us, then,” Roald said with a shrug of his shoulder.
Loki let out squeaky laugh. “Lead the way.”
He walked unsteadily(which was only partly him faking it), bumping in to some
cars here and there and letting out a forced laugh every time, until Roald put
an arm around him and steadied him on the rest of the walk to the bonfire. Five
coolers were lined up side-by-side, lids flung open to reveal bottles and cans
packed around with melting ice.
“What do you want?”
“Whatever's good.”
Roald laughed as he bent over and grabbed a couple of bottles, handing one to
Loki before they sat on the ground somewhere a little further off.
Loki took a slow slip from his bottle, looking out the corner of his eye at
Roald, dragging his gaze up and down.
“Yeah?” Roald asked, eyebrow raised.
“Nothing,” Loki said, “I just really like the whole leather and... badness
thing going on here tonight, I guess.”
“Oh yeah?”
Loki hummed rolling on to his belly. “Yeah. Thor's so boring, honestly.”
Roald let out a derisive laugh, taking a sip of his drink. “Yeah, I hear all
these stories about how wild he used to be – but I don't believe it. Guy seems
like he's always had a stick up his ass.”
Loki laughed too loudly.
“Why you with him, anyways?”
“I'm not with him like that.” Loki shrugged. “But it's better than living on
the streets, I guess.”
Roald hummed and nodded. Loki drained the rest of his drink, the warm, fuzzy
buzz of alcohol rushing through his limbs. He waved the bottle as he rolled and
sat back up.
“Get me another?” he asked sweetly.
Roald hopped up and Loki tossed the bottle away. He caught sight of Sif sitting
beside Volstagg and Hogun on some lawn chairs, possibly watching him. Roald
came back, handing a fresh bottle to Loki before sitting back down. Closer.
Loki sighed as raised his arms above his head and stretched, his back arching.
Roald's eyes dragged over Loki. “Tired already?”
Loki laughed softly as he relaxed, taking a sip from his beer. “Not at all... A
little bored though.”
“You wanna dance?” Roald said, nodding his head towards a pair of strippers
gyrating against each other by the fire.
Loki scrunched his nose and shook his head. “I don't have the tits for that,”
he said with a wave of his hand. Roald let out a bark of laughter.
Loki leaned in, holding the mouth of the bottle to his lips as he added, “don't
really need them for what I'm good at, though.” He swigged his beer again,
watching through his lashes as Roald licked his own.
Loki smirked as he pulled the bottle away. “I mean, a mouth's a mouth, right?”
An odd look passed over Roald's face before he let out another laugh. “Yeah,
man.”
“Can we go somewhere more private?”
Roald's eyes darted around for a moment before saying, “yeah, come on.”
He grabbed Loki's wrist and pulled him up, leading him farther back to the edge
of the lot. It was lined with trees and shrubs, far enough from the bonfire to
only be lit with the eerie glow from the moon. Loki glanced back over his
shoulder just in time to see Sif standing from her chair. He lurched as the toe
of his boot snagged on a half buried rock, yelping as he fell into Roald's back
and dropped his beer. Roald yanked him back up and kept dragging him along.
Loki stumbled over more rocks and branches as they walked a few feet into the
trees. Maybe he had had a few too many shots with Darcy. He yanked on Roald's
jacket, pulling him over to one of the trees towards the front, and pushed him
against it. Loki pressed against him, leaning in, their lips nearly brushing
before Roald shoved him back.
“A mouth's a mouth, but I ain't fucking kissing you.”
“Fine,” Loki snapped, “don't need to get all fucking pissy about it.”
Roald just grunted and grabbed Loki's shoulders, forcing him to his knees.
Ow. “So rough.”
“Just fucking start sucking. Jesus-”
“Impatient too,” Loki said, clicking his tongue as he worked the fly of Roald's
jeans open, his uncoordinated fingers fumbling with it. “No wonder you could
only get me to suck your cock.”
“Huh?”
“I seemed pretty easy, right? And look at me now,” he said with a laugh as he
ripped open the zipper to Roald's jeans.
Loki sputtered as his head was wrenched back, pinpricks of pain shooting from
his scalp where Roald had a hand twisted in his hair.
“The fuck are you trying to pull?”
“Just trying to have a little fun – Ah!,” Loki hissed as Roald pulled his head
farther back.
“Loki!?”
“Thor!” Loki cried, making his voice sound pained.
Roald glared down at him, his jaw clenched as he spoke. “You set me up you
piece of shit faggot-”
Thor came stomping up just then, his hands curling into fists as he looked from
Loki to Roald, time seeming to freeze in that moment. Loki could swear that
Thor's eyes were lit with rage. It sent a shudder down his spine, a tiny sigh
passing through his lips. A growl rumbled from deep in Thor's chest as he
stomped over, dead branches snapping like bones under his boots. Roald finally
let go of Loki's hair, his hands flying up defensively as he tried to back away
from Thor. Loki crawled back as Thor stepped closer.
“I- I thought- He fucking-”
Thor swung, his fist meeting smack dab in the middle of Roald's face. He hit
him twice more, once in the gut and then in the jaw, before pulling back. His
whole body vibrated with tension as Roald slid down the trunk of the tree in a
daze.
Loki had never been more turned on in his life. He couldn't force the grin from
his face as he watched Thor, chest heaving, as he stared down at Roald.
“I'll fucking kill you,” was all Thor said, voice deep and gravelly. Roald
twitched and whimpered.
Thor turned to him, eyes narrowing, and grunted as he bent down and yanked Loki
up by the arm. He stumbled as Thor dragged him back through the lot again.
“You're drunk,” Thor growled.
“That guy was calling you an asshole.”
Thor stopped and turned to look at him. “The fuck did you do?”
Loki shrugged. “I heard him talking to one of the other guys about getting a
blowjob from me and – I don't know...”
Thor sighed and started walking again. “We're going home.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“I'm fucking pissed, kid.”
Loki shrunk back, his throat going tight as he let Thor haul him back to the
bike. Silently, he shoved the helmet on to Loki's head and climbed on, starting
it up with a roar.
“Get the fuck on.”
Loki did, sniffling inside the helmet as he gripped Thor's waist. The ride was
short and tense. Loki pulled off the helmet as soon as they had parked in the
driveway, clutching it to his chest as he followed Thor in the house.
“Get changed and go to fucking bed,” Thor commanded, jabbing his finger towards
the door.
Loki nodded even though Thor had his back turned to him, shuffling into the
other room. He dropped the helmet and shut the door, peeling off his tank top
as he tried to hold back his tears. He fumbled with his jeans as he went to sit
on the bed, missing it and landing hard on the floor. He couldn't hold back the
tears after that, curling up and weeping on to his knees.
He hates me. I ruined it.
He had to do something.
He wiped his face roughly with his hand and stood on wobbly legs. He shoved his
pants down his legs, nearly tripping as he kicked them off , leaving him in
nothing but in a pair of green briefs. He went to the closet and dug out the
heels. He sat down on the floor and pulled them on, clinging on to the doorjamb
as he stood back up. He barely made it to the door without falling, swinging it
open.
Thor was on the couch, flipping through the tv channels with an scowl. His eyes
went wide when he looked over at Loki.
“What the fuck are you doing,” he groaned, rubbing a hand over his eyes.
“I wanna fix your birthday.” Loki took a chance and stepped forward, wobbling a
bit, but managing to stay steady enough.
“Loki, go to fucking bed.”
“No wait-” Loki took another step, then another, his ankle giving out on him.
He collapsed to the floor with a chorus of thumps, a sob escaping his throat
before he could contain it.
“Shit.” Thor huffed and got up from the couch, pulling Loki up from the floor.
He wrapped an arm around Loki's waist, half-carrying him back in to the
bedroom.
He dropped Loki on to the bed and knelt down to pull the heels off before
manhandling Loki under the covers. Loki hiccuped, reaching out to grab Thor's
forearm as he turned to leave.
Loki swallowed around the lump in his throat, his voice coming out small and
meek when he asked, “do y-you hate me?”
Thor's face softened. He sat on the edge of the bed and ran his hand through
Loki's hair. “Of course I don't hate you... But why did you do that?”
“He pissed me off.”
Thor let out a heavy sigh. “And what were you going to do if I hadn't had
come?”
Loki shrugged a shoulder, picking at a loose thread on the comforter. “Bite his
dick off or something.”
Thor laughed, burying his face in his hands and shaking his head. “Goddammit
kid.”
Loki stayed quiet, watching Thor as he dragged his hands down his face and
exhaled slowly.
“Don't fucking pull that kind of shit Loki, that's the kind of thing that gets
you killed.”
“I liked seeing you hit him.”
“I think it's time for you to sleep.” Thor moved to stand, but Loki caught his
arm again.
“Can't you sleep with me? I don't like sleeping without you.”
Thor stared down at him for a moment before sighing again, sitting back down to
pull off his boots. He climbed behind Loki, stretching out on top of the
blankets, and wrapped his arms around Loki as he turned over. Loki hummed as
Thor hugged him to his chest, his head tucked under Thor's chin and arms curled
between their bodies. He inhaled deeply, filling his head with the smell of
Thor's cologne, his eyelids getting heavy.
“Loki?”
“Hm?”
“What's with the heels?”
“I dunno... I juss... Do you like them?”
“Do you like them? Or do you like them because you think I like them?”
Loki scrunched his eyebrows. “What?”
“Whatever, just go to sleep.”
Loki nodded against Thor's chest and did just that.
                                      ---
Loki woke with a headache and an urgent need to piss. Groaning, he rolled out
of bed and hobbled to the bathroom, wincing when he flicked the light on. He
pressed his head to the wall above the toilet, sighing in relief as his bladder
emptied. He flushed and shut the light off before walking back into the
bedroom, his eyes went wide at the sight of his heels laying haphazardly on the
floor. He scrambled to pick them up and toss them back into the closet, cursing
himself as he pulled on a pair of Thor's sweatpants and a t-shirt. He squinted
as he walked through the living room to the dining room, all bright and sunny
and fucking awful.
Thor poked his head out from the kitchen with a broad grin.
“Good morning!”
Loki groaned and flopped into one of the seats at the table, burying his face
in the crook of his arm.
“Breakfast's gonna be done in a couple minutes. Need some water?”
“Please,” Loki said, voice muffled.
Thor chuckled. A glass was set down in front of him moments later. He looked
up, Thor was holding a couple of tylenols in his palm. When he reached for
them, Thor pulled his hand back.
“Next time I tell you no drinking, you won't drink, right?”
“Yeah fine just give me the goddamn pills.”
Thor chuckled and handed them over, walking back to the kitchen.
Loki moaned when Thor set down a plate piled with pancakes and sausage,
snatching the plastic bottle of syrup dousing everything with it. Thor laughed
as he sat down with a plate of his own, patiently waiting for Loki to finish
before taking the bottle.
The comfortable silence they'd been eating in was broken by a soft know on the
door. Thor got up and went to answer. One of his neighbors was at the door, an
envelope in her hand.
“I think it blew into my yard or something,” the woman said with a shrug.
“Thanks,” Thor said softly, giving the young woman a friendly smile before she
turned away. He examined it as he shut the door. Loki walked over, hugging his
arms around himself. It was an envelope for a card, big and and bright blue
with “THOR” written in black marker. Thor opened it cautiously, sparing a
glance at Loki as he did. Thor tugged the card out, the words “Happy Birthday”
spelled out in white bubble letters and surrounded by colorful balloons. Thor
sighed and opened it. Loki stepped beside him, reading it around his shoulder.
Had fun at the party last night. Did you see me? I saw you. All of you.
Thor snarled and crushed the card in his hands, tossing violently across the
room.
“Was that from the van guy?”
“Yeah,” Thor said through gritted teeth.
***** Chapter 10 *****
Thor stared at the wrinkled birthday card in the middle of the table, his face
contorted into a scowl. Thor had called for the meeting as soon as he had
calmed down a little. Everyone showed signs of still being hungover from the
night before, making the room more subdued than it should be.
Thor glanced over to where the prospects stood at the back of the room. Roald
flinched and looked away when their eyes met, he had his swollen nose bandaged
and purple-black bruises along his jaw and in the corners of his eyes. Seeing
Loki on the ground with his head wrenched back and Roald looming over him, the
fear(whether it had been fake or not) in his eyes, had sent Thor into a rage he
hadn't felt since he'd first spotted Loki months ago. Thor curled his fists
tighter under the table, satisfaction twisting around in his belly. He would
never admit it aloud, especially not to Loki, but he kind of enjoyed the awe-
filled look Loki had given him after he'd put Roald on the ground. Realizing
that Loki had gotten drunk and put himself in danger on purpose had only killed
that enjoyment a little.
“He could be bluffing,” Sif suggested, her voice soft. “He didn't say anything
specific about what he saw.”
“He's trying to get us riled up,” Hogun added.
Odin gave a slow nod of his head. “We need to end this before he escalates, but
we need to tread carefully,” he said, giving a pointed look at Thor. Thor
sighed, forcing himself to relax.
“We are going to to sweep this town from end to end,” Odin continued, voice
calm but full of authority, “I don't want a single alley or abandoned building
ignored – I want to catch this guy off guard. And when you do catch him, don't
let him go.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
                                      ---
Thor sat on his bike in the parking lot beside Heimdall, who pulled one last
drag off his cigarette before tossing the butt to the ground and grinding it
under his boot.
“Who are we taking with us?” Thor asked as Hogun and Sif peeled out of the lot.
He was itching to move.
“Roald,” Heimdall answered. He chuckled at the glare that formed on Thor's
face.
“I think he learned his lesson, so try to play nice. We have a long goddamn day
ahead of us.”
Thor huffed, shifting on the seat of his bike and crossing his arms. “Well, he
better hurry the fuck up.”
Roald showed up a minute later with a few others, looking skittish as he
mounted his own bike, a dented white roadster smudged with dirt, and puttered
over to them. He stayed on the other side of Heimdall.
“Where are we heading?” Heimdall asked.
Thor rolled his shoulders, sitting up. “Sif and Fandral are starting on Silent
Crow Rd. so I figured we'd start on the highway and work in until we meet in
the middle. There's a few abandoned farms out there we should take a look at
first.”
Heimdall nodded slowly. “Sounds good.”
They both shot a look to Roald. “Yeah, good.”
Heimdall started his motorcycle, the rumble rattling inside Thor's chest. Thor
inhaled deeply, the smell of fresh air and gasoline calming him somewhat.
“Lets get this party started then.”
                                      ---
Thor came home at two in the morning to find Loki on the couch, flicking
through the channels in the dark.
“Hey... Couldn't sleep?”
Loki's shoulder twitched. “Kinda.”
Thor yawned as he slipped off his jacket and hung it up, toeing off his boots
next. “Coming to bed with me?”
“Sure.” Loki turned the tv off, plunging the room in darkness and they made
their way in to the bedroom. Thor stripped off his jeans and shirt while Loki
crawled into bed, humming softly when Thor slid in beside him. He laid on his
belly, head turned towards Loki, who was tracing circles on Thor's shoulder
with a fingertip.
Thor had begun dozing off when he heard Loki whisper, “why won't you fuck me?”
Thor's eyes blinked wide open at the softly spoken question. “What?”
Loki's finger didn't stop tracing circles, his shadowy eyes flicking up at
Thor's face. “We both want it, right?”
“Loki, you're seventeen,” Thor said with a breathless laugh, knocking Loki's
hand away. He rolled to his side and sat up to turn on the lamp.
Loki sat up on his elbow, chin resting in his hand, and shrugged. “So?”
“First of all, it's illegal-”
Loki smirked at him and Thor added, “I have my limits.”
“The other guys didn't care,” Loki protested, smirking still.
Thor sighed, shutting his eyes tightly and pressing his fingertips against
them. “You're a teenager.”
“So what!?” Loki snapped back, “teenagers have sex.”
Thor clenched his jaw, his voice going tight. “They do. They fool around with
each other in their bedrooms and in the backseats of their cars. They don't let
grown men fuck them for twenty bucks and a ride to the next bus stop.”
Loki reeled back, blinking rapidly up at Thor before rolling out of bed and
stomping out of the room. Thor fell back with a groan, lying there for a couple
minutes before getting up and following Loki. He found him standing in the
middle of the backyard, arms wound tightly around himself as he stared at the
ground.
“So it's because I've slept with other guys for money,” Loki said as Thor
walked up behind him, his voice wobbling slightly.
“No,” Thor exhaled and hugged Loki to his chest, pressing his cheek to the back
of Loki's head. The shaved ends of his hair felt soft against his face. “I
didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then what the fuck did you mean?” Loki hissed, fingers clawing into the skin
of his arms.
Thor pulled back and turned Loki around to face him, his hands kneading gently
into Loki's narrow shoulders as he tried put his feelings into the right words.
Loki watched him as he waited, eyes wet and shining, wringing his hands between
them.
“I've met those kinds of guys, Loki. They're sleazy pieces of shit who take
advantage of desperate kids-”
Loki opened his mouth to protest and Thor tightened his grip on his shoulders.
“Be honest: Would you have slept with any of them if you hadn't absolutely
needed to?”
Loki's mouth snapped shut.
Thor continued, easing his grip. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to do
those things to stay here with me- I just... don't want to be one of them.”
“You aren't,” Loki blurted out, looking at Thor like he was crazy.  “You're so
much better than them... You're better than everyone.”
Thor let out a halfhearted laugh, pulling Loki to his chest again and nuzzling
his face into Loki's hair. “I'm not too sure about that.”
“You are,” Loki whispered, hugging Thor tightly around his waist.
Thor let out a resigned sigh, giving Loki a tight squeeze before pulling back,
his hand moving to gently clasp around Loki's wrist and began to lead him back
in the house. “Come on, lets get inside before we're completely eaten up by
mosquitoes.”
Loki wriggled his wrist out of Thor's grasp only to grab his hand, weaving
their fingers together as they made their way to the bedroom. Loki climbed in
to bed as Thor stood at the other side, their conversation making the long-
simmering guilt he'd felt about how much he enjoyed sleeping beside Loki nearly
overwhelming.
“I should probably sleep on the couch, actually.”
Loki sat up, brow knotted up in worry. “Why?”
“We shouldn't have been sleeping in the same bed in the first place and it's-”
“But I like it.”
“I do too, and that's why it's such a bad idea.”
Loki looked away with a sniff, dragging his hand over his pillow, smoothing out
the wrinkles on the pillowcase. Thor sighed, grabbing one of his pillows and
quickly walking out before his resolve crumbled. He shut the door behind
himself with soft click. He dragged himself through the inky darkness of the
living room to flop on to the couch, his limbs heavy and chest aching. The ache
sharpened as he heard a muffled sob from the bedroom.
He never would have thought trying to be a decent person could make him feel
like such a fucking asshole.
                                      ---
Thor stared mindlessly at the barred up windows of a pawn shop as he sat in the
parking lot of Pat's Diner. Sif and Tyr were inside the weathered building,
asking questions to see if they've noticed anyone new or suspicious hanging
around this part of town. He felt like shit.
When he'd gone to check on Loki earlier that morning he'd found the bedroom
door locked. Loki didn't respond until Thor had gotten annoyed and snapped at
him about needing to get dressed. Loki continued to ignore him after opening
the door, acting like Thor wasn't even there for most of the morning.
Maybe that should've made Thor feel better, somehow. Instead, it just left him
feeling a little heartbroken and headache-y.
Thor's phone rang in his pocket, forcing him out of his gloomy thoughts. He
rubbed his eyes roughly under his sunglasses as he answered his phone. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Steve said on the other end of the line, “so, that van you told me a
bout a while ago. What did you say it looked like?”
“Dark blue, tinted windows, kinda old. What is it?”
“Well, it's just that I'm answering a weird call and I think you might be
interested at taking a look at this van I got parked in the middle of this
goddamn cornfield.”
Thor sat up on the seat of his bike. “Where you at?”
“Along highway 47, at the farm with the 'hell is real' sign in front of it,”
Steve said, the sound of wind whistling through the phone's receiver.
“I'll be there in a few minutes.” He shot a message to Sif and Tyr before
speeding off.
He drove down the highway until he spotted the sign and Steve's cruiser parked
on the shoulder. The owner of the farm stood along the edge of the field, the
creases on his face deepening as Thor pulled up.
“The hell you doing here?” the farmer asked, voice just as craggy as his face.
“Didn't ask any'a you assholes to come sniffin around.”
Thor gave the man a polite smile and a nod of his head. “Good morning to you
too.”
“Fuck off,” the man grumbled.
Thor laughed quietly to himself, walking in to the field where the knee-high
corn stalks had been smashed down into a wide path. And there it was.
The van sat there silently. Just as ominous as it had always been. Steve had
his face pressed to the window on the passenger's side door, hands cupped
around his face and arms fanned out wide so the short sleeves of his navy
uniform pulled even tighter around his shoulders.
Thor kicked at the rusted bumper as he came up to it, startling his friend.
“Jesus,” Steve hissed as he jumped back, clutching his chest with one hand.
“Sorry,” Thor said with a chuckle.
“Is this it?”
Thor sighed, walking around the van once, tapping his knuckles along. “I think
this is it.”
“Well, it's creepy as fuck... or maybe it's just the hell sign,” Steve said,
jerking his thumb back towards the decrepit looking farmhouse the sign sitting
in it's front lawn, it's black paint faded and running down the rest of the
white billboard. Hell is real.
“I think it's a little bit of both.”
“You want me to unlock it for you?”
“Yeah, that'd be great.”
Thor investigated a little more as Steve walked back to his cruiser, pressing
his own face to the glass to try and get a look inside. Nothing seemed too
suspicious, just a few food wrappers here and there, maybe there was a receipt
or two they could possibly use...
Thor was still unsettled by it, getting the feeling of eyes on him. He
scratched a phantom itch on the back of his neck and looked around. There was
nothing but corn and blue sky all around him, the next farmhouse far down the
road. Steve jogged back up to him, slim jim in hand.
“I think I'll do it,” Thor said. He held out his hand and Steve slapped it into
his palm. Thor slipped the metal bar between the tinted glass and peeling
weather strip. Glancing over at his friend, he felt more worry creep up his
spine. “You wanna step back a bit?”
Steve gave him a look but stepped back. “Aw man. You're not gonna have me tell
your mom if you get blown up, are you?”
Thor laughed and waggled the bar around, his other hand on the door handle. “If
I'm not mistaken, you sound afraid of my mom.”
“I'm ninety percent sure she can rip my balls off, and I just don't wanna give
her an opportunity and find out.”
Thor shook his head and pulled up, the lock clicking. Thor pulled the slim jim
from the window and hesitated for a moment, shoulders tensing.
The door opened with a click. Thor pulled it open cautiously, not knowing what
exactly this guy's skills or goals were. The tension seemed to grow further
even as nothing happened, his hand gripping tight on the door as he peeked
inside. Steve came up beside him, looking in over his shoulder.
Thor sighed and climbed inside when there wasn't any explosions. There was
nothing but crap in here, he thought as he kicked at food wrappers with the toe
of his boot. He climbed in to the back, squinting at something on the dark
floor. A shoebox. He grabbed it and opened the back doors of the van for more
light.
Steve walked around to the back and sat beside him. “Careful with that thing.”
Thor narrowed his eyes, recognizing the brand on the box and flipped it open.
Inside was a pile of glossy photos, pictures taken at Thor's birthday party.
He'd gotten shots of everyone in the club, save for his dad who'd stayed at
home.
He felt a chill when he came upon pictures of Loki. They were taken much closer
than any of the others. One was taken just a few feet away from him – with a
shot glass to his lips and his head tipped back, and another with him and Darcy
laughing at either side of the bar.
“Hey, isn't he only seventeen?”
Thor gave Steve a flat look.
Steve shook his his head. “Yeah, probably not important right now.”
Thor looked back in the box, digging around and finding another one. Loki was
looking into the camera in this one, with a big smile and rosy cheeks.
He had talked to Loki. He'd been near him.
“Thor,” Steve said, voice stern and grip firm on his arm.
Thor took a deep breath, dropping the photos back into the box and shutting it.
“So, this is definitely the van.”
“Yeah,” Thor breathed, nodding his head.
“I gotta make a report and call someone to get it towed.”
“Go ahead, I think this all I'm gonna get out of this.”
Steve nodded and clapped him on the shoulder before standing up, walking back
to the road and leaving Thor alone again. Thor took another breath before
pulling his phone out of his pocket and calling Odin.
“Well, he wasn't bluffing about being at the party. And I don't think we're
gonna be looking for a van anymore.”
***** Chapter 11 *****
Loki marched into the bedroom, shutting and locking the door, as soon as he
heard the faint rumble of Thor's motorcycle coming down the street. It was only
early in the afternoon and while that did make Loki curious about why Thor home
was so early, he was still pissed about last night.
He lay down on the bed and waited for the telltale clomp of his boots. They
came moments after the the engine cut off, and headed right to the bedroom.
Thor jiggled the doorknob, letting out a frustrated growl. That was satisfying.
“Open the goddamn door,” Thor barked, voice muffled.
Loki lay there silently, staring at the ceiling, hands rested on his chest.
Thor banged on the door loud enough to make Loki flinch. “Now, Loki.”
Loki scowled, but got up anyways, taking his time to get to the door and open
it. His dark look matched the one on Thor's.
Then, Thor sighed, expression falling as he sagged against the threshold.
“Look, I know you hate me right now-”
Loki clenched his hands as he fought back the urge to protest that.
“-But do you remember who took this picture of you?” Thor finished, pulling a
photo from a pocket of his jacket and holding it up. Loki blinked at the
picture of his own face and looked back to Thor.
“Found the van this morning and it had a box of pictures taken at the party in
it. You were the only one he got this close too.”
Loki looked back to the picture, eyebrows furrowing. “I don't remember.”
Thor sighed again, “can you try to.”
Loki snatched the picture out of Thor's hand and walked back to the bed,
sitting down and looking down at it. Thor sat down beside him, leaning forward
to rest his elbows on his spread thighs.
“Can you remember anything about him? Maybe something about him that looked out
of place?”
Loki said flatly, “the place was filled with guys wearing leather in ninety
degree weather and strippers doing body shots off each other. Everyone looked
out of place.”
Thor grumbled, “how about his face? Did he give you a name? Something.”
Loki stared at the picture for a few minutes, his mind blank. “I... I don't
know.”
Thor's head dropped down with a huff. Loki suddenly felt small and useless, his
simmering anger cooling off.
“Sorry,” he said, sounding meek in his own ears.
“It's okay,” Thor said softly, “I didn't really expect you to remember.” He sat
up and pulled the picture out of Loki's hands, looking down at it. Loki watched
as Thor's thumb traced the glossy photo along his jawline, wanting to reach
over and pull Thor's hand over so he could do that to his actual face.
“I hate that he got so close to you.”
Loki wasn't sure what to say to that, so he stayed quiet. He watched Thor's
face, a few lines creased his forehead and his eyes going distant as he got
lost in his thoughts.
“I don't hate you,” Loki said a few minutes later, just to break the silence.
Thor looked over at him, a soft smile curving his lips. He reached over,
clasping the back of Loki's neck, and pulled Loki to his side. Loki practically
melted against Thor, wrapping his arms around his waist and tucking his face
into the crook of Thor's neck. He inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of sweat
and leather, and suppressed a groan.
“Glad to hear that,” he said as he gave Loki a hard squeeze before releasing
him. Loki pulled back reluctantly. He curled his hands in his lap and watched
as Thor tossed the photo on to the nightstand before standing up.
“You have to go again?”
“Yeah,” Thor said, “I'll probably be back late again, but mom should be over
here in a bit.”
“Okay,” Loki replied, nearly purring when Thor raked a hand through his hair.
His fingers grazed Loki's jaw as his hand dropped away, an ache for more
climbing up Loki's chest. There was an long moment of silence as Thor stood
there, feet seemingly glued to the floor, before he stepped away without
another word.
                                      ---
Loki flipped on to his belly with an annoyed huff, the bed feeling cold and
empty without Thor in it with him. He lay there and listened to the faint sound
of the tv in the living room for a few minutes .
Pushing himself up on to his elbow, he turned the bedside lamp on, blinking
rapidly as his eyes adjusted. His eyes fell on to the photo of himself as it
glinted in the yellow light. He picked it up. He had to remember something.
Loki sighed, the hand with the picture in it flopping off the side of the bed
as he collapsed back down.
He remembered drinking with Darcy, vaguely. A few people had come up to talk to
him and some woman had come up and squashed her breasts against him at some
point – he remembered that.
He lifted his hand to look at the photo again, flipping it around to look a the
brand printed in light gray on the back.
He shot up.
Tossing the photo aside, he climbed out of bed and stumbled out in to the
living room where Thor was slouched on the couch. He blinked at Loki in
surprise as he stood in the doorway.
“I think I remember him.”
“Yeah?” Thor sat up.
Loki nodded and sat on the couch beside him. “He came up and asked me for my
name and if he could take a picture. I remembered thinking it was kinda weird
that he had a disposable camera, but I said sure. He kinda mumbled something
else as he took it and then just... walked away.”
“What did he look like?”
Loki looked away from Thor, biting his lip, feeling himself deflate before he
even spoke. “He was wearing sunglasses and had his hoodie pulled up, so I
couldn't really see much.” God, none of this was fucking helpful.
Thor reached out and gently grasped his chin, forcing him to look back. “That's
fine. Do you maybe remember how tall he was at least?”
“He was a little taller than me I think.”
Thor gave him a reassuring smile, his face taking on a blue tinge in the light
of the TV, and squeezed Loki's shoulder. “Good. That's better than nothing.”
Loki gave Thor a flickering smile back, his shoulders sagging. Thankfully, Thor
pulled him into a tight hug, his hand sliding soothingly up and down Loki's
spine. Loki relaxed against him, letting his eyes slip closed as an infomercial
played softly. He sat up when he remembered something else, the image of his
face suddenly clear in his mind.
“He had a scar.”
Thor's eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“I think he had a scar on his cheek.”
“What'd it look like?”
“It was a big line,” Loki said, drawing an invisible diagonal line with his
fingertip from his cheekbone to his jaw.
Thor nodded, smiling a bit more broadly. “That's great, Loki. Thank you,” Thor
said, hugging Loki close again.
                                      ---
Loki sat up and looked out the window as soon as he heard the rumbling of two
engines, couch squeaking under him.
“They must've decided to take a break,” Frigga murmured, flipping another page
in her book as she sat in the tan recliner set a few feet away.
Loki rested his chin on the back of the couch, ignoring the book in his hand to
watch Thor and Odin pull into the long driveway, a cloud of dust from the
gravel kicking up from the tires. He looked back down at the book as soon when
they had parked, his eyes scanning over the words without actually registering.
Loki gave up and closed the book as they stepped inside. Both of them looked
grim.
“No luck?” Frigga asked with a sympathetic look, her voice soft.
Odin shot a look at Loki that made him want to cower. He said nothing as he
stomped off down the narrow hall that lead to his office.
Thor glared at the back of Odin's head, his jaw clenched. “No,” he answered
gruffly after the door to Odin's office slammed shut.
Frigga shifted in her seat and hummed quietly, tapping her fingers on the book
in her lap.
Thor sighed, his shoulders slumping, saying to Loki, “we should probably head
off.”
Loki nodded and shut his book. Frigga stood and went to Thor as he got up to
put his back on the shelf.
“Is everything all right?” she whispered, tucking a lock of hair that escaped
his ponytail behind his ear and brushing invisible dirt from Thor's shoulder.
“Did you guys have a fight?”
“You know how we get,” Thor said, giving her a reassuring smile. “It's fine.”
Frigga's smile was tight as Loki walked up.
The grin Thor forced on to his face didn't quite reach his eyes. “Wanna go get
lunch?”
Loki gave a small shrug of his shoulders, the sudden tension in the house
making him itch.
“You two be safe,” Frigga said, her smile turning more genuine.
“We will,” Thor said, giving her a quick kiss on the temple.
Frigga relaxed a little, patting them both on the arm. “I'll see you two
tomorrow then.”
They both nodded and made their way out the door, not before Thor snagged the
helmet off the coat hooks and handed it to Loki. The day was hot and muggy, the
sun burning hot in the cloudless sky and Loki began to sweat as soon as they
had stepped outside.
Loki looked down at the helmet, the glare from the sun making his eyes sting.
“Was it about me?”
“Huh?”
“The fight,” Loki said, looking back up at Thor. “Was about me?”
Thor sighed heavily, draping one of his arms over Loki's shoulders as they came
up to his bike. “You don't need to worry about it, okay?”
Loki frowned. “Okay.”
Thor smiled and clapped Loki's shoulder before climbing on. “Good, now let's
get lunch. I'm fucking starving.”
                                      ---
This place had their AC cranked way too high, Loki thought with a shiver. He
swung his hips from side to side, the retro looking chrome stool sliding
silently under him. The chatter and clinking from the other costumers almost
completely blocked the music that played from a couple of speakers tucked high
in to the corners of the restaurant. It sounded a bit twangy though, so Loki
guessed it must be country music. Thor sat beside him, taking another sip of
coffee before pulling out his wallet to pay for the food. They had stacked
their empty plates and utensils between them and a waitress, a young woman with
her hair pulled into a tight bun and stained polo, scooped them up as she
whizzed past them.
Loki gazed at the license plates and other random knick-knacks that lined the
walls of the diner they had lunch at, looking over his shoulder to glance out
the large windows to see clusters of people walking past and cars driving
slowly down the tight road. Free milkshakes for children under twelve was
painted on the glass in blue and yellow. Thor's bike was parked along the curb
in front, the helmet perched on the seat.
“We really need to get groceries,” Thor mumbled. “But I don't want to have to
go all the way back home and get my truck just to drive back to town.”
Loki looked back at Thor and shrugged. “Lets just order pizza tonight.”
Thor chuckled. “We just had pizza the other night.”
Loki scoffed. “So?”
“I'm thirty,” Thor deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at Loki. “I can't just have
pizza for dinner every night like some of us.” Thor accentuated his point with
a hard flick to Loki's flat belly.
Loki laughed and swatted Thor's arm before they fell back into silence. Thor
cleared his throat a minute later and pushed his half full cup of coffee away
as Loki continued to reading the license plates.
Loki jolted when Thor laid his hand on Loki's waist. He looked at Thor in
confusion, which only deepened at the tight expression he wore.
“When I say three,” he started to say without even looking at Loki, his voice
so low Loki was tempted to lean in to hear him better. “I need you to get on
floor. Don't hesitate and don't get up until I tell you. Understand?” He gave
Loki's waist a small squeeze a second later when he didn't respond.
Loki felt his body go tight with fear, only able to give Thor a small nod to
let him know he understood. Thor breathed slowly, letting go of Loki's waist
and pocketing his wallet on the wrong side.
“One-”
Loki swallowed, his fingers gripping the edge of the counter.
“Two-”
Thor cocked his gun, the click cutting through Loki's mind like a knife.
“Three.”
Loki dropped to the floor while Thor stood and began firing. Loki clapped his
hands over his ears, the deafening shots making his ears ring. His legs curled
up to his chest automatically, compacting his body as much as he could manage.
People screamed, broken glass crunching under their feet as they scrambled for
somewhere to hide. Loki clamped his eyes shut, his heart thumping so hard he
felt his pulse in his toes. He could barely hear other people's distressed
cries over his shuddering breaths.
The gunshots had stopped almost as soon as they had began, but minutes had
passed before Loki could manage to pry open his eyes again, and then all he
could do was gape at the eerie stillness of the ruined diner. A few people ran,
few were on their phones, looking past him.
Loki twisted around. His heart stopped when he saw Thor on the ground.
“Thor!?” His limbs felt weak, his whole body trembling as he crawled to Thor.
“Loki,” Thor grunted, grabbing his arm as soon as he was close enough. “Are you
all right?”
Loki's attention was caught on the bloodstain growing on his white t-shirt. His
skin went cold at the sight. “You're bleeding,” he rasped, pulling the corner
of Thor's leather jacket away to reveal a small, round gunshot wound towards
the side of his stomach.
Thor panted, “I'm okay.” He squeezed Loki's arm. “It's okay.”
Loki's throat went tight, his vision blurring. Thor squeezed his arm again.
“It's okay.”
Loki shook his head, a small sob escaping his throat. He dimly registered the
sirens approaching as his gaze fell back to the gunshot. Thor reached up
higher, his hand landing heavily on the nape of Loki's neck, pulling his focus
upwards.
“When the cops get here find Steve. He'll take care of you. Okay?”
“Okay,” he whispered.
Thor gave him a feeble smile and let his hand fall from Loki's neck. “I think I
might pass out.”
“Don't!” Loki's voice cracked, his hands shaking as he held them over Thor's
chest. He had no idea what to do. He looked around just in time to see an
ambulance pull up, a couple of cop cars following soon after. He looked back
down to Thor, his face contorted in pain, before the paramedics came rushing in
and he was forced to back away.
People had begun to collect around the diner to see what had happened, the cops
doing their best to keep people out of the way. In the chaos of it Loki managed
to slip out of the diner, scanning the growing crowd until he spotted a
familiar face stepping from a cruiser.
Steve stood in the open door of his car as he watched Thor get carted to the
ambulance, his lips pulled in to a tight line.
“Steve?” Loki said shakily as he walked up to the other side of the car,
weaving through people and wringing his hands.
Steve's head whipped around at the sound of his name, his eyes going a little
wide at the sight of him. They both looked back to the ambulance as the doors
were slammed shut.  It was speeding off moments later, sirens blaring. Loki
felt himself on the verge of tears again, his hands curling into fists.
“You're bleeding,” Steve said softly as he walked around his cruiser. Loki
looked down and saw a few cuts on his palms, the sting of them finally
registering.
Steve came up beside him and pried Loki's hands the rest of the way open.
“Come here, I got a first aid kit,” he said, guiding Loki towards the cruiser
with a hand between his shoulders. He sat Loki in the front passenger seat,
digging the kit from the glove compartment and crouching down before he began
dabbing at the cuts with a wipe.
“What happened?”
Loki exhaled shakily. “He just told me to get on the floor and...” Loki trailed
off with a gesture towards the restaurant.
Steve nodded.
Loki winced as he picked a small shard of glass from his palm. “Do you... will
he be okay?”
Steve looked back up at him and gave him a lopsided smile. “I think so. He's
pretty damn tough.”
Loki took a deep breath and nodded, wanting to believe that. Steve pulled out a
roll of gauze and began wrapping Loki's hands with it, letting out a huff of
laughter.  “One of the first times I arrested Thor was after he crashed his
motorcycle.” He glanced up at Loki again, smiling a little wider. “He was doing
ninety in this quiet little neighborhood at like two in the morning – he was
completely shitfaced by the way – and he had apparently drove head-on in to a
parked car.”
Steve laughed, shaking his head. “He went flying in to some poor old woman's
rose bushes but somehow managed to come out of the whole thing with only a few
cuts and bruises. His motorcycle on the other hand...”
He gave Loki's knee a pat after he finished wrapping Loki's. “He's tough, Loki.
I'd like to think it would take more than a few bullets to bring him down.”
Loki just nodded again, feeling only slightly comforted by the story. He could
hardly wrap his mind around Thor doing something like that. He liked going fast
and weaving around cars sometimes, but he couldn't imagine him doing something
quite that reckless. He pulled his legs in to the car after Steve had put the
kit back in to the glove compartment. Thor wouldn't even let Loki have a beer.
Steve shut the door and walked back around to the driver's side, climbing in.
He seemed to hesitate before pulling his cellphone out from a compartment in
the console.
“You don't happen to know his mom's phone number, do you?”
***** Chapter 12 *****
Everything felt fuzzy. The light above his head was blinding and seemed to
amplify the static in his head. The incident at the diner came back to him all
at once, making him want to jump out of bed, but his body felt too heavy, like
his limbs had been filled with lead.
Then, his mother leaned in to view. Smiling down at him softly, she pushed his
hair back, the familiar gesture making him relax. “You gave us a bit of scare.”
“Sorry,” Thor croaked back with a smile, rubbing his bleary eyes. He squinted
as he looked around the beige room. “Where's Loki?”
“Just outside, I wanted to see if you were up for visitors before he came in.”
“Is he okay?”
“I don't the poor thing slept a wink last night and I think he might've made
himself sick. But other than that he seems all right.”
Thor frowned. “How's everyone else been?”
“They're out for blood. It would probably help if they knew who to look for.”
Thor's frowned deepened, the twist of nerves in his belly making him nauseous.
Fingers brushing through Thor's hair again, she asked, “do you remember what he
looked like, darling?”
Thor squinted, working through the fog in his head to remember some of the
details. “He's got a scar,” he said, mainly remembering that detail because of
Loki. “A big slash on his cheek. And I think he's in a old white caddy now, it
was something big at least.”
Frigga nodded. “Good. You want me to send Loki in now?”
Thor nodded and Frigga patted his arm before walking out.
The door swung back open before it had even completely shut. Loki looked at him
with wide eye surrounded by dark circles, his lip bitten pink and bandaged
palms.
Thor smiled and opened his arms. Loki walked up wordlessly, his chin trembling,
and practically fell against Thor's chest. He tucked his head against Thor's
neck and began to quietly sob as Thor wrapped his arms around him, mindful of
the IV in his arm. He ran one hand up and down Loki's back, while the other
moved to cup the back of his head. They stayed like that for a few minutes,
Thor shushing Loki as he shook in his arms.
Thor took a deep breath as he pushed Loki back, taking his face in his hands
and swiping the wetness from Loki's cheeks with his thumbs. He smirked and
said, “hey,I was the one who got shot yesterday. How come you look so
miserable.”
Loki let out a watery laugh and replied, “you haven't looked in a mirror yet,
have you?”
Thor laughed and pulled Loki back to his chest, closing his eyes and hugging
him tight. He peeled one eye open when he heard the door click, giving a small
smile to his mother as she poked her head inside.
Loki pulled away eventually, letting out a stuttering breath and wiping his
cheeks roughly as he sat carefully on the edge of the bed. “How long are you
going to be here for?”
Thor ran the backs of his fingers along Loki's forearm, feeling the downy hairs
that covered his skin. “A few more days, probably. Just in case something gets
infected.”
Loki nodded.
“You'll be okay without me?”
Loki nodded again with a little sniff.
“Good.”
Frigga walked in again. Thor gave Loki's arm a small shake, smiling as he asked
“hey you wanna go get me some water?”
Loki nodded again and stood, grabbing the plastic pitcher from the wheeled
table at the end of the bed on his way out.
His mother strolled up to the bed again, filling the spot Loki just left. “Just
called Sif. She and some of the guys should be swinging by in a bit.”
“And dad?”
“I'm sure he'll be by eventually.”
Looking away from her, he played with the corner of his wristband. “Mom, you'll
make sure dad doesn't-”
Frigga laid a hand over his, forcing his gaze back to her. “Oh sweetheart, I'm
sure you're father wouldn't do anything to Loki.”
Thor's mouth twitched. “Please, mom.”
“How bad was your fight?” Frigga asked with a worried look.
“Pretty bad,” Thor replied with a weak laugh. “Can you just please just... keep
them apart until I'm out of here?”
The corner of Frigga's mouth twitched in to another soft, reassuring smile, her
hand squeezing his gently. “Of course, darling.”
                                     - - -
“Didn't bring me any flowers?” Thor said with a pout as Steve stepped inside.
“Well, I had some roses, but then thought I might come off a bit strong,” Steve
replied with a shrug.
Thor laughed and Steve sunk in to the chair beside the bed. He was out of
uniform, the sleeves of his button up rolled to the elbow. He crossed his arms
over his chest and asked. “how you feeling?”
Thor shrugged a shoulder. “They got me on morphine so I'm feeling pretty good,
actually.”
Steve laughed again, trailing off with a sigh. “This could be bad, you know.”
“Getting shot is bad? No shit.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “You got into a shootout in the middle of a packed
restaurant, Thor.”
Thor sobered at that. “Did anyone else get hurt?”
“Luckily, no.”
Thor exhaled and nodded. “Good.”
“What happened? Loki didn't seem to see anything.”
Thor shot Steve a look that made his friend put his hands up defensively.
“Don't worry I didn't interrogate him.”
Thor relaxed. “I noticed the car he was in pass by the restaurant a few times –
I guess he was checking to make sure we were in there – and then he pulled up
along the curb. I saw him. Then I saw him picking something up. I... needed to
shoot first.”
Steve sighed, sliding his hand over his thighs. “You might actually get into
trouble for this.”
Thor shrugged. “I'm not too worried about it.”
“How are you not worried about it?”
Thor raised an eyebrow at him. “You really don't know how many people can be
paid to ignore things in this town? We've been friends for how long?”
Steve slumped in the chair and dragged a hand down his face, “I need to move to
different town.”
“But then whose gonna be here to arrest me? You know you're the only man I let
put me in handcuffs.”
Steve shook his head and chuckled. “It's been so long since you flirted with me
I almost forgot what it was like.”
“I knew you missed it,” he said with a lascivious wink.
                                     - - -
Thor had his arm draped around Loki's shoulders as he helped Thor hobble in to
his house. His mother lead the way, opening the front door and making sure the
path was clear to the bed before pulling the blankets back. Thor groaned as he
sunk down, all the movement exhausting him and making pain lance up his side.
He gritted his teeth as he pulled his legs up on to the mattress and adjusted
his position, flopping back on the the pillows with a heavy sigh while Loki
laid the comforter over him. The air inside was fresh and everything, as far as
Thor could tell, looked spotless, even better than how he'd left it five days
ago.
“Did you clean my house?” He asked, lifting his head back up to look at his
mother.
“It needed it. I also bought you groceries.”
Thor grunted and let his head fall back.
“I should be heading back home now. You call me if you need anything,” she said
the last words to Loki, who gave her a nod of his head and a small smile.
She smiled back, giving his arm a squeeze before looking back to Thor. “And you
better rest like Dr. Foster said.”
Thor groaned again.
Looking to Loki once more she added, “feel free to call me if he gets ornery,
too.”
“I will.”
Frigga laughed and gave Loki's arm a final squeeze before leaving. Thor sighed
as he listened to his mother's SUV pull away and leave them in total silence,
his head lolling on the pillow to look at Loki. Loki stood in the middle of the
room with his arms hugged around himself. Feeling fuzzy from the medication and
tired, he opened his arms out, beckoning Loki to him. Loki moved slowly,
walking up to the bed before toeing off his shoes and carefully climbing in
next to Thor. Thor hummed as Loki settled against his side, his head pillowed
on Thor's shoulder.
Pressing his nose into Loki's hair, he said softly, “I missed you.”
Loki, in return, nuzzled Thor's chest. “You were always asleep when we came to
visit,” he mumbled.
All Thor could manage to reply with was a “mmph” his eyelids already drooping
heavily.
It was dusk when he woke up, the whole house dark and silent save for to soft
sound of Loki's breathing. He smiled when he glanced down and saw that Loki had
moved a little and had pressed his face into the crook of Thor's armpit, his
hand curling loosely into Thor's t-shirt. Warmth flooded his chest at the sight
and he sighed, relaxing deeper in to the bed. He didn't have the heart to wake
him up despite the fact that the painkillers had begun to wear off and the pain
in his side was starting to get a bit annoying. Instead he distracted himself
by playing with Loki's hair, the silky black strands slipping through his
fingertips.
Thor guessed another half-hour had passed before Loki finally stirred. Thor
smiled when he lifted his head and turned his bleary gaze on to him.
“Morning,” he said brightly, swirling his fingertips in the shaved hair on the
back of Loki's head. “Does my deodorant smell nice?”
Loki glanced back down to Thor's armpit, clearing his throat and looking a bit
embarrassed.
Thor's smile broadened at that. “I thought about moving you, but you looked
just so comfortable.”
Loki's mouth twitched in to a shy smile. “How long have you been awake?”
Thor shrugged his shoulder. “Just a little while.”
“Do you need anything?”
Thor shrugged again, ignoring the throbbing in his side. He just... didn't want
Loki to move yet. “Nah. I'm good right now.”
Loki nodded, letting his head sink back down to Thor's shoulder.
“What'd you do while I was in the hospital?” Thor asked, tracing invisible
circles on the back of Loki's hand.
“Just followed your mom around a lot. Helped her clean and stuff.”
Thor's legs were beginning to ache from the lack of movement. So, carefully, he
moved to lay on his undamaged side, his face twisting in pain before he could
control it. He exhaled with a long groan as he finally got comfortable.
“Are you okay? Do you need me to get you a painkiller or something?”
Thor smiled as he reached out and placed his hand on Loki's waist before he
could jump out of bed. “I'm fine.”
Loki relaxed, readjusting his own position a little, so their eyes met across
the pillow they were sharing. Thor kept his hand on Loki's waist, giving him a
light squeeze.
“I missed you.”
Loki laughed. “You already told me.”
Thor smirked. “Well, I missed you a lot.”
Loki scooted closer, looking away from Thor's face as he whispered, “I missed
you a lot, too.”
Thor draped his arm over Loki's waist, lifting his head to press his cheek to
Loki's, moving his head in little motions.
“You're scratchy,” Loki breathed, his fingers dragging up and down Thor's
chest.
“Sorry,” Thor whispered, shifting his head a little to kiss Loki's cheek before
pulling back.
Loki let out a breath, his fingers going still.
Thor moved his hand, dragging it up from Loki's waist, past his arm to caress
his neck, to cup Loki's cheek. Sliding his thumb over Loki's cheekbone he
whispered, “I really want to kiss you right now.”
Loki inhaled sharply and looked back up at Thor's face, his eyes wide and
hopeful.
Thor closed the bit of space left between them, pressing their mouths together.
A tiny moan escaped Loki's throat, his hands tightening their grip on Thor's
shirt. Thor's heart began to beat faster, his pulse thrumming in his head. As
he deepened the kiss he slid his hand back, cupping the back of Loki's head and
tilting it just a little. He dipped his his tongue tentatively into Loki's
mouth, flicking lightly over the edges of his teeth before venturing further,
the both of them groaning when Loki's eagerly met his.
Thor reluctantly pulled back when he was breathless and the pain was too much
to ignore anymore. Pressing his hand where his bandage lay hidden under his
shirt seemed to pull Loki from his daze.
“Are you okay?” Thor didn't miss the worry in Loki's voice and forced a smile
on to his face.
“Yeah, just sore.”
Loki was out of the bed, and the room, a second later. He heard the paper bag
crinkling as Loki took the pills out it and then he dashed past the door
towards the kitchen. He was back moments later with a glass of water and the
pill bottle. Thor pulled himself up slowly, his face contorted in pain until he
could lean on to the wall, sagging against it. Loki handed Thor the water
first, opening the pill bottle and pouring one of the painkillers into Thor's
hand. Thor washed it down with a big gulp of cold water, and then guzzling down
the rest of the glass before handing it back to Loki.
Loki sat down on the edge of the bed, facing Thor. “Are you hungry? I can make
you... a can of soup. That's all I can make.” Loki's lip curled slightly, the
expression made far too endearing with his slightly pinker lips.
Thor let out a lazy laugh, reaching out to touch Loki's knee. “Soup sounds
perfect.”
Loki smiled and stood again, setting the pills on the nightstand and taking the
glass out with him. He watched through the doorway as Loki walked up to the
stereo, turning it on and setting it on to the radio station Thor liked. Thor
smiled, smiled even broader when Loki glanced back at him over his shoulder
before walking out of sight.
Thor's head lolled against the wall and eyes drifted closed, a dreamy smile
plastered on his face as music and the soft clatter of pans drifted through the
house. He didn't feel as guilty as he thought he would.
***** Chapter 13 *****
Loki laughed at the muffled curse from the other side of the bedroom door. He
tapped on it with his knuckle. “Can I help you now?”
Thor huffed. “Fine.”
Loki continued to laugh as he walked in and saw Thor sprawled on the bed in
nothing but his boxers and a pair of sweats that pooled around his ankles. His
legs hung off the edge of the bed. His chest heaving, his wet hair spread out
across the comforter and his wound uncovered. Loki ignored that for now and
crouched down to grab the waist band of the sweatpants. He tugged them up
Thor's legs slowly, letting the soft, dark blond hairs that covered them skim
across his skin.
“Someone's taking his time.”
“I've gotta be careful with you right now. You're so delicate,” Loki teased,
standing and bending forward as he dragged the pants up Thor's thighs. Thor
pushed his hips up as Loki came closer to them, and Loki kept his face just a
little too close, licking his lips as he contemplated just diving forward and
mouthing Thor's cock through his boxers.
“You're lucky you're such a cute nurse, otherwise I'd never deal with your
attitude,” Thor said wryly, folding his arms behind his head.
“My attitude?” Loki said with a bark of laughter as he stood. He grabbed the
box of bandages that were sitting on the nightstand and flopped down next to
Thor.
“Which one of us had to call someone's mom because they were trying to sneak
out and get on their motorcycle after Hogun came by?”
Thor grunted with a slight pout on his face and Loki grinned as he pulled out a
gauze pad and the tape roll from the box. His wound was healing nicely,
according to Jane, the curved gash sewn up neatly and already looking a lot
less horrifying two weeks later. Loki covered it carefully, so the stitches
wouldn't snag and it stayed clean. He dragged his fingertips around the bandage
a few times to make sure the tape stuck – and to feel Thor's abs.  
Thor sighed, “I just hate not being able to go out and look for this asshole.”
Loki kept his eyes down, feeling whiny even as the words slipped out. “You hate
it more than being here with me?”
Thor's brows furrowed, reaching up to cup the back of Loki's neck. “It's not
like that, Loki. I can't just pretend that he's not out there... He could've
ended up shooting you instead.”
Loki exhaled, leaning over Thor so their faces were just inches apart. “Well,
you can go and kill him or whatever you plan on doing after you can walk for
more than ten minutes without getting winded.”
Thor whined, kicking his foot weakly.
“No whining,” Loki whispered, leaning closer and brushing the tip of his nose
over Thor's before pressing their lips together.
Thor whined again, his hand pulling Loki down to deepen the kiss.
Loki broke away to crawl up farther on to the bed and lay on his back, Thor
following a bit more slowly. He dragged himself on top of Loki, wedging on of
his thicker thighs between Loki's and settling his weight on him with a labored
breath.
“Don't I crush you like this?” Thor asked, planting his forearms at either side
of his head so his face hovered just above Loki's.
“I like it,” he said breathlessly. He skimmed his fingers along Thor's sides,
enjoying the the shiver Thor gave in response and the goosebumps that popped up
over his warm skin. Thor pressed forward, kissing Loki hard and making him
shiver.
Kissing Thor was just how he imagined it would be – like he was being swallowed
up by Thor's presence. Thor pulled back an inch or so, taking a few deep
breaths before diving in for more, his hands moving to touch Loki's face while
Loki dragged his hands up and down Thor's back. He rolled off with a slight
wince a few minutes later, chest rising and falling in quick succession.
“Fuck, I hate how fast I get tired,” Thor grumbled.
Loki rolled to his side, placing a hand on Thor's chest and nuzzling his
shoulder. “Don't worry, it's totally normal. Happens to all guys.”
Thor laughed even as he swatted Loki's ass in response, his hand staying there.
“Smartass.”
Loki twisted his hip towards Thor, so Thor had a better grip on it. He gave it
a firm squeeze that made Loki hum.
“I really miss being able to ride though. I wanna just go somewhere with you,”
Thor grumbled a minute later.
Loki lifted his head, perching his chin on his fist. With a smirk he said, “so
you can make out with me somewhere besides the bed or couch?”
Thor let out a small snort of laughter. “Well, yeah. But mainly just to... I
don't know... be with you.”
“The painkillers must be setting in,” Loki said, rubbing little circles on to
Thor's chest.
Thor furrowed his eyebrows. “I mean it – I like being with you.”
“I like being with you too.”
Loki leaned forward and nuzzled Thor's shoulder again, a warmth seeping into
his chest as he inhaled the fresh scent of Thor's soap. “I love you,” he
mumbled against Thor's skin.
Thor smiled, his hand moving to Loki's and weaving their fingers together. “I
love you too.”
Loki let his head flop down to the bed, unable to force the big smile off his
even as his cheeks started to ache from it.
“You know what we should do when all this bullshit is over?” Thor blurted out a
few minutes later. “We should go on a road trip. Just me and you going wherever
we want. It'll be great.”
Loki moved his thumb, stroking it over Thor's as the smile on his face felt
like it became even bigger. “I like the sound of that.”
                                     - - -
Loki finished his last slice of pizza and reached for the remote beside the
open box on the coffee table. Thor was fast asleep, his head pillowed on Loki's
belly and arms hugged tightly around his hips. One of Loki's legs hung off the
couch while the other was pinned to the back to accommodate Thor's broad chest,
his back pressed to one armrest while Thor had his feet propped up on the
other. Thor squeezed as Loki leaned as far as he could manage, finally snagging
the remote with his middle finger and pulling it close enough to grab it.
He sighed as he settled back and began flicking through the channels. Thor
nosed at Loki's thin t-shirt for a moment, grunting softly and giving Loki
another squeeze before falling back in to a deeper sleep. Loki combed his
fingers through his messy hair as he flicked through the channels, settling on
a nature documentary and letting the remote drop to the floor.
It was about twenty minutes later when he heard a car pull in to the driveway.
Craning his neck, he peeked through the slates of the blinds and saw Frigga
stepping out of her SUV.
“Shit.” Loki frantically jostled Thor's shoulder, only managing to rouse Thor
enough to have him give another crushing hug to Loki's hips and an more
aggressive nuzzle to Loki's stomach.
She knocked on the door once before letting herself in while Loki tried, and
failed, to squirm from Thor's grip. Her eyebrows rose when she saw them. Loki
cringed, feeling his skin go hot from embarrassment as he shook Thor's shoulder
with more force.
“Thor, wake up. Your mom's here.” He reached down and pinched Thor's tender
side. “Wake. Up.”
Thor's head finally snapped up with a grunt, the side of his face red and eyes
puffy as he looked up at Loki in confusion.
“Your mom is here,” Loki repeated, pointedly looking over to where she stood
just a few feet in the house. Thor blinked a few times and looked over his
shoulder. That seemed to shake out some of his sluggishness. He peeled himself
off Loki as fast as he could manage, settling back on to the other end of the
couch with a pained groan and a hand to his side.
“I was gonna steal Loki for a couple hours if that wouldn't be much trouble?”
she asked Thor, eyebrow raised as she looked between the two of them.
Thor nodded quickly, hardly able to glance at her, his hands bunching in to his
sweats. Loki practically jumped from the couch, hardly able to look at her
either as he mumbled about getting changed and walked into the bedroom and shut
the door.
He shucked off his own sweatpants and t-shirt as soon as the door shut,
slipping on a fresh one and picking up a pair of skinny jeans that were left in
a pile on the floor. After wiggling those on he darted into the bathroom,
wetting his fingers and raking them through his hair to try and fix it. He
cringed again at the beard burn on his face, concentrated mostly around his
mouth but with a few pink patches on his neck and jaw.
Muttering curses under his breath, he splashed some cool water on to his face,
drying off quickly and slipping on socks and shoes before walking back out.
Thor was fully awake now, his cheeks bright pink while Frigga stood by with a
hard to read look on her face.
“I'm ready,” Loki said, sounding meek.
“Alright.” She glanced over at Thor, who had his hand his hand half-covering
his eyes, and asked, “you'll be okay on your own for a little while?”
“Yes ma’am,” Thor replied, sounding just as meek as Loki.
Frigga laughed softly as she turned and walked out the door, Loki following at
her heels. The first few minutes of the ride were excruciatingly quiet, nothing
but the soft whoosh of the AC to fill the silence while Loki tried to keep his
mouth covered.
“What happened to your neck there?” she asked, pointing at the side of her own
neck.
Loki cleared his throat and answered, “razor burn. I need to get a new pack.”
Frigga laughed, shaking her head as she made a smooth turn in to a road Loki
had never been down before. “Sweetheart, I've been married to Odin for almost
forty years, I know what beard burn looks like.”
Loki shrunk down in to his seat. Frigga laughed softly.
She sighed a minute later and said, “you know, I was fifteen when I met Odin.
He was twenty-four.”
Loki looked over at her, his eyes wide.
“I started hearing about him during the summer before I started highschool.
He’d just come back to town earlier that year and gotten the club started. It
was all anyone could talk about, but I hadn’t really been paying much
attention. Not until I finally saw Odin.” She glanced over at Loki, a dreamy
smile forming her face as she looked back to the road and continued, “I was out
with my friends when him and the rest of the crew at the time rolled in to the
diner we were at. My friends were all freaking out thinking we were going to
get killed – while I sat there thinking about how he was the most handsome man
I'd ever laid my eyes on. My friends tried to convince me to not talk to him,
but I was not going to be swayed. I remember how I could just feel everyone in
the diner staring at me as I walked up to him.”
“I tapped him on the shoulder, he looked at me, and I froze.” She laughed, “I
just stood there and stared at him. It was awful.”
“He turned back to his food eventually but for some reason I decided I was not
going to leave without saying something to him, so I sat down on the bar stool
next to his. He looked back at me, and said “what the hell do you want?”
“Thattime I managed to blurt out my name.”
Loki watched the side of her face and tried to imagine her and Odin so young.
“What'd he say?”
Frigga let out another huff of laughter. “He looked me over and asked me how
old I was. When I told him I was fifteen he laughed and told me to give him a
call in a few years and went back to his burger.”
Loki arched an eyebrow at her. “So?”
“I went back to my friends, but I was not going to just give up. After that I
listened for any gossip that I could about him and the club. I snuck out and
went to every party or bar I heard he might be at, followed anything that
sounded like a motorcycle. And I did manage to track him down sometimes.”
Loki burst out in laughter, rubbing his forehead. “What did he do? ...And what
about your parents?”
“My parents were livid when they finally caught on, tried to ground me and all
that. But at that point I'd gotten really good at slipping past them, and I
didn't really care what they thought anymore – I wanted Odin, and nothing was
going to keep me from getting him.”
“And Odin, well, he kept ignoring me for the most part – though I did start to
grow on him after a while.”
“When did you guys get together, then?”
Her dreamy smile grew broader. “One night, when I was seventeen, I managed to
sneak into the bar him and rest of the guys were in – It was a shithole about
three towns west of here, where bikers from all over would hang out and
absolutely not where any teenage girl should ever be – and as I was looking for
him some other guys from a different club spotted me. They cornered me, and
just as I was thinking I had really fucked up this time, there he was.”
“A whole fight started and I got the hell out of there and went to wait by his
bike. He came out a little while later, all beaten up and bloody and screaming
at me for being so stupid... And I kissed him.”
“Wow,” Loki chuckled.
“Yep... Everything happened pretty fast after that and we got married a few
days after I turned eighteen, much to my parents eternal disapproval, and here
we are now.”
“So...”
“So,” Frigga started, “if you guys expected me disapprove of... that. I don't.
It'd make me a bit of hypocrite if I did, I think.”
She added, “And knowing Thor, and how much he cares about you, and how much you
care about him, I don't see the harm in it.”
Loki nodded, relaxing back in to the passenger seat.
They drove for a while longer, pulling into a parking lot in front of a gun
range when the sky was nearly black. “What are we here for?” Loki asked,
squinting up at the lit up sign through the windshield.
Frigga unlatched her seat belt and pulled her purse in to her lap, searching
through it as she spoke. “Remember when I showed you the places Thor stashes
his guns?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I'm gonna make sure you know how to use them.”
Loki blinked at her.
                                     - - -
Frigga held his hands in the right position, her voice gentle as she instructed
him.
“Okay, whenever you're ready,” she said before placing the headphones she had
him wear back in place and stepped back
Loki took a deep breath, staring at the target for a few long moments. The
image of the guy, his creepy scar and smile, popping up in Loki's head, anger
suddenly rising up his throat like bile as he remembered seeing Thor bleeding
on the floor of the diner.
He exhaled and pulled the trigger, emptying the handgun into the flimsy target,
the headphones muffling the blast.
His hands shook as he lowered gun, placing it carefully back on to the table in
front of him. The target was littered with holes, some around the person-shaped
outline, but most managed to be inside of it.
Frigga stepped up to him again and laid a hand in his shoulder. “Good job. Want
to try a shotgun next?”
                                     - - -
Thor was passed out on the couch when he got back, one foot hanging off of it
and an arm thrown across his face. Loki toed off his shoes at the door and
walked around, closing the blinds, tossing the empty pizza box in to the
garbage, and checking around the house before making his way back to Thor. He
crouched down in front of him and shook him gently until he finally woke up.
“Mm, you're back,” Thor croaked.
“Yep.” Loki leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. “How you feeling?”
“Just tired.” Thor stretched his arms above his head, yawning loudly before
sagging back in to the couch. “What'd you and mom do?”
Loki shrugged, not sure if he should tell Thor. “Just went out for a bit.”
Thor grunted, seeming to take that for an answer. “Did she, uh, say anything
about...”
Loki snorted, laying his head on Thor's chest. “She's not mad or anything...
She told me about how she met your dad.”
Thor smiled and soft laugh bubbled up his throat. “Did she?”
Loki nodded. “Wanna go to bed?”
“Yeah.”
Loki helped Thor off the couch, shuffling along with him to the bedroom. Thor
kicked off his sweatpants before climbing in, watching as Loki striped down to
his briefs with a smile still on his face. Loki turned off the light and slid
under the covers, squirming up to Thor's good side and pillowing his head on
Thor's chest as he draped his arm around Loki's shoulders.
“Love you,” Thor murmured, pressing a light kiss on Loki's head.
“Love you,” Loki replied, tilting his head to press one on Thor's skin.
***** Chapter 14 *****
Thor groaned as he shut the lawn mower off. He was sore and drenched in sweat,
the sun beating down on his shirtless back from high in the sky. Loki watched
him from the front stoop with a disapproving look, his skin even more stark and
pale looking against his black t-shirt and dark jeans. He took huge gulps of
the soupy air and held his side as he dragged the lawn mower back in to the
garage, Loki following close behind.
“Are you satisfied now?” Loki asked cuttingly, “or do you want to pull some
weeds and totally kill yourself?”
Thor rolled his eyes as he spun around to face him. “I'm not killing myself.
Jane said it's fine for me to start moving around more, remember? And looking
outside was killing me, the lawn looked that terrible.”
Loki huffed. “Will you just come inside now?”
A smirk pulled at the corner of Thor's mouth. “I will for a kiss.”
Loki rolled his eyes that time, stepping up to Thor and grabbing his face with
both hands and kissing him hard. Their lips parted with a loud smack and Loki
wiped his hands on his jeans as he stepped back. Smirking back at Thor he said,
“now get the fuck inside.”
“Yes sir.”
Loki walked ahead of him as Thor shut the garage door, glancing around the
street and finding nothing out of the ordinary. It didn't bring him as much
comfort as it should have.
“I think I need a shower,” he said as he kicked the front door shut behind
himself. Loki let out a snort of laughter and Thor stepped up behind him,
hugging him from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder. “But I feel kinda
weak now. I think I need someone in there with me. You know, to make sure I
don't fall in the tub.”
“Well, now I guess do need another shower since there's this sweaty guy rubbing
himself all over me.”
Thor hummed and rubbed his face against Loki's neck, making him squirm in
Thor's arms. Thor guided them to the bathroom, kissing and stripping Loki of
his shirt along the way. Loki pushed him back to turn on the water, and Thor
took the moment to palm his ass as he bent over.
Loki snickered as he stood, letting Thor crowd him against the sink. With his
arm wrapped around Loki, Thor slid his hand up his back to cradle the back of
his head. Loki gazed at him with heavy lidded eyes, his mouth curling in to a
small smile that Thor returned.
Head dipping forward to press their mouths together, Thor wiggled his other
hand between their bodies to unfasten Loki's jeans. He slipped it through the
opened fly, palming Loki's thickening cock through the tight little pair of
black briefs he wore. Loki moaned in to his mouth and bucked in to Thor's palm,
his hands dragging down Thor's slick chest. Thor gave Loki's cock a parting
squeeze, drawing another lovely moan from Loki's throat, before pulling away to
push the tight jeans and underwear down Loki's slim hips. Loki helped shove
them the rest of the way down his legs, kicking them off violently before
rushing to the fly of Thor's shorts, practically ripping them open and pushing
them down. Thor was really, really glad he decided to forgo his boxers, kicking
the shorts away just as violently while Loki took his cock in his soft hands.
Thor exhaled slowly and pressed his forehead to Loki's. He watched as Loki
experimentally but eagerly tugged on his cock, his pale hands looking almost
delicate wrapped around the stiffening shaft. Loki's thumb skimmed the crown,
the shiny black polish on his nails glinting in the the florescent light.
Then, Loki suddenly let go, a frustrated growl rising up Thor's throat at the
sudden departure.
“We're wasting water,” Loki said teasingly, a beautiful and infuriating smirk
on his face as he darted under Thor's arm and stepped in to the tub,
disappearing behind the curtain. Thor was behind him a second later, his chest
pressed to Loki's back, his hands on Loki's hips and lips on his neck as warm
water beat down on his head.
Loki sighed, reaching back to tangle a hand in to Thor's hair. He pushed his
hips back, so Thor's cock was pressed right into the cleft of his ass. Thor
groaned and thrust against him, one arm wrapping around Loki's waist to keep
him close while the other reached for Loki's cock, relishing in the whimper it
pulled from Loki. Thor rolled his hips in a sloppy rhythm, his cock sliding
easily over the wet skin. He could just imagine looking down between their
bodies and watching his cock sink into Loki's lithe body, his pert little ass
cheeks spread open to accommodate his thick cock. He panted on to Loki's skin
as the image flooded his mind, his balls tightening as he ground his hips in to
Loki harder.
“Don't come yet,” Loki gasped, pushing at Thor's hip. “Not yet.”
Thor forced himself back, gritting his teeth and grabbing the lip where the
shower met the wall. Loki turned towards him and grabbed the washcloth hanging
from a ring next to a soap shelf in the tub, wetting it before squirting on a
generous dollop of body wash and lathering it up with a pleased look on his
flushed face. Loki dragged the washcloth down Thor's chest first, then his
belly – softer now from the lack of exercise – and back up. He was careful
around the thick red scar, skimming over it with the lightest touch before
moving on. He gave his arms a few sweeps before stepping a bit closer, their
cocks knocking together, and running the soapy rag along Thor's back. Thor
cupped the back of his head again, their open mouths meeting with hot, panting
breaths and tongue. Loki's hands stilled, the washcloth falling to the tub with
a wet slap.
Loki pulled back with a shaky breath, licking his lips and rinsing his hands
with a smile before grabbing the shampoo and pouring some in to his palm. Thor
smiled back, bending his head forward. Thor moaned as Loki pressed his
fingertips into his scalp, massaging and combing his fingers through Thor's
hair.
“You're washing my hair everyday from now on,” Thor huffed, grasping Loki's hip
with one of his hands.
Loki laughed softly and slid his fingertips across his entire head with just
enough pressure to make Thor's skin tingle.
“Goddamn,” Thor moaned.
“Rinse,” Loki whispered, pulling his hands away. Thor grunted and walked him
backwards until Loki was pressed against the wall and he was fully under the
stream. He tipped his head back to let the shampoo rinse down his back while
Loki ran his hands down Thor's chest.
“All clean,” he said when he pulled his head back up. Loki's breaths were
coming in short pants, his cock twitching against Thor's hip.
“Lets get out then.”
They dried off just enough to not be dripping, shuffling back in to the bedroom
with their hands all over each other. Loki pushed Thor down on to the bed,
making him sit on the edge of it before dropping to his knees. Thor couldn't
hold back a groan, spreading his thighs to let him get closer. His breathing
became more heavy as Loki grasped his cock and stroked it back to it's previous
hardness
“You don't know how long I've been waiting to do this,” Loki said, voice silky.
Thor shuddered as Loki delicately licked off the precome beading at the slit
with the tip of his tongue, pressing a soft kiss to the head of his cock right
after. He took his time, wetting Thor's cock from base to tip with broad sweeps
of his pink tongue, while he used his hand to gently fondle Thor's sack. Thor's
thighs were shaking by the time Loki wrapped his lips around his teeth and
descended on his cock.
“Fuck,” Thor hissed, throwing his head back, hips rocking at the sensation. He
couldn't even remember the last time he'd had his cock sucked, and now he was
thinking he was crazy for ever forgoing it.
Loki pressed his head down just a little too far, gagging and yanking his head
back to cough. With tears in his eyes he choked out, “sorry.”
Thor smiled, wiping away one of the tears that escaped past his eyelashes with
the pad of his thumb. “Don't be. You're perfect.”
Loki let out another small cough, blinking up at Thor a few times before
exhaling and wrapping his lips around Thor's cock again. With his hand wrapped
around the part of his cock he couldn't fit in his mouth, he began bobbing his
head, his cheeks hollowing as he sucked. Thor's legs trembled and his fingers
curled in to fists in the covers. He forced his hips to keep still despite his
instincts screaming for him to shove his cock deeper into the wet heat
surrounding it. He babbled praises and chanted Loki's name under his breath,
making Loki purr and send another violent wave of pleasure through Thor's body,
his fingers and toes almost feeling numb from it. He forced his eyes open when
he realized he had them clamped shut, looking down and groaning at the sight of
Loki's dark head moving between his thighs. Loki groaned too, pausing for a
second to pry Thor's hands from the covers and place them on his head.
“Fuck,” Thor moaned. He knotted one hand in to the longer part of Loki's hair,
while the other simply rubbed along the nape of his neck. He didn't push down
though, stomach twisting at the thought of choking Loki. Loki seemed to take a
minute to figure that out, however. He finally resumed moving, with more force
than before, both his hands laying on Thor's thighs as he forced himself
farther down Thor's shaft.
Thor pulled him off the second time he gagged. Loki coughed and blinked up at
him, a few more tears rolling down his cheeks that Thor was quick to wipe away.
“Babe, you don't have to choke yourself.”
“Don't you like it?” Loki croaked, letting out another small cough.
“Not really,” Thor said with a small, breathless laugh.
Loki just stared at him for a moment. “Oh.”
Thor raked his hand through Loki's hair, his wet lashes fluttering at the
touch. He took a deep breath before grasping the base of Thor's cock again and
diving back down. He kept his hand there, bobbing his head more shallowly and
working the underside of his cock with his tongue.
“That feels so good,” Thor panted, cradling Loki's head in his hands. Loki
moaned and hummed around his cock, the slick sounds of his wet lips sliding
over the taut skin of his shaft making it throb against Loki's tongue. Thor's
heart was hammering in his chest, the relentless sucking and slurping bringing
him to the edge fast. He slid his hands down Loki's neck and shoulders, feeling
the lean muscles working under pale skin.
“Fuck, Loki. Fuckfuckfuck-” He grit his teeth around a final groan, pressing
his blunt fingertips in to Loki's skin. His cock pulsed on Loki's tongue while
his hips gave stunted rolls. Loki swallowed around his cock head, pulling a
shuddering gasp from Thor and another roll of his hips. He collapsed back as
Loki gave one final suck before letting Thor's cock fall out of his mouth. He
climbed up on top of Thor, settling on Thor's relaxed thighs and planting his
hands on Thor's hips.
“Good?”
Thor answered with a long moan. Loki grinned and leaned forward, their noses
bumping as Loki tilted his head and pressed his mouth to Thor's. Thor moaned
again at the taste of himself on Loki's tongue as it flicked against his own,
taking Loki's face in his hands to keep him there. They stayed like that for a
few long minutes, the sound of their lips smacking in the quiet while he came
down from the high of his orgasm.
“Mm, I forgot my manners,” Thor said when he realized Loki was shaking above
him, his neglected cock leaking and twitching between them. He flipped them
over and had Loki lay back on the pillows before settling between his thighs.
Thor hummed and dragged his thumb up the underside of Loki's cock. Loki gasped,
his hips rocking towards the touch while his eyes fluttered. Then, Thor grasped
his length and leaned forward, his breath puffing over Loki's skin as he said,
“it's been a while since I've done this.”
Loki shuddered. Thor let out a small laugh and started by licking away the
precome that coated the head of Loki's cock. He really enjoyed the whimper he
got from that. He decided to not waste anymore time and wrapped his lips around
it and sunk down as far as he could, sucking messily on Loki's cock. Loki cried
out, his back arching off the bed and fingers and toes curling.
Thor pulled off when he got an idea. Loki's head whipped up from the loss,
looking dazedly at Thor as he wet his thumb generously with spit. Thor grinned
at him as he pressed his thumb to his hole, swirling it around the tight ring
of muscle. Loki threw his head back with a moan, hips bucking in to his hand.
Thor kept rubbing his thumb there and went back to sucking his cock, the dual
sensations pulling raspy curses and chants from Loki.
“Feel good?” Thor asked when he popped off briefly. Loki whined and squirmed in
reply.
Thor laughed and began sucking again, the muscles of his neck burning as he
kept bobbing his head. When Loki's cries became more frequent, the tremble of
his thighs more pronounced he pressed his thumb harder, just enough for Loki to
really feel it. It wrenched the most beautiful, pitiful sound from Loki's
throat. A flood of salty come suddenly spilled over his tongue, some escaping
out the corner of his lips. He swallowed down the rest, working Loki through
his orgasm until he pushed Thor's head away with a whine.
They were both panting as Thor crawled up to lay beside him, pulling Loki close
so they laid chest to chest. Thor tugged Loki's leg up so it was draped over
his hip, dragging his hand up the the outside of his thigh and swerving over
his hip to run up and down his spine. Loki hummed and nuzzled the base of
Thor's throat. Thor shut his eyes and nuzzled Loki's hair, his body sagging
against Loki's.
They both jerked awake at the sound of the front door shutting, Sif's voice
calling out, “Thor?”
They couldn't manage to untangle from each other fast enough, Sif's eyes going
wide at the sight of them as she stood at the bedroom doorway before she ducked
back.
Loki ran in to the bathroom with a sheet wrapped around his hips while Thor
pulled on the nearest pair of sweatpants. He raked a hand through his tangled,
damp hair as he walked out in to the living room. Sif was cringing as hard as
he was, kneading her thin fingers against her closed eyes.
“I tried calling but you weren't picking up.”
“Sorry,” Thor said, cringing even harder.
Sif pulled her hands away from her face, taking a breath and obviously trying
to move past it. “So, um, I was just coming by to see how you were doing.”
Thor had to hold back a laugh. “Good- I'm real good.”
Sif nodded. “Oh yeah, and Fandral is planning another party for you on friday.”
Thor groaned in annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“He tells me it's not going to be big. Just a cookout with everyone from the
club and a few extras. Volstagg is threatening to bring his kids so that should
keep Fandral from hiring any strippers.”
Thor sighed in relief, putting his head in his hand. “Thank god.”
They were quiet for a few minutes. Sif's eyes darted towards the bedroom as
they stood their. Thor yawned, rubbing his eyes roughly as he turned and began
walking to the dining room. “Found anything yet?”
“Of course not,” Sif said, voice cracking with aggravation, “this guy is too
good at covering his tracks.”
Thor exhaled hard through his nose. “I can't wait to get my hands on that
fucker. He's gonna wish he was a better shot.”
There was a long pause. “I also kinda wanted to talk about,” Sif started,
something in her tone making him tense. “...Are you sure Loki is-”
“What?” Thor snapped, coming to an abrupt stop in the entryway to the kitchen,
his eyes hard on his friend.
Sif didn't even flinch, her voice going a touch softer as she continued, “are
you sure you can trust Loki?”
Thor sighed angrily, walking further in to the kitchen, Sif following close
behind.
“Is that what my dad's been talking about while I've been gone?”
“He's worried about the club-”
“Boy, I would have never guessed,” Thor scoffed.
“And you,” Sif finished, voice clipped.
Thor leaned against the fridge, running a hand down his face. He took a deep
breath, looking back up at Sif where she leaned against the counter at the
other side of the room, arms crossed over her chest. “Look, I know we're all
fucking worked up about this guy, but Loki's got nothing to do with him-”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her voice back to a placid tone that made Thor itch
for some reason.
“Yes,” Thor hissed. “You trust me, right?”
Sif's shoulders shifted, looking uncomfortable. “Of course.”
“Then can you just fucking trust me? I know Loki-”
Sif gave him a hard look. “Do you?”
“Yes!”
“You told me that he'd run from his last foster home and was going from town to
town before you found him. Do you have any idea who he was with then? Or even
before that?”
Thor let out another sigh, but some of the anger had seeped out of him and was
replaced by vague unease.
“I'm not saying you should interrogate him or anything, just make sure you know
as much about him as he does about you, at least.” Sif shrugged. “I just want
you to be safe, Thor.”
“I know,” Thor said, his own shoulders sagging.
There's was a few beats of silence and then Sif blurted out, “and you got
fucking come hanging off on your mouth.”
“Goddammit,” Thor said through a huff of laughter, pushing off the fridge and
going to the sink to scrub at his face.
“Do you have any idea how hard it was to have a serious conversation with you
with that there the whole fucking time?”
Thor grumbled, drying his face off with the hand towel hanging on the oven
handle.
When he looked back to Sif she was giving him another look. “Don't.”
“Is that why you're so protective over him?”
“Does it matter?” he asked roughly, flinging his arms out in a broad gesture.
“I guess not. It just... worries me a little.”
Thor huffed, twisting the towel in his fists.
Sif asked quietly, “Just don't let your feelings for him blind you, okay?”
He grit out, “I won't.”
Sif let out a defeated sigh. “I better leave before I really piss you off.”
Thor rolled his eyes, clipping Sif on the arm as she walked past him.
“Pick up your goddamn phone next time,” she called out as she walked out the
front door.
He walked back to the bedroom and tapped a knuckle on the bathroom door. “Coast
is clear.”
Loki popped out a second later, sheet, still around his hips. “Does everyone
just walk in your house?”
“No, just a few special people,” Thor chuckled. They both tumbled back in to
bed, the late afternoon sun bleeding through the blinds as they wrapped
themselves around one another.
“Your dad is telling your friends not to trust me,” Loki whispered, his head
pillowed on Thor's chest. “The walls are paper thin, by the way.”
Thor sighed, smoothing down Loki's hair. “He's... I don't know. He just doesn't
give a damn about anything but the club sometimes. I don't know.”
“You know I don't have anything to do with this guy, right?” Loki tipped his
head back to look at Thor, his eyes scanning over Thor's face.
Thor gave him a soft smile. “I know.”
Loki let out a breath, giving a small smile back.
Thor ran his fingers over Loki's cheek, his thumb skimming Loki's cheekbone.
Loki's eyes fluttered shut, his lips – still pink and swollen from earlier –
parted slightly.
“What happened to get you put in foster care?” Thor asked.
Loki opened his eyes and looked at Thor as though he was deciding if he should
tell Thor, his eyes bouncing from Thor's face to other parts of the room. He
blinked and sat up, looking like he was moving through water. He turned his
body to face Thor and crossed his long legs, the sheet tangling around his
hips.
He shrugged and said with an oddly light voice, “my mom left and didn't come
back.”
Thor's furrowed his eyebrows, sitting up and resting against the wall. “She
just... left?”
Loki shrugged again. “Yeah.”
Loki bit his lip as Thor stared at him.
“She wasn't even really around much before that, as far as I can remember,” he
continued, “I spent a lot of weekends with people, who I guess must have been
friends of hers, babysitting me – if you can actually call it that.” 
Thor shook his head. “What about your dad?”
“I don't think she even knew his name,” Loki let out with a small acidic laugh.
Thor's heart felt heavy. He'd had more than a few experiences with people like
that, and imaging Loki, smaller and even younger, with his mother not around
and left with relative strangers made it crack.
Loki lifted his leg, folding it to his chest to rest his chin on his knee. “She
left on friday, like she usually did, and then monday morning rolled around and
she still wasn't there. I wasn't really worried about it or anything, I just
went to school like I always did.”
Thor watched as Loki stared off, his body gently rocking from side to side.
“I made it week before a teacher noticed. I probably could've gone longer if I
was better at forging my mom's signature.”
“A week?” Thor said, unable to keep the disbelief from his voice.
Loki's eyes flicked back to him. He swallowed audibly.
“How old were you?”
“Twelve.”
Thor couldn't help but look at him in shock. Loki gave him a weak smile, his
shoulders rounding as he hugged his leg. He didn't know what to say, so he held
his hand out to Loki. Loki took it, letting Thor pull him in to his lap and
tucking his face in to the crook of Thor's neck. Thor wrapped his arms around
him, squeezing him too tight, probably.
“I'm not really sad about it anymore, if that makes you feel any better,” Loki
whispered, running his hand over Thor's shoulder.
“It doesn't,” he said just as quietly.
Loki exhaled against Thor's collarbone. Thor closed his eyes, resting his head
on Loki's and just listening to sound of Loki's breathing, his heart gently
thumping against Thor's chest.
***** Chapter 15 *****
Loki had to kick his feet to release some of the excitement he felt at hearing
the roar of Thor's motorcycle coming down the street. He bit his lip and sat up
on his knees in bed, twisting the blinds open to watch Thor pull in to the
driveway. He hopped off the bike with a hilarious lack of grace and tromped
towards the front door. Thor came stomping in to the bedroom a half minute
later, his hair and clothing a complete mess but the smile on his face
brilliant.
He pulled a bottle of lube from his pocket and tossed it to Loki, tearing his
clothes off like they were burning him. When he was finally naked again he
climbed in to bed, cupping Loki's cheeks as he pressed their mouths together
like they'd been separated for years, rather than the ten minutes it took for
Thor to go to the nearest drugstore. Loki's hands trembled, the plastic bottle
clutched in one of his sweaty palms while the other tangled in Thor's hair, his
heart stuttering in excitement. Thor's hands dragged over his back and sides,
coming to a stop on Loki's ass and squeezing it as he pulled Loki against him.
Loki rolled his hips, grinding his stiffening cock against Thor's belly.
Thor pressed their foreheads together, his hands sliding up and spreading over
the small of Loki's back. “Hey,” he whispered.
“Hey,” Loki repeated, his cheeks aching from trying to tame the smile on his
face. Thor smiled as his hand slid up to cup the back of his neck, tipping Loki
backwards until his skin met the sheets. Loki let out a giddy laugh as Thor
hovered above him, his thighs spread wide to accommodate him. It turned in to a
moan as Thor dragged a heavy hand over Loki's chest, calloused fingers catching
on his oversensitive nipples. He squirmed as Thor played with them again, after
already teasing them for a good thirty minutes before having to make the run
for lube. His blond hair fell all around his face as he licked his lips, the
strands sparkling in the bright mid-morning light.
“You're so gorgeous,” Thor said breathlessly, his hands running down Loki's
belly.
Loki squirmed more, his cheeks going warm from the praise and the continued
teasing from Thor's roughened fingertips. “You're not so bad looking either.”
Thor laughed as he leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to Loki's lips. “I love
you. So, so much.”
Loki let out a sigh against his mouth, grabbing a hunk of Thor's hair with his
free hand to keep him in place as he slid their mouths together, pinching
Thor's bottom lip between his own.
Thor pried the lube from Loki's hand, sitting back on his heels to rip the
plastic seal off with his teeth. Loki grabbed the backs of his thighs, pulling
his knees towards his chest. Thor paused with the cap pressed between his lips,
a thick groan rising from his chest at the sight. The plastic peeled off with a
loud rip a second later, pieces tossed aside as Thor twisted the cap off to get
the other seal off.
“Goddammit,” he muttered as he violently pulled the little plastic tab.
Loki laughed, watching as Thor sloppily poured some lube on his fingers from
the uncapped bottle before setting both on the nightstand. Loki's heartbeat
quickened. Thor leaned over him again, pressing another soft kiss to Loki's
lips before he said, “tell me if you need me to slow down, or anything.”
Loki nodded, his mind already swirling at the feeling of slick fingertips
rubbing against his sensitive skin. He groaned as Thor pressed the tip of a
finger in, the muscle giving easily to the intruding digit. The rest slid in
one small thrust at a time, making Loki whine.
“You want more?” Thor asked in a low, rough voice that made Loki shiver.
He rolled his hips and keened out a “yes,” shuddering when Thor pulled his
finger out only to press two in a half-second later. The stretch burned
deliciously, making him pull his legs higher as Thor slowly pressed further
inside. Thor was panting softly above him, his pupils blown out as he stared
down at where his fingers sunk in to Loki.
“Go faster,” Loki breathed.
Thor eyes flickered up to his face. “You sure?”
Loki gave a shaky smile, nodding his head.
Thor pressed in the rest of the way with one smooth movement, the burn slightly
more intense but so, so good. Loki panted as Thor began thrusting his fingers
in and out, pausing every so often to spread and twist them. He curled his
fingers, making Loki yelp as he dragged them over Loki's prostate. He stayed
there, teasing the spot over and over, until Loki's was shaking and yowling
from it.
Thor stopped with a laugh, pulling his fingers out and letting Loki catch his
breath.
“Asshole,” Loki huffed, no heat to the insult. His cock was aching, throbbing
against his stomach despite the lack of stimulation.
Thor just winked, taking a moment to pour more lube on to his fingers before
pressing three fingers against him. Loki sucked a breath through his teeth,
taking hold of his thighs again. Thor pressed forward, watching Loki's face for
signs of discomfort, pulling out whenever he noticed his chest had gone still.
Loki growled when he did it the fourth time. “You're taking too fucking long.”
Thor chuckled as he leaned over, nipping and kissing Loki's jaw as he slid two
fingers in to Loki in one motion, curling them to tease Loki's prostate some
more. Loki keened, his spine going rigid  as his mind was wiped clean, clasping
Thor's forearm with both hands to keep him right there.
“Next time you're searching for porn on my computer, you should look up how I
can get you to come from just this,” Thor huffed next to Loki's ear, his facial
hair scraping Loki's cheek.
Loki let out a breathless laugh and slapped Thor's shoulder.
Thor pulled out to press three fingers in to him again, not stopping until he
had them sunk in to the second knuckle.  “Good?”
Loki bit his lip and nodded his head, eyes slipping closed as Thor began to
press deeper with minute thrusts, turning his wrist to stretch Loki in every
direction. Loki's thighs trembled when Thor spread his fingers wide, whimpering
at the sting.
“Talk to me, babe. What do you want?”
Loki moaned, his just hanging open for a few seconds before he could manage to
find his voice. “I just want your cock- I wanna feel sore when we go to party
tonight.”
“Fuck,” Thor groaned, punctuating it with a bite to the delicate skin below
Loki's ear. He thrust his fingers in harder, filling the air with soft, wet
sounds.

“I'm ready,” Loki whined, pushing Thor's arm away now. “Give me your cock,” he
tried, enjoying the stuttered breath that it pulled from Thor. Thor sat up with
a hiss, pushing his tangled hair back with his clean hand before reaching for
the lube again, pouring out a generous amount of it in to his palm and
spreading it over his cock. His lips pulled back in to a snarl as he dragged it
over the length a few times, coating every inch of it in it. Loki panted,
pulling his knees to his chest as Thor put the lube back and shuffled in to
position. His thighs bracketed Loki's hips, the feel of warm skin and firm
muscle comforting as he pressed the reddened head of his cock to Loki's hole.
Loki inhaled sharply as it pushed past the loosened muscle, holding his breath
as the thicker shaft began to sink in.
Thor balanced himself on one hand planted next to Loki's shoulder. “Breathe,”
he ordered softly.
Loki let it out in a rush through his slack mouth, his body relaxing as Thor
eased in further. Loki moaned, the feeling of being stretched open like this
coming back to him, of having someone over him. This was so much better,
though. Not having a cold, hard mattress under him, his eyes shut tightly to
pretend the grunts were coming from someone different-
Thor went still above him, his voice edged with concern as he said Loki's name.
Loki realized that a few tears had slipped past the corners of his eyes and in
to his hairline, his throat thick with the threat of more. “Sorry,” he said,
wiping his face roughly. “I'm okay.”
Thor's face softened. He balance himself over Loki on his elbows, wiping away
the fresh tears that were still spilling from him with the backs of his
fingers, his hips still as he pressed tiny kisses on and around Loki's lips.
Loki let go of his thighs to run his hands up and down Thor's back, fingertips
skimming down the dip of his spine as Thor whispered “I love you” against his
lips again. Thor bent his head and pressed his mouth against Loki's neck as he
began to move his hips again, small, careful rolls that made Loki moan to the
ceiling.
Thor lifted his head with a heavy exhale, pressing his thumb on Loki's chin as
he kissed Loki deep, their tongues meeting and lips sliding together wetly.
Loki gripped Thor's shoulders and squeezed his thighs around Thor's waist,
while Thor's spread farther. He pressed his knees deeper in to the mattress as
he rolled his hips back, his cock almost sliding out of Loki, and then he
shoved in. The air was punched from Loki's lungs as he was filled with Thor's
cock, a soft whine rising from Loki's throat as his blunt fingernails dug in to
Thor's shoulders. Thor groaned against his lips, repeating the same motions
until he built a steady rhythm. It left Loki with nothing but the sweet slide
of Thor's cock in and out of him, the heat of the rest his body pressing down
on him. He could feel the wetness on his temples as Thor's breath gusted over
his face, the sheen of sweat on their skin mixing.
Thor moaned and grabbed the back of one of Loki's thighs, pushing it higher as
he rose up on his other hand and fucked in to him, the constant sounds falling
from Loki's mouth now accompanied by the sharp slap of skin.
“I'm getting close,” Thor breathed, looking down at Loki with dark, heavy
lidded eyes.
Loki mewled, reaching down with both hands to tug at his cock and play with his
balls. Thor grunted, slamming down harder. Loki was chanting Thor's name
breathlessly, his teeth grinding as his groin tightened, the hand on his cock
moving faster. He climaxed as Thor slammed his hips down, his back arching as
he choked around Thor's name. Thor made a noise above him, his movements losing
their rhythm and turning frantic, his powerful body crushing Loki in to the
mattress as he followed moments later.
Thor sunk down on to him carefully, keeping himself braced on his elbows so he
could kiss Loki again. Loki shivered as he pulled out, a bit of come leaking
out of him with him.
“You're smiling, so that must be good,” Thor said breathlessly, flopping down
next to him and pulling Loki to his chest.
Loki laughed, tucking his head against Thor's collarbone to try and hide the
delirious look on his face. Thor cupped a hand over the nape of his neck and
pressed his nose in to his hair, humming softly in to Loki's scalp.
“I love you,” Loki said, his stomach still doing flips even after already
saying the words countless times. Thor hummed again, nuzzling Loki's hair.
                                     - - -
Loki picked up the knife Frigga had given him, flipping the cold metal in his
palm a few times as he wondered if he should bring it. He glanced out the
living room window where Thor was waiting for Loki on the bike, his eyes
narrowed as he looked up and down the street.
Loki shrugged and tucked the folded blade in to the waistband of his jeans,
tugging his t-shirt over the clip as the metal quickly warmed against his skin.
He walked out the door, helmet begrudgingly in hand. Thor smiled at him and
slipped on his sunglasses to combat the glaringly orange late afternoon sun.
“Do we have to go?” Loki whined as he climbed on behind Thor.
Thor let out a low rumble of a laugh and patted Loki's thigh. “Just for a few
hours, babe. We'll have most of the night to ourselves.”
Loki still gave a petulant huff as he shoved the helmet on to his head.
Loki was zoning out as they drove down an empty two lane street in a sparsely
populated neighborhood when he heard the muffled sound of an engine revving
from behind them. Twisting his head to look, his heart thudded at the sight of
a white car coming up behind them fast.
“Thor!” he yelped, squeezing his waist hard. Thor whipped his head around just
as the car pulled up beside them in the other lane, making a sharp turn in
front of them before Thor could manage to speed up.
All at once the world became nothing but the sound of metal grinding on
pavement, his body weighing nothing as the world became a blur through the
plastic visor.
He slammed to the raised ground that lined either side of the road, rolling in
to the ditch as soon as he landed. His choked off gulps for air were hindered
by the helmet, panic making his whole body shake as he tried to rip the thing
off. He coughed as it finally popped off, his lungs still not quite wanting to
fill. He rolled unsteadily on to his hands and knees, his panic surging even
more at the sight of Thor on the ground about ten feet farther, his legs laying
over the gravel line shoulder while the rest was in the ditch. The bike was
tipped on it's side in the road still, just steps from Thor.
“Thor,” he wheezed, crawling through the overgrown grass towards him. He froze
at the crunch of gravel. The man with the scar walked down to where Thor lay,
crouching down to push at his shoulder and look at him for a moment before he
dug Thor's phone from his pocket, sliding it in to his own.
Then, he looked at Loki. An unsettling smirk crossed his face, black sunglasses
shielding his eyes. Loki could feel his heart in his throat, his limbs wobbling
under his weight. The man walked too fast, grabbing Loki by the throat and
dragging him up.
“You're coming with me, too,” he said, his voice rough and his smile too sharp.
Loki flung his limbs, pounding his fists and knees in to whatever part of the
man he could. He froze as the barrel of a gun was pressed to his temple, the
hand around his throat squeezing hard enough that stars twinkled in Loki's
vision.
“It'd really fuck up my plans if you made use this now, so if you could just
work with me here...”
Loki breathed through his nose and let himself be dragged to the car. The man
stopped and let go of Loki's throat. With his gun still aimed at Loki's head,
he pulled a couple of zip-ties from his front pocket. Thor groaned behind them,
sending another surge of adrenaline through Loki and he automatically turned to
the sound.
The man jabbed his gun into the back of Loki's head and growled, “don't fucking
move.”
Loki twisted away as he tried to manhandle Loki in to the car, hearing Thor
call out his name. “Thor!”
“Fucker,” the man cursed, tackling Loki to the pavement. Loki cried out as the
man pressed his weight to Loki's back, his cheek scrapping on the hot pavement.
Thor called his name once more before the man raised the gun, bringing the butt
of it down on Loki's temple, the world going black a second later.
                                     - - -
Loki came too in the front passenger's seat of the car, the side of his face
pressed the vibrating window and hands bound to the door handle. The man was
singing along to Paradise City. Loki couldn't hold back a groan as the man's
grating voice made Loki's head throb.
He paused, grinning around the straw of a big styrofoam he slurped on something
before saying, “aw, sleeping beauty's finally awake.”
“Fuck you,” Loki spat back, his voice warbling.
The man just laughed at him. “Not a morning person?”
Loki sneered, turning away to look out the window and try to get his barrings.
His brows furrowed at the unfamiliar road, nothing but overgrown fields and
decrepit houses as far as the eye could see. Fear clutched his chest. He
thought of Thor, wondering how hurt he was or if anyone had stopped to help him
yet. He squeezed his hands in to fists as a lump formed in his throat.
He took a few deep breaths through his nose and swallowed, trying to calm
himself. He looked back at the man, finally taking a good look at him. He
wasn't much bigger than Loki, which was slightly comforting. His arms were
covered in navy blue tattoos that seemed to bleed at the edges. His cheekbones
were high, the deep scar running down his cheek making the skin on that side
ripple. His lips thin and chapped above a narrow jawline. His hair and eyebrows
were white-blond, blending in to his pale skin at a glace, and slicked back
against his scalp. Loki could imagine it crunching under his fingertip from all
the hair gel.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked when he felt like his voice wouldn't crack, .
The man let out a chittery little laugh. “I thought you'd never ask. I'm
Byleistr, and your boyfriend helped kill my family.”
Something in Loki's stomach sank at his overly bright tone. He pushed himself
tighter against the door, wanting any space he could get. They drove for a
while longer, Byleistr singing along to the crackling songs on the radio while
Loki's mind continued to reel from the turn of events.
They eventually pulled in to the parking lot of a long abandoned factory, the
pavement full of cracks, grass and weeds growing wild through them.
“Home sweet home,” Byleistr said, giving Loki another yellow-stained grin.
***** Chapter 16 *****
Thor walked the around the room like he was a caged animal.
“Thor,” Jane said, her voice stern, “you have a concussion. Sit down.”
His lips pulled back in to a sneer, but he did as she asked, forcing himself to
to sit back down on the bed. A tow truck driver had found him next to his bike,
disorientated and clutching Loki's helmet in his shaking hands. He could
remember the flash of white as the car pulled out in front of them, then the
far off sound of Loki calling to him and a motor starting, the dead silence
after.
He felt Jane's hand on his back and realized with a start that he'd begun
crying, his vision blurred from tears and stomach rolling. He stood back up,
the blood rushing from his head and making him tip sideways.
“He has Loki,” Thor slurred, voice grinding from his throat. He clenched his
fist and slammed it in to the mattress with a growl.
“Please don't make me need to call security,” Jane pleaded. Her face was
twisted in worry, her hands held up in a defensive stance. “Just sit down.”
Thor snarled, raking his hands through his hair as his head throbbed, his body
tensed with rage.
Jane snapped, “goddammit Thor, just sit down!” She tugged on his arm until he
relented and sat back on the bed. Suddenly overcome with tiredness, he laid
down and curled on his side. The rustling of the sheets was impossibly loud in
his ears, making him cringe with even the tiniest movement. He blocked the
light from his eyes with one of his hands and let out a small sob that he
couldn't hold back. Thor grimaced and pressed his face in to the flat pillow
under his head, his stomach clenching as he thought of Loki being alone with
that fucking bastard.
He sat up at the sound of heavy footsteps heading to his room, Jane pushing
down on his arm in attempt to keep him on the bed. His mother walked through
the door first, worry clear on her face as she headed straight for him.
Something in him broke at the sight of her, making him grab for her and bury
his face in to her shoulder as his throat closed up on him.
His head throbbed as he said, “he took Loki,” choking on the words.
“What?” she asked, pulling his head back to look at his face.
Thor noticed the rest of the club standing at the door from the corner of his
eye. “He took Loki. He was gone when I came to,” he repeated, fighting the
thickness in his throat as he spoke.
Frigga's eyes widened, her hands coming up to cup his cheeks. “Oh no.”
Thor hissed through his teeth and stood, ignoring the headrush and pain that
came with the movement. “I need to find him. I can't just fucking sit here-”
Jane came to stand beside his mother, grabbing his arm. “You were just in a
crash and you-”
“I don't fucking care!” Thor barked back, shaking off her hold and stomping
towards the door. Fandral and Hogun were the first to step inside the doorway,
giving him looks that were close to pitying as the held him back. His rage
surged up even more at that, viciously shoving their hands away and trying to
push past them.
“Thor you need to-”
Thor screamed, “I need to find him!” He curled his fist without even thinking,
swinging blindly in to the bodies that were just a blur now. Multiple hands
grabbed at him, pulling his arms down and dragging him back roughly. He
thrashed and shouted at them, kicking as they pushed him back on to the bed.
All the movement made bile rise up his throat, his skin getting clammy and hot,
blinded by the lights and the sterile white walls of the room. He sagged in
defeat, closing his eyes to try to block out the light. The hands cautiously
lifted away a minute later. He cracked open his eyes as a shadow came over his
face.
“You need to stay right here,” Odin said firmly before leaving his view.
- - -
Thor woke to his mother stoking his hair. She sat in a chair pulled up beside
the bed, the room dark except for the light coming from the hallway through the
open door.
“How are you feeling?”
“My head doesn't hurt as much,” Thor said thickly. He glanced back to the door.
“They're looking,” his mother said, as though sensing the question.
“I hate this,” Thor said through a hiccuping sob. “What if he-” Thor couldn't
even finish the thought before his throat shut. Frigga shushed him, dragging
him closer as she leaned forward to hug Thor to her chest.
“Don't think like that. We're going to get him back and he’s going to be okay.”
Thor's lungs shuddered as he exhaled, his fist curling in to the thin bedding
as he stayed still in his mother's arms. He'd begun to doze off when her phone
chimed from inside her purse, forcing her to let go of him to answer it. Thor's
heart was in his throat as he watched her, fear rising as she gave the screen a
bewildered look. She blinked at Thor.
“Honey, where's your phone?”
Thor shot up, taking her phone as his heart pounded wildly in his head, his
hands shaking. There was text from his phone with an address he vaguely
recognized and a time, just a few hours from now.
Thor stood and paced the length of the room, his breathing coming in harsh
pants. His mother took her phone back, brushing her hair from her face as she
made a call.
“Did you get a text from Thor's phone?”
Thor stopped, swaying in one place as he bit on his thumbnail, watching
Frigga's face while she spoke on the phone. She glanced his way and made her
expression carefully blank, something he remembered from when he was a kid,
making white hot fear lance up his spine at the sight.
With a quiet “bye” she hung up, swallowing as she looked back at Thor.
“Does dad know where the address goes to?” When she said nothing he stepped
closer, his voice low as he asked, “where's the address go to?”
She sighed. “It's the factory where you guys...” She trailed off with a vague
gesture of her hand. He didn't even need her to finish. His stomach dropped to
his feet, feeling lightheaded.
“It's someone from from Jotunheim.”
His mother's phone chimed again and he watched her open the message, unable to
hide her fearful expression right away.
“What is it?” he asked as he took a step closer, his voice cracking slightly.
She stepped back, clutching the phone to her chest. “You don't want to see it,”
she said gently.
“What?” His limbs felt weak all of a sudden. He was surprised he was even still
standing. “What is it?”
Frigga held her hand out to keep him back. “It's a picture.”
Thor sucked in a breath. “Let me see.”
“I don't think-”
“Let me see!” he barked, making his mother flinch. He wilted back in guilt,
softly adding, “please.”
Frigga stood there for a few moments before finally relenting, slowly handing
the phone to Thor. Thor swallowed audibly and flipped the screen towards
himself, falling back on to the bed as soon as he laid his eyes on it. Loki was
staring at the camera, face froze in a snarl. No – not at the camera, just past
it, at the one taking the picture. He sat in a chair, arms pulled back behind
him, in a dimly lit room with rotting walls and a cracked concrete floor.
Another message from his phone popped up. He smiled prettier last time.
The breath was punched from his chest and his body stiffened as he stared at
the picture for who knew how long.
“Thor?” came his mother's voice, snapping him out of the daze he was in.
“I have to get out of here,” he said as he stood back up, voice thick. He
tossed the phone to the bed and went to the chair in the corner, where his
boots sat on the floor. He was grateful Jane hadn't made him change out of his
clothes when he was brought here. “I can't just sit here-”
The phone rang again, making him freeze and watch the phone where it sat on the
bed. Frigga picked it up, her shoulders relaxing a little when she flipped it
over.
“It's your father,” she said, answering it. She nodded along whatever his
father had said, replying with, “alright we'll be there soon. Love you.”
“We're going to the clubhouse,” Frigga said after hanging up. Thor went back to
pulling on his boots as she picked up her purse and dropped her phone in to it.
“How's your head?”
Despite his head throbbing, he forced himself to not sway as he stood, slipping
his scraped up jacket on. “Perfect.”
Frigga huffed at him, looking unconvinced but not arguing with him on it. He
followed her out of the room, the silence in the sterile halls unnerving him
even more than he already was. A young nurse at the station opened her mouth
and moved to stand, presumably to ask them what they were doing, but another,
older nurse yanked her back down, giving a hard shake of her head at the young
woman's quizzical look.
Thor was antsy in the passenger seat of his mother's SUV, his foot bouncing on
the floor and sweat coating his skin. It was nearly eleven pm and everything
was bathed in the orange glow of streetlights, the air distinctly cooler than
it had been in the early afternoon when he and Loki had left his house. Bile
rose in Thor's throat as he remembered how Loki had whined about going to the
party. Maybe if they'd just stayed-
He took a shaky breath and closed his eyes, the flicker from the lights as they
passed was making him dizzy, and leaned forward with his elbows braced on his
thighs as he held his head in his hands. His mother said nothing, only reaching
over to cup the back of his neck and giving it a comforting squeeze.
He felt oddly numb as they pulled in to the clubhouse, like he was in a fog as
he walked inside with his mother. Everyone was there already, talking in hushed
voices and going silent as they walked in.
Thor stood there for a moment, meeting their collective gaze with a confidence
he really didn't have at the moment. “Well?” he said, looking over to his
father. “What are we doing?”
“We're trying to figure that out,” Odin answered gruffly. Jerking his head to a
table where Heimadall and Fandral sat, one speaking softly in to a phone while
the other typed away on a laptop, he added. “Heimdall is trying to figure out
who exactly from Jotunheim is still alive, so we'll know what we're dealing
with.”
Thor clenched his jaw and nodded, pacing to relieve his ever-growing tension.
Everyone else went back to their conversations while Frigga went to Odin. Thor
just prowled in the background, feeling useless and angry.
Sif was the first to approach, checking him with her shoulder gently. “Lets go
get some fresh air.”
Thor sighed. He spared another glance in to the room. Everyone was too quiet,
an eerie calm over everything as they waited for the bomb to drop. He looked
back to Sif and gave a slight nod to his head, following her out the clubhouse.
Being outside didn't settle his nerves much, but the cool air helped him breath
bit more easily. They sat down on a bench a few feet from the door, saying
nothing for a few minutes as moths and other bugs buzzed around a nearby
floodlight.
“How are you doing?”
Thor couldn't help but let out a derisive scoff of laughter at the question.
“Really?”
Sif shrugged. “Better than just sitting here.”
Thor leaned forward and sighed again, bracing his elbows on his knees, rubbing
a hand on his forehead. His headache had smoothed out in to a dull consistent
throb, overshadowed by the nervous flutter and ache in his heart. “I'm not
okay...”
Sif exhaled audibly next to him, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder. “I
know.”
With the sudden urge to move, he shook her off and stood, pacing in front of
the bench as she watched. “I'm sick of just fucking sitting around and waiting.
We know where he is lets just fucking go-”
“Thor,” Sif interrupted, her voice stern, “I know you care about Loki, but
you're going to do something stupid if you don't get a goddamn grip.”
Boots slamming on to the concrete harder, Thor growled. She was right, he knew
that, but everything was screaming for him to go get Loki. Thoughts of what
could happen – or be happening – to him making Thor want to tear the fucking
world in half.
They went silent again, the sound of his own heartbeat thumping in his head as
he paced endlessly. He stopped and turned at the sound of the door opening,
Fandral's head popping out from behind it.
“We've found our guy.”
“Byleistr,” Heimdall said when they had joined the others, tapping on the
screen of the laptop where a mugshot was pulled up, “one of Laufey's son's. He
was in prison until about four months ago.”
Thor took a deep breath through his nose at the all too familiar face on the
screen, skin crawling at the cold stare. “What for?” he asked.
Heimdall hesitated, glancing over to his parents before answering. “Assault
with a deadly weapon.”
Thor nodded, chewing on his thumbnail as he stared at the screen. He zoned out,
eyes unfocused as everyone around him talked, only to be snapped out of his
daze by his father's hand on his shoulder.
“Come here,” he ordered quietly. Thor followed him to his office, leaning
against the wall as he shut the door. He watched as his father, waiting for him
to speak first. He seemed to be deep in thought as he stood at the other side
of the room.
“You need to stay here.”
“What!?” Thor snapped, pushing off the wall.
His father lifted a finger to silence him. “I can't risk having you do
something stupid-”
“So I'm supposed to just sit here and wait? Trust you to get Loki after you've
done everything to make him feel unwelcome and untrusted-”
“I'm trying to keep you and the club safe!”
“I'm the one Byleistr shot. He ran me off the road took Loki from me.” Thor's
voice rose higher and higher, glaring back at his father with overwhelming
rage. “This is my fight! You can't tell me to just sit back and wait!”
Odin hissed through his teeth, “this is exactly why you need to stay back. We
don't know what he has planned, you go there like this and your liable to get
yourself and Loki killed.”
“It's one fucking guy-”
“One guy whose managed to evade us for months. One guy whose managed to put you
in the hospital twice. One guy with a very big grudge.”
Thor growled pulling at his own hair in frustration. Deep down he knew his
father was right, he was being irrational, erratic. It was dangerous. He didn't
care.
“You need to stay right here,” his father repeated, his voice broking no more
arguments. He walked past Thor, leaving him in the office to seethe alone.
He sunk in to the chair in front of his father's desk and waited. He didn't
move until he heard the thumps of boots and the collective roar of motorcycles
before he coming back out. His mother had stayed behind, the look of worry that
had been etched on her face for hours now had turned in to something a with a
harder edge.
“I'm not staying here.”
The corner of her mouth twitched upwards. “I know, sweetheart.”
***** Chapter 17 *****
“There's one of you and ten of them, what are you expecting to do, honestly?”
Byleistr chuckled, “wouldn't you like to know” and continued flicking his
finger over the screen of Thor's phone. They were in a small room that looked
like it was once used as an office, a broken and rotted wooden desk shoved to
one corner, the dingy snot yellow paint has  peeling from the walls. The air
inside was stale and mildew-y despite the large cracks between the plywood
boards that covered the broken windows. Byleistr chuckled again at something on
Thor's phone, awwing sarcastically and flipping the phone to Loki. “How fucking
precious.”
Loki looked at the picture he pulled up before leveling another glare at his
kidnapper. It was one he took when Thor was still on painkillers, constantly
drowsy and out of it. They were snuggled on the couch, with Thor practically
laying on top of Loki, his eyes half-open and his sleepy smile pressed to
Loki's hair. “Fuck you,” he spat back.
Byleistr laughed and turned the phone back, pacing the room slowly as he looked
at the rest of the phone's contents. Loki sagged in the chair, watching him for
lack of anything better to do. He wasn't scared like he should haven been, he
was just... pissed.
Byleistr stopped, turning on a heel to slump against the wall across from him.
“So, Loki, what about you? I gotta say, you were particularly hard to find any
information about. You gotta family? How do they feel about this whole...”
Byleistr held the phone up with another picture of him and Loki on it,
gesturing at it as he said, “romance.”
Loki just stared at him.
Byleistr laughed quietly at his non-answer, flipping the phone back to himself.
“Or did Thor kill them just to snatch lil' ol' you up? Seems like his sort of
thing.”
Loki couldn't stop his lip from curling at that. “It's not his thing,
fuckface.”
“Oooh, so mean.”
Loki huffed, shifting as much as he could in his seat.
“But seriously, what's your whole story? We've got some time to kill, so feel
free to go in to as much detail as you'd like.”
“There is no story. I don't have a dad, my deadbeat mom abandoned me, and here
we are now.”
Byleistr crossed his arms over his chest, the smile that slithered on to his
face making his scar more prominent. “So you call Thor daddy or something? He
does seem a bit old for you.”
Loki rolled his eyes. “You think I have daddy issues? I'm not the one going on
a nutjob rampage-”
Byleistr's face contorted in to a snarl as he shot off the wall, mouth opening
to say something when there was a clang from somewhere in the main part of the
factory. The both of them went still. Byleistr stared at him for a moment
longer, saying nothing as he turned skulked out of the room.
Loki sucked in a breath. “Finally.” Twisting his arms, he reached for the knife
still tucked in to his jeans. Heart pounding in his ears, he held the warm
metal with a death grip and opened the blade carefully, doing his best to not
slice himself as he flipped it around to cut in to the plastic binding his
wrists. He hissed as the blade scraped against the his skin, gritting his teeth
as he continued to push the knife against the plastic. His hands began to ache
and cramp from the strange angle he had to contort them in.
He felt a surge of relief as the plastic gave with a little snap. With shaking
hands he frantically cut the plastic ties that tethered each of his ankles to
the legs of the chair before folding the knife back up and shoving it back in
to the waist of his jeans. Crouching down as he tiptoed across the floor, he
peered out in to the moonlit main floor of the factory to see if Byleistr was
near. When it seemed the coast was clear enough he carefully made his way out.
Still stepping lightly and keeping himself low to the ground, he ran, ducking
at the end of a row of old, rusted out pieces of machinery. He made his way
around the perimeter of the floor, his eyes darting constantly for the sight of
Byleistr. He froze as he heard another clang, then an annoyed grumble. He
raised his head from behind the broken down machine he hid behind and watch as
Byleistr marched back towards the office. Loki ran full speed down the row,
making it in to the wide center aisle and towards a set of exit doors.
“Fuck! That fucking slippery piece of shit.”
Loki let out a breathy laugh over his shoulder.
When he looked forward again Loki skidded to a stop, falling hard on his ass.
Wrapped around the door handles was a chain, a thick padlock connecting the
ends, and then he was hit with the pungent smell of gasoline. Squinting, he
looked around, spying a few drying puddles staining the concrete, some bright
red cans tossed in a pile nearby. Loki shuddered, suddenly having a very clear
idea of what Byleistr was planning.
“There you are, you little fucker,” Byleistr snarled from behind him. Loki
shoved himself to his feet, just managing to duck out of his grip and running
past him. Veering in to one of the the rows of machinery again, Loki ran as
fast as he could, his lungs and legs burning. He squeezed through the small
spaces between them, shoving things to the ground along the way to try and trip
up Byleistr.
It didn't work though, or he must've slowed down enough for Byleistr to catch
up to him, as his arm got wrenched back and he was forced around. There was a
blur of light and pain as Byleistr swung his fist in to Loki's face, tasting
blood as it gushed from his nose. He kicked and punched back at Byleistr
wildly, each hit of his own met with another from Byleistr. They snarled and
cursed as they fought each other viciously, falling against the machinery and
then on to the concrete floor. Loki gasped raggedly as he felt hands squeeze
around his throat, squirming beneath Byleistr's weight.
Byleistr grinned maniacally as he pressed down on Loki's throat. “You know? I
was going going to let you see Thor one last time, but it might be more fun to
see the look on his face when he sees your body.”
Loki sneered, frantically yanking his knife from the waistband of his jeans
while his vision started to tunnel. He flipped it open, gripped it tight, and
stabbed as hard as he could in to Byleistr's side. He let out a howl of pain
and shock, his hands instantly letting off Loki's throat. Loki gasped for air
and bucked Byleistr off him while he was still to stunned to fight back,
scrambling through the rubble while Byleistr dragged himself up with a string
of angry curses.
Loki froze at the sound of rumbling outside.
“Shit!”
Loki's feet unstuck from the floor as he heard Byleistr's begin to shuffle
towards him. He had to have at least one set of doors unlocked. He ran past
another set of locked doors and went in the direction of the last set. He fell
to the ground as a bullet bounced off one of the machines right next to his
head. He got to his hands and knees and began to crawl along the floor, hardly
able to hear anything over his pulse pounding in his ears.
Headlights flashed through the broken windows and with a sudden rush of hope
Loki shoved himself on to his feet and sprinted towards the door, his hands
reaching for the handles.
There was another gunshot. Then an intense, burning pain in the front of his
thigh. His leg collapsed underneath him, leaving him a screaming heap on the
floor.
“Loki!?”
Loki let out another sob before pushing himself on to his hands and knees to
crawl towards the door. Byleistr grabbed Loki, his hand tight on Loki's throat
as he yanked him up on to his feet and dragged him farther back in to the
factory again, gun pressed firmly to Loki's temple.
The doors flew open seconds later. Loki recognized Thor's silhouette, back-lit
by headlights. He clawed at Byleistr's arm as he wheezed Thor's name.
“You better be real fucking careful if you don't want to watch your boytoy's
brains get blown out, buddy.” Loki winced, Byleistr's voice loud and harsh in
his ear.
Thor's shoulders tensed, his hand curled in to fists. He stepped inside,
shutting the doors behind himself to at chorus of disapproval.
“I want everyone to get in here,” Byleistr said, voice quieter. “Every one of
you goddamn assholes.”
At that, Thor laughed. “I don't think that's gonna happen, buddy.”
Byleistr growled, squeezing Loki's throat as he ground the gun in to Loki's
temple. “I'm not playing a fucking game here.”
Loki couldn't hold back the strained whimper that rose from his throat, pain
flaring from his leg to the top of his head.
“Let go of him,” Thor warned, walking farther inside.
“Not until I get what I want!” Loki winced as Byleistr's voice rose sharply.
“Have the rest come inside.”
Thor stayed silent, marching closer. Loki could feel Byleistr's hands shaking,
breath gusting against his cheek with each shallow breath. Slowly, he reached
for his knife, his own hand trembling as he did.
“Get the rest inside,” Byleistr demanded again.
“What the hell made you think they were ever going to just walk in to whatever
fucking trap you've got set up here?” Thor asked, voice low and steady.
Byleistr growled again, yanking roughly on Loki's throat as he shouted back,
“you really want your little fucktoy dead, don't you!?”
Loki could almost feel the murderous thoughts rolling from Thor as his eyes
narrowed at Byleistr. Loki pulled his knife out and unfolded the sticky blade
with a snick. Without hesitation he swung his arm out and stabbed backwards,
sinking it in to Byleistr's thigh. He wrenched himself out of Byleistr's grip
while he howled in pain, running straight for Thor. He pulled Loki to his chest
and spun them both behind a hunk of rusted metal as shots rang out. Loki curled
against Thor's chest, his eyes shut tight.
Byleistr let out in a ragged yowl as his gun unloaded it's last shot, followed
by metal clunking and scrapping on the ground. He could hear Frigga's voice
calling from outside.
Loki managed to sputter out, “he's got gas poured everywhere.”
As if in cue, there was a woosh. Byleistr cackled. Flickering orange light
begun to rise up behind them, spreading fast. Thor dragged them to their feet,
gripping Loki's arm they ran towards the door. Pain lanced up Loki's leg as he
took another hobbled step, making him cry out as he knee buckled.
“YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!” Byleistr screamed as he tossed a lit match in their
direction, voice raw. “It's only fair I kill yours too!” Fire burst up in to
the air and Thor was quick to manhandle Loki back on to his feet.
“Come on babe, we've gotta get out,” Thor said, hugging him around the waist to
help him limp along.
“No!” Byleistr shot forward, seeming to ignore the bloody gash in his thigh as
he ran past them to slam the doors shut. Loki felt his stomach roll as he
glanced around the factory, flames spreading all over the floor and up the
walls. He looked back as Byleistr began to laugh, the sound of it frantic and
high pitched. Loki could see the large bloodstains from his stab wounds, the
fire casting strange shadows on his pale face. Thor began walking again, Loki
keeping up as much as he could. They stopped in front of Byleistr, his laughter
dying off in to shallow panting. Thor reached out and calmly grabbed him by the
throat, pulling him away from the door as he released Loki.
“Go outside,” Thor said, his eyes never leaving Byleistr's face. “Mom's out
there waiting.”
Loki hesitated and Thor glanced to him, the hard look on his face softening.
“I'll be right out, I just don't want you to see this.”
Loki nodded and pulled one of the heavy doors open just enough to squeeze out
of it, having to use all of his body weight just to do that. He gasped as he
crumpled to the gravel outside, his limbs shaking and goosebumps prickling over
his skin as the cold air washed over it.
“Loki!” Frigga ran to him, crouching down and hugging him under his armpits to
help drag him towards the the SUV.
From inside there was a ragged scream. From behind them came the rumble of
engines. The rumbling got louder and louder, until it was almost deafening
while the screams tapered off.
“What the hell are you doing here!?” Odin shouted as he made his way to the
front of the SUV, stopping short at the sight of Loki, his eye widening.
“Where the fuck were all of you?” Frigga snapped back. Loki closed his eyes and
shuddered and Frigga squeezed him a little tighter.
Thor stumbled out of the factory a second later, skin spattered with blood and
slicked with sweat. His friends ran up to him, their voices garbling together
as they talked over each other. Thor pushed past them with out a word, sinking
to his knees beside Loki and his mother.
Loki reached out and clawed his hands in to Thor's shirt, pulling himself in to
Thor's arms and burying his face in the crook of his neck as he began to sob.
Scooping Loki's legs up as best he could in one of his arms, he stood with a
huff and carried Loki in to the backseat of the SUV. Loki looked over Thor's
shoulder at the rest of the club, their expressions hard to read with how much
pain he was in. When Loki was settled in Thor's lap, Frigga got in to the front
seat and started it up.
“I've got you babe, I've got you,” Thor whispered, his face tucked against
Loki's.
Loki nodded, curled his fist in to Thor's hair and let his eyes slide closed.
                                     - - -
Loki woke in the hospital, Thor's hand gently cupped over his as he slept in a
chair beside his bed. Loki turned his hand over to grasp Thor's.
“Hey,” Thor croaked a minute later. Loki looked up and returned the smile Thor
aimed at him. Thor dragged the chair closer and asked, “how you feeling?”
Loki shrugged. “I dunno. Tired.”
Thor nodded and leaned forward to press a kiss to Loki's temple, raking his
free hand through Loki's hair as he leaned back.
“Will you lay in bed with me?” Loki asked, sounding more pitiful than intended.
Thor glanced at the open door. He gave Loki's hand a squeeze before letting go
and standing, walking across the the room to slowly shut it and twist the
blinds closed. Loki scooted over as Thor toed off his boots and slid the
railings on the side of the bed down, molding himself to Thor's side as he laid
down. Thor carefully wrapped his arm around Loki's shoulders and pressed
another kiss to Loki's forehead when they were both comfortable.
“We can go on that road trip now.”
There was a pause and then Thor laughed. “Yeah, I guess we can. After I get my
bike fixed, and your leg heals, and when I don't feel like vomiting when I look
at a bright light. After all that, we are definitely going on that road trip.”
Loki smiled in to Thor's shoulder, his eyes fluttering closed as Thor ran a
hand through his hair.
“Love you.”
Loki sighed happily, “love you too.”
***** Chapter 18 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Thor knocked on the bedroom door. “Ready to go, babe?”
“Just about! I'll be out in a minute,” Loki answered, voice muffled through the
door.
“I'm gonna go wait by the bike.”
“'Kay!”
Thor slipped on his jacket over his sweatshirt as he stepped out the front
door, taking a deep breath of the cold air with a smile. He walked to the
garage, checking the lock once more and giving the door a quick tug to make
sure it was secured. He then turned to his bike - the fresh red paint standing
out starkly against the grey and browns surrounding it - patting his hand on
the new, bigger seat as he came to stand beside it. He pulled out his phone,
new as well, and sent a text to his mom, telling her they were just about to
head off.
The phone buzzed a half-minute later. Ok. Be careful and call me whenever you
stop tonight.
Thor smiled. Ok. Love you.
Love you both. He sighed and shoved the phone in to his pocket. He felt
excitement thrumming under his skin. Just him and Loki, traveling for as long
as they could stand it.
Odin hadn't liked it when he told him of their road trip, the conversation
quickly turning in to a full on blow out that led to Thor stomping out of his
parents' house, his mother watching with a worried frown. His father had
lightened up only slightly with his distrust of Loki after the whole ordeal,
grumbling something about Laufey under his breath when Thor snapped one day and
asked him what the fuck his problem was.
Thankfully, everyone else was happy to bring Loki in to the fold afterwords.
There'd been a cookout a few weeks after Loki had been let out of the hospital,
and everyone was eager to hear about what had happened. Loki had told them the
whole story after Thor deflected his friends' praises, saying that Loki manged
to fuck the guy up pretty good and all he had to do was finish. Loki was shy at
first, his hand trembling as he took a sip of soda while talking about how
they'd been run off the road. He got into it quickly though, obviously enjoying
how he had gotten the full attention of Thor's friends. By the end of it Thor
could tell Loki had won over pretty much anyone who had still had any lingering
doubts about him.
A bit later he had dragged Loki in to his lap, drunkenly mumbling about how
proud he was, how much he loved him, and how fucking hot he looked in those
jeans. Come to think of it, that might've been part of Odin's problem.
Glancing down his quiet street he felt... relaxed. No strange cars in sight.
Everything was quiet, since most of the birds had already flown off for the
season, leaving nothing but the sound of wind blowing through the naked
branches of trees.
He took a deep breath and he could've swore he smelled smoke from somewhere in
the distance. The images it brought up were still vivid; Loki squeezing out the
door of the factory, the flames climbing up the walls and towards them, the
pained, panicked look that came over Byleistr's face as he fully realized that
his plans had crumbled to dust and the remains were being blown away. He had
lashed out one final time, his hits weak, halfhearted.
If Thor had had his way he would've made it last, get back something from all
those hours searching, getting shot, taking Loki. But Loki and his mother were
outside waiting for him, and the flames were spreading fast. He moved his hand
to the collar of Byleistr's blood stained shirt, pinned him to the nearest
piece of machinery and pummeled him one-handed. Let the fury that had been
simmering under his skin since he came to in the ditch and realized Loki was
gone take over. He pulled back when Byleistr slumped in his grip and sweat
poured down in to his own eyes. Byleistr's nose had gone crooked and blood
seeped from his parted lips, sadness and resignation filling his eyes. He had
made a pained noise as Thor dragged him back up and pulled him closer to the
fire. He didn't fight. Thor pushed him in to the flames.
Thinking about it later, when he'd calmed down and the dust had begun settling,
Loki in his arms, he could understand why Byleistr did what he did.
Loki's head popped out from the front door, jerking Thor from his thoughts.
“Close your eyes,” he called out.
Thor raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
Loki rolled his eyes. “Just do it.”
Thor sighed, sounding more exasperated than he felt, and cupped his hands over
his eyes. He heard a bit of shuffling and the door being shut, a few jiggles of
the doorknob to make sure it was locked.
“Okay,” Loki said a second later.
Thor moved his hands. Loki, walking towards him with a slightest limp, had his
hands behind his back. He wore the mischievous smirk Thor loved so much, the
rest of him all bundled up in a sweatshirt and his own leather jacket. Thor
could feel the dopey smile on his face get bigger as he got closer.
“Have I told you I loved you today?”
Loki scrunched his nose like he was giving the question serious thought as he
came to a stop in front of Thor. “Only like, thirty times I think. Maybe
thirty-five.”
Thor frowned in mock-disappointment. “Damn, I've been slacking.”
Loki leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I'm sure you'll
find some way to make up for it.”
“You know it,” Thor said with a wink. He held out his hands and made grabby
motions at Loki. “Gimme my present.”
Loki grinned. He brought both hands forward to reveal a pair of helmets. One a
deep green, the other the same shade of red as his bike. “And you have to wear
it. Mom says so.”
Thor groaned, dragged a hand over his face. “Guess I should have expected
this.”
Loki pushed the red one in to Thor's chest with a small laugh. Thor took it
with only a little bit of whining. Loki moved to put his on and Thor stopped
him with a hand on his wrist. He pulled Loki forward, moving his hand to cup
the back of Loki's neck as he dragged him in to a deep kiss. They both let out
happy sighs as they pulled back, his eyes raking up and down Loki's body. Thor
suddenly noticed something, and it must've shown on his face.
“What?” Loki asked, head tilting.
Thor smiled. “Have you gotten taller?”
Loki responded with a shrug and a laugh. Thor gave him another kiss.
He tugged his helmet on after forcing himself to pull back(since they might
never leave at this rate) and climbed on to his bike, kicking up the stand.
“Which way are we going?”
Loki slipped on his helmet, tightening the strap under his chin a little,
before climbing on. He moved carefully to not knock the bags hanging off the
side of the bike. “I wanna see mountains,” he answered when he was settled
comfortably behind Thor.
Thor smiled. He patted Loki's knee hovering at his side. “We'll go see some
mountains, then.”
Chapter End Notes
     !!!
     (Ugh, I never know what to write here.)
     Thank you immensely to everyone whose read, kudos'd, and commented,
     it really means the world to me. I loved writing this story(even when
     it was a pain in the ass - I'm no good at a plot that doesn't revolve
     solely around getting these two screw) and it makes me so happy that
     other people enjoyed it too. (And don't fret too much - I have a
     couple of oneshots planned that go a bit in to the future with them!)
     THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL! I'm gonna go be weepy for a while now.
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