
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/2221773.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      Multi
  Fandom:
      The_Avengers_(Marvel_Movies), Thor_(Movies), Captain_America_(Movies),
      Iron_Man_(Movies)
  Relationship:
      Loki/Thor, James_"Bucky"_Barnes/Steve_Rogers
  Character:
      Loki, Thor, Odin, Frigga, Tyr, Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, Tony_Stark,
      Steve_Rogers, Natasha_Romanov, Clint_Barton, Pepper_Potts, Bruce_Banner,
      Nick_Fury, Maria_Hill, Phil_Coulson, James_"Bucky"_Barnes, Laufey,
      Helblindi, Byleistr_(Marvel), Jane_Foster_(Marvel), Sam_Wilson_(Marvel),
      Original_Male_Character(s)
  Additional Tags:
      Torture, Rape, mute!Loki, Intersex_Loki, Jötunn_Loki, Loki_Feels,
      loki!whump, Thor_Is_Not_Stupid, Mpreg, Miscarriage, Poisoning,
      Starvation, Odin's_A+_Parenting, Racism, Team_as_Family, Alternate
      Universe_-_Canon_Divergence
  Series:
      Part 1 of Colours
  Stats:
      Published: 2014-09-08 Words: 33376
****** Loki Wrapped In Red ******
by Marie_Phantom
Summary
     Instead of keeping the infant Loki, Odin gifts him to the army.
     Thor has spent his life hearing about a person who serves the army, a
     mysterious figure who never talks, never fights, but is taken
     everywhere the army is. Upon finally seeing this figure, he is
     captured by this man, who had no name, and blank empty eyes.
     This is the story of the evolution of Thor, and the catalyst that
     changed him from a boy into a man worthy to be king.
Notes
     This story literally came from a dream I had, which I cannot remember
     except for one image. It had literally consumed me, and I had to
     write it down.
     This is, by far, one of the darkest things I have ever written. Heed
     the warnings, they are there for a reason. I am portraying Asgard as
     a deeply flawed and backward culture, ruling the Nine Realms similar
     to a police state. The only exception is Midgard.
See the end of the work for more notes
Thor first hears about the being when he is listening in on one of his fathers
conversations with Tyr. He is meant to be with his tutors, learning his runes,
but he has skipped out, confused as to why Tyr, the General, has come to see
his father when Asgard is not actively fighting any wars. He sneaks to the
door, and presses an ear to it, catching the conversation.
"...it does nothing but cry. Cries all day and all night. It cannot lift, it
cannot carry, it can barely walk. It's only good for one thing, and even now
it's too small to do so."
"You must have patience." Odin says, sighing. Thor can hear the faint scratch
as Odin rubs a hand down his chin. "I gave it to you for a reason, it still
needs to grow to be useful. Eventually, you will not need to worry about it not
performing. If it still can't, then kill it and be done."
"It's just expensive." Tyr growled. "It's been stealing our tunics, trying to
clothe itself."
"A thing like that does not need clothes."
"I now, but it seems to be under some illusion that it does, to keep warm.
Although I don't see how it gets cold, being a Jötunn."
Thor gave a small gasp, and immediately out a hand over his mouth to try and
stem the noise. There was an actual Jötunn nearby!
"You mentioned that it could change it's skin, into that of an Aesir?" Odin
asked.
"Yes, when it wants to. We try not to encourage it."
"Do try and keep your tunics away from it. I shudder to think what should
happen if it actually manifested a personality." Odin said, sounding mildly
amused. Tyr boomed out laughter.
"I shouldn't worry about that!" He said. "It doesn't speak, and any
transgression it does it is rapidly punished for. If it ever got close to a
personality, then we would be able to beat it out of it."
"Then it sounds like it is in your hands." Odin said. Thor heard footsteps at
the door and hurried backwards, but not fast enough to not be seen when the
door swung open and Tyr and Odin walked out.
"Thor, what are you doing here?" Odin asked, sounding disappointed. Thor wrings
his hands and looks down at the floor. He doesn't have any words to say. Tyr
chuckles and reaches forward to ruffle Thor's blond locks.
"It is good to see you, young Odinson." He says. Thor beamed at him.
"It is good to see you too, General Tyr." 
"Did you come to hear about military things?"
Thor quickly latches on to the excuse. "Yes! I want to be a great general one
day!" Tyr laughs again.
"I am sure you will be!" Tyr claps Thor on the shoulder and then walks out the
door, striding down the hallway. Thor watches him go, and is then scooped up by
Odin. 
"What did you hear?" Odin asks, walking the opposite direction to the nursery.
He can already hear Sif and Volstagg fighting. 
"Many things." Thor answers.
"Anything important?"
Thor thinks about the Jötunn nearby, and the beating it would likely be getting
in the future. He felt oddly sad.
"Nothing important, Father. Nothing important."
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Thor doesn't hear about the boy for a while.
But he doesn't forget.
Asgard goes to war with Vanaheim when Thor reaches the equivalent age of 11,
and he plays in the garden with his friends, pretending to slay dragons. Frigga
sits under a tree, embroiding a piece of cloth (which will one day become
Thor's cape).
Thor turns to the trees, about to run into the nearby copse to hide, when he
sees something move in the undergrowth. He stops, but is not noticed by the
others.
Two blood red objects moved, and then disappear under a blur of blue.
Thor holds his breath. He looks at the objects, and they blink at him again. 
He is about to call out, when he hears Tyr roar something in the background.
The bush rustles, and the red disappears. 
"What are you looking at?" Fandral comes up behind him. He sounds slightly out
of breath.
Thor swallows around a dry throat. He licks his lips.
"Just a bird."
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Thor meets his first Jötunn when he is only a little bit older. Laufey has been
commanded to come to Asgard by Odin so he can pladge his troops to Asgards war
against Vanaheim. Thor stands in the greeting delegation with his friends. His
mothers hand rests on his shoulder, but he can feel it clench when the
continent from Jötunnheim comes closer.
Laufey is leading the group. Thor sees that he is tall, taller than Odin. His
skin is blue, with raised white lines on it, and he eyes are blood red. Thor
remembers seeing eyes like that before, and shivers. He has no hair, and his
crown is a series of brass points in his skull. He is dressed in a loin cloth,
with leather arm guards and grieves. Flanking him are his sons, Helblindi and
Byleistr. Helblindi is slimmer, with a longer face and slender hands. Byleistr
dwarfs his father, with a body like a boulder. 
They walk to Odin, and kneel.
"Hail Odin All-Father, King of All the Realms. We have heard your call and come
to pledge our armies to yours." Laufey says. Thor cannot help but notice he
says this through gritted teeth. Odin waves an imperious hand and Laufey
stands.
He doesn't look Odin in the eye.
"I thank you, Laufey King, for your support." There is a slightly akward
silence, before Laufey says, slightly desperately, 
"Have you Senn anything?"
Odin shakes his head. "Alas, no." Laufeys shoulders sink.
Thor watches all of this with a slight frown. He notices Helblindi looking at
him and he grins. Helblindi, to his surprise, goes white and looks away.
"I have had your quarters prepared." Odin says, turning and walking to the
palace. The greeting party turns and walks with him, with the Jötunns behind.
Thor manages to wriggle away from his mother and goes to walk next to
Helblindi, who continues to avoid his gaze.
"I've never seen a Jötunn before." Thor says. He knows Helblindi is some years
younger than him, but the Jötunn already dwarfs him in size. Heblindi doesn't
say anything.
"Do you all have red eyes?" Thor asks, walking faster to keep up with the Frost
Giant. Helblindi nods. He can hear Byliestr come up behind him.
"I've seen eyes like yours before."
Heblindi says "I thought you've never seen our kind before." He sounds
petulant.
Thor nods, then frowns and bits his lips. "I think I haven't. I can't be sure.
Anyway, it was so long ago I can hardly remember it." There is an uncomfortable
silence as they walk to the castle. Thor is about to open his mouth again when
he hears Odin says loudly,
"I'm sorry to hear about Farbauti. But of course, winter in Jötunnheim is
dangerous for even the most hardy creatures, let alone one that was half Light
Elf." Laufey's shoulders tense. Behind him, Thor can hear Byleistr whimper
suddenly, and Helblindi stops and turns back to his brother. Thor stops and
turns as well. Helblindi has one hand placed on Byleistrs massive arm, and is
rubbing it gently while Byliestr gasps wetly and roughly scrubs tears from his
cheeks. Helblindi himself cried silently, his short black hair getting stuck to
his cheeks.
Thor remembers his lessons, and knew that Farbauti had been the long time mate
of Laufey. He had been famed for his beauty, with a sharp Elfin face and long
wild black hair. Thor imagines Helblindi looks a bit like him.
Thor also remembers that, for his size, Byliestr is not much more than a
toddler. 
Who has just lost his mother.
The rest of the party move on, leaving Thor, Helblindi and Byliestr alone.
Byliestr continues to cry, whilst Helblindi comforts him. Thor wrings his
hands.
"I'm sorry your mother is dead." He finally says quietly. Helblindi gives up
trying to conceal his tears and leans against his brother, sobbing in grief.
Thor can feel sympathetic tears in his own eyes.
"At least," Helblindi finally says, "at least he joins our brother."
"You had a brother?" Thor asks, intrigued. Heblindi nods.
"The first born. The True Heir to Jötunnheim. He is dead also. So I am now
Heir." Helblindi dissolves into tears again.
Thor sits with them, on the edge of the Bifrost, until a guard comes and
collects them.
He doesn't see Heblindi, Byliestr or Laufey again for many, many years.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Thor first sees the being in the army several years later. His is sitting on a
balcony, reading a book about star maps, when the Army marches in from
Vanaheim. The war is still not over, but the Army regularly comes back to
replenish weapons.
Thor puts his book down and leans over the balcony. His friends are cooing in
the background, entranced at all the soldiers, and he can hear Sif say that she
is going to be better than all of them. He ignores them, and looks instead at
the wear and tear. Sees what punishment his people have gone through to quash
the rebellion, and wonders dimly if it is indeed worth it.
He doesn't say these thoughts aloud, for that would be tantamount to treason,
and Thor doesn't have a death wish.
He eyes the soldiers, and almost misses the figure on the sidelines. The black
hair catches the corner of his eye, and he instantly focusses on that. His
breath catches n his chest.
The figure is tall, for his age. It has long black hair, down to its waist, and
skin paler than milk. Even from the balcony, Thor can see sharp just of its
shoulder, and the delicate turn of its wrist. It is not clothed, but instead
walks naked next to the soldiers. Thor sees it is being lead by a leash
attached to a thick collar around its neck.
Thor sees red on its legs, and how it limps. He knows that the being is of a
similar age to himself, if not younger.
Thor is the Asgardian equivalent of a 14 year old. The being is indeed younger.
Thor tries not to think about why it limps.
"What do you look at?" Hogun asks in the background. 
Thor is silent. As he has been for years.
This secret is solely for himself.
 
 
**************
 
 
Thor goes to the army and wanders around. He pretended to be learning for when
he becomes a leader of this fighting force, but in reality, he was looking for
the figure that he had seen.
Had been seeing for years.
He goes towards Tyr's tent, and then freezes when he hears the man groan
loudly. He tiptoes to the opening of the tent, and leans in. He then quickly
leaned back and ran to the edge of the camp, where he vomited into the grass.
The image burned into his retinas was this: Tyr, lying on his back in his bed,
knees bent and feet on the bed and hands grasping the waist of a youth sitting
in his lap. He was thrusting upwards almost violently. The youth had its head
thrown back, staring at the ceiling with a blank expression on its face. It's
long black hair was being gripped tightly along with its waist, as it rolled
its hips in time with the thrusts. Thor had seen both a small flaccid cock and
the opening of the vagina behind it where Tyr was thrusting in to.
Thor knew how babies were made, had known for years. He had never met a person
who was both.
He had never seen an expression on a face like the one the youth had. 
He hoped never to see it again. Suddenly his burring curiosity was no more.
If this was what a great general did, then Thor no longer wanted to be a
general.
 
 
****************
 
 
Fate had other ideas
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
When Thor got to the equivalent of a 16 year old, Odin decided that it was time
that he learnt the rules of being a general. Since Odin had many years left,
and there was plenty of time to learn how to be a king, becoming a General was
something that apparently needed to be learnt first.
Thor didn't protest, because to do so would arouse suspicion. But he was
intensely reluctant to do anything with the army, considering what he had
seen. 
His friends thought that this new promotion was one of the greatest things that
had ever happened, and they were always asking his questions about his
training. In the beginning, Thor was learning about battlefield manoeuvres, and
was always ending days covered in bruises and scrapes. He collapsed into bed
every night, and slept a solid 8 hours.
This feverish activity kept his mind of the being, but nevertheless, he did
think about it. He occasionally heard the men jeering someone in the camp, and
the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach told him who it was.
He didn't socialise with the men, instead keeping to himself. He gained a
reputation for being standoffish and a snob, but he refused to lower himself to
the indignity that the rest of the men lived in.
He wasn't surprised to learn that Fandral was the first of his friends to
partake of the being, which he then described in lurid detail to his friends.
Thor sat through the retelling, a smile frozen on his face as he heard how the
being first took Fandral into his mouth, then into his cunt "like a proper
professional".
"I was speaking to some of the longest serving men. Apparently, he's been there
since he was young." Volstagg said. Thor took a deep swallow of ale to calm
himself down.
"I've heard that as well." Sif said. Thor nearly choked. "Odin gifted him to
Tyr during the last war with Jötunnheim, and he's been serving the men ever
since."
"A pity his cock doesn't work." Fandral leered at Sif, who laughed. "I reckon
you would have enjoyed him."
"He's young, though." Thor said. His voice sounded far away, like he was
hearing it from down a tunnel. Fandral turned to him in surprise.
"He's a Jötunn. It's well known that all they really are are professional
whores. They have both a cunt and a cock, and they are mindless beast who rut
and have no deep relationships. The thing wouldn't know any different if it was
living in Jötunnheim."
Thor thought about Helblindi and Byleistr crying about their dead mother, and
kept his mouth shut, lest he give himself away with his radical thinking. He
excused himself and went to his room, where he spent the rest of the night
staring out of his window, trying not to think about anything.
The rest of his friends soon followed in finding their pleasure with the being,
and Thor felt himself emotionally starting to cut ties with them. If they acted
like this, then clearly they were no better than the rest of Asgard.
Thor continued to learn. He learnt about manoeuvres, and battlefield positions.
He learnt about weapons. One day, he rolled over in his bed and nearly brained
himself on the edge of a hammer, sitting in his pillow which had appeared
during the night. He questioned his father, who shrugged and said that a
shooting star had been seen the previous evening over the palace, and that
maybe that was where the hammer came from. Thor took his word as verbatim,
called the hammer Mjolnir, and proceeded to summon lightning and thunderstorms
with it whenever he had the slightest temper.
He needed more control.
Try as he might, he couldn't escape the camp entirely, and so some evenings he
ate with the men, pretending to laugh at their appalling jokes and stomach the
rations.
He saw the being dragged from tent to tent, sometimes by the arm, sometimes by
the hair. He heard the groans of sated men, and then the being would stumble
out of the tent, unheeding of the semen running down its legs.
On those evenings, Thor would sit by the nearest lake and electrocute
individual blades of grass, imagining it was the men.
Years passed, and Thor continued to learn. He reached his majority, and begged
off partying with his comrades by saying he had a headache. He spent the
evening lying on the palace roof, staring at the stars.
The being was never far from his mind, and he saw it as it too grew. He saw its
limbs lengthen, and the flesh cling. He saw the belly sink under the ribs, and
the legs become overwhelmed by the suddenly bony knees. One night, the being
was dragged in front of the fire and a knife was produced. The men roared with
laughter as the being kneeled on the floor and didn't move as all of its hair
was shaved off. The strands were brittle, sometimes breaking in the fingers of
the men. Thor sat silently as the being was eventually dragged off by the arm,
to the corner of the camp, and the hair was burnt in the fire.
Those nights, Thor would look at the ceiling of his room and allow gentle tears
to kiss his temples. The being didn't cry, so Thor cried for it.
The years continued to pass, and Thor got bigger. He filled out, and the eyes
of both men and women followed him. He indulged himself, but each coupling was
tainted with Thor's reluctance to enjoy himself. Nevertheless, by that time he
was a brilliant actor, and his partners would leave with smiles o their faces,
whilst Thor continued to watch the skies.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Thor was leading a faction of the army in another assault against Vanaheim when
he finally interacted with the being. It was late at night, and Thor was in his
tent, pouring over battlefield drawing when he heard carousing outside. He
leaned up and frowned at the tent flap, which was then pushed open and the
Warriors Three walked in, all drunk and all merry.
"Thor! How goes the planning?" Fandral asked, clapping Thor on the shoulder and
breathing in fumes. Thor leaned back and plastered a fake smile on his face.
"Well. We should be able to push back the rebels without too much loss of
life."
"That's a good thing." Hogun said, leaning heavily against the table.
"Indeed it is."
"How long," Fandral said, hiccupping in Thor's face, "how long have you been
leaning over this table this evening?" Thor frowned at the question.
"Since dinner, why do you ask?" 
"You seem pretty tense." Volstagg said, reaching up to try and massage Thor's
shoulders. Thor smacked his hands away with a frown. 
"You need to loosen up." Fandral added, grinning. Thor suddenly felt uneasy,
and opened his mouth, about to order them out.
He didn't get that far, before Hogun reached back out of the tent and grasped
something, dragging it into the tent with some force. 
It was the being. Thor gaped.
The being looked at the ground, and its hands hung loosely by its side. Its
hair was long again, coming down to its waist in greasy tangled waves. Up
close, Thor could see that its pale skin was covered by grime, and that it had
pointed ears. It resembled a walking skeleton, so thin it was. The skin was
papery and dry, and Thor saw many open sores and rashes, from where it had been
rubbed against hard surfaces.
"Display." Volstagg ordered. The being didn't move for a second, and then its
hands moved to its crotch. It lifted its cock out of the way and then used its
fingers to spread the lips of its slit, displaying pink, soft flesh.
Thor felt sick.
"Its all your tonight."
"I don't want it." Thor growled. His hands were turning slowly into fists. The
being didn't apparently notice the tension in the room, but then, neither did
the other.
"Nonsense! You need to relax, and that's what this is for!" Fandral hung off of
Thor's shoulder and waved a hand in the general direction of the being.
"I don't need to relax. I need to plan our next manoeuvres." Thor turned back
to the maps.
"Fine then." Volstagg said, grabbing the being by the elbow and jerking it to
the opening. "Its not like there aren't other that don't want it." The others
moved off, and suddenly Thor could see, clear as day, what sort of evening the
being had.
"Wait!" he said. The others stopped. Thor smiled and rubbed his shoulders.
"Perhaps I will partake."
"That's the man!" Fandral crowed. He grabbed the being from Volstagg and pushed
it towards Thor. The being stumbled and fell to its knees, putting out its
hands to steady itself. Thor reminded himself not to look at it but continued
to smile at his friends.
"I would like some privacy, if you wouldn't mind." He said, putting a bit of
the iron command that he could wield behind it. The others grinned at each
other and wandered out of the tent, closing the flap behind them and leaving
Thor and the being alone.
"Get up." Thor commanded. He walked to his bed and sat down, rubbing the area
between his eyes and sighing deeply. He heard a rustle and opened his eyes to
see the being had stood up. It was frozen where it stood, eyes to the floor,
barely breathing.
"Come here."
There was a twitch, and the being walked slowly over. It stopped in front of
Thor and swayed on its feet. Thor looked at the downturned face, into blank
green eyes, and felt his heart break slightly.
"I don't need anything from you this evening." Thor told the being. There
wasn't even a twitch. The words didn't register, the being didn't understand.
Thor licked his lips.
Slowly, the being knelt and reached for the opening in Thor's trousers. Thor
reared back and grasped those spider like digits. "No!" he said. The being
stopped moving. Thor cradled the hands in his gently before returning them to
the being, who placed them on its thighs. Thor ran a hand through his hair and
wondered what to do. He sat there for a while, running over different scenarios
in his head, whilst the being knelt at his feet.
Finally, Thor decided to ignore him, and he stood up and walked around the
being to get undressed. He slipped into his sleep shirt and turned back to the
bed, to find the being lying on it, legs spread and staring at the ceiling.
"Odin's ravens." Thor cursed under his breath. He went to the bed and stared
helplessly down at the being. The being didn't move. 
"Move." Thor said, and the being rolled over onto its stomach, pushing its
backside out. Thor gritted his teeth. 
"Move to the end of the bed." He ordered. There was a pause as the being took
in this new order, and then it crawled to the end of the bed. It was still on
its hands and knees. Thor then crawled between the sheets and snuffed out the
candles using wind. In the dim light of the moon, he could see that the being
had not moved.
"Lie down."
The being curled into a small ball, with its back to Thor. Thor supposed it was
lucky that the being knew that command. Thor rolled onto his back and willed
himself asleep, trying to ignore the presence at the end of the bed. It wasn't
hard, because the being barely even breathed.
In the morning, Thor saw that the being had left, or had been taken out to be
serviced by others. In a dim part of his mind, he wondered whether that was the
first night that the being had not been used in a long, long time.
 
 
****************
 
 
During the rest of the campaign, the being was foisted onto Thor several more
times. Thor continued to try and ignore it, ordering it to the end of his bed,
and once onto the floor when the being had started to bleed from its arm onto
the sheets. Thor tried not to touch it, couldn't bring himself to, because if
he did, the being might wonder if this was a new order and act as such.
When he got home, Thor went in to the bathhouse, and took the hottest bath he
could. He felt grimy and unclean, and scrubbing himself pink, and tried not to
think about what was happening to the being, now that he was not there.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Thor was called down to Midgard, with his troops, when Odin had called him in
to the throne room and told him that a being known as the Other had taken an
army of creatures called the Chitauri and invaded the planet, in search for a
cube called the Tesseract. He arrived in the middle of the desert and was
almost immediately surrounded by men inshore suits. His troops behind him put
up their weapons, but Thor did not, looking for the man that appeared to be in
charge.
He found that man in Coulson, who, after hearing why he was there, escorted him
to a name aptly name Fury, who then introduced Thor to members of the Avengers
Initiative. Thor found them pleasantly likeable, while his troops regarded the
Midgardians with distain. They mumbled and muttered and every so often, would
try to trip up Natasha and humiliate her. They stopped when she broke the wrist
of one of Thor's more senior officers.
Thor smiled and thanked Natasha.
The invasion culminated in a place called New York, where Thor commanded his
troops to defend people rather than attack the Chitauri, leaving that duty to
the Avengers. He organised escape attempts, and personally escorted people to
the safety zones. 
By the end, the Other was dead, and he his troops laughed and feasted in the
bowels of Stark Tower (now called Avengers Tower). Thor himself did not join
them, but ate with his new team mates, laughing quietly at their jokes and
feeling a sense of camaraderie with them he had not felt in a long time.
Thor was particularly fascinated by Steve Rogers, due to the magic running
through his veins and the fact that, like Thor, he too wasn't all that
comfortable with the world. They would sit on the sofa and discuss politics and
the war the Captain had been involved in before he had been frozen. Thor was
surprised to discover that Steve bore no ill will against the people of
Germany, but instead wished to visit the country some day. Steve would often
turn melancholy when talking about friends, especially about his close friend
Bucky, and Thor would quickly steer away from that topic when he saw Steve's
face drop. 
Through Steve, Thor learnt a lot about the history of Midgard, and when he
evaluated this realms politics against his own, he felt a tendril of shame in
the pit of his stomach as he realised that Asgard fit the bill as a police
state.
'When I am King, that will change." He vowed to himself, and didn't speak of it
aloud.
When it came time to return to Asgard, he thanked all of his new friends, and
took his troops home. He vowed to return some day.
As he got back to Asgard, he reported to his father, and saw a slow hunger take
over the mans face. In that moment, he knew that his father now longed to
control the realm of Midgard, and in that moment, Thor swore that he would do
anything in his power to protect it.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
 
Thor went back to the army shortly after, the only thing on his mind was
sleeping with the quite presence of the being at the foot of his bed. He
frowned as he went into his tent and saw that the being was not already there,
waiting for him. He left and wandered around the camp, until he cornered one of
the sergeants and asked.
"Oh, it got itself into a bit of trouble. Needed sorting out."
Thor felt himself go cold.
"Where is it?" he asked. The sergeant pointed to the edge of the camp and Thor
went. As he drew nearer, he could hear men swearing and a rustling sound. He
turned the corner, around a tent, and saw five men holding down the being. The
being itself was struggling slightly, legs moving weakly in the dirt. Thor
frowned as he watch the slightly firm belly heave.
"Hold him still." Grunted one of the men. He went to the beings face and
pinched the nose shut, until the being gasped for air. The man emptied a vile
of black liquid into the mouth and clamped the jaw shut, saying "Swallow, you
bastard." Eventually, the being swallowed and the men let his limbs go. The
being lay on the ground, stretched out and staring at the sky.
"Greeting, General." said one of the men, turning around and seeing Thor. Thor
ignored him.
"What is happening?" Thor asked, his eyes not leaving the being. The others
laughed.
"It just being uncooperative at the moment. Soon that'll be gone, and it'll
resume its normal life."
Thor didn't say anything. He could see the being start to heave slightly, the
skin of its belly rippling.
"Have you killed it?" Thor asked. The men shook their heads.
"Every few month it gets like this. Just need to give it that potion and it'll
be back to normal."
"I would like to be alone with it." Thor said. The others shrugged and
sauntered off. As soon as they were gone, Thor crouched down beside the being
and placed a hand gently on its shoulder. The being ignored him, its face
contorting as the rippling in its belly increased. A high pitched keening sound
emerged from its throat, and spidery hand grasped at the skin of its stomach.
"Whats happening?" Thor asked, and then immediately berated himself when he
realised that the being was not going to be able to answer back. The being was
starting to pant in panic, its hands pressing into its stomach. Thor couldn't
ignore his instincts and pulled the being until its back was against his chest,
his hands crossing over its ribs and rubbing small circles into the skin.
The being continued to keen, getting higher and higher, and Thor got all the
more confused. Suddenly the being opened its legs wide and tipped its head
back, opening its mouth and crying. Thor looked over its shoulder and saw a
sudden gush of red, coming from between its legs. The belly flattened suddenly,
and Thor knew now what the potion had been for. The being continued to heave,
until there was nothing coming from it. It slumped in Thor's arms for a minute,
before pushing off and kneeling in the red. Thor followed with his eyes,
feeling hollow.
The being reached out a hand gently touched a small white object in the blood.
Thor saw that it was a tiny hand, curled as if in sleep. The being was now
openly crying, gasping out great heaving sobs. Thor sat there, staring at the
being as it grieved. This was the first show of emotion he had seen from it,
and he knew now that e almost preferred it blank to what he was seeing now.
The being didn't stop crying, but Thor needed to rest, so he gently picked up
the being by the arms and carried him through the camp. He ignored the stares
he got, as the being still keened, and made his way to his tent. The shut the
flap and placed the being on the bed. He wanted to wash the blood off of the
being, but he despised the thought of touching it anywhere near its crotch. The
being was in a delicate state, and Thor wanted to be careful with it.
Thor spent the rest of the night sitting on the floor beside the bed, listening
to the being cry. He felt empty inside, and when the being was dragged from his
tent in the morning to service the other men, Thor dragged a blanket to the
floor and went to sleep. In his dreams, the being (not a being, a man) looked
at him with wide green eyes, and his lips moved in speech. But Thor didn't hear
what he said.
The war with Vanaheim raged on, but Thor could see now that it was not a
rebellion, but a bid for independence. He fought, and commanded, and tried no
to think about the man in the camp, even though he saw him almost every day.
The man served the troops more than ever, often now around the campfire, where
he rode the men to the sound of jeering at catcalls. Thor tried to ignore it,
but found himself often staring into space as his mind painted a ghastly
picture of what was happening. Sometimes, the man would spend the evening with
Thor, where he would present himself to Thor as he would the troops, and Thor
would push him to the end of the bed to sleep. Thor often felt that the man
would forget him between meetings, as the same thing happened seemingly every
night.
But one day, after the man had serviced a soldier around the fire, and had been
burt badly when he had fallen in, he appeared at Thor's tent and swayed towards
the bed, without doing anything for Thor like Thor would normally expect. The
man crawled onto the bed and settled down at the end, tucking its knees under
its chin and looking at the sheets with blank empty eyes.
Thor gaped for a second, and then turned to his medical supplies and brought
out a large jar of burn paste. He walks to the bed, to where the man is curled
up, and gently touches his shoulder. The man immediately turned onto his back
and spread his legs. Thor felt sick but pressed on, closing the legs and laying
them down flat. He put the jar beside the man and sat down, slyly turning the
man until his right side was exposed. Thor closed his eyes at the broad expanse
of shiny red skin, and knew it must hurt something fierce, but the man didn't
give any indication he was in pain.
"I need to heal your side, otherwise it will scar." Thor said. The mans face
didn't flicker. Thor took the top off the jar and dug out a thick handful of
paste, slowly reaching over and smearing it over the burn. The mans eyes closed
slightly, but otherwise he didn't move. Thor watched as the burn slowly turned
white as it healed. It would scar, but Thor thought that that was the least of
the mans problems. Thor ideally watched the mans face as the paste worked, and
could see a tiny, minute lessening of the tension between his eyes.
"I hope that feels better." Thor said. He didn't expect an answer, and he
didn't get one. But he heard a soft sigh, and the skin underneath his hands
lost the tension. The man turned blank eyes to Thor and slowly reached out a
hand to grasp Thor's He fiddled with the fingers still covered in paste, and
gently guided the fingers around to his front, to where the mans nipples had
been until recently. Thor had visibly winced when he had looked one day and
seen the open sores on the mans chest, when his men had gotten too carried away
and had cut his chest, leaving two massive scars imprints where before there
had been small nipples. The man had nearly bled to death, only recovering when
one of the men had noticed and had cauterised the wounds with a hot knife. The
man hadn't even moved.
Thor slowly moved his fingers in a circle, covering the mans chest with paste
and feeling even then the tension flow out. The man must have been feeling
awful if he was dictating where Thor should direct the paste. Thor rubbed the
paste into the skin, and could feel the man slowly sink into the bed. He was
practically asleep when Thor wiped off his fingers, change and slid beneath the
sheets.
Thor thought about how he could feel the breastbone beneath his fingers, how
thin the skin was. He resolved to bring some of his meal with him next time,
and try and feed the man.
Thor spent the night awake, listening to the man at the end of his bed
breathing softly. It was a cool night, but Thor didn't offer the man a blanket,
because he knew that, even though he was literally thin skinned, cold was
something the man never was.
 
 
****************
 
 
Thor brought food the next day. The man didn't touch the soup, but grabbed the
bread and nibbled at it. His stomach distended painfully, but he finished the
whole piece. However, not much later he bent over and vomited into the grass
outside the tent.
Thor felt immensely guilty, and, after asking the camp physician some covert
questions, next presented the man with a simple drink of crushed apples and
milk. The man sipped slowly, and finished half of the bottle before he stopped.
Thor gently took the bottle and helped the man to the bed, where he lay on his
back but didn't spread his legs. Instead, he placed a hand gently onto his
concave stomach and rubbed.
Some nights, Thor couldn't get the man to himself, and he didn't sleep as well,
as he imagined what horrors the man would be going through.
The nights after the man was away, he would stumble into Thors tent, and climb
onto the bed, legs spread. Thor felt his heart break in those moments, and
would gently push those legs together, all the while mumbling "It's alright,
there's no need for that, I don't want that from you". What little progress he
had been making would be undone, and the man, that pale, haunted man would
revert back to the blank slate that he was.
Thor battled during the day and night, for two very different causes.
 
 
**************
 
Thor now came home infrequently, and when he did, he spent much time in the
library. He chose books about Jötunns, about philosophy, about training
animals. He wanted to learn everything he could about changing people, about
the self.
His 'friends', for they were not his friends any longer, teased him about
becoming a bookworm. He responded to their jests with weak jokes, but so
removed was he from them, that they no longer noticed that there was no humour
behind them.
Thor looked at his father very differently, now that he had gone to Midgard and
seen what true democracy was. He saw a man so set in his ways that to change
would be almost impossible. He saw his mother as a frail figure, too cowardly
to try and enforce a new order, and, as he had with his friends, he started to
emotionally cut ties with them.
It was when he was reading a book about the history of Jötunnheim that he
realised that he had never heard the man being called by a name. He frowned.
Even the palace dogs had names.
He put his book down, and that night, he brought out the books he used to read
as a child, trying to find a suitable name for the man. He had deliberately
chosen his childhood books because he felt that the man needed something that
came from joy, not something that came from his countries oppression, as all
the Jötunn names that he had read had come after that realm was conquered by
Asgard.
He was reading stories from Midgard (a book that had been sneakily given to him
by a maid when he was a boy, and that he had hid from his parents his entire
life), when he came across his favourite stories, about the Norse gods. He
liked them for the fanciful tales they spun of Asgard, as nothing like the
stories had happened. But he admired them for their imagination, and he enjoyed
envisaging himself performing the deeds for which he was apparently famous.
He was reading about the legend of Sleipnir when he came across a name he had
been reading about a few times. His large fingers traced the name and he
whispered it under his breath. Just saying it, and he thought of the man who
lay at the end of his end in the evenings.
When he went back to camp, he waited that evening for the man to come.
Eventually, the man stumbled into his tent at around 2 in the morning. There
was dried semen on the inside of his thighs, and his arms hugged his belly. It
was concave again, and Thor knew now that the only sustenance that the man got
was with him. Thor felt sad, that even the wolves that trailed the army ate
better than this man. 
"Sit." Thor said and gestured to the bed. The man wondered over and sat,
tucking his feet under his body. He continued to look at the floor, but gently
took the offered glass when Thor came over with his meal. The man sips slowly,
so slowly, learning again what food is, after so many days without it. Thor
watches him, and tries to ignore the tugging in his chest. He reaches under his
pillow and pulls out the book.
"Do you know what this is?" Thor asks, showing it to the man. The man doesn't
look at it, at least openly, but Thor can see he is looking out of the corner
of his eye. Thor opens the book to the brightly coloured pictures.
The man abandons his glass and starts looking openly. His face is blank, but
his eyes widen as he looks at the pictures. He nearly drops the glass, but
remembers just in time and places it down on the floor. Thor takes the liberty
of shuffling closer and extending the book. The man looked at the bright
images, and swallowed tightly. Thor can see his hands twitch. 
"Do you see these pictures?" Thor said softly. The mans hands twitch again.
Thor points to a picture of the Jötunn, the man out of place, but a necessary
man to the Gods. "This man fascinates me." The man in the pictures is slight
but well built, with long red hair, a pointed beard and sharp green eyes.
Thor knows other eyes like that, except they are blank.
"He was an outsider, a man not of the Aesir but much needed. He was a mother, a
father, a much needed man. He is Chaos, Mischief, Fire and Lies. He is a needed
neutral, the epitome of balance. I think its a pity that he only exists in
stories," Thor said, placing the book on the bed in front of the man, "I would
have liked to have met him."
The man stared at the picture, and then, ever so slowly, reached out and
touched the eyes, those green sparkling eyes. Then, he reached up to his thin
face, and touched the skin below his own eyes. He never looked at Thor, but
instead continued to look at the picture.
"Yes, he has the same shade as your eyes." Thor whispered. He looked at the
man, and then reached out his own hand. He placed it beside the hand laying on
the book, not touching, but allowing the man to feel the warmth. The mans face
didn't flicker, but his fingers curled slightly.
"I think you should take his name." Thor said softly. The man froze. Even his
breathing lessened. Slowly he withdrew his limbs, and hunched in on himself,
placing his hands on his lap. Thor reached over and gently took the mans hands
in his. His hands dwarfed the others, but Thor continued to hold them gently,
and rubbed the oversized knuckles in a soothing manner.
"I know that you have never had anything even resembling a name." Thor
whispered. "I know that you are confused, but I feel that I would like to call
you something, when you are here in my tent."
The man shook his head slightly. His eyes were wide, and staring in disbelief
as his hands were gently massaged by Thor.
"I must call you something." Thor said. He didn't add that he wanted to call
him a name, so that the man would become even more important to Thor. His whole
being was slowly becoming devoted to this man, this hollow, broken being.
"I want you to have this name, because you too are an outsider." Thor murmured.
"You do not belong to our race, you too are Jötunn. But I see a great potential
in you. I can see power, and flame, and great chaos. So that man," Thor
released a hand and gestured to the book, "that mans name is yours, because
he is you. The Midgardians were clever, they could see a man like this
emerging, but they got their stories mixed up. But they could see Loki, could
see how important he was, and so that is why from now on, you will be Loki."
Thor gripped those fragile hands, and brought them slowly to his lips. They
tickled Loki's skin. "You will be Loki, because you are important to me."
The man, now Loki, closed his eyes tightly, but was not able to prevent a
single tear from slipping free. It traced a pale line in the grime on his face,
and Thor reached up to wipe it away. He cupped the hollow cheek, and Loki
leaned into it, nuzzling the softness of Thor's palm.
That night, Loki did not sleep at the end of the bed, but instead slept
alongside Thor. Thor did not touch him, but spent the night staring at Loki's
face, slack in sleep.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Vanaheim was decimated. Thor walked the battlefield, gasping as he looked over
the bodies. He had no idea that ultimate power looked like this. The Light
Elves, a truly beautiful race of people, were lying everywhere. Some had
missing limbs. Others had holes through them. Heads were missing, arms lying
feet away from their owners.
Thor felt sick. He felt ashamed. 
He wanted to pretend that this was all a dream.
He jumped when he felt a hand grasp his cloak. He looked down into the tortured
eyes of a survivor Light Elf, who was gasping for air. The man was painted red
in blood, his pitch black hair strewn around his face. He was missing his legs,
and had dragged himself towards Thor. Thor kneeled down.
"M...mercy." The man gasped, releasing Thor's cloak and putting his hands
together in a prayer position. Thor reached out and pulled the man into his
lap, stroking the hair from his face.
"You have mercy. I will not harm you." Thor said, staring into those white
eyes. The man blinked, and tears slid down his face.
"Alric!" The man called suddenly. He twisted in Thor's arms, looking around the
field. "Alric!"
"Sshhh." Thor soothed, gently pushing the hair from the mans face.
"Where is Alric?" The man asked, turning back to Thor, his face twisted in
grief. The mans hand twisted, trying to reach out to someone who wasn't there.
"Who is Alric?" Thor asked. The man sobbed.
"Alric...is my...my...husband!" He gasped. "My only...where is he?" Thor licked
his lips and looked out over the field. The man sensed his hesitation and
started to cry harder.
"Alric is-"
"Is he dead?"
Thor could see the man was gasping harder, and knew he had only minutes left.
Thor decided to ease the man suffering. He looked over his shoulder and said
"You must be Alric."
The man in his arms twisted, but Thor prevented him from looking and instead
continued his conversation with a man who was probably long dead.
"I have your husband in my arms. He is waiting for you." Thor sounded, trying
to sound reassuring. But even he could hear the wobble in his voice.
"Alric is waiting for...me?" the man said softly. His breathing was slower, and
his body started to slacken. Thor tuned his attention back to the man and said
softly, "He is waiting for you, so go to him, and be at peace."
"Al...Alric." The man said and let out a final sigh. He died in Thor's arms. 
Thor let the man go gently, flooding his arms across his stomach. He stood up,
and walked out of the field, ignoring the calls of the Warriors Three and Sif.
He went straight to his tent and started to scrub the blood from his arms. 
Nobody bothered him that night. Loki was being used and dragged amongst the
men, as a party favour for the triumphant army. Thor knew that he would
eventually come to Thor, in a few days, with the blank expression on his face
and quite possibly blood on his thighs. Thor had noticed that Loki's stomach
was firm again, but not through food.
Thor spent the night sobbing into his hands, cursing his birthright and
wanting, for the first time in his life, to be something other than the prince
of Asgard.
 
 
**************
 
 
Thor found Loki three days later, sitting at the edge of the camp in a puddle
of blood. He was not crying this time, but staring blankly at the blood. Once
again, Thor sees the underdeveloped bones of Loki's baby, and he felt sickness
rise in his belly.
He took Loki gently in his arms, and carried Loki to his tent. The man in his
arms could not cry, Thor suspected his grief was so intense, so he lay still as
a log in Thor's arms. Thor was gentle with him, and as he lay on Thor's bed, he
didn't make any motions to open his legs. Thor gently cleaned the blood from
his legs, but didn't move towards the space between Loki's legs, because the
last thing he wanted to do was give Loki any hint of any desire he might have
of him.
Thor had none. He only wanted to provide comfort.
When as much of the blood was cleared as Thor could, Thor doused the lights and
slid into bed beside Loki. Loki himself continued to stare at the ceiling, but
he lay alongside Thor, on top of the blankets. Thor places his open hands
beside Loki, never touching, but allowing Loki to feel the warmth of his flesh.
Just before he fell asleep, he heard a rustle, and felt Loki take one of his
hands. He felt Loki raise it slightly and then dry parched lips pressed softly
into it.
Thor fell asleep with Loki still holding his hand.
He didn't dream.
 
 
**************
 
 
The army marched back into Asgard in triumph. Every citizen was there, cheering
on the returning troops. Flags were being waved, flowers were being thrown.
Thor led them on top of his mighty horse.
He felt empty. This was meaningless.
He didn't want to go back to his rooms in the palace. He didn't want to leave
Loki to the army. Loki was slowly becoming the most important thing in his
world, and he loathed to leave him to the rest of the men. Loki seemed to have
been doing better, those nights he spent with Thor. Thor had brought more
books, and Loki was slowly becoming more animated. He would gently stroke the
pages when the thought Thor wasn't looking, and even thought Thor was positive
that Loki wasn't able to read, the picture books held his attention for longer
than anything else.
The entered the palace, holding his helmet in his hand and Mjolnir hanging from
his belt. His mother and father were standing by the throne, looking at him
with pride on there faces. Thor felt cold, even though the smile on his face
apparently said the opposite.
"My son, you have triumphed against the rebels from Vanaheim." Odin said. His
voice echoed, and the court cheered. Thor's face turned into a rictus grin.
"Yes Father. They were easily repelled in the end." ("Alric?"). Thor swallowed.
"You have proved yourself worthy to be the Prince of Asgard. You have proved
that you can lead and commands and army, and show the rebels that Asgard is
still the Realm Eternal, and such actions will not be tolerated!"
The court roared.
"You have showed that you will be finally worthy of the throne."
Thor swallowed minutely. The last thing he wanted at the moment was the throne.
"Hear what I say!" Odin roared, and the court went silent. "I announce that, on
this day, Thor will now be considered Co-Regent, and the fellow ruler of
Asgard!"
Thor felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He felt himself go cold with
shock, and his vision of his father swam. He deliberately locked his weak
knees, so he didn't disgrace himself and collapse in front of his father, his
mother, and the most important people in Asgard. He gritted his teeth and
raised his hammer in celebration, to the sound of the troops and his 'friends'
cheering for him.
But although he had wanted this all of his life, the only thing he wanted to do
was curl with with Loki, a picture book, and soft light.
His duties as co-Regent began the next day, when he oversaw the disbanding of
the army. He stood and observed the troops as they took apart their camp,
traded in their weapons and went back home to their families. He secretly kept
his eyes peeled for any sign of Loki, but he was being well hidden. He gave the
men their final payments, signed papers, and tried to ignore the ribald jokes
being made by the men to their wives. Thor knew that the men making the most
obvious innuendos had often been the ones who had taken Loki in public, often
to jeering and encouragement as Loki was forced to do more and more humiliating
things.
Thor finished his duties, and was about to he'd back inside, when Tyr came over
to congratulate Thor on his becoming Co-Regent. Thor turned to thank the man,
and suddenly saw Loki out of the corner of his eye. He was standing behind
Tyr's horse, hands tied to the saddle, face to the ground.
Thor reined in his anger and turned to Tyr.
"Many congratulations, Your Majesty!" Tyr clapped him on the shoulder. Thor
didn't flinch, but stared into the faces of one of his fathers oldest friends,
and felt nothing but acute hatred.
"Thank you, General, for your kind words." Thor said, returning the clap on the
shoulder. He kept Loki in the corner of his eye. But that proved to be
difficult when Tyr started to lead him away, intent on having a private
conversation. They rounded a tent and Tyr kept his hand on Thor's shoulder.
"I understand that this can be a big tradition for you." He said. Up close,
Thor could see that his eyes were blank and cold, and suppressed a shiver of
disdain. "It's not every day that a man goes from a General to a Regent."
"Indeed it is not." Thor agreed.
"The thing is," Tyr leaned closer, conspiratorially, "I know that your own
personal workload will have increased dramatically."
Thor thought about what he still had to do today, and didn't bother to suppress
his wince. Tyr saw this and pounced.
"I know that now you will not be able to devote all of your attentions to the
army, as you have done so in the past. I was wondering if I might lessen the
workload for you." Tyr grinned at Thor, and Thor, despite himself, felt
slightly relieved that he wouldn't have to focus so much on the army, and he
would be able to devote more time to his studies on politics, and the Privy
Council.
But then he thought of Loki, strapped to the horse like a stray dog, and his
thoughts became grey and clouded. He looked at Tyr, and decided to play his
hand as Prince.
"That is a very kind offer, and I would be glad to take you up on it." Thor
leaned closer. "You may have heard, from the men, that I have been enjoying the
attentions from that man attached to your horse."
Tyr snorted. "It is no man, but go on."
"I have been impressed by the skill he shows in his duties, and have realised,
coming back to the palace, that there is no one here that shares that skill."
Tyr nodded in agreement. "Indeed, it has been used solely for such pleasures
its entire life. Its not worth anything else."
Thor resisted the urge to use Mjolnir to bury Tyr into the ground, and
continued. "I was wondering if it would be possible to continue to use it
whilst I stay at the palace. I feel that I would be missing out, if I went with
anyone else."
Tyr roared with laughter and grinned at Thor. "You have a mighty lust!" He
chortled. Then he nodded. "Indeed, I shall send it to you when you need him. It
is skilled at fucking, if nothing else."
Thor smiled and nodded, feeling his heart lighten. He watched Tyr walk away,
and the minute Tyr rounded the tent and disappeared from sight, the smile
dropped from his face.
"I'm a fertility god, you stupid cunt. Of course I have a great lust."
 
 
**************
 
 
Thor waited four days before first sending for Loki. He didn't want to arouse
suspicion by acting too quickly. But he prepared himself for what Loki would
look like when he arrived, and he found that even though he had prepared
himself, his heart still sank when Loki walked through the door and stood in
the entrance, arms loose and gazing at the ground.
Loki swayed slightly on his feet, and Thor saw that he had been serviced
recently, for there was still wetness between his legs, and bruises on his
hips. Thor stood up from his desk where he had been checking the tax records
for the Kingdom, and walked towards Loki.
"Do you remember me, Loki?" he asked gently. He did not touch him, but ducked
slightly to look Loki in the face. 
Loki gave no verbal indication, but Thor saw a minute lessening of the tension
in his shoulders, and Thor knew that he had been recognised. Thor stood up.
"Follow me." He said and walked to his bathroom. He heard a slight hesitation
and then the soft patter of bare feet. Thor gave a slight smile and walked into
the room, where steam hung in the air from where he had filled the bath full of
slightly warm water. Thor went to get a towel and a soft sponge, and turned to
see Loki at the door, arms now hugging his waist as he looked at the bath with
suspicion in his eyes.
"I suspect that you have never had a bath." Thor saying, laying his objects
gently down by the side and walking to Loki. He still didn't touch him. "But I
would like to get you clean, if that is alright with you."
Thor knew that Loki did not have enough self-awareness to have opinions, but
there was a further lessening of his shoulder, and Thor took this as a yes. He
took Loki gently by the hand and led him to the bath, where he sat him on the
edge. He then manoeuvred Loki's feet so that they sat in the warm water. Loki's
eyes widened and he almost kicked.
"I know, it must feel strange." Thor murmured, soaping up the sponge and
rubbing it gently over the thin, bony limbs. Loki continued to stare at the
water. "I would like to see you clean. It feels much nicer than being dirty."
Thor continued to talk about innocuous things, as he gently cleaned up Loki's
legs. He found that the black on his toenails wasn't actually dirt, but a
natural part of his biology, and correctly assumed that Loki's black
fingernails were natural also. When it came to cleaning between his legs, Thor
avoided the area, and gently lowered Loki fully into the water. Loki trembled
slightly but otherwise didn't move. Thor stepped behind him, cleaning his back
and shoulders, his arms and his chest. He got Loki's hair wet, and gently
lathered it and got it clean. He internally despaired when so many strands came
out in his fingers.
When Loki was finally clean, he stood him up and wrapped Loki in soft towels,
drying his skin gently. His hair once again reached his waist, and Thor gently
rubbed it until it was no longer dripping. Clean, Loki was paler than the moon,
and the dirt had covered open sores that had never been allowed to heal. Thor
took Loki by the hand and guided him out of the room. Loki saw the bed, and
recognised that Thor was once again resuming their interactions. He sat down at
the end, and curled into a ball, facing the pillows.
Thor tidied up the bathroom, and saw, out of the corner of his eye Loki rub a
hand gently down his skin. Thor knew the feeling of freshly washed skin was
pleasantly tingly.
"It feels nice, doesn't it?" Thor asked, coming back to the bed. Loki stopped
touching his arm and curled up again, keeping his eyes fixed on the pillows.
Thor went to the bed and stripped down to his sleep pants, and then pulled
another picture book out from under his pillow.
"I think we should read something different." Thor said, opening it. He pushed
the open book towards Loki, who uncurled himself and crawled up the bed to
better look at the book. "It is a book about the Grecian Parthenon. I got it
when I was on Midgard, a few years ago." Loki hunched his shoulders and stared
at the pictures, mouth slightly open in wonder. He reached out a hand and
stroked the words, gently. Thor felt his heart clench and gave Loki a small
smile.
"I shall read to you." Thor said, and started on the first page. He enjoyed the
stories about the Gods, the politics and infighting, the many different
personalities. After each page, he would stop and let Loki look his fill of the
pictures. Loki would indicate when it was time to turn the page by dragging a
finger across the edge. 
They spent a quiet evening together, looking at the book. When they had
finished, Thor slid under the covers and doused the lights. Loki slept
alongside, his hand just touching Thor's.
In the morning, Loki was gone.
 
 
***************
 
 
Thor knew better than to try his hand. He couldn't call for Loki too many
nights, otherwise Tyr and his parents might have become suspicious. He tried to
get Loki into his chambers whenever it publicly appeared that he had had a bad
day, so it looked like Loki was there to relieve the tension.
Thor knew he would swallow his own tongue before he would use Loki like that.
Loki would appear at his door in the evenings, sometimes freshly used,
sometimes not. Always, he would look at the floor, and always, he would quickly
follow Thor into the bathroom to get himself cleaned. From what Thor could
gather, he seemed to enjoy the baths, and would always rub his newly cleaned
skin when he thought Thor wasn't looking.
Thor always had a fruit bowl in his rooms, and would always make Loki his
drink, because he knew that Loki was still only eating when he came to Thor. 
Sometimes, they didn't look at the books. They simply lay together, with Loki
sleeping as deeply as he could, and Thor looking at his face.
One night, after reading together, Loki lay sleeping shallowly beside Thor, his
arms hugging his chest. Thor hovered a hand over his skin, and felt the
unnatural cold. He could hear the slight wheeze coming from Loki's chest, and
how his lips parted, trying to drag in more air.
Thor knew Loki was now living on borrowed time, and that it would be soon when
his body finally failed him, and he died, probably after servicing someone.
Thor had vowed to look after Loki, from the minute he was first pushed into his
tent all those years ago, but for the life of him, Thor didn't know how.
 
 
****************
 
 
Some nights, Loki came to Thor, and his eyes were red rimmed, and his legs were
bruised, and from the brief glimpses Thor could see him bleed from the slit
between his legs.
Those nights, Thor draped a blanket over the slim figure on the bed, and slept
on the balcony, under the stars.
 
 
****************
 
 
"Its obviously becoming very useful to you." Tyr said one day, after an
afternoon discussing troop movements. Thor frowned slightly in confusion before
his expression cleared and he grinned in disdain.
"I find that being with him helps my mental clarity." This was not a lie. Thor
often thought clearer after a night spent at Loki's side. 
Just not about Asgard.
"You know," Tyr said, putting a hand on Thor's shoulder, "I was fucking it the
other night, and it spent the entire time looking at the door."
Thor swallowed down his bellow of rage and chocked out "Oh, really?"
"Damnedest thing. Normally it spends times like that staring at the ceiling,
but now its staring to look at the exists. I've asked some of the men, and they
have all reported that it does the same with them."
"How strange."
"Mmmm." Tyr fixed Thor with a suddenly sharp eye, and Thor tensed. "What does
it do with you, when you fuck it?"
Thor raised his head high, and stared down his nose at Tyr. "Much the same
thing." He lied. "I find it less distracting when he is focusing on something
else, rather than being blank."
Tyr nodded and rubbed his chin. He dropped his hand and continued to look at
the charts in front of him. Thor did the same.
Thor had thought the conversation was forgotten, until at the end, when he was
leaving, Tyr suddenly said "I've noticed, you never call it 'it.'"
Thor froze. He didn't turn around to look at Tyr. "Figure of speech." 
"It's almost as if, you see it as something other than the whore it is."
Thor took a deep breath, then whirled around and looked at Tyr with a brittle
smile. "How could I possibly think that? After all, don't the Aesir see the
Jötunn as nothing more than conquered vermin?" With that, he strode out of the
room.
He missed Tyr saying softly "They do, but you don't."
That night was the first night that Thor was not able to gain access to Loki.
The servant returned with the note clutched in his hands, shaking his head.
Thor spent the night on his balcony, legs dangling over. 
He tried not to think about what was happening to Loki.
He didn't succeed.
 
 
****************
 
 
Thor managed to see Loki a few days later. Loki was back to staring wide eyed
at the floor, his hips practically black with bruising.
That night, Thor stroked Loki's hair softly as he slept, and wept quiet tears
of grief.
 
 
****************
 
 
Thor was busier than ever, and couldn't see Loki as much as he was able to. But
when Loki did come, Thor brought out all the picture books he could find in the
library, just so he could see the expression on Loki's face when he observed
the brightly coloured paintings.
Thor tried not to think about the future, because suddenly a future without
Loki was no longer visible.
 
 
****************
 
 
Loki stated mouthing words when Thor read to him.
Thor counted this a victory.
 
 
****************
 
 
It came to an end quite suddenly.
Thor didn't even hear Tyr come to his door, when he was sitting with Loki,
slowly going over Loki's favourite book about the Norse gods. Tyr didn't even
bother to knock, but barged the door open with both hands and strode into the
room. He stopped short when he saw Loki on the bed, hunching over a book.
"Well now, what do we have here?" Tyr asked. He sounded nasty and spiteful, and
Thor felt himself swelling with rage.
"What are you doing here?" He asked. He slammed the book shut and got off the
bed, walking towards Tyr. Loki stared at the floor with wide eyes, frozen in
shock.
"I come to get the whore back for the evening. Didn't you get my message?" 
Thor knew that Tyr had sent nothing. "No, there was no message received.
Anyway, we agreed that when he is with me he is mine for the evening. You have
no right to demand him."
"No right?" Tyr laughed. "That thing is mine, gifted to me by your father. It
is mine to do with as I please."
"Yet, as we agreed, he is mine for the evening! And if I wish to read with him,
then I shall!"
"Stop calling it 'he'!" Tyr screamed.
"I shall call him anything I wish!"
"It doesn't need a gender, not when it has both a quim and a cock!"
Thor went white with rage. "He is a man, and deserves to be treated as such."
Tyr crowed "It is a Jötunn. It deserves nothing."
"You will not take him from me, not this night."
Tyr pursed his lips, and then sneered at Thor, "You would steal him from me."
Thor resisted every fibre of his being from looking at the man on the bed.
"Yes."
"Well then," Tyr leaned back, "this is a matter of theft, and needs to be dealt
with. And since there is a Prince involved, we shall take it before Odin."
Quick as a flash, Tyr darted to Thor's bed and grabbed Loki by the elbow,
dragging his harshly out of the door and down the hallway. Thor followed after
wrapping his cloak around his naked torso.
Odin was still holding court when Tyr marched through the doors, Loki
struggling to keep up and Thor following closely behind. The man who was
petitioning to Odin quickly scurried out of the way.
"Odin All-Father, Wisest of All Peoples!" Tyr cried. Thor raised an eyebrow at
the greeting, but did not speak. Tyr threw Loki down into the ground in front
of the throne.
"What is it you want Tyr?" Odin asked, settling back into the throne. Tyr
grinned nastily.
"A matter of property between myself and the Prince."
"Is there any trouble?" Odin asked Thor. Thor opened his mouth to reply before
Tyr cut him off.
"Yes, I believe Thor seeks to steal my gift from me."
"Which gift would that be?" Odin asked. He sounded faintly amused. Tyr pointed
to Loki, who had stared shivering in what Thor suspected was downright terror.
"That thing, which you gave to me many years ago and which has been used by
both myself and the army, as you dictated it should."
Upon hearing this, Thor's heart broke, and he finished the task of mentally
cutting ties with his father. If this what what Odin did, then he did not want
to associate with a man like that.
"I seek simply to spend time with him how I see fit Father." Thor said,
stepping forward. Odin's sharp gaze shifted, but Thor was no longer cowed.
"And what purpose would you have with it, other than to use it for its only
purpose?" Odin asked.
"They were reading." Tyr hissed. At this, Odin started to laugh, throwing his
head back and crying to the ceiling. Thor endured the with a stony face, eyes
occasionally flicking towards Loki, whose shivering was getting more and more
pronounced. 
"Reading?" Odin said finally. "Reading? As if this thing could appreciate
words." Odin stood up and walked down the stairs. When he was 3 steps up from
the bottom, he put his speak under Loki's chin and lifted his head.
"Do you have the intelligence to read?" He cooed sickeningly at Loki. Loki's
eyes remained firmly attached to the floor. "Do you even understand what a book
is? Why, it must have seemed like you were almost thinking! What a funny
illusion!"
"Stop it. Stop it now!" Thor said, striding forward and knocking the spear out
of the way. Odin looked at Thor in surprise. "How dare you? This man," he
gestured to Loki, "this man has been destroyed by what you have done! You, Tyr,
the whole of Asgard, and yet, he does not seek repentance when he rightly
should! He does not seek revenge! He only seeks to become a person!"
"Why should he?" Odin asked, stepping back a fixing Thor with a penetrating
stare. "He is Jötunn. Jötunn do not feel as we do. They do not understand as we
do. They are little better than animals."
"How can you say that, you who have met them, who have conversed with them?"
Thor pleaded with his father.
"Laufey is hardly a good conversationalist." Odin grumbled. "All he does is ask
about his fucking son. As if he couldn't sense that the brat was right under
his nose."
"What do you mean?" Thor asked cautiously. Even Tyr was hanging on to every
word.
"That thing," he pointe his spear once again at Loki, "is Laufeys first son,
the True Heir of Jötunnheim. And Laufey is too stupid to know that his son has
been here the whole time."
The hall was silent. Thor remembered, all of a sudden, a crying Helblindi
telling Thor about his missing brother. 
Loki was the brother. 
Loki had a family, one that wanted him.
Thor was broken from his musings when he felt something on his ankle. He looked
down, about to kick off what he assumed was a spider, when he saw the pale
fingers wrapped around his flesh.
Loki was touching him, for the first time, of his own volition.
Thor's breath stuttered in his chest.
"All of this is mute." Tyr said. "The fact of the matter is that the thing is
still mine, and I intend to take it back."
Odin nodded, and was about to gesture with his spear for Tyr to drag Loki away,
when Thor cried "Wait!"
Odin and Tyr froze. 
"What is it you want?" Odin asked, sounding bored.
"I demand that Loki decide who to go with."
"What?" Tyr gaped.
"That thing doesn't have the wits to make his own decisions." Odin said
dismissivly. He was about to gesture with his spear again when Thor physically
knocked it away.
"I believe that he can." He said doggedly.
"Thor, what you say is folly."
"You're wrong."
"Oh, am I now?" Odin hissed.
"I believe that Lo-, the man is capable of making his own decisions, and has
been so for a while." 'Ever since he came to me'. 
"Thor, we do not have time to indulge in your schemes. I have a Kingdom to
run." Odin said. He was getting more and more irritated.
"Humor me." Thor said. He felt the fingers on his ankle tighten.
Odin gave a great sigh and stepped up the stairs. "Very well, I shall."
Tyr looked stumped. "Your Majesty, you cannot possibly indulge this farce!"
"My Lord Tyr, the thing will never be able to make any kind of decision. You
will have it back, and this can end. Just humour my son, and soon all this will
be over."
"This is ridiculous." Tyr muttered. Odin then commanded that Thor step to one
side of the hall, Tyr the other, and left Loki in the middle. They were then to
call to him, and whatever side Loki went to, the man standing there would keep
him. 
Thor bent down and slowly, released Loki's hand from his ankle. He gave it a
quick kiss and then stood up. He heard Loki let out a slight whimper but
resolutely ignored that, instead focusing on getting his legs moving. So
intense had his fight been with his father that he forgot that there were other
people in the hall. They jeered at Loki, who was still on his knees, now
rocking slightly and staring at the floor. Odin banged his spear on the floor
to indicate Thor and Tyr to begin.
"Come here! Come here, you worthless thing! You good for nothing piece of shit,
come to your master! You think that you could be anything but a whore, nothing
but a cunt on legs! I'll teach you, I'll show you! Jötunn runt, jötunn whore,
come here! Come to me, you know what will happen if you don't! I'll punish you,
I'll get you! I'll always be able to find you. Remember when you ran, when you
were small? I always got you! You can never leave, there is no place, no barren
moon that I will not find you! I'll punish you, I always do! COME HERE!" 
Tyr was screaming, gesticulating wildly with his arms. Loki remained on the
floor, shivering harder. Thor could see a small puddle forming under Loki's
head, and he knew Loki was crying. The Hall started to jeer and join in,
hurling insults to the kneeling figure. Thor stood still in the flood, his eyes
never leaving the figure.
He was waiting.
It happened, so fleetingly that Thor would have missed it in any other
circumstance. But he saw it, saw the moment when Loki turned his head so
slightly it looked like it hadn't even moved. Saw the moment Loki's eyelids
fluttered. And saw, for the first time, Loki's magnificent green eyes flicker
to meet Thor's.
It was just for a second, but that one second of precious eye contact was all
that Thor needed. 
"Loki?" He said softly. "Loki, it's me, Thor. Would you like to come with me?
It's alright, all you have to do is walk to me. I'll take care of you. We can
read some more, and have as many baths as you want. All you have to do is walk
to me. You're strong, Loki, so much stronger than any person here. It's up to
you Loki. It's your choice."
Thor thought he hadn't been heard, until he saw Loki push himself to his feet.
He swayed, and then took one tottering step.
Towards Thor. He took another.
And another.
Thor saw the moment Loki's knees buckled, and rushed to catch him. He held Loki
in his arms, and shrugged off his cloak, covering Loki from head to toe. The
Hall was completely silent, each person amazed and horrified by what they had
just seen.
Thor straightened up, cradling Loki in his arms. He looked at the man that had
been his Father, and felt nothing but emptiness.
"I take this moment," Thor said, his voice resonating, "to announce that I am
quitting Asgard from this moment hence. Never again shall I walk these halls. I
leave, and will never return of my own volition."
"You cannot do that!" Odin said, unfreezing and striding down the stairs.
"I can, and I will." Thor turned his back and started to walk down the hall,
ignoring the cries from the Warriors Three and Sif. Odin still followed, saying
that Thor could not leave. But Thor was leaving. As he passed the entrance to
the Hall, he stopped and looked at his mother in the shadows. She was staring
at Loki wrapped in red with something akin to disgust on her face.
"You allowed this to happen." Thor said to her.
"That thing is not a person, it is an animal." She hissed at him. Thor stared
at her and then gave her one slow nod. He strode away. Thor would never again
speak to his mother.
Tyr and Odin followed Thor to the Bifrost, still shouting.
"You cheated!" Tyr shouted. "That thing is mine."
"I did not cheat." Thor said mildly, securing Loki to his chest and starting to
swing Mjolnir.
"You cannot leave if you do not have that blasted hammer!" Odin said and
reached out a hand to summon it from Thor. But he had forgotten that Mjolnir
was no Asgardian weapon, as would not be swayed by anyone other than Thor (and
later, Steve Rogers).
"You forget, Odin," Thor said, staring over his shoulder at his Once-Father in
grim amusement, "Mjolnir was a fallen star, and she chose me. You cannot
command her anymore than your general there."
"How dare you!" Odin roared, but said nothing more.
"I demand you give me back that thing" Tyr said.
"I shall not."
"Give it to me! Give it to me!"
"No."
Tyr reached forward and touched Loki's foot, which was exposed from the cloak.
Loki shifted and whimpered, and suddenly the skies darkened. The last thing Tyr
saw whilst he was alive was a sudden streak of lightening.
When the white had cleared from his vision, Odin turned his head and saw Tyr
was now nothing more that a little pile of dust.
Thor was gone. 
He would never return.
 
 
***************
 
 
Heimdall was already priming the gateway when Thor arrived. Thor didn't bother
to ask if Heimdall had seen anything. Instead, he once again secured Loki to
his chest and walked to the swirling gateway.
"To Midgard, if you please Heimdall." He asked. Heimdall nodded.
Just before he stepped into the vortex, he heard Heimdall cry from behind him
"I would have been an honour to serve under you, Your Majesty." Thor turned his
head and nodded, before stepping in and leaving Asgard forever.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Thor landed on his knees on Stark Tower, and very quickly had to turn Loki over
before the man chocked on his own vomit. Loki apparently did not take to
travelling that way well, and so Thor's first image of the Avengers since he
had last seen them was slightly ruined but him holding back Loki's hair as the
man purged himself.
"This is anti-climatic." Tony said, sounding mildly irritated. He flicked his
arms, and his Iron Man suit disassembled and went back into his Tower. Thor
ignored him and continued patting Loki's back as the man heaved and whined,
high under his breath. Thor grimaced and turned to Tony.
"I am sorry, Anthony, for our sudden arrival." He said.
"No problemo, He-Man." Tony said, striding forward. He peered at Loki and then
jerked back in surprise. "Is that a man or a walking skeleton? Oh my God, have
you managed to bring zombies to my Tower? Are zombies real on Asgard? Is this
the Apocalypse?" Tony flailed.
Thor raised an eyebrow and stood up. Loki continued to clutch at his cloak. His
eyes are focused on Thor's hands, and every so often, his own fingers would
twitch.
"Nay, Anthony. I have just left Asgard, and I," Thor's shoulders suddenly
slumped, and he gazed sadly down at the floor, "I need a place to stay."
"Well you have a whole floor here." Tony said slowly. There was an
uncomfortable silence, before Tony asked "Why the long face?" Thor looked
confused. "Why are you so upset?"
Thor gave Tony a grim smile. "I have exiled myself from Asgard. I am no longer
of that race."
"Whoa." Tony said softly. He turned and walked back into the Tower, Thor
following behind. They entered the main living area, and Tony asked over his
shoulder "So who's the stick man?"
"This is Loki." Thor said, hefting him slightly. Loki sighed and snuggled
deeper into the cloak.
"Okaaaaay." Tony said slowly. He walked behind his bar and poured himself a
stiff drink. When Thor did not elaborate, Tony gestured. "And who is Loki?
Brother, friend, obscure relative?"
"Loki is," Thor hesitated and gently placed Loki down into the sofa. He brushed
an errant lock of hair from Loki's sleeping face and gently cupped Loki's
cheek. he then released him but didn't look away. "Loki is...Loki."
"Explain."
Thor shrugged helplessly. "I do not know how." He felt, for the first time on
his life, completely helpless. He had fled Asgard with nothing but the clothes
he wore, and the man that he couldn't be without in his arms. The enormity of
his situation hit him for the first time, and suddenly his legs gave out. He
collapsed to the floor, and his chest contracted.
"Thor!" Tony cried in alarm and set down his drink. He ran to Thor's side and
grasped his arm. "Buddy, you gotta breathe." Thor heaved his breath, tears
stinging his eyes. But he didn't cry, for he had long vowed that any tears he
did spill would be for Loki only, and never for himself. Tony murmured
platitudes, patting Thor's back until the man was able to seat himself upright,
kneeling and looking at Loki, wrapped in his cloak and sleeping.
"Better?" Tony asked. Thor nodded.
"Good. Now, have this," he shoved a full glass of whisky into Thor's hand, "sit
on the couch and tell me what that was all about." Thor sat on the sofa, next
to where Loki lay. He gently placed Loki's slim feet on his lap, and laid a
hand over them, making sure that even in his sleep Loki knew that Thor was
there.
Thor took a sip, and made a face at the burn. He pondered about what to tell
Tony, and then decided to be honest. "I have exiled myself from Asgard. As of
an hour ago, I am currently homeless."
"Not homeless. Go on." Tony gestured with his hand. He looked intrigued.
"I...left. For him." Thor gestured to Loki. "And for myself. I think."
"Why? You're Prince of Asgard. you had everything. I mean, you had things that
people down here dreamed of!"
"I wasn't Prince when I left. I had been made Regent."
Tony nearly spat out his drink. "You were King? And you gave that all up for
the Walking Dead?"
"Don't!" Thor said, suddenly furious. "Don't say that about him." He set down
his now empty glass and ran his hands though his hair. His fingers caught on
the snarls and the tangled plaits, and in a fit of frustration, the undid all
of the braids, so that, for the first time on years, his hair fell naturally.
Braids in his hair had been something from Asgard.
He was starting anew. He might as well start with something small.
Tony leaned back and looked at Thor. He knew the signs of becoming someone
totally different, he may as well help Thor with his own transition. He nodded
to Loki.
"Who is he?" he asked again. Thor sighed into his hands.
"He was a prisoner of Asgard. I have taken him from that life, but in doing so,
I managed to alienate an entire Realm."
"Not bad."
Thor laughed weakly.
"So a prisoner. What did he do?" Tony asked. He was cautiously intrigued.
"He was born."
Tony frowned. "That seems a bit of an exaggeration. What did he really do?"
Thor gave Tony a small, sad smile. "I wish I could change the answer, but the
fact of the matter is that he was born to a conquered race, and taken by a
cruel King when he was just a babe. He has spent his entire life in the service
of Asgard's Army, and has known no other life."
Tony winced. "I gotta say, seems a little skinny for a guy who's spent his
entire life fighting." Tony would have expected muscles, not scraps of flesh
clinging to bone.
Thor looked dead in the eyes. "He has never fought, never raised a weapon. He
served in other ways."
Tony felt himself go cold. He looked at Loki, asleep, and now saw instead the
ruins of a man, who had lived in Hell. "He wasn't a soldier."
Thor shook his head.
"He was a whore."
Thor winced but nodded again.
"And you say he has been doing this his entire life? Please, not as a kid." 
Thor didn't say anything. Tony slammed his hand down on the coffee table and
stood up. "Fuck!" He ran hands through his hair. Then he whirled around,
pointing at Thor and pulling his lips back in a grimace. "Don't tell me you did
that to him, because I swear to God, if you laid a finger on him I'm throwing
you off the Tower myself!"
Thor held up his hands. "Nay, Anthony! I never touched him like that. I would
sooner send myself directly to Hel than do that to him!"
Tony continued to breathe heavily, but calmed down enough to sit down. He
rubbed his hands, and then rubbed his lips, trying to drive away the sudden
taste of bile.
"So how do you know him?" he asked Thor.
"He was pushed on to me, with the erroneous impression that I would do to him
what others had. I chose instead to first ignore him, and then to try and
educate him. But," he said, leaning back, "I was first made aware of him when I
was a young boy."
"You were a kid when you met him?"
"No. I simply knew that there was a being my own age running around in the
army. I didn't meet him until only a few years ago."
"That's fucked up."
"Indeed it is."
There was a silence, as both men absorbed the information. It was only when the
figure in red moved and made a soft sighing sound that Thor was roused from his
stupor. He knelt by Loki's head, and stroked his hair softly.
"Welcome back, Loki." He whispered. Loki moved his head like a cat under Thor's
fingers, but didn't meet his eyes. Instead they darted around the room, and
widened when they settled on Tony. His breath started to speed up, and he made
small motions with his legs to try and move away.
"Loki, Loki, do not be afraid!" Thor soothed. "This is my friend. This is his
home. You are safe. You know I would never take you anywhere you might be in
danger."
Loki was still breathing hard, but his eyes had ester on Thor's chin, and he
was breathing in time with Thor. Looking at them, Tony felt his heart squeeze.
He gave Loki a non-threatening smile and continued to stay away.
"Good man. Good, gentle Loki." Thor stroked Loki's hair, and whispered kind
things in his ears. Loki, Thor was glad to note, no longer looked surprised
when Thor called him kind things. He merely took them as his due, for he had
learned, in a small part of his brain, that Thor would never be anything to him
other than loving.
"You mentioned that I have a floor, Anthony?" Thor asked, never taking his eyes
from Loki. Tony looked at him and nodded. 
"Yeah, couple of levels down."
Thor nodded and stood up. He was about to pick Loki up in his arms, to go to
his floor, when Tony placed a hand on his arm.
"Thor, I don't know about Asgard, but Loki really needs to see a doctor." He
murmured in a low voice.
"I cannot take him to a physician, all of the trust that I have would be erased
instantly." Thor murmured back.
However, Tony knew of one doctor he could actually trust.
"Bruce is here, he could see Loki."
Thor looked at Tony is surprise. "I was under the impression that Bruce was not
a medical doctor, but one of science."
Tony winced but carried on. "Yeah, but he's picked up a lot of medical
knowledge, living on his own, and he keeps up to date. He doesn't think I know
that, but he does. He's the man to go to."
Thor looked at Loki, and remembered the nights he had spent awake, staring at
Loki and counting every breath that he had struggled for. Afraid that, if he
went to sleep and lost his vigil, he would wake up next to a corpse. Thor
nodded and scooped Loki up, who nestled his head against Thor's shoulder and
continued to look anywhere but at Tony. 
Tony didn't bother being offended. He knew how Loki felt.
Tony led the way to the floor he has assigned of medical. Thor looked
interested in the elevator, but stared at Loki like he had held the world. Tony
hummed under his breath and strode out of the doors when they reached the
assigned floor.
"Bruce!" he called. The man in question popped his curly head out of an open
door. He smiled when he saw Thor, but almost immediately frowned when he saw
the man in Thor's arms.
"Is that a man?" Bruce asked, coming out of the room and wiping his hands. Thor
nodded.
"Is Thor here?" called out a voice and Clint Barton came out behind Bruce. He
had several bandages about his face and stitches in his eyebrows. Tony raised
his eyebrow and opened his mouth to ask. Clint got there first. "Broke a window
with my face. Classified." Tony pouted.
"Clint, I see you have recovered from the Others invasion of your mind. I am
glad to see that." Clint smile at Thor lessened a bit in intensity, but grew in
warmth. 
"Cheers."
"Thor, is that a man in your arms?" Bruce asked, trying to come closer. Their
stepped back.
"I would not advise that." He warned. Bruce frowned at him. He tried to ask
again but Tony grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him away slightly. There
was a hurried, whispered conversation, before Bruce turned back to Thor. He
didn't move any closer but looked at Thor with sudden understanding.
"Thor, would you be so kind as to follow me?" He asked and moved down the
corridor. Thor followed, whilst Tony and Clint hung back. He heard Clint ask a
question to Tony, and looked over his shoulder at them. Tony looked at him and
shrugged, and after a moment Thor nodded slowly. He would have preferred it
that Loki's past have remained secret, but even he recognised that having an
unknown man in the Tower with a secret past was a bad move, considering the
immensely paranoid people that he now lived with.
Thor followed Bruce to a clean and pleasant room. There was soft music playing
in the background, and the walls were painted a beautiful shade of light blue.
There was a comfortable bed, not a hospital bed, but one with a nice wooden
frame. The duvet and pillow had pale green covers, and Thor gently laid Loki on
them. Loki was still covered by the cloak, but his body softened when he lay in
the bed. Thor kneeled beside him and held his hand. Bruce did not move closer,
but told Thor softly to remove the cloak so that Bruce could examine him.
"Loki?" Thor said. Loki's head twitched. "I need to remove the cloak so that
one of my friends can examine you."
Loki immediately tensed. 
"No, no, Loki!" Thor sounded slightly desperate. "No pain, and nothing else. I
promise you. You must trust me, you know I would never hurt you. And when my
friend is finished, we can go and read."
Loki's eyes landed on Thor's chin. He looked cautiously interested. Thor knew
that the promise of books was something that Loki held dear, and so continued
to speak of books when he unwrapped the cloak gently and took of from Loki.
Loki shivered in fear, but kept looking at Thor.
"Fucking hell." Thor heard Bruce swear softly. Thor had long become
acclimatised to Loki's body, but to a person first seeing it, it was still a
horrible sight.
Thor, in his conversations with Steve Rogers, had been made aware of
institutions known as 'Concentration Camps', which had housed people seen as
different during the war that Steve had fought in. He had seen pictures of
those brave and wonderful souls who had survived such hardships.
He knew that Loki looked somewhat similar to those people. But, and Thor's
heart sank when he saw it, Loki's belly was hard and slightly rounded, and Thor
knew that Loki was once again pregnant. But if this time, he had managed to get
Loki to safety...
For the first time in his life, Loki might actually see a pregnancy through to
the end. Thor's spirit lightened slightly.
Bruce came closer slowly, and stopped in froth of Loki. He spoke softly and
showed Loki his hands. "Loki, my name is Bruce Banner. I'm a friend of Thor's.
I would like to examine you."
Loki's expression closed off, and he opened his legs, wide as he could. Thor
closed his eyes and swallowed a sob, and he heard Bruce start to breathe
deeply. Thor stroked Loki's fingers and his face as Bruce quickly examined
Loki. Loki shivered, and his throat constantly moved.
Bruce murmured to himself as he examined Loki, but as he put his fingers into
the slit between Loki's legs for a quick internal examination, his voice
quickly rose in panic. Thor looked over and saw Bruce bring his hand up. 
It was covered in blood.
"I need help!" Bruce called. Nurses from other rooms came to Bruce, who wadded
up some gauze and pressed it hard between Loki's legs. Loki himself was staring
wide eyes at the ceiling, panting. Thor didn't move, frozen in horror.
Loki was safe now. This wasn't supposed to happen.
He reached out a hand, but it was quickly slapped away by a nurse who was
trying to get Loki to sit up. Another nurse grabbed Thor's arm and started to
drag him from the room. Thor stride to resist when he saw Loki reach out a thin
hand and weakly reach for him, but the nurse continued to drag him away.
"Only medical personal allowed." Said the nurse.
"But Loki only knows me." Thor protested. The nurses gaze softened but she did
not relent.
"He needs medical help and you would just be in our way. You need to wait." She
shoved him out into the corridor and closed the door. Thor stood daring dumbly
at the wood before Tony came up and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Whats happened?" Tony asked.
"Loki is in trouble." Thor answered faintly. He sounded like his voice was
coming from a very long way away.
"Is he dying?"
Thor hoped he wasn't, but couldn't answer. Tony sat down on the floor and Thor
followed him. Clint had left earlier, to go and rest. Thor leaned his head back
against the wood and closed his eyes.
"So, Loki, huh? Kind of a weird name. I mean, he's nothing like the mythology
says so." Tony said after a while. Thor didn't move his head.
"The name is one I gave him. He wasn't born with it."
"What?" Tony asked, looking confused.
"Loki, up until recently, was know as 'it'. I gave him the name Loki three
years ago."
"But you've only been gone two years." Tony said in disbelief.
"Time flows differently on Asgard. For me, I have been gone an entire decade."
Tony was silent for a long time, before saying softly. "You gave him a name."
"I gave him a name."
"You gave him an identity."
Thor nodded.
"Sounds to me," Tony said slowly, "that Loki is a damn lucky man to have you."
Thor opened his eyes and looked at Tony with a small smile. "I hope so, my
friend. I hope so."
Hours passed, and still the door did not open. It was in the early morning
before the door opened and Bruce came out, wiping his hands. Thor stood up
quicky, but stopped when he saw the defeated expression on Bruce's face.
"Loki lost the baby. I'm so sorry." He said quietly.
"But...but..." Thor said helplessly. "He was safe, he didn't have the poison.
There was no reason."
"His body went in to shock, and, due to his previous miscarriages, he aborted
the fetus." Bruce shook his head. "He will never have children naturally. His
body won't be able to handle it."
Thor gasped and went in to the room, where Loki lay sleeping on the bed. It was
an induced sleep, and he had an IV attached to his arm. Someone, probably
Bruce, had bundled up Thor's cloak and slipped it under Loki's head, so that he
might be able to smell Thor in his sleep. Thor sat down gently on the bed and
took Loki's hand in his own. Out of the corner of his eye, Bruce closed the
door after explaining things to Tony, who looked at Loki with shocked and
saddened eyes.
Thor looked down at Loki's face, slack with slumber. His eyelashes were still
caked together with tears, and Thor could feel his own rising to his eyes. He
gently laid down beside Loki, still clutching his hand.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought you were going to be safe. I thought it
was all going to be better." Thor wept. Loki stirred in his sleep and turned
his head towards Thor. His breath fluttered gently out of his lips.
Thor spent the night with Loki, holding his hand.
 
 
****************
 
 
The next morning, Loki was moved to Thor's floor, still attached to the IV and
with a new meal plan. Bruce had told Thor quietly that Loki had almost been
past the point of no return when it came to his weight.
"8 days, maybe a couple of weeks." Bruce said, shaking his head. "Any time
after that, and he would have become too starved to have properly absorbed any
nutrients. He would have died."
Thor made Loki's meals in the wonderful invention called a blender, and coaxed
Loki to drink them. But Loki had become shell-shocked again, and spent days
staring at the wall. He didn't even react when Thor brought out his newly
acquired picture books. 
Thor despaired. He had hoped for something new, but all he was getting was the
same old results.
In a last ditch attempt, Thor unhooked Loki from his IV and brought him to the
steam room a few floors down. He had thought that the idea of a bath would be
something that might entice Loki out of his stupor, but he got nothing.
Gently he tugged Loki into his arms, and wept into his hair. He wondered if it
might be better if Loki was indeed dead.
 
 
****************
 
 
Steve entered the Tower after a nasty fight with some neo-Nazi punks, and was
using his floor to convalesce until the heat was off his back. He thought some
time in the steam room might loosen his shoulders, and so slung his towel over
his shoulder and walked to the floor. He opened the door and was about to enter
when he saw Thor sitting by the edge of the pool with someone. His heart
immediately squeezed tightly.
The man with the black hair was sitting on the wooden edge of the pool, his
right leg dangling in the water, his left leg bent at the knee. He was rail
thin, and one arm was slung lightly across his stomach. The other was clutching
his hair tightly, and Steve could see that it had a large open sore on the
inside of the forearm. The man was staring blankly at the water, his pointed
ears doing nothing to keep his hair back, with tumbled into his wide,
dispairing green eyes. Thor was sitting behind him, pulling him gently so that
he rested against Thor's chest, his legs either side. Thor's arms were around
Loki's waist, and he was resting his face in the man's hair. Steve could hear
Thor faintly whispering, and suddenly felt out of place.
Steve left the steam room. He closed the door gently behind him and went back
to his own bedroom, where he went to bed and stared for hours at the ceiling,
the look on the man's face covering the true depth of utter despair.
 
 
***************
 
 
Steve saw Thor the next day, in the communal living area. The man with the
black hair was seated on the sofa, wearing nothing but Thor's red cloak. He was
once again staring blankly at the floor.
Thor ran a hand through his tangled hair and nearly jumped when Steve greeted
him quietly.
"Steve, I did not see you." Thor said softly. Steve smiled at him gently.
"I heard we have a new guest." Steve said. He walked to the coffee maker and
pressed the button, quickly drawing out two cups. He finished making coffee and
took a cup to Thor, who was sitting on the floor by the man's feet. Thor took
the cup gratefully and sipped it, looking sadly at the man's bare ankles. Steve
took a seat beside Thor.
"Who is this?" he asked softly. The man didn't even twitch.
"Loki. He is Loki." Thor said. He reached out with his spare hand and wrapped
it around Loki's ankle. Loki moved softly and buried further into the cloak.
Steve observed this but didn't do anything.
"Is he your friend?" Steve said. Thor laughed softly.
"He is more than that."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is he your lover?" Steve rather liked the
progressive attitude of the 21st century. He could say he had been in love with
Bucky and no on would take him to jail for it. The idea that men could love
other men openly was refreshing.
Thor shook his head. "No, he is not that. Loki is Loki." He shrugged
helplessly. "I don't really have any other words to describe that."
Steve nodded and gazed at Loki, who had his head buried in the cloak with only
a tuft of hair sticking out and green eyes fixed on the floor. Steve had been
informed of Loki's in depth history by Tony earlier that day, and so knew that
Loki was suffering from both a loss of self and severe PTSD. Steve could
sympathise, because he too suffered from the same affliction.
"I'm sorry, Loki, that you lost your baby." Steve said, directly to Loki. There
was a whisper, and Loki's head further retreated into the cloak. Now all that
could be seen were his pale feet. Steve looked at Thor, who was in turn looking
at Steve with a slight frown.
"What?" Steve asked, feeling defensive. Thor shook his head and gestured to the
kitchen. Steve followed and when he was sure they were out of Loki's hearing.
"What did I do?"
"You are the first person to talk to him and have him react."
Now Steve frowned. "The others have talked to him?" Thor nodded.
"Bruce when he examines him, Tony, Pepper, even Clint. He doesn't react. But
you, he reacted to you."
"That's strange." Steve murmured. He was feeling distinctly nonplussed.
"Indeed."
They stood in silence before a faint questioning sound from the sofa caused
Thor to put down his cup and move towards Loki. Loki had unwrapped his head and
was looking in Thor's direction. Not at Thor's face, but in the direction of
the kitchen. Thor sat down by Loki's head and gently took and hand in his.
"I was with my friend." He explained gently. Loki looked at his chin, and then
back the kitchen. His eyes moved to where Steve stood, and then quickly looked
away, back at his hands. But Steve got the impression that Loki had given him a
quick once-over, probably to check if he was threatening. He didn't know
whether he had passed the test, until Loki jerked his head minutely in Steve's
direction and made an enquiring sound in the back of his throat.
"That is Steve Rogers. He is a close friend, and the leader of the Avengers. I
told you about them yesterday, do you remember?" Thor said softly. Loki nodded
slowly. His eyes flickered back to Steve and Steve took the opportunity to move
closer, until he was sitting on the arm of the sofa and staring down kindly at
Loki wrapped in Thor's cloak. Loki's eyes were darting everywhere, but
eventually they landed on Steve's chest and stayed there.
"Hello, Loki. I'm Steve." 
Loki licked his lips and his eyes darted to Steve's chin. Steve's smiled
widened. Thor gave Steve a tremulous smile and gripped Loki's hand all the more
tighter. Loki was looking at someone of his own accord. This is such progress
that Thor almost wanted to sing with joy.
"I fight with Thor." Steve explained. Loki twisted his head and frowned
slightly. Thor realised that he didn't have a reference for comrades that
fought willingly. His only point of reference when it came to fighting was that
of an army, who had been forced into service, not individual men who had chosen
it. 
"We fight monsters."
This proved to be a bad thing to say, as Loki blanched and weakly moved
backwards away from Steve. Thor knew that Loki had been called a monster all
his life, when he had not been called other things, and as such, he assumed
that Steve fought and killed people like him. Steve looked suddenly confused
and directed a worried glance at Thor, who surged up onto the sofa and put his
arm round Loki's shoulders, trying to calm him down.
"No Loki, never people like you!" Thor murmured into tangled black hair. "No
one in this Tower will hurt you, I promise you. We fight monsters like the ones
on Asgard, we fight invaders and terrible people! Not like you."
Loki eventually stopped shaking. He looked at Thor, and then looked at Steve,
who was staring at him in horrified concern. One hand was outstretched, and
Steve's fingers itched to run comforting trails through Loki's hair.
Thor continued to rock Loki softly from side to side, and Loki stared at Steve.
Steve had never seen a man look so confused.
Slowly, so slowly, Loki leaned forward and reached out a hand. He gently ran a
finger down the back of Steve's outstretched hand, and carefully encircled
Steve's middle finger. Steve realised that he hadn't managed to wash all of the
paint off, and Loki seemed fascinated as to why it was a different colour.
Thor looked at Steve, suddenly delighted. "Steve paints."
Loki opened his mouth in surprise, and didn't release Steve's finger. Steve
looked at Thor in confusion, who grinned back at him, unrepentant. Loki
continued to look Steve's hand, twisting it each way to see it in different
lights.
"What?" Steve mouthed at Thor, who shook his head and mouthed "Later" back.
Loki finally released Steve's hand and leaned back into Thor's chest, closing
his eyes and breathing evenly until he fell asleep. Thor laid Loki down gently,
pulled Steve into the kitchen and explained about the books. About Loki's face
when he saw brightly coloured pictures, and how he would make Thor linger over
those pages, running fingers across mythical (or not so mythical) figures.
The next morning, Loki was staring at the wall when Steve strode on to the
communal floor, a canvas under one arm and his painting supplies in the other.
A bag across his bag contained his most current sketchbooks.
"Hello Loki." Steve said. Loki turned his head, then looked sharply at Steve.
His eyes were wide as they saw the paints, and he shifted in his seat, Thor's
cloak sliding down one shoulder and exposing his chest. Steve swallowed when he
saw the scar tissue and smiled all the wider at Loki.
"Thor told me that you like painting." 
Loki didn't move, but his eyes never strayed from the box of paints. He seemed
to be licking his lips frantically.
"I thought I might do some in here, if you don't mind." Steve set up his canvas
and opened his paints. He then removed his bag and took out his sketchbooks,
laying them down in front of Loki, whose gaze instead switched to them. One
trembling hand reached forward and stroked the cover of the oldest sketchbook,
form when he and just woken up from the ice.
"You can look at them, if you want." Steve said. He sat down on his stool,
facing the New York skyline, and selected his base coats. Behind him, he could
hear the rustle of pages moving.
They spent a quiet afternoon together. Steve occasionally talked to Loki about
life before the war, and whenever he turned around, Loki would either be
looking at the sketchbooks, or at the canvas Steve was painting. One one
occasion, Steve turned around and found that Loki had multiple sketchbooks
open, all at drawings of Bucky. He seemed to be frowning at the pages.
"That's my best friend, Bucky." Steve said with a tight smile. He set down his
brushes and moved to the sofa. Loki scooted away but didn't fall into a panic.
"He's dead. He's been dead for a long time."
Loki's long fingers traced the edge of Bucky's cheek. Steve felt tears spring
to his eyes.
"I miss him a lot." 
Steve turned back to his painting, but a hand caught the edge of his t-shirt.
He turned back to find Loki reaching out, taking his hand in his own black
nailed fingers. Loki licked his lips then gave Steve's hand a tight squeeze
before releasing it and turning the page in the sketchbook, to a portrait of
Natasha sipping from a beer bottle.
Steve swallowed around the lump in his throat and went back to his painting. In
the doorway, unseen by either of them, Thor released a held breath and smiled
in joy. Loki was finally reaching out to others.
That night, as Thor curled up with Loki, Loki reached out and rubbed a strand
of Thor's hair in his fingertips. He then looked at the door and stroked the
invisible air.
"You're right, Steve does have blond hair as well." Thor said softly. Loki then
touched Thor's eyelid.
"And blue eyes."
Loki frowned for a moment in thought, and then slowly pushed himself so that he
lay in Thor's arms. Loki settled his head on Thor's shoulder and closed his
eyes.
Thor relayed this information to Steve, who, the next time he saw Loki, stroked
Loki's hair the same way he had seen Thor do so. Loki in turned rubbed a strand
of Steve's hair.
Painting soon became a prominent feature of the communal floor, with various
Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D staff coming in and admiring the paintings Steve
produced, several of which were donated to the city gallery anonymously. In his
sketchbooks, he started drawing the Avengers in everyday life, for example:
-Tony in his lab, screwdrivers behind both ears and his tongue sticking out of
the corner of his mouth in concentration.
-Bruce sleeping face down on his newspaper on the morning, hand still maintaing
a death grip on his cup of coffee.
-Clint reading stretched out on top of a bookcase, feet dangling on one end and
head dangling off the other.
-Natasha cleaning knives by the sofa, hair in pigtails and legs stretched out
with toes freshly painted.
-Thor flipping pancakes, and staring bemused at the one stuck on the ceiling
from when he had been too enthusiastic with his flip.
-Loki, curled up in Thor's red cloak, watching Lord of the Rings with a wide
eyed expression of wonder.
-(Bucky dancing in their old apartment, face shining and mouth open, calling
"Steve, come dance with me!")
Steve would paint, or draw, and the others soon followed. In those brief
months, the Avengers became closer than any family.
For all of them, it was something new.
 
 
****************
 
 
Thor eyed the sleeping trousers hanging from his hands, and then looked at
Loki, who was also eyeing them with mistrust.
It had been 2 months since Thor had landed on the roof, and Bruce had announced
that he was pleased with the weight Loki had gained, and that now it was time
for Loki to try and put on clothes. Thor was worried as to how Loki would take
it, because as for as he was aware, Loki had never worn a stitch of clothing in
his life. He seemed to be quite happy wearing Thor's cloak, but even Thor could
see that Loki would now need to wear clothes.
But he had envisioned starting with a large sleep shirt, not going on straight
into trousers. Thor was worried that Loki would find them constricting, and
misinterpret them as another controlling device.
The sleeping trousers themselves were grey, and made of some of the softest
material Thor had ever known.
Thor shook them out and laid them beside Loki, who continued to eye them. His
mistrust did not stem for fear of the unknown however. It was borne out of
precious disappointment. He had never been allowed clothes, and every time he
had been offered them, they had been cruelly snatched out of his fingers with
jeering smiles and mocking laughs.
Loki released Thor's cloak from about his shoulders and let it puddle around
his waist. He reached out and stroked the material of the trousers.
"It's up to you." Thor said, sitting down beside Loki. Loki ignored him.
"You can wear them, or not. I won't force you."
Loki stoppe stroking the trousers and flicked a glance at Thor. He manoeuvred
carefully so that the cloak no longer covered him and grasped thew trousers,
holding them out to Thor. Thor gave Loki a bright smile and laid them out in
his hands. He took Loki's right leg and pulled the grey cotton softly up it. He
did the same with the other leg and then took Loki by the hands, bringing him
to his feet and pulling up the waist so that it sat on Loki's hips. He
tightened the drawstring and then stood back, admiring the view.
"They look good on you." Thor said, smiling brightly. Loki walked slowly to the
full length mirror and fixed his eyes on his now covered legs. He twisted,
feeling the material whisp against his skin, and wriggled his toes into the
soft carpet. The trousers were slightly too long, and bunched on top of his
feet.
"Does it feel better, to be clothed?" Thor ask, coming up behind Loki and
resting a gentle hand on his shoulder. Loki's eyes met Thor's chin n the mirror
and he gave a single sharp nod. He was getting better at communication, and
being allowed to express his feelings, but he still didn't speak. Bruce had
quietly admitted to Thor that Loki may never speak, both due to the nature of
his trauma and also because, simply, he had never learned how to.
Thor walked back to the bed and took the cloak, draping it gently around Loki's
shoulders like a shawl. Loki immediately grasped the fabric in his hands and
arraigned it so that it covered his chest.
"Come, we shall have breakfast." Thor said, turning and walking out of the
room. He knew that Loki would follow him, mainly because now he was getting
regular meals, Loki never missed an opportunity to eat.
Thor make Loki's breakfast smoothie, and a slice of toast, and set about making
himself eggs and bacon. Thor enjoyed the more varied diet that Midgard offered,
as Asgard was a bit of a one trick pony when it came to food and eating. You
tended to get the same meals over and over again. But here, Thor was able to
eat such a wide variety of things that he had take-away almost every night.
Loki drank his smoothie, and was settling down to eat his toast when Natasha
strolled in. It was one of her rare days off, and she often shared breakfast
with whoever was up, because Clint wouldn't surface much before midday, and
even when he did, it was akin to talking to a zombie.
"Morning, fellas." She said. She gave Loki's hair a single stroke (which he
followed like a cat) and settled down beside him. Thor automatically doubled
the amount of food he was cooking, and soon settled down a plate of crispy
bacon and fluffy eggs with toast in front of Natasha as he made the same plate
of himself. Natasha dumped an inhuman amount of sugar onto her plate and
started eating.
Loki had finished his toast and was eyeing Natasha's bacon in what he thought
was a covert way, but Natasha could see him out of the corner of her eye. She
turned and made a great (unbelievable) show of talking to Thor about sparing
that day, and when she saw Thor's expression light up in a grin, she knew that
she was going to be a few strips of bacon down when she turned back. Sure
enough, when she re-focued on her plate, she was completely bacon-less, and
Loki was trying to chew crispy bacon subtly.
It wasn't really working.
She grinned and tapped Loki's bulging cheeks. "You look like an angry
chipmunk." She said.
Thor chocked on his eggs and laughed loudly.
Loki looked at Natasha as he always looked at women. With slight confusion. He
seemed easier around them than men, because no women had ever really come into
his cloistered world on Asgard (with the notable exception of Sif, who had
merely pulled his hair the one time he had come close). So women confused him,
and he chose to study them.
Maria Hill had been shocked when she had opened the door of Avengers Tower,
intent on giving Steve a mission debriefing, and suddenly found her hair loose
and flowing between pale fingers as Loki examined it. She had stood very still
and let him, because she had some idea as to why Loki would be so intrigued by
long hair. She had sat down on the nearest chair and allowed Loki his
examination of her face, not moving as he slowly touched her slightly softened
cheeks and her large eyes. When he put his hand on her breast, she had jumped
and gently moved his hand away, explaining in soft words what they was and
generally what they was for. Naturally her eyes had moved to the scar tissue on
Loki's own chest, and she had winced in anger. Maria had eventually forgot what
she had been there for, and had spent the afternoon with Loki's head in her lap
as they watched cartoons. When she reported to Fury later, she couldn't even
remember why she had been in the Tower in the first place.
Bruce had sat down with Loki afterwards and gently handed his anatomy diagrams
of men and women, explaining to the confuse dyeing the difference and quickly
reassuring him that in no way was he a freak.
For Loki, it had been a jam-packed afternoon.
Natasha finished her breakfast and cleaned her plate, offering to take Loki to
the communal floor so that she and Thor could go sparing. Loki was getting
better at being left with other people and letting Thor go, as long as he had
Thor's cloak with him.
Natasha took Loki gently by the elbow and walked him to the elevator, where
they exited to Steve painting, from memory, his neighbourhood in Brooklyn as he
remembered it. Steve turned and smiled at Loki.
"It's good to see you, Loki." He said. Loki wandered over and stroked strands
of Steve's hair, his preferred greeting. He then released Steve and sat down on
the sofa, his current picture book resting beside some juice.
"You're wearing pants. That's good progress." Steve smiled at him, turning away
from his painting. Loki looked at Steve's chin and nodded.
They spent a quiet afternoon together, with Loki slowly looking at his book and
sipping his juice, and Steve painting his neighbourhood. Steve would
occasionally stop painting and turn around to Loki, showing him bits of the
drying canvas and tell Loki stories about a particular building, or where Steve
and Bucky had managed to save enough nickels to by a real bottle of coke. He
told Loki about a boy with a should stronger than the sun, and the friend he
protected against bullies and against himself. Steve had the feeling that Loki
and Bucky would have got on quite well.
Thor came through the door and smiled at the tableau that they made. He
wandered over to the sofa and stroked Loki's head, who immediately shuffled
over and plonked his book down on Thor's lap. Thor slung an arm around Loki's
shoulders and pulled him closer, where upon Loki snuggled his head into Loki's
shoulder. Thor no longer needed to read out loud to Loki, as Loki was getting
good at recognising words on his own.
He could now pick out 'Loki', 'Thor', 'Mjolnir', 'Jötunn', 'Fire', and 'Magic'.
Steve finished dabbing his painting and wiped his brushes off with an old t-
shirt. He joined them on the sofa, sandwiching Loki between them as they all
looked at the book in Thor's lap.
"How was sparing with Natasha?" Steve asked.
"It is a great relief to be able to spar with someone and not have to hold
back, for fear of hurting them." Thor admitted.
"Perhaps I should join you." Steve said. "The only work out I'm getting these
days is against vintage punching bags, and eve then I'm winning."
"It sounds like you also need to spar with someone and not hold back. Maybe
tomorrow we shall go down to the gymnasium and see how strong you really are."
Thor grinned at Steve, and Steve gave a delighted grin back.
"Sounds like a challenge."
They sat in silence for a moment, before Thor stretched and said "Would you
like to watch a movie?"
Steve nodded. "What do you feel like?"
"Something with massive property damage, a small plot and unreasonably
attractive people starring." There was a pause.
"Michael Bay movie?"
Thor nodded. "Michael Bay movie."
Steve stood up and then offered his hand to Loki. "Loki, fancy coming with me
to make some popcorn."
Loki hesitated briefly before placing his hand gently in Steve's and allowing
himself to be guided to the kitchen. Thor set up the movie and by the time the
popcorn was done, the beginning was playing at the lights were muted.
Bt the time the first movie ended, the rest of the Avengers had joined them,
and there was a spirited discussion as to who was more of a bad-ass, Optimus
Prime or Bumblebee. In the middle sat Loki, staring at them all, and for the
first time in his life, he felt safe.
 
 
*************
 
 
Loki wearing clothes was a massive positive step, and was soon joined by Loki
wearing shirts (silk so that it didn't irritate his sensitive chest), and
skinny jeans, which everyone blamed Natasha for and for which she would never
repent. Thor's cloak turned into a long, red scarf, because Loki was loathe to
go anywhere without it, and Thor preferred having that price with Loki at all
times, when he could not be there.
Loki still had bare feet, because Loki had spent his whole life not wearing any
shoes, and as a result his soles were hard as leather, and the skin didn't even
break, not when he walked across broker glass as had happened a few times.
Now that he was finally reading, he was soon being taught, slowly, how to
write. Often he would sit down with Steve (who was an artist and therefore used
to following lines), and would gently trace over the dotted lines with his own
pen, tongue licking his lips in concentration. They all quickly discovered that
Loki was ambidextrous, and which hand he would use that day would indicate what
kind of day he was having. If he was using his right hand, then it was a good
day, and he would be willing to curl up with anyone. If it was his left hand,
it was a bad day, and Thor would always be by Loki's side, and his cloak would
be wrapped around Loki like a shawl, and would sometimes shield his head and
face.
Loki's first word free-hand was 'Thor', which Thor had framed and put up above
their bed.
As the Avengers actually had more days off than days actually working, there
was always someone to be with Loki during the day so that Thor could go off to
the gym and not worry about Loki. The first person that Loki truly tolerated,
apart from Steve, was Clint. It did help that Clint looked like Steve and Thor,
with blond hair and blue eyes, although not as well built. Clint soon found a
sounding board in Loki, because Loki would never talk back, and he knew what it
was like to be under someones thrall. He would often sit with Loki, sometimes
with Natasha, sometimes on his own. He sat on the floor, priming his bow or
cleaning his arrows, and if Natasha was there with him, she would have Loki's
feet on her lap, painting his toenails as Clint bitched about whatever
television series had caught his eye. But if he was alone, then he would talk
to Loki about being a slave to the Other, when he ad come through. About how he
could always feel Clint Barton screaming at the back of his mind, bagging and
crying to get through and to stop the atrocities which he had committed. He
understood what it felt like to lose an identity, to be reduced to nothing. And
he knew that Loki would never judge him, would never tell him to stop, even if
he could, because Loki understood. One time, he fell asleep on the floor and
woke up to find someone (Loki) had put a pillow under his head. And that was
when he knew Loki had got it, and would always understand.
Bruce was the first of the non-blonds to get through to Loki. He still acted as
his doctor, and so would often be seen around Loki, checking his vocals and
making sure that Loki aways had someone with him. He was also acting as Loki's
teacher, when Steve couldn't do it, because he had the patience of a saint.
Bruce was a calming soul, and if Thor couldn't be there in the mornings for
Loki (a rare occurrence), then it would be up to Bruce to help Loki out. He
would wake Loki up slowly and then lead him to get weighed, making sue that
Loki's weight gain was always charted down incase of any anomalies. He would
them make Loki his breakfast and then lead him to the bathroom so that Loki
might get washed, but always with the door open. When Loki was finished and
dried, Bruce would lead him down to the communal living area, where all of his
materials would already be laid out. If Bruce had to spend the day in the lab,
he always made sure that an Avenger was free to watch Loki, as Bruce didn't
fully trust him on his own. As well as reading and writing, Bruce had also
started Loki on simple mathematics, but had had to step up to advanced algebra
when Loki was shown an aptitude for maths. Bruce enjoyed teaching, enjoyed
watching new minds absorb information, and teaching Loki was a pleasant
experience, because Loki always approached his tasks with an air of awe and
wonder that Bruce had thought lost.
Loki was now well past picture books, and had started on tomes. Bruce had given
him the Harry Potter series, which Loki was tearing through. He couldn't wait
to see what happened when they showed Loki the films.
After his time watching them, Natasha was the next Avenger and first women that
Loki next got comfortable with. His initial fascination of Natasha stemmed from
two sources, first: that she was a women, and second: that she had red hair.
Red hair wasn't common on Asgard, and for women to have it even less so. In
fact, in all his years in the army, Loki had never seen another person with
hair as red at Natasha's. And initially, that was where he looked. Whilst he
looked at the men on their chin or at their hands, he looked at Natasha and
focused on her hair. As he grew more comfortable around the Avengers, he would
occasionally reach out and stroke Natasha's hair, over and over again with an
expression of wonder. Natasha in turn would often take these opportunities to
write up her mission reports, paint Loki's nails, or simply sit in front of him
as he played with different hairstyles. If she was with Clint, she would be
funny and sarcastic, but on her own, she was silent and pliable. It was very
soothing, being with Loki.
Tony's interactions with Loki were slightly hit-and-miss, mainly because Tony
suffered from a permanent case of Foot-In-Mouth syndrome and would tend to wax
lyrical with Loki on all kinds of subjects, some of which would send Loki into
a spiral of depression and self doubt as he struggled to even comprehend what
Tony was talking about. Tony would, on those occasions, panic and call the
nearest Avenger to help him with the man who would have more that likely gone
foetal, as he himself would retreat to his lab and hunch over his work bench,
blinking back stinging tears and wondering whether he could do anything right.
But sometimes (more often than not), he would manage to engage Loki in a
discussion about particle physics, and Loki would look at him with an
expression that left Tony's chest feeling tight. When they were in the lab, and
Loki was playing catch with Dummy, and Tony would be adjusting his suits or
building new ones, Tony would talk about his time in Afghanistan, and his
terror at being tortured. Loki would, at those points, put the ball down and
drop his head on the back of Tony's. He would nuzzle and Tony would close his
eyes and drop his hands to the ones that had encircled his waist. And Tony
would feel as safe as he could, knowing that there was someone out there who
had been tortured to the extent that Tony had, and that he was surrounded by
people who would defend him from his nightmares till the end.
Phil Coulson had found Loki to be pleasant company when it came to visiting the
Tower, as Loki was very close to Steve, and would lap up any stories about
Steve and Bucky, or which Phil had loads. Phil found himself doing paperwork on
Thor's floor alongside Loki with his latest writing assignment, and would
expound upon the good Captain and the Sergeant missing in action. Loki would
listen, and occasionally reach out to touch Coulson's chest where he had been
stabbed. Coulson would explain about dying, and how he much preferred living,
and, because he knew the despair that sometimes would lie behind Loki's eyes,
he would gently encourage Loki to keep living and not take the easy way out,
because if he did, it would hurt Thor more than Coulson could say. And Loki
could never bear to hurt Thor.
Nick Fury had met Loki in hospital when he had first arrived, assessed his
threat level and more or less determined him about as likely to hurt the
Avengers as a fruit. His interactions with Loki were minimal but always
uncomfortable, because as Loki got more and more used to people, he would look
more and more at their faces (never in the eye. He wasn't brave enough for
that), and Nick had never enjoyed being scrutinised by someone he couldn't look
in the eye. So he gave team briefings with his eye looking everywhere but as
Loki, and when he read the reports about Loki and his recovery, he did so with
both a grudging sense of respect and worry. It was worth keeping an eye on
Loki, simply because Fury had never been one to assume something based on
initial appearances, and he could sense the power thrumming through Loki's
veins. Safety first, and all that.
 
 
************
 
 
And Loki continued to thrive. His writing improved, his reading got to the
stage when one day, Bruce walked in to find Loki reading Anna Karenina in the
original Russian, and one day found Tony, Loki and Thor writing equations for a
slush hydrogen propelled car on the wall. 
Loki still had nightmares, and more often than not, 3am found Thor sitting on
his bed with Loki clasped in his arms, shaking from the force of his dream. On
the really bad nights, Loki would paw at the crotch of Thor's trousers, stuck
in his past where his only existence had been to service people. When that
happened, Thor would pick Loki up in his arms and take him to the television,
switching it on to something innocuous and letting Loki drift back to reality
on his own.
Loki soon found a place in the Tower as a sounding board and friend, and there
was a feeling in his chest, as if his hear could one day reach out and flutter
off. He tenthly described it as happiness.
 
 
***********
 
 
A few months after Loki and Thor had arrived, Steve left the Tower so that he
could be close to the Triskillion in DC. For days afterwards, Loki slipped into
a depression, and Thor tried to coax Steve back, to no avail.
"I'm getting more and more missions, Thor." Steve said to him over the phone.
"It's easier for me if I stay here."
"Loki misses you intensely." Thor said, running a hair through his (now quite
long) hair and looking at the figure wrapped in Thor's cloak, starring blankly
at the screen of the television.
Steve sighed. "I know, and as soon as these missions peter out, I'm coming
back. Stick Loki on the phone, I'll talk to him."
Thor handed Loki the phone, who put it to his ear. His expression suddenly
brightened when he heard Steve speak, and by the end of the conversation, he
was now actively watching the movie. 
"Thank you." Thor said. He was greatly relieved by the change in Loki's
demeanour.
"No problem. I'm coming back, don't worry." 
When Thor finished the call, he wandered over to the sofa and pulled Loki into
his arms, who snuggled in and wrapped his own arms around Thor's waist. Thor
absently kissed Loki on the head and switched on the news.
It was a few weeks later, when he sat with wide eyes and his heart in his
throat as he watch three Helicarriers destroy themselves, that Thor realised
that he should have gone with Steve, if only because he now recognised the
destructive quality in Steve's eyes. Loki was sitting on the floor, wrapped
snugly n the cloak as he too was entranced by the screen.
As soon as the footage finished, Thor's phone rang and he scrambled to pick it
up. "Yes?" he barked with worry.
There was silence at the end, then a voice Thor didn't recognise said "Is that
Thor?"
"This is he. Who is speaking?"
"My name is Sam Wilson. I have you listed as Thor's emergency contact."
Thor nodded. "Yes, that is correct. Is there something wrong?"
Sam sighed. "I guess you saw what happened."
"S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters have been destroyed by H.Y.D.R.A."
"That's not all."
"And the Helicarriers have been blown up."
"Yeah."
There was a silence as Thor got more and more impatient. But before he could
ask any more questions, Sam spoke. "Steve was on one of the Helicarriers when
it blew."
Thor felt as if the rug had been pulled out from underneath his feet. He
wandered back to the sofa and sat down heavily. "What?" he said faintly.
"Thor, Steve was caught in the explosions and then fell into the river."
Thor licked suddenly dry lips and said softly "Is he dead?" At that, Loki's
head swung around and he gripped Thor's leg hard, looking pleadingly at his
chin.
"No, no, he isn't dead. But he's not good either."
"Where are you?" Thor said, standing up and moving to his room to pack a bag.
Loki sat up on the sofa and looked back at the TV.
"DC. You going to come?"
"I have to, as his emergency contact." Thor haphazardly threw clothes and
toiletries into his bag and zipped it close. He carried the bag into the living
room and plonked it on the sofa beside Loki, who look at it and then Thor with
an increasingly concerned expression.
"I can be there in a few hours, which hospital is he in?" Thor asked. Sam gave
him the name and gratefully Thor thanked him. He then put the phone down and
turned to Loki.
"I have to go to Steve. He's hurt and he may need a friend." Thor explained.
Luckily, Loki seemed to understand because he grasped Thor's hand and squeezed
it before releasing it and standing up. Thor took his bag in one hand and
Loki's hand in the other, and together they took the elevator to the communal
living area, where Bruce was already waiting. Thor explained to both Bruce and
Loki that he was going to DC, and that Loki would be staying with Bruce for a
few days. Before he left in one of Tony's rental cars, he kissed Loki on the
forehead and promised to be back soon.
The ride to DC was torturous, as Thor was worried both about Steve and Loki.
Arriving at the hospital, he was shown to Steve's room where a man was already
sitting, reading a magazine. He stood up when Thor entered and held out his
hand. 
"Sam Wilson."
"Thor. It is a pleasure to meet you." Thor said, shaking it and giving Sam a
warm smile. His expression dropped when he looked at Steve on the bed. Sam
looked as well and grimaced.
"What is the damage?" Thor asked in a low voice.
"Internal bleeding, broken bones, fractured cheekbone. Infections from dirty
river water. It's bad, man. Not gonna kill him, but he's out of commission for
a few days."
Thor nodded gravely. He pulled up a chair and sat down beside Steve. Sam
resumed his seat and continued to read. 
They sat in silence for an hour before Sam put down his magazine and asked "So
why are you his emergency contact?"
Thor shook himself from his stupor and smiled slightly at Sam. "Are you aware
of the nature of the serum that was injected into the Captain to make him like
he is?"
"Kind of." Sam shrugged. "He said it was derived from the Tesseract, that
glowing blue cub from outta space."
"Yes. Well, there have been some tests done, and our body chemistry is somewhat
similar, due to his new biology being alien in nature, and myself being an
alien from the culture that constructed the Tesseract. It was determined that,
should anything happen to Steve that modern medicine could not understand, then
they could look at my own biology and determine the best course of action, and
vice versa. It's a very good method."
Sam sat there, absorbing the information. He then shook his shoulders and
chuckled under his breath. "Man, that's fucked up."
"Isn't it?" Thor grinned at him.
Silence reigned again, but this time it was comfortable. The nurses eventually
came in to take some readings and offer Sam and Thor cots to sleep in. They
agreed that it was probably best if someone stayed with Steve at all times, and
so played Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who would have the first shift. Thor
lost, and spent the first 6 hours reading quietly beside Steve, waiting for him
to wake up.
Sam was right, it was a few days later before Steve woke up. Thor had been
getting coffee and came in to the room to find Steve sitting shakily up in bed.
He smiled in joy and gave Sam his coffee.
Two days later, Steve was discharged, and after a quiet conference between
Thor, Sam, Steve and Natasha, it was quickly determined that Steve and Sam
would move in to the Tower in New York briefly, before moving off to go and
find Bucky.
Coming back to the Tower was interesting, because Sam had had to pack up his
entire flat in a day, and Tony had sent a moving van to help. They travelled
back to the Tower and Sam whistled when he saw it. Tony was standing at the
entrance, holding a champagne bottle with a set of keys attached to the neck
with a ribbon.
"Welcome, my flying friend!" Tony greeted. Sam looked at him with a raised
eyebrow.
"Er, hi?"
"Welcome to the Avengers. This is my Tower, now your home." Tony walked up to
him and shoved the bottle into his hand. "You apartment is on the 41st floor."
Steve looked at Sam in amusement as he concealed a twitch.
"Come in, come in." Tony turned and walked back to the Tower, with Thor
following close behind and Sam and Steve hefting boxes into their arms as they
waled to the elevator to go to their respective floors. Thor was set to head
straight to the communal living floor, where he knew Loki would be.
The doors opened and Thor walked to the sofa, where Loki was curled up in the
cloak, staring at the book that he was holding. Thor dropped his bag and leaned
over the edge of the sofa, smiling softly.
"Hello Loki."
Loki dropped the book and whirled around, dropping the cloak and throwing his
arms around Thor. He pulled himself up the Thor, so that they were chest to
chest. Loki rubbed his cheek against Thor's scruff and sighed gently against
his ear. Thor in turn wrapped his arms around Loki and hugged him tightly.
"I'm back, I'm back." Thor said. He stood up and dragged Loki over the sofa
with him, so that Loki was soon standing on his feet. Thor swayed from side to
side.
Bruce came out of the kitchen and smiled at the picture that greeted him. Thor
met his eyes over Loki's head.
"Hello Bruce. How has he been?"
"Doing well." Bruce came over and cleaned up Loki's work materials. "It was
difficult, when you first went, but once we explained it to him, it got easier.
I think he's just been worried about Steve, and with you gone, it made it
worse."
Thor nodded and released Loki, who in turn released Thor and slipped his hand
into Thor's, staying close by his side. Thor wandered into the kitchen and set
about making himself and Loki some cereal, knowing that it was time for Loki to
have a snack and feeling peckish as well. Loki settled in his seat and didn't
take his eyes off Thor, his normally blank face softened. Loki never smiled,
but the expression currently on his face the closest thing to it.
Thor put the food in front of Loki and was just about to tuck in when the
elevator door chimed open and Sam and Steve stepped out onto the floor,
chatting away. Loki abandoned his food and hurried across to Steve, taking hold
of his face between pale hands and turning it as if he was checking for
injuries.
"Loki, I'm okay." Steve said gently but allowed Loki to move his head. Sam was
standing there, looking confused, but he had been made aware of Loki during his
time with Steve, and to be honest he had been looking forward to meeting him.
Loki was a born survivor, and Sam had wanted to meet someone who had gone
through what he had gone through and come out the other end a bit broken but
still whole.
"Good Loki. I'm okay, you can stop checking." Steve gently brought Loki's hands
away from his face and held them, rubbing his thumbs over the knuckles. Loki
then noticed Sam for the first time and shrank back behind Steve, looking at
Sam under lowered eyes.
"This is my good friend, Sam Wilson." Steve said, releasing one of Loki's hands
and putting it onto Sam's shoulder. Sam didn't move towards Loki, but instead
stood where he was and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you. Steve's told me a lot about you." He didn't offer his
hand, but allowed Loki to get his fill of Sam.
Loki spent the rest of the evening eyeing Sam, which he found somewhat
disconcerting until Natasha took him gently aside and explained quietly about
Loki's somewhat closeted life so far, and how he never really met any new
people. After that, Sam took it upon himself to be with Loki as often as
feasibly possible, in between sorting his new apartment out and planning a man
finding road trip with Steve.
Thor was glad to be back at the Tower, but found that Loki seemed to be a bit
preoccupied. They had explained, in detail, what had happened in DC, and that
Bucky was alive. Since then, Loki had been hoarding any sketchbooks that Steve
had that contained pictures of Bucky, which was most of them. Loki seemed
suddenly obsessed by Bucky and would often bee seen sitting on the floor of the
communal area, sketchbooks open all around him at pictures of Bucky. And it was
only Bucky. Bucky as a kid, Bucky in the army, Bucky in the Howling Commandos.
Steve confessed to Thor that he had thought that Bucky and Loki would have
really gotten on, but now he was getting slightly worried about Loki's current
obsession. Thor confessed the same thing.
But they couldn't do anything, because Loki taking an interest in something was
always a good thing, and so they watched and waited for something to happen.
It was getting closer to departure date for Sam and Steve, when Thor came
crashing in to the communal living area one morning and stuttered out that Loki
had gone missing during the night.
Steve had sat Thor down with tea and got him to explain that he had woken up in
the morning to find Loki gone from their bed, along with a backpack, his
wallet, and three sketchbooks. When Steve looked over the sketchbooks, he knew
that the books missing contained both the most pictures of Bucky, and also the
most pictures of both Bucky and Steve together.
Quickly the rest of the Tower was brought up to speed, and they went out,
scouring the streets for the missing Loki. Thor and Steve went off together,
Sam went off on his own, Tony drove and kept an eye out on the more public
highways, whilst Natasha and Clint went to the subways, riding on every train
they could. By the end of the day, it was cold and their feet were aching, and
Loki was still missing.
Thor sat on the sofa of the communal living area, a cold cup of coffee in his
hands as he stared blankly at the wall. Natasha was patting his shoulder
slightly in comfort.
"I'm sure he won't have gone far." She said.
"It's the first time he's been out of the Tower." Thor said horsely. "He's
going to be so lost."
"First light tomorrow, we'll go out and look again." Clint said, coming in to
the room with plates piled high with sandwiches. Thor put his cup down and
buried his head in his hands. His hair spilled over his fingers and they
tangled with the strands, forming a barrier to the outside world. The rest of
the team came in and sat down, eating and watching the news that was softly on.
Nobody felt like talking.
Loki ended up missing for three days.
During each day, Thor would walk around the city, Mjolnir sitting on his wrist
as a bracelet and his throat horse from calling. Fury had roped in some of his
former agents to help, all armed with a current description of Loki and all
scouring he streets for him. The rest of the Avengers helped when they could,
but with the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D, Natasha was in a much danger as Loki and
needed to disappear occasionally, building new covers for both herself and
Clint, who often accompanied her. Tony had his duties to Stark Industries and
just couldn't spare the time.
So it was really Sam, Steve and Bruce who helped. But it was a tense time for
all of them, as they feared the worse.
Thor would go to bed at night and spend the entire time staring at the ceiling,
knowing that Loki was out there and that there was nothing he could do to find
him until the morning. Loki hadn't even been wearing any shoes when he left.
It broke Thor's heart to imagine Loki wandering around, scared and confused
with bare feet.
Thor was sitting in the communal kitchen, bleary eyed on the fourth day of
Loki's disappearance when the elevator pinged open and Loki walked out. Thor
dropped his mug in surprise.
"Loki." He whispered and surged to hug Loki, when a man Loki had been holding
hands with stormed in front of Loki with a knife out, pointing it at Thor. Thor
stopped in surprise.
"Who is this?" Thor asked. Loki tugged at the mans hand and threaded their
fingers again. The man sheathed his knife and stepped back into Loki. They were
standing very close, arms touching. Thor peered at the man, looking for
features beneath the dirty carpet of hair and the thread-bare hoodie. He gasped
when he recognised the eyes.
"James Barnes?" He gasped. The man flinched and leaned even closer to Loki.
Thor heard footsteps behind him and swung around, knowing who it was and trying
to get to him before something happened. But was too late, and Steve dropped
the glass in his hands as he too stared.
"Bucky?" Steve whispered, staring at Bucky with tortured eyes. Loki looked as
Bucky flinched again, and tugged him to the sofa, sitting Bucky down and
opening his backpack. He took out the sketchbooks and opened them to the
drawings of Bucky and Steve, before the war, before the serum. Bucky reached
out a hand and gently traced the drawings, the same as Loki had done when he
had first seen them. Steve made a strangled noise behind Thor.
Bucky stopped tracing the pictures and his eyes settled on Loki, who had
crossed over and wound his arms around Thor's waist, leaning in and settling
his head against Thor's shoulder. Bucky bit his lip and his eyes flickered to
Steve, who seemed frozen to the spot. Loki watched him, and, when he saw Bucky
look at Steve with a naked expression of longing, he nodded and nudged his head
towards Steve. Bucky gently rose from the sofa and walked to Steve, who
couldn't move. He reached him, and cupped Steve's strong face in his hands.
Steve closed him eyes and leaned into Bucky's metal hand, tears starting to
course from his eyes.
"I know you." Bucky whispered. Steve nodded.
"You know me."
"You said, one the Helicarrier." Bucky swallowed and tried again. "You said,
you're with me till the end of the line."
"I always am."
"End of the line?"
Steve opened his eyes and nodded. He reached out and cupped Bucky's face. "End
of the line." He drew Bucky in and hugged him tightly, sobbing harshly into the
dirt hair. But Bucky held Steve just as close, and sniffed at the familiar
scent, and knew that he might be finally safe.
Thor picked up Loki's bag and walked to the elevator, holding Loki close. He
knew Loki was exhausted, and that by all rights he should be angry with him for
disappearing. But he heard Steve and Bucky behind him, and in his heart, he
knew that Loki had done the best thing imaginable, in his own unique way.
That night, Bucky slept safely in the medical unit, his hand in Steve's. And
Loki slept safely in Thor's arms, who looked at the ceiling and smiled in joy.
 
 
*************
 
 
Bucky described what had happened in those three days:
On the first day, Loki had found his staking out the rooftops opposite the
Tower, and had brought him food and spent the night sitting with him, watching
him eat with green eyes that glowed like a cats. 
The morning of the second day, Loki had taken his hand and brought him down to
the street. They had eaten at a cafe and Loki had brought out the sketchbooks
for the first time, showing Bucky pictures of Steve pre-serum. Bucky had nearly
smashed the table, but Loki had been relentless. They had spent the day
wandering around parks, sitting down and periodically looking through the
sketchbooks. The pictures had fascinated Bucky, who had still been the Soldier
but who had recognised Steve as something other than the Missions. That night,
Loki had bought a room, and slept on the bed whilst Bucky had taken the floor,
surrounded by pictures of someone he once knew.
Day three had been introducing Bucky to himself. He had awoken that morning to
find himself staring at a picture of Bucky before the war, smoking a cigarette
and grinning unrepentant at the artist. Bucky had nearly thrown the book across
the room, but Loki, coming out of the bathroom, had shaken his head and opened
the rest of the books. They had holed themselves in the room, staring at
pictures of Bucky in his youth, before the Ice had touched his eyes and
hardened his heart. Pictures of Steve, his small face smiling softly at man
only he could see. Some pictures of the two of them, lying side by side on a
rickety bed, bare torsos pressed together as they slept a secret sleep. Two
boys, dreaming of impossible things in a world that seemed determined to kill
them both, just for being Bucky-and-Steve. Bucky had gasped as he remembered
the feeling of sparrow-like hips under his hand, resting his head in a chest
heading with exertion, and feeling the swell of protectiveness that came with
knowing that only he could do this to Steve. He had looked at Loki and spoken
of the most impossible things, things that he remembered were illegal but that
might (might) be possible now. And Loki had looked at him and nodded. They had
spent the night curled up together, holding hands, and then, the next day, they
had got into a taxi and left for the Tower.
And Bucky had never looked back.
 
 
**************
 
 
Loki spent more and more time on the communal living area, reading books and
practising his writing. He was getting better at being left alone, although he
always seems to enjoy someone being there.
Bucky often came to join him, and Steve as well, as he found he enjoyed
painting with an appreciative, if silent audience, and he was loathe to leave
Bucky alone. And Bucky liked being with Loki, and Loki seemed to enjoy Bucky's
company, and Steve liked them both. So it worked out rather well.
Thor found himself with more and more time on his hands, and, when he wasn't in
the gym, he now found himself talking to a rather wonderfully smart woman
called Jane Forster (who had flirted with him for 10 minutes before Loki had
come in, seen what was happening, and plastered himself across Thor's back,
glaring at Jane). She seemed to be working on a project similar to the Bifrost
from Asgard, and often asked questions from Thor about how it worked. She was
hoping to start an interplanetary communication system, and Thor found himself
encouraging her, as he too felt that the Realms were far to isolated from each
other. 
However, when she proposed starting with Asgard, Thor felt himself go slightly
cold.
"No, no, I don't think that would be a good idea." He said.  Jane looked at
him, confused.
"Why not? I mean, you're from Asgard, you know it best, you would be the
perfect ambassador." 
"Has no one explained the situation to you?" Thor asked, looking confused. On
the other side of the lab, Tony winced as he tinkered with his suits. He had
forgotten about Jane not really being in the loop.
Jane shook her head, and Thor told her about is self-imposed exile, and the
fact that he had vowed never to return to the Realm Eternal. He could see Jane
visibly deflating.
"Wait, I have an idea." Thor exclaimed suddenly. "There is another realm to
which you might be able to exchange a dialogue."
Jane looked cautiously interested. "What?"
"Jötunnheim."
"Isn't that where Loki's from?" Tony called. He abandoned his project and came
over, finding the discussion to be more interesting.
Thor nodded. He had forgotten about Jötunnheim, but now he remembered his
lessons. And he remembered that, just before he had left, Helblindi had been
elected King as Laufey had retired. Thor hoped that they remembered him from so
long ago, as he hoped that establishing a peaceful coexistence between the two
realms would help boost Jötunnheim's resources and save the dying planet.
So he spent more and more time with Jane, who brought with her an energetic
assistant in Darcy and a drinking companion in Dr Erik Selvig. Loki meanwhile
started making lunch and brining it to Thor, who delighted in eating whatever
Loki had cooked up, and frequently Loki ended up staying as he observed the
machines slowly being constructed. His grasp of physics and mathematics was so
good that he was soon bent over pages with Selvig, making alterations in his
slow handwriting and letting Selvig exclaim in delight.
Bucky would spend his days, when he was not in therapy, reading everything he
could in Russian, and Loki would join him, snuggling up against his shoulder
and reading from the same page. If it had been a bad day, Steve would lean
against the other shoulder and Thor would pull Loki into his lap, so that they
turned into what Tony called 'The Super Soldier and Godly Pretzel'.
Nobody really minded when they came across this, as they used it as an excuse
to order a restaurants worth of pizza and educate that group on the sofa in the
ways of modern movies.
Thor had been delighted with Star Wars, which had caused a lively argument with
Bucky and Steve, who preferred Star Trek. 
Loki would sit quietly and eat pizza, sometimes a whole box if no one was
looking. 
 
 
*************
 
 
Months passed this way, and yes, sometimes they would leave the Tower to fight
the next megalomaniac who wanted to take over the world. Bucky was now cleared
to join them, and everyone was secretly relieved that he would fight alongside
them, because with his new metal arm (Patent to Stark Industries), he was
practically unstoppable.
They would come back, sometimes after days away, to find Loki had ordered out,
or cooked a feast for them, and they would sit down as the worlds most mis-
matched family and enjoy each others company.
Life was good.
 
 
************
 
 
Until it suddenly wasn't.
It was Bruce who went missing first. Sometimes he would disappear, because he
volunteered at the cities free clinics and would sometimes disappear for days
at a time. He felt that, after destroying Harlem and the rest of New York
during the Battle, he needed to balance out his bad deeds with some good ones.
So he would go off, and come back a few days later, collapsed on the sofa while
someone watched TV.
But this time, he didn't come back.
Loki noticed first, and handed a note one day to Tony, who then asked
J.A.R.V.I.S where Bruce was. When J.A.R.V.I.S reported back that Bruce had been
missing for a week, Tony visibly looked worried.
A city wide search revealed that Bruce had not been seen for at least two days,
and now the Avengers started to wonder if there was someone else planning
something. But before they could launch an intelligence operation, both Clint
and Natasha were snatched from their beds and also taken.
Bucky visibly tensed when he saw that mess that their room had been in, the
upturned tables and the darts stuck in the walls. Clint's bow was snapped in
two, lying beside the door, and Bucky picked it up carefully, knowing that it
had been broken beyond repair. If Clint was without his bow, and Natasha was
without her knives, then suddenly Bucky knew that the Avengers were in real
trouble.
The rest of the Avengers spent the rest of the week together, forgoing their
separate apartments to sleep on the floor of the communal living area. This did
not stop Tony from disappearing one morning, two weeks later, when he went down
into the lab to try and track the others down. Pepper, upon hearing Tony
yelling, had raced down to the lab and taken a wrench to the back of the head,
which had knocked her out and allowed her to be bundled into the loading van
alongside Tony, who was panting harshly in panic at the sack over his head.
Thor was getting increasingly worried, not only because of his team mates
disappearing, but also because he knew it was only a matter of time before
someone tried to get him two. Reaching Fury was no good, as he had also been
snatched quickly after Natasha and Clint, and Coulson was desperately trying to
keep the remains of S.H.I.E.L.D together. Maria had been taken in the same
attack as Pepper and Tony.
Thor now spent nights in the communal living area curled around Loki, who had
now been reduced to staring blankly at the wall in panic. Loki was now
cognitive enough that he realised the danger that he was in, and had become
comatose with panic as a result.
"Nothing will happen to me." Thor whispered against Loki's temple. "I promise
you, I will keep safe." Loki would clutch as his arms in response.
Bucky and Steve would lie on the floor and watch the windows and doors in
turns, and Sam Wilson would make coffee, until the day they woke up to find the
window of the kitchen open and coffee spilled all over the floor. Sam had been
taken.
Bucky became increasingly paranoid, not leaving Steve at all now. He knotted
his hand in the back of Steve's shirt, and would even stay in the bathroom with
him.
But it could not stop Steve from being abducted, when he went to the door to
get their pizza's and received a dart to the neck which knocked him out. Bucky
whined high in his throat when he saw the pizza lying haphazardly on the floor,
and rushed in to the street, where a well placed EMP struck his arm and he
fell, jerking to the floor. 
Thor was now alone in the Tower. The Avengers had been taken. Loki wrapped
himself and Thor in Thor's cloak and slept as close as they could together.
Thor could not look for his comrades, as he would not abandon Loki. 
But one day, Loki came back from the kitchen, and found Mjolnir sitting on the
floor, and Thor gone. The cups of coffee slipped from his fingers, and Loki
turned wide eyes to the blasted out window.
Thor was gone.
Thor woke up slowly, groaning and shaking is head to try and disperse the
headache. He blew gently to try and get the hair out of his face when he heard
"Sleeping Beauty awakens."
"Tony?" he groaned and opened his eyes to look around the room. 
"Yeah, buddy. It's me." 
Thor leaned his head back and looked around the room. All of his comrades were
there, chained to the wall with a strong, shiny grey metal unlike anything Thor
had every seen. Tony was strung up by his hands, his face bruised and one of
his teeth chipped. Pepper lay slumped against him, unconscious. Clint, Natasha
and Bucky were all strapped to the wall by their hands and ankles, Natasha and
Clint quietly conversing, Bucky's breath hitching in fear as Steve, who was
also chained by his hands and ankles, tried desperately to comfort him. Bruce
was the only one who was chained by the neck, and he seemed to be meditating.
Thor could see that the collar was tight on his neck, and that if he Hulked
out, it would strangle and kill him. Fury was slumped in his chains, power
napping whilst Maria was tugging fruitlessly at the restraints and Sam was also
eyeing Bucky with worry in his eyes. All of their bared the signs of having
been recently beaten up, rather viciously.
"Where are we?" Thor asked, leaning back against the wall.
Tony shrugged. "I don't know. Nobody seems to know."
Thor frowned and jerked his head towards Bruce, who had opened his eyes. "Not
even Bruce."
"No." Natasha said. "Some men come in occasionally to take blood, or bring us
to a room for tests, but they all seem to be on the same floor."
"None of you have seen the outside." Thor concluded, and felt his heart sink.
Clint shook his head. "I don't even know if we're still in America."
Thor gently knocked his head back in frustration, but before he could say
anything else, the door opened and three men in white lab coats came in.
Following them were what appeared to be several guards in black combat gear.
One of the scientists looked around, and then grinned when he saw Thor was
awake.
"Good, you have awoken. Take him." The guards went to the and unlocked his
chains, brining his hands together and using powerful magnets to keep the
wrists of the manacles attached. "Also, bring that one." He pointed to Bucky,
who started shaking his head and whining, high in his throat. Steve started
bellowing in protest, which prompted the others to also voice their protests,
loudly. 
The guards dragged Thor and Bucky away, to a room resembling a horrific mix of
Tony's labs and a hospital suite. Thor and Bucky were bolted to tables and one
of the scientists started attaching electrodes and monitoring pads to Thor and
Bucky's chests. Bucky started heaving and turned his head to vomit.
"Disgusting. You'd think they would show a bit of backbone." One of the
scientists complained, roughly wiping Bucky's face.
"Never mind." Said on others the other. He pressed a button and a machine came
down from the ceiling, attaching itself over Thor's and Bucky's faces and
around their heads. Bucky starts to hyperventilate in panic, whilst Thor looked
confused.
"One. Two. Three. Go." One of the scientists pressed a button and almost
immediately, Bucky started screaming and thrashing in his restraints. Thor
meanwhile felt a pleasant tingling around his temples and frowned.
The scientists switched the machines off and Bucky stopped screaming. He panted
harshly instead and Thor tried with all his might to break the restraints.
"Subject 10 still exhibits normal reactions when confronted by electricity,
whilst Subject 11 appears not to be affected." One of the scientists said
whilst noting it down on a chart. Another scientist came a slapped Thor across
the face.
"Why are you not affected?" he asked. Thor spat in his face. The scientist
whipped off the spittle slowly and the slapped him again. "Answer me, or I'll
get the other one from your Tower and use him instead."
"No, not Loki!" Bucky screamed and thrashed. Thor licked his lips and answered.
"I am the God of Thunder and Lightning. Electricity doesn't affect me because I
have it running through my veins."
"But you can still feel it." 
Thor nodded.
"Interesting." The scientist murmured and went over to his colleagues. He
murmured with them for a few minutes and then went back to the machine. He
turned a dial and then said "Increasing the dosage by 10."
"Stop, you'll kill him!" Thor said, heaving in his restraints.
"No, we won't. You cannot kill someone like that." And with that, the scientist
pressed the button and Bucky screamed again.
The torture went on for an hour, before Bucky stopped screaming and only
twitched. Thor had long stopped crying, and instead only looked blankly at the
ceiling, as the gentle pulsing washed through him. He now understood what the
Avengers were there for.
They were anomalies of nature, and as such, were treated like that.
Thor lost count of the time he spent in the prison with the others. Every day,
one or two of the Avengers would be taken out, and then brought back in a worse
state. One night, Pepper was not returned, and when the morning came, she was
strung up alongside Tony, weeping and saying "They cut off my arm. They cut off
my arm and made me re-grow it." Tony soothed her by pressing his lips to her
hair, salty tears tracking down his face.
Thor was pitted against the Hulk in an underground arena, and watch as the Hulk
refused to fight, and was beaten savagely for it. The Hulk would not fight
anyone, as he recognised friends. Bruce spent more time unconscious than anyone
else. 
Bucky's mind recovered quickly, and he was often taken out with Steve, as the
scientists loved to compare their own different biology and the difference in
the serums they were given. Occasionally, Thor would be with them, and all of
them would refuse to speak a word when it came to questions, confounding the
scientists and making sure that each was punished by the end of the day.
Food was a luxury that they got to 'enjoy' once a day, and water came only
twice. Soon, each of them supported dry lips and hollow cheeks.
Dying seemed almost certain.
One day, when all of them had been given a respite from the testing, a man came
in to the cell. He was tall, with slicked back black hair and wide black eyes.
He was dressed sharply in a suit, and his long fingers ended in clawed nails.
He eyed them all with amusement, but in particular, focused on Fury, who in
turn glared at him.
"Do you know who I am?" He asked softly. He had a faint southern accent. Fury
didn't speak.
"You do, don't you. You remember exactly who I am."
"The rest of us don't." Croaked Clint. The man turned to Clint and stalked
forward, leaning in until his nose nearly brushed Clint's. Clint back away,
screwing up his eyes.
"Clint Barton." The man drawled.
"Wazzup?" 
"Don't play games with me, Hawkeye." The man abruptly stoop up and slapped
Clint in the face. Natasha snarled and jerked in her manacles.
"Buck up, Black Widow." The man said, still looking at Clint. "It's not the
first time he's been slapped and it certainly won't be the...oh." The man
chuckled suddenly. "It actually will be."
"What are you talking about, nut job?" Tony asked.
"My name is not nut job." The man turned to Tony and raised a perfectly
manicured eyebrow. "My name is Louis Robespierre."
There was a beat of silence, before Bucky said, slightly incredulously "As in
Maximilian Robespierre? The great decapatator of France?"
"My ancestor." The man turned his slightly unnerving gaze on to Bucky. "I think
he had the right idea."
"By chopping off the heads of anyone who opposed the Government?" Steve said,
sharing a glance with Bucky.
"By exterminating anyone who was different, who would not conform to what the
people wanted." Robespierre hissed.
"Oh shit." Tony said, completely deadpan. "It's shitty Hitler mark 2."
"I'm better than Hitler."
"Really?" Bruce said, guffawing. "Because we've heard this speech before, and
no one who said it is doing pretty good these days."
"The fundamental difference between them and me," said Robespierre, now not
looking at anyone and picking off invisible lint from his suit arm, "is that I
have both the wits and the means to carry out my plan, and I have managed to
remove all of you in the process."
The Avengers suddenly felt hollow as they realised exactly what situation they
were in.
"It was amazing, how I managed to catch you all silently. That Stark sound
suppressor really does the trick." Robespierre looked at Tony, who suddenly
looked sick and stared at the floor in rage and shame.
"Are you aware," asked Robespierre, "of how long you have been here?" Nobody
answered. "Two months. That's two months of research, two months of studying
the lot of you. Two months in which to act, and with nobody to stop me."
"What?" Tony gasped.
"Yes. Two months, and you have managed to do nothing. You cannot even get out."
"It's not like we've been sitting on our asses." Sam said angrily, rattling the
chains. Robespierre smiles oilily at him.
"I did take precautions when it came to getting the lot of you. Your god cannot
even break the chains. Tell the others, Mr Stark, what they are made out of."
Tony looked at the ground and said, through his teeth "Adamantium."
Natasha gaped at him, and Bruce said "But I thought-"
"That the entire reserve of adamantium was inside that beast Wolverine's body?"
Robespierre chuckled. "Not all of it. Department H have been very good to me."
"You do realise you have fallen in to the classic failure of bad guys?" Sam
taunted. However, Robespierre's expression did not change, and Sam suddenly
realised that there was more to the situation than he knew.
"You think I would risk unveiling my plan if there was even the slightest
chance that you would be able to topple it?" Robespierre grinned at all of
them. "Two months. I have taken DC, and now New York. You can do nothing to
stop me. With new knowledge of your abilities, my armies are stronger than
ever. Soon, America will fall, and with it, the rest of the world will soon
follow. And I can stand here and tell you all of this, because, with those
unbreakable manacles and with the magic suppressors that Stephen Strange was
able to give me before he so tragically died, you can do nothing to stop me."
The cell was silent. The Avengers had nothing to say.
"Well now, I believe that it's off to New York with you all." Robespierre went
to the door. "I need to send a strong message to the people of that city that
opposition will not be tolerated, and executing the Avengers in front of them
would be the perfect way to do so."
"NO!" Screamed Tony and Steve, wrenching forward in their manacles, hands
grasping at air. Pepper hung loosely in shock, and every one else was seeking
the eyes of the others.
Robespierre left, and soon guards came in. They were injected with the
sedative, and soon were bundled in to vans on the way to New York. 
Thor awoke to screaming and groggily lifted his head. He saw lines of people
being held back by guards with guns, and felt the rough wood underneath his
knees. His hand were tied behind his back, and as he turned his head, he saw
the other Avengers in the same position. New York was in an uproar, but they
could not get past the guards and on to the podium, where the Avengers were
kneeling. Thor was sickened to see a basket on one edge of the podium, and a
man with a large sword standing next to where Robespierre was sitting.
"They awaken!" Robespierre cried, standing up and walking to the Avengers. They
crowded together, a last show of solidarity, but Robespierre walked behind them
and grasped Steve by the hair, hauling his head up.
"People of New York, this is a warning!" Robespierre cried. Thor realised that
he had a mike attached to his lapel, and the screaming died down, until the
city was almost silent. Robespierre dropped Steve, who put his head on Bucky's
shoulder and gasped.
"This is what happens, when opposition is seen!" Robespierre featured to the
Avengers, who started brokenly at the people they tried to protect. Thor could
hear crying and his heart jumped in his chest.
"There will be no tolerance. Anybody seen opposing the new regime will meet the
same punishment as your so called Avengers!" Robespierre turned back to the
guards and gestured to Thor.
"Start with him."
Thor was grabbed roughly by the arms and dragged to where the basket was. He
knelt above it.
He breathed deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. He could hear Pepper
sobbing his name softly, and Steve started to sing, a song Thor had taught him
about the brave going to Valhalla. Bucky soon joined him. He could hear Tony
say "Go in peace, big guy." 
He closed his eyes, and thought of Loki. 
He heard the executioner stand beside him, and heard the sword swing through
the air. He tensed his shoulders, and prayed it would be quick.
His skin suddenly prickled, and goosebumps rose as cold air was blasted from
above him. Thor turned his head, and saw the sword suddenly crack, before it
was covered in ice and splintered like rotten wood. The shards of broken steel
fell to the floor, and Thor released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"What the hell?" Robespierre said. The executioner shook his head.
"That's never happened before."
Robespierre sighed harshly and took his gun from his pocket. He handed it
barrel first to the other man.
"Use this. Shoot them in the back of the-"
"No."
The sound stopped. The wind calmed, the trees didn't rustle. Thor turned his
head to the other side, slowly, not daring to believe who it was. 
But it was. It was.
It was Loki.
It was Loki, in Jötunn form.
It was Loki, and he wasglorious.
He stood beside Robespierre, wearing nothing but a pair of tight jeans and
Thor's cape this time as a cloak, fastened around his neck with an emerald
studded brooch. Mjolnir swung from his belt loops. His blue skin danced in the
sunlight, and his scars stood out on stark white relief, painting a beautiful
picture on his body. His hands now had black, elongated claws at the end, and
his waist length hair danced in it's loose plait, danced in a wind of Loki's
own making. Atop his head sat the most beautiful set of horns, arching high and
proud, and not unlike a helm Thor had once seen in his fathers weapons vault.
They were dark brown, and slightly ridged with little nicks, and Thor's breath
stopped in his chest as he gaze not the magnificence that was Loki.
Loki's blood red eyes met Thor's for the first time in nearly a year, and Thor
could have wept at the strength now in them. 
This was Loki as he should always have been, proud and beautiful. Thor could
not have loved him any more than he did now.
"What?" gasped Robespierre stumbling back. 
"No." Loki said again, walking towards him. His voice was slightly thick, but
as beautiful as silk and as commanding as a thunder storm.
"Get away from me!" Robespierre said, stumbling back. He suddenly turned to the
executioner. "Shoot them!"
The executioner jumped and pointed the gun at the back of Thor's head, who
gasped, having forgotten the man was there. But his eyes were on Loki, who
turned suddenly with a snarl and race to the man. Thor saw him swing out his
left arm and the executioners own head tumbled to the ground. Thor saw that
Loki's arm was now encased in the sharpest ice, and blood trickled down the
blade. 
Loki looked at Robespierre and licked the blade, licking the blood from it with
the slow smirk. Robespierre quickly jumped from the podium as the crowd
descended into mayhem. 
Loki disintegrated the blade and stepped behind Thor. His hands encased Thor's
wrists and Thor cried out at the sensation of burning cold, before he felt the
manacles crack and fall to the ground. Thor stood up, rubbing his wrists and
looking at Loki.
"Loki." He whispered. The man turned and looked at Thor with narrowed eyes.
Thor didn't bother to resist. He grabbed Loki by the shoulders and pulled him
into a sweet kiss. Loki froze for a brief second and then tentatively kissed
back, one ice blue hand cupping Thor's face.
Thor could have happily kissed Loki forever, but they were interrupted by Tony
saying loudly "Not that we're not all pleased, but could Frosty come and help
us as well?"
Thor broker away with a relieved laugh and let Loki hurry to the others, who
gazed at him with wide eyes. Each of them winced when Loki disintegrated their
manacles, but soon all were standing and looking at the crowds, who had started
fighting the guards.
"I need J.A.R.V.I.S." Tony muttered. Loki quickly put a hand into his pocket
and brought out a small ear piece which he handed to Tony. Tony put it into his
ear and suddenly his face relaxed into a smile.
"J.A.R.V.I.S, we need weapons." He paused for a minute and then assured the
others "Weapons are on their way."
"My bow was broken." Clint said. Tony paused and then raised his eyebrows at
Loki, who looked back with a blank face.
"Loki had repaired it."
Clint grinned at Loki. "Niiiiiice."
Loki turned back to Thor and released Mjolnir from his belt, offering it to
Thor with a grin. Thor took it and felt relieved that he could feel the
familiar weight in his palm, and the power thrumming through his veins. Behind
him, one of Tony's suits appeared with all of the teams weapons either in it's
arms of strapped to it. Steve hefted his shield with a relieved expression
whilst Natasha, Bucky, Fury and Maria all grabbed their selected guns,
ammunition and knives, stopping them to various parts of their bodies. Sam
relieved the suit of his new Stark built wings and quickly got into them,
strapping on his goggles and powering it for flight. Clint suppressed a squeal
of joy when he saw his new custom bow and the full quiver of arrows. Tony then
got into the suit and Thor could see Bruce standing on the pavement, waiting
for the perfect opportunity to Hulk out. Pepper started glowing red.
"Avengers, assemble." Steve said and everyone got off the podium, Bruce roaring
with joy as the Hulk was unleashed. Tony quickly handed out ear pieces and soon
everyone was with communications.
"What do we need to do?" Bucky asked, shifting from foot to foot as he prepared
to dive into the crowd.
"Soldiers all over the city." Steve said, looking around. "They'll be some for
crowd control and others patrolling the streets. Clint, Bucky, you two are up
top. Get as many of them as possible, I want you from rooftop to rooftop."
Bucky and Clint nodded and Tony took them to the nearest rooftop, where they
started shooting almost immediately.
"Thor, I want you up in the air. Use you lighting in to take out vehicles,
weapons, men. Anything that could be a threat." Thor nodded, swung his hammer
and left.
"Fury, Maria, Pepper. On the ground, corralling people. Get them into the
buildings, keep them safe. This going to get messy." Fury, Maria and Pepper
immediately headed in to the crowd, getting people to follow them into the
nearest large and convenient buildings.
"Hulk, smash their weapons. Don't get hit by Thor's lightning." The Hulk
grinned and went off, scattering people everywhere.
"Tony, Sam, I want a city wide culling. Fire at will." 
"On it, Cap." Tony said and took off, using precision shots to take out
soldiers. Sam followed, whooping with joy as he hit them.
"I'll be joining Fury and Maria with crowd control. Natasha, Loki, you two go
after Robespierre. Bring him back to the Tower for trial, jury, and execution."
Natasha frowned. "Execution?" she asked. Behind her, Loki encased his arm in
ice again.
Steve nodded, looking grim. "This man just tried to kill an Avenger in front of
the world. He surrendered his humanity as soon as he took DC."
Natasha looked at Steve, then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning
and following Loki. Steve went to where he had last seen Maria and hurried in
to the crowd.
On the top, Thor jumped fro building to building, following the roads and
shooting down vehicles. He hissed when his arm was nicked by a bullet and he
cleared down at the vehicle, about to send lightning its way before it was
summarily destroyed by the Hulk.
"Good work!" Thor called and the Hulk grinned up at him. Beside him, Sam landed
to give his arms a break. There was a scorch mark on his left wing. 
"What happened?" Thor asked, starting to swing his hammer.
"Some of the bastards light up like Pepper. We need explosions."
"Did someone say explosions?" said Tony, who was sweeping through Brooklyn. 
"Yeah, some of the guards are like Pepper." 
"Sending rockets on your way."
"Ewwwww." They heard Clint say through the comms. Thor frowned from where he
was flying and almost turned back.
"That was disgusting." Bucky muttered.
"What's the problem? MARIA, DUCK!" Steve said, and there was the distinctive
sound of his shield pinging off of someone and returning.
"They really didn't master the Hulk transformation." Bucky said. He shuffled
from where he was standing and jumped roofs, getting soldiers right int he
temples mid jump.
"Some guys just tried to change, and tuned themselves inside out." Clint said.
His arrows sailed through the air.
"That's gross." Natasha said. They could hear gunfire in the background and her
soft panting.
"Luckily it seems that they didn't manage to get Tony's arc reactor power from
TO THE LEFT! TO THE LEFT! TO THE LEFT!" They heard Pepper screech, then there
was the unmistakable sound of fire roaring and then a crisping sound.
"That's my woman!" Tony said proudly.
"I got super soldiers on my six! I need air cover." Fury said and Thor heard
Bucky and Steve both start swearing profusely.
"Coming your way." Sam said and swung towards where Fury was. His guns fired
bullets and the beefed up men dropped.
"They don't seem to be getting up." Sam said, swinging back to join Tony.
"Formula seems to be faulty." Steve said.
"I've got cannon here!" Thor suddenly said. He tried to get out of the way, but
didn't manage to turn in time when a shell hurtled in his direction. He was
saved when an ice blast suddenly encased the shell and it hurtled down to the
ground. It hit the ground and exploded, but the explosions was contained in the
ice, so all that was left was a puddle in the middle of the street.
"My thanks, Loki." Thor said, hurtling down the street after a truck that was
racing away.
"Loki's grinning. I think he says no problem." Natasha assured him.
"Aww, that's FUCKER! SHOOT AT ME AGAIN, I DARE YOU!" Clint said, suddenly
furious that his moment had been interrupted. 
"These guys don't know when to quit, do they?" Maria asked, shooting several
men who were holding children hostage.
"We need to get them to stop." Tony said, sailing over head and dropping men
like flies.
"Natasha, Loki, you need to find Robespierre. We might be able to get him to
stop his men." Steve panted.
"We're on it, but it's not like he left a trail." Natasha said, sounding
frustrated. She stopped suddenly when Loki lifted his head and sniffed the air
and then hurried off down a side street. Natasha followed him.
Half an hour later, the Avengers were exhausted, as they had been running on
empty to start with and had wasted away during the two months they had spent in
captivity. However, their battle ended when a tremulous voice echoed throughout
the city.
"This is Louis Robespierre. I order any men under my affiliation to stop now
and surrender to the authorities. Do it immediately."
The soldiers looked confused and dropped their weapons. This police that were
standing nearby picked them up and bearded the men into contained spaces they
could be locked in, whilst the citizens did the same if their were no police
nearby. There was a bit of firing which continued, but that was from citizens
who relished having heavy trigger fingers. 
The Avengers tripped back to the Tower, Bucky holding up Clint who was slumped
over his own bow.
When they got to the Tower, Loki was sitting at the bar eating ice cubes, his
eyes looking over everyone before fixing themselves on Thor. He stood up and
hurried to Thor, nuzzling under his chin and lipping at the skin.
"Thor." He said. Thor's eyes flooded with exhausted tears and he dropped
Mjolnir, wrapping his arms around Loki and pressing his head gently against
Loki's horns. 
(Steve wandered over and, without a thought, picked up Mjolnir and set her on
the table before collapsing on the sofa.)
Robespierre was huddled beside an armchair, one arm missing. He was shivering
and shaking, and had wet his trousers in fear when Loki had come bearing down
on him, looking like the vengeful god that he really was. 
"You." Tony slurred slightly and slid further down his seat. Pepper was sitting
passed out against his shoulder, and Bruce was lying on his lap, staring
blankly at the wall.
"What shall we do with you?"
"Shall we play a game?" Natasha said and Steve snorted with weak laughter. He
relieved Clint and passed him over to Natasha who sat with him on the floor,
before taking Bucky by the hand and curling up together on the sofa. Sam sat on
the arm and rested a hand on Steve's shoulder, in an effort to stay upright.
Fury and Hill were sitting at the breakfast bar. Fury was on the phone to
Coulson, who was shrieking with joy at having them all back and quickly
bringing Fury up to date with S.H.I.E.L.D.S status (small and slightly
diminished, but ready to mobilise at Fury's word.)
"You deserve to die." Thor said, drawing Loki gently down to the floor and
pulling him against his chest as Thor leaned back against Steve's leg.
"Please, please don't kill me." Robespierre sobbed. He had lost everything in
two short hours, he had nothing left. Even his dignity had gone.
"But you deserve to."
"Didn't you say execution?" Natasha asked Steve quietly over Clint's sleeping
head. Steve smiled ruefully.
"Heat of the moment. I will not lower myself to his standard by killing him."
"Then what shall we do with him?"
There was silence, before Fury said "Put him in the Hulk cage."
"Huh?" Bucky asked.
"That glass box designed for the Hulk. Put him in there. He can stew till
morning."
There was a tired game of Rock-Paper-Scissors before Tony reluctantly stood up,
grabbed Robespierre by the hair and dragged him to the basement.
The Avengers didn't move except to get the pizza that they ordered, and
occasionally visit the bathroom. It was in the middle of the night, when the
news was the only thing lighting the room, when Steve nudged Thor and said
softly "We'd all be dead if it wasn't for Loki."
Thor smiled gently at the sleeping man in his arms. "Loki saved the day."
Bucky muttered without opening his eyes "Loki saved the world."
Thor nodded and closed his eyes, slipping back into slumber. He whispered to
the room, to the city, to the stars.
"Loki saved the world."
 
 
Epilogue
 
If this was a fairy tale, Loki 's first word would have been "Thor" and he
would suddenly be verbose. He would speak his mind all of the time, with snark
and sarcasm, and play as many pranks on the Avengers as he could and every
night, he and Thor would make passionate love. The Avengers would defeat all of
the bad guys, and there would never be any battles ever again.
But life is not a fairy tale.
Loki would very rarely speak, and certainly never said anything more that two
syllables. He could says the Avengers names, and some simple commands, but,
having spent his entire life mute, he found speaking to be taxing, and so
communicated with his beautiful hand writing. None of the others minded, and on
missions Loki would communicate through his comms with morse code.
Thor and Loki would never make love, ever. But they exchanged enough kisses
that this was enough for them. They didn't need more.
Taking back DC proved to be even more taxing that New York, and when
Robespierre's new government blew up the Lincoln memorial, Steve nearly
exploded in rage. Clint was shot through his lungs and died twice on the
operating table. Natasha went catatonic when she heard this, and spent the
months of Clint's convalescene by his bedside, never leaving it except when
necessary. Nine months later, they would be married in a simple ceremony
officiated by Fury, and would spend their honeymoon shooting H.Y.D.R.A
operatives in Poland. 
They said that it was very relaxing.
Steve and Bucky married as well, and spent their honeymoon painting in the Lake
District in England, on the few days it wasn't raining.
The bridge that Jane had been building was soon online, and the Avengers stood
nervously at their end, waiting to see who would come through. When Helblindi
came through, surrounded by his entourage, Thor let out a relieved breath. But
Helblindi's eyes were fixed on Loki, who also stood frozen.
"You look," Helblindi gulped and started again. "You look like my mother."
Loki nodded and steppe forward (Thor had explained his theories to Loki). He
extended a hand and traced the matching scars on Helblindi's face. Helblindi's
eyes filled with tears and he reached out a hand to stroke Loki's long hair.
"You look like my mama." Helblindi sobbed. Behind him, Byliestr held a hand to
his mouth, and raced back through the portal, coming back and dragging his
father by the elbow. When Laufey saw Loki, he collapsed to his knees and pulled
Loki to his chest, howling to the skyies in relief. His son was back, and he
was alive.
Thor would spend his nights awake, sometimes listening to the chatter of
Jötunns laughing with Tony, sometimes hearing the dust creep through the Tower.
But most times he would look at his chest, and see Loki lying there, his pale
face turned to Thor's. Thor would sometimes wonder, what would have happened
if, for example, Odin had kept Loki and raised him to be a brother to Thor. How
differently life would have turned out then. Or perhaps, if Odin's 'mercy'
hadn't extended that far and he left Loki to die on the ice.
But then Loki would snuffle Thor's chest, and Thor's eyes would squeeze shut.
And he would forget those thoughts, and be thankful.
For it had been a long and torturous road, but they were here now.
And Thor would go to sleep, and trust the stars to keep them safe.
End Notes
     The image I dreamt was the one Steve sees in the warm pool room,
     where Thor is gently cuddling a shell-shocked Loki, who is staring at
     the water. It was so powerful to me that I literally woke up sobbing.
     I based Tyr's personality on someone I knew growing up. I was (and
     probably still am) an army brat, and the man I knew was my own
     father's supers officer. He, too, was arrogant and self centred,
     though not as cruel as Tyr was.
     Robespierre was someone I needed for plot devices. Please don't be
     too harsh on me about him.
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