Bonds

Spending months hiding from your own father may have seemed a bit excessive to most mortals, but considering how long Asgardians lived they could hold onto anger for a long time. Odin may have been a good politician who preferred to keep peace between the realms when possible, but he could still hold onto a grudge. Especially if his mischievous son was involved.

So Loki spent several more months with Jack Frost. Honestly, he was very good company, sometimes even better than his brother and friends. They all took their roles so seriously. Which made it easy to get a rise out of them, but hard to convince them to join in his pranks. Jack was the opposite. He had fun with his job of spreading winter and cold, and he was so joking and casual about everything that it was difficult to make him truly angry. Perhaps it was because, as far as Loki could tell, Jack had no one to answer to. The god of mischief sometimes envied the boy for that.

The months were spent in friendly competition. Competition for who could pull off the best pranks, who could summon the most impressive display of magic, and even the occasional sparing match. Loki had first assumed that Jack's magical ability would be somewhat limited. Oh he could recognize the boy held power, but he could only produce magic relating to his season. Loki, on the other hand, was well versed in a variety of magical spells and techniques. Jack had been especially impressed with Loki's ability to create duplicates of himself, and the young spirit seemed awfully disappointed when he tried the same spell and never came close to achieving the same results. But Jack, though limited in his magical range, still managed to surprise him now and then.

“Think fast!” Jack cried. Loki narrowly dodged a snowball to the face.

The god of mischief leaped across the London rooftops to avoid the packed snow Jack sent after him. He ducked behind a chimney, and created a clone for Jack to chase. The clone ran off in a new direction, and he heard the wind race after it. Loki chuckled to himself, that was the oldest trick in the book. He got up from his hiding place and sauntered off, thinking of what trick he might set up next. He hadn't gone more than a dozen steps before his feet went out from under him and he was sliding down the building's slanted roof with a very unmanly shriek. He landed in a pile of snow on the ground. Spluttering, Loki freed himself from the frozen heap, only to find Jack Frost grinning down at him from a nearby awning.

“Nice little deception you pulled off there.” Loki grumbled, brushing the snow off his sleeves. Jack shrugged.

“I learned from the best.”

Jack did have a point. Loki had spent enough time around the boy that he'd need to pull out some new tricks if he hoped to keep fooling the sprite.
But, despite the good times, Loki did have to break the news to Jack. They'd pulled off one more round of hijinks before calling it quits and coming to rest on top of Big Ben.

“You're leaving?” Jack asked in surprise. “Why?”

“You remember I told you that I came to this world because I was in hiding from my father?”

Jack nodded.

“Well, I think it's been long enough now that he'll actually let me talk before he starts yelling. And if I wait too long he'll send someone to drag me back. If he gets angry about having to do that I'll be back where I started.”

The boy didn't look at him for a minute, not sure how to respond to the news.

“But, you'll come back, right?” The winter sprite sounded a bit more desperate than Loki had anticipated, but he decided not to comment on it.

“Of course I'll be back. Our count currently has us being completely equal in wins and losses, so I'll have to come and tip the record back in my favor.” The Asgardian replied with a cocky grin. “I can't let it get out that a mere babe thinks himself to be my equal.”

“Hey! I'm over seventy years old, I'm not that young.” Jack cried indignantly.

“Which means I'm still centuries your senior.” Loki replied smugly. Jack glared at him for a moment, before grinning himself.

“Fine, have it your way, old man.” Jack said airily. Loki narrowed his eyes.

“I am not 'old'.”

“Whatever you say Grandpa. You're the one bragging about his age.”

“Stop that!”

“Only if you solemnly swear to visit me, and keep visiting.” Jack crossed his arms, face amused but determined. Loki gave an over-dramatic sigh.

“Fine. I promise.”

Despite his track record, this was one promise that Loki would make sure to keep.