Thor
When Thor was a child, he hated sparring with his little brother. Loki had height, but was on the scrawny side, and Thor was always afraid he would irreparably damage him. But as they got older, Thor began to like sparring with his little brother. Loki was still slighter in frame, but his magic and mind made up for a lack in girth. It forced Thor to think during a fight, and he was always pressed to gain the advantage. And now that he was older, and he hoped, wiser. Thor came to enjoy the time spent with Loki. As such, he grabbed Loki and threw him through a tree.
The trunk splintered from the impact. Thor had to duck to avoid the branch propelled towards his head. He laughed and waited for Loki to make his move. He heard rustling behind him, but he wouldn’t be fooled. A blur at the corner of his eye set off warning bells. With less force than he normally would use, he wasn’t aiming to crush and maim after all, Thor chucked the hammer. It was too little too late for Thor to react when Mjolnir passed through the blur. Even as he was calling Mjolnir back to his hand, he could feel a crackle of magic from behind him. Before he could assume a defensive position, Thor felt himself sailing through the air. The forest was quite beautiful to look at form this perspective. Pity it was moving by so fast.
Thor soon met the side of a stone wall with his face, Mjolnir thwacking into his back. He peeled himself from the side of the wall, poking Mjolnir off the ground. The wall had a decent sized crater, much of the surrounding stone cracking and crumbling.
“How was your trip, Thor?”
Loki perched on a nearby block of dislodged stone, usual smirk firmly in place.
“I have had a revelation, Brother,” Thor said, dusting dirt from Mjolnir.
“Is that so?” Loki mused. “Pray, what sort of revelation could the thunder god have?”
Thor smiled and threw Mjolnir. He watched in satisfaction as Loki’s eyes widened as he barely had time to roll away from the now demolished stone, courtesy of one magic hammer. Said hammer flew back to Thor’s outstretched hand.
“I enjoy fighting you, Loki,” he declared.
“Thor, what is common knowledge and absolute truth does not constitute a revelation,” Loki explained patiently. His tone reminded Thor of his tutor who was certain eh would never be renowned as a scholar. “And your toss was a bit off. Perhaps you should focus on our fight?”
He was more than happy to oblige. Throwing himself head first into the fight, Thor laughed and swung Mjolnir with reckless abandon. Since coming to stay on Midgard, there were too few opportunities for Thor to let go and not worry about breaking the surprisingly fragile buildings or the mortals around him. Though there were some Avenger’s capable of holding their own in a fight against him, Thor was still paranoid about striking too hard. Mortal bodies were much more fragile than their buildings after all.
But as he fought with Loki, Thor didn’t concern himself with such details. His brother was by no means fragile, and having been raised an Aesir, and as Thor’s brother, Loki knew how to give as good as he got. They knew each other well, and they didn’t need to fear what they could do to each other. It also helped that Loki always knew the best places to have a good brawl. No mortals were nearby, and there were no buildings to get in the way. At least, none of that mattered.
“You will cease destroying Doom’s castle with your tomfoolery!”
The Castle von Doom was slowly falling to pieces as Thor and Loki continued their fight. Doom’s castle may have been built to last, but with as much magic and as many hammers were flying about, the castle stood no chance. Perhaps on another occasion Thor would have felt bad about the property destruction. However, after hearing from Hawkeye about Doom upsetting Loki, Thor couldn’t bring himself to care.
While he supported his brother going out and making new friends, he sometimes wished Loki would pick somebody a little less like Doom. Granted, eh understood how Loki was drawn to Doom’s intelligence and acceptance of sorcery, but there were times when Thor thought Doom was a bad influence. If Thor had his way, Loki would be making friends with people less likely to blow something up all in the name of world domination.
“I am merely gathering intelligence about Thor,” Loki blithely explained as he dodged a swipe aimed at his head. “And this location is perfect since there will not be any unnecessary interference.”
Doom continued to sputter indignities, punctuated by grumblings about insurance policies. Thor felt a childish, and full justified, feeling of glee at how Doom would be sulking until they finished and left the country. Loki was still upset at Doom, and Thor was okay with that since it meant Loki’s attention was on their battle, and not Doom. Everybody was better than Doom. Even the angry Master of Magnetism with his crusade for mutant supremacy was amore preferable friend than Doom. Then again, after Loki manipulated Magneto into making up with Professor X by kidnapping said professor (with tea, waffles, and a mutual love for knowledge) and subsequently rescuing him from Loki’s evil grasp, Magneto wasn’t really eager to spend time with Loki. Thor heard him once call Loki a “magic damned yenta” to which Loki had practically cackled with delight.
“You are not paying attention, Brother.”
Thor heard, more than saw Loki move next to him, and before he could find a suitable response, he felt a solid kick to his chest, flinging him to the ground. He landed with a surprised gasp with barely any time to bring his hands up and block the mouth full of fangs from latching onto his throat. Loki, now a great black wolf, pinned Thor to the ground, front paws shifting and digging into Thor’s arms, preventing him from raising Mjolnir.
“Do you yield?” Loki asked his voice a deep, rumbling growl.
Sighing, after determining there was no helping it, Thor tapped the ground. Loki’s ears perked forward, tongue lolling out as he grinned an extremely toothy grin. He moved off of Thor, sitting next to him, tail thumping the ground in a very un-wolf like way.
“Where was your mind, Thor?” he finally asked, now returned to his normal form. “I should not have bested you so easily…And Doom’s castle still stands largely intact.”
It was true, the castle was suffering from simple, superficial damages. Thor was certain doom could easily fix, or replace, the entire south rampart, and the watch tower was listing to the side rather than being scattered into little pieces. It was rare for Doom’s castles to survive a godly brawl, and seeing as little damage as he did, Thor felt like h wasn’t putting in his full effort.
“I was thinking about those you keep company with,” Thor answered, realizing a second too late he probably should have lied.
Sometimes Loki could get sensitive about these things. His brother’s moods were mercurial at best, even more so since falling from the Bifrost. Thor was ashamed at how little he truly knew about Loki, and how much tragedy had to happen for him to see. Sometimes Thor felt like he was a horrible brother.
“They are not the most…decent lot, I suppose,” Loki said, no trace of anger or bitterness straining his voice. “But they are infinitely more interesting than your acquaintances. Though I do not mind that Tony Stark so much.”
Thor sighed. By saying, “interesting,” he could hear that Loki meant trouble-making, and where there was trouble making, there was Loki. This was why he was certain Loki and Tony got along so well. Stark was always getting into trouble, so therefore, Loki found him interesting. The problem with this plan became evident when too much trouble followed the pair. Unnecessary destruction, even by Thor’s standards, and sexual escapades, which Thor really didn’t want to think about, happened with alarming frequency. Director Fury ordered any interaction between Tony and Loki was to be chaperoned by an Avenger. Nobody wanted the job.
“Now, while I know the Mighty Thor does not particularly approve of the company I keep, surely it is not enough to distract him from his favorite past time,” Loki continued to muse.
They were now sitting peacefully, side by side, Loki moving only to pick up a lizard.
“I just want you to be happy, and not all of your…’friends,’ seem to do that,” Thor admitted, hating how stupidly sentimental he sounded.
“Your concern fills me with this repulsive feeling I cannot name at the moment,” Loki commented, stroking the lizard’s back.
“Happiness?” Thor asked hopefully.
That was probably not the brightest response since Loki was looking at him with an unimpressed, though somewhat amused expression.
“You are an idiot, dear Brother,” Loki said as eh set the lizard back on the ground. For some reason, it looked bigger. “If my happiness is your concern, be rest assured I shall increase my efforts to thwart the Avengers. Your frustration sustains me.”
Somehwere at the back of his mind, Thor felt a bit guilty about encouraging Loki’s “villainous” ways, but the much larger, and controlling part was pleased he could see his brother more often. There were too few times he actually interacted with Loki when he was attacking the Avengers; the exception being when they were sparring as they were now, and briefly when Loki arrived for Jane’s weekly kidnapping. That last one made Thor happy. His brother was making an effort to get to know the woman he loved. And for her part, Jane was always eager to be kidnapped, always returning with a new direction or new theory for her work.
Unlike Thor, who was completely willing to admit it, Loki was far more gifted at explaining science to the mortals in ways they could comprehend it. Thor tried to explain more complex material once with little success. According to stark, answering the question about inter-dimensional travel with, “Because it is connected by the branches of Yggdrisil,” isn’t really an answer. Thor still didn’t understand why the concept of a giant tree connecting all life was so ridiculous to the mortals. Of course, Loki’s explained that mortals called the branches something different, but that just served to confuse Thor further. If it was all the same, why was it strange to call it a branch? Calling it a “wormhole” was much more ridiculous sounding in Thor’s opinion. At least he had seen a tree of life before. He had never seen a giant worm burrowing its way through space-time. Mortals had the strangest ideas sometimes.
“Asgard to Thor,” Loki said with a firm whack to Thor’s head. “What in the nine realms could you possibly be thinking about so hard? You know, most people, even the mortals, are capable of thinking without completely shutting down.”
Thor rubbed the tender spot on his head refully.
“My apologies. I seem to have let my thoughts get the best of me.”
Loki snorted in a very non-villainous way; more like he did when they had been children and Thor had said something particularly dumb.
“Is thinking truly so difficult you cannot even keep up with your own mind?” Loki asked, amusement tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Even though it was at his own expense, Thor was pleased to see his brother so at ease. As much he didn’t want to be, Thor had been worried about Loki. After the events leading to the destruction and subsequent rebuilding of the Bifrost, Thor now understood, to some extent anyways, how harmful careless words or actions could be with Loki. Blasé as Loki could be, it was easy for Thor to forget that his brother heard not just words, but everything hidden between and behind them as well. H was also aware of how much Loki internalized his feelings, which led to his unpredictable outbursts and break downs.
At least, that’s what Professor Xavier thought, and Thor thought that sounded about right. Maybe he should try to convince Loki to go to therapy. Xavier had agreed to do it so long as Loki ceased interfering in his personal life. It wasn’t funny, though Loki thought otherwise, and he could tolerate only so many phone calls from Erik ranting about gods of mischief and how all his capes were now green. Thor thought Xavier couldn’t complain. After all, he had to listen to his fair share of rants from the entire Brotherhood, the X-Men, the Avengers, and anybody else fortunate, or unfortunate as most would say, to gain Loki’s interest. That was a lot of people.
“I am attempting to be thoughtful and introspective,” Thor finally said.
“That is generally accomplished by oneself, or by sharing one’s introspections,” Loki explained, leaving an open invitation to share, though he looked more resigned than inviting.
Much as he wanted to, it would probably be unwise for Thor to share his deeper thoughts. Well, unwise to share his thoughts about Loki. He had absolutely no problem voicing his simpler thoughts.
“Why is a giant lizard laying siege to Doom’s castle?”
Stranger things had happened, but still, Thor was intrigued by the green and blue lizard breaking the castle into stony bits. He couldn’t hear what Doom was saying, but he seemed upset.
“Somebody had to level his castle since you and I appear to be not fighting,” he drawled. “Just leave my little Nidhogg to do its business.”
Thor smiled despite himself. He remembered when he and Loki first heard about the fearsome Nidhogg and decided it would make a great pet. Heimdall had easily caught them before they could sneak off to find it, and ever since then, they still wanted one for a pet.
“How long will Nidhogg remain?” Thor asked.
“Until I have decided Doom has been punished enough for his insolence,” replied Loki.
That was good. Now Thor didn’t have to worry about a giant lizard terrorizing the rest of the country. It left more time for more interesting pursuits.
“Well then,” Thor said, standing up and offering a hand to Loki. “I have had enough of thoughts. Let us again do battle.”
“A most excellently suggestion, Brother.”
Loki gave Thor a genuine smile as he accepted Thor’s hand. And he continued to smile as he jerked Thor forward and slammed his knee into his face.