Tony’s Pizzeria
Loki walked toward the sound of his older brother snoring noisily. He rested a hand on the back of the couch and looked down at him with a heavy exhale.
Thor had always been a deep sleeper, it had amused him endlessly in their youth to play tricks on him while he dozed completely unaware.
Now, Loki wished he didn’t have to wake him. Thor looked peaceful, in spite of the drool, as he lay passed out on the expensive leather couch. His features were relaxed, no worry lines on his brow. No look of disappointment as Loki let him down for the thousandth time.
“I’m sorry, brother…” Loki said softly, “for running when you needed me. I thought I was through running… but it seems the timeline has other plans.”
Loki scrubbed a hand over his face dejectedly as he sighed with apprehension. He walked around the couch and sat in the armchair beside Thor.
Sitting at the edge of the seat he placed a gentle palm over his brother’s brow and focused his energy on waking him slowly, relieving any pain from the alcohol he’d consumed the night previous.
After a minute or so Thor’s snores subsided and his eyes opened just enough to see Loki in front of him.
“‘ello brother…” Thor mumbled sleepily as he smacked his lips.
“Hello,” Loki said softly and conjured a glass of water for him.
“Here, sit up, drink this…”
Thor rumbled low and tired as he moved to get an arm beneath himself. He propped on one elbow and accepted the water gratefully. Drinking the whole thing in one go Thor then tossed the glass over his shoulder carelessly where it shattered on the floor.
Loki sighed and waved his hand to make the broken glass disappear and looked at his brother with concern.
“How are you feeling this morn?”
“Mmm, like I have jus’ woken from th’ Odinsleep, brother… my limbs feel heavy, yet my spirit… unrepress’bly light.”
Loki smiled fondly, “Good, is there anything you desire? Sustenance of some kind, perhaps?
Thor inhaled deeply and hummed with a pleased smile as he nodded slowly.
“Percept’ve as ever, Loki…”
Loki shook his head with mild amusement and helped his brother to sit up fully.
“Do you wish to venture down to the commissary?”
“Uhhargh,” Thor stretched with a groan and twisted his neck this way and that.
“No, brother,” he cleared his throat and seemed to fully take stock of his surroundings. “No I think I should like to get some fresh air. I have grown fond of this city and should like to buy my brother something to eat.”
“Do you actually have money?” Loki asked skeptically.
“Of course not, the grateful Midgardians never ask of me for gold, though often they do request a photograph on their cellular devices.”
Loki sighed and rolled his eyes, conjuring a wallet filled with currency which he handed to Thor.
“Do me a favor and stop mooching, Stark’s generosity will only get you so far and I’d hate you to be mistaken for some strange alien tramp.”
Thor chuckled and accepted the fine leather billfold gratefully.
“Thank you, Loki. You always did have the mind for practicality.”
Loki smiled tightly as his brother patted his shoulder with a little too much force.
“Let us then to lunch, lest I expire of hunger.”
Loki followed his brother to the elevator where the larger man pressed the ground floor button with the back of a curled fist absently.
Thor yawned and leaned against the wall as the lift descended, paying little mind to his brother’s tense body language. Loki stood with his arms crossed tightly and brow furrowed slightly as he struggled to decide how he should broach the subject of their departure.
Walking out onto the surprisingly busy street Thor blinked up at the mid morning sun. He patted himself looking for his sunglasses but found none and looked to his brother hopefully.
Loki sighed and conjured a pair like he’d seen him wear previously and Thor took them with a wide grin.
“Thank you brother, what would I do without your wonderful little tricks.”
Loki pursed his lips but chose not to answer and simply followed the larger man as he ambled down the sidewalk.
After a few blocks Loki was beginning to worry that Thor didn’t know where he was going as he casually waved at people who recognized him. Just as he opened his mouth to question his brother, Thor stopped short and held up his arms enthusiastically.
“Antonio!” The God of Thunder boomed excitedly at the nondescript window front of a small pizza parlor.
Loki followed Thor’s gaze and saw a small husky man look up and spot them with a wide smile. The man Loki could only assume was Antonio wiped the flour from his hands onto his waist apron and hurried outside.
“Tor! My friend! It is great to see you!” Antonio mirrored Thor’s enthusiastic gesture, arms held up as if in amazement.
“What can I get you? No let me guess… mmm, calzone?” The man spoke with an almost musical quality as he beamed at Thor.
“Oh Antonio you know me well, I am in your capable hands—and I have brought my brother as well!” Thor pulled Loki over and put a strong arm around his shoulder proudly.
“You brother? Such a treat is this, I feed you both—no charge.”
Loki tried to protest but Antonio would hear none of it.
“No, no—this man, he save my Carla from a big monster, your money—is no good!”
Thor beamed with pride as the man clasped one of the God’s large hands in both of his and shook it gratefully.
“Antonio makes the best food in the neighborhood brother, nay the city! It is an honor to dine in your establishment my friend.”
Antonio threw up his hands dismissively and beckoned them in as he bustled back inside.
Loki shook his head with amusement as they went in. It was nice to see his brother fully in his element.
Thor was a hero, through and through, and this was a city which celebrated its heroes. Seeing him so at ease in the neighborhood, Loki couldn’t imagine a better place for his brother to call home.
Antonio sat them at a large table near the kitchen and bustled off to start cooking. The man was the spirit of hospitality and Loki marveled at the warm welcome. He was particularly grateful that he didn’t seem to recognize Loki for his crimes, or else was doing a fantastic job of compartmentalizing.
“Thor, there is something I wish to discuss with you…”
Thor seemed distracted by the rich aromas and bustling activity in the kitchen.
“My time here, in this reality, has been so affirming—”
“I could not agree more! It is good fortune indeed which brings the princes of Asgard back together again once more—and nought but great ill shall part them again.”
Thor boasted proudly as if to a banquet, despite being the only two at the table. Loki took a steadying breath in preparation before looking at Thor earnestly.
“Brother… I, I am not—I don’t belong on this timeline…”
Thor glanced at him and waved a hand dismissively.
“Nonsense, Loki, things take time, you will adjust.”
Loki sighed with some exasperation as he struggled to phrase this correctly.
“No, Thor… I mean that my existence here, it creates instability in this reality. Sylvie and I came to this timeline with a goal in mind—to bring you those two stones and hopefully make some amends. This was never going to be permanent… much as I might wish it could be.”
Thor’s brow was furrowed as he stared at Loki with a cloudy expression.
“I suppose I should be grateful… for once to see you leave while still breathing…”
Loki looked pained, heart aching with regret.
“Would that I had known all those times that you still lived…” Thor frowned as he remembered how he’d grieved.
“I can never undo that hurt brother… but this is me trying, for the first time, to be completely honest with you.”
Thor softened slightly at the pain in his younger brother’s voice.
“And it is welcome, Loki… I merely bristle in the face of a reality without my only brother in it once more. How many times did my heart wrench with guilt that I could not save you? Now, to think you leave willingly—”
“It is not—” Loki caught himself, teeth clicking together as he bit his tongue.
“This is against your wishes…?” Thor asked suspiciously, a protective edge rising in his voice. “Tell me, who would drive you from this world? Surely not Stark—?”
“Of course not,” Loki huffed indignantly.
“Or is it… does Sylvie not wish to stay?” Thor looked wounded at the idea she would wish to leave.
“No Thor,” Loki’s brow knit in sympathy, “Sylvie even suggested we stay… she is most fond of you brother.”
Thor worried his lip in his teeth, collecting his emotions hastily as Antonio returned with two plates carrying steaming calzones. He warned them that the plates might be hot but gave Thor only a reassuring clap on the shoulder as he sensed the tension between the two men.
The pockets of oven baked pizza dough smelled quite tempting but Loki ignored the food in favor of fidgeting nervously.
Thor looked miserably at the enormous calzone in front of him. He would normally dig in, not caring if the hot tomato sauce and cheese burned him.
Now he felt a strange urge to resist, as if eating were somehow a sign of willingly accepting the news. He stared at it as his stomach growled, thinking how odd it felt to not eat while one of his new favorite foods sat before him. Strange—
“The wizard,” Thor breathed low as realization dawned on him. “He sought to rend this family apart once more, did he not?
Loki sighed wearily. He could lie, but where had that gotten them in the past?
“Yes. But not for personal gain…”
Thor looked unconvinced as his jaw set angrily.
“He carries some burden of duty to this world’s natural order of time, I suppose, and we struck a bargain.”
“You reasoned with that arrogant mortal? Could you not entrap him with your spells? Send him to a fit of madness like the great beast of Nornheim?”
“Surely,” Loki said dryly, “however it was seen to be more beneficial for us to set personal feelings aside.”
Thor furrowed his brow in confusion, never knowing his brother to shrink from a fight.
“So… Sylvie wished to negotiate with the sorcerer…?” Thor asked slowly.
Loki let out an exasperated noise as he tried not to look put out.
“She desired to hear him out. Sylvie is practical that way…” Loki looked down at the food before him and murmured candidly, “she bargained for the lives of two of your team… those meant by time to perish in the pursuit of the infinity stones.”
Thor stared at him slightly stricken. He opened his mouth but eventually closed it without a word.
“Our departure was the currency we bartered with, though there is hope yet brother,” he looked at Thor with a half grin, “we may visit this timeline once per Midgardian year, for the duration of one sennight.”
Thor looked only marginally cheered by this.
“What will you do then? I hate to see my brother exiled to roam the galaxy—save seven meager days out of the year,” Thor pouted.
“Do not be troubled brother, a year is nothing to us. You will blink and find the time has gone,” he smirked, “you’ll be sick of me within a century, I know it.”
Thor huffed a tired laugh at that, “More like a decade.”
Loki grinned as his brother’s good humor slowly returned.
“Then we may as well enjoy the peace we have found. Now—you’ve neglected that monstrosity on your plate long enough. You are a prince of Asgard, it simply would not do to insult the honor of an establishment such as this by tarrying any longer.”
Thor beamed with excitement, “Well said, brother. That is perhaps the wisest council you have ever given.”