"This is fun." the amusement in his voice was what managed to annoy Thor who stopped mid walk to give his brother an incredulous look.
"Seriously, we're trying to hide a body." he huffed for a second contemplating dropping the body he was carrying just to be petty, but decided against it.
"Oh, that's rich coming from the man who shot the poor bastard and called me to hide the body."
"You know that's not what happened…" he hissed.
"So, you didn't shoot him, it must have been someone who looked like you, a shifter perhaps? Such a poor excuse dear brother. " Thor rolled his eyes at the sarcasm and replied with his own.
"Still more believable than any of those you had used throughout the years, enough talking Loki, let's finish this up." then he chuckled at the expression on Loki's face.
"You were the one who stopped for a chat, besides I still don't know why you dragged me from my research to help you hide a body. I assume you know how to do that all by yourself, now that you're such an experienced hunter." but he started walking which Thor considered a win.
The rest of the journey to one of their safe houses was spent in silence as the weight of the body seemed to increase with each step, so they concentrated on not tripping over their own feet.
When they were in the basement and the body was tied because when it came to the supernatural world you can never be safe enough, Loki wiped his hands and demanded,
"Now that that's out of the way, do you have something to drink in this place and before you ask, no I don't want one of your poor excuses for drink, I mean something better."
"I think there's something left in the cabinet, don't know how good it would be though, not that you could get poisoning or something." he joked and smiled when he saw the amusement on Loki's face.
Loki went to do what he said he would and Thor took out everything he needed just in case his undead supposedly dead friend decided to wake up earlier than expected then he sat on one of the chairs in the room.
He didn't have to wait long for his brother to come back carrying a beer and a glass filled with what appeared to be whiskey.
"I see that you have found something to your tastes brother."
"To my surprise I did." then he passed the bottle of beer to Thor, he also sat on a chair mirroring his posture before he continued talking,
"I'd be quite impressed if I believed that you had somehow learned to appreciate quality drinks, but I don't, so tell me who should I thank for this fine drink ? "
"That should be one of Tony's, he unlike you doesn't mind sharing."
"I'd be sure to give my thanks the next time I cross paths with him." he said with a smirk on his face.
"Loki…" he tried warning him without threatening him, since he was putting some effort in rebuilding their broken relationship and he didn't want for his brother to hide once more. It would break their mother's heart, so for once he tried to listen instead of punching him like he used to do.
Loki raised his hands in a poor attempt to appear innocent and when he noticed that his action didn't convince Thor, he added,
"Rest assured Thor, I won't harm him, despite both yours and mine disbelief I have taken a liking for the so called man of iron, he seems to be the only one with a fully functioning brain and intelligence. It might be hard for you to believe, but I can admit when someone is good at what he does."
"Just try not to startle him, he doesn't react well to that and he might try to shoot you."
"Oh you hunters, always itching to shoot first ask questions later." he scowled as if he was personally offended by the fact that hunters tended not to trust him.
Thor raised his eyebrows instead of indulging him with a reply, knowing that his brother would pick up on his thoughts.
"That wasn't me Thor! I was under influence and you know that, don't you all know that ?"
"I knew that that wasn't you, but that because I grew up with you, but the other hunters don't know that, they believe that your actions were the result of your ambition taking over you, that you lost your mind to the magic, also there's a talk about working with demons and you know what's hunters' opinions on witches and demons."
"I admit I was taken advantage of, but I have never worked for any demon, nor my magic is a result from a deal with a demon like those lowlifes you call witches. You tell that to your band of wayward hunters."
"Alright, you've proven your point." he chuckled because for someone who didn't care what the others were talking about, he surely sounded hurt, he even tried to explain himself.
That was proof that the old Loki, the one he grew up with was still there somewhere, beneath all of that bitterness and fake indifference, it made Thor wanting to try harder to reconcile with him.
"Since I don't want to waste any of your precious time, let me tell you why I called you."
"Oh do tell and I hope that it's not something too easy, I'm in a need for a challenge."
"Oh it really is a challenge. That man over there is a vampire, he's just drugged with dead man's blood, I need you to pull out information from him."
Loki waved his hand in a motion that told him to continue talking and Thor did.
"The thing is I can get the knowledge from him, but he seems not to know or not to remember, he's also a big player in a game that's just started, we don't know who the enemy is, but we know that it's something about hell and another apocalypse and this time it seems to be big Loki, not something that could be easily prevented."
"What do you want me to do ?"
"Can you get inside of his mind and find the memories he supposedly doesn't have ?"
"That I can do."
"Great, that's great Loki, now…" but his brother interrupted him,
"For a price." those words shattered any hope Thor held for Loki to join him and his band of hunters.
"Of course. What do you want ?"
"Access to everything you find out…"
"Now listen Loki.." he started only to stop when he saw Loki's raised hand.
"I want to participate, be an equal member of your team, I can't promise that I'll be playing by the rules and I won't, but if behind this is who I think it might be, you'll need all the allies you can get. It's payback time Thor and I'm not going to miss it. Can you do that ? Would your friends mind working with me or are they too close minded to even try ?"
Thor was left staring at him with an open mouth, not knowing what to say, but not for a second he thought that his brother was lying.
"I'd love to fight side by side with you once again brother and I'm sure the others would recognize your value. Together we can convince them." he was so happy he barely resisted hugging Loki, instead of that, he got up and when Loki did the same he squeezed his shoulder in a friendly manner the way he did around his friends.
His brother only shook his head, his eyes sparkling with curiosity, he carefully took off his jacket, then he rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt and clapped his hands together.
"In that case, your job is to get me a decent meal and more of that lovely whiskey, this might take a while." he sounded so gleeful that it reminded Thor of the days before they got estranged from each other, when Loki was more than eager to solve mysteries and hunt monsters.
"Of course your highness." he joked and went to do what he was asked to.
"And Thor ?"
"Yes ?"
"Stop grinning like a fool and start acting like the hunter you are." it made him smile even more.
"Also you can tell mother that I'm doing fine, but I'm still not going back home, now off you go, before your friend wakes up."
"Thank you, Loki." his brother must have picked up the gratefulness in his voice because his sharp gaze softened and he gave him a barely there smile.
Before he would make a mistake by saying something that would annoy Loki, Thor walked out of the room, his heart filled with hope, with his brother by his side there was nothing they couldn't do.