A Poisoned Touch

Landing on the Bifrost reminded Steve an awful lot of the night that Schmidt had vanished the first time, the Tesseract opening a doorway to a sky Steve hadn't recognized then. He recognized it now. He hadn’t forgotten the touch on the back of his neck, and he’d noticed Thor sticking close to his side as they walked along the infamous rainbow bridge. The imposing man, with the very large sword. Heimdall, had welcomed them with a raised eyebrow at Steve, but he also told them that the Queen was waiting for them and that Odin was away, called to a neighboring panet for a council.

Steve was almost surprised there was no horse or carriage to carry them to the golden building that Steve was itching to paint. It was triangular, the main point reaching into the clouds. He wasn’t sure if it was considered a home or a castle, or something else, but it was magnificent. The doors opened on their own and the two princes flanked him as they walked down the carpet toward an empty throne and a tall, stately woman who was speaking to a woman Steve thought might be a servant of some kind. A maid possibly. When the younger woman scurried away, the Queen turned to smile openly at them.

“My sons! Welcome home. You have been missed.”

“I have only been gone less than a full day, mother.” Loki scoffed, but he also accepted the hug she offered, lingering for more than a few seconds.

“And you? Will you also say that I should not miss you, even though you were on Vanaheim for a solid fortnight before you headed to Midgard.”

“Nay mother. I missed you as well. You are the wisest counsel I have and I always miss you.” Thor also accepted a hug before standing back for Steve to step forward.

“Your majesty.” He had a brief bit of panic while he mentally questioned whether he was supposed to bow or something, before she surprised the hell out of him and scooped him up for a hug as well. Her arms deftly avoided his wings and he nearly sunk into the feeling before he pulled himself away, immediately worried for her health.

“Ma….ma’am...” He stuttered out.

“Welcome Steven. I am most excited to meet you. Welcome to Asgard, may your visit be fruitful.” She stood there like she hadn’t just blown his mind. Like that wasn’t the first actual hug he’d had since the day after he took the serum. He had to draw in a few deep breaths before he could look at her face again.

“Thank you for the invitation. I am quite honoured.” Should he mention he’d wanted to visit months ago but been denied? He shook the thoughts away, no point in being petty, not when there were answers to be had.

“Of course! I am only sorry it took this discovery to open our arms, as it were.” Ah, she was going to bring it up, interesting. “I keep working on Odin, trying to get him to allow your Avengers to visit, you have fought well with my sons, that should be enough to grant you an audience, but my husband is set in his ways.”

She shrugged and it was so normal, so far from anything Stve had expected from Asgard that he grinned, wide. He felt Thor’s gaze on him, but when he looked at his friend, he was suddenly in conversation with Loki.

“Now, the King should be home this evening. Normally we would have a great feast to welcome you to our home, but from what I have learned from my boys, you are not the type to seek celebrations, so we shall have a family meal in our rooms.” Steve was eternally grateful for that.

She tugged Thor to her, disrupting whatever he and Loki were whispering about. Thor grunted. “Yes mother.”

“It is rude the way you are whispering. Now, take our guest to your floor. I gave him the room at the end of your hall.” She left him a kiss on his cheek and then she walked away. All but gliding over the marble floor.

“Come Steven! I shall show you your room and then we can have a tour before dinner.” Steve shifted the bag he carried over his shoulder and nodded.

“Brother I have a matter to attend in the city center, I shall be back for dinner. If you pit the good captain against Fnadral before I get back I shall be quite cross with you.” Before either of them could respond Loki vanished. Steve would never get used to that.

“He is into mischief I believe. Ah, he’ll be fine. Come.” Thor headed in the same direction that the Queen had gone and Steve did his best to look at everything. He didn't want to forget a single thing he saw there. Now that they were alone, he felt safe to ask what had been weighing on his mind the past few minutes.

“Thor. How come your mom hugged me? I, just, Loki said I couldn’t hurt him because of the adopted thing, but your mom? She’s Asgardian like you.” He didn’t say what he really wanted to say.

You touched the back of my neck?

If she can hug me, why can’t you?

“Well my mother is not Asgardian, she is Vanir. She hails from Vanaheim. So I am not sure if she, like my brother, can touch you without harming herself. The Vanir are quite strong beings, but it could also be that like Loki, she has quite a bit of seidr. They are the sister race of Asgard and known for their seidr and ability to speak of the future.” He spun to walk backwards while still talking to Steve, there was a half smile on his face and he almost looked worried about something.

“Steven, you know that I would touch you gladly if it would not upset you. I have long assumed that I would be strong enough to not be in danger.” Steve opened his mouth not sure what he was going to say, but he was going to say something, but Thor put a hand up to stop him. “Understand that I would never purposely hurt myself, or go against your wishes, but I know that it hurts you, the lack of closeness. I am truly hopeful that this visit will prove to you that I am able to help you, at least a small amount in that regard.”

“It means a lot Thor, that you even want to help. I won’t lie, I could use about a hundred more of those hugs from your mom, and I felt you lay your hand on the back of my neck. It’s the small touches, those are the ones I miss the most. And if it turns out that you can touch me without draining yourself, well, I ain’t gonna say no to a cuddle or two.”

“I give good cuddle.” Thor winked at him and Steve, well, there was that little tingle deep in his gut that usually meant he was about to do something stupid. “It’s because I’m so big.” He nodded once before topping at a door.

“This is your room, we passed mine already and Loki is at the end of the hall where we would have turned left just back there.” Thor pushed open the door and Steve’s mouth almost dropped. This was what he thought Asgard would look like. The room was large and light. There was a giant four poster bed in the middle of the room and generous windows were open, but he could detect a bluish shimmer that made him think of a forcefield of some kind. Tony would die if he got to look at it.

“This is beautiful Thor. Don’t let me forget to mention that to your mother at dinner. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He dropped the shield case at the foot of the bed and continued to look around. There was a good sized wardrobe that Thor promised him was full of clothing that should fit him, and a doorway to a bathroom that reminded him of a novel he’d read a while back. It was opulent and rustic all at once. “How do you ever leave your bathroom? Is yours like this?”

“It’s actually, uh, bigger?” Thor actually sounded confused, but then again, Steve didn’t really take him for the kind of guy who liked to soak in a warm bath. Steve had found bathing to be a nuisance with the wings, Tony had built his shower extra sized just to account for them, but this tub, he could soak in it easily.

“Bigger? Why?”

“I am unsure. It has always been that way.” He ran a hand over his beard quickly, seemingly stopping himself from saying something, but then he had a bright smile again. “Come, I shall show you around the grounds for now. Tomorrow I will bring you to meet Eir and I believe my mother will want to spend some time with you in the palace library. The tomes there are unrivaled across the galaxy.”

They spent the next few hours walking around the palace together. Thor pointed out his favorite places; the stables and the training grounds. He told stories about him and Loki making chaos as they grew and about his friends, who would be back from a training exercise soon. They were just standing in the courtyard so Steve could get a better picture of the city when the golden dome where Heimdall stood began to spin and then there was a sudden crack that flew across the rainbow bridge with a shudder.

“Ah, father is home. Come Steven, it is time to meet The Allfather.” Steve’s wings fluttered at his back, a nervous tic that he still couldn’t control. He shook them out and stood tall as they walked toward the middle of the bridge to meet the tall man who walked toward them.