Chapter 10
Then
It was not until after the haze of battle had faded that Thor realized he did not know where his brother was. After a moment of searching, he spotted Loki at the edge of the blood-rusted field, washing his daggers by a stream.
Loki did not seem to register his presence as he drew close, and startled hard when Thor put a hand on his shoulder––in a split second, he had the sharp edge of dagger against Thor’s throat.
“Peace, brother,” Thor murmured, laying a calming hand atop Loki’s clenched fist. “It’s only me, Loki.”
Loki’s eyes were blown wide. There was a thin streak of blood across his pale cheek, like a gash, and Thor gently wiped it away with his thumb. Loki did not even blink.
“The battle is over,” Thor said gently. “You did well.”
Loki did not respond, but lowered his hand and took a step backward.
Thor looked behind them, at the army picking up after itself. Then he looked at his brother, his slender form stiff with tension, his dark green clothes drenched with blood.
“This stream,” Thor said. “It leads deeper into the woods, yes?”
Loki blinked at him, following the line of his gaze, the serpentine body of water that disappeared into the treeline.
Thor stepped forward and put a hand on Loki’s back.
“Let’s clean up,” he said, and urged Loki forward.
--
Thor stripped first. Loki was silent as a wraith as he divested himself of his armor, tugged off his boots, and pulled down his breeches.
Then Thor took one last look around them as he reached for Loki’s clothes. His leathers were tacky and Thor’s fingers came away red as he undid the ties of Loki’s vest. But soon Loki too was naked, and Thor took him by the hand and led him into the gurgling stream.
The water was a shock, and he heard Loki hiss between his teeth as they waded in. Thor was glad of it, and glad for the freezing cold as it began to melt his brother by degrees. Loki tugged himself loose from Thor’s hold and dunked his whole body in the stream, then surfaced and began to drink deeply from his cupped palms.
Thor reached for some sand and gravel at the bottom of the stream and scrubbed at arms, watching Loki as he returned to himself.
“Does it ever get easier?” Loki asked, finally, his voice smooth as a river stone.
“The killing?” Thor asked. “No, not for me. And I am glad for it.”
Loki nodded, his shoulders loosening. Thor waded over to him and put a hand on his neck, shaking him gently.
“It was well-fought,” Thor said. He nudged his forehead against Loki’s and smiled when Loki rocked back against him. He wrapped an arm around Loki’s waist and tucked their bodies together, like they were in their private baths instead of a forest, only a few meters away from their comrades.
It was Loki who kissed him first, moaning softly as their bodies slid against each other. He wrapped his arms around Thor’s neck, baring himself to do so, and Thor rewarded him by slipping his tongue into Loki’s mouth and hiking one of his brother’s legs around his waist.
“Do you want me to take you here?” Thor asked, tugging at Loki’s earlobe with his teeth. “Then everyone will see how easily my fierce warrior of a brother spreads his legs.”
“Please,” Loki whimpered, biting down on Thor’s shoulder and rutting his hard cock against Thor’s stomach.
“Later,” Thor said. “When we’re home.”
“You Norns-damned tease,” Loki growled, and Thor laughed and wrapped a hand around their cocks. Loki bucked into his fist savagely, and it only took a few strokes and Thor’s teeth tugging at his nipples before he came with a bitten-off cry.
Later on, when they were drying off, Loki turned to Thor and asked, “You think I’m fierce?”
“The fiercest,” Thor said, and marveled at the blush that spread across Loki’s cheeks.
“You called me a warrior,” Loki said.
“You are,” Thor said. “I could not be more proud, brother.”
Loki grinned then, pleased. He leaned in for a quick kiss, then turned away.
“With you by my side,” Thor said, “the Nine Realms will know that the Sons of Odin are not to be trifled with.”
“By your side,” Loki said, nodding. He looked so young, then, as he hugged his knees to his chest.
“Forever,” Thor said.
--
Now
Loki sighed as he stepped under the hot torrent of the shower, bowing his head and letting the water sluice through his hair. He didn’t react as he heard movement outside the cubicle, nor when Thor slid the door open and bullied himself into his space. The shower rooms upon the Statesman were notoriously small, especially as Thor had given up his captain’s quarters to a family of six.
“I keep telling you we can’t fit,” Loki said in a deadpan, glancing at his brother with half-slitted eyes.
“Hm,” Thor said, wrapping himself against Loki’s back and starting to press kisses down his nape.
“Typical,” Loki said, but let his weight drop onto Thor as he raised his face into the oncoming rush of water.
Blood ran down their necks and chests, mingling with their toes. None of it theirs, this time—they’d met trouble on the last planet they’d thought to resupply at.
“I was worried,” Thor said, finally, after valiantly enduring the spray and the silence for all of five minutes.
“I’m not incapable, brother,” Loki scoffed.
“It’s not that,” Thor said. “You know it’s not.”
Thor’s hand settled on his side, palming the scar that resided there, tangible proof that Loki did indeed love his brother. Enough to die for him.
Loki softened. “Side by side forever, you said. I have no intention of straying.”
“Good,” Thor sighed. He kissed the side of Loki’s neck, open-mouthed, hotter than the water that pelted them. “I have no intention of letting you. Not again. Never again.”
“Never again,” Loki agreed. Then, “We are not fucking in here.”
“No?” Thor asked, and Loki could hear his raised eyebrow, his smug grin as he brazenly spread Loki open with one hand and slid the heavy weight of his cock between Loki’s cheeks.
“Thor.” Oh, Norns, that wouldn’t do, not with Thor’s name coming out more as a breathy moan than anything else.
“How else am I to keep you?” Thor asked, rocking his hips in increments.
Loki swore under his breath. A muttered incantation, then the space between his legs grew slick. Thor’s rutting, though smoother, was no less animalistic.
“Like this,” Loki gasped, as Thor nudged his cock into him.
“I’m getting mixed messages,” Thor said, even as he sank in to the root.
“Shut up and fuck me,” Loki growled.
Thor obliged, but not without a huff of laughter. Loki could hardly find it in himself to be indignant, though, not as his brother pounded the breath and coherence out of him.
“I’d keep you on my cock always, if I could,” Thor said, panting into his ear. “You’d never leave my lap. That way I’d know you were safe and whole and mine.”
“I’m sure—there are other ways—” Loki’s legs trembled, his fingers scrambling for purchase on the polished wall before him.
“But this would be the best way,” Thor said, tugging at Loki’s earlobe with his teeth.
“Can’t fault you there,” Loki laughed, then groaned as Thor wrapped a hand around his cock.
Thor finished Loki off with his hand, then finished himself off inside his brother. Loki turned the shower on again as Thor pulled out, then grinned lazily as he turned in Thor’s embrace.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” Thor said against his mouth.
“Mmm,” Loki said, sighing with satisfaction. “And you have the best way of showing it.”