Siblings, and Various Other Inconveniences
Loki,
You have to tell me what this book on Cold War espionage is called. I’m Russian, it’s the rules. Besides, Clint (my very best friend) likes dumb books but he also likes spies so maybe I can get him to read something that isn’t total garbage.
I got paired with your brother’s penpal for class discussion. His name’s Bruce. He’s nice. He seemed to think something your brother wrote him was super amusing. Something about tardigrades. And yes, I did have to Google that. What an absolutely freaky looking creature.
I mostly hang out with Clint, as well as my brother and his boyfriend. Bucky’s parents adopted me after I moved here. George and Winnifred also have a daughter named Becca. She’s a year younger than me. Bucky’s always been really great to me. He calls me little sister sometimes, even though we’re the same age. Don’t tell anyone, but I think it’s really sweet.
Bucky’s boyfriend Steve is a dick, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. He and Bucky actually grew up together. Becca, Sam, and I once saw him get into a fight with a stray dog. He’s CRAZY. But he’s also crazy about my brother, so I guess I should shut up about what a nutjob he is, huh?
What’s Signey like? I know you said she was nice and that I’d start to wonder why you two were friends, but I also have a cinnamon roll best friend who’s way too good for me. Fury and Heimdall were probably conspiring all summer about how to rig selection. Although, if that were true, Clint and Sig would be pen pals.
- Natasha
Loki thought about Hela, and how she screamed at their father until he agreed to tell Loki that they were adopted, and how when people asked Loki why they didn’t look like Thor, Hela would defend them. “My baby sibling looks just like me,” she said, “you know Thor’s a smidgeon older than Loki and sometimes good looks skip a sibling.”
Hela probably thought she was a bitch, and although she wasn’t wrong, Loki also thought she was a really good sister. Not that they’d ever admit it, but Loki counted themself very lucky. Thor and Hela had always been there for them. Thor was always rather open, but Loki and Hela had a secret language.
to: demon queen
hey bitch. flunk out yet?
Translation: Hi Hela, how’s school?
from: demon queen
say hi to your girlfriend from me, fucker.
Translation: I’m hanging in there. How are things going with Sig?
to: demon queen
piss off dickhead
Translation: Same as always.
Loki guessed, quite correctly, that people who didn’t know them or their sister too well would assume that the two of them didn’t get along. Thor had never really understood Hela’s brand of affection, so she tended to ease up around him, limiting her terms of endearment to “oaf” and “ass” as opposed to Loki’s nicknames of “fucker” and “you dumb gay bitch.”
Although when Loki thought about it, the last one was probably meant literally.
#
Dear Sig,
If I really am going to call you Sig, then you should call me Pepper. No one really calls me Virginia. Tony did it once but he immediately regretted it. Given that we were in the second grade, I’m willing to look past it.
What kind of books do you read for your two-person book club? I have to admit I’m not an avid reader. I like art. I don’t really draw or paint, at least not well. One of my classmates, Steve, is a really talented artist, but we don’t really hang out. He’s kind of intimidating.
He knows Tony, who’s one of my closest friends, but they have an awkward friendship, to say the least. I’d call them frenemies, but there’s no real animosity there. I did start trying to branch out a little bit. I talked to Natasha, that’s Loki’s penpal, and she’s actually been quite kind. Not that I didn’t expect her to be, but she hangs out with her brother, Steve, and this guy Clint Barton. They’re...an eclectic group.
That’s why I really appreciate what you said about feeling out of place among big personalities, although Natasha turned out to be surprisingly approachable. Tony and Rhodey have always been best friends, and they’re both really intense. Rhodey’s tough and Tony’s brilliant.
Not that I’m not tough or brilliant, it’s just not the first thing people notice about me. I’m sure Tony and Rhodey know what I’m capable of, but not everybody does. I’ll bet you and Thor know things about Loki that no one else does.
- Pepper
Sig put the letter into her desk drawer and smirked, remembering what Sif had said about her penpal, Tony, during discussion.
“He’s remarkably thoughtful for a narcissist.”
Sig thought about telling Pepper about what Sif said, but decided against it. Lots of people thought of Loki as someone who was full of themself, so Sig decided to give Tony the benefit of the doubt. Loki was actually quite insecure, and blathered about their own accomplishments in order to deflect.
Sig’s phone went off, and she was sure that it was Loki, because that was the kind of bullshit universe that she lived in.
danger noodle (now)
hela says hi.
Sig rolled her eyes. Sig was one of maybe four people who knew that Loki’s sister Hela was actually quite nice when she wanted to be thank you very much, but Sig still knew her, and knew that she never texted Loki without letting loose a string of expletives powerful enough to make a grown adult cry. It was how the Odinsons loved.
to: danger noodle
what’d she really say
from: danger noodle
she said say hi to sig
to: danger noodle
loki
from: danger noodle
she said say hi to sig, fucker
Sig thanked every deity in existence that Loki had remembered to use an Oxford comma, because Sig couldn’t not make a joke about that and that would’ve been awkward for everyone involved.
from: danger noodle
aren’t you glad I remembered the oxford comma
Sig cursed every deity in existence. Fuck Loki Odinson and their dumb jokes.
to: danger noodle
yeah I’m so proud of you
#
Thor heard laughter coming from Loki’s room and assumed that something was horribly wrong. Also, he needed to focus on someone else for a while. He knocked on Loki’s door.
“It’s Thor,” he supplied.
“Come in,” said Loki.
Thor walked into the room, and saw that Loki was just...sitting there.
“Are you alright?” asked Thor.
“Yeah,” said Loki, “I was just...texting Hela.”
Thor sat down next to Loki.
“She’s not funny,” said Thor.
“I was texting Sig.”
“She’s not funny either.”
Loki blushed.
“She can be funny sometimes.”
Thor turned his hands over in his lap.
“How come you told Hela that you like Sig but you never told me?” asked Thor.
“Because you’re physically unable to keep a secret.”
Oh, you have no idea, thought Thor.
“And I thought you might make fun of me. Bryn and Ridley do, and they don’t even know the whole truth, they’re just guessing.”
“I would never,” said Thor.
Thor thought he could see a ghost of a smile on his sibling’s face.
“I think it’s cute,” said Thor.
Loki frowned.
“I resent that.”
“I know you do.”
Thor put his arm around Loki’s shoulder. Loki awkwardly leant into their brother’s embrace.
“Loki, are you...hugging me back?” asked Thor.
“Don’t treat it like such an alien occurrence, Thor. I’m perfectly capable of reciprocating a hug when I’m distressed.”
Almost as if they were only doing it to prove a point, Loki let their head rest against Thor’s shoulder.
“You’re distressed?” asked Thor.
“I was just texting Sig; of course I’m distressed.”
Thor grinned.
“Don’t worry, Loki. I have a feeling that everything is gonna work out just fine.”
“If you tell her I like her, I’ll stab you. And this time I won’t use a pencil.”
Loki’s threat was enough to keep Thor quiet. However, Thor found himself wanting to confide in Bruce anyway.
“Understood,” said Thor.
Thor clapped Loki on the shoulder, then went back to his room. In addition to telling his pen pal what he discovered, Thor also found himself wanting to reread Bruce’s letter. For an eleventh time. That day. It was a strange feeling, one that Thor didn’t quite understand. And for some reason, he found that he couldn’t speak of it (or rather write of it) to Bruce, although the boy had his complete and utter trust.
What was that all about?