You could tell when Loki was up to mischief when everything was going as planned, when there were no mishaps or delays, basically anything that could be called suspicious. So when a swarm of mice appeared on the huge oak dining table, Odin wasn't very surprised.
He looked around the room and saw Loki smirk triumphantly as some of the guests started screaming, scrambling over each other to get away from the vermin that had appeared on the platters of food. The sounds of chairs being knocked over and plates falling to the floor accompanied the screams and shouts of surprise.
'THAT IS IT!' Odin's voice boomed, echoing around the room like the thunder that Thor often created.
Everyone stopped their maddened rush and looked at the All-Father, and Odin's eyes narrowed as he saw his youngest son trying to slip out unnoticed by the oak door at the end of the room.
'LOKI, I CAN SEE YOU TRYING TO SLINK AWAY. COME BACK HERE AT ONCE.'
Loki sighed and walked quietly to where his father was situated at the head of the massive table, all eyes in the room were on him. He grinned mischievously at Thor when he passed him by, and Thor glared back aggressively in return.
He never enjoys my pranks, he thought sourly to himself as he reached Odin.
'Everyone may leave.' Odin's too-loud-voice filled the room easily; it wasn't hard to see where Thor received the trait from.
There was a unified scraping of chairs against the flagstones and everyone escorted themselves quickly from the room. When everyone had walked out of the room Odin put his head into his hands and sighed. Frigga patted him comfortingly on the back and nodded to Thor as he joined them, standing next to his father.
The three of them standing together and facing towards Loki made him shiver a little, together they looked like a formidable force, a real family. Especially without him, the black sheep.
'Your actions have brought shame on us Loki, and you will receive punishment.' Odin stated keeping a level tone even though his anger was trying to force its way into his voice, Loki just rolled his eyes and looked at his nails.
'Another month of cleaning out the stables? ' Loki suggested sarcastically, leaning nonchalantly against the table.
'No, this time you have gone too far. You promised me and your mother that you would not cause mischief on Thor's 17th birthday.'
Loki dropped his hand to his side and grinned again.
'But it was just a gift to Thor,' he picked up one of the mice off the table and held it out to his brother, 'Happy birthday.' He sneered, Thor glared at him again but Loki just clicked his fingers, and all the mice disappeared without a squeak.
Frigga shook her head disapprovingly, she was proud of the magical skill her son had showed but he used it in the wrong way. She wanted to bring him up right, but it was so impossible with such a popular older son like Thor. Thor was always surrounded by friends but Loki spent much time by himself, usually alone in the library. Frigga looked to Odin who seemed to be contemplating a harsher sentence, she whispered an idea she had swimming around in her head into Odin's ear and he nodded his head thoughtfully before looking at Loki.
'You will be stripped of your powers and banished to Midguard for one year, I will however let you retain one power.'
Loki looked shocked as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Midguard was a terrible place filled with mortals who thought they were so big and in control of everything, but he believed that in reality that they were nothing.
'Choose Loki, what spell do you want?'
'Teleportation,' he blurted out, it was his most prized spell, and how else would he get around?
An idea was forming in his head, an idea to live in the middle of nowhere, away from all the stupid humans who might want to interact with him, but Odin's next words dashed his hopes.
'You will be assigned to a human school, if you reveal who you are to anyone your sentence will be lengthened. Do you understand?'
Loki just rolled his eyes and nodded, but his actions did not portray his real emotions. He was afraid of Midguard and leaving what he knew behind, he was afraid of being without his magic. But he wouldn't tell his father that. He would never give him the satisfaction.
Odin placed his hands on his son's shoulders and murmured a few words and all Loki could remember afterwards was the ice-cold feeling he felt inside.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Loki was in pain, lots of pain. He was sore all over, like he had been trampled on by a stampede of 8-legged horses. He cursed Odin silently under his breath before slowly opening his eyes.
It was nighttime and he seemed to be leaning on some sort of case, he looked around and found that he was next to a house. The house looked bright and there was a light shining on the doorway. He considered his options for a minute before deciding that Odin would have left him there for a reason, so he slowly pushed himself off the ground, his clouded head making him swaying a little to the side, before dragging his case to the front door of the house.
The door looked freshly painted and was stormy blue in colour, in the center of the door there was a simple brass knocker, he pondered it for a few seconds before using it to tap the door lightly.
He heard a scramble from inside the house before the door unlocked and a man with thinning hair and wearing a suit opened the door.
'Hello,' He said smiling at Loki, 'You must be the Norwegian exchange student. I'm Phil Coulson and this is my wife, Maria.' A woman had joined him at the door, she had her hair in a neat, tight bun and was also wearing a suit.
'Hello, my name's Loki Odinson.' Loki replied. He was glad he had learnt Midguardian customs instead of battle tactics like Thor, even if his father had disapproved and Thor had teased him about if for months.
'Loki Odinson, like out of Norse mythology?' Maria asked, a bemused expression filled her face and Loki smiled.
'Yeah, my parents are both really into Norse mythology.' Phil and Maria both nodded as if they already knew this and moved out of the way so Loki could move through the door with his bulky suitcase.
'So I heard that the other family that you were supposed to be staying with ended up having a huge crisis while you were on the plane over here so Maria and I decided to let you stay here, we have the room and we don't mind at all.'
'Thank you very much, I appreciate your generosity.'
They showed him to his room before asking him if he needed anything, and when he didn't they bid him goodnight and retired to their own room.
His room was nice enough, with cream coloured carpet and walls of a slightly lighter shade. There was a deep green armchair with a cream blanket in one corner that looked very comfortable, and next to it was a tall wooden bookshelf filled with many different types of books. In the middle of the room lay a double bed with green and cream sheets, it was scattered with pillows and next to it was a table that held a lamp and a clock.
Loki was too tired to even strip down before he climbed into the soft, clean sheets, and even though thoughts were racing in his head he fell asleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes.
