Of Games and Larks
1. "The Worm"
"I'll haunt you in the afterlife for this, brother."
"I know."
"And you don't care?"
Loki smirked. "I know a spell that will promptly send your ghost away, Thor."
Thor laughed dryly. "Ah, yes. Magic. Always your go-to crutch."
"At least mine works," Loki mumbled.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well," Loki shrugged. "Just that hitting people isn't always the best solution."
"I'll have you know, brother, that my method almost always works," Thor said, pointing at Loki with Mjolnir.
"Almost is a weakness," Loki pointed out.
"Almost is a risk, and without taking risks, there is no chance of winning," Thor replied matter-of-factly.
"And you can't fathom losing, can you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
Thor sighed. "You shouldn't have done this."
"Yes, you said that."
Thor seemed exasperated. "Why did you do it, anyway?"
"Recall that I did say I would get you back for that trick you pulled a month ago. I don't often forget things like that."
"Trick? Loki, I merely tripped you in the hallway. I'm your older brother, it's my job."
Loki raised his eyebrows and shrugged, careless. Thor made a sound of irritability.
"How is dumping live worms on me payback for tripping you?" Thor asked incredulously.
"I fell," Loki said simply.
"What?"
"When you tripped me, I fell. It was humiliating. And now you'll be picking worms off of you for the rest of the day. That is also humiliating," Loki explained.
"Or I could just bathe now and not worry about it," Thor said victoriously.
"You could," Loki said. "But you have a scheduled fight with Sif in about five minutes."
Thor remembered and cursed. Loki knew he would forget about it, blinded by his anger from the worms. It worked out perfectly, just as Loki had planned; Thor would not be able to secure his revenge until after his battle with Sif, which gave Loki more than enough time to prepare himself.
"On the bright side, the worms falling out of your hair may distract her while you fight," Loki mocked.
"Don't," Thor warned.
Loki stifled a laugh and nodded. Thor started to walk away to the fighting arena, but turned back for a moment.
"This isn't over, brother."
Loki smiled. "I know."
When Thor was out of sight, Loki walked away to plan another lark for his brother. Thor would regret ever entering this war. One does not trick the God of Mischief twice.
A/N: Thank you for reading! As you know from the summary, this will continue with more larks and light-hearted goodness. Because let's face it, the world needs more Loki and Thor happiness (especially after the Thor 2 trailer *cough cough*). Please review!