The room had a kind of surreal feel to it, not unlike the atmosphere left in the wake of a particularly powerful spell. Loki was even feeling the strange light-headed near-giddiness he felt after successfully pulling off difficult magic. But there was no magic in the air today—at least nothing practical. Loki placed a hand on his window frame and gazed out at the spectacular sunrise he could just make out from his bedroom window without really seeing it. He was getting crowned in a week. He…the erstwhile near-annihilator of Jotunheim…was becoming king.
He wasn't becoming king by himself, of course. In fact, it would be a dual coronation, the first of its kind, simultaneously crowning him and his older brother Thor as co-rulers of the Eternal Realms. Brother. Loki smirked. It was strange how one word could carry such a world of meaning with it—a world of pain and comfort, of sadness and laughter and joy. It had been almost four months now since he and his lummox of an older brother had reconciled and returned home to Asgard. Loki still wasn't entirely certain it all wasn't all an illusion, and that he wouldn't wake up one morning to find the old, omnipresent hatred for Thor burning in his gut. But every day he opened his eyes to find that life was just the same as it had been when he closed them, at that he now looked forward to seeing his brother—usually—instead of dreading it.
For that matter, he wasn't becoming king for the first time, either. That particular thought tasted far more bitter then the first, and Loki shied away from it. He didn't want to remember what he had done. He didn't want to remember what he had almost done. What he had been. He was afraid that if he did, he wouldn't feel worthy to share the crown with Thor…or even worthy to be back home, for that matter. The hand on the window frame slowly balled into a fist.
There was a resounding boom on the door. Loki was so accustomed to this by now that it didn't startle him in the least, though it did make him wince slightly. A split second later the door burst open. Loki didn't even turn around. "Good morning, Thor. You're up early."
"Good morning, Loki! Beautiful day, isn't it?" Loki mouth twitched in a half-smile before he glanced over his shoulder.
"You say that every morning. Even on the days when it's storming outside." Thor shrugged, his grin not dimming in the slightest, completely unfazed by Loki's curtness.
"The weather has no effect on the beauty of the day, brother," he said jovially. "In any case, we're about to have breakfast. Do you feel like joining us today, or are you going to barricade yourself in your chamber again?" Although his tone was light, Thor's eyes were suddenly serious. Loki smiled sardonically. He had, in fact, been planning to stay in his room all morning. He hadn't thought he had been doing it that often, but by the look on Thor's face, it seemed that he had.
"I'll…be right down," Loki replied slowly, feeling the need to drive the darkness from Thor's features. To his relief, Thor's face lit up again as he clapped Loki hard on the shoulder.
"Excellent! I'll hold you to that, now." Loki managed a weak smile despite the sudden pain running down his arm and watched with mixed emotions as Thor swept out of the room, leaving the door standing wide open.
"Why do you care so much, you big idiot?" Loki muttered to the empty doorway. He glanced wistfully at the magical tomes piled on his desk before moving towards the door himself. If he didn't show now, Thor would never let him hear the end of it.