"It's not fair to Sif for this tryst of ours to go own." Thor said pulling back went Loki went to kiss him.

"Tryst? This is all some affair to you?" Loki spat, "Whatever happened to the love you said you had for me?"

"Of course I love you, I always have and I always will," He reached forward to tuck a stray strand of dark hair behind the brunette's ear, "but she's my wife and I have a duty as her husband…"

"To fuck her until she produces an heir! Believe me I'm well aware of that." Loki said pulling himself as far away from Thor as the bed would allow.

Thor frowned at him. "I should be loyal to her too. She deserves that much."

"What about me then? We've been together for years Thor, don't I deserve more than being dumped on my arse as soon as you have a queen?" Loki sneered.

"Of course you do but…"

"But what?"

"But that doesn't change anything. I'm sorry." Thor whispered.

Loki sat silent for a second, his features etched with anger. Thor sat uncertainly next to his lover and after a few long moments reached forwards as if to hold Loki, but the other leapt away from the touch.

"Get out!" Loki yelled, throwing the doors open with his magic and sending Thor's clothes shooting out into the hall, "Get out, and don't you dare come back!"

"Loki…" Thor began but the brunette leapt from the bed and turned his back on Thor padding to the other side of the room to retrieve his own clothes.

"I said get out, Thor." His voice had lost much of his rage, and the blond swore he heard the other sob.

He left the room silently, his bare feet seeming to make a cacophonous sound in the silence. He turned back one last time to glance at Loki, but as his eyes searched for the other in the room the ancient wooden door slammed shut in his face.

It was days before Thor saw Loki again after the fight. It was weeks before they exchanged words, and even then they spoke of small things like the weather or the food at dinner. They didn't talk of each other, Sif, or love.

Thor felt miserable without the constant of Loki's company, but he faked cheer when he sat on the throne and ecstasy when in bed with Sif. Mostly though he kept to himself.

It was when he was by himself, some two months after the spat with Loki that he found them. At first he had thought Fandral had found some maiden to fool around with, but on closer inspection the dark head of hair and pale skin of the person pushed up against the wall by his friend was all too familiar.

They pulled apart when they finally noticed his approach, and Fandral blushed scarlet and muttered a few apologies. Loki on the other hand glared daggers at Thor.

"What are you doing?" Thor demanded of the two his gaze flickering between them.

While Fandral sputtered it was Loki who answered descending into a mocking bow. "It is nothing that would concern you my lord. Shouldn't you be returning to the Lady Sif, she must be ever so lonely proceeding over the dinner affairs alone?"

Loki's words stun, and for a long moment Thor looked at him feeling his chest ache with longing to take the other into his arms and hold him close like he once had. He wanted to take away the hurt that he could see in the brunette's eyes, but when Fandral reached down and wrapped Loki's hand in his Thor stepped back from the two.

"You are right. What you do in private is none of my business. I bid you two good night then." Thor turned and left not daring to glance back at them when he heard a soft moan and the slither of fabric moving. And if a brilliant storm raged that night, one rarely seen in the skies of Asgard, then nobody said a thing.

It was half a year later and still Sif had yet to produce an heir. Sometime when Sif thought she was alone she would curse her own body, and then wrapped her arms around herself and cried silent tears. Thor had seen this happen more than once, but he did not go to comfort her. He wasn't sure he could.

Fandral and Loki did little to hide their affections now, so Thor was faced with seeing them together almost every day. He said nothing more to them of their relationship, but his heart still longed after Loki day and night and the ache in his chest grew worst.

When Loki announced to the court that he was with child, Thor knew the fates must be toying with him. His wife could not give him a son, yet the one he loved could give another many.

Sif congratulated Loki afterwards, but Thor could see in the stiffness of her limbs and the clipped tone of her words that she was pained by the news. That night she did not look at Thor as she climbed into their bed, did not try and make love to him as she usually did, just curled up next to him and wept.

Thor could barely stand to be in Fandral's presence anymore. His friend would constantly chatter on about his child, about Loki, about his child inside Loki. He would happily come up, smiling joyously at Thor and tell him how the baby had kicked or that the swell of Loki's figure was obvious now. More than once Thor had to refrain from seriously wounding the other when they spared.

Loki didn't say much to Thor, and part of Thor was glad he didn't. Seeing Loki walking around, his belly swollen with child was like a stab to the chest that only added to the ache that was constantly there. As of late Thor had taken to eating his meals in his rooms so that he didn't have to face the brunette at dinner.

So he was surprised after having barely exchanged three words with the other in over a month, that Loki came to him one night when he aimlessly wandered the grounds.

"You're avoiding me." It wasn't a question.

"I think so." Thor said not looking at Loki who stood within reach of him.

Loki sat down with a huff on one of the garden's stone benches and ran a hand across his stomach. Fandral was right his condition was impossible not to notice now.

"It's moving," the dark haired man said softly, "you could feel if you like?"

"I don't want to hear of Fandral's child Loki." Thor growled through gritted teeth.

There was a soft sigh, and then a small warm hand wrapped around Thor's own. "I'm not so sure about that." Loki's words were a whisper.

"About what?" Thor demanded, he wanted to drop Loki's hand, wanted to walk away, but he couldn't.

"I'm not sure if the child is Fandral's."

Thor couldn't breathe. "Who's would it be if it were not Fandral's?"

Loki's thumb brushed against the pulse in Thor's wrist, the gesture slow and comforting.

"It could be yours."

Thor was on Loki in an instant, his lips moving with a bruising force against the other's. He wrapped a hand around Loki's smaller body and pressed it a closely against his as Loki's belly would allow. The kiss was painful and messy and their teeth and noses crashed together more than once but it was perfect none the less. As Loki pulled away Thor realized that it had been too long since he had tasted the other's lips.

"I said it could be yours." Loki said gasping for breath, "It also could be Fandral's I don't know whose it is."

Thor pulled back to read the other's face. "What do you mean you don't know?"

Loki sighed. "I mean I started sleeping with Fandral so soon after you left me, that either one of you could be the father based on how far along I am."

Thor grimaced and let the other go dropping his head into his hands. "Why would you tell me this then? Why not just continue to lie and even if you were wrong pretend the child was Fandral's?"

Loki shrugged. "Because if it is yours I thought you'd like to know."

When the child was born a few months later, it looked too much like Loki for Thor to tell whether or not the child was his own. The babe howled in its crib almost constantly it seemed to Thor, and Loki and Fandral were always gone to be at its beck and call.

Sif mostly remained in her room now, coming out only to eat politely at public feasts or to try yet again to conceive with Thor. He tried to talk to her, to tell her it was fine and that they would just keep trying, but each failed attempt seemed to take more and more out of her and Thor was beginning to worry how long it would be until she had nothing left in her.

After hours of trying to convince Sif to leave her bed, to come sparring with him and the warrior's three or go for a ride around the ground with no success Thor left to visit the nursery.

Loki was there holding the yowling child to him. He rocked it back and forth and whispered words of comfort but the babe would have none of it and hammered a tiny fist against Loki's cheek. The dark haired man sighed in defeat and carefully placed the child back in its crib.

When he noticed Thor, he seemed surprised to find him there. "Thor, I didn't know you were there."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude. I just wanted to see how the little one was doing." He stepped into the room and looked over the high crib walls to the screaming babe inside.

Thor glanced nervously at Loki before clearing his throat. "Do you mind if I hold him?"

"No, go ahead."

The child seemed so small in Thor's large hands, and he shifted his hands around nervously trying to find the proper way to put them.

"Here," said Loki grabbing one of Thor's hands, "put one under his head and use the other to hold the rest of him."

Finally when the child was settled in his grasp, Thor held him close to his chest feeling the small warm body against his beating heart. The child's cries quelled and he looked up at Thor in wonder raising a hand to try and grasp one of the long strands of his golden hair. He tugged on Thor's hair for a moment before releasing it to let out a happy gurgle.

"It would seem you have a way with children." Fandral's voice floated in from the doorway breaking the wonder of the moment. "He only ever screams at me."

Thor suddenly felt ill and quickly handed the child back over to Fandral when his friend offered. "I'm sure I was just lucky enough to pick him up at the right time."

Fandral threw back his head and laughed as he now rocked the silent child in his arms. "Well, if you ever want you can come back to quiet him down again. I won't mind, and I think Loki needs a break as well no matter how much he denies it."

Loki's lips quirked up in a small smile. "Truly I am fine. I enjoy taking care of him, it makes me feel wanted."

Fandral scoffed. "You're always wanted." He said leaning forward to press a kiss to Loki's lips.

Thor couldn't watch them anymore and he quickly made up an excuse to leave the room. As he raced down the hall and away from the couple he felt the ache in his chest come to a climax. It occurred to Thor that this might be what a broken heart feels like, because as he ran he realized that no matter if the child had his genes or not it would always be Fandral's. As would Loki.