Special thanks goes to Cassy27 for her continuous support and help! I wouldn't have been able to get this finished without her!

Chapter One || These Are My Words

He was nervous – very, very nervous. So nervous, in fact, that Thor found himself constantly looking over his shoulder, through the glass, and onto the streets, fearing that he might see his mother and father. Thor shuddered at the mere idea of his parents finding him in this place. There was a faint smell of smoke and antiseptics, chemicals that disinfected and sterilised the tools that were needed. It was an odd combination, to say the least. Of course, Thor didn't know what else to except from a tattoo-parlour.

Sighing, Thor mentally shook himself. There was no need to act so jumpy. His parents had absolutely no idea where he was at. For all they knew, he was hanging out with Clint and Natasha. Perhaps that wasn't the smartest move, telling them about his other two new friends, but he gave no indication that they knew of Loki.

Loki.

Turning his head away from the window, Thor found him slowly moving throughout the tattoo-parlour, staring at the different tattoo-designs that were on the walls for advertisement. He seemed to be in another world, emerald green eyes faraway, but at the same time, calculative. Before he was consciously aware of what he was doing, Thor found himself moving towards him, hand reaching out, fingertips grazing over his arm, coming to rest on his waist. It was all still so new to him – touching Loki, holding Loki, kissing Loki – but he had long since decided that he would take it all in stride. Time with Loki had told him to stop thinking so much and just re-act.

"Are you seriously thinking about getting one?" Thor asked for what must have been the second or third – or tenth – time. He had nothing against tattoos, he just … well, he never really knew anyone personally who had them. Odin and Frigga were pristine and immaculate and perfect people. They sneered and frowned upon anyone who had a spot on them. And while Thor wasn't judgemental like his parents, he found tattoos to be wary.

"I like that one up there," Loki said, and Thor looked up to where he was pointing. It was definitely an interesting tattoo. At first glance, it looked like the number eight, but after only a few seconds more of staring at the thing, Thor came to realise that it was actually a coiled snake.

He almost snorted. Of course, Loki would like snakes.

"Why?" Thor asked, stepping away from Loki and moving closer to the wall where the picture was hanging. "And are you going to get the tattoo coloured in, because that's a lot of ink and it will hurt like a bitch."

"How would you know? I think I'll be the judge, seeing as how I'm the only one of the two of us that actually has another tattoo," Loki replied, causing Thor's head to snap back around, eyes widening, because where in the hell else did Loki have a tattoo? True, they haven't done much else besides kissing, their hands cautiously wandering around their bodies, experimenting limitations, but Thor had seen Loki with his shirt off and he hadn't yet seen another tattoo. His face flushed, but Loki didn't seem to notice, thank God. "The snake is Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard Serpent. He was taken from his home and put into our oceans, and it's believed that he's so big, he can wrap himself around the world and still be able to touch his own tail."

Thor slowly nodded his head, taking in the information that was basically common knowledge, but it seemed to mean more coming from Loki. Perhaps it was his voice. Loki had the voice of a poet, compelling and powerful, quiet, but still strong enough to bring everyone to their knees at the depth. Yup, Thor had lost his mind. Shaking his head slightly, Thor looked at Loki and raised his brows. "So why are you getting Jörmungandr?"

"In Norse Mythology, he's the second son of Loki, God of Mischief, as you know," Loki replied, moving away from the picture on the wall. Thor followed behind immediately.

"And you're getting it to stroke your ego?" Thor supplied, unsure where exactly Loki was getting at. The slight glare that he got for his quip made him grin, though.

"I'm getting Jörmungandr, because I like Norse Mythology, I like snakes, and yes, I'm stroking my ego some. Now stop being a dick and pick one."

"What?"

"My uncle will be your guardian," With a shrug of his shoulders, Loki continued on down the wall, glancing around at the pictures that were up for advertisement, but he appeared completely oblivious to Thor's momentary panic. Thor also found it astounding how he could tell, even if Loki hadn't said anything, that he'd made up his mind, because the glimmer in his emerald green eyes wasn't anywhere near as sharp as it was earlier. "It wouldn't be any problem."

"Uh, I – I'm not entire sure I even want one. I just thought – you never said anything –" He needed to calm the hell down. The man that was behind the desk in the way back of the store had picked his head up from what he was doing; giving Thor a weird, somewhat impatient look, before turning his gaze back down.

Thankfully, Loki's face broke into a grin before Thor could fall into an outright panic. "Relax, Thor. We'll get you some ice-cream after this."

"I will kick your ass, Loki," Thor growled, closing the distance between them, his hands planting firmly on Loki's hips. The man behind the counter didn't seem to be giving them the time of day, so it was a lot easier for Thor to show such blatant displays of affection. Each touch felt like electricity, and knowing that Loki was welcoming it and not pushing him away – actually laughing and leaning into him – had his heart pounding in his chest.

"I hope you do more than that to my ass," Loki replied back and, before Thor could think more into that – because that certainly wasn't something Thor was expecting to hear – the bells on the door chimed, causing the both of them to turn their heads. Loki slipped out of his hold, walking towards the large man that had entered the tattoo-parlour. "You're late almost twenty minutes, you jackass. I told you I had a shift at one."

"I know, I know. My apologies, little nephew, but I was –"

"Smoking a joint?"

"Don't tell your mother."

The man was huge, standing easily over six feet tall. He had massive shoulders and long legs, eyes a bright icy blue colour. And while Loki had shoulder-length jet black hair, the man that was standing before him was completely bald. But there was no doubt that they were related. While Loki was tall and muscular with a lean body, the man's structure was equally as proportional. Thor wondered if Loki would look like that in a few years, perhaps with a few more late growth-spurts. But the man had an angular face, much like Loki's, with high cheekbones. His skin-tone was even the exact shade of creamy white as Loki's.

Thor's thoughts were interrupted at the sound of Loki laughing. He blinked and realised that Loki was motioning him over. "Thor, this is my pitiful excuse of an uncle, Helblindi."

"As always, little nephew, go fuck yourself," The man – Helblindi – said, though there was no heat in his words, only humour and affection. Thor found himself relaxing. A hand was extended towards him and he immediately reached out and took it, shaking it firmly. "It's nice to meet you. I hope he's not as cruel to you as he is to me."

"He has his moments," Thor replied, smiling easily.

"Right, well, now that we're all introduced and getting along wonderfully, I know which tattoo I want to get," Loki replied. Thor was momentarily caught off guard when Loki took him by the wrist and started pulling him back to where the Jörmungandr-tattoo was located. They hadn't ever displayed their relationship in front of anyone before, so he had no idea how he was supposed to act, but after looking back at Helblindi, he found that the man couldn't seem to care. His eyes were locked on the picture on the wall that Loki was pointing to. And while he was all jokes and laughter earlier, his expression seemed to sober up some.

"Are you sure that's the one that you want, Loki? That's a lot of colour-filling. Where do you even want to put it?" Helblindi asked, turning his icy gaze on Loki.

"Inside wrist," Loki replied, staring up at the picture before looking at his uncle. Thor watched him turn his left wrist over, pointing to the inside of it with thin, delicate-looking fingers. Of course, Thor knew that they were anything but delicate. They were worn with work and experience and, somehow, that made them look all the more tantalising. "It's nothing big. I just want something to tide me over until later."

"Oh, God, please don't tell me you're addicted to ink. That's the last thing I need. Your mother will surely kill me."

"Well, she hasn't yet and she knows you smoke pot, so I think you'll be fine. Now come on – I only have a three hour window and we got here at opening so we can get this done."

Snatching the picture down from the wall – Thor wasn't sure if Loki was even allowed to do that – he watched as Loki made his way to the back of the store, hips swaying, to the man who was still behind the desk. Apparently, if the man wouldn't come to them then Loki would go to him. He leaned over the desk and started talking to the man and, while Thor's attention was solely on Loki, he almost jumped when he felt an arm brush against his. Glancing up, he saw Helblindi, who was watching Loki, as well.

"So … you're the boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I guess," Thor said unsure of what the correct answer should be. He and Loki hadn't really talked about their relationship and how they should label it as. They were pretty much taking it a day at a time.

Helblindi nodded, pursing his lips. "How long have you two been together?"

"Four months," Thor answered.

"So I guess I don't need to have the talk with you," Helblindi said, and the warning in his voice was enough to cause warning bells of his own to go off in Thor's head. He glanced up at the man, seeing nothing but seriousness in his icy gaze. "Because if you fuck with my nephew and hurt him in any way, I will hunt you down and slaughter you."

And for some reason – he had no idea why, because he was pretty sure Helblindi was dead serious – Thor found himself smiling. "No, you won't, because if there will be any killing if I fuck up the relationship, Loki will get to me first," He said, only to then add as an afterthought: "And I'm pretty sure there won't be anything left for you to hunt down and slaughter."

Nothing happened for a moment. Thor felt his heart pounding in his ears, against his rib-cage, threatening to bust right through. Did he say something wrong? Had he misjudged Helblindi? Was the man getting ready to kick his ass for talking back to him and making it sound as though he wasn't taking him seriously? But before Thor could outright panic, Helblindi finally cracked, his laughter bellowing out of him, causing Thor to almost wince at the sheer volume alone. The man clamped a hand down on his shoulder, shaking his head in amusement.

"You're going to do just fine, kid."

-x- -x- -x-

It was hilarious and ridiculous and juvenile of Thor to think that his day would remain happy and content and stress-free. It was frustrating and annoying and useless of him to think that his parents would change. The wonderful day that he started with had crashed down around him in the matter of seconds when he walked into his room and found pamphlets of community service projects and volunteer programmes just waiting to be delved through. And what made him want to scream, what made him want to take everything and send them through the shredder was how his mother and father had the audacity to have sign-up and registration sheets put to the side in a nice pile, as though they had already made up their mind and were just pretending to give him the choice to decide for himself.

And what was even more frustrating was the fact that, not too long ago, that approach had actually worked in tricking him. But his eyes were open now, had been for a little over four months, and the thought of his parents playing such a cruel game with him for their own agenda stung too sharply for his liking.

Clenching his jaw tightly to ensure he didn't start screaming his head off right then and there, Thor closed the distance between himself and the desk and grabbed the piles in his hands, uncaring if he crumpled them in any way. It wasn't as though they were going to be sent off anywhere. Moving out of his bedroom at a quick pace, Thor made his way towards his mother's office, intent on dumping everything on her desk and just leaving the house for the rest of the day, because he sure as hell wasn't going to hang around to have yet another screaming match with them. Those types of nights were happening almost regularly now and, despite how much his parents frustrated him to no end, Thor honestly didn't want to argue with them all the time. He just wanted them to back off and let him breathe a little. But when he pushed the door to his mother's office open, the last thing Thor expected to see was her sitting behind her desk, which was why he came to a sudden stop, his mouth falling open. What was she doing home? She – and his father – wasn't expected home for at least another three hours …

Thor didn't get the chance to even think about what he was going to do. She looked up, her light blue eyes assessing as she took him in. Thor felt as though he was being studied, examined. It was a feeling that a child should never feel when being looked upon by a parent. It was disgusting. "Thor."

"What are you doing here?" He asked. Apparently, there was no need for pleasantries. She was busy and, judging by the tone of her voice, not at all in the mood to deal with him. "Why aren't you at work?"

"I'm in my office, I am at work," She said, and Thor watched almost in a daze as she leaned back slightly in her seat, removing the glasses that she had perched on her nose. When she said nothing else, though, he blinked, snapping out of his shell-shocked state. Involuntary glancing down at pamphlets and sign-up/registration sheets, Thor heard her leaning forward once more. "So you've looked through them. I'm glad that you did. What have you decided on?"

"I, uh … I haven't decided on any of them."

There was a pregnant pause. "Oh? Did you have questions?"

"Yeah, what are you doing?" Thor found himself asking, the tone of his voice suddenly turning harsh. He blamed the way she was speaking to him, like he was stupid and slow and having trouble understanding anything that she was saying. She was speaking to him as though he was an idiot, a child that was incapable of taking care of its own self, and Thor could feel his blood boiling at the thought that that was how his parents viewed him. He was useless and pathetic and needed to be guided through life, because his choices and his decisions were wrong in their eyes. "What is all of this?"

"It's nothing that you haven't seen before," Frigga answered, her voice taking a tone of its own. She sat up straighter and, somehow, she was still able to make Thor feel small. How she was able to do such a thing, Thor would never know, but he had to force himself to remain where he was standing and not make an excuse and run back to his room. No, this needed to come out, needed to be straightened.

"I thought we talked about this. I thought I told you that I was done being your ride to the top of the mountain."

"Oh, please, Thor," Frigga shook her head, going so far as to scoffing. "You've had your tantrum, you've rebelled. Now let's drop this. We all do things in life that we don't want to do. It's called growing up."

"I –" Thor started, stumbling over his words. They weren't taking him seriously. They had never taken him seriously. "Are you kidding me right now? Has everything I said to you and father gone completely over your head? I said I'm done! So you can take all of this –" Closing the distance between himself and the desk, Thor dumped the sign-up/registration sheets overtop Frigga's paperwork, dropped the pamphlets, and stepped back, shaking his head. "–and do whatever you want with it, but I'm not spending another summer volunteering for your benefit."

He didn't wait to hear what Frigga would say in return. No, Thor was just done. He went back to his bedroom only to grab the keys to his car, and then he was storming down the stairs and walking out the front door, slamming the door shut behind him. Once he got behind the wheel, he pulled out his mobile and checked the time. Loki had another two hours left in his shift – it wasn't a long one, and he'd been rather vocal about how frustrated he was, because he really needed the money this week for something – and Thor couldn't think of a better place to be than at the diner with him.

-x- -x- -x-

"So you just dropped the shit and walked out?"

"That's how it happened, yeah."

"And what did your mother do?"

"I didn't stick around long enough to find out. I came straight here."

Thor watched the corners of Loki's lips quirk upwards slightly at his words, but he said nothing in return. With the tip of the pen in his mouth, Loki was busy counting the ketchup containers that were all piled at one corner of the counter. Apparently, Thor had stumbled in on Loki doing inventory. Sif had been kind and said he could stick around, but to keep the chatting at a minimum if he was going to be there for Loki. Hogun was rather particular when it came to inventory.

"So what are you going to do?" Loki finally asked, jotting down a number on the sheet before he put the paper under the counter and the pen behind his ear. He looked amazing like that, Thor thought, his face slightly flushed with how quickly he was moving, the ends of his hair curling out.

With no-one else in the diner at that moment, Thor merely swirled his seat at the counter around and watched as Loki dispersed the ketchup containers back to their designated tables. "I don't know, to be honest. Arguing and deflecting doesn't seem to be working. Ignoring the problem doesn't seem to be working, either."

"If only it did," Loki commented, throwing a smile in Thor's direction.

Thor smiled back before snorting, shaking his head. "I can't believe she said I was just rebelling, like I'm just acting out, because I want attention or something."

"Well, all I can say to you is to not give up on this. If you don't want to be their bitch any more then don't be. I highly doubt they'll drag you and stand over your shoulder to watch you pick up trash along the side of the road if you say no to their faces."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that," Thor said, almost to himself. He honestly wouldn't put it past his parents to do something as drastic as standing over him to make sure he was doing what he was being told. They were controlling like that – always had been. But Loki didn't say anything in reply and Thor didn't add anything else. The silence was comfortable and Thor spent a good five minutes simply watching Loki move around the diner, all grace and purpose, hips swaying and lean muscles flexing with every motion. It was only when Loki was pulling down a box from one of the shelves behind the counter did Thor blink. He straightened, his eyes zeroing in on the tattoo that was still covered up on Loki's inner left wrist. An idea came to mind then, one that had his heart pounding. "Hey, Loki …"

"Yes?"

"What are the chances of your uncle coming back to the tattoo-parlour?" Thor asked. Loki turned back around and gave him a curious look, and Thor only swallowed thickly before shrugging his shoulders. "I kind of changed my mind …"

"You want a tattoo?" Loki asked sceptically. Thor nodded his head and he watched as Loki sighed and set the box down, walking around the counter. He took Thor's hand in one of his while the other rested on his thigh. "Thor, you know I wasn't trying to pressure you earlier, right? If you don't want to –"

"I do," Thor said, interrupting him. He squeezed Loki's hand before leaning in, giving him a brief kiss on the cheek. "Do you think he'll be okay with it?"

Loki rolled his eyes and snorted. "You met the man. What do you think?"