Loki flopped gracelessly into the passenger seat of Thor's car wearing an expression that was even more sullen and surly than usual. Thor knew something was wrong right away: under normal circumstances there was no way Loki would let himself appear this clumsy and downtrodden when they were still in the school parking lot in view of hundreds of students.

"What's wrong?" Thor asked as he backed out and made for the exit, trying to beat the caravan of school buses and other students' cars.

"Nothing." Loki glared out his window.

Thor waited in a line of cars at the stop sign at the end of the school property. "Nothing?" he repeated. "Come on, I know that's not true."

Loki was silent for a long moment. Thor finally made it to the stop sign and turned onto the main road, heading home. "I got a B on my history test," Loki said quietly.

Thor laughed, thankful it wasn't anything serious. "A B? Good job!"

"It's not fucking funny, Thor!" Loki exploded, flying off the handle immediately. "I've gotten straight A's all year! This is going to ruin me!"

"Whoa, whoa." Thor stopped laughing and reached over to lay a hand on Loki's shoulder. "Relax. It's not that big of a deal."

Loki pushed Thor's hand away. "Not that big of a deal? You don't know anything, Thor! You barely scrape by with C's and D's, but you're gonna have a million athletic scholarships to rely on. I won't. How am I going to get into an ivy league school and leave this worthless hick town behind if I get B's on my tests?"

Thor took his eyes off the road to glance at Loki. He really did look upset. A deep furrow creased his forehead, and his eyes were even a little watery. Thor reached over more gently this time and took Loki's hand. "Hey. It's okay. I know it seems like a big deal right now, but you'll be fine. You still have a while until college. You're not gonna be doomed just because of one B your sophomore year."

Loki looked at Thor, then looked down at their clasped hands. "Are you sure?"

Thor gave Loki's hand a squeeze. "I'm positive. You could even ask the teacher if you can do extra credit and get your grade back to your usual 99.9 or whatever."

Loki rolled his eyes. "It was a 98." But he squeezed Thor's hand back and didn't let go for the rest of the ride home.