"What are you staring at?" A voice asked. Loki looked up from his hand, curved as it had been when the frost giant had touched him, and saw Jack staring at him intently. The teen's question had drawn the attention of the others and they were all staring at him now.

He looked back at the snow-haired boy. "Nothing," he answered before he fled the room with the smallest member of their group still on his heels, curiosity not sated in the least.

It was about ten years after the final battle with the frost giants. Odin was just exiting the weapons vault when one of the guards walked up to him and told the king that Heimdall had sent him a most peculiar message. The guardian had rescued a boy from one of the mortal villages. Heimdall had been watching the child since his birth, because of his mixed parentage. Odin asked for regular updates in the hopes of one day introducing the child to his son Loki and it seemed that time had now arrived. He called for Thor and Loki to join him and the three walked into the main receiving chamber. There, standing with a guard who towered over him, was a boy no older than six.

Odin took in the boy's features. The brilliant white hair, frost blue eyes, and ice rippling out from beneath the lad's feet marked him as a frost giant's offspring, but his diminutive stature and rosy skin showed clearly what race his mother had been. Loki tilted his head in curiosity, but Odin did not fail to notice the subtle tremors running through the boy's body, nor how he tried to hide such a sign of uncertainty. Asgard's king knelt before the child and said, "Hello, child. What is your name?"

"Jack."

Loki could hear the footsteps behind him. Why would Jack not leave him alone? He turned around to yell at the teen and almost slammed into him. Jack stopped his flight forward and hovered in the air just in front of Loki, the only Asgardian who'd actually let him, the spawn of a frost giant, get close enough to call friend. "Come on, you were staring at your hand like you expected it to bite you. What's wrong, what happened?"

Of course, I'd forgotten he didn't come with us, Loki reminded himself. Jack had been fortunate in that way. The others had filled him in, of course, and Jack was no doubt planning a string of pranks for Thor to repay him for going back to Jack's hereditary home without telling the frost maker first. "Nothing," he said again. "I was touched by one of the frost giants."

"But you're not burned." Jack went closer. "So what happened?"

Loki pulled away. "I told you, it's nothing."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Alright, I didn't want to have to do this, but…" He slipped the silver scales off one of his hands.

Thor clutched at his arm. "Ahh!"

Grid whipped around and ran to her son. "What hurts, sweetheart?"

"My arm."

"Let me see."

Thor pulled away. "No! I don't want you to touch it!"

Grid grabbed the offending arm and pulled gently. "I have to touch it to make sure it's not too grave. Come on, be brave."

The blond slowly extended his arm. A black smudge was slowly fading into the surrounding skin. "It's frostbite," Grid stated. She looked at Thor. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Thor answered, slightly less panicked now that he saw that the wound was healing. "Jack just nudged me and-"

Grid looked up and glared at the boy. "What have you done to my son?" She advanced.

Taking a step back, jack retreated from the angry mother. "Nothing! I wasn't doing anything."

Harshly, grid grabbed the boy by the shoulders. "What do you think you were doing to my son, halfling? I swear if you-"

"Grid." She looked up and saw Odin looking at her, face pinched with disapproval. "He did not mean to hurt Thor, he is only a boy." He held up a hand to stop her forthcoming complaints and motioned towards Jack. "Come here." The goddess released his shoulders and he walked towards the Allfather. "What just happened is something common to all frost giants, Jack. I had hoped, since you are only half frost giant, that the ability would not be yours. However, I did prepare for what might come, should you have the ability." He held out a small pile of iron scales. "Wear these at all times. They will protect those around you from your powers. Just touch the pile with your fingertips and they'll mold into gloves for you."

Jack reached for the small pile, but looked up at Odin. "Can I still make snowballs?"

Loki laughed behind him, next to Thor, who also smiled. Jack's snowball fights were legendary. Odin seemed to share their mirth. "Yes, you can still make snowballs. This will just stop you from unintentionally hurting others." Jack took the gloves and slid them on.

Jack slipped the iron skin off his hand and caught Loki's trailing wrist with the bare skin. Blue curled out from beneath Jack's fingers. He snapped his wrist out of Jack's hold and hid it beneath his robes. Glaring, he jibed, "I suppose you're happy now, Jack? That I'm one of you?"

He looked up to see Jack's wide smiled, or pitying look. But Jack had stumbled back, and now his face hid beneath his wild white bangs. Loki was no longer sure of his friend's reaction. "Well?" he screamed.

The foundling looked back up with tears frozen on his lashes. "So it's something else." He ran.

"Loki, why don't Odin and Grid like me?" the boy giant asked.

"What are you talking about? Dad loves you!" The older boy reassured, winding an arm around his friend's shoulders.

"But not the way he loves you and Thor. His room is right next to yours. So is Grid's. Why do I have to sleep in a different part of the palace?" Jack looked up at his friend with eyes bluer than the casket, a frightful reminder of what his father was.

Loki just pulled the boy tighter against his side. "Well, maybe it's because you'd probably all ice us into our beds for a prank." Jack laughed, but the thought never really left his mind. Was that why the other people besides Loki and Thor didn't like him? Because his father was a frost giant?

Loki ran for a balcony and opened the door just in time to see Jack vanish around one of the many turrets of the palace. It would take forever to find him now, even if the god of mischief had been able to fly, which he couldn't. Now the only option was to sit somewhere with a good view and wait until Jack calmed down enough to come back to the ground.

A few hours later, he found Jack on top of one of the many spires of the palace. He climbed up from the balcony and sat next to the youth. "What is wrong, friend?" Jack looked up at the trickster and a lump formed in Loki's chest. His eyes were red, his skin blotchy. He slung an arm around the boy's shoulders and clutched him tight to his robes. Jack buried his face in the garment and mumbled something. "What?" asked the older man.

"I just thought that they hated me because I was part frost giant. But you're a frost giant, and they love you, so it has to be something else. I've tried everything, and no one ever likes me." The slim shoulders started to shake and Loki wrapped his arms more firmly around the trembling form.

"Well, I for one am glad you are part frost giant." Jack looked up at him. "You can help me figure out my powers and we can practice together."

The boy had to smile at that. "When Thor gets back, we'll have to have a really good prank ready for him. He did leave without me." The plotting began, confusion and feelings of dread gone in the camaraderie.