AN: This particular fanfiction takes place some time after Avengers. It is unbeta'd, so I apologize for any mistakes that may be present.
"I'm going to propose to Jane." Thor's declaration was loud and decisive. He scrutinized his brother for the slightest response. There was none, no telling shifting of features, and Thor bit back the slight apprehension this caused him.
"Surely you understand that this is unwise," Loki finally deadpanned after a very long moment of silence.
Thor squared his shoulders. Somehow, though smaller than Thor in stature, Loki always unnerved the thunder god as of late.
"I understand why some might believe so. But father has permitted the union, on the grounds that she does not bear any children."
Loki's quizzical features criticized him, though barely visible in the duskily-lit room.
"And how, pray tell, will you be able to prevent this? I hardly imagine that you will simply... restrain yourselves." The pause before the final two words brimmed with implications of sordid things better left in private.
"Jane has tablets that she brings from Midguard. They prevent the conception of any child, and as long as she continues to consume them on a regular basis, there will be no issue," Thor assured Loki.
The corners of Loki's mouth twitched upward sardonically, but with no real mirth underlying the movement.
"I suppose you two have ascertained the success of such methods already."
The thunder god jolted, feeling his mouth go slightly slack at the realization of what he had revealed.
"We, that is-"
Loki laughed, a hollow echo in many dark, untraversed caverns.
"Oh, Thor. Relax, dear brother, I meant no harm. It is no great scandal, really, all of Asguard surely knows that you have lain with many a fair maiden before her," Loki stood, and began to approach Thor slowly, as a lion approaches a wounded gazelle, "Why should Jane, who is so much more special" he hissed this word like a curse, "than all of those women be forced to wait for a wedding that may never come, simply because of her mortal blood? No, no, no... that would hardly be just, now would it, brother?" Loki's eyes, fogged pieces of sea-glass, cut into Thor. The elder of the two found his throat suddenly dry, and he swallowed in an attempt to wet it. The Jotun before him took the movement as a moment of weakness, and approached further, ever so slowly, until Thor could feel his damp, cold breath upon his skin.
"No. Of course, you shall give her a wedding regardless, though she can never be a true queen, never allowed to bear an heir with tainted blood. And you will love her with all your heart, until she grows grey and shriveled, while you are youthful still. Even then, you shall feign love and desire, though you will undoubtedly begin to keep mistresses then, until she dies, heartbroken, and forcibly barren. Then, you shall choose some Asgardian wh-"
"Cease this, Loki," Thor growled, seething with fire.
Loki gave him a fey smile, then stepped back gracefully.
"Of course. Such things are better left unsaid."
Thor didn't bother battling with this statement. He suddenly felt very tired.
"I had another reason for coming to visit you here, you know."
The change of subject seemed to catch Loki off-guard. The god of mischief blinked, then swiftly continued as if he had never lost his rhythm.
"What, you aren't here simply because you wished for me to be the first to hear the happy news? Brother, you wound me." Loki pressed a hand lightly over his deadened heart as if to indicate an injury.
Thor sighed.
"No, that wasn't the only reason I came. Loki, in light of my engagement to Jane- well, I suppose there is no engagement yet, but that will change before the evening has ended- father and I have decided that it would be well for you to choose a bride."
Loki's eyes widened, his long eyelashes brushing against his eyebrows. He didn't remember to hide his shock until he spoke.
"A what?"
Thor had been expecting a reaction similar to this, though perhaps not this extreme.
"A bride, Loki," he repeated himself in the most soothing, clear voice he could muster. "If I am to be married, then- well, father and I have been discussing this for a while to be truthful- it would perhaps show your renewed loyalties to Asgard if you were to be married as well, to an Asgardian."
Loki stared at him as if his elder brother had announced he were relinquishing the throne to pursue a secret dream he had always had of becoming a seamstress. He was silent, so Thor forced himself to continue, if very awkwardly.
"You could marry anybody, really, well, as long as she's an Asgardian. I was thinking, brother, that you and I could have a joint wedding- I would marry Jane and you would marry whomever you choose. It would further show the people of Asgard that you are truly one of the family of Odin." He stared at his baby brother, hoping for some form of response, whether small or large.
Loki finally spoke, his visage strangely blank.
"I'm not sure if you realize this, Thor, but I am not courting anyone. Few women are anxious to be with an enemy to three worlds."
Thor broke out in a grin, proud of himself for thinking of this issue in advance.
"That's quite alright, brother. Our father-"
"Your father."
"OUR father, Loki." Thor looked at Loki in what he hoped was a stern manner. Loki arched an eyebrow, but did not contest the statement. Any liveliness, whether vehement or mischievous, seemed to have drained from his elegant form. Though discouraged by Loki's interjection, Thor continued.
"Our father has given me a section of his magically-binding parchment, the kind he uses for contracts. He trusted me to write the contract, though."
He beamed at Loki, but the murderer's expression merely absorbed Thor's happiness, reflecting none back.
"What," Loki scoffed, "was he too busy to write it himself? And what contract do you even speak of?"
"Oh, of course! Forgive me for my eagerness," Thor proclaimed cheerfully, despite Loki's sarcasm. "The contract itself is fairly simple, simply stating that the person who signs it-that shall be you- is to be married to the person of his choosing in four months' time." He smiled at Loki. "That's when Jane and I are to be married. At least- I hope she agrees." He stared at the wall, contemplating every possible reaction his beautiful lover might have to his proposal. He happily decided she would surely be overjoyed at the prospect of wedding him. She had hinted at it many a time.
"And on the line below the line where you are meant to sign, you shall write the name of any Asgardian you wish to wed. You are then both magically bound to be wed within the four months."
He beamed at his brother, who stared back at Thor in obvious disbelief. After a vaguely tense moment, Loki cleared his throat, and spoke.
"So you're telling me that I can write anybody's name on that contract."
"Yes, brother."
"And whomever I choose will be magically bound to marry me within four months?"
"Bound by the strongest magic. Our father himself created it."
"Can he undo it?"
"No. Nobody can void the contract once it is signed."
"Not even the person I choose?"
"Not even she."
Loki wetted his pale, cracked lips, and gazed downwards at a hazy nothing for a moment, then flicked his eyes back up to Thor.
"How cruel of you, brother. I could bind anybody I wish to me for the rest of eternity." Something dark brewed in Loki's expression. Thor felt quite uncomfortable very suddenly. He had not quite thought of the full ramifications of the vague terms of the contract he had hastily written up.
"Brother... it would of course be best for all involved if you chose somebody whom you already get along with," he hesitantly suggested, rapidly growing more concerned at Loki's implication.
"Thor, surely you cannot imagine that there are any so partial to me that they would be glad to live here, holed up in this house on the outskirts of Asgard in disgrace for all eternity," Loki spat suavely. Thor could see a thousand thoughts whirring through his brother's face, but he could not discern any of them.
"That is another matter I forgot to mention, brother," Thor responded in golden, careful tones. "Father has signed another contract, one that he did write himself." Thor watched Loki carefully, the mounting apprehension in the younger's body clearly visible. "That section reads that once you have married, thereby renewing your loyalties to Asgard, you shall regain the rights you once had as a prince."
Loki was utterly silent and unreadable. After searching his brother for a moment, Thor continued softly, vulnerably. "You'll be free again, brother. You can live in the palace again." Thor paused a moment, then, unable to continue to look Loki in the eyes, began to examine his own mail boots. "Loki, it will be as though nothing had ever happened," He murmured, much more softly than he had intended.
The nervous, undeterminable quiet stretched on for an eternity. Thor could not bring himself to lift his head. Then, a rather hoarse voice spoke,
"What of my magic?"
Thor's head snapped up, and the god choked on the answer to the one question he had hoped Loki would not ask.
"Loki... surely you can understand why we cannot allow..."
Loki straightened, brimming with palpable long-standing resentment and fury.
"Despite the gifts you decide to bestow upon such an unworthy, unholy recipient," Thor shuddered at the sickening tone, "you deny to me the one thing I actually desire?" Loki scoffed, shaking with rage. "Typical of Odin and his spawn."
Though a fire burned unyieldingly in Loki, Thor immediately felt intolerably chilled.
"You must understand, Loki. Nobody can undo the past, though I wish otherwise more than anybody else," he pleaded with his brother to understand, to see how hard Thor was trying to make things right, and how difficult this was considering how wrong Loki had made everything.
"No. You do not wish that more than anybody else, Thor." Loki murmured.
A glimpse of hope. Did Loki regret what he had done?
"Loki...if you could undo the past, would you undo what you have done to Jotunheim and Midguard? What you did... to me?" Thor whispered, unable to keep the childlike wish from his voice.
"No," Loki responded, all ice.
Thor's heart sank.
"Then you would... change things so that you were... successful?" The thorned words tore their way from his mouth.
"I would prevent Odin from ever discovering that runt of an abandoned Jotun infant," Loki snarled.
Thor froze.
He felt as if his heart had stopped, then twisted itself until it tore.
"Loki... but you surely would have died, Loki..."
Loki, suddenly composed once more, regarded him neutrally.
"Would that not have been better for all parties involved?" he drawled coolly. It was disgustingly diplomatic.
Thor's eyes felt dangerously warm, and his vision began to blur.
"Loki..." he murmured again, for no real reason but to justify his own tears.
Loki's empty face turned away. In the silence that followed, Thor desperately tried to calm his heavy, ragged breaths. He clenched his eyes shut tight, and in the dark, reddened swirls of opalescent colors, he forgot Loki's horrible words. Loki had never said such things. Loki wanted just what Thor wanted: for the two of them to be perfectly content, loving brothers as they had been before.
Thor opened his eyes and straightened, brushing off imaginary dirt from his armor self-consciously. Loki stared at him, face once again infuriatingly unreadable.
"Give me the contract," he finally stated monotonously.
Thor stiffened.
"Brother... perhaps I should give you more time to think about whom to choose. This cannot be undone, after all. In fact, why don't we arrange to introduce you to some young maidens beforehand? It was quite foolish of me not to consider the effect your... isolation might have upon your social life."
Loki stood firm.
"No, Thor. I know whom I want. Give me the contract, so we can simply settle the matter now."
He stretched out a porcelain, bony hand toward Thor. Reluctantly, the young, fair thunder god procured the scroll, humming with soundless power. Loki took hold of it and tugged it away. He brusquely unraveled it, scanned it expressionlessly, then strode briskly to an unbalanced desk in the corner. Thor watched nervously from the opposite side of the room, knowing it would be improper to follow his brother across the room to stare over his should as he wrote the name of whichever mysterious woman he desired. Thor suddenly realized that he had no idea whom Loki might possibly choose. What Asgardian women did Loki even know? Lady Sif, perhaps? Thor silently hoped that Loki did not choose her. He knew both of them well enough to know that that would make for a very unhappy marriage. Perhaps Sigyn, a quiet, pretty woman he had seen Loki chat with upon occasion years before. Or perhaps... Thor was struck with a horrible thought: what if Loki desired Jane? As Thor had not yet proposed to Jane, there would be nothing to prevent Loki from claiming her himself, would there? Thor began to panic internally, but then he remembered.
Loki was contractually obligated to choose a native Asgardian. Jane was human. For the first time, Thor was extremely glad of this.
There was a rough, quick scratching sound. Thor stared at his brother once more. That was undoubtedly the sound of Loki signing the contract. Now, all that remained was for him to write the name of his intended.
Loki paused, holding his quivering quill inches above the scroll. Though he was on the opposite side of the room, Thor could still see what he immediately knew was meant to be a private expression of something deep and almost sensual flit over his brother's face. After a second, Loki seemed to regain his resolve, and he carefully lowered the quill onto the paper once again, this time writing in careful, precise strokes. Once he had finished, Loki set the quill down, and stared for a while at whatever he had written.
Then, slowly, deliberately, he stood, picked up the contract, and walked back over to Thor. The thunder god couldn't help but notice Loki would not meet his eyes.
"I suppose you'll need to take this back to the All-Father," Loki stated.
Thor nodded, then realizing that Loki was not looking at him, affirmed it aloud.
"Yes."
Loki flicked his eyes up to Thor's for an instant, then back down. He offered the contract to Thor's general direction. Thor took it and unrolled it.
He read the name beneath Loki's signature.
He reread the name beneath Loki's signature.
He numbly read it once more.
There, in perfect, unmistakable lettering were the words, "Thor Odinson."
"Brother...what have you done?"
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