A/N:Well, I was good over my holiday and wrote only (mostly) on my original works. being that as it is, I started this one this afternoon to thank everyone for their patience with my vacation. It was wonderful. I think I walked my knee into a painful place, but it's not a true vacation unless I injure my knee by walking lol.

Please note that the following is part of the ongoing series that I've worked on. I have a list of the order that they should be read in on my profile if you're new to the series :)

Part One

And I never wanted anything from you

Except everything you had and what was left after that too

Dog Days Are Over, Florence + the Machines

If he had thought that the anniversary of his birth meant that he might choose the kind of celebration that was to take place, he was greatly mistaken. Every century that it came around - he'd heard some mortal cultures celebrated every year and it made him slightly ill to think about it - he told himself that he would not let his elder brother and friends bully him into anything like the last century. The event was always more over the top and dangerous than the one before. It often had to do with Thor boasting of his own growth and the skills he'd developed in the time since his last celebration some half a century before Loki's and the realization that seemed to dawn on him every time that his younger brother was not as strong or as skilled in combat as he was.

Loki tried to remind himself that Thor had a good heart, but often just did not have the patience to think the ideas through. It became more difficult to keep the mantra running through his mind as the blond puffed out his chest and spoke of all of his achievements and the pride their father had in him. The younger prince lost the will to try when his brother began comparing them and, in essence, detailed out all of Loki's failures. That's when the laughter started, often beginning early in Fandral who had the least restraint and followed almost immediately by Volstagg. As Thor continued, egged on by his friends, Loki could feel his face heat almost to an uncomfortable level when his brother regaled them with some failed attempt in the training arena that they had probably been there for anyway and even Sif added her snort of laughter.

It happened every century and always led to some wild adventure Thor was sure would strengthen his little brother's reputation. It never did. There had been the tournament for his 3rd century celebration where he'd been so small he couldn't swing the sword he'd been given. He'd been beaten into the ground by several bullies that had been waiting for an opportunity to take a swing at him. For his 4th Thor had taken him on what he had called a quest. Though he'd never known before that a quest was, apparently, another way to say that Loki would carry most of their supplies - no magic allowed, this was meant to build strength - and the younger prince of Asgard landed at the bottom of a rocky hill, lanky limbs tangled in the supplies, and Fandral apologising for his poorly placed foot that the prince could not have seen. His apology had been through bursts of hardly contained laughter. They'd quested for a lost stone and found what might have been a bear, but at least five times the size of anything the younger prince had ever seen before. Loki had spent the majority of of his 5th celebration being yelled at by the Allfather for unleashing his fury on his brother before he could be dragged off to Midgard as had been planned for that particular celebration. Somehow Thor had been entirely oblivious to the fact that his brother had been trying to stop him from dragging him anywhere.

So here he was again, unable to do anything but hide. He felt like the coward that they claimed he was as he cast a simple cloaking spell to make himself less noticeable in the corner of the library. It was not his usual corner, as they would look for him there, but he had curled up with his back pressed to one of the many shelves with a tome perched on his knees. He was perfectly happy where he was with no quests and no yelling and no broken limbs. He'd be fully intact if his plan went well.

As Thor plopped down next to him he knew his plans rarely went well.

"You know your cloaking spells don't work on me. I can always find you." Thor's voice was a soft rumble and surprisingly not accusatory.

Loki risked a glance out of the corner of his eye and his brother looked fully defeated. His shoulders were slumped and his eyes were downcast. It was a strange expression for him. "Aren't you here to drag me off on some adventure? You should be thrilled, though you look as if you just received notice of your own funeral."

"Mother says I'm not allowed to take you on an adventure for your celebration day," the god of thunder said sulkily.

Loki perked. "She said so, did she?"

"Yes, but we didn't do anything for you last century either."

It was much easier to see that he rarely meant harm when the younger prince was still well and whole. "Well, I promise not to be too put out about it," Loki managed, trying to keep as much of the sarcasm out of his voice as he could and finding that it was more difficult than he could imagine. Thankfully sarcasm was often lost on Thor. "You gave it your best."

Thor sighed and leaned heavily against him, nearly knocking him over. "I thought we could go in search of the giant snake that is said to live in the caves to northeast of the city."

The trickster had to gather himself before he even thought of risking his voice, trying to come up with something that could have made his elder brother think that that would be a fun adventure. He had come to think that Thor purposefully forgot each and every birth celebration that Loki had and the pain that the younger prince went through with it. It was the only real explanation that made any sense. Granted, they'd been on many adventures and they had both found themselves at the receiving end of more injuries than their mother thought she might cope with, but Loki was sure that he'd prefer at least one day every hundred years that he might take for himself in the library and just be quiet. It really didn't seem like much to ask.

"I suppose there's no getting around it though. Mother was very persistent. She said everyone was coming."

"Coming?" Loki echoed. "Coming where?"

"To your party."

"But I don't want a party any more than I want to be torn to shreds by some snake in a cave."

Thor blinked at him for several moments before letting the comment slide and he shrugged.

There was no hiding from one of their mother's parties if he was inside the palace walls. The trickster's mind worked quickly, playing through all the possibilities. He could feel the steady blue gaze on him and he felt almost guilty that he was trying to squirm out of both "gifts." In the end, he half thought that he'd prefer the snake to the whispers and the glances that he could feel every time his back was turned. He rarely caught them at it, as Asgardian aristocracy was talented at gossip of nothing else, but he had never been able to find out what the whispers were about.

"I'll make you a deal," Loki said at last.

Blond brows knit in question. "What do you mean?"

"I will go with you on two conditions. One: no snakes."

"I suppose the snake was simply asking for trouble, wasn't it?"

"We'll find it sure enough."

Thor opened his mouth to argue, but Loki's look made him tilt his head and give a rather sheepish look at the unsaid words. "What is the second condition, brother?"

The younger prince pulled a deep breath and laid his book down. Untangling his long limbs he stood, using the temporary height he gained while Thor still sat to his advantage. "It will be just the two of us."

"But our friends-"

"Your friends," Loki corrected sharply. "I won't have the Imbeciles Three or your Lady Sif mocking at me another celebration day."

"They don't mock"

"They certainly do and you become unbearable when you choose to join."

Thor stood, urgency in his movements as he grasped either of Loki's thin shoulders. "I never meant it as such, brother, you must know! I mean only to-"

Loki shrugged his hands away. "You only meant to explain what a disappointment I am to Father. Yes, Thor, I know, but you needn't. I'm well aware of the fact."

The sharp words had their desired effect and the thunderer's large hands dropped back down to his sides, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in barely contained alarm. "I-"

"Don't. Do you agree to the terms or not?"

"Yes, brother, I do. It is your day, after all."

"Took you six hundred years to remember that?"

Thor's eyes widened a bit more, but then he seemed to realize that his brother was playing him now as Loki's think lips quirked at the edge and the blond gave a heavy sigh of relief. "Where shall we go?"

"It's my choice then?"

"Entirely so. No tests, no fights, and no matches. It is entirely up to you what we do this day."

Green eyes lit at this and for the first celebration day since he turned three hundred he thought they might have some fun. "I've been reading about this fascinating spring," he said, his voice quick with excitement and one thin hand waving as he spoke. "It's supposed to be out in the fields to the west. The waters are supposed to sparkle like those of the waters beneath the Bridge."

Thor did not look so amused. "You want to see a puddle?"

"It's a spring, Thor," Loki groused as he bent to pick up the book he'd been reading from, flipping to the page with a description. "It's supposed to have magical properties. It seems it would work well for a potion I've been working on."

"You do realize that we only celebrate the day of birth every century, yes? And you want to go to something as boring as... You want to go to this?"

"This is what I want," Loki affirmed, ignoring the elder prince's harsh remarks at his interest.

Thor grinned, gathering his younger brother up in his arms and ruffling his dark hair. "Then you shall have it."

TBC

A/N: I could not for the life of me find anything on Norse celebration of birthdays. I thought I could use it as a basis, but as it stands, I just went at it. Ah well. I didn't think calling it 'birthday' in a culture so removed from our own made a lot of sense. I've seen someone (can't remember who) use 'name day' like in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but I didn't want to thieve that either. Lol. I'm so indecisive, but at least this seems to have worked out well enough.