Title: Flowers of Ice
Pairing: Thor/Loki (as brothers, not slashy)
Disclaimer: Neither the comics nor the movie belong to me, I just wanted to write something about them
And the brothers are about 6 or 7 years in human terms in this story.
There had been occasions in his childhood; times when he had done things that were not normal for an Aesir, even for a sorcerer. In retrospect he understood what had triggered them and what it meant, but he was certain that only Odin did at that time.
It was a cold day outside, the last warmth of summer wouldn't return in this year but the Northern Winds had brought the biting chill of the winter yet. There was nothing much to do, at the very least for the children, who weren't old enough to train their fighting skills in this condition.
For all except for Loki, the weather outside didn't bother him much, on the contrary, it was giving him a god excuse to stay inside all day and study his books. He carefully carried a heavy dictionary, which would help him with his ancient scrolls, to the table of his study. It wasn't his own officially; their father had set the wide room up for his sons to study, but Thor had little patience for it and rarely used it so Loki had it all for himself.
As Loki passed the large window that expanded over an entire wall he found his older brother sitting on the bench before it, staring out miserably. It was a surprise to see him there, especially sulking. The older boy usually locked himself into a random room or kicked at furniture when he had a bad mood.
The younger looked down at his book and contemplated to just ignore Thor, but concern for his brother won.
"Are you feeling unwell?" he asked, cautiously approaching Thor. Loki had no idea of the reason for his brother's unhappiness and he wasn't sure if he was the one responsible.
Thor didn't answer, or in fact, showed any sign of acknowledging his brother's presence. Loki was about to shrug it of and move on to his scrolls when he finally moved and pointed out of the window.
"It's so dull", he muttered and made a vague gesture towards the greyish landscape. Loki frowned and looked out as well. The threes had no leaves and the grass looked dreary; the clouded sky had the bright grey colour that made ones eyes ache. But why would that be enough to pull his brother's mood down? Thor usually was cheerful and loud with an insatiable thirst for action, his mood seemed impossible to break.
Loki sat down beside him. "Is it because there is nothing to do outside, brother? But you can have a good time in the palace, too. You could go and find your friends, I'm sure that they will think of good games for inside."
Thor shook his head.
"It's not because I'm bored…" he stopped, looking a little ashamed.
"Why then?"
"It's because… well…" the boy gave Loki a sharp glare "Promise you won't tell!"
Loki nodded. He usually loved collecting secrets that could be used to make people look like fools, but he would never dare to do this with his brother. He respected him too much and he didn't want them to fight.
"It's because it look so… so sad! I like things that look nice." Thor glanced up to assess his brother's reaction but Loki just listened without a response. "There are beautiful things all the time! In summer everything is so lively and in winter everything is covered in snow, every season is beautiful in it's own way. But this…" he pointed out again. "That just saddens me."
Loki watched his brother getting up with a sigh. He scuffed away with the expression of a thrashed puppy leaving the younger full of sympathy.
He leaned against the cold glass and traced the place where Thor had pressed his finger against it with his hand. Loki had a deep aversion to seeing his brother so down. Of course it was fun to tease him but Thor's reaction was always sulking, not depressed.
He frowned, while trying to think of some way to comfort the older, but there seemed to be nothing he could do. Resting his head against the window Loki searched his mind for spells or tricks that could cheer him up but he was still too young and inexperienced for complicated sorcery. But there has to be something beautiful that even I can conjure up, thought Loki sleepily as his eyelids started to flutter. Well, he decided, maybe there shall be snow soon, the glass is icy! It was the last thing he noticed before slipping into a dreamless sleep.
He was violently ripped out of his nap by someone shaking his shoulder. Loki nearly fell to the floor with a gasp. He blinked up to see Thor's face hovering above him, beaming with happiness.
"Brother! Look, isn't this awesome!" he cried gesturing towards the window. Loki shook tried to shake his numbness of; it didn't usually take so long to fully wake up. Now he felt drained as if he hadn't slept at all and his face and fingers felt cold.
"What happened, brother?" he muttered rubbing at his eyes. "Just look out!"
Loki turned his head to look out of the window. He stared out of the window, confused by the sight or lack of it.
"The window appears to be covered in ice" he stated. "It's gotten colder… Maybe there will be snow soon."
Thor grabbed his elbow and dragged him up impatiently. "You have to see it from a distance!"
The sight was amazing and unexpected. The window wasn't simply covered in ice, it had spread over the glass in complex lines and swirls, forming beautiful creeps, fragile stars and fine blossoms. Loki had never seen something like this, he could just stare at it speechlessly while Thor laughed and turned his head to see everything at once.
"But how did this happen?" ice ferns weren't new to Loki, but those he had already seen were small, with regular forms and they occupied only small surfaces, never entire windows! It was also too warm yet.
"Who cares? Loki, this is beautiful! We have to show them to father, later! And to mother, she would be disappointed to miss them!" Thor made no move to get them, however. He could tear his eyes from the ice flowers.
They stood and watched, Loki still wondering about their source, Thor just with wide wondering eyes. He reached out to trace them a couple of times, but always stopped afraid that the warmth of his fingers would melt and destroy the fragile crystals.
Loki glanced at his brother. He was happy, much more cheerful than usual, especially compared to his mood from earlier that day. It was a relieve, really, now he wouldn't need to come up with something else. What did it matter where the flowers came from? They made his brother happy and that was enough for Loki not to question them. He was still too young for suspicion and his childish mind was fully content when his brother was, too.
He took Thor's hand in his and smiled. He didn't let go when their mother came and listened to her firstborn telling about how he found them and how her youngest managed to sleep not noticing them, he didn't let go when their father came and wordlessly stared at nature's work of art and he didn't even notice the strange look his father was giving him; all that mattered at this moment were his brother's smile and the warm hand in his.
A/N: About the title: The German word for ice patterns is 'Ice Flowers' (Eisblumen) which is a nicer word to describe them in my opinion ^^