A/N: Requested by lovely alliooup (Childhood Loki and Jane? I'm working on a fanfic revolving around it and it would be cool to see similar visuals ;^^).

Part 1: A boy and a girl

Genres: Humor, Family, Angst
Rating: K+
Summary: Loki and Jane meet for the first time. Thor's POV

Sometimes Thor still found it hard to believe that Frigga and Odin were dead. Even the burial couldn't quite force him to admit that they were truly gone and it had already been a month since that horrible day. His level of denial was turning from slightly alarming to downright ridiculous with almost astounding speed. He was sure that he hadn't been so put out when granny Bestla had passed away four years ago. Then again they knew it was coming, what with her weakened heart – the woman had survived two heart attacks, it was a given that she probably wouldn't live through the third. And maybe that was it. He had had time to prepare, whereas now it just seemed so out of place, so sudden.

A car crash.

Father had always been a good driver and a save one at that. He had never even got a ticket and he died in a car crash. The irony was not lost on Thor. Mom didn't even have a driving licence. It was so unfair that it took one moron, who fancied himself a driver good enough to drive home after drowning six beers, to end their lives. He died as well and Thor felt a sick kind of satisfaction, because the man deserved it – deserved to die in pain for the havoc he wrecked upon the Odinson family. He hated those dark thoughts, but he often caught himself wondering what he would have done if mom and dad were the only ones to die that night. Would it be easier with someone living and breathing to blame for the tragedy? Would years in prison feel a punishment just enough for stripping him off his family?

He clenched his hands into tight fists until his knuckles turned white and he could feel his nails digging painfully into his palm. His temper was ever shorter now, but he couldn't afford to lose control. Besides, hitting never seemed to help matters. More often than not it only made the situation worse.

He felt a tug on the back of his T-shirt. Taking a deep steadying breath, he turned from the kitchen counter and looked down at Loki, who was clearly aware that something was wrong, judging by his slightly widened eyes and knotted eyebrows.

Great. Now he had managed to scare his baby brother.

He smiled as sincerely as he could to cover up his distress and was relieved when Loki's face brightened a little. There was still no trace of a smile, but it was still something. Loki hadn't smiled at all during the past month. That was another thing Thor had hard time coming to terms with. Their parents' death took away his brother's happiness and stole a part of his childhood. It would be months or even years before Loki regained even a small part of his previous bubliness, at least that's what the therapist claimed. Thor wasn't sure if he could deal with this new Loki for much longer. Through his brother had always been shy and timid in disposition, preferring his family's company to that of other children, he had never been particularly withdrawn or overly quiet. Without any friends to talk to and after being forced to live in a new city, Loki seemed to just completely close off, retreating into some sort of protecting shell. It worried Thor greatly. It was fine now, when they spent all their time together during summer vacation, but the first day of school was slowly approaching and Thor feared that it would be a complete disaster. Loki never did like school very much to begin with.

"I'm hungry," the boy announced, his stomach growling in agreement. Of course he was hungry. They ate breakfast almost five hours ago and even though Loki did eat an apple an hour or so ago, it was still high time for an afternoon meal.

"I know, Loks, but we need to wait for our guest before we order pizza," he said, ruffling the boy's hair, which earned him a stinky eye in return. He grinned. "I'm sure they will be there soon enough."

"And we will get the one with pineapple, correct?" Thor groaned at his brother's strange taste in food, but nodded. It seemed to satisfy Loki, because he gave him a brief hug and returned to his colouring books.

Thor looked at the clock and then fished out his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. He quickly checked it for any new messages. There was none, so he wrote a short text to Sif, asking if there was something wrong since they were apparently running late. It had already been ten minutes. She responded almost immediately with a curt 'Almost there'. Thor sighed.

When Loki moved to Thor's apartment shortly after the funeral, it became painfully obvious that the child was lonely. Thor remembered how mom would often say that the seven-year-olds didn't have any friends at school or at his ballet course and how worried she had been because of it. Dad had been concerned as well. It was not a big issue, when they were still alive, because Loki seemed to enjoy his time with mom and dad even more than dancing. With them gone, it was another thing on the ever-growing list of things that never failed to make Thor's head spin a little. He took care of his brother during some weekends and that one time when their parents were away in Europe for two weeks on their second honeymoon, but it was nothing compared to basically becoming a father. He had told that to Sif as she helped him unpack some things he took from his family house one evening. Giving it little to no thought, Sif suggested introducing Loki to her younger sister, since the children were the same age and both danced ballet. Thor was sceptical at first, but then decided to give it a go. It wouldn't hurt to try, after all.
They decided to meet after Jane's return from the summer camp. It would give Loki much needed time to grieve properly before the event. Of course he didn't count on Loki being so against the idea. The boy could swear like a sailor, which was both admirable and distressing. It took time and a promise of the favourite meal to finally convince him.

The doorbell rang and Thor almost dropped his phone is surprise. As he made his way towards the door, he could feel Loki's eyes on him, almost drilling a hole in his back.

He opened the door and smiled broadly at Sif, who just glared at him in return.

"Something wrong?" He asked, when her expression didn't change at all after a few seconds and she still stood outside the apartment with her arms crossed over her chest. "Sif?"

"No, everything is pitch perfect," she grunted out. Then she looked left and rolled her eyes in obvious exasperation. Thor lifted a eyebrow, a question practically written on his face, before sticking his head out and meeting a pair of big eyes. A very petite girl stood on the second top step, her hands twisting a blue Star Trek hoodie she was wearing. His face lit up instantly. Loki loved Star Trek – a passion he shared with their parents and one Thor never quite understood. The boy had put on a similar hoodie for the day, claiming that if that Jane girl didn't like Star Trek, there was no way he was going to even talk to her. By the looks of it, there was yet hope for that ship to stay afloat.

"Hi. You're Jane, right?"

The girl nodded once.

"I like your hoodie."

Jane blushed heavily and moved to stand behind her sister. The Foster girls really looked alike. Their faces were almost identical – up from the wide foreheads down to the shape of their lips.

"So?" He inquired, when Sif still refused to answer his question. Finally the woman sighed and then pinched her nose. It was a very Sif way to let Thor know that she was annoyed.

"Someone needed half an hour to pick a shirt. Then another fifteen minutes to find the book she bought for Loki." She reached behind her and pushed Jane to the front. "We missed the train and that's why we're late."

"Well, it's not a problem. Not really," he responded, stepping out of the way to let them in. "Through Loki is a bit hungry."

Speaking of his brother, he turned around and almost swore when he noticed that there was no sign of the boy in the leaving room. The sneaky monster even managed to put his colour pencils away. Damn.

"Loki! Sif and Jane are here!" There was no response. With nothing better to do, he smiled apologetically at Sif and showed the girls to the leaving room before walking down the corridor to Loki's room. " Come on, buddy. You need to say hi."

"No, I don't" came the muffled reply and Thor barely resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall.

"Okay, so we will order pizza without you."

The door opened instantly and the look of utter betrayal on Loki's face was priceless.

"You can't do that!" He yelled. "You promised!"

"Yes, I did," he acknowledged as he took Loki by the arm and led him to the leaving room. "But you were supposed to behave yourself. I don't see how hiding in your room and then screaming at me covers your part of the deal."

Loki mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'I hate you', but Thor let it slide. When they were near the doorway, Thor picked the colourful bag with a small gift for Jane from the floor. He basically needed to force Loki to go looking for. It was a necklace that the boy actually picked himself after much arguing over whether or not it was a bit too much for the occasion.

In the leaving room Jane was sitting on the couch, stiff like a stick, while Sif talked over the phone. If he guessed correctly, she was already ordering pizza for them.

"So," he said, stationing Loki in front of him and praying to every deity in existence that the boy wasn't making a face.

Jane stood up and walked to them, her whole body shaking slightly and yes, Thor was pretty sure that his brother was indeed scowling like there was no tomorrow. Crap.

"Loki, this is Jane. Jane, this is Loki." Neither child moved and Thor really wanted to slap Loki on the back of his head, because the girl looked ready to flee. Or cry. He just pushed him lightly instead, which made the boy yelp in surprise. After peering up at Thor, eyes blazing with irritation, Loki finally extended his arm and squeezed Jane's hand.

Thankfully Sif called for him from the kitchen before things got any more awkward and he left the kids alone.

"What?" He asked as he stopped beside her, watching intently as she prepared a pot of light tea for the kids and two cups of coffee for the two of them.

"You need to leave them alone. Breathing down their necks won't help." She looked at him and then snorted at his baffled expression. "They have gifts, they like Star Trek and they dance. They will be fine, so stop worrying."

He shook his head and leant against the kitchen top. His gaze travelled to Loki and Jane who were indeed exchanging gifts. It didn't look as if they were going to kill each other any time soon, which was probably a good sign. A chuckle escaped him, when Loki's eyes widen comically as he looked at the thick colouring book with space ships on the cover. A moment later he covered his mouth to stifle a laugh as Jane turned even redder when she examined the simple star-shaped pendant on a thin silver chain. They smiled shyly at each other and Sif gave Thor a knowing look, when she spotted it as well.

When the pizza man came with their order twenty minutes later, Loki and Jane were too absorbed in colouring and arguing over which ship was cooler to even notice it.