Thor stopped before the heavy, implacable door. There was such utter silence behind it, the rooms beyond might well have been empty, but he knew they weren't. He knocked boldly, and it swung open quickly enough, anyway, revealing Loki. His eyes narrowed almost in the same instant they became visible.
"What do you want?" he asked sharply, head tilting fractionally to one side.
Thor inched closer. "Brother. . . May we speak?" he asked, in softer tones than he usually managed for anything. Loki showed no sign of surprise. Loki never showed surprise - Loki hardly showed anything, any more, if he could help it. Like their forever unruffleable mother, though it was somehow much more disconcerting from Loki who had once been all quicksilver reactions and temper.
"What do you want?" Loki repeated, sharper still, a demand this time.
Thor shifted his weight and stepped carefully forwards and Loki swayed, closing off even more but not giving ground. Not allowing Thor inside, either.
"To speak with you. To see you." Thor amended, pressing into the tiny space allowed by Loki's minute withdrawal. Loki didn't give him any more leeway, but Thor was determined not to let his resolve falter, not to let his brother shut him out, not this time. He had let it happen that way too many times. Thor moved forwards again, and Loki sighed through his nose, his already thin mouth pressing into a flat line. He didn't move, but he allowed the door to open a fraction wider.
Thor had to sidle inside, twisting sideways to fit, but he did so without complaint or hesitation.
"Have you not had enough words of me today?" Loki asked bitingly, eyes sweeping beyond Thor's shoulders as though his friends would be found there. As they had earlier, and it was not only Thor's own words - his actions - that had brought him to seek out his brother now.
Thor's mouth twisted at that thought as he nudged the door closed behind himself. Loki could see - and no doubt sense, if he chose - that they were alone, but Thor closing himself inside blocked off any possibility of his friends being there to interfere, as well as putting himself squarely in Loki's space. Loki listened better to their mother's lessons, but Thor did pay some mind to what she taught them about power and diplomacy.
"That is why I have come." Thor said, bowing his head briefly. Loki's eyes narrowed again as he lifted it, examining him with cautious intensity.
"As you will." Loki said as though without a care.
It was Loki's best lie, and most practised, that carelessness. Thor sometimes thought that everyone else believed it, except for him and their mother.
Thor leaned in closer, then hesitated. Loki was drawn up stiff, practically frozen, arms folded around himself defensively. His eyes were chill and hard, like stone. He wouldn't soften, not when he was like this.
Thor's mouth twisted. He couldn't . . . exactly blame his brother for that, not today of all days. Not after earlier. Loki was often withdrawn and cold, built up like he was hidden behind icy walls.
Taking another small step, Thor moved right up into Loki's space, almost nudging against his side. His brother's tension was not only visible in every line of his body, Thor discovered, it could be felt in the air around him.
Thor pressed his lips to Loki's, soft and firm, trembling on the inside as they made contact.
Loki remained perfectly still, not even breathing.
Thor lingered, his heart racing and his face warm, then gave a gentle press closer, their lips brushing together softly, before he pulled away. As he watched Loki for a reaction, he felt like a heavy lock was ratcheting into place in his throat.
"Thor?" Loki said softly, the sharp edge now faded from his voice. Instead, it was now achingly empty and uncertain.
Thor licked his lips, shifting slightly. Loki's shoulders stiffened, and Thor could see a yawning chasm begin to spread between them, if he did nothing more, or he could-
Thor lunged - too far, Loki hadn't even withdrawn from him physically, not taken so much as a step back - and caught his brother's shoulders. "Loki!" he said quickly, pulling Loki to him and pressing his lips to his brother's again.
Loki didn't react for a moment, and Thor was terrified like no one but his brother could ever make him feel. Then Loki's hands came up to his shoulders, curling into his shirt, and Loki went soft and pliant against Thor in a way he never would have thought his brother was capable of doing.
Loki's mouth was soft, too - soft and warm. Thor thought, madly, for a moment, of a thousand comments bandied about the razor, poisoned edge of his brother's tongue, then he slid his own alongside it and found it as warm and wet and gentle as anyone else's might be. He suckled at it without thinking, and Loki's fingers tightened on his shirt, Loki's body bowing up against his, pulling him in, hard.
Loki was slender and elegant, but he wasn't weak, and Thor nearly staggered at the force behind his hands.
Loki hummed, a little self-satisfied thrum, and he nipped at Thor's lower lip as he gentled his pull at one of Thor's shoulders. Thor shuddered minutely with the relief of Loki's reciprocation, and Loki brushed a hand over his side as they parted.
For a few endless moments there was barely a breath of space between them, and Loki's sea-glass eyes were so close, open and rich with a thousand shades of green. Then Loki slid away, not so much a retreat as a sudden rearranging of the space between and around them. It was a very Loki trick.
Words meant so much to Loki - always words with him, so many it was like a spill of water, like building clouds, too much to understand, too fast to keep pace with - but Thor didn't think words would . . . work, here. Actions were stronger.
Thor stayed where he was, hands open at his sides, meeting his brother's gaze.
Loki's eyes were quick and sharp, like a hunted thing, but not like prey. Thor didn't think Loki, fierce and wild, knew how to be like prey. He swallowed and took a few quick, light steps, his boots barely making a sound on the stone floor.
"What do you want from me?" Loki said, cool but brittle, his face not quite impassive and his sea-glass eyes skimming over Thor before darting away and returning just as quickly.
Thor spread his open hands a little wider, not quite holding them out. Loki's words sped, spilling from his tongue like so much nonsense - vapour, forming mist and swirling to hide him like one of his spells. Thor moved, finally, clasping Loki's forearm and pulling his brother closer.
"Only you, brother." Thor said, pressing a warm kiss to Loki's still-moving lips. "I am sorry. It seems ever I hurt you when I would only that we were closer." His lips twitched into something that wasn't quite a smile.
Loki snorted, his eyes calculating as they met Thor's, delving into him through that locked gaze. "You are ever a clumsy fool." Loki observed, but the sharp tilt to his mouth was playful; inviting Thor to share the jest, not lashing out with it.
Thor grinned. Loki knew how to hurt like no one else, when he tried, but he could be warm and gentle if he wished, too. It had been a long time since he had offered such so openly to Thor, and his heart ached at the returned feeling.
Thor had missed his beloved brother, and yet he had barely even noticed when Loki was first taken away from him.
He wanted Loki back, and now for the first time he felt like it might be possible.
Thor was not going to let go of that chance, no matter what he had to do to keep it. To keep Loki.
Loki's sharp mouth curled and his eyes softened, his fingertips dancing along Thor's jaw.
I was looking through the writing/fic prompt memes I've reblogged on Tumblr and this idea leapt to mind when I scrolled past 'A Sorry Kiss' in a Sweet Affectionate Moments Meme.