A/N: Day 9 of 25 Days of Christmas. Prompt: Candles and Books

Happy Reading!

xxx

"Loki?" Thor asked as he made his way into the living room, rubbing the sand out of his little tired eyes. He was 12 years old, the big brother, and he was responsible for his little sibling. And if said sibling was up at (what time was it anyway?) such an ungodly hour and his parents didn't notice, it definitely fell into his responsibilities.
"Go back to sleep, Thor." Loki said lowly, not looking up from the book her currently read. He sat on the armchair their mom used to sit in when she read them stories before they went to sleep, but they were a bit too old for that now. He was surrounded by flickering candles, bundled up in a bunch of blankets for warmth.
"But it's way too late for you to still be up!" Thor replied, a bit too loudly.
Loki shushed him instantly, his finger marking the line he read last. "Be quiet, you oaf, or you'll wake our parents." he whisper shouted, his brow furrowed as he listened for any sounds out of their parent's bedroom.
"I'm not an oaf! And I'm your older brother, you gotta listen to what I say!" Thor replied, a little quieter than before but still too loud for 3 o'clock in the morning.
"You certainly are. And I'll go to bed in 15 minutes, I'll just finish this chapter." Loki replied, giving Thor a stern look before he returned to reading his book.
"Well, if it's only 15 minutes I'll wait with you and make sure you actually go to bed." Thor said cheekily before he sat down on the floor across from the armchair. Loki just gave him a look over the top of his book before he immersed himself into the story once again, hoping that Thor wouldn't interrupt him again. But who was he trying to fool?
Not even 5 minutes after sitting down Thor started tapping. He tapped his fingernails on the floor, he probably didn't even do it consciously, but Loki couldn't concentrate on a single word he read while having to listen to the 'click-click-click-clack' of fingernails against the wooden floor.
"Would you please stop making that noise?" he finally asked, probably sounding way more aggravated than he wanted to let on but it was 3 o'clock in the morning and he really just wanted to finish this chapter before going to bed. He didn't want to risk their parents catching him in the middle of one of his nightly reading sessions. Of course they knew about it, but if they actually ever caught him they'd put a stop to it.
Thor just furrowed his brow and looked at him, looking like he tried to solve a puzzle. Loki knew that his brother wasn't stupid, he was incredibly smart if he was being honest, but it were moments like these which made Thor look incredibly stupid and made Loki doubt his brother's intellect. Loki could literally see the moment Thor realized why his brother was so aggravated, he was like an open book when it came to his emotions, especially for Loki.
"I'm sorry, continue reading." Thor apologized sheepishly.
Loki rolled his eyes and nodded his thanks before he continued to read.
Not even 2 minutes after that Thor started humming. Loki cleared his throat and Thor stopped, looking really sheepish, again, but as soon as Loki had immersed himself in the story again the humming started up again.
After 2 minutes of Thor not stopping, but actually starting singing as wlel Loki had it.
"Okay! I'll stop! Let's just go to bed!" he grunted, clapping the book shut (he knew which page he was on, considering that he read it about five times) and getting up.
Thor sat up, looking startled.
"What did I do now?" he asked, sounding slightly irritated.
Loki just gave him a look which said 'you know exactly what the fuck you did' and went to blow out the candles. Thor helped him after just standing here while Loki blew out the first few and he turned towards his brother when they were engulfed in darkness, only broken by the street lantern which illuminated the living room through the window.
"Let's get to sleep." Loki just mumbled, walking ahead into the direction of their bedrooms. They said their good nights, went into their beds and, even if at different times, went to sleep.

The next time Loki wanted to read, he decided, he'd stay in his bedroom. Shame that he'd have to kidnap all the candles first.