A/N: So, I have seen the Avengers movie 3 times now. Twice for Tony and Steve, and now once for Loki. I have to admit, while I thought he was pretty and a fantastic villain, there was no Loki-Love when I first saw it. I have a distinct dislike for people who would like to be dictators. They make great villains, just not so great for the loving part. Anyway, I finally saw Thor the other day, and I fell in love with Loki. He's such a lost soul in that movie, and desperately needs a hug. So then my brain started to turn over the idea of "Well now, so what happened in between Thor and the Avengers movie?" Lost Soul falls into the abyss and becomes evil dictator bent on ruling Earth? Maybe? But I've got my own theories. This is just touching on it, but my friend Gabrielle Day and I will do a longer, multichapter soon on the actual theory.

Secondly - and I blame the Texas heat and my own sunburned skin for Loki's suffering in this story - I wanted to touch on Loki's Frost Giant roots before he knew about them, and I've been rather fascinated with the idea of how Loki might react to some things differently in Asgard than those around him, simply because while he looks like an Asgardian, he is not.

This does contain Avengers spoilers, just so you know.

Now, to the fic!

He's Like the Sun

When Loki had been young he was often the target of the other boys' tricks. He was different. Smaller, thinner, less imposing, and he was something that they couldn't – wouldn't – understand. He preferred his books and magic lessons to sparring, and evasion as to his brother's typical head-on approach. He really had tried to make friends. Really he had. He knew his father never thought that he put his best effort into it, but in the end it seemed the only other youth in the palace that he could rely on was his elder brother.

It was only because they had used Thor's name that he had believed them on that day. The sun had been abnormally hot, even for the warmer season, and was climbing into the sky when three youths – he couldn't recall their names now, only their well-polished faces, their sparkling eyes, and their tall statures – had approached him in the great library. Loki had made a nook for himself in a corner, tomes and scrolls piled around him as he went through them one after another. He had barely risked a glance up from his current material as they approached, and when he saw that it was no one of importance, his green eyes began skimming again.

"Going to cast a spell on someone, Loki?" one of the boys laughed.

"If there is something in which you need, please, by all means, say it, but otherwise I am quite busy," the dark haired boy responded stoically without meeting their eyes.

The tallest boy snorted, as if already impatient that they had gotten no real reaction from the younger Asgardian. "Your brother wishes to see you."

This caught Loki's attention and he slowly closed his book, one long finger keeping his place. "Thor sent you? Why?" he asked, his voice dripping with contempt. He had seen his brother spar with these three, but they were not his close companions. In fact, if he were to take a wager on it, he would say that they were more interested in Thor than the elder prince could ever be in them.

"To fetch you," the third said. "Now come on. You don't want to keep your elder brother waiting, do you?"

Loki sighed, relinquishing his place in the book and putting it on the top of the stack. No one bothered them and they should be safe until he returned. Slowly he unfurled himself from his place, feeling his toes tingle slightly as they began to awaken from where they had been lulled into sleep by hours of study.

The three boys showed their impatience without care and had already begun walking away as the young prince stood. They were distant relatives of some sort, and didn't hold as much respect – or fear – of the younger son of Odin. Perhaps they thought themselves beyond their so-many-removed uncle's reach that showing his younger son the respect that others might have was not a priority.

Loki felt the sun beating down on him as soon as they walked into the open air. He hated the heat. While most of his people took the warmer months to bask in the sun's glow, he shied away from it, feel that the rays sapped his energy rather than restoring it. They moved outside of the walls of the palace and into the hills that had been set as limits for boys their age. They kept moving forward and the dark haired youth felt himself pull back. "Where is my brother?" he asked warily.

"Just up ahead," one boy answered. "Don't worry, little one, we won't have you breaking the Allfather's command today. Your brother is just at the edge there. See? Just over the hill?"

Loki sighed. Thor had probably decided that he wished to venture out into the caves that lie on the edge of the hills, some in reach and some out. He tended to wish for his younger brother's companionship on such adventures, and the green-eyed youth was sure it was so that if they came across some trouble that he would take the blame. Well, perhaps Thor didn't put quite that much thought into it.

His legs moved stiffly, the hot air moving in and out of his lungs at a sluggish pace as he ascended the hill, looking all around. "He's not here," he grumbled, ready to call their bluff as he turned.

They were on him in an instant, and he only had time for the smallest of yelps as he felt himself slip backwards, caught by surprise and defenseless against larger foes. Their childish laughter echoed as he fell back, tumbling down the hill and rolling. His hands reached out for anything, unable to stop himself. His mind worked frantically to think of some spell that he had learned – anything – as he fell head-over-heels down the rock-speckled hill. Finally he stopped when he reached the bottom. He was bruised, aching, and was sure that he'd felt his head strike a rock at the bottom. He tried to lift himself, but his arms were useless as he fell back to the ground. Even as his world faded to black, he could feel the heat of the sun bearing down on him.

Loki could not have told how long he lay at the bottom of that hill, but what stirred him was his brother's voice. It was frantic, as if he had been searching for him for some time. It was also drawing closer. He struggled and found his arms of less use than when he had fallen. His body felt as if it were on fire with every twitch of his muscles and he lay very, very still to hope that it might go away. For a moment, his own ragged, pained breathing seemed to be all that would keep him company.

"Loki!" Thor's booming voice reached his ears again, and the elder boy was there. He knelt next to his brother, hand shaking as he pushed dark hair back to reveal a sunburned face. "Loki, I've been searching for you. Brother, answer me."

Loki groaned, almost wishing to sink back into the darkness again. No, he told himself, that would only frighten Thor, and that was the last thing that he wished to do on that day. "Yes, brother?" he croaked, his throat dry.

He could hear the smile in Thor's voice. "I thought you'd gone for a moment," the blond declared, pulling the smaller figure into his arms and embracing him.

Loki let out a cry of protest, now fully awake.

Thor released him instantly, blue eyes wide in fear. "What have I done?"

"I'm fine," Loki managed, pulling himself up so that he could sit. He saw where the sun had turned his pale skin red, and he felt the burning sensation deeply every time that he moved. With a grimace he shifted, noting his brother's troubled features. "I will be fine," he assured the elder again.

"What happened? Some boys from the palace told me that they had last seen you this way, but they knew not where you had gone to. You've kept so much to the library as of late that I thought it was…" He trailed off, watching for signs that Loki would playfully mock his conclusion.

"I fell," Loki murmured the half-truth. There was no need to tell Thor everything. He would rush in, without thought, to avenge his younger brother. Then Odin would step in, angry at them both for riling strife up within the family without consulting him first, and eventually the blame would be placed on Loki. Somehow it always was. No, better to take care of the situation himself in the best ways that he knew how.

"Can you stand? You must have been out here for hours. I've never seen someone so red just from a little sun."

Loki watched as the blond stood and offered his hand as he spoke. Slowly, carefully, he took it, and was surprised at how gentle his thundering brother was with him. One strong arm wrapped around his torso, helping to ease pressure off of a badly bruised leg.

"I don't understand it myself," the dark haired youth acknowledged as they began their way up the hill. "I've never taken well to the heat of the sun."

Thor had helped him to his chambers that day, easing him down onto cool sheets and staying with him even into the night. The burns on his skin had brought on a fever that neither boy could explain, as neither had seen any other Asgardian react in such a way. So the elder brother nursed the younger, unwilling to leave his side, and continued to lay cool, damp cloths over burned skin late into the night and earliest hours of the morning.

Loki had woken the next morning, feeling better and found his brother asleep on his bed, one hand clutching a dried towel and the other arm protectively flung over his chest, as if he were afraid that his little brother might not be there when he woke if he were to let go. It hurt, to have such a steady pressure on the bruises and the burns, but something surpassed the pain, and Loki could feel all the affection that his brother felt for him in that sleepy embrace. He settled into it, allowing himself to relax, a smile slowly lifting the corners of his mouth. Everything was as it should be.

Now many, many years had passed since that event, and their distant cousins had met Loki's own version of justice in the form of flooded chambers. No one had discovered the trickster behind it, and he was quite fond of it that way. Because when people knew who was behind an act of mischief, they seemed to be quite angry. Though he couldn't fully explain his last actions with any sense of conviction, he sat alone in a cell on his home world. No, he reminded himself bitterly, the world he was raised on.

Gone were the days of brotherly love and, Loki, upon strange reflection of a time long passed, had come to the conclusion that his brother was like the sun. Sometimes boiling, sometime simply warm, but always unattainable and always harmful to him. Funny, that the god of thunder should remind his younger brother of so much of the sun.

He heard the door slide open behind him and he did not turn around. He knew who it was. He only had one visitor at this hour. The sky had long since grown dark outside the dungeons and he felt the cot that he sat on sink as a guest welcomed himself onto it.

"I have no wish to see you," Loki managed, feeling the bitterness creep into his voice.

"What went wrong?"

Loki resisted the automatic urge to lash out. It was the same question. The same question that he asked every night. It pained him, just as the burns had pained him so many years ago. It was deep and it made him raw. Without warning, he felt Thor shift and wrap large arms around his slender frame, pulling him close without his permission. He began to struggle at first, but he relaxed after a moment, acknowledging silently that he could not break free.

"I do not understand, brother," Thor murmured into the younger man's hair. "When you fell, you were only lost. When you surfaced, you were like nothing I've ever encountered. What went wrong?"

Loki grimaced as he felt his own walls breaking. Yes, Thor was certainly the sun, and he hated him for it. He hated that the strong arms around him made him feel like he didn't need to hide. He hated that they reminded him that the sun was not always harmful, even to him. "I do not know," he whispered brokenly.

A/N: So, I'm a review addict. Let me know what you think, please =D

TS