Loki had never seen Frigga cry. She was ever a face of calm, and Loki needed that—Frigga was intentionally rational at the same time as she was loving, and when Loki felt the world become overwhelming, Frigga's words and arms soothed him like nothing else could.
That was why it was such a shock to see the tears spilling over her cheeks, and his pale hands instinctively reached to wipe them away, an expression of urgency overtaking his face.
"Mother!" he gasped. "What's wrong?"
Frigga smiled, her hands coming to grasp Loki's wrists, holding his cool hands to her face until they stilled.
"I was just thinking about you when you were just a baby," she said. Loki paused, tilting his head, nearly catlike, and Frigga chuckled. "You did that then, too. And now you're taller than me." If only barely. Loki would never be quite as big as his brother; few were. Frigga could remember when anxiety had gripped her young son, when it took a few extra years for his height to shoot up; he had been terrified that he would be tiny forever. He had been a lanky teen, conscious of his body knees and elbows, always too skinny no matter how much he ate.
He had never been much of a hugger, but Loki drew his hands back from Frigga's cheeks to hug her, gently around her waist.
"Indeed." Though he had viewed his upcoming coming-of-age ceremony entirely as a positive thus far, his mother's tears made him suddenly aware that things were going to change. Even a second prince had duties, and Loki would need to excel at whatever tasks Odin assigned to him. He could no longer go to his parents' chambers after a long day and fall into his mother's waiting arms, breathe in the scent of her sweet perfume, feel the tension leave his body in the security of her embrace. His chest ached at the thought.
Seemingly following his line of thought, Frigga wrapped her arms around him in return.
"Things will not change so drastically," she soothed. "Thor's ceremony hardly changed anything."
"I am not Thor," Loki reminded her, and himself, and she nodded in reluctant agreement. Thor did not rely on her as Loki did. Thor had always been comfortable standing alone, even when he was just a toddling babe, but Loki felt acutely the insecurity of loneliness.
"You know that my counsel will always be here for you," she said. "No matter where your road leads you. Some things will change, my son—and change is good. But some things will stay the same. I cannot pretend that your relationship with your father will not change, but I hope that nothing will change between us. You will always be my little one."
Loki had objected to the nickname many times, but something about it now was comforting.
"I know."
A/N: I will probably be coming back to revise this later because it's currently unrevised. Please leave a review! :)
