(This is the last chapter of a fanfiction that's posted on deviantART, it's several chapters long. Here's a link to the first part fav .me/ d53p4na ((remove spaces apparently links are stoopy on )) if you're interested to read how the whole thing started, and there are links in the descriptions there to the chapters following it.)
Blue eyes opened the next morning to a startling wake-up call. Loki was gone from his side, and was instead in the doorway, talking urgently with a guard that Thor didn't recognize. Looking him over, he noticed that he was wearing armor that had no business inside the palace. It was a city guard.
What was he doing here? Groggily, Thor pushed himself up and caught the tail end of the conversation.
"Yes, alright, we will be ready in ten minutes. Keep them chained." Loki said, malice in his voice.
"Yes your highness," the guard bowed his head and disappeared down the hall.
Loki turned on his heel, a bitter expression on his face. "The Warriors were just caught attempting to flee the city." He said, "Although it is barely dawn, the trial is upon us."
"They were trying to flee?" Thor repeated, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Loki grinned and there was nothing benevolent about it. Everything about his demeanor screamed unadulterated resentment tinged with a tightly controlled sadism.
"They know I am angry. They think I will sentence them to execution as they tried to do to me." he said gleefully.
"You won't though," Thor said carefully. "Ultimately, now that I have returned, it is not your decision. No matter what you feel, what they have done does not warrant death." He threw off the covers and sat up, his legs mended over the night with a powerful magic. "You feel personally affronted because it was I who was taken, but you will not be allowed to sentence them to death."
He began to root through his room for something proper to wear, his armor and cloak were still under re-construction.
Loki crossed his arms and frowned. "I never said I would. You're jumping to conclusions Thor, just as they did. I will see them punished but death is a harsh sentence for telling a lie."
Thor laughed at the irony as he finally found something suitable. Pulling on his best red tunic and black trousers, he fastened a temporary wine-colored cloak over his shoulders, slipped on his leather riding boots (he hated riding horses, he just thought they looked nice) and turned to face Loki, who was still dressed from the day before.
"Shall we go?" he asked, running a hand through his hair, which had been cleaned in the night.
Loki nodded and led the way. They entered the throne room (which was mostly empty, because it was so early in the morning) where the four warriors were in chains, standing before the empty throne. Loki's natural inclination was to sit down in his customary place but he held off and instead stood beside it, leaving the seat vacant for its true king.
Thor made a mental note to get another throne for Loki before sitting in his throne. Instantly he felt the warmth of its embrace, and he nearly wanted to cry. With a fond smile, he gazed at Mjolnir, who still sat untouched on the arm rest of the chair. He ran his fingers up her leather-bound shaft, feeling the familiar tingle of her energy, as if she was saying I missed you.
When he looked up again, his expression was hard, and he stared directly at his friends, who were all chained to the table with enchanted bindings.
"Sif," he said, his tone sharp as he addressed them one by one, "Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg. You stand accused of spreading lies about my demise to the hands of the Frost Giants. How do you plead?"
"We only did what we thought was best for Asgard." Fandral said, already sounding as if he was pleading for his life.
"That's not a plea." Loki said idly, leaning against the throne, arms crossed and eyebrow quirked in a look of mild interest, as though these were not the same people who had lied to him and made his life hell for all these months.
"Guilty, your highness." Sif snapped, glaring at Loki. "But we lied only out of necessity."
"That, I find hard to believe." Thor said, his hand coming to rest on the handle of his hammer for comfort, but it was perceived almost as a threat to his four friends sitting at the table. "What you did was correct, it would have been detrimental to Asgard to retrieve me. You were right in leaving me and fetching Loki to rule in my place. That was best for Asgard and her peoples' safety." He crossed his legs now, and narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "What I have trouble wrapping my head around is the fact that you seemed to think it alright to lie. To tell everyone that I was dead, to tell Loki that I was killed. If you had not lied to him, perhaps he would not have broken into Jotunheim to retrieve me, and brought with him the possibility of war. Perhaps if he knew of my fate from the beginning, and he did not spend months grieving only to find out that I was indeed alive, he would not have felt the need to take me back."
He knew this was all a lie, but he hoped that Loki had enough sense to keep quiet.
Loki rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut. He would have gone after Thor no matter what but he wasn't going to argue right now. Later he could make it very clear to Thor that he would never leave him behind but for now he stood silent and watched.
"We couldn't be sure of Loki's mental state." Sif explained. "Or where his allegiances were. We did what the thought was best to negate any possible threat."
"Loki is a man, with a mind, with emotions, capable of making decisions." Thor's voice was booming now, "You don't have the right to take away his ability to make decisions. Doing so is akin to slavery or mind control, and you know of the illegality of those practices here on Asgard."
"We only wished to protect the kingdom." Fandral chimed in. Loki turned his gaze on him and the man immediately looked away, staring hard at Thor. "We apologize, your highness. Our intention was not to take anything from Loki."
"You did take something from Loki. By taking his ability to make choices, you took away his power to learn, to ponder, and even to make mistakes. You took away his free will by lying to him, you set up a ring around him that you wouldn't let him cross. You trapped Loki in your lie." Thor stood now, feeling too restless to sit. "I'd say holding Loki prisoner in your woven net of lies deserves punishment. Would you agree?" he addressed his friends.
The four warriors bowed their heads in shame and Loki wanted to cry with joy. For so long he had let them abuse him, had let them look down on his and treat him like he was nothing. He was happy to see them finally being put in their place.
"Yes your highness." Volstagg said sadly.
"What would you suggest, Loki?" Thor asked, looking over at his brother, his lover, standing at his side now. "What do you think is a worthy punishment?"
Loki sneered, seeing them all flinch away in fear. They expected the worst and he would show them just how wrong they were. How wrong they had always been.
"I say such conduct is unbecoming of warriors." he said, "I believe a fitting punishment would be to strip them of their rank and privileges. Give them jobs about the palace or in the city and let them earn back their place. Maybe it will teach them something."
Four sets of eyes snapped up to look at Loki, shock writ across their paled features. Surely they were expecting Loki to demand they be killed.
"That sounds befitting," Thor agreed with a proud smile directed at Loki. "From this day until you have demonstrated true regret for your decisions, you will…" he thought for a moment. "Sif, you will work with the maids here in the palace. Which, yes, means wearing a dress." He could hear Loki swallow a snicker. "Fandral, you will work in the royal stables. Volstagg, you will work with the royal blacksmith. And Hogun, you will work in the royal orchard. Any questions?"
They all mumbled quiet 'no sirs' before rising and being led out of the chamber. Sif threw Loki one last venomous look that could almost be described as traitorous before the door closed. Once they were alone Loki practically fell onto the throne he was laughing so hard.
"Did you see the look on Sif's face when you said she would be a maid? Oh please have her serve me at dinner sometime Thor, it would be far too satisfying." he cackled.
"Maybe," Thor's tone was firm, but his eyes sparkled. "For now, I would like to go back to bed, and then at… noon, I would like to visit my city and its peoples. Also, I've got to plan the ceremony."
"Ceremony?" Loki asked, sidling up beside his lover as they began the retreat back to their room.
"Indeed. To have you officially recognized as a citizen of Asgard again, and not to mention your promotion to chief advisor and head of the new council. Which, so far, consists of you. I need to make more friends…"
"Is that legal?" Loki asked, faltering a little and falling behind Thor. He ran a few steps to catch up with him. "I never finished my sentence on Earth nor have I been pardoned. Even if you did make me a citizen again the people will be outraged at giving me such a powerful position."
"Considering you single-handedly saved the King when the real council did nothing but spread lies?" Thor said, kicking off his boots as he collapsed over the bed, wriggling his way under the covers after dropping his cloak to the floor. "I'd say that's worthy of keeping you by my side. The people were afraid you took the throne by force, but once they realize that you risked being killed to bring back the King, while fully knowing it would mean that I reclaimed the throne from you… they will have nothing left to fear."
He smiled sadly at Loki, who still stood strangely at the side of the bed, expression skeptical. Thor out stretched his hand, "Now get in bed before I have to drag you in."
Loki smiled and happily fell into bed beside Thor, letting the older man pull the covers over him and he huddled close to his side. He took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scent of Thor before exhaling a contented sigh. For the first time in over a century he felt like maybe things would turn out alright.
Thor threaded his fingers through Loki's hair, feeling so content he could just cry.
"I've missed you. Like this," his said, his voice a deep rumbling baritone. The silky feeling of Loki's hair between his fingers was so familiar and right, Thor couldn't bear to stop.
Loki smiled lazily. Thor's voice reverberated in his chest and made him feel like he was finally, truly home. With a smile he closed the space between them and pressed his lips against Thor's.
"I missed you too." he said, pulling back just enough to smile at him.
Thor lifted his hands to cradle Loki's face, and he pulled him in again for another kiss. His chest was spreading wide open, it felt, warm and content, and he couldn't identify the feeling exactly.
It was joy, he thought. Pure, unbridled joy, bursting into bloom within his body after so long being afraid it would never be there.
He realized that it's the feeling he's been missing for hundreds of years. The feeling of heaviness on his body has finally left him, and he's weightless with bliss.
He seized Loki about the waist and hauled him up so he was lying completely on top of Thor before taking his chin and kissing him again, slow and deep and perfect.
Loki pulled back after a while and pressed his head under Thor's to nuzzle his neck. Thor's beard had been washed and trimmed but was still longer than it had been the last time they had gotten together. It was soft against Loki's cheek and he almost purred.
"I love you." he whispered, remembering how much he had regretted not saying it before. "I love you and I should have said something a long time ago."
Thor thought he was almost going to cry. It was so beautiful, flawless, hearing those words coming from Loki's mouth. Words that he thought he heard once upon a dream a thousand years ago, but now here they are and so real, right in front of him, and he meant it.
"I know," he whispered, running his thumb over Loki's lip, and then across his cheek and up over his cheekbone. And just like that, his composure shattered into pieces.
Sitting up on the bed, Loki tumbled into his lap, and he wrapped both of his arms around him as tight and as far as they could go. He buried his face in Loki's shoulder and started to cry.
He was comfortable like this, showing the fragile side of him that his people could never see. He cried for their lost years, he cried for how close he'd been to losing Loki, he cried for his suffering under the lies and delusions he'd been forcefed by people he thought were his allies.
He cried and cried, and held Loki so tightly he feared he might break him in half, but he was afraid if he let go for even a second Loki would disappear from his arms entirely.
The thick arms wrapped around him hurt and Loki could barely breathe but he wouldn't have pulled away for anything. He lifted his head and peppered kisses over Thor's face, kissing away as many of the tears as he could, despite his own dripping down his cheeks.
"Stop crying, Thor." he ordered gently. "We are together now. We can lament over our lost time tomorrow. But today let's be together."
Thor lifted Loki's face to his own and kissed him sweetly, the smaller man situated more comfortably in his lap cross-legged. He felt smaller hands wrap over his own as he stroked his mouth contentedly against his beloved's.
His heart was aching with happiness, working its way in to replace the sorrow. He could hardly believe how long it had been since they had been together like this. Gentle touches and feathery kisses and warm stares.
He can hardly believe how long it's been since they loved.
Loki could feel it, in every touch of Thor's fingers or lips. He could feel the love radiating between them as he tugged Thor's tunic over his head and tossed it on the floor. His hands stroked the hard planes of his shoulders and arms and he imagined he could feel a small telepathic jolt, whispering Thor's love for him in every new inch he rediscovered.
Thor turned and released Loki on the sheets, pulling the covers up over his waist to cover their legs as he moved atop the smaller man.
He can feel his body warming up for the first time in a very, very long time. He'd been so cold, almost as icy as a Jotun, after so long being apart from his lover. He'd been crippled, for hundreds of years, a stifled version of himself. Even his merrymaking in Loki's absence is paled in comparison to the golden rays shining off of him now.
He leans up, his hands on either side of Loki's head, just so he can look at him.
Every touch from Loki's fingers seem to be cutting his skin wide open, and light and love are all radiating through. His elation is bleeding out of him in oceans from under every new sliver of his dried, sorrowful form that was peeled away, and underneath he was glowing.
"You frighten me." Loki admitted quietly. He didn't sound scared or angry or withdrawn. It was probably the most truthful statement he had ever made in his life and for once it felt okay to be so open.
"I don't think you would ever hurt me. But you're everything I could never be. You're perfection and it awes and terrifies me." Loki continued. He didn't say that looking at Thor now, with his golden body illuminated by the soft candle light, is like looking into the sun. He didn't say that all that warm, unbridled love, might be too much for his cold Jotun spirit and that he could never give as much love in return, even if he gave Thor all he possibly could.
"You're everything I could never be, as well," Thor said, and leaned down to kiss Loki's brow, and his cheeks, and every part of his face and neck he could reach. "You are clever, and cunning, and calculating, you are smooth and careful, you are good with your words and you are unwaveringly brilliant. You are everything I can never be."
He pushed up again to look at him.
"And I am all the things you will never be. But I think… I think that's alright, because that means that together, we make something perfect."
Loki couldn't help laughing. It was so like Thor, to take their vast differences and twist them into something positive. He would never have admitted it before but he loved that about Thor. He was unwaveringly optimistic, no matter what happened to him.
"I suppose that means we can never part." Loki said, decidedly not thinking through exactly what those words might mean. He was too tired to bother with those sorts of implications. It just felt right.
"We cannot," Thor grinned, pressing the tip of his nose to Loki's. "It would be like separating two halves of one whole." His tone turned serious and his smile slipped. "We have already felt that loss for hundreds of years."
Opening his eyes, he looked at Loki again. "And, in turn, we have experienced the joy that comes with being reunited. I will never let you go again."
Loki replied by pulling Thor down on top of him again. He missed the warm bulk and familiar weight of Thor on his body, having been denied it so long. Thor still fit so perfectly on top of him and Loki sighed a little against his shoulder. He pressed kisses into the hard flesh, working his way to Thor's neck then up to his ear where he nipped at the fleshy lobe.
Thor gave a long, content sigh, threading his fingers through Loki's hair again as the other man pushed his hair out of the way to gain access to more of his golden neck.
He situated himself more comfortably between Loki's spread legs and captured his lips in a kiss that nearly bruised, kissing him and kissing him until they both forgot how to breathe. Loki's airy moans and sighs between little nips and sucks had Thor's body tightening up with memories of passionate nights, so long ago now it seemed like only a pleasant dream he had a thousand years ago. He needed more contact, and trailed his fingers up beneath Loki's tunic, encouraging him to remove it.
Once nude on the upper half, Thor continued on, helping his lover to shimmy out of his trousers, before also discarding his own and tossing the cloth on the floor to mingle with the rest.
"I missed this." Loki sighed into Thor's ear. He kissed down Thor's jaw to his chin then pecked his lips again. His hands trailed lazily over the man's strong back, drawing nonsense patterns as he re-familiarized himself with the planes of muscle and bone. "I dreamed of this while you were gone."
Thor smiled lazily against Loki's collarbone, and he gave a purring sort of laugh. "I was not the one who was gone, my love," he said, purposefully tickling the man with his beard by rubbing his lips back and forth across his chest.
"You were gone from me." Loki said. He opened his legs a little wider so Thor fit more easily between them. He could feel himself growing slowly aroused at just the memory of all times he had had Thor like this in the past.
Thor felt the tears come back again, but he would not let them spill. He kissed Loki's chest, kissed his ribs one by one, mapped every part of his body that he'd forgotten. The birthmark on his ribcage shaped like a fig leaf. The smallest of moles right beside his groin on his thigh. His nipples, perhaps just a little bit too long.
Golden fingers traced goose bumps down Loki's sides, ending on his hips, kneading sweetly, thumbs outlining hip bones and tongue dipping into shallow navel.
Thor almost forgot what he tasted like.
Loki moaned, his eyes fluttering closed while Thor's tongue swept over his body. He had been denied such intimacy for so long that it would have been overwhelming if it had been any faster or more demanding. As it was the soft licks and kisses and nips felt like a reawakening. Like his body had been numb all this time and Thor was finally bringing him back. Each spot he touched tingled and warmed as if life was being returning to him.
Thor felt quite the same way, warmth spreading out over his form from his lips, from his fingertips. He continued to breathe life into Loki's body, kissing his hips and his underbelly, disappearing under the covers entirely to kiss his thighs. He reveled in the way Loki pressed up against his mouth, the way his fingers creaked as they tightened around the sheets.
He cupped his hands over Loki's hips and dragged his tongue in a slow, sweet stroke up the trickster's thigh, humming as he did so, drowning in his flavor.
"Oh Thor..." Loki whimpered. Normally he would have been embarrassed by the sound but he didn't much care then. After all they had been through Thor deserved to hear just how much he loved the way his tongue felt against his skin.
"More..." he breathed, reaching down to pet Thor's hair and urge him on.
He could hear the pleading, the desperation in Loki's voice. He wanted this, needed this, or he was going to die. He knew the feeling, if they were to part at this moment, neither would live. Their hearts would break, would cease their beating.
This was necessary.
They needed this.
He pressed his lips and his tongue and his teeth across Loki's bare thighs, his stomach, his chest. He ran his fingers down his sides again, trailing now all the way to his knees and back up, spreading them and massaging his palms against Loki's hips, over his chest. Every movement he made was gentle and fluid, and he worked and worked to touch every last inch of his pale body.
"Thor please." Loki begged. He loved the gentleness of Thor's hands on him. It was so different from all the other times they had been together which had always been too fast to really feel anything beyond the physical. This he could feel down to his soul. Thor's love for him echoed in every motion and touch.
But damn it he needed more.
He bucked his hips just a little, enough to make Thor notice. "Touch me. Please." he breathed.
Thor looked up into his beloved's watery blue eyes, and he knew better than to refuse him. He could feel Loki's hardness already rising up against his cheek.
Letting the covers fall once more, so Loki could not see, only feel, Thor enveloped the trickster's length with his mouth, tasting the pulse and swallowing his desire, matched only by his own.
Loki gasped and instinctively thrust up into the enveloping heat. His eyes were wide and watering from the onslaught of feeling. His hands tightened in Thor's hair, not pulling but simply giving him something to hold onto so he didn't fall apart under those caressing lips.
Thor always was impressed with Loki's girth, but it seemed time had not been kind to his jaw, as now he was nearly aching around the shaft within his mouth. He knew it was worth it, for Loki, for him as well, that pleasure and bliss swirling between them. That intimacy that they'd been starved of for so long. Thor actually had forgotten what it felt like to be aching with desire.
He forgot the tightness, the weightlessness, the desperation. He forget the heat and the volatility, he forgot how it felt like he was going to go up in flames.
So long, it had been, and he couldn't imagine feeling this way with any being other than Loki. It was Loki's right alone to make him feel this way, and Thor's privilege to allow it. He hummed, content, sliding his lips down as far as they would go.
Panting Loki forced his lips to remain still, not wanting to push Thor too far too soon. He knew the other man was tired and stiff recovering from his injuries. Besides, he wanted to savor this. He wanted to take his time to bask in this feeling instead of rushing forward toward orgasm. He had done that before when he and Thor had been separated and he had still felt bitter towards the Asgardians. But every time he had only enjoyed the few moments of blissful unawareness before returning to reality, feeling hollowed out and cold.
This was so different from that. Each moment they were together felt like hot liquid pouring into him, filling the emptiness he had created within himself. Thor was creating him anew and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.
Hot tears sprang to life in Thor's eyes, but he wasn't sad. He was happy, so completely happy that the happiness in him worked and churned around until it found itself an outlet, or he would surely explode.
It was happiness running down his cheeks, overwhelming happiness. He could feel Loki again, touch him and taste him and love him to the very barest sense of the word, as they always had. As they always wanted to, even when they could not.
He apologized to Loki with his body, with his fingers and his tongue. Pressed sweet apologies into his flesh, where words would be lost. This was the physical, this was remnants of a love that was nearly torn in two, being pieced back together by a pair of hearts that should have been too broken to try.
Loki reached down to cup Thor's cheek and gently urged him up off his cock. His body was already on fire with want though it was not the raging wild fire he was used to. It was a slow, low burn that he needed to smother with Thor's body against his.
"I want more, Thor." he said. "I want us to complete each other."
Thor knew what Loki was referring to. He'd always believed firmly that any one person's body was created by the Gods to perfectly fit against and into the body of their lover's.
Loki's body had always been a faultless fit for him.
He emerged from the covers and moved over Loki again, to look him deeply in the eyes. His cerulean hues were glowing with lust and love and anxiety. It had been so long since they coupled, so long since he'd forgotten all the spots on Loki's body that made him squirm.
But looking at him now, his body laid out and willing to be taken, Thor realized that he never really forgot. Fingers moving to press at his inner thighs, lips moving to kiss at the pulse point at the corner of his jaw, Thor never really forgot.
He pressed his hardness to Loki's belly, directly beside the trickster's own, kissing him deep and slow and methodical.
Loki sighed into the kiss, his arms wrapping around Thor's neck. He could feel those large fingers traversing his skin, seeking out those long hidden places that drove Loki wild. He happily opened his legs to them, knees bending to make his body that much more accessible. He wanted to be open and available in all ways to his beloved so that they would finally piece themselves together again and become whole.
Those fingers teased him, pressing against his thighs and the sensitive skin near his entrance making him moan around the tongue that was tasting every inch of his mouth. Feeling a little left out Loki reached down and wrapped his long fingers around Thor's throbbing cock. It was long and thick, just as he remembered, and heavy with blood as it rest against his palm.
Thor broke the conjunction of their mouths with a heavy groan, his hips rolling forward into the touch.
He'd had opportunities to be intimate since Loki's departure.
If he'd ever actually bothered to count, he'd realize he had two hundred and four opportunities.
He'd turned down every woman who tried to charm her way into the king's bed chambers, and even the few men.
It pained him to know that Loki had not taken the same vow of abstinence during his stay on Midgard, but he knew too that it was not his place to tell Loki whom he could chose to be intimate with. Especially when they were realms apart, and believed not to be together again for centuries.
He had his kingly duties to distract himself from such carnal needs, while Loki had no purpose but to hide in Stark Tower and pretend he was feeling sorry about what he did in the past. He did not blame him, but it did not make it any easier.
There was nothing else he could do but remind Loki that his body fit against Thor's, and no one else's. He could only burn his body into his beloved's so that he would never again want to stray to another man, another woman, so long as he lived. Their bodies coupled in a physical matrimony, combined in all the ways they used to be.
"I am going to take you Loki," he murmured, his lips against Loki's ear, his voice like the growl of a lion. "I am going to take you this day, and you are going to be mine."
"Yes." Loki hissed, head thrown back. "I am yours."There was nothing he wanted more than this. His body was aching for Thor and Thor alone. He wanted him there, to burn away the memories of all the others. To smother his mistakes and replace them with himself.
He wanted Thor. Never again would he want anyone else if he could only have Thor now. His blood sang with his need for the man, making his heart cry for its other half. No one but Thor would do, not ever again. Not that they had in the first place.
He had tried so many times to convince himself it was all a lie, that he and Thor had meant nothing, but the evidence was too clear. At the basest level all he was, was Thor's and Thor was his. They belonged to each other in a way so few would ever understand or accept or share.
"Take me Thor. Never let me stray again." he ordered.
Thor was grateful for the oil and wick lamp at his bedside, and he dipped his fingers into the pot before covering himself with the slickness. His eyes never left Loki's face, and they kissed again and again, little kisses with no expectations. Sharing little pecks, trading soft whispers as Thor prepared himself.
"You are going to feel this burn, Loki," he warned as he took himself in hand, lined himself up and pressed forward. "And it will hurt, for a moment, and in that hurt you will remember that this is me, entering you and taking you and replacing all the others. Every other pair of lips, every other handful of hair and every other heartbeat. I'm taking you back with this burn, and you will never forget."
He kissed Loki, and pushed.
Loki couldn't hold back a yelp. He could feel the burn as his muscles were stretched without the usual preparation and it hurt. But he did as Thor said and remembered who it was that was taking him and all that the pain symbolized.
It was a cleansing, burning away all that remained of the others. Each little spike of pain when Thor pulled out and pushed back in was a little more redemption. This was what he needed now, to make him truly Thor's. Already he could feel the beginnings of pleasure beneath the pain and he couldn't have asked for anything more.
Thor was gentle at the beginning, Loki could feel the pain even without moving quickly. He knew this in the tension of his body, in the soreness and regret of his expression. He could see the tears forming in Loki's eyes as he opened his mind and his body to everything Thor had to give him.
Loki's nostrils flared and his head tipped back, and Thor knew they were getting closer to one another now. The pleasure he felt from the very moment he pressed into Loki was being slowly and steadily matched by his beloved's own writhing form.
They were becoming one, here, like this, mingling on the sheets as Thor's thrusts picked up little by little. The wooden bed frame creaking beneath them, Thor's gasps matched by Loki's moans. Climbing together.
"I love you." Loki whispered and it became a running litany. His lips never stopped forming the words though sometimes the volume went out of them. Again and again he said it, in his mind and to Thor as they climbed higher and higher together.
Thor was moving faster now, sliding in and out of his body with ease as Loki adjusted to the size of him. The pain was nearly gone now, only a whisper left and Loki felt so free. The weight those memories had been lifted from him though he had never noticed its presence before. He could feel them creating something here, with every slide of flesh against flesh. They were building a new beginning for them both, something they could share with regret or guilt over the past.
Both of them were weeping openly, the overwhelming sensation coupled with the emotion behind every movement of their bodies together was too much for the pair. They kissed and whispered and loved each other quietly and louder and then softly again, gentle and rolling like waves. The true definition of lovemaking.
They rocked against one another, tandem binding, bodies mingling, words tumbling as they climbed beside one another, fingers linked and lips crushing and every part of their bodies belonging to one another.
Loki rocked his hips in time with Thor's thrusts, wanting to make this experience as equal as possible. He wanted to give Thor as much as Thor gave him, to start their partnership on even ground. They would be one now, in all things, including this.
"Take me." he whispered to Thor through his quiet sobs, breaking his previous mantra. "Tell me I'm yours. Claim me, please. I need it."
"You are mine," Thor moaned as his body crashed into Loki's again and again, their pleasure mounting. "You are mine, you are mine. You will forever be mine, no one will touch you again, no one will ever claim you. You are mine to touch, mine to have, mine to take, Loki, you are mine."
"Yes, yours, yours," Loki groaned. He gripped Thor's back, his nails biting into flesh as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through him. "And you're mine. You're mine and I will never leave. No one will take you away from me again. You'll always be mine. You're mine and I love you."
They continued to rock with one another, their bodies joined, until bliss mounted and they achieved total harmony. The elusive simultaneous orgasm that they'd never before truly been able to attain. They muffled their cries of bliss into one another mouth as they continued to thrust against one another through their climax.
Their thrusts slowed, their bliss waned, and they were simply grinding slowly, languidly against each other, kissing deep and slow and perfect. Tears mingling on each other's cheeks, love mingling in each other's chests, fluids mingling on each other's bodies.
They slowed to a stop but Loki held tight, not wanting Thor to pull away yet, not wanting to lose the connection. He had known this would be better than anything he had ever had before but he hadn't quite expected it to be so beautiful. He would never have guessed that he could feel this completely and truly happy.
Thor peppered kisses all over Loki's face, over his nose and his eyelids and his lips and his cheeks, kissing away his tears and loving him, loving him so completely.
"I hereby vow," he murmured, his voice tired and low and adoring. "To forever love you, Loki Laufeyson, unconditionally, as long as there is breath in my body and blood in my heart."
Loki reached for Thor's hand and twined their fingers together.
"I hereby vow," Loki repeated. "To cherish your love, Thor Odinson, and to never forget or take it for granted. I shall return that love with all that I can and never give myself to another."
"Now with the power vested in me," Thor grinned. "I declare us pretend-married."
Loki laughed and let Thor pull away, wincing as he slid out of him. He settled down on his side facing Thor, tucked under his chin with the larger man's arms wrapped around him.
"It's better than a real marriage you oaf." he said into Thor's chest. "Because we get to set the rules. Things are always more fun when you make your own rules. Now go to sleep."
Thor closed his eyes beside Loki, their naked forms pressed against one another the covers pulled up to their chins. They laughed and petted one another until they fell asleep, limbs entwined and hearts even more so.