AN: This is a two part fic. The first part takes place in the past. Loki is around 12-13, a little younger than this Thor. The second part is the same scenario many years later when Loki is in his cell in TDW. This is my first time writing something like this- I just had the idea this morning and decided to run with it. I would love any reviews or commentary. Part two should be done and up in a few days. Enjoy :)


Part One

"Loki Odinsson, you are not to leave this room!" Odin ordered, his face flushed with frustration. Loki scrunched up his face and slammed the door to his chambers. He threw his chair against the door. The legs splintered against the frame. "That's another week to the month, Loki!"

Auuughh, he was never going to get out of here!That stupid git Fandral and his sniveling girlfriend Sif had deserved it. They deserved to have their hair cut off- if not for taunting him this time, for one of their other offenses.

Weak, they'd said. Tiny. So he'd sneaked into their rooms when it was mid-night, Sif's first, and sliced their hair from its roots. Let them look the fools.

All of this had worked out just swell, he thought bitterly. Now he was stuck in his book-cluttered room for a month and a week.

What was more was that Thor was disgusted with him; he always took his friends' sides. If Loki had done it, for whatever reason he might've been able to explain (or concoct,) he was somehow wrong. Stupid Thor.

Well, having Thor here might be better than nothing. He thought. Maybe.

Loki curled into a ball and drew his olive green curtains around his fourposter bed. He clutched his arms close to his chest and squeezed his eyes closed.

Loki turned off the lights with a wave of his hand and resigned himself to crying.


Frigga had just finished wrapping the presents for her boys. Thor was getting a new set of armor, Loki a pile of books that would last any reasonable person a weeks.

It was quiet, she realized. Eerily quiet in the light of the fact that Christmas Eve was usually riotous with Loki and Thor's playing.

Odin was sitting silently by the fire in their chambers.

"It's not the same without him." Frigga said with a sad smile.

"Some things are more serious than Christmas." Odin replied, avoiding her by staying fixated on the fireplace. He sighed in a heavy exhale as if he'd been holding it in for a long time. "Loki bends enough rules without our help. He's only been there for a couple of days, Frigga."

She shook her head.

"Have you seen Thor?" Frigga asked.

"Not since breakfast." Odin said.

Frigga stood, placing a hand on his shoulder and a kiss on his cheek.


Thor was in a foul mood. Fandral was off with his family, Sif with a pointless number of healers, Hogunn in his home realm and Volstagg gorging himself on roast beast. And there he was, sitting at an empty banquet table, his brother having gotten himself into trouble with Sif. He'd actually gotten caught, which probably meant he'd done a sloppy job.

Kind of unlike him, Thor thought. Loki was meticulous and careful, diplomatic and calculating. Loki must have been too upset to really think his pranks through.

"Pranks, bah." Thor grumbled. Loki had sliced off Sif's golden hair- that was cruel. But he knew his brother was never entirely without reason. Sif and Fandral were not particularly kind to Loki.

He still should not have done that, though. Thor thought.

"Thor!" Frigga called. At last, someone!

"Yes mother, I'm here!" He called back, practically jumping from his seat.

"I wondered where I would find you. No one should have to be alone on Christmas eve." Thor gave her a hug- by the gods, he was getting strong- and then her face turned serious.

Thor turned his head slightly, uncertain of what had caused this change in demeanor. Had he done something wrong? Was father hurt?

"Thor, I was thinking that we should visit your brother." she said gently.

"M-mother, I..." Thor stammered and his lips thinned. "I don't know." he said as though confessing something. "What about Sif? And Fandral?"

"I know, Thor." Frigga's eyes were soft. A mother's eyes, Thor would later remember. A mother's heart. "Will you come with me?"

Thor looked at the floor and kicked at nothing at all.

"It's Christmas." Frigga added. "This is your brother. We can't spend your 14th Noel without him, even if only for a few minutes."

Thor sniffed, his eyes pleading. "Will he want to see us? What if he tells us to leave?"

"Loki is very good at saying things he does not mean." Frigga said. Thor nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. Hoping. "I don't think you should worry about that."

"It's not the same without him." Thor started suddenly. "N-not tonight, I mean. Not really."

"No," Frigga said, her voice hushed. "Will you come see him tonight?"

"It would not be Christmas if I did not."


Thor knocked on Loki's door. It shimmered with magic, no doubt meant to keep him in.

"Loki?" Frigga said. "It's Thor and I."

They waited for a reply for a moment too long.

Loki's sleeping, Thor thought. Or ignoring us.

Frigga's lip trembled and she started to turn away. Thor clenched his hand beside him.

He opened the door and peeked in. It was entirely dark and he couldn't hear Loki's soft snores.

"Loki?" Thor ventured. He flicked on the lights. Loki's canopy was drawn around his bed. He took a set of timid steps forward and reached for the fabric.

Something didn't feel right.

Thor stopped dead. Would Loki hate him for intruding? Would he arraign him until he left? Was he even there or was he lurking to pull some new trick on him, now that Thor had wandered into his lair? Thor's lips quirked into a smile at the last thought; he did enjoy some of the pranks. Loki wasn't mean spirited, rarely if at all.

Thor turned to Frigga. She gave him a gentle smile, one that filled him with fresh warmth. He slid the curtain aside.

Loki was balled up under his velvet blanket with only a tuft of his hair sticking out on his pillows. He didn't move when Thor peered at him, nor when Frigga's weight joined him on the bed. She laid a hand on his head and stroked his hair down to his neck.

"Merry Christmas, my sweet Loki." she murmured, her voice a gentle chime. Loki shook with a muted sob that made Thor shiver. Frigga leaned in to Loki. "I have a present for you."

Loki pulled the blanket close to him, outlining his wiry frame.

"Please, brother." Thor tried. He put a hand on what he thought was his brother's arm. "I miss you." Thor swallowed. "And it's not the same without you."

Loki peeked at him with a pair of red-rimmed green eyes. A tear fled from one of them, then vanished beneath the velvet. Frigga laid down on the bed and put an arm around Loki's chest to draw him near.

Loki let himself be pulled in by her. She untangled her other hand from his hair and brushed stray pieces of it from his face. His eyes were glistening, saturated with an emotion that Thor couldn't place.

"It's okay." she whispered. Loki closed his eyes, displacing his tears to his lashes.

Thor leaned in on the other side of him, catching Loki between the warmth of the two of them.

"Merry Christmas." Thor said, a faint smile on his lips.

"Merry Christmas, brother."