[Part I of the series By watchfires and thrones of crowned kings]

Title and second quote come from Shakespeare's sonnet CXVI; first quote ("green-ey'd monster...") is from Othello, which I was re-reading when Loki decided he liked the reference and poked my muse. The third quote is obviously from Romeo and Juliet.
Un-betaed for now. Hope you like it!

First published with the tags: Pre-Slash, Thor Feels, Shameless Quoting of Classics, Theatre, Thor is In a Lyrical Mood, Flash Fic.


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An ever-fixed mark

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O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.

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Thor loves Midgard, lives on challenges and is a social animal, thus it's inevitable to see him dragged, one evening, with good-humoured but merciless irony to discover Shakespeare. Tony Stark – he's the one behind the joke, no doubt. He and the memory of a battle in the woods.
Thor discovers that theatre is to his liking: it tastes of home, he won't deny it. The others wink at each other in the half-light.
He thinks he could get used to this mood, because there's something extremely intimate in listening to erudite jests while in the company of trusted people.
But suddenly he's not smiling anymore, and maybe he shouldn't have been before, either. He hears only green-eyed monster, jealousy, and damned. Even though he's sorry to see everyone worried, he sinks into bitterness. It's his brother's gift, after all: never had Thor been sombre before his hate.

Jealousy. Envy. Rage for rejected affection, which corrodes to deformation. Oh, Loki...

But love is an ever-fixed mark – he thinks afterwards, alone with himself, the melancholies of the night and a book of sonnets – that looks on tempests and is never shaken.
(A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet.)
He closes the book. He's tired of wavering upon the abyss' edge.
If inattentive affection has hurt Loki, a conscious love shall lead him back. And it will be Thor to make it happen. It will be his greatest challenge.

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