He didn't mean to. It was an accident.

Thor stared at his friend, Sif, in shock. She was his best friend, he didn't mean to hurt her, didn't mean to make her cry. She was strong, she never cried, why was she crying?! Thor looked around as his other friends, Fandral and Hogun, rushed over to crouch beside Sif, who was clutching her right arm to her chest in pain. Fandral pushed his blond hair back, messing it up despite his usual impeccable maintenance of it.

Volstagg stood beside Thor. "What happened?!" He stared down at the rest of their friends in shock. Thor never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it.

"I- I thought she was one of them," Thor muttered, still staring at Sif, who was refusing to let Fandral see her arm and shaking her head urgently, her black pony tail swishing from the back of her head. Hogun said something Thor couldn't quite hear and she looked between the boys either side of her and slowly moved her arm away from her body to the blonde. Fandral gently took her wrist between his middle finger and his thumb but, even at that slight touch, Sif screamed in pain and sobbed more. Hogun dug his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Volstagg.

"Call an ambulance," He ordered, batting Fandral's hands away.

Volstagg fumbled a little, his chubby fingers getting in the way of the small buttons of Hogun's cell phone.

He held it up to his ear and Thor turned his attention back to the three on the floor.

"Thor, what the hell did you do?!" Fandral demanded as Hogun rubbed a soothing hand over Sif's back.

"I thought she was one of them,"

Fandral rolled his eyes. "Oh, not this again! Thor, they don't exist! Sif is really hurt!"

Thor looked at the ground, not sure what to say.

"I thought she was one of them," He muttered again as they heard the sirens.

"Hey, my name's Taylor, I'm one of the guards in your block. I'll be in charge of directing you around the grounds for the first week then you're on your own. You have to go see Dr. Merrick first but after that I'll take you to your room, you can meet your roommate and then you can either stay there or I can take you to either the canteen, break area or outside but no matter what option you pick I'll have to be with you or be able to see you at all times. Got it?" The bulky bald man recited the whole speech like a memorized script but Thor nodded anyway. Taylor was wearing a plain black V-neck t-shirt which strained around his thick arms and chest. The only mark on the shirt was the Logo of the Niflheim Psychiatric Institute which was a small tree silhouette with a moon silhouette on the right of the tree and a sun silhouette on the left.

"Right this way, Mr. Odinson," He clasped a hand on Thor's shoulder and led him from the big iron gates and down the pathway to the main building. It was a big Victorian looking building with white marble columns either side of the heavy wooden doors. As they walked across the foyer, Taylor's boots made heavy clunking sounds whereas Thor's sneakers make a soft click, despite Thor being heavy footed.

They got to Dr. Merrick's office and Taylor asked him if he would like him to stay but Merrick waved him off to wait outside. He ordered Thor to take a seat in the overstuffed red chair opposite him at the big oak desk and Thor sat down quietly. Dr. Merrick introduced himself as one of the three psychiatric doctors at the institute and explained that, despite the name, this place was more of a hospital and they just wanted to help.

He explained that there were two buildings. One for safe patients, other for… not so safe ones.

Dr. Merrick warned Thor that some patients in the block he would be residing in, despite it being the block for safe patients, may get out of hand. Some have a history of past violence, some of which are the reasons they're there, but hadn't shown any in at least six months.

Thor asked why he was being put in the Safe Block but Dr. Merrick just smiled.

"What you did… was nothing compared to what some people in the Safe Block have done. You'll be fine,"

"I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about people around me," Thor pouted.

"Don't worry; there'll always be a guard no more than ten feet away. If you do have an… incident they'll be able to stop you before you do anything serious,"

After D. Merrick went through a few other things, like when his one-on-one sessions were and when groups sessions were – which he, like most other patients but not all, had the option to go or not – and they shook hands and Thor was lead to the door where Taylor was waiting to escort him to where he would be spending at least the next six months.

Taylor lead Thor outside, one hand on his shoulder, and to the building on the left of the main one. This building was a little more modern than the other and didn't look like it belonged in this scenery at all – with the big garden, odd benched dotted around, and trees around the edges – this building had brick walls and bar on the scarce windows like a prison.

Thor shuddered.

Taylor gave Thor his uniform and led him to the bathroom first. It was a massive room with showers along two adjacent walls and cubicles along another. The wall with the door on had sinks along it and dirty mirrors.

Thor went into one of the stalls and changed into the white polo shirt and blue jogger bottoms.

He had white plimsolls too and struggled a little with the laces, his hands shaking badly. When he came out Taylor took his other clothes off him and placed his hand on his shoulder to take him to his room.

"Okay, this is where you'll be staying. Room 103. I know your roommate so I presume he's already in there. Any questions?"

"Is it a good idea for me to have a roommate?"

Taylor chuckled. "Well, personally I think whoever put you in this room just liked the irony. Anyway, I don't know the details of what you did but I do know the basics. This kid's done worse. But don't worry; he hasn't been any trouble since he got here,"

"What did he do?"

Taylor looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm not allowed to tell you that. But if you get him to talk to you, he might tell you himself,"

"What do you mean 'if' I can get him to talk? And what irony?"

"He doesn't talk unless he wants to and he doesn't want to unless he likes you. It took me three years to get him to talk to me. You'll see what I mean by the irony when you hear his name,"

"How long has he been in here?"

"Three years and counting,"

Before Thor could question further, Taylor banged on the door. "Laufeyson? You Awake?"

There was silence from in the cell and Taylor slid open a slit in the door to see in before opening it.

Inside there were two single beds with cream blankets on thin mattresses and a few pillows. There was also two bedside tables, two small desks, each with small chairs and a chest of drawers at the foot of each bed. Thor looked at the bed on the right and saw a boy sat on it cross-legged with a book in his lap.

Thor couldn't see his face because his pitch black hair was in the way but he noticed he was skinny. And from what he could see of the boy's hands around the book, he was pale too.

"Loki," Taylor greeted and tugged Thor into the dimly lit room.

The boy looked up and stared straight at Thor. He had thin pink lips and sharp features. His eyes were wide and a bright emerald green.

Thor registered what Taylor had called the boy. Loki. That's what he meant by the irony. Thor and Loki, the Norse gods. One of thunder and one of lies.

The blond smiled nervously at Loki and Loki stared back, not even blinking.

"This is Thor," Taylor announced. "Your new roommate,"

Loki stared at Thor for a few more seconds then looked back down at his book.

Taylor sighed and opened up the chest of drawers at the end of the unoccupied bed. Thor saw that there were more sets of the clothes he was currently wearing as well as something flannel and a few black things. He looked back over at Loki and saw he was wearing the same bottoms as Thor but had a black t-shirt instead of the white Thor had been given. He guessed they had a choice.

Taylor confirmed this as he went through what was in the trunk. The flannel was pajamas bottoms.

Taylor went through a few other things but Thor wasn't paying attention. He was staring at Loki.

When Taylor eventually finished, he asked where Thor wanted to go and he said, without hesitation, that he wanted to stay there.

Taylor smirks and whispered, "He has that effect on everyone," Before leaving to stand guard outside.

Thor creased his brow, wondering what he meant and sat down on his new bed.

He watched Loki for a few minutes but he didn't move a muscle so Thor started the conversation.

"Um, hi," He smiled and Loki slowly lifted his head to stare at him. Thor shifted uncomfortably; Loki looked scary looking up through his dark hair.

As if he read his mind, Loki pushed his hair back out of his face but continued staring.

"I'm Thor,"

Loki rolled his eyes.

"As you've already heard…"

Loki nodded.

"It's a little funny how we got put together, right? You know, because of our names?"

Loki didn't react.

"You know," Thor cleared his throat, about to use the only knowledge of Norse mythology he knew. "I read a poem once, called Lokasenna. Thor threatened to knock Loki's head off," Thor chuckled nervously and Loki narrowed his eyes.

"Not that I'm threatening to knock your head off!" Thor hurried to clarify.

Loki nodded slowly.

"Then Loki still didn't shut up so Thor threatened to throw him into the sky where he'd never be seen again. Then when Loki still doesn't stop talking he threatens to break every bone in his body but Loki says he has plans to 'live a while yet' so Thor threatens to send him to Hel then Loki shuts up,"

Loki blinked at him.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Thor continued; remembering something Fandral teased him with once. "I read somewhere else that Thor and Loki dressed up like women to retrieve Mjolnir,"

Loki didn't move.

"Mjolnir is Thor's hammer. My mom made me one when I was little for fun,"

There was another uncomfortable silence.

"Did your mother ever make you anything because of your name?"

Loki nodded.

"Oh cool, what?"

Loki moved slowly to put the book to the side and got up to go over to his chest. Just like Thor originally thought, Loki was really skinny and pale, but despite this he moved graciously, slightly feline.

He opened the chest and dug into the bottom to take out a bundled up blanket but then placed it back in carefully and went back to sitting on the bed, pulling the book back onto his lap.

"Um, can I see it?"

Loki shook his head no.

"Are you going to speak to me?"

He shook his head again, concentrating on the book.

Thor sighed and laid down.

Half an hour of silence later, Taylor knocked on the door.

"Boys, get up, I have to take you to dinner,"

Thor sniggered at that and Loki put the book under his pillow and stood near the door. Taylor opened it and tilted his head to indicate for them to step out. The bulky man stood in between them and placed a hand on each shoulder, leading them through the corridors to a canteen. It wasn't as big as the one at Thor's school but it was still a considerable size. There were other patients sat around the room, at tables and on the floor. At the far end there was a serving bar too.

Taylor lead them to the queue where there were other security guards stood around.

"Well, this is where I leave you, Thor, I'll be over there if you need me," He pointed over at a table where other guards were sat eating, probably on break. "Loki,"

Loki looked up.

"Look out for him, okay? Remember what it was like when you were new, how you felt,"

With that, he walked off.

Loki turned to look at Thor and Thor looked back, slightly uncomfortable under Loki's scrutinizing gaze.

Thor thought he was about to just walk off and leave him or tell him to stay away from him but instead he jerked his head towards the queue and lead the way. Thor smiled and followed him.

When they got to the work surface where there were dead-in-the-eyes women serving food, Loki picked up two of the red trays and handed one to Thor, without looking at him.

"Thank you," The smiled again but Loki ignored him. The first woman smiled at Loki and put a plate on his tray. The plate had mashed potato, carrots and peas, and a piece of beef. She reached for the gravy jug but then stopped, obviously knowing Loki doesn't have gravy.

Loki smiled at her slightly and moved on. She placed a plate with the same stuff on Thor's and held out the gravy jug in question. Thor nodded and thanked her as he moved on. The next woman put a bowl with a piece of flapjack in on his plate and held up a jug of custard in question. He nodded again and thanked her. He looked up to see that Loki was gone.

He muttered a quick curse and moved on to the next woman who offered him drinks. He took the milk carton and thanked her. When he walked out of the serving area with his tray he noticed Loki was stood leaning against the wall with his own food, waiting for him. Thor smiled, relieved, and went over to him.

When Loki saw him approach he pushed off the wall and walked over to an empty table at the back in the corner with just two chairs, one on either side, whereas all the other table were bigger and had at least four chairs.

Loki sat down on the chair in the corner so that he could see the entire canteen and picked up his cutlery, pushing his food around his plate while staring out of the window beside his head.

Thor sat opposite him and started eating. It wasn't as horrible as he imagined institution food to be and finished within five minutes. He ate his pudding too and Loki still hadn't eaten anything.

"You going to eat that?" Thor pointed at Loki's food, talking around a mouth full of flapjack and custard.

Loki looked at him in mild disgust and pushed his own tray towards the blonde.

Thor smiled at him and ate all of Loki's food too.

"Thank you," Thor smiled again when he finished. "What do we do now?"

Loki shrugged, turning back to look outside and resting his head on the windowsill.

"Should we get to know each other?"

Loki didn't respond so Thor continued. "I'm from New York. I know I sound British, that's because my parents are from London and I was home schooled for the first thirteen years of my life so they were the only people I really heard speak,"

Loki still didn't respond.

"Except for people on TV,"

Still nothing.

"Do you hate me?" He asked suddenly. Loki lifted his head off the sill slightly and glanced at Thor before shaking his head.

Thor smiled, relieved. "Good, I don't want to make enemies with my roommate on the first day of me being here," He chuckled.

There was still silence.

Thor looked at his tray and opened his mouth to speak but he heard someone else speak first.

"Do you ever stop talking?"

Thor looked up at Loki and wondered if it was him who had spoken. He looked around and noticed there was no one else close enough to be heard that clearly.

"What?" He asked.

Loki rolled his eyes and spoke again. "Do you ever stop talking?"

Thor smiled. "Sometimes, when someone else is talking,"

Loki rolled his eyes again and turned his attention back to the window. Thor panicked a little, trying to think of a way to make Loki speak again so he didn't lose him.

"So, you sound British too, where are you from?"

"London,"

Thor grinned happily when he didn't have to struggle to make the other boy talk.

"Then why are you in America?"

"My father moved us here after my mother's death when I was nine,"

"Oh," Thor's smile dropped. "Sorry about your mother. Do you mind if I ask how she died?"

Loki glared. Which, Thor could safely say, was the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen.

"Yes, I do mind,"

"Alright, sorry," Thor held his hands up.

Loki turned his attention back to the window.

"How old are you?" Thor asked, desperate to keep the conversation going.

"Seventeen,"

"I'm eighteen," Thor smiled at him but Loki didn't look at him.

"How long have you been in here?"

"Three years, I've been told,"

"'You've been told'?" Thor furrowed his brow. "You don't know?"

Loki shrugged. "Stopped counting after a year or so,"

"Why?" Thor was more confused. When Loki gets out he'll need to know what year it is.

"Because I'm never getting out so there's no point counting,"

Thor was about to ask why he wasn't getting out when another patient came over.

This was a pretty little ginger girl with pain skin and bright blue eyes. She looked about fifteen but that could have just been because of her small size.

"Hi, I'm Gwen," She waved at Thor, completely ignoring Loki, who just turned his attention back to the window. He rested his head against the sill again and closed his eyes.

"Hello Gwen, I'm Thor," He smiled back and Gwen nudged the table away from Thor a little and sat on his lap, wrapping her arms round his neck.

"Hi Thor, you're pretty,"

Thor awkwardly places his hands on her knees. "Um, thank you… you too,"

He looked up and saw Loki watching them lazily, his head still turned to the window but his eyes were following the slow circular movements of Gwen's hands on Thor's shoulders.

Gwen leant forward to whisper in Thor's ear.

"Word of advice: Stay away from that freak," She jerked her head towards Loki. "No one knows exactly why he's here, he's been here longest, but he's creepy. I'm assuming you're his new roommate?"

Thor nodded.

"You're his third. The first one was when he first got here. I wasn't here but I heard the other boy was seventeen – Psycho would have been about fourteen at the time – and he scared him so bad he ran into the garden crying and refused to be in the same block as him,"

Thor looked over to Loki and saw that his attention was outside again but he was a ghost of a smirk on his lips.

"The second was about a year ago, he was really sweet, his name was Carl. After a week he tried to hang himself with his bed sheets from the beam in your room. If you look, bits of the sheets are still dangling from the beam. You know what the creepiest thing is?"

Thor shook his head dumbly.

"When the guards rushed in to stop Carl, Loki was just say on his bed, watching him and laughing quietly. That was the only time anyone in here had heard him laugh properly, not sarcastically,"

Thor looked over at Loki, traces of the smile were still visible but he was pretending not to be listening but Thor guessed he was. His eyes were closed again.

"Carl said that Loki said something to him. But he refuses to tell anyone what. He was moved to a higher security facility. So, when you can, stay away from Loki,"

With that, she got up and walked off calmly.

Thor stared at Loki without even realising he was and as he was about to ask him something, Taylor came back over to take them to their room.

Thor took his pajamas into the bathroom at the end of the hall while Loki changed in their room. He knocked timidly but got no reply so Taylor just told him to go in.

Loki was already laid in bed, facing the wall and looked to be asleep so Thor put his clothes in the chest quietly.

Taylor said a quick goodnight, which Thor returned.

The light in there was off but the light from the corridor illuminated the room. Thor looked up at the beam in the corner over his bed and, before the light was shut out, he saw loose scraps of bed sheets hanging down from a knot tied around the wood.