Disclaimer: I don't own The Avengers, or any of the characters used in this fic. They all belong to Marvel and their respective creators. I only own any original characters that I choose to include, as well as any original plot ideas.
Love Is For Children
A/N: Set post-Avengers, and written up for a meme on tumblr. But I liked how this turned out so much, I thought I would share it with you all.
"Love is for children."
Fine, then. Not love. Perhaps some lesser form of the clearly unwieldy emotional attachment, but never love. He hadn't the patience, the capacity, for a mess such as that. But, whatever it was, whatever it had been, the remains were relatively empty and devoid of any real meaning. Of course, that was just something that he'd become accustomed to.
Something about Istanbul, the other had said, sadly shaking his head and gripping his napkin until it looked ready to fall to bits. Loki hadn't heard much after that, had only imagined that that damned spitfire of a woman had gone out in some insanely violent blaze of glory or some such. Something that suited her rather than lying down and dying like a dog. No, he knew better. She was far more talented than that.
He hated the look in his brother's eye, the unspoken sign that he had known something had been going on. That was why he'd asked for this meeting, insisted on just a scant few minutes of peace between the pair of them. He'd wanted to bring the news himself, offer that same comfort he'd been able to when they had been boys. So he wasn't a complete idiot. But Thor likely couldn't fathom just how fond of her he'd been, even if Loki wouldn't dare to call it love.
"What now?"
An excellent question, one that Loki still didn't have an answer for. He probably never would. A shrug, the breath surprisingly cold as it escaped him like a puff of cigarette smoke that rose up from the ashtray between them. Nasty habit, she'd told him.
"What, indeed."
"Would you... Would you tell me one thing, Brother?"
Loki stared blankly at him, still not used to hearing that word pass Thor's lips. "What is it?"
"Was it love?" The Thunder God fidgeted slightly. "Did... Did you love her?"
There was a moment's hesitation, the silence curling into a faint smile that rested upon the Trickster's face.
"Love," he said quietly, "is for children."