Thor Has A Cat
Thor has a cat. It is a black cat. Small, for its age and prone to weakness, which means Thor has to take it to the vet a lot. But he doesn't mind. Because he loves this cat and he knows the cat loves him back.
Thor also has a little brother. He has black hair and is small for his age, prone to weakness, so he has to take him to the doctors a lot. But he doesn't mind. Because he loves his brother and he knows his brother loves him back.
Thor knows Loki is not his biological brother, but that's never once stopped Thor from loving him and he knows it never will. No matter what happens between them. He places a thick palm falls on Loki's forehead and feels his face, obviously checking temperature and for signs of a fever. Aside from the cough though, Loki feels relatively normal for this time of year.
"Thor..." he says, "I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me. I'm twenty-two, I think I can take care of my self for a day."
"Nonsense," Thor shakes his head, pouring some cough syrup into a cup for Loki to drink. "I'm not needed at work today anyway, all I'd be doing is sitting there and looking pretty."
Loki pulls a face.
"Thor, you're a model. Sitting there and looking pretty is your job."
Thor shrugs.
"It matters not. I took a carers day of leave to look after you and that's what I'm going to do."
Loki makes a strained face then, trying his hardest not to lay thick and heavy sarcasm on his big brother. He knows Thor is only trying to help, but really? A carers day of leave to look after him? He's twenty-two for god's sake, not four!
"Thor," he replies, holding back the tongue-lashing he dearly desires to give his brother in the wake of this new information. "I… appreciate your concern, it's just, don't you think missing work to take care of me is a bit much? I'm not a child anymore. I don't actually need you here, I can take care of myself."
Thor sighs, returning the cough syrup to the night-stand and placing a cold cloth over the younger's forehead.
"You say that," he says, as he reaches over Loki's head. "But if you were really okay, these wouldn't be out right now. You'll have to excuse me when I say I don't believe you."
Loki feels a pair of fingers on his ear and, immediately, he blushes a bright crimson.
Oh, his ears.
Not his human ears, his cat ears.
"Yes well… perhaps I am a bit more under the weather than I let on, but it doesn't mean you have to be by my bedside. As long as the curtains are closed, the neighbours will not see anything and it will all be fine."
"What if you run out of cough syrup?" Thor counters. "Or tissues? What if you have to leave the house as you are?"
"Then I'd just put on a beanie." He answers dryly.
"And this?"
Loki suddenly feels a hand at the base of his tail and lets out a noise halfway between a shriek and a yells, startled by the frigidness of Thor's fingers.
"Don't do that!"
Thor simply lets out a laugh and lets go.
"See, I am needed here." Thor smiles, petting Loki's head with such fondness that Loki can't help but nearly strangle himself in order to keep from purring.
"Besides," he continues. "It's nice to spend time with you again, little brother. Even if you are a little sick. We never see each other anymore and I miss our conversations together, they're always fun and enlightening."
"You missing our conversations is not my fault. You're the one that had to go on a three month modelling trip to Europe! I've been here, working my butt off in order to get a permanent position at the lab." Loki sniffs.
Thor gives him a soft chuckle and takes the cloth from Loki's forehead in order to rinse it.
"And I'm so proud that you did. Besides, they would have missed the most brilliant scientist in the world if they'd refused youa job."
Loki flicks a twitched smile in his direction.
"Thanks, Thor." He murmurs, so quietly the elder nearly misses it.
"That's alright little brother." He answers, the grin on his face much larger than Loki believes is necessary. "I'll support you, no matter what. You know that, right?"
Loki hums in acknowledgement, his eyelids starting to grow heavier as the conversation drags on. Thor's comforting hand stroking back his hair like his mother used to do when he was a child isn't helping his conscious state either, but he fights against the sleep that wants to claim him for as long as he can.
"Sleep, brother." Thor mutters, noticing the drooping of Loki's eyes. "I will be here when you wake."
"…promise?" Loki asks, sounding very much like a worried child.
"I promise." Thor nods.
Loki gives him a small smile and blissfully closes his eyes then, the transformation already taking hold. With swirls of shining silvers and luminescent emerald greens, his brother's human form seems to shrink and twist itself into something entirely new and, within a minute, Loki has changed―his hair now fur, his hands now paws. His black-cat form takes up most of the pillow, though now he takes up none of the bed, so Thor hauls himself onto the rumpled bedsheets and starts petting his little brother, curled into a sweet little ball. Thor can feeling him purring under his hand and hardly dares to move it away for fear of waking the little cat, already halfway to dream-land.
Thor knows Loki is not his biological brother, but that's never once stopped Thor from loving him and he knows it never will. No matter what happens between them.
END