Odin had thrown another massive feast, a celebration of Asgard's victory over another, smaller realm that had attempted to wage war. They hadn't gotten very far - Asgard's warriors crushed their opponents within mere hours.
Everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Thor sat near his friends, Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun, all of them enjoying the food.
"This meat is delicious," Volstagg remarked, taking a huge bite out of the drumstick he was holding. "The royal chefs have outdone themselves."
"Aye, they have," Thor agreed.
The staff really had gone all out, making five types of meat, three types of bread, along with several hearty vegetable dishes and soups. There was more than enough food for everyone at the banquet to have at least four or five helpings.
"It's a wonder how your brother stays so thin," Hogun said, he himself finishing off a large bowl of beef stew.
The group glanced over at Loki, who was sitting at another table nearly alone. He had a plate in front of him with a small piece of bread and a very small piece of meat, both of which he occasionally picked at.
Thor sighed. He had invited Loki to join his table, but Loki had refused. He seemed to prefer to be alone.
"Perhaps he is ill?" Fandral suggested, "He seems awfully pale lately."
Fandral's words broke Thor's train of thought.
"Hm? Oh, I do not believe he is ill."
"I'm not so sure," Volstagg said, reaching for another drumstick, "He seems to get smaller each time we see him. You ought to watch him, make sure he's alright."
Thor nodded in agreement. He had heard all of this before. Loki never really ate much, not even when he was a child, but lately it seemed as though he was barely eating at all. There were other changes as well. Loki seemed to be more moody, if that were at all possible, and he became tired more frequently.
The blonde looked at his brother again. Loki glared at him in response. It was then that Thor began to wonder if perhaps Volstagg and Fandral were right. Perhaps something really was wrong with Loki. And, being Loki's older brother, it would be wrong of Thor not to intervene! But how to do it...
Then Thor had an idea. It would have to wait until later in the evening, though.
00000
After the feast had ended Loki returned to his room, likely wanting to study some of his texts of magic. Thor, meanwhile, had made his way down to the kitchens. The cooks were busy cleaning up from the evening's event, but they were happy to make up a meal for their prince.
They placed several large pieces of meat on a tray, along with an entire loaf of bread. They loaded another plate with various desserts – slices of cakes and pies and a giant bowl of chocolate pudding.
"Is this enough?" one of the cooks – a small, older man asked.
Thor looked at the tray. The cook had managed to stack the numerous plates very skillfully.
"Aye, this is perfect. Thank you."
The cook smiled and nodded, "It is no problem at all, your highness! I hope that you enjoy it."
00000
Thor exited the kitchens and entered the main hallway. Loki's room was further down, not far from his own. He arrived at his younger brother's door soon enough.
"Loki?" he called out, knocking on the door.
"Yes?" an impatient voice asked.
"It is Thor. May I come in?"
Loki sighed. "Fine."
The younger prince opened the door using his magic, and Thor walked inside.
Loki was sitting cross-legged on his bed, reading a rather large book. He looked up when he heard Thor enter.
"Got yourself a midnight snack?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked over the tray in Thor's hand.
"It is not for me."
"No? Did Volstagg make you bring him food, then? I know how much he loves to stuff his face," Loki smirked.
"It is not for Volstagg, either."
Now Loki was confused. "Who is it for, then?"
"It is for you," Thor answered. "You did not each much at the feast, so I brought you some food."
"Really?" Loki asked, rolling his eyes. "You truly had nothing better to do than to bother me with this?"
Thor frowned. "You do not look well lately," he said, "You have lost weight, and you always seem tired. Myself and our friends are concerned for your health."
"Our friends?" Loki laughed, "You mean your friends, Thor. I have no idea why they are concerned, either. I am sure that they, among many others, would be most pleased if I were to wither up and die."
"That is not true," Thor said, seriously. "No one would be happy if that were to happen. I, for one, would miss you greatly."
"Right," Loki replied, clearly not believing what Thor had said, "Well thanks for your concern but I'm really not hungry and I've got much work to do. You may leave, now." He turned his attention back to his book, expecting Thor to get up and leave, but Thor didn't budge.
After several awkward seconds, Loki cleared his throat.
"I said, you may leave now," he repeated.
Thor shook his head. "I am not leaving until you eat."
"I told you, I am not hungry." Loki was beginning to get annoyed. "Are you so dense that you cannot understand this simple statement?"
"I do not care whether or not you are hungry. I am not going to leave until you eat."
Loki took a deep breath. "You're making this hard on yourself, Thor. If you do not leave on your own, I will use my magic to make you leave."
Thor could see green sparks already forming near Loki's fingers. It didn't frighten him, though.
"Do you think that mother and father would look kindly upon that? You, using your magic to harm your brother, who was only trying to take care of you? Need I remind you that you are already on thin ice, what with the whole Ári incident."
Loki scowled. He knew that Thor was right. Recently he had become angry at Ári, who happened to be Odin's favorite guard. He had used his magic to turn him into a two-headed donkey. Odin and Frigga were not pleased, to say the least.
"...Fine," Loki finally agreed, the magic dissipating from his hands.
Thor couldn't help but grin.
"Great! Perhaps we should move to the table, then."
Loki rolled his eyes again, but did get up to follow Thor over. He had a little table that he usually used as a place to write down notes for spells, but it would suffice as a place to eat for now. He watched as Thor took the covers off of several of the plates on the tray, only then noticing how much food there was. He summoned a pitcher of water and a glass from the other end of the room. He would need it, it seemed.
"Now, what would you like to start with?" Thor asked, picking up a fork.
"Ugh. The boar, I suppose."
Thor nodded and began cutting up a large piece of boar meat for his brother. When he finished, he stabbed a piece of it with the fork and held it up to Loki's mouth.
"I can feed myself, you know!", Loki sneered, trying to snatch the utensil from Thor.
Thor was quick to move his hand.
"I want to help you, little brother," he said, grinning again. "Let me feed you."
"Oh there is no way -" Loki started, but Thor cut him off.
"Or, I could tell mother what really happened to her favorite gardens."
Loki glared at Thor. Damn his brother, having so much to blackmail him with! He hadn't even meant to to give the flowers consciousness! It had been a spell gone wrong. Thankfully, he had managed to banish the flowers – who seemed to be hungry for Aesir flesh, for some reason – to another realm before anyone noticed. Anyone but Thor, that was.
"I hate you," Loki said, right before opening his mouth.
Thor began to feed Loki, slowly finishing the entire cut of meat.
"Are you happy now?" Loki asked, after finishing the last bite.
"No. There is still much more to go."
Thor held up the glass of water to give Loki a drink, then began cutting up another piece of meat. When he was done, he ripped the loaf of bread in half.
"Which would you prefer?"
"The bread."
Loki was giving him his best 'I will get you back for this' look, but Thor chose to ignore it. Instead he focused on feeding Loki pieces of bread until the entire half of the loaf was gone.
They moved back to meat after that. Thor cut up and fed Loki two more pieces of it, giving Loki water whenever he asked for it.
"I'm really not hungry anymore," Loki said, finishing the last bite.
Thor shook his head, "You are far too thin, brother. You must eat some more."
"I've eaten enough," Loki argued, "I want to go back to studying!"
"Fine," Thor replied, "I'll just go see if mother is still awake. Perhaps she will be in a good mood and she will not be upset about the flowers."
Loki glared at Thor again.
"I hate you. I did say that before, right?"
Thor shrugged. "I'm just trying to help you. Now, there are some vegetables, or you could have some dessert if you like. The cooks gave me some of everything."
Loki surveyed the plates of vegetables and the desserts. They really had given Thor some of everything. There had to be at least five different types of sweets there.
"That," he eventually said, pointing at a large slice of chocolate cake.
Thor said nothing, but proceeded to cut off a piece of the cake and feed it to Loki. He did this again and again until the slice was gone.
Loki chose a piece of pie after that, followed by the pudding. By the time he finished that, though, he was starting to feel extremely full. He could feel his stomach pushing up against his shirt and trousers, making both items feel too tight.
Loki realized that Thor must have noticed this too, as he caught his older brother staring at his middle.
"I think I'm done, now," Loki said, resting a hand on his stomach. All he wanted to do was go lie down and read. Was it so much to ask for?
Apparently, it was.
"You may go when you've finished the rest of the food," Thor replied, scooping up a piece of yet another dessert.
Loki sighed again. Thor would not relent until he got his way. There was no use fighting it. He opened his mouth to allow his brother to feed him again.
00000
By the time Loki had finished the rest of the desserts, he felt awful. Eating the rest of the bread just made it worse. It hurt to breathe, nevermind actually move around at all. He had unbuttoned his trousers a few minutes prior, thankfully. The pressure on his stomach would have been even more intense had he not.
Thor paid no attention to Loki's discomfort. He had just begun picking at a bowl of peas when he heard his brother groan.
"Please, Thor, I really don't feel well," Loki begged, rubbing his stomach with one hand. It provided a modicum of comfort, though he continued to hurt.
Thor looked his brother over again. His stomach stuck out enough to where Loki almost appeared pregnant. It was much more distended than it had been just a short time prior, and Loki was clearly in pain.
"Alright," Thor finally agreed. "You do not need to eat any more."
Loki was very relieved. Now, if he could just get over to his bed, maybe he could go to sleep and feel better in the morning.
If only. The main problem there was actually standing up and getting to the bed. Walking would be very uncomfortable, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice.
Frowning, Loki slowly pushed himself up from the table. He held his stomach with one hand, feeling its contents slosh around as he stood up. He couldn't help but whimper.
Within a second, Thor was at his side.
"Let me help you," Thor said. Before Loki could even reply, Thor had picked him up. The blonde carried him bridal-style to the bed, where he laid Loki down. The trickster groaned again as he settled down on his back. Immediately, he reached for his stomach, trying to rub it to make himself feel better.
Even lying down, his stomach was huge. At least to Loki, it was. He couldn't even see the tips of his toes! Damn Thor, and his strange need to make Loki's life miserable!
"Here," Thor said, pulling up Loki's shirt and resting his palm on Loki's stomach. "Let me."
Loki really wanted to shove Thor, to make him go away, but he didn't have the energy to fight. His body was more concerned with digesting the enormous amount of food inside of it and thus he was tired.
"Fine," he replied, removing his own hand.
Thor sat next to him and began to rub his stomach, pressing down gently on it as he worked. It felt painful and pleasurable at the same time.
"Ohh," Loki moaned, as Thor ran his hand along the bottom of Loki's curve. Normally his brother's stomach was completely flat, and his hip bones stuck out. Now, his belly stuck out at least a few inches above his hips.
"Do you like that?" Thor asked, noticing how Loki closed his eyes bit his lip.
"It... it felt good," Loki answered.
So Thor did it again, and Loki moaned again.
Soon enough Loki's thoughts about being angry began to fade. Instead he began to feel extremely calm. Thor was still silently touching him, making him feel better. Within another few moments he was completely relaxed, having forgotten about the pain he felt before. Thor really was doing a good job.
The next thing he knew, Thor was pulling down his trousers. Loki cracked an eye open.
"Close your eyes, brother," Thor told him. "I am just trying to make you comfortable before you sleep."
Loki blinked, but followed Thor's instructions. Yes, sleep would definitely be nice. He felt so relaxed that he thought he might well sleep through the night. Come to think of it, this was the first time in years that he felt so relaxed.
He felt Thor pull a sheet over him and sighed contentedly, feeling even more drowsy. He had one last thought before completely nodding off: Maybe eating like this wasn't so bad, considering the effects it produced.
Loki was asleep when Thor slipped out of the room, taking the tray and dirty dishes with him. He was happy to see Loki getting some rest. Even if his brother ended up resenting him for it, he had no regrets.
