The Golden Apple
Author's note: Also posted on my tumblr.
Thor, Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, and the Lady Sif were drinking in the main hall. Bones and spilled wine were the only remnants on the golden table of a great feast. That afternoon, the five warriors had brought back a giant boar with golden tusks. It had taken all five of them half a day to bring it down, and the feast in their honor when they returned had been enormous. Though it was now late and the rest of the castle had long since retired, Thor, the Warriors Three, and Lady Sif saw no reason to stop with their revelry.
"If only we had some women!" Volstagg roared, and he slammed his tankard on the table so hard it shook. "No offense, my lady," he told Sif.
"None taken," she said with a feral grin.
"Indeed!" said Fandral, and Thor, Hogun, and even Sif made noises of agreement.
"Servant!" called Volstagg. A lesser god looked out from the doors to the kitchen. "Find us some women!" After a moment of hesitation, the servant nodded and disappeared.
"If only the daughters of the Vanir were still visiting," Thor said with a grin. "Were they not surely the most beautiful women ever to grace the nine realms?"
"Ah, you insult your future kingdom," Fandral told him. "There are no women more beautiful than those of Asgard."
"And here we have proof!"
The five of them turned to the door. Two beautiful women stood at the entrance to the great hall, seemingly shy. The servant was nowhere to be seen. "Did my lords ask for us?" one of them asked tentatively. Her hair was as golden as Thor's and fell past her waist. The other was as dark-haired as Sif, but her hair hung in thick ringlets to her hips.
"Welcome, ladies," Volstagg said, standing unsteadily and gesturing to the room at large. "Will you join us for some drink?"
The two women stepped into the room and approached the long table, but they paused at the end opposite of Thor and his friends. "Is the wine fine?" the dark-haired one asked.
"The finest Asgard has to offer!" Thor called from his seat at the head of the table. "Will you not join us? You have nothing to fear, even from warriors as great as us."
"Don't be shy!" Hogun agreed. "Come where we can see you!"
The blond one giggled and stepped up onto the table. "Better?" All five of them roared their approval. Thor thought it strange for a woman of Asgard to act in such a manner, but he grinned and yelled along with the rest of them. The wine had long since muddled his mind, and he brushed away his misgivings easily enough.
She walked slowly down the length of the table, the five warriors hooting as she came closer. What might have been a smirk graced her lovely lips, and her hips swayed confidently as she walked. Her companion stepped up onto the table behind her and followed her lead. The first woman did not stop until she had reached Thor at the very head of the table. She smiled down at him flirtatiously. "Are you the great Thor, who I hear bested the golden boar with nothing but his bare hands?"
He grinned up at her. "I am Thor, but you have heard wrong. I would not have been able to bring down the beast without my friends you see here."
"Surely you are being too modest." She knelt in front of him and leaned toward him. "Our future king must be stronger than all others in Asgard."
Thor laughed at that but did not deny it. The wine made him feel very pleasant, and the sight of this woman up close doubly so.
"A kiss, then, for the man stronger than all others." She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. He blinked and she was already gone, standing in front of Hogun and teasing him from the way his face turned red and the others laughed. The kiss had been strange; the slight touch had sent a jolt of electricity through him, but her lips had been cold.
"Two beautiful women are better than one," Fandral bellowed nearby, "but how can we enjoy them when there are five of us?"
"You're just jealous because they're all attracted to me," Volstagg bellowed back. The dark-haired woman, who was draped across his lap, giggled and whispered something in his ear.
"Surely these are not the only beautiful women Asgard has to offer," Thor answered. He could feel his blood burning in his veins. He slammed his hand against the table so hard it jumped. "Another!" he yelled.
"Another!" the other warriors echoed. The blond woman settled herself on Sif's lap and laughed.
Thor heard the click of boots on the floor, but the dark-haired woman had winked at him and he had become very distracted by the way the shoulder of her dress was slowly slipping down her shoulder. It was only when the laughter of his friends stopped that he looked up and saw Loki walking towards them, a smirk on his lips. He stared as his brother stepped up onto the table without any hesitation. He paused just for a moment at the end of the table and asked, "Brother, you called?"
The room burst into laughter. The warriors hooted and catcalled as Loki walked down the length of the table, his hips swaying as much as either of the women's had. Thor knew he was supposed to be laughing too, but he could not bring himself to do more than stare. Though they were grown men now, Thor still thought of Loki as his little brother. Thor swallowed heavily. If the confidence in his step was not enough, the length of his legs and the look in his eyes certainly said otherwise.
"Cat got your tongue?" Loki purred at him when he stopped barely an arm's length away. His voice was low enough that Thor was the only one who could hear him over the laughter. He leaned down slightly, and when he spoke it was as though his lips were pressed against Thor's ear. "You shouldn't go around letting people think you're their future king. You haven't even been declared heir yet." Loki laughed and stepped off the table, the leather of his clothing brushing Thor as he did so.
Thor suddenly felt sober and quite sick. He knew now that the women were not women at all, but Loki's apparitions sent to make Thor look like a fool. His friends had clearly not noticed, for the women were still there, sitting in their laps and laughing and drinking alongside them. Thor could still feel the cold lips on his, see Loki's smirk as though it were burned into his vision. Try to deny it as he might, when Loki had walked down towards him, Thor had thought him more beautiful than any beauty of Asgard. Thor swallowed again and tasted bile in his mouth. Loki always looked as though he could see straight into Thor's soul, and this time, Thor wondered if he really could.
Thor excused himself from the table and left his friends to their revelry. If he was to spend another sleepless night caused by tormenting thoughts of his brother, he would rather do so alone.