On wanting to be good

by VenusJay

A modern AU take on the story of Thor and Loki. Adopted at the age of seven, his social worker Steve helps Loki adjust to his new family. Finally feeling accepted, he is thriving at school, drawing the attention of engineering professor, Tony Stark who sees something in Loki that no one can explain.

1. Chapter 1

He was impressed. He watched him lean so casually against a locker and flirt with the girl from his class and was actually very good at it. He could see the supple gesture of his fingers and the boyish drawl to his words and she was obviously hooked. Loki glanced at him and he gave a congratulatory thumbs up. His brother smirked and Thor could swear the young lady melted a little. It had always been that way with Loki, he was generally quiet but undeniably popular. Thor knew just what Loki's silver tongue was capable of- he could charm and convince anyone of anything. It was magical to watch as children when they had caused unpresidented levels of chaos but when they stood before their father, Loki only had to utter a few regretful phrases and Odin would simply shake his head with a chuckle. Their mother was much less easy to manipulate however.

Gathering his own books, he located Fandral along the corridor as they headed to class. They were having a debate today and it was one of Thor's favourite tasks. Generally he had an easy time winning people over. He had years of tactics borrowed from his younger brother and had no mercy when employing them. Upon arriving, they shifted the tables and chairs in the room so as to create two opposing sides. Most of the girls watched from the sidelines and Thor could only imagine what Jane would say about the lack of feminism in a politics class. The best thing about Fridays was seeing Jane in the evenings. Her parents were quite strict about going out on a school night and Thor wanted to impress them. So he stuck to the restrictive regime they imposed, turning up at Five thirty on the dot and ensuring she returned home at nine. He knew he wanted to marry her so he did not want to mess things up. His days of chasing skirt tail were over. At least he could live vicariously through Loki's exploits. The second best thing about Friday was after leaving Jane home when he and Loki would go to the Park, climb the fence and sit on top of the slide.

Concealing his phone in his pocket, he quickly texted his brother before arranging his notes for the debate.