Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Marvel-characters!

AN: Greenloki, thank you so much for all your help! I also want to thank everyone that has read the first chapter and decided to come back to read the second chapter. Thank you for your feedback and I hope to hear your opinion again!

~ We Might Fall ~

Chapter 2

June 20th, Thursday.

It was a lovely surprise coming home at seven in the evening to find a cooked meal waiting for him. Truthfully, Thor didn't know Loki could cook, but he supposed there were a lot of things he didn't know about his brother. They hadn't been that close the last few months after all, and Loki had never been a sharer to begin with. He has always been a very private person, even when he had just been a boy. However, since Loki's sudden arrival a few days ago, Thor felt he already knew Loki better than ever before.

So Loki turned out to be a great cook, but Thor figured that shouldn't surprise him. His brother had always been a perfectionist after all which meant that the steak was grilled just right, the potatoes were baked to perfection and the sauce had just the right amount of salt and pepper. Thor hated to admit it, but this was a better meal than Jane had ever cooked for him.

He even got dessert: chocolate mousse.

And they talked, about everything and nothing. It made Thor realize that he actually missed his brother. He didn't know why he'd never called him when he'd still been with Sigyn or why he never invited them over to have dinner together. It could have been fun. It would have been fun. Sigyn and Jane might even have liked each other, but it was too late now. Thor doubted he would ever see Loki's soon to be ex-wife again.

"Have you heard from Jane today?" Loki asked as he washed the dishes. There were only a few plates, glasses and bowls so the task was expected to be done in about ten minutes. They might watch a movie together then.

Thor grabbed a linen towel and helped Loki with the chore. "Yeah, she called around four o'clock this afternoon," he replied with a smile on his lips. Thinking of Jane always made him feel happy. "She is having a blast at the university and I'm starting to wonder if she'll even come back at the end of the eight weeks."

"Of course she will come back" Loki chuckled, then paused, a hint of mischief in his eyes. At least that had not changed. "Or perhaps not. Maybe she will get a permanent job over there and you will have to move to Connecticut." When he spotted the – albeit feigned - shocked expression on his older brother's face, he burst into laughter.

"I am not moving to that God-awful place," Thor said, an actual shiver running down his back, though he knew perfectly well Loki was only joking. "I like it here. I grew up in this city, and so did Jane. I doubt she would want to live so far away from her parents anyway."

"That's what I said all those years ago," Loki stated, his amusement and playfulness suddenly ebbing away now that his thoughts had turned towards Sigyn. He shrugged, shaking away all thoughts of her. Thor simply couldn't understand how Loki's feelings towards that woman had changed so much. There used to be a time where he would have died for her, but Thor supposed that everything could be broken in the end. "You and Jane seem really happy, though," Loki continued, his voice light and carefree again – as far as that was possible, "may I ask why you haven't proposed yet?"

Thor was genuinely surprised by that question and he could not bring himself to answer.

"Come on, Thor," Loki grinned. "Everyone knows you were always the more romantic one of us. You went on dates and brought flowers for the girls. You paid for their dinner and you behaved like a true gentleman. Everyone assumed you would be the one to tie the knot first, but now look where we are."

Thor smiled at those memories. He did go on a lot of dates when he'd been a few years younger and he had always tried to be Prince Charming. He often succeeded, too, but none of those relationships had gone anywhere until he'd finally met Jane Foster. He had actually asked her mother what her favorite flowers were so he could appear with them in hand on their second date. "I'm still romantic," he said after a short silence, finding Loki's intense green gaze on him. "And I might ask her to marry me one day, but…" No, he could not finish that sentence. Perhaps he owed Loki the truth, but he just…couldn't do that to him. Not now.

"But what?" Loki prodded, his emerald eyes filled with curiosity.

"Nothing."

"Come on, Thor," he said. "Don't be shy."

"I don't know why I haven't asked her yet," Thor replied, hoping that the explanation would be enough. However, who was he kidding? This was Loki after all. "Perhaps I just don't feel like we're there yet."

"Not there yet?" Loki repeated skeptically. Of course he could see straight through Thor's lie. He had always been able to do that, even when they had only been boys. "You've been together for how long? Five years? Six? And that's not counting those months where you just dated her. How much longer do you need to be together before you know if she's the one, before you know whether or not you want to marry her?"

Thor picked up the glasses he had just dried and put them away in the cupboard.

"Come on, Thor," Loki continued, his eyes having narrowed suspiciously. "What are you hiding from me?"

Thor grew exasperated. "Nothing!"

"Tell me," Loki pushed on. "You were always the one who said you wanted to get married before you were thirty and you are thirty-four now. Why haven't you proposed yet?"

"Because I don't want to end up like you."

Crap.

He said it. It had slipped from his tongue so easily and now the damage had been done. He watched Loki's eyes grow wide with shock, he watched his face pale slightly and his shoulders grow tense. He had hurt his little brother and Thor wanted to smack himself on the head for it. How could he do this to Loki?

"I'm sorry, I am so sorry," he sighed, knowing he had to apologize. "I don't know why-"

"No," Loki interrupted him. He returned his gaze to the dishes, strands of raven hair falling before his features, effectively hiding the hurt expression in his eyes. "No, you are right. Of course you don't want to end up like me."

"Brother-"

"I mean, look at me," he sighed heavily, and even though his face was half concealed, Thor could see his green eyes glazing over. "I'm thirty one years old, I'm getting divorced from my first and only girlfriend, I quit my job because I couldn't stay in that small town any longer, and I am living with my brother." He swallowed heavily. "I'm living on your charity."

"That isn't true," Thor argued. He had not known Loki had such a negative outlook, but that should not come as a surprise either. Thor didn't know why he hadn't expected it. Of course Loki didn't have very positive thoughts right now! All his laughing and joking was just a façade. "You're going through a difficult time in your life, yes, but don't think for one second that you are living here because I am being charitable. You live here because you are my brother and I love you. I want to help you."

A humorless snort came from Loki's nose. "I shouldn't need help."

Thor dropped his linen towel on the counter and took a step closer towards Loki. He placed a hand on his thin shoulder and forced him to look at him. Loki refused at first, keeping his gaze down, but when Thor remained silent, Loki finally raised his green eyes. Thor hated himself. He had actually managed to make his little brother cry.

"There's no shame in needing help, Loki," Thor told him, his voice holding only sincerity.

"That's very easy to say when you have never needed help in your life," Loki countered angrily.

Thor nodded thoughtfully. "You are right," he said. "But I believe in what I am preaching. There might come a time where I will need help, but I will know I can always come knocking on your door." He watched Loki grow silent, serene – timid almost. "I know you loved Sigyn with all your heart for years, I don't even know if you've actually stopped loving her, and doesn't that make this entire situation, this divorce, harder?"

Loki nodded, blinking away his tears. "I have loved her for so long," he sighed. "But I don't love her anymore. All the shouting, the blaming, the heated arguments, they were awful, Thor, and we just couldn't go on like that anymore. It hurts that I don't love her anymore. It actually hurts. How messed up am I, huh?"

Thor tightened his grip on Loki's shoulder. "Did you know that you are the reason why I believed in true love for so long?" He asked, steadily holding his little brother's troubled gaze. "Mother only ever saw Sigyn as the girl that stole you away from her at such a young age, but I saw her as some kind of princess. She had to be for you to love her so fiercely. Everyone thought your relationship would end in just a few months because you were just seventeen years old, but it didn't end that quickly. It lasted years and every time I saw you two together, it gave me hope."

Loki bit down on his lower lip. "Doesn't that mean then that I crushed your beliefs of true love?"

"Not really," Thor replied, shaking his head. "It means we have both grown up and we have both gotten more realistic about what it means to love someone and to have a relationship. It's hard work, sometimes very hard work, but it's worth it, isn't it?" He watched Loki grew confused. "Would you take it back? Would you undo all of your years together with Sigyn, now knowing how it ends?"

That question gave Loki food for thought. He stayed silent for a few minutes, but finally, the smallest, yet saddest smile curved his lips upwards. "No," he answered. "Because we were good together for fourteen years. We had fun and we loved each other."

Thor pulled Loki closer, embracing him. "That makes it that much harder, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Loki sighed, allowing his brother to hug him. "It's hard to let go of such a massive chapter in my life." He let go of Thor, his tears not having disappeared entirely. "Thanks, Thor, for everything."

"You're very welcome."

June 25th, Tuesday.

Today was a difficult day because everything sort of seemed to crash down. The day had started badly – not exactly for him, but Thor had decided that Loki's fate was now his fate – and it seemed it would end badly as well. He had woken around 6.30 that morning, not due to his alarm blaring him awake or because his phone rang unexpectedly, but because he'd heard the upset voice of his brother. The walls of his house were thick, but they hadn't been thick enough to dull the sound of Loki's breaking voice.

He'd gotten out of bed after five minutes of listening to Loki talk, but being unable to hear what exactly he was saying. At first he'd wanted to ignore everything by turning around in his bed and pulling his blanket over his head. He'd wanted to grant him some form of privacy, but eventually, Thor's curiosity had won, as had his concern. He'd quickly gotten dressed and tripled downstairs to find Loki pacing the floor of the kitchen, a phone plastered to his left ear.

"Well, whatever, Sigyn," Loki had said harshly, but it hadn't been harshly enough to hide the heartache, "you can do whatever the hell you want." At this point, he hadn't noticed Thor was standing in the kitchen, too. There was a short pause. "I'm not being immature-" He had been shouting now. "-I'm just saying that I don't care anymore. I've cared enough, I think, I've cared too much!"

At this point, Thor had started to think that he really shouldn't be there, listening to Loki have this obviously painful conversation with his soon to be ex-wife. He had just been about to turn around and quietly sneak away when Loki turned into his direction, emerald green eyes shining brightly with unshed tears.

He'd mouthed 'I'm sorry' at him, but Loki merely shook his head and continued his pacing.

"Yeah, good luck and whatnot," Loki had spat into the phone. It went without saying that those good wishes were insincere. "Don't call me again," he'd said and then he slammed his phone shut.

For a moment, Thor had felt completely awkward and intruding, and he'd been a second away from apologizing when Loki had suddenly spun around and thrown the phone against the nearest wall. Thor hadn't been able to breathe for a moment. He'd just been able to stare. He had felt as if the man standing in his kitchen hadn't been his little brother anymore. The Loki he knew didn't smash phones, didn't let out a strange, strangled cry. But this new man standing before him did.

A minute had passed where Thor stayed completely still and Loki had pulled himself together.

"Sorry," he'd muttered as he'd stared at the floor. "Just…sorry."

"There's no need to apologize," Thor had replied. If anything, it had been he who should have apologized. "I know it's a silly question, but are you okay?"

Loki had sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes momentarily. When he'd opened them again – two wide green eyes staring right into his blue ones – he'd been crying. It was another thing Loki normally didn't do. Thor couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen him cry.

"We'd agreed to sell the house," Loki had explained as he'd angrily wiped away his tears. "But she doesn't want that anymore. She wants to live there with him. With Theoric."

"The guy she cheated on you with?"

Loki had nodded his head. "Yeah," he'd replied, finally having calmed a bit. "Isn't that the biggest insult? Our marriage fell apart and now she just wants to start anew with the same guy that was the straw that broke the camel!"

Thor honestly hadn't been able to reply to that.

"I fucking hate it," Loki had whispered. "I hate everything about this situation."

Again, Thor hadn't had the faintest clue what to say.

"I'm sorry to have woken you," Loki had said after another short silence.

Finally he had known what to say. Finally, he had no longer felt like a complete, awkward idiot. "No, it's okay. I have to get to work anyway so…it's okay." So perhaps he had still been an idiot who couldn't find the right words to comfort his brother.

"Yeah," Loki had said. "I have to get ready, too." When his gaze had met Thor's this time, he'd regained a bit of his confidence. "Do I look like a complete mess? I have a job interview at Stark Industries. I'm supposed to meet the big man himself, but… I look like a mess, don't I?"

"No, no, not all," Thor had fumbled and he'd scolded himself for behaving like this. "Just take a shower, eat something and you'll be just fine."

Loki had answered with a smile – a faint, watery one – but a smile none the less.

So that was how his bad day had started and it hadn't gotten any better afterwards. He had actually just been in the shower himself when his phone hadstarted ringing. He'd been greeted by Steve's voice who'd told him that there had been another victim which meant there were nine bodies now. This time, it had been a man and apparently, his death had been quite gruesome.

Phil Coulson had been tortured and eventually burned to death.

And now Thor was sitting in another special meeting with Fury droning on about how important it was that they caught this serial killer. As if no one already knew that. But it was hard for Thor to stay focused on catching a killer since his thoughts kept slipping to Loki. He kept thinking about his failed marriage to Sigyn, about that horrible phone-call this morning and how he was currently in a job-interview. Thor hoped with all his heart and soul that Loki got that job. It would be a nice distraction.

He wished he could just help his brother.

"Where's your head, Thor?" Steve asked as soon as Fury declared the meeting over. "You're constantly zoning out."

"Sorry," Thor sighed. "It's my brother. I think his divorce is slowly turning into a battle of sorts." He stood and gathered all his papers and notes – not that he made many notes. "I'm just worried about him, that's all."

Steve nodded, nothing but sincerity in his gaze. "I understand," he said. "But right now, you need to keep your head in this game. We have a sadistic bastard to catch. I already spoke to Dr. Banner this morning and he believes that it's only going to get worse from here on out."

Thor found himself strangely skeptical towards that piece of information. "Can it get any worse? This guy was tortured and burned to death, Steve. How can someone top that?"

"Apparently," Steve said solemnly. "It can get worse. Let's just hope we don't find out how worse."

Thor nodded and got to work and for a few hours, he forgot about Loki's troubles again.

~ 0 ~

With a new victim on their hands, Thor had been forced to do some overtime that day. A lot needed to be done after all. Statements needed to be collected and investigated, the media needed to be kept at bay, family had to be informed and much, much more. Safe to say, it had been a tiring day and when Thor had finally gotten home around midnight, he hadn't expected Loki to be lying on the couch, the TV still playing some ridiculous, awful movie.

"Loki?" He asked as he entered the living room. He switched on the light which seemed to wake Loki from a slumber. He looked absolutely exhausted. "Why are you still up?"

"Oh, hi, Thor," Loki greeted him. He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands and straightened his back. "I wanted to stay up for you. I heard about the new victim on the news."

Thor raised one eyebrow. "And you stayed up because…?"

"I wanted to…" Loki hesitated. "I guess I wanted to make sure that you were okay. According to the news-report, it was quite the gruesome death."

Hearing Loki say those words caused him to smile – not the gruesome death part, of course, the making-sure-he-was-okay-part. "I'm thankful for your concern, Loki," he said. "But it's nothing I haven't seen before. I'm fine and you shouldn't have stayed up."

Loki shrugged. He reached for the remote and switched off the TV.

"But I'm glad that I still catch you tonight," Thor continued. He walked over to Loki and dropped down on the couch beside him. "How was the job interview? Did you get it?"

"I don't know," Loki answered. With the TV now switched off, it was almost eerily quiet in the living room. When none spoke, they could only hear the faint ticking of the clock above the door. "I'm expecting a call on Friday, but I think it went okay. I'm actually overqualified for the job which might be a hindrance, but then again, I've always wondered what it would be like to be a statistical analyst in such a big, multinational corporation."

"I'm sure you'll have that job," Thor said confidently. "Did you meet the big guy for the interview?"

Loki nodded and he actually appeared excited. "We had such an interesting conversation," he replied. "He really is a smart guy and once you get past that intimidating first appearance, you find that he's quite a normal guy, too."

If Thor didn't know better, he would think Loki was impressed. "Did he mention Stark?"

"No, of course he didn't," Loki answered as if it were the most logical thing in the world. "It's kinda…private, isn't it?"

"I suppose," Thor said. "Anyway, we should both get to bed. It's after midnight and I have to get up early tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"I really hope you have that job," Thor said as he stood, Loki following his example.

Loki smiled. "Me, too."

July 8th, Monday.

As always, there was no piece of evidence that lead the police to the killer. No matter how hard Thor and all his colleagues worked to find that bastard, it seemed that said bastard was simply too smart to get caught. Banner had said something about them only being able to catch him when the killer wanted to be caught, but Thor didn't believe that. Sooner or later, the bastard would make a mistake and they would nail him to the wall.

Thor really hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

It was Steve who drove him home that day when Loki had asked to borrow his car. It had been Loki's first day of working for Stark Industries and he would get a company car tomorrow. Of course Thor had allowed him to use his car. At this point, Thor would grant Loki's every request – as long as it was within the realm of possibilities and still legal. He was a detective after all, which meant he had an image to uphold. But anyway, it had been no problem to ask Steve to pick him up and bring him back home again for one day.

"Do you need a lift tomorrow?" Steve asked as he pulled up at Thor's driveway.

"No, thanks," Thor replied, grabbing his bag and coat at his feet. He checked if his gun was still safely strapped to his side. "Why don't you stay for dinner? Loki said he was going to cook a pasta dish or something. Not surprisingly, he's a good cook."

"Is there anything you can do better than your brother?" Steve asked, raising one eyebrow while humor and amusement laced his voice.

"Not really, no," Thor chuckled.

Steve laughed, a genuine, warm laugh that Thor enjoyed to hear. Steve was one of his best friends and each chance he got to make him laugh, he would take. Or perhaps he was simply overcompensating because he wasn't able to make Loki laugh anymore – not like he used to anyway. Then again, Thor doubted that there were many things that could make Loki laugh right now.

"I didn't think so," Steve replied, directing Thor's thoughts away from Loki again. "However, I must decline your offer. I told Peggy I would be home at seven and look at that-" He nodded towards the small clock in his car's dashboard, "-it's five past seven so I'm already in trouble."

An idea hit Thor. "Why don't you go pick her up and then come back here? I'm sure there is enough food. Loki always cooks for the entire neighborhood because he still believes I eat like a hippopotamus and before you ask or say anything, no, I do not in fact eat that much. I just work out, thank you very much."

Steve snorted. After a short moment of silence where he contemplated Thor's offer once more, he said, "Okay, I will accept then. Peggy and I were just going to order some food anyway so I guess we might as well come have dinner with you. Besides, I would love to taste your brother's cooking." It wasn't the first time Steve and Peggy would have dinner at his place.

Thor was kinda looking forward to introducing his little brother to Steve and Peggy, because he wasn't shy to admit that he was proud of him. He would always be proud of him. "I'll see you in twenty minutes then," he said as he got out of the car.

Steve nodded. "Yeah."

~ 0 ~

Thor entered his house, already feeling the weight of his work fall from his shoulders. This was his home. His sanctuary. When he was here, he didn't have to think about paperwork, unsolved thefts, rapists, killers, serial killers, or anything else. He could just come home, take in a deep breath, and forget about the world's miseries for the evening.

Unfortunately, coming home now also meant dealing with Loki. He loved that his brother was currently staying at his place, but Thor also kinda hated it and that made him hate himself. Sure, he was proud of Loki and of course he loved having him around and he loved him dearly, but…Thor just didn't know how to handle the whole divorce-thing. It was ridiculous, really. It wasn't even his divorce. Thor just didn't know how to help Loki.

Yes, that was the problem. Now more than ever, Thor felt useless.

He tossed his bag into the corner and dropped his wallet and phone onto the low closet near the front door where he kept all his keys and also, the mail. He checked if any important letters had arrived today, but he saw nothing. He shrugged off his jacket and hung it on the peg. The smell of pasta and salmon hit him suddenly and Thor realized just how hungry he was. A smile curved the edges of his lips upwards. He did hope Loki wouldn't be angry with him for inviting Steve and Peggy over, but he somehow doubted it.

He turned to the door that would lead him into the kitchen but instantly came to a halt.

For a moment he couldn't move. He couldn't breathe.

He stood frozen.

A large red spot seemed to glow in the middle of the white door. It seemed to taunt him, dare him, mock him. Underneath the large spot, several smaller ones were visible and Thor had seen enough crime scenes to recognize a blood-splatter when he saw one. He also had enough knowledge to know that a person needed to have a really bad wound or cut to produce that much blood.

Blood.

Thor's heart was beating furiously within his chest. It apparently wanted to jump out of his chest.

He still couldn't breathe.

And then he heard a voice.