A/N:I was a little torn with this chapter about what direction I should go in, but hopefully it meets all of your expectations.
School and work are still taking up the majority of my time, but because I left the last chapter open-ended I wanted to get this done at a reasonable time. The next one will probably take longer and I'm really sorry for that.
Please enjoy...
Working Visa
Thor stared at, but not through, the clear glass door, as it felt odd that he was going to have a first meeting with someone he'd known his whole life. He knocked on the doorframe, deciding that it was the polite thing to do, as he wanted to make a good first impression since he had to give one.
Within the small room, Loki spun around, smiling mildly in professional courtesy before he approached the door and opened it for Thor.
"Hello," he started, "Come in."
"Thank you." Thor mumbled, moving into the room and past Loki, not able to meet the green eyes directly. He didn't want to admit that he was scared about what he would find there, and he didn't know if he could stand the lack of recognition that would undoubtedly lie within.
The room was small but seemed open with its glass walls. Agent Jay, who had escorted him to the room, had disappeared from the hallway outside. It left Thor feeling alone, despite the company of his once-brother. The fact that his presence now provoked such an empty space left him feeling sick; he had never before felt alone in the company of Loki, even after they had started going for each other's throats.
"You know why you're here, don't you?"
"Yes," responded Thor, not turning to face the other.
"Then you are the bodyguard sent from," there was the turning of pages, "the planet 'Asgard'. Thor, right?"
It stabbed Thor in his heart to hear that Loki needed a file to remember his name and the name of their home. "I am indeed."
He swallowed thickly and turned.
Loki stood regally on the opposite side of the table behind a metal chair. He had his head tilted curiously and Thor decided that he would, as he always had, protect his younger brother with everything he had, and that if he was going to accept this assignment then he would have to discover the rules that Loki was willing to play by. His brother deserved nothing less from him.
"What name do you go by now?" the blond asked softly.
"I'm called 'El'." Uncertainty flickered across his sharp face, "Did you know me... before?"
"Yes," Thor felt his throat tighten, "I did. We are-" he took a shaky breath and a step closer towards Loki, the table still between them as he changed his sentence; "You were taken in by my father as an infant. We were raised as brothers."
Surprise lit up Loki's eyes, and Thor couldn't help the smile that sped across his face at viewing the reaction, even though he knew it was tinted with a sadness that Loki wouldn't recognize.
Loki pulled a chair out from behind the table and sat in it hesitantly, his mind clearly drifting with the revelation. "I had no idea. No one told me." He folded his hands in front on top of the table and stared at them contemplatively. "I had assumed that I had no family to speak of. I don't know how I could have erased my memory if I had someone to leave behind. But I have a brother." He finished in awe.
It was the first time in years that Loki had said that word without spitting it in derision, and Thor tried to speak but couldn't form words around the emotion that had become stuck there. So he nodded instead and sank into the second chair. He watched the younger man turn the situation over his in mind with misty vision. There was a freeness around his younger brother's eyes that he hadn't seen since before his half-century birthday, and Thor was stunned to realize just how long his brother had been pained by his life and how long he had been ignorant to it.
"We'd had a falling out." Thor's voice came out rough and choked, "and I fear I may have inadvertently abandoned you many years ago. No doubt you felt as if you had no one to leave behind." He tore his eyes away from Loki's unfathomable gaze and stared at the table as he tried to blink his vision clear. "For that, brother, I will be forever sorry. You deserved more in your life than I could provide, and I am grateful that you have found it here."
While Thor was indeed thankful about Loki's new-found purpose, it did pain him to know that it was only with such removal from his past life that he could find peace. It had been his greatest hope that he could have helped Loki heal and have the friend that he remembered from their youth returned to him. Now, it seemed, that Loki's healing meant that Thor could never have the brother he remembered.
Thor closed his eyes. "Even if you don't remember our childhood, and even though you have carved out a new corner of your life without me, you will always be the most important person in my life. You will always be my brother."
... "Thank you, Thor"
The thunder god's gaze snapped to Loki's when he heard a choked, watery laugh. He saw tears glittering on Loki's sharp cheekbones, and a small but devastatingly sincere smile on his lips. "I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems to mean a lot to me to hear you say that."
Thor sniffed and cleared his throat. "It's my pleasure, El."
"The-" Loki hesitated, " The Men in Black agents discard their real names when they join the agency. I don't remember what it is, but I wouldn't mind if you wanted to call me by it."
After a pause, Thor nodded. "If you're sure you want to know it."
"I feel I owe you that much, at least, for putting you through this."
"You don't owe me anything."
Thor watched as Loki turned back to the file and swiped at his eyes and nose, visibly trying to pull himself together while his ducked head gave him the privacy of having his expression hidden. In the past, Loki rarely bothered showing such composure around him, even after their falling out, the intensity of emotions that the mischief-maker showed was never stifled for the sake of dignity. They had seen too much of each other for that.
Now, it was only Thor who had seen that part of Loki, whereas Loki had seen nothing of Thor and thus had no reason to trust him. He didn't know if this would be harder or easier to rebuild than it would have been if Loki had kept his memories, but it wouldn't stop him from protecting Loki with everything he had in him.
"Do we know why the Chitauri are attacking Earth once again?"
The green-eyed man looked up in surprise. "Well, apparently they're targeting me." He closed the file, "I'm not quite sure I want to know why, but I suppose if you know anything I should then it'd be best if you enlightened me."
Thor frowned, debating how much his brother would need to know and what he would want withheld. "You were allied with them, briefly. It did not end on friendly terms. I had thought that the Chitauri were now extinct, so I had not considered they would come after you. Had I known, I would not have let you out of my sight."
Loki gave a small, lopsided smile, "Well, you're here now." He rose from the chair, taking the file with him."And yes, I am sure."
"Sure of what?"
"Knowing my name," Loki said quietly, "I do want to know.
Thor stood, meeting Loki directly in the eye and smiling. "Loki. Your name is Loki."
Maria Hill was a professional. She tried to keep her nose out of her colleagues' personal lives, and expected that they do the same. Of course, she knew everything about everyone's personal life without having to stick her nose in, but that was neither here nor there.
She expected a certain level of decorum in the workplace and everyone knew it, so when Clint wandered into her office in casual dress and a bright smile on his face she didn't need two years of profile training to be able to see that something was up.
"Barton," she greeted, putting as much suspicion into her icy tone as she could.
"Hey, Maria."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I mean: 'Hello, Agent Hill'." He gave a small, apologetic smile before continuing unprompted, "You know this Men in Black turf war that's starting up over the Chitauri," It wasn't a question; she knew he knew she knew. "Stark has intel that a MiB agent is going to try and liaison with you at the Rye bar to try and infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D."
Maria swivelled her chair to face him more fully. "Did he get this from the hack? It wasn't in his report."
"He did, but it can't be that surprising; He's never going to trust us." Clint shrugged, "He wanted me to apprehend the guy, but I figure it'd be easier to let you in."
She smirked and decided that it could be fun, "Do we know who this guy is?"
Loki. The name rolled through his mind like a familiar song, but it left him feeling cold. It was lucky, then, that he had company in the humble apartment in the form of a new-found brother.
He had been relocated to a small apartment a block away from the MiB building. It was a safe house, of sorts, and was re-enforced with alien tech to keep him protected from the Chitauri, but it wasn't designed to house more than one person. Thor, however, had simply smiled at the dwelling and unfurled the inflatable mattress between the small television set and the coffee table.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay in the apartment across the hall," Loki called from the kitchen, as he heard the frantic sounds of the mattress pump coming through the archway, "Agent Jay ensured it was available for you."
"Nonsense," came Thor's increasingly cheerful voice, "How am I supposed to aid you if I am too far away to tell if you are distressed."
Loki chuckled and shook his head slightly at the enthusiasm. There was something infectious about the blond man's emotions, they seemed to spill out into the room and wrap themselves around the small Jotunn. It was easy to put together, from the way Thor had decided to protect him from a close distance, that he was the eldest of the two and Loki felt oddly comforted now that he had a protector.
Even though it was uncomfortable being around someone who knew him better than he knew himself, Loki kind of liked having a connection to the past he couldn't remember. Although, Thor was quite awkward, like he didn't quite know how to talk to Loki, but was putting all his enthusiasm into trying to learn. It was touching, really.
He stirred the sauce on the stove before turning the heat down.
"I appreciate the sentiment," he wiped his hands on a dishcloth and moved into the main living room, "but I don't want you to feel like you have to stay here just because of the assignment."
Thor, head still down as he pumped air into the bedding, answered, "Do you not want me here?"
"Of course I do," Loki smiled shyly, "you're my brother."
Thor looked up with a smile, but it froze when he noticed Loki there. Something passed over his eyes and his face arranged itself into something more polite, rather than joyful, before Thor returned to his task.
"Is everything okay?"
"It is fine. I just," the blond hesitated, "I have never really seen you in that form before."
Loki looked down at his blue hands, the patterns twirling themselves around his fingers and forming loops on his wrists. "This is my natural form. Is it unattractive?"
"It is... unexpected."
"I know that you are Asgardian, but surely you knew I was Jotunn if we are the brothers that you say we are."
Thor glanced up for a moment, but returned to the mattress as he covered it with a clean sheet. "My father informed me of your heritage. But you lived in Asgard as an Asgardian; you're true nature was never put on display. Indeed, my father explained it to be defence against scorn, a self-protection where you never showed yourself to be anything but Asgardian."
Loki looked back at his sapphire skin. Staying in human, or Asgardian, form was something that required his constant attention. It wasn't exactly physically draining, but it did tire his mind if he had to maintain it for a significant length of time. He could not imagine how he could be so uncomfortable with his natural body that he was able to, it seems, permanently and unconsciously keep up the illusion.
"I see," he mumbled uncertainly. "Would you be more comfortable if I were to change?"
Thor made a noise that sounded like he was going to respond in the affirmative but had stopped himself. Blue eyes looked back up at Loki, and ran themselves over the Jotunn, making the MiB agent shift uncomfortably and almost change into his pinker form just to escape the gaze.
The god of thunder turned back to his bedding. He answered in one word, so full on conviction that it was all the response needed.
"No."
