betaed chapter by the great Charlie ^^
Hellooooo!
thank you all for being so amazing ^^
sorry for my terrible late, but I had another fandom to think about.. :/
Anon: hellooooooo dear, how are you? So nice to see you even here ^^ LOL, nope, I swear I was sure that brunet was okay even for black-haired guys… well, let's pretend it is, it's just to bothering to write 'black haired guy ' every time ahah
thanks for your support ^^
1WeirdGinger: lol, don't worry, dear, I LOVE to be under pressure, it's a way like another to show me that you care ^^
Sorry for mistakes, I'll post the betaed chapter as soon as it's ready ^^
Have a nice reading :)
Chapter IV: Doubts, prizes and jealousy
"Etcì" Thor sneezes for the fifth time in the morning, so the tiny pipe of glass, with an odd liquid inside that indicates the corporeal temperature, slips from his lips, landing safe and sound on the soft edge of the bed, avoiding an inglorious crashing end.
"Just as I have feared - you've got the flu!" Frigga murmurs, placing a hand on his forehead that is hotter than usual.
She definitely prefers the traditional methods.
"I don't trust that strange tool!" the woman grumbles, staring with not very well hidden diffidence the thermometer that she gathers from the bed and places in its case.
"It's a gift from Bruce; you know, he's also a doctor and that's the way the Midgardians check their temperature… etcì!" Thor explains with the umpteenth sneeze, as he sets himself better under the sheets.
"You haven't caught the flu since you were an adolescent; I guess that your journeys on Midgard made you weaker." the woman makes her witty remark. "The great, feared and mighty god of Thunder… " the woman goes on, pitching her voice to make it more resounding. "Knocked out by a little cold water… if only your father knew that!" she chuckles at the end.
"Mother! It's not very nice of you making fun of your son!" the blond protests, insulted in his self-respect.
"A proper king must have also a good sense of humor and self-irony." the woman strikes back.
"Yeah, sure; I guess that father conquered you, because he made you die laughing!" Thor remarks pungently.
"We're not talking about me, nor about your father!" Frigga is on the defensive.
"However, I'd like to point out that no, it wasn't just cold water, it was freezing, beyond every possible level. And probably it's not only that, I wonder what hellish spell Loki must have cast on it!" the blond grumbles.
"Oh no, my precious, don't say such absurdities! You know better than me that Loki can't use his magic anymore. I'll tell you what exactly happened: you worked out with too much vigor, so you caught a cold. And then, Loki's joke did the rest, but you gave him the premises!" his mother states.
"You always defend him!" Thor accuses her.
"I defend him only when it is fair!" the queen points out.
"It looks like it's fair way too often!" Thor mutters under his breath.
"Hey, I heard you! This is not a proper way to speak to your mother!" Frigga reprimands him.
"If you really want to know that, your younger son, so rightful, fair, faultless and perfect, even tried to strangle and poison me last day … with a soap!" Thor reports, overstating the real facts.
"You surely must have done something to provoke him!" is the impassible queen's reply.
Thor jolts, recalling what his not very brotherly intentions were.
"No, no. I assure you that I didn't do anything to him!" Thor swears.
The only answer he gets is Frigga's laughter, as she caresses his hair.
"Honey, it's Loki the god of Lies, not you; you're more transparent than water, I can tell whenever you lie to me." She explains. "Which is a quality of yours that I really adore!" she smiles, bending over him to kiss his forehead.
- Fight for mother's love; Thor:1-Loki:0.– the god of Flashes ponders, victoriously.
"I don't want to investigate any further, but whatever you did to Loki, I'm sure that it wasn't his intention to harm you, it was just a warning." the woman goes on, walking towards the window to close the curtains, in order to prevent the sun from permeating the room with too much impetuosity.
"After all, you know how your brother is, don't you?"
"With a criminal and deranged mind, power-hungry, feeling an insane, vicious pleasure every time he tries to destroy all the realms he can?" tries Thor.
"No! I meant that he's got such a big heart and a docile soul that he's forced to close up inside an armor of coldness and hostility; in order to hide his insecurity. Your brother is misunderstood who ended up acting like he acted, because of his sudden lack of certainties and an acceptance that your father has denied him … and you know how much he was sorry for that." she reminds him of those sad and grey days when they thought Loki was lost forever.
"The point is that your brother can give a lot, if you know how to manage him properly. You must have hurt his sensibility somewhat!" she asserts.
- Fight for mother's love. Crushing:1-Loki:2 – the blond ponders, snorting.
"Instead of accusing your brother in vain, you should just try to get better. Forget the training for today, you must rest!" she summons him.
"But… " Thor dares to protest.
"No buts! We're lucky, because your father won't be back before sunset, thanks to his bureaucratic commitments with a neighboring realm. I have all the day to make you recover; we'll pretend that this has never happened!" the queen informs him.
"Are you really going to say nothing to father?" the blond asks her hopefully, disliking the perspective of looking weak in front of Odin's eyes.
"It will be our little secret!" Frigga guarantees, winking at him.
"It's comforting to know that you don't always side only with Loki!" Thor chuckles.
"Oh, come here, my big jealous guy. To my love you and Loki are never in competition!" she replies, hugging him.
- Fight for mother's love. Thor:2-Loki:2. Even –the blond smiles at himself, relieved, unable to think of a better result than that.
"Mother, although the rest is good for me, there's another way to help me recover faster!" Thor informs her, parting from her embrace.
"How?"
"Open the drawer close to the table, you'll find a tube inside." Thor instructs her and Frigga obliges.
"Now, be gentle, give me a glass of water." Thor goes on, getting what he required.
"What are you going to do? And what is this tube?" the woman asks him curiously.
"It's another gift from Bruce, they're aspirins … at least I guess they're called like that. They have the power to heal the one who uses them." he explains, opening the tube and putting a tablet into the water who becomes effervescent.
"Is that normal?" Frigga wonders unsure.
"Yes. It's like drinking a magic potion… but it's less damaging!" Thor assures her, before gulping down the medicine in one shot.
**** (In the meantime)
They rays of sun wake Loki up, warming his ethereal face with their pleasant heat.
The brunet pops his eyes open, raising his head from his arms where he had sunk it; realising that, while he kept making all those silent questions, he ended up falling asleep on the balustrade.
A little shrunken, he massages his neck, aching after that uncomfortable position.
It's not his main problem: to be so exposed in sunlight for so long made him hot and thirsty, incredibly thirsty, but he recalls too late Thor's so-called-revenge.
"Damn Thor!" he curses out loud, deciding that he should spare his voice not to make himself even thirstier.
But the only mention of that name is enough to make him sink in his pondering, although it's not very optimistic.
- Thor can't have any interest towards me, save the one of trying to redeem me. And, of course, trying to humiliate me in every possible way, as he persists with his intention. Let's not fool each other ; I'm very aware of what I am and what I've done; I'm an assassin, I crave power, everyone thinks I'm insane, I'm a psychotic; Thor couldn't ever seen me in a different light … he just wants to take the black, lost sheep back to the damn, golden herd!- he thinks, disgusted, grasping the railing between his fingers.
- No, probably he didn't understand anything … nor will he ever!- he states, before allowing some not so remote memories invade his mind.
All that time that they have spent together, not only because Thor was forced to; the harmonious and the witty long chats, those mutual, fleeting gazes, the moments of relevant awkwardness between them.
A small part of Loki still feeds that hope.
- Who knows? Maybe, at least a little bit… -
The god of Chaos smiles, forcing himself to forget all his troubles, at least for that moment.
He has slept for so long that it's already early afternoon, there's only few hours to the sunset.
Too bad that he jumps to another conclusion.
- I'm dying with thirst and there's anything even remotely potable. To poison myself is not the main creative activity on my agenda for today! And the sunset is still so far away!- he figures out, alarmed.
/
"Good evening, Loki, how ar… " Thor commences, as he feels as good as new, enteringing in the room of the prisoner.
"Water, water, water!" Loki runs towards him, worn out by the thirst.
Thor is fast to place everything on the bed, holding the jug in his hands, that jug full of the water that the younger prince craves so badly.
"Oh, that's good. So you want this, don't you?" Thor figures out, aware that, for once, he has the whip hand.
It's such a succulent occasion no to take advantage of it.
He holds the jug as higher as he can, preventing Loki from reaching that, although the brunet is jumping.
"Damn. If only I still had my powers, I would have already snatched it from you with the force of a magnet!" Loki grumbles, hoarse, because of his terrible thirst.
"But you have not!" Thor strikes back pungently, dodging the other for the umpteenth time, while he tries to catch the jug.
"Please… " Loki gives in, exhausted, too weakened to be as combative as his usual.
"It's not enough." Thor asserts.
Loki confines himself to questioning him with his look.
"You know better than me what I want to hear from you!" the blond adds.
Loki gulps down the few saliva left in his mouth, because he's about to make a huge effort.
"Please… brother!" he declaims, clenching his fists and almost using violence against himself; and as if he had just pronounced a magic formula, the second after he finds himself holding the desired jug in his hands, while Thor is grinning, radiant with happiness.
Loki is too busy drinking the fresh, pure water with big sips, to notice anything else.
"I'll make you pay for that!" Loki swears, as his face darkens, as soon as his thirst is extinguished.
"Oh, I'm trembling with fear!" Thor makes fun of him, pretending to be scared.
"Although I don't have my magic anymore, I'll do all I can to make your life impossible to live!" Loki warns him.
"I just don't see how!" the blond shrugs.
"Never underestimate me, Thor; never!" the younger god sneers.
"Saving the threats for later, what about eating something?" Thor exhorts him, showing the meal to him.
This time there are not only the rolls of bread, but also a lot of fresh fruit of every kind.
"Well, well, this is what I call a progress!" Loki smiles.
"You have no idea how hard is mother fighting for this issue; she already managed to persuade father to reconsider his meal disposition, as you can see. If things go on like this, I guess that soon I will bring you a steak!" Thor informs him. "Of course, already cut in pieces, because no one would be so reckless to give you a knife!" he adds immediately after, playfully.
"Yeah, you would be so unwise and you would repent bitterly for that!" Loki jokes with him, giggling, before taking a big, delicious red apple and bite into it fiercely.
Thor loses instantly his will to laugh and his main thought becomes only one.
- I want to be that apple!-
(End I)
More to come in the next part.
Hope you'll still like it and have fun with that ^^
plllleeeeeeaaase, let me know in any case ^^
Goodnight, it's shamefully late XD
