Once again, thank you so much for all of your support with this fic. Each comment, follow and fav fills me with joy!

If anyone is wondering, most characters that interact with Loki (Verity, Leah, America, etc) are canon. They are from the comics and have real relationships with our favorite God of Mischief.

Mortals have a saying: "Blood is thicker than water"

If been thinking a lot about blood ties, or DNA if you want to be more scientific. You, Odin, Frigga and Balder are related by blood. Looking back now, it's so obvious that I feel stupid for not realizing it sooner.

It always amazed me how close you and Balder were, even though we only visited them from decade to decade and they never came to Asgard. You two always seemed to get along. You liked the same games, the same foods, the same stories… It must have filled Odin and Frigga with pride.

Then there was me. Not really fitting this family picture and yet, I was the one Odin and Frigga had to bring back to Asgard while their secret son stayed on Vanaheim.

I wonder how much that hurt them.

Loki ran as fast as he could, leaving tiny ice footprints where his feet touched the hot ground. In five minutes, they would melt and vanish due to the hot summer sun.

He saw the red and blue sirens of the police cars in the distance and ran towards the buildings, hoping to lose them there. His little heart was racing inside his chest. All he could think of was to run.

If they catch me, they'll kill me, he thought. Home. I gotta go home. I have to hide.

The moment he jumped into the streets, he heard the humans' cries of shock upon seeing a strange, blue naked child with blood red eyes. He tried to run by jumping over cars, ignoring the angry and scared shouts. As he turned a corner, he bumped into an obese man who fell to the ground, crying with pain from the third degree burns where Loki's skin had touched him. A woman in front of him screamed in horror and every one turned to watch the macabre scene.

Don't look, Loki thought, feeling hundreds of eyes fixed on him, scared whispers and the flash of a camera.

"Don't look at me!" he shrieked, covering his face with his hands and running away again.

He jumped a wired fence and landed on a garbage bin. Using it, he held on to a metal bar and ran up the fire escape stairs of the building, continuing to run through the rooftops.

For a terrifying second, he thought he was lost in a sea of cement until he finally recognized his apartment building and ran towards it, jumping from roof to roof, freezing every surface he touched.

When he landed on his building's rooftop, he ran to the fire escape, only stopping when he recognized his own curtains at the window. He pounded on the glass, but it didn't break.

"No! Open, damn it! Open!" he cried hysterically, punching and kicking the window to avail. The glass wouldn't break, even with his super human strength. "Open up! Let me in! Please, just let me in!"

With a small 'click', the window opened slightly.

Too scared to wonder aboutthe magical lock, Loki opened the window and jumped inside his living room, landing on the carpet and thus freezing it completely. The ice spread to the floor and the chairs'legs. When he tried to stand up, he slipped on the icy floor and landed on his knees. Wherever he looked, he could see the ice spreading. The kitchen, the walls, the hall…

"Stop it!" he yelled at the ice, failing to bend it to his will.

Even as a Frost Giant, you're absolutely pathetic.

Loki began to gag. The knot on his throat became unbearable, sending waves of pain from his stomach to his chest as he felt his head spinning. Half crawling, half dragging himself, Loki managed to reach the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. His shoulders quivered and his eyes watered again as he emptied his stomach, but both his tears and puke froze solid.

When it was over, Loki kneeled on the floor in front of the frozen toilet, gasping for air between his sobs. He felt filthy, disgusting and sick. His Jotun skin felt too sensitive and foreign in his body, it felt different… too harsh. The skin of a monster that no one could touch.

Thisis your real skin. Not the other one, pink and soft. That one was a lie your own body tried to tell.

Loki dragged himself into the bathtub and closed his eyes. He could still hear the ice forming around him, freezing the entire bathroom. He pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his hands around himself, as if that could protect him from his own thoughts. He felt he was falling into the Void again. Desperate, consumed with hate and sorrow and overwhelmed with loneliness as he was swallowed by the shadows.

Help me. .

He wanted to go home. He wanted to awake up in his bedroom in Asgard with Eir fussing about his health. He wanted to crawl into his mother's arms, and cry and let her make everything better again. He wanted Thor to let him sleep in his bed. He wanted this to be a nightmare. He wanted his life back.

Except… that was never his life. It should have been Balder's. Balder was the real son. He was the one who should have the bedroom in the castle next to Thor's. He was the one who Frigga would cuddle at night. He was the son Odin really wanted. And Loki…

"Your birthright was to die! As a child, cast out on a frozen rock."

Loki was a mistake. He had failed at everything. Failed to be a proper Frost Giant, failed as a fake Asgardian, failed as a political tool, failed as a king and a conqueror, failed as a changeling…He was nothing.

Balder would have been perfect. He would have been the perfect brother and son. The perfect Prince. He would have done everything right.

Loki couldn't trust his memories now without questioning everything. Just like when he discovered about his adoption, he questioned every happy moment he remembered with his fake parents. How many times did they look at him wishing Balder was there? How many name days, ceremonies and family parties had they looked at Loki wishing Balder was there instead? Did they ever hold some affection for him or was it all pretend because their real child was away and they had to put up with him so he could be of use later?

Did mother…Frigga ever love him? How could she? Her real son had been taken away and then Odin had brought home a fake one. How could she possibly have loved him?

She couldn't. No one would love a fake son over a real one.

Balder was the son she should have raised, not him. Golden Balder who was kind, compassionate, noble and strong, while Loki was selfish, petty, unforgiving, and a manipulated, cheated and stabbed everyone in the back. Who would ever want him? No family would ever want him.

He was horrid and rotten to the core. No wonder everyone ended up leaving him. He didn't deserve a family. He didn't deserve anyone.

And why do you think that is?

Loki hid his face in his arms as he sobbed, digging his nails into his blue skin until he bled. He wished he had died as a child in that frozen rock. He wished the Void had really consumed him until he was nothing.

I wish I didn't exist.

"Loki?"

Loki stopped crying, not entirely sure of what he had heard. He turned his head towards the door and saw her. Verity was standing by the doorframe, mouth slightly open, and her blue eyes wide with disbelief.

"Loki? Is that… you?" she asked with a tiny voice.

Shame and rage came bursting from inside his chest like acid.

"Get out!" Loki yelled hatefully.

Verity recoiled from his yelling, but she didn't move, her eyes still fixed on Loki's Jotun form, which only made Loki angrier.

"What…? What happened?" she asked, her shoulders trembling from either the cold or fear.

Loki glared at her. He didn't want her to look at him. He didn't want anyone to look at him.

"What happened? This is what I really look like! This is my real self! That other Loki was a lie!" he shrieked, pointing to his blue chest and face. "So guess what? Everyone was right about me! I am a monster! So get out before I kill out where you stand!"

Verity's eyes were bright with tears, her tiny shoulders and legs still quivering.

Don't look at me like that. Just go away.

But she still wouldn't move.

"Get out! Get out! GET OUT!" Loki screamed, nearly tearing his vocal chords. The glass from the mirror exploded, causing Verity to cry with fear and shrink back against the wall. "I'm fed up with you! I want you out of here and I never want to see you again! So leave me alone! LEAVE!"

Verity's eyes were enormous as tears ran down her pale cheeks. Her lower lip trembling as she wrapped her arms around herself. Slowly, she lowered her head and left the bathroom. Loki breathed hard as he listened to her footsteps on the hall and the sound of his front door closing.

She's gone.

In the seconds that followed, he continued to take long, deep breaths. He could feel his throat sore from the yelling.

Now she's gone for good.

His own lips began to tremble as he tried to keep himself from crying, but soon he was sobbing again, doubling over with pain, followed by a torrent of frozen tears.

You brought this upon yourself.

Loki buried his face in his hands and wailed. The shadows grew closer around him.

Everyone leaves.

Suddenly, Loki heard his front door burst open and the sound of quick and light footsteps. All of a sudden, Verity was back at his doorframe, glaring at him through her own tears, her lips pressed into an angry pout.

"What the Hel are you doing here? I told you to leave!"

"No!" she furiously yelled back.

"Wha…?"

"I'm not leaving, so shut up!"

Looking out for the glass shards, Verity walked towards Loki, her pink sneakers crashing the ice on the floor.

"Don't come in here!" Loki cried, drawing back against the tub. "I don't want you here! Just go away!"

Even though she was freezing, Verity only stopped at the edge of the tub and glared at him with her bloodshot eyes.

"Just shut up and stop lying! You don't get to lie to me and then cry by yourself, you hear me?" she screamed at his face. "You don't want me to leave. You don't want to be alone, so no. I'm not leaving. I'm staying right here with you."

Loki blinked twice as he stared at the red head, his mouth opening and closing like fish out of water.

"What… what is wrong with you? I threatened you," he told her slowly, making sure she understood. "I told you I could kill you."

"Yeah and you were an ass," she answered back angrily, dismissing his death threat like a nasty insult.

Loki shook his head. "I don't understand you. Why are you here?"

"Because you're crying, stupid!" Verity snapped, tears falling from her eyes again. "You're crying and yelling and saying all these lies to make me leave but you don't want to be alone. I don't know why you're blue or why everything is freezing, but you're sad and crying really hard. I don't want to see you cry, even if you're an asshole. So I'll stay here until you're feeling better."

The boy stared at Verity like she was a very complex spell that he couldn't grasp no matter how hard he tried. Her words echoed in his brain, but he couldn't believe them. He didn't dare to believe them.

"Why? You know what I am. You know what I did," he asked, bleakly and confused. "Why would stay with me just for that?"

"Because we're friends, you stupid idiot!" she yelled in his face.

Loki's mouth opened, but no sound came out. He just stood there, staring at Verity's flushed face, watching her breath in the coldness of his bathroom.

"What?"

Verity actually rolled her eyes.

"For someone so smart, you're really stupid," she moved as close as she could and stared deep into Loki's red eyes with all the unwavering confidence a seven year old could muster. "You're my friend and I don't want you to cry anymore. It's not that hard to understand."

Loki shook his head. He couldn't believe what she was saying. It just could not be true. "You don't mean that. You're lying…"

"I'm not lying! Why would I be lying?" she screamed again.

"Because no one would be friends with me!" he yelled back.

Loki's vision blurred as new tears came and froze on his face. Verity's face softened and she started crying again. Loki had to look away.

"I would," she finally said, sniffing.

Loki looked up and forced himself to face her eager gaze.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you told me stories when I asked. Because I like seeing you do magic and because you gave me cookies and listen to me when I talk, and you were nice when I cried and… you try to speak the truth when I'm around even though you're a liar," Verity babbled, sniffing and cleaning her tears with the back of her hand, her eyes never leaving Loki's face. "And even though you're this big super villain who says evil things like wanting to brainwash people, you're really sweet and funny and… I like you. I really like you. I want us to be friends. And I know you're really a big god and I'm just a weird girl, but I still want us to be friends. So there, that's why!"

Loki's arms fell to his sides, his lower lip trembling as he lowered his head, unable to face Verity anymore.

little human girl who had just told him that she liked him even though he had tried to rule her planet. This mortal who wanted to be his friend even after he had yelled at her, threatened her and pushed her away. She had come back for him, because she didn't want him to be alone and cry in the dark.

She wanted to be his friend.

It's not true. It's not real. Why would she want to be friends with someone like me?

"Hey! Look at me," Verity ordered, but he just shook his head. "Look at me! Loki!"

Loki looked back at her. The sound of his name felt different when Verity said it. When Verity spoke the truth, it was absolute, the words felt powerful. It gave him strength, made him feel real and true.

For a few moments, neither one spoke, simply staring at each other's faces as if trying to memorize every detail. Loki focused on her blue eyes and noticed there was a little green in them. He stared at her flushed face and her bluer lips and remembered how cold she must have been. She could get sick.

Suddenly, Verity's hand reached out for his face. Remembering the dead cat and the cries of pain from the man he had touched, Loki recoiled. He felt a tiny tingling under his left eye, but ignored it.

"No! Don't touch me!" he shouted, moving away from her grasp. When he saw her surprised face, he immediately regretted his harsh words. "I'll burn you. This skin freezes everything it touches. I'll hurt you."

Verity stared at his face and smiled.

"It's alright. I'm going to be alright," she reached for Loki again, but he tried to move away. "Trust me."

She seemed so confident, that Loki stopped moving his head. He closed his eyes and waited for her sudden cry of pain, but instead, he felt her small, tiny fingers touch his left cheek softly, before she pressed her whole hand against his face.

She didn't scream and he didn't feel her skin burn from his touch. He felt nothing but her warm hand touching his cheek and something warm and tingling spreading to his nose and the right side of his face.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw Verity smiling at him.

"I think you're changing back to normal," she took her hand from his face and reached for a small mirror on top of the counter. He was surprised to realize how much he already missed her touch. "Look!"

Loki stared at the small mirror. Half his face was pink again, and his left eye was green. His Jotun skin was receding slowly down his right cheek.

"It's not changing back to normal, it's… this pink skin is the lie," he said hoarsely, one liquid tear rolled down his left cheek. "I've been lying to myself all this time. That isn't the real me."

Verity took the mirror away. "I don't think it's a lie."

Loki stared at her, confused. "Yes, it is. I'm a Frost Giant. I was born like this… it's who I am."

"But if thatwas a lie, I would see it, right? But I never saw you blue. I always saw you with this skin and I never felt anything was wrong," Verity answered matter-of-factly. "I mean… I can see your blue skin now too but… when you say you're a Frost Giant, there's something phony about it. Like you don't really think that it's true."

Loki felt the tingling down his neck.

"But… I know that I am one. Just… just look at me. I'm clearly a Jotun, even if I don't want to be one," he felt the knot growing tighter in his throat. "I can't change what I am."

Verity stared at Loki from top to bottom, with a peculiarly serious expression in her young face.

"Well, it's probably because you don't want to be a Frost Giant that you're not really one," she told him plainly. "You don't think of yourself as a Frost Giant, so you're not one. That's why your pink skin is real. You don't want to look blue, so you look pink instead."

Loki's eyes widened. "It doesn't work that way, Verity. I can't just stop being a Frost Giant because I don't want to be one. It's who I really am."

"Why not? Who says you have to be a Frost Giant? You don't feel like one, do you?" she asked him.

Loki stared at his hands, which were still blue and harsh. He stared at the lines on his arms that proved his lineage to Laufey and then thought about the man he had only meet briefly, his birth father. Wasn't he supposed to feel something for his father if they were tied by blood? Some hint of recognition or affinity? He had felt nothing for the man except hate and disgust. He didn't know him at all. He felt like a stranger, like all the Frost Giants he had met. He didn't feel like he was one of them. Even after accepting that he was adopted and not an Asgardian, he still didn't feel like a Frost Giant either.

"I… tried not to be a Frost Giant. I tried to be more Asgardian, but it didn't work," Loki looked away from his hands, facing Verity again. He had killed his birth father and destroyed half of Jotunheim to prove himself as a real Asgardian, a real Odinson, but he still wasn't one. Odin just rejected him more.

"I could have done it, Father! I could have done it! For you! For all of us!"

"No, Loki."

"If I'm not a Frost Giant, who am I? I'm not Asgardian either. I don't know what I am."

"Who says there has to be a name for it?" she asked.

"I have to be something! If I'm not Jotun or Asgardian then… then I'm nothing," he lowered his head again, he could feel new, hot tears rolling down his face now. "I don't wanna be nothing. Because… if I'm nothing, then I shouldn't exist at all."

Verity moved closer and grabbed Loki's face by his now pink cheeks.

"You're not nothing. You're Loki," she told him firmly, staring deep into his green eyes, her words filled with conviction. "You're you. You're always you. And that's good enough."

Out of all the things said to him in his life, Verity's words astonished Loki the most. No one had ever told him that he was good enough, there were always plenty of things Loki should be. A proper warrior, a better prince, a better son, a better brother. He had tried so hard to be what everyone wanted, that being himself always felt like a curse. When he realized that he was incapable of being what others expected him to be, his mind cracked open in two. The fact that he was biologically a Frost Giant, a runt with no worth either, only pushed him further into madness and desire to prove himself as superior.

In the end, every action he took to turn himself into someone powerful, respected and beloved by all only made him weaker, hated and alone. He couldn't be what they wanted, and when he tried, he only failed.

"You don't understand," he told her. "Being me… is not an option. Being just Loki is as good as being nothing."

"Loki, you're not nothing. You're a person. You're a lot of things," Verity told him kindly, her thumbs clumsily wiping the tears way from his cheeks. "You're a boy who tells a lot of good stories. You're funny. You're also a bit mean and a liar and you get angry a lot, but you're also nice when you want to be. You're good things and bad things," she moved even closer, their foreheads almost touching. "Being you is fine. You're special. There's no one in the whole wide world like you and I'm really, really happy you're you and no one else."

Loki's green eyes were wide and bloodshot red when Verity wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. He was crying on her strawberry scented hair, trying to remember the last time someone had been kind and gentle to him. He didn't remember it.

It couldn't be that simple. He couldn't stop being a Frost Giant because he didn't want to be one. And it wouldn't be enough for him to be just Loki. If it were, he would have found a place. He would have fit in. He wouldn't always the one no one liked and everyone despised. It didn't work that way, did it?

Except… Verity had told him that she liked him, even when he had been mean. She still liked him and wanted to be his friend when Loki had done nothing except spend time with her. Was that it? Was that all it took for her to want to be friends?

Verity moved away and looked down, her face immediately flushing. "Ah… you're naked."

Loki followed her gaze. He vaguely remembered his clothes freezing and shattering in the warehouse. "Oh."

Verity stood up and averted her eyes, still blushing.

"Anyway, I think you're almost normal. All that's missing are your legs and your arms. Maybe it's the heat. You changed faster when I touched you," looking around, Verity reached for the frozen shower head. It a little push, she took it out and turned on the hot water. After a few gurgling sounds, the stream of water finally came. "Okay. I'm gonna shower you with hot water and see if that can change you faster. Can you, uh… can you cover your… your thingy with your hands?"

Loki's head felt so heavy that it took him a few seconds to realize what she meant. Meekly, he covered his crotch with his blue hands while Verity poured hot water down his head and rubbed his hair and face with her other hand. It felt nice and comforting.

"Hey! It's working!" Verity said cheerfully. Sure enough, the blue skin kept on receding down Loki's legs and then his arms. "It really was the heat."

Loki raised his hands and watched as the blue skin vanished up his arms, to his hands and, finally, until his black nails changed back into their usual pink color. He let out a breath he felt he had been holding since he left the warehouse. His body felt normal and familiar again.

Verity turned off the water and walked towards the cabinets. Loki stared at her with his puffy eyes while she opened and closed his cabinets until she finally found the towels.

"You have to stand up now," she told him.

Loki did what she said, moving slowly, and feeling like he had run for miles. Verity walked over to him, carrying three bath towels and wrapped all of them around him, carefully not looking down.

"I'm not looking at your thing, okay?" she told him, helping him get of the tub.

"My penis?" he asked, too drained to be sleazy or modest.

Verity's face flushed like a red light. "Yeah… that. I'm not looking at it."

With a face towel, she dried his hair and, carefully, grabbed one of Loki's hands and pulled him out of the bathroom. Even though it wouldn't have hurt him, Verity made him avoid all the glass shards from the broken mirror.

She led him to the living room and made him sit on the couch before opening all the windows in the room. The sun was setting outside, but it was still incredibly warm. Loki felt the hot wind in his face and the smell of car oil from the streets.

"It's still pretty cold in here, so I'm gonna keep the windows open for a while, alright?"

Loki nodded and pulled the towels closer to his body, enjoying the warmth. He felt so tired, that he didn't say anything when Verity disappeared from the living room and heard her opening his cabinets in the kitchen. Instead, he focused on the ice he had left on the floor, watching it slowly melt into water puddles.

A few minutes later, Verity came back carrying a steaming mug with a spoon and some cookies.

"I made you tea. Mum always gives me tea when I'm sick, so I think it could help," she told him, handing him the mug. "I didn't know which tea you liked so I grabbed the first one I saw. Also… I don't know how to use that kettle thing. I just heated the water on the microwave."

Loki nodded and took a sip of the tea. It was chamomile and Verity had poured too much sugar on it, but he kept drinking it without a word.

Smiling approvingly at Loki, Verity left the room again and came back with a mop and a bucket. Loki stopped drinking the tea when he saw her clean the water puddles.

"Verity! You don't have to do this," he protested.

She glanced at him without stopping. "Yes, I do. The water is gonna ruin your floor."

"That's not what I meant," he shook his head. "You don't need to."

Verity stopped mopping the floor and frowned at him.

"I know I don't. I want to. So stay quiet and drink your tea," she lowered her head and kept working.

Loki felt too tired to argue, so he leaned back against the couch and drank the sugary tea and the cookies while he watched Verity clean his floor and then leaving to clean his bathroom. She showed up later with her cheeks flushed with sweat.

"I didn't pick up the broken glass. You can fix the mirror when you're feeling better, right?"

Loki nodded, though the idea of feeling good enough to worry about a broken mirror seemed ridiculous at this point.

"Good."

Without a word, Verity grabbed the empty mug, put it on his table and grabbed his hand again. Loki leaned on her as she pulled him to his bedroom.

"Where are your PJ's?" she asked.

"Bottom drawer."

Verity grabbed a pair of blue pajama bottoms, a green shirt and even a pair of boxers, walked back to him and pulled his towels down to his waist.

"You have to dress that by yourself, alright?" she handed him the boxers and the pajama bottoms.

Dutifully, Loki put on his underwear and the pants while Verity held the towels. When he was done, she let the towels fall to the ground and helped him put on his shirt.

"Okay… wait here," she told, grabbing the towels and leaving the bedroom.

Loki sat on his bed and waited. He heard Verity close the living room windows and his heart skipped a beat when he heard his front door open and closing again as Verity left the apartment.

In the seconds that followed, Loki felt overwhelmed with doubt and loneliness. Did she leave? She had told him to wait, but maybe she was done being his nursemaid. Loki wasn't in his Jotun form anymore or freezing everything, so probably that meant Verity thought her job was done.

Outside, the sun had disappeared, leaving his bedroom in the dark. He looked at his clock. It was nine-thirty.

Loki leaned against one of his pillows and pulled his knees to his chest. He was surprised to realize how much he already missed Verity. How lonely he felt in that apartment by himself. He wanted her to come back.

He waited in the dark, watching the minutes go by in his digital clock. By ten of clock, he lowered his head into his knees, cursing his childish body who just couldn't seem to stop crying like a pathetic, needy baby.

The front door opened and he raised his head, his heart pounding anxiously in his chest.

"Loki, I'm back!" Verity yelled, closing the door and turning on the lights on the hall. "Why are you in the dark?"

She turned on the lights in his bedroom and saw him in the bed. She had brought a yellow backpack.

"You came back," Loki said without thinking.

"Of course I came back," Verity answered. "What? You thought I left?"

The little god lowered his head and wiped his tears with back of his hand. "Sorry."

Verity's expression softened. "Hey! It's okay to cry. That whole 'boys don't cry' is stupid. If girls can cry, boys should too," she opened her backpack and handed him a paper tissue. "I went home and told my mom and dad that we were having a sleepover at your house. I had to lie and tell them your parents we're okay with it, but they didn't ask anything."

Verity left the room and opened the door to the spare room Loki never used. A minute later, she came back, dressed in blue pajamas with tiny butterflies and crawled next to him in his bed.

"Lie down," she told him, pulling his arm. "You look really tired."

Because he really felt tired, Loki obeyed and lay down beside her. Verity stretched and turned off the light, leaving them in the dark, before curling up against him, completely at ease, even though she knew that he could kill her and had been horrible to her. That didn't seem to bother her at all.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered.

In the dark, he felt Verity move and look at his face. "Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," the damn tears came up again. "And for the things I said… and the mirror. I'm really sorry."

Verity reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. "I forgive you. It was mean of you, but you were very sad. I know you didn't mean them. You were trying to make me leave."

Loki had never realized how much he missed being believed. Everyone was so used to him being a liar, that no matter what he said, they would give him those wary looks and question every word, even when he said the truth. He was the one to blame for that and he usually felt proud about his lying ability, however, he also felt frustrated when he really wished someone would believe him, but they always assumed he was lying.

He couldn't lie to Verity, which could be troublesome. But, that also meant that when he was honest, when he said what he felt or that he was sorry, she knew he was speaking the truth.

He didn't know how to deal with that. He didn't know what he was feeling right now.

"I'm not good at being a friend," he confessed, still surprised how relieved he felt. "I don't know how to be one."

Verity shrugged. "Me neither."

"I mean it. I'm too selfish and I lie all the time," Loki said sadly. "You don't want me as a friend. There are a lot of people who would make better friends."

As an answer, Verity kicked him in the knee. "Don't be stupid. I don't want to be friends with other people. I want to be friends with you," she moved even closer and wrapped her hands around his chest. "You're an idiot, but you're my idiot."

Loki felt something warm in his chest as he felt Verity's fragile, human heart beat against his own. She was so weak, yet he felt like she was the strongest person he had met. She felt like a shinning ray of hope in the darkness of his hollow heart. A warm hand that had brought him back from the frozen void even when he tried to push her way.

Slowly, timidly, he held his arms and hugged her back, burying his face on her hair. He could feel her cheek against his and her fingers drawing small circles on his back.

"I didn't know I was a Frost Giant. I didn't know I was adopted," he told her, words flowing from his mouth like water from a broken dam that couldn't hold them any longer. "All my life, I wanted to be like Thor, because he was so good and strong and everyone loved him, especially Father. But no matter how hard I tried, I could never measure up. I didn't even want that stupid throne. I just wanted them to see that I could be as good as a king as Thor."

Verity remained silent as Loki told her everything. How he resented Thor for always being better than him, while also loving him because he was his big brother and his closest friend. How he felt angry for always being dismissed as a trickster and a liar even though he wasn't useless in battle. How Odin was going to make Thor king, even though he wasn't ready and how Loki had managed to lure the Frost Giants to Asgard and stop the ceremony. He told her about their disastrous trip to Jotunheim, about being touched by a Jotun and watching his skin change for the first time. How scared he was when he went to the weapons vault and touched the Casket of Ancient Winters and saw with horror his whole body change into that of a Jotun.

"Odin showed up then. I asked him if I was cursed. I wanted to be cursed. I didn't want it to be true, but it was too late. He had to tell me the truth… that I was a Frost Giant, the son of Laufey, our most hated enemy, and that he had left me to die because I was runt," Loki sniffed, while Verity reached for his hand and squeezed it in silence. "He told me that he brought me because I was an innocent child, but I knew that wasn't the real reason. He admitted that he was hoping to use me to unite both Asgard and Jotunheim and create perpetual peace. I was just a stolen war relic, not a son, never a son. He never loved me. Everything that I knew was a lie."

Loki told her the rest of his tale. The battle against Thor, killing Laufey, trying to destroy Jotunheim, falling into the void when he realized that his life was over and he would never an Asgardian or and Odinson. His meeting with Thanos, the battle in New York, his trial with Odin when he sentenced him to be forgotten in a cell, Asgard's invasion by the Dark Elfs, his mother's death, the battle against Malekith and Kursed, how he faked his own death, how Odin had fallen into the Odinsleep and how he had impersonated him…

Finally, Loki told her about this afternoon. How he had stood next to Hela and Leah, watching Thor and Odin announce the return of the real Prince, Balder, the man he believed was his cousin, finally revealed as the real son, the true Odinson.

"Now, it's really over. They finally got rid of me," Loki's voice broke, his hands trembling against Verity's. "They have their real prince now. And the worst part is… I can't blame them. Balder is perfect and good, while I'm… I'm a monster and now… now I don't have a family anymore."

Now that he had told her everything, Loki moved away from her waited for the inevitable. He could just imagine Verity's horrified expression after hearing his story and realize that she could never friends with someone like him.

"See? I told you, I'm horrible," he looked at her, trying not to sound menacing. "You can leave now. I won't go after you or hurt you. I swear it on my name."

However, Verity grabbed both of Loki's hands and squeezed them with all the strength she had. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, Loki could see tears behind her eyes too.

"I'm sorry, Loki."

The feeling that overcame Loki was so foreign that he couldn't name it first. He buried his head on Verity's shoulder and cried silently while they held hands. He didn't want her to leave. He wanted to be with her, this person, this human, who knew the meanest side of him and still stayed. He never wanted to leave her side. He wished they could just stay like this forever.

It took him a while to recognize that feeling. By the time he knew what it was, Verity was already sleeping and Loki was about to join her.

It was affection.

Still holding hands, Loki finally closed his eyes and fell asleep next to his friend.

Asgard

Thor did not know he was dreaming.

He was in the Great Hall of the Asgardian Palace, celebrating Balder's return to his family. The entire kingdom was joyous and congratulating the royal family for the return of the true prince of Asgard.

The real Odinson. Thor's real brother.

Thor didn't show it, but he felt a tiny ache in his chest every time someone congratulated him using those words. Real. True. Because Balder was his blood brother. The brother he should have had.

The hidden meaning behind those words was obvious. The brother you had before was not your real brother.

That was when Thor saw him. Loki was staring at him, near the doors, looking at the party from the outside.

Immediately, Thor summoned Mjolnir and got ready for the Trickster's furious attack. However, Loki did not attack, he didn't even look angry. He simply stared at Thor, Odin and Balder, his green eyes blank and hollow before he lowered his head and turned away from the party.

Thor lowered Mjolnir and watched as Loki disappeared into the dark corridor, dejected and defeated.

"Wait!"

Thor ran after Loki, but by the time he reached the corridors he couldn't see him anywhere.

"Loki!" the Thunderer screamed, running down the dark halls, his chest feeling tighter and tighter. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. "Loki, where are you?"

Suddenly, Thor heard crying. He looked up and realized that he was in front of Loki's room, whose door was slightly ajar. Incapable of stopping himself, Thor opened the door and walked inside.

The room was gone. All he could see was darkness and a blurry figure crying in front of him. Slowly, Thor walked towards the figure curling against the wall, crying and sobbing.

Even though he couldn't see who it was or hear clearly, Thor knew it was Loki. He couldn't explain how he knew it, but he was absolutely certain that it was him.

"Stop crying, Loki," Thor told him firmly, but Loki kept weeping, his body shaking with each sob.

Mistake… Jotun runt… failure…

"Stop crying!" Thor's voice rose, but to no avail. "You have no right to cry! Not after everything that you've done!"

Stolen relic… fake son… alone…

Thor would have preferred if Loki was mad or destroying something. He welcome the anger, it made everything easier. He wanted Loki to justify his anger and make him hate him again.

Balder… real son… lies…

"Balder is my brother, Loki. He's my brother and he came back to us. I won't let you lay a finger on him."

Real brother… home… fake one… gone…

Loki's blurry figure seemed to shrink in front of Thor's eyes, his grief was overwhelming. Thor didn't want this. He didn't want to see Loki like this. He wished he would just attack him, it would hurt less than seeing him so broken, with his heart ripping apart in front of Thor's eyes.

The feeling of sadness and guilt were too much to take.

"Loki… stop. Please, stop…"

I wish I didn't exist.

Thor's blue eyes went wide as the saw Loki's blurry figure crumbling in front of him.

"No!"

Thor ran towards the figure but when he reached him, it shattered in his hands.

"Loki!"

Thor woke up with a start, his heart racing in his chest as both Mjonir and Gungnir materialized in his hands. Sweating and breathing erratically, Thor jumped from his bed and burst his door open, startling the guards outside his chambers.

"My King! We heard your cry! Is it Loki? Is the traitor back?"

Thor ignored them and ran towards Loki's sealed room. With one swing of his hammer, the magic locks shattered and he entered the room.

He found it empty. A small layer of dust covered the floor. No one had been in that room for a long time.

"My Lord? Should we alert the castle?" a guard asked behind him.

"No… It was nothing. Just a feverish dream. All is well," Thor told them.

As the guards bowed and returned to their duties, Thor slid to the ground and stared at the closed window. His chest felt tight, he could still hear Loki crying.

No. Nothing is well.

In the darkness of Loki's old room, a single tear ran down Thor's face.

I would like to give a shout out to Mythtaken Identity whose beautiful fanfictions have inspired my take on Verity Willis, especially from her story "The Truth of the Matter". If you're reading this, I hope you know how much your writing has inspired me.

I hope this chapter wasn't too sappy. I tend to make the endings cheesy... There is so much crying in this chapter.

Thank you guys so much for reading!