Notes: In which we have decorations, and Yule, and oh look, feels.
Warnings: For deliberately mangled Yule traditions.
Chapter Ten
Tony was not much ruffled by the manner in which Festivus had ended, although he did promise Clint that his vengeance, when he got around to it, would be terrible. Clint pointed out that he was already under threat of... something... from the God of Mischief-
"Rhinoceroses, probably," Mitchell told him.
"Yeah," George agreed. "I know they say that if you hear hoofbeats you should look for horses, not zebras, but I think it would be a good idea for you to watch out for rhinoceroses."
- which rendered menaces from Iron Man rather less terrifying than they might otherwise have seemed.
(Actually, Clint said none of those things, at least not in those words- his own were rather more pungently colourful- but his meaning was perfectly clear.)
It was much later, after a supper of sandwiches and potato crisps and a great deal of dallying in the kitchen, when Thor and Steve went outside to fetch the tree. They carried it around the house to bring it inside through the big front door, and thence into the formal living room to the left of the entry hall. Loki was a little sorry it could not go in the gathering room with the television, where they all liked to sit, but that would certainly crowd the room to the extent that gathering there would no longer be possible anyway.
And besides, the addition of the tree to the grand room made it feel surprisingly cozy. Steve was very careful to position it at a safe distance from the huge fireplace, but he still seemed pleased by Loki's offer to place a charm of protection against fire on the tree. As Loki had already intended to place a charm of protection against climbing by kittens on it, adjusting the spell a little was not too difficult.
While this was happening, Jane had taken over the kitchen, from which a most enticing smell was now issuing forth. Loki could not resist investigating.
"Where did you learn the secrets of mulled wine?" he asked from the doorway, as he watched Jane lean over a pot on the stove, in which she was combining wine with a variety of seasonings.
"It's an old family recipe of Erik Selvig's," Jane explained. "He calls it glögg. It seemed easier to bring it along than for Thor to ask the cooks in Asgard for their recipe."
Particularly, Loki thought, since the recipe might be only reluctantly shared. It would not even be sharing at all, really: if the crown prince asked, no matter how respectfully, it was not for a servant to refuse him. Loki wondered whether Thor had thought of that, whether this was the real explanation for his decision not to ask. Once, Thor would not have considered the possibility that servants felt as much obligation as affection for the golden prince, or served him as a duty rather than because it was their greatest wish. Affection and obligation went both ways, and Loki knew this woman was, in large part, the reason his brother now realized as much.
He smiled at Jane, sniffing the combined scents of red wine and brandy, cinnamon and cloves, and all the other ingredients that certainly smelled like the true recipe from the kitchens of Asgard.
"Well, I am very grateful to Dr. Selvig for sharing it with us. It smells like... like the old days."
"I'm glad," Jane said, smiling back. She declined his offer of assistance, and Loki wandered back out to join the others around the tree.
Pepper had taken charge of the decorations, was marshaling everyone's efforts with an organizational ability and calm good temper that made Loki think she was wasted as CEO of Stark Industries- admittedly, he was unsure what a "CEO" actually did- when she was so clearly suited to teach small children. It would be rude to Tony to suggest as much, and certainly her skills must also be of great value to his company in that mysterious role, so Loki said nothing except to ask how he might assist.
Tony and Steve had already put strings of clear lights on the tree, which would be very pretty indeed when lit in the darkened room. And the home-made ornaments crafted the day before really were beautiful: brightly festive and, in the case of the fruit slices, having a very pleasing scent. Loki was not the only one surreptitiously sniffing at them as he lifted them out of their containers.
The strings of popcorn and dried cranberries went on first, draped carefully over the branches until they looked like snowflakes interspersed with deep red gems. Then there were the slices of orange, lemon, and lime, carefully dried and brushed with a layer of preservative, with bright red ribbons to attach them to the tree. Loki handled them with care, following the directions of Annie and Pepper to hang them on the upper branches that were hard for some of the others to reach.
Tony had found a stepladder, and at Pepper's urging he climbed up to add his old handmade ornaments at strategic points around the tree. He finally climbed down and looked at the results, an arm around Pepper and an expression on his face that was...
That was enough to send most of the group, including Loki and Annie, searching for something else to do for a little while. Loki found Thor, Mitchell, George, and Fury outside in the darkness, putting up coloured lights and hanging wreaths on the doors and windows. He bundled himself into boots and his heavy coat, and he and Annie went to help.
"You really did beautiful work on these," George remarked, admiring the fluffy wreaths and the red velvet bows that adorned them.
"Glad you think so," Fury replied. "I hope you still feel that way when you're hanging out an upstairs window by your feet."
"Wha-a- ?" George squeaked.
"You're the smallest," Fury replied relentlessly. "And you've got full depth perception. Someone's gotta decorate the upstairs windows. I'm sure Thor'll hang onto your ankles."
"Sadly," said Thor, "I have... promised Jane to... help her with something." Everyone looked at him. Loki had recently come to understand that his brother was perhaps not as incapable of lies as he had once believed, but he was not generally quite so obvious as this. Thor smiled innocently and excused himself.
Loki watched him go, then turned to George. "I will hold you," he promised.
"How strong are your hands?" George demanded.
"I'm sure he'll also use some magic," Mitchell said cheerfully.
"That is probably a better idea," Loki agreed, grinning at George. A moment later, the wreaths, as well as the hooks meant to hold them, were flying through the air and attaching themselves to the sills below the upstairs windows. They really did look very nice, if Loki said so himself.
"Huh. Well, that was a lot simpler than what I had in mind," Fury remarked neutrally, as he watched. Paused. "Not as much fun, of course."
When they came back inside the house, there were more decorations in the hallways and on the stair railings- many evergreen branches, some colourful spheres, and a little bit of greenery dangling mysteriously in the doorway to the room where the tree was located. As they passed through the door, Annie reached up to kiss Loki on the cheek, which was unexpected but always welcome.
Most of the group was by now sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, looking at the tree like a lot of children, while Jane, Rhodey, and Bruce carried in trays holding mugs of steaming mulled wine. Loki took his, smiling at Jane as he cradled the mug in his hands, inhaling the scent of memories.
A moment later Thor walked in, carrying what looked like the Asgardian equivalent of what would, in England, be called a biscuit tin. Before Loki could indulge his own curiosity by asking what it contained, his brother lifted off the lid and leaned down toward him.
The tin was filled with careful layers of thin, crispy, deep-brown, gingery-smelling biscuits, cut out in the shapes of little suns. Loki blinked, for a moment unable to even reach for one. When Tony had promised them "ginger cookies," he had assumed they would be some pleasant modern Midgardian recipe. Not-
"I asked the cooks if they would make these a few days early, so that I might bring them," Thor explained. "Since you have not had any in so long."
"Oh," Loki managed, finally helping himself to one of the fragile little shapes, and unsure for a moment whether he would even be able to eat it. "Thank you, brother."
"The head cook said she was glad to do it for you," Thor replied.
"Ingunn," Loki said. When she was a subordinate in the kitchen she had been very patient with little boys sneaking in to filch sweetmeats. Loki thought she would probably have been so even if they had not been princes.
Loki sat holding his biscuit while Thor offered them around to the others. A little later, Tony and Steve staggered in under the weight of a heavy hardwood log, and Loki laughed automatically at Tony's histrionics, joining in the cheers when Natasha coaxed a brave little flame from the tinder that surrounded it in the fireplace. It was only when Thor came and sat beside him that he finally nibbled at one of the rays of the little sun in his hand.
"The first year was the worst," Thor said quietly, without looking at him. Everyone else seemed focused on trying to will the fire to burn, and paid no attention to the brothers. Loki said nothing, and Thor went on, "The observances went on, of course, and Father had to make appearances, but Mother scarcely left her quarters until Yule was over. It was a little better, when we knew you were alive after all, but… there was such an empty place, where you used to be, when we thought you could never return."
Loki still did not speak, was not sure he could. This was, of course, the first Yuletide celebration since his exile had ended, and he did not really know why he had not thought to ask if he might come home for it. It was not that he was waiting to be invited. He just… so many things had seemed lost to him for such a time…
Still looking at their friends crowded around the fireplace, Thor said,
"There will yet be a few days of the Yule season left, when this celebration is over. Would you come and spend them with us?"
Wordlessly, the world turned into a shimmer before his eyes, Loki nodded. Thor put an arm around him.
~oOo~
The log finally began to burn with confidence, perhaps encouraged by all the solicitous eyes upon it. All the mulled wine was drunk, and the biscuits eaten- even Loki had finally consented to consume his, instead of sit and hold it. It was very late indeed when Mrs. Coulson, seated in an armchair instead of on the floor, surrendered her empty mug to the attentive Clint and stretched in a ladylike fashion.
"I think it's time I told you all goodnight," she said, beginning to rise.
Tony glanced urgently at Thor, who spoke.
"Actually, Mrs. Coulson," he said, "I wonder... would you- would all of you- indulge my brother and me in one final ritual tonight?"
Everyone looked at Thor, and then at Loki- who looked back with what must have been a perfectly blank stare, like a little man made of gingerbread. He then turned to his brother, who smiled at him and went on,
"Tony has very kindly given us- well, given me- permission- "
"Thor," said Loki, "you are never suggesting that we hold the bonfire?"
Thor smiled more broadly. "Well, yes, brother. That is exactly what I am suggesting."
There was a pause, and then Clint said, in a loud whisper,
"I suppose it'd be too much to hope for marshmallows?"
~oOo~
"The bonfire is lit in the darkest and coldest time of the year, as a way of encouraging the sun to return to us," Thor explained to the bundled-up group. They were in the field behind the storage building, standing in a semi-circle, next to a large and elaborate structure of wood that certainly explained what Thor had been up to while Loki was hanging wreaths on the upstairs windows.
"On the longest night of the year?" asked Pepper, who would like to be accurate.
"As nearly as can be managed," Thor replied. "We light the fire and... I suppose you would say we hold a vigil, to ensure the sun finds a welcome and will therefore continue to rise for another year." He smiled. "It is a ritual carried over from a far more superstitious time, but I confess as a child I fully believed that if there was no bonfire in Midwinter, the sun would take offense and would not rise again. My friends and I would sneak out to watch, long before we were allowed to be out so late."
"I would do the same," Loki said quietly. He had been at pains not to be seen by the other children, skulking around unwanted, but he had slipped out every year until he was old enough to come openly. The servants who saw him had never given him away.
"I wondered," was all Thor said now. "And now I wonder, brother, whether you would be kind enough to light the fire for us?"
"With pleasure," Loki replied, and cast a bolt of flame into the middle of the structure. Thor had taken care to choose old fence rails and discarded boards- dry wood eager to burst into devouring flames that sparked and reached and lifted their hands to the sky.
It was a cold night, but they were not cold here at the fire, and the whole company stood as though mesmerized, as though the fire was a live thing whose company they were glad to keep. Loki narrowed his eyes against the heat and the glare, and stood almost dreaming as the fire roared and danced and called out.
It might have been his dazzled eyes, but it seemed there was the hint of pink on the eastern horizon when Loki finally spoke up regretfully,
"It seems wrong not to sing the sun back, does it not?"
"You sing?" asked Agent Coulson. Loki nodded, and Thor said,
"It was always one of my favourite parts of the bonfire. Our father, and our friend Volstagg, have especially fine deep singing voices. I wish- "
"Can't you still sing without them?" Bruce asked.
Thor shrugged, resigned. "It is not so much missing them as- The whole company would join in, and that was the power in it. It would not be the same with only us two, and I did not think to teach you all the songs." He glanced at Loki. "I apologize for the oversight, brother." Loki reached out, took his mittened hand and squeezed it.
"That's too bad," said Hill, sounding genuinely sorry.
They all stood a while longer, looking at the fire.
And then from Loki's left, past Annie and George, Mitchell's voice was heard:
"Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter,
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here- "
Loki, Annie and George, joined him:
"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say, it's all right- "
One by one, the other voices were lifted- all of them, Mrs. Coulson's, Thor's, everyone's:
"Little darling, the smiles returning to their faces,
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here- "
Without conscious thought, Loki reached out, felt Annie take his left hand and Thor his right:
"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say, it's all right."
In the east, the pink was beginning to turn into gold, and a sliver of pure light crawled over the horizon:
"Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes- "
Loki closed his eyes and tilted his head back as the sinking heat of the dying fire dried his cheeks, and his voice mixed with the others raised in welcome:
"Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting,
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear.
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say, it's all right.
It's all right."
When he opened his eyes again, the fire was down to embers, and the sun was openly peeking over the horizon, apparently satisfied with the hospitality it had been offered. Thor released Loki's and Jane's hands and made a bow in its direction before turning back to their friends.
"I believe, my friends, our efforts have been crowned with success for one more year. Thank you, Mitchell, for the song." He looked around at everyone. "And thank you all for indulging my brother and myself. We have certainly trespassed on your patience, and now it is Christmas Eve."
Tony cleared his throat. "I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly don't mind. A little nap before breakfast might be in order, though."
There were murmurs of assent. Loki quietly suppressed what was left of the fire, and they all trooped back into the house.
Note: Thank you to the reader on LiveJournal (who I hope speaks up if they're reading here) who suggested the bonfire. That reader also offered some wonderful suggestions for appropriate songs, which you can find on YouTube by searching "Ronja Rövardotter Sanger". I couldn't use them here because they're not intended to be sung by only two people. Instead, I borrowed the best welcoming-the-sun-back song I could think of that was likely to be known by people living in English-speaking countries-with love and thanks to George Harrison.