Title: a taste of lightning
Fandom: Thor/Highlander
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 365
Point of view: third
Prompt: Thor/Highlander, Methos + Thor, mutual respect
When he sees Ash sitting in the coffee shop, Thor makes a snap decision: instead of attacking, he approaches respectfully, warrior to warrior, and asks for a discussion.
Ash nods to the seat across from him and buys Thor a coffee.
.
"Father told me about you," Thor says quietly.
"I'm sure he did," Ash replies, smirking.
Thor thinks about long-ago battles, and blood on the ground, and a lonely throne.
And he thinks about Loki's smile, and how he looked at Ash, those few times they've met since Loki's fall, and he asks, "Can you tell me?" When Ash tilts his head, Thor clarifies, "The man my brother is now. With you."
Ash smiles and begins, "He's brilliant, Van is. A quicker hand with magic I've never seen."
.
When Thor leaves, he's not sure what to do. Father spoke of a world-killer, of a monster who destroyed entire peoples (like Loki tried, a little voice whispers, but Thor ignores that). But the man who bought Thor a coffee and bragged about his son (in a way Father never did about Loki, another little voice whispers) – he's not the same man.
Many of the humans Thor has met on Misgard, the ones who know about Loki, don't understand why Thor can so easily ignore their last meeting, what Loki tried to do. But a thousand years outweighs a few days, and Loki had been so hurt, so angry. Thor just wishes Loki had gone to him for help, but he understands why Loki didn't. Why Loki felt he couldn't.
Loki, who has become Van, and loves Ash in a way Thor isn't sure he ever loved Father.
He looks up at the sky, then back at the coffee shop, and he nods, having decided.
Whatever is between Father and Ash, it has no bearing on Thor and Van. So he hurries back into the coffee shop, back to Ash's table, and he asks hopefully, "Will you give Van a message from me?"
Ash nods. "Of course, Thor."
Thor says, "Tell him he is my brother still. And I… I'd really like to talk to him again."
Patting his hand, Ash says, "I'll give him the message, Thor."