Brace yourselves for bonus character cameo chapter #2

Chapter 25: Rise of the Asgardians

"My family's coming to visit," Thor announced proudly. Tony didn't know how long it had been since Thor had seen them in person, but it was at least as long as Tony had been here. Which, he rather thought, was far too long to go without seeing one's family. Thor was understandably excited; he'd been talking about a potential visit almost as long as Tony had been here.

Tony maintained some reservations. All he'd heard about Thor's family up until this point was that his sister Hela mostly did her own thing and his little brother Loki was notorious for pranking and trickery. Thor clearly loved them to pieces anyway from the way he talked about them, but Tony feared what they might get up to in a hospital.

"What are you going to do with them?" Steve asked Thor of the impending visit.

"They want to do some touristy New York City stuff. I'm gonna join them for that, and ideally I'll make it a few hours without seizing. It's always more difficult in public," Thor explained. "And, of course, I want to introduce them to all of you."

"Sounds good," Bucky remarked. "I'm dying to meet this adopted elf brother of yours."

"He's not an elf!"

"Everything you say about him makes him sound like one."

"He's a person," Thor insisted.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

~0~

"I brought some guests," Thor said knowingly as he waltzed into the common room where most of the residents were gathered. He gestured to the open door behind him and the rest of the Odinsons waltzed through. Tony's eyes first drifted to Hela. She was only a year or two older than him, with pitch black hair that matched her choice of outfit. Thor's father was rather tall with a thick beard and an eyepatch not dissimilar to Nick's. His mother had a warm smile that reminded Tony of his own mother's and cascading brown hair. Little Loki had an impish glint in his eyes and gleaming black hair. Tony noticed the resemblance between Loki and Hela, and its stark contrast to Thor's blond hair. Yet Loki was supposedly the adopted one…strange.

"Thor, you didn't tell me your dad and I were patch pals," Nick said with a huff.

"It slipped my mind," Thor said sheepishly. Tony could tell immediately that he hated the subject of his father's missing eye. But why? Thor was generally an open book, so him not wanting to talk about this struck Tony as uncharacteristic.

"Yeah right. Trust me, a missing eye isn't something you just forget about," Nick countered.

"My son still carries some guilt over the cause of my impairment," Thor's father explained.

"I'd rather you not speak of it," Thor said out of the side of his mouth. Evidently, his father either didn't hear him or didn't care, because he plowed forward.

"Before Thor was diagnosed, his seizures were completely out of control and we had no idea what we were doing."

"Far, stop it," Thor hissed, but Odin paid him no heed.

"On one unfortunate occasion I got too close and he nailed me right in the eye with a fingernail."

The assembled Gravesen residents fell completely silent in disbelief. Of all the ways to lose an eye, Tony never would have suspected. He'd seen Thor seize before, and he could barely even visualize how he could manage to injure someone that badly.

"I told you not to tell them. Look at what you did, they're mortified," Thor said sadly.

"Maybe they're just afraid of you, brother," Loki piped up.

"I wouldn't say afraid," Bucky said. "More like impressed."

"The only impressive part was Far's swearing," Hela quipped.

"Oh shut up," Thor said.

"Thor, be nice," his mother admonished.

"Honestly, that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear," Bucky said. "Thor's the nice one."

"I'm not that surprised to hear it," Quill muttered. Loki stepped away from the family huddle in the doorway and strode around the common room, eyeing everything and everyone in the room with an almost morbid fascination. Tony struggled not to squirm under the scrutiny. Thor's little brother didn't remind him of an elf like Bucky had said so much as he reminded him of a snake. And the kid couldn't be more than ten years old. Hela, on the other hand, radiated a quiet indifference, as if they were all beneath her. In all honesty, they probably were.

"Well, there's no use in us just standing here. Come in," Thor said, guiding his parents and sister inside to sit down. Loki remained lurking to the side of the armchair Quill always occupied. Thor's parents took the spots that Tony and Parker usually sat in, so they relocated to another sofa.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friends?" Frigga asked kindly.

"God I hope not," Hela muttered. Odin nudged her shoulder as if to say, "Be polite."

"Sure." Thor went around the room and presented names, each person giving a shy wave. They weren't accustomed to meeting new people in this environment beyond those who lived and worked here.

"How was your flight?" Steve asked them politely.

"Long and arduous," Hela grumbled.

"It was fine, thank you," Frigga followed up.

"I'm afraid we're still rather jet-lagged, but since we're only here for a little bit I don't think adjusting to New York time is in our best interest," Odin explained.

"Seems reasonable," Steve said.

"Don't let us keep you from spending time in the city," Tony said. "There's not much in the way of entertainment in a hospital."

"Nonsense. Part of the reason we came was to meet the friends Thor's been telling us so much about," Frigga told them.

"You talk about us?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, of course. What else would I talk about?"

"Do you talk shit about us?" Quill questioned, only half-joking.

"What? No, of course not. All good things, all good things," he assured.

"Liar," Loki snapped. Thor waved his hand across his neck to cut Loki off, but the kid resolutely ignored him. "He complains about your music all the time."

"What about my music?" Quill asked, turning to Thor with rage in his eyes.

"Nothing. I love the songs you play."

"No you don't," Loki corrected. Quill narrowed his eyes even further.

"They're just a bit…outdated," Thor admitted.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, there's a difference between classic and outdated. Not to mention most of the songs I listen to are from a mix that my mother made for me."

"Okay." Thor raised his hands in mock surrender. The mention of Quill's mother immediately shut down the conflict. From his position beside Quill, Loki failed to mask a snicker at the argument he'd incited.

"Loki, come over here," Odin instructed, patting the empty spot on the couch between him and his wife. The kid trudged over and plopped himself down looking bored.

"I know you said there's not much in the way of entertainment here, but what do you all do for fun?" Thor's mother asked. "I'm sure it can't be all doom and gloom."

"It's not," Bucky assured her.

"We find ways to liven things up," Steve explained.

"Steve here is one of the greatest party planners I've ever met," Thor said proudly. Steve blushed. "He and Natasha set up this wonderful celebration to say a last goodbye to Bucky's arm. It was great fun."

"Yeah, it was great," Parker added.

"Until the president of the hospital showed up to out Natasha as a shoe thief," Tony finished.

"I think that actually made it more fun," Clint said.

"Certainly sounds like it," Loki quipped.

"Sometimes we have movie nights," Thor continued. "Although most of us have terrible track records for falling asleep and missing the best parts."

"You're one to talk," Hela snapped. "You once seized straight through the big reveal in the Sixth Sense. I couldn't hear what the stupid kid was saying over your gurgling."

"Hela!" their mother scolded.

"What? It's true."

"Well it's not exactly my fault," Thor defended. Tony failed to understand how Thor spoke of his siblings with such fondness when it seemed all they ever did was demean him. If this was what having siblings was really like, then Tony was glad he was an only child.

"How about you show them around the place, Thor?" Steve suggested.

"Assure them this isn't a disguised insane asylum," Bucky added.

"That sounds like a great idea," Frigga said. They stood and waited for Thor to show them out. The kids watched them leave with a mix of lingering amusement and relief.

"Thor said Loki was adopted, right?" Tony asked. Everyone nodded. "Yeah, I don't believe that for a second."

"What do you mean?" Clint asked.

"If any one of those kids is adopted it's Thor," Tony explained.

"Honestly I can't argue with that," Steve said.

"Evidently he's the only one of the three who's not a greasy grump," Bucky added.

"A greasy grump?" Quill repeated. "That's the best you can do?"

"Well how would you describe them?"

"Not like that."

"That's enough," Steve cut them off before a fully-fledged argument could erupt. "Regardless of who's adopted and who's not, they're all Thor's family."

"And his parents barely seem to care that his siblings bully him," Parker pointed out.

"It's not our job to judge their parenting," Tony said.

"I just don't know how anyone can put up with that kind of abuse from his their own family," Quill sighed. "If anyone doesn't deserve to be made fun of, it's Thor."

"You make fun of him all the time," Parker reminded him.

"That's because he does it back. If it's mutual, it's friendship. If it's one-sided, then it's bullying."

"He doesn't seem to mind," Bucky said.

"He should," Steve stated. Bucky elbowed him, and they exchanged a look that clearly alluded to something only they understood. Steve rolled his eyes and broke off the stare.

"I don't trust that brother of his as far as I could throw him," Tony grumbled. He couldn't wipe the image of Loki's impish smile out of his head. Thor's parents ought to have him on a leash. And he wouldn't put it past Hela to murder any one of them if it fancied her. Among all of that sibling influence, it was a miracle Thor was as nice and normal as he was. Maybe he tried extra hard to make up the difference.

"It's quite the establishment you've got here," Odin remarked as he and the family returned from their brief tour of the ward.

"We can't exactly take credit for it, but thank you," Steve said sheepishly.

"Ummm, where's the little one?" Tony questioned. Loki was nowhere in sight.

"Good question," Thor said. Just as he turned around, presumably to retrace their steps and find him, Loki appeared in the doorway and stepped inside.

"Where were you?" Thor asked.

"When?"

"Just now."

"Right here."

"No, before that."

"Following you guys around the hospital."

"But you didn't immediately follow us back here."

"Yes I did.

"Du sniker deg rundt?" Thor asked, switching suddenly into a language Tony figured was probably Norwegian.

"Nei!" Loki insisted.

"Du lovet at du ikke ville skape trøbbel."

"Thor, han lovet at han ville være på sitt beste," Odin said assuringly.

"Loki holder aldri et løfte," Thor countered.

"Ja, det gjør jeg," Loki said coolly.

"Nei gjør du ikke," Hela sighed dramatically. Tony failed miserably to follow any snippets of this conversation, but he did recognize Thor's frustration towards his little brother. He was rather suspicious of the fact they'd held this conversation in Norwegian when they'd all already proven they spoke English perfectly well. What were they trying to hide from the rest of them? And he definitively did not appreciate the mischievous glint in Loki's eye. He did, however, recognize the look in Thor's eye, the one that usually indicated he felt a seizure coming on.

To everyone's surprise, Loki jumped into action before anyone else. He caught his brother before he could collapse to the floor, eased him down, and snatched a pillow off the nearest sofa to place under his convulsing brother's head with practiced ease. Though he knew they were his family and must've witnessed this hundreds of time, Tony couldn't help but be surprised at watching someone he hadn't seen do it before handle Thor with such tranquility. Loki's demeanor had instantly switched from prickly and defensive to protective.

"It's alright, brother," he soothed. When Thor eventually stilled, Loki rolled him to his side and ran his fingers through his hair. "This is the one promise I've never broken."

~0~

Tony didn't get to spend much more time with the Odinsons, as they spent the next day sightseeing in New York City. Thor got a pass to leave the hospital and join them. They came back just before curfew and said goodbye to all of the residents they'd only just met, wishing them all speedy recoveries and the usual polite comments before heading out. Odin and Frigga gave Thor the biggest hugs Tony had ever witnessed. Upon their departure, Thor raved about how much fun they'd all had together and how disappointed he was that they had to return home the following morning. Tony didn't understand why they'd come all this way for such a short visit, but he couldn't pretend to know everything going on in their lives. He just accepted it as a fact. Just like he accepted the fact that Thor loved his siblings unconditionally.

Thor had said everyone in his family was named after Norse gods. Loki was infamously the god of mischief and trickery, and boy did that kid live up to his namesake, they soon learned. Some of the mischief he'd managed in his short stay here became evident immediately upon his departure, some other aspects took a little longer to reveal. They returned to their rooms at curfew, and Tony had barely stepped through his door when he heard a horrified gasp from Steve. He dashed next door to identify the cause and found all of Steve's beautiful drawings removed from their positions on the wall and stuck willy-nilly across the ceiling along with four additional pieces of paper, bearing the letters O, I, K, and L. It didn't take long for Tony and Steve to unscramble the letters to spell Loki.

"The kid's barely four feet tall, how did he even get those up there?" Tony asked.

"I have no idea," Steve sighed. "But I sure wish he was still here to tell us so we can get them down again."

"Hey, at least he didn't vandalize them."

"I probably would've murdered him if he did."

"Really? The honorable Steve Rogers would commit murder over a petty crime like vandalism?"

"Yes." He left it at that.

They discovered Loki's second 'project' when they went to play Catan the next day. The little bastard had taken every piece from every board game in the entire common room, mixed them all together, and put them back randomly in different boxes.

"When did he have time to do this?" Nick questioned. He, Tony, Natasha, and Thor sat meticulously sorting all the pieces back into their proper boxes. Fortunately, Monopoly and Operation and the Game of Life all used different currency, so they didn't have to worry about counting money to ensure one game didn't end up with too much or too little cash. Still, it was an agonizingly tedious process.

"I do not know," Natasha sighed.

"He's very sneaky," Thor reminded them.

"It's going to take us hours to sort this all back," Tony complained. "How can it take us hours to undo what he must've done in like thirty minutes?"

"I don't know. And I've been cleaning up Loki's messes since our parents adopted him," Thor said. Tony blew a frustrated raspberry but got back to work differentiating Monopoly houses from Catan settlements.

Loki had spent less than twenty four hours within the walls of Gravesen, yet he'd still managed to wreak this much havoc. But the true scope of his troublemaking wouldn't become evident until later.

I just love this chaotic neutral baby Loki. I do believe they're the same age in the movies (In Thor's story in Ragnarok about the snake transformation, he says, "We were eight at the time."), but the dynamic I had in mind worked better if Loki was a few years younger than Thor. For anyone who might be disappointed that the Odinsons left after only one chapter, I ask that you please be patient, because they will all be returning full force in Thor's prequel. There is much more baby Loki to come :)