Chapter 2 - Extra Cheese

"So you're going to keep coming here to pick up food for him?" asked Stark, as he dug around in a drawer in the kitchen of the Avenger's common room, where five sleepy looking Avengers had gathered. (Were these people together twenty-four hours a day?)

"If it gets him to eat, yes. I know what you're thinking—"

"That you're letting your spoiled baby brother play you?"

"Even if he does think he is 'playing me,' he is not only eating, he is talking to me." Not about anything important, so far, but Thor would take what he could get.

"If you think it's worth it." Stark shrugged and tossed Thor a piece of folded parchment with the word "menu" emblazoned on it. Stark had already explained to him that pizza was a food that consisted of bread laden with sauce and cheese, and topped with any number of vegetables or meats. To him, it sounded a lot like shawarma, but Tony was adamant that though many of their foods consisted of bread topped with things, it mattered how those things came together. Pizza and shawarma, he had been assured, were different. "It's not the best pizza in New York, but they deliver twenty-four hours. You do realize it's four A.M., right? I'm guessing Asgard isn't on Eastern Standard time."

Thor had not realized how early it was, having taken the darkness for late evening. So that explained why they were all milling around the coffee machine like dressing gown and pajama clad again-walkers—JARVIS must have woken them all to alert them of his arrival. "I apologize for waking you," he told his sleepy friends.

"It's fine," said Banner, settling down at the kitchen table with his coffee. "It's been almost a month since you were here last, so Tony asked JARVIS to let everyone know when you got in."

Thor had noted the drop in temperature when he arrived this time, though he had attributed it to the lack of sunlight. "For me, it was yesterday."

"Really need to know how that works—" Banner muttered into his coffee.

"Just let Jarvis know what you want and he'll put in the order," said Stark, his back to Thor as he filled his own mug.

The menu seemed some strange cipher to him, like the kind of things you found scrawled on the walls of ancient temples (in other words, they did not have menus in Asgard and he had no clue how to read one). "I did not know there would be so many choices," Thor complained. "My brother did not say specifically what he wanted."

"So just pick something," Stark suggested.

"You don't understand. If I choose wrong, he will think I do not know him—that even though we were raised together, done everything together for over a thousand years, I have not noticed him at all. And I am afraid he will be right."

"Nah, I get ya," said Stark. "One time I brought Pep strawberries, because I knew there was something about her and strawberries. Turns out she was allergic. If I hadn't been dying at the time—"

Banner blinked owlishly at him over his coffee. "Wait, you were dying? When?"

"Dude-bro, I've told you this story. Do you actually listen to anything I say?"

Banner shrugged. "About as well as you listen to Pepper, I guess. But in my defense, you talk pretty much non-stop, so it's easy to tune you out. Like when you live by train tracks and after a while you don't hear the trains passing anymore."

"You're a cold-hearted man, Brucie Bear."

"Please don't call me that."

Their banter reminded Thor of how he and his brother used to tease one another when they were growing up—though now that he thought about it, Loki's insults had taken on a sharper edge over the years, and he wondered if his brother had understood that when he called his magic "a woman's tricks," he had only been teasing. He had assumed, perhaps, that his brother would not find that particular jest so offensive, because as a shapeshifter, Loki could be his sister if he so chose. But he had not used that form at all since his coming of age, and being "womanly" was the worst insult you could level against a warrior. Even Sif resented reminders of her womanhood, and Thor had started a war because Laufey had dared call him "princess."

Perhaps he really had been a terrible brother. He needed to make it up to Loki, starting now. Bringing him the correct pizza seemed more important than ever, but how could he possibly know unless he went all the way back to Asgard and asked Loki himself?

Barton collapsed into the chair beside Banner with a yawn. "Canadian bacon, mushrooms, and onions. Extra cheese. No other meat and definitely no anchovies, olives, or bell peppers." The others seemed to come awake as their heads snapped in his direction. Barton blinked back at them and shrugged. "Yeah, I know. It's creepy, but I happen to know what Loki likes on pizza."

"Because he was in your head?" Romanoff made a point of looking away from her close companion as she began removing curlers from her hair, lining them up in a row on the counter like a regiment of tiny soldiers.

"No, because we ordered pizza." Barton scratched his unshaven chin sleepily. "A bunch of different pizzas, so he could figure out what he liked. I also know that Doctor Selvig does like anchovies, and pineapple."

The Widow's nose scrunched up. "Together?"

"Yeah. Gross, right? Would have thought it would be the alien that'd have weird tastes."

"Are you also the one that introduced my brother to eclairs?" Thor asked.

Barton suddenly seemed to feel the eyes of his companions on him, and glowered back at them as he slid down the back of his chair, as if to evade their scrutiny. "You know what? I don't want to have this conversation. I'm sorry I said anything now."

{zzz}°°°( -_-)c[_]

This time, Thor caught his brother sitting cross legged at the front of his cell, as if he had been waiting for him. He shifted the pizza boxes to one hand so that he could lower the barrier. Protocol dictated that a prisoner be ordered to move to the back of their cell before the barrier was lowered, but he couldn't imagine his brother fool enough to try to run, when he knew there would be other barriers before reaching the palace above. Even if he made it upstairs, disabling the barriers would set off the alarms, calling the attention of every Einherjar and Aesir warrior in the palace. Ironically, as one of Asgard's most talented sorcerers, it was Loki who had helped redesign the prison's security system to better hold magic users.

The barrier automatically snapped back in place behind him, and he walked past Loki to a small table in the middle of the cell, where a tray holding bread and stew sat untouched. It was not the most appealing meal he had ever seen, but nothing about it particularly disgusted him. Likely, it was the same food that all the prisoners received. Simple fair, but he had seen Loki eat worse on their journeys, when they had run out of provisions. One time, he had seen his brother eat oats out of a horse's trough. Though come to think of it, he might have been in the form of a horse at the time.

"I've brought your pizza, so come eat," he called, setting the pizza down in place of the tray, which he tossed to the floor. As expected, it disappeared before it hit the ground. The trays used in the prison had all been spelled to return themselves to the kitchens when cast away; that way, no prison guard would have to enter the cells to collect them. It was another part of his ingenious little brother's security. The Enchantress had escaped once by seducing one of the guards; it stood to reason that it would be better for prisoners, especially those in possession of magic, to have as little contact with others as possible.

Loki had followed him to the table, and now lifted the lid on one of the boxes. "Did Barton tell you—? No, this has to be a coincidence."

"I did not know what you wanted," Thor admitted. "Agent Barton remembered what you liked, though he seemed disturbed by it."

Loki nodded, and actually smiled. "Barton was a good thrall."

Thor blanched at his brother's wistful tone. "Loki, do you not regret anything you did?"

"Should I?"

Somehow, Thor had imagined that by showing his brother kindness, he might finally come around—that even if he would not accept responsibility for his misdeeds, he would at least stopgloating over them. But perhaps Loki had only been "playing" him, as Stark put it. "I should not be doing this," Thor realized. "I should just have the guards force feed you gruel instead."

The little color that had returned to Loki's cheeks since Thor's first visit seemed to abandon him, and when he spoke, Thor could hear his anxiety. "You don't mean that, do you?"

It might have been the first real emotion Loki had displayed in weeks, but it made Thor uncomfortable, and he regretted his words. "Calm yourself, brother, I wasn't serious."

Telling Loki to be calm only seemed to upset him further. "It isn't a jest, Thor. Force feeding is torture."

Thor tried again to reassure him. "Loki, no one is going to torture you. I had to agree to a set of conditions on behalf of Asgard before the mortals would agree to 'extradite' you, and one of those conditions was that you would not be tortured."

Loki's breathing slowly returned to normal, but then he just looked puzzled. "Why did they care? I thought they wanted to execute me."

"Midgardians are strongly opposed to torture," Thor explained. "They believe that even prisoners should be treated with dignity."

"I think you may be overgeneralizing. From what I know of them, Midgardians frequently torture one another and have come up with the most creative ways of doing it. The Romanoff woman would have pulled my fingernails out herself, had it occurred to her that I might know something useful."

Thor wanted to deny it, but he was not entirely certain his brother was wrong. "Loki, is there something you haven't told us, that would be useful for us to know? I would still like to know how you acquired the aid of the Chitauri army, for instance."

Loki shrugged, his expression returning to one of indifference. "Why should I tell you?"

Thor could not understand why Loki refused to speak of those who had clearly abandoned him when he had lost New York. He wondered if he could threaten Loki into telling him what he wanted to know. Not with violence, he meant it when he promised Loki he would not be tortured. But perhaps if he threatened stop visiting him, to stop bringing him things, his brother would fold.

Then again, maybe he would not, and he would go back to starving himself and suffering in isolation. It occurred to Thor that Loki had always responded better to promises of reward than threats of punishment. "Little brother, if there is anything you want in return for telling us what you know, I will try to arrange it."

"In that case, I want to be free of this cell."

Thor cursed himself; he really should have predicted that Loki would ask for that. "Loki, you know that isn't what I meant. You are not going to be freed any time soon after what you did. Do you still not appreciate the gravity of your crimes?"

Loki picked up a piece of pizza and shoved it into his mouth, pointedly ignoring the question.

"Is there nothing else you want?" Thor tried.

Loki spoke with his mouth full (which was not like him at all, and Thor wondered once again what had happened to his brother's manners). "Do you think you're going to bribe me into telling you all my secrets by bringing me food?"

"It doesn't have to be food. What about books? You like books."

"The All-Mother has sent me more books than I have time to read."

Thor arched an eyebrow at him. "Loki, if there is one thing you have in abundance, it's time. How can you possibly have more books than you have time to read?"

"We cannot know how much time I have, Thor."

"What do you mean by that? I told you already, you are not for the ax."

"No, perhaps not. I expect Odin would want to come up with something more creative."

"You are not going to be put to death," Thor reiterated.

"There would be nothing you could do about it, if Odin decided I were better off dead."

"Father does not wish for your death. And soon, I will be king."

"That is why it will be soon, if I am to die. Odin will want to order my death himself—that way your hands are kept clean of my blood, and there will be one less burden for you as king."

"You are not a burden, Loki."

"You can't keep visiting me here when you're king. Though I suppose you can always have the guards drag me before your throne in chains so that you can lecture me. I do so love it when Odin does that. Actually—"

"Father has been trying to give you opportunities to express remorse, so that he might justify lightening your sentence. If you had an ounce of sense, you would not squander those opportunities."

"I refuse to throw myself at Odin's mercy," Loki said, scowling. "I would rather die."

"Would it really be so awful to show a bit of humility?"

"You fail to understand, Thor. This is not about what I did."

"How is it not? You only have one person to blame for what you did, and it isn't our father."

"He's your father, not mine," Loki seethed with venom than Thor had heard from him since the invasion.

"Are we not brothers, then?" Thor asked, before he could think better of giving Loki another opportunity to deny him.

"I've told you time and again that we aren't." But Loki didn't seem angry anymore, only irritated and exhausted. Thor watched him pick up another slice of pizza, folding it in half this time before cramming as much of it in his mouth as he could in one bite.

Loki had failed to deny him outright this time, and he knew his brother well enough to know that might mean something. Maybe he was starting to get through to him after all. He decided to drop their conversation in favor of sitting quietly, watching his brother eat while devouring the entire extra-large "meat lovers" pizza he had ordered for himself.

After returning to his own quarters, Thor reconsidered Loki's latest request. Perhaps it was not impossible to arrange for his brother's freedom—from his cell. Loki had not asked to be set free to roam the universe on his own. Perhaps it would be enough to arrange for him to be transferred to his old quarters in the palace, under house arrest and the watchful eyes of his family.

Odin might see the value in exchanging that much for knowledge (the rumor that Odin had exchanged his eye for wisdom persisted, and Thor half believed it himself, though he knew the eye had been lost in battle). Perhaps he could be convinced it would be in Loki's best interest— he knew that deep down, his father still cared for his youngest son. The All-Father had not expressly forbidden Thor or Frigga from visiting him in prison, and though Odin had not visited the prison himself, he had ordered Loki to be brought before him on several occasions. No matter what his brother thought, their father would not bother doing so if he believed Loki beyond redemption.

( ･◇･)_%) ~

Thor did not always join his Mother and Father for private dinners, but Mother had insisted on it at least once a week since Loki's fall into the void. It was not always a pleasant affair. Often, they ate the entire meal in silence, but it all depended on his parents' mood. Frigga still insisted on having the table set for four, just as she had when Loki had been thought dead. Even though he was only imprisoned, she was still mourning him.

Before Thor could bring his younger brother up, Odin did it for him. "I hear you have been visiting Loki, bringing him special treats?"

Thor nearly choked on a piece of boar. He coughed and grabbed the tankard of mead in front of him to try to wash it down.

"Dear, are you alright?" asked Frigga.

"Fine, Mother." Thor told himself that it really was fine, he hadn't done anything wrong just in bringing food to his brother, and that Odin wasn't accusing him of anything else yet. "Loki still has not been eating well, so I've brought him food on a couple of occasions." He did not mention where the food had come from. Now that he thought of it, it had been rather reckless of him to use the Tesseract to pick up pizza, especially given that he could not shield himself from the view of others the way that Loki could. It nearly impossible that his actions had escaped the notice of Heimdall, or of Huginn and Muninn, his father's ravens.

But if Odin knew he had been to Midgard, he said nothing of it. "You think that by catering to Loki's every whim, you can win his trust again? I hope you know you are only allowing that frost giant's son to make a fool of you."

"Frost giant's son—" Thor repeated, not quite believing that Odin had just referred to his own child that way.

Frigga did not seem to appreciate her husband's choice of words either. "Loki is still our son," she said, looking at him in a way that would have cowed a lesser man.

"But there is no denying where he came from anymore, is there?" Odin shook his head, and he actually looked sad, and old, and a little tired. "And it was Loki who denied us first. We cannot force ourselves on him."

"It does not matter where he came from, and as his parents, we certainly can force ourselves on him," Frigga insisted. "If a child pushes you away, that is when you must love him enough to pull him back."

"He is no longer a child," Odin disagreed. "Continuing to treat him as such was likely our greatest mistake in dealing with him."

"If you are finally admitting that we should not have tried to protect him with a lie once he was old enough to understand truth, I cannot argue, but Loki will always be our child, no matter how old he becomes. And if you ask me, we allowed Loki to pass his trials into manhood too early. The ability to kill a bilgesnipe may be an impressive feat, but it hardly makes one a competent adult."

Thor had learned long ago not to get in the middle of his parent's arguments, but privately, he agreed with his mother. He had passed the same trials nearly three centuries ago, but he could see now that until recently, he had been nothing more than a boy, playing at true manhood. His banishment had forced him to finally see his childish flaws, and to grow past them.

"We could not have prevented him," Odin pointed out. "Any Aesir male is eligible to take the trials after their first millennium. Thor was not much older when he passed his. Perhaps if you had not taught him your magic, Loki would not have passed so soon or so easily."

"Loki would be intelligent and resourceful even without magic," said Frigga. She lifted her wine cup to her lips, drained it, and filled it again with a twitch of her fingers. "Though intelligence is not wisdom, and also has nothing to do with adulthood."

Odin scowled at her. "I wish you would not use that kind of magic at the table, Frigg, and I wish you would not drink so much."

Frigga arched an eyebrow at her husband. "I shall do magic at the table if I wish, husband, just as I will drink if I wish. As you well know, a woman becomes an adult when she marries, and it has been well over fifteen hundred years since our nuptials."

Thor cleared his throat loudly, hoping to distract them from their back and forth before things became worse. "Father, I believe I have been making some headway with Loki."

"Is that so?" Odin asked, in a way that made it clear he still thought Thor was a fool, and that Loki was simply having fun at his expense.

"He has been speaking with me, at least, and I got him to eat. He sent me on a bit of a quest, but perhaps he only needed to see how deeply my concern for him ran."

"Or perhaps he wished to see you jump at his command."

Loki had once complained that their father came to the worst possible conclusions when it came to his motives. At the time, Thor had assumed his brother to be imagining it. "The first time he made a request, it was so outrageous I doubt he had any idea I would actually get it for him," Thor said in his brother's defense.

"And exactly what was this request?"

Thor completely wilted under his father's one-eyed gaze. He had never been good at lying, and he was afraid his Father already knew anyway, which would just make everything worse if he did lie. "Promise not to be angry?" he asked in a tinier voice than he had used in several centuries.

Odin's good eye widened in response, and Frigga tilted her head towards him consideringly as she continued to sip her wine.

"He wanted an eclair," Thor said, flinching backwards. Odin had never been physically violent with his children, but he fully expected to be backhanded verbally for this level of foolishness.

"What in the realm of Niflheim is an eclair?" his father asked, making the word sound like an obscenity.

"It is a type of pastry. And it is not of Niflheim, but of—" Thor's hand flew to his mouth, as if to stop the words from falling out. Thor cursed himself for not having better control of his own mouth.

"No, finish that statement, boy," Father prompted.

"Midgard," Thor squeaked. It felt like he was speaking against his will. In times like these, he sometimes wondered if his father used magic to compel him to speak—as much as Odin chided his wife for her casual use of it, the All-Father possessed greater magical power than anyone and felt justified in using it for any purpose that might benefit Asgard.

Then again, it might have just been Thor's guilty conscience that made it impossible for him to lie.

Odin's face darkened. "I was told you had visited the treasure vault several times in the past days, and while you have never been the most intelligent of my—of children"—Thor noted his near slip and recalled how Loki had nearly called Odin Father— "I found it difficult to believe that even you would do something like this. Thor, are you saying you used the Tesseract to go to Midgard for the purposes of purchasing pastry?"

"And a few other things," Thor admitted, almost certain that he was about to become his brother's new roommate.

"That's it," Odin fumed, "I'm having that trickster's lips permanently sewn closed."

Thor felt all the blood drain from his face. "Father, you cannot possibly blame Loki for my foolishness. Like I said, he never actually expected me to do it. He did not think me stupid enough, either. When I came back with everything he asked for, he asked what was wrong with me." He might have argued that Loki did not know how he had gotten to Midgard, but Thor realized now that there was no way Loki could not have known. Loki was the intelligent one between them, after all.

"So you did what he asked, and he failed to appreciate it?"

"Father—" Thor wanted to beg his father to be reasonable, but he knew it would be as useless as when he had begged Loki to see reason during his invasion.

"Do you realize you might have been playing into one of Loki's schemes?" Odin continued. "Perhaps he wanted you to take the Tesseract, so that one of his associates could steal it from you when you got to Midgard."

"But that isn't what happened," Thor argued. "And I am fairly certain any 'associates' he had abandoned him when he lost Midgard."

"That does not mean they do not still have a hold on him, Thor, and could not use him to get their prize."

Thor wondered what his father meant by that, but was too afraid to ask. "Father, I asked Loki if there was anything he wanted that he would be willing exchange information for—"

"We do not bargain with criminals, my son."

Thor wanted to argue that Loki was not just a criminal, he was family, but he knew Odin would not hear it. It was not even unreasonable for the All-Father to insist on treating Loki as anyone else would be treated, so Thor tried a different tactic. "It is my understanding that in Midgard, it is common for law enforcement to bargain with criminals. They call it plea bargaining. The criminal accepts punishment for a lesser charge, or to a subset of the charges, in exchange for giving up information or to avoid a long, drawn-out trial." Thor had learned this from watching Midgardian television while he had waited for Loki's Yubari melon to be delivered. It was amazing how much you could learn about Midgardian culture from their entertainments. He had also learned that on Midgard, cats could sing, and asked for a certain brand of feed by name.

Odin leaned across the table. "And you believe I could allow Loki to be punished for a lesser crime than treason, when he still hurls insults at me every time he is brought before me?"

"It is unfair to call that treason," Thor said, the part of him that longed for fairness overruling the part that told him it would be better to defer to his king.

"It is?" asked Odin.

Thor nodded, and thought of what he admired most in his Midgardian companions—Stark, the Captain, even fair Jane. All spoke their convictions earnestly, with little fear of censure or deference to authority. "Loki is your child, no matter how often he shouts that he is not. I do not believe he means to be treasonous when he insults you. He is not insulting his king, he is insulting his father. He is being rebellious, not treasonous. I know we were raised to respect the throne, but I truly believe he's having difficulty separating you from it right now."

"But he denies that I am his father," Odin pointed out.

"Because he is being rebellious." The answer seemed obvious to Thor. It was not normal to shout that a person was not your father, unless they were.

"I see. What am I to do with him, then—send him to his room?"

In a way, the conversation had ended up right where he had intended to take it. "Actually, that was exactly what I was thinking. When I asked Loki if there was anything that could persuade him to give us information, he said that he wanted to be freed from his cell. So, I thought we could free him from his cell, as he asked? You know how Loki has always used wordplay to his advantage. This time we turn the tables on him—agree to free him from his cell, but confine him to his old rooms instead. We would first remove anything he could use to escape or to harm himself, of course." Thor was not entirely sure why he thought Loki might harm himself, but then, that was what starving himself was, was it not? Loki wanted to suffer, or else he did not care if he did; that he might simply have an aversion to prison food had been wishful thinking. And a year ago, Loki had allowed himself to fall into the void—Thor pushed the thought from his mind, as it was much too unpleasant to consider. The past could not be changed.

Odin was silent for several moments, and Thor was not sure if it was a good silence or a bad silence. But then the All-Father smiled. "I believe you might actually have a good idea. It certainly would be satisfying to get the upper hand with him for once."

Frigga lips thinned into a straight line as she looked between her older son and her husband. "I do not like the idea of tricking him, as there have been enough lies to come between us in the past. But I do think we need to know as much as possible about these people he was with. It frightens me that Loki has not wished to tell us anything about them. Perhaps it is because he wishes to protect them, or perhaps it is because he wishes to be obstinate, but I fear it is because he is frightened of what might happen if he betrays them."

╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭

Author's Note:

I swear I didn't mean for Thor to be an airhead. He's not stupid, he just doesn't particularly like thinking too deeply. (He was used to Loki doing that for him, I think.)

POV will eventually switch to Loki and to other characters, by the way.

Question of the day: How do you feel about the length of these chapters? I tend to binge-read, so I don't mind long chapters, but I realize that other people may want to read in shorter bursts, or might be reading on a phone screen, which could make longer chapters difficult to navigate.

Any comments/feedback at all will be greatly appreciated-don't feel like you have to answer my stupid questions.