And, this week on out-of-season Holiday specials, I mean, Upside... TW for discussion of past murder... yeah... This is where the Avengers find out about Hodir and Balder...
"What?!" Tony stammered. "B-but that's no fair! Y-You can't just… leave, Rudolph!"
"I'm not leaving." Loki assured in a placating tone. "Not until the new year, and then I shan't be far."
"But you won't be here, either!" Tony pouted. "You're my friend, Reindeer Games, I want you around! All the time!"
Loki sighed. "I don't want to be mooching off of everything you've given me. You've been far too kind, as is. I think it's time I stopped encroaching on your hospitality."
Tony stuck out his lower lip, crossing his arms in protest. "No fair…"
"We won't be far." Loki repeated. "Only in Queens."
"Queens?" Bruce asked. "Why Queens?"
"First of all," Loki began, counting on his fingers. "It's relatively close. Second, we already offered a rather large sum for a particular house, there. Third, Sigyn has a hunch, and honestly, that woman practically has foresight."
Tony sighed, but nodded. "Well, you'll be missed, you know."
Loki cracked a small smile. "Well, you'll see me every day, anyway. I mean, I do work here."
"Yeah, that's a good point." Tony brightened. "And if you don't show up for holidays, you're close enough to kidnap!"
Loki raised an eyebrow. "I think you'll find me a very difficult person to kidnap."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised." Tony shrugged. "Don't be a stranger, though, okay? I'm not just your boss."
On Christmas morning, Tony snuck around the tower with a sprig of mistletoe attached to a fishing pole. Every time he ran into a woman, he would hold up the pole over their head, grin like a maniac, and kiss her. Natasha was not pleased. Neither was Pepper, when she found out.
"We were under the mistletoe!" Tony protested. "It's practically a law!"
"If you must have mistletoe, put it in a place where you can't move it around." Pepper glared with her terrifying "I am not pleased" look.
"Put it somewhere higher than three feet off the floor." Rhodey suggested. "He'll never reach it."
"Hey!" Tony glared, and, just to spite his friend, stuck it above the doorway of the elevator.
This idea worked pretty well, since neither of the girls that were up at that point were stupid enough to use the elevator that day. When they did need to navigate between floors there was always the stairs. Lokigyn weren't up, by then, so they missed the entire exchange. When they did come down, at around noon, Tony was waiting for them. As soon as they stepped through the doors of the elevator, he started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
"Why…?" Sigyn asked in confusion.
"Look up!" Tony smirked triumphantly.
As soon as Loki caught sight of the mistletoe, his face went deathly pale, and he stumbled backward into the now-closed doors of the elevator. "No… no… no…" He muttered, his eyes fixed on the small twig above him.
Sigyn looked livid. "Is that plant your god?" She demanded sharply, setting Sleipnir on the floor, and scooping Loki up into her arms. It was kind of terrifying to see her carrying Loki, who was literally eleven inches taller than her, and probably at least sixty pounds heavier. "Is that plant your god?" She snapped again.
"No…" Tony tilted his head, confused. Loki was shaking like a leaf, and scratching with trembling fingers at his mouth. "No… no…" He continued whimpering, his nails starting to scratch deep wounds in his lips.
"Then, take it down!" Sigyn hissed, her face contorted in rage. With that, she stomped out of the room, cradling her husband to her chest as she whispered something into his ear.
The Avengers were shocked. They stared at each other in dumbfounded silence. Loki's whimpers from the next room gradually escalated into hysterical screams, and Thor got up from where he'd been sitting, with a grim look of understanding on his face, and clumped into the room where Loki was panicking. Tony and Rhodey stared at each other, wondering what, exactly went wrong. Sleipnir crawled over to Natasha, who scooped her up, and distractedly played with her on her lap.
"Oooh…" Clint suddenly breathed. "Mistletoe!"
"Yeah, mistletoe." Tony shrugged. "What's wrong with…" Suddenly, he trailed off, remembering a certain story he'd read in the Edda. "Oh… you think it's really true?"
Clint shrugged. "How else do you explain that?"
"What are you talking about?" Steve asked politely.
"There's a story in the Poetic Edda…" Tony started, but Clint cut in.
"It's possible that Loki's had an extremely traumatic experience involving mistletoe." He explained. "But we shouldn't give details until he feels comfortable telling us."
They were silent once more, glancing around the rooms, as Loki's screams slowly died down, and Thor re-appeared at the doorway. He glanced at them all, walked over to the innocent sprig of mistletoe still hanging over the doorway, and threw it in the trash.
He then sat down back where he was, next to the Christmas tree. Natasha, who was closest to him, noticed his hands were shaking. There were a few moments of total silence, save the occasional blare of a car horn from the streets, below. Loki and Sigyn finally appeared in the doorway, Sigyn's face set in a grim mask, and Loki's pale and tearstained. There were traces of blood around his collar, but his scratches were already healed.
"I'm sorry I lost my temper." Sigyn spoke quietly, glancing at the now-vacant spot above the doorway. "I had no right to get so angry for your ignorance. I'm very sorry."
"That's okay." Steve said. "What's wrong with mistletoe?"
Loki cringed, inhaling sharply through his nose. "I suppose… I suppose you deserve to know." He shakily sat down on the couch, pulling Sigyn down with him, and clinging to her as if she was his only lifeline. "I'd… I'd prefer not to…. Not to tell it, though." He admitted.
Everyone looked to Sigyn. "Thor was the only other one who was there, it should be his story." Sigyn deflected softly.
All eyes turned to Thor, who stood up, and took a deep breath. "Well… I'm not as good at telling stories as Loki, but… I suppose I could."
Loki mumbled something that sounded like "axe hunt" into Sigyn shoulder. "What's that?" Tony asked.
"It was an accident." Loki spoke up a bit. "That is the most important thing to remember."
Thor nodded in agreement. "Well… Loki wasn't always my only brother." He began. "There were… two others, younger than he. Balder and Hodir."
Loki screwed his eyes shut, burrowing his face into the crook of Sigyn's neck.
"Hodir was blind from his birth, and Balder saw visions. Visions of the future, so Father said he was to be protected, as an asset to Asgard. Mother put enchantments on him, to protect him from everything under the sun. Animals, elements, rocks, poisons, and… most plants. He was allergic to mistletoe, so the protection never really worked. Now, there was once a time, when we were hunting on Nidavellir."
"That's the same place with the forge, right?" Natasha spoke up.
"Yes." Thor nodded. "As a… joke… I believe, Loki guided one of Hodir's arrows toward Balder. He didn't realize, at the time, that the arrows were tipped with mistletoe, and it… killed Balder."
The room was deathly silent again, as Thor pressed his lips together. "When Hodir was told what had happened, he considered his life no longer worth living, and… stabbed himself. He, also, perished."
"Didn't mean to…" Loki whispered brokenly. "I'm so sorry…"
"At his trial," Thor continued, with a shuddering sigh. "Loki was not allowed to defend himself, or speak at all. There was only one witness, myself, and I was so blinded by my grief and rage, that I… testified against him. I didn't realize what Father would do to him." Thor stopped, and swallowed hard, his blue eyes filling with tears.
"He stitched Loki's mouth shut, and sent him to be chained under a great serpent, lying there as acidic venom dripped onto his face until I would come and rescue him." Sigyn took up the tale. "He lay there for six months."
Loki spoke up, his voice muffled by Sigyn's shoulder. "And the worst of it all is that Balder knew the entire thing was coming."
"And did nothing to stop it." Thor agreed.
"Woah…" Clint breathed. "That's… intense."
They all nodded in agreement. "How old were you guys, then?" Steve asked.
"Nineteen." Thor spoke up.
"Sixteen." Sigyn answered for both of them.
"And they were merely fourteen." Loki sat up, wiping at his eyes.
"Wait, so this happened only two years ago?" Tony gasped.
Loki nodded quietly. "I would rather not think on it, if it's all the same to you."
All was silent, until Loki stood up, suddenly, and took Sleipnir from Natasha's arms. "Is it not your holiday, today? Christmas?"
"Oh, yeah…" Rhodey grinned. "Christmas…"
"Presents!" Tony announced, forcing a cheerful smile onto his face. "Who wants to be our package deliverer?"
"Me!" Sigyn raised her hand as she jumped to her feet.
She skipped happily over to the tree, pulling the first present out from under it. "To Bruce, from Tony." She read, placing it by her feet. "If you all don't mind, I'll sort them all first."
"Naturally." Loki sighed, a faint smile blooming on his face.
"Okay…" She hummed. "This one's for Thor…" Thor clapped his hands excitedly as he fidgeted impatiently. "And Steve… Rhodey… Bruce, again. Natasha… Ooh, this one is for Rudolph. Who's that?" She grinned at Loki. "I've never heard of that guy!" She continued sorting them all out, and then stacked them into tidy heaps, and delivered them to each person.
As the Avengers opened their gifts, and oohed and ahed over their findings, Sigyn sat down next to her husband with her own personal stash of presents.
"Open that one last." She told Loki, pointing to the one at the bottom of the stack. "It's from me."
"You got me something?" Loki asked delightedly. "You didn't have to, Sig! I just had a birthday, remember."
"Didn't you get me something?" Sigyn pointed out. "Besides, your birthday was a week ago."
Loki shrugged, and unwrapped his first gift, from Tony, obviously. It was a remote-control drone, complete with a camera and everything. "Ooh, I've always wanted one of these, ever since I knew they existed!" Loki squealed, immediately tapping a few buttons on the controller. The drone readily took off, humming through the air and circling around Rhodey's head.
"Oh my word, don't let it chop my head off!" Rhodey screamed, ducking, and shoving his precious head under a couch cushion.
"Don't worry, I will!" Loki giggled, maneuvering the robot around near the ceiling.
"Tony, what have you done?" Clint gasped. "I can't think of literally anything worse you could have given him."
Loki, to spite that, made the drone dive-bomb Clint's head. "AHHHH, GET THAT THING AWAY FROM MEEEE!" The archer screamed, running for his life while trailing wrapping paper and ribbons. Loki cackled maniacally as the drone gently landed next to his boot, and powered off. "Ehehe… I love Christmas…"
"I'm glad…" Sigyn rolled her eyes. "But I think you need to get a better hang of 'peace on earth, goodwill towards men'."
"Nah…" Loki scoffed. "I far prefer pizza on Midgard, killer drones toward mortals."
Sigyn rolled her eyes, but didn't protest. Loki's next gift was from Director Fury, surprisingly. He was a bit nervous of it, but his sedir sensed no sign of explosives, or blades, or anything, so he warily opened the small package. Inside were two extremely familiar thin golden bracelets. "Sigyn…" He held them up.
"Aren't those your magical restrictors?" She asked.
"Yeah…" Loki nodded. "Strange gift…"
Sigyn shrugged. "Keep them, as a memento."
Loki shook his head, dropping them back into the small box. "I mean, what else am I to do? They're particularly coded to be for me, and me alone, so they won't work on anyone else…"
Clint and Natasha had gotten double-bladed throwing knives for him, perfectly balanced, and sharper than a razor. Loki thought this was a bit strange that they allowed him to have weapons, but supposed that meant they truly trusted him. It was a strange feeling, being trusted.
Steve had given him a notebook full of sketches inside. There was a note in the inside cover, loose from the rest of the aged binding, and Loki deftly unfolded it to read Steve's blocky handwriting inside.
This was one of my sketchbooks from back in the war. SHIELD recently found it, and were debating on whether or not to put it in the museum. They eventually decided to give it to me, but I thought you'd appreciate it more, being the history buff that you are. ;), Steve.
A winky face? Loki glanced up at the Captain, who was absorbed in a conversation with Clint. In truth, he understood how much the book had really meant to Steve, as it was a link to his past.
Loki hadn't expected Rhodey to get him anything, but the Colonel had given both he and Sigyn a Stark phone, with all the Avenger's and his own contacts already in them, as well as the numbers for each other's phones. Sigyn's phone had a pink case, with cherry blossoms on it, and Loki's was somewhat hollow, and dark green, with emerald green and gold sparkles inside it, that would slowly flow from one side of the case to the other when it was tilted. Loki watched the glitter slowly trickle from one end to the other in an almost hypnotized state for a solid five minutes.
Bruce had gotten him a series of books Loki'd been intending to read, that weren't available in Tony's library.
Thor had journeyed to Asgard, and gotten Loki a fair number of books from his room, as well as a few magical instruments, and a well-loved stuffed horse that Loki had adored in his childhood called Ragnar. Loki would never admit it, but he was rather sentimental toward the ratty old thing, as Frigga had given it to him on his fifth birthday. It reminded him of her, and he discreetly teleported it to his room. "Sentiment…" He muttered, a bit embarrassed at himself.
"And yet, not even you are entirely immune." Sigyn smirked fondly.
"Perhaps not." He sighed.
Pepper had given him a box full of at least two dozen snickerdoodles. How she'd figured out how much he adored the particular cookies, he'd never know. He said it in complete confidence, when he'd told Tony. He snarfed down three, on the spot, before remembering his manners, and offering half of one to Sigyn.
Sigyn's gift, as she'd requested, came last. It was the biggest package, almost as long as his arm, and he opened it eagerly. It was a new violin. Black and gold, and beautifully polished. He tenderly lifted it out of its casing, running his fingers gently along its smooth surface. "Sigyn it's perfect…" He grinned like a small child as he twisted the knobs, tuning it to the frequency he wanted. He took a deep breath, lifted it to his shoulder, and played the intro to "The Final Countdown" by Europe. The notes rang out pure and true, despite the fact that Loki'd never played that tune, before. Tony, upon hearing a song he recognized, glanced up, his eyes lighting up as he saw Loki playing the violin.
"Dude!" He gasped. "Sigyn said you were good, but… I guess I kinda didn't believe her. Can you play the guitar riff from 'Bad to the Bone'?"
Loki thought for a second, quickly recalling the melody, and imitating it quickly.
"Woah…" Clint and Rhodey's eyes were wide. "You can play just anything?"
"Anything I've heard." Loki nodded. "Or have the notes to."
"That is really cool." Natasha nodded, impressed.
Sleipnir crawled over, staring in utter shock at the instrument on Loki's lap. "Papa! Guh bu-aw?"
"Violin." Loki told her. "Can you say violin?"
"Wey-win?" She grinned, reaching her small fingers toward the strings. "My!"
"No, not yours." Loki put it back into the case. "You wanna chase a drone?"
"No!" Sigyn stopped them. "No drone chasing until she's at least three. Years, mind you! Not days, not weeks, not months. Years."
"Aww…" Loki pouted. "Killjoy."
"Ki-doy!" Sleepy repeated, having no clue what it meant. Sigyn picked Sleipnir up, holding her upright so she stood on her mother's lap. "Ma-ma-ma-ma!" Sigyn smiled, pressing a kiss to her daughter's head.
"Do you like your Christmas presents, Sleepy?" Sigyn nodded at the pile of toys Sleepy had gotten that day. "I just realized, you're seven months old, today."
"Happy birthday." Loki smiled, unsure of what else to say, and transported all of their gifts to their room. Sigyn appeared to have gotten an enormous number of stuffed animals; why, Loki wasn't sure. But she seemed happy, and Sleepy was happy, so Loki couldn't imagine a better scenario.
Pizza on Midgard, Killer Drones toward Mortals.
TheOnlyHuman.