He had had a craving for chanterelle mushrooms and despite the profuse offers from courtiers to procure them for him, Loki insisted on foraging them himself. Thor being Thor, did his best to talk him out of it and when talking his best failed (as was expected), Thor being Thor, ordered whomever else but the valiant Lady Brunnhilde to chaperone – Loki was too gleeful to feel insulted or argue.
They had been walking through the forest for nearly an hour when they stumbled onto the first bunch of wild mushrooms growing abundant and tantalisingly delicious under a big tree. Loki quickly dropped to his knees and gathered them all into his pack.
He climbed to his feet and was about to head for another batch of chanterelle mushrooms he had seen underneath another tree about ten feet away when he felt the first wave of dizziness strike.
"Lackey." Loki felt a supporting hand at his elbow and allowed himself to be led to sit on a fallen log.
"Head between your legs, now." Loki complied, blinking away the spots and fighting down the rolling waves of nausea. His mouth watered. He spat out and breathed in deeply.
"Thought you don't get these dizzy spells anymore." Valkyrie rummaged through her pack and produced a waterskin. She pressed it in his hand. "Drink this. You're overheated."
"No, I'm not. We're in the middle of a humid jungle." Loki took another couple of deep breaths. "I just haven't been wearing my stockings."
"Your...stockings?"
"They're special ones Strange got made for me. Supposed to keep my blood pressure stable when I'm on my feet too long or something."
"Well, where are they? And why haven't you worn them?"
Loki rolled his eyes and waved a hand in the general direction of his belly. "Look at the size of me. I can't exactly reach down anymore. Can barely see my feet."
"Then who's been putting them on for you all this while?"
Loki remained quiet.
It was Valkyrie's turn to roll her eyes. "Why didn't you just magic them on?"
Loki remained stubbornly quiet.
"You sentimental fool." Valkyrie sat down on the log next to him. She did not sound particularly angry, only resigned and more exasperated than irritated. "Fancy Man's been gone what a week? And what if you had fallen and broken your neck or something huh?"
Loki shrugged. "Already broke it once. Didn't hurt that much."
"Yeah, I'm sure it stopped hurting once you stopped breathing." Valkyrie dead-panned. "Give them to me."
"What? I'm not giving you the mushrooms, they're mine-"
"I'm not talking about the damn mushrooms, Highness. Give me the magic socks, I'm sure you've got them stored somewhere in one of your magic pockets."
Loki stared at her uncertainly.
"You have to wear them, right? So who's it going to be? Me or Thor? Or Banner?" She crossed her arms in defiance. "Cos we sure as hell won't let you walk another step until you do."
Valkyrie held out her palm expectantly. "Come on we haven't got all day."
A few minutes later, Valkyrie was straining with the effort to put the compression stockings on. "This wasn't-" Loki's legs, once slender and thin, had grown so swollen from all the gallivanting he had done the super-tight contraption was not going on as smoothly as it used to. "-in the bloody job description!"
"I need a raise."
"Hey, Bambi. Did you miss me?"
Loki groaned inwardly. He would recognise that voice anywhere. He should have known to disappear the moment he saw the gawdy helicopter land in the distance just before his scheduled meet-up with Banner.
"Stark. To what do I possibly owe the pleasure."
"You pulled a Houdini on me and I got curious. I can't sleep when I'm curious so here I am."
Loki stared at him blankly. "What is this Houdini and what exactly did I pull?"
Bruce adjusted the tourniquet around Loki's upper arm that had slipped and sagged slightly. "Houdini was a magician back in the 1920s who was famous for his disappearing acts."
Loki rolled his eyes. "You humans glorify feats that I have learnt to do while I was still a babe in my toddler pants. Why am I not as famous as this Houdini?"
"Uh, ya kinda are…" Bruce pushed his spectacles further up his nose.
"And I haven't seen hide nor tail of my very good friend the great Doctor Stephen Strange in a while-" Tony lifted a finger, "He never did get back to me, and you know I like my progress reports, which meant that he had to still be in Asgard, and I got even curiouser."
Tony let his gaze wander over the length of Loki's body, lingering on the general area of his midsection like if he only stared hard enough, he would be able to see through the glamour what Loki clearly did not want him to see. "Never realised ensuring sustainable agriculture could be so…productive."
"Please take a walk on the grounds, Stark," Loki said pleasantly. "And do feel free to fall off a cliff."
"Aww. And to think I've brought with me some fantastic gift baskets for the baby shower – I am invited I assume?"
"You told him?" Loki hissed furiously.
"I did need clearance to secure offshore remote access to his servers in New York where I kept your biometrics and anthropometric data - you try doing that from this Godforsaken place with practically non-existent wifi and cellular service and I am sorry I did not get your consent but you were pretty much bleeding to death at the time and not being particularly talkative."
Loki was still fuming. If Tony Stark knew, then it would mean it was only a matter of time before everyone and their uncle knew about it. Him. Them. His baby. Stephen's baby. Whatever.
"Be still, Loki. You'll dislodge the cannula."
"You are so lucky I am incapacitated right now, Stark, or I would-"
"You're getting soft, Lokes." In a flash, Loki grabbed a kidney dish from the trolley next to him and threw it with deadly accuracy at Tony's head.
"Oww!"
"Loki, stop this!" Bruce glowered at him. "I was the one who called him. I needed his help with something. We need his help."
"The only help I need is for someone to escort this man back to his stupid helicopter, away from my sight!"
"To think that I came all this way for you, Bambi," Tony pouted, rubbing his head ruefully.
"Strange is not here, Tony. He's back at his magic school in Kamar-Taj helping to clear up some post-apocalyptic mess of the magical kind. He's been gone two weeks now."
"That guy never picks up his phone." Tony leaned against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest. "The least you can do when you're in a long-distance relationship is to turn the damn roaming on." His eyes gleamed. "Is that what's got your knickers all in a twist, Lo-Lo? Missing your baby daddy?"
"Tony…" Bruce said warningly and made a slashing motion across his throat that could only mean cut it the hell out.
"Oh, by the way, Stephen's already RSVP'ed to the wedding so…I'm guessing you're his plus one?" Tony's eyes lit up. "Or is it plus two now?"
Loki rose from the recliner chair much like a vampire rising from a coffin and ripped the cannula from his elbow sending blood spurting everywhere – "Hey!" Banner cried out.
"But I'm kinda glad you're not dead! I need you for some magic tricks for the wedding," Tony winked. "Nothing fancy, just something dramati - Oh shit!" He ducked to avoid the knife barely missing his head and lodging into the wall behind him.
"That was really unnecessary, Loki. Tony was only trying to help." Bruce wiped the last of the bloodstains from the dressing trolley with an antiseptic wipe. If Tony had not interrupted the session, he could have had at least two pints withdrawn today. Now he only had one and a half, and Loki was in no mental state to sit through another attempt at blood-letting from the look of him.
"Can't expect me to change just because I'm pregnant." Loki closed his eyes, his lips a stubborn pout. "It's biologically impossible."
"It's all just neurotransmitters, Loki. Your stress hormones, your sad hormones, your happy hormones, they're all out of whack." Bruce shook his head disapprovingly. "All this violence, you don't want it to rub off on the baby, do you?"
"Spare me the lecture, Banner. I'm not in the mood."
Suddenly exhausted from the outburst, Loki dropped his glamour. He stared at his belly. There was no hiding it any longer, at twenty-four weeks he wagered he was more than halfway through, if any of his past pregnancies hundreds of years ago were anything to go by.
An overwhelming sadness came over him out of blue and Loki leaned his head back and fought the urge to burst into tears. He tried to rouse his anger, at the fact that all he did now was cry and cry, but it was nowhere to be found.
Bruce watched him silently. Loki had never looked more miserable.
"You know if you really miss him, you can just call him."
"I can't." A single tear ran down his cheek.
Bruce pulled up a stool and sat down. "Why not?"
"I just can't." Loki wiped his cheek with the heel of his hand.
"And why not, Loki?" He asked again patiently.
"I can't distract him from his duties." Loki shook his head, and another tear fell onto his lap. "I can't get in the way."
Bruce inhaled deeply. "This is not good, Loki. Not good for you, and definitely not good for the baby. Antenatal depression's a real thing."
Then Bruce did something that probably surprised himself more than it did Loki. He laid a hand on Loki's blanket-covered shin and gave it a squeeze that was largely meant to be reassuring, but perhaps it was more his words than his touch that restored the slightest glimmer of hope back in Loki's heart.
"Right now, his biggest duty is to you, and the baby. If you're going through a rough time, I'm sure he would really want to know about it. Call him."
"Loki?" Stephen sounded surprised, his voice rough and thick. Loki felt a pang of guilt. Nepal was almost five hours ahead of Norway and it was already past midnight in Asgard. Stephen must have been asleep. He knew how tiring healing spells could be and Stephen had been working non-stop for the past fortnight helping Wong and the other Masters out at Kamar-Taj as more and more victims of Karl Mordo came out from hiding upon hearing the news of his death.
"I just…wanted to hear your voice."
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes." No. Loki heaved a shuddery sigh. "Yes, Stephen. Everything is alright."
"Can't sleep?"
"I'm fine."
Stephen did not speak for a few seconds.
"You want me to sing you a lullaby or something?'
"Don't be ridiculous." Yes.
Stephen chuckled softly.
"Good night, Stephen."
"Good night, Loki."
Loki sank his head deeper into his pillow and inhaled deeply. He never thought he would admit it to himself but at times like this, he missed New York just for the noise. It was too quiet here in Asgard and quiet was not good when all he had for company was his head and all the demons that lived in it.
He was fighting a losing battle, was again losing himself to melancholy.
The baby shifted inside him and his stomach lurched. "Just you and me, sweetheart."
It was going to be a long night.
All of a sudden, Loki felt a dip in the bed as if someone had gotten in next to him. In alarm, he shot up and would have scrambled off the bed had he not felt a hand wrap around his wrist - Loki's heart leapt to his throat.
He was about to shout, he knew the Valkyrie was just next door, but what if she had drunk herself into a stupor and bloody Hel he could not believe this was happening again! The hand at his wrist moved as fast as lightning to knock the dagger out of his hand - "Hey! Hey! It's just me!"
"Stephen?!" Loki screeched. "What the Hel are you doing here?"
"You called me, remember?" Stephen flicked the lights on with just a snap of his fingers. He sat up on the bed, brown hair still tousled from sleep, eyes bleary.
"Yes, to say goodnight!" Loki hissed.
Stephen said quietly, "You called for me."
He stood and walked over to the other side of the bed where Loki was still standing stock-still, arms wrapped around himself as if warding himself from the cold.
Stephen gathered his arms around Loki's waist and coaxingly pulled him in. "And I answered."
Loki's face crumbled. His hands dropping to his side, he buried his face into Stephen's chest.
As he breathed in the familiar, heady scent, Loki could feel the tension drain away and he allowed a shudder come to pass. His arms slowly rose to straddle Stephen's back and cling to his shoulders.
"You alright?" Loki could sense the poorly-concealed anxiety in Stephen's voice.
"Yes." Stephen heard Loki mumble into his shirt. The slight tremor Stephen was feeling through the palm of his hand was not his own.
"Loki, what is wrong? You're shaking."
"I'm fine." Loki lifted his face and tried to give Stephen a reassuring smile, only for it to falter seconds later, "Only I do not think I should be alone tonight."
He dropped his head again. His pride be damned. He was a mess.
Stephen nodded into the top of Loki's head, his chin sharp and coarse against the soft locks of Loki's hair. "I'm sorry, Loki."
"I shouldn't have left you alone. I shouldn't have been gone so long."
"It's okay. You answered." At long last, when Loki showed his face again, it was lit with a smile, small still but much brighter than the one he wore previously.
Loki leaned forward for a kiss, for it was the only way Loki could think of to even begin to show Stephen how much he had missed him -
The next thing Stephen knew, he was lying on his back on the bed; Loki had slipped off his robes that now lay in a silken pile on the floor, and was now straddling Stephen's thighs, looking gloriously flushed with lust, his usually pale skin glowing, glossy dark hair tumbling past delectable collarbones and tickling Stephen's chest and Stephen could not help but moan. "Loki…"
Loki slowly eased himself down, whispering a word Stephen could not catch but for all its mystery it mattered naught, it could only have been a spell, to render its caster's body so pliable, so warm, so heavy yet not crushingly so – Stephen groaned in pleasure; Loki in reality should be but a dense solid mass of muscle he should not be able to withstand, yet the Loki in his arms now was as light and as heavy a lover could and should be…every inch of him beautiful, every inch of him perfection.
Every inch of Loki fitting Stephen just right.
As they lay together chest to chest, thigh to thigh in the darkness, Stephen barely felt the cold, only the warmth of Loki's breath against the hollow of his throat as Loki trailed his lips along his neck, the tingling in his spine thrumming with every delicious stroke of Loki's rounded belly pressing against his member. "Loki."
Stephen's hand ran up the smooth side of Loki's thigh, the sharp jut of his hipbone, the exquisite dip where his long waist still curved inward, before it trailed down to gently caress the soft swell of Loki's belly. "Are you…is this really –" Stephen sucked in a breath as Loki's sharp teeth nicked his skin, "-okay?"
"Stephen," Loki murmured. "Please." His green eyes glinted in the dark. Shut up.
"As you command, my Prince," Stephen acquiesced sotto voce. He grabbed the back of Loki's head and pulled him in for a deep, crushing kiss. He missed him too.
They made love deep into the night, the notion of sleep a distant memory. Stephen explored every inch of Loki's body, embracing all the ways his lithe, lean body had changed in preparation for childbearing, and he spent many minutes kissing all the curves and edges, every one of them vaguely familiar yet different. All Loki.
They had long since lost count but as they lay now spent, faces turned to each other, Stephen traced his thumb along the angular line of Loki's chin.
"You are the most exquisite thing I have ever seen," he murmured.
Loki's face, pale as moonlight, shone brighter still with pleasure. "I know."
He reached up to cup Stephen's cheek in turn. The delicious tingling between his thighs burned yet he was aching for more.
"Are you tired?"
Stephen laughed, clearly exhausted. "You are insatiable, Loki."
"I fear, Stephen." Loki sighed, closing his eyes. "I fear the moment I stop that it will be taken away from me."
"Don't say such things." Stephen's hand released his face only to grab around Loki's waist and pull him into as tight an embrace but one still mindful of the baby. "Enjoy the here and now. Enjoy us. Enjoy this." His other hand found its way atop Loki's belly.
"I think we've thrown him off his sleep cycle," Stephen marvelled. "Was that a kick?"
"Yes," Loki murmured. "I think he enjoyed all the merry tumbles and cartwheels we had him doing."
Stephen laughed again.
"I am taking the longest bath in the history of New Asgard."
Loki stretched and sat up, swinging his long legs down his side of the bed. Stephen watched as Loki grabbed his sticky, sweat-soaked hair and bunched it up into a messy ponytail, leaving a few stray strands stubbornly stuck to the back of his long neck from the perspiration.
"Who took the longest bath in the history of old Asgard?"
Loki threw him a look over the shoulder and smirked. "Me."
"God, it's too early for a shower." Stephen turned onto his side and grabbed Loki's pillow, hugging it to his chest. "Wake me up when you're done. I have a feeling when you come out from the bath, it'll be in time for breakfast and I am famished."
Stephen felt under the covers for another pillow to straddle between his thighs and he froze.
He propelled himself up to a sitting position and drew the covers back entirely off the bed with one sweep of his arm.
"Fuck. Loki!"
"What?" Loki who was just about to turn the doorknob to the en-suite bathroom turned around to look. His heart skipped a beat, before it began to pound in his chest, picking up pace. "Oh dear."
Stephen jumped out of the bed, leaping over the large pool of blood staining the mattress bright red against the stark white of the sheets, his face drained of all colour. He reached for Loki's hand, whose fingers had gone ice-cold with fear.
"Oh dear, oh dear," he heard Loki murmur over and over and Stephen held a steadying hand on his waist as Loki bent over to look between his legs, and sure enough, blood was trailing down his thighs in thin rivulets, staining his pristine white robe and pooling at his bare white feet.