Loki followed Fandral through the gardens, hand in hand. They were going to a late-night party at the fire ring, but they did not plan to stay long. Loki was going back to Midgard in the morning. He wanted to spend at least some time with Fandral before then that was not shared with everyone else. He was still excited for the party as well, though. It was a small gathering, just Thor, Loki, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg, and Sif. There was no occasion. It was like old times, or at least how he imagined old times to mostly be.
The snapping and crackling of the fire and Sif's bright laughter greeted them before the light of the flames, hidden at the center of a maze of shrubbery.
"There he is!" Volstagg cried the moment he glimpsed them. "The guest of honor!"
"Does he mean me or you?" Loki inquired of Fandral.
Fandral shrugged, then grinned. "I hope you've left some food and drink for us."
"Even Volstagg could not eat all that Skarde sent," Thor chuckled. "Seriously, I went down and asked for light picnic foods for six. He started packing stuff up, and then I remembered to ask for sage, and he exclaimed, 'This is for Loki?! You should have said!" He dumped out half the odds and ends he had packed and went foraging for twice as much, twice as decadent."
"I've never been so grateful to call myself Prince Loki's friend," Volstagg said, happily arranging what was almost certainly his third plate of food, apparently fearless of any poisoners. The risk was minimal this time, Loki supposed, if Skarde had prepared the food himself and Thor had been the one to carry it from the kitchens.
"Nor I," Fandral said, winking in Loki's direction. He pulled Loki to a bench and poured out mead for them both, then refilled Sif's and Thor's as well. Those two were always the heartiest drinkers; that Loki remembered clearly.
"To Loki!" Sif cried, raising her goblet. "Not only returned from the dead, but now returned to the party!"
"To Loki!" Thor and the Warriors Three echoed the toast.
Loki took a swallow of mead along with everyone else and smiled around at his friends. "To all of you," he said. "I have been extremely unfortunate in my enemies of late... but even more extremely fortunate in my friends. So, to my friends."
"To friendship!" the others cried merrily, and drank deep.
"You leave again tomorrow?" Hogun asked once the toasts were finished.
"Aye, back to Midgard." He smiled. "If Jotunheim prefers to keep me at arm's length, it appears the humans will probably be able to keep me busy for the next hundred years all by themselves."
"What, are they wanting you to rebuild their whole city from the ground up or something?" Sif asked.
"No, but they are not at all averse to playing off some of their ordinary ailments as in some way caused or at least exacerbated by the battle and needing my assistance to correct."
"That's not entirely honorable," Sif said, frowning.
"Perhaps not, but it's an admirable ruse in its own way," Loki said amiably. "I don't mind having an excuse to do more for them, as that kind of service is still very much helping people I hurt. And I rather enjoy playing with their politicians."
"Playing?" Volstagg asked.
"They mention some kind of problem they would really like some help with, I hint about solutions, we each muse about whether or not said problem could reasonably be attributed to the invasion, dancing back and forth. I play my part of the otherworldly prince interested only in my duty, not in mere charity or in getting overly involved in foreign problems. They play the part of polite, honorable, but needy and overwhelmed public servants, while ploying all their cunning against my façade, which is itself so guileless they surely know it to be false. It is an exotic game we play."
"Would it not be simpler to admit you are actually perfectly willing to help with things outside of your contracted obligations?" Volstagg pressed.
"No, because to admit it would cause problems for us both. For me because I should not appear to go beyond my writ after so carefully laying boundaries for myself in my address to their world forum. For them because should my services officially become available for issues unrelated to my crimes, then they will be widely called upon. Local New York officials have no wish to share their prize until they must," Loki concluded cynically. Thor laughed. He understood the sentiment instantly of course, because he was a prince and because he knew the humans well. The others did not.
"And that is why I never wanted to go into politics," Volstagg observed. "Far too convoluted and headache-inducing, puts you off your dinner. I like the military hierarchy: here are your orders. Follow them. Don't be an idiot. Don't break your warrior vows. Simple!"
Sif nodded agreement, then asked Loki, "How long are you away this time?"
"Not long. They have a seven-day week, and I decided to live by their schedule for now, since I don't really have other duties. So I will work five days in Midgard, then return here for two."
"I am not giving Fandral even more random days off just because it's the weekend for you," Hogun warned. "He's staying on an Asgardian work schedule."
Fandral chuckled. "If it will help cool your ire, o my superior officer, I'll happily take some extra hours when Loki's off world."
"Might as well take them when I'm on-world too," Loki informed him drily. "I'll be spending most of Midgard's weekends either holed up with Skadi, training with Hogun, or preparing magical schema for when I go back to Midgard. And in two months when I've completed Skadi's introductory cultural curriculum, she says Jotunheim will revisit if and when they will requisition my services as well. Our days of idle pleasure are behind us, my dear."
"Work, work, work, busy, busy, busy," Sif interjected.
"That's the old Loki we all know and love!" Volstagg said. Then he belched loudly.
Loki raised an eyebrow and looked to Fandral for confirmation of that. He nodded subtly. Perhaps that explained how Fandral in the past had come to be so convinced Loki wasn't interested in him. "I'll try not to let my love of puritanical labor spoil our levity, at least not this evening. Enough about me. What have all of you been up to whilst I was away amongst the humans, with only rare visits from Thor?" He leaned forwards and dusted the picnic with sage as he spoke. Fortunately, absolutely none of it was poisoned. How novel.
"Work, work, work, busy, busy, busy," Sif answered ironically.
"Sif and I were deployed in the border realms almost the whole time," Volstagg said.
"Oh? Cleaning up more raiders who had moved in while the Bifrost was down?"
"Mostly."
"We were almost a year behind on preparations for the Convergence," Thor supplied. "So the Elite are catching up on those and battling raiders."
"What's the Convergence?" Loki asked blankly.
Sif's eyes widened. "You're kidding! You don't remember?"
Loki shook his head.
"Norns, you were super excited for it this time two years ago, Brother," Thor said.
"It wouldn't have been in the Chronicle, and it wouldn't have been on his sorcery exam either," Fandral pointed out reasonably, subtly squeezing his hand. "Give him time."
"Would someone please explain?" Loki sighed.
"It's a week-long celestial event that occurs just once every 5,000 years, with the perfect alignment of the Nine Worlds within the axis of Yggdrasil..."
"During which one would be able to see and even walk between the worlds directly," Loki finished, eyes widening.
"Er, yes. The last one happened during Bor's reign. You do remember something about it?"
"No, but I'm a sorcerer with cross-training in astronomical science to the extent that it intersects with my arcane interests, you dolt. When you offer a minimal description, I understand the implications. I may have some sub-conscious memory of it as well, but I certainly did not remember the name or the fact that such a rare event is imminent..." He smiled broadly. "This will be a sight to see. Once-in-a-lifetime, even for us. Damn, Odin's lucky. He would have been around for the last one too, wouldn't he? When is it due, exactly?"
"Almost exactly this time next year. Security is a nightmare," Fandral informed him. "Hogun, Thor, and I have been stuck in strategy meetings for the last two weeks, revising our plans now that the Bifrost is operational again but the full scale of the chaos from its hiatus is laid bare."
"Hmm. Sorry about that. If there's anything I can do, Thor can commandeer my services." He grinned mischievously. "Seems I picked the right time to have all my ranks and duties stripped, if I get to enjoy the Convergence as a private citizen!"
"Oh, I'll find a way to put you to work," Thor said.
"Sure you will, but you'll still be way busier than me."
"I could find horrible, trivial work for you," Thor warned playfully. "It will still be community service, since you'll give some other poor sod a break to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime event."
"And I'll tell Ambassador Skadi this is an opportune time for me to observe and learn about Jotunheim without having to trouble the Jotnar with my actual presence." Before Thor could tease him further, Loki turned to Fandral and squeezed his shoulders. "And it will be close enough to our anniversary, we can have a special celebration..."
"I will be working," Fandral reminded him, although he was still smiling.
"You'll get breaks to eat and sleep, and I will plan something. You'll see."
"I look forward to it," Fandral said, and kissed his cheek before leaning forwards to peruse Thor's picnic selections.
Loki leaned back on the bench in satisfaction and sipped his mead again. "Tell me of your most recent adventure with the raiders, Sif."
Sif grinned, and from her expression, Loki could tell this would be quite the boast. As she launched into her tale of daring battles and a game of cat-and-mouse ranging across multiple star systems, Loki relaxed. He was feeling unusually warm and rosy, and not just from the mead.
He realized why when he and Fandral bade the others good night and stole out of the garden and up towards Loki's quarters. Today was the first day in a long time that Loki had gathered with friends and entertained thoughts of a pleasant future for himself, without even once contaminating the experience with worry, woe, and guilt.
He was alive, but more than that, he was living. It was that heady thought he took to bed, first to Fandral's eager embrace, then to sated sleep, and then to happy dreams.
When he kissed his lover goodbye in the morning, it was not like there was no tomorrow. It was like he would be returning to their happy home in a week, like they would spend years or perhaps even decades or centuries of their lives together, that any trials they would face would be overcome, that any arguments between them would eventually defuse, that though there would be hardships, there would always be happiness around the corner. This was a new emotion that Loki finally identified as love for his own life, for himself, not just for the people around him. Hah. Just. The love he had for Fandral, for Thor, for Odin and Frigga, for Lady Eir, for his faithful friends, even for people like Loralei and the humans hosting him - there was nothing simple or mere about it. It was all those loves, and the support he garnered from them, that allowed him to love himself again today. Loki savored the feeling as he wended his way through the city towards the Observatory. He was not foolish enough to think the pleasure he felt the past few days would last forever. His gloom would strike again at some point, but today he saw his depression as a storm that was, finally, beginning to break, and would eventually pass, Norns willing.
He smiled at Heimdall. As he stepped onto the rainbow bridge, his chiefest thought was how he could show his appreciation to everyone who had kept their faith in him and worked so hard to help him heal. He stepped off the bridge into the streets of New York City, just near the Avengers Tower. He waived idly at a cluster of reporters who had evidently been waiting for the moment of his return with a film camera. One of them shouted a question about whether he was planning to clean out more rivers this week, which he pretended not to hear. He did grin wryly to himself as he passed through the rotating glass door and into the lobby to find Anthony Stark and Captain Steve Rogers both lounging about waiting for him. He had enough other obligations, it would take him centuries to show his proper thanks to everyone who deserved it. Fortunately, centuries was what he had. So he would plan something special for Fandral first, hopefully against the backdrop of the Convergence. Everyone else could wait a little longer.
"There he is, the Monkey King himself!"
"Beg pardon?" Loki asked easily. Anthony had the bizarre habit of constantly calling people by various nicknames, few of which Loki understood as they were usually Midgardian cultural references of some sort.
"Are you really referencing the Journey to the West, Stark?" Steve asked, sounding impressed.
Anthony shrugged. "It fits, doesn't it? Uber-powerful mischief maker condemned to toil with the mortals in penitence?"
"You compare me to Sun Wukong?" Loki asked in surprise as he found he did understand the allusion.
"Hey, you know that story?"
"Odin was one of the Authorities of Heaven that helped imprison him." The tale was lovingly if drily detailed in the Chronicle of the Reign of Odin, volume thirty.
Both the mortals' mouths fell open in shock.
Loki grinned at their reaction. "Shall we get to work?"
Author's note: The End.
Always wanted to end this story with Loki in a place of healing and "forward momentum." The loose ends (cough Thanos cough) are deliberate, because this Loki's story is not over... I just won't be the one writing it. Sorry. Feel free to imagine future adventures for this version of the Marvel cast. If anyone ends up actually writing some, absolutely let me know. And give me some feedback on my first romance story, now that it's concluded! 3
