"- You should have seen it! I was deep in the throes of his fists, they were swinging at me like a wild baboon, and with a mighty fist I slammed my shoulders into his, knocking him back and ka-pow! He was down! I had won the match!" Thor grinned toothily, his reenactment causing him to bounce up and down in excitement, as he cast his younger brother a quick glance.

The dark haired sixteen year old stared blankly ahead at the gray brown streets.

Thor frowned.

"Loki?"

The pair of green eyes swiveled slowly over to Thor's.

Loki's brow raised a quarter of an inch in response.

"What."

Thor's frown increased, his red backpack missing a strap slouched along his back and broad shoulders as he returned in step with his younger sibling.

"Weren't you listening to my wrestling match? How I won the last game?" Thor looked petulant for a moment, before grinning again and remarking, "It was quite the victory!"

Loki rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, Thor. You're always winning and father is always oh so proud of you." The youngster quickened his step in an attempt to outmatch his brother.

Thor caught up easily, of course.

"Loki," his meaty hand pressed to Loki's shoulder for a moment, and Loki processed the feeling of warmth and life from his brother before Thor's next words loosely caught his attention. "You know father is proud of you, just the same."

Loki sighed breathily, a chuckle slipping past his lips.

"Come on, Thor, I know you're not as smart as I am, but even you can realize the pathetic lie you just spat out."

Thor stopped walking, staring at Loki with worried confusion.

For whatever reason, Loki found himself stopping too, staring back into his brother's blue eyes.

"Loki, you know that's not true."

"Yeah, sure."

"…Would you like me to talk to father about this?"

Loki barked, "No! I don't need you fighting my battles for me, Thor. I can take care of my fucking self."

Thor's confusion shattered into sadness.

"Oh, Loki, you know how mother would frown upon that language."

Loki huffed, "Mother's not here."

Thor pressed his lips together thinly. He opened his mouth to utter other half words of comfort, but Loki beat him to it and muttered, "We better be going, otherwise Mr. Kampton's going to give you another report on why you're late." Loki looked knowingly at Thor.

Thor shook his head. "I don't understand why Kampton gives me the assignments when you're equally as late as I am."

Loki flashed a mocking grin. "It's because he can actually stand me."

Thor grimaced in response, quirking a brow and settling his instinctual competitive gaze to Loki.

"Ready?"

Loki's expression betrayed his knowledge of what Thor was talking about.

"Not particularly."

"Too late!" Thor shouted, hurrying forward as his heels kicked up the dirt of the early autumn day.

Loki stared at his retreating form before adjusting his backpack and running after his older brother.

Author's Note:

Hello, everyone! I'm so happy to have gotten some faves and follows from where the first chapter left off. =] Here's an update because I was thinking of this story over the weekend but got in some trouble with schoolwork and so couldn't write until this evening. It continues from where we left off in the first chapter, and I hope it sounds all right, I just wrote it up so it's still fresh, and I hope it's giving us all insight into how these characters will be in this AU.

Thor's into wrestling, which I know zilch about, but we'll roll with it! =]

Thank you for reading! Reviews are like candy. 3