An alien, a billionaire, and a super-soldier walked into a café. Immediately, they were mobbed by about half a dozen fangirls begging for pictures and autographs.
Tony immediately agreed, being very used to being very famous, but Thor and Steve both had a minor panic attack.
"What do they want of us?" Thor gasped, backing into the wall behind him, arms held defensively in front of his face.
Steve stood stock-still, eyes squeezed shut as if it was all a bad dream. "Make it stop..." He whispered, like a five-year-old watching a horror movie.
"Lighten up, guys, they're just fans." Tony laughed, waving to the girls as they returned, giggling, to their tables, and then proceeding to stride confidently up to counter. "Coffee, coffee, and…" He eyed Thor with a speculative air. "Um…. I think you want a coffee, right, Point Break?"
The poor cashier boy gulped nervously. "Um… sure, Mr. Stark, sir… um… what kinds?"
"The caffeinated kind!" Tony gave him a 'duh' look.
"Yes, but I mean, like, black, cappuccino, latte…"
Thor raised an eyebrow threateningly. "Is there a problem with our sustenance?"
"No!" The teenager shook his head, his eyes wide with fright. "Not at all! Um… will that be all, sir?"
"Muffins." Tony continued. "The muffiny kind, and enough to feed all of us. Remember, Capsicle, here, practically has a bottomless pit for a stomach, and Point Break is basically a black hole when it comes to pastries."
The boy gibbered in confusion, but turned, and handed the extremely vague order to his coworker, who blinked in confusion, and hurried into the back of the shop. Steve gave them an unamused look. "You didn't have to do that, you know."
"But I did." Tony smirked. "Because…"
"You am Iron Man." Steve sighed, rolling his eyes.
"I am." Tony nodded.
"You yam." Steve countered, sliding into a booth. "Now, to the topic we were actually trying to discuss…"
"Loki." Thor grinned in approval. "I believe it would be best to tell you the whole story, wouldn't it?"
The two earthlings nodded in agreement.
"Well, Loki and I… we were always competing. Always striving to have more of our father's approval, and all." Thor began. "It always seemed that I got more of the sunlight than he, so much so that my mother would often tell me to let my brother do the greater accomplishments sometimes, so that our father would notice. He always looked up to me, adored me, actually, but, rather lately, he's become extremely bitter towards me. When father chose me over him to be king, it crushed him. He told me, later, that he simply wanted to be my equal, and having the throne could have done that for him. I never thought of him as anything less than me, but… well… I don't think I made enough time for him, really. I regret that, now. He found out he's Jotun, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back."
"He's what?" Tony interrupted.
Thor sighed, twisting a lock of hair between his fingers. "A different race. We were led to believe, an inferior race. He's small, for a Jotun, and he looks… different, in his true form, but he's still my little brother. Since we believed the Jotnar were inferior, he… I believe you would call it a 'mental breakdown'? He became frenzied to earn praise, approval, anything, and even went to the lengths of slaying his birth father, thinking it would make Father happy. He… then proceeded to… attempt to destroy the whole of his birth realm, regardless of whom he hurt or even killed." Thor trailed off into silence, and Steve put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Then, what happened?" Tony pressed, ignoring the captain's glare.
"He fell off the rainbow bridge into the void." Thor whispered. "We thought him dead for the better part of a year, until he turned up in this realm. We imprisoned him in the dungeons, upon his return, and then… our mother died in the Dark Elf invasion. I released him from his cell to help avenge her, and… he died in the battle. Saving me." Thor's voice shook.
"I'm sorry, Thor." Steve quietly murmured. "That's hard."
Thor dropped his head onto the table. "I feel like I failed him." Just then, one of the store workers came up to the table bearing three lattes with whipped cream and caramel, and thirty-eight muffins. Tony immediately grabbed seven of the pastries, stuffing three into his face at once. Steve gave him a disapproving glare. "And you say we're the ones who are muffin black holes?"
"Yesh, absholu'ly." Tony said around massive amounts of muffin. Steve rolled his eyes as Thor morosely helped himself to a pastry.
"I blame myself for all the pain he went though." Thor went on, ignoring Tony's antics.
"I know how that is." Steve assured, rubbing comforting circles on Thor's shoulder.
"If I had just spoken up to everyone who said Jotnar were monsters, he…" Thor sniffled, and disconsolately took a bite of his muffin.
Tony discreetly remained silent, until a sharp buzz from the pocket of his pants startled him.
It was a text from the number Jarvis used to use.
Jarvis: Guess what I figured out how to do?
Tony groaned, and face-palmed.
"What is it?" Thor asked, leaning over the table to look at the screen of the phone.
"Your brother has discovered how to text." The engineer informed, typing in his reply.
Tony: Whoopty-doo.
Jarvis: What are you talking about?
Tony: You. Hush.
There was a short pause, then,
Jarvis: Alright.
Tony rolled his eyes again. "So, what part of all that does he remember, as a fifteen-year-old?"
"None of it." Thor admitted. "He wouldn't even remember the coronation being announced. Honestly, I don't think he even harbors any ill will towards me at all, now. I mean, yes, of course, he's stabbed me a few times, but…"
Steve groaned, and face-palmed. "I am so glad I never had siblings."
"Never with the intent to kill!" Thor indignantly protested. "He was such a sweet child, really."
"Sweet child who regularly stabbed you?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "I'm with Capsicle on this one."
"So, should I tell him?" Thor glanced between his two friend's faces.
Steve shook his head, about to say something, but Tony beat him to it. "He blew up because of the secrets, right?"
"Sort of." Thor flipped his hand. "You see…"
Tony held up a hand to hush him. "If there had been no secrets, would he have exploded?"
The Thunderer mutely shook his head.
"There's your answer." Tony shrugged. "You want no mental breakdowns; you don't keep secrets."
Thor pondered this idea for a while, then smiled in agreement. "I think you may be right, Anthony. I'll tell him, then."
"Good." Steve nodded. "That's not what I was about to say, but, for once, Tony's right."
Loki waited restlessly in the tower. The three men had been gone for almost two hours, now, and Loki was bored out of his mind. He'd tried contacting the Man of Iron, but he had apparently been busy, talking about him. He'd eventually resorted to putting together the Widigfrieds, or "wendigoes" as Anthony insisted upon calling them, for when the engineer returned. It wasn't work that required much focus, and while Loki's mechanical hands moved, his mind wandered.
What in the nine realms could have prompted him to hate Thor and attack Midgard? When he was seventeen? Two years from now? Was that the kind of person he was? Was he truly a bad man? Could he do better, or was that his destiny? What if his future was already his legacy?
He shook the dismal thoughts from his head, glancing at the time, and then the tracking signal on Anthony's cellular device. He was on his way back to the tower, so he stood the suit of armor up, and clumped it down to the kitchen. They'd said they were going to the park, so they would most likely be hungry. He absent-mindedly picked out a few dishes he remembered seeing Anthony eat, and began heating them up in the electrical oven. He paced the suit of armor around the kitchen, impatient for his brother's return. There was a soft dinging noise, the sound of the timer ringing, and he removed the food from the oven, watching the steam curl pleasantly from the re-heated food.
Just then, the elevator doors opened, and the three Avengers came in, talking amongst themselves.
"Hello!" Loki greeted cheerfully. "I made luncheon for you!"
"Woah, thanks, Bambi!" Tony grinned, immediately seizing the lone slice of pizza Loki had found, and devouring it in four bites.
Thor stared at the suit in disturbed silence. "What is this?"
"I possessed the man of Iron's armor, Thor." Loki explained shortly. "It's quite amusing, being a ghost."
Steve cleared his throat. "You're not exactly…"
"Psh, don't spoil my fun." Loki waved a careless hand at the Captain. "At least it's quite amusing pretending to be a ghost, while being capable of doing all the things a ghost can do."
Thor hesitantly edged towards Loki's make-shift body. "So… you're inside this suit, yet still without a body?"
"Basically." Loki shrugged. "I'm not sure I even understand it myself, but that's what I think is…!" Loki was cut off by the Thunderer wrapping his arms around him, pulling him into a tight squeeze. He was honestly stunned into silence. The Trickster couldn't remember the last time he'd been hugged, robot or not.
"I love you, brother." Thor murmured into Loki's metal shoulder.
Hesitantly, Loki wrapped his arms around his brother in return, leaning into the embrace. "I love you, too." It was nice to be appreciated.
"I need to tell you something, Loki." Thor announced, reluctantly pulling away.
Loki nodded eagerly. "About why I took over New York? Why I hated you?"
Thor sadly glanced at his boots. "You might want to sit down. It's a rather long story."
TheOnlyHuman