Heimdall wasn't surprised to see Loki heading towards the Bifrost. He usually saw just about everything, after all. What was slightly surprising was the location he'd requested.
"Midgard? Your highness, are you sure it's wise to leave Asgard without a ruler during this time?".
"Mother can handle things in the interim, please Heimdall," Loki pleaded," I need to see my brother".
"Very well".
He opened the portal to Earth, and watched Loki raced into it.
"Good luck, young prince. Maybe this is exactly what you and your brother need to quit living in denial".
*
Thor was out in the desert with Jane, Eric, and Darcy, when the light burst to the ground. The humans shrieked in fear, but, as soon as Thor saw who it was, he was delighted.
"Loki!"
As he got closer, however, his smile faded when he saw the tears in his brother's eyes.
"Brother? What is it? What's wrong?".
"Everything," Loki said with a choked sob before launching into Thor's arms.
*
Jane had Darcy drive the brothers to her house so they could talk in private. Thor sat Loki down on a couch, and waited for him to calm down enough to speak.
"Tell me, what has happened,Loki?".
Loki sniffed before he began, " father has collapsed into the Odinsleep".
"What?! But he wasn't due to enter that for at least another century!".
"It's all my fault," Loki turned to his brother, " when the fighting broke out in Jötunheim, one of the Frost Giants grabbed me. But instead of a burn...I just...turned blue. I didn't understand what happened, so I went down to the vault to see if the casket would recreate the effect".
"Did it?" Thor asked, getting more worried with his brother's every word.
"It did. Except all of me turned the color of frost and my eyes changed to ruby. Odin found me down there, and that's when he explained that I was actually Laufey's son that he'd found in the temple during the Great War.Thor...I'm a monster".
Thor immediately gathered the distraught man into his arms.
"You're not a monster, Loki! We cannot control the circumstances of our birth, and I love you regardless of where you come from".
"You won't when you find out what I've done," Loki sobbed.
"Tell me," Thor said quietly," I promise, if there's one thing banishment has taught me, it's to keep an open mind".
That just made the Trickster cry harder.
"I'm the one that let the Frost Giants into the palace. I...I know it was stupid, but, you were acting so damn arrogant all the time, and I just wanted to delay the coronation a bit, so I could get you to listen to me! But then, everything happened with Laufey, you getting banished, arguing with Odin and him becoming unconscious, it just all fell apart!".
Thor was extremely quiet, as he absorbed everything his brother told him. He wanted to be angry, he really did, but deep down, he knew he was the one that drove Loki to these deeds, him and Odin.
"Loki, despite the pain your actions have caused, I am not angry with you".
Confused emerald eyes stared back at him, "You're not?".
"No, because much of the fault lies in my own actions. I was too brash and arrogant, and it is only now that I see what horrors that has lead to. However, what I said previously, still stands...no matter what you are, or what you've done, I have and always will love you".
Loki squeezed him tighter, and buried his face into the other man's neck.
"I love you, too, Thor".
When Jane got home later that night, she found both men curled up together, fast asleep on the sofa. She grabbed a nearby throw blanket and settled over them, before turning in herself.
The following morning, a loud boom startled everyone in the house. Thor and Loki woke up to see a hole in the wall...
And a hammer in their hands.