Hello everyone...there was some problem with the previous chapter. It didn't function for some reason but it should all be fine now. So if you read chapter XI, there is the next one. Enjoy ;)

"Sir, our satellites took this photo an hour ago. It seems that Thanos is getting closer." An agent handed Fury a tablet with the pictures.

Fury examined them closely. Thanos' spaceship was huge; the Director has never seen such a massive flying object. Even its exterior appeared threatening; Fury didn't even try to imagine what could be lurking inside.

His planet was clearly in danger. He had to act.

Fury took out his phone and found Stark's name.

…

Loki told Thor approximately seventy-five times that it was not a good idea. That they should stay in the room. Yet his idiotic brother insisted that Loki needed sustenance which could, conveniently, be found only in the kitchen. Yes, the kitchen connected to the very safe living room in which he was almost massacred.

The God of Mischief did remind Thor that he was a god, not a mere mortal, and that he could go a few days without eating some pathetic Midgardian food. Yet Thor went on how Loki was in need of getting stronger and insisted that the healing process would be much more efficient with full stomach.

When Loki didn't stop protesting, Thor took a list from his brother's playbook of mischief.

"Fine, little brother. I will go to the kitchen, tell my friends that you wouldn't come out and prepare some food for you. I'll bring it back to you."

Loki gave Thor the evil eye. He knew what his brother was doing; playing on his sense of pride. A Prince of Asgard couldn't hide away in a room because of some mortal superheroes. Loki understood the use of reverse psychology yet that didn't stop his pride from kicking him and whispering to him that the implications of Thor's words were actually true. Had he let his brother bring him food back to his room, he would look a coward or too injured, which meant weak and vulnerable, to go to the kitchen himself.

"Fine, I'll go with you." Loki hissed while rolling his eyes to show Thor what he thought about his brilliant play.

Thor couldn't hide the grin spreading across his face. He helped Loki get up from the bed, having the trickster accidently stepping onto his bare feet.

"Your feet are cold." Thor said.

"My feet have always been cold, but I suppose you have always been more interested in Sif's…body parts. Or that woman's." Loki responded.

Thor didn't find the answer worth replying to and so he let Loki put his uninjured arm around his shoulders to lean on him. Then they stepped out of the room.

"Well, at least I haven't been tricked. Or should I say Loki'd?" Thor cracked a smile.

"Did you just use my name as a synonym for being tricked?" Loki marvelled. "Well…actually, I do suppose that I deserve things to be named after me. So you may keep using it." Loki smirked.

When they reached the living room, Loki was feeling anxious. However, he meant it when he said that he trusted Thor. Yet Thor's judgement was a different thing entirely and Loki cursed himself for allowing his oaf of a brother to lead him to the literally bloody living room.

You are a god. A prince. A saviour. You should be a king and have statues built in your honour. You can deal with a few idiots. They managed to get to you because of the moment of surprise. This advantage is now yours.

Loki focused his attention fully on his surroundings and heard that the so-called superheroes were discussing toast making. The God of Mischief had to stop himself from rolling his eyes yet again.

"If you wouldn't mind making more toasts, I also happen to be rather hungry." His brother said and the attention of everyone turned to them.

For some reason, probably because he was busy sulking at Thor, Loki didn't manage to invent a strategy of approaching the Avengers. He didn't decide whether he would try to make an impression of a gravely wounded person who is no treat or a smug top dog who found the whole situation beneath him and who wasn't actually injured at all.

And so he was just leaning onto Thor with a slightly surprised expression on his face.

"We need to talk." Stark stated with an unreadable expression.

"Yes, we should." Steve agreed and began walking towards the living room while holding a knife that was intended for spreading the butter and jam on the toast.

Not unreasonably, Thor deduced the situation to be hostile and so he raised his arm to call for Mjolnir.

"Seriously, brother?" Loki eyed Thor with a mix of amusement and worry in his eyes.

"Right." Thor mumbled and put the arm down in theatrically devastated manner.

"It was just a hammer, Thor." Loki commented.

"No, it was Mjolnir." Thor retorted immediately.

"I have been telling you since we were around five years old: don't name your things!" Loki said in a patronising tone.

"Well, there wouldn't be a problem with me naming my toys if you wouldn't practice your magic on them and destroy most of them as a result."

"Daddy, Loki turned my wooden sword The Head-cutter into a snake." Loki perfectly mimicked Thor's voice.

"I didn't sound like that."

"You did and anyway, you should have been happy. You adore snakes."

"I couldn't exactly practice with a wooden snake, could I?"

"You've always lacked imagination."

"And you have had too much of it."

"I don't deny that."

Thor didn't reply and instead both brothers focused their attention back on the trio in front of them.

Steve was standing with the knife in his hand while staring at the brothers with his mouth wide open. Stark was eyeing them with a raised left eyebrow and Bruce was sitting by the table and inconspicuously smiling to himself.

"Right." Thor coughed. "Steve, could you please put the knife down? We mean no harm."

Steve snapped back to reality. "Oh yeah, sorry. I just…it was for the toasts. Tony was supposed to make me some. Not that I couldn't do it myself. It's just that his machine is too complicated. I don't know why I took such a big knife actually. It wasn't meant…you know." He turned back and put the knife on the table.

"Maybe we should all move to the sofas. No one is attacking anyone unless you want me to get angry." Bruce commented and exemplarily went to sit on one of the couches.

Tony and Steve followed him and sat next to the doctor.

Thor and Loki copied them in a minute. The last remaining members of the Asgardian royal family made their way towards a sofa facing the three already seated Avengers. Loki brought his arm away from his brother's shoulders and carefully sat on the comfortable pillows. He moved himself back so that he was leaning onto the backrest, also bringing his long legs onto the sofa and crossing them. Thor sat right next to him.

"Right." Tony commented.

"Right." Thor replied.

"So far, the conversation has been meaningful and productive." Loki spoke for the first time in the presence of the team.

"You're the reason we need to have a conversation in the first place." Tony wouldn't be intimidated by the witty god.

"I am honoured." Loki replied. Thor smiled next to him. He was happy to see that his brother was back to his mischievous self, even though it meant that the negotiations with the Avengers would be twice as long and complicated.

"Brother." Thor scolded Loki half-heartedly.

"What is it, Thor? You're always saying how I should tell the truth. Once I do it, you have a problem with it."

"You know what I mean. Diplomacy was always your strength, so don't play dumb."

"No one would ever believe me if I played dumb. My eyes would involuntarily shine with intelligence anyway." The God of Mischief gave Thor a disarming wink.

"So use some of your intelligence now." Thor was slowly losing patience.

"Are you two always like that?" Tony commented, pretending to hide the smile forming on his lips.

"Like what?" Loki hissed offensively.

"Like…I don't know. Brothers I suppose." Tony deduced.

"We are brothers." Thor replied.

"Well, technically…" Loki began but was interrupted by Thor.

"Oh, shut up, Loki." The trickster gave his brother a burning stare but did indeed shut up.

"This is leading nowhere." Bruce decided to take the wheel of the conversation. "Tony, Steve? You wanted to say something."

Tony glimpsed at Steve who glanced back at him.

Steve sighed.

"Look, Thor. We're sorry. We didn't think it through. We should have discussed it with you beforehand and make arrangements for Loki's arrival based on some kind of compromise." Steve got out of him quickly.

"I appreciate you saying that, friend." Thor replied.

"And I am sorry for smashing you into the wall." Tony added.

Thor nodded in understanding.

"And…" Bruce spurred his friends to continue.

"Clint shouldn't have shot you. It wasn't a part of the plan and at that moment, it wasn't the right-hero thing to do." Tony said, turning his attention to Loki.

It wasn't an apology, but it was a beginning.

"But Thor, how do you imagine this functioning?" Tony asked his friend. "We can't just leave him running around hoping that he won't try to kill anyone."

"I am in this room, Stark." Loki spoke for the first time directly to one of the Avengers. "And I am not intending to kill anyone. For now."

"And why is that?" Steve questioned. "The last time I saw you, you tried to enslave everyone while killing those who would oppose you. What changed?"

"What is the point of this conversation if you don't believe anything I say anyway?" Loki raised his eyebrows. This conversation was quickly turning as uncomfortable as he would expect it to be. The God of Mischief was more than familiar with people being distrustful and openly hostile towards him, but he never got completely used to that. He supposed that no one could.

"Try us." Stark said only.

"Asgard was destroyed." Loki continued reluctantly. "Our people have nowhere to go. The Universe is an unsafe place now. I will not jeopardise their position on Midgard over some petty conflict."

"Since when do you care about anyone but you?" Tony challenged.

"I have always cared about my people. I have ruled them for the past few years and I did everything in my power to get them to safety. I will not watch all that hard work go to waste." Loki replied. An awkward silence followed.

"I suppose that makes sense." Tony mumbled after a while. "So you two," Tony gestured to the Asgardian brothers, "are the best pals again?"

"We still have a lot to discuss, but we declared truce for now." Surprisingly, it was Loki who answered the question.

"I am sorry, guys." Tony had to voice his thoughts loudly. "But this still doesn't make much sense. You are going on about how you loved each other for who knows how many centuries, how there were some slight disagreements and how you united to defeat whoever tried to kill all the people of Asgard. Forgive me if it doesn't go together with my last memory of Loki commanding everyone to kneel, throwing me out of a window and stabbing Thor in order to lead an alien army to destroy as much of this planet as possible."

Thor tried to say something, but Loki was faster.

"Look, Stark. I got it. You would be a fool to trust me. I am not a hero. I never was…. until recently when I saved the whole race from extinction, but that is not my point now." Loki paused when he saw Stark being unable to hide a little smile dancing on his lips. "Anyway, all I can tell you is that I was not…myself when attacking Midgard. I am not telling you why. Fury will be coming here anyway so you will be able to listen to that lovely fairy-tale whether I like it or not."

"What did Fury do to you?" Tony asked.

"He called it interrogation, I believe." Loki replied avoiding eye contact with anyone. Thor put a hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"You don't have to talk about it, brother." The Thunderer said quietly.

"I didn't intend to." Loki answered trying to keep his voice strong. He didn't fully succeed as little trembling was audible to those listening attentively to his reply.

"Torture is always wrong, Loki." Tony said out of blue. The trickster's sharp eyes met his. "Look, Bruce told us that something very twisted must have happened in the SHIELD headquarters. I know… I know what torture is like and I don't even want to imagine what exactly occurred to you there considering those bandages under your … er … is it blouse? Just know that it will not go like that when Fury gets here. My house, my rules."

Stark's monologue surprised Loki but he only nodded to show that he heard Stark. Next to him, Thor seemed to be on the verge of giving Tony a big hug. He might have done so had Tony's phone not rang.

The mechanic took the phone out of his pocket and frowned upon seeing the number.

"Speaking of the devil…" He muttered. Without hesitation, Tony stood up and moved towards the kitchen to answer the call.

"Is that…?" Thor gave the remaining duo a questioning look.

"Fury? Yeah, probably." Steve finished Thor's question for him. The captain didn't fail to notice how Loki flinched.

Steve didn't want to think about how this situation was wrong on so many different levels.

"How is your shoulder, Loki?" Bruce changed the topic of the conversation.

Loki blinked a few times surprised at the sudden question.

"It's fine considering that it was Thor who bandaged it." Loki said quietly. He spoke the truth without the intention of criticising his brother's attempt.

"Yeah. I was just about to say that the bandage looks a bit…disorganised. But still, for someone with no medical training, good job, Thor." Bruce added quickly noticing the sombre frown creeping into the Thunderer's face.

"Actually, I expected to find my shoulder black and ready to be amputated in the morning. I think mother would be proud if she could see your healing abilities, Thor." Loki turned to Thor whose mouth opened wide upon being thunderstruck by hearing Loki's words. They may have reconciled and were able to trust each other again, but hearing a sincere compliment coming from his brother was a different thing entirely. Also, Thor was very well aware that Loki would never joke about their mother and so he did actually mean what he said.

"You may close your mouth, Thor." Loki joked and smirked when his brother actually followed his advice and did so. "I am not an idiot, Thor. I know very well that no one else would be willing to tend to my wound. I am not such an ungrateful bastard." The mischievous prince finished quietly. He was aware of letting too many of his inner thoughts out lately, but he couldn't help himself. It felt extremely liberating to be able to lift a bit of the burden he was carrying inside himself for all those years.

"You're very welcome, little brother." Thor smiled at his younger sibling who surprisingly returned the favour.

The more you care, the more you have to lose. But you also have more to win.

"Did you just call him a little brother?" Steve asked incredulously.

Thor opened his mouth yet again but found no appropriate answer. And Loki blushed. To Steve's astonishment, the would-be-conqueror-of-Earth actually blushed.

"I was just about to say that it may be beneficial if I took a look at your shoulder, Loki. I am no medical specialist, but I know more than the basic first aid. That wound looks nasty." Bruce finished his idea.

Before Loki managed to put himself together to answer, Stark was back with a grim expression.

"It was Fury. He'll be coming here in the evening."

With Fury coming in...The mood will drastically change. Not for the better. Get ready for some angst. Review to give Loki strength...