Loki and Thor had been on Midgard long enough to learn some of the odd customs celebrated throughout the year. St. Patrick's Day had been an experience, Loki thought, when he remembered how Thor had gotten incessantly pinched and he hadn't, simply because he'd been wearing green. He had enjoyed that day immensely, and when Thor had suffered through an entire afternoon of pinches, he had quietly draped his green scarf over Thor's shoulders and watched his brother rub at the reddening marks on his forearm.
But Valentine's Day. That baffled Loki. The idea stuck in him like a needle, sewing its way through his brain and making knots tight in his chest. Thor had told him of his first Valentine's Day, one that Loki missed out on, what with being imprisoned on Asgard and all. Outside of the familiar twitch of possessiveness whenever Jane was brought up, Loki was thoroughly confused by the mortals' need to set aside a day to celebrate their love. He instantly dismissed it as one of the humans' many inane and primitive quirks.
The catch in Thor's voice, though, that pricked him at him again as he eyed the calendar on his desk. After telling Loki about the magnificent park that Jane had taken him to, of the sweetest and most delectable chocolates, the swan-shaped boat ride through the fabled Tunnel of Love, the walk down Lovers' Lane and the cherry on top, decorating two halves of a tiny figurine set that highly resembled Jane and himself, Thor had looked at Loki and was almost startled to see that he was there. He had pulled Loki into a tight hug and professed that he was so happy that Loki was back with him, but his loud, strong voice had wavered on the word "happy," and that Loki's stomach rolling over itself.
Loki's eyes lingered on the small font that proclaimed today as Valentine's Day, he made a soft noise of disgust in the back of his throat at the little heart that sat above the 14th. His plans consisted of showing Thor how stupid this Valentine's Day so that they'd never have a reason to celebrate it again and he wouldn't have to be reminded each year of how a mortal woman had Thor's affection long before he did. He wandered aimlessly to the couch, where Thor was reclining with his hand in a bag of popcorn, and he sat down next to his brother. Thor shifted to give Loki more room, but Loki didn't notice the action.
"Something wrong, brother?"
The corner of Loki's lips pulled down for a moment as he considered how unaware Thor was of today. It was typical; Thor probably expected Loki to do all the work, as Jane had, and then tag along with everything that he suggested. He decided that the sooner he got to work, the quicker he could get this day over with.
Loki stood up abruptly, interrupting Thor's bemused question of how they got horses to wear those blinders when they're pulling carts. Thor's eyes followed Loki to the kitchen, where he was content to watch his brother rummage around in the pantry as he turned and folded his arms over the back of the couch to enjoy what seemed to be a more domestic side of Loki.
Thor held back a snort of laughter when Loki looped an apron over his head and tied the strings at the back to keep it in place. It was a gag gift that Loki had gotten Thor when Thor had exploded the microwave with a metal spoon. Over the front, in big curvy lettering was the phrase "I bring the thunder!" Neither he nor Loki had bothered with it after the initial unwrapping, and he had forgotten that they'd even still had it.
Loki's head disappeared in the fridge. "Do we have eggs?"
Thor's curiosity had piqued now. He moved off the couch and walked toward Loki in the kitchen. Thor placed his fingers over the grocery list on the fridge door and saw that they need to make a trip sometime tomorrow. He hastily scribbled eggs onto the list before Loki could see.
"I believe I finished them with the omelette this morning."
Loki clucked his tongue quietly before pulling out a large round tub and the jug of milk.
"Extra butter it is, then."
Thor was still trying to wrap his head around the sight of Loki bustling around in the kitchen. He took a moment to appreciate the oddity and waited to see if an explanation would emerge without his prodding as he sat on the barstool at the counter.
Loki pulled a whisk from the drawer and lined it up next to the milk. Thor watched. His lower lip caught between his teeth when Loki stretched his body upward to reach the bowls in the top cupboards. He remembered the last time he had Loki so fully stretched out, with his own body taut from the strain of the many vigorous activities that Loki had planned for them that night, testing even his stamina as the God of Thunder. Thor blinked and coughed softly.
"Ah, brother, this is unusual of you."
Loki didn't glance up or comment on Thor's observation. He continued to work.
He placed the bowls next to the whisk and ducked under the counter to emerge after a short struggle with a small sack of flour. Thor laughed when Loki reappeared and he licked his thumb to swipe over the residue of flour on Loki's cheek. Loki scowled and twisted his body backward to avoid Thor's touch. Thor's other hand wrapped around the back of Loki's neck and he pulled him closer to clean off Loki's cheek. He smiled at Loki's slowed blink and narrowed eyes and then released his brother to go back to what he was doing. He still had no idea of where Loki's sudden interest in the kitchen had come from.
Picking up a measuring cup and running it under the faucet, Loki carefully watched the water level rise to a cup before he set it back on the counter with the rest of his provisions. Thor caught his little nod of approval at the items before Loki's fixed him with a stare.
"Do we have chocolate chips?"
Thor's brows furrowed together a moment before it clicked. Loki was …baking. Or attempting to. Thor hadn't seen a recipe out anywhere and he wasn't sure if Loki really knew what he was doing, but he was content to reply with a thoughtful negative.
He watched Loki a while longer, admiring the concentration in his brother's face as he mixed all of his dry ingredients. He smiled to himself when he caught Loki's eyes widen and lips part slightly at his sudden realization of a mistake, before the expression vanished under a mask of concentration again. Loki crouched under the counter again and procured a bag of sugar. He glanced at Thor and Thor grinned back.
"Would you like me to go get some chocolate chips?" Thor asked.
Loki, grateful for a respite from Thor's smiling and curious eyes, gave a stern, "That would've been helpful about a minute ago when I asked."
Thor got up from his stool and laid a hand over Loki's shoulder, watching as it stilled his entire body. He gave Loki a quick kiss on the cheek.
"I shall be back in twenty minutes. Is there anything else you want?"
"Pick up some alcohol. Something a bit more tasteful this time, Thor."
"I will. Be careful, brother and try not to make a mess." Thor winked.
Thor pulled a jacket over his shoulders at the door and was just about to slip out when he grabbed the keys off the hook, leaving Loki with barely enough time to catch the soft jingle and bite out a comment about Thor watching his hard lefts in their new car. Thor chuckled to himself, having heard Loki's angry and muffled voice through the door. He left his brother to his kitchen adventures and made a mental note to get the good wine.
Loki had mixed all the dry ingredients, sugar included this time, and he ran a hand through his hair as he stared at the bowl.
"What the hell is it about Valentine's Day that turns Thor into a complete sap."
Granted, his only competition was Jane Foster, but she'd left an impression on Thor as his first Valentine. The idea of them sitting in some photo booth, kissing and making eyes at each other was enough to make him violently churn the butter around the bowl. He'd seen the photos, before Thor had realized that their awkwardness wasn't due to Loki nearly destroying Midgard. Thor had shown him when they were still on Asgard, while he was still imprisoned. Loki cringed at that. There's nothing that doesn't leave him feeling raw about that memory. The only silver lining was that, for whatever reason, Thor saw Loki in his cell and decided that maybe then with him pinned to one place, he could rebuild a little of what they had. He had been right, of course, but Loki hadn't made it easy for him.
Loki wiped his hands over his apron before taking the water and adding it steadily to his mixture. He whisked the gooey mess around before it started to thicken. When it did, it was a congealed, lumpy mess of not-dough. Loki stuck a finger in it and tasted it before gagging at the texture.
"Well, that's not right."
He took out the recipe he'd taped to the inside of the cupboard, away from Thor's curious eyes in case the brute thought he could help. As if Thor had the patience to sift a cup of flour. A cup of flour. That's when Loki saw it. He groaned and balled the recipe into a crumpled mass and chucked it at the trash. It bounced off the rim and Loki decided he'd had enough of this foolishness. He walked over to the trash, picked up the paper ball from the floor and smoothed the recipe back out to put in the recycling bin.
He went back to the counter with the bowl of flour-dough and stared at it. It would be a waste to try to add more ingredients to counter the flour. He could portion out some of it and add more of everything else. Poking the lumpy mass, Loki was suddenly hit with the mental image of Thor grinning at his inability to bake even the simplest of Midgardian goods.
Loki's teeth ground together as he struck the bowl of batter and sent it flying across the kitchen. He shouted in frustration before turning to see the congealed mess on the floor and he stared at it. Thor had just cleaned the apartment a few days ago, and he wouldn't be happy to see this. Snagging the mop from beside the fridge, he began pushing it around the floor, smearing the batter further into the tiles.
It was a horrible idea to ruin this tedious Midgardian tradition with an underwhelming gesture. His chest tightened as he thought of his petty attempt to try to wipe away Jane's version. No, Thor would be disappointed in him, but that was a familiar feeling. Loki would just have to prepare himself for it
The only thing was; he had lost most of his immunity to Thor's disappointment since they'd started living together again. Well, if he was being honest, since Thor started sitting by his cell in Asgard. Thor had acted like he'd given up hope, Loki realized with a bitter taste in his mouth, so that he could pretend that it didn't hurt to see Loki so fallen. Loki wiped a flour-and-butter greased hand across his apron and looked at the slippery mess on the floor. He filled a bucket of water and dipped the mop into it before taking another long sweep across the floor.
Loki wasn't sure he could handle seeing those creases form at the corners of Thor's mouth. That tight line Thor's lips draw into when he was displeased, a soft permanent crinkle from Loki's every action. Loki tries to kiss it away every chance he gets, but those lines are there forever, hidden only by Thor's stubble. It doesn't help. Loki knows it's there and he knows he's the reason why.
He could pretend that he had attempted nothing and Thor had gone out to get chocolate chips for no reason other than he must have misheard what Loki said. He picked up the bowl from the ground and set it in the sink. The tap washed the bowl clean of his sloppy attempt at baking, but under the sound of the spray eviscerating the wasted batter, he missed the door opening.
It wasn't until Thor stepped into their apartment and closed the door did Loki notice. Loki spun around, and took a quick step forward to stop Thor from approaching the kitchen further. He slipped over the wet tiles and fell hard to the floor, groaning at the dull pain spreading over his backside. The water-batter mixture on the floor seeped through his pants and stained them with diluted batter.
Thor let go of the bag in his hand and rushed over to Loki. He hauled his brother to his feet. Loki was reluctant to used Thor's grip to help himself up.
"Loki, are you hurt?"
Loki twisted his body away from Thor, and continued his struggle as Thor took a quick inventory of his brother and then the kitchen.
"Why is the floor wet?"
Loki mumbled out a soft answer that Thor didn't catch. He stroked a large hand over Loki's hair and hummed. Thor's hold on Loki slackened enough for him to slip out and Loki put some distance between himself and Thor. His mouth was a hard line and his cheeks burned with shame as he stared at the dirty tiles. The bottle of wine Thor had picked up peeked out of the bag and Loki's entire body clenched at the fact that it was one of Thor's lesser-enjoyed favourites because Loki loved it more.
Loki's lips twisted upward in an asymmetrical smile. He turned to Thor and threw his arms open wide, "Happy Valentine's Day, Thor!"
He stalked off toward the couch and Thor took a few large, careful steps forward over the wet spots and caught Loki's arm. Loki allowed himself to be pulled back, was hoping that Thor would, but he couldn't bring himself to meet his brother's gaze.
"You are comparing this to last year's, with Jane," Thor said.
Loki's shoulders were slumped as Thor stared at his back, wishing Loki would turn around, but he wasn't going to force him. Loki had tried so hard, since getting out of Asgard's prisons. Thor hadn't always been sympathetic toward him, too caught up in his own anger about letting Loki get so far from home. But right now, seeing Loki crumpling in on himself over a batch of failed cookies—it riveted a bolt through Thor's chest the wrong way.
"Why, brother, that's a little obvious, even for your observations."
"Loki, you should not. Last year's Day of Saint Valentine was very different. Jane insisted on many our activities. She wanted to recreate movies that she had seen. I did not much care for it at all. I was only excited this year because I was getting to spend it with you, and I thought of the many Saint Valentine's Days we would have together now. You are my brother, Loki, you cannot fathom of how much I have missed that."
"You are foolish, Thor. Missing this? You must be a masochist."
"I am whatever you say I am. I love you, Loki." Thor paused, "Cookies or not."
Loki's body moved slowly, limbs first, to face his brother and when he did, he just stared at Thor. He began to laugh and Thor stood there with his grip still on Loki's arm, confused to hear Loki's laugh without its usual trace of mockery.
"I had thought," Loki started, "the smallest thing I could do would show you how juvenile this holiday is. And you, you're so utterly simple that you care for none of it."
Thor laughed; a sound that calmed Loki without his consent. "Is that not the main reason you love me, Loki? My simplicity?"
Loki's face relaxed as he looked over Thor. Bright smile with too many teeth, so accepting of the backhanded insult, as long as it meant being able to share Loki's company. He didn't care about Valentine's Day and Loki had not realized. Thor's reminiscing about Jane had been about a time and the feeling he had with someone he loved. But seeing Thor's eyes wide as he drank in everything about Loki; there had been no one Thor loved like his brother. Loki stared too long, gone with the threads that brought him to his beautiful revelations, and Thor squeezed his shoulder.
"You do love me, right, brother?"
"You are too much of an idiot for me to do otherwise."
That was all Thor needed to grab Loki in a bruising hug. Loki gave a startled noise as his face was smushed against Thor's shoulder. He took a second before he rested his temple against Thor's, running a hand through his blonde tresses and gripping gently. He pulled Thor's head toward his and tilted his lips up to Thor's ear.
"Happy Valentine's Day, brother."