Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not marvel or its characters, not skype, Facebook, Absolut vodka or Futurama. Wow, this is the one chapter with all the references isn't it?

Ages:

Thor: 19 years old (2nd year University)

Loki: 15 years old, turning 16 in December (11th grade)

Four.

"Don't forget the application deadline is in three days," Jane reminded Thor from her seat on his couch.

Thor ambled over to her, two mugs of coffee in hand. "I'm almost done!" he told her, passing her one of the mugs and brushing a brief kiss against the sharp line of her cheek. "I'm unsure about the essay section. I sent it to my brother and as soon as he sends it back and I fix whatever mistakes he notices I will hand it in."

Jane frowned a bit at this as he took a seat next to her and kicked his bare feet onto his cheap coffee table. She didn't seem to like that he emailed Loki most of his written work for editing. She said that he shouldn't rely so much on his brother who had his own work to deal with and that the university had a perfectly good editing service he could use. Thor didn't really see the point of getting a stranger to do a job Loki had been doing for him since Thor entered high school. It wasn't like Loki did Thor's work for him; he simply proof read and made snarky comments about redundancy and suggestions to use a thesaurus. Loki had always been better with words whereas Thor's strengths lied in other areas. They were opposites, so it was only natural that one should help the other where he faltered. They'd been doing it their whole lives. And Thor liked to think that he always repaid the favour.

"You listed your exchange preferences in the same order as I did, right?" she asked

Thor recalled the list. "Ireland, France, Spain, Australia and Scotland," he sounded off from memory. Jane smiled.

It had been Jane's idea to complete a semester of schooling abroad. Or rather, it had been something that Jane had always planned to do and Thor had decided to join her rather than be separated from his girlfriend for so many months. Their relationship was hardly new, but after six months it was only just edging out of the honeymoon period and settling – school, Jane's research for her professor, Thor's sports and a summer apart being the reason it had taken so long. Jane was Thor's first serious girlfriend and he didn't want to take a risk on long distance when he wasn't certain that they could handle it.

"You're sure this is what you want, right? It's not for everyone," Jane asked, worry lining her brow.

Thor laid a steady, reassuring hand on her knee. "I am sure," he told her. Thor understood her reservations. After all, Jane had been one of the first friends he'd made at university and so had been present for Thor's serious bout of homesickness that had lasted for the better part of the first semester. It had been difficult for him to leave his friends and family behind. Thor had always been a sentimental guy and the love he held for those closest to his heart was no slight thing. Without question the worst had been his separation from Loki. They had grown up nearly glued to each other's sides. Thor had defied all unwritten laws of siblinghood when, despite their age difference, Thor had never stopped wanting Loki around, always inviting him along with Thor's own friends. Fandral and Volstagg had always been very accepting of this quirk while Hogan could barely stand Loki, whose mischievous nature stood at odds with Hogun's own grim outlook. Sif had shown a level of inclusivity that blew Thor away going as far to give up her seat beside Thor whenever Loki joined them. The sudden loss of Loki was like losing a limb. Thor had not dealt with this loss well.

Thus, it was no surprise that being oceans away from his family could be seen as something Thor wouldn't want to do. As it stood, however, Thor was far enough away from his hometown that he couldn't exactly drop by anyway. He only made it home for Christmas and Spring break – the long weekends for Thanksgiving and Easter not being long enough to justify the drive there and back – and he could easily fly home from whatever country he ended up in to not miss those opportunities with his family. It would be no different than these past three semesters he had spent at university. Biweekly phone calls with his parents and weekly Skype sessions with Loki (as well as random postings on each other's Facebook Walls and long text conversations) could still be done from across the globe.

Jane started to rest her own hand on the one Thor had on her knee when suddenly a loud melody began playing from the kitchen.

'If my velocity starts to make you sweat

then just don't let go.

And if their heaven ain't got a vacancy

then we just

then we just

then we just

then we just get up and GO!'

Thor smiled automatically at the ringtone, knowing it signaled a call from his brother. He pulled his hand out from under Jane's and bounded into the kitchen to retrieve his cellphone from the jacket he had thrown carelessly over the back of a chair.

"Brother, what a surprise! It is rare for you to use your phone for its intended purpose rather than simply texting! How – What...Loki! Calm down, I can't understand you…You – what?!...And Father? He said what?!...No! Of course I didn't know! Look, where are you right now?...Just a second – stay on the line with me."

Thor tucked his phone between his shoulder and his ear to free up both hands so that he could slip his jacket on. He patted down his pockets until he found his keys and then headed towards the door, nearly running into a concerned Jane.

"Thor, what's wrong? That didn't sound too good," she said. Jane then noticed the keys in his hands and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Where are you going?"

Thor took a break from murmuring soothing words into the phone and angled his mouth away from the speaker. "Something serious just happened with Loki. I'm driving over there. Could you please lock up for me?" he asked, sounding frazzled.

Jane balked. "Are you serious? It's Tuesday! You have class for the rest of the week! You can't just up and leave to go home! Finals are coming up!"

But Thor was back to speaking into his phone and simply shook his head and leveled a plaintive look at her.

Then he was out the door not even bothering to take more than the clothes on his back.

Thor drove straight through the night and then into the late afternoon the next day. He made as few stops as possible and, through the use of his Bluetooth device, stayed on the line with Loki the entire time even if only to hear his brother's panting breaths, his soft sleeping sounds and his angry, heart-wrenching sobs. When he finally arrived at Sigyn's house, Thor wasted no time in banging on her front door a little too frantically. Luckily it was Sigyn that answered, rather than her parents. Her gaze on him felt heavy and curious and he wondered what she was seeing at that moment. He knew he must look a mess, hair knotted and eyes bloodshot. Thor felt shaken to the core and wondered if it was visible to her. It felt like his place in this world, something he had never so much as questioned, was suddenly threatened. Giving her a grim nod as a greeting, he hurried past her into the basement.

Thor had been here only two times before, both occurring over the last summer when Loki was too high to contemplate finding his own way home. He knew that Loki and Sigyn had commandeered her basement as their safe place to experiment with whatever nefarious things popped into their mind. Thor had never worried too much as nine times out of ten it was Sigyn doing the experimenting while Loki had already had his first experience with Thor – watching Loki cough all over himself trying to smoke pot for the first time was one of Thor's favourite memories of the summer. Armed with this knowledge, he was unsurprised to find himself walking into a haze of sickly-sweet-smelling smoke. Taking the steps two or three at a time, he hurried to Loki's slumped figure on the worn couch, a lit up joint in one hand and a forty of Absolut in the other.

Thor carefully plucked the joint out of Loki's thin fingers, putting it out and placing it on the floor. He then took the bottle of vodka and set it down beside the joint. Throughout all this Loki remained still, his usually lively eyes staring vacantly into the big screen TV in front of him that was playing an old episode of Futurama on mute. Thor felt his heart ache inside of his chest.

"Loki," he whispered, pulling the fifteen year old boy into his arms. Loki's body pressed into his – dark haired head against Thor's chest, sharp elbows and knees digging into Thor's skin – felt startlingly unfamiliar. It was listless. Loki was many things – devious, intelligent, cunning, adventurous and thoughtful – but never was he so passive. In the many times Thor had held Loki, even half-asleep or with his nose buried in a thick book, intoxicated or high as a kite, there was always an undercurrent of chaotic energy running through Loki. Thor imagined it was similar to the feeling of a livewire. Loki's mind – his beautiful, incredible mind – was always in constant motion and that movement seemed to radiate from his very being. Here, now, Thor could feel none of that usually energy – that spark – and it had him tightening his grip on his brother till it was sure to leave bruises on Loki's pale skin.

Bending his head at an awkward angle, Thor buried his head into Loki's black hair, inhaling the smell of pot and vodka and Axe and Loki until he could be sure that it was, in fact, Loki that he held in his arms and not an empty doll. "Brother," he formed the words into the skin of Loki's ear and suddenly all of that missing energy seemed to rush back into Loki's lithe form.

"I am not your brother," Loki snarled. To anyone else it would have sounded angry and spiteful, but to Thor it sounded absolutely heartbroken. "I should have been a street urchin. The abandoned son of a criminal. I belong in an orphanage, not this high class neighbourhood. I'm nothing. I'm an idiot. How could I have never noticed how I look nothing like mo–Frigga or Odin. How I look nothing like you."

Looking into Loki's pale, withdrawn face, it occurred to Thor that Loki didn't look anything like him. Where Thor was tan, Loki was pale. Where Thor was blond, Loki was brunet. Where Thor was blue-eyed, Loki was green-eyed. Where Thor was broad and muscled, Loki was thin and lean. Of course, this had always been true, but somehow Thor had managed to be completely unaware of it despite being so familiar with the shape and feel of Loki that he could order custom-fitted clothing for the other with ease.

It was as if he was looking at Loki with fresh eyes. Every dip and curve, every stray hair, every discolouration suddenly foreign. But no, that wasn't true. The scar on Loki's elbow was a war wound from their adventures in tree-climbing. Each lash that surrounded Loki's green eyes had been counted and recounted by Thor numerous times, half out of boredom and half out of fascination, on the occasions when they would share a bed and Loki would fall asleep first. The worried wrinkles in Loki's brow as he frowned at Thor in this very moment were those that Thor had seen develop into a child-Loki's smooth, flawless skin from years of concentrating on texts or sulking over being scolded for a prank or worrying over Thor when Thor did something stupid. The smile lines that were currently hidden away were marks that Thor himself had etched into Loki's skin with every terrible pun and cheesy joke he had bombarded Loki with to be gifted with the precious sight of Loki's carefree grin.

And so when Loki declared to the room, eyes brimming with unshed tears, that he was "Loki, son of no one, belonging to no one with no place in this world" Thor cupped his hand around Loki's cheek and brought their faces so close together they were in danger of going cross eyed. "You are Loki, son of Odin, son of Frigga and brother of Thor," he told Loki.

Loki pulled back sharply against the firm hold Thor had on him. "I told you, I am not your brother!" he screamed.

Thor tugged him back harshly, fingers gripping tight on inky black locks. "You are Loki," he roared, "And if not my brother and not my blood, it matters not, because you have always been and will always be mine." Thor's words were loud and commanding and finally Loki seemed to calm. He leaned his weight into Thor, resting their foreheads together. "Your place in this world is beside me," Thor whispered reverently. His blue eyes searched Loki's, relieved to find some life behind all of the sadness and misery in Loki's green gaze. Slowly and cautiously, never breaking eye contact, Thor placed a tender kiss on Loki's thin lips.

Thor pulled back haltingly, mind reeling with his unexpected action even as his worried blue eyes stayed locked on Loki, waiting for a reaction. Loki's own eyes fluttered rapidly before the boy fell forward onto Thor, head knocking painfully with Thor's chin as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Sighing, Thor arranged them into a more comfortable position before succumbing to exhaustion himself. He would put off his anxiety until at least tomorrow. He had a feeling there would be a lot to feel anxious about.

And there was. With trying to convince Loki to go back home and running interference for his distressed parents and willing himself to forget that he had kissed his brother and being thankful that Loki had seemed to have forgotten about the kiss, Thor barely had any time to study, let alone call Jane. By the time he returned to school he was knee-deep in finals and then Christmas break came rushing in with stilted family dinners and unresolved resentment that was compounded with visits from distant cousins. When the winter semester finally began, Jane had already flown to France to spend the semester studying there while Thor had never even finished his application. He received a letter from Jane telling him that she hoped Loki was alright and that she understood why he couldn't get in touch with her while in the middle of family drama. The guilt he felt at never having returned her numerous calls left no room for surprise when, by the last paragraph of the letter, Jane had broken up with him.

/Four.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'd be grateful if you reviewed!

Midnight's Violet Haze

HS