10.

"Loki –" Thor could not believe he wanted to say this but he did – "Loki, please put some clothes on, this is the kitchen."

It turned out Thor was a big enough star, even in America, to be able to demand a hotel suite with its own mini – kitchen. His band would never understand why, in spite of all the opportunities to be waited upon, he preferred to cook for himself at every available opportunity- and Thor would never tell them how cooking was almost dearer to his heart than music.

"Jesus, Thor –" Loki stretched, groaned and rolled his eyes all at once – "I thought you were a rock star".

"Well, I am a rock star who is currently attempting to make us breakfast and your insistent nakedness is extremely distracting."

"Oh grow up."

"You grow up. Put something on, or there'll be no pancakes."

"Thor that makes no sense – you can't –"

"Damn it Loki, just cover your junk!"

"How about I wear a pancake Thor? How about that?"

"Loki –"

"I'm going –" Loki had his hands up in surrender as he sashayed out the door.

_x_

"Thor, exactly how big do you need to be?" Loki came back in grumbling five minutes later, swathed in one of Thor's dressing gowns.

"You have actual clothing somewhere –" Thor reddened – "On the floor."

"Seriously? After last night you're going red at the thought of some errant trousers? Anyway it's too early in the morning for actual clothing."

"It's not morning, Loki."

"It's too early in the day. Shut up Thor. Give me coffee."

Thor beamed, aware that he made the best coffee known to man. It had always successfully silenced anyone who had tried it for at least several minutes of joy.

"Give me juice," Loki said, instantly.

"No, no, no – you cannot be disliking my coffee –" For a moment Thor felt his world could spiral out of control.

"It's good coffee. I just also require juice."

Thor groaned.

"And your last slave died of?"

"Juice," Loki repeated. Thor could only assume he was re-iterating his demand, and not replying that his last slave had died of juice.

Thor had been so sure that Loki would be weird about the domesticity of breakfast that he had been nervous the whole time he was in the kitchen, waiting for Loki to appear from out the shower. Loki, to his great lack of surprise, took forever in the shower and emerged shining and ridiculously chipper. He would not even have been surprised if Loki had been weird; he had been so nervous himself about taking this step that only cooking the most incredible heap of pancakes had managed to steady his hands. He had been just as surprised also in seeing the amount that Loki could eat. He had spent longer than he would ever care to admit imagining Loki's life and the way he might undertake the trivialities of day to day existence. When he could imagine such things, he realised he had always assumed that Loki was some strange ethereal creature who subsided on air and absinthe. Maybe he picked at a canapé at a party now and then but that was probably it. In actual fact Loki beat him in their pancake contest nine to seven, until Thor was gawping at him dumbfounded wondering where in the world it all went.

"I always thought you would be some magical creature that barely ate," he said, leaning back in his chair – "But that – that was truly magical."

"Imagine me a lot did you?" Loki smirked, not missing a thing.

That was when the awkward that Thor had been expecting and fearing ever since he woke up hit in. He wondered if he had put himself into it by expecting it so hard. Loki went quiet when he did, but where he looked away and hardly dared to move Loki seemed to struggle to keep still.

"I should –" he got up, edging away, gesturing the door – "I should go –"

Panic leapt up in Thor's chest, forcing him to move; he did not mean to grab Loki as hard as he did but he could not, would not just let this fall away for another five years, not now. Just for a moment it felt like his very survival hung in the air and he held Loki hard, ignoring his muttered ouch.

"No Loki. Not again. I can't – you – I – fuck –"

"You what Thor?" Loki snapped – "What exactly did you think was going to happen here? We were gonna – what? Collaborate? Go out? Tracy and Hepburn for the seventies? We can't – I don't –"

"You don't – that's bullshit Loki –"

"No I really don't – I don't date –" Loki sneered – "Read a magazine sometime, I'm sacrosanct, perfection, elegance walking hand in hand with lies – and I don't date –" he almost spat the word out.

"Still bullshit. You're scared." Thor knew it, he could see it in Loki's eyes. He knew it because he was scared himself, although he was not about to admit that just yet, not until he had to.

"I am not – fuck off, you know nothing Thor – nothing – you're just a big dumb –"

"I'm a big dumb blah blah blah – I got it, I don't care, I'm a big dumb blah blah blah who's not letting you go again. Can you honestly tell me you want to just run out now?"

"Yes!" Loki lied quickly – "Yes, guess what – I can –"

"You're lying –"

"Fuck you!"

"Suave Loki, really good –"

"Shut up Thor, let me go!"

"Never."

"I hate you!"

Loki glared at him for a beat, his eyes on fire. Thor tensed, feeling his body arch against him, uncertain if Loki meant to push him away or –

Loki kissed him, angrily, furiously, twisting up against him almost in a rage. Thor didn't fight it, did not even want to and it was, of course, at this moment, that Fandral chose to walk into the suite uninvited.

"Oh good," he announced, walking past them, sitting down at the table and pouring himself the last of the coffee – "Glad to see you finally worked it out."

"We – but –" Thor spluttered, realising that he did not want to go into the intricacies of whether or not they had actually worked anything out with Fandral – "Get out!"

"Oh –" Loki added – "Thor is this the guy you described as less use than a chocolate teapot because at least you can eat a chocolate –"

"Yes!" Thor groaned quickly – "Yes, thank you Loki, that really helps."

"So I've got about a dozen plans for you two," Fandral went on, blithely dismissing the abuse as had come to be the most fundamental part of his job – "You want to come down to the restaurant? We can talk business and do breakfast –"

"We've done breakfast," Thor moaned – "Honestly, we've done so much breakfast we may die –"

"Great. I'll do breakfast and you two can sit there with cocktails preserving some rock star ego and attitude and pretend like you're too good for breakfast, in fact – what the hell – you don't even eat am I right? You can do that waiflike rock star thing and we'll talk. Business."

"Actually that sounds reasonable," Loki shrugged.

"I hate you both," Thor sighed, beaten. But it meant Loki wasn't going anywhere, he guessed, so he took it.

"Brilliant," Loki added – "Now, if you'll just give me five minutes with Thor's wardrobe I'll see if I can find something suitably debauched to wear."

He smiled brightly and dragged Thor away to get dressed.

Fandral looked from one to the other as they went and smiled with dollar signs gleaming in his eyes. It was clear to him what was happening; now he just needed to make the world see that it was happening. He all but rubbed his hands in glee.

_x_

So yeah, I snuck two direct quotations from Velvet Goldmine in this chapter….and if you're not envisioning a Fandral played by Eddie Izzard right now you're doing something wrong. :-P