Chapter 11
In the morning Loki woke to the sounds of soft voices and the sensation of several small hands on the skin of his stomach.
Cracking an eye open, he saw that his sons were awake and inspecting his belly. The blankets had been pulled down to his waist and his shirt had been pushed up, and the two of them had both hands pressed flat against the swollen area. He closed his eyes again with a smile and stretched out his awareness to feel the two tendrils of magic curiously brushing up against his own.
"-then a man with a hammer came and woke me up and took me here." Sleipnir was saying quietly.
"How did he wake you?" Jorgumand questioned.
"Mama said he used his hammer to knock me out of bed, but I think that was just part of the story."
"I saw a man with a big hammer!" Jorgumand whispered eagerly. "He was in a room that flew, and he had a beard and long hair and a very big hammer. It was as big as I am! And he brought me here as well."
"Really? I bet he's gone to get our other brother now! Mama said we would see him soon!"
"Why doesn't Mama go rescue our brother?" Jorgumand asked.
"Mama doesn't have any of his magic," Sleipnir answered promptly. "Because of the baby. That's why we have to stay here. Its safe here." Loki felt the mattress shift as Sleipnir pulled Jorgumand from the bed. "Come here, I want to show you something."
Loki opened his eyes in time to see the boys dash out the bedroom door but before he could jump up in alarm, he heard the now familiar sounds of Lego. If he strained his ears he could hear Sleipnir explaining his toys, and then what else was in the rooms. With a sigh he relaxed back into the bed and pulled down the edge of his top so that he was covered once more. He laid there for a while, just listening to the faint noises that came drifting in through the open door. At one point he heard the toilet flush, and then the sink running. Then the toilet flushed again. And then again, followed by Jorgumands giggle.
After that Loki tried harder to follow the sounds of their exploration as cupboard doors opened and shut in the kitchen. Then the fridge was opened which was followed by the sound of something wet hitting the floor. The complete silence that followed had Loki's lips twitching with amusement as he imagined the scene in the kitchen. Suddenly there was a rush of whispers and running water and more cupboards opening and closing. He assumed whatever mess had been made was gone when the sounds tapered off. Small crisis averted, and all evidence of it likely hidden, the boys continued their search.
He heard the sound of cereal boxes and was about to rise and join them for breakfast when they both were suddenly running back into the bedroom. Jorgumand even jumped up onto the bed and began shaking his arm.
"Wake up Mama!"
Loki opened his eyes as commanded and raised a questioning eyebrow at the excited face over his.
"May we have waffles?" Jorgumand asked and Loki simply stared.
"Waffles?" he repeated, his tone just shy of incredulous. There was just one way that the boy could even know what a waffle was, and he turned his head towards Sleipnir who had his arms folded on the mattress, his chin resting on his arms.
The boy smiled shyly, "Steve said he was going to make waffles in the morning, and Bruce said that they are the best breakfast food, especially if Steve is making them."
Loki looked between the two, Sleipnir looked curious and hopeful, and Jorgumand seemed to be holding his breath in anticipation. "Very well." he said at last and both boys let out triumphant cries. Detangling himself from his blankets, Loki walked over to the chest of drawers next to his and began pulling clothes out for the day while Sleipnir told Jorgumand about the dining room and all of the new foods he'd had since he'd woken up from the spell. For Sleipnir he gathered a dark red sweater and brown trousers. Jorgumand was more difficult as he had no clothes of his own yet, and though there were physically close in age, Sleipnir was much taller than his brother. Eventually he settled on a navy t-shirt and a pair of overalls.
Sleipnir dressed quickly, and waited with barely restrained excitement as Loki helped Jorgumand into his borrowed clothes.
"Why don't you go put on your shoes Sleipnir," Loki suggested as he rolled up the hem of Jorgumand's overalls so that his feet could poke through. Sleipnir dashed off to do as he was told and Loki looked over his second son. The shirt was still too big, but the overalls hid that. He made one last adjustment to the bottom of his pants and looked up to see Jorgumand smiling crookedly at him.
He felt his heart clench tightly at the sight of that smile. It was the smile he remembered most about his son. A crooked half-smile that left one with the impression that he knew a secret. Jorgumand had been smiling just so when he'd told Loki that there was an old man outside, a man with one eye.
Loki swallowed thickly and fought back the memories of watching his son go to embrace the man he was told was his grandfather, only to be returned to him in the form of a serpent. Instead Loki gave the best smile he could in return and whispered, "Give us a kiss."
Jorgumand leaned forward immediately and kissed Loki's cheek and put his arms around his neck in a hug. Loki returned it, wrapping his arms around the boy, pressing a kiss to the side of his head.
"What is a waffle?" Jorgumand asked suddenly and Loki laughed.
"It is a kind of sweet bread, I have had them before. I'm sure you will like them."
He rose to his feet, keeping Jorgumand in his arms and strode out to see Sleipnir waiting impatiently by the door.
"Jorgumand doesn't have any shoes." Sleipnir observed as Loki slid his own on.
"Indeed, which is why I will be carrying him, unless you are offering the use of yours?" he suggested teasingly.
Sleipnir looked down at his shoes, and for a moment looked as if he might but Jorgumand piped up insisting that he didn't want any shoes anyways. With that matter settled Loki led them out into the hall, and with an additional warning to both boys not to try and slip away without him, they were on their way. Upon arriving at the dinning hall they discovered that Steve Rogers had indeed made waffles, and judging by the larger than usual breakfast crowd, they were quite popular.
The meal that followed was by far the most random Loki had experienced in a long time. Up until then during his stay with the Avengers he'd kept a stoic composure whenever he was outside of his rooms. Sleipnir had picked up on this same behavior when they ate with the others, and would be very quiet and well behaved without even having to be asked. Jorgumand apparently had no intentions to follow in his family's footsteps. He behaved as he did in all aspects of his young life, exuberant and eager to make new friends. He might have been more reserved if Loki had taken the time to ask him to be so, but Loki found he quite enjoyed watching the bewildered faces of the Avengers as Jorgumand chattered away with anyone who would listen. Hawkeye was the only one whom he was at all distrustful of, but even that didn't last. Jorgumand had been making faces at the archer when he'd thought Loki wasn't looking, and the mortal had responded with a face of his own, complete with an orange peel in his mouth. Jorgumand, clearly thinking this was the funniest thing he'd ever seen, fell bonelessly to the floor in a fit of giggles. After that, apparently Hawkeye was forgiven for anything that had happened the day before.
It didn't take long for Sleipnir to join in, regaling Bruce with tales of Harry Potter and his plans to make a Hogwarts out of Lego. When the Black Widow entered the room both boys stopped what they were doing to look at her. Then Jorgumand was slid out of his seat and climbed into the empty one next to her. The assassin said nothing as she served herself some fruit from a bowl, so Jorgumand leaned both of his arms on the table, waiting to be noticed. Conversation resumed around the table when nothing else happened.
Sleipnir tugged on his hand lightly and Loki winced at the increasing stickiness from the syrup. "May we go to the common room after breakfast? Peter said he would play with us!"
Loki glanced across the table at the young man who was still in costume. Only his mouth was visible where he'd pulled the mask up so he could eat. He looked back at Sleipnir and nodded his assent, and the wide grin that spread across his face was a little alarming. Suddenly it occurred to him that this might be the most amusing prank he could play on the Avengers, setting his hyper sugared up offspring upon them.
"Your hair is really pretty."
The Natasha paused and then looked beside her where Jorgumand still sat, head upon his arms and crooked smile in place. "Thank you," she said, a warm smile gracing her features. "What's your name?"
Loki knew that the woman already had that information, and that she was just asking because it was polite to do so, he found he was surprised that she was willing to play along.
"My name is Jorgumand." the boy replied and gave a concerned look at the bowl of fruit she was consuming. "Aren't you going to have any waffles?"
She favored him with another small smile. "I wasn't planning on it. I don't really like waffles that much."
Jorgumand looked horrified. "But they are so good!" he insisted.
Natasha raised an eyebrow at him before glancing down the table to see that pretty much everyone was listening to the conversation. Steve even gave her an expectant smile. With a resigned sigh she turned back to Jorgumand. "I suppose I could have one." she said as though it were a huge concession on her part. Hawkeye said something under his breath beside her and she shot him a look but Jorgumand didn't notice as he was too busy reaching for the syrup.
After breakfast Loki led his children to the common room with Sleipnir keeping up a constant commentary of the rooms many attributes as they went. Once there Loki took a seat in his favorite armchair and continued to watch as the boys burned through their sugar high. As promised Peter played with them for most of the morning before finally tapping out, exhaustion tugging at his movements as Steve took over. Jorgumand began to slow down at lunch, and his movements became sluggish as he followed Sleipnir around the rec room after. He ended up climbing into Loki's lap and falling asleep against his chest while Sleipnir was learning how to play on the foosball table.
"What's wrong?" Sleipnir asked when he realized Jorgumand was no longer beside him. He abandoned the game and walked over to lean onto Loki's legs and watch his brother sleep with a worried expression.
"Nothing is wrong, he his simply tired. He just needs to rest for a while."
Sleipnir thought that over. "For how long?"
Amused, Loki shrugged. "It will likely just be today that he is like this. You can keep playing if you like." Sleipnir shook his head. "Very well, would you like to sit here with me and read?"
That got a more spirited response, and Loki soon found himself crowded into the armchair with a boy in each arm, and Sleipnir supporting a book while he read from it. If any of the occupants in the room thought it looked strange to see one of earth's most dangerous villains reading a children's book to two little boys in his lap, they kept it to themselves.
So guess who just bought tickets to an Avengers movie marathon on May 3rd! That's right! I'm doing this like a pro. I'm doing it all. Iron Man, Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America AND THEN AVENGERS! I feel as though I'm not a true fan until I've done this.
Anyways I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my Beta reader, who is honest to god one of the best friends I've ever had, not to mention the most hilarious editor ever. She writes in all her thoughts about the story and draws pictures and emoticons in the margins as well as checking over everything!
Hope you all enjoy this chapter and get to know Sleipner and Jorgumand a bit better!