Thor ripped open the door to the dirty little hotel room. He tried to tell himself that he was prepared for everything that could await him on the other side – but the sight of an unconscious Tony Stark, barely covered in his ripped clothing and chained to the bed both with magic and real shackles certainly threw him off track.

"You're early, Thor."

Thor whirled around, hammer ready in his hand. The door was falling shut loudly, revealing a smirking Loki standing behind him. "But it matters little. I just got finished anyway."

Thor was looking back to the Man of Iron and to Loki again. "Brother, what... What have you done?"

A dozen of emotions fought within him. There was fear that the sorcerer might have slipped back into his old habits, tormenting innocents just to hurt Thor and get back at him. Worry for his friend, who lay there limply as if exhausted from too much struggling. Disappointment because this felt so much like one of his games, and hadn't he promised no more of them?

And then there was that tiny speck of hurt, raising its head together with an ugly sort of jealously. The image presented to him here certainly looked compromising. Loki couldn't have... He wouldn't touch the mortal that way, would he? Not only was it beneath him to use such methods just to get back on the Man of Iron but also doing soon would've required a certain amount of desire. Thor could not accept the idea of Loki looking at this mortal, at another man with lust when he refused Thor so adamantly.

"I'm playing my part", Loki all but purred, a smug look on his face. "Don't worry, your little pet human is fine. Even more then that, I dare say."

"What have you done!", Thor repeated more urgently, stepping towards him. The hurt was clear in his eyes.

Loki tilted his head to the side. "Can't yo see that, brother?"

"Loki!" Thor tried to grab him but his hand went right through the image. "Dammit, where are you!?"

"Two down", Lokis bodiless voice hummed into his ear, "time for the next one."

Two down? Loki had mentioned that he considered Thor punished enough already. So then, was he going after the rest of the Avengers?

Thor stiffened. Bruce Banner was still in town!

The god of thunder threw one last glance towards the Man of Iron. There was not much he could do for him now. The black clad people had surrounded the entire building anyway. Thor had just barely managed to convince them to let him go in first, to try and reason with his brother. They would help his friend. Now he had to go and stop Loki!

XxX

"Yes, well, this watch belonged to my grandfather. Look, can you see the inscription? I know it's oldfashioned but it always calms me down, looking at it... Listening to the ticking. One, two, three... You get tired if you just look at it.. Then your eyes fall shut... and you fall asleep..."

Loki, this time disguised as one of the black clad people, stopped the watch from swinging and chuckled. Bruce Banner's head was hanging low, his breathing going calmly.

"Oh, the broken mind", he muttered to himself, "so very responsive to the arts of hypnotizing."

Loki reached out with both his hands, putting his palms on either temple and concentrating on his magic. The green beast would regret the day it dared to touch him!

XxX

Agent Clint Barton jumped out of the truck, falling into step with Agent Hill as he walked up to the tower.

"How bad is the situation?", he wanted to know.

"We have not yet heard about any causalities", the woman replied. "Three days ago, Mr Stark went missing though."

Barton scowled deeply. Stark was one of the toughest out of the Avengers. "Any traces of him?"
"Oh, they found him later the day. He was... unharmed, if a bit traumatized. Then, Dr Banner vanished from his suite."

"What do you mean vanished?"

"Though he was told not to leave the tower for security reasons, he decided to on himself. We could not stop him without...triggering a negative reaction. Agent Romanov tried to follow him but she lost him after a few blocks."
"There is no way she would lose him this quickly", Barton stated. "Unless he had help."

Damn them all! How could those Asgardians ever let Loki run free again!? Banner was practically indestructible. If Loki had managed to pull him under his spell... Barton had had a hard enough time coming to terms with the things he did under the evil gods influence. Banner, he was sure, would break under that pressure. And they all knew what a broken Banner meant for them.

XxX

Tony let himself fall onto the couch with a huff, a glass of whiskey in his hand. The god of thunder that was pacing up and down the room only spared him a single glance.

"I should not be here", he growled, "I should be out there, searching for Loki!"

"Calm down, the secret agents will find him eventually. If he sees you flying around with your red cape, he'll just keep away", Tony said and took a sip.

"How can I be calm?! How can you be calm, after he kidnapped you?"

Tony grimaced a bit. "Okay, that was not nice. Actually, it was pretty terrifying. That guy is bat shit insane, unpredictable... I would really like to know what made you think he wouldn't go play villain again."

Thor let out a sigh and fell into a seat opposite of Tony.

"I know... I know that I should've been more careful. I... I can't even say that he changed, though I... I had hoped that if he did go on one of his episodes, at least he would tell me. He would give me the chance to help him or at least to try and change his mind. Apparently, I was wrong."

"So, uh..." Tony coughed, "what do you think he's got planned? What's his goal this time?"

"I don't know... He was joking about getting revenge on the Avengers when we came here but... Well, I thought he was joking. Why do you ask?"

"Well..." Tony scratched the back of his head uneasily. "I know this might sound really weird, but..."

"What is it, Man of Iron?"

"It's Ironman, goddamn. Look, big guy, they just finished all of the medical checks on me. I got them to be thorough because frankly, I was totally expecting him to have implanted a time bomb into my chest or something. But there's nothing out of the ordinary!"

Thor looked at him suspiciously. "So?"

"What do you mean, so? There has been nothing ordinary about my body for the last couple of years! I got a giant freaking reactor in my chest that keeps shards of a grenade from wandering to my heart and killing me. And it's gone!"

"You mean... he removed the device that keeps you alive? Oh, my friend, I am so sor-"

"No, you idiot! I mean everything is gone! There's solid flesh where a gaping hole should be, come on, you saw it when you found me, didn't you? And the scans, they showed that the metal shards are gone as well. I consulted a few dozen of the best doctors on the entire world and none of them could heal me and then there comes your brother and – just like that! I still think he's an ass, 'cause he kidnapped me, he chained me to a bed and had me screaming for hours while he ripped open my chest and damn it, I tell you that's not something I would wish upon my worst enemies. But he also, effectively, healed me and saved my life and I just can't believe he did that without a hidden motive, something that would result in my ultimate demise in little to no time. So if you have any idea what his evil schemes are I would really like to know because this is driving me crazy."

But Thor had such a strange gleam in his eyes all of sudden.

"Loki... healed you? He saved your life?", he said with a big grin that said he hadn't heard anything of what Tony had just told him aside from those few words.

"Well... As I said, I'm sure there is something-"

"Oh, he did say he refused to play to my fathers rules. Maybe he actually meant to apologize and make up for his mistakes, but his pride would forbid him from doing anything too... nice. This is great news, Man of Iron! I thank you for opening my eyes – I can't believe I doubted my brother!"
"What? Wait, Thor!"

But Thor had already angled for his mobile phone to call Loki. This time, the first in days, there was an answer.

"Loki!", Thor practically shouted into the phone, not angry but elated, "brother, I am sorry I was so rude to you. I know now that you are only trying to do good. The Man of Iron has told me what you did for him. Please tell me where you are so I might help you!"

On the other end of the line, Loki sighed. "Thor, why are you even interfering at all? Didn't I tell you to go on with the negotiations? I don't want to waste much more time in this place."

"Ah... of course. It might go faster if you lend me a hand though."

"I'm busy. The mortals are your friends, go and take care of them." And then the line was dead.

Thor sighed and pocketed the phone. Even when Loki was doing the right thing, he had to do it the wrong ay. But at least, he finally did the right thing.

XxX

It was one week later that SHIELD heard from Dr Banner again. Apparently he'd married a woman named Elizabeth Ross and they were off to their honeymoon. Somehow Loki seemed to have managed to... "put the Docter under brainlock" and no amount of pain, anger or sexual desire could wake up the 'other guy'. Banner was determined to use his chance at a normal life and he didn't trust SHIELD not to try and reverse the change because they wanted to use him as a war machine after he learned to turn green on command.

Two weeks later there was still no sign of any alien invasions or other destruction. Thor had reached an agreement with the black clad people about the reparations. On a more personal note, he also had them give Loki official amnesty.

When he was finally done with everything, he called Loki again, who told him an address where to pick him up. Despite everything SHIELD wanted to make sure the god of mischief really left their planet so Agent Barton and Romanov, Director Fury, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark all came with Thor personally.

When Thor knocked at the door of the address, he got a surprise. The person opening the door for him was not Loki.

It was Jane Foster.

"Thor!", she exclaimed in shock.

"Jane?", he answered, equally surprised.

Then she slapped him.

"Oh my god – I'm sorry! I didn't want to..."
And then she slapped him again.

"How could you! How could you just leave like that! It's been almost two years and I haven't heard a single word from you!"

Okay, that was awkward.

"Excuse us Miss", Fury interrupted her speech and Jane turned towards him, only now noticing the crowd in her corridor, "there wouldn't happen to hide another ancient norse god in your apartment? We're looking for Loki."

"He's in the living room", she replied annoyed and moved to let them in. "About time someone came for him too."

The agent raised an eyebrow at that but moved to see for himself. Thor was left by the door, trying to explain to the angry maiden why he hadn't been able to call her. Really, he was sorry for leaving her like that but he just wanted her to shut up so he could go and see Loki. It had been more then three weeks since he last saw him and already it felt like an eternity.

"Loki", Fury practically growled as he entered the living room, where the god of mischief was sitting on the couch, munching on some popcorn.

"Is there a particular reason why you are here... watching 'Big Brother'?"

"There is", Loki claimed completely serious. "My horror movie is being interrupted by advertising."

"Hey Mr. Hot, I got the taccos – holy shit, what are all the people doing here?"

Darcy Lewis had just entered the living room with some taccos in her hands and stared at the agents wide eyed.

"Oh, I'll take these", Tony said and quickly grabbed the taccos.

"Those are mine", Loki complained, moving his eyes from the TV for the first time.

"Hey, you already got popcorn!"

Thor and Jane had finished their conversation and once they were all there, Fury explained to the two mortals girls exactly what they were doing here.

"How did Loki ever come to stay with you?", Rogers asked finally.

"Oh, he put some really nasty curse on Darcy and said he could kill her wherever she went and that if we didn't do as he said and helped him to stay undercover, she wouldn't live to regret it", Jane answered, glaring at said god angrily.

"A curse!?", Rogers repeated shocked.

"What are you even talking about?" Thor looked between them confused. "Loki isn't capable of such magics."

"Aw, Thor, now you ruined it", Loki chuckled.

"Wait, you wouldn't have killed me?", Darcy said incredulously.

Loki leaned back his head to look at the girl standing behind the couch he sat on. "You didn't seem too bothered having to take me home, darling", he said with a grin.

"Are you kidding? If you had asked nicely, I would've gladly taken you into my be-"

Thor coughed loudly and glared at his clearly amused brother.

"Yeah, that's all great and everything", Tony said, "I'll be gone in a minute, I just came to ask you something, Reind-, eh, Loki. You kinda healed me and the Doc and I still don't know why, I'm not going to ask because I know you'd either lie or not say anything, but I did wonder why you didn't do anything to Cap, Birdie Boy and the hot chick."

Romanov was glaring daggers at him that were so sharp he could feel them stab his back and shuddered.

Loki just shrugged. "Why should I do anything to them? Rogers is nothing but a foot soldier. He may be above average for human standards but he is still no better then for example any of the Warrior Three. While they may be good, they will still never be on par with the likes of Thor or myself. Barton, however...", and here he smirked towards Hawkeye, who promptly felt for his bow, "now, I have to reason whatsoever to hurt him. After all, he served me so well!"

"And the spider?"

Another shrug. Loki turned his attention back to the TV. "She's a woman", he said as if that explained everything.

At this point the SHIELD agents and Rogers were a second short of throttling him. It took Thor a full ten minutes to get them to calm down. Loki chose that moment to declare that he would not leave before his movie was finished and he demanded they leave or sit and be quiet so he could watch the little mortals in the box spread each others brains over the floor. Finally it was decided that the group would leave them alone but they would stay in town until they saw the telltale light of the Bifrost taking them away.

Thor left Loki to watch his movie and went to the kitchen together with Jane to ask her if Loki really hadn't bothered her. Somehow, that conversation turned to his feelings for her, why he was leaving again so soon and when he was coming back.

Thor sighed – he had the suspicion that Loki had only chosen to stay with the two girls to force him to face Lady Jane.

"Jane, I am not certain... if I should come back after this", he began carefully.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am sorry that I have given you false hope. You are a very beautiful, kind woman. I wished I could love you the way you deserve, I tried, but it seems I am unable to do so."

Jane looked crestfallen. "Are you... Are you serious? I... I have been waiting for you, Thor, because you asked me, I..."
"I know, I know and I really am sorry!"

"Well, what changed then? Why do you suddenly... not care anymore!?"

"It is not that I do not care. I will always value you as a friend. But it just so happens that I... I cannot give you my heart, for somebody else is already holding on it."

"Oh my god. Thor, that... that is really not okay. You could've at least told me that you got another, I-"

"It is not like that!" Thor sighed heavily. "He's been holding my heart for a very long time now and only recently when I thought him lost... When I thought him dead, I found the courage to tell him. He does not return my feelings but since he had yet to push me away I can't... I can't help but hope."

Jane took a step away, one hand clasped over her mouth. "You... I did understand you correctly, did I, you're talking about a guy here?"

Thor nodded miserably.

"I... Wow. That's unexpected."

"Jane, I truly am-"

"No! No, I mean... this actually makes it easier to swallow. Thank... Thank you for being so honest with me."

The mortal woman was still fighting to regain her composure but she did not seem quite as angry or heartbroken anymore. This confused Thor greatly, he had thought she would be upset, maybe even insulted that he would prefer a man over her.

"Are you... alright?", he asked after a minute, when she was still silent.

"I... No, I'm not. But I will be. I... I guess I never had a chance, huh? I mean, of course I didn't, I'm human and everything. I always knew that and I thought it to be really unfair but... Not having a chance because I'm not a guy is... less of a blow, I guess. I wouldn't want to change that if I could after all."

Thor was trying not to feel too insulted. Having a chance at him? He was not an object that was to be conquered! But if it helped her to get over the rejection, he would not comment on it. Nor would he tell her that he was very much attracted to women as well, it was just that Loki was infinitely more mind-blowing then any other person, male or female, that he had ever met.

"So, who... Who is it then?", Jane wanted to know. "Is it one of your warrior friends that went after you last time?"

"Ah... no. Not exactly", he evaded.

"Then someone on Asgard? You shouldn't be here then. If he hasn't outright rejected you, he might just be too shy to admit he likes you back. You should spend some time with him."
"Uh actually, that's exactly what I'm trying to do..."

"Huh?"

Thor discretely glanced over at the door leading to the living room.

Janes eyes got big as saucers. "No! Loki!?"

"Shhh!"

"Oh. My. God. Are you serious!?"

Thor nodded in affirmation.

"And he – he knows? I mean, you told him?"

"Yes..."

"How did he react?" There was a strange gleam in her eyes that Thor didn't think he felt entirely comfortable with.

"I do not think that it would be wise to-"
"Oh come on, you just broke up with me because you love your brother more, I think I deserve to ask as many question as I want."

Thor hesitated. "If that's what it takes for you to forgive me..."

"It is. So? I want to know everything."

"Well he... He was disbelieving at first. When I finally managed to convince him he... Well, I had to stay in the healing chambers for three days."

"Oh." She appeared outright disappointed. "Well, I suppose that's not too unexpected from the guy who sent a giant fire robot to kill you. But you said he didn't..."
"I offered to leave Asgard altogether but he... allowed me to stay."
"Allowed you or asked you to?"

"Ordered me, actually." He had to force back a smile at that memory. It really was typical.

"And you've been on this tour ever since?"

Thor nodded.

"Have you ever tried to... you know...?"

"Once when I was very drunk, yes..."

Jane glared at him. "I want details. Come on, it's not like I could tell anybody."

Thor drew his hand through his blonde mane. "I kissed him and I... I touched him. He seemed to enjoy it at first – we were both very drunk – but then he pushed me away. Quite literally pushed me out of the bed. He was furious. I was sure he would send me away after that but instead he..."

"What? What did he say?", Jane asked, listening attentively.

"He said 'You are allowed to love me'. I think he... was feeling very lonely for a very long time. He wants to be loved but not like this. He needs a family and I... I can't give him that." He looked to the ground again, feeling utterly miserable.

Jane patted his arm awkwardly. "You know... You're not real brothers, right? Eric told me as much. So... It's not wrong for you to love him, even if it's a little awkward. You've managed to convince him of your love and I don't think he would've let you stay by his side if he didn't love you back, at least in a platonic way. Whenever he wants to take it a step further or not probably depends on those huge issues he has."

"What do you mean?"
"Well, if he has to go and conquer a planet to prove his self-worth, he's got to have Problems with capital P. Being from an entirely different race might also trouble him. I'm not sure how different these... Jotun, was it? Are from your kind..."
"They're very different", Thor confirmed. "They're blue-skinned and red-eyed and normally they're around twice as tall as the Aesir. Loki is an exception in that regard and he is also under a permanent glamour."

"Oh. Well, that would explain a lot then. Even if it wasn't you, he probably wouldn't feel confident with any kind of sexual action until he can accept his nature."

"Do you... Really think it bothers him this much?" He had never thought about that before.

"Well, I know sure as hell it would bother me!"

"But... I don't care that he's a Jotun! I saw him in his true form, I kissed him while at it and it was no less amazing!"
"Wait, when did you do that!?"

Thor went a bit red. "Well, he wouldn't believe my words about desiring him, so he demanded I do that when he first found out..."

"Wow. If that's the case, I guess he just isn't ready for commitment yet."
"I don't think that's the real problem, Jane."
"Then what is? You are not related, check. He enjoyed you touching him, so he doesn't reject you because you're a guy, check. He knows you won't reject him even if he turns blue, check. He still cares very much for you for him to want you at his side, check. Now we have a clear cut case of boy likes boy. The only problems I can see are his trust issues."

"He... may have those", Thor admitted.

"See? I'm right." She smiled at him mischievously. "Do you want my advice?"

"Uh, sure."

"With Loki, you'll have to take the first step. You have to trust him first before you can expect anything in return. Leave the control to him. Offer yourself up. I know that will be difficult. You strike me as a more... dominant guy but well, we all know Loki can be quite aggressive too, don't we?"

At this point, Thors face was fighting with his cape over who was a brighter shade of red.

"J-Jane!"

"What?"
"I..." But he was at a loss of words. Suddenly he remembered a comment Loki had made not too long ago. That if he would ever fall so low as to join Thor in his desire, he would take him up on his 'offer' to turn the tables. If he was feeling this nervous at the mere thought of it, of course Loki would never agree... But what if Thor really did offer? Would Loki actually make a move on him? In his fantasies he had always imagined himself to be the one who held his brother. He remembered how aroused he had been when Loki touched him before but this... This was different. How would it feel to have Loki actually inside him?

"Hello? Earth to Thor?"

With a shudder, Thor woke up from his stupor.

Jane grinned, that strange gleam present once again in her eyes. "I could take out Darcy for a nice movie tonight, if you'd like."

"Wha – no! I mean, that won't be necessary. I don't think I am... ready for that."

"Sometimes you have to run before you learn to walk. It's just a movie, Thor. If he really hates you, at least you'll know."

She patted his arm once again, then turned to leave.

"Darcy! Hey girl, now that we're not captives anymore, what do you think about spending the night out?"

And just like that, Thor found himself alone with his brother and a wildly thumping heart.