A/N:

1) Sincere thanks for reviews and encouragement goes to: cara-tanaka, Russingon5eva, Guest, laydyofstayne, quoththeraven, Hebi R, seriousobsession, Ordis, ThatOneFan, Halequin Jade, Hrosanna, PrettyPieceOfFlesh, LeoLuin, Random Google, Yana5, EveraldWings90, killing u with umbrellas, samiam13, Mokulule, Starkreactor, EbonyWing, Scifilover, Blessed24 7, kirallie, Isis36, IONCTM, Aruyn, Beloved Daughter, Mimi MC, noukinav018, fan girl 666, Balinor88, Lemrinth, peppymint, RedHood, Shadows Curse, Purplenurpl, HappyHateDay, Nebelkind, OrionRedde, Yasuko08, Nitmi, Guest, dawnhallj, jeanette9a, Silvertongued Dreams, MomochiNaruto, mrmistoffelees, Illustrioustaco, and Ie-maru. As usual, I'll respond via PM to anyone I can.

Also, thanks for all the faves, alerts, etc, it is most encouraging.

2) Ok, this might be a chapter or so longer than expected. this is one of those cases where the story just sort of went where it wanted and pulled me along. We probably have three chapters after this.

3) Thanks to EbonyWing for pointing out something that I needed to clarify (any anyone else who might have wondered if Thor knows about Loki's genealogy)

4) In case I'm not back to update for a couple weeks (which I probably won't be), Happy Holidays to all!

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Not pulling away – he supposes he won't need any effort of his own to put distance between them if Thor doesn't know already, because even after all this, he can't expect it not to change everything – Loki asks the one question that in some ways he fears the most, because if Thor hates him for his birthright, it is something that nothing Loki can do will ever be able to fix…. and after all they were all but raised to:

"Did he tell you? About my true parentage?"

The Thunderer's response is slow in coming, a hint of confusion in his tone, and from his voice alone, Loki expects a question…. but the words that come out are instead:

"Yes."

This time, Loki does pull back, far enough that he can see his brother's expression which is still too calm, and Loki can't help but wonder if maybe the truth was concealed yet again… if maybe Thor knows not that Loki isn't really his brother but not that he's a Jotun… and it is fear – fear for all that he might still loose – rather than anger that makes his whisper harsh:

"And you're okay with this? With me being a Jotun?"

He almost expects to be thrown away from the Thunderer – it's easier than to hope – but instead he is pulled again into his brother's embrace, held even more securely than before though still with the utmost gentleness, and cannot help the smile, the unadulterated wave of pure happiness that washes over him as his brother replies gently:

"We were raised together, Loki. We played together, we fought together. I haven't forgotten….. and you will always be my brother, whatever your lineage…. it matters not to me."

Thor takes a breath, gathering his thoughts perhaps, and then finishes with an even more quiet, but firm tone which allows for no argument: "… just as it shouldn't matter to you, brother."

At those words, Loki feels tension that he hadn't even realized existed drain out of him as if it never were there, because while long ago, he'd come to the understanding that he wasn't born to be a monster – Tony had taught him that – he didn't expect to be given this advice from his Aesir sibling… not with how they were raised.

He didn't expect to still be seen and treated as a equal, any more than he'd expected such a warm welcome, but Loki's too tired to argue…. he needs this too much to refuse it, and instead of replying, he just leans unashamed against Thor's strength, knowing that he can trust himself, flaws and all, in the Thunderer's hands…. because his brother will never let him fall.

Eventually a yawn slips through Loki's control, followed closely by another – really, this was a given all along; teleportation is impossible for many, merely tiring for him …. and Loki had made an enormous leap though space and time to come…. home – and Thor gets the hint, smiling – Loki can hear it in his voice – as he says gently:

"Rest, brother. There is time for us to speak tomorrow."

And while part of Loki, by reflex alone, points out that the truth of that statement depends on … the Allfather …. and how he reacts to his maybe-son's return, in the end he decides that countering is not worth it, because what matters in the statement – to him at least – is his brother's unshakeable conviction that they have a future together, one the Thunderer wants to see, and for now, that is enough.

He could remove his armor manually, but teleportation has always left him more achy than anything else, and it is easier to simply magic it away, leaving him only in the tunic that fits beneath it all as he all but collapses onto his bed.

For mere fractions of a second – another ingrown instinct – Loki wonders if he should regret his blatant use of magic along with his admission to physical exhaustion before another, but the thought vanishes as soon as it came, because after all this time …. and it's ironic really that it took so much for Loki to see this simple truth…. he knows that Thor, at least, had never looked down upon him for any of it.

The fractional smile on his brother's features confirms this, because within the expression is pride – pride for his sibling's innate abilities to control the world around him which no artifact had given him – and though the Thunderer is more open now…. more vulnerable in a sense as the joy of having his long-dead sibling back with him has laid waste to any princely reservations – Loki realizes that it has been that all along, even if usually far more subtle ….. and internally he smiles.

His brother stands to leave, still smiling, but Loki recognizes a subtle shift in his expression…. a barely-there flash of what looks like vulnerability and fear mixed with loneliness, which Loki would have never before even recognized – never before even thought to look for in his so-confident sibling – had he not seen it a thousand times in the gaze of the strongest and simultaneously most shattered person he had ever known …. and almost before he has time to dwell on the fact more, he says, barely audible:

"Stay."

That one word cuts though the silence, freezing the Thunderer in his tracks, and Loki doesn't even need to open his eyes too know that there is going to be vulnerability lacing the confusion there …. because they haven't spent the night together since there were both just children…. but before his brother has the chance to respond, Loki gives a fractional smile and says wryly:

"No offense, Thor, but silence isn't your strongest point, and I'd rather not have my presence given away till after I have taken some rest."

He knows that it's the right choice when his brother forces an exaggerated frown and then says quickly – far too quickly – that Loki has a valid point there and promptly lies down also at the edge of the enormous bed, expression at peace once again, and it is only after the Thunderer's eyes close and he's fairly certain that his brother is already asleep that Loki allows himself a small smile of true contentment.

Despite his claim – one he's made before but this is the first time it's an alibi, not a manifestation of hurt and jealously – he has every confidence that Thor would have not drawn any attention to his presence, and of course, Thor knew that fact as well as he….. but he'd been there just moments earlier to see his brother lost in torments only his mind and memories could conjure up – trapped in the one thing that could truly hurt him – and he had recognized that flash of vulnerability for what it was, because Thor knew the cycle would begin again… and this once he wants to protect his brother…. in the only way he knows how.

So he'd given an excuse – an alibi of sorts – because though it had never been needed when they were very young and would come seeking each others company to keep the nightmares away, as they had grown, they had started to invent nonsensical excuses as not to have to admit that either of them were vulnerable to fear while still achieving the company they needed to keep those fears at bay…. and Thor had willingly – gratefully – taken it, proving, more than anything else just how much he had needed Loki's company…. just how much he needed the living reminder that his little brother was not dead and lost in the icy void of space, because after more than a year, it car only be far easier to believe that the past minutes had been but a cruel dream than anything else.

It's funny perhaps – or ironic – that when it was Thor who first stopped coming to Loki on those nights (the reason ultimately why Loki stopped as well, though he'd never directly been turned down), Loki had felt hurt, betrayed even, feeling in his young mind and heart that his brother had decided him unworthy of his trust, and it took living with a mortal – blessed superficially with an entirely company and in reality bitterly alone – for him to recognize, hundreds of years belatedly, the curse of being born to royalty.

Stretching luxuriously as his body is far more tired than his mind – really, Midgard still can't compete with Asgard in certain furnishings, though Loki wryly wonders if his judgment is biased since he was a cat for most of that time, napping on various surfaces in Tony's shop or on Tony himself far more often than on a bed – Loki smiles again, then chuckles softly, as he is suddenly struck by how little has changed in some ways after all that has happened…. because he'd never been able to think that after everything Thor would give in to sleep so completely – with so much trust – near Loki, not after the Destroyer, just as he never imagined he'd want it…. and yet there he is, part of a tableau that reminds Loki of the best times in their childhood, when they were too young to let anything come between them.

Unlike when they were younger, there is no contact. Thor is turned toward him as always but one arm is tucked under his head and the other is neatly folded in front of him, leaving Loki with plenty of space, and yet like when they were children, Thor has positioned himself between Loki and the doorway, silently promising to keep him safe from whatever may come, and though at some point – long after they stopped being willing to admit vulnerability to each other – Loki would have been insulted, hurt that his brother treated him as the weaker, now that he's come this far, he sees the gesture for what it is - having realized that the want…. the need … to protect what is precious to oneself has more to do with that attachment than it ever could with perceived weakness – and though the fact remains that Thor will always in same ways see him as his baby brother, it doesn't grate anymore.

Inevitably, Loki's thoughts return to Tony, the familiar pang of concern for the mortal mixing with the fact that he misses him already….. the fact that he worries about the mortal, and though Tony is fragile compared with him, it isn't from that fact that his concern stems – because Tony is a survivor – but because part of him sees the mortal as his – his first friend in a universe that perhaps should have hated him, his teacher, his safe haven – and better than ever before, Loki understands that need to protect what is his.

Add to that the fact that Tony is mortal – and has placed himself between the defenseless of his world and those who would harm them – and Loki has even more reason to want to be there for him…. so much that for all his wishes for redemption…. justice… accountability… something … he will not let whatever is to come take away the time that he could have with his mortal friend. He isn't willing to give him up.

Looking at his sleeping brother again, Loki reflects that Tony hadn't just given him a home, hadn't just given him back his heart, and the precious mortal friendship that had changed everything…. he'd also given him his brother back – he'd given him a gift that would be his forever, if Loki had anything to say about it…. and he's not letting go of his brother now that he has him back, whether he deserves that chance or not.

At last, feeling far more certain of himself than before, far more at peace than just minutes earlier, Loki lets sleep claim him, and in its embrace he finds peace.

The peace doesn't last long – not long enough for the tiredness he's trying to remedy at least – because he senses more than hears his brother's sleep becoming restless, can tell as he opens his eyes and sees Thor's hands clenched into fists - the expression on his features one of loss rather than pain or fear - that Thor is seeing him fall into the abyss once more…. and deciding that this already has come to far, even though those devastated heart-wrenching cries intoning his name haven't began yet, Loki calls his brother's name.

That is all it takes to silence the memories…. just calling out to his brother and reminding him that truly he is there… thankfully puts an end to it all before that terribly litany of apologies begins, made worse by the fact that they are entirely misplaced, but rather than feeling pulled down by the ever-present guilt, Loki feels strangely more free of it – even if only by a little - as he sees his brother relax into sleep once more, knowing that he – his presence alone – has done that, and if, despite everything he has done, his brother still loves him and still needs him…. why should he argue?

For the rest of the night, the nightmares don't return.

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