On the week of the 17th, three disquieting things happened.

The first thing actually went on all week, but Thor only found out about it on Thursday lunchtime. Thor didn't notice at first, but he did observe a change in Loki's behavior; on the way to the café, his normally awkward mannerisms (he disliked the crowds) became exaggerated. He jerked about. He kept glancing in shop windows and spinning around, as if he had just realized he was going the wrong way. He was obviously nervous about something, and it affected Thor, who had to follow him, bobbing around like a disoriented lemming.

Thor asked Loki what exactly it was he was trying to achieve, but was completely ignored. 'Hey,' he said, flicking Loki's shoulder. 'Hey. What's going on?'

'Hmm?' asked Loki, coming back to Earth. 'Oh, nothing.'

Then Loki looped his arm around Thor's and scooted up to him. Thor was almost speechless, he was so surprised. It was probably the most un-Loki thing his friend had every done.

'What on Earth has gotten into you?' he whispered.

Loki's response was to squeeze him very hard on the shoulder, throw his head back and laugh out loud. 'He didn't,' he exclaimed. 'No. Oh, my God, I don't believe it.'

OK, something was definitely going on. Thor opened his mouth to say something, but Loki saw what he was about to do and gave him a look that had warning written all over it. Play along, he mouthed. Then his face fell into a sort of weirdly blank cheerful expression that didn't suit him at all, and he suddenly glanced up.

'Hey! This is where we first met!'

Thor looked around. He didn't recognize the place at all. '…So it is,' he agreed, smiling nervously.

'Friendship origin selfie?' Loki asked, elatedly, whipping out his phone. 'Say cheese!'

Thor blinked. Then he tried to smile again, and made a peace sign. Loki took around 20 pictures of them at different angles, standing in front of the building where they supposedly met, before he was satisfied. Then he linked arms with Thor again and hurried them away.

When they arrived at the café, Loki declined their usual window seat and took them all the way through to the back. He threw his bag onto a chair and then dragged Thor into the men's restroom.

'OK. What's going on?' Thor asked, now very worried, if somewhat amused.

Loki held his finger up, silencing Thor. He used the face of his phone, in camera mode, as a mirror to check around the corner, and then when it was obvious they were alone, he sighed, and allowed his vexation to show on his face.

'I'm being followed,' he said. 'Look.'

And Thor did. In the background of 3 or 4 of the pictures they'd taken earlier, there was a man leaning against a post, looking at his phone. He didn't look out of the ordinary at all, apart from the fact that he was wearing weird sports sunglasses and it was a cloudy day in February.

That didn't necessarily make the guy a stalker, though, Thor thought. He could just be an asshole.

He said as much, with an apologetically skeptic expression.

'No,' Loki said, firmly. 'He's been here since Tuesday. Every day he follows me to lunch, and last night, he was outside my apartment. I swear, I'm not making this up, Thor.'

Thor nodded, slowly. No wonder Loki had been so eager to eat with him today. 'Alright, I believe you,' he said. 'Why… why would someone be following you?'

Loki folded his arms and looked away. 'I can think of a few reasons,' he murmured, more to himself. Then to Thor: 'I think he's a PI. He was wearing a trenchcoat before. No, don't laugh, they still do that. Anyways, now that I have a few pictures, I can send them to someone I know in that business.'

'You know a detective?'

'Yes,' Loki replied, and he had settled down somewhat by now. 'And maybe he can identify our new friend. If not… Well, it may seem counterintuitive, but we should continue acting as if nothing's wrong until there's a new development.'

'Do you want to stay at my place for a few days?'

Loki looked taken aback. 'I- no,' he said, 'I'll be fine. Er… thanks, though.

'Let's sit down. He might not've come in the café but he could be looking through the windows. Act natural.'

Once they sat down, Thor tried to glance out the window, but Loki kicked him softly under the table. 'Sorry,' Thor muttered, then looked up at Loki, who was scanning the menu already.

'Can we agree to eat together here tomorrow, though?' he asked. 'I don't really like leaving you alone with this guy.'

'Of course.'

Loki sighed. 'Thor… sorry. And thank you.'

'Don't worry about it.'

The second thing happened almost exactly 24 hours later, in the exact same place.

Loki's tail had kindly opted to find some other way to occupy his time that day. So Thor sat in his seat at their usual table, in the weak sunlight, guarding Loki's things while he used the toilet.

What this meant was that when Loki's phone, which was face up on the table where he'd left it – and Thor had by now realized that Loki had several phones, and this was his 'business' one – received a text, Thor saw the preview.

And, because this particular text was so short, he saw the whole thing.

'B&E want C again,' it read.

All this in itself would have meant nothing to Thor, were it not for Loki's reaction when he sat down and read the message. He made that signature blank face that he always used when he didn't want people to know that shit had either hit the fan, or was about to, and his hand went to his mouth.

Loki picked up the phone, then he put it down again. Then he looked away and ran his hand through his hair. His face was white.

'Shit,' he said. 'Did you read this?'

Thor couldn't lie. He nodded, tentatively, then explained that he hadn't understood it at all, though. Loki didn't seem mad, anyways.

Loki put his fingertips on his temples, deep in thought.

'Does this have anything to do with that guy from yesterday?' Thor asked.

'No. Yes. Maybe… I don't know. My friend hasn't gotten back to me.'

Neither of them spoke for a while.

'Shit shit shit,' Loki muttered, rubbing his face. 'This has been a terrible week.'

'Loki.' Thor frowned. 'You know… I can't help you if I don't know what's going on. I'm not saying-'

Loki sighed. 'I know, I know. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what this guy wants. But these two…' he indicated his phone. Then he bit his lip. 'OK,' he said. 'Do you remember I told you I was good with computers?'

'Yes.'

'Well, I used to write… programs. That's how I made money. Then it was computer programs, now it's car engines. And there was this one… there was this one that I never actually made, because it turned out to be completely impossible, but a lot of people were interested in the idea. Especially these two guys. "B" and "E".'

'You don't know their real names?'

'No… yes. It doesn't matter.'

Thor looked at Loki, unamused. 'Well, apparently, it does.'

'Thor, please, just-'

'Fine, fine. Then who's "C"?'

'It's not a who, it's an it. It's the initial of the name for the program I never wrote.

'you know… you know when you were a child, on your parents' computer, and you'd think, "well why does this webpage not work properly in a certain browser? Why can't I copy and paste this picture. I mean, sure, it says it's copyrighted, but I can see they picture. Why can't they just make a type of webpage that works in every browser, or something that'll just take a picture and save it to your desktop no matter what?" You know?'

Thor nodded.

'But then you got older and you learned more and you realized, there are reasons why things won't work, technologically. Moral reasons, sure, but also there are literal pathways that need to be taken.'

'I think I understand. So, this program… It was like this amazing fix-it thing, that was impossible to make in practice?'

'Exactly. Anyways, I dealt with these guys a long time ago, and I managed to shake them. Now they're back. Which is… annoying. That's all there is to it, I guess.'

Thor put his hand put his cheek. Loki thought he was an idiot if he assumed that Thor was buying that. It wasn't the whole story at all; it wasn't even half of it.

'…OK,' he said, unimpressed.

Loki scowled at him. But he didn't say anything

Thor sighed. Loki's business was Loki's business, he supposed. But none of this was exactly comforting. 'Alright. Well… I'm here if you need me, you know.'

Loki nodded, then he looked out the window. 'Well,' he said. 'Maybe I will. You know what they say about bad things…'

And so, it was only natural that a third thing happened. On Saturday.

Loki didn't take Thor to the shop with him that morning. Thor's coach had had a word with him; although his doctor still wouldn't let him fight, he ought to be supporting the team. Thor agreed.

So on Friday night he'd taken the train with the others to London to watch the semi-finals of their current tournament, which took place the next morning. Tony, who'd also come, to spectate and cheerlead, had agreed to drop Thor off at Freya's in his car on his way home.

It was evening already as they pulled in to the driveway; Thor knew he wouldn't have more than a couple of hours to spend with Loki before they had to leave. The sun had set, and the empty sky was a deep indigo color. Nearby, Thor could hear owls.

The place seemed very lonely.

Then Thor realized why; they lights were off.

Where is everyone?

'Nice digs,' Tony commented as he parked. 'Looks empty though. Sure you haven't been stood up?'

Thor peered around, brow furrowed, until he caught sight of the silhouette of the Ninja, parked around a corner. The rest of the lot was completely empty '…No,' he said. 'His bike's here.'

'…But the lights are out. Do you want me to wait?'

'Don't bother. I'm sure there's a reason; it's probably nothing' Thor told him, and got out.

Despite what he'd said, Thor got a sense of foreboding as he walked up to the main entrance. He tried the door; it was unlocked.

'Loki?' he called as he walked in, waiting for the automatic lights to flicker on before he went any further.

No reply. The only sound was Tony leaving, engine revving in the distance. Then silence.

Thor swallowed. He felt well and truly alone, now, not to mention worried. Where was Loki? He had to be nearby, Thor supposed.

Where was Freya?

Thor had mental images, sometimes, as he worked in the garage, of Loki being suddenly trapped under a car as its supports failed; of some piece of equipment malfunctioning on him, of a welding torch backfiring, and so on. They were irrational fears, he knew, because Loki was a very trustworthy craftsman, but still, he couldn't help it.

And then there was that sunglasses guy.

What if he'd followed Loki here today? To relative obscurity, where they were alone together and no one else was around? Freya was obviously not here.

Thor found himself breaking into a run as he approached Loki's workspace.

But it was empty, too; tools abandoned halfway through whatever job they'd been doing. The fact that the lights had turned themselves off meant that no one had been there for more than an hour.

'Shit,' Thor muttered. He picked up a crowbar and turned back the way he came, checking the other garages, calling Loki's name. They were all empty. Thor got nothing but silence.

He came to a part of the place he'd never seen before; office space, towards the back. He didn't know his way around it. That didn't hinder him from jogging towards it, though.

The lights here didn't operate via motion sensors, and Thor didn't know where the switches were, so he crept along a corridor in the dark, crowbar over his shoulder.

He rounded a corner.

At the end of the hall, a door was open, and the wall in front of it was washed in light from a screen inside.

Thor approached it as silently as he could.

Putting his hand against the door, Thor eased it a little further open, trying not to draw attention to himself.

Across the room was a desk. On it was a computer. And directly in front of it, facing Thor, stood Loki, face screwed up in rapt concern, eyes flickering as he scanned whatever he was reading on the monitor.

Thor gave a sigh of relief, lowering his crowbar. Thank God. Thank God. This was going to give him nightmares for weeks.

Loki glanced up suddenly, saw him, and swore out loud, jumping up in the air a little and grabbing a stapler as if to throw it.

'Loki!' Thor shouted, putting up his empty hand to placate him. He knew firsthand what Loki could be like when startled. 'It's me! Don't-'

'Jesus Christ, Thor!' Loki huffed, still wielding the stapler. 'What are you doing here? You scared the- you- you- don't you knock!?'

Loki shook himself and turned off the monitor, walking around the desk. 'For such a big guy, you sure can be stealthy when you want to,' he muttered to himself.

Thor leaned back against the door. 'Sorry,' he said, 'I- all the lights were off. I was worried. Where's Freya?'

Loki shrugged. 'She's not around today.'

He looked nervous.

Thor looked around the room, processing his thoughts. 'But… this is her office, isn't it?'

Loki didn't reply. He tapped his thigh with a forefinger.

Thor furrowed his brow and walked into the room. '…And you've been here for over an hour,' he added.

They exchanged a look. For Loki it was a chance to gauge how to handle the situation; for Thor it was an admission of guilt.

He walked around the desk to face the blank screen. 'Thor,' Loki warned him, putting his hands up to get him to stop. Thor looked up at him, finger hovering over the power button. Then he sighed.

'If you want me to stop, then I will,' he told Loki, 'but I don't-'

'No. Wait.' Loki groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He sighed.

'No, you should actually probably see this.'

Thor turned the monitor back on again.

He was looking at some sort of spreadsheet; Loki came up to stand next to him.

'They're… finances, for the shop,' Thor guessed. Loki didn't say anything, but he nodded.

Thor bit his lip. He wasn't very good with this sort of thing. Thankfully, Loki took the mouse from him, scrolling down the page and selecting figures as he went.

'Here,' he said, 'here, and here.' Then he looked up at Thor, waiting for him to get it.

Thor glanced at Loki, then back at the page. 'Oh,' he realized, finally. 'We're-'

'In debt. Massively.

'She's been borrowing money for months.' Loki scowled. 'And she's been lying about it.'

'So… will VM be repossessed?' Thor wondered, scrolling back up the page.

£10,000 here… another £5,000 there… how many people does Freya owe money to?

'If things keep going at this rate, then yes,' Loki explained. 'Within months.'

Loki rubbed his chin, staring at the screen again. 'But they won't,' he added.

Thor looked up. 'Oh, no?' he asked.

Loki tapped his check, smirking. 'Not if I have any say in it.'

Thor nodded. Of course. Trust Loki to have a plan already.

He sighed and stood back as Loki started to cover his tracks and log out. 'And you found all this out,' Thor guessed, 'by-'

'Snooping around exactly where I was told not to. Yes. She was making it obvious something was wrong.'

'And Freya doesn't know.'

'Not yet.'

'Loki,' Thor said, seriously, 'for the record, I think you did the right thing.'

Loki paused, then turned to face him. His eyebrows were raised in surprise. 'Thanks,' he said, quietly.

Thor nodded again. 'So what now?'

Loki turned off the computer and stood up. 'Well,' he said. 'We're going to have a little chat with Miss Njordson.'