Written to Stay Young, Go Dancing - Death Cab for Cutie, crosspost from AO3
Resistentialism: when inanimate objects seem to demonstrate spiteful or hostile behaviour towards humans.
"Loki, darling, would you like some help?" Thor says, trying to stifle his laughter as Loki struggles with the small pegs and screws of the bookcase he was attempting to assemble. Loki had been absolutely determined that Modi be given the gift of literature and written words from the earliest age possible, and had acquired a large amount of children's books from all across the nine realms (although Thor would have to look over the items Loki had gotten from Svartalfheim, children's books from that particular realm were notorious for causing nightmares and Thor would not have been surprised if Malekith had had a major hand in writing all of them).
Upon asking his fellow Avengers for book recommendations for Modi, Thor had gotten some Midgardian books for the child as well, all with big words and soft, creamy pages with lovely, colourful drawings that Thor found rather cute and which Loki found rather simple.
"Why in the world would anybody want to eat green eggs?" Loki had asked, upon catching the title of one of the books Thor had brought back. "Perhaps Midgardians are not as smart as we have given them credit for, if they cannot recognise an expired egg as such."
The Man of Iron had also taken Thor to a fantastically large shoppe called IKEA and told him that there were several lovely, functional pieces of furniture there that he could purchase, that he would probably need a bookshelf of sorts. Thor had agreed and had selected one he saw in a model child's bedroom, a deep cherry colour with big shelves and cubbies for toys and stuffed animals. Although why the bears in Midgard were so small, Thor had no idea. Perhaps they were bear cubs? But that seemed positively barbaric. Anthony had told him they weren't actual stuffed bears, but Thor was inclined to believe quite the opposite.
Unfortunately, Anthony hadn't told him how difficult the assembly of the bookshelf was to be.
Loki curses rather violently (or at least, it sounded like cursing, Thor wasn't quite sure what language that was) as he bangs his fingers for the umpteenth time attempting to hammer the shelves together. He throws his hands up in despair and glowers at the wood, and Thor laughs. He can't help it.
Loki casts him a withering look before standing up, dusting himself off, and flouncing out of their bedroom rather dramatically.
Thor smiles down at the pile of shelves and wooden dowels meant to hold them together, sits down on the floor, and whistles as he taps Mjolnir carefully along the shelves and brings the bookcase together.
Loki is, for his part, amazed when he comes back an hour or so later and sees the bookcase standing completed in the middle of their room.
"You've actually managed to follow instructions for once," Loki says, sounding more incredulous than exasperated, and Thor smiles innocently at him.
Of course, the bookcase is too wide to be pushed through their bedroom doors, and Loki has another fit before blasting the entire door off its hinges with a stream of green sparks and a marvellously great bang. Thor watches, amusement in his eyes, as Loki half-drags, half-pushes the bookcase through the new hole in the wall, grumbling the whole way to the nursery.