hello lovelies! this is the author, Andy, coming to you from x number of years since i last posted anything here. ha.
long story short, a lot of stuff has happened! emails were lost track of, college was attempted, jobs were changed, homes were moved, and so on! i've been writing elsewhere for a couple years now, and this little space got left behind at some point. :(
so, this is to say that i do still exist online, on AO3 and tumblr too, but here i am closing up shop. i'll leave the stories as they are for old times' sake, certainly. hopefully the inactivity doesn't prompt for my account's removal. :v
thank you all very, very much for supporting my writing on here! it was a very important three years for me and you were such dears, i'm so grateful. hope we can cross paths again at some point (if you do hit me up, tell me where you came from! i'd be stoked to talk with my FFnet folks again).
AO3 and tumblr links are both up in my profile page.
have a good day, me friendos :)
Author's notes: i felt terrible about leaving this unfinished but then i remembered i actually did still have the draft of this chapter hidden deep in my files. 'swawesome.
llxi.
The Asgardians left Avengers Tower sometime in the late afternoon following Christmas Day, after everyone had taken unintentional naps on the couches surrounding the tree. Tony still did not have the secret of how Loki had turned back time, but he had been given a single card within an envelope bearing three equations. They would broaden the scientist's understanding of the Tesseract massively. Loki trusted the knowledge would be in good hands.
It was long after sundown on Asgard. A full moon hung overhead, lesser ones following as constellations came out to play. Thor looked back to his Loki, smiling. He knew that the full moon on Asgard was one of his brother's favorite times. Loki was smiling, too, his eyes up to the heavens.
Thor followed the younger prince's gaze for a few moments. He looked back down to Loki, intending to thank him for making the double Christmas possible, but the sorcerer was gone.
"Now where did he go?" Thor wondered.
The Warriors Three paused when they heard their friend's puzzled remark, and they helped him look around the bridge for Loki. It only took a short while for them to realize that Loki was not going to be found anytime soon.
Thor shook his head, not that surprised. "I suppose he's had enough of people for now," he said. "He must have gone ahead. Sorry, cat—ahem, Vit. He left you behind."
"Not unusual," Vit said, though really it was. His whiskers twitched thoughtfully. "But I do wonder…"
Thor and the Warriors Three continued home along the bridge, the former frequently casting looks about for his younger brother. Vit sat down on the Bifrost, dragging his tongue across a forepaw and rubbing behind his ears. He formed a rhythm from the action.
"Hm. I do wonder, indeed…"
llxii.
Loki had gone outside. He wasn't sure what had prompted him to do so, dressed far too light for the Asgardian winter as he wandered into the snow. He could feel his Jotun nature respond to the cold, not with a shiver but with equal cold.
One of these days he would get used to that.
Apparently, Frost Giants could walk on top of snow, no matter how thin the frozen layer. Loki hadn't known that before. Come to think of it, there were a lot of things he didn't know. Perhaps he should fix that.
It was dark, but thanks to the snow, not as dark as it could be. Loki had made it past the borders of the palace by now, making easy progress over houses buried for the night. While the Great Hall would be filled with light and laughter, out here it was quiet.
The prince came to a frozen pool. Probably one he had tried to drown Vit in a few times. Loki frowned at the dark reflection he gets, all pale Asgardian semblance gone away to Jotun blue. One day he would get used to it. One day.
Loki sat down in the snow. Not as if he would catch a cold.
Not that he intended to tell anyone, but he felt strangely melancholic after all that celebrating. So this was as good a place as any for mulling that over.
It had been… nice, the Christmas festivities. Loki found it almost difficult to believe they had even happened. He'd never tell Vit, of course, but he really had been counting down the days. He hadn't been that excited about anything in that sort of way since he was a little boy.
If he closed his eyes, he could hear the laughter, the soft croon of Midgardian music as they had fallen asleep. He hadn't felt that comfortable around anyone but Thor, and ever since the disastrous adoption reveal, it had taken some years to grow comfortable around him again.
And even then…
Loki leaned back into snow, blinking up at mixed stars and nebulae. He tried not to think too hard, for a change. He was full of good food and a strangely good experience, memories of shared laughter still fresh in his mind.
"I think," Loki murmured to himself, "I may be happy."
llxiii.
"Found you."
"Ugh."
What passed for a snicker bumped through Loki's mind as Vit casually sauntered up and stood by Loki's head. The cat directed a rather distasteful look at Loki's snow-soaked appearance. He hadn't realized how wet he'd gotten. He was going to track water everywhere once he got back inside.
Loki decided he really didn't care.
"Your brother missed you," Vit said.
"Thor would miss his own shadow," Loki scoffed back, but to his own surprise it didn't come out very sharply. He looked back up at the sky. "I needed some time to myself. All the socializing left me rather drained."
He paused.
"That was a hint, cat."
"The name's Vit, actually." The cat's eyes gleamed. "Or did you already forget?"
"It certainly doesn't sound familiar."
Vit swiped his claws across Loki's nose, prompting an indignant yelp from the prince. He sat up quickly, healing the scratch and then scowling over at the offending feline.
"Why you little…"
"Now, now, Loki," the cat chided smugly. "We mustn't fall back on bad habits."
A peculiar silence fell after the comment, both of them staring at each other for too long. The water soaked into Loki's clothes was turning back to ice again. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he laughed, very quietly.
"I suppose we must," he agreed. "You know, Vit…"
"Mm?" Vit hopped up on his shoulder, balancing with practiced ease.
Loki scratched under his chin. "Sometimes I feel like this twisted friendship of ours was your plan from the start," he commented.
"Not at all," Vit purred back. "Personally, I blame Darcy."
Loki chuckled his agreement, rocking up to his feet. Vit dug his claws in for balance before relaxing again, cracking his jaws wide for an eggnog-smelling yawn. Eggnog with very strong hints of rum. Loki frowned while Vit grinned back shamelessly.
"I wonder," said Loki, turning to make the trek back home. "How it came to this. Us getting along… tolerably. Since you say you didn't plan it, and I know I certainly didn't want it."
"Disagree."
"Oh?" Loki quirked an eyebrow.
"You are pathetically lonely, Frost Midget," Vit stated. "An animal knows these things."
"Really now."
"Really." The cat licked his lips. "Though I still blame Darcy."
Loki nods. "Me too," he replied.
The prince puffed a clouds into the air with each step. A mundane sort of way to entertain himself for the journey back. Vit teased him for it most of the way.
llxiv.
Loki did not plan to indulge anyone's curiosity if asked where he had gone to, so it was fortunate the halls were empty when he and Vit returned. Vit contented himself with grooming on Loki's bed, while the prince changed into dry, comfortable clothes.
Yule festivities would continue across Asgard for several days to come. Loki and Vit had mutually agreed the first of those days would be best spent sleeping. It was pleasant, having someone else on Asgard who wasn't as fixated on feasting as the rest.
Loki sat on top of the covers, absently scratching behind Vit's ears as he thought.
It was strange. Quite strange, actually. He and the cat had started out at complete odds with each other. The aggravator and the aggravated. He had spent the better part of two years trying to kill it, just for how vexed it had made him feel.
Honestly (secretly), he was glad that he had failed. Loki and the cat they had once been, but now they were Loki and Vit. Equals. Comrades, of a peculiar sort.
Friends?
"You're looking awfully thoughtful, Frost Midget," Vit remarked, cracking an eye open as Loki continued to scratch behind his ears. "Didn't do enough of that in your hours of wandering through the snow?"
"It would seem not," Loki replied. He switched to scratching under Vit's chin, and couldn't help but smile at the purr that provoked.
"Pray tell, what could be holding the great and wise Prince Loki's thoughts so captive?"
Loki flicked his nose with a finger. Vit only responded by sprawling bonelessly across the sorcerer's lap, yawning wide. The sight would have infuriated him not so long ago, but now it made him smile.
"We really are friends, aren't we."
Vit blinked. "Imagine that."
llxv.
"Loki. Loki. Loooooookiiiiiiiiiii."
Loki woke up to deliberately nasally wailing in his head and two paws smooshing his cheeks together. He had only fallen asleep a few hours ago. The sky was still dark.
He scowls. "What."
"I never told you," Vit said.
Loki reluctantly opened his eyes and sat up, pushing Vit down into his lap. "Tell me what?"
"The secret to my immortality."
Normally, this would have sparked Loki's interest. Currently, he only wanted to sleep.
"Not much point in telling me now," he pointed out, a little surly. "I'm not trying to kill you anymore."
"You're not interested?"
"I didn't say that."
"So…?"
Loki sighed, dragging his hands down his face. They were supposed to sleep today. He just wanted to sleep. The bed was so soft, and warm, and the halls were quiet for a change. It was the ideal time to just, sleep.
"Tell me," Loki grunted.
"Well, you see, it has to do with our bond," Vit explained cheerfully. He eyes were sparkling. Loki had a feeling he was about to become very, very irritated. "We cats are hardy enough to begin with, but once we form a bond, it's sealed – whether for better or worse. The strength of the cat depends on the strength of the bond, and after a name is given, the cat can give back."
"So…" Loki could feel the irritation coming. "All those times I tried to kill you…"
"Quality bonding time," Vit answered smugly. "We spent an awful lot of time around each other, Frost Midget, and that made our bond all that much stronger. Now that I'm Vit, we're almost mutually indestructible."
Loki stared down at Vit for another ten seconds in utter silence.
"Get off my bed."
"I haven't even told you the best part!"
He sighed. Again. Maybe if the cat finished his sudden impulse for honesty, then he could go back to sleep. He would like that.
"What is it."
"Killing a cat is as simple as saying we don't exist." Vit's teeth were all bared, mirth literally glowing in his eyes. "If you had denied my presence and refused to acknowledge me enough times, I would have simply faded from existence." He winked. "Though, now that you named me, that isn't possible any longer."
Loki picked Vit up and threw him across the room. The cat laughed the entire way.