Prompt Post No. 1
Announcement: Norsekink Round 1 is now closed to new prompts!
Attention: All new and continuing fills for this round are to be posted in the Overflow Post, not in this round.
( Read more... )
Attention: All new and continuing fills for this round are to be posted in the Overflow Post, not in this round.
( Read more... )
Those words had been like being stabbed with one of his brother's long knives. Worse still, though, was the demand, "Is it madness? Is it?!"
Yes, he thought, staring out across the stars on the broken edge of the Bifrost's power-conduit. It was madness. Loki's madness.
When they were children, Thor had always thought of Loki as the night to his day. His brother was dark-haired and leaner, saturnine in his mood and look. Well, he seemed so. Thor learned the trick of making him smile early, and then Loki learned all sorts of tricks himself. They always left him grinning and laughing, even if the person he played them on was yelling bloody murder.
It had infuriated him to be the butt of his brother's jokes, Thor remembered. Loki would make him feel like a fool, and he'd chase his brother across half of Asgard, until Loki got tired of that game and let him catch one of his simulacra. Rarer still, sometimes he'd let Thor catch the real him. Half the time he let his brother go, convinced he'd grabbed another of his brother's smoke-creations until it was too late to catch Loki again.
As they had gotten older, Loki's tricks had become more violent and more embarrassing. Thor had always assumed it was because his brother knew anything less would be ignored. Now, he wondered how long madness had festered in his brother, how long Loki had craved that battle.
Too long. Even one moment was too long.
***
His hands started shaking one night, and he stormed out of the feast hall with hardly a word. No one tried to stop him; he did that too often these days, and whatever anyone might say of Loki, they knew Thor mourned his brother.
What had Volstagg said? "At least give Loki this, he did kill the frost giant king."
And Fandral replied, "Which involved opening Asgard to the Jotun. He never would have done that if Odin hadn't been struck down. Mark you, who found him? Loki."
Loki would never harm their Father. Never.
But something had happened after he was exiled, something concerning Loki neither Mother nor Father would tell him about. Mother said she didn't want to change his love for his brother, and ice gripped his heart. Had Loki-?
He stormed into his father's sanctuary, winds gusting about him. "Father!"
"Son," his father said reprovingly.
"You fell into the Odinsleep after I was exiled. Did Loki-" Thor said quickly, before the words could get stuck in his throat. But the rest of it wouldn't come; Loki wouldn't do such a thing, his heart insisted.
He would send the Destroyer against the innocents of Midgard? He would kill his own brother? But he wouldn't strike down their father to give himself the power and authority necessary to seize control of the Bifrost? Thor almost wanted to laugh. What did he really know about what his brother was capable of?
"No," his father said heavily. "No. Loki learned something he should never have learned, and we quarreled. If I had not quarreled with you also that very day, if I had not had to banish my son and heir, it would have been unpleasant. Just as, if all I had done that day was exile you, Thor, it would have been painful but not debilitating."
Thor bowed his head. "I thought I understood him, Father. I thought... He lied to me, he disowned me- I don't understand! There was no need for that in his plans!"
Father said nothing for a long time. Then, he said, "The only person who can tell you why Loki acted as he did is Loki himself."
Now Thor did laugh until laughter broke down into dry sobs.
Reply
He thought, after months of these dreams, he could have one single night without Loki letting go. One night where he could grab hold of his brother and drag him back home. One night where neither madness nor Midgard split them asunder.
This night, Father blamed Loki for them traveling to Jotunheim and cast Loki down, and Thor knew his brother would never, ever learn the sort of worthiness Father would have demanded. Thor would never put him to the test as Loki had him. Loki would live and die on Midgard, empty of his powers and magics, alone.
Thor flung himself after his brother, and Loki pushed him away.
***
"There is hope," Heimdall said, and Thor almost asked him where his brother's body was. Almost, though, as his brother had liked to remind him, only counted in horseshoes and fireballs.
"How is she?" he asked instead. Jane was balm for his soul. Knowing she still sought him gave him something to hold onto; she would find a way, he knew it. He would return to her, he would sweep her into his arms and return to Midgard with her.
Maybe after a lifetime with her, he could return to Asgard without seeing reminders of his brother in every room and around every corner.
***
There was hope. The return to Midgard was painful, his reunion with Jane painless, and after a blissful night, he slept a dreamless sleep.
Then the son of Coul came to speak to him about S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative. He introduced him to the old warrior who must surely be of Heimdall's get. Nicholas Fury found that amusing, and Thor liked the idea of fighting to protect the people of Midgard from people such as Doctor Doom and the Mandarin. The son of Coul had started to suggest a man named Magneto, until Fury said "we are not sending Iron Man against Magneto" with enough finality to make the other man pale.
The dreams of Loki letting go still came to him, but not as often. Especially not when he slept with Jane in his arms.
***
Reply
"They're not tabloids, they're the Society pages! Besides, this is totally Shield-related! It's about Tony Stark and his new boyfriend!"
Thor wandered into the kitchen and dug out a frying pan. Bacon. He definitely wanted bacon with breakfast. And eggs. And sausages. Darcy sat at the table, an actual paper newspaper spread in front of her ("so low-tech, but what you gonna do out here?"), while Jane periodically leaned her head in to yell at her assistant. She obviously wasn't very bothered by it, though, Thor thought, or she'd have come to get Darcy instead of just yelling.
"It being about Tony Stark doesn't automatically make it Shield-related!"
"But his boyfriend's hot!" Darcy flipped over the paper and held it out for him to see. "Come on, Thor, tell Jane he's hot."
Thor glanced at the paper, ready to say 'yes', and-
'American billionaire Tony Stark and Finnish art-collector Alvar Lye-Smith at the London Museum Gala last Thursday.'
A color photograph showed Tony Stark standing with a saturnine man in front of an artpiece. The man wore a green suit and an amused smile. His dark hair was longer than was fashionable for Midgard, and his eyes might have been green.
The bacon was burning, and Thor didn't care in the slightest. His brother was alive.
Reply
Reply
I want to cuddle Thor, I want to smack Odin for being so obtuse to Thor, the poor man misses his brother and perhaps best friend once upon a time ago.
I like your take on Loki, it's fairly true to Myth an VERY true to what we see on film.
I think Thor is broken and delighted that his brother is alive and knows someone that Thor does. :DDD Loki will not. >_>
Imma gonna have to get more Marvel Movie icons, aren't I?
Reply
Reply
Oh I wish there was more. *sadface*
Reply
Reply
*FLAILS AT YOU WHILE PROMPTING*
Reply
Reply
Reply
Tony offered a silent thank you to Pepper. He'd needed an excuse to get out of this tediously dull conversation with the Chief Financial Officer of Stark Industries. Sure, he would have to reschedule and pick up whatever it was they were talking about, but that was later. Right now, angry alien stalking up the stairs towards him.
"I'm sorry, Jeff," he said, shaking his CFO's hand. "Avengers business. Call Pepper, have her reschedule."
The man nodded and edged away as Thor bore down on them. As soon as he thought he was safely out of the blast radius, he almost but didn't quite run. Tony was impressed at his self-control. Then he put on a charming smile and turned to face their resident alien.
"Thor, what can I do for you?"
"Alvar Lye-Smith," Thor snapped, his expression stormy. "How did you meet him, how do you know him, and where can I find him?"
That was... Okay, he hadn't seen that one coming at all. "Thor, Thor, Thor. Those are very personal questions, and I am a gentleman."
It turned out Thor could move a lot more quickly than Tony thought. One moment the man was looming over him, the next Thor had him by the shoulders and hanging over the railing. Adrenaline flooded Tony's system, and he heard the entirely psychosomatic whine of his chest device kicking into high gear.
"How did you meet him, how do you know him, and where can I find him?" Thor bit out.
Tony glanced down, gauging the distance to the floor. Thank you, Iron Man suit, for teaching him not to be afraid of heights. Even if it was a lot easier not to be bothered by heights when he had boot-jets. And body-armor. Still, he could probably survive if Thor dropped him. He'd just have a lot of broken bones. "This is ridiculous! I know you are not going to drop me. You're an upstanding guy, and if I'm dead, I can't answer those questions."
Why Thor wanted to know about Alvar, he had no idea. His- there had to be a less commitment-implying word than boyfriend and a less crude one than fuckbuddy. Alvar was the very definition of harmless. The guy collected art, toyed with making art, and wound up at a lot of the same parties Tony did.
"If you're dead," Thor said very seriously, "I can visit my niece and she will ask you these questions."
It took Tony a moment to work that one out. A niece of Thor's would be a daughter of Loki's- Hel. Ruler of the underworld. "Fuck you and your religious logic."
Thor glared.
"I met Alvar at a gallery opening, and we hit it off," Tony said, smiling as he remembered that night. Alvar had been all over him. The guy could flirt and flatter outrageously or turn a straightforward comment on an artwork into pure innuendo just with his tone of voice. When a guy like that so obviously wanted a ride, who was Tony to say no?
Reply
"I... don't know where he lives. I mean, I've been there, but I was pretty buzzed on those occasions." Too buzzed to drive. Also too buzzed to be more than mildly bothered by the way Alvar treated driving like it ought to be a contact sport.
"When do you plan to see him again?"
"And why would you care?" Tony asked, baffled. Seriously, as far as he knew, Fury and Foster's pet alien lived in New Mexico when he wasn't doing Avengers work and he liked it there. Alvar had a house in Finland and apartments in New York City, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. The two of them had no chances of crossing paths, and Fury kept a pretty good eye on Thor. Tony was sure someone would have told him if the alien had met his not-boyfriend.
Thor's glare intensified and he shook Tony hard enough to rattle his teeth.
"Shit! Fine, we're going to the Helsinki Film Festival. I repeat: why do you care?"
Thor gritted his teeth. "I am going."
Then he set Tony back down on solid ground, and Tony considered punching him but decided he would just break his hand.
"Why?"
The big, blond, lunatic alien didn't answer. He just stomped off as if nothing had happened. Tony tapped his earpiece, planning to call security, but sanity quickly caught up with his vindictiveness. The only thing he'd ever seen stop Thor was one of Doctor Doom's inventions, and he didn't like to keep that kind of firepower in his office buildings.
Instead, he told his phone to dial Pepper. She picked up on the third ring.
"Pepper? Call Nick Fury, tell him Thor's snapped."
He could almost hear her blink. "What did you do, Tony?"
"Hey, now," he said in a wounded voice, "I didn't do anything. He just dangled me over the railings and interrogated me about Alvar."
"Why would he want to know about Mr. Lye-Smith?"
"I asked. He didn't answer. I have some theories, though. One, Alvar killed someone he knew."
Pepper snorted.
"Exactly." Tony felt himself relaxing as he talked, and he wandered in the general direction of the elevator. "I haven't heard of anything bad happening to Dr. Foster or Ms. Lewis, and everyone else Thor knows lives on another planet. So, theory number two is he's Thor's boyfriend. Which I doubt very seriously, because if he was sleeping with that, why would he be sleeping with me? Unless I'm just that much better in bed."
"Tony Stark." Pepper sounded exasperated. He could hear the smile in her voice, though.
"So, theory number three: he's a crazy alien."
"... I'll contact Agent Coulson and share your concerns."
---
Thank you to spyridona for helping me with writing Tony.
Reply
Reply
This is so good and awesome and just the best thing for thursday morning! Please write more!
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment