To Melt The Snow, Ch08
Series: Thor (Movie), The Avengers (Movie)
Characters: Thor, Loki, Odin, Bruce Banner, The Avengers (later on)
Couple: Thor/Loki
Title: To Melt The Snow
Word Count: 3,159
Chapter: 8/19
Status: Complete
Rating: R/Mature
Disclaimer: I have no claim whatsoever on any the marvel franchises at all, I'm just borrowing them for my story that will bring me no money whatsoever. I shall be forever broke.
Summary: Loki is sentenced to death and in order to save him, Thor must take him to one of the most dangerous places for his brother to be: Midgard.
Thor tried not to notice that he was being stared at by his friends at the breakfast. Loki was shifting uncomfortably next to him and he couldn’t tell if he was the subject of such fascination because of what had happened all of last night, or the fact that he’d been forced to carry Loki from their bedroom. Perhaps he had indulged in their mutual desire a little too much… But it was hardly all his fault. Loki had been deliberately provoking him most of the night.
“So…”
He looked at Tony, who was the first to say anything that morning. The man glanced at Loki, who had shifted for the tenth time to find a comfortable spot, but his brother kept his head held high. Part of Thor was defensive on his lover’s behalf and he resisted the urge to demand Tony finish whatever thought it was. If there was so much as a single jibe at Loki’s position, he would-
“I take you two are dating.”
He glanced at Bruce for clarification of the word and it was supplied immediately. “You’d call it courting.”
“Oh. Yes.”
“Well, I suppose it’s no skin off my nose,” Tony continued, resting his chin on his hand. “You’re not technically related, right?”
“They were raised together, though,” Steve argued, though Thor didn’t get the sense that he disapproved. Perhaps it was just because the two never agreed on anything. “Blood isn’t everything.”
“Well, yeah, but technically it’s not incest. Incest is between two siblings that share a blood connection, and at least Loki here is a guy.”
“Do you have an objection?” Loki interrupted, his voice as cold as ice and almost daring anyone to say so.
Tony lifted his hands in an almost placating manner. “Hey, all I’m doin’ is askin’. Live and let live is my philosophy.”
“Since when?” Natasha mildly interjected.
“There’s only one thing I have to say to you two.” Thor stiffened, sure now that the disapproval would be coming. “You two: no more sex until I get that room soundproofed. Not one of us slept a wink last night. Thor, you sound like a freight train when you get going and Loki doesn’t exactly moderate his voice when he’s deliberately saying sexually charged phrases!”
Thor blushed fiercely and even Loki had a bit of color in his cheeks at that. Despite that, his brother glared at Tony. “I have no intention to change my nightly behaviors with Thor when they are personal.”
“They’re not personal when it’s interfering with the rest of us! Oh, and Jarvis! Who said you could stop monitoring them?! We’ve got a war criminal here!”
“I did not think it necessary to record their intimate moments.”
“Would you like to be recorded with Pepper?” Bruce pointed out quietly.
Tony had the grace to at least a little shameful at his suggestion. “I wasn’t saying that and the rest of you know that!” For the first time, for a just a minute, real anger flashed in the man’s eyes. “If it weren’t Loki, then I wouldn’t have Jarvis monitor him to start with! I don’t care what either one of you does, but it’s not just because of his past that I’m doing this. I’m not saying I trust you yet and also, it’s for your own protection in case someone who isn’t as nice as us finds you here! Furthermore, I don’t appreciate coming home after a good night out, and within two seconds of walking in the door, to hear Thor here screaming and thinking you’re killing him only to find you two-”
“Whatever crass phrase is about to come out of your mouth can stay there,” Steve said with a glare.
“Who says I was going to say anything crass?!”
“For what it’s worth,” Natasha said, raising her voice to silence the quarreling Avengers, “I think this is good.”
“…You do?” Loki asked skeptically.
“Yes. You seem…different since you’ve been staying here with Thor and you look…happy this morning. Well, as happy as someone like you can be, I suppose.”
Thor beamed and leaned in, kissing the side of Loki’s temple even as his brother stiffened fiercely. He wasn’t sure if it was in rage or embarrassment, but he honestly didn’t care. It felt like, for the first time, that the Avengers had accepted Loki. It almost made him forget that they were supposed to be hiding, giving his father time to find a way around the problem of his execution and still needing to be cautious around SHIELD.
Bruce seemed to be beaming, as well as the quiet man could and Loki glanced at him. There seemed to be a silent conversation passing between them and he looked at them curiously. He didn’t object though; let Loki keep his secrets for now. There would be plenty of time later to discover anything else that his brother had hidden from him.
“I guess this means that we’ll have to go to bat against SHIELD,” Clint said, studying the tabletop. “They’ll find out eventually.”
“Speaking of that,” Steven asked in concern, “Thor, have you heard anything from Asgard?”
He leaned back in his chair in concern. “No. I have not spoken with Heimdall yet.” The truth was he had planned to do it today or the day after, but with the change in his relationship with Loki, now he was hesitant. This he didn’t know how their father would react to. Would Loki’s pessimistic belief truly come about? Would this be the final straw for Odin Borson to accept? And how could he explain it to their mother?
“He does not want to hear the truth that even the Allfather could not spare me,” Loki said with a bit of bitterness.
“That is not true, Loki!” Thor argued. “I know that our father will do as he promised.” He hesitated and glanced at his friends. “Nothing escapes Heimdall’s eyes and I am sure he must have…noticed the change in our relationship over time. I fear to confirm it to him and tell the Allfather. I do not know how he would react to such news.”
“Well it’s certainly not every day that not only do both your kids come out of the closet to you, but that they’re also sleeping with each other in more ways than one,” Tony commented. Despite some of the phrases being unknown to the Thor, he had been on Midgard long enough to get the meaning and he nodded with a sigh.
“You need not worry, Thor. You can visit me in prison if the Allfather can do what you suggest,” Loki sneered a little.
“I will not let that happen!”
“So you would pardon me for my crimes? Or have you forgotten that I committed atrocities?”
“You hurt yourself worse than anyone when you speak like that,” he said quietly, reaching out to hold his brother’s hand. “I will never condone what you did, Loki, but I also do not believe that you were entirely under your own control. Trust me as you once did, brother, when I say that I will never let anything like that happen to you again.”
Loki watched him skeptically, but it was Natasha that spoke in the silence. “We might still have an option. If your father doesn’t have enough leverage on his own, what about getting a new ally?”
“What sort of ally?” Bruce asked in confusion.
Clint and Tony’s eyes widened at almost the same time. “SHIELD,” Stark said grimly.
The man known as Hawkeye nodded in agreement. “If we can get SHIELD to side with us to protect Loki, it could give this Allfather some room to maneuver. SHIELD can throw its weight a bit, stating that they won’t return Loki if he’s going to be executed or imprisoned for long.”
“You are all fools to believe that you could succeed in making SHEILD an ally,” Loki spat, his face dark. “I thought only Thor was this stupidly optimistic.”
What had happened in Loki’s past that made him such a pessimist? He wondered. He seemed absolutely unwilling to believe that anyone at all would fight for him, would side with him. What had happened to his brother when he had been too arrogant and oblivious to see? “Loki-”
Loki didn’t give him a chance to finish and he stood abruptly, heading back to their bedroom and closing the door behind him. He didn’t slam it, but there was a sense of finality to it. Thor knew better than to go after him. His brother needed his space and if he interrupted now, then he’d only make it worse. He just had to prove to Loki that SHIELD would help. Then, perhaps, would his brother start to believe in him again.
“I’ve never met a man that needs to see a shrink more than him,” Tony commented, finishing his coffee and standing to get more.
“I fear I must blame myself for some of his beliefs. I was not there when Loki needed me most and then with his time in the Abyss…”
Steve’s eyes were dark as he said, “Even for a criminal, what they did to him is unconscionable and they did it for two years.”
Thor stood up, looking at his friends pleadingly. “You know of SHIELD more than I. What should I do to gain their trust of Loki and help him?”
Natasha and Clint glanced at each other when they realized most were waiting for them to respond. “I’d suggest meeting with Fury, just you and I guess us if you want us there. Go from there. If you want SHIELD on your side, Fury is the one that can give it to you.”
He nodded seriously. “I will speak to him then. Will you be there with me, friends?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Tony commented with a grin and he saw nods all around.
-0-
“…What did you just say?”
Fury’s tone was almost deceptively quiet and Thor knew from his time with Loki that that usually meant that he was trying to control his first reaction to the news. “I said that Loki is here on Midgard under my protection and we are currently courting.”
They were in a small room, just Fury and the Avengers with him and Tony had assured him that he had interfered with any recording or transmitting equipment. There were no spies, so Thor could be assured at least that he was indeed controlling who was privy to Loki’s information.
“I must be going deaf, because I thought you just said that the war criminal that attempted to invade our world is now living in Stark’s house free and clear.”
“Sounds like your hearing is top-notch to me,” Tony commented, sitting on the edge of a table. “That’s what I heard.”
If looks could kill, Fury would have been a murderer. The man’s eyes were incensed at Tony, but he turned back to Thor instead, clearly deciding against rising to the provocation in favor of more serious conversation. The god of thunder sighed, well aware that this would not be easy, but he at least thought that maybe it wouldn’t be this hard. Now that he thought about it, he’d had a much easier time with the Avengers and he wondered if that was because of Loki and his actions.
“I swear to you that he has no intention of harming any on Midgard again, and he is also bound to follow any order I give him. I also believe that it was the tesseract controlling Loki when he was here. It has been the only time I have ever seen his eyes blue.”
“Are you telling me that you want me to give him a free pass just because of that?”
“You did for me,” Clint said quietly behind them. “What makes me any different?” The archer stepped forward, not in a confrontational manner, but in a firm one. “You know me and knew that if I was in my right mind, I wouldn’t have gone that far. Thor knows Loki and knows that if he was in his right mind back then that he wouldn’t have gone that far either. What’s the difference?”
“The difference-”
“Sir,” Natasha added, “We both knew Agent Barton before the tesseract was controlling him, but none of the other Avengers did. They were well within their rights to try to kill him, to say that he deserved punishment, but they trusted us when we told them that he wasn’t doing it of his own free will because we knew him. Now it’s our turn, sir, to trust Thor.”
Fury didn’t say anything for a minute, studying the two agents. He didn’t say anything, letting the silence stretch so long that it became highly uncomfortable. Thor wanted to argue further, but he had said everything he could and he knew that he would be considered biased. And deep inside, he did acknowledge that anything he said after this point would just be argumentative and defensive of the man he loved. That would not be the way to win Fury over to their side.
“We didn’t just take him at face value, sir,” Steve said, finally deciding enough was enough. “He was watched and recorded every moment with the exception of…a few hours last night.” Much to Thor’s relief, Fury didn’t seem interested to ask why they had stopped. Or maybe he already had a good idea of why and didn’t want to know more. “He’s never done anything even remotely considered antagonistic, unless you count his insults, which I think is just who he is. Much like Stark’s condescending tone is who he is.”
“You’re just jealous because you can’t do it too,” Tony responded instantly, the same ability to verbally think on his feet that made him admire Loki.
“Furthermore, he healed some injuries Stark received awhile back. Once you get used to him, he really…isn’t all that bad. It’s just getting used to him that’s the difficult part. I’m not saying that clears him of what he’s done, but I do think that his behavior means that Thor could be right: that he was being controlled by the tesseract.”
“Did none of you even consider that if his world finds out where Loki is, they could send an army to retrieve him? You’re risking an interstellar war. I don’t care how cuddly he’s suddenly become.”
“Father would never allow that. If Loki’s presence is detected here by others, then he will send the Warrior’s Three and Lady Sif. They are friends and I might be able to convince them to help us.”
“Might?”
Thor shifted awkwardly at that and admitted reluctantly, “Loki and the Warriors Three have never truly…accepted each other. They were too suspicious of him and looking back on it now, I did not see back then in my selfish arrogance that most of their words would be considered insulting. He felt ostracized by them, perhaps disliked them at the start, but because I insisted that he be there, he kept his feelings secret and did as I asked. Their rift grew worse after my banishment when Loki’s plans kept going awry, forcing him to take more drastic measures.” He gave a sad smile and sighed. “In some ways, their hatred of Loki goes even deeper than you mortals.”
Fury finally sat down in a chair, but somehow it was vaguely intimidating when he steepled his hands together. “Not one of you has given me a compelling reason not to turn Loki over to the Asgardians. Thor, you’re part of the Avengers and I do like you, I will admit that, but your personal feelings are risking Earth, not just from your own homeworld, but from other enemies your precious brother might have made along the way. Not to mention I backed you when you took Loki away after what happened to New York, when the council demanded that I keep him and put him on trial here. Now you want me to back you again, only to save the man that killed hundreds of people and tried to destroy us?”
“Don’t you consider the torture he suffered from the Chitauri enough punishment?” Bruce asked.
“Doctor Banner, I abhor torture as much as the rest of you, though apparently I’m the only one that can acknowledge that it is a necessary evil sometimes. That does not mean that I’m willing to forgive everything he has ever done.” Fury leaned back in his chair. “I don’t even know why you’re telling me this.”
“Well…” Bruce muttered.
It was Tony that continued, bluntly blurting out, “We want you to use SHIELD to protect Loki from Asgard, save his life.” He didn’t even look up as he reached into the small bag for more raisins to eat.
Now the silence was deafening. Fury’s face betrayed nothing and Thor wished he had his brother’s talent for reading people, to know what thoughts were going through the man’s mind. Inwardly he knew that he had come to the impasse that Loki had spoken of: he had to choose between his brother or the people he cared dearly for. Steeling his spine, he met Fury’s uncovered eye without fear. “I came to you with the minimal hope that perhaps you could help. I will not be angry if you decide that you cannot, as I know that if the situation were reversed, I would be as concerned with my own world. However, I cannot and will not abandon the man that I so dearly love. We will leave and go to another world to keep you safe from the consequences of our actions.”
“You really wouldn’t be angry?”
At the skeptical question, Thor smiled a little sadly in resignation. “No. I know that I am unable to think straight around my emotions for Loki and I know that I could never suffer losing him again. That does not mean that everyone else will feel the same, or should do so. My judgment is clouded because of my love and I would not risk another world because of it, nor hold resentment should they turn us away.”
Fury’s eye moved from him to each of the Avengers in turn, and then back to the god of thunder. “I won’t make any decision today. I want him under surveillance, Stark, constantly while I make my decision.”
Thor nodded, inwardly shaking in relief that at least Fury had not outright said no. He didn’t know what was going on in the man’s mind, nor did he know that if any of their arguments would have any sway at all. He was a leader like his father and like him, and Thor in the future, he would have to make hard choices for the sake of his people. Thor was just hoping that it wouldn’t mean sacrificing Loki in exchange.
Characters: Thor, Loki, Odin, Bruce Banner, The Avengers (later on)
Couple: Thor/Loki
Title: To Melt The Snow
Word Count: 3,159
Chapter: 8/19
Status: Complete
Rating: R/Mature
Disclaimer: I have no claim whatsoever on any the marvel franchises at all, I'm just borrowing them for my story that will bring me no money whatsoever. I shall be forever broke.
Summary: Loki is sentenced to death and in order to save him, Thor must take him to one of the most dangerous places for his brother to be: Midgard.
Thor tried not to notice that he was being stared at by his friends at the breakfast. Loki was shifting uncomfortably next to him and he couldn’t tell if he was the subject of such fascination because of what had happened all of last night, or the fact that he’d been forced to carry Loki from their bedroom. Perhaps he had indulged in their mutual desire a little too much… But it was hardly all his fault. Loki had been deliberately provoking him most of the night.
“So…”
He looked at Tony, who was the first to say anything that morning. The man glanced at Loki, who had shifted for the tenth time to find a comfortable spot, but his brother kept his head held high. Part of Thor was defensive on his lover’s behalf and he resisted the urge to demand Tony finish whatever thought it was. If there was so much as a single jibe at Loki’s position, he would-
“I take you two are dating.”
He glanced at Bruce for clarification of the word and it was supplied immediately. “You’d call it courting.”
“Oh. Yes.”
“Well, I suppose it’s no skin off my nose,” Tony continued, resting his chin on his hand. “You’re not technically related, right?”
“They were raised together, though,” Steve argued, though Thor didn’t get the sense that he disapproved. Perhaps it was just because the two never agreed on anything. “Blood isn’t everything.”
“Well, yeah, but technically it’s not incest. Incest is between two siblings that share a blood connection, and at least Loki here is a guy.”
“Do you have an objection?” Loki interrupted, his voice as cold as ice and almost daring anyone to say so.
Tony lifted his hands in an almost placating manner. “Hey, all I’m doin’ is askin’. Live and let live is my philosophy.”
“Since when?” Natasha mildly interjected.
“There’s only one thing I have to say to you two.” Thor stiffened, sure now that the disapproval would be coming. “You two: no more sex until I get that room soundproofed. Not one of us slept a wink last night. Thor, you sound like a freight train when you get going and Loki doesn’t exactly moderate his voice when he’s deliberately saying sexually charged phrases!”
Thor blushed fiercely and even Loki had a bit of color in his cheeks at that. Despite that, his brother glared at Tony. “I have no intention to change my nightly behaviors with Thor when they are personal.”
“They’re not personal when it’s interfering with the rest of us! Oh, and Jarvis! Who said you could stop monitoring them?! We’ve got a war criminal here!”
“I did not think it necessary to record their intimate moments.”
“Would you like to be recorded with Pepper?” Bruce pointed out quietly.
Tony had the grace to at least a little shameful at his suggestion. “I wasn’t saying that and the rest of you know that!” For the first time, for a just a minute, real anger flashed in the man’s eyes. “If it weren’t Loki, then I wouldn’t have Jarvis monitor him to start with! I don’t care what either one of you does, but it’s not just because of his past that I’m doing this. I’m not saying I trust you yet and also, it’s for your own protection in case someone who isn’t as nice as us finds you here! Furthermore, I don’t appreciate coming home after a good night out, and within two seconds of walking in the door, to hear Thor here screaming and thinking you’re killing him only to find you two-”
“Whatever crass phrase is about to come out of your mouth can stay there,” Steve said with a glare.
“Who says I was going to say anything crass?!”
“For what it’s worth,” Natasha said, raising her voice to silence the quarreling Avengers, “I think this is good.”
“…You do?” Loki asked skeptically.
“Yes. You seem…different since you’ve been staying here with Thor and you look…happy this morning. Well, as happy as someone like you can be, I suppose.”
Thor beamed and leaned in, kissing the side of Loki’s temple even as his brother stiffened fiercely. He wasn’t sure if it was in rage or embarrassment, but he honestly didn’t care. It felt like, for the first time, that the Avengers had accepted Loki. It almost made him forget that they were supposed to be hiding, giving his father time to find a way around the problem of his execution and still needing to be cautious around SHIELD.
Bruce seemed to be beaming, as well as the quiet man could and Loki glanced at him. There seemed to be a silent conversation passing between them and he looked at them curiously. He didn’t object though; let Loki keep his secrets for now. There would be plenty of time later to discover anything else that his brother had hidden from him.
“I guess this means that we’ll have to go to bat against SHIELD,” Clint said, studying the tabletop. “They’ll find out eventually.”
“Speaking of that,” Steven asked in concern, “Thor, have you heard anything from Asgard?”
He leaned back in his chair in concern. “No. I have not spoken with Heimdall yet.” The truth was he had planned to do it today or the day after, but with the change in his relationship with Loki, now he was hesitant. This he didn’t know how their father would react to. Would Loki’s pessimistic belief truly come about? Would this be the final straw for Odin Borson to accept? And how could he explain it to their mother?
“He does not want to hear the truth that even the Allfather could not spare me,” Loki said with a bit of bitterness.
“That is not true, Loki!” Thor argued. “I know that our father will do as he promised.” He hesitated and glanced at his friends. “Nothing escapes Heimdall’s eyes and I am sure he must have…noticed the change in our relationship over time. I fear to confirm it to him and tell the Allfather. I do not know how he would react to such news.”
“Well it’s certainly not every day that not only do both your kids come out of the closet to you, but that they’re also sleeping with each other in more ways than one,” Tony commented. Despite some of the phrases being unknown to the Thor, he had been on Midgard long enough to get the meaning and he nodded with a sigh.
“You need not worry, Thor. You can visit me in prison if the Allfather can do what you suggest,” Loki sneered a little.
“I will not let that happen!”
“So you would pardon me for my crimes? Or have you forgotten that I committed atrocities?”
“You hurt yourself worse than anyone when you speak like that,” he said quietly, reaching out to hold his brother’s hand. “I will never condone what you did, Loki, but I also do not believe that you were entirely under your own control. Trust me as you once did, brother, when I say that I will never let anything like that happen to you again.”
Loki watched him skeptically, but it was Natasha that spoke in the silence. “We might still have an option. If your father doesn’t have enough leverage on his own, what about getting a new ally?”
“What sort of ally?” Bruce asked in confusion.
Clint and Tony’s eyes widened at almost the same time. “SHIELD,” Stark said grimly.
The man known as Hawkeye nodded in agreement. “If we can get SHIELD to side with us to protect Loki, it could give this Allfather some room to maneuver. SHIELD can throw its weight a bit, stating that they won’t return Loki if he’s going to be executed or imprisoned for long.”
“You are all fools to believe that you could succeed in making SHEILD an ally,” Loki spat, his face dark. “I thought only Thor was this stupidly optimistic.”
What had happened in Loki’s past that made him such a pessimist? He wondered. He seemed absolutely unwilling to believe that anyone at all would fight for him, would side with him. What had happened to his brother when he had been too arrogant and oblivious to see? “Loki-”
Loki didn’t give him a chance to finish and he stood abruptly, heading back to their bedroom and closing the door behind him. He didn’t slam it, but there was a sense of finality to it. Thor knew better than to go after him. His brother needed his space and if he interrupted now, then he’d only make it worse. He just had to prove to Loki that SHIELD would help. Then, perhaps, would his brother start to believe in him again.
“I’ve never met a man that needs to see a shrink more than him,” Tony commented, finishing his coffee and standing to get more.
“I fear I must blame myself for some of his beliefs. I was not there when Loki needed me most and then with his time in the Abyss…”
Steve’s eyes were dark as he said, “Even for a criminal, what they did to him is unconscionable and they did it for two years.”
Thor stood up, looking at his friends pleadingly. “You know of SHIELD more than I. What should I do to gain their trust of Loki and help him?”
Natasha and Clint glanced at each other when they realized most were waiting for them to respond. “I’d suggest meeting with Fury, just you and I guess us if you want us there. Go from there. If you want SHIELD on your side, Fury is the one that can give it to you.”
He nodded seriously. “I will speak to him then. Will you be there with me, friends?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Tony commented with a grin and he saw nods all around.
-0-
“…What did you just say?”
Fury’s tone was almost deceptively quiet and Thor knew from his time with Loki that that usually meant that he was trying to control his first reaction to the news. “I said that Loki is here on Midgard under my protection and we are currently courting.”
They were in a small room, just Fury and the Avengers with him and Tony had assured him that he had interfered with any recording or transmitting equipment. There were no spies, so Thor could be assured at least that he was indeed controlling who was privy to Loki’s information.
“I must be going deaf, because I thought you just said that the war criminal that attempted to invade our world is now living in Stark’s house free and clear.”
“Sounds like your hearing is top-notch to me,” Tony commented, sitting on the edge of a table. “That’s what I heard.”
If looks could kill, Fury would have been a murderer. The man’s eyes were incensed at Tony, but he turned back to Thor instead, clearly deciding against rising to the provocation in favor of more serious conversation. The god of thunder sighed, well aware that this would not be easy, but he at least thought that maybe it wouldn’t be this hard. Now that he thought about it, he’d had a much easier time with the Avengers and he wondered if that was because of Loki and his actions.
“I swear to you that he has no intention of harming any on Midgard again, and he is also bound to follow any order I give him. I also believe that it was the tesseract controlling Loki when he was here. It has been the only time I have ever seen his eyes blue.”
“Are you telling me that you want me to give him a free pass just because of that?”
“You did for me,” Clint said quietly behind them. “What makes me any different?” The archer stepped forward, not in a confrontational manner, but in a firm one. “You know me and knew that if I was in my right mind, I wouldn’t have gone that far. Thor knows Loki and knows that if he was in his right mind back then that he wouldn’t have gone that far either. What’s the difference?”
“The difference-”
“Sir,” Natasha added, “We both knew Agent Barton before the tesseract was controlling him, but none of the other Avengers did. They were well within their rights to try to kill him, to say that he deserved punishment, but they trusted us when we told them that he wasn’t doing it of his own free will because we knew him. Now it’s our turn, sir, to trust Thor.”
Fury didn’t say anything for a minute, studying the two agents. He didn’t say anything, letting the silence stretch so long that it became highly uncomfortable. Thor wanted to argue further, but he had said everything he could and he knew that he would be considered biased. And deep inside, he did acknowledge that anything he said after this point would just be argumentative and defensive of the man he loved. That would not be the way to win Fury over to their side.
“We didn’t just take him at face value, sir,” Steve said, finally deciding enough was enough. “He was watched and recorded every moment with the exception of…a few hours last night.” Much to Thor’s relief, Fury didn’t seem interested to ask why they had stopped. Or maybe he already had a good idea of why and didn’t want to know more. “He’s never done anything even remotely considered antagonistic, unless you count his insults, which I think is just who he is. Much like Stark’s condescending tone is who he is.”
“You’re just jealous because you can’t do it too,” Tony responded instantly, the same ability to verbally think on his feet that made him admire Loki.
“Furthermore, he healed some injuries Stark received awhile back. Once you get used to him, he really…isn’t all that bad. It’s just getting used to him that’s the difficult part. I’m not saying that clears him of what he’s done, but I do think that his behavior means that Thor could be right: that he was being controlled by the tesseract.”
“Did none of you even consider that if his world finds out where Loki is, they could send an army to retrieve him? You’re risking an interstellar war. I don’t care how cuddly he’s suddenly become.”
“Father would never allow that. If Loki’s presence is detected here by others, then he will send the Warrior’s Three and Lady Sif. They are friends and I might be able to convince them to help us.”
“Might?”
Thor shifted awkwardly at that and admitted reluctantly, “Loki and the Warriors Three have never truly…accepted each other. They were too suspicious of him and looking back on it now, I did not see back then in my selfish arrogance that most of their words would be considered insulting. He felt ostracized by them, perhaps disliked them at the start, but because I insisted that he be there, he kept his feelings secret and did as I asked. Their rift grew worse after my banishment when Loki’s plans kept going awry, forcing him to take more drastic measures.” He gave a sad smile and sighed. “In some ways, their hatred of Loki goes even deeper than you mortals.”
Fury finally sat down in a chair, but somehow it was vaguely intimidating when he steepled his hands together. “Not one of you has given me a compelling reason not to turn Loki over to the Asgardians. Thor, you’re part of the Avengers and I do like you, I will admit that, but your personal feelings are risking Earth, not just from your own homeworld, but from other enemies your precious brother might have made along the way. Not to mention I backed you when you took Loki away after what happened to New York, when the council demanded that I keep him and put him on trial here. Now you want me to back you again, only to save the man that killed hundreds of people and tried to destroy us?”
“Don’t you consider the torture he suffered from the Chitauri enough punishment?” Bruce asked.
“Doctor Banner, I abhor torture as much as the rest of you, though apparently I’m the only one that can acknowledge that it is a necessary evil sometimes. That does not mean that I’m willing to forgive everything he has ever done.” Fury leaned back in his chair. “I don’t even know why you’re telling me this.”
“Well…” Bruce muttered.
It was Tony that continued, bluntly blurting out, “We want you to use SHIELD to protect Loki from Asgard, save his life.” He didn’t even look up as he reached into the small bag for more raisins to eat.
Now the silence was deafening. Fury’s face betrayed nothing and Thor wished he had his brother’s talent for reading people, to know what thoughts were going through the man’s mind. Inwardly he knew that he had come to the impasse that Loki had spoken of: he had to choose between his brother or the people he cared dearly for. Steeling his spine, he met Fury’s uncovered eye without fear. “I came to you with the minimal hope that perhaps you could help. I will not be angry if you decide that you cannot, as I know that if the situation were reversed, I would be as concerned with my own world. However, I cannot and will not abandon the man that I so dearly love. We will leave and go to another world to keep you safe from the consequences of our actions.”
“You really wouldn’t be angry?”
At the skeptical question, Thor smiled a little sadly in resignation. “No. I know that I am unable to think straight around my emotions for Loki and I know that I could never suffer losing him again. That does not mean that everyone else will feel the same, or should do so. My judgment is clouded because of my love and I would not risk another world because of it, nor hold resentment should they turn us away.”
Fury’s eye moved from him to each of the Avengers in turn, and then back to the god of thunder. “I won’t make any decision today. I want him under surveillance, Stark, constantly while I make my decision.”
Thor nodded, inwardly shaking in relief that at least Fury had not outright said no. He didn’t know what was going on in the man’s mind, nor did he know that if any of their arguments would have any sway at all. He was a leader like his father and like him, and Thor in the future, he would have to make hard choices for the sake of his people. Thor was just hoping that it wouldn’t mean sacrificing Loki in exchange.