A Fraught Conversation.
Dec. 18th, 2014 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teofseTitle: A Fraught Conversation.
Author: Teofse
Fandom: MCU
Pairing: Loki/Tony
Characters: Loki, Tony Stark
Rating: G.
Word count: 845
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.
A/N: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my adventdrabbles 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. Prompt 18: Christmas crackers.
Summary: Loki stiffened from head to toes, already annoyed at the prospect of having this conversation with the golden heir of Asgard.
A Fraught Conversation.
Loki left Tony to his fight against Romanov over the possession of his 'precious Christmas crackers' and stepped out to the terrace, glad to exchange the overheated atmosphere of the penthouse floor for the soothing sting of the icy breeze that was blowing across New York.
He hadn't been outside more than ten minutes when the glass door behind him slid open and he heard his br—Thor's distinctive, heavy footfalls approaching with what sounded like dishearteningly determined purpose.
Silence reigned for a moment longer as he neither turned around nor greeted the oaf, and Thor seemed oddly inclined to grant him the small reprieve. Contenting himself with studying his profile with the kind of uncharacteristic focus that Loki found utterly unnerving.
“You look happier than I've ever seen you, brother. Friend Stark seems to have triumphed where the rest of us have failed.”
Loki stiffened from head to toes, already annoyed at the prospect of having this conversation with the golden heir of Asgard.
“If your father sent you here to demand I abandon my mortal, let me tell you right now that I won't follow that order. I. Am. Not. His. Son, Thor. He no longer has the right to poke his nose in my private affairs.”
Thor took a distressed step forwards, muscled arm breaching the small distance between them to clasp the back of his neck in the painfully familiar gesture he'd used since childhood to soothe his ruffled feathers.
“Peace, lil'lo, peace. I have no desire to fight with you, brother.”
“You never do, yet you manage it every time.” Loki spat resentfully, pulling himself free of his not-brother's gentle hold and taking a pointed step backwards.
Limpid blue eyes stared at him sorrowfully, following his clearly unwanted retreat but doing nothing to breach the increased distance between them.
“Heimdall has informed father of your... friendship... with the Man of Iron. Mother is delighted and not a single one of us begrudges you the right to be happy. We are your family, Loki. How could we be anything but heartened at your good fortune?”
“Mother is delighted. I see...”
“Do not attribute to me words I've never spoken, brother. Father is happy enough about this, just as I am.”
Loki laughed mockingly under his breath, trying desperately to hide the increasing misery the fraught conversation was raising within him.
“Happy enough isn't the same as 'delighted'. Seems like mother remains the only member of your family who will always care about me genuinely enough to treasure my heart's greatest joys.”
Thor flinched where he stood, blanching in instinctive reaction to the kind of barb he'd have been happy to ignore in the past.
“Such hurtful words have no place here and now, Loki. Father and I may have failed you for centuries in many ways, but it was done out of blindness. Lack of love was never the issue.”
“Yet here you both are, feeling only 'happy enough' instead of 'delighted'.”
“Oh, for the love of the Norns. Give us a bloody break, lil'lo!” Thor swore explosively under his breath and breached the distance between them in two forceful steps. Meaty hands settled on the back of Loki's neck once again, pulling him closer with the kind of carefulness that didn't come naturally to the impulsive oaf who proceeded to curl the tips of his fingers ever so slightly inwards in a move designed to force him to look directly into those earnest blue eyes. “This is hard for us, brother. It's painful and stressful and so goddamned humbling that I'm losing sleep over it, and so is father. I. Am. Your. Sibling! I've known you for millennia. How do you think it felt to stand there and listen to Stark challenge the entire team over my suggestion to let you deal with that duck? He's known you for half a decade and he's done more on your behalf than I've managed in ten centuries!”
“Thor...”
“Every time I watch the Man of Iron interact with you I learn more about the million ways in which I've failed you. He's teaching me how to love you, Loki. And the fact that he makes it look so simple when I've always thought it hard is breaking my heart in two.”
Loki was so thunderstruck that he didn't know what to say. Reacting in any way was simply impossible, so he stood there and stared at his big brother with tear-bright green eyes while his entire world shifted and re-aligned for the first time since the day of Thor's failed coronation.
“Brother...” He uttered dumbly after a minute or two, and found neither the need nor the strength to speak a single word further when Thor took that as permission to pull him closer and tuck him gently against a heart that was beating as hard as his own, hugging him desperately tight and whispering in his ear:
“I'm here, lil'lo. I'm here. And this time I won't let you go. Never again, brother: Never. Again. I swear it on Mjölnir itself.”
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on 2014-12-19 04:36 am (UTC)Loki is putting him through his paces here. :)
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on 2014-12-19 05:53 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for keeping up with this fic. Your lovely comment was greatly appreciated. :D
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on 2014-12-19 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2014-12-21 09:03 pm (UTC)Thanks, as always, for keeping up with this story. Your beautiful and generous comments never fail to brighten up my day. ♥