Speil Mit Mir

    The rest of the month passed without worry, both couples were very happy, and Rune was growing more and more every day. However, now that it was the new year (New Years Eve to be exact) everyone was a little on edge, expecting a visit from Steve. Loki hadn’t done anything wrong apart from dying Tony’s hair green when he’d accidentally dropped Rune the previous week, but that was fixed and no one had died by Loki’s hands in a long time. Therefore, there was no reason for anyone to really worry, but they did anyway. Even Natasha had grown fond of Loki, and no one wanted to see him sent back. 

    Tony and Natasha were sitting stiff as boards, watching the clock as Loki tried his hand at cooking dinner for everyone and Thor was playing with Rune on the carpet. His son giggled and had locked on to Thor’s long blonde hair, tugging pretty hard for a baby in an attempt to bring it to his mouth. Thor chuckled. 

    “No my son, my locks do not go in your mouth, you would not fancy the taste.” He gently pried his hair free and pulled it into a ponytail, bending down and kissing his little ones chubby cheeks.

    “Da! Da!” Rune cooed, his tiny fingers finding their way into Thor’s beard, an adoring look in his big blue eyes. Pride swelled inside of Thor and he picked the child up, squeezing him against his chest happily.

    “My sweet, beautiful little one! You are among the most intelligent beings in these nine realms!” Loki, who could clearly hear and see him from the kitchen, got a curious and amused look on his face.

    “And why is that, brother?” Thor bounded over to Loki happily, bursting with love and a doting insanely fatherly presence about him, which Loki had never noticed before. 

    “He called me daddy!” Loki tried and failed to not burst into tearful laughter.

    “Thor, he is one month old. He probably made a sound on accident that sounded  like daddy.” Thor shook his head in defense of his child.

    “No, he looked me in the eyes and said da-da. You know Asgardian babies learn faster than human ones…” It was Loki’s turn to shake his head.

    “Not that much faster.”  Thor grinned and bounced his son up and down, nothing but pure unadulterated affection written all over.

    “Well, that’s why he is a genius.” Loki rolled his eyes but didn’t argue, enjoying watching Thor bond with their son. He might look like a big scary threatening God but Thor was really just a fluff-ball under all that armor. Always had been, it was one of the reasons Loki had initially fallen in love with him. Thor was never too much of a warrior to be loving and gentle, unlike their father, he wasn’t a brute (although Loki playfully called him such on a semi-regular basis). Thor sat Rune in Tony’s lap and walked up behind Loki, wrapping his arms around his waist and nuzzling into his neck.

    “This smells delicious, my love, what is it?” Loki blushed, he was always either Loki or Brother, this term of endearment was new. 

    “U-Um, I believe Midgardians call them tacos, if you haven’t noticed I have become a bit of a housewife since we had Rune, and I watch a lot of Rachel Ray.” Thor didn’t know who that was, but it didn’t matter, he couldn’t stop grinning at the housewife bit. 

    “I should indeed make you my housewife, once we have a dwelling of our own.” He said with a flirtatious nip at the pale skin before him. Loki then took a spatula and spooned out meat into six soft tortilla shells, turning the stove off and wrapping his arms around Thor’s neck. 

    “A dwelling all our own, hmm? Does this mean you don’t wish to return to the palace?” Thor seemed to kind of turn his nose up at that idea, which surprised Loki.

    “I like our life here. I want our son to rule Asgard, but we don’t have to go back home until Odin passes away. Then the throne is technically mine, and I’ll give it to Rune, assuming he is  of age when father dies.” Loki thought about this for a moment and smiled.

    “Actually the throne was mine, it was stolen when I was pushed into an abyss.” For once Loki’s tone wasn’t accusatory as he said this, a bright smile still upon his face and Thor rubbed their noses together.

    “No, love, you fell into an abyss. There was no pushing involved.” Loki didn’t comment on that, not wanting an already intense afternoon to be wrought with argument. 

    “Since when do you call me love? This is new.” Thor leaned his forehead against Loki’s and played with a few strands of dark hair.

    “Do you like it? I just wanted to show my affection for you more outwardly. You’re my brother, but you’re my lover, so why should I not address you as both?” Loki gave a small, almost bashful smile and leaned up for a quick kiss.

    “Maybe.” It was then that there was a knock on the door and any playfulness faded from Loki’s expression. Thor kissed his forehead and gently caressed the side of his face,

    “Don’t worry, brother, you’ve been on your best behavior. They can’t touch you.” Loki threaded his fingers with Thor’s nervously and walked to answer the door. Steve was there, looking a little disappointed, a beaming Bucky right behind him.

    “May I come in?” Loki forced a smile and called out to Tony.

    “Anthony, the spangled one is here, shall I let him in?” Tony laughed uneasily, both he and Natasha exchanging nervous looks.

    “Sure thing, RG.” Loki backed up, allowing Steve and Bucky room to enter.

    “You heard the man.” Steve and Bucky walked in and took seats on the couch next to Tony and Natasha, Loki almost instinctively hissing as Steve put his arms out as if to ask Rune if he wanted to be held. The baby whimpered and shied away, much to Loki’s relief and Steve’s frustration.

    “Huh. Kids normally love me.” Honestly it made Tony immensely happy as the small child clung to him, a smug smirk crossing his face at feeling more loved than Steve. Loki went back into the kitchen and brought everyone their tacos, praying that Steve and Bucky liked theirs and would be giving good news and gone soon. They all kind of ate in an awkward silence, Steve eventually becoming slightly irritated when Rune reached for Bucky but still refused to go to him, much to the amusement of everyone else.

    “I don’t understand why the kid hates me so much…” He pouted as Rune rejected him once more, curling into Bucky and hiding his little face in the long brunette hair of the soldier. Bucky chortled.

    “Well you did threaten to turn in his mommy.” He reminded his fiancé, who rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in there air.

    “As if he knows that, and besides, you know I’m not going to.” It was as if an enormous weight was lifted off of everyone immediately. 

    “Really?” Loki asked breathlessly , an almost grateful look in his eyes. Steve shrugged. 

    “I guess. No one is dead, and as far as Hawkeye could tell, whom I had watch you for a bit, you don’t even really leave the tower so…I guess you’re fine.” Loki was a little creeped out by this, but didn’t say so, too overwhelmed by relief. 

    “So we may confront the director now yes?” Thor asked excitedly, earning a deep frown from Steve.

    “Well that will take much strategic planning, but sometime, yes.” Thor, who hadn’t eaten yet due to his initial nervousness and tore at it with a fork, then decided he could now eat. However, when he went to go microwave it, no one bothered to tell him you couldn’t leave the fork on the plate. Loki and Natasha were discussing possible game plans when they heard a thunderous yell from Thor and the bang of an explosion. Loki had never moved faster in his entire life, knowing immediately what had happened. 

    “Brother, my darling, say something are you alright? THOR!” This all desperately flew from Loki’s mouth as he raced into the kitchen, falling to his knees and cradling Thor’s bloody body in his lap.

    “No, no, this can’t happen, not when we finally….Thor, baby, please, open your eyes. I need to know that you’re okay.” Thor’s eyes did open, and he managed a smile at Loki.

    “I’m okay, really, don’t worry about me. Just a little…flesh wound, that’s all. I bet I can walk.” Loki shook his head, tears streaming down his face.

    “Don’t you dare you giant oaf, it’s mainly your lower half that has taken the blow.” Loki wept and petted Thor’s hair, honestly terrified to death of loosing Thor. All the times he had thought about killing him, he realized now there was a reason he never did. He couldn’t live without Thor. 

    “You’re going to be okay, I can hear Anthony on the phone with an ambulance, you’ll live. Darling you must, you are mine, do you hear me? You are mine and you are not allowed to die on me.” Thor tried to tell him how happy it made him to hear that but he was slipping out of consciousness. 

    “Thor, stay with me. B-Brother…Brother!” Thor looked up at Loki, his eyes fighting not to roll to the back of his head for just another second. 

    “M-my love…” Was the last thing he said before he was not only unconscious, but not quite breathing.  Loki began to shake, his world crumbling faster and faster every second. He quickly began CPR, not knowing what else to do. Thor was loosing a lot of blood, pieces of plastic and metal lodged into his legs and pelvic area...it in no way looked good for the God.

"Come on, breathe damn you!" He pounded on Thor's chest, in absolute hysteria, the others in the room just standing back and staring at the couple in utter shock. It was obvious that Loki blamed himself for not reminding Thor that metal in the microwave wasn't safe, Thor wasn't used to Midgard and he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box anyway. It was Loki's job to do things like that, Thor kept him safe as far as strength went and he kept Thor save from the other things, the common sense and intellectual things, things like this. He knew he'd failed him. It was over, if Thor died it was the end of the line for him. He would be a hollow shell, and he didn't want that for their child. It was his turn to save Thor's life for a change, and by the Gods it better work.