a fast and restless blackmail

number1odinson:

frostblooded:

Thor is trying to be clever.  How perfectly adorable.  He’s right to be wary, but Loki sees through the test before Thor’s even finished speaking.  They both know that Loki’s return to Asgard cannot be accomplished with a simple word, an easy gesture.  Heimdall will not let him through the gates on Thor’s gullible, good-hearted recommendation.

Loki smiles gently and says, with great effort, “Brother, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than here with you.”

He sighs in relief, the usual grin already creeping back onto his face. If Loki hopes to stay rather than return to Asgard, change must truly have come to him at last, as he himself had changed after his banishment to earth. “Then there is nowhere I would rather you be than at my side.” Thor clamps one hand down over Loki’s own. “Welcome home, brother.”

Loki grips that hand tightly, his own smile widening. “You’re too kind.”

number1odinson:

And Thor does— at first. But then his eyes wander away from his brother’s outstretched hands to the science magazines and star charts strewn across the countertops. He sees Jane’s research, her precious studies, her whole world set up inside this fragile little home, and he realizes that the choices he makes are not only for himself now, but for them both.

So if he is wrong about this…she would be the one to pay the price.

“I am sorry, Loki. But I do not know if I can trust you.” His focus returns to his brother’s silhouette. “I was the one who banished you to this realm you so despise, so my word can also release you from it. Go home to Asgard. Go anywhere you like. This will be my gift to you in honor of the passing year.”

Thor is trying to be clever.  How perfectly adorable.  He’s right to be wary, but Loki sees through the test before Thor’s even finished speaking.  They both know that Loki’s return to Asgard cannot be accomplished with a simple word, an easy gesture.  Heimdall will not let him through the gates on Thor’s gullible, good-hearted recommendation.

Loki smiles gently and says, with great effort, “Brother, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than here with you.”

number1odinson:

((Just a small note to apologize for my slowness! I’m out of town on vacation and won’t be back home until the 29th. I’ll try to tag back on things and asks when I can, but until Tuesday I’m just going to be a bit on the slower side, sorry! ))

((you’re terrible and I hate you.))

number1odinson:

frostblooded:

Loki places a hand over his chest in mock affront. “Not at all.  I’m merely agreeing with you that I should come to live here, and thus demonstrate my newfound benevolence to everyone you know.”

He pauses once more, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Truly?”

“No more tricks, no more mischief— just you and I, brothers once more.”

Loki pushes aside the cake plates and sets both of his palms on the table, as if to suggest that he has nothing to hide.  That’s not true, of course, but he knows that Thor will see the gesture for exactly what it isn’t. “We’ll be thick as thieves.”

number1odinson:

frostblooded:

Thor mistakes a lack of overt hostility as a desire for friendship and forgiveness.  He’s probably got it into his head that Loki helped defeat Malekith out of a sense of contrition.  In truth Loki was indignant; he could not tolerate some fool dark elf using the Casket, an artifact which belongs rightly to him.  Thor had insisted on returning the Casket to Asgard in the aftermath, and Loki had conceded—for the moment.  That moment, however, is long over.

He grins at his brother. “I think we should tell them.  I think we should have a party.”

“A party….?” Thor stops rubbing at the surface of the table, suddenly looking confused. Loki just said they’d disapprove, so there’s no logical reason why they should hold any sort of celebration— except, perhaps, among themselves with more of Jane’s well-prepared cake.

“You aim to cause more trouble.” 

Loki places a hand over his chest in mock affront. “Not at all.  I’m merely agreeing with you that I should come to live here, and thus demonstrate my newfound benevolence to everyone you know.”

number1odinson:

frostblooded:

Thor forgives so easily.  He lunges for any excuse to bury past conflicts, regardless of what might have transpired, and glosses over the reality of the situation, smoothing it like a tumbler with a rock.  For example, Loki had not tried to kill his brother.  He had succeeded.  True, Thor was revived moments later, but that did not erase the facts of the matter.  

“In the past?” Loki says. “Thor, it was barely a year ago.  I’m fairly certain that all of your Midgardian friends would prefer that we maintain as great a distance between one another as is logically possible.”

“But you have changed, Loki.” He says it more out of hope than belief, but for Thor the line has always been blurred. “They will come to see it as I do, in time.”

“We will just…refrain from telling Stark or Steve Rogers.”

Thor mistakes a lack of overt hostility as a desire for friendship and forgiveness.  He’s probably got it into his head that Loki helped defeat Malekith out of a sense of contrition.  In truth Loki was indignant; he could not tolerate some fool dark elf using the Casket, an artifact which belongs rightly to him.  Thor had insisted on returning the Casket to Asgard in the aftermath, and Loki had conceded—for the moment.  That moment, however, is long over.

He grins at his brother. “I think we should tell them.  I think we should have a party.”

number1odinson:

frostblooded:

“Stay where?  Here?” Loki scoffs. “Somehow I doubt that your lady-love would take kindly to my presence.”  He shuts one eye as Thor eats; the sight is ghastly, he’s like a desperate, starved animal, going at his food as if it might grow a heartbeat and try to escape if he isn’t quick enough.  His brother has always eaten like this, despite never wanting for a meal.  He is making a mess of his face and coating the table in frosting and crumbs, to the point that Loki is afraid his palm will stick to the plastic surface if he dares set down his hand.

“Well it is true that you did try to kill me.” Realizing Loki’s expression is one of disgust, he begins a barely effective attempt to mop up the table— and his face— with his sleeves. “But that is all in the past now, and there is no reason why we should keep our distance from one another.”

Thor forgives so easily.  He lunges for any excuse to bury past conflicts, regardless of what might have transpired, and glosses over the reality of the situation, smoothing it like a tumbler with a rock.  For example, Loki had not tried to kill his brother.  He had succeeded.  True, Thor was revived moments later, but that did not erase the facts of the matter.  

“In the past?” Loki says. “Thor, it was barely a year ago.  I’m fairly certain that all of your Midgardian friends would prefer that we maintain as great a distance between one another as is logically possible.”

number1odinson:

frostblooded:

Loki wasn’t sure why he had agreed to this meeting, this … cake.  His brother had decided that they needed to celebrate a year of—something.  Brutal conflict?  Bad movies?  Imprisonment?  Despair and anger and jealousy?  Internet access?  It was obviously an asinine pretense.

Thor pushes the plate across the table encouragingly, and Loki sighs.  He picks up a knife and cuts another slice of the black forest cake, which is heavy with whipped cream topping and fresh cherries and decorated with thick leaves of rich, dark chocolate.  Jane has prepared the cake for them, Thor says.  It is, admittedly, delicious.

“I don’t get out much,” Loki says.  ”At least not where anyone can see me.”

He glances around as he chews, taking in Jane’s apartment.  They sit in her cozy kitchen, which is a charming mess of haphazardly stacked dishes, science magazines, boxes of tea, and a fridge with magnets in the shape of planets and actual magnets.

“You’re living with her, then?”

“Of course.” Thor replies, still shoveling cake into his mouth like coal into a furnace. “Much as I love Asgard, I love Jane more. I see no reason why I cannot be by her side and keep watch on our home.”

His bright blue eyes fix on Loki, they consider him while he swallows nearly an entire cup of milk. “You could stay, too.”

“Stay where?  Here?” Loki scoffs. “Somehow I doubt that your lady-love would take kindly to my presence.”  He shuts one eye as Thor eats; the sight is ghastly, he’s like a desperate, starved animal, going at his food as if it might grow a heartbeat and try to escape if he isn’t quick enough.  His brother has always eaten like this, despite never wanting for a meal.  He is making a mess of his face and coating the table in frosting and crumbs, to the point that Loki is afraid his palm will stick to the plastic surface if he dares set down his hand.

number1odinson:

“Brother,” Thor says with a mouth so full of cake that dark chocolate frosting stains the corners of his lips. “Have another. You look so thin I worry I am staring at another of your conjured images. I can see right through you.”

Loki wasn’t sure why he had agreed to this meeting, this … cake.  His brother had decided that they needed to celebrate a year of—something.  Brutal conflict?  Bad movies?  Imprisonment?  Despair and anger and jealousy?  Internet access?  It was obviously an asinine pretense.

Thor pushes the plate across the table encouragingly, and Loki sighs.  He picks up a knife and cuts another slice of the black forest cake, which is heavy with whipped cream topping and fresh cherries and decorated with thick leaves of rich, dark chocolate.  Jane has prepared the cake for them, Thor says.  It is, admittedly, delicious.

“I don’t get out much,” Loki says.  ”At least not where anyone can see me.”

He glances around as he chews, taking in Jane’s apartment.  They sit in her cozy kitchen, which is a charming mess of haphazardly stacked dishes, science magazines, boxes of tea, and a fridge with magnets in the shape of planets and actual magnets.

“You’re living with her, then?”