WHO: Thor and Loki (MCU) WHEN: shortly after the pirate attack on the cruise ship WHERE: Medbay WHAT: Loki frets over his brother, paying him back for when Thor fretted over him. WARNINGS: mentions of death, Ragnarok spoilers, ehh? Nothing really. STATUS: gdoc, complete
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To Loki, Thor had always seemed indomitable. He supposed it had begun as fairly typical hero worship often seen in a younger sibling toward the elder. That Loki had been smaller, weaker, and tended more often toward illness than his elder brother had only heightened his perception of Thor's invincibility. Though worship turned to envy, and then to jealous scorn, Loki had still never shaken the feeling that Thor should be untouchable. Even Hela had fallen to his older brother in the end, despite being the eldest of them all, with an army of the undead (something that still made Loki’s stomach roil) at her back.
Loki did not take it well when Thor, the idiot, fell beneath the boots of marauding pirates, of all things! He did not hold back his opinion on the matter, either. "You stupid ... foolish ... moron!" Which, he thought, was far more in character than what he really wanted to do - shout Thor's name like a lost child who'd just seen his hero go to his doom. There would be none of that, thank you very much. Loki had certain standards to maintain.
A guard of illusions cropped up around Thor, enough to give the pirates pause while Loki and anyone else who'd decided to lend Thor aid fought their way closer. More than a few of Thor's assailants met unfortunate ends at the edge of Loki's dagger.
When the battle was done, Loki stood over his brother, glaring, hands on hips, lips pursed as he sorted through a dozen different things he could say. Worry, anger, fear, relief ... they all vied for his attention, and he wasn't certain what to do with any one of them. Finally, he settled on, "I ought to leave you here to think about your own stupidity, but I have a feeling some enterprising soul will attempt to pick you up and collapse under the weight of your poor decisions." None of the words were actually what Loki wanted to say, but he couldn't seem to find the right ones, and turned instead to his perpetual shield of biting sarcasm.
A moment passed, the another, and Loki added, "Can you walk?" This time, he failed to keep the worry out of his voice.
When the boats came close to the cruise ship, Thor was immediately there. It just so happened he was on deck, trying to see if he could help anywhere. He wasn’t a mechanic, wasn’t a genius. All he was to the Asgardians was a warrior and king. He didn’t have the skills to help.
So when the boats arrived, from all over, Thor ran at them. He didn’t have Mjolnir or his axe (gifted from Santa during Yule). He fought through a small group of them, electrocuting them-- not too harshly, not enough to kill. Enough to discombobulate.
The pirates called for a retreat, all of them clamoring to get back on board their boats. Several of them knocked Thor over while he surveyed the battlegrounds. While Thor lay on the ground, he realized he might have broken something.
The boat came back online and all the pirates who weren’t lucky enough to step over Thor phased through the boat.
Thor smiled weakly. “I can walk.” Thor reached out for Loki’s hand, hoping he would help him up.
Loki sighed and crouched at his brother’s side. “Perhaps I asked the wrong question. Are you certain that you should?” He reached out to gently check for obvious signs of something wrong. It wasn’t like Thor to stay down if he could do otherwise. While Loki was no healer, he at least knew some battlefield triage. His fingers were light as he felt for tender spots or broken bones.
“I suppose I ought to ask if you still know who you are. How old you are. What you’re the god of. What day it is.”
Frowning, Loki brought a hand up and cast a small light that hovered at his fingertips, holding it before Thor’s eyes to check that his pupils still responded as they should. “How bad is it?”
Thor laid on his stomach and grimaced over at his brother. “That tickles,” even though Loki wasn’t touching him. He had a stupid smile on his face.
“I’m Thor. I’m thousands of years old. I’m the God of thunder and I’m not sure what day it is, but I know it’s not my day.”
Loki snorted a laugh in spite of himself. “No, it’s certainly not your day.” He cast a worried glance at Thor’s expression and prodded gently at his brother’s skull again.
“Does any of that hurt?” he asked. “I’m debating whether I ought to trust you when you say you can walk. If I’m going to end up carrying you anyway, I’d rather start with that than let you try to drag me down with you when you try to get to your feet and faint instead.”
Thor jerked his head back when Loki touched him. “Ow, stop hurting me.” Which answered Loki’s next question. Thor was irritable, angry that his second time in battle in this place resulted in him on the ground.
He bested Hulk after all. “You, carry me?” Thor rolled over onto his back.
“I’m not some weak child,” Loki snapped, his own temper rising in response to his fear for Thor. “I can carry you if I must. But if you would rather stand, then by all means. I’ll let you drop and then drag you the rest of the way.” He rose to his feet and offered Thor his hand. It was easier in that moment to be angry with Thor, rather than give way to fear when his big brother was being obstinate.
“Come on,” Loki encouraged, curling his fingers in a gesture for Thor to hurry up. “It’s not fitting for the king to lounge about on the floor.” Still, despite his sharp tone, his hold would be gentle, should Thor choose to accept it. “You need the medics.”
Thor’s hands came to rest on his chest lightly until Loki offered his hand. He reached up and pulled on Loki with a grunt. “I’m not saying you’re weak, I’m saying I’m big.” He hissed as he was raised up from the ground.
“I’m still not sure if I’m the king, Loki.” He forced a smile while putting his arm around his brother’s shoulders.
Shifting so that Thor’s weight settled more comfortably over his shoulders, Loki propelled them toward the nearest passage to the med bay. “You’re not so big that I can’t throw you overboard,” he muttered, vaguely embarrassed that he’d slid straight back into seeing half of what Thor said as a threat of some kind to his self-worth. “I’m sorry,” he added, after a long moment. “I shouldn’t have shouted at you.”
He fell quiet when he reached the door that ought to take them to medical, and paused under the guise of deciding what route to take. In truth, he needed to order his thoughts. When he started walking again, careful to get Thor inside without knocking him into anything, Loki went on, his tone subdued. “You are the king, Brother. You needed no coronation on that ship to make you so. Mother is here, yes, and Odin might appear at any moment, but that does not change what happened for either of us. The throne suits you.”
Thor shook his head as he leaned on his brother, “You can shout at me, I don’t mind it. I need it sometimes.” He was in good spirits despite being in pain. His pain wasn’t as bad as it would have been if he were human-- but he also wasn’t used to being in pain. So it was a new sensation, and he was uncomfortable, but he did not show it.
“Coronation. Bah.” He was reminded of the time just before being banished. Holding his hammer above everyone else, feeling so proud. It felt so long ago, even for an Asgardian. “Thank you, Loki,” he muttered as they walked through the medical bay. Thor pointed to an empty bed. “There, this looks like a good place to stop.”
Loki allowed himself an indelicate snort. “Oh I can, can I? Then I shall have to yell at you more often.” He’d missed the banter of the old days, the sort of mutual good-natured teasing that could only be shared between siblings. “Rest assured that you will live to regret being brought down by pirates. I am not going to let you hear the end of it any time soon.”
Once they reached the medical bay, Loki eased his brother’s weight down onto the open bed. He got to work helping Thor out of his armor, watching closely for signs of any injury that Thor might be hiding. “I’m not taking the throne back. It’s far too much work. I’m afraid you’re stuck with it. If you’d like, we can have one in Tumbleweed. Something terribly grand, with excessive feasting afterward.”
“You can,” Thor said with a chuckle. He knew Loki relished in teasing him, even when they were fighting the worst, Loki had a sharp tongue along with his sharp knives. “They were techno-pirates, Loki, those are different. Advanced. Something that would attack Asgard.” Sure, keep telling yourself that, Thor.
Once in the bed, Thor pulled his carapace of armor up over his head. He then let it fall beside the bed as he laid back. “You mean that, brother? You’d get me a throne?” Thor smiled, even while in pain. “I don’t know if the others will take to that so kindly.”
“Now I know you’ve addled your brain.” Loki resisted the urge to cuff his brother upside the head, mindful that Thor might actually be hurt enough for him to inadvertently do damage. A little stabbing was one thing, scrambling Thor’s senses in the long term quite another. Strange, to be the one taking care of Thor, Loki thought again. It should be the other way around. The elder brother tending to the ill-fated younger.
He sat down at Thor’s side and smiled. “Not a throne, but a coronation I can do. We could get you one of those paper crowns the mortals make. I feel as though your mortal friends would be happy enough so long as there’s free food.”
Thor laid back against the pillows and started to lace his fingers over his chest. He winced instead, and decided to just lay his hands on either side of him. “A coronation. Mother would like that,” he said fondly. “A paper crown, ha. I would be fine without a crown. It’s the thought that counts. My helmet, that Odin gave to me, is waiting at home in Tumbleweed.” He caught himself calling Tumbleweed ‘home.’ It sounded strange in his mouth.
“Do you wonder what’s happening elsewhere? Do you think our universes are paused, waiting for us to return?” Thor’s brain might have been addled as Loki suspected. He was thinking of home now, Asgard.
Loki sobered and looked away. He endeavored to avoid thoughts of their home universe’s future whenever possible. The ship that had found theirs terrified him. Perhaps he had not impressed upon Thor exactly how much, or perhaps his brother’s mind was simply wandering.
“Were it not for our people, I would rather we never return. Nothing good awaits us there, Thor. Put it out of your mind. Focus on this reality instead. It offers a reprieve I doubt we will find at home, little though I like our current voyage.” He stood and drew a blanket from a nearby cabinet full of them to give his hands something to do. Loki spread the blanket over his brother, folding it down beneath his chest so it wouldn’t restrict Thor’s arms.
Thor had a puzzled look on his face. “They’re in danger, we need to be with them.” The ship was much larger than the already enormous ship that Korg liberated. Thor knew to be a king, he had to protect his people. But Loki insisted he keep it out of his mind. That would be difficult, especially realizing how fragile he could sometimes be.
“I’m starting to feel better already,” he brushed away the blanket and went to sit up. “Thank you, Loki, but I don’t want to take up any room for people who don’t heal as fast as I do.”
“Stay.” Loki pushed his brother back down, or tried. Thor would be in dire straights indeed if Loki could force him by brute force to do anything against his will. “At least let someone look at you, ensure you aren’t about to puncture a lung or some such nonsense.” He caught himself rubbing anxiously at one hand with the other, the nervous gesture learned from his mother and never forgotten.
“I am sorry I mentioned it,” he added, meaning the trouble that awaited them back home. “I’m sure it will be fine.” Loki forced a smile, though he suspected he still looked vaguely nauseous. “We can speak of this later, if you wish, just … not here. Not now. Please.”
Thor looked shocked and appalled at Loki’s gall to push him back. So he allowed it, happy his brother wasn’t afraid of him. A lot of people seemed to tense up around him. It was his size and strength that put them off. At one point in time, Thor would have been proud of people’s fear. Now he’d much rather be loved than feared.
“It’s all right, Loki. I would have thought of it either way.” His eyes leaned off to the side, watching Loki’s boots rather than his face. “Once they check on me, I’m going back to the room. If you’ll help me, that is.” He smiled goofily.
For a long while, Loki had been afraid of his brother. Thor had, after all, threatened to kill every one of the jotnar. Then there were the thoughts Thanos had put into Loki’s head, the fears and anger and bitterness that had been so carefully cultivated. Loki’s trust in Thor now existed thanks to the elder brother’s stubborn persistence.
“I think this time I’ll turn you into a toad. You’re unwieldy. I can turn you back once you’re on the bed.” He smirked, then nudged Thor to budge over so he could put his feet up on the mattress and wait with his brother until someone came around to determine whether Loki and Sif would have to sit on the oaf to keep him in medical if he required care.
“Don’t turn me into a toad, Loki,” Thor said with a smidge of annoyance in his voice. “I’ve had enough.” His tone said that he really hadn’t had enough just yet, he was just grumpy because he was in pain.
“The Midgardian pain medicine won’t work on me. I might as well go back to my room. Have you seen Torunn? Is she all right?” He thought about how he hadn’t paid much attention to his daughter since she showed up, and felt bad for it. Thor just didn’t feel a connection to her, but still cared for her. He just often forgot about her. And it made him feel awful.
“Why not? It’s one of my favorite tricks, and in this case, it would be convenient.” Loki crossed his legs and leaned back with Thor. “If you’d rather, I could turn you into a hammer.”
After a moment’s thought, Loki added, “I can check, I suppose. I haven’t had time since you fell.” His tongue stumbled over the last word, for more than one reason. “Give me a moment. I’ll need to concentrate.” He closed his eyes and reached for his magic. Illusory Lokis made a quick sweep of the ship, not lingering long enough to be noticed, only to confirm the safety of the rest of the Asgardians.
Thor watched his brother do his magic, still in awe of it after all this time. Even if it had tricked him more than once. He sat up a little in the bed, up onto his elbows. “I feel so foolish, if you don’t mind me being honest with you.” Thor wasn’t the type to get overwhelmed when there was a crowd. Thor thrived on crowds, electricity flowed better through enemies when they were bunched up.
“Did you see anyone?” Just then, one of the medical robots was at Thor’s bedside. It started to treat Thor and ask questions-- such as does this hurt, while pressing on his ribs, and did you hit your head? Thor winced when touched, and shook his head when asked about his head. The robot diagnosed him with some internal bleeding and noted he was an Asgardian. “You hear that Loki? I’ll be fine,” he said with a goofy smile, hiding pain.
Eyes still closed, Loki swatted Thor. Gently. “Be quite. I’m concentrating.” Spreading his attention across the ship took a certain degree of focus. Splintered focus, in fact, which was difficult to maintain. Eventually, he found everyone he cared to find and opened his eyes.
“Your daughter is safe, as are the rest. Now you, on the other hand … ” Loki wasn’t best pleased with Thor’s insistence on going back to his quarters. “Stay, or I’ll turn you into a dog and see if you listen better then. I’ll walk you back to your room when you don’t wobble.”
Thor sat up and leaned over Loki, putting all his weight on his brother. He reached for his armor and held it in his lap. “I’m glad they’re well, thank you.”
He started to stand up, “I’m not wobbling now.” It was true, he was a little more steady. He still had a pained look on his face, a burning feeling in his chest and near his kidneys. “Come now, brother, walk me to my room.”
“You’re not going to listen to a word I say, are you?” Not that Thor ever did when he got an idea in his head. Loki took the opportunity to carefully elbow Thor in the gut while the elder Odinson practically smothered him. “Get off before you put me back in here.”
Giving in to the inevitable, Loki rose and took Thor’s armor from him. “Fine. But you’re not carrying this. You can have it back once you’re in bed. This is a compromise. Do you understand? I’ll walk you back to your room, but then you’re going to rest.” And Loki would stay right there in the room with him, making certain that Thor truly was all right.
Thor let out a soft howl of pain and nearly fell off the bed. He was standing now, and getting his armor taken from him. “I didn’t know you cared so much, brother.” Thor had a smug smirk on his face, but it was still soft and earnest.
“I’ll rest, Loki, I will!” He waved his brother off and lead him out of the sickbay, dodging people as he went. At one point, he stopped abruptly and moved off to the side, taking Loki with him. “I’m sorry, sorry.” He took up a lot of room, Thor.
Not to mention, Loki thought, his elder brother was about as subtle as the thunder he’d been named for. “I’m holding your armor hostage so you don’t do anything stupid.” With a swift gesture, Loki made the lot of it disappear to where he kept his own secret things. Let Thor try to get out of resting now.
“And I don’t care. I just don’t want to be bothered putting on a funeral. The Avengers might cry.”
Thor clapped a hand down onto Loki’s shoulder. “Sure, I believe you.” He smiled down at his brother fondly, knowing that he was just being difficult.