"Maybe not your adversary," Loki muttered petulantly. To be perfectly fair, "adversary" was a bit of a strong term, at least according to the more physically confrontational connotation assigned to the term in District Two. But Loki (like Stark, although he would never admit the comparison) had always been given to hyperbole, and given his druthers he might even have chosen something closer to "nemesis."
Much of their best barbs were launched on national television, after all, and Loki never forgot his handicapped position in their little intellectual scuffles. The story of a self-made Gamemaker would never be as interesting as the story of the well-loved heir-turned-Victor-turned-weapons-dealer, and Loki knew it. Not that it slowed him down, of course. When Stark insulted him, Loki gave as good as he got, and, privately, Loki had long ago decided that Victor or no, he had more honor in his little finger than Stark did in his whole wiry heart.
But Thor was right to drop the topic. It wasn't worth discussing now. So instead he focused on Thor's smile, a flare of relief sparking through him at the sight of it. Five or six years ago, Loki might've made a pointed comment about how he hadn't cleaned out the bathroom yet and Thor would be sleeping with his own vomit, but now, Loki said nothing. There were a few years that he had tried hard to convince himself that Thor's excess drinking would eventually become a sign of revelry, his right and mark as a Victor. But now it was too clear that this wasn't the case at all, and he didn't wish to speak of it with his brother. Just like his leg, it was a wound he avidly tried not to draw attention to.
"Oh, I'm sure you could procure permission from one of your many suitors if you chose to," Loki said. And if he'd been sober enough, but Loki didn't say this, preferring to act as if Thor had made an active choice. His smile faded a little as he studied his brother, examining the swelling around his eye. "How did you occupy yourself at the party, other than engaging in glorious combat?"