Percy levelled his blade at the king of the realms, the bronze surface of the three foot long sword gleaming under the light of the throne room. "What do you want from me?" he growled lowly, his back towards the door and his eyes locked onto the king's imposing figure even as his senses stretched out.

Odin descended slowly from his throne, taking the steps one at a time, his bronze and black armour clinking heavily against his chainmail, his heavy boots thudding loudly against the pristine floor. The king of Asgard held Gungnir in his right hand, the golden spear several inches taller than the king. His left hand remained half-curled at his side, both arms covered in the armour plates. Percy kept a wary eye on him, pressing his lips tightly together.

"You have no need to search the room," Odin intoned, fixing his lone intelligent grey eye on Percy's sea green ones, "There is no one else around save for the two of us."

Percy barked out a laugh, "Yeah well, forgive me if I don't trust the word of the person who locked me in here."

Odin came to a stop at the foot of the throne, the two of them separated by the huge expanse of the throne room. "I have reasons for what I do child. Whether you understand it or not... that is a different matter altogether." The king commented, condescension lacing his tone.

Percy sneered, "First of all, don't call me a child. Second, enough with the condescension, I've kicked god's asses for less than that. And third, I won't repeat myself, what the hell do you want from me?"

Odin narrowed his eyes, "You would be wise to be respectful, demigod."

Perseus grinned sharply, "I'll decide who I give my respect to, your majesty."

Odin narrowed his eye further, but didn't comment, instead, his gaze fell to Percy's right wrist, making the demigod grip his sword a little tighter. "For what reason did you acquire an Infinity Stone for?"

Percy gripped his sword tighter, hoping that the doors would hold until he found out what Odin wanted from him.

In hindsight, Loki probably shouldn't have let Percy leave the last. Knowing the demigod, trouble, even in the smallest form like tripping over his own feet would have surely found him. So when the doors slammed shut a hairs breadth after he exited, Loki whirled around almost immediately, slamming a hand full of power into the door.

He didn't expect the rebound that sent him flying into Thor.

He crashed into the sturdy thunder god, taking him by surprise, the both of them crashing to the ground in a loud heap. The avengers – minus Tony and Bruce – whipped out their weapons, falling into a defensive stance that came as easily as breathing. Loki paid them no attention and snarled, leaping to his feet. "Coward!" He hissed, darting towards the door, stopping short when Frigga blocked him.

"Loki, stop this, now." She said sternly.

Loki bared his teeth, something he would never have thought to have done to his mother, "He has locked Perseus in there, I will not stand for it!"

Frigga placed a hand on his arm, "Loki, Odin knows what he is doing, all he wants is to know how Perseus obtained a stone!"

Loki shrugged his mother off, glaring fiercely at her, "And to do that he chose a coward's way out? To hold him back like a prisoner? As though he were a criminal? To grab him when our backs were turned?" He snarled, his voice rising higher and higher with each accusation.

A resounding slap echoed the ought the hallways, abrupt silence falling on them. Loki's head turned to the side, his eyes wide. Frigga breathed heavily, her hand stretched in front of her.

"Thor," she instructed, her gaze never slipping away from Loki, "Bring your friends to the guest rooms."

Thor started, protest on his lips, but Frigga barked in a tone that brooked no disobedience, "Now!"

He hesitated, looking at his brother who remained as still as a statue, before gesturing for his wide-eyed friends to follow him, the avengers casting strange and worried looks at the god as they left.

Frigga turned back to her youngest, who gingerly lifted a hand to touch his face, a red mark growing in the left of his cheek.

Despite how Odin had come down to the ground level instead of remaining on his throne – and Percy was sure that there was some sort of symbolic meaning behind that particular movement, he just didn't know what – Percy still kept his guard up. Letting down his guard was what got him into this mess in the first place, not that he wasn't glad for some of the things that had happened, but well, semantics. The point was that Percy was not going to trust Odin until Odin proved himself to be trustworthy.

...And okay, maybe Loki's long spiels about his liar and traitor of a father had gotten to him after all.

Odin, on his part, didn't look fazed by the weapon pointed at him, something which made Percy bristle at being written off as not a threat. The king fixed him with a stern gaze and said, "I will not repeat myself, where did you get the Aether?"

Percy smiled humourlessly, "What will happen to me once I tell you? Will I be removed and forgotten? Miraculously disappearing from the face of this realm?"

Odin closed his one good eye and visibly sighed, "Nothing will come out of this. I am merely curious, as to why a powerful, ancient artifact would be sitting on your wrist."

Percy pressed his lips together, pinning the old man with a glare. He considered his options, weighing the pros and cons of each of them before settling on a decision.

"I didn't take it." He said stiffly, maintaining eye contact all the while, "If you must know, it came to me."

Odin inclined his head, curiosity and suspicion dancing in his grey eye. "How?" The king asked simply.

Percy shrugged, relaxing his grip on Riptide slightly, but never lowering his guard for one moment, "I don't know. SHIELD found it, we tried various methods to secure it, and I was the one who came into contact with it. The thing latched on to me. End of story."

Odin narrowed his eye at Percy, but the demigod just allowed a smile to stretch across his lips, his green eyes darkening challengingly. The king hummed and nodded, but did not question further. "You plan to wield it as a weapon?"

Percy nodded.

Odin levelled him with a stern gaze. "The power of an infinity stone is not to be played with. The power that you wield is a double edged sword. Are you willing to risk the destruction to your soul should you wield such power against the enemy?" The king asked softly.

Percy narrowed his eyes, the question was loaded, he knew what Odin wanted of curse, he'd been dealing with political and paranoid gods and goddesses for the majority of his life, but in that moment, all he could think of was how shaken Loki looked when he saw the chitauri, think of the god leaning over him as he rescued him from the chitauri wasteland, green eyes shining in mischief, how Loki had come down to Hel of all places for him, and how the god could return to the place he hated just because his mother asked him to. Percy saw all of these in his mind's eye, saw how Loki could be cruel and kind in the same breath, how no one understood him because he was just so complex, and how no one even bothered to try understanding him, and most of all, how he remained strong and pushed against everyone's expectations just because he didn't want to conform to them. He thought of his friends, of the Avengers, who had become akin to a second family in the short time that he'd stayed with them. He envisioned their broken bodies strewn across the battlefield, empty eyes peering sightlessly at the sky, and he shuddered, recoiling violently away from that imagery. He remembered his mother's devoid gaze as she lay crumpled on the ground, he remembered Paul's wrecked body where he had been thrown into the wall by the chitauri space whale.

Percy thought of all of these and gave Odin a feral smile, "I would."

Loki massaged his jaw, feeling the sting deep in his bones even if he knew logically that his mother had not hit him hard enough for that. But it came as a shock to him, enough that he had remained motionless for several long moments before he could react. He looked at the woman standing before him, his face a blank mask even as his heart burned with betrayal.

Frigga sighed internally, watching her youngest son's face shutter and close off. In his youth, he had always done that, pulling on mask after mask after mask until those masks became near-permanent, his cold, mocking visage presented to everyone around him, nobody deeming it worthy or necessary to find out what was behind those masks. Frigga had been the only person to even glimpse behind his masks, and even then, as he grew up, those moments grew lesser and lesser until he barely even took off those masks anymore. To see him put them up again...it hurt Frigga to know that she had been the cause of it.

"Loki," she started.

"No." he spat, "I do not want to hear what lies will drip from your tongue All-Mother."

Frigga narrowed her eyes, "Do not take that tone with me young man. Blood or not, adopted or not, I am the woman who raised you since you were a babe and therefore, your mother."

Loki hissed, "Then as my mother, should you not be supporting me? Should you not stand by me rather than remaining on the side lines, watching your husband tear my –" he faltered, the words lodged in his throat.

"Your what Loki?" Frigga asked him softly. When all she got was a glare in response, she stepped closer, ignoring the way he shuffled back jerkily, as though he did not know whether or not to move away from her touch. "Tell me," she implored, "I will not judge my own son."

Loki pressed his lips together, searching her eyes for signs of deception and finding none. He hesitated a while longer, "Lover." He murmured, so softly that Frigga, standing as close to him as she was, barely caught it. He raised his head and looked directly at his mother, "Perseus Jackson means far more to me than you know, than anyone of you can comprehend, I will not sacrifice his safety, least of all to Odin."

Frigga looked at her son, really looked at him, and she could have wept at what she found. Loki, her Loki, had finally found someone he could trust wholeheartedly. The young god might not think so, but a mother's instinct would never go wrong, she knew that the other boy had done much to help her son back from the brink of madness. Loki waited for a reply from his mother, but whatever he was expecting, he was not expecting her to laugh brightly and pull him into an embrace. He started, bringing his arms around her on reflex, before she stepped back and smiled brightly, "Oh my son! To think that Midgard would have such an extensive influence on both of my sons, perhaps I should thank the Greeks for the cultivation of their society!"

Loki blinked confusedly, what was wrong with her? He opened his mouth to voice his words, but the doors to the throne room beat him to it, groaning open and letting out a slight figure which Loki absolutely did not rush towards the moment he saw the doors inch apart. Percy grinned up at him while Loki's hand hovered somewhere above his shoulder, unsure if he should pull him into a hug or abide by decorum and refrain from such public displays. He settled for just gripping the younger boy's shoulder tightly, trying to convey what he felt through that simple gesture. From the look on Percy's face, the demigod/mortal understood.

Percy looked over to Odin, who came to stand beside Frigga, his stony face unwavering, a stark contrast to the warm smile on Frigga's face. Odin spared Loki a glance, before his gaze slid to Percy, "Loki will show you to the guest rooms boy," the king said, gesturing once for them to leave. Percy gave a short bow, just an inclination of his head really, and tugged on Loki's arm, breaking him away from glaring holes into the king of Asgard's head. Loki nodded shortly to his mother, before turning and all but marching away from the man who he once called father.

Only until they reached a set of empty corridors did Loki pull Percy around, kissing him full on the lips, uncaring of any servants that might have passed by them. Percy stiffened in shock at first, before relaxing, blinking slowly when Loki pulled away. The god did not step back as he expected, but instead rested his forehead on Percy's, the latter feeling the god's cool breath ghosting his lips. "Do not ever do that to me again." Loki murmured, gripping his young lover tightly.

Percy smiled, "You know that it's not as if I wanted to have an audience with Odin right?"

Loki growled, the sound deep and reverberating in his chest, "I care not if you wanted to have an audience with him or not, you will not put yourself in such danger ever again."

Percy stifled the indignant response that was on his lips, sighing exasperatedly, "Fine, fine, I won't do that again alright?" he said, even though they both knew that he would throw himself headfirst into danger if it meant saving his loved ones. Loki took the promise for what it was now, tugging Percy in the direction of his room. He felt a wave of nostalgia at the sight of the familiar hallways, but pushed the feeling aside, heading straight for the familiar set of doors that had been the entrance to one of his only havens for several centuries.

Percy glanced around and his eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Loki had reached the set of doors and flung it open, pushing Percy inside and closing the door behind them. The raven-haired hero surveyed the room, his old habits kicking in, even as he said dryly, "I don't think this is the guest room."

Loki snorted, "What is it with you mortals and stating the obvious?"

Percy remained where he stood, watching the god look around his old room as well, "Well," he said, raising an eyebrow, "I don't think that this was what your father meant when he said bring me to the guest rooms."

Loki glared at him, scowling slightly when Percy remained as unruffled as ever, "Odin can speak whatever he wants, it does not mean I have to follow him."

Percy sighed and rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting further, he knew better than to force Loki to listen to Odin, or vice versa. That particular resolution would have to come from Loki's own willingness to set aside past mistakes and start forgiving, all Percy could do until then was give Loki the support that he needed but never requested.

Loki gestured to Percy's wrist, where the blood-red circlet remained, "What did Odin want with that?"

Percy frowned, "He wanted to know how I got it, and what I planned to do with it."

Loki looked at him sharply, "And what did you tell him?"

Percy met his gaze evenly, "I told him that we planned on using it." When Loki frowned, he continued, "No don't give me that look, I'm not going to train it in secret and then have someone take my head off because they thought that I was the enemy."

Loki frowned but nodded, motioning for Percy to continue, the demigod deciding not to tell him how much that gesture looked resembled Odin, "We discussed it for awhile, at first he was adamantly against it, saying that we wouldn't be able to control it, or the chitauri might get their hands on it, yadda yadda yadda. He came around eventually, through my persuasion," Percy smirked, "And he said that Queen Frigga would help to train me in using the Aether."

Loki blinked in surprise, "My mother? Why? Should I not be the one to teach you how to wield an Infinity Gem when I already have the experience in wielding one?"

Percy shrugged, a causal motion that was betrayed by the darkness in his eyes, "He probably thought you would take control of it or something. That, I don't know, but he didn't say that you couldn't drop by in the middle of training."

A wicked smile spread across Percy's face, setting Loki's internal alarm bells off. The young demigod pushed past Loki and jumped onto the bed, nearly falling off when he bounced off its soft material. He grinned and flopped back onto the bed, spreading his arms out such that he occupied the whole bed. Loki rolled his eyes and nudged one of Percy's limbs, "Is it not too early for bed?"

Percy smirked lazily up at the god, "It's been a long day, and damn if your bed isn't comfortable!"

If he was a lesser man, Loki might have rolled his eyes. As it was, he merely sighed exasperatedly, leaning in to kiss the younger man before standing back up. Percy blinked, "Where're you going?"

Loki frowned slightly, "I need to talk to my bro – to Thor, you should get some rest."

Percy propped himself up on his elbow, "Do you need me to come with you?"

Loki shook his head, pushing the demigod back down onto the bed, "Sleep." He said firmly, "I will talk to my brother, and I will return once I have finished conversing with him."

Percy kept quiet but nodded, closing his eyes as he turned over on his side. Loki watched him for a few moments until his breathing evened out, before he turned and stepped out the door, his magic guiding him to his brother.

The avengers followed Thor silently as he led them through deserted corridors, all of them keeping to the silence that seem to be demanded. The thunder god arrived at a set of doors, from which a servant girl had just exited one. When the servant girl caught sight of the crown prince, she quickly bowed and curtsied, meekly telling the golden prince that the rooms were ready. Thor thanked her absently and after casting a curious glance at the colorfully dressed mortals, she fled the area.

The god opened one of the doors and led them in, the room seemed to be a central living room, with embroidered seats in the centre and several doors all around the room. Each of the Avengers trailed into the room one by one, various reactions on their faces as they took in the sights of the circular room. There were several doors lined up against the rounded wall, and, like a pair of children, Tony and Clint immediately jumped into action, shoving each other as they fought over a room. Steve just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, thanking Thor for bringing them here, while Bruce and Natasha did the same. The thunder god merely shook his head and smiled, though the smile dropped off when his fiery-haired team mate turned to him with a hard look in her eye. On the way to picking a room, Steve paused as he watched Natasha turn to the thunder god, sensing the brewing tension.

The petite - but deadly - woman looked up at her Asgardian team mate, "What was that about just now Thor?" she asked quietly, referring to what happened in the throne room.

The whole room paused, and Thor, even though he was many times her size, felt just a pinprick of fear. Before he had fought alongside the Avengers, he never would have given her a second glance, a mistake that he was sure that many others made before. But the thunder god had seen his friend's prowess in battle, and while she Natasha Romanov was purely human, she could easily take down all of them save the Hulk. So when she turned her spidery glare onto the blond god, he was understandably nervous. Thor sighed, "I apologize for the disrespect my father showed to you earlier, my friends. It was out of line but..." Thor sighed, "I would have thought him to be more open."

"Open? What do you mean by that?" Steve asked, frowning slightly.

Thor sighed, bracing himself mentally for the outrage he knew for sure was going to happen, "My father, he should not have, as king, treated you so dismissively." he paused, "Midgardians, well, mortals are not considered to be strong in the eyes of the other Nine Realms, in fact, they are considered to be the weakest of all Nine Realms."

A beat of silence. Then -

"Excuse me?" Tony said indignantly, "Right, so just because you guys are bigger and can hit harder doesn't mean that we're weak. I mean come on! Who else can say that they defeated a whole damn fleet of chitauri at one shot?"

The other Avengers all nodded in agreement, Clint spoke up from his perch on the back of the couch, with the rest wondering silently at how he even managed to stay balanced. "So what, your dad thinks that we're gonna be dead weight? Pull everyone down?" The archer snorted, "I'd pay good money to see their faces when the Hulk comes out." he said dryly, making Bruce duck his head sheepishly. Thor laughed, knowing what his friends were saying as he himself had fought the Hulk before. "My friends, I truly am sorry -"

"Not your fault Thor." Natasha cut in, "I don't like that your father all but insulted us, but that's his problem, and we'll deal with it. We don't need to prove anything to these people, they will see for themselves soon enough."

Thor nodded, "Nonetheless, I still apologize on behalf of my father. I suppose that you all will be taking your rest now?"

Steve nodded, prompting Clint to vault off the couch, landing in front of one of the doors before he opened it and slammed it in Tony's face, a muffled "HA!" drifting through the thick wood. Tony cursed at Clint before dashing into the adjacent room, prompting immediate eye-rolls from their remaining members. Bruce gave Thor a polite nod and retreated into one of the other rooms, closing the door silently. Steve did the same, offering Thor a simple 'Good night', the god returning it, before the soldier entered his own room. That left Natasha with Thor, and she too bade him a good night, before slipping into her room. As was her routine, she checked, double checked and triple checked the area for bugs. While she didn't think that Asgard employed the concept of using bugs - seemed like a dishonorable thing to do, if Thor's first reaction to it was any indication - she wouldn't put it past the king to have some form of spying material. After all, it was better to be paranoid and be safe, than to be complacent and regret it after. She laid on her bed - really comfortable material that was - staring at the ceiling for who knows how many hours before she finally slipped off into a dreamless sleep.

Thor sighed and closed the door gently behind him, trying not to cringe at the thought of the looks of outrage on his friends' faces when he confessed that the majority of Asgardians found mortals to be inferior to them. Thor was thankful that they came on his behalf, but he also knew that his friends on Asgard were likely to look down on the Avengers, which was one of the reason why he had not wanted his team to come with him, apart from the fact that they were fighting a war that was not theirs. Despite his status, Thor knew how it felt to be belittled, a bitter feeling hat he had experienced during his time of banishment. Everything that the mortals said had gone over his head, and it frustrated him to no end to know that they had knowledge of things that he did not, that they judged him for not knowing the simplest and most basic everyday information. He had not experienced it for a short time, but he hated the judgmental looks that he got from the mortals at the time of his banishment. And it made him wonder how his brother had ever tolerated the looks that he had gotten from the people of Asgard, and it made his chest heavy with guilt as he thought of how he had casually dismissed and mocked Loki's attempt at practicing magic. Not acknowledging it when he knew that it was his brother's magic that had saved his and his friends' lives countless times.

"It is rare to see you get so deep in thought that you lose awareness of your surroundings."

Reacting on instinct, Mjolnir leapt into his palm and he swung her around, the silver hammer colliding with a screen against the flat side of a dagger. Blinking, Thor stepped back and dropped the hammer, frowning, "You should not have done that brother, I could have taken your head off."

Loki raised an eyebrow and smirked, flipping the dagger in the air before vanishing it into subspace. "In order to take off my head, you would have to hit me first."

Thor shook his head, "What are you doing out brother? Should you not be in bed?"

Loki rolled his eyes, sniffing, brushing past the elder god, "I am not a child who requires curfew, and you should speak for yourself brother dear, seeing as you too are up and about. Besides, I have things to discuss with you about."

Thor blinked, turning and following his brother, "Like?"

Loki shrugged and they walked, side by side until they came to a balcony. The green eyed god hopped up onto the ledge, twisting around and raising his arms up as he launched himself upwards, his body disappearing from view soon after. Thor squashed the instinctive fear that rose in his chest when he saw his brother jump onto the ledge. The feeling of wariness and protectiveness that surged within him at the prospect of his brother potentially falling off the ledge never abated but seemed to only grow every time Loki felt like climbing to the roof.

"Well, are you going to come up or stand there all night?" The trickster god said, his voice drifting down.

Thor sighed and hung Mjolnir on his belt, clambering up the same way his brother had, albeit less gracefully. He say down on the roof, shifting back and forth for a moment to get used to the uncomfortable tiles. The air was silent, the occasional breeze breaking it, and the two brothers sat side by side, looking out across the realm with a black canopy dotted with numerous glittering stars hanging above them, the peace and quiet in stark contrast to the looming war. The darkness covered the realm like a blanket, and Thor was grateful for it, for it meant that while he could see his homeland, he could not see every minor detail of it. He was grateful for the blanket of darkness that wrapped around Asgard, if only so he could pretend that this was a normal night where he sat with his brother on the roof simply gazing at the stars. He could pretend that there were no charred roofs or broken walls and rubble lying scattered across the golden realm, the only visible evidence of the chitauri's attacks. For one moment, Thor could pretend that there was no war on the horizon, that everything was as it was.

A soft exhale came from beside him, a puff of white cloud appearing from Loki's lips.

"Did you ever think that we would end up like this?" The god breathed softly, so softly that if Thor hadn't been listening, he would not have caught it.

"Like what?" The elder god responded simply.

Loki waved a hand, gesturing at the both of them, at the whole of Asgard, "All of this. A war with the Mad Titan, the prospect of fighting alongside the people who I once fought against."

"The thought of finding love in the middle of chaos?" Thor cut in, grinning slightly at his brother.

Loki blinked and grinned back, his eyes softening in a way that Thor hadn't seen in decades. The younger god looked up, his gaze searching through the stars. Thor let him remain silent, knowing that his brother would speak when he wanted to.

"I do not deserve him." He said finally.

Thor snorted, leaning back to lie down on the roof, his hands behind his head, following his brother and raising his eyes towards the heavens. "Nonsense brother, you are perfect for him, and he you. I have never seen anyone understand you as well as Perseus does, apart from mother."

Loki huffed, "He deserves much better. He deserves someone who isn't as emotionally broken. He deserves a hero, not a villain!"

Thor reached out a hand and slapped his brother on the head, "Enough Loki, you are not a villain. You might be mischievous, a prankster and trickster, you might hold a grudge and strike out at a person in revenge but you are not evil."

Loki jerked upright, his green eyes wide, "Not evil?" He laughed, "Not evil? I murdered in cold blood, tricked the Jotun king and committed patricide on the very grounds of Asgard herself, I unleashed the power of the Bifrost into a realm full of unsuspecting individuals, intent on destroying their entire realm, I lied to you, I killed you! The evidence lies before you, how can you say that I am not evil?" He snarled.

Thor sat upright as well, gripping his brother's arm tightly, "You say that you have murdered in cold blood, then have I not done the same? Did I not step onto Jotunheim with the intention to wipe out every last one of them? Did I not laugh at their dying forms while I was drenched in the blood of innocents? Do you not remember the time in Muspelheim when I had wanted to find a fire giant's head for my own satisfaction? Or all of the times you tried to stop me from going on a rampage and killing thousands because I was a spoilt child who could not take an insult?" Thor countered, watching as Loki's eyes grew wider and wider. "You claim to have done all of that, then I too must be evil because I too have committed the crimes you have listed." He took a deep breath and looked into his brother's eyes, "Brother, Loki, listen to me, you are not evil. You made a mistake, yes, and that led to more disastrous consequences than we could ever have known, but never, ever, think yourself evil. You are nothing like the Mad Titan, that creature is the foulest of all, and you are nothing like him."

Loki blinked, turning away from Thor's intense gaze, his lips twisted into a small smile, "Have you been taking lessons while I was gone?"

Thor boomed a laugh, ignoring the twine in his chest at the thought of his brother gone, "Midgard has taught me much brother," he said.

Loki shifted his gaze downwards, "It seems that it is not Midgardians who should learn from Asgardians, but the other way around."

Thor grinned and pulled Loki into a hug, laughing brightly as the younger god yelped indignantly and tried and failed to get out of his hold, finally ceasing his struggles and relaxing in his brother's embrace. Thor rested his chin on his brother's unruly black hair, Loki crossing his arms over his chest as he tried to look as affronted, the grin playing at his lips betraying his true emotions.

The laughter faded away into silence, and Thor wondered at the thought of war. He had of course, been in his own fair share of battles and skirmishes, but never a full out war. "Are you afraid brother? Of what is coming?" Thor asked.

Below him, Loki remained silent, worrying his lip between his teeth. "You would be a fool not to be afraid Thor."

Thor gripped his brother tighter, and Loki did not protest. "I am asking you Loki, not anyone else. You."

Loki sighed, his entire body sagging against his brother's. "Yes." He whispered. "I am so terrified of what might happen on the battlefield. Of what I would do if - when - I meet the Titan again. I am afraid of what I dragged all of you into, and I am afraid that not all of us would make it out alive."

Thor tightened his grip on his either further, "We will make it out alive brother. We have to. All of us, we have been affected by this creature in some way or another. As what the man of iron says, we are a family, and we stand together."

Loki snorted, "Your family perhaps, not mine."

Thor growled and shook his brother, "You are supposed to be smart, did everything I say bypass your ears? I am your brother, mother is with us, Perseus is with us, my friends are with us, we will stand together as one. And though they refuse to admit it, you have grown on them Loki, just like they have grown on you, else you would not have defended them in front of father."

Loki scowled, "The Allfather was out of line. The mortals offered their services with no strings attached, to demean them that way was uncalled for and prejudiced." He tilted his head upwards, "And stop grinning you buffoon, I can practically hear your mouth stretching."

Thor, true to Loki's word, was grinning, but he just shrugged and lay back, dragging Loki with him, "You may be the God of Lies Loki, but even you cannot lie to yourself forever."

Loki huffed exasperatedly, twisting around to flick Thor in the head, but remained where he was, leaning against his brother like he used to do when they were younger. "We should head back to our rooms," Thor murmured, "We have a court proceeding tomorrow."
Loki grunted but didn't move, the two of them remained like this through the night, absorbing the peace and silence of the realm, yet unbothered by the tension that daybreak brought.

Below them, at the very same balcony the two brothers had climbed up from, Frigga smiled into the darkness, turning and heading towards her quarters.