Chapter Text
It takes Thor all of a minute to figure out where Loki is after making his way back inside the compound. Steve and Natasha are still talking in the common room when Thor enters, and he dips his head at them as they turn to face him.
“Thor—feeling better?” the Captain asks.
“Yes, I am. Thank you for your concern. If I might trouble you again, would either of you happen to know where Loki is? I need to speak to him,” Thor says.
“Uh, we have no—”
“Prince Loki is currently practicing magic on the lowest level,” FRIDAY interrupts helpfully.
Natasha cocks an eyebrow. “Prince Loki?”
“Why yes. He informed me that he was not partial to being called Mr. Laufeyson. This was the next best option.”
Steve and Natasha exchange glances, but Thor smiles lightly at it.
“Thank you, machine,” the thunderer says. He nods to the others and heads to the elevator. On the way down, he ponders his failures as King.
Loki is indeed where FRIDAY told him he was, and Thor casually knocks on the wall to make sure his brother knows he’s approaching.
“I know you’re there without the clues, Thor,” Loki sighs, turning to face the other god. He flips his hair over his shoulders and straightens his back, the light of his magic vanishing from his hands. “What do you want? Finally come to talk about how self-destructive your behavior has been?”
“Not to be callous, but is self-destructive behavior something you can be so judging of, brother?” Thor asks as he walks forward, and he catches the way Loki tenses at the question.
A moment after, however, Loki snorts, scowling. “Point taken.” He strides over to a wall and slides down it before looking to Thor, obviously waiting for him to begin.
Thor settles against the same wall a few feet down and explains his nightmares in detail to his brother. Loki listens quietly, taking in Thor’s words, his thoughts, his feelings, and why he ends up in his room many nights.
“You should have just told me,” Loki says, “though I had guessed nightmares such as those were the cause of your nightly intrusions. I was hoping you would just tell me, however.”
“I . . . didn’t want to speak about my weakness any more than I already felt it,” Thor admits.
“And yet I’m supposed to be okay with you barging in? I don’t much like being smothered, Thor.”
The thunderer flushes and scratches at his neck.
Loki rolls his eyes with a sigh. “You’re lucky I don’t hate you as much as I let on.” He smirks lightly. “But we’re going to have to find a way to get you to stop with it. I cannot stand being attacked in my room at night.”
“Of course. I just . . . I don’t know how,” Thor says. “I’ve tried, but even then, I still do it.”
Loki stares ahead, frowning. “I’ll think of something.”
Thor notices the look and asks, “Is something on your mind, brother?”
The trickster glances over at Thor, sees the concern on his face, and sighs. “Just so you know, you are not alone in your endeavor against bad dreams.”
“Loki?”
“Sometimes I still see you at Thanos’ mercy. Sometimes it goes farther than that. Mostly, however, I just see him, and what he has done to me.”
Thor sits up straighter, about to inquire, but Loki cuts him off.
“Nothing good, I can assure you,” he says. “But I can handle my . . . issues more easily than you. I have been dealing with them longer, so it’s only natural.”
“Loki . . . you’ve alluded to Thanos’ torture before. I won’t pretend to know what it was like, nor will I press for answers that you will never give me, but if you ever want to talk—”
“I won’t.”
Thor gives him a look, but continues. “Either way, we have each other, and that is enough for me. I have been shown that at least, by saving you, I’ve done my part.”
Loki frowns, furrowing his eyebrows at his brother. “You’ve decided this?”
“Yes—well, I've had some help, and I'm still trying to wrestle with my own demons about it, but it’s the truth. I will still try and help the world however I can, but you come first—I will not lose you again.”
Three days later, Thor gets a transmission.
“They’re alive,” he breathes, a feeling of warmth spreading through his chest as he looks down at the small device in his hand. He rushes to tell Loki.
“It’s Valkyrie—she's bringing the remaining Asgardians to Midgard, and she is almost here,” Thor tells the assembled team. “I must ask for your help, my friends. The Asgardian refugees, they need somewhere to live. We must find a new home, one to replace Asgard.”
“I’m sure we can find somewhere for your people to start a new life,” Steve says.
“It’ll just take a bit of the ol’ delegating skills, but I'm sure it won’t be that hard, with how much space there is now,” Tony agrees, though the last part makes everyone wince a little bit. “Have any places in mind, Point Break?”
Thor shares a glance with Loki and smiles.
“I do, in fact.”
“It’s perfect,” Thor says. He, Loki, and Valkyrie stand atop a hill, looking over the green fields that are soon to be inhabited by the remaining Aesir.
“Kind of a bummer, knowing your dad died like right over there, though, isn’t it?” Valkyrie asks, pointing in a vague direction.
“Not at all. He wanted us to start a life here. This, this is exactly right.” Thor looks satisfied, a smile on his face that hasn’t been there for months.
“Well, we could stand around looking at it all day, or we could actually start building. Unless all those Asgardians are going to live outside, exposed to the elements,” Loki comments snidely.
“Better get to work then, Lackey,” Valkyrie snarks back, earning an eyeroll from the youngest god.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to be building alone, remember?” Thor reminds them.
“Then where is Stark and his team? You'd think those slackers would be here by now,” Loki scoffs.
“He dares keep the royal family of Asgard waiting?” Valkyrie proclaims with an air of dramatics. Thor cracks a light smile in response.
“Get your collective panties out of a bunch, I'm right here,” comes Stark’s voice over their coms. “Team’s right behind. Clear a landing space for me, would ya?”
Tony lands nearby and steps out of his suit, then says something to FRIDAY. A few miles away, several large trucks come into view over the hills.
“Well, don’t just stand there! Tell me what you guys have in mind . . .”