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"Thor! You made it!" Jane's smile was broad and welcoming as she ushered Thor inside the house. Thor's answering smile was just a little awkward, and he peered around the living room nervously. This was his first time at a kinky "play party" and he half expected to see something out of a porno, but though a few people in the room were dressed a bit oddly, mostly it just looked like an ordinary house party, the living room and the open-plan kitchen beyond it full of people sitting, lounging against the furniture, and chatting. "I, uh, brought chips?" "Come leave them in the kitchen, and I'll take you down to the dungeon, then," said Jane cheerfully. Thor felt his stomach tense at the idea of an actual dungeon. All this was exciting enough when he was fantasizing about it, but facing the reality, real people who actually did these things, was intimidating. He was very glad that Jane had been willing to meet him here. They were on-and-off-again fuck buddies, but mostly just friends, and it was good to have someone he knew to show him the ropes. That was rather literal, for once he deposited his bag of chips on a counter full of pot-luck snacks, Jane led him down the stairs to a basement that spanned the whole of the house in one open space, broken up into various stations by chairs and other furniture, and the first thing he noticed was a very naked young woman being tied in an elaborate pattern of rope by a smiling middle aged man. "So is there anything you want to try tonight?" asked Jane as Thor looked around the room, taking more and more of it in. "Since it's newbie 'tasting' night and you're new?" He swallowed, trying to survey the options. There was almost too much. "What are the things I can try?" he asked, both to try and find order in the seeming chaos of partially-clad bodies and outrageous activities, partly to delay his answer and find time to think. He'd known it would be newbie night, of course. That was another reason he'd screwed up his courage to come. He'd read all about it on the website. New people, especially new submissives who wanted to have things done to them, could come and try things with experienced practitioners of the various kinky arts. Next month there was going to be a similar event for new dominants, to try out doing things with teachers and experienced bottoms, but although it was embarrassing to admit it, Thor had instantly known that tonight was the more appealing of the two events. "Well, the shibari, the rope tying here is one. There's also caning—I know the guy doing that, he's quite good—also flogging, play piercing, electroplay, and I think one of the ladies is doing humiliation? Oh, and there's the single-tail, we've got a real expert in that tonight." Thor swallowed. One of those definitely caught his attention more than the others. "Single-tail, that's, er...an actual whip, right?" "Yup. You want to go talk to our expert?" "I think so." "This way, then." Jane took his hand and towed him across the big room, towards one wall. The dungeon was full of smacks and moans and other sounds, but a whip-crack followed by a cry came from ahead of him, and he saw a chubby young woman with her hands cuffed to a kind of wooden framework, who'd just let out the cry. She was wearing only a pair of lace panties, and her back was crossed with faint red lines. Standing behind her, his back to the room, was a tall, slender man, shirtless, wearing tight leather pants that showed off a rather nice ass. He had long, coarse black hair, and Thor frowned. The man reminded him of someone, but of course he wouldn't be here. It was no doubt just a coincidental resemblance. The man had a pair of whips, one in each hand. They were similar to bullwhips, made of braided leather tapering to a narrow point, but were much, much shorter. The man cracked each one across the woman's back in turn, and she jerked and cried out again. The sound was almost pornographic, clearly a cry of pleasure and arousal, but after the last one she went limp in the cuffs and said, "Okay, okay, I'm done." As he and Jane approached, the man stepped forward, supporting the woman he'd been beating, and unbuckled the cuffs. She put her head on his shoulder with a low moan. "Oh yeah. Very done. That was great. Thank you." Facing away from them still, Thor couldn't hear the man's low reply, though the pleased tone was just audible. But as he turned and began to help the woman to an aftercare area in one corner, where there were beanbags and more comfortable chairs than the cheap metal ones in most of the room, Thor caught a clear glimpse of his profile. It was completely unmistakable, no one else could have that strong, narrow nose, those arching brows, those expressive lips. It wasn't just a coincidental resemblance, the man with the whips was Loki, Thor's adopted brother.
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Loki was gentle as he carried the young woman to the aftercare area. He didn't recall her name, he'd already demonstrated his whips to half a dozen people tonight, and it was easy for them to blur together. But he was tender with her all the same, seeing that she was settled comfortably. He loved what he did here. The opportunities to toy with people were endless, and they actually came to him, begging him to make them feel, make them react, make them dance to his tune. Yet as much as he loved the game, he took it all very seriously as well. This was his world now, his space, the nearest thing he had to family. He would not fuck it up by failing to properly observe the vital rules of this world: proper consent before and during, proper care after. He'd come to like those rules, truly. Playing games with people had always been his joy, but it had often come with a complicated burden of guilt. Being able to have that joy without the guilt was a marvel. Another young woman, his victim's partner, came over then, and Loki released his charge into her care with a smile. Then he turned back to the frame, to the whips he'd left there. As he did, a familiar face caught his eye. Him. What was he doing here? Loki bared his teeth in an instinctive snarl, then, with a conscious effort, smoothed his expression. He would not show vulnerability. He would not let his too-handsome, too-perfect, golden boy brother Thor see him shaken. He was shaken, though. Thor, here? No doubt within a month he would be everyone's favorite top, and Loki would once again be reduced to gnawing at scraps on the edges of things. It felt almost like grief, to think of losing this family too. "Loki! I've got a new victim for you, maybe," called out Jane, cheerfully, and Loki's eyes snapped to her, to her hand, holding Thor's. In that single moment the rug was completely and thoroughly yanked out from under Loki's feet. She'd said she had a victim for him, and she was holding Thor's hand, so she must mean him. That was utterly impossible, completely ridiculous. Thor a bottom? A submissive? The one on the other end of the whip? His mind spun, trying to reconcile that thought with the brother he knew. Of course he knew that many people who were confident and dominant in their everyday lives submitted in private. But that thought refused to mesh with the memories of Thor, always coming out on top, always winning at everything. "So this is Loki, our whip expert. Loki, this is Thor," started Jane. "We've met," interrupted Loki, dryly. "You could say that." Thor rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, his fingers twisting in his long hair awkwardly. Jane looked between them. "What?" "He's my brother," said Thor, gesturing at Loki, with a somewhat strained little smile. "Adopted, former brother," said Loki sharply, more harshly than he'd intended. "So no relation at all." "Hey, Dad's disowning you was not my idea," said Thor, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. Loki rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to spit at the mention of his adoptive father. Jane, looking between them, said, "Ah, well, maybe you can go try the flogging, then?" Loki had no idea what cause the impulse that flashed into his mind. He found he didn't really want to examine it, but knowing exactly how stubborn Thor could be, and exactly how prideful, he said, "You probably should. Single-tail is on the intense side, anyway. It's not for everyone." Thor gave him a flat, annoyed look. "Are you saying that I couldn't take it?" "Of course not. This is an event for newbies, I can tone it down for you if you do decide to try it." Thor's eyes narrowed, and his chin set stubbornly. Loki wanted to smile. "That won't be necessary." Jane blinked. "Uh, Thor? Flogging really is pretty similar. Or caning, I told you the guy who does that is quite good..." "She's right, you should go do something else. You wouldn't dare let me touch you, I'm sure." "I might dare a lot of things," said Thor, giving Loki a hard look. Loki raised his eyebrows, his tone disbelieving. "Really?" "Really," said Thor firmly. Loki let a grin spread across his face. "Well then, let me give you the explanation of how this all works," he said, relaxing into the familiar task of introducing a newbie to what it was that he did. Got him. He still wasn't examining exactly why he wanted Thor at his mercy too closely. The surface-level reasons seemed obvious, he wanted to win yet again, but something else was lurking at the back of his mind, something that had snapped into place on seeing Thor here, in this context, which he was not going to think about. In any case, he'd succeeded in goading his brother into putting himself in Loki's power. He still wasn't going to break the rules, he wouldn't risk his place here, not even if it let him hurt Thor. But he was going to toy with Thor every bit as much as he could, within those rules.
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Thor saw Loki's smile and instantly recognized it. It was the smile that had come with a thousand past pranks, the smile that said "Got you!" He swallowed hard at the sight of it. What the hell had he gotten himself into? "So, I assume you know about safe words?" said Loki, not giving Thor time to think. "Ah. Yes?" "I use a red, yellow, green system while playing here. Red means everything stops, the scene is over, you're done." He gave Thor a somewhat odd look, the smile vanishing for a moment, and said, "You can call that at any time, and there is absolutely no shame in it. You need to be willing for this. Here, in this place, I don't play games with the unwilling." Loki cleared his throat, a little self-consciously, then went on. "Yellow means that something is too much, too uncomfortable, whatever it may be. Yellow is a pause to recalibrate and adjust, before continuing. If everything is good, you can say nothing." The smile returned. "Or make whatever noises you like. If it's not enough, if you want more, then green encourages me to be more intense. You can also, of course, use simple words. We're not doing the sort of scene where I need to ignore a scream of 'no, stop'." The smile grew broader, turned to a grin. "Does that make sense?" "Ah... Yes." "Good." Loki plunged on, still not giving Thor time to think. "I prefer a sensual style. Some people enjoy going all-out immediately and pushing pain to the limits in a brief instant. I find that most bottoms enjoy it more, though, if they get a chance to warm up, to ease into it. So I will start feather-light, merely warming the skin, before increasing the intensity, and will then continue until you reach your limit, whatever that may be. I do, by the way, require bare skin." Another flicker of that grin, Loki's eyes sparking with amusement. "You can take off as much or as little as you like but the shirt, at least, has to go." "Uh. Right." Thor felt his cheeks flushing, but he pulled his t-shirt off over his head and tossed it out of the way. He shifted slightly, then kicked his shoes off, but stopped there, standing on the rubber floor mat in his socks and jeans. He already felt off-balance, vulnerable. Taking off more clothing felt like too much. He looked over at Loki, who was of course also shirtless. He was leanly muscular, his build far more slender than Thor's, but with a wiry strength to it. Thor's shirtless chest was bulkier, heavier, though he wasn't carrying any extra fat on him at all. He didn't exactly work out, but he worked in construction, so he lifted and hauled and manhandled materials and tools all day long. He'd done so ever since he'd been a child, working as a "go-fer" for his father, and he'd worked up to being foreman of the whole construction crew from there, but he wasn't the kind of foreman who sat back and watched the other work, he worked right beside them on every job. He was tanned, too. He went shirtless at work often enough, on hot days. Loki's skin was pale, he obviously still spent most of his time inside. He didn't even have a hint of a tan line on his arms, but it was because his hands and forearms were as pale as the rest of him. With him clad in black leather, the paleness wasn't sallow and unattractive the way it had sometimes seemed in the past, it was dramatic, and suited him somehow. Why the hell are you staring at your brother like that? Thor yanked his thoughts away from how Loki looked. "You can grab on to the frame," Loki tapped the wooden structure, set with various rings and tie points, "but a lot of people find it helpful to be cuffed. It means if your legs go out from under you, you won't fall, you can just lean into it. And restraint is part of the full experience." The grin was back again, mocking Thor, daring him to back down. "Do you want me to cuff you?" Thor swallowed, but nodded. He was in this, he would go all in. There was already a set of heavy cuffs attached to a pair of eye-bolts in the frame by steel clips. Loki unclipped one and took Thor's hand. His long, strong fingers were cool as he wrapped the padded leather around Thor's wrist. Thor felt a shiver go through him, and he swallowed again, tensed and nervous. The cuffs were the stuff of his fantasies, but he'd never picture Loki there when he'd imagined how this scene would go. Wordlessly Loki put the second cuff on Thor, then pulled his hands up one at a time and clipped them to the frame, so that they were just above the level of his head. Thor shivered again as he tugged at them. His arms were far enough apart that he couldn't even get at the cuffs with his teeth, and he certainly wasn't going to be just tearing them out of the frame or something absurd like that. Unless somebody let him out, he wouldn't be going anywhere. His eyes met Loki's for a moment, pale blue to nearly as pale green, and a shudder went through him. The fluttering butterflies of nervousness in his stomach seemed to be warring with something else, some heat deeper within that was stirred by the intensity of that gaze. Thor swallowed hard again, almost wanting to back out of this. He knew he could, here in public especially Loki wouldn't dare to refuse to release him. But he couldn't bring himself to do it, to publicly back down. He had an odd feeling, though, that even if they'd been alone he still wouldn't be retreating. That strange electrical heat snapped from Loki's eyes to his, and he felt intensely vulnerable, yet in a somehow good way. Why should being at his brother's mercy seem suddenly like exactly what he wanted? Was it only because of his submissive fantasies, or was there something more? "Comfy?" said Loki. "Uh. Yes." "Good." He ducked around Thor to stand behind him, and as Thor looked over his shoulder, he saw Loki pick up the twin whips. Oh god, what was he doing? This was insane. "Breathe slowly," said Loki softly, his voice no longer mocking. Thor realized he'd been panting. He took in a long, deep breath and blew it out, then concentrated on breathing slowly, steadily. "That's good. Are you ready?" Thor took another deep breath. "Yes." Flick. Flick. The tips of the whips just kissed Thor's back, first one, then the other, placed with perfect precision so that they just barely touched his skin. It was a tiny, stinging thing, like having a rubber band snapped against the skin, and not even terribly hard. It didn't hurt at all. In fact it was very pleasant as it was repeated—flick, flick, flick, flick—like scratching an itch. The little flicks worked across his back, touching here and there, sometimes moving in steady patterns, sometimes jumping about unpredictably. Thor found himself understanding what Loki had meant about warming the skin as every inch of his back was gradually covered. He let his eyes slide closed, relaxing into it. It was almost like a massage, and he sighed softly. Snap! Thor flinched, sucking in a sharp breath at the sudden, harder strike. It was immediately repeated with the other whip, on the other side of his back. Snap! It still wasn't actually that hard, like being snapped by a rubber band again, but pulled all the way back this time; a sharp, stinging that just bordered on painful. Flick, flick, flick, snap! Flick, flick, flick, snap! Loki created a rhythm, working his way across Thor's back, but then he broke it, flick, flick, snap! Flick, snap! Snap, snap, snap! Thor found himself twitching with each snap. "Breathe," said Loki with a soft chuckle, and Thor realized he'd been panting again, in short shallow gasps. He took another deep breath and relaxed. "That's good." Snap, snap, snap, snap. The whips stung with each blow now, but it was still good, and Thor relaxed back into the sensation. Steady snaps repeated, one, two, one, two, snap, snap, snap, SNAP! "Ah..." Thor couldn't contain the soft cry that escaped him at the harder blow. Once again Loki had increased the intensity. Now it truly hurt, yet the pain was still good. Loki continued, as he had before, slowly increasing the number of harder strikes mixed with the lighter ones, and Thor gasped and flinched at each harder blow, he couldn't help himself. Soon it was nothing but painful strikes, snap, snap, snap, snap! And then one harder still, crack! "Ah!" Thor jerked, pulling at the cuffs. God, that had hurt! The other whip cracked against his back too, and he jerked and cried out again. Then Loki let them fall for a moment and stepped in close, his fingers brushing over the reddened skin of Thor's back, cool against that heat. "Are you doing okay?" Thor blinked, his eyes trying to focus, his scattered thoughts refusing to gather. "...yes." "Good. I can keep going?" "Yes." Loki stepped back then, and the whips went snap, snap, crack! Snap, snap, crack! Each harder blow sent a shock of pain through Thor, and he never quite knew when one was coming, for Loki was constantly changing the rhythm as he worked. "Ah!" Thor yanked at the cuffs, his body jerking at yet another sharp crack of a whip against his skin. His whole back seemed on fire now, and it was the very worst when Loki hit a spot he'd already struck, laying fresh pain atop the older ache. "Remember to breathe." Thor sucked in a ragged breath. God, this was intense. It was hard to think now, hard to do anything but feel. Loki increased the intensity still more, with a hard crack, crack! And then again with hardly a pause, crack, crack, crack, crack! Thor cried out each time, shuddering, lost in it. Loki's voice pulled him back to something like consciousness for a moment. "If I hit you much harder, I will probably leave marks," said Loki. "Is it okay if I keep going? I can stop here if you like." Loki's voice wasn't teasing as Thor might have expected, wasn't goading him or mocking his cries of pain. It was soft, calm, gentle even. Thor panted for a moment, trying to find words to respond with. It was tempting to take the offered out, this was already far beyond what he'd expected when he'd begun. But he knew he hadn't gone all the way, hadn't pushed to his true limit, so he shook his head, managing a breathless response. "No... You can keep going." "Alright. Remember to breathe, though." "Right." Thor drew in another long breath. As he let it out, Loki hit him again, hard, that same crack, crack! "Ah!" He shuddered, panting for a moment, then remembered and took another deliberate breath, trying to stay relaxed. Crack, crack, crack, CRACK! The cry Thor let out at that final, hardest blow was nearly a scream. That was the kind of strike that people thought of when they heard "whipping", the kind that would leave welts, maybe even draw blood, and it sent intense pain shocking through him, almost too much to bear. He could call out "red" now, and stop it there. No. Not yet. A little more. He couldn't give in yet. Crack, crack, crack, CRACK! "Ah!" Thor found he was hanging from the cuffs, his knees suddenly too weak to hold him. He shuddered, then drew in another deep breath, slowly getting his feet back under himself. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Each perfectly precise blow was separate, distinct, and Thor let out a pain-filled cry with each one. "Ah god!" he said at the last blow, his knees failing him again, and finally it was too much. Maybe he could have somehow endured more if he had to, but he didn't have to. "Stop, stop, red, I'm done," he said. Loki instantly set the whips aside and went to him. "You did very well," he said softly, gently. "Very, very well. Here, let's get you down." He started undoing the cuffs, his shoulder under Thor's arm, supporting him. "Let your arms down slowly, don't just let them drop, they'll be stiff after being raised for so long." "Okay," mumbled Thor, easing his arms down, feeling that ache, though it was nothing next to the lingering fire that still burned along his back. Loki helped him stumble dazedly over to the aftercare area, lowering him to sit on a large beanbag. He knelt beside it and rubbed his hand along Thor's arm slowly, gently. "How are you feeling?" "Uh... Good. Strange. I..." Thor felt a shudder go through him, and suddenly he was shaking, shivering, somehow instantly chilled. He teeth chattered until he clenched them. It was almost not cold, though, it was something else, something deep, something that made him feel like crying as he shook. It was a kind of shock, and a kind of catharsis as well. "I'll get you a blanket," said Loki, rising. "Hey there. That looked intense." Jane was kneeling on the other side suddenly, while Loki was folding a soft blanket over his shoulders. He hissed as it settled on his back, but despite the lingering pain there, it seemed the whips hadn't broken skin, the blanket didn't feel like it was touching raw flesh. He was just very, very sore. And also cold. He shivered again. "How are you?" "I...don't know. Cold." Jane frowned faintly. "Do you want a cup of tea? They have some upstairs, I could go get some." Thor nodded. "Yes. Please." She left, leaving him alone with Loki again. "You did very well," he repeated, still gently touching Thor's arm. There was a hint of that old, wicked smile on his face, suddenly. "I suppose I should have known you'd have a high pain tolerance, brother, after all the times you managed to hurt yourself growing up." Thor managed a small smile of his own. "After all the times you hurt me," he said. "I remember the first time I had to get stitches. You're the one who pushed me off the top bunk of the bunk bed." He laughed, but he his own laughter didn't touch him somehow. He felt very strange, distant from everything, as if he were floating. He was still cold, shivering with strange after-shocks of the pain he'd felt, yet he also felt good, his mind hazed with the endorphin rush of all he'd been through. He could hardly believe Loki had been so good, or that he was being so kind now. It had been nothing like he would have expected from his brother, and nothing like his fantasies either. Yet it had been every bit as good as those fantasies, and exactly what he needed just now.
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Loki knelt next to Thor, still stroking his arm, and feeling very strange about how this evening had gone. It had been so easy to slip into his usual role, to treat Thor just like any bottom he'd ever whipped at a party. And now it felt as if it would be all too easy to slip back into being brothers as well. He'd already called Thor brother once, without even meaning to. Yet the idea of putting Thor back into that place in his life, into the role of older brother who he teased and pranked whenever he could get away with it felt...wrong. That wasn't what he wanted. What he did want was murkier, though maybe that was just because he didn't want to admit to exactly what was slithering around at the back of his mind. What he'd just done had been enjoyable. Maybe too enjoyable. Thor was exactly the kind of bottom he liked. He'd been expressive, even beautiful, in his pain. It made Loki want to see what he did in response to other things, and some of those things were quite definitely not brotherly. He shook his head, his mind a jumble of conflicting thoughts, and looked back over to the whip station, with its bondage frame. There was a couple standing there, peering curiously at the whips that he'd left draped over a chair beside it. He had better go and see what they wanted, and make certain they didn't touch his precious, personal toys. "Will you be alright waiting here while Jane gets your tea? I see there's somebody else who seems to be interested in trying the whips." "I'll be fine." Then a strange expression flicked across Thor's face, a realization and a stab of something painful that made his clear blue eyes go dark. He reached out and caught Loki's hand. "Loki, brother... Before you go, I have to tell you. Part of the reason why I'm here, why I needed distraction, escape, and...release tonight..." He shivered again, and not with cold this time. "You should know. I'm very sorry." Loki tilted his head curiously. What was Thor getting at? "Brother?" "Loki... Our father is dying."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Odin looked out of place in a hospital bed. His skin was gray and his expression vague, but his shoulders were still broad, his body still that of a man who'd done hard physical work every day of his life. Thor looked down at him, strangely aware as he did of the way his back ached beneath his shirt. It had been two days, but the welts hadn't healed completely yet. It was odd to have those two thoughts together. The way he felt about his father, confusing and complicated and now tinged with a looming grief, and the way he felt about his brother, even more confusing, even more complicated, and with a strange new awareness of potential lying between them. The nurse stepped into the room, and Thor stepped back from his dying father's bed. "Is there any change?" he said, his voice pitched low and soft. "No. He's due for his next painkiller now. We'll delay it a little so he'll be more alert when your brother gets here." Thor nodded and pulled out his phone to check the time. Loki should be here any minute now. In fact he was a little bit late. Just as Thor started to wonder if his ever-untrustworthy, ever-pranking brother would make a joke or a lie of this too, the door swung open and Loki stepped in. There was no sign of the prankster in him just then. His expression was serious, and he was dressed in a suit, with a black shirt and deep forest green tie, dark on dark, as if already in mourning. It made his face look shockingly pale beneath his dark hair. "Thor." Loki gave Thor a nod, but his eyes were already going past Thor, to the big man lying in the hospice bed. "How is he?" "Dying," said Thor softly, bitterly. "And there's nothing they can do for him?" Loki gave the nurse a sharp glance. She said nothing. Thor replied, still bitter, "By the time they found the cancer, it had spread everywhere. It's in every organ in his body, including his brain. He must have been in terrible pain for years and years, perhaps even since before you...left. But you know what he's like." Loki's face twisted, setting into a hard expression that matched the bitterness Thor hadn't been able to keep from his voice. "I know," he said. All the laughter had gone out of him. His eyes fixed on Odin again and he crossed the room to stand beside his adoptive father's bed. Thor did as well, standing beside Loki. He had an odd urge to take Loki's hand, but didn't. Odin's single eye wandered the room, but came to rest suddenly on Loki's face, and something in his gaze sharpened. He looked at Thor, standing at his brother's side, and a small smile blossomed on his face. "My sons." Loki's expression twisted again, the hardness of it cracking, and he suddenly looked as though he might cry. His lips parted, as if he might answer, but then he looked away and said nothing. "Father," said Thor. "I am sorry." Odin's voice was weak, frail, but loud in the silence of the room. "Father," repeated Thor again, lamely. "Loki. I am very sorry. You never deserved the way I treated you. And Thor... I am sorry too. I left so much undone." Loki still said nothing. Thor shook his head. "It'll be alright, father." "It won't be. Everything I built will come to ruin. I forgot... There was always so much to do, so many other things. There was always more time. I forgot, and it is too late now." "I don't understand," said Thor. With a sudden bang the door to the little hospice room was flung open and a woman stepped inside. She was tall, nearly as tall as Thor himself, with a strong, angular face and a mane of black hair. She wore a severe suit, in a style that was almost mannish. Her eyes were a dark, jade green, with a heavy, world-weary look to them. She was terribly familiar somehow, but Thor couldn't place her. Surely he would remember meeting somebody like her. She strolled up to the foot of the bed and stood, looking coldly down at Odin, with her hands on her hips. He stared up at her, his single eye wide with something that might have been fear. "Hela." Then he gave a shudder, his eye rolling back in his head, and with one last breath, sharply indrawn and then slowly let out, he went perfectly still. His eye was still open, but it no longer saw any more than the other beneath its patch, for he was dead. Thor felt as if he'd been punched in the gut, twice. Odin was dead. And this strangely familiar woman was Hela, his older sister, who he hadn't seen since he'd been seven years old. Hela stood, looking down at Odin's body, and her already hard expression grew even harder. "Coward," she spat softly, then she turned and walked away, leaving Thor and Loki standing stunned behind her.
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"She's in there already," hissed Loki, grabbing Thor's arm as he was about to walk into the lawyer's office. "And we need to talk, now." Odin had been dead for only a day, but his will was being read now, as there were apparently instructions for his funeral in it. There was also, though, the matter of inheritance, and Hela was apparently named in the will. Loki already knew that he wasn't, and he certainly hadn't been invited to the reading, but he'd turned up anyway. He knew it was foolish, but he wanted to be there, to hear the final pronouncement of his disinheritance. He also knew Thor would be there, and he wanted a chance to tell Thor some things he probably needed to know. He also wanted to find out what the hell was going on. "Loki? Shouldn't we just go in and get this over with?" "Not until you tell me who the hell this Hela person is." "She's my—our older sister." Loki gave Thor a flat look. "I was unaware we had any other siblings." Thor shrugged. "I suppose you never met her... Dad disowned her just before adopting you. He'd get very mad if anybody brought her up." Loki snorted. Apparently he wasn't alone in that particular honor. "I never met her, no, but her name is all over the company books. She was Dad's partner when he founded it. And Thor... If you think what I did to the books was bad, what she was doing with them makes that look like nothing. The business was dirty back then, top to bottom." Loki tried to not take too much pleasure in Thor's stunned expression. "Dirty?" "Yes! Every kind of dirty a construction company can be, including I'm pretty sure helping launder money for the mob!" Loki kept his voice a whisper, but the words hissed out between his teeth with passionate intensity. "Not Dad. He wouldn't do that..." "No? He worked very hard on his image, brother, but you and I should both know that it was work. He wasn't a kindly person." "I..." Thor halted, and shook his head. "We should go in." "Very well. I suppose there's nothing we can do about whatever's coming in any case." "What could be coming? The lawyer will read the will, you won't be in it, which I'm very sorry about, I'll take over the business, and life will just...go on." Loki shook his head. "Perhaps. But I have a feeling. You said Dad disinherited Hela and threw her out of the family before he adopted me, but if that's so, why did the lawyer insist she be here? I didn't get any such invitation. Something is going on, and I have a feeling it's not good." Thor hesitated. He gave a brief nod, but said, "We still have to go in. Come on, we'll be late." Loki nodded as well, and walked through the door on his brother's heels. Hela was lounging in a comfortable chair, while the lawyer sat upright, looking more than a little stiff and uncomfortable even though this was his own office. He had a slender folder on the desk in front of him. "Ah, Mr Odinson, you're here, we can start," he said. His eyes flicked to Loki, then in confusion. There was only one more chair in the room. Loki felt the corner of his mouth twisting in a wry smile. It seemed he hadn't been expected. He leaned against the wall next to the door and gestured at Thor, who shot him a look but dropped down to sit in the chair. "Er. Very well. Let's begin." The lawyer picked up the folder, pulling a few sheets from it, and started reading. The first section of the will was about Odin's funeral. He wished to be cremated, it seemed, and to have a wake rather than a more conventional funeral. Loki found himself exchanging a knowing look with Thor about that. He would certainly find it easier to get drunk and tell old stories about his adoptive father than to give any sort of conventional eulogy. You could get away with cursing a man at a wake. The lawyer reached the end of the funeral details and picked up the next sheet. He looked at Thor, and then at Loki, and cleared his throat awkwardly. "I, ah, am given to understand that there is a life insurance policy that is somewhat more recent than this document. You will have to approach the insurance company about it. But, ah..." He looked back at the page in his hands, and cleared his throat again, then began to read. "All my assets, funds, possessions etc., including and especially referring to all assets associated with Asgard Building Co., are to go solely and entirely to my daughter Hela." Hela, who had sat silent all this time, sprawled across her chair, turned her weary eyes on Thor, and a slow, gloating smile spread across her face. "So." Thor looked stunned. He had expected to inherit all, and no doubt it was shocking to find he'd been disinherited in favor of the sister he barely knew. Loki, though, was frowning thoughtfully. Something the lawyer had said caught at his mind. The life insurance policy was "more recent", yet Loki himself could remember dealing with some of the paperwork involved in it, back when he'd done all the company books for his father. So it couldn't be that recent. Perhaps Odin had updated it, but that didn't seem likely. His paperwork had always been in a shambles, that was why Loki had stepped in to take it over, and no doubt why Hela had handled it before. "Exactly when was this will put on paper?" he asked the lawyer. "Er, in 1998, sir." Loki laughed. Twenty-one years ago. In 1998 he'd been six years old, still living in an orphanage, two years short of being adopted by Odin. He threw back his head and peals of terrible, bitter hilarity escaped him. "That fool. That lazy, stupid, utter fool! I was never disinherited, because I was never inherited in the first place! Ah, ha, ha, ha!" He gave Thor a broad, manic grin. "So how does it feel, brother, to join me in getting nothing from the old bastard? At least you can take comfort in having merely been forgotten, no doubt if he'd remembered I'd still be out of luck. Though who knows, I could have gotten lucky if the timing on any updates the old fool made had been just right!" "Loki..." Thor's voice was unsure, baffled. The reality of this was obviously still sinking in for him. Loki wanted to laugh more, but managed to get control of himself. "Is there anything else we need to do to make this state of affairs official?" said Hela coolly to the lawyer, levering herself up out of the chair. "Ah, not just now, ma'am. There will be some paperwork later on, to properly transfer the company itself, but not just now." "Excellent." She gave Thor and Loki a long look each, then strode out into the hall. Thor sat in the chair, still looking poleaxed. Loki almost wanted to start laughing again. Instead he reached out. "Come on, brother. Let's go get drunk and commiserate." Thor looked up for a moment, then took Loki's hand and let him pull him to his feet. Out in the hall the pair found Hela waiting, leaning against one wall. She straightened as she saw them and favored them both with a smile that was more than a little smug. "So. I have gotten Asgard back at last. Our father started well, and built something of worth, but he stopped far short of what it could have been. Asgard Building can grow far beyond Odin's limited vision, and I'm prepared to pay you both well if you'll join me in seeking my vision for the company." He smile was almost sickeningly sweet as she turned it on Thor. "You've been running things yourself for a while now, I could certainly use your help." "When you say you have a vision for the company, does that include mob deals?" said Loki sardonically, arms folded, eyebrows quirking upward. "It includes a great many profitable endeavors. I have some quite powerful connections, and it would be a shame to not use them to my—to our—benefit." "That's a yes, then," said Loki with a wry smile. "I suppose. So are you with me?" "Dearest sister, who I didn't even know I had until rather recently, I'm afraid it must be a no. I have had several close brushes with the law already, and I really, truly do not need any more. I'm far too pretty for prison." He gave her a little half bow. Her smile went flat and she snorted. "Fool. My plans could make you rich." "I'll settle for not having to worry about dropping the soap." He lifted his eyebrows, smiling lightly at her, but he felt a chill go down his spine as he did. Her heavy gaze was terrifying. He had a feeling that the expression in those eyes wouldn't change one bit if he were lying dying at her feet. "And what of you, Thor?" Hela turned that gaze, somehow flat and intense at once, on Thor. "Asgard shouldn't be yours," he growled. "You only inherited it because Father forgot to change his will." "Nevertheless I did inherit. It's mine, just as it always should have been. I built it. I made it great. Odin decided some nebulous 'public image' mattered more to him than his own flesh and blood, than everything I'd done for him over the years. It's only justice that I get what I built." She shook herself, and looked at Thor again. "It's mine. But I'm willing to be generous, if you'll join me." "I think not," said Thor flatly, and he brushed past her and strode down the hall. Loki followed, feeling an itch between his shoulders. He half expected to hear Hela call after them, or to have her literally stab him in the back, but she said nothing, merely letting them go. Then again, there was no reason for her to need them. The company was hers, after all, and there was nothing at all they could do about it.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Loki sprawled on the couch, head back against it, unfocused gaze looking at the shadowed ceiling. His head ached just a little; even at this hour he was still just a bit hung over from his father's wake the night before. He was at Jeff's house, the place with the dungeon in the basement, and it was an "open house" tonight, a casual play party that the self-styled "Grandmaster" of the local kink community held every week. The monthly weekend parties were always bigger, especially when there was a themed event like the newbie tastings. Loki liked the weekday parties, though. They were quiet, but he nearly always found somebody to play with. His skills were very much in demand. Although he sometimes switched, and tonight he was considering asking someone, maybe Jeff, who was good at caning, to give him the release of endorphins that came from being on the receiving end of such activities. Toying with people was fun, but after the week he'd had, he wasn't sure he had the energy for it. A knock at the door heralded a new arrival, and when Loki looked up, he let out an involuntary growl of irritation. It was Thor, god dammit. The last person, aside from maybe Hela, that he wanted to see tonight. He'd had more than his fill of family recently, and having that once again intrude here, on the one place that was his refuge, felt intolerable. Thor came straight over to him, though, like the world's most annoying magnet seeking a lodestone. He stood in front of where Loki sat sprawled on the couch and shifted from one foot to the other. "Loki..." "Yes, brother?" Loki tried not to snarl it, but the best he could manage was to make it sound sarcastic instead. "I, ah, I was wondering if you might..." He cleared his throat nervously. "Might let you kneel before, me, perhaps? Might play with you again? If you want to worship a family member, I'm sure that Hela would be simply delighted. I am not in the mood, tonight." Thor scowled darkly at him. "You're the one who should be with her, not me. I'm apparently the only member of the family who isn't a criminal." "What, you've never gotten a speeding ticket? Jaywalking, perhaps?" Loki sneered up at Thor. Thor snorted. "I've never dealt with the mob. And I've also never embezzled thousands of dollars from a trusted family member's struggling business." Loki came up off the couch in a sudden rush, standing almost nose-to-nose with Thor, anger flashing through him. "Oh yes, that's quite easy for you to say, brother. You were Odin's golden boy, his real son, the one he doted on constantly. I'm frankly astonished he forgot to update the will to leave you everything. I was only there to make him look good, and we both know that. I was just a prop, a showpiece, the poor orphan child whose adoption showed what a shining community pillar Odin was. But admit it, brother, I was never going to inherit anything and we both know it. I was only taking my inheritance the only way I could." Thor took a step back, but only one, and his teeth were clenched in anger. "You were only stealing from your own father. You're lucky he settled for throwing you out and didn't turn you over to the police. Did you know about Hela, then, did you decide to follow in her footsteps? I'm surprised you didn't jump at the chance to join her in destroying everything Father ever built! For all I know you and she conspired to make certain Father wouldn't change the will and she'd get everything." "If I had conspired to do anything, I would own Asgard now, I'm not a fool like you are. I'm not a fool like Odin was." Loki stepped forward as he spoke, filled with a lifetime's worth of white-hot rage, and Thor gave way before him. "But what if I had? You've already judged me and found me wanting. Father judged me and found me wanting when I was eight years old. Why shouldn't I be the villain, if I'm going to be treated as one? There's nothing I can do to make you think well of me. You're only here to use me once again, just like Father used me." He kept going until Thor was backed up against the wall, his brother's blue eyes wide in shock. "I... No, it's not like that." Thor looked suddenly stricken. "Loki... I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of that. I didn't come here to start a fight. None of this came out the way I wanted it to." His expression twisted, suddenly full of pain. "You're right, I'm quite stupid, and I am probably trying to use you. I'm sorry. I just... I just wanted to feel what I felt last time. I've never felt anything like it before." His eyes were sincere, shining with it, and he stood with his back to the wall, hands held up placatingly, beseechingly. Loki rolled his eyes at Thor's sincerity, his anger wanting to transmute to laughter, as it so often did. "In the mood I'm in now, brother, if I had you restrained before me, it would be far, far too easy to break the rules, to hurt you until you screamed for me to stop, and then to not stop, and just keep hurting you. Then I would be thrown out of here as well, disinherited once more by the closest thing I have left to family. I will not let that happen. So please, just...go somewhere else. Play with someone else. There are other people who could hit you with things, I hardly have a monopoly on that skill." Loki stepped back, gesturing for Thor to step away from the wall, to where the others present were staring—or trying not to stare—at the brothers. Thor shifted his balance, no longer leaning against the wall, and his expression was uncertain, conflicted. He looked at the others, then back to Loki. "If it would make up for how foolish I've been, I'd happily let you hurt me as much as you like, brother," he finally said, softly. Loki couldn't keep his eyebrows from rising practically to his hairline. "Thor... Go play with someone else. I really do not want to deal with what happens when you call red and I don't stop." Thor swallowed hard, and his face set in an expression of stubborn determination. Loki knew that expression well. He was prepared for the extended, futile argument they were about to embark on. He wasn't prepared, though, for what Thor did next. He went to his knees, looking up at Loki, then lowering his head. "I don't want someone else. I want you. I will swear to not say red if you want me to so swear. You can do whatever you like to me." Loki blinked down at Thor, feeling stunned. It had been shocking enough to realize that Thor was to some degree submissive. Seeing him offer such utter surrender as this, though, was an impossibility, even as Loki saw it with his own eyes, heard it with his own ears. How could the brother who had so often won their childhood scraps be here, at his feet? How could the golden child who was heir to it all kneel like this? But then that wasn't reality, was it? Loki had won sometimes, whenever he could use guile and not strength, and Thor hadn't inherited anything at all, Hela had. This moment, this act of offered capitulation, was far more real, far more true than the idealized version of his brother that had lived in Loki's head all this time, wasn't it? "Brother," said Loki softly. He reached out and dared to touch Thor, to run his fingers along the line of his chin, lifting his head so their eyes could meet. "Don't say that lightly. In fact don't say that at all. For all my...theatrics, this world and its rules are too important to me for me to disregard them. Say red if you need to. But if you play with me tonight, I sincerely mean it when I say I will hurt you. I am going to make you bleed. I am going to keep on when you say no." He looked into Thor's eyes, and saw comprehension there. "I am going to make you scream and beg, I won't hold back one bit. Do you truly want that? Would you be so foolish as to consent to that, brother?" Thor licked his lips. He was breathing fast as he looked up at Loki, but he nodded. "Yes. To all of it." Loki shook his head. "You are very much a fool. But then I suppose so am I. Come on, then." He held out his hand, and Thor took it. Loki pulled him to his feet, then snapped his fingers and said, mockingly, "Heel, boy." Thor's eyes went wide, but he nodded again, and followed obediently at Loki's heels as he went down the stairs to the dungeon. The large open space was nearly empty, but the one couple already there was using the frame that Thor had been cuffed to last time. One of them, a middle-aged woman, was chained to it, stripped down to almost nothing, while the other, a much younger woman, was standing behind her with a short, multi-tailed suede flogger in one hand, alternating between hitting with it and caressing with her other hand. "Hmm. I suppose I could still use the single-tails on you elsewhere, there are other options. Or perhaps..." Loki frowned, thinking. "Let me see." He'd set his toy bag down next to the bondage frame, and he retrieved it and began sorting through the contents, considering. Flogger? Too soft for how he felt tonight. Electroplay kit? No, far too passive. Knife and blood play kit? Not safe in his current mood. Then he spotted a little velvet bag whose contents he almost never used, and grinned. "Ah, there we are. Perfect." Thor, hovering beside him, peered at the bag curiously. "What is that?" Loki grinned, a feral, dangerous sort of grin. "I think I'll let that be a surprise. Now," he sprang to his feet, tossing the toy bag against the wall, "let's claim a massage table, I think that will suit this tiny little toy of mine." Thor blinked at him a little uncertainly, but he nodded and followed Loki over to a flat, waist-high table with a padded top. "Now, strip," said Loki sharply. He noticed a few people from upstairs had come down after them, no doubt curious what sort of play scene might follow the rather real scene the pair had given them earlier. Thor gave the audience a glance, and Loki saw that his cheeks were turning more than a little red. Loki grinned again. He was quite certainly not going to have any mercy on Thor tonight. "Go on." "Right." Thor pulled his shirt off and kicked his shoes off without any hesitation. Loki found his eyes running over Thor's muscled chest. That had always been part of what he'd hated about Thor, of course. Thor was a perfect specimen of masculinity, and had been even when they'd been children, especially compared to Loki, who was very much...not. Loki flinched away from that well-worn train of thought. Envying Thor's body would do him no more good now than it ever had. But enjoying it, on the other hand... Loki smiled. Thor shifted uncomfortably under that smile, hesitating, then finally took his pants off. Then he looked at Loki, his expression clearly saying that he wanted to stop with his underwear still on. He was wearing boxer-briefs that clung to his body and outlined his oh-so-perfect assets nicely, but Loki wanted bare skin, so he just grinned more. "All of it. Then get up on the table on your stomach." Thor swallowed. "Okay." He peeled the briefs off, leaving himself completely and—if Loki was being honest—rather gloriously nude. He immediately climbed up onto the table, as if eager to get at least somewhat covered up. Loki snickered. "Make yourself comfortable. I intend to hurt you quite a lot, but it's no fun if you're too distracted by your arms falling asleep to really focus on what I'm doing." "Right." Thor shifted a little bit. The padded table was covered with a sheet, so the material was soft and comfortable enough even against bare skin. He shifted again, pillowing his head on his forearms, then nodded. "Now, one moment while I prepare." Loki opened up the bag and poured a handful of clinking silver pieces out into his palm. There were five of them, each one a ring, carefully fitted to go snugly over the middle joint of one of his fingers, and each one bearing a long arc of shining steel, sharpened to a fine point. He slipped them on one by one, until he had five gleaming claws on his right hand. He flexed his fingers where he knew Thor could see them clearly, and his grin was evil. "They're quite capable of drawing blood. I did promise I would make you bleed. But I'll start gently. I'd hate for this to be over too soon." Loki stepped close and ran his hand down Thor's back. He could feel that Thor was shivering ever so slightly, though the air in the room was quite warm. Loki felt himself trembling faintly too as conflicting emotions churned through him. Last time Loki had been able to put the fact that it was Thor, his brother, almost entirely out of his mind and just treat him like any play partner. This time that wasn't so easily done. A lifetime's worth of resentment was still boiling at the back of his mind, making him want to lash out, to cause as much pain as possible, as swiftly as possible. The other thing at the back of his mind, though, and taking up some of the front as well, was his sudden intense awareness of Thor's body, and the way his life-long envy of it seemed to be transmuting to something else entirely. Said body was very much on display, even with Thor face down with his arms folded under his head. Loki's hand caressed over corded muscle, just stroking warmly with the flat of his palm, not letting the claws touch yet, and part of him wanted to skip the pain entirely and try for something much more like pleasure. He put that aside as best he could. Thor quite certainly hadn't consented to that. Instead Loki curled his fingers and let the claws brush down the length of Thor's back, along his spine. They left the faintest possible pale scratches behind them, and Thor shivered again. "Just as with the whips, I'll warm you up, get you ready to take more, and then I'll start really hurting you." Loki ran the claws over Thor again, brushing with a feather-light touch, enjoying the feel of Thor's warm skin under his fingers. His hands were always cold, so it was pleasant, and he knew that both fingers and steel were leaving cold trails along Thor's back. Thor shivered again, intensely, and closed his eyes. He was already breathing faster. Loki chuckled as he noticed that. "Remember to breathe, brother." "Mmhmm." Thor drew in a deep breath, and as he let it out, Loki raked the claws down his back, harder than he had before. Thor let out a low grunt, and Loki grinned and kept going, dragging past his hip and over his ass. He went all the way down to his thigh, leaving a set of parallel scratches down the whole length of his body. Then he dragged the claws back up over the same ground, digging in harder, until Thor let out a pained cry that was sweet indeed to Loki's
ears. He lightened his touch then, caressing again, the claws barely touching. He was gentle, until suddenly he wasn't, digging the claws in hard along Thor's ribs and drawing them sideways across to his spine. They left red scratch marks behind them now. "Ah!" Thor jerked, and Loki laughed, and ran the flat of his palm back over the marks he'd just left. Loki kept at it, going back and forth between gentle touches and painful scratches, enjoying the noises Thor made, the way he twitched, the way those magnificent muscles moved and tensed beneath Loki's touch. He'd only just begun, though. He dug in the claws hard over Thor's ass, and down to the soft spot just at the top of the thigh, until Thor was whimpering in pain, his hands gripping the edge of the table, shoulders bunching up with tension. Then Loki leaned in and whispered, "Your whimpers are delightful, brother. So submissive. So pathetic. If Odin could hear them, could see you right now, what would he think of his golden child?" He heard Thor suck in a sharp, shocked breath and he laughed. "I did say I was going to hurt you, brother. I never said it would only be physically." He dug the claws in harder, up from Thor's ass along his back, and saw tiny beads of blood here and there on the lines he left this time. Thor let out a trembling, whimpering cry of pain, his body shuddering beneath Loki's touch. Loki hissed in satisfaction, teeth bared, and said, "Look what you've been reduced to. Submitting to someone like me, just so you can get a little rush. You're left with nobody in the world but your wretched little brother now, you know. How sad is that?" Thor drew in a trembling breath. "Y-you... Ah..." He gasped and shuddered again as Loki scraped the claws down his back, leaving another set of narrow, bloody scratches beside the first. "Ah god... Y-you... You're not wretched," he gasped out. "If you're trying to get mercy from me, you won't get it," snarled Loki, digging the claws in harder, the lines deepening from thin scratches to bloody gouges. "Ah! God!" Thor's cry bordered on being a scream, and the table creaked where he was gripping the edge, pulling at it as his whole body tensed. "Remember to breathe," said Loki, mockingly, though what Thor had just said coiled uneasily in his mind. Thor drew in a long breath and his shoulders loosened as he let it out. "I'm not ashamed of submitting to you," he said. Loki felt himself baring his teeth again, his breath hissing between them. The claws dug in harder still, and Thor pressed his forehead against the table, his body jerking as Loki left five puncture marks in his ass. "I said I won't give you any mercy," he spat at Thor. "Ah! God! I'm not asking for any." Thor panted several rapid breaths, then drew in another long, calming one. "I said I wouldn't say red. You can do what you want. I meant it. But I also meant it that I'm not ashamed of you." Loki's grip loosened and he stepped back, seeing what he'd just done to Thor, the bloody gouges down his back, ending at the deeper marks on his ass, and a shudder went through him. "And I said you should say red if you needed to! You're an absolute lunatic." I'm an absolute lunatic. What the hell am I doing? "Hah. Yes, well..." Thor relaxed, and Loki suddenly couldn't resist stepping back in and leaving one last set of deep claw marks all the way down Thor's back, all the way from shoulder to hip, crossing the previous ones. "Ah! Fuck!" Thor arched, panting hard again, and Loki, lifting his hand, saw there was blood on the tips of the claws. With a sudden dark grin he licked it off. The taste was good, copper and sweet-salt. Thor, looking sideways at Loki, his whole body trembling as he did, had wide, shocked eyes at the sight. Loki laughed and licked another claw off. "Why so shocked, brother? You taste good." "I... Ah... That's good..." He continued to tremble faintly, and his voice shook too. Loki laughed again. "You are quite out of it, you're talking all sorts of nonsense. Here, I've done more than enough. Let me go get the first aid kit and see to the mess I've made." "You're done?" said Thor, a little hesitantly. Loki wondered what Thor would say if he wasn't. But he'd gone too far already. "Yes, I'm done." "Oh good." Thor let his head fall completely to the table and went limp, panting again. "God." "You should have called red, brother," said Loki softly, a little sadly. He shouldn't have done that, no matter what he'd felt, no matter what Thor had said. "It's fine. I would have if I'd wanted to." Loki shook his head. "I still think you're mad as a hatter. But then so am I. I'll be right back." He shed his claws, tucking them back into their bag, then retrieved the first aid kit from its shelf in the aftercare area and set it on the table beside Thor. "Now, unfortunately the next bit is going to hurt at least as much as doing that to you in the first place did." He laughed. "Or perhaps it's fortunately. In any case, try not to scream too much." "Oh god," groaned Thor, looking over at Loki as he got out the bottle of alcohol. "It's got to be sterilized, sorry." Loki laughed again. He was sorry, but he couldn't help but be amused all the same. "Get it over with, then," growled Thor. Loki snickered and wetted a clean cloth with the alcohol. "Very well then. Here goes." Then he swiped it over the claw marks. Thor clenched his teeth, hissing in pain, then let out a cry as Loki reached the deeper marks on his ass and rubbed more vigorously there. "Fuck!" "Almost done," said Loki, and he swiped the cloth over the other set of bloody marks. "Ah, fuck!" When Loki lifted the now-bloody cloth away, Thor was panting hard again. "There, the hard part's over. Now I should probably at least bandage this one." He patted Thor's ass, right next to the punctures. Thor snorted, but didn't say anything as Loki applied gauze and tape as best he could to the area. He considered the scratch marks, but they were fairly shallow and seemed to have already stopped bleeding. "I believe I'm done," he said finally. "Though you will want to have a care with what shirts you wear tonight, as you may bleed a little more if you move wrong and break the scabs back open." Thor nodded and levered himself slowly up until he was sitting on the table. He hissed at that, since he was sitting on the worst of his injuries. "Here, lets go sit on something softer." Loki held out a hand, and Thor steadied himself with it willingly as he climbed off the table. "Ah, first, at least some clothing," he said, though, once his feet were on the floor. Loki chuckled again, and Thor's cheeks flushed, but Loki also picked up Thor's briefs and handed them over. Thor donned them swiftly. Then a shiver went through him. "Gods. I feel cold again. I..." He hesitated, looking at the rest of his clothes. "You can get dressed if you like, or you can sit down and I'll fetch you a blanket. Here." Loki took Thor's arm again, and Thor nodded silently and let himself be pulled to the aftercare corner. Loki settled him in the middle of the largest beanbag there, and grabbed a blanket. He carefully draped it around Thor's shoulders, then sat beside him. The part of Loki that had been noticing Thor's body all this time noticed it again, and how Loki was right there beside it. And indeed without Loki even having to do anything, Thor leaned against him, resting his head on Loki's shoulder. Loki felt his own cheeks heating faintly, and he tried to push those thoughts away. Thor might not be his literal brother, but he was almost certainly not interested in that sort of thing all the same. Yet for now, as they rested together in the aftermath of the intense moment they'd shared together, Loki felt a warm glow somewhere deep within. He sighed softly, and rested his head atop Thor's. That feeling of intimacy was probably a lie, and not to be trusted, but he couldn't resist it. Thor echoed his sigh and tucked his head lower, beneath Loki's chin. Loki carefully, gingerly, slipped an arm around Thor, trying to not put pressure on the marks on his back. Thor settled more comfortably into that embrace, his head resting against Loki's chest, and Loki closed his eyes and let the warmth blossom within him. It was a lie, and it would betray him, but it was good, perhaps even better than the taste of Thor's blood or the sound of his cries had been.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Thor sat on a barstool and regarded the amber pint in front of him. He could finally sit again without having to be careful of exactly how he did it. The lines down his back were healed as well. They'd scarred up as they did, faint but visible white lines making an X down his back. He felt very strange about that. Loki had marked him. Something about that seemed...intimate. Something Loki had done would be on his body for years, perhaps forever. Scars sometimes faded, but sometimes they didn't. He hadn't been back to the "Grandmaster's" house since then. There had been two more of the weekly parties there, but he'd been still healing for the first, and some strange uncertainty had made him skip the second. A third was coming up tomorrow and he still didn't know if he was going to go. The intensity of what Loki had done to him had been terrifying. Not because of Loki himself, but because of the way Thor had responded. For the more Loki had hurt him, the more he had wanted to submit further. He'd wanted to break down every barrier between them, somehow, and belong to Loki completely, utterly. Sometimes just seeing the marks on his back when he looked behind him at the mirror sent a shiver of that urge through him. He wanted to kneel at Loki's feet again, maybe even call him Master, and do anything and everything he asked. Some of the thoughts about what "anything" might entail were even more disturbing that the submissive urge in and of itself. Thor knew perfectly well that he wasn't completely straight. He'd known that ever since he'd been a kid running "go-fer" errands on construction sites and had started noticing the bodies of the men working there. Being with women had always been easier, though, and he liked women just fine, so he'd never pursued a man before. The idea that the first one might be his brother was disturbing. Even if Loki was adopted, they'd still grown up together, and something about that seemed wrong. Then again, his desire to submit to Loki was probably at least as wrong. He chuckled to himself and took another swig of the beer. Society just hadn't developed a specific taboo against inter-family kink, that was all. "Thor! Long time, no see!" A familiar voice pulled his mind from those uncomfortable thoughts, and he turned and gave a grinning, back-slapping greeting to the man who'd come up behind him. "Heimdall! How is life treating you?" Heimdall's smile faded slightly. "Well, and yet not well, my friend." He slid into the bar stool beside Thor and got swiftly through the business of ordering a beer. He had been another of Odin's foremen, next after Thor himself, and had overseen many of Asgard's largest projects. He was astonishingly competent, with a fine eye for detail and a fine ability to manage men. "Is it true that you were fired by Hela?" Thor sighed and took another swig of his beer. "True enough, I suppose. It's more accurate to say I turned down her offer of work, as I had some insider information about what it might entail." "Wish whoever told you that had told me. I'm considering quitting. It's not that bad yet, but we're mostly finishing up things we started with you and your old man. What's coming down the pipeline is going to be the worst load of shoddy work and terrible ideas I've ever seen. And some of the people the less shoddy work is for... I'm half convinced at least one of those sites is going to end up with a body in the foundations." Thor winced. "That bad already?" "That bad and getting worse all the time." "I'm sorry. If I could stop it I would. But she owns the whole company now. I've been shut out. Even Loki doesn't have any sort of angle on how to get her out, and you know how he is." "You've been in touch with him?" Thor shifted slightly, very aware of the scars on his backside, even if they were no longer sore. "Ah, you could say that." "How is the little troublemaker?" Thor smiled at that. Heimdall had worked with Loki, of course, when Loki had run the office before the embezzlement and disowning. "Still trouble. But he seems to be doing well. He's landed on his feet somewhere. I'm doing the best I can to do the same. I have money enough for now, my father had a good life insurance policy, and it all paid out to me. But I don't really know what I want to do. I had always assumed I'd run Asgard once Odin was gone. Now that Hela has it, I'm feeling a little lost, to tell you the truth." "I heartily wish you had inherited. I don't know what your father was thinking, leaving it to that woman. She is downright terrifying." "I know." Thor nodded. "I don't think he was thinking. The will hadn't been updated in twenty years." Heimdall's expression sharpened, his oddly light-colored eyes fixing on Thor. "Truly? Have you considered contesting it, then? It's possible it might not be valid, after so long unchanged. Especially since it left two of his three children out." "I suspect he meant to leave two of three out, just a different two. Would they be right to contest it if I'd inherited all?" Thor was staring into his beer again. He'd had to face how poorly his father had treated Loki of late. And he'd had some thoughts about his own treatment as well. He'd been the "golden child" as Loki had said, but that didn't come with affection so much as it came with demands. Knowing what he knew now about the foundation on which Odin's life and business had been built, it was impossible to see his father in the same way anymore. "Thor." Heimdall put a hand on his shoulder. "You're a good man. You'd do a good job running the business. Don't let some might-have-been keep you from trying to do the right thing. And think of the rest of us. The whole lot of your father's employees are getting mightily sick of Hela. She's fired half a dozen people already, for daring to speak back to her." "Why am I not surprised?" Thor scowled. "Very well. I'll go speak with a lawyer and see what I can do."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Loki tucked his phone back into his pocket with a scowl. Yet another refusal to see him, this one by e-mail. Between himself and Thor they had contacted what seemed like every lawyer in the city, and every single one of them had refused as soon as they heard their names. Loki had a very strong suspicion who might be behind that, and somehow it rankled far more than the results of the will had. Hela getting the company because Odin had been an idiot had felt like some darkly appropriate fate. Hela keeping it because the two brothers couldn't managed to find a lawyer the mob hadn't scared off felt like a failure. Loki strode briskly across the street to the Grandmaster's dungeon. He paused just outside the door and turned the phone off entirely before hefting his toy bag again. He didn't want that entire mess ruining his evening tonight. This place was his refuge, and though Thor himself might be now at least tentatively welcome there, the rest of the family troubles were quite definitely not. Loki still felt a bit strange when he stepped inside to find Thor already there, though. They had been communicating entirely through e-mail and text over the last few weeks, since Thor had found Loki's contact information on the same kink site where he'd learned about the parties. Thor had kept things entirely about the business, despite where the conversation had begun. Loki had been content enough to leave their developing kink relationship entirely alone. Now, it seemed, he would have to grapple with it again. The part of him that kept thinking very un-brotherly thoughts about Thor noted that grappling with him sounded like a very good idea, particularly if they dispensed with clothing beforehand. Loki found an unoccupied spot on one of the couches and threw himself down in a sprawl on it. Thor had been standing near the kitchen, eating something and speaking with Jane, who was very much a regular. He saw Loki and gave him a little waves. A few minutes later he'd apparently finished up his conversation and came over. He scanned the available seating and found none nearby. Then he gave a little shrug and dropped down to sit at Loki's feet. Loki found himself lifting his eyebrows and giving Thor an amused look. "So are you being a submissive as well as a bottom, then?" Thor tilted his head slightly. "I'm not entirely clear on the difference." "Bottoming is merely what you do. A bottom is on the receiving end. A bottom gets whipped, gets cut, gets tied up, and so on. Submission is about giving someone else power over you, it's about what's going on inside your head, not to your body. Some people bottom merely because they enjoy it, without any sense of service or of submission in it at all. There is also such a thing as submissive topping. If I were to ask you to give me a massage, for example, you would be the one doing it, yet you might well do it out of a submissive urge, not because you are being dominant by taking the active role." "Ah. I see." Thor considered this, and a wealth of expressions crossed his face. Finally they smoothed out, and he gave a little shrug. "I suppose I am being a submissive as well, then. I offered you submission enough last time." "I think we were both a bit overwrought last time," said Loki with a shake of his head. "Yes. Tonight though... What I want is..." He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck a little awkwardly. "Ah... It's not merely about what you've done." Loki gave Thor a long look. "Like bottoming, submission requires two. It's not enough that you want to give it. I have to accept it." Thor gave him a wry smile in return. "I understand." Loki found his heart beating a little bit faster as he looked down at Thor's warm, slightly off-center smile. Did Thor understand? Did he know exactly what he was offering? He could be incredibly dense at times, yet he wasn't stupid. Surely he knew. Slowly Loki reached out and let his hand settle on the top of Thor's head, brushing his fingers through his long, golden hair. "I have...enjoyed topping you these last two times," he said. "I am not formalizing anything just now, but...perhaps I could accept such a thing from you, brother." Thor chuckled softly, and his cheeks were a bit red as he said, "Brother. It's an odd word to use here, you know. I don't want to tell you that you're not really my brother, but, ah..." Loki laughed. "Not into incest, hmmm?" "Uhm... Not as such, no. My presence here tonight is rather in spite of, not because of, that particular connection." "I see. You know you tempt me to emphasize 'brother' in every scene we do now." Thor rolled his eyes. "You are terrible." "Oh yes," said Loki. "Very terrible." He grinned, unable to resist. "Did you want to play tonight, then, brother?" Thor flushed more. "Ah... If you're willing." "Very." "Then yes." Loki stroked Thor's hair again, then withdrew his hand. "Did you have anything in particular in mind?" Thor shrugged. "Not really. Though, er, perhaps something that won't leave scars? I don't mind getting a collection, but if we do that every time, I'll collect them much too quickly." Loki snorted. "Fair enough." He contemplated the contents of his bag again. He could return to the single-tail whips, but he felt like doing something new again. The soft flogger was possible, but after the week he'd had, he suddenly decided that he felt like being lazy, and that meant the TENS unit. "I think I know just the thing," he said. "Come, heel boy, and let's go down and have some fun. I could use it, after the week I've had."
****
Thor got to his feet with his heart pounding and followed close on Loki's heels as his brother—adopted, definitely with the emphasis on adopted tonight—went down the stairs to the dungeon. Why should that laughing command to heel make his pulse race so fast? Coming here had felt like giving in to some vast inevitability. He'd been putting it off and putting it off some more, trying to not face the welter of thoughts and feelings that Loki stirred in him, but as he'd been forced to talk to his brother while trying to deal with Hela, he'd been unable to avoid those things. So he'd come to confront them directly, and somehow admitting what he wanted, admitting his desire for submission, had been easier than he'd ever thought possible. He'd just...done it, just like that. Now, following behind Loki with his heart racing, he was more than a little nervous, but mostly he was full of pleasant anticipation. He'd loved everything Loki had done to him here. The last scene had been, perhaps, a little too much, but it had been good all the same. The dungeon was a little busier this week than it had been last time, several stations were in use. Loki, though, went to the corner where the beanbags and comfortable chairs were, along with shelves of blankets, pillows, the first aid kit, and other such supplies. "Here. The nice thing about this particular activity, brother," he gave Thor a grin, "is that I can do it anywhere. So you might as well make yourself comfortable." Loki pointed at a beanbag. Thor, feeling a little puzzled, but willing to go along, sat down. "Oh, and take your shirt off. We'll perhaps get other things off later." Loki set down the bag he'd been carrying and dug into it, while a still quite puzzled Thor removed his shirt. Loki, now carrying a small black case, knelt beside him. He ran a hand down Thor's back. "You seem to have scarred very nicely last time." Something in his voice was almost gloatingly pleased at that. Thor shivered. "Yes." "Well, as promised, this time I'll leave no marks." He opened up the case and pulled out a little black box, with several dials and switches on it. "What is that?" Thor regarded it warily. "It's a TENS unit. A medical device that sends electricity over one's skin. It can be very soothing, or it can be quite excruciating, it all depends on how I turn these little knobs." He grinned broadly. "It's very fun for a lazy top. I'll just sit back, twiddling the dials, while you writhe and scream and moan." Thor swallowed. "I see." "I'll start by giving you a taste of what it's like. Here, hold out your arm." Loki pulled some other things from the little case as Thor held out his arm. He took two small round pads with adhesive backs and stuck them on Thor's bicep. He connected them to a pair of wires, which were joined at the base, and plugged into the little black box. "The current travels between the pads, so one merely puts them on either side of the area one wishes to zap. Like so." Loki slid a switch on the box, then twisted one dial slightly. Thor immediately felt a tingling pulse on his arm, running between the two pads. It felt like nothing much, merely a bit of static. "Do you feel it? I suppose I should have checked the battery before I began..." "I feel it." "Excellent. Well then..." Loki turned the dial, and the pulse grew stronger, from a static buzz to a stinging pain. Thor drew in a breath. "How is that, brother?" "It stings a little." "Oh? How about this?" Loki twisted the dial suddenly and Thor yelped as the singing pain turned to fire burning along his arm. Loki laughed and twisted the dial back down, then switched it off. "Time to move it somewhere more interesting. You should probably lie back." Thor swallowed again, and settled back in the beanbag. "There are two sets of pads for this particular model. So I'll just put one set right here, I think..." Loki stuck a pair of pads on either side of one of Thor's nipples. Thor swallowed again, but didn't raise any objections. The second pair of pads, of course, was shortly bracketing his other nipple. "There. Comfortable, brother?" Loki grinned, sitting on the beanbag beside Thor, close enough to touch, the little black box in his hands. "Uhm... Yes..." "Not for long." Loki flipped the TENS on and moved each dial in turn. Thor felt the tingling pulse start over his nipples. He was breathing fast, tensed in anticipation of what was to come. He tried to relax, tipping his head back against the beanbag. He closed his eyes, no longer able to see Loki's sadistic smile. Instead he could feel the double pulse of electricity running over sensitive skin. It grew stronger, first on one side, then on the other, and he let out a soft gasp. Nothing happened for a long moment, the electricity was simply there, pulsing along his skin. Then the intensity jumped upward again. "Ah..." The tingle turned to a stab of white fire across one nipple, making him twitch as if to curl up around himself, and then joined by the other as Loki turned the second dial. It was utterly unlike the other things Loki had done to him, for it wasn't merely a moment of pain, it was a continuous sensation that went on and on and on, without any lessening. Thor found himself panting hard, and he tried to slow his breathing, but the continuous pain made it difficult. It was hard to do anything but feel. As it went on and on and on, though, it seemed like his skin started to numb, or like his mind adjusted to the intensity, and the pain very slowly ebbed. Then, of course, it spiked again as Loki turned first one dial and then the other. "Ah!" Thor's body shuddered and he was once again panting, making helpless noises of pain with each ragged breath. He heard Loki chuckle softly, and he half-opened his eyes, looking up at his brother, feeling dazed with the unending pain that arced over him. "Enjoying yourself, brother?" said Loki. He brushed his fingers over one of Thor's nipples, a strange coolness against the electric fire there, and Thor couldn't keep from moaning. "It sounds like you are. I'm certainly enjoying the sounds you're making. Let's see if I can get you to make some more." He turned the dial again and Thor cried out loudly, his back arching. "Ah! Oh god! Ah!" He writhed, unable to help himself, squirming and twisting as if he could somehow get away from the relentless pain. It went on and on, until he found himself thinking about calling red, saying he couldn't take any more. Then suddenly it eased, the stabbing sinking back down to a low, tingling throb, and he went limp, panting rapidly. "It's like having a remote-control for you. I just turn the little knob," Loki twisted one dial again, and Thor cried out, "and you do what I want." He turned it back down again, all the way off, and turned the other off as well. "I think it can be even more fun, though. Time for you to take off your pants, brother." Thor's eyes cracked open again and he stared up incredulously at Loki, who was grinning broadly down at him. "Off with them," he said again. "Er..." Thor swallowed hard and started peeling his jeans off. When they were set aside he looked up at Loki again, feeling his cheeks hot with embarrassment. "I'll let you keep the underwear for now, brother." Loki patted his thigh, still grinning broadly. Somehow that was nearly as bad as having to take it off. Thor felt his cheeks flush brighter. Loki pulled a pair of the pads off of his chest, and next thing Thor knew Loki had pushed up the legs of Thor's boxer-briefs to place the pads just an inch or so apart on his inner thigh. He wouldn't have thought he could blush any brighter, but apparently he could. He felt like his entire face was red now. "I could, of course put one of this pair on each thigh." Loki grinned, and his fingers kneaded Thor's thigh just next to where the pad sat. "That would send the current between them, which would be a lot of fun. The distance between them makes the pulses less intense, but that just means I'd have to turn it up higher, that's all. I might try that later." Loki soon had a set of pads in place on the other thigh, and he didn't hesitate at all before turning on the switch and sending a tingle of electricity across the rather sensitive skin on both sides. Thor leaned back on the beanbag with a low groan. It didn't hurt yet, but he now knew exactly what was coming, and his inner thighs were if anything more sensitive than his nipples. That anticipation was soon made fact, for Loki once again turned the dials up. He nudged them up this time, first one, then the other, letting the electric pulse build gradually through a faint tingle to a pricking spark, to a stabbing pain. Thor moaned softly, feeling every muscle in his body tense as he reacted to the pain. It was intense and awful and yet so very, very thrilling, so very, very good. Given exactly where the thrilling pain was, it was also more than a little sexually charged. As he lay there moaning Loki began kneading his thigh again, his long, strong fingers pressing and caressing. Thor almost wanted to beg for more. He wanted Loki to touch him, or even to move the pads as he'd jokingly threatened, to send the pain across Thor's cock. His dazed mind was filled with flashes of improbable and utterly taboo fantasies about that, and about everything else Loki could do to him. He got more in a different way when Loki twisted the dials again, bumping the pain up another few notches. Thor let out a cry, his head rolling back and forth against the fabric beneath him, his body shuddering, hands fisting in the beanbag's cover. It was impossible to think now, his fantasies washed away by the sheer intensity of the pain that stabbed at him. He was sure this was as high as Loki had turned the knobs before, and once again he found himself thinking about calling red, about ending it. Thor was breathing hard, each breath he let out coming with a whimpering moan. As before, though, his tormented skin began to grow numb, the intensity of it slowly easing. Slowly he got control of his breath, quieting the frankly embarrassing sounds he'd been making. Pain still throbbed through him, but it was gradually becoming bearable. Then, of course, Loki twisted the knobs again. "Ah! Fuck!" Thor arched, his head going back hard into the beanbag beneath him, pain blanking his mind again. His feet scrabbled against the floor as he squirmed and writhed. "The dials are currently both set at eight, by the way." Loki's voice was coolly amused. He ignored Thor's continued moans of pain and ragged panting. "This particular model goes up to ten. Do you think you could handle that?" His voice was a mocking challenge, and Thor wanted to answer that yes, he damn well could! But he also wanted to call red and end it. The relentless pain stabbing into both thighs was nigh-unbearable. Torn between two urges he writhed, and his pained cries held a whimpering note of uncertainty. "Well, I didn't hear a no," said Loki. Thor gasped in a breath, just about ready to shout no, and then Loki spun both dials all the way up in quick succession, and his shout came out a scream instead. He was beyond words as it stabbed into him, like a throbbing fire, and he screamed again, arched back hard, his entire body trembling and shuddering helplessly. It was overwhelming, far too much, more than he would ever have thought he could take, yet for that moment, as he struggled for words, he was taking it somehow. Finally he drew in a shaking breath and managed to gasp out "Red, stop, please..." Instantly Loki yanked out the wires from the box, cutting the pain off even more swiftly than he could have by turning the dials back down. Thor went limp, panting hard. For a long moment his mind was totally blank. There were no thoughts, there was nothing but pure physical relief washing over him, a haze of wonderful endorphins wrapping him in a warm, dazed cocoon. He blinked his eyes open, slowly becoming aware of another sensation. Loki was stroking his hair gently. "You okay?" he asked as Thor's eyes came slowly into focus on his. Thor blinked. He had no idea how to answer that. The was a kind of echoing ache from his thighs, where his skin still felt almost numb from being shocked for so long. There was also that warm haze embracing him. And there was a sense, somewhere deep beneath, of intense triumph. He'd done it. He'd taken everything that evil little box and its even more evil operator had given him, even when he'd thought he couldn't. He'd endured. Finally he managed a slow nod and a slightly hoarse, "Yes." "Good." Loki's smile was softer, and he set about removing the pads and stowing the TENS away, but he didn't move from Thor's side as he did, and once everything was back in its little case he set it aside and started stroking Thor's hair again. He stayed there, just doing that, just sitting close, for a very long time. Thor just stayed there too, content to rest beside Loki, feeling no urge whatsoever to move so much as an inch. Gradually Thor's dazed mind began to return to something like normal. The sense of triumph still lingered with him, though. "How are you feeling?" asked Loki eventually. "Victorious," said Thor, looking over and meeting his eyes with a smile that was still probably a little loopy. Loki frowned faintly. "Victorious?" "I had begun thinking about telling you stop when the dial must have been at six or seven. Managing to endure it all the way up to ten feels like a victory." Loki laughed softly. "Thor the victorious." He shook his head, then. "That's how I always saw you, you know. You were the one who always won. You always seemed to best me somehow. It was maddening at times." "Yet this time I won by first surrendering." Thor paused, a half-formed thought beginning to bubble at the back of his mind. Triumph from surrender. He shook his head. "It's not as though I've defeated you." "No. I have rather come out on top as well." Loki flashed Thor a cocky, amused grin. His expression sobered then and he added, "Your pain is beautiful, brother. I love hurting you." Thor suddenly swallowed hard. "I... Ah..." He felt his cheeks flaming again. He had no idea how to respond to that. "Cat got your tongue?" Thor noticed, suddenly, that Loki's cheeks were flushed as well. His grin was wicked as he leaned in very close and said, "Perhaps I could have it instead. You offered me your submission, you know. If I accept it, fully, and make you mine, brother, I might want things other than pain from you." His lips were nearly touching Thor's as he bent close and Thor felt himself trembling. "Loki..." Thor was torn between lifting his head that last inch himself and turning away. What felt like cowardice—but also perhaps like sanity—won in the end and he turns his head. "Brother, I... I can't..." Loki pulled back, and he quirked his eyebrows in amusement. "You meant it when you said you weren't into incest, I suppose?" Thor felt himself flushing further, in something more like shame this time. "Sorry." "Don't be. Your pain is still beautiful, and it has been an pleasure to get it from you."
****
Loki cursed himself silently as he sat back and tried to keep the stab of hurt that came from Thor's rejection from showing on his face. He'd made himself a fool. Just because Thor wanted to play with him, even with the added energy of submissive and dominant, didn't mean he wanted anything more. Though his body had certainly looked like it wanted more. Loki tried to not think too much about that, about how Thor's tight boxer-briefs had shown very clearly that he was aroused by the way Loki was hurting him. That didn't necessarily mean anything either. Bodies and minds weren't the same thing. Silence stretched out between them, with Thor still not meeting Loki's eyes. Loki sighed. It would be just his luck to have screwed it all up by pushing too hard just now. But it seemed that Thor's mind had slipped to other things. "Loki? I'm thinking now, about victory through surrender, and I've had an idea about Asgard." Loki was happy enough to let his thoughts jump to that problem rather than linger on his foolishness. "Oh?" "I don't think we can get the company away from Hela. Even if we found a lawyer who would work with us, there's no guarantee the will could be overturned. But if we were willing to lose badly enough, we might still be able to find a certain kind of victory." Loki raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. How so?" "Well..." Thor began to explain, and as he did, Loki couldn't help but find himself liking the plan. The worst case scenario left absolutely everything in ruins, but if it went as Thor thought it might, he and Loki would gain much, and either way Hela would lose everything.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The office was both familiar and alien at once. Thor had worked here his entire life. Admittedly he'd spent most of his time out on job sites, it was Loki who'd done the office work, and a series of various secretaries had done it after Loki had been fired. Yet still, the Asgard Construction Co. office building had been very nearly a second home in certain ways. Hela had redecorated. Odin had not exactly been an interior decorator; he had built houses, not furnished them, but he'd had a certain sense of style. Nature photos, mostly, and a few paintings in a similar theme. Wildlife, especially, projecting an image of the sort of man who got out in nature, hunting or camping or just generally being one of the good old boys. It had been part of his cultivated image, and a few scattered pictures of himself and his sons engaged in those sorts of activities had been strategically placed amid the more artistic decor. There was no trace of that left now. Instead everything had a fresh coat of paint and a look that said money. Actual oil paintings were hung on the walls here and there, and the ancient, worn carpet had been replaced with something soft and deep and ridiculously impractical. This office was no longer about selling either rugged masculinity or practical workmanship, it was about wealth and power, in a blatant, shameless sort of way. A secretary Thor didn't recognize ushered the pair back into Hela's personal office, which was if anything even more opulent than the rest of the building. "My brothers. I will admit I hadn't expected to see you again." Hela rose from behind her desk and gave them a smile that did not remotely reach her eyes. "What can I do for you?" "We were hoping that your job offer might still be open," said Loki. Hela's smile did reach her eyes then, in a kind of hard, narrow smirk. "You've given up so soon?" "We're not rich," said Thor a little flatly, trying to not let how much he disliked Hela show in his voice. He wasn't as good an actor as Loki was. "Indeed. My poor brother has been unemployed all this time, and I'm afraid my other job has not been exactly profitable." Loki gave a little self-deprecating shrug. "I've never been good with money, I'm afraid." "Oh? I'm told you're quite good with managing financial accounts, when it's to your own benefit." Hela looked amused. "Ah, well, er..." Loki gave another little shrug. "I suppose so. We all have our little...pecadillos." Hela laughed at that. "I can use that particular talent, brother. Consider yourself hired. Just please recall that there will be...consequences if you try to steal from me." "Of course," said Loki, giving her a slightly sardonic bow. Hela turned her dark gaze on Thor then. "And you?" "You're still short a foreman. I can do the job." She gave him a long, level look. "You thought you were above it not so long ago. What changed?" Thor shrugged. "A man has to pay the bills. I haven't found work yet." "How sad. I wonder why that happened?" Hela's smile grew just a little broader. Thor found himself possessed of a sudden suspicion that if he had actually been attempting to get another construction foreman job, he might have run into the same trouble he'd had finding lawyers. "I suppose I could say no. There would be a certain joy in casting my favored brother out. But no, I can use your skills as well. So welcome back to Asgard, brother." Thor stomped on the urge to punch Hela in her smug face. "Thank you, sister." Then, remembering exactly what he was there to do, he stomped on the urge to give her a smile that was just as smug as her own. "Thank you, sincerely." As he walked out of the office with Loki at his side, the smile finally broke through. He did managed to resist the urge to pump his fist in the air, though. "The first step has gone quite well," said Loki, quietly. "I will see what I can ferret out of the computers. And you're confident the men will listen to you?" "From what Heimdall's said, they'll be very amenable to what I have to say. I won't say it right away, though. You need to have your evidence first. Then I can do my part." Loki nodded. "I will be in touch, then." "Good." They reached the parking lot, where their separate cars were. Thor halted then and said, a little more hesitantly, "Tomorrow is another party at the Grandmaster's. Are you going to be there?" Now it was Loki's turn to have a slow, smug grin spread across his face. "I had planned on it." Thor felt himself blushing again, and was a little annoyed at that reaction, but he said, "I'll probably be there too." "Then I shall look forward to it, brother," said Loki with a smile that was strangely soft. As Thor drove his truck home the memory of that smile lingered with him. So did the memory of how close they'd come to kissing last time. He wasn't sure anyone had ever smiled at him like that before. He had kissed before, of course. Still, none of the past kisses lingered in his mind the way this almost-kiss that hadn't even happened did. If he were sensible he probably avoid going to tomorrow's party. He was not trying to have an incestuous relationship with his brother. Then again, he seemed to be having one without trying. If he ended up in such an almost-kiss again, he wasn't sure he'd be capable of turning away.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Loki sat sprawled in a chair in the dungeon, only half-watching the scene in front of him. The party was well underway by now, and there was no sign of Thor. He probably should see if there was somebody else who wanted to play tonight. He generally had no trouble finding willing partners, given how in demand single-tail was and how few experts at it there were in the community. He didn't want to play with somebody else, though, he wanted to torment Thor again. "Hey there. Why the long face?" Loki looked up to see a familiar young woman standing over him, one hand cockily on her hip. She was dressed in an unlikely outfit of black leather, complete with elbow-length gloves, that showed quite a lot of warm brown skin. "Valkyrie." "So will you finally let me torture you tonight, Loki?" Her grin was teasing, and he laughed. "Perhaps. If the person I'm hoping to see doesn't show soon..." "Oh?" She wobbled just a little as she dropped down to sit next to him, which probably meant she was drunk again. Loki said nothing. Most people in the community didn't mix kink and booze, but some did, and Loki certainly wasn't going to tell Valkyrie what she should or shouldn't do. She'd been doing this longer than he had by quite a lot. In fact she'd been one of the people who'd first taught him the joys of hitting people with things. Though she favored other instruments than his preferred single-tail. Possibly because she was often too drunk for the accuracy that particular toy required. "Yes. I don't think you've been here any of the previous times I've played with him." "Oh. Is this that muscle-bound sub boy that's your half-brother or something?" Loki raised his eyebrows and gave Valkyrie a questioning look. "People talk. And I'm told that you had a dramatic fight a month or two ago and then beat him bloody." "Clawed," said Loki sardonically, trying to not flinch at the idea that he and Thor were a source of gossip. "I didn't beat him bloody, I clawed him bloody. Also he's not actually my brother. I was adopted. And then disowned, so technically we're not related at all." "But you grew up together?" Valkyrie's expression was amused. She did "amused" well and frequently. "Yes." "Pretty kinky, then." "And just where are we?" he asked, suddenly grinning. She laughed. "If he's as much of a looker as I was told, maybe I'll help you beat him bloody tonight, how's that?" Loki blinked. Valkyrie was a little bit of a man-eater, at least by reputation. That was part of why he'd kept some distance, and hadn't let her top him in ages. He wasn't sure he wanted to be eaten. That wasn't the only reason, bottoming for him was complicated. Topping was easier, a reaffirmation of his sometimes uncertain masculinity. He also wasn't sure how he felt about Valkyrie playing with Thor. Part of him wanted to be very, very, very jealous at the mere idea. Another part of him, though, thought of how beautifully Thor reacted, and how amazing it would likely be to have him react to them both at once. The door opened just then, and Loki's eyes went to it a little too eagerly. His smile, when he saw that it was Thor this time, was probably a little too delighted as well, but he couldn't help it. "You may be in luck, there he is. As for whether I'm willing to share, well, I don't own him. Yet. So you can ask him about that yourself." Valkyrie looked Thor up and down, then grinned. "I do like them big and dumb." Loki chuckled. "He's not as dumb as he looks, my dear. But come, let's make some introductions." He strode up to Thor with Valkyrie, still looking amused, walking beside him. "Thor. I'm glad you came. This is Valkyrie. Valkyrie, my adoptive brother and occasional submissive, Thor." Valkyrie held out her hand and gave Thor's a good firm shake. "Good to meet you." "Valkyrie. Interesting name," said Thor, smiling at her. "It's a nickname. You'd go by one too if your mother had named you Brunhilde. And you're one to talk, Thor." She grinned. "You're certainly going to be 'Thor' in the morning, if Loki and I have our way with you." Thor and Loki rolled their eyes nearly in unison at the joke. They'd both heard it often enough growing up. Admittedly Loki had laughed at least the first dozen times, but even he'd grown tired of that one eventually. "Loki and you?" said Thor after a moment, glancing between them. "Maybe," said Valkyrie, giving him a wink. "It's up to you," said Loki, still not sure how he himself felt about the idea. "I certainly can't lay any particular claim to you." Thor gave him a very peculiar expression at that. It was hard to read, but after a moment he said, "I think you have some particular claim to me." He glanced at Valkyrie again, then shrugged and looked back at Loki. "I'll admit the idea of being, ah, doubled up on is interesting. And mildly terrifying. But interesting. I think it should be your decision, though." Loki found both Thor and Valkyrie suddenly looking at him. Jealousy, curiosity, and a peculiar kind of desire warred in Loki. He thought about Valkyrie with Thor, and wondered how sexual that was likely to turn, and then suddenly wondered, if she did turn things that way, to teasing or more than teasing, might Loki himself not get a chance to push Thor further than he otherwise might? With a sudden grin Loki said, "I think it sounds like fun. Shall we retire downstairs?" "Let's," said Valkyrie, also grinning. Thor licked his lips. "I think I've gotten myself into some trouble here." Then he grinned too. "The fun kind of trouble."
****
The dungeon proved to be once again quiet this evening, and the three of them laid claim to the bondage frame with no trouble. Thor towed the heavy wooden structure away from where it usually stood against the wall, so that the other two could circle around behind it as well as in front. His stomach was full of nervous butterflies as he did so. Showing off his strength moving the thing was fun, he never minded a chance to do that. He was more than a little proud of his physique. But being between Loki and Valkyrie was an intimidating thought. She was stunningly beautiful, exactly the kind of image he'd seen in his fantasies, when he'd first begun to explore the idea of submitting to somebody. Yet it felt almost like having her there might somehow take away from the bond that had been building between him and Loki these past few months, and he wasn't sure he liked that idea. Loki had said he didn't mind, though, and Thor had the thought that if he was going to submit to Loki, that included letting him be the one who decided about things like this. That was why he'd turned the choice back over to him upstairs. "Strip," said Loki, firmly, once the frame was moved into place. Thor found himself wanting to give some kind of "Yes, sir" answer. That felt strange, though. Calling Loki "sir" or "master" or anything of that sort felt bizarre, even if it also felt like something he wanted. Instead he simply began to silently obey. He took off shirt, shoes, socks, and pants without hesitation, then gave Loki a look. "All of it," interjected Valkyrie with a laugh. "Don't be shy." Thor felt his cheeks heating again. He seemed to spend a great deal of his time in the place blushing furiously. But he stripped his briefs off as well and set them aside with the rest of his clothes. "Now, let's get you cuffed," said Loki, pulling a pair of leather restraints out of his bag. Thor nodded wordlessly and held out his hands. Soon they were restrained just as they'd been the first time, fastened to the frame on either side of him, just above head level. "I want his feet apart," said Valkyrie. "You have any ankle cuffs?" "Why yes, I do," said Loki, grinning. "Spread 'em, beefcake," said Valkyrie, grinning back. Thor swallowed, and moved his feet further apart. Valkyrie knelt down and wrapped a padded leather cuff around each ankle, and fastened them to the sides of the frame as well. She stood back and looked Thor up and down. "Nice." "Aheh. I'm glad you approve." Thor was still blushing furiously, and the butterflies were multiplying in his stomach, but much of his tension was a very pleasant anticipation. "I'll start in back, you start in front?" said Loki to Valkyrie. "Sounds good. I'll just go get a toy or two." She walked off, and Loki, standing behind Thor now, picked up his whips. "I'll begin then. Remember to breathe, brother." The flick, flick, flick of the whips against his back was familiar, almost soothing, and Thor let his eyes slide closed, relaxing into it. He let out a long deep sigh, and a great deal of the tension he'd been holding. A sudden smack against his outer thigh made his eyes snap open. Valkyrie was standing in front of him, carrying a riding crop, looking like every even vaguely submissive, even vaguely straight man's wet dream. Thor drew in a sharp breath at the sight of her, then let it out in a grunt of pain as she smacked him hard on the other thigh. She wasn't doing any sort of patient build up, she was just hitting him. Loki was still hitting him too, with precise, measured, stinging snaps of the whips against his back. Valkyrie ran the crop over his thigh, up and down, slipping it teasingly right along the inner crease of it, and then slapping there hard. Thor made a noise of pain again, flinching. Then he sucked in a sharp breath, for Loki suddenly hit him much harder, laying the whip across his back with a painful crack! Valkyrie slapped his other thigh, and he flinched and cried out. Caught between the two of them, he was soon twisting and pulling at his restraints, unable to anticipate who would do what to him next. It was nothing like the steady escalation he'd experienced before. It was in some ways not quite as good, he couldn't sink into it, couldn't lose himself in the sensation in the same way. Yet it was also more intense, and he couldn't help but find himself turned on by the sight of Valkyrie's leather-clad body and by the expression of pure pleasure on her face as she hurt him. Given his totally unclad state there was no way for him to hide that, and suddenly he found that one of those teasing passes with the tip of the riding crop did a little more than tease, the leather loop nudged against his balls, making him let out an involuntary moan. "Enjoying yourself?" said Valkyrie, stepping closer, the crop tapping his balls lightly. "Uh..." Thor hesitated, then flinched and gasped as Loki hit him again. He could hear Loki laugh behind him. Valkyrie laughed too, then her grin turned downright evil and she slapped his balls with the crop, hard. "Ah! Fuck!" His whole body spasmed as pain shot through him, the steel clips holding his cuffs clinking as he suddenly yanked on them. Loki, as if not content to let Valkyrie be the one hurting him most, laid the whip across his back hard enough to mark, and he jerked the other direction with a second loud cry of pain. "Mmm, I see why Loki likes to play with you, you're fun," said Valkyrie, and then she hit him in the balls again. It wasn't really a full-force strike, she could have hit harder, but it was more than hard enough, and he tried futilely to double over with another, "Ah, fuck!" Valkyrie laughed and gave his balls a few light taps. Her gaze went over Thor's shoulder, her eyes meeting Loki's with a wink, and then Loki hit Thor again, twice, two of those nearly-unbearable cracks across his shoulders making him twitch and cry out. He knew he'd have marks from that tomorrow. Another slap on the balls from Valkyrie made him swear again, yanking so hard at his restraints that he could hear them creaking, and Loki followed it once more, making him arch back. His cry this time was followed by an almost sobbing whimper. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. "How are you doing, big guy?" said Valkyrie, apparently properly parsing the whimper. "Ah... I am nearly done, I think. God. You two are evil." Valkyrie laughed, a throaty, pleased sort of laugh. "I try to be." She stepped in close then, melding her body against his, her arms around his neck. Thor was instantly, intensely aware of the fact that his erection was pressed against the bare skin of her midriff. He went utterly still save for his panting. "I can be even more evil if you like." Then his eyes went wide and he was suddenly even more intensely aware, somehow, of Loki against his back, sandwiching him between the two of them. Loki's hands came to rest on his waist, his fingers cool against Thor's skin, and Thor could feel Loki's breath against his ear. "Evil is rather my specialty, brother," he said with a soft chuckle. "Oh, god..." Thor found himself trembling. That Valkyrie should turn him on wasn't unexpected, she was very much in line with many of his fantasies. But it was Loki, whose lips were now against the back of his neck, that sent fire racing through his body. How could he possibly want his brother so badly? Valkyrie stepped back with a little laugh. A moment later Loki did as well, and Thor very nearly went limp, slumping in his restraints in a kind of relief that was also a kind of disappointment. "I think I would like a turn in front," said Loki over Thor's shoulder. "Sure thing," was Valkyrie's smiling reply. "If you're up for a little more?" She lifted an eyebrow at Thor. He swallowed but nodded, getting his feet back under him and straightening, no longer hanging from his wrists. "Yes." Valkyrie ducked under Thor's arm, trailing her fingers over his skin as she circled around him. Loki circled the frame and stood in front of Thor, his whips resting one over each shoulder. He'd taken off his shirt at some point, baring his slender but still well-muscled figure. He looked Thor up and down, and his eyes lingered for a moment on Thor's erect cock. Then they slid the rest of the way up his body to meet Thor's eyes. "Time to live up to my claim of evil," said Loki, and he flicked one whip forward, the tip of it precisely kissing Thor's nipple. Thor hissed in pain. The touch was light, but intense all the same. The changed targets meant he could probably keep going, Loki was no longer hitting already sore skin, but Thor was feeling more than a little overwhelmed all the same. "I think I'll just see if I can leave some welts on his ass to match the ones you've left on his back." Valkyrie said, giving Thor's ass a slap with her hand. Then she suited action to word, stepping back and smacking the same spot hard with the crop. "Ah!" Loki chucked and flicked the same whip out, flicking Thor's nipple again, then again, each time slightly harder. Thor gasped and then moaned. God, it hurt, but in such a wonderful way. Valkyrie was hitting his ass repeatedly, and he found himself moaning with each of those strikes as well. Then another gasp as Loki delivered a stinging snap to his other nipple. Thor was hardly conscious of any thought now, he was only feeling, reacting. Valkyrie kept hitting him hard, not backing down, not varying her strikes at all, just hitting again and again, relentlessly. Loki flicked his nipples repeatedly, making him twitch and moan. Then Loki flicked one whip lower down, delivering that sharp sting against his balls, and he jerked with another cry of, "Ah, fuck!" Valkyrie paused for a moment. Loki, grinning wickedly, flicked his balls again, then said, "Hold very, very still." Thor froze, though he couldn't entirely stop his trembling. Loki's whip snapped out and the tip just flicked against the head of Thor's cock. "Ah, god!" It didn't even hurt that much. It did hurt, but it was the combined intensity of pain and sexual tension that made his breath come in ragged gasps. "Breathe, brother," said Loki, still grinning. Thor sucked in a deep breath. Then Valkyrie hit him again, a resounding blow against his ass, and he jerked and nearly screamed. That was too much. Part of him wanted more, wanted to try to endure, wanted to see what else Loki might do to him, but after everything else he just couldn't take any more. "Fuck! Red, red, I can't... I'm done." "Hey, you did good. You took a lot," said Valkyrie, running her hand over his ass and the red marks there. "Indeed. You did well, brother." Loki set his whips aside and stepped close. He took the cuffs off of Thor, supporting him as he eased his arms down with a groan. Thor leaned on Loki, and even through the dazed cloud that filled his mind he was intensely aware of the closeness of his brother's body, of the wiry strength of it as Loki held him up. Thor could feel Loki's skin, cool somehow as it always was, against his own. He shivered, but not because of the coolness. His pain fogged mind began conjuring up incoherent fantasizes of what else Valkyrie or—oh god—Loki might do to him, and even as he body relaxed into the endorphin rush that washed around him, his erection stayed just as hard as it had been. Why did Loki have such an effect on him?
****
Loki helped Thor over to the aftercare area, lowering him onto one of the larger beanbags, and then knelt beside him. Valkyrie squatted on the other side. "You doing okay?" she said. "Yeah." Thor's voice was dazed, his eyes unfocused. Loki found himself pleased to have brought Thor to such a state once again, even if he'd had help this time. Valkyrie looked at Loki. "I'm not super into aftercare. You got this?" Loki smiled. Under other circumstances he might have found her abandonment annoying. Tonight he was just as pleased to have Thor to himself now. "I have it, yes." "See you, then. I had fun." She bent and planted a brief but firm kiss on Thor's lips, then was gone. Thor licked his lips, blinking. Loki found himself dealing with a wave of sudden envy. It wasn't even that he resented Valkyrie for kissing Thor. It was that he wished he could be that bold. He put that thought aside for now. He needed to see to Thor's comfort before anything else. "Do you need a blanket again, brother?" Thor flushed, much to Loki's amusement, "Ah. Or my clothes, yes." Loki grinned. "Blanket it is, then," which made Thor blush more. He got up and grabbed the blanket, then wrapped it around Thor's shoulders. Thor wrapped it further, trying to cover himself entirely. Loki couldn't help but notice that Thor's cock was still erect. He felt a certain heat in his own groin, which was more than a little distracting. Loki sat on the beanbag next to Thor, taking advantage of the limited space. Thor sighed softly and let Loki pull him into a close embrace. Loki dared to slip a hand beneath the blanket, his fingers brushing over Thor's chest. Thor sighed again, deeply. "Brother..." "Hmm?" Loki continued his caress, fingers stroking slowly over warm skin. He wanted to do so much more than that. He wanted to slide his hand down, to touch the cock that was still bulging beneath the blankets, to make Thor moan and writhe with pleasure rather than pain. It was a fight to hold back that urge, and he felt that he was losing it. Yet he feared if he gave in and did that, did any of the thousand things he wanted to do just now, that he would drive Thor away and ruin it all. Thor shivered in his arms. "I... Thank you." Loki dared this much, to lean in and kiss Thor on the forehead. "You're quite welcome, brother." He wasn't sure why he was still emphasizing their brotherhood. It was hard to resist teasing Thor, yet what he wanted might be better gotten if he weren't reminding Thor how very taboo it was. Yet Thor didn't pull away from him, and Loki dared further, to slide his fingers down Thor's chin, feeling the short scruff of his beard, and tip his head back so that their eyes could meet. He leaned close, his heart racing. "Thor, brother..." Thor licked his lips, looking up at Loki. "Yes?" Loki leaned in a little more, finally thinking of something to say. It was not what he truly wanted, but it might do for now. "I truly have enjoyed dominating you. We discussed the offer of your submission before. Are you still...willing to offer that to me?" Thor drew in a sharp breath. Loki felt the shudder that went through him as he held Thor. "I..." Thor hesitated, licking his lips again, then nodded. "Yes." Loki lifted himself and kissed Thor's forehead again. "Thank you, my pet. Pet works, I hope? I can call you something else if you hate it. Though actually I suppose calling you that might be more fun if you do hate it." He smiled mischievously, lifting his eyebrows. Thor flushed and ducked his head, looking strangely shy, strangely vulnerable as his hair fell down over his face. "Ah. Pet works, master. If... Er... If master works?" Loki felt a profound shiver go through him. Master. Thor, the one who had always been better, stronger, more favored, calling him such a thing. It felt like a triumph, like the best thing he'd ever heard, like the fulfillment of every dream and fantasy of power he'd ever had. It felt heady, intoxicating, dangerous even. It felt perfect. "Yes, master works."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Loki sat at the office computer, feeling deeply bored. Ferreting out evidence of Hela's various illegal activities had been interesting, but he had finished the last of that nearly a week ago. It had all been carefully packaged up and sent anonymously to various relevant government authorities, which included everything from OSHA to the FBI, several days ago. Loki was merely waiting for Thor to finish his part now. Thor had waited until Loki got what he needed, and then begun sounding out employees, as well as making the moves to use Odin's life insurance payout to buy what equipment was absolutely vital—more would hopefully be got on the cheap at auction once Asgard was shut down by the feds—and then they'd both quit without notice and Asgard's destruction would be complete. There was a certain dark joy in participating in tearing down everything that Odin had built. It wasn't truly what Loki had wanted, but it was strangely satisfying all the same. To burn it all down and rebuild anew rather than let Hela have it... He was still surprised that Thor had come up with such a plan. His brother had unexpected depths to him at times. As if summoned by the thought, Thor came in through the office door. He was dusted with sawdust and his t-shirt was soaked in sweat, clinging to his body. Loki felt a spike of pure lust go through him at the sight, and he fought it down with some difficulty. Thor's raw masculinity had long been something he'd envied, with a deep, bitter jealousy, but now that Thor belonged to him, he found that envy was gone. There was only the satisfaction of that fact, that Thor belonged to him, mixed with desire for him, and for what else they might do together. He didn't know how much of that desire would be fulfilled—having Thor as his pet didn't mean he could simply do as he liked in all things—but given the way Thor kept reacting to him, Loki was hopeful. Here, though, Thor merely gave Loki a nod and Loki nodded back, then returned his attention to the accounting. Thor walked back to Hela's personal office, and shut the door behind him. A moment later, though, it opened, and Loki heard Hela calling his name. With a sigh he rose. He'd already seen her take great relish in handing out petty punishments to employees, he and Thor were probably due for some, just to put them in their place. Inside the office, Loki shut the door and turned to face Hela, who sat behind her desk. There were no chairs in front of it, of course. Nobody else could possibly have the right to sit in her presence. Loki found himself thinking of throne rooms. The only thing missing was the chair and its massive desk being elevated on a dais. "So." Hela looked between them with a cold, flat gaze. "It seems that you two have no idea who you're dealing with. You are playing cute little games, as if we were all children. We are grownups now, though, my brothers. And there are about to be some very grownup consequences for your stunts." Loki felt a cold chill in his stomach. This didn't sound like she was finding excuses to be petty. "Oh yes, I know all about your attempt to found a rival company. I know what my dearest blood brother has been up to over the last few days. What I'd like to know now is just what you've been doing, Loki." Hela's eyes bored into him, and Loki tried to not step back from that intense gaze. "Me?" Loki put on his best innocent face. "I've just been working for you, as I said I would, nothing more. I wouldn't be so stupid as to get involved with any silly scheme Thor might come up with." "I think not. You came to me together. You're in this together." Hela got to her feet, pulling a drawer open as she did, and suddenly Loki found himself staring down the muzzle of a gun. He didn't know enough about guns to know what kind it was, but he was very certain that it could kill him. "Tell me the truth, brother." Loki's eyes were fixed on the gun, his heart thudding as he stared at his possible death. "Well, I, ah, I suppose I might have dug up a little bit of evidence about who you've been doing business with. And the money laundering. And the recent safety violations. And the materials substitutions, that kind of thing." "You've made a file of all this?" Hela's voice was glacier cold. "Yes." "You're going to delete it right now." Loki gave Thor a glance. Thor glanced back, flicked his eyes to Hela, then to Loki again with a tiny nod. Loki could see the way Thor was tensed and knew that the glance was meant to tell him that Thor was about to do something very, very stupid, and when he did, Loki should get out of the way as quickly as possible to avoid getting shot. He gave the tiniest possible nod in return. "About that," he said. "I'm afraid it's just a little bit too late. The file has already been mailed to several interested parties." "Why you utter-" Loki didn't get a chance to find out what Hela was going to call him, for in that instant Thor shoved her desk at her, hard. It was a heavy piece of furniture, but Thor was a very strong man, so all that meant was that it hit Hela like a ton of bricks and she went down. The gun went off even before she fell, but Loki was already flat to the floor by then, and it flew from her hand as she hit the floor. Thor vaulted over the desk, vanishing behind it. Hela let out a scream of pure rage, and Thor a cry of pain. Loki scrambled around the desk, looking for the gun, and found it. He pounced on it, got it turned the right way around, and got his finger on the trigger. Hopefully he didn't need to do anything else to shoot. Then he turned to where Hela was on the floor, Thor on top of her, holding both her wrists. His face was covered in deep, bloody gouges, and Hela, beneath him, was still struggling and spitting curses at him. Loki had a mad urge to just shoot her then and there, but decided that would be a very, very bad idea. Instead he gingerly put the gun down on the desk, well out of her reach, and pulled his phone from his pocket. "Cops?" he said to Thor. "Cops," said Thor firmly in reply, and Loki immediately dialed 911. By the time the cops arrived, Loki had put his rope-tying skills to work and had Hela thoroughly trussed up. He'd also made certain to wipe his prints off of the gun and put it back on the floor. Under other circumstances the police might have been dubious about two adult men having a woman tied up in her own office, but given the utter bloody mess of Thor's face, the reason for that was more than obvious. When Loki pointed out the gun, and the bullet hole just at chest height where he'd been standing, they were even more sympathetic, and Hela was soon carted away. Loki drove Thor to the hospital to have his face looked at. One eye was crusted shut with blood, and it turned out that she'd gouged at it badly enough that Thor might lose it. He was eventually sent home with his eye bandaged over, and instructions for its care. Loki stayed with him through all the doctors' poking and prodding, and took him home as well. Thor lived in a little bungalow that he'd largely built himself. The way Thor hadn't paid for most of the supplies that went into it, and the under-the-table help he'd gotten with much of it had bordered on graft, Loki knew. He'd been keeping the books when it had happened, but everything had been squared up on paper, and given the sheer amount of Thor's own sweat that had gone into the place, it was hard to claim it wasn't honestly his. Loki had been jealous at the time, of course, because he couldn't do the same. Now he was just glad the place was there. It was well after dark by the time they arrived, and Loki was feeling more than a little worn out. He was sure Thor must feel like absolute hell. Once they were both inside Loki said, a little hesitantly, "I can go now, if you'd rather be alone." "Stay, please," said Thor. "Alright." Loki looked around. The place had an open floor plan, so he could see the living room, dining room, and kitchen all from where he stood just inside the door. The only area that wasn't open was the bedroom, beyond the living room. He looked away from that door to the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I could cook something." Thor flopped onto a couch in the living room. "That would be amazing. Thank you." Loki spent a little time inspecting the contents of the fridge and the cupboards. They were surprisingly well-stocked, apparently Thor cooked. Loki knew his way around a recipe as well, but he didn't feel like doing anything fancy, he just put together some pasta with a quick sauce. He served it up to Thor, and as their hands touched handing across the plate, Loki was reminded that this sort of thing was very often a lover's meal. He felt his cheeks flushing faintly at the thought. Thor inhaled the pasta. Loki ate his own plate somewhat more slowly. He still had some left when Thor said, "God, I need a shower." There was still blood on his face from where Hela had clawed him, and he was still in the shirt—stained with sawdust and old sweat—that he'd been wearing before. Loki couldn't resist a teasing, "I'll scrub your back if you like, brother." Thor flushed, but also nodded. Loki raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "It's not as if you haven't seen me naked, brother," said Thor, with a sudden smile. Now it was Loki's turn to flush. "Yes, I suppose I have." He had, but he suddenly realized that Thor hadn't seen him naked since they'd both been quite young. He wasn't sure he could place the last time exactly, but probably before he'd turned twelve. Puberty had made him start to be incredibly shy about his body, as he'd become more aware of how just how much it differed from that of other boys. It had taken years just to get back to being comfortable without his shirt on again, and that truly only happened when he was at kink community events, where bodies were expected to be on display, and seldom judged, whatever their shape. Even there, though, he never took his pants off. "Loki?" Thor spoke into the silence that his uncomfortable hesitation left between them. "You don't have to join me if you don't want to." Loki hesitated a moment more, but he did want to. It was merely a frightening thought, to be vulnerable like that. Yet if he couldn't be vulnerable with Thor, then with who? "I do want to. If nothing else I'll keep you from passing out in the shower and drowning." He tried to give Thor a cocky grin, but it was a bit strained and he knew it. Thor just nodded and levered himself up out of the couch. Loki got up as well and followed him through the bedroom and into the bathroom. The bathroom was huge, Thor had clearly put a lot of effort into its design. There was a large jacuzzi tub, and a tiled cube of a shower with two shower heads on opposite walls. Thor started stripping, and Loki slowly followed suit. Shirt and shoes were easy enough to remove. Pants felt far more dangerous, and the boxers under them even more so, but he shed them after just a moment's hesitation, standing nude. Looking over from where he'd started the water in the shower running, Thor gave Loki's body a swift up and down glance. Loki knew perfectly well what he was seeing. His body was lean and pale, fairly fit but nowhere near as muscular as Thor's. His shoulders were narrower too; even if he had worked to put on more muscle, his frame would always be slighter. They were of a height, more or less, Loki knew that he was not even a full inch shorter than Thor. The other, inevitable comparison, though, came up even more wildly different than their physiques, for where Thor's cock was sizable, between Loki's legs was only a little nub, hardly visible in its current flaccid state through the dark hair that curled there. Even erect his cock was small, and shaped a little oddly. It nestled between the lips of a distinctly feminine vulva, and he had no visible balls at all. Many intersex people with ambiguous genitalia similar to his were assigned female at birth, but his birth certificate had always read male, and it seemed to have been the right choice, given how he'd developed as he'd grown. Certainly he felt male, he'd never seen himself as or wanted to be a woman. He'd been extensively examined in his youth, and he'd seen the scans, knew that his internal anatomy was as mixed up as the external. He had a vagina, but no uterus, and a single—not paired—structure within seemed to be an undescended testicle, not an ovary. Certainly the way the rest of his body had developed suggested that something was producing testosterone at fairly normal levels for a male. He also had an underdeveloped prostate, but it was there. All of which meant that he could ejaculate, which many people with the kind of cock he had couldn't, but since the solitary ball was within, the temperature there was too high for proper sperm development, and he'd probably never be fertile. Without a uterus or ovaries either, he'd long since accepted that he was never meant to parent, and given his temperament that was just as well, he would probably make a terrible father. Yet all this had taken a great deal of accepting over the years, and he was still always nervous when a new lover first saw him. None of what he saw should be a shock to Thor, of course. They'd grown up together, and even with Loki being body-shy, Thor still had to know. Loki still half expected some exclamation of shock, though, some form of judgment or rejection. But Thor only beckoned for Loki to join him under the shower's spray. Standing under the hot water, Loki dared to fold his arms around Thor, and Thor pressed willingly into that embrace. His head rested on Loki's shoulder, and he sighed deeply. "God, I'm so tired." "It's been quite a day," said Loki, holding Thor tight. After a long moment he added, "Here, you're not supposed to get the dressing on your eye wet. Why don't I help you clean off?" "Thank you." Thor lifted his head with another soft sigh. Loki smiled, and on sudden impulse rose up on his toes and kissed Thor's forehead. "I want to take good care of my pet." He felt the shiver that went through Thor then. "Thank you, master," he whispered. Loki squeezed Thor again, then let go and got a clean wash cloth. He set about cleaning the rest of the blood from Thor. The scratches themselves had been cleaned out at the hospital, but they hadn't been concerned with cosmetics. So Loki gently wiped the blood from Thor's face, taking care to not disturb his eye or the scratches across his skin. He wondered, suddenly, if they would scar. Loki's own marks were on Thor's back. Would Hela's always be on his face? Eventually that was done and Thor shut the water off, and they both stepped out and dried off. "I think I could sleep for about a week," said Thor. "Hah. Indeed." Loki discarded his towel, and contemplating his clothing. He wished he had clean things to get into, he hated dressing again in dirty clothes after showering. "Loki?" Loki looked at Thor, surprised by the hesitance in his voice. "Hmm?" "Can you stay, tonight? I...don't have a spare bed, so we'd have to share. Though of course... I mean... I'm not saying, ah, that anything else would, er..." He cleared his throat, his cheeks pink. "I just...would like it if you stayed." "Of course," said Loki softly. They prepared for bed, and Loki ended up borrowing a pair of boxers from Thor; they fit well enough to do for the night, at least. The bed was queen sized, so there was plenty of room for them both, but they ended up cuddled together, even though they could have slept without even touching. Thor tucked his head under Loki's chin, against his chest, and Loki held him tight and stroked his hair. It felt wonderful, to have Thor like that, so close, his presence warm and comforting, and yet the very way he rested an act of submission, an affirmation of power. Loki wanted more, though. So much more. There were so many things he wanted to do to Thor, so many ways he wanted to make him submit, make him serve. He was too tired for any of them tonight, but even as he lay there, drifting, he decided he had enough energy for one single thing. He reached down, putting his hand under Thor's chin, tipping his head back. "It is very good to be here with you, my pet," he murmured, and then he tilted his own head, and pressed a kiss, soft and brief, on Thor. Loki could once again feel the shudder that went through Thor at it. He had a momentary worry that it was of regret or of revulsion, but then Thor kissed him back, lingeringly, and all Loki's fears were washed away in it. They were here, together, and Thor was his, and whatever else would come, would come. "Master," murmured Thor when the kiss was done, and then he tucked his head back down against Loki's chest with a sigh. "Sleep well, my pet," said Loki gently. Thor's only response was a sleepy mumble, and a moment later he began to snore. Loki let his own eyes slide shut and finally let go of everything, relaxing into slumber with Thor in his arms.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Thor woke with a jerk. A throbbing pain stabbed through his head, and with one bleary eye he could see that it was light outside. He'd overslept, he should be at work by now, had he gotten drunk last night? But no, the company was dead, Hela had been arrested. The pain wasn't a hangover, it was from where she'd tried to gouge out his eye. And the warmth at his side was Loki, who was stirring with a drowsy yawn. Thor felt his heart skip a beat as he looked over at Loki. His feelings about Loki were incredibly complicated, and only seemed to be getting more so as their relationship developed, but just now all that seemed to matter was the way all sense of loss lifted from his heart when he looked at the one he now called master. Unfortunately Loki's presence couldn't do anything about the ache in his head, and Thor rolled over with a low groan. "Ugh. Do you remember where I put the painkillers?" "I'll get them," said Loki, patting his shoulder and then slipping from the bed. Thor closed his eye with another low groan. God, it hurt like hell. Loki was soon back with a pill and a glass of water, both of which Thor downed before flopping back onto the bed. Loki sat beside him, and began stroking his hair again. Thor didn't move, he just lay there. Slowly, slowly the pain began to ebb away as the pill took hold. Thor finally opened his eye, and looked up at Loki with a smile. Loki smiled back down at him, the expression transforming his narrow, severe features. Thor reached up, stroking along Loki's cheek. "Master," he said again, testing out the word once more in his mind. It felt strange, still. "Master" belonged to the realm of fantasy, to pornography and fiction. It didn't belong in reality and it certainly didn't belong to his brother. Yet even as it was bizarre, it was also somehow so right. He trusted Loki in a deep way. He knew there would always be pranks, would always be teasing, but now it seemed like those moments were part of Loki's power over him, turned from an old conflict to a new purpose. And beyond such things, beyond those lighter matters, he knew that Loki would never truly hurt him. Had never truly wanted to hurt him, it seemed, but had only wanted what he now had, Thor's total surrender. He chuckled softly at that thought. "It is good to belong to you," he said. Loki laughed in answer. "It is good to own you. But how are you feeling, my pet, my brother? Better now?" "Much better. And...better still for the night's rest I've had. Thank you." "It was my pleasure, brother." Loki smiled, and there was a little wicked glint in his eyes. He bent over Thor, saying, his voice low and amused, "I still can't resist calling you that. I'm afraid you're going to have to learn to be into incest, brother, because I definitely want to do some very un-brotherly things to you." Thor felt his cheeks immediately flush, and his pulse started to go faster. Loki's lips were nearly touching his, and what he was saying... Then Loki's lips met his and this time the kiss was neither swift nor sweet, it was lingering, and filled with passionate heat. Loki pressed his tongue into Thor's mouth demandingly, aggressively, and Thor moaned into the kiss, feeling a thrill go through him. "God, I want you," said Loki as he pulled back from the kiss. He bit his lower lip, and suddenly an uncertain expression crossed his face. He sat back, looking away from Thor. "Though I can't...take you, in the way most men could. I can't give you that kind of dominance. So I'll understand if... That is, if you don't want me like that..." "Loki," said Thor, feeling distressed at the pain he saw in Loki's eyes. "Brother, master... It doesn't matter to me what some other man could do." He smiled then. "I'm bisexual, you know. I rather like women. But that doesn't matter either. I don't need you to be like some other man, or like some woman, or like anything at all other than yourself." "Oh, Thor..." Suddenly Loki was kissing him again, hot and hard, his body pressing down on Thor's. Thor kissed back with matching passion, putting his arms around Loki. He felt himself reacting to it, his cock hardening, and Loki obviously felt that as well, for he ground his hips down on Thor, his tongue once again forcing itself into Thor's mouth to twist with his own. Loki's fingers worked through Thor's hair as he continued to kiss, gripping him, holding him in it, and Thor moaned again, even more turned on by the way Loki was grabbing his hair. When Loki broke off the kiss this time he didn't let go his grip. He held Thor down beneath him and grinned. "Show me you want me then, brother. Show me your desire. Show me that you can be a good pet." He rolled over suddenly, lying on his back, and his hand, still grabbing a handful of Thor's hair, yanked Thor's head down to Loki's groin. "Yes, master," breathed Thor, and his fingers went to the waistband of Loki's boxers, pulling them down without hesitation. Loki kicked them off, even as Thor bent his head and lapped against Loki's cock. It was not the first cock he'd sucked, but it was very unlike any of the others. It was smaller, which he'd known it would be, and also shaped a little differently, with a kind of open groove on the underside and a pair of ridges along it that blended into Loki's inner labia at the base. He licked up the length of it, tasting an odd mixture of feminine juices and masculine musk, along with the salty taste of pre, which was already leaking from the tip of it. Loki moaned as he did, and Thor felt a wash of pleasure at that sound. He wanted to make Loki moan more, to give him pleasure, to make him come. He brought a hand up, teasing along Loki's entrance with his fingers while he took Loki's cock into his mouth, holding the whole of it, his tongue working along it. "Ah, brother..." Loki's grip on his hair tightened, and a shiver of pleasure went through him. Thor pushed his fingers into Loki, stroking inside him slowly even as he continued to suck and lap at his cock. He closed his single eye to better concentrate on what he was doing, to better try to please Loki. Loki put his other hand beside the first, holding Thor's head down. Thor moaned, working his tongue harder along Loki's cock, and moving his fingers faster, stroking within Loki steadily. "Yes," groaned Loki, his grip tightening even more. It hurt at this point, but Thor certainly didn't mind that. Loki held his head down and began lifting his hips, thrusting into Thor's mouth with short, convulsive motions. Thor did the best he could to keep caressing Loki's cock with his tongue, moving his fingers in time with Loki's thrusts. Loki was panting hard and soon cried out with growing intensity, "Yes... Ah, Thor... Ah yes... Yes!" At that final cry a flood of bitter-salt suddenly filled Thor's mouth, and he felt Loki's body spasming around his fingers. He gave a shudder, half-choked by the gush of cum, and did the best he could to take it all in. Some of it leaked from between his lips and stained his beard, but when the last pulsing spurt was done and Loki's iron-hard grip on his hair loosened, he pulled back and swallowed, feeling a wonderful thrill of pleasure as he drank down Loki's load. It was good, very, very good, despite the bitter taste, or perhaps in part because of it. Loki let out a satisfied sigh. "Good boy." "Thank you, master," said Thor softly, and he rested his head against Loki's thigh with a contented sigh of his own. Loki began stroking his hair, and they rested like that for a time. But then Loki's fingers twisted through Thor's hair again and he tugged upward. Thor obeyed that pull, scooting up until he was lying beside Loki again. Loki kissed him once more, softly at first but with rapidly growing passion. "I don't think I'm done with you quite yet, brother," he said, grinning, as they broke apart. Thor felt his breath catch. "Master..." Loki chuckled. "You're always so responsive." He traced one hand along Thor's side, down over his hip. Thor felt a shiver go through him at that touch. "It's really quite delightful." Loki's hand dipped down to grope between his legs, his long, cool fingers stroking over Thor's cock, teasing it back to erection. Thor moaned helplessly. Loki's touch was electrifying, wonderful, amazing. Loki's fingers curled around his cock entirely, gripping it firmly, and began to stroke it. "Oh god, master," moaned Thor. "Do you want more, my pet?" Thor swallowed hard. "Yes, master." "Hmm. Perhaps if you ask nicely enough." Loki's hand stopped stroking Thor, and he leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Beg for it, brother. Beg and plead for me to fuck you, and maybe I will." Thor drew in a sharp breath and was suddenly panting, the thrill of being made to submit running through him. He licked his lips, struggling to find the words to obey through the haze that now filled his mind. "I... Oh, god... Master... Please, I..." "Please what, brother?" Thor clenched his teeth, shivering. "I... I want you, master. I want you to fuck me. Please." Loki smiled slyly at him, his expression smug, sadistic. "You want your brother to fuck you, hmm? Really?" A whimper escaped from Thor. Phrased like that he did not want to say yes, but he did want Loki, intensely, desperately, and finally he managed a trembling, "Yes. Please." "Say it just like that, my pet. Say 'I want my brother to fuck me.'" Loki continued to smile as Thor squirmed and panted, shaking his head as if in negation of what Loki was making him say. But his cock, with Loki's fingers still curled loosely around it, was rock hard despite that negation. "Come on, brother, say it." Loki's smile was sly, filled with evil mischief. Thor whimpered again, squirming harder, his feet working restlessly against the bed, as if he could somehow get away from Loki's sadistic command. Finally he gasped, out, "I want my brother to fuck me." "Say please, brother." "Please... Loki..." His tone was desperate now, pleading, and he felt on fire with humiliation and with a desire that only grew stronger the more evil Loki was to him. "I suppose that will do," said Loki. He let go of Thor's cock then and shoved him over abruptly, onto his back. Then he threw a leg over Thor, straddling him, and Thor felt Loki's entrance rubbing along his cock, an almost cool wetness against the fire of need there. He moaned helplessly, his head rolling back on the pillow beneath it. "Mmm." Loki's tone was still sadistic as he rocked his hips, grinding himself against Thor without taking him inside. Thor squirmed again, his hands coming up to Loki's hips, just touching there, not daring to grip. "Please," Thor said again, his voice shaking. "God, you beg so beautifully." Loki ground against him once more, then lifted himself, his hand curling around Thor's cock again to guide it. He pressed the tip of it against himself, and then with a long sigh of deep satisfaction he sank down onto it. "And you feel wonderful. Mmm." Thor groaned helplessly. Loki's wet, tight heat around him was incredible, and he felt halfway to his climax already. Loki started to rock his hips, riding Thor slowly, head tipping back in pleasure. "Ah... Yes, my pet." Thor only moaned again, unable to resist the urge to thrust up in time with Loki's motions. "Mmm, good boy. Show me what you want. Don't hold back." "Master," gasped Thor, and his hands tightened on Loki's hips, pulling him down as Thor continued to buck his own hips up. Loki put his hands on Thor's chest, arching over him, moving faster, his body tensed, his inner muscles clenching down on Thor's cock. "Oh yes. Don't stop... Come on, pet. Come on brother. I want you to come for me." "Oh god, Master." Thor thrust faster, harder, pulling Loki down hard each time now, pounding up into him, his pleasure spiraling rapidly upward. "Oh god, yes... Ah..." "Come on. I want you to fill me up, brother." Loki's voice was breathless, demanding, and he clenched even harder, his body tensed. One of his hands went to his own cock, stroking it rapidly, and Thor felt a spike of increased pleasure go through him at the thought of bringing Loki to his peak once more. His own climax was rapidly nearing, he felt himself trembling on the edge of it, and with one last gasping cry of, "Yes, Loki! God, yes!" he came hard, thick seed pumping up into Loki, filling him as he'd demanded. "Ah! Thor!" Loki shuddered atop him, and with a few more quick strokes of his hand he too came, his seed spurting out over Thor's chest. Then it was past and Thor went limp, panting hard, his single eye dazed and unfocused. Loki slowly relaxed atop him, also panting. They both rested there for a long time, still joined intimately, even as Thor's cock slowly softened. At length Loki bent over Thor and pressed a tender kiss on him. "Thank you, brother," he said with a tiny, mischievous smile. Thor chuckled. "Thank you. You are absolutely and utterly evil, in the best possible way." He sighed again, blissfully. That had been quite possibly the most intense sex he'd ever had. The added edge of Loki's dominance, and the taboo of forced incest had been amazing. "I think I can live with being evil." Loki smirked down at Thor. "But you are quite a mess, brother. I think we need a shower again." Thor looked down at himself and shook his head wryly. "It seems so." Loki pulled himself off of Thor, which caused even more mess as a gush of Thor's seed leaked from him. Thor sighed a little sadly, not at the mess, but at no longer having Loki around him. Resting so intimately together had been very good. Loki bent and kissed Thor again, briefly, sweetly. "Come, my pet, let's get you cleaned up." They showered again, and Loki soaped up Thor, washing every inch of him, in a way that was caring but somehow not remotely subservient. Thor scrubbed Loki as well, and knelt to clean his feet even, managing to make the same task into a further offering of submission. He got his bandages quite wet doing so, but Loki gently changed the dressing on his eye once they were out of the shower, not flinching from the sight of it. They ended up in the living room again, Thor wrapped in a bathrobe and Loki having put his borrowed boxers back on and donned his jeans as well. Loki set about making breakfast, humming cheerfully to himself as he cooked omelets. Thor sprawled on the couch, watching Loki move with unselfconscious grace around the kitchen. He was obviously very happy, humming and flipping the spatula in his hand and even doing a dance step now and again as he turned back and forth from the cutting board to the stove. It made Thor smile to see him so. He brought Thor a plate when the food was done, then sat beside him with his own, and somehow the moment as they breakfasted together, having sated their lust together, was pure perfection. Thor thought back on his life, and he found few times so good as this. Most had been in the innocent carelessly of his youth, and Loki had been there too. "You know, brother, if somebody had told me a few months ago that I would be making a morning-after breakfast for you, I would have laughed and called them deranged." Loki smiled. "But this is...good. Being with you is good." "It is very good," said Thor, nodding. "It's not the path I expected to take either. But I am happy with it. I'm happy with you. You take such good care of me. And I'm happy to see you happy." Loki gave him a slightly startled look. "Happy. I've always sought and found pleasure, but happiness has proved more elusive. You're right, though, I am happy." He set his fork down and reached out to put his hand over Thor's. "I'm happy with you, brother. I hope—I think—that I always will be." Hearing those words, Thor felt a warm glow in the core of him. He wasn't going to say the word yet, he didn't feel ready for it, but he knew then, suddenly, that he loved Loki. So with a warm smile he took Loki's hand in his and held it close. "I hope the same, brother."