Not a stalker

[st_ratagem]

It wasn't the most subtle thing in the world, but it probably also wasn't the least subtle. (Probably._ Just, since Loki's trip into his own future (Thor's past), the god of mischief just tended to be around, wherever Thor happened to be. He didn't obviously follow. He didn't always speak. Often he didn't even acknowledge Thor's presence.

But, as much as possible, he was around. Even in Thor's room, on and off, albeit as a kitten keeping Stark company and creating tiny claw marks on the man's hands. (He insisted on wiggling fingers! He deserved what he got!)

There were, of course, times when it was impossible to be subtle. Such as this time, when Thor was working in the garden and Loki had opted to take up space on a nearby bench and read, occasionally glancing up to make sure Thor was still there.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

“Good for you.” Now Loki did try to push Thor’s hand off his shoulder, not because dirt but because he was well aware that Thor was managing. Somehow that seemed offensive rather that the pleasant it should be: managing Thor was at least not dead-faced future-zombie.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor'd expected his brother to dislodge from him eventually. He was frankly surprised his brother allowed the affection that long.

Thor pushes himself up off the bench. "Well, don't want to interrupt your reading." Thor heads off in the direction of the forest.

Thor knows exactly what he's doing.

[st_ratagem]

Damn it. Loki weighed his desire not to let Thor win versus his current need to keep his brother in sight as much as possible, and keeping Thor in sight won.

He got up from his bench and followed Thor.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks over his shoulder at his brother, walking blindly forward. "Thought you were reading."

[st_ratagem]

“I was. Now I’m not.” And since Thor clearly knew exactly what he ways doing, Loki added a waspish, “Thanks for that.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Still lurking, I see." Thor redirects his attention forward before he can plow headfirst into a tree or stumble over something in the path.

[st_ratagem]

“It’s not lurking when I’m moving.” Semantics!

[st_ormbreaker]

"Stalking?" Thor suggests cheerily.

[st_ratagem]

“Better! I’m not technically sneaking enough for it, but it’s better.” Best to just own it, until and unless he was asked to stop.

[st_ormbreaker]

"How long do you plan on following me?" Thor climbs up onto a fallen tree, then jumps over it and looks over at Loki behind him.

[st_ratagem]

“I asked if you wanted me to stop! Three times, now.” Loki reached the fallen tree and climbed up onto it, but didn’t jump down. He was following, not accompanying.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I don't want you to stop. I want you to tell me what's going on."

And since Loki didn't feel inclined to tell him and seemed intent on alternating between lurking around him and stalking behind him, he might as well make the most of it and have Loki follow him all over creation.

[st_ratagem]

“Why, do you somehow think it’ll help? Or are you just starving for entertainment?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"I have plenty of entertainment in the garden," Thor says, continuing forward. "And here, too. Lots to see out in the woods. Lots of wildlife."

Thor casts another glance over his shoulder at the brother who's trailing behind. "You know, I've counted 42 different bird species since I arrived here."

[st_ratagem]

“Good for you?” Loki had, in fact, hopped down from the fallen tree and followed. As Thor had expected, clearly. “Don’t let me interrupt.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"If I wanted entertainment, I'd have it," he says. He stops in his tracks and turns to face his brother. "I'd rather know what's going on with you."

[st_ratagem]

“Nothing you can help with.” Loki stopped short, crossing his arms, mostly to keep from picking at his own hands, a nervous tic that was more long-standing and thus obvious than he’d like.

Since Thor was capable of just walking until the border caught them and dropped them back at the Inn, he added, “I had a visit from a ghost. It was... bad. That’s all.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor has the remarkable ability to go from playful to serious in an instant.

It happens again now.

"Who was it?"

[st_ratagem]

“Frigga, actually.” That part had been almost-unambiguously pleasant. It was everything else that wasn’t.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Mother?" Thor had been expecting something like Odin. He can't imagine being with mother would be an unpleasant experience, least of all for Loki.

[st_ratagem]

“That’s what I said, yes.” Even serious, Thor wasn’t a dead-eyed wreck. So this was fine.

[st_ormbreaker]

"What's so bad about seeing mother? I would be happy to see her." Thor can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy that their mother appeared to Loki, but not to him. Right now, he wanted to see her more than anything.

[st_ratagem]

Loki shrugged, as if that was an answer. Time with his mother had been worth the price, even if missing her and grieving her all over again wasn’t exactly helping the rest of it. “I didn’t say that was the bad part.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor takes a few steps closer to his brother, but doesn't quite close the gap between them.

"What was the bad part?"

[st_ratagem]

‘Not important’ wouldn’t be an acceptable answer, and neither would ‘none if you business’. If either of those were true, he wouldn’t be stalking and lurking. And yet.. there was nothing Thor could actually do, nothing (almost nothing) he didn’t already know. And the things he didn’t know, the things Loki was thinking about, weren’t things he’d actually be willing to have a conversation about.

He’d go dead, or make demands, or both. “I don’t think that’s a conversation I can have with you.”