A serious conversation

[st_ratagem]

Nerves were pointless. Realistically there was only one way this conversation was ultimately going to go, it was just a matter of getting there. Which would be awkward and embarrassing at least, but it had to be done.

Rather than go through the knock-on-door-then-enter thing, which would have been minor sandpaper on nerves that wanted to be frayed, Loki opened the door to the room as an invitation to enter. (Thor was the only one he was expecting, anyway.) After that, he took a seat at the little table on the balcony, since the only other choice was pacing like a ninny.

The room was much less tidy and impersonal since Valkyrie had moved in. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said she wasn’t organized, so her things were scattered around, and Loki had relaxed his own tight rein on his things, so a few piles of books and other things had joined the clutter. It looked lived-in, now.

Comments

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor relinquishes his hold on Loki, still beaming.

"How could she say no to you?" he asks. His face is starting to ache from the sheer happiness of it all, but his grin never falters. "I don't know why you'd come to me. You don't need my permission."

[st_ratagem]

“It’s a one-syllable word, and I may have misread her. It happens.” He poked Thor in the shoulder. “Also, I rather do, if you’ll stop thinking like a Midgardian for a moment. You’re my king, the head of my family, and marriage isn’t about what the couple wants. It’s about family alliances. You can ignore it for yourself,” and possibly had, depending on interpretation, “but I can’t if I’m at all interested in doing this properly. Which I am, for a number of reasons.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's brows furrow.

"Why are you worried about any of that?"

[st_ratagem]

“Because this isn’t just for here! I want future validity, and that means going through every step, including contract, even if you think it’s stupid. She deserves solid ground to stand on later if she needs it.” If she needed or wanted to claim the connection when he was no longer there to endorse it. “And I’m not Asgardian except by choice, I remind you, so I want my own solid ground. It’s not good enough just to decide ‘we’re married’ and be done with it for me. That’s at least three reasons, pick one you like.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Loki, nothing would make me happier."

[st_ratagem]

“That’s all I needed. Norns know there’s nothing much to settle otherwise,” no real questions of property, inheritance, dowry, or terms of alliance as there would have been in nearly any other formal arrangement, “and Norns also know you wouldn’t be interested in negotiating even if there were. Good enough.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor can't resist the urge to give his brother another hug, this one shorter than the last -- but he still clamps his hands on either side of Loki's arms once he's ended it.

"Why the change of heart? I thought you were..." Thor frees a hand to gesture vaguely. "...anti-marriage."

[st_ratagem]

“I’m not. I never have been. I just assumed marriage would either be a political arrangement for advantage or convenience, or not be my lot at all. There’s a difference.” Loki shrugged as best he could with Thor gripping his arms. “I’m not you. I had no romantic options or prospects for it, so I never wasted my energy on the idea of marrying for it.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"But now you have!" Thor gives his brother a too strong pat on the side of his arm. "So what am I going to be? Best man?"

[st_ratagem]

“I haven’t asked her yet! You’re getting ahead of things.” Loki tried to pull away, to avoid another blow to his arm if possible. “But yes, if you like.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Loki might avoid another blow to the arm, but there's no scrambling away from another hug from Thor.

"Congratulations!" Clearly, Thor has already accepted this marriage as a given.

[st_ratagem]

“You’re going to be so disappointed if she says no.” Loki himself didn’t seriously expect a flat no, but he thought ‘not yet’ was at least somewhat possible.

[st_ormbreaker]

"She's not going to say no," Thor says confidently. "As soon as she says yes, I want to be the first person to know."

[st_ratagem]

“Who do you imagine would be higher on my list?” The only other people Loki really wanted to confide in, ever, we’re Bo and Bucky, and neither of them rated a family announcement before Thor. “And I feel I should point out that one of the reasons I want her is that she’s not above turning me down just because she doesn’t like my attitude of the moment.” It wouldn’t be permanent in that case, just until he’d repaired the deficiency and/or sufficiently made up for it. But still. Assuming anything about the Valkyrie outs be a dangerous prospect.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor is still grinning.

"I've always wanted a sister," Thor says, and then he course-corrects himself: "Well, a sister that didn't want both of us dead." Hela hadn't exactly given her the familial, sisterly relationship he wanted. True, Valkyrie was already practically family in everything but name, but this made it official.

[st_ratagem]

“Good. I don’t want a sister.” He had been, in fact, very prepared to get violent over the concept of Brunnhilde being relegated to ‘sister’.

[st_ormbreaker]

"But you're okay with having a second brother."

[st_ratagem]

“You marrying Stark is your business. That doesn’t necessarily make him anything to me.” Loki held up a hand to prevent any protest of the point. “He and I can tolerate each other comparatively easily, and given history that’s more than enough.”

[st_ormbreaker]

For the first time since their conversation began, Thor's smile fades, though he knows that's the most he can expect from Loki. Truthfully, he's not even sure how Tony feels about Loki these days.

"I'm glad we have that now," he says. "I wasn't sure the two of you would ever be able to stand one another."

[st_ratagem]

“I imagine if we couldn’t you’d be the last to know,” Loki’s tone was amused, because he’d been good enough at concealing the depth of the mutual loathing between him and the Three, and he didn’t doubt Stark had as much experience at keeping things to himself, “but he was determined to tolerate and I don’t have anything against him. I had less doubt than you there, apparently.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Wlel, you did try to kill him," Thor quips, finally sitting back down.

[st_ratagem]

“People always take that so personally. It’s not like it’s an unusual thing for me to do.” How many times had he tried to kill Thor? Only a few of those had been really serious.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Humans are more fragile," Thor points out, "and they don't live nearly as long as we do."

Thor, on the other hand, was made of considerably more durable stuff.

[st_ratagem]

“Still, it’s hardly ever personal.” Once in a while, yes, but in general when something was personal, Loki aimed at suffering, not death.

It seemed like a topic that could start a fight, so Loki shifted to one likely to be more entertaining. “... it just now occurs to me to be glad I had a pair of knives from Mother.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Loki's attempt to shift the conversation works.

"Why's that?"