[Loki and Thor] Take two

[st_ratagem]

Twenty minutes had proved to be more than enough time to raid the café's bar area, taking several (eight? ten? Loki didn't count) bottles of various liquors. The God of Mischief was generally an occasional drinker or social drinker at best, but Thor was another matter. His brother had prodigious tolerance even for an Asgardian.

He wasn't used to a cryptic, secretive Thor, or a Thor with a bizarre tendency to follow him around like a puppy, or a Thor that wept on him for no apparent reason. It was strange, it was worrying, it had to stop. The solution had to be somewhere in what had happened between Loki's 'now' and Thor's, and if Thor needed to be drunk to give him those facts, his brother was more than happy to take that request seriously.

The acquired bottles went into the little nook under the stairs - not to stay there long, almost certainly. After due consideration, Loki also hauled the trash can out of the bathroom and placed it by the large bed on the lower level, for empties. It was the only decent place to sit that wasn't in the upper-level area that was for sleeping or the outdoor balcony.

At that point, all there was to do was wait.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

"It's only the empties! Also, hungover me can handle it." Loki briefly considered writing a note to himself advising against wearing shoes, but that would never work.

He knew his own tricks.

[st_ormbreaker]

"You and I seem to have very different memories of the last time I saw you drunk and hungover," he says, taking another long swig of his beverage.

[st_ratagem]

"Really? It's quite entertaining for me." Which was, really, why he didn't do it that often. Drunk Loki's favorite target was hungover Loki, in many ways. "But we do remember things differently fairly often."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I suppose so," Thor admits. "Differing perceptions and all."

Thor takes a swig of his drink and thinks about what his father said about him always seeing half the picture. He turns and looks at Loki.

"You think you're going to remember all this in the morning?" he asks. "I really don't want to have this conversation again."

[st_ratagem]

"It's my mind. It does what I tell it to." Which was to say: yes.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I tell my mind many things -- it doesn't mean it always does it."

[st_ratagem]

"That's your mind. I've got mine trained."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor pouts.

"Are you going to let me braid your hair or what?"

He might as well get something out of this conversation.

[st_ratagem]

"I'm not going anywhere." Loki dropped his voice to a theatrical whisper, "There's glass on the floor."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor rolls his eyes and crawls into the middle of the bed so he has better access to his brother's hair. He runs a hand through it, trying to pull free any tangles.

"When was the last time you washed your hair? Do you need me to do that for you?"

[st_ratagem]

"What? No! This morning or yesterday, probably." Loki shrugged, a little awkwardly so as not to get in his brother's way. Ordinarily, Thor would obsess about his own hair, but as it had been shaved off it made a certain amount of sense that he'd latch on to Loki's instead.

Not a good replacement, but better than nothing. "Doesn't matter. There's a comb in the bathroom if you'd rather not use your hands."

[st_ormbreaker]

"No matter," Thor says, as his fingers already start threading his brother's hair together. They'd done this as children, but certainly not anytime recently, even when they were getting along.

"I wish I had some of Vax's beads, though," he says, frowning thoughtfully as he works. "It'd be nice to thread some of them into your hair."

[st_ratagem]

"Best not. You know I'm going to take them out in the morning." He always had before, when they were children. Having it done was pleasant, but it wasn't his style. Thinking of hair, though.... "You realize you're going to have to find someone to cut your hair even if you're growing it back out, brother."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'm not letting anybody touch my hair ever again," he says, still weaving Loki's hair together. "So don't. Even. Suggest it."

[st_ratagem]

"It will need to be evened out at least, sooner or later. Mother can't trick you into sitting still for it anymore, so you'll have to be an adult." Loki closed his eyes, concentrating on the pleasure of hands in his hair. "Or, you know, live with having an ugly random mop on your head."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'll take that the ugly random mop, thank you," Thor says. "If you had a crazy old man coming at you with his bionic chainsaw arm, you'd never want a pair of clippers near your hair, either."

[st_ratagem]

"If I had a crazy old man coming at me with a chainsaw arm, I'd turn his mind inside out and leave him drooling on the floor." Or worse. But that was one option Thor had never had. "Fine. I'll trim your hair when it needs done."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I was strapped to a chair with an obedience disk in my neck," he says. "Turning his mind inside out wasn't exactly an option."

Not that Thor would have done so, anyway. The man seemed a few screws short of a hardware store.

Still, Thor isn't totally unreasonable.

"Fine," he concedes to the offer. "But if you do anything to ruin my hair, I'll never forgive you."

That's where Thor drew the line.

[st_ratagem]

"Of course, brother. I already know the rules. I don't ruin your hair or intimate relationships." If there were any other absolutes on the list, Loki didn't elaborate. "I never have. Well, almost never." The almost was why there were rules.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor is quickly finishing up. It's strange how he's had a few months without the hair, but his hands still know naturally how to put everything together.

"So you're going to be nice to Tony, then."

[st_ratagem]

"That's unlikely. I expect we'll ignore each other's existences as thoroughly as possible." Stark had already proven to himself that he could exist in proximity without murder, and Loki hadn't been lying when he said he had nothing against the man. "I meant more that I don't interfere with these things, as a rule."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor makes a little noise at that. Ignoring is probably the best he can hope for. But then, he finishes Loki's braid and realizes --

"Do you have a hair tie?"

Thor carried them around enough when had longer hair, but now, he had no reason to.

[st_ratagem]

Without a word or opening his eyes, Loki reached up and yanked a loose hair that had escaped the braiding process out of his own head. A quick flash of green later and it was a thin black band, which he offered back to Thor.

Somehow, that was easier than saying 'no'.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor smiles lightly as he takes the hair tie from Loki, then binds his brother's hair. He assesses his handiwork with a smile. It looks nice.

"There," he pronounces happily.

Thor doesn't shift to move back into his previous place immediately; instead, he drapes himself over his brother's back and pulls him in for a hug.

Despite all the father talk earlier, he really is happy. He never imagined he'd be able to see his brother again, let alone have an entire conversation with him that'd end well enough for him to be able to braid his hair afterwards.

[st_ratagem]

Loki stiffened and almost flung himself away, as he had earlier... but instead, he relaxed again and let Thor hug him. Even leaned back, very slightly, to force back any lingering urge to resist. There was, after all, glass on the floor.