Had things gone differently...

“It means a lot to Thor, too,” Jane confided softly, taking one of the cookies to nibble on and tearing off an edge before popping it into her mouth. “A lot. It’s just frustrating because I don’t know how to help.” 

“I know what you mean,” Cora agreed, taking a bite of a cookie as well and letting it melt in her mouth before continuing. “I try at every turn and it’s getting easier, but… It’s hard because I really want to help, but at the same time, I have to back off because it’s ultimately none of my business.” 

Jane nodded knowingly before sighing. “I think they’re doing better though. Don’t you?”

Cora nodded back. “I think so. I hope so.” The two women shared a glance for a moment before cleaning up the kitchen and packing away the cookies for the morning, making minimal noise and managing to work around each other with surprising synchronicity. 

When they’d finished, the two ventured into the living room and stood near the couch with slightly uncertain expressions. “Does he take well to be woken up?” Jane asked warily.

“Mm, not…terribly…,” Cora murmured before unhelpfully suggesting, “Poke him and step back really fast.”

“I don’t want to poke him, you poke him!”

“There’s no penalty if he throws me on the floor, if he does it to you, he has Thor to worry about, he’ll stop if it’s you,” Cora pointed out. 

“I don’t want to get thrown on the floor though, you’re part Asgardian and you’re bigger than me, it’ll hurt you less.” 

Cora squinted slightly. “What are you trying to say?”

“She is saying you are an oaf like my brother and neither of you are very quiet,” came a grumble from the couch. Both Cora and Jane looked down at Loki, whose tired eyes were angled up at them with faint traces of exasperation. 

Jane smiled embarrassedly and approached to retrieve her son now that the conundrum of waking up the god on the sofa was no longer of issue. Loki released the boy and Jane managed to hoist him up without waking him, whispering, “Thank you for watching him. Goodnight, you two.” 

“Goodnight,” Cora replied, looking down as Loki turned over and buried his face against one of the throw pillows. She leaned down and murmured in his ear, “If you don’t go get in bed, Santa won’t come.” 

“If anything comes down that chimney, I shall smite it,” came his muffled reply and Cora couldn’t help but laugh. He glanced up at her woefully and suggested, “Carry me.” 

“I could try,” Cora laughed, not sure how strong she actually was. 

“Don’t bother. You’ll maim yourself before the Yuletide dawn and what kind of festive event would that be,” he mused, though a faint smirk did tug at his mouth. He slowly, stiffly rose and stretched, glancing toward the kitchen. “Those smell wonderful.” 

“We’ll dig into them in the morning,” she said, steering him toward the staircase. Cora had decided quite some time ago that Loki was cutest and most compliant when he was tired, which was rather strange. Immediately upon waking, he tended to be a grump and a grump with a vengeance if his waking wasn’t absolutely necessary. However, there was that in-between halfway past waking and before falling back to sleep in which he had his guard down. At least, with her, that was the case. 

Loki followed along behind her on the stairs for a few steps before she felt him take her waist and scoop her into his arms, sleepily kissing her cheek and nuzzling her neck as he climbed the rest of the way. Cora smiled and went along for the ride, laughing when he all but fell on her when he put them both in bed. “Are you happy?” she asked quietly as he settled in, his arms around her after he’d tugged the comforter and blankets up over them. 

He opened his eyes and looked at her thoughtfully through a sleep-fogged gaze, soon giving one slow and uncertain nod. And then another one that was more sure. “I believe I am.” 

Cora smiled and kissed his forehead gently as she felt him exhale and begin to fall back to sleep. “I’m glad,” she whispered gently when she knew he was gone. 

-

“This is a terrible story, I thought you said this was happy!” Thor said with some dismay, sitting on the floor with Erik leaning against one of his legs, transfixed on the claymation Rudolph, the Red-Nose Reindeer special playing on the TV, one of Jane’s favorites from when she was young. 

“It’s not terrible, it’s a classic!” Jane protested as she leaned out of the kitchen, Cora turning over pieces of French toast in a skillet in the kitchen and listening to the exchange with an amused expression. “How is it terrible?”

“How is it not?” Loki supplied, watching as Erik discovered he could blow spit bubbles and giggled at his own antics. “I do not mind so much though.” 

“I mind, they are being so cruel to him,” Thor complained, tousling his son’s hair. 

“He gets his moment to shine later, it’s not all bad,” Jane soothed exasperatedly as the Abominable Snow Monster made his first appearance in the film. 

Cora glanced over as the film played, listening to the narrator say the familiar lines ominously, “He’s mean, he’s nasty! And he hates everything to do with Christmas!” She looked at Loki through the doorway and she teased, “Oh, hey, look! It’s you!” 

Loki rolled his eyes at her as she mimed being a snow-monster, soon returning to the toast so it didn’t burn. “Laugh it up, you will not be when I stomp through your presents.” 

“Well, blast your hairy Bumble hide!” she claimed as she brought Thor and Loki heaping plates of French toast, handing one to Jane when she came back from getting Erik’s cereal. Thor chuckled at the banter as he shoveled the sugary treat into his mouth, making a brief sound of approval between forkfuls. 

They continued to watch the movie while Cora cleaned up the kitchen (again). Loki was dismayed when the Abominable got his teeth pulled and just as he glanced over toward Cora in the kitchen, she paused and snapped the tongs she was about to put in the dishwasher twice with silent, comical threat. He just squinted at her and went back to watching the film, only to complain at the end when Rudolph helped Santa and all the “intolerant, brainless heathen deer who had mocked him for years prior.” Cora couldn’t say she disagreed. It was a pretty unfair deal and she wasn’t sure she would’ve been so eager to help them either. 

“Everyone full?” 

“Definitely,” Jane said with a contented sigh. “Thank you.” 

Cora smiled. “No problem. Want to do presents?”

“Sure,” Jane answered and Cora noticed both Thor and Loki’s expressions tightened faintly from the topic, especially after they’d distributed everyone’s gifts to their respective recipient. “All right, dig in.” 

Loki didn’t touch his yet, just made a few motions to look as though he was doing something; instead he was watching Thor, and warily at that, look over his presents and then pick Loki’s out of the pile first. They accidentally locked eyes when Thor looked over his shoulder at him, his expression guarded surprise. “You procured a gift for me?”

Loki nodded stiffly and then when Thor didn’t move, he urged, “Well, go on, you big oaf, open it.” 

Thor looked at the box and tore off the paper and tag, lifting the white lid off to reveal the toolbox and belt and at first appearing slightly bewildered. “It is…”

“For Mjolnir,” Loki finished with a withering sigh, already in the throes of fitful I knew it thoughts and immersed in the regret of buying his brother a gift he would be eternally mocked for. 

In the meantime, Thor had taken the wrapping off the box and opened it, peering inside curiously like a child on, well, Christmas. He removed the insert and glanced toward where Mjolnir sat beside the sofa, reaching over to pick it up and setting it inside the deep-welled toolbox, having to angle it a certain way to fit it entirely inside. He closed the lid and tested the latches as Loki pointed out, “By the way, Erik can pick it up. I do not know if you were aware of that fact, but I figure I should warn you ahead of time.” 

“He…,” Thor began, but stopped, staring at his toddling son with pride. “Well, this should keep it from him for a while. And this?”

“It’s a belt with loops for your weapons.”

Thor ran his fingertips over the buttery soft leather belt before looking at Loki, who froze at the sight of his older brother’s face. “Do not.” 

Thor grinned with tear-glossed eyes and boomed with laughter, snagging Loki into a firm embrace. So firm, he pulled him right off the couch and a few of the God of Mischief’s presents along with him. “Thank you, brother. They are perfect.” 

Loki glanced down, but allowed the gesture for a moment before squirming from under Thor’s meaty arm, glancing at one of the presents that had toppled off the cushions. It was from Thor. Loki should not have been so shocked that he got him something, but he was, and he took up the small package in his hands and opened it carefully, tilting his head as he peered down at it. “What is a Kindle?”

Thor opened his mouth to reply, but was at a loss and looked to Jane for help. She smiled and replied in his stead, “It’s a device for reading. There are all kinds of books on there, some you have to pay for and others that are free. You can do other things on it, too. I’m sure Cora can help you use it.” 

“Yeah, considering you got me one, too,” Cora laughed as she unwrapped hers. “Thank you.” 

“Yes, thank you,” Loki agreed quietly, deeply intrigued by a device for reading that did not look anything like a book or a tome. 

“Cora, these are so great!” Jane chimed in with a laugh when she unwrapped her gift from Cora, a pair of sterling silver earrings based off Schrödinger’s Cat that she’d found online. One dangly earring showed a live cat, the other had cartoony x’s over its eyes. Despite her nearly crippling love of animals—particularly cats—Cora had found it hysterical and figured it would appeal to the scientist in her friend. Thor and Loki, on the other hand, were thoroughly confused. 

A few sweaters, some toys for Erik, and a couple assorted gift cards later, they’d exhausted the stock of presents beneath the tree. Cora and Loki had saved their presents for one another to open later, just as Thor and Jane had left their gifts to each other at home for their return that afternoon. The majority of the day was spent watching Christmas movies the boys had never seen before and playing games while indulging Erik in snuggles and mostly one-sided conversations. When the family of three headed home that night, Loki and Cora went out and picked up Chinese takeout, which they portioned out in plates and bowls and enjoyed on the couch while watching Home Alone. 

After Cora had finished and set her dishes on the coffee table, she glanced at Loki and then picked up two bags hidden at the side of the couch, setting them beside him. “Whenever you’re ready.” 

Loki glanced over with interest, but finished his dinner and set down his plate before picking up the first bag, opening it up and rooting through the tissue paper calmly before unearthing book after book stacked in like a jigsaw puzzle, pausing to glance at each one as he pulled them out. 

“I admit, I feel a little ridiculous about these now because I didn’t know Jane was going to buy you a Kindle, but…,” Cora began, trailing off when she saw Loki shaking his head. 

“I daresay I will always love paper tomes best,” he told her seriously. “And this is more personal than Jane’s gift. She gave me a device that would enable me to choose what I wanted, however you knew specifically what I would like. At least, I assume you went with things I would like.” 

“They’re all dollar-store romance novels. All of them.”

“My favorite,” Loki said sarcastically back as Cora laughed. He leaned over and kissed her cheek before neatly stacking the books for later exploration, pleased with his gifts though he had one more. He looked over when Cora nudged the other bag forward and picked it up, taking out a wrapped box inside. Peeling off the paper, Loki opened the black box beneath to reveal a black and silver timepiece with a black faux alligator strap and tiny green accents on the hands. The face was sectioned to show the movement of the clockwork within the watch, which was spinning with life as he held it. “A little clock?”

“Essentially. It’s called a watch.” 

“I am immortal, I have little use for a measurement of time,” he reminded her calmly.

“Well, punctuality is appreciated in Midgard and you can’t very well be on-time without having the time. And also I thought it was just a neat mechanism.” She was right and she knew him better than he’d realized; he loved taking things apart and seeing how they worked, in fact he’d been driving her up the wall at times by piecing apart things she didn’t think he’d be able to put back together, but he always did. His memory was impeccable. With this, he could see how it worked just by looking at it. A compromise. 

He nodded to himself and thanked her before he took a small black bag from behind one of the throw pillows, setting it on her lap. Cora opened the bag and pushed the tissue paper aside, plucking out a box about the size of her hand and a smaller envelope that looked to be the size for a gift card. She slid that out first and laughed herself to tears when she saw it was to a local bakery. Loki watched her laugh silently, a small smile on his lips even as he watched her open the box, though it became a little sadder then. 

“Wow,” Cora breathed, gently lifting the intricate golden necklace from its keep. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before, except maybe in… “Is this from Asgard?”

He nodded once before saying, after a short pause, “It was my mother’s.” Cora looked at him in surprise and he had to look down to avoid her sympathetic expression and how her brow creased with her own grief. “I want you to have it and it would make her happy that I am giving it to you.” 

Cora smiled faintly and nodded. “Thank you. It’s gorgeous.” 

After opening up the stockings and laughing over the trinkets they’d gotten each other—puzzles for Loki, chocolates and other fun candies for Cora—they cleaned up their plates and wrapping paper mess together. Once they’d neared finishing, Cora yawned and Loki said quietly, “Go on upstairs, I will finish these.” 

“You sure?” When Loki nodded without looking at her, Cora frowned slightly. “Is everything okay?”

Loki looked at her in surprise. “Yes? Everything is fine, why would it not be?”

Cora shrugged. “Just checking. You know I worry.” 

He smirked, “Well, stop. I’ll be up shortly.” She nodded and leaned up for a kiss before heading upstairs, stretching along the way and thinking what a nice Christmas it had been. Likely the best she’d ever had. After mulling over the events of the day while she changed into her pajamas, Cora smiled and murmured, “Couldn’t have been better.” 

Loki was coming down the hall when she murmured those words and he paused, a faint knit between his brows before he smiled. He’d asked Thor extensively about the process while he’d been there that morning, Jane and Cora in the kitchen. Loki hated asking anyone for advice, anyone at all, but somehow he’d managed to make himself push past that bit of his ego and ask Thor what he had to do. And his brother had been more than helpful, which had probably really been their reunifying moment. At the very least, it was the closest to feeling that they were family again that Loki had come to in quite some time. 

It was a good feeling, he decided in the darkened hall, much better than the faint churning in his stomach he was enduring now. However, he’d had the bit of silver and gem for months, he just hadn’t known how to wield it. And because his brother had already made it through that milestone, he’d seemed the most reasonable person to ask. Loki wanted to do this right, in her world’s terms. It was surprisingly the tradition closest in detail between their realms. 

Listening to her move around the bedroom as she always restlessly did before getting into bed, Loki reached into his pocket and pulled out a box, much smaller than the one he’d placed in her gift bag. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he murmured softly in reply to her earlier statement to herself or the universe, his thumb pressing the lid of the box back and allowing the light filtering from the bedroom to illuminate the ring inside. 

------------------

“Well, there is here, so get used to it!” Cora fired back, cursing as she misstepped on the ladder and stumbled off the rung. Loki had just enough time to growl his exasperation just before he snagged her in the crook of his arm and swung her onto her feet. She probably would’ve been able to catch herself, but it wouldn’t have been graceful and she’d been en route to the floor all the same. “Besides, Christmas Eve is more for kids than anyone else. Because of Santa Claus and all that.” 

“Santa Claus?” he repeated dubiously. “Is that a game like Marco Polo?”

Cora started to say it wasn’t, but then she thought about it considerately. “…You know, it kind of is. But not quite. Marco Polo is actually a game. Santa Claus is kind of a make-believe thing for kids.” Loki stared at her, waiting for an explanation, and she pursed her lips as she thought of how to explain it. “See, when you grow up here as a kid—at least for the most part—you grow up believing that Santa Claus brings you all or some of your presents rather than your parents and family members.”

“Why? Then they do not get credit for their gifts.” 

“No, but children get a lot of joy out of it. There’s a whole story about it and you leave a plate of cookies and some milk out for him, and he comes down the chimney…”

“He sounds like an odd burglar. And Midgardian children actually believe this?”

“Mostly, yes. At least in the States, that’s how we do it, I’m not very informed on how it’s done in other countries and cultures… It’s fun. But eventually, usually from each other, kids find out he’s not real and then they just kind of let it go.” 

“So, the lie of Santa Claus is passed down from generation to generation… To end up in disappointment?”

Cora’s brow creased and she sighed. “Well, it’s still fun for a while… It’s worth the little bit of disappointment later…” 

Loki grimaced and shook his head. “No. It sounds like a horrendous idea.” 

“Listen, you, I swear by all that is holy if you say a word to ruin Santa for that little boy when he’s old enough to understand, I’ll—“

“It would be to save him some grief, I’d be doing him a kindness!”

“Bit out of character, don’t you think?” Cora tossed flippantly and Loki was bearing down on her when they heard the doorbell ring. Cora paused before glancing at Loki, tentatively asking, “Ready?”

His lips curled a little, more out of frustration with the situation than actual anger. “As I shall be.” 

Cora nodded a little and went to answer the door, smoothing her shirt just before turning the knob, grinning when she saw Jane holding Erik and Thor standing behind them both. “Hi, guys!”

“Hey, how are you?” Jane enthused back, stepping in and using her free arm to hug Cora briefly. 

“We’re great, thanks. Oh, my gosh, he’s getting so big!” It was true, Erik had grown even more since the last time she’d seen him, even though it had only really been a few months ago. She wasn’t completely sure if it was the Asgardian blood in him that was causing him to grow faster or if she’d just been around kids so little she wasn’t aware of how fast they actually grew up. Probably a mixture of both, she decided as she scooped Erik out of Jane’s arms, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Oops, sorry, I didn’t see you had stuff with you.”

Cora hastily moved aside so Thor could come in, his hands teeming with bags, mostly of food. “It is no trouble at all, little sister,” Thor smiled, unable to give her a hug and instead leaning down and kissing the top of her head before looking at his brother tentatively. “Hello, brother.” 

“Hello, Thor,” Loki said quietly. Not agitatedly or even somberly, just quietly. 

“You can put that stuff away if you’d like, come on,” Cora offered before the silence set in, leading the way to the kitchen and the living room. 

“Oh, Cora! Your tree’s gorgeous!” Jane complimented. “I’m too lazy to do one properly.” 

“I usually am, too, but Loki insisted we get a real tree.”

“Did he?” Jane wondered with a smirk. “Getting into the Christmas spirit, eh?”

“The thing she had was not a tree,” he remarked and when he got a laugh out of Jane, he seemed to relax slightly. Thor laughed as well, though he was more concerned at the moment with unloading the bags and not dropping anything. “What is all that?”

“Cookies and mini pies, mostly,” Jane replied easily, smiling when she saw Cora making silly faces at Erik and causing him to blubber a few giggles. “Just treats. And presents for you both, of course.” 

Just then, Erik started to cry and Cora murmured a quick, “Oh, jeez,” and hurriedly started to hand him back to Jane. However, Thor swooped in and plucked him up in his huge hands, grinning and lifting him up into the air before bringing him back down to kiss his pudgy cheeks. 

The little boy was giggling again in no time and Cora’s heart melted a little at the sight. She saw Thor glance to the side and then pause before cradling Erik in the crook of one muscular arm, his enthusiasm calming a bit. “Erik, do you know who this is?” he asked the toddler with eyes like the summer sky, blue and shining and wonderfully new. Cora followed Thor’s gaze to Loki, who she realized in that moment had not yet met the child once. Cora had gone to see them alone and only once in the past year or so had they bumped into one another when Loki had been present, and that had been an accident. 

Loki’s expression was conflicted and landed somewhere between anxiety and wariness. He wasn’t feigning indifference though, so that was a start; even so, that just meant whatever he was feeling in that moment was too difficult to hide. He was watching the baby boy calmly, a faint crease between his dark brows that deepened when Thor quietly stated, “This is your uncle, Loki.” 

His jaw tightened slightly at those words strung together, his gaze only lifting when Thor asked if he wanted to hold his nephew. Loki looked hard at Thor for a moment and then back at the child before shaking his head. “No,” he said a bit coldly, which he noticed and attempted to make up for by adding, “thank you.” 

Cora glanced at Jane, who looked as disappointed as she felt. Maybe with time though. Thor just nodded though and nuzzled his son’s cheek before they all helped Jane get organized with her treats, which were arranged around the breakfast bar, and the presents they’d brought, which were stashed under the tree with the rest. They’d all relaxed, assuming they were almost done, when Jane looked aghast and murmured, “Oh, my god.” 

Cora glanced at her, somewhat alarmed. “What?”

“I forgot your lemon cookies at home…,” Jane groaned, running a hand down her cheek. There were these sugar-crusted lemon flavored cookies Jane made that Cora loved—which they’d found out at her baby shower—and ever since Cora had been receiving random care packages via mail and other methods namely containing a box of those cookies and a little note. 

“That’s okay, we—“

“I can run to the store and make them here if that’s okay! Come on, please, I don’t know how I forgot them!” Jane insisted, looking like she felt awful about forgetting a box of cookies, which Cora couldn’t quite comprehend. “No, you don’t understand, those were going to be your main Christmas present. Otherwise I wouldn’t feel so badly.”

Cora pursed her lips. “Could you have put them in one of the gift bags then?”

Jane’s eyes widened a bit. “Good idea, I’ll go check.” 

She left the room and Cora glanced thoughtfully at Thor. “You know, I should probably head out to the store anyway for some extra breakfast things. That’s not a bad idea…”

“They’re not in there,” Jane sighed as she walked back in. “I probably left them on the counter at home like a dunce, I’m sorry.” She shot a glance at Thor. “I thought I told you to take one more look around before we left.” Thor glanced helplessly at Erik, who hiccuped in his arms, apparently at just as much of a loss as his father was. “Doesn’t matter, I can head out to get whatever ingredients you don’t have here.” 

“I was thinking I had some things I want to pick up, too, so I’ll go with you,” Cora offered.

“You can give me a list if you want.” 

“Nah, I’m not sure I’ll know what I want until I see it.”

“I will join you both,” Thor said, gently patting his son’s back absentmindedly. “It is getting late and I do not like the idea of—“

“Are you forgetting how much ass I kicked during that Ragnarök fiasco?” Cora asked dubiously, earning a snort from Loki. “Give me a little bit of credit.” 

“I give you a great expanse of credit, I would just feel better if I came along,” Thor rephrased and Cora couldn’t really argue. New York was never quite trustworthy at night, no matter who you were. Cora’s phone buzzed in her pocket and she plucked it out to see what she’d gotten while Jane and Thor hashed out what she’d need to pick up for the cookies. It was from Pepper and the moment she opened the text, Cora burst out laughing. Inside was a picture of Steve grinning and giving a thumbs-up next to a highly unamused Tony Stark, though it was hard to see his expression under the accumulation of red and green glitter on his face and in his hair. Accompanying it was the simple caption, “Good one!”

After passing around the picture and sharing quirky remarks, Cora went to get her coat from the bedroom while Jane and Thor picked up their coats where they’d set them temporarily by the couch. Thor started to pick up Mjolnir as well, but instead left it on the sofa, not thinking he would have need of it in the next hour or so. He looked at Erik crawling around on the floor, a humble, loving smile crossing his face before he turned to Loki, who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “Coming?”

“I do not think so,” Loki replied. “I have no reason to and I daresay Cora does not take well to my accompanying her to the grocery store.” 

Thor smirked. “Jane normally leaves me home as well.” It earned a faint smirk from Loki as well until silence fell gently between them again. “Are you well?” Thor asked abruptly, startling his brother a little. “I mean to ask… You are…happy here?”

“I…,” Loki began, but was interrupted when Jane came in and Cora appeared down the stairs. Instead of finishing, his lips formed a thin line and he retreated from the moment.

Jane got on her knees with Erik’s coat and as much as she tried to put it on him, he kept wriggling his way out of it. After a moment, she looked so frustrated she was on the verge of tears. “Sweetie, I can’t take you outside without a coat, now come on.” 

Cora watched them struggle before a thought crossed her mind. “You know… We wouldn’t be gone more than a half-hour, I imagine…” Thor and Loki both looked at her quizzically, but her eyes found the God of Mischief first. “You could watch him for a little while, couldn’t you? Since you’re staying here anyway?”

Loki looked like she’d stabbed him rather than asked him to babysit his nephew. He floundered for words, but Jane grasped at the straws. “Would you, Loki? We won’t be gone long, I promise. It’s been such a long day, a long week, actually, and—“

“All right, all right,” Loki grumbled as he stepped back from her hopeful advances. “Just…hurry.” 

“Absolutely,” Jane said quickly before nodding for Thor to head toward the door. 

Thor looked down at her, letting his tiny wife push him into the hallway even as he glanced at Loki with some worry. “Are you sure you will be all right?”

Loki shrugged. “I suppose I’ll live,” he said dryly. Thor seemed to bite down a laugh as Jane finally got him past the doorway. 

Loki felt a quick touch to his cheek, which turned out to be Cora giving him a light kiss goodbye. “Relax, you’ll be fine. I’m sure they appreciate it.”

“Sure, sure,” he said just a tad patronizingly, but added a faint smile on to soften it a bit. Cora smiled and waved after asking if there was anything specific he wanted or needed, her retreat followed by the closing of their front door and then silence apart from the tiny thuds and wet sounds of the child on the floor. 

Loki’s gaze dropped to the golden-haired boy and though he had not joined the family until after Thor was a few years old, he knew that this was how Thor must have looked at just a year of age. 

He sighed and sat down on the couch, watching Erik crawl around on the area rug with a rather bored look on his face, his pale hands folded against one knee. “Just us now,” he murmured thoughtfully. Erik looked up at him as he sat back on his bum, touching the fabric of the rug curiously and observing his surroundings. “I feel rather sorry for you, having that oaf as a father,” he remarked, even while knowing he was lying to himself. Thor was a great father, his actions earlier had only proved what Loki had known for years would be true one day.

Loki watched as Erik crawled quickly toward the kitchen doorway, letting him explore as he would and just keeping an eye on what he was heading toward. “You know, this isn’t so hard,” he scoffed easily just as Erik smacked his elbow against the doorjamb. There was a thud and then one beat of pure silence before he erupted into a fit of tears, his face and eyes red and wet in an instant. 

Loki had a moment of panic before he got up and walked over to the child, warily picking him up under his arms and holding him a couple feet out in front of him as he murmured noncommittal noises resembling, “There, there,” and, “Oh, calm down, you’re fine.” He gingerly set Erik upright on the couch and sat at a slight distance in front of him, scrambling internally for a way to fix this. “Erm…,” he murmured before trying to pull one of the faces he’d seen Cora making earlier, but that stunt only made Erik cry harder. 

Murmuring a small Nordic curse, Loki quickly snapped his fingers and a flash of green light appeared above his hand, an illusioned rose growing from the light. Erik stopped after a moment, his chest still emptily heaving from sobs as he watched Loki fashion the flower, mesmerized by the light and the intricacy of the formation. “There, see? Not so bad…,” Loki sighed with some relief, changing the rose into a tree and the tree into the constellations he’d grown up beneath, above Asgard. Seeing the light of those stars reflected in Erik’s eyes stirred something in him and he slowly realized he was being suckered into liking the little one.

“Of course,” Loki grumbled, though he had to admit that this development was a rather interesting one. “Someone has got to get you to love books, it certainly will not be your father… Perhaps your mother though.” Loki smirked and nixed the galaxy illusion, transferring the light to just above Erik. “Perhaps me,” he murmured softly, smiling as he fashioned an illusory, shrunken version of his golden horned helmet onto his nephew’s little temper-pinkened head. 

Loki chuckled as Erik looked up, seeing the glints from the helmet and marveling at them. “Yes, I could teach you quite a—“ Just before he could finish, Erik raised one of his hands to touch what he perceived as a shiny piece of real attire and it dissipated beneath his fingertips—as illusions did—causing him to return to his waterworks and send Loki back into a controlled panic. 

“It’s just an illusion, you did not—oh, by the Nine…,” he sighed, running a hand over his hair and looking down at his lap sullenly. When he looked back up, Erik was still teary, but he’d found something to occupy himself with, which Loki was thankful for until he saw what it was. Erik tampered with the strap at Mjolnir’s base idly and Loki could see it starting to tilt faintly from their combined weight on the couch cushions making an indent. “Erik, that is not a toy.” 

His stern tone earned him a glance from the boy, whose tiny fists were wrapped around the handle of the ancient hammer. Loki was about to warn him once more when the boy pulled and the hammer tipped up into his clumsy grasp. “Oh, no,” Loki had time to murmur before attempting to contain the situation as soon as possible. “Erik, put that down, no.” 

Erik stopped and looked between Loki and the hammer, his lower lip pouting out even as he let the hammer fall from his little hands. Loki felt the couch shudder when the hammer bounced on the cushions, sighing his relief and leaning against the back with a tired glance at the disappointed boy. “Thank you.” Erik sniffled in what was almost a passive-aggressive response and Loki felt strangely horrible for his reddened eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. Children cried all the time—and more often than not, at least when he was present, it was intentionally his doing—however this one was different. Of course he was different. 

Thor’s son rubbed at his eyes, snuffling again and clearly exhausted. Loki watched him a moment more before sighing and picking him up, more carefully this time. The boy weighed next to nothing and snuggled to Loki’s chest as soon as he had him in a position to do so. Loki looked down at him with an almost sad expression that branched from something he didn’t even understand, but Erik was asleep within moments, breathing evenly after wearing himself out. 

Very meticulously, Loki held the boy in one arm and used the other to ease himself back to lie down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling with Erik sleeping atop him. He barely had time to wonder why such small gestures from a boy not even old enough to speak properly yet meant so much to him before he fell asleep as well, the dotting of lights on the Christmas tree casting little spots beneath his closed eyelids. 

-

Cora, Thor, and Jane returned no longer than forty minutes later, as promised, arms teeming with a few bulky grocery bags. They were talking, but when they heard the silence that greeted them, they all stopped, immediately suspicious. Cora crept in ahead of the others, peeking around the corner into the living room, at which point her jaw dropped at the sight before her. She then grinned and continued into the kitchen, silently setting down the bags she held. She heard Jane and Thor make their way in behind her, both looking shocked, but thoroughly pleased. 

“Is there a door we can close?” Jane whispered as she started to unpack the bags.

“Way ahead of you,” Cora replied, silencing her phone before creeping up on the two and taking one perfect, adorable picture of Loki fast asleep with his nephew dozing on his chest. She put her phone back her her pocket and just looked at them for a long moment, smiling softly. “Destroy my ovaries, why don’t you…,” she grumbled to herself before heading back to the kitchen, very quietly sliding the hideaway door in the jamb between the kitchen and living room shut so they wouldn’t disturb the nappers. 

“Send that to Jane, would you?” Thor wondered and Cora looked up at him. He looked more touched than she’d ever seen him. More touched than she’d ever seen any man, really. It tore at her heart. 

Cora opened her mouth to answer and then spotted her list on the breakfast bar, snatching it up like a runaway snake. “Because.” 

As it turned out, that would be the most descriptive answer he got, even while she herded him outside, through the now impressive amount of snow, and to the sidewalk, where they passed multiple cabs lined up along the curb for chilly takers. “Your lack of information is…”

“Alarming?” she offered unabashedly.

“Rather in-character,” he finished instead, which earned him a heavy dose of side-eye.

After she’d finished throwing him shade, Cora passed the list over to him, which he arranged in his hands in such a way that it stayed flat for reading in the wind. “First of all, your monstrosity of a tree needs more lights than my more practically compact one,” she paused to glare when he mumbled about it not being a real tree, “and second of all, there’s another Midgardian Yuletide tradition I fully intend to indulge in.” 

Loki glanced over at her warily. “And that would be…?”

“It’s kind of a favorite of mine and probably the most widespread tradition there is for the holiday. We exchange gifts,” she explained simply.

“Who is the ‘we’ in this context?”

“Well, anyone, really,” she answered reasonably. “I should have said ‘people’ rather than ‘we,’ but the point is that it’s a thing.” 

“A thing, hm…,” he murmured as he glanced over the list, one section of which was devoted to a great many names, in his opinion, with little ideas for these traditional gifts, he supposed, jotted down alongside. 

He was a little hurt to find that his name hadn’t made her list, though he didn’t show it. Somehow, all the same, she still sensed it, as always. “Did you think I was going to hand you a list with your presents written out all over it? Not a chance.” 

Loki grimaced down at her as she continued to lead them down the populated sidewalk, the both of them unconsciously weaving between civilians like minnows in a traveling school. “Am I expected to partake in this tradition of yours as well?”

Cora frowned a little as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her that he’d resist one of her holiday endeavors. “Um… Well, it would be nice if you did…”

“I wonder when it was that you received the notion that I was ‘nice’.”

“You see, this is why you had to watch the Grinch the other day.” Loki rolled his eyes and watched as she sidestepped in front of him to duck into something called the Christmas Tree Shoppe. His eyes narrowed on the animatronic reindeer inside the window panes alongside a statue of Santa, none of which made sense to him as he’d yet to see any other Christmas specials. The suit and hat rang a bell, however, so he figured there must be a tie-in. Loki sighed and followed her in, immediately getting lost amongst a clutter of ornament racks, stocking choices, and yard decorations. And the trees. Well, the fake trees, but the trees, they were everywhere and in all kinds of colors and sizes and themes. He found it all rather exhausting though he’d only made the shop’s acquaintance for twenty seconds. 

“Cora, by the Nine, where are you?” he called grumpily after he’d not managed to find her immediately. 

“Marco!” called a cheery voice a few rows down. 

“No. Loki. Who is this Marco?” he wondered, jealousy creeping in the pit of his stomach at the thought of some Marco fellow making him so forgettable. It dissipated when he felt her small hand on his forearm, catching him as he almost passed her by. 

“It’s a game. Marco Polo. Well, he’s a famous historical figure, but the name is also a game kids play.” 

Loki’s eyes narrowed a little as he disregarded the confusion influx of information. “So there is no Marco?”

She bit down a laugh at the look on his face. “No.”

He nodded once and then proceeded to look down his nose at the ornaments rather pompously to bulk his ego back up, which was when Cora’s attempt to keep from laughing really became trying.

A half-hour of quiet bickering and perusing later, they emerged from the shop with two bags, one for a ridiculous amount of lights and the other for ornaments and a plush Grinch that Loki had refused to part from after Cora had unthinkingly suggested he could put atop the tree in place of a star or angel. The more she thought about it, the cuter that idea sounded anyway, but she didn’t say anything about it so he could continue to think that he was getting away with something. 

They’d ended up in the large Macy’s department store a few blocks over from their townhouse because Cora had figured they could find just about anything in that place for everyone she’d written down, Loki included; even though she’d gotten his gifts—a bunch of books she’d gone on a spree for in Books & Co., some new clothes, and a few tech toys she’d figured he might have some fun with, at least for a while—already, she still figured there might be room for some stocking stuffers. When she looked over at him to assure him they wouldn’t be there long, she caught him giving her some serious side-eye. Almost her level of side-eye. “What is that look for?”

“Explain this…tradition to me again. Who exchanges these gifts?”

“Um… Whoever wants to? Mostly family, friends, and the like,” Cora replied, squinting at him. “Why?”

He grimaced a little and shrugged. “Trying to understand another Midgardian activity, I suppose.” He said like it was a child’s make-believe game rather than doing something nice for someone else. Figured. 

A woman with an armful of garments and shoeboxes barged between them sheerly out of rudeness and the look Loki shot at her back was poisonous. In a flicker of insanity, Cora wondered what it would’ve been like had she taken him out on Black Friday and, after a moment of consideration for how much chaos he managed to inflict just when he was bored, she decided this would have both been a disaster and a good method to score a discounted TV or computer before anyone else. Something to keep in mind, maybe…

As she entertained the thought of him freezing stores’ automatic doors closed and causing a mess of confusion with his sometimes tyrannical attitude and multitude of illusions, Cora glanced over her list and started for the cosmetics and accessories, shopping with Jane in mind first. Loki followed along behind her, glaring here and there at rude—and sometimes just crowding—shoppers, but remaining surprisingly well-behaved. Cora was mulling over another thought, one she’d been pondering for some time, when Loki finally called her out on it. “Not finding what you’re in search of?”

She frowned a little as she shook her head, holding a bit of soap beneath her nose as she tried to pick out one Jane might like, as she’d managed to end up at the Lush kiosk, one of her personal guilty pleasures. “Well, not quite.” He continued to stare at her until she caved slowly, studying the bar in her hand as she suggested carefully, “I think… I think you should get something. For your brother.” 

Loki’s eyes narrowed and a scowl curled his lips, which discouraged an approaching associate from approaching any further for the time being, smoothly busying herself with the facial cleansers instead. “And how could that possibly be categorized as a ‘good idea’?” 

“I think he’d really appreciate it,” Cora continued, placing the bar she’d been holding back on its display and picking up one called Mangnificent instead. It smelled of mandarin oranges and other citrusy notes. She personally liked it, but knew Jane tended to prefer florals, so she tried again. 

“I think I would never hear the end of it,” he grumbled, watching the products Cora picked up and squinting at the quirky nameplates. 

“In a good way,” Cora insisted quietly after sniffing something called Putty For Your Hands. It smelled like oatmeal and, oddly, fabric softener. 

“Doubtful,” Loki growled and it was insistent enough that she knew she was out of luck for the moment. Maybe at the next stop. She ended up getting a soap called Parsley Porridge and a body butter by the name of Brazened Honey, figuring she could start a spa day theme for the new mom who probably sorely needed one. 

Over the next hour or so as Cora wandered around the enormous store, she occasionally pointed out a shirt or a belt or something fun that she figured Thor might like, casually wondering aloud, “Maybe this for him?” each time. She was met with a few disgruntled reactions and then firm silences until Loki gave up and wandered off on his own just to get away from what he perceived as her meddling. She shopped alone for some time before finally happening upon him by the jewelry cases, where he was looking at the men’s watch collection. She bumped his shoulder idly as she walked up to announce her presence without actually announcing anything, glancing over the trinkets under the glass and lights. “Why not?”

“Cora,” he warned quietly, not taking his eyes off a gunmetal Rolex as he spoke. 

“I’m not asking for much, I’m just curious,” she grumbled softly, causing him to sigh as if she’d physically wounded him just enough to irritate and not debilitate. “What’s the issue?”

“The ‘issue’,” he muttered, using the tone he generally used whenever he was mimicking her Midgardian slang, “is that even if I did procure something for my oaf of a brother, he would mock the gesture. It’s a useless venture, which you would understand if you gave it some real thought.” 

Cora pursed her lips and said patiently, “I have given it some real thought. You know I don’t just toss things like that out willy-nilly. Besides…” She paused, weighing her words before speaking them. “I have a feeling Thor will appreciate the thought. No matter what it is.” 

“Wishful thinking seems to be another super-ability of yours.” 

“I’m serious,” she said firmly, not allowing him to interrupt her as she stated, “Despite everything that happened in Asgard and with Thanos before you both came to live here, you both have been disgustingly stubborn about living up to your relationship. You’re brothers, blood or no, and you were starting to act like it again, too! It was…” Cora sighed. “Well, it was really great…to see that…”

Loki’s jaw was tight, his teeth flush and near to gritting. However, he said and did nothing, only turned from the watch cases and began his exit from the jewelry department. It earned a sigh from Cora, but she followed along, starting to keep an eye out for the next available register so she could check out what all she’d found in his absence. 

Once she’d had everything rung up and paid for it all, Cora hauled the red-starred bag off the counter, only to be intercepted when Loki walked back over to her side and slid the bag from her hands. She first felt suspicious before realizing he was being polite, even though he was clearly still irked. She murmured a thank-you and the two began their exit from the store, cutting through the hardware section at the ground floor to get out to the parking lot. Cora had her hands on the door when Loki asked behind her, “What’s this?”

For a fleeting moment, she had a small heart attack, thinking he’d peeked inside the severely tissue paper-plugged shopping bag and found one of the stocking stuffers she’d bought to put in his emerald green stocking—something her grandma had made by hand and sent over a few days prior from California along with the usual treats—and there was nothing Cora hated more this time of year than ruined surprises. However, he’d stopped next to one of the doorbuster tables and Cora had to walk over to peek around him and see what he was eying. 

“Um…,” Cora murmured confusedly as she took in the rather bulky, industrial-looking toolbox with black shiny latches and a heavy-looking steel grey body. It was one of the biggest toolboxes she’d ever seen and likely only necessary for someone who had a wide expanse of tools like a handyman or plumber, someone who’d need the space. “It’s…a toolbox.”

“Is it a good one?” Loki asked, looking extremely straight-faced and almost a little uncomfortable. Cora was very confused until her eyes moved back to the box and she caught sight of the sticker on the lid, upon which was a picture of the toolbox in full use, overflowing with a wide range of tools and building implements in little bags and jars. At the forefront of the box, sticking out boldly from the corner and propping up the lid was a hammer. 

Her mouth felt a little dry as she treaded very, very carefully—excruciatingly so—into this new development. “I’m not an expert, but it looks like it.”

“Who would know?”

“Mm, probably that sales associate. He looks like he’s usually up here,” she said, nodding toward a middle-aged man conditioning some shelves, who wore khakis, an expensive looking leather tool belt, and a name tag. 

Loki followed her gesture and nodded once, murmuring, “I will be right back,” and offering her the shopping bag before walking over to the salesman. Cora smiled slowly and glanced toward the door, finding a place to sit nearby with the red bag in her lap while she surreptitiously watched Loki and the employee walk each other around the department, Loki seeming to relax gradually as he gathered product information and worked on the idea he’d had just moments ago. She glanced away every time he turned to check on her, either fiddling with her fingernails or pretending to be looking in the bag at her purchases or at the receipt. In truth, Loki wasn’t nearly so stupid as to not notice, but he somewhat appreciated her effort. At the very least, he was amused. 

He ended up selecting the large grey toolbox and a tool belt like the one the associate wore. Cora had more than willingly handed over the credit card so he could pay for it himself, then they headed back down the street toward home. Cora couldn’t help but smile a little about halfway down the second block, noting casually and so briefly he would never doubt that it was just in passing, “Those were good choices, he’ll love them.” And then she dropped the subject entirely. 

Loki nodded once in reply to her flippant comment, which he knew very well was not flippant at all, but meant to reassure him. It was a game they seemed to play, and had played since they met years ago. They had tender subjects, both of them did, and the other always ended up dancing over them, like a dance over hot coals. There was never a right way to approach the others’ demons, a rare few people out there handled meetings like those well, but he’d noticed over time that they’d never seemed to fail in getting close. And in all honesty, close was enough. 

“Just a few more,” she sighed, opening another card. Her hand was cramping anyway and she didn’t mind the idea of a break; it also wasn’t good for either of them if his mouth adopted the weirdly medical flavor of envelope adhesive. 

“You’ve written how many of those so far?” he complained after wrinkling his nose and quickly, minimally sliding his tongue over another edge, making a show of slamming it shut and shoving it to the side. “Ten?”

“That makes five,” Cora noted sourly as she penned another note. “You know, this isn’t exactly fun for me either.” 

“You have the better job though,” he pointed out. 

“Would you like to personalize these?” she demanded before holding up a hand as he started to answer. “I take that back, that wasn’t an offer.” He looked comically disappointed by being unable to put into motion whatever scheme had popped into his devious mind. She could only imagine, considering all the Christmas cards thus far were addressed to their Avenger allies and a few SHIELD agents, including Fury and Coulson. She was planning on crashing the holiday party Coulson had divulged that they were having at headquarters on the twenty-third to hand them out. His idea, of course. 

Loki groaned as she tossed him another card, morosely sliding an envelope from his stack and sliding the card carefully in. His demeanor made Cora smile, but she bit it down to a simple twitch of her lips. Her amusement came from his pouting, but she also took to heart that he would outright refuse to do anything he didn’t want to do, so the fact that he was helping her meant he was willing to do so. Just not to admit it. 

“I know I’m kind of going overboard,” she admitted as she finished writing Tony’s card and then cautiously filled it with a pouch of glitter since she knew from having visited Stark Tower a few times that he tended to go through his mail while reclining in a chair or lying down. Steve had given him crap about it, saying he only did it to look cool and that he was a hipster, one of the many modern slang words Natasha had taught him and he now used proudly and whenever possible. “Careful with that one.” 

Loki gained a look of smug approval at her antics and slid it gently into the envelope, not uttering a complaint this time around. “Indeed. Is this another Yuletide tradition?”

“I suppose it is. But I haven’t done anything like this any other year.” 

“Just punishing me, hm?” he murmured with a disgruntled tone at last when he had to seal Tony’s card. 

Cora paused in doodling a bird resembling Robin Hood in Clint’s card before continuing and replying, “I didn’t really have anyone to write them to until this year, apart from my grandma. So this is kind of fun…for me.” She looked up and found Loki staring at her, mid-lick on the envelope. When her eyes moved in a quick glance between him and the envelope, he realized he’d stopped and started to pull away from it, but the top point of the flap tore off, stuck to his tongue like a normal tongue stuck to a pole. He grimaced a little as he pulled the paper from his mouth and she frowned in sympathy, passing him some more envelopes. “Only a few more.” 

“You said that three cards ago…,” he murmured before his eyes caught on a box at the corner of the room. “What is that?”

“The Christmas tree.”

“…In a box?” he wondered, getting up and going to pull back the lid. 

“It’s a decorative tree,” she said, watching him investigate.

He looked up just enough to squint at her. “A what?”

“It’s fake,” she simplified, growing weirdly protective of her shitty tree. 

“It smells,” he grumbled as he leaned closer to the box.

“Um, like pine needles.” She’d Febreezed it with pine scent for years to make herself feel better.

“Like dust and disappointment. Do all Midgardians have such awful trees?”

“Leave my tree alone,” she asserted, wrinkling her nose as she was forced to start licking the envelopes, herself. At least she only had three more cards. “A lot of people have fake trees!”

“And the ones who don’t?”

“Have real ones, but they’re a lot more work.” 

Loki nodded to himself and shoved the box closed. “Where does one go to procure a ‘real’ Christmas tree?” he asked seriously, finding the concept of a “fake tree” absurd in every proportion. 

“You’re not serious, that tree is fine!”

“That is not a tree. Lead,” he ordered, nodding toward the door. 

Cora’s jaw dropped slightly and they stared each other down once again before she sighed heavily and got up from the table. This time, he’d won. 

-

Cora wedged her phone between her ear and shoulder, her ungloved hands tucked under her coat sleeves as she trudged through a snowy yard of Christmas trees, the plastic orange fencing flapping with the winter wind. She sniffed from the cold, listening to the dial tone until an uncertain, burly tone answered Jane’s cell. “Erm, greetings, who calls?”

It took everything in her not to laugh. “Thor, you’re giving the iPhone a try finally? It’s Cora.” 

“Sister mine!” he boomed through the speaker, sounding exponentially more jovial that the phone was working in his favor. The last time she’d seen them, Jane had been trying to teach him at least the basics of smartphone use in case he ever needed to use one and he’d been quite opposed to the idea. “Are you well? How fairs my brother, is he available to use the iPhone?”

She cracked a smile. “I am well and so is he. He’s…occupied at the moment, but I’ll try to snag him in a minute. How is everyone?”

“Jane is well, as is our boy,” he said with pride. He paused when Erik started crying in the background. “He is distressed over his lack of cookies, I think.” 

Cora laughed. “I won’t keep you long then. Listen, would you all like to come over for a couple days, on Christmas Eve and Day? We’d love to have you.”

“My…” Thor paused and there was weight in the silence. “My brother has agreed to this?”

Cora watched Loki as he inspected the trees, measuring them up and gauging which one he wanted as snow drifted down, heavier than earlier. She had a feeling it was because of him; his Jotun abilities had become more and more active as winter progressed. “He has.” 

“Truly?” Thor asked in a hushed tone. 

“He may be harsh with you still, but he didn’t bite my head off about it like last year.” They’d traveled to Norway around this time last year, so in transit, no other holiday traditions had been exercised; this was his first year of it. However, she’d asked if Thor and Jane could accompany them and she’d received an uncomfortable refusal which had risen into an argument of sorts. She had a feeling Loki still thought Thor should hate him and instead of facing the truth of his brother’s generous forgiveness, he liked to fester in his own guilt. 

For the next moment or so, Cora grinned, listening to Thor excitedly take off to find Jane and ask her what she thought of celebrating all together and after she’d discussed Loki and all that with Jane as well, they hung up with the plan of the family coming to stay over on Christmas Eve and have gifts and food together the next day. She hung up just as Loki called over to her and she made her way through the flurries to see what he’d found. 

“What about this one?” he asked her as she joined him and she craned her head back to take it in, nibbling her lip thoughtfully. “No?”

“Actually…,” she murmured, taking a step back to get a better look at it. “…I like it.” 

“Oh?” 

“I mean, my tree’s the best tree, but this… This is a close second,” she rephrased purely as a jab, which he recognized as such. In truth, it was a lovely tree, vibrant and alive. It was the color of his eyes. 

He rolled his eyes and nodded. “So… Do we take it?”

“Like everything else, we have to buy it,” Cora smirked, wondering what the grand old city of New York would make of Christmas tree thieves. “I’ll go find someone.” 

She was a few steps away when he asked to her back, “So, you asked him?” Cora looked over her shoulder as the wind whispered by. “Thor, I mean. You asked him.” 

“I did,” she said simply, knowing he heard her even though the passing breeze stole her sound. 

“You seem to reach that limit fairly easily,” she murmured as she measured out a cup of flour from its container. 

“Funny, your grandmother found me charming,” he said with a triumphant smirk and Cora nearly indulged her urge to retrieve the egg and break it over one of his sharp, annoying cheekbones, which she only found annoying in this moment because he, as a whole, was mighty annoying today. 

It was true, her grandmother was very pleased with Loki as a whole, though she thought his name was a bit offbeat. Cora had neglected to mention his general otherworldly godliness, but she had the feeling her grandma had gotten an inkling that he was different, much like Cora, herself, was. She hadn’t said a word though, as it had been the holiday for gorging oneself and getting along harmoniously with an assortment of relatives and, though her grandma wouldn’t have had an issue with him one way or another as long as Cora was content, Cora’s uncle was a different story. 

She’d shown up the day before Thanksgiving less than a month prior and after extensive deliberation, Cora had brought Loki with her in normal clothes, or as he’d insisted, “plain Midgardian frocks.” She knew she was setting herself up for something nightmarish, but the majority of her focus had been on seeing her sweet, lovable old grandmother, who she didn’t see nearly enough with the gargantuan amount of distance between their residences. They’d taken a plane—which Loki hadn’t been all that sure about—and had made to the hotel before her nerves had really set in. However, she’d walked in ahead of Loki, her grandma had taken one look at him, and then told her, “Why, Cora, you really snagged yourself a looker.” 

In that same instant, Cora had nearly choked and Loki had decided he rather liked the tiny, elderly Midgardian woman.

Her uncle had been less agreeable and had engaged in multiple, petty stare-downs with Loki across the table or whatever they happened to be standing at, particularly at Thanksgiving dinner when they’d begun passive-aggressively debating who should carve. Loki had shown zero interest in it until Cora’s uncle had mentioned it being something only the “man of the house” could do. Then it was game on, apparently. All of that after Cora had calmly asked to speak with her uncle privately and then half-screamed at him for working with SHIELD and leading her to believe her grandma was dead over a year prior since she hadn’t seen him in that span of time.

Idiots, Cora had thought then and again now as she recounted the evening. It hadn’t been a disaster; hell, it could’ve been a lot worse. But it had been tense, much to the amusement of her grandma, which had softened her to the conflict incrementally throughout the visit. They’d departed on as fine of terms as expected and Loki had even stooped down to hug old Christina Dempsey—who was half his size—before they left. It was nice to have him meet her only real family in her world. Speaking of which… 

“I think we should invite your brother over for Christmas.”

It was like she’d dropped a soundproof box around the two of them. The utter silence even permeated the small noise of her scraping excess flour off the brim of her measuring cup, which was a strange act of nature she’d not experienced before. “Cora—“

“It’ll be fun, Loki, come on!” she hurried to persist, stepping over to the sink. One of the strangest parts of being in the normal—relatively normal—world again was how much her budget had skyrocketed from the generosity of Asgard’s king. He’d shown his gratitude to her for whatever she’d done that had mattered most to him—whether it be her influence on Loki or her aid in the midst of the Ragnarök—by giving her a cartful of Asgardian gold, most of which she’d parted with for a few high-standing museums interested in educating people about the other realms now that their existence was common knowledge. What had been left had put her bank balance in an eight-figure range she’d been depleting incrementally with occasional purchases and donations to charities. 

She’d first purchased a new car because her old one was still somewhere in Arizona with an arrow in the driver’s side handle. Then she’d moved out of her apartment for a slightly nicer one without a whiny roommate. Well… With a different whiny roommate. Then had come adding Midgardian wear to Loki’s wardrobe, replacing a few things that needed replaced, and getting whatever else proved necessary for their new living situation. “Jane can come, too, and they can bring Erik, too!”

It had been a little over two years since the Ragnarök and, in that time, Thor and Jane had welcomed their first child into their finally happy home. Cora had helped where she could, but it was mostly Darcy—now Aunt Darcy—who had stuck around the happy couple and had helped with everything since she’d gone through the same with her older sister already. None of them, however, had been able to come up with a suitable name for the baby until the day he was born in early December, which was when Jane had quietly declared that she wanted to name him after Dr. Selvig, in honor of the sacrifice he’d made in effort to give her a chance at the life she’d dreamt of since slamming into a banished Thor with their van.

He grimaced a bit. “I’m never going to get used to that name being used for someone other than her scientist friend.”

“I think it’s nice. It is hard though, even though he’s nearly a year old and I should be used to it by now.”

“Perhaps we should grow accustomed to it before we—“ He paused when he saw the look on her face. “What is all this for, anyway? Why invite them now?”

“Because it’ll be Christmas in…,” she paused to gauge how much time they actually had. “A little over three weeks.” 

“Christmas?” he repeated dubiously, his green eyes a bit murky with confusion. 

Cora paused heavily and squinted at him as she tried to think of a way to explain it. “…Yuletide?”

“Oh, why didn’t you say so,” Loki griped quietly. “Midgardian’s celebrate the hunt?”

“The tradition has been very altered from what you know, more than likely,” she figured. “What does it meant to you?”

“Well, Yuletide signifies the Wild Hunt Odin has led for millennia,” he explained. 

“Did you celebrate it in Asgard?”

Loki glanced at her hands thoughtfully as she cracked a few eggs on the rim of her mixing bowl. “We feasted, but we did that a fair amount. Apart from that, I just remember Mother insisting that we dress more formally than usual, which was somewhat difficult to do given that we already dressed fairly formally…”

Cora smiled a little sadly, able to picture Frigga fussing over them very easily. “Here we do some feasting, but we also have gift exchanges and decorate a tree… And make cookies, obviously,” she remarked, nodding at her handiwork so far.

“Is that what you’re doing?” 

“What the hell does it look like I’m doing?”

Loki licked his fingertip and dabbed it in powdered sugar on the counter. “Making a mess,” he mumbled as he tapped it to his tongue, soon wincing with distaste when it turned out to be baking powder. 

“Well… I guess I’m doing that, too,” she murmured. When he met her eyes, she frowned and repeated a bit more amiably, “I think we should invite your brother over for Christmas.” 

Loki stared at her for a length of time. “I can’t promise we will get along.”

“That’s a yes,” she grinned, plugging in the mixer and sticking the beaters in the mess of ingredients.

“I did not say—“ Loki was cut off by Cora turning on the beaters, which whirred loudly through the amounts of egg, flour, and assorted dry components. He waited until she’d cut the power and started to go back on what he’d said again, but she looked him directly in the eyes and powered up the mixer again, cutting him off a second time. He frowned at her and tried one more time, only to be muted completely this time as she turned on the mixer and started going at the bowl until it was filled with batter for the second time that night. She’d pulled the first batch from the oven ten minutes ago and now turned to the stove to check them. 

Cora smiled, pleased, and announced, “I think these are ready to be iced.” She didn’t realize her fatal mistake of language until she saw the deviant grin spread the lips of the god at her breakfast bar out of the corner of her eye and then the cookies were encased in frost. 

-

After his little stunt, Loki was banished to the living room, where Cora had parked him on the couch and put on How the Grinch Stole Christmas for him to watch while he stewed in “missing out on some crazy cookie fun.” Loki occasionally glanced toward the kitchen doorway, catching glimpses of the fiery woman whenever she had to rearrange her baking station, but also watched the strange animation she’d put on the television. He’d learned some about television since moving in with her, but it rarely interested him as much as reading or going out to explore the city. Or teasing her, really. 

When this “Grinch” being pulled an exceptionally wrinkly face, Cora paused in the doorway and pointed at the screen. “See that? That’s what you are.” 

“I do not see the dilemma, I find him…it…rather agreeable.” 

She scoffed softly. “You would.” 

“Am I allowed back in the kitchen?”

She squinted at him and asked slowly, “Will you behave?”

“I am not a child, Cora.” 

“Sometimes I’m not so sure.” 

He smirked and dragged a glance over her before remarking, “You seemed sure last night.” 

Cora simultaneously blushed and glared and it was the most conflicted expression he’d ever seen her, so conflicted he lost his composure and laughed. “No, you sit there, finish your movie, and then maybe you can come back. Maybe. I’m not sure anymore after that.”