You haven’t been on a path in miles, so turning and changing direction isn’t any more of a risk than continuing onward. Blisters burn on your feet but but walking is the only option left open to you. So you walk.

There are still old, dead leaves leftover from last autumn that had been hidden by the winter snows. They stick to your damp boots, the leather dark and glistening on the toes and around the laces. The ground grows soft on your new path, you’ll have mud caked on your feet by the time you arrive. If you arrive.

Hopefully he doesn’t mind. He didn’t mind before.

Lightning strikes off in the distance and you hold your breath and begin to count. One, two, three, four, five—

The crack of thunder disturbs the birds in the canopy above and sends them scattering for quieter roosts. You watch the flock twist and turn as they flee, and eventually lose sight of them when they’re far enough out that even the scarce leaves overhead can obscure them. A fat, cold raindrop hits your cheek as the last of the birds leaves your line of sight.

Hell.

The ache in your legs feels like it will turn to a cramp if you don’t stop, but you can’t stop. You continue on as the rain begins pattering down around you. Even though it’s been warm this rain is as cold as any spring rain before it. You didn’t dress for this.

It doesn’t matter. He’ll take you in. He has to.

You drag yourself further through the forest and stop only when the pain in your legs is so sharp that you have to. The storm above is nearly on top of you, lightning flashing as the rain pours, soaking you. A violent shiver wracks your frame and makes your jaws snap.

No stopping. There is no stopping.

Each new step brings an odd sense of lightness that mingles with the pain. You might not be able to walk tomorrow if you can live to that long. Every few feet you glance down to check for roots, and you stop halfway through one step, swaying as you squint at the ground.

A delirious joy fills your chest and you laugh with the next clap of thunder. Violets. You’re close. You’re so close!

His castle was surrounded by an ocean of violet and clover that doesn’t grow anywhere else you’ve seen. You set your foot down and bend over to pick the flower, and as you right yourself more violets catch your eye, but what lays beyond them is of greater importance.

Worn stones set into the ground. A path. The path you need. The on you found entirely by accident when you were a child. Tears prick your eyes and you can tell them apart from the rain because they feel scalding when they run down your cheeks. Relief chokes you and you sob.

Before this moment you did doubt yourself. Was it real? Was he real? But he was. He is.

Your legs still ache but you can make it. The path is easier. Where it isn’t paved it’s at least flat. The rain makes it slick, but you’ve had worse hikes. The violets bend at their supple stems in the hard wind and you wonder if some of them might be ripped right out of the ground with the force of it.

The stone portion of the path ends and you begin walking on freshly blossoming clover and violets that roll like waves as the storm rages above. You stop for a moment, breathing hard, wiping rain out of your eyes and hissing at the sting of your own sweat.

The wall isn’t as tall as you remember, which makes sense. You were much shorter as an eight year old than you are now, nearly thirty. Running away is such a childish thing that this journey should have reverted you back to that boy you once were. He was as fearless as this, but his bravery was born from ignorance. Yours is born from a need that outweighs your tremendous fear.

You walk close to the wall as quickly as you can, half limping when you feel the disgusting, wet burn of a blister breaking. Lightning strikes close enough that the light blinds you, the heat is so overwhelming that you throw your arms up and flinch, and the thunder that comes with the strike is so loud you scream purely on reflex. Under your clothes and your intelligence you’re still an animal, as easily frightened as the birds who had the good sense to leave.

Your hand clutches the wall, fingers digging in to moss and the rough surface beneath. For moments your vision is white nothingness, then it’s so blurry you may as well be blind. Nothing is in focus, there’s barely any color. Your ears ring and you wonder if part of it is the howling of the wind. Wonder and hope.

Panic threatens to make your heart stop and leave you dead right here among the flowers and the rain.

A new heat envelops your body and you reach aimlessly, finding thick, wet fur with your fingers. You blink rapidly and hope it will clear your vision, but it remains blurry.

“Thor?” Your voice is muffled to your own ears and you can’t tell how much is the storm and how much is still the thunder dulling your hearing.

Fur brushes your jaw and you feel his nose drag down your neck.

“Do you remember me?” You clutch to him with your fingers and take your other hand away from the wall.

He feels as large as you remember. A thick arm scoops you up from the ground and you hang on tight as he carries you swiftly back to the castle. Your vision clears slowly and the first thing that comes into focus is the rich blue of his eyes highlighted by a flash of lightning above.

Thor pushes a large door open and brings you inside his home, a look on his face you can’t place. He looks different and the same as your memories had painted him. Golden fur and silvery blue eyes, a body build like a cross between a man and a bear, and a thick muzzle that you recall being filled with very sharp teeth.

You remember how they dripped with blood when he killed the wolves that chased you after you ran from him. He saved you even after the way you’d screamed when you found him. The sight of him looming above you, killing the animals that would have ripped you apart, had calmed you and left you so pliant when he turned to face you again.

There was hesitation in his gait and a tired pain in his eyes back then. You like this better. He carries you securely and you relax now, knowing you’re safe. Thor protected you when you were a boy, risked himself to make sure you could return home, and you know he’ll keep you now.

Thor heads up the stairs three and four at a time, great bounding leaps that bring you to the second floor within seconds. He walks with purposeful strides that jostle you where you cling to his chest and shoulder. Your ears are ringing now, but you can at least hear.

He rounds the corner into the master bathroom and light fills the lamps in a way you know is magical. You’ve studied the spells, have even used them, but you’ve never seen them so effective and so fluid.

You sigh when he sets you down on a bench and kneels before you. A smile lifts your face when he looks at you, and he smiles in return, the tips of his teeth just peeking out.

“Lost again?” He asks, the rumble of his voice made lighter with his grin.

You shake your head. “Not anymore.”

His fingers gently grab your boot laces and pull until they come apart. Your feet are throbbing and the blisters have gone from burning into a dull numbness that makes your smile falter. Thor frowns when he sees your feet. There’s blood, you realize, and you wonder if he could smell it on you. Maybe it was the scent of your blood that brought him to you.

“All of this to come out here for an old beast?” His fingers gently stroke the tops of your feet as you wiggle your toes and hiss.

He reaches for a shelf behind you and pulls a large jar out. The glass is tinged blue and you see a thick cream inside. Thor hands you the lid, then begins scooping the contents out and rubbing them into your skin.

You tense, expecting it to burn your raw skin, but all you feel is the chill of it. It sinks into your feet and mends the blisters and the splits and restores your feet to what they were before you began walking this morning. Thor takes his time massaging the balm into your feet, digging his massive thumbs in to work out lingering tension. A rough groan works its way up from your chest and echoes off the fine floor to ceiling tile.

Thor smirks and you can’t even be offended by it. The touch feels so good, so right. A real comfort after the months you’ve suffered.

He meets your eye as his hands travel up to rub your calves. “Will someone come looking for you?”

You shake your head. “I made sure they wouldn’t.”

It’s all the answer he needs, apparently, because he simply nods and continues kneading your muscles through your soaked trousers. “The salve worked, then?”

“Yes, thank you, my feet feel like I flew here,” you laugh as you speak and draw your legs up as Thor’s fingers graze the back of your knee.

He lifts his hands up in surrender and drops them into his lap. You turn the lid of the jar over and over in your hands and reacquaint yourself with Thor’s inhuman beauty. His ears make you think of a dear, their shell-shape down-turned. Maybe this is how he looks relaxed, or maybe worried. You want the time to find out.

Somewhere along the line you forgot about his horns and you can’t figure out how. They’re so thick at their base that you don’t think your hands would fit around them. They curl back and then under in a spiral, the tips poking out from behind his ears when they twitch. You want to reach out and touch them, to touch him, learn him, but you can’t let your eagerness ruin this second meeting.

Thor clears his throat after a moment and you glance at his mouth, at his long tongue running across his teeth. “You can stay as long as you need. I’d be glad of good company.”

Warmth blossoms in your stomach and reminds you acutely of just how cold you are in your soaked clothing. “How do you know I’m good company?”

Thor chuckles. “Well, you’re not trying to kill me, so you’re already better company than I usually see.”

You shiver despite yourself and let Thor take the lid of the salve jar from you. He puts the jar back on the shelf, his eyes never leaving yours.

Lightning strikes close to the castle again and thunder rattles the window off to your right. Thor looks at it, then back at you. He smiles and you smile back. It’s a ridiculous feeling, to be so happy right now. This was all just a fool’s hope to start, but you always heard that fate favored fools, so maybe it’s not a bad thing to be.

Thor stands and offers you his hand. There’s no pain as you stand and you sigh deeply at the relief of it.

“Let’s get you a room.” Thor leads you out of the bathroom and down the hall.

The castle looks much the same as you remember from your brief two days as a boy. Old portraits and old curtains, faded paint and aging murals. Still so beautiful, though.

You shiver again as Thor leads you into a grand bedroom. It’s massive, bigger than your little one-room shack back in town. There’s a fireplace in the center of the back wall and Thor quickly has a fire lit. You wonder if it’s more magic.

A wardrobe catches your eye and you all but run toward it, opening the doors and quickly stripping out of your wet clothes to put on dry ones. They’re nearly your size, if a little long.

You look back for Thor and find him watching you from his place by the bedroom hearth.

“They’re my brother’s,” he answers, though you never spoke the question.

“Oh,” you glance down at the soft green cotton and run your hand over your own stomach, “he won’t mind, will he?”

Thor shrugs one shoulder. “He’s not here to wear them, he doesn’t get to complain. Besides, every time he comes home he’s wearing something more and more strange. He might not even consider that clothing anymore, the way he is.”

You laugh and make your way to the fireplace, glad for the warmth as you sit down. Thor’s fur is drying quickly and you reach out to touch it without thinking.

He raises an eyebrow, but you leave your hand where it is, right over his heart.

The room is quiet around you. The ringing in your ears has ceased, so you can perfectly hear the growing life of the fire and Thor’s steady breaths. Outside rain pelts the windows and the roof, accompanied by thunder that doesn’t seem like it knows how to end. Somehow in this moment you know what it is to be home. Truly home.

You lick your lips and see his eyes flick down at the movement. New heat builds in your stomach and you embrace the desire with joy. It’s been too long since you wanted.

You keep your voice quiet as you speak, wanting to be a part of the background noise, a natural part of his world. “I’ve thought about you everyday since I was a boy.”

Thor makes a gentle sound and reaches up to stroke his finger over your jaw. Your stubble catches against his fingertip and you close your eyes to focus on the sound of his skin scraping on your facial hair. He repeats the motion, drawing your face up. His touch lingers under your chin until you open your eyes.

“Why here?” He asks, the question reflected in the squint of his eyes.

You bite your lower lip and shrug. “I felt safe here once, I wanted to feel it again.”

He takes a deep breath and you watch his chest rise and fall, his fur catching highlights from the fire. Reds and yellows, vibrant colors that make you think of summer. There’s so much power in him that all you want is to taste it.

Thor’s nostrils flare and you wonder what the animal parts of him can sense, if he knows there’s something more than what you’re admitting. He licks his lips and it’s your turn to watch. You remember the first time you dreamt of having sex it was with this being, this beast that should be worshiped as a god instead of reviled and feared.

Your hand is still over his heart. You dig your fingers into his fur until you reach the skin beneath. It’s so thick your entire hand disappears, but the reward is worth it. Thor gasps when your fingers brush his skin, and a rumbling little growl follows it.

“Tell me,” he starts, voice deep and nearly inhuman, “is safe all you feel?”

You shake your head and push your thighs together. Thor makes that growling sound again and you sit straighter, your hands curling to fists as a thrill runs down your back and right to your core. No hands have touched your body except your own. No one else felt worthy. Not like him.

“What else?” Thor asks.

You take a slow breath and move forward, straddling one of his thighs. “I need.”

Thor’s eyes flutter shut and he takes a deep breath in through his nose. “I can smell that. What do you need?”

Your knees protest as you kneel on the stone hearth, so you stand and tug on his fur where your hand is still buried. He stands and you release a shaky breath as you look up and up to maintain eye contact.

“What do you need?” He repeats.

You let go of his fur and walk backward to the bed facing the fireplace. “I need you to make me a man.”

Lightning flashes through the windows, four strikes in quick succession. On the first Thor’s face becomes predatory and you see his eyes glow as he takes you in. The second strike shines against his teeth as he smiles, satisfied in a way that looks like a starving animal who knows he’ll be fed. It shouldn’t make you wet, but none of this should, so you cast aside your shame and reach into your borrowed trousers to touch yourself on the third strike and see the way Thor’s eyes widen as you do.

On the fourth strike he pounces and lifts you from the ground. Your feet have barely left the floor before you’re in bed facing each other. Thor rolls onto his back and drags you on top of him. His cock is poking your ass and you look back to see it slipping free of its sheath. Your fingers freeze as they rub where you’re stiff.

“Oh my god.” It won’t fit. Not tonight.

Thor’s hands land on your thighs. “You look better up close.”

Your head whips back around and yours brows draw together as your lips pull into a frown.

As you open your mouth to ask what he means, he continues, “I’ve watched you as much as I could since I returned you. The forests protected me well enough, but I was still nearly caught a few times.”

You swallow hard and tension you didn’t know you were holding bleeds out of you. “You watched me?”

He nods. “I thought of you everyday, too.”

You’re fully dressed, but you still feel so exposed. To think that such a beautiful creature could have been following you all these years, wanting and needing you the same way you’ve yearned for him.

Thor’s thumbs rub circles onto your skin and you hastily pull your hand out of your trousers and pull your borrowed shirt off and toss it aside. He hums appreciatively as your skin is bared, but it’s not enough. You roll off of him just long enough to undress fully, then you climb back on and make sure that his fat, wet cock is pressing right where you need it.

The thick, hard flesh is dark red and it makes your mouth water. Part of you wants to taste him, hopes he’ll taste as inhuman as he looks. Later, definitely later. It’s been so long and you walked so far to be here. Who knew he’s been waiting for you this entire time?

You roll your hips and rub yourself on him, moaning at how slick you both are. He’s leaking precum into his belly fur as he rocks his body up to move with you. With as much as you’ve touched yourself you can’t remember a time it ever felt this good.

You brace yourself against his chest and moan as his cock jumps against you, like it’s begging to be inside. As empty as you feel there’s no way you can take him yet. Thor’s hands rest gently at your waist, sliding up and down your sides as you rub your slick all over the underside of his dick. That familiar, delicious pressure is building low in your belly and you welcome the way it fills you.

Thor grunts and thrusts up against you, then does it again faster. You hold still and let him work himself on your body. His eyes are unfocused, staring where his cock is sliding so easily against you. Every roll of his hips brings you closer and you don’t hide your pleasure. You moan long and loud, competing with the thunder and Thor’s growls. This is all you’ve wanted.

His cockhead rubs where you’re stiff, where it feels best, and the pleasure in your blood crests and bursts. You shout and your arms give, sending you face-first into his fur as you cum so hard all you can do is sob. Thor growls and thrusts up sharper, his cock swelling and throbbing against you. You bury your face in his chest fur and whimper as your pleasure becomes almost painful. Your body can’t calm with him still rubbing you like this, you just keep cumming on him and it’s so, so good.

Thor growls and huffs out rough breaths and it’s almost too much, then his cock jumps and he roars. You look up and see his eyes roll into his head and his teeth bared as he cums between your bodies, sticky wet warmth trapped between your bellies.

You’ll both need a bath. He relaxes and sags into the mattress, panting hard as his cock slowly begins to go soft and retreat back to its sheath.

He brushes your hair away from your forehead and you look up at him, finding him looking at you with something so gentle it startles you. It’s a love so obvious you didn’t know you could ever see it on someone real.

You love him right back, of course. You’ve always loved him.

You press your ear to his chest and listen to the racing of his heart. This is why you love thunder, you know, because of this sound that you heard so clearly when Thor cradled you to his chest after saving your life.