#thorsicle

And while most of Asgard searched shelter inside theircooled homes, Thor wanted to be out in the heat, and run down the shore andwatch the spray of water as the waves crashed against sharp rocks, his bloodthrumming with nervous energy where all around him he could see only lethargyand listlessness.

Not his brother, though. Loki seemed unaffected by theweather, but it still took Thor an hour of coaxing, pleading and insisting to haveLoki follow him to the shore.

Hours later, Thor lay on one of the rocks; the coolness ofit a balm against his heated skin. The thrum of excitement still beatinsistently inside his veins despite the heaviness of his limbs after hours ofphysical exertion under the unforgiving heat of Asgard’s summer sky.

With half-lidded eyes Thor stared at the sky, his fingerstwitching in rhythm with the rapid rise and fall of his chest.

Once, Thor had seen a giant black beast, with sleek fur andclaws that spelled death to anyone foolish enough to get within their distance.It was trapped in a small cage, barely two times the beast’s size. The beastpaced within its cage, the muscles coiling and uncoiling underneath the blackfur, and Thor could almost feel the beast’s anger and frustration. He couldstill recall feeling sorry for the beast. Something with that much power anddeadly beauty did not deserve cruelty and humiliation of entrapment.

Thor felt much the same now, but his cage did not havevisible steel bars, it was no more than a sensation of reaching after something that was just out of hisreach.

Caught deep within the web of helpless frustration, Thor didnot feel it at first – a slow, almost lazy slide of fingers through his stilldamp hair. Cautious, Thor craned his neck carefully, peering up at his brother.

Loki sat next to him on the rock, and unlike Thor, he wasdressed in light tunic and breeches, having scoffed at Thor’s suggestion oftaking a swim. He seemed utterly engrossed in the play of his fingers over asleek, oval device in his right hand, completely unaware of all else – thesplash of waves against their rock, Thor’s presence, even the motion of hisfingers as they glided through his brother’s hair.

Thor went still, his entire body tensing in anticipation of somenew trick of Loki’s. Thor waited, and waited, and waited, but he waited invain.

Loki barely moved, and only to shift his position minutely,and he never took his eyes off the device in his hand. Much as his fingerscontinued their slow, absentminded path through Thor’s hair.

Incrementally, Thor’s body relaxed. His lips curved about a teasingsmile, but he kept silent, somehow certain that any word spoken would break thespell his brother’s fingers were weaving about him.

The energy that had him wound tighter than a bowstring, seepedout of Thor’s body with every slow slide of his brother’s fingers, until it dissipatedcompletely, leaving behind nothing but a languid sense of utter content.

****

 Centuries have passed after that day, and many of Thor’sbeliefs have long since been shattered into small, jagged pieces; each tinyfragment a small scar upon Thor’s heart.

He and Loki were no longer those two boys, lounging upon arock, have not been in a long, long time. They were… Thor could not find a wordfor what they were now. The one his heart insisted upon was a forbidden one,and Thor no longer believed that blind tenacity alone could build a bridgeacross the chasm that stood between him and Loki.

But no matter the name – brother, enemy, lover – they werenever apart; their destinies forever entwined by a will that surpassed theirs.

And no matter how many times their paths diverged, theyalways inevitably joined again.

****

 The room was bathed in a low light coming from the window;the lights of New York flashing bright and vivid, unaware of how very closethey were to being extinguished forever.

Thor sighed, glancing mournfully at his now empty flask,discarded on the floor next to him.

“Brooding is not a particularly attractive feature on anyone,Thor,” Loki remarked casually, his voice followed by a creak of bed springs.

Thor let out a low chuckle, craned his head so he could lookup at Loki, sitting on the bed, and looking down at him with mild amusement. “Thenit is fortunate you are my only company,” he said. “There is nothing I could doto make you dislike me more.”

“How unusually modest of you, Thor,” Loki snorted. “Trustme, there is always something you could do to achieve that.”

Thor’s lips twitched, but the smile remained only a possibility,held back by the grim reality of tomorrow. “So be it then.”

“There is no point to concern now and you know it. Whatever happenstomorrow will happen, and no amount of unnecessary aggravation on your partwill change the outcome to our favour.”

Thor blinked, frowned, searching Loki’s face for a sign of mockery,but finding only hints of that what he himself was feeling – bone-deepweariness.

Turning his head back, Thor exhaled deeply. “I know that,”he said, his voice little more than a sigh. Weight, terrible and unrelentingwas all that he seemed to be feeling lately. He could not even remember thetime when he knew what it meant to breathe freely, and to feel joy that was notinextricably entwined with sorrow. “It changes nothing.”

The touch, when it came, was so unexpected it made Thor’sentire body go deathly still. For a moment, Thor was uncertain whether or nothe was imagining it, afraid of moving, afraid even of drawing breath in fear ofbreaking the illusion.

But the moment turned into another, and another, andanother, and still Loki’s fingers continued their steady and soothing slidethrough Thor’s hair.

Thor wanted to turn his head, to look upon Loki’s face, andeven more he wanted to say something; the words he ought to have already said,but has been forced to keep locked inside by the needs of the realms that far outweighedthe needs of two souls.

Thor did none of it. He could not. Not now. There was notenough time for digging up old wounds, wounds that were only cauterized, nowherenear close to healing.

But he could accept this unexpected gift.