Chapter Text
Erik leaned back against the mound of pillow supporting his body, sinking into the lush fabric with a pleased sigh.
Physical therapy is never fun, more so when he had been knocked out cold for nearly a year and haven’t been using his muscle for that long.
Shuri and T’Challa are a constant presence by his side, always hovering close after he woke up but they are not always around, their duty as the royalty of Wakanda pulling most of their attention and time away from him.
And Erik understands that.
Glad for it even.
It is not like he doesn’t like having them around, there is only so much smothering he is willing to put up with and it is good that they were called away first before he snapped at all the attention he is pilled with.
Though in place of their absence, Loki had wormed his way in.
Like the royal siblings, he is always close but unlike them, he doesn’t treat him as if he is inept and Erik is glad for his understanding of him not wanting to be coddled. Just because he need to relearn how to move his body again doesn’t mean he can’t live his own life.
Erik is aware that most people are perplexed by his close friendship with Loki but to be honest, he doesn’t blame them for their bewilderment. Loki is just too much of a vapid drama queen who have a penchant for not letting be simple. Not that he himself is any better but Loki is at it like his life depends on it.
Loki understands him in a way that not even his own soulmate does. He is the one who understood Erik the most because he had always been with him right from the beginning.
Erik still remembers the first time he saw Loki, a weirdly dressed white boy who prowled the street of Oakland as if he has nothing to fear about in the world.
His own father had warned him against approaching Loki, gazing at the pale skinned man with a wariness and hostility far more than he would any other white boy. He hadn’t understood why back then but looking back at it now, Erik finally understand why the Æsir Prince acted the way he did.
He has nothing to fear about when surrounded by mortal men.
Not when they’re unable to do him any harm.
And his father had seen this, well aware of the otherworldly power at Loki’s fingertip.
But Erik had been a curious boy.
He ignored his father’s warning to pursue his own curiosity of the unknown, approaching the lithe yet towering figure of Loki shrouded by the shadow of Oakland park. That was the first of their many encounters and Loki became a semi-permanent fixture in his life, almost like an elder brother that he never has but at the same time quite not.
Loki was there for him when his father was murdered. A constant presence who whispered soft assurance to him as grief consumed him.
Loki doesn’t lie to him nor does he try to divert him away from his chosen path of vengeance but he does offered him advices and tips on how to improve himself.
A God of Fire, Mischief and Chaos Loki may be but he is also the God of Lost Children.
A guardian angel if he must admit.
For children who have no one to turn in their moment of need.
Erik doesn’t know what had happened to lead to Loki attacking New York but he knew it has something to do with his sudden disappearance a couple of years before said attack. While Loki doesn’t frequently visit him much during his adulthood, he does make time to visit every two months at least and his absence during the first few months after their last reunion had been a dead giveaway something was wrong.
Loki always fulfil the oath he made, even if he often tries to weasel out with trickery and out of mischief.
As for the attack itself, well it wasn’t hard for him to get his hands on restricted and classified footages of Loki during it.
What he saw on it is not the Loki he had grown up knowing.
He doesn’t know what the hell happened to make Loki into that crazed creature trapped in the Hulk containment chamber but it must be a true abomination.
Loki always took pride in his appearance, often pampering himself with hours of grooming his curls into the perfect slicked back and Erik couldn’t wrap his head around a Loki who barely bat an eye at the tangled mess his hair had become. Not when the Loki he knew would throw a hissy bitchy fit over a single strand out of order.
The less said about the rest of his appearance at that time, the better.
Erik doesn’t understand how the hell Thor had missed the fact that the Loki standing before him was not the real Loki when the God of Thunder claimed to be his brother for over a millennium.
But for Erik, who knew how much time Loki had spent in learning how to make dread so that Erik can at least have a piece of his own culture, he knows that demented creature hell bent on conquering and subjugating earth is not Loki.
The strategy that Loki used during said invasion is laughable and Erik had practically learned his own tactical strategies he employed in battlefield at Loki’s knees.
He knew for a fact Loki is a brilliant tactician and the methods he used to put it into motions is just not Loki.
If Loki had truly been trying to conquer earth, no one would be able to see him coming nor would they be able to stop him until he already has everyone under his thumb.
He is not known as the God of Lies and Trickery for nothing after all.
Loki worked best in the shadow and behind the scene and in a world that is basically wrought by it, Loki could have easily done it, especially when he has time on his side. For a being like Loki who lived for millennia, he only simply has wait the human out because he will outlive them all.
So when Loki had reappeared in his life again nearly a decade after their last reunion with an intergalactic war at his heels, it had been so easy for him to accept his explanation of what had happened during their separation. It was easy for him to convince T’Challa to take in the Æsir refugees, to accept Loki at his words only when he spoke of Thanos.
Goddamned motherfucking Thanos who Erik took great pleasure in offing for all the pain he caused Loki.
Never let it be said that Erik is not protective over those he considered as his and Loki has been his right from start. It is his turn now to shield Loki from the world when Loki had been doing it for him all his life.
The war ended with many casualties on both side but they managed to pull through and Thanos fell, claimed by the very thing he had been trying to court. Erik had very nearly lost Loki that day, who had sacrificed a great deal of himself in order to defeat Thanos but they survived.
Now, ten years after the Infinity War, as aptly named by the Æsir, peace had reigned for a while before nations rise again against each other now that there is no more common threat to band together over.
Erik should have known the peace wouldn’t last but it had been worthwhile when it lasted.
Loki and the remnants of the Æsir are a permanent addition to Wakanda, their centuries old advanced knowledge a great boost to Wakanda’s pool of knowledge and it didn’t hurt that they basically introduced them to a whole new field of science in the form of magic.
Erik had always seen Loki’s green magic as the most amazing thing and had always thought it would be useful for the betterment of his people’s life. So to now see it being freely used by his own people, it is a sight he would never forget.