Work Text:
For the majority of the time spent since leaving the wreckage of their once-home, Loki had been almost dangerously quiet. He'd been mostly staring out into the expanse of space voiceless except when prompted, his eyes bright and unreadable like an animal's. Thor, for all his years of practice, couldn't tell what he was thinking, and, after so recently reconciling, did not want to take the gamble of guessing. Instead of asking for his thoughts, however, he sought to soothe his own worries; the ones that has begun to plague him upon seeing Loki sit beside the Grandmaster in the box above the arena.
He called, "Loki," to the man near him a bit more loudly than he'd meant to, wincing internally.
His brother's head whipped towards him, his eyes big, eyelids heavy but expression still one of obvious surprise. He nodded once expectantly, inviting Thor to speak.
Thor cleared his throat. He had not prepared himself well enough for this topic of discussion. "He didn't- I mean to say, the Grandmaster-"
As when they were younger, Loki took pity on him, his face gone softer than usual as he walked to stand beside Thor's throne. "Just tell me. It's alright." This was what worried Thor the most. No biting remarks, no mischievous laughter... Just direct speech and a somewhat shamefaced Loki.
"He didn't-" Thor sighed, then, shifting uncomfortably. He didn't want to upset Loki. Maybe things between them had been volatile and not always fair, but his love for his brother was true. Gently, he placed a hand on Loki's own, then covered Loki's other hand when it went to grip them in surprise. Earnestly, he asked, "Did he harm you?"
Loki blinked in surprise, then smiled, shocking Thor nearly out of the ship's makeshift throne. Loki was smiling a rare, soft, snake-like smile, free of teeth and full of warmth, like when they were children. Like things were normal. "No, he didn't. He was... a cruel man, but not a cruel lover, by any means."
"Oh!" Thor had nearly leapt from the seat again, his hands now too tight over Loki's. "Oh." He coughed, then continued to cough, choking on air. "You, uh,"
Loki rolled his eyes. His cheeks were a bit pink, but he was good at hiding his embarrassment. "Yes, Thor, you big oaf-"
"I mean to say, you did consent?"
It was Loki's turn to look surprised. Thor seemed to have knocked the wits from him with his care. "Yes. Yes, there's nothing to fear there." He pulled his hands away from Thor to rub his brother's shoulder in an uncharacteristic display of affection.
Thor laughed nervously, feeling relieved, though awkward. "Well, I'm glad. I worried you may have been an... A trophy, of sorts." He didn't need to say that out loud.
Loki only snorted. "A trophy, yes, but not an unwitting one. He was good company, if a brute, and I enjoyed the power I was given." He smiled again, cat-like. "I like being well cared for."
"So, I was worrying like a fool all this time, when you were... his queen?" Thor teased.
That knocked a laugh out of Loki. "To put it in so many words."
Thor smiled up at him before gazing back out to the stars around them. The two grew silent, both equally comfortable as uncomfortable. Thor had missed Loki, had loved him dearly through it all, but when he looked at him, he didn't just see the brother or sister he grew up with anymore. The gaze of a killer met his when he looked into those eyes. The eyes he'd looked into for ages upon ages upon ages. The eyes he'd looked into and conspired with and pranked with and fought with. The eyes of a sibling lost and now found.
Thor wondered, distantly, if Loki saw the same thing, and for how long before Thor's banishment he'd looked and seen a stranger. Perhaps he saw a stranger now more than before.
Disrupting Thor's sad musings, Loki murmured meaningfully, "Is it too late for apologies to mean anything?"
Thor blinked, shaking his thoughts away. He took a deep breath. But he knew the answer. "Whose?"
Loki's hand remained on his brother's shoulder like it belonged there, the other behind Thor's head on the back of the makeshift throne of Asgard. "Mine."
Thor looked over to him.
"I'm sorry. I cannot excuse what I've done as madness, or mischief, but here I am. I was..." He sighed. He made no excuses. "I am sorry."
Thor blinked. "I..." He huffed something like a humorless laugh. "How long until those words mean nothing?" It broke his heart to ask.
He saw the same sad thing reflected in Loki's eyes. A killer's eyes. A traitor's eyes. A little sister and a little brother's eyes. "I suppose we'll see." Ashamed, he sounded. Honest.
The stars outside the ship - outside Asgard - were nothing like the glinting of gold that had encased the city. Nothing was like it was before. The Valkyries were rebuilding. The people were healing and making a new home here. And now the stars guided them all, shepherding them to new galaxies. To new everything.
New everything.
"No," said Thor, just as honest. Just as new. "It's not too late for you."
He felt a hand on his shoulder relax, as if Loki's guilt and fear of rejection were so heavy it pulled all his muscles taut.
Though they remained silent, both gazing at the stars and not each other, there was a strong, loud 'thank you' that could be felt in the air between them. Something like forgiveness. After a moment, Thor pulled the hand on his shoulder down to his mouth, his eye stinging. He pressed a quick kiss to it before letting go and standing on restless legs.
"Would you like to sit?" he asked.
Loki blinked. "Sit where?"
Thor opened his mouth, then closed it, an exhale leaving him without him asking it to. He glanced at the not-quite throne, then to Loki. He nodded towards it.
Loki's eyes grew wider, "Here?", and Thor nodded.
Breathing deeply and looking overwhelmed, Loki whispered a reply that Thor did not hear, then quietly made his way around the chair. He stopped just before he sat to look at his brother.
He looked hopeful. Like the little sibling Thor had met eyes with in a golden palace so many centuries ago, so many times.
Thor couldn't help it; he smiled at Loki, hovering in what was just previously Loki's place by and behind the throne. "I cannot possibly rule alone, can I? Time alone has taught me that."
Loki's smile was blinding and, Thor was certain of it, honest.