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The moon shone a dim light upon the gilded kingdom below, nearly all of its occupants fast asleep in their homes.
Inside the shining palace forming the epicenter of the kingdom, one young prince tiptoed his way through darkened, twisting hallways. Although he was young, only nearing fourteen years of age, Thor knew his palace home as well as any other. He was perfectly capable of navigating his way outside to the gardens at any time, day or night.
...Though Thor’s talent for sneaking around at night was hardly innate. It had been learned to him from his younger brother, whose proficiency in all things subtle and clever had been essential to their late night adventures throughout their growing up together. In the past, Loki had always been Thor’s most cherished companion. Only in recent months had the two brothers begun to grow apart... So much so, in fact, that Thor had neglected to invite Loki to his late-night escapades with his warrior friends. (In fact, Thor had seen to it that Loki remained completely unaware.)
Thor ducked behind the nearest column with a muffled grunt as two guards clinked past, their armor glistening white in the moonlight. He sighed in relief once they were safely around a corner.
Whether or not he cared to admit it... Sneaking out of the palace without his parents finding out was made much more difficult without his brother.
Thor left his hiding place as soon as the guards’ footsteps had faded into the distance and continued his secret journey to the palace gardens. From there, he could easily duck under some shrubbery and make his way to a wide field just beyond the bounds of the kingdom, where his friends would be waiting.
With any luck, no more guards would pass by and his only remaining obstacle would be his brother’s bedroom. In the past, when he and Loki had shared a room, he had been no threat to Thor’s sneaking out. Quite the opposite, he had always been in on it as well. But now, after they had agreed to having separate rooms, far apart from one-another, passing Loki’s bedroom door had become a bit of a tricky problem.
Thor knew exactly what would happen if his little brother ever saw him edging down the hallway in the middle of the night... And it would result in him being grounded from any free time for months. Thor grimaced at the memory of the last time Loki had tattled on him to their mother.
Thor had been hungry one night and decided to (skillfully) liberate a few cakes from the kitchens. Unfortunately, as he snuck back into their bedroom, (shared by Loki at the time,) his chewing had woken Loki up. Guards had followed him around for ages, all to ensure that he couldn’t sneak food from the kitchens again. (And all because of his refusal to share the stolen desserts with his brother when he saw them.)
In any case, Thor treated the ten foot radius to either side of Loki’s bedroom door as the most dangerous area in the entire palace when sneaking away to hang out with his companions... (He refused to consider that his caution may be due in part to guilt at recently excluding his brother from his friend-group.)
Thor slowed his pace as he approached the final corner before Loki’s bedroom corridor. He needed to ensure that his footsteps would be completely inaudible, even to his brother’s sharp ears. Thor held his breath, shifting his weight between movements carefully... And in just a few moments he was safely on the other side of the Loki’s bedroom door. The dark-stained wood looked just as solid as ever. It hadn’t moved an inch since Thor had passed. He released his breath, chuckling quietly. It was so late... There was no way even his odd little brother was awake. He had been worrying for nothing.
Thor turned, proud of himself for having done such a good job of sneaking out on his own. Now all that he had left to do was meet his friends in—
A sudden sound stopped Thor dead in his tracks. He blinked, slowly turning back towards his brother’s darkened bedroom door.
The area was completely empty, void of any signs of life. There was no reason for Thor to have heard a noise... And yet, he was sure that he had heard glass shattering. He frowned, glancing first towards the hallway towards the gardens, and then back towards Loki’s bedroom.
Thor decided after a moment, his expression set, to step a bit closer to Loki’s bedroom. Just a bit. Only to see if there really was something going on. (Not out of concern for his only brother’s safety, of course... Just curiosity.)
He strained his ears, edging closer to Loki’s bedroom an inch at a time. Thor hesitated, stilling himself just as he was only a few steps away from touching the door, it hardly took a moment for him to hear another, softer sound. He blinked, feeling a bit uneasy at the sudden realization that what he was hearing sounded an awful lot like- crying.
Thor chanced a few final steps forward to press his ear against the cool surface of the door, creasing his eyebrows. Sure enough, the unmistakable sound of someone crying was made painfully more obvious by his closer proximity.
His first instinct was to open the door... But he quickly stopped himself. If he barged in on his brother in a state of disarray, he could kiss his chances of sneaking out ever again goodbye. Besides, Loki was smart. He was always able to solve his problems on his own.
...Or- was he?
Thor raised his hand to knock on the door, the brief moment of doubt settling into deep concern for his sibling’s wellbeing. He closed his eyes and knocked three times, unsurprised when the crying suddenly stopped and was replaced instead with dead silence.
He pursed his lips, taking a steady inhale as he prepared to knock again, only for the door to open very suddenly to reveal—
Thor had to resist the urge to rub his eyes to make sure he was seeing things correctly— a completely normal, not disheveled, Loki.
The young prince blinked, craning his neck to try and catch a glimpse into his brother’s room. Loki responded by tilting his head, blocking Thor’s view.
“If you’ve come here to ask if I’d like to begin sharing a room with you again, I’m afraid the answer is no.” Loki spoke flatly, looking not at all pleased by this late night intrusion. And not at all like one who had allegedly been crying only moments before.
“I-“ Thor continued his attempts at looking for any oddities in his brother’s room, a difficult feat given the absence of light, and the fact that Loki had only opened his door the minimum amount necessary to communicate. “I thought I heard something.”
Loki narrowed his eyes, giving his brother a scrutinizing look, “You woke me in the middle of the night- because you thought you heard something.”
“I did hear something!” Thor responded indignantly, not taking too kindly to his brother’s cynicism, when he had been so concerned for his wellbeing only moments before. “Just- let me in.”
Loki attempted to prevent Thor from pushing the door the rest of the way open, but stepped back out of the way quickly when that was proven impossible.
He crossed his arms moodily, observing as his older brother stepped past him and began to look around his dimly lit, but well-kept bedroom. Loki glanced around a bit himself, finding the only thing out of place to be his bedsheets, slightly ruffled and pulled back as though he had just woken up.
He looked down, a casual expression on his face as he turned back to ease his bedroom door closed behind them, lest the guards notice his door standing ajar when they make their next round.
“Well?” Loki spoke finally, watching Thor with an air of annoyance, “Have you finished?”
Thor turned from where he had been examining a bookcase in the far corner of the room, looking for any cleverly hidden broken glass... Or tearstained tissues.
“I know I heard something shatter.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t father’s heart when he finds that his favorite son has been sneaking out for the past two weeks?” Loki deadpanned, tilting his head slightly.
“Brother! You— Know about that?” Thor faltered, suddenly feeling awkward now that he had been reminded of why he’d ended up there, “How did you—“
“Your feet are heavy.” Loki shrugged, his frown refusing to subside, “And you use the same path I taught you.”
Thor considered his younger brother for a moment, “If you’ve known, then why didn’t you tell mother and father?”
“Oh, I will.” Loki spat, growing more irritable by the second, “If you don’t get out of my bedroom. Now.”
Thor held his hands up in defeat, starting to make his way back out into the hallway. He regretted ever being concerned... Loki could never be upset. He was too— Thor stumbled suddenly, his foot landing on a sharp object that skittered into the corner, a sharp object that appeared completely invisible to the naked eye. He stopped, meeting eyes with his brother, whose mask of bitter indifference was flickering with a hint of worry. Thor slowly leant down to a kneeling position. He brushed his hand along the seemingly empty floor, his fingers soon coming in contact with unseeable shards of clinking glass.
Only a heartbeat later, the room shimmered with faint green light, revealing a scene much different than the one Thor had been standing in before.
The floor around him was completely littered with the shattered remains of a mirror, hanging pathetically lopsided on the wall beside him. The other side of the room, nearest Loki’s bed, (now completely disheveled, the blankets mostly on the floor,) was covered with torn and crumbled up pieces of paper. The corresponding books had been tossed about everywhere, Thor was shocked that he hadn’t tripped over one sooner.
“Well, brother? Are you pleased?”
Loki’s sudden comment drew Thor’s attention, and he couldn’t help but gasp at the state of his little brother. When only moments ago, he had appeared as the picture of normalcy, maybe a bit ruffled from having been asleep, now Loki looked entirely a mess. His small frame looked even smaller than normal, the deep bags under his reddened eyes looked as through he hadn’t slept properly in days. Maybe even weeks.
Thor flinched, suddenly feeling a bit sick. This was his brother... They saw each other every day. How had he been so completely oblivious that something had been upsetting him?
Thor watched Loki for a few more awkward moments, the latter now stubbornly refusing to make eye contact. Finally, he managed to shake himself out of his shocked stupor, directing his attention away from his brother and back towards the mess at his feet.
He cleared his throat in an attempt to seem casual before kneeling down, beginning to gingerly gather the broken glass into a neat pile.
Loki watched mutely, unsure if this was supposed to be his brother’s odd version of a joke. But before he had time to formulate some sort of observational response to try and preserve whatever was left of his dignity, Thor commented evenly,
“Are you going to give me some help?”
“Am I—?“ Loki fidgeted with his hands uncomfortably, “What are you doing?”
Thor shrugged without looking up from his work, “I’d hate to see the look on mother’s face if she saw this mess tomorrow morning.”
Loki hesitated, watching his elder brother suspiciously for a while before slowly stepping over to kneel beside him, gathering more glass into the ever-growing pile. They worked in silence, the only noise the clinking and dragging shards of a ruined mirror.
Finally, the younger found his voice again, “...Are you not worried that your- friends will miss you?”
Thor shrugged, carefully dropping a small handful of glass onto the pile.
Loki watched his brother critically, eyes narrowed. “Why are you doing this?”
“I told you. We need to clean up this mess-“
“No.” He frowned, fully prepared to stare accusingly at his brother until he got a more satisfactory response.
Thor glanced at Loki, sighing at the look of indignation on his face. He thought for a moment before responding, “...I used to always know when you were upset.” He frowned, “It’s becoming much more difficult to tell.”
“Difficult.” Loki scoffed, poorly concealing his hurt feelings, “Is it difficult? Or is it that you hardly speak to me anymore... Being so busy with your real companions.”
“Loki.” Thor turned to his brother accusingly, “It’s your own fault that they haven’t taken well to you.”
At the look on Loki’s face, he continued, a small smile turning his lips, “Is that what you’re so upset about? Me having other friends?”
Loki frowned bitterly, opening his mouth to respond angrily before thinking better of it. Instead, he hesitated for a long while before tilting his head thoughtfully, “Yes.” He deadpanned. “That’s all it is. Seems silly now.”
“Hm.” Thor nodded, a bit skeptical of his brother’s response, but still willing to accept it. He could think of nothing else that would be troubling him.
After all, what would a prince of Asgard have to worry about? What’s more, the stress of glory and the future throne were all Thor’s to bear. Loki could rest easy, practicing his tricks and illusions while others, like Thor and their father, did the real work.
They worked in silence until the glass was all cleaned. Not much could be done about the bare skeleton of the mirror frame though. Whether or not the glass had been cleaned, there was no hiding that. Loki ruefully admitted that he had not yet learned a glass repairing spell, so there would be no fixing it.
In a moment of pure big-brother instinct, (that even shocked himself,) Thor had assured Loki that he would take the blame for the shattered mirror.
The brothers had since moved on to collecting the loose papers that littered the floor, attempting to return them to their proper books. Loki seemed much more regretful about the ruined literature than he had been about the mirror. He had taken to staring sadly at the books, holding them in his hands, a look of sorrow turning his already gaunt features. Thor wasn’t sure how to help with that. In fact, he had no idea what would spur Loki to want to destroy so many spell-books in the first place. If he had only been upset about Thor excluding him from the friend-group, why had he taken his anger out on spell-books? He loved magic.
And everyone thought his skill was astounding... That’s what Thor heard mother always telling their father, anyway. Father didn’t much care for Loki’s tricks. But that was alright, he loved Thor’s fighting prowess, so he was never disappointed long.
Thor pushed those thoughts out of his mind, stacking the books that he’d partially pieced back together onto a nearby table. Try as he may to understand the inner workings of his brother’s mind... It was only becoming more and more difficult. Besides, he reminded himself with a quick glance in his brother’s direction, they were almost finished cleaning up. Loki had seemed to compose himself a bit, and was arranging some large leather-bound books back into their rightful places on his bookshelf.
As if reading Thor’s mind, he slowly turned his head around to regard his brother cooly.
“You can leave now, if you want.” He turned back to his organization, “I can finish on my own.”
Thor nodded uncertainly. Though he undeniably wanted to remove himself from the awkwardness that was becoming more and more apparent by the second, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he was missing something.
He chalked it up to his own sleepiness, after all, he had been awake for much of the night now. Thor hated to think of how annoyed his friends must be that he never arrived.
“Well,” He shrugged finally, “Okay. Goodnight then, brother.”
Loki hummed in acknowledgment as Thor turned and began to walk towards the exit. But once his hand grasped the cool handle, he stopped for a moment.
“Loki?”
He glanced up to see his brother turning towards him, a look of poorly hidden suspicion creasing his brows. “...Yes?”
“You don’t...” Thor felt ridiculous even saying this, it was so stupid, “You don’t dislike me, do you?”
He wasn’t sure what sort of response he expected from Loki. He never was the sincere type. So the flat, “No.” that Thor received from his brother, still with his back turned to him, seemed as appropriate of a reply as any.
It was satisfactory enough for Thor to nod a final farewell before turning the door-handle and stepping back out into the darkened hallway, tightly closing the heavy door behind him.
He took a brief moment to decide if it was really too late to meet his friends. Deciding that, yes, unfortunately, the slight glow in the East from the rising sun confirmed that it was too late, he turned to the right and started towards his bedroom. But he only made it a half-pace before he jerked to a stop suddenly and pressed himself against Loki’s door again, a look of slight panic on his face,
“Brother?” He hissed through the crack of the door in a slight whisper.
No response. Thor tried again, a bit louder this time.
“Brother?!”
Yet again, no response. Thor huffed in annoyance, whispering quickly, “Brother, I know you’re in there, I was just in there.”
He was just about to cut his losses and start yelling, when the door suddenly whipped open.
“What?!” Loki hissed back, looking even more annoyed than Thor felt.
He blinked, repressing a grin.
“You... Aren’t going to tell mother and father about my sneaking out, are you?”
Loki stared back at him silently, his expression mostly unreadable. So Thor added, “Because if you are, I could tell them about how you—“
The door was slammed in his face before he had time to finish his sentence.
Thor laughed quietly and knocked gently on the wood, “Really, though.”
Loki responded smoothly, his voice sounded as though he were leaning with his back on the other side of the door. “If you don’t tell mother and father about tonight, I won’t.”
He fell silent for a moment, then added, “...And if you really take the blame for the broken mirror.”
Thor crossed his arms, “I said I would, didn’t I?” He paused, thinking, “We can tell them that it broke it when I...”
“...Charged into it, mistaking your own reflection for a mountain giant.”
“No.” Thor frowned, resisting the urge to laugh at his brother’s joke. “That is obviously a false story.”
He could hear Loki chuckling on the other side, and for some reason that made Thor feel relieved.
For the first time in what seemed like a long while, things felt a bit normal between them. Admittedly, circumstances weren’t the most ideal, but if things kept looking up, maybe Loki could even join Thor’s friend group. (Maybe.)
Thor whispered a brief farewell to his sibling before once again turning to the right, silently making his way along the path to his own bedroom. He smiled to himself, pleased that maybe he could start to fix things between Loki and him. Annoying and tricky as he could be, he was also Thor’s brother. It would be good to have him as a friend again.