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Loki watched people moving a huge tree, of all things, into the Avengers tower, and shook his head in confusion. “Stark,” he asked, “what is this?”
“It’s Christmastime!” Stark exclaimed.
Loki frowned. “Christmas? I thought that was the festival of Winter Solstice- That is still three weeks away, is it not?”
Stark turned to him, explaining with a mock-serious expression through which a grin kept breaking: “Yeah, so the Christmas itself is on the 25th, but you’re officially allowed to have Christmas decoration around since after Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving was on Thursday, so...Christmastime!”
Loki considered it. “And Christmas decoration means...trees?”
Stark nodded. “And lights, yeah, mostly.”
“I have been seeing small trees – or simulacra of trees anyway – around the city for at least a month,” Loki mused. “If it is only allowed after Thanksgiving-”
“Don’t even get me started!” Stark said, as if Loki came across a topic of great irritation to him. “Everyone’s doing it wrong, that’s the problem. But in this tower at least, we do things right.”
“So after stuffing yourself with turkey, you put up a tree,” Loki reassured himself. The dinner on Thursday had been...opulent. It had also included a number of arguments, which Stark had assured him were also traditional. And now there was a tree. Midgardian traditions were...strange.
“Yes, and decorate it with special ornaments, and put up Christmas lights,” Stark elaborated. “It’s great, you will see.”
Loki watched the work continue all day. He still didn’t understand the purpose of a tree, but when the night came and lights were turned on, he could at least agree that it was kind of nice.
He thought about it, and had JARVIS look up some information on Christmas and Christmas decorating, and thought about it some more.
Apparently the trees – or more specifically, spruce ro fir trees, usually – were used because they stayed green throughout the winter, unlike other plants in Midgard. As Asgard didn’t have seasons, he didn’t really understand the connotations of that, but filed the information away and read some more.
The lights, it seemed, were because the days were shortest and nights were longest at this time of the year. That was an experience unfamiliar to Loki as well, but at least he had already noticed this change on Midgard.
He thoughts about how he could create something that would be in the spirit of the season without blindly copying what the Midgardians were doing, and then set to work.
-
The next time Stark entered Loki’s rooms to tempt him into his lab, he stopped in the hall and stared. “Um, Loki...what is that?”
Loki emerged to find Stark regarding his new addition. “My Christmas tree,” Loki explained.
Stark stared some more.
“That is not a tree,” he said then.
“Well, no, not exactly,” Loki conceded, “but it is a green plant, and I felt it worked as a much better symbol of continuing life than the prickly trees you pick. Don’t you agree?”
“I...suppose,” Stark said, looking ta the tropical plant. “And the...the fruit?”
Loki laughed a little. It did look like fruit, he supposed. “Christmas lights,” he said simply.
“Okay. They’re more like Christmas supernovas, but I suppose it does fit the description.”
“Is the point not to provide light in darkness?” Loki asked.
“I guess..and yeah, yours certainly fulfil that. I like it. Hm. I wonder what interesting twists you could put on other Christmas traditions.”
Loki was curious too, and Stark began to rattle off: advent wreaths, stockings, punch, elf on the shelf, mistletoe…
Once he left, Loki asked JARVIS for details on these, and soon he was creating ouroboros out of green leaves decorated with four bright mage lights, a stocking with a pocket dimension inside of it, summoning fruity Asgardian alcohol that would get a mortal dangerously drunk after one sip, an elaborate ice statue of Queen Danu of Alfheim that could, he supposed, fit on a shelf if the shelf was sturdy enough, and which should certainly be enough to terrify everyone into good behaviour…
And then he came across the tradition of mistletoe, and read about its origins.
Stark found him in his rooms some time later, and at first he began to praise the statue, but then he noticed Loki’s expression.
“What is it?” He asked, alarmed.
Loki hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should speak or not. But Stark just stood there, waiting, and Loki did not have the energy to lie or pretend nothing was wrong, so he said: “The mistletoe...did you know the story behind it?”
“There is a story?” Stark asked, surprised.
“It was an accident,” Loki said, knowing all the while he would not be believed, as he had never been believed before.
“What was an accident?” Stark asked, settling down next to him.
Loki simply handed him the tablet with the story.
Stark read for a while, frowning more all the time, before he turned to Loki and asked: “So did you kill this Baldr guy?”
Loki laughed a little, bitterly. “Baldr is Thor,” he explained. “It was our mother’s pet name for him. I...we were playing together, Hodr was guarding us, and Thor was playing the mighty warrior able to defeat every attack. Hodr was throwing different things at him and Thor was battling them away, and I gave him mistletoe, and...Thor was allergic. I didn’t know. By the worst luck – but then when have I ever had anything else – it landed in his open mouth as he was screaming a warrior scream, and...he almost died. It was my mother’s magic that saved him, yes, and she was crying as she was fighting to save him, but I...the Aesir say that is the first time I tried to kill Thor, but I swear it was an accident.”
Stark was scowling deeply. “How old were you at the time?” He asked.
Loki thought about it for a moment. “The equivalent of your six, seven years old, something like that.”
“And they had been accusing you of murder ever since?”
Loki nodded mutely, a hope growing in him that perhaps, this time, his version of the story would be accepted.
Stark took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then exhaled. “So,” he said then, “I knew Asgardians were assholes...but I didn’t know they were such huge assholes. Seriously, this is fucked up.” He hesitated. “Did your mum or Thor blame you?”
“No,” Loki conceded, “though Odin did.”
“I am not surprised.” Stark grimaced, then patted Loki on the shoulder a little awkwardly before he got up. “All right,” he said. “No mistletoe in the tower this year.”
Loki blinked. “But...is it your tradition,” he protested.
Tony rolled his eyes. “Anyone who thinks tradition is a good enough reason to hurt people,” he said, “can move right the fuck out of my tower. I’m going to make the announcement.”
He left, and Loki stared after him in wonder.
It was incredible enough that he was believed, but to change an existing custom because it would have bothered Loki? Without Loki even explicitly asking for it first, which he would never have done? This, this was...Loki didn’t think anyone had ever done anything like that for him before, and he was astonished.
He had already had a soft spot for Stark before, but now, as he stared at the door the man had left through, he thought he might be in some serious danger.