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Thor smiled down at his project on the side table when, finally, he felt Loki staring at him from the kitchen.
After several unsuccessful attempts at a cups and balls magic trick that sent tens of plastic balls bouncing under the couch, Loki finally exploded.
“What in the Nine Realms are you doing?”
Thor grinned and turned towards Loki, waving his hand in an imitation of some of Loki’s seiðr casting.
“Magic.”
Loki scoffed louder than perhaps anyone in the world had ever scoffed, grabbed a book off the coffee table, and headed to the bedroom.
Thor’s smile remained after the door slammed.
The set had already paid for itself.
*******
The next night, Thor sat in front of the cups set again, patiently repeating the trick until it was smooth.
He saw Loki look up at him a few times before snarling into his newspaper, “Can’t you embarrass yourself in another room?”
“Nope.” Thor could, of course.
Loki went back to pretending to read for another few minutes, almost palpably seething.
Thor nearly laughed when Loki exploded again.
“So Midgardian magic is bouncing irritating little balls around on the floor while staring blankly at plastic cups? Good Lord, Thor, your obsession with these asinine Midgardian hobbies borders on the pathological--”
“Wanna see?”
Loki wanted to say no, but couldn’t. Thor grinned wider. He could wait.
Finally, Loki popped his newspaper closed and tossed it onto the couch. “Go ahead, astonish me with your pathetic Midgardian parlor tricks.
Thor couldn’t help but crow, “You’re curious how it works.”
Too much, though, because Loki stood up, waving his hand in a menacingly familiar way that had resulted in the incineration of countless of Thor’s other belongings—
“Wait, stop.” Thor said, holding his palms up in surrender before smiling. “Please, dear Brother. I would like to demonstrate my pathetic Midgardian parlor tricks.”
Loki glared at him. Thor stared back innocently. Finally, Loki made an irritated noise and dropped back onto the couch, and Thor began the trick.
“Truly incredible, moving around cups with plastic balls underneath, this is truly a new low even for you, Brother—”
Loki stopped talking as soon Thor lifted the cup he’d moved to the right to show him the ball wasn’t underneath.
Loki made a dismissive noise. “It’s just in that other one.”
Thor couldn’t help but make a little show out of picking the cup up to show that it was not.
“Then the third one!”
Thor grinned wider, and before the third cup was barely in his hand, Loki had stood up.
“See,” Thor laughed at his retreating form, adding “Magic!” as the bedroom door slammed shut.
*****
Thor walked into the living room to find Loki furiously watching an Earth magician before slamming his computer shut so fast that it clattered onto the table.
A stabbing seemed imminent, which was the sole fact that allowed Thor to maintain his composure and attempt to lie. “I’ve never known you to be shy about watching porn. In fact, I seem to recall you insisting I watch your porn, as it was clearly of superior quality to that the Midgardian--”
Loki turned back to look at him murderously, a telltale flickering of green and silver in his hand.
“My, Brother—daggers already?” Thor put a palm on Loki’s shoulder. “You are the most singularly dramatic—“
He was shocked when the knife suddenly plunged into his hand. After a moment, he realized he could not feel it.
The illusion dissolved, leaving the handle of a fork pressed between his knuckles. “See?” Loki said, a bit maniacally. “Magic.”
Thor stared down at him for a moment, and could not help himself. “You have crazy eyes again.”
The force of the ensuing blast knocked Thor into the next room, laughing.
***************
Thor woke up suddenly, sitting up when he realized he was alone.
“Loki?” he said into the dark.
He shot out of bed after hearing the familiar smack of the kitchen table hitting the floor after being kicked over.
His hand was on the door knob when Loki shouted, “Damn you, you insipid cups!”
Thor remained still for another moment, then laid his his palm flat against the door, something pressing into the center of his chest.
***********
The next night Thor was reading instead, the cups remaining unused on the side table.
Loki looked up from a magazine, then back down. “What, no awesome displays of magical aptitude?”
Thor smiled, and turned a page. “Not tonight.”
“But I’ve so loved watching the former king of Asgard make an ass out of himself.” Loki had stood up and started walking over to the cups. “That’s an impressively far fall, even for you, Brother.”
Thor leaned back, smiling as he watched Loki maneuver the table into Thor’s line of sight.
“Behold, I am Thor, today I bring shame on my lineage with my endless fascination with Midgardian bullshit—”
As he spoke, Loki snapped his fingers so that the cups disappeared, reappeared, disappeared, reappeared.
Then, to Thor’s surprise, he started moving the cups exactly as the trick required when performed.
“Where’s the ball? Oh my, it's in your ear!” Thor laughed as a bunch of ping pong balls fell into his lap. “Nevermind, it’s on the television.” More clapped to the ground from the television stand. “Oh God, they’re everywhere.” Loki started moving the cups again, lifting them up dramatically. “Not here, oh wait it’s over here, where are those damn balls—“
It happened very quickly, but as ping pong balls rained from the ceiling, Thor saw him do the entire trick sequence once without magic.
Thor tried to smile as Loki continued to conjure in furious succession a cape, a hat, a wand, three rabbits, two white tiger cubs, and a veritable flock of doves before dramatically wiping his hands and banishing everything.
They stared at each other in the enormous silence left behind by the menagerie that Loki had just made out of thin air. Out of nothing.
“What?” Loki snapped suddenly, sounding cornered and dangerous.
Thor smiled at him, something sharp in his throat. “Do you realize that you’re the most extraordinary sorcerer in all of the Nine Realms?”
Loki stared at him for a moment, visibly shocked, before turning away to face the television.
“Of course I do,” he answered. His voice was quiet.
Thor allowed himself to look at Loki’s back in a way Loki would not permit otherwise, and swallowed.
“You astonish me.”
Loki turned around to look at him then, his expression so raw and needy that it startled Thor into a horrifying moment of clarity.
You’ve never told him this.
Not once.
Ever.
Loki’s voice brought him back to the living room. Thor stared helplessly in his direction and tried to focus.
“--I don’t quite mind the Midgardian flair for costumes with magic. In fact, there are some older ceremonies that recommend certain dress and it’s equally ridiculous.” Loki glanced towards Thor, then quickly looked away.
Loki’s small face begging Thor to watch him practice seiðr. Thor carelessly turning away.
Thor cleared his throat. “What kinds of ceremonies?”
Loki spent the next half hour explaining and demonstrating some sort of ancient alchemy and sweeping around the living room in various preposterous outfits, forcing Thor’s input on each one of them.
It was Thor’s happiest day in recent memory.
******
The next morning, Thor walked into the living room to find a stack of quarters, some scarves, and a couple decks of cards on the side table where the cups had been.
Loki smirked at him, flipping one of the quarters up and down in the air.