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You were dolled up from head to toe. Your mother insisted on you wearing the absolute best they had. You were forced into a peach colored dress with long sleeves and so many layers you were already too hot moments after putting it on. The sash around your waist was pulled too tight and your shoes were too pointy. You also had a green ribbon braided into your hair. You absolutely hated having to sit still while your mother brushed and pulled your hair until she was satisfied.
You couldn’t understand why all this was necessary. It was just dinner. You ate dinner every night for almost ten years and never had to endure all this garbage just to eat.
“We’re having dinner with the king sweetie.” She had told you that morning. “Your papa was part of the team who built the expansion on the palace and we’re all invited to a royal dinner as a ‘Thank you’. Isn’t that exciting?” She chirped.
No, you didn’t think it was exciting. You liked having a cozy little dinner with your parents and your dog. You didn’t have to wear some terrible dress you could barely walk in to do that. Plus, you thought royal people were all fancy and proper. They would probably hate you, you could just feel it. Most of the other kids at your literary lessons didn’t like you because they said you were 'too silly and too weird’, so why would a group of fancy people like you any better.
You grumbled to yourself the entire trip to the palace, dragging your feet as you went.
As you trudged up the stairs leading into a very long hallway you saw in the distance five kids about your age running down the hallway. It appeared that four of the kids were chasing after the other, but he was too fast for them. He easily weaved between the columns in the hallway as if he knew their locations better than the other four. A blonde boy called out after the runner but he kept on running and ducking behind the columns. You watched as he rounded around one column only to run straight into another blonde boy who was there waiting for him.
“Ha! I got you Loki!” The new kid laughed loudly. “Now give it back.”
The runner huffed in anger, as he tucked a loose black curl behind his ear. “Fine.” His voice was soft compared to the other, but his disappointment was evident. He reached into his pocket pulling out a small ornate gold bracelet and handed it to the other kid. He then turned on his heal and stalked off without another word, disappearing into a doorway.
You continued to watch the scene with curiosity as the loud blonde child joined the other kids and held up the bracelet like it was a prize he had just won. The others cheering and smiling at each other.
You must have stopped walking without realizing it because your mother came over to you and tugged on your arm, pulling you towards a doorway close to you. This lead you into a large open room with windows from floor to ceiling. It was gorgeous, but made you a bit uneasy all the same. The room glittered gold and at the far end was a stage and large chair. A 'throne’ you remember your father explaining once. Other people also floated through out this room. A few you recognized as men that your father worked with, but most of the company was foreign to you.
Then you saw him. That ginger boy from your lessons. He was the worst of the bullies. His hair was long enough to be pulled back into a little ratty ponytail. His eyes were so dark like something evil lived behind them. You never did anything to hurt him or to embarrass him, yet from the moment you met him he always did his best to make you miserable. He called you everything from 'weird little book worm’ to 'too ugly for anyone to ever like you’. One time he even pushed you over a log in the yard where lessons were held. You fell back hard and landed on another stick that caused a nasty cut on your shoulder. Unfortunately his aunt was the lesson teacher and she never believed you when you attempted to tell her what had happened.
You curled into your mother’s side, trying to hide yourself from him. Wanting any to avoid him at all costs. The only thing they could make this fancy dinner worse was having to deal with that boy.
Luckily you were brought up towards the little stage area where your parents made small talk with the king and queen themselves. They introduced you and you did your best to curtsy. The king simply nodded smiling in your direction, but the queen knelt down in front of you and took one of your hands in hers gently.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, darling. You do look enchanting in your dress tonight.” She said sweetly
You muttered a shy, “Thank you ma'am”. She was so pretty and you couldn’t take your eyes off the way her golden hair cascaded down her shoulders in delicate curls. To you she looked like what you thought any queen should look like, but a golden version of that fantasy.
After introductions you were ushered by your mother to a large table bigger than your entire dining room. You found your seat and sat down quickly, trying to get all the layers of your dress to behave. At least the chairs were super comfortable. Dinner was nice, candied meats, expensive fruits you’d seen at the market before but never got to actually try and some kind of creamy soup that was quite possibly the best thing you had ever tasted.
Unfortunately you had a hard time enjoying it all. Sitting directly across from you and your parents was that red headed boy. He spent most of his dinner staring at you with beady eyes. It made you feel even more uncomfortable than you already were. He snarled his lip a few times and you couldn’t believe that no one else noticed the sounds he was making.
You looked away from him after the third time you caught him glaring in your direction. You tried to find anything else to look at, scanning the large room. It was then you noticed two of the boys from the hallway earlier. The loud blonde one and the one that was running away sat together to the right of the king. They had to be about your age, maybe a year or two older. You also noticed the bracelet that they had been playing with was now being worn by the queen. It was at this sight you realized who those boys were. Your mother had told you there were two princes, but you hadn’t ever met them before. Now that you paid attention you saw the striking similarities between the blonde boy, who had to be Thor, and the queen. The other boy, who had to be…you tried to remember..Loki! Yes that was it. Thor had called him that in the hallway. He seemed almost out of place next to the others, partially because he looked almost as uncomfortable as you felt.
You watched him absentmindedly push some food around on his plate until he glanced up and happened to look directly at you. Your eyes locked for a moment before you looked away, suddenly shyer than you’d ever felt before in your life. He must have had the bluest eyes you’d ever seen. They shined brighter than that pretty blue gem your mother kept on a chain to wear at special occasions. After a second you dared glance in his direction again to find him looking down at his plate with a small smile across his face. As you looked at him he flicked his eyes back to you, as if he was waiting for you to look his way again. His smile widened when he caught you. You looked away, quickly putting a small piece of fruit in your mouth as a distraction.
It was at that moment King Odin stood up and thanked everyone for coming. He invited the adults to follow him and his wife to another room for what you could only assume to be 'adult drinks’ while the children were all showed a large circular room filled with blankets, pillows, elaborate toys and wooden training swords.
You supposed they intended for you all to play together, but you didn’t feel much like playing. You stayed against one wall watching all the other kids climb impromptu pillow forts and pretend to fight each other with the swords.
Then that ratty little boy walked right up to you. “Who let a dirty worm like you into a place like this?” He snickered. At his words another boy walked over and laughed at the insult. When you ignored him looking at the ground silently, he only got upset. “Hey! My father is the only reason you’re even here! He was in charge of the whole expansion. We’re the only explanation for why someone like you would be invited to a nice place like this. The least you could do is look at me when I talk to you!”
“I don’t owe you anything.” You muttered to the floor, turning to walk away. Maybe if you pretended to be sick you mother would take you home right now.
You didn’t even make it one step before you felt a rough tug on your arm. Turning you saw the boy was holding on to you. You pulled your arm away from his grip, but he only pulled you towards him and you lost your footing. Falling to your knees with a loud thud.
You winced in pain, sure that every other kid would now thought you were some weak mess of a girl.
All of a sudden the ratty boy let go of your arm and backed away quickly. He looked positively terrified. You turned to see what was frightening him to gasp yourself in horror. Before you stood a large cobra, a few inches taller than you were when standing. It wiggled its tongue out its mouth full of fangs.
“Leave her alone” it hissed and both boys who were picking on you nodded slowly, their eyes wide in terror.
Then as quickly as the snake appeared, it disappeared again in a puff of greenish smoke. When the smoke cleared what remained was the ebony haired prince, whose own eyes glared at the boys just as fiercely as the snake had moments ago. After a second his face softened and he offered you a hand up.
As he did the boy you were pretty sure was named Thor stepped between you and the other boys. “If you cannot be nice to my guests then I will make sure you are the ones never invited back.” He stood tall and proud and it seemed his very presence instilled those nasty boys with even more fear as they nodded more before quickly running out of the room. They mumbled halfhearted apologies to you as they ran.
“Hello! I’m Thor, would you like to come play with us?” The blonde beamed at you once you were back on your feet.
“I uh…” you sputtered looking between the two princes, still a bit in shock.
“Don’t worry, Loki won’t bite. You have my word.” Thor continued, not waiting for your next response before grabbing you hand and leading to the side of the room where the four other kids from the hallway earlier were already playing with a large model that looked exactly like the city you all lived in.
You spent at least an hour playing with these kids and it wasn’t as unpleasant as you expected. In fact you really enjoyed their company and never once felt out of place. From watching Fandral and Sif argue over the best placement for a toy stable they built to how matter-of-fact Thor was about everything he tried to build until the little structures came crashing down in his hands. You listened intently while Thor enthusiastically told the story of how he and Loki were asked to fetch a bracelet for their mother this afternoon and how it became a competition that resulted in all five kids running around the castle playing keep-away with the bracelet.
After a while all of the other kids had left the playroom leaving just the six of you. You noticed that Loki had also drifted off to the now vacant side of the room to sit on a pillow and was reading a book larger than his head. You walked over and sat beside him.
In all the chaos of the afternoon you realized you never actually talked to him yourself. “What are you reading?”
He looked up at you puzzled, “Don’t you want to keep playing with them? Thor seems to think you are his new best friend.”
“No, if I wanted to do that I would be playing. I’m here because I wanted to see what’s in such a big book!” You chimed bending slightly toward him to look in the book.
He looked at you for a moment blankly before that same little smile he had at the dinner table came back, "It’s about channeling your personal energy in order to change others’ perception of the world around you.“
Your eyes lit up and you turned to face him completely, "so you’re saying its a magic book!”
He laughed, it was refreshing to hear. “It’s a magic book!” He echoed.
“Let me read it too!” You exclaimed peering at the pages again.
He agreed, turning back a few pages before reading some bits out loud to you. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to you but you were entranced by the way his voice sounded as he read. Abruptly, he stopped reading and looked at you, “I’m sorry if I scared you with the snake trick.”
He looked honest and you couldn’t help but accept the apology, “It’s alright, It just startled me. I’ve never seen a real snake that big.” you shrugged, “It is a really neat trick, I would love to do something half as exciting as that sometime.”
The way he beamed excitement at the compliment was contiguous and you matched his wide smile. “I bet you can do plenty of exciting things of your own. By the way, I like the ribbon in your hair, it suits you.” He remarked happily.
“You do?” you inquired quietly, blushing hard. He nodded simply and returned to reading the book. A few sentences back into the impromptu lesson, you heard your father called out to you. Looking up he and your mother were standing in the doorway to the playroom with another set of parents who addressed Fandral as well, calling you both to get ready to go home. You sighed picking yourself up of the floor, turning to face Loki again.
“My name is y/n by the way.” You said still smiling wide “Thank you for standing up for me before.”
“Loki” he muttered back at you.
“I know!” You beamed as you started walking to your parents, “I’d love to read more of that book someday, if that’s alright.” You called back to him.
You had your head turned enough to watch Loki smile and nod, but before he could say anything Thor ran up to you, “My friends are all coming over three days from now. We are going adventuring in the woods. Would you like to come? Loki will come too!”
You nodded enthusiastically, asking your parents on the spot if it would be allowed. They agreed of course. You went home with much more pep in your step compared to the journey to the palace.
Little did you realize this dinner was the start of your lifelong entanglement with the royal family.