Chapter Text
It all started because Valkyrie couldn’t mind her own business.
Well, that wasn’t quite right.
It all started, technically, because Valkyrie was going about her business as king. Even if that business felt intrusive to Thor and his parenting skills.
“And how is she doing?”
He felt threatened by the question. “Wonderfully!” he over compensated. “I mean, there are some…minor, very minor, difficulties. But isn’t there always with parenting!” he tried to laugh to sell it. The look on his friend’s face reminded him of how easily she always saw through that.
“Right,” Valkyrie rolled her eyes. “So, I assume you’re homeschooling her, then?”
“School?” He chuckled “What better school is there than life?”
“Well, one that can teach you how to read and write and do simple math.” Valkyrie quipped. “Especially given that she’s what, seven? Eight years old? Most of the other children of New Asgard learned how to do that at a much earlier age.”
“That’s not as important as the real life stuff…” he tried to defend.
“Yes it is.” Valkyrie interrupted. “I do think what you’ve been showing her is admirable. But she needs a basic education. And to be around other children. She needs friends.”
“I’m her friend!”
“You’re her dad.”
“Uncle.” he corrected. “She calls me Uncle Thor.”
“Regardless, you’re her guardian-”
“Oh, I actually stopped hanging out with the Guardians quite some time ago.” he smiled genuinely.
Her resistance to stab him showed on her face. “You made me the king of New Asgard. And as king, I intend to ensure the wellbeing of the New Asgardians. Including Love. The new semester will start next week, I’ll have her enrolled.”
He wasn’t entirely thrilled with the prospect.
But he brought her to school anyway. At Valkyrie’s request, he showed up early, to get her accustomed to the setting, and to meet her teacher.
Her teacher, as it turned out, was an Asgardian. Apparently. He didn’t quite believe Valkyrie’s tale of this so-called Linnea who was supposedly not just on Asgard with them, but on the ship with them after Ragnarok. Thor didn’t know a Linnea. Valkyrie’s vague description did nothing to jog his memory. He was 88% sure this was a long bit Valkyrie was pulling with him. Just like Loki liked to do. Surely, it was a midgardian who relocated to New Asgard, and it was all just a funny joke at his expense. But he was too smart to fall for that.
Walking into the classroom, seeing the woman, the teacher, he supposed, it became very obvious to him that he had been right. He had never seen this person before in his life. And he definitely would have remembered.
Strawberry blonde curls ending just below her chin, porcelain like skin and adorably round face with very soft and subtle features save for her large, clear blue eyes. It was…not a face he’d forget. Of that much he was 100% certain.
“I’m sorry, are you this…Linnea?”
“I’m Ms. Linnea, yes.” she smiled, reaching out a hand to shake his.
Her skin was soft, but there was a strength to the handshake he hadn’t been expecting. Not what he normally observed with Midgardians?….Terrans?... outside of, say, Steve Rogers.
“Oh, well I’m-”
“Thor, son of Odin.” she finished for him.
“You know who I am?” he questioned, as though he wasn’t a world-famous Avenger and also a literal deity.
Linnea tilted her head to the side, smiling in confusion. “You saved us from Ragnarok. You brought us to New Asgard. Even if I hadn’t known who you were before…”
Leaning in closer, as if not to embarrass her, he whispered “Why are you pretending to be Asgardian?”
“I’m not pretending?” she whispered back, her tone genuine. “Do you..do you want me to pretend to be from Midgard?”
Thor eyed her carefully. Despite the fact that he’d never seen her before, and his sudden assurance that he’d remember her if he had…she didn’t seem to be lying. He opened his mouth to tell her that wouldn’t be necessary, when he felt a small tug on his pant leg. “Uncle Thor…” a small voice whispered.
To his surprise, Linnea knelt down, on eye level with Love as she smiled brightly, warmly introducing “Hi there! My name is Ms. Linnea. King Valkyrie tells me you haven’t been to a school before, is that correct?” As Love nodded nervously, Thor felt his muscles tense, instinctively about to jump to the defensive. But he felt himself relax as Linnea continued “New environments can be scary, but I promise I’m going to help you anyway I can. I think it would be best if you set up a desk near the front of the classroom, so I can help you right away if you need anything. Is that something you would like?”
Love looked up to Thor, as if seeking his approval. Realizing he was the only one currently with his head above the four foot mark, he leaned down, promising Love “It’s your call. I’d say this Ms. Linnea seems very trustworthy, but if you’d rather…”
But Love was already nodding, assuring both her guardian and teacher “the front is good.”
“I’m happy you think so.” Linnea nodded, before asking “do you want me to show you the rest of the classroom so you can learn where things are?”
Love nodded again, a little more excitedly this time. Linnea offered her hand, closing it around Love’s much smaller one as she gave the child a comprehensive but somehow not overwhelming tour.
Thor stood back, watching Linnea show what was on all levels except physical his daughter around the room, his heart swelling a bit with pride, only halted by Valkyrie sticking her head in the room. “Right then, what are you still doing here?” she questioned. “You can leave.”
His eyes only briefly moved to his friend, before fluttering back to tranfix on Love and Linnea. “Just making sure she’s okay.”
“Which one?” Valkyrie smirked.
Thor blinked, now fully turning his head to the king. “Huh?”
“Nevermind.” she continued to smirk. “I’ll let you figure it out on your own.”
And he did. Or so she thought. A week later, when she was checking back in, and Thor smugly announced “I think perhaps this teacher of Love’s has an eye for me.”
“Really?” Valkyrie questioned, surprised things were not the other way around, given how Thor had been staring at her the last time all three were in the same room. “What made you come to that?”
“Sent a note home with Love yesterday.” his smug grin still in place. “Wants to meet with me. Privately.”
Suddenly, things clicked for Valkyrie “...and you’re sure that’s what that means?”
“What else could it mean?” Thor raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“Every assignment Love has handed in has been illegible.” Linnea stated, point blank.
With a confused smile, Thor suggested “Well, that’s your job, isn’t it? Teaching her how to write?”
“The thing is…” Linnea paused, bringing out a spelling test “...she IS writing.”
Thor held the paper close to his face “Everything’s spelled correctly. Except for number seven. I don’t see the problem.”
“You can read that?” Linnea raised an eyebrow.
“Of course!” he grinned, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “She has a very excellent grasp on the Xandarian alphabet.”
“Xandarian.” she repeated. “Thor, can you tell me, who uses the Xandarian alphabet?”
“Xandarians, mostly.” he shrugged.
“Right.” she smiled, gently reaching out to take the test back. Thor misunderstood this, instead taking her hand in his. “But here on New Asgard…and most of Midgard, actually, we use the Phonetic alphabet.”
“And who came up with that?”
“The Phoenicians.”
“I’m not familiar with their work.” Thor admitted, confidently.
Linnea nodded, before telling him “I understand that being a single parent, let alone a single parent known as being an intergalactic hero, can have it’s difficulties. But there is a certain responsibility that needs to fall on the parents. I’m not suggesting you need to be the one to teach her to write. But, perhaps, you should let her know that she needs to write in the same alphabet as the other children.”
“You know about being a single parent?” he asked, a bit too enthusiastically.
“Not first hand.” she admitted “Just…been teaching for as long as we’ve been on New Asgard. I’ve seen it before.”
“So your children have two parents?” he questioned.
Raising an eyebrow, she answered “I don’t have children. Not of my own.”
“Just you and a partner, then?” he continued to press.
“Just me.” she answered honestly, giving his hand a bit of a squeeze. He forgot he was holding it. Oops.
“Huh!” he smiled widely. “How interesting!”
“Not nearly as interesting as the stories Korg tells about you.” she smiled coyly, face flushing slightly.
“...would you like to get a drink?”
The bar was dimly lit, with a smoky atmosphere and a lot of dark wood. The barkeep, a young raven haired woman, didn’t even take their order, a vodka cranberry and mead appearing as soon as they sat down.
“How did you…?” Thor asked, surprised and delighted.
With a knowing grin, the bartender replied “Everyone knows Thor Odinson drinks mead. And how are you Linnea my darling?”
“I’m here with a student’s parent, you tell me.” she winked.
Leaning on her elbows, the bartender smirked “Little surprised to see you out with anyone at all. What with what happened to your last girlfriend.”
“Last girlfriend?” Thor echoed.
With a roll of her eyes, Linnea muttered “Wouldn’t you like to know, thunder boy.”
Not understanding the sarcasm, Thor earnestly pressed “Well given that you were apparently on Asgard and I didn’t know you then, I’m curious as to whether or not I know this ex-girlfriend of yours.”
“Oh, you knew her alright.” Linnea sighed, taking a long drink of her vodka cranberry. Luckily, the bartender seemed to have anticipated this, sliding a full beverage towards her just as she slammed down the empty glass.
“I did?”
“Yeeeep.” she let the ‘p’ pop. “A Dr. Jane Foster.”
“Jane?!?!?!?”
“Yeah.” Linnea sat down her drink. “It wasn’t serious. Yet. She wasn’t in New Asgard very long, after all. But it was heading that way. I think. Until…”
“Gorr.” Thor filled in, nodding solemnly. “She…she never mentioned…having someone.”
“Gorr?” Linnea’s lips twitched up into a half smile.
Thor let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head “Jane. She didn’t mention you. Then again it took me pouring out my soul to get her to mention the cancer, so…”
“Doesn’t take much to get you to pour out your soul, though.” Linnea noted. “At least, according to your brother.”
At this, Thor winced a little. “You…you knew Loki?”
“Of course.” Linnea replied far too casually. “But I think it’s a good thing, you know. Being so open. That’s something Jane and I talked about…”
“Keep your heart open.” Thor interrupted. “That’s…that’s what she said. Before she…”
“Took the Valhalla Express?” Linnea filled in, before all but whispering. “Would’ve been nice to know. You know. Beforehand.”
“We never know what tomorrow brings…” Thor tried to deflect.
“You were there.” Linnea’s eyes narrowed. “You got to say goodbye to her. We were together for three months and I didn’t get to say goodbye. You don’t get to tell me how to feel about that.”
Thor blinked, taken aback. Perhaps, a few months ago, he would have not known what to say to that. But he did. Gently placing a hand on her shoulder, he softly sympathized “It must feel…so shitty. It’s not a nice feeling. I’ve been there. And I’m sorry.”
With a slightly confused smile on her face, Linnea took another sip of her second drink as she muttered “Apology accepted, I guess.”
Thor took a slow drink of his mead, using the temporary pause to take a long look at Linnea. “I can see why Jane was drawn to you.” he observed. “You seem submissive and breedable.”
Linnea choked on her drink “Pardon?!?”
“You’re at the ideal age for rearing children.” he spoke casually, as though that was a normal thing to say to your child’s teacher. “Your thighs are well shaped, a very delicious curve of your hip there, and of course…” he found himself getting a slight bit distracted, eyeing the area at hand “...very ample bosom. Ideal mate for any Asgardian.”
“Jane wasn’t Asgardian.” Linnea reminded him with a sly smile.
“Well,” he smiled back, somewhere between bashfully and confidently flirtatious “perhaps just the ideal for any Thor, then.”
A coy smile graced Linnea’s lips, but any response she may have had was cut off by the bartender telling them “Look, I’m not one to shut this sort of thing down, but you can’t do it in here, alright?”
Which was why, an hour and a half later, Linnea laid in bed, still catching her breath, as Thor, butt naked, walked back in with a glass of water. “Right, here you go.” he smiled, sitting on the bedside table next to her.
Running a hand through her hair, Linnea sadly smiled. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
“What?” Thor asked, a little pang of hurt in his chest. “I thought we were both very much enjoying that.”
“We were!” she assured him. “I was. But I’m your daughter’s teacher-”
“Not really my daughter.” he interrupted.
With a shake of her head, Linnea murmured “It still isn’t right.”
Moving to now sit at her feet at the end of the bed, Thor pressed “You really think what we just did…didn’t feel right?”
“It felt…amazing, incredible, very, very right.” she assured him, gently sitting up to rest her hand on his. He smiled at this, a small fluttering sensation in his stomach, despite the fact that he’d just spent over an hour pounding his almost comically large dick into her pussy. Like, yes, he came inside of her four and a half times, but holding hands was different. “But we have to think about things like how this would affect my student-teacher relationship-”
“I think I’m definitely more concerned with the teacher-parent relationship.” Thor interrupted, smiling brightly. “I’m thinking a nice summer wedding-”
“No wedding.” Linnea corrected. “No…anything. At least until Love graduates out of my class.”
“Anyway we could speed up that process?” he tried “Have her graduate by, say, next week?”
“Six months.” she sighed, before tacking on “ if she starts writing in the Phoenician alphabet.”
“You drive a hard bargain.” Thor smirked, before looking back down to their hands, gently playing with hers as he asked “Six months? And then, we can…?”
“I’d be more than willing to pick this back up.” she assured him.
“And I’m more than willing to wait.”
Except, he wasn’t.
Not that he was moving on, finding someone else. No. No, no no no. Not at all. Rather, Thor simply moved forward with treating this six month mark not as a day to resume a relationship, but rather, a wedding date for which his current relationship was heading towards.
Romantic notes got packed in Love’s lunch and handed to the teacher. Flowers delivered every Friday.
And it wasn’t exactly as if Linnea was asking him to stop.
Each note was read in the quiet of her empty classroom at the end of the day, cheeks flushed as she giggled as though she was a schoolgirl herself. The flowers were kept on her desk, each new type gently inhaled individually, basking in each sweet floral scent until the following week. On a very rare occasion where she thought she might get away with it, small notes were placed with Love to bring home. Nothing raunchy, of course, just a thank you for the flowers that week, or perhaps a copy of a particular poem.
Those were Thor’s favorites. Love knew something was going on, as she’d watch Uncle Thor reread whatever note Ms. Linnea sent home with a huge grin on his face, but she normally never bothered to ask, usually taking this as an opportune time to add some more details and glitter on Mjolnir.
But one particular evening, she was curious, and simply asked “Uncle Thor? Do you have a crush on Ms. Linnea?”
Raising his eyebrows, Thor smirked “Since when do you know what a crush is? A little young for that, aren’t you?”
With a shake of her head, Love explained “Not me. But Amelia in my class has a crush on Heather in our class. Amelia says she’s beautiful and she likes when they hold hands. She says they’re going to get married when they’re grown up. But you’re already grown up. And you’re not married. And neither is Ms. Linnea.”
“Would you be alright with that?” He asked, genuinely wanting to hear her out. “If Ms. Linnea and I got married and she came to live with us? Would you be comfortable if that were to happen?”
“I’m comfortable with you aren’t I?” she teased. “You seem harder to live with than she does.”
“Oh really?” Thor cocked an eyebrow up playfully. “I’m hard to live with? Is that so?”
“Yeah.” Love nodded, playing along. “You’re really stinky.”
“What about my fingers?” he smiled slyly, reaching out to tickle her sides “Are these stinky?”
Love giggled and shrieked, squirming as she cried “Stinkiest!!”
Thor laughed along with her, lifting her up into the air, proclaiming “Well King Stinky thinks it’s Little Stinky’s bedtime!”
“I’m not stinky!” she called from the air. “Just you!”
Plopping her on top of her bed, he smiled, voice calmer “How about a stinky bedtime story, then?”
“Another classic, stinky, Thor adventure?” She yawned.
“Of course!” he smiled brightly, as he tucked her in while recounting the time he, his brother, Sif, and The Warriors Three snuck into Jountehiem. It used to hurt a lot more, remembering that of the friends in this story, only he and Sif were left, but the more he told these stories to Love, the more he realized that they weren’t entirely gone. They lived on in memory, and now in a new way, Love often proclaiming that in his stories, Loki was her favorite.
“Yeah,” he’d smile, bittersweetly “He was my favorite, too.”