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"Today, when our government has so far passed into the hands of special interests; to-day, when the doctrine is implicitly avowed that only select classes have the equipment necessary for carrying on government; to-day, when so many conscientious citizens, smitten with the scene of social wrong and suffering, have fallen victims to the fallacy that benevolent government can be meted out to the people by kind-hearted trustees of prosperity and guardians of the welfare of dutiful employees--"
"You go too fast, brother," Thor interrupts.
Loki reads fast because he is bored. Bored, and oddly unsettled. He thought Thor would grow tired of this democracy book much sooner. But it has been hours, and they are still on the roof of Stark Tower. Loki doesn't know enough about American history to parse all of it himself, although he has done a passable job of pretending. (He suspects no one understands enough about American history to explain Walt Whitman. He would enjoy listening to Steve Rogers try.) Thor won't let him skip a page, even if Loki can tell there's nothing on it that will interest Thor.
Read it yourself, then, he thinks, but he would never say it. He has always loved reading aloud to Thor, and loved translating the world for him even more. He loves that Thor can often understand Loki's voice when the same words, written, elude him, ink coiling on paper like snakes. He loves being the clever one, the quick-witted one, superior in this at least. And he loves that Thor trusts him to interpret honestly. "Shall I read it again more slowly?"
Thor sighs, frustrated. He never likes to say openly that he cannot understand.
"Woodrow Wilson speaks of labor unions," Loki says. It's a good guess. Thor won't question it. "Remember how Steve explained them to you? Wilson says it is folly to wait like a lamb to be slaughtered, trusting that the farmer knows best. He says you must not believe that men at the top will act in the interests of men at the bottom, nor"--he runs out of tolerance--"that men of breeding and education might be better suited to weighty decisions than peasants."
Thor frowns. "Loki."
"Thor, be reasonable. A man who is raised to it is better suited to rule than one who is not. Remember that stupid girl who put the wrong syrup in your coffee this morning? Why should she have a say in whether her country goes to war?"
"Why should she not? You were too sharp with her, brother." There is condemnation in Thor's frown.
Loki knows he was too sharp with her. He wishes he hadn't brought it up. He wishes he'd turned her carton of milk into snakes. And after all, even in America, she has no say in whether her country goes to war. Democracy is an empty word.
"You think a ruler must be clever," Thor says. "Do you see no self-interest in that?"
"And you think he must be strong!" Loki snaps.
Thor is silent. "Father would say he must be wise," he says at last. Loki feels ashamed, and he hates it. He hates that merely the word wise sets his stomach churning and his face heating. He sets his jaw and does not answer.
"That is what the book says." Thor leans across and thumps his hand across the book, open in Loki's lap. Dust and the smell of old paper rise to tickle his nose. "That no one voice can speak for the whole. That no one man can understand all others." He nods in satisfaction. "Read on."
Loki sticks out his tongue at Thor, but inwardly he is as shocked as if his pop-tart had turned into a cobra, all on its own. "To-day, surpremely, does it behoove this nation--"
"Or woman," Thor says, looking annoyed with himself.
"What?"
"No one man or woman. Steve and I have pledged ourselves to be more inclusive in our language."
Thor and Steve have been spending far too much time together, in Loki's opinion. I saw this in a used bookstore, Steve said when he gave Thor the book. Thought you might enjoy it. I liked it when it came out. A friend of mine did the cover design. He wrinkled his nose. It looks so dated now.
The words sounded innocent enough at the time. Captain America will pay.
"Behoove this nation to remember," Loki continues, an edge in his voice, "that a people shall be saved by the power that sleeps in its own deep bosom, or by none; shall be renewed in hope, in conscience, in strength, by waters welling up from its own sweet perennial springs. Not from above; not by the patronage of aristocrats. The flower does not bear the root, but the root the flower..."
Thor doesn't need him to explain that. By the arrested, uplifted look on his face, he understands that just fine. He's so impressionable.
###
"Democracy means freedom," Loki reads. "It means that people are free to make full use of their minds and to develop without interference all their interests and abilities. They are allowed to take charge of their own lives. Democracy means self-government. If boys and girls and men and women are to enjoy freedom, they must be willing to take the trouble to govern themselves."
"That is what Nicole is always saying." Thor's face glows with the pleasure of discovery. "That if we wish to live in harmony, we must take responsibility for our own actions and recognize our own power over situations."
Loki snorts. "That's what Nicole is always saying to me." Thor has always recognized his own power.
Thor frowns. "She says it to me as well."
"When?"
"Always," Thor says. "When I--" He swallows and frowns, concentrating on the important work of remembering correctly. "When I try to frame you as the problem. Have you not heard her?"
Loki blinks. Has he? He can't remember.
###
"The history of government is the history of two conflicting principles: one is the surpreme importance of the State; the other is the supreme importance of the individual. Either the people have believed that the State was merely the voluntary creation of individual citizens, responsible to them and designed primarily to protect their liberties; or else they have believed that the State was an authority in its own right to which individual citizens were subject and which could command of them the suppression of their own desires and talents..." Loki throws the book down. "Thor, I beg you, have mercy."
Thor says nothing. He doesn't ask Loki to keep reading. He gazes out at New York, pensive. Loki rolls his eyes and leans back in his own chaise longue. It's a nice view, when he can ignore that all the shiny new parts are shiny and new because he smashed what was there before.
###
"I have no fear but that the results of our experiment will be, that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master," Loki reads. "Honestly, Thor. Most men can't be trusted to do anything without a master."
"But who can be trusted to be a master?" Thor says.
Loki covers his eyes with one hand.
"I could not," Thor says. Loki knows that voice. It is the voice Thor uses when he is nervous and adamantly, infuriatingly refusing to admit it. "Let Asgard govern itself."
Loki's jaw drops. "Thor--"
"My life has been for Asgard," Thor says. "Asgard has profited little from my service. It is enough."
"But Thor, all you've wanted your entire life was to be king."
Thor goes to the edge of the roof and looks out. Loki wants to pull him back, even though Tony has added a safety railing since last summer. "I wanted to be worthy to be king," Thor says heavily. "But if no man is worthy to be king, I am free to want what I like."
"And what is that?" Loki demands, exasperated.
"I do not know!" The railing trembles, groaning, in Thor's hands. Loki gets warily to his feet. "You would have laid Asgard waste before you let me have it! Why will you force it on me now?"
"Because--" But Loki cannot speak. He does not understand what is happening. Thor is destined to be king. That knowledge has been a smooth heavy stone in Loki's hand since he was a child. He moves with it as a man does with a favored weapon. Take it away, and what is he?
Thor looks lighter already. What desires and talents has he suppressed?
Do not leave me, brother, Loki thinks, and doesn't know why.
