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Loki is a simple man.
Alright, maybe that's not true. He has a taste for the finer things, but who could possibly blame him for that? He was raised a prince, appropriately spoiled. So what if he likes a nice elvish wine, or fancy jewels from Vanaheim. Who's going to stop him?
His birthday celebration is a little… different, though, even for him. Thor seems to think it was an excellent idea, grinning in the middle of the common room. He and Bruce are chatting about something, Loki doesn't particularly care what, and behind them is a table absolutely packed with gifts. He doesn't doubt that Thor had gone to fetch whatever the people of Asgard had left for him. Hence the obscene amount of them.
Tony is harassing Steve in the corner, prodding him and trying to force him onto the ‘dance floor’. Not that there is one, it just seems like Tony is being annoying for the sake of it. Bucky seems incredibly awkard with the situation, torn between Steve being the only one there he actually knows and Tony loudly joke arguing with the man next to him.
Loki would pity him more but it's really quite funny. The expression on his face is, frankly, comical.
“Happy birthday, Lokie-dokie.” Clint greets, approaching him. “How old are you now? Three million? I suppose your birthday punches are going to take a while…”
“1034, thank you very much.” Loki sniffs, crossing his arms dramatically. “I am not that old, Clinton. And don't call me that.”
“Until you stop calling me Clinton, I'm going to keep calling you silly nicknames.” Clint says in a sing-song tone, grinning at him. He's wiggling his fingers and Loki rolls his eyes at him, but can't help the fond smile. “Not quite the big 1-0-0-0, god that's weird to say, was a few years back huh. What do ‘gods’ do for their special birthdays, I wonder?”
Loki leans back against the wall, eyeing Clint’s expression. He seems serious enough.
“Banquets or balls, usually. Dreadfully boring, more pomp and tradition than anything actually celebratory. Although tradition on Asgard usually involves a lot of drinking. Thor enjoyed his, I remember, but those events were always a bit too loud for me.” He glances over the party, more amused than anything. “I suppose this is more my type of party, even if it's a little… odd.”
Clint nodded, smiling.
“Glad you're having fun. I'll leave you to mingle with your other guests.” The man waved and wandered back over to Natasha where she stood in the corner of the room, nursing a cocktail.
Bucky approached him, his hand curled around a bottle of beer. He smiled nervously, glancing back to where Steve and Tony were still joke arguing. Loki laughed, covering his mouth with his hand in apology when the man shot him a look. He nudged Loki with his shoulder.
“Don't laugh at me. It's painfully awkward. I never know if they're joking, arguing, or flirting in some weird way.” Bucky huffed, and Loki only laughed harder at his genuinely frustrated expression. He could sympathise, he supposed, because Tony and Steve were rather loud when they argued. And annoying. Definitely annoying.
Still, it was amusing when they did it.
He supposed it was probably far more annoying when they did it around you the most, given that Bucky didn't really have many actual friends amongst the Avengers aside from Steve. Well, and Loki, but that was a recent development and somewhat of a necessity, when you're the only two ex-villains.
“Sorry, sorry, you're right. Is it awfully aggravating today?”
“It's not too bad,” He admitted, taking a swig of his drink. “But you'd think they'd behave themselves at an event about someone else. All the love in my heart for Steve, and some fondness for Tony, but they're both egotistical fucks.”
Loki snorted a laugh.
“I'd agree more heartily if I wasn't among their number.”
“Fair enough, I suppose.” Bucky grumbled to himself, not moving away when the conversation fell into a comfortable silence. It was nice to be able to just shut up with someone for once, instead of being prompted into conversation. Loki sympathised with Bucky in that regard- like Steve, Thor was constantly trying to force him to talk about literally anything.
Thor ought to have learnt his lesson years ago, to stop pestering him. It only led to unwilling transformations. Still, he didn't cease.
Steve had a little more leeway but Loki had seen him with bruises on his biceps enough times to know that Bucky got his own revenge. Being introverted was a constant battle in the Avengers tower.
“Loki!” Thor yelled, waving him over. Right on cue. Loki sighed loudly, grimacing, and it was Bucky's turn to laugh at his misfortune. Loki flicked him in the temple and lightly trod on his toes as he got up to go over. Bucky made a show of swearing and hopping up and down a couple of times, and Loki smiled a little at it.
“Brother, come here!” Loki approached where his brother stood, amused by the contrast of the man's happy expression and Bruce's grimacing one. Oh, how he pitied Banner in that moment. To loathe attention and have it drawn to you by a huge blonde idiot of a man. It was funny, though, a little, if only because he could see that Bruce was having a nice time. He didn't even have a labcoat on, just a soft looking Christmas sweater. It had a snake with a Santa hat, which Loki supposed was what made it appropriate for the party.
“I'm here, you big oaf, what do you want?”
“Ah, so you are! Me and Bruce were just discussing when you would be opening your gifts, and I wanted you to open your one from me first! As it has always been.” Thor explained, smiling broadly. Loki felt his own smile twitch onto his face.
Thor had always wanted Loki to open gifts from him first. He'd claimed it as a prize of being Loki's elder brother, that he should be able to make Loki happy first when he was given gifts.
“Alright, I suppose. If you must.” Loki was quietly fond of his older brother's antics, and smiled to himself when the man scurried away to fetch it. “Are you alright, Bruce?” He asked when Thor was a suitable distance away.
“Fine, really. He's nice to talk to it's just a lot, sometimes. Thanks for asking though.” Bruce offered him a smile, adjusting his glasses. “Oh, and happy birthday by the way. A thousand and something, right? That's such a long time, I couldn't imagine living for that long. I'm not sure if it would be a blessing or a burden.”
Loki considered for a moment, before deciding he didn't want to think about it too deeply on such a happy day.
“Just life for the Aesir, my friend. Nothing special.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
“I have returned!” Thor announced, and Loki snorted before turning to face him. He was holding several wrapped boxes in his arms, offering them out before himself. “There are many things, this year, but all of them are correlated.”
“Thank you, brother.” He smiled and took one, tearing the wrapping paper to reveal a set of headphones. Loki raised an eyebrow and Thor smiled back.
Bruce offered him his arms to place the box in, so Loki did and took the next gift offered to him. The next one was a set of CD’s, of all different genres of Midgardian music. Loki recognised the names of a few from the lab- AC/DC, Linkin Park, but there were others he didn't. Notably, Taylor Swift. He had heard of her, but not in detail.
“I'm beginning to suspect a theme.” Loki joked, laughing as he carefully set this pile on a table. It seemed rude to hand Bruce the equivalent of an unbalanced Jenga tower to hold.
The next gift revealed what he'd expected. A CD player, coloured a deep forest green and decorated with a mix of golden horn stickers and little cartoon Thor stickers. He smiled broadly at the little drawings of Thor clutching Mjolnir, stroking the stickers surface with his thumb.
“Do you like it?” Thor asked. “Usually gifts are not so Midgardian, but then I had thought that was acceptable this year. Given we're, well, on Midgard and all.”
“I do, I love it. Thank you Thor. Did you decorate it yourself?” Thor nodded sheepishly. “It's wonderful, truly. Very sweet. Very thoughtful.”
“Well, it is no less than you deserve. Happy birthday, brother!”
Loki smiled fondly and set it to the side to pull his brother into a hug for the first time in perhaps years. Thor returned it eagerly, holding the back of his neck and grinning. Loki could just tell.
“I love you, Brother.”
“I love you as well, Loki.”