Trigger Warnings:
- Depression
- Drug use
- Attempted suicide

(if there are any I've missed, please let me know)

Chapter One:

It was 7am, too early on a Monday morning in April when Loki's sleep was snatched away from him by someone rudely stealing his quilt. Almost immediately, the eighteen-year old curled up into a little ball on his side and scrunched up his face as he let out a long groan.

"Thor…" Loki whined, only half conscious. "Just a few more minutes…"

There were two reasons as to why Loki knew it was his older brother, so brazenly ripping his quilt away from him. One: only Thor would do something so sibling like, two: only the two of them lived in this apartment now.

"Nope," answered the older with a cheeky grin, "you need to get to university. Come on, up."

Loki groaned as he rolled over, a sigh escaping past his lips as he forced his tired eyes open. After a few moments of blearily staring at the ceiling, he supposed he should get up and cook breakfast for the pair of them―this thought heightened stressfully when he suddenly heard Thor banging about in the kitchen, accompanied by several loud swears that echoed down to his room.

Loki dragged himself out of his comfortable, king-single bed and pulled on a pair a black skinny jeans and a green sweater with his university's logo on the front that he'd gracelessly dumped on the floor yesterday after he'd come home. Stumbling out to the kitchen with a yawn, Loki was hit with the sudden waft of frying eggs, toasting bread and fresh coffee.

Staring at Thor, whose back was turned, he gave the smallest of smiles as he scratched his hand over his sleep-mussed hair and pushed up the sleeves on his jumper. He had to admit he was happy at the moment. When it was just him and Thor everything seemed so natural and easy. It was only when other people invaded his life that he became stressed, especially when that someone was his father.

"Ah–" Thor spotted him and smiled genuinely. "Good morning sleepy-head. What time did you end up going to bed? What time did you get home last night? Did you have a club commitment yesterday?"

"What is this, twenty questions?" Loki yawned, scratching the back of his head again as he tottered over to his brother.

"No," Thor replied, turning back to the frying eggs with a concerned frown on his forehead. "I just wanted to know… I was just a bit worried about you last night. I know you left a message but: "don't cook for me tonight" was a little vague—your coffee is on the table by the way."

Loki rubbed the back of his neck and turned away from Thor, a seed of guilt sprouting inside his chest. He'd intended it to be a joke but…

Picking up his hot, black coffee from the table, Loki blew to cool it a little before taking a small sip. "Sorry," apologised the younger. "I didn't mean to make you concerned. Yesterday was the university's annual evening science fair so I thought I'd stick around and have a bit of a look, but I didn't realise how long I actually stayed out. They had food stalls at the fair so I knew I wouldn't go hungry. Every year they show the last years graduates' final works…"

Thor's frown increased as he listened to Loki ramble out an explanation. He didn't like the way Loki cowered away from him as he hung his head and apologised. It reminded Thor too much of how Loki had been up until three months ago.

One year and four months ago, Loki and Thor's mother, Frigga, had been killed in an attempted burglary. She had been at home when the burglar came and she'd been shot by the armed robber who hadn't believed anyone to be home. Thor had been coming home from work and he had been the one to discover their mother, bleeding out on the floor of their kitchen. Odin, their father, had come home from work to be informed by the police that his wife was dead and he'd simply stood in shock for a long time before heading to the hospital where her body had been relocated.

Loki, however, had taken the news and completely lost it, blaming himself for something he never would've been able to stop. The youngest of Odin's son's had been overseas on a senior high school trip. They had been going around various parts of Europe, visiting old, abandoned castles and when Loki had returned, he'd been given the devastating news and he hadn't been able to cope.

Thor's younger brother had gone into a serious depression and eventually everything had spiralled downwards and out of control. Odin had left them both and had gone to France in order to expand his business – the old man had thrown himself into work so that he wouldn't even have time to think about his murdered wife, and Loki had needed psychiatric help in order to get over his self-harming. It was only now that things were starting to level out again, but Thor still did not like to be reminded of the past. Especially since he noticed Loki's habits had changed – like the fact where once his bedroom had been pristine and well-kept, it was now almost never clean and clothes were easily and haphazardly discarded on the floor.

"It's fine, Loki." Thor declared, "Just next time, leave me a bit more of an explanation, okay? Or at least text me."

Loki nodded before setting his coffee down on the table and telling Thor to step out of the kitchen because "-he was burning their eggs-". The younger served up two plates of breakfast and together they ate as they chatted lightly about the days upcoming events. Yet, before the conversation could really get a foothold, Thor lowered his fork and looked over to his brother, still munching on a piece of buttered toast.

"Loki, there is something I must tell you." Thor informed, obviously trying to contain his excitement as he gauged the younger's reactions. He didn't know how Loki would take any of this so he had to tread softly.

Loki glanced up from his half-eaten eggs with the slight raise of an uncaring eyebrow, silently prompting Thor to continue.

"Firstly,"‒Thor cleared his throat‒"Father called last night," he noticed his little brother flinch at the mention of their father, but he continued nevertheless, "—he says 'hi' by the way. He… uhh… he told me he's coming home in two months, work-permitting..."

Loki avoided eye-contact and stared at his glass of orange juice. He really didn't care if their father came home...

"Secondly," Thor continued lightly, oblivious to Loki's dark train of thought, "—and this brings us to why he's coming home—could you come home tonight for me, please?"

"Yeah," Loki replied, slightly confused. "But why?"

Thor smiled as his thought's drifted. "There's someone I want you both to meet."

Loki froze, becoming perfectly still as he noted the dreamy, love-struck expression Thor wore upon his face. Loki knew that look. It was the same look that Thor wore every time he'd brought a new girlfriend home when he'd been in high school. Thor had been the captain of the football team and with his blue eyes, blonde hair and fantastic physique, Loki was unsurprised as to why Thor was so popular, why all the girls in the school wanted to be on his right arm. However, not only was his big brother extremely good-looking and popular, he was also kind and genteel to those he cared about. In other words, he was almost the complete opposite of Loki.

After Thor had left high school he'd gone overseas in order to study some sort of 'Health Science' in Australia. He did finish the degree... before coming home and deciding that he actually wanted to do a diploma of health and fitness which had eventually led to him becoming a personal trainer. Loki personally believed that Thor had wasted his potential, but he couldn't very well tell him to go back to school, he was working to support the both of them now. Loki remembered, back then, that he'd never felt more bitterly jealous of his brother. The day Thor was accepted into a school overseas—something that he, Loki, had for some reason never managed to do. It was Thor's people skills. People skills that Loki desperately lacked. He had tried so hard to live up to his parent's expectations, but nothing ever seemed to work out the right way. Thor had managed to fit their ideal, but Loki had – and still was – failing miserably as an Odinson.

Forcing himself back into the present, the younger Odinson cleared his throat before squeaking out a question. "Who is she?"

Thor's eyes refocused and he looked at his brother questioningly before a small smile suddenly appeared on his lips.

"You catch on so quickly, Loki." Thor laughed, reaching over the table to ruffle his brother's already sleep-ruffled hair. "Her name is Jane."

Loki batted away Thor's large palm and flattened his hair back down with a snort. "I'm not especially quick, you oaf. You're simply slow, that is all."

Thor would've taken offence, had the retort come from anyone other than Loki. This was just the way Loki showed affection. Even as a child he'd been unable to take any compliments and, as such, people had stopped giving them – all except Thor, of course. Not to mention the fact that Thor knew his younger brother was deemed a genius – a child prodigy in maths and chemistry. Thor was sure that Loki mentally excelled in a lot of other things too, but he'd never been tested for those.

"I'm looking forward to you two meeting, tonight should be fun!" Thor beamed, his energetic happiness spilling out on all sides. "I can promise you'll absolutely adore her and you'll get to meet her well before father does, which I'm sure you count as a bonus." Thor wasn't completely blind, he could see the stale animosity between his parent and his brother.

Loki looked at him as though he'd just tasted something bland before, silently and without a word, he stood and started clearing away their breakfast dishes.

With a glance at the kitchen clock, Loki made his way back to his room in order to get ready after cleaning up and when the second child of the Odinson's re-emerged from his dark den after he'd dressed himself, cleaned his teeth, packed his books and was ready to walk out the door, he remembered an important necessity. "Wallet…" he mumbled under his breath, remembering he'd left it in the kitchen from the night before.

Walking the short distance down the hall, Loki was surprised by the sound of Thor's deep voice talking, sounding as though he were on the phone.

…

"Yeah, you're still on for tonight, right?"

…

"Great, I'll see you at seven."

…

"Loki's really looking forward to meeting you too."

…

"Okay, see you then, bye!"

…

Loki heard the distinctive sound of Thor hanging the home phone back up onto its place on the wall.

"Was that Jane?" He asked, rounding the corner and somewhat surprising Thor with how quietly he'd managed to sneak up.

"Oh, yes, it was." Thor replied after the initial start of surprise. "You two will get on great, I know it. Plus, she's a scientist too!"

This had Loki pausing for a moment. Oh, so she wasn't a personal trainer or a fitness buff like Thor. If she was a scientist, then that meant she had to have somemeasure of intelligence—even if only marginal. Loki had always believed that Thor would marry someone like his high school lover, Sif – if not the woman herself. Sif had been one of Thor's closest friends throughout high school and for a period of one and a half years, they'd even dated. Loki had believed that Thor was the one who'd asked her out, but when they'd broken up, he'd learned that it had been Sif's suggestion to get together.

"I believe she studies the stars actually…" Thor added a moment later, jolting Loki out of his thoughts. "Astro…physicist… I think…?"

Loki looked at his older brother with some degree of pity in his eyes. Not only did Thor not know how to pronounce the word, but he was pretty sure that this new 'Jane' wouldn't like it if he didn't seem interested in her. Not knowing what she did for a living was pretty bad, even for Thor.

"Well," sighed Loki with a shake of his head. "I guess I'm off."

"Okay," replied Thor, sprightly in his response. "See you after uni! Don't forget to be home before seven!"

"Sure, sure." Loki waved his hand dismissively before snatching his wallet off the kitchen counter and brushing past Thor on his way to the door. "Oh and, Thor?"

The older turned around and looked back at Loki who held the apartment door open with one hand.

"Yes?" he replied, unknowingly cocking his head slightly to one side.

Loki gave him a tense, humourless smile—an odd sensation for someone who hadn't properly smiled in one year and four months.

"Do try and learn what it is she does before she comes over, won't you?"And with that, Loki Odinson walked out the door of their family apartment and started on his way to uni.

A/N:

Hello again! Sorry this story had to be taken down and reuploaded, I did some major editing and I'm planning on finishing it over the course of the next three or four weeks. I'm sorry to those who waited so long for updates but I'm back now and I hope you continue to read and review as you always have. The first two chapters are basically the original four chapters and chapter three I finished only today. I hope you enjoy and if you are a new reader, please follow and review as it means so much to me. Thanks for all the support!

Much Love,
Soulhearts