Disclaimer: I don't own this fandom, or the awesome characters in it.

A/n: Hello, my readers. Now, a lot of you must be thinking, WTF SHE'S ALREADY GOT STORIES GOING ON WHY DOES SHE KEEP WRITING? Well, I'm sorry to say that the plot bunnies have taken my mind captive once more. This time, with Thor. I saw it on Sunday and it freaking blew my mind. After the movie, as I normally do, I got an imaginary scene in my head. The scene turned into a full blown plot idea and as one thing leads to another, I got inspired to write this story. Now, here's something YOU ALL MUST READ BEFORE GOING ON. This is a story of oneshots that eventually lead up to a plot. And as much as I hate putting them in chronological order, I'm going to force myself to do so. In this particular one, I'm saying that Loki is about age 6 and Thor is 9. Got it? Awesome. Read on!

Everything was peaceful. The warm rays of sunlight came cascading down from the sky. The birds were singing and a soft wind ruffled through the leaves of the trees. The breeze sent strands of Loki's raven hair into his face, but he didn't mind. In fact, he hadn't noticed. He was too immersed in the book he was reading. And sitting on a bench underneath one of the hundreds of trees in the palace orchard, it seemed like the perfect spot to get away from the confusion and bustle of the city.

The orchard had been a gift that Odin had given Frigga a few hundred years ago. Frigga had a secret love for gardening. On the days she would get tired of the city, she would come to the palace's orchard and she could relax.

Loki saw how the grand garden could give his Mother such a state of relaxation. Even at his young age, he found the tranquil silence of the garden a nice break from the obnoxious ways of his brother.

"What are you doing?"

Loki sighed softly, his thin shoulders slumping. Speak of the devil.

"Why is it that you have the consistent need to bother me at every hour of the day?" asked Loki, his emerald eyes not leaving his book.

Thor, his golden haired sibling, was actually three years older than Loki himself, yet it hardly ever seemed that way at times. This was one of those times.

"Well, Father is in a meeting, and Mother won't let me near the stables because of what happened before—"

Loki cringed slightly as he recalled what Thor had done during a rather violent fit he had a few days previously. It had taken nearly ten hours before they had rounded up the horses and another four to apologize to the kingdom for letting the spooked creatures out of their confinements in the first place.

"—and so I set out to look for you. It took me all morning," Thor admitted.

"What a coincidence, brother. I've been avoiding you all morning," Loki countered.

"But I have found you!" Thor said triumphantly.

"Congratulations," Loki muttered flatly.

"At least pretend to be happy to see me," Thor playfully pleaded, sliding onto the stone bench next to Loki. Loki didn't respond, and Thor frowned. "What are you reading?"

Loki made a small noise in surprise as his book was suddenly ripped from his grasp. His head snapped over to his brother, who was now holding the book in his hand, looking at it as if he had never seen something quite like it before.

"Thor!" cried Loki, swiping at his brother who avoided him easily, "give it back!"

Thor's brow furrowed, batting away Loki's hands. "How can you just sit here and do nothing but look at these tiny written words? It's madness!"

"It is not madness, it is simply education," Loki explained, finally being able to snatch his book back. "And if you're too idiotic to understand that, then I pray to the Norns that they'll help you throughout life, because you'll have a rough time on your own."

"Why would you need to read about something if you could simply encounter it in person?"

"This way you would be prepared."

"Well to me it's simply a waste of time," Thor scoffed.

"As are most things. Now leave me be and—go—away!" As Loki said this, he shoved Thor off the bench. The blonde god fell to the ground with a cry of surprise mixed with pain and a soft THUMP. Thor winced at the sudden soreness of his behind—he would feel that in the morning.

"Prat," Loki muttered under his breath, but Thor still heard it.

Thor's pain morphed into anger at Loki. He had returned to his book, acting as if nothing had just happened. Without a second thought, Thor quickly got up and tackled his younger brother.

Loki dropped his book and shrieked in surprise. They both fell to the ground with a dull THUD. For a while, they both rolled around in the grass, wrestling with each other, each boy trying to get the upper hand. But because Thor was older and stronger and Loki was far smaller and thinner, Thor easily bested his brother.

Thor pinned Loki beneath him, his knee of his brother's chest and his hands keeping Loki's wrists above his head. Loki squirmed and struggled underneath him, but it only caused Thor to smirk.

"Thor—get—off!"

"Not until you apologize," stated Thor simply.

"For what?" cried Loki. "Stating the obvious—gah!" Thor pressed his knee harder into his brother's chest and Loki gasped. "You're—crushing—me!"

"Say you're sorry," said Thor firmly. Loki continued to struggle and gasp for a few moments until he finally caved.

"Alright—I-I'm sorry! Now—get off!"

Thor complied and rolled off his brother, positioning himself to lie next to him in the grass. Loki immediately started coughing and gasping in order to get his breath back. Thor ignored the dirty looks his brother kept shooting him and instead turned his attention to the sky.

It wasn't actually the sky, considering the fact that the orchard was indoors. The high ceiling of the palace had been jinxed for it to be transparent. Thor thought that it was nice to still feel the sunlight on his skin even though he wasn't actually outside. The false breeze bothered him, though. It just felt...wrong to him.

"You—You—" Loki gasped, one of his hands rubbing his chest, the other pointing a shaky finger at his brother.

"Yes, yes I'm a terrible person, I know," Thor said sarcastically. He was about to tell Loki about how he really should spend less time by himself and more time with his friends (if he even had any) when something slithered across his hand.

Thor glanced to his right to see a green snake...which had just touched him. Thor scrambled up off the ground, standing and shaking his hand wildly as if that could get rid of the snake. From his spot on the ground, Loki looked up at him curiously.

"What's wrong?" asked the dark haired prince.

"There's a snake. A viper. Probably poisonous!" said Thor frantically, pointing at the snake. It started to move towards Loki. "Do not let it touch you! It will bite off your fingers!"

Loki cocked his head and reached out towards the small reptile. He picked it up in his hand and it coiled itself around his wrist.

"This little thing?" asked Loki, glancing up at Thor for confirmation. "This is nothing but a garden snake! They are completely harmless. Wait...," Loki paused, and a wicked grin slowly began to form on his face. "You're scared!"

"No I am not!" Thor denied quickly.

"Yes, you are! You're scared of a little snake!" sang Loki. The boy stood up and held out the snake in the direction of his brother, who backed away. "Oh no! Watch out, Thor, it might get you!" Loki laughed at Thor's frightened expression.

Thor moved around Loki to get to the stone bench where they had been previously sitting. Scooping up Loki's book, Thor held it up like a weapon.

"Don't make me hit you with this, Loki!" Thor threatened.

"Put my book down, Thor!" demanded Loki.

"Not until you put that thing down!"

Loki sighed angrily and knelt down, slowly coaxing the snake off his wrist. Once it was back on the ground and had slithered away, Loki turned back to Thor.

"Are you satisfied?" asked Loki, standing and putting his hands on his hips.

"For now, yes," said Thor, lowering Loki's book.

"Than can you do me a favor?"

"Yes, brother?"

"Gimme back my book!"

A/n: As you must have figured out by now, I'm not the best of writers, but I promise things will get better. It takes me a while to warm up to writing in a new fandom. I hope you liked it!