Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. Obviously.

Loki was laying in a field, somewhere on Alfheim. He was wearing a black suit and tie and his hair was undone, the hair tie around his wrist. Matilda was chasing lightning bugs, hissing when they shocked her for getting too close. The sun was setting and the moon was rising; they were close to aligning with each other, just over the horizon.

The ground trembled beneath him and he sighed, closing his eyes before he heard the roar of the Bifrost, only a little distance away. A breeze went by and a few moments later, footsteps approached.

"Good evening," a voice said.

"Good evening," Loki replied, his voice soft. He didn't open his eyes, but Odin continued to stand next to him. The silence stretched for a few minutes.

"May I sit?"

"If you like," Loki replied and Odin sat next to him.

"It's a nice evening, isn't it?" The Allfather said after a moment. Loki didn't reply. A little ways off, Matilda hissed as she got shocked again. "Why is she doing that?" Odin asked, frowning at her.

"Because she's a cat," Loki murmured. Odin didn't ask what he meant. A few moments later, Loki said "Ella died. Her funeral was today."

Not knowing how to reply to that, Odin remained silent.

"Lots of people went," Loki continued. "I met her daughter and her granddaughter. Her son was there too. Oliver." Loki stopped and sighed, opening his eyes. "He has a daughter called Laura. She's five." His lips quirked up a little. "She didn't quite understand what was going on, so she just sat and made flower crowns from the clover that was around."

Odin's eye flicked down at the flower crown that was sitting on Loki's head. "I assume she gave you one?" Loki snorted.

"If a child hands you a flower crown and states she made it 'just for you,' you swallow your pride and wear it."

Odin nodded and looked off into the sunset, deciding to change the subject. "Alfheim's sunsets are arguably the best there are."

Loki opened his eyes and sat up, crossing his legs and putting his hands on his lap, elbows on his knees, back slumped. "Mind if I smoke?"

"Hmm?" Odin glanced at him and Loki pulled a pack from his coat, which was laying in a heap next to him. He fished one out and lit the end, taking a long drag, closing his eyes before exhaling slowly, face turned towards the sky.

"It's sort of sad," he murmured, taking another drag. "People don't realize what it means to live until... Well, I want to say until it's too late, but it never really is. People just don't realize that nothing really matters. I mean, we all have this sense that we need to somehow fulfill our lives by doing something important, but what's the point if you're not happy doing it?" He lowered the cigarette and sighed softly.

"Are you happy?" Odin asked. Loki shrugged listlessly. "Loki?" Odin looked at him.

"Am I happy right now, or in general?" Loki asked.

"Either one," Odin said and Loki considered, taking another drag and exhaling.

"Right now, no, not particularly," he murmured, looking down. "But in general?" He paused, taking a drag and exhaling. "I suppose I'm satisfied. The only problem is that..." He sighed. "I don't know what I want anymore. I wasn't exactly happy when I was, well, dead, but I liked the traveling, learning about the Realms I was in. That made me happy. I had a purpose then: to try and fill myself."

"And are you full now?" Odin asked.

"I don't know," Loki said, laying back down and taking another drag. "I don't think so." He exhaled and closed his eyes again, putting out his cigarette and vanishing it. I'm not sure what I want to do about it, though."

"Maybe you want to be with someone?" Odin suggested. Loki snorted.

"I'm not really into long term relationships."

"Then perhaps just a friendship," Odin said. "Someone who will travel with you."

"Like a companion?" Loki went quiet. "You know, Ella said something similar. She said something along the lines of 'make sure you've got someone to talk to.'" He smiled a little. "Perhaps you have more in common with humans than you think."

Odin hummed, but didn't say anything for a while. When he spoke, he said "Thor doesn't want the throne."

Loki blinked. Then frowned. Then, he looked up and said "What?"

"Thor," Odin repeated. "He doesn't wish to be King. He said he would 'rather be a good man than a great king.'"

"Goodness me, is Thor finally developing a brain?" Loki wondered aloud, resting back again. "That's the best news I've had all month, congratulate him for me, won't you?" He laid back down, taking another drag.

"Balder will inherit," Odin said, then paused a moment. "Unless you want it."

It took Loki a full minute before Odin's words sank in. "Wait, wait, wait," He said, coughing on the smoke as he scrambled to sit up again. "You would put me on the throne? Me?"

"Why not?" Odin frowned. "I raised you to be a King, and you were on the throne once, even if for a short time only. And you did rather well."

"I tried to destroy Jotunheim!" Loki said in exasperation, putting out the cigarette and making it vanish.

"Beside that," Odin acknowledged, tilting his head. "You did remarkably well."

Loki looked away from Odin and towards the sunset, completely stunned at the praise. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around, wondering vaguely if Odin had lost his mind.

"Helbindi wanted to give the throne of Jotunheim to me," he said at last. "I had killed Laufey and I was zir kin, so it was mine by all rights." He looked down. "I refused. Sometimes I wonder what might have happened had I accepted the position. Ze says if I ever wished to take it, all I had to do was ask. I could be both king of Asgard and Jotunheim." He snorted, shaking his head. "That might have been chaotic."

"Well," Odin said, "you were always one for chaos anyway."

"True," Loki said. "But it was always chaos by my own design. I only like chaos when everything is under my control, when I had backup plans, and backups for my backups, and... so on." Loki picked at a loose threat on his suit jacket. "That was the thing about my tricks, though. I always had everything under control. I humiliated people, sure; that was the whole point. But I never hurt anyone. Well," he amended, "their ego and pride, but nothing physically damaging, other than a bruise or two."

"What about in battle?" Odin asked. Loki frowned.

"That's different," he said. "That's war. Everything is different in war." He pulled up a handful of grass and ripped it apart. "Some people say it's an art, and really, strategy is more important in a war, and strategy can be an art. But when it comes right down to it, no one wins in a war. There are losses on both sides." He scrunched up his nose in distaste. "I never liked it. I only ever did battle when it was required of me to do so, but I never liked hurting people."

"Then why did you kill Laufey?" Odin asked. Loki looked at his hands and ripped up another handful of grass.

"I'd be lying if I said it were to stop a war. I tricked zim into coming to Asgard and I murdered zim in cold blood." Loki ripped more grass, twisting it through his fingers. "There could have been more efficient ways of avoiding a war. I suppose I could have tried for a treaty. But in the end, I don't regret Laufey's death. I regret killing zim, yes, but in the long run, Jotunheim is doing better and a war was stopped."

Odin was quiet again and Matilda wandered over, curling up in Loki's lap with a mew. Loki looked down and stroked her ears. "This is Matilda," he said and Matilda blinked at Odin as Loki continued to scratched behind her ears.

The two sat in silence for a long time, Loki petting his cat until she wandered off somewhere else, Odin saying nothing. The sun had nearly vanished over the horizon when Odin said "Will you come back to Asgard with me?"

"Not yet," Loki said simply.

"When?" Odin asked, still looking at the horizon.

"I'm not sure," Loki said. "One day." There was silence again for a few moments, then Loki hummed under his breath. Odin strained to catch the words, frowning.

"What tune is that?"

"Hmm?" Loki looked up. "Oh, it's called The Road Goes Ever On. It's a poem from a book. It's part of a well-written series. It starts with this short book called The Hobbit, which is about this small creature called Bilbo who finds courage on the journey to find gold. Along the way, he finds a magical ring that turns him invisible..." Loki trailed off. "Never mind. It's not that interesting," he mumbled.

"Go on," Odin encouraged. "Tell me."

Loki glanced up at him in surprise and then smiled a little. "Well, you see, it starts out that Bilbo doesn't do very much. Well, hobbits—that's what he is, he's a hobbit—don't do much at all, and aren't bothered by the outside world. One day, this wizard called Gandalf the Grey comes, and invites him along on this journey to find gold, and Bilbo refuses. So, Gandalf draws a rune on his door and a party of people that are supposed to look like trolls, but are called dwarves come uninvited to his home, and Bilbo finally relents and goes with them." He summoned the book from his pocket dimension and held it out.

Odin looked down at the book, blinking. Loki waved it a little. "Well? Take it. It's a good book. You'll like it, just ignore my annotations."

Hesitantly, Odin accepted the book, flipping through it. "When should I give it back?"

Loki shrugged. "You'll just have to come and find me," he said. "And perhaps, if you like it, I'll let you borrow the first book of The Lord of the Rings. I warn you, though," he added, jokingly, "it was written by a human."

Before Odin could say anything, Loki grabbed his coat and stood, hanging it over his shoulder, hooked on a finger. He watched as the sun disappeared behind the horizon before turning away, humming again.

"Farewell, Loki," Odin said, closing the book and standing.

"Until next time," Loki corrected, smirking as he half turned back. "Father." He gave a low whistle and Matilda padded over to him. Loki then inclined his head to Odin, a mischievous smile on his face, then turned, singing softly as he walked off, shrugging his coat on.

"Roads go ever ever on,/Over rock and under tree,/By caves where never sun has shone,/By streams that never find the sea..." Loki's voice reached Odin as he walked off, Matilda following at his heels. It was all Odin heard before Loki's voice faded. He turned and looked around, but Loki was nowhere to be seen. Smiling a little, Odin shook his head, looking back down at the paperback in his hands. With a sigh, he turned to the first page.

In a hole in the ground, he read, there lived a hobbit...

Okay, so last night I got a really rude comment on this story over on AO3 (I've edited it a bit more since posting it here) and I'm laughing, because I don't think anyone ever actually reads the comments/reviews on a story, they just look to see how many comments there are,so long story short, the rude comment was the last one I needed to reach my personal comment goal.

I hope you enjoyed this. I've been asked if there will be a sequel, but I wanted to leave it open for you to decide what happens to Loki next. Thank you for reading and thank you to those who reviewed/favorited/followed! You guys are the reason I keep posting my stuff online!