Thor opens his eyes.

He has the strangest feeling that he used to be dead.

He's not now, clearly, and around him, no one else seems to be either. He can see his fellow Avengers sitting up around him, some of them rubbing their heads or blinking around in confusion.

He doesn't see Loki. The last time he remembers seeing him…

The last time he remembers seeing Loki, he was fighting Thanos.

"Loki!" Thor yells, jerking to his feet. "Loki!"

Standing, he can see farther, but he still can't see Loki. He scans for the familiar raven-dark hair and pale skin, but Loki is nowhere to be seen.

Thanos's ship is a ways away, and it's the last place Thor remembers seeing Loki, so for lack of a better option, he starts running there. He moves slowly, like he's just awoken from a long sleep. He doesn't know why and he doesn't care. He just needs to move faster, he needs to find Loki, he needs to make sure that his brother made it through this too. If he survived but Loki did not… It's too horrible a thought to even consider.

Thanos's ship is a smoking wreck, but Thor combs through it anyway. He finds no trace of Loki. It's a mixed blessing. Thor wants to find his brother, but at least he didn't find his body.

He's not going to find Loki's body, because Loki isn't dead.

Thor stumbles out of the wreck and past it. He sees Gamora helping Peter to his feet, sees T'Challa speaking to Okoye, sees Tony assuring the Hulk that it's over and he can turn back to Bruce now. He doesn't see Loki.

"Hey! Lord of Thunder!"

"God of Thunder," Thor mutters to himself, then he stops and whirls around. That was the Grandmaster, and the Grandmaster only helped because of Loki, and maybe-

He sees the Grandmaster sitting on the ground, his robes looking ridiculously pristine considering everything that's happened, and sees the dark-haired figure in his lap.

Loki.

Thor sprints over. The closer he gets, the more he can see of Loki, and the more his heart plummets. Loki is covered in blood, and he's reverted to his jötunn form, and he's eerily still in the Grandmaster's lap. Thor drops to his knees at Loki's side and reaches for him.

"Uh, can you not do that?" the Grandmaster asks, pulling Loki back onto his lap.

"He is my brother," Thor says angrily. "And he is wounded. Let me tend to him."

"I can tend to him better than you can," the Grandmaster replies, his hands on Loki's chest. Thor is about to grab Loki away, the Grandmaster be damned, when he sees that Loki's wounds are closing, and his Asgardian glamor is settling back into place, and he's starting to stir.

"There we go," the Grandmaster says, sounding satisfied. "That, uh, that should do it."

"Did you heal him?" Thor demands.

The Grandmaster wiggles his fingers. "Elder of the Universe, remember?"

"Thank you," Thor says, his voice vehement. "Thank you."

"Hey, I like your brother," the Grandmaster says. "And this isn't hard. Ooh, looks like he's waking up. Hey, Lo-lo, you okay?"

"G-Grandmaster?" Loki asks, his eyes fluttering open. "What- Thor? Are we alive?"

"We are," Thor replies, reaching for Loki's hands and clasping them in his own. "We are well, brother."

"Thanos-"

"Defeated," Thor says. He's not quite sure how, but he knows that Thanos is gone.

"It's over?" Loki asks, almost tentative. "Truly?"

"Sure seems like it," the Grandmaster says. "Hmm. If you're okay, I should find my brother. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Loki replies, sitting up slowly. "Thank you, Grandmaster. It seems I owe you."

The Grandmaster lays a filthy kiss on Loki's mouth that lasts for far longer than Thor is comfortable with. "I might call it in someday, but for now, we can, ah, let it slide."

Loki blinks a few times as the Grandmaster stands and leaves. He seems somewhat dazed, which does absolutely nothing to stop Thor from pulling him into a tight embrace.

Loki huffs out a sharp exhalation that Thor thinks might be from being squeezed so hard all the air is forced from his lungs. "Brother, what happened?" he asks, slowly wrapping his arms around Thor in return.

"I am… yet uncertain," Thor admits. "What happened to you?"

"I fought Thanos," Loki says slowly. "He… I am not entirely certain what he did to me, but it was unpleasant. I have no memories between then and waking a moment ago."

Thor finally releases Loki, but doesn't let him get far. He looks alright now, but Thor can't forget how he looked just moments ago, almost corpse-like in the Grandmaster's lap. He remembers the Grandmaster telling Loki that he can bring people back from the dead, and for a moment, he wonders whether Loki was just almost corpse-like.

He's pretty sure Loki isn't the only one who owes the Grandmaster a debt.

"Well," he says, shaking the morbid thoughts out of his head, "we can debrief with the others and find out what actually happened."

Loki's lips quirk into a small smile. "And then I am going to sleep for at least a day."

"I will sleep for a week," Thor replies, smiling back.

Loki pushes himself to his feet and offers Thor a hand. Thor stands as well, scanning the field again. He sees Steve and Rhodey and Wanda and-

"I see you survived, Your Majesty," Valkyrie says, coming out of nowhere to clap Thor on the shoulder. "And you too, Lackey."

"Charming as ever, Valkyrie," Loki says, his voice dry as a desert.

"It is good to see you alive, my friend," Thor says. And then, although he hates to ask it, he adds, "Do you know if we had any casualties?"

"See, it's weird," Valkyrie says. "I have this feeling that we all died, but everyone seems to be alive."

"Then I shall toast to our good fortune," Thor replies.

"You would toast to anything," Loki mutters.

Thor shrugs, not about to argue with Loki about something that he's entirely correct about. "Shall we join the others? If I know Tony, he's going to throw quite the party in honor of our victory."

"A party sounds great," Valkyrie says. "Will there be alcohol?"

"It's Stark," Loki says. "There'll be alcohol."

"Perfect," Valkyrie says. "I'll go find him."

She's gone before Thor can say another word. Loki rolls his eyes, but there's something almost fond on his face.

"Shall we find the others as well?" Thor asks.

Loki shrugs. "Might as well."

Thor beams at Loki. "I am glad we both survived this, brother."

Loki shoves Thor's shoulder. "Don't get sappy with me, you oaf."

Obediently, Thor doesn't say anything else that could even remotely be construed as sappy, but the smile remains on his face for quite a while.

Tony's party is full of alcohol, which is good, because everyone seems to have decided that stopping the destruction of the Earth is worth a drink or two. Thor even sees the little Spider-Boy (Spider-Man, he'd said when Tony introduced him to Thor, but he's still a child, so Thor will call him Spider-Boy) take a sip from someone's drink and quickly set it down, hacking. Thor feels himself smile at the sight.

"You look content," a familiar voice says.

Thor turns. Loki is dressed in green and black leathers, similar to those that he used to wear on Asgard when they were young. The cut is a design Thor hasn't seen him wear in years.

"I am," Thor replies, taking a sip from his drink. It's one of Tony's whiskeys, which Thor finds a good option when he wants something that tastes good but barely does anything to inebriate him. If he wants to get drunk, he knows Valkyrie has some Sakaaran alcohol that she's going through at an alarming rate, but for now, at least, he's content with his whiskey.

Loki takes a sip from his own drink, with looks remarkably like the honey mead from Alfheim that Odin used to bring out for special occasions. Given that it's Loki, Thor's not dismissing the possibility that the drink is exactly what he thinks it is.

"Are you content?" Thor asks. "Thanos is gone. You need not worry about him anymore."

Loki looks down at his glass and swirls the mead around. "I am… Content is perhaps not the right word, but it is good not to have Thanos's threats hanging over my head any longer."

Thor hums in agreement, taking another sip of whiskey. The glass is almost empty.

"What are you going to do now?" Loki asks.

"Go back to our people, I suppose," Thor replies. "I am their king, after all. Heimdall is doing a fine job leading, but I cannot leave him with the job forever."

"I suppose not," Loki agrees.

"What will you do?" Thor asks.

Loki takes a long sip of his mead. "The Grandmaster offered to bring me back to Sakaar with him," he says. "Apparently, your revolution did little to destabilize his rule in the long run. He's offered to let me reclaim my position as his favorite."

"He's a madman," Thor counters automatically.

Loki shrugs. "He did save my life. But I have not yet given him my answer."

"Loki…" Thor sighs. "I know you may not wish to stay forever, but I had thought that you would help me rebuild Asgard. You know our history far better than I do, and you could train others in magic so it's not lost among our people."

Loki makes a face. "If you wish to recreate the Æsir, I will be of little help."

"I wish to recreate Asgard," Thor corrects. "And you, brother, are an essential part of Asgard to me."

Loki avoids Thor's gaze, instead staring into his glass. "I will not stay forever," he says after a long moment.

"I would not ask you to," Thor replies, his heart lifting.

"And I will cause mischief."

"Lighthearted, please. Nothing serious, nothing dangerous, and nothing that cannot be put back to rights."

"If you insist."

"Then you will return? Help me rebuild our home?"

"I will," Loki promises. "And I will warn you before I leave."

"I cannot ask for more," Thor replies, smiling widely. He holds out his glass. "To Asgard, then."

"To Asgard," Loki repeats, clinking his glass against Thor's. Both of them drain the last of their drinks.

"It will be nice for us to be a family again," Thor remarks.

"Do you think Mother would be proud if she saw us now?" Loki asks.

Thor nods. "I think she would."

Loki pulls a bottle out of thin air. He pours some of the liquid inside into his own glass, then some into Thor's.

"To Mother," he says, lifting his glass.

"To Mother," Thor repeats, clinking his glass against Loki's and taking a sip.

It is Father's honey mead. Thor can't help but think that it tastes even better than he remembered. Looking around him at his friends, all happy and alive, and then looking to Loki at his side, Thor thinks they might make all the difference.