Thor had already shed his armor and undershirt and was standing beside the huge bed when Loki came into the room still fully dressed, layers of black leather and thick cloth trimmed with metal fasteners. Thor smiled, his brother's presence not entirely unexpected.

"I wasn't sure you would come tonight" he chuckled as he placed a rough, warm hand on the crook of Loki's neck.

"I wasn't sure, either." Loki said curtly.

"I'm pleased with your decision, brother." Thor said as he pulled Loki toward him and took his mouth in a rough, hot kiss that made Loki's head swim. Thor worked his mouth down the delicate jawline to the silky, pale skin of Loki's neck leaving pink skin where the scruff of his jaw dug in. As he slipped his fingers underneath the collar of Loki's robes to access more skin, Loki drew in a shuddered breath and covered his brother's hand with his own, stopping him.

"Why do you still my hand, brother?" Thor asked, his hot breath tickling the skin on Loki's neck where his mouth had just been.

"You do not know me as well as you think."

Thor sighed. "Is that not the point of all this, Loki? Do you not trust me?"

Loki let out an exasperated breath and lifted his hand from his brothers. Thor's thick fingers resumed their work at the layers of cloth and leather that weighed heavy and hot on his body. The long jacket hit the floor, and he pulled out of his boots. Thor wrapped his arms around Loki's slender waist and pulled him close, his large hands exploring the expanse of taut, smooth skin underneath the tunic. Loki melted into the touch, his lips brushing Thor's in the ghost of a kiss. Thor lifted the tunic up and Loki raised his arms to allow its removal. Loki almost trembled as Thor's eyes took him in, wary of what his reaction would be to the lines that covered his entire chest and both arms. The black, almost blue lines swept up and down his long muscular arms and swirled to an end just below his delicate collar bones. The swirls that decorated the pale skin at the sides of his waist seemed to ripple over muscle and bone when he twisted or moved. Thor's reaction was unreadable as he followed the lines that swirled from his sides to beyond the waist of his pants.

He gathered the nerve to speak before all his wits failed him. "I'm sure of what you must be thinking brother, but I am not as debauched as I may look right now."

Thor stood still and said nothing, his eyes still tracing the lines of darkness that traveled over Loki's chest and arms. He felt like a specimen being examined. Loki's mind churned out scenarios of how this was going to end. For all he knew, Thor may throw him out of his room or throw him out of his life altogether. He remembered the disgust and disdain he had witnessed as a child for markings. People with markings were considered to be lowly deviants that were best left to the edges of society. Markings were not acceptable for anyone who wished to have any standing at all in Asgard, much less a prince. So when Loki first noticed the lines forming in his youth, he covered them, scared that he would be found out any time. It was much later that he learned why any attempts at removing them with magic and spells had only ended in them becoming darker and more defined. His markings were not like those that other people had. His were linked to his magic. The stronger his skills grew, the more the lines expanded, starting first at his wrists and slowly streaking a path up the muscles of his forearms and on towards his chest. As he mastered more aspects of magic, the lines grew and spread until all but his face, neck and hands were streaked with bluish black lines that swirled and curved perfectly to his long, lithe body.

Loki's thoughts were interrupted by a small touch, Thor's finger tracing one of the thick lines that came to a swirled pattern under his collarbone. He held his head down and simply said, "They are a part of me I cannot change."

Thor's breath hitched in his throat as he trailed a fingertip along a line down the muscle of his brother's chest and the rippled muscle of his stomach until it was broken by the waistband of Loki's trousers. Thor hooked his fingers below the band and jerked Loki close to him. "I haven't asked you to, brother." He unclasped Loki's pants and worked them down, his fingertips grazing the lines that ran down his brother's sides and hip bones, revealing more patterns down his legs. Thor looked up at him, eyes dark with passion and growled an order for him to turn around. Loki turned slowly and heard a groan slip from his brother's lips. The lines continued up the backs of his long pale legs, swirling patterns over the soft rounded flesh of his backside, and expanded across the white skin of his back stopping just short of the black hair that lay at the nape of his neck. Thor stood slowly, dragging his large hands over the lines all the way to Loki's shoulders.

"You are a beautiful sight, little brother." Thor whispered into the crook of his neck. A giggle almost escaped Loki's mouth at the revelation.

"I'm glad you find them pleasing." He answered.

One of Thor's hands reached around to splay over Loki's already hard cock, while his tongue traced the lines on his shoulders.

"Pleased doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling" he added with a chuckle as he turned Loki around and claimed his mouth with his own.