Written for H/C bingo on Dreamwidth, prompt "counseling". This is sort of a nebulous speculative future fic, meant to take place "after" - currently, it's set after The Avengers, but depending on how Thor: The Dark World goes with regards to Loki, it might fit in after that, too.

Odin was capable of stripping any Asgardian of their powers. Thor was not the first case where he'd been called upon to use those powers, and he was not the last.

Loki was a special case. He was not wholly an Asgardian, and a lot of his power stemmed from the Jotun, over whom Odin held no power. He could weaken Loki, however, and there were other methods that could be used to render him powerless, especially within the halls of Asgard.

Outside the halls of Asgard, they were all uncertain. But Thor had argued too hard for this chance. So they had done what they could, and sent the two brothers across the newly repaired Bifrost and down to Midgard, this time on a peaceful mission.

Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Valstaff accompanied them from a distance, of course, in case it didn't stay a peaceful mission. Thor, however, was hopeful, even as his mother and father's last words of warning echoed in his mind.

"We know that you still care for your brother, Thor. Know that we do as well."

"But the only part of Loki that is unbroken is his talent for deception. And you have always been vulnerable to that."

Thor had argued, forcibly as ever. "He has not lost his talent for learning, and seeing the truth in things even as he tries to subvert them! Now that he is free of the Chitauri and the Tesseract, let him learn, and let me guide him! Perhaps there can only be one king of Asgard, but that does not mean we should not be equals! If he sees what I have seen of Midgard, I think he will understand."

There was almost nowhere in this world and no one in it that did not know Thor's face, now. He knew that too much recognition, let alone the adoration that tended to go with it, would sour the day. So he had surrendered his armor, and the power that went with it, just for the day, as a practical measure for stealth and a show of good faith to Loki. A way for his brother to see that no harm would befall him today that he did not invite himself.

Almost no one here in this city had ever actually seen Loki. Despite all the chaos and devastation he'd wrought here, Thor thought there was a good chance that he wouldn't be recognized. This was fortunate, because the attempt at sealing his powers seemed to have successfully sealed his ability to disguise himself.

Thor still got a few double-takes as they walked down the street together, but for once, Loki didn't seem to notice. His brother was nervous and fascinated all at once, trying to see everything around him, from the bus pulling up across the street to the revolving door of the bank up ahead to the inside of a bar visible from the windows. He hid his interest well, of course, but you only had to watch his eyes. Loki had always had quick eyes, the sort that missed nothing, but Midgard was too new and too much and too big when you were walking on the ground instead of soaring above it. The human skyscrapers were nothing on the Asgardian palaces, but they still towered over them, leaving them in shadow.

Loki never said very much, as of late, and so Thor flinched slightly with surprise when he finally spoke up.

"Where are you taking me?"

It was hardly an encouraging beginning, but Thor was encouraged all the same. Loki was talking – that meant he was interested, and engaged, no matter how much he might not want to be. He hoped to keep that interest going, and maybe turn it into something more.

"I am taking you somewhere to eat," he replied simply.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Loki's mouth twist into a bitter smile. "A mighty effort for such a simple thing. Against all my expectations, I am still being fed well enough at home."

Thor managed to keep himself from actually punching the air, but he wanted to. Loki was finally calling it "home" again.

"Where are you really taking me?" his brother asked.

"I am really taking you somewhere to eat. From there, we will sit, and you can watch to your heart's content without running into a bus stop."

"I see nothing here worth watching." And yet, a quick look at Loki's face revealed to Thor that his brother had no idea what a bus stop was until Thor had named it as the pole he'd bounced off of a block ago in his lack of focus. For someone who'd had designs of conquering Earth, he really did know almost nothing about it. Thor meant to fix that.

"While we sit, you might. Humans are not so different from us. They let their guard down when they eat. It's the best way to really see them."

"I have seen all I ever wished to see of this place, and the creatures that inhabit it."

His voice took on a sudden, sharper edge, and there was real venom in his words. The memory of the defeat and humiliation he'd faced here, in this very city, was still obviously very fresh in Loki's mind. Thor wondered then if it might ever fade.

All the same, you only had to watch his eyes. Loki was curious by nature, without the Tesseract to blind him, and Thor saw it sinking in how little he knew about this world he had tried to conquer. And it was so much easier to appreciate the brilliance of the human world when you saw some of the things they could do with food.

Thor got them lost a couple of times while he tried to remember the way, but he was fairly certain he hid it well. Even if he didn't, Loki didn't say anything. Eventually, they made it to the little shop that sold that most brilliant of foods.

He gave Loki a minute by the sign outside while he tried to figure out how, exactly, "shawarma" was supposed to be pronounced and what it might mean. In the meantime, he went inside to order them both some food. There were tables where they could eat outside, which would serve his purposes nicely.

Loki was still there when he came back outside. Thor tried to nudge his brother subtly to make sure, but judging by the look Loki gave him, he completely failed to make it subtle.

"Lady Sif is right across the street and Hogun is less than ten yards behind us. Fandral is probably on the roof," he said, sounding weary and annoyed. "And I am powerless, and tired of running, and at your mercy for any inane quest that takes your fancy. Was that really necessary?"

It was, and Thor knew it, even if he didn't like the necessity. He just forced himself to smile like nothing was wrong, and gestured at an empty chair. "Come. Time to eat. And you can experience shawarma for yourself."

Loki sat across from Thor, taking the seat that would let him keep an eye on who was coming and going through the shop door. Thor took the other chair without comment, and for a few moments, there was only silence while they ate, and watched one another while trying to pretend like they weren't.

If nothing else, Thor thought he should have known that Loki wasn't like other Asgardians a long time ago, just by the way he ate. It wasn't that he didn't have an appetite like Valstaff's. There were bilgesnipe that didn't have an appetite to match Valstaff's. But Loki picked at his food. He ate carefully, cautiously, slowly. He ate like a Jotun, in fact, who wasn't sure when the next meal would turn up in the frozen wastes, or didn't quite trust what he was eating to be edible. Despite the fact that his brother was one of the hungriest looking people Thor had ever seen, lean and scrawny and light, this hadn't changed.

Eventually, the silence grew to be too much. New York was never quiet, but between the two brothers there was nothing. To Thor's surprise, Loki broke that silence first, while staring out at the people around them. "There are so many of them," he said, in a wondering tone of voice. "And yet everything here is so very small. As a people, they're really so scattered. If they actually worked together, they might be a threat."

Vehicles where they were packed shoulder to shoulder by the dozens, avenues where they clustered together and struggled past each other like fish in spawning season, tables that only sat two…yes, for all their numbers, Midgard was a place of small structures. Thor could see how that might throw Loki, seeing it for himself now.

"They are not so different from us," said Thor again. He wanted Loki to see that. "They have their families, and their friends. Not as large as ours', or as many as ours', but they love them, and stay with them, just as we do. Look." He pointed out a little group of four, walking down the street towards them. Three girls and a boy. Talking and laughing, a couple of them holding hands, touching one another in all the little subtle ways that indicated familiarity. One of the girls reminded him forcibly of Darcy, which was probably why he'd picked her out of the crowd. "Friends, perhaps, or siblings. Do they really look so different from Lady Sif and the Warriors Three?"

"Besides the obvious?"

He felt his temper fray a bit at the mockery, but held himself back. "Besides the obvious."

Loki looked at the four as they approached, and then as they passed by up ahead. He said nothing, which told Thor that he agreed, or at least that he didn't see a need to argue the point. Not so different, seen up close. Thor pressed his sudden advantage. He pointed around, picking out more little groups out of the chaos around them, naming them so Loki could know. If you looked, really looked, it was easy to see where the seemingly endless hordes of individuals were actually units, albeit small ones. "A father and his daughter. Three from the same job. Five with their dogs. One minding all those little children. A mother with…"

He stopped, his voice catching in his throat. A mother with her sons. Two sons. He knew, just from the soft, subtle way that Loki tensed across from him, that Loki saw them, too, and felt the same, sudden stab of old pain. They were too far away for the two gods to hear what was being said, but one boy smiled at the other, a smile which was rewarded with a laugh, and a shove which could only be playful. The mother's smile was warm and full of love for them both.

Thor and Loki finally forced themselves to look away, before the pain became too much to push down inside again. There was so much they could have said in the face of that, but they didn't, and they didn't look up until they were sure that the great tide of humanity had washed it all away.

When Thor looked up again, it was to see that Loki had actually finished his food, while Thor still had a few scraps of meat and bread left untouched. Maybe not being watched had given him some appetite back, or maybe he'd tried to fill the hollowness inside by filling his stomach. "Want some more?" he asked.

Loki was resting his chin in his hand, staring out thoughtfully again at the world. He seemed to debate with himself for a moment, and finally shrugged. "Far be it from me to deny you your lessons," he said. "I'm sure there's another lesson buried in here somewhere."

It wasn't a 'no'. Thor let himself be encouraged again. "There is," he said happily, getting up from the table. "But first, more to eat. And coffee! You should try coffee, it is a fantastic drink."

Maybe it was a trick of fate, but somehow, this time, their gazes met. Just for a second, but enough for him to see Loki smile – faint, wry, and sardonic as ever, but a smile, and Loki's sort of smile.

"If you say so," was all he said. But that wasn't a 'no', either. So he went inside and ordered more food for himself and his brother, as well as some coffee.

He didn't test Loki to make sure he was still really there when he came outside again. He had to trust his brother, and trust his friends if that failed. And Thor talked while Loki ate. There was a lesson here, and he knew his brother would see it if he only explained.

And Loki, never one to pass up a lesson, listened with the sort of intensity that sucked in sound.

"Of course they don't eat as much as we do. But they still enjoy a good feast, whenever they can! They pack this bread full of meat until it nearly falls apart, stack cakes so high that you can't take hold of them, and their flagons can be as big as ours' even if they are sometimes made of paper. When I was first on Earth…"

"Fragile," Loki murmured, running a finger over the rim of the paper cup of coffee and staring at it intently. Such a simple thing, and yet it seemed to have all his attention. "Like everything here. Like the people."

Again, he felt a flash of irritation – Loki was missing the point, and he knew his brother was better than that. Again, however, Thor managed to keep himself from snapping back. "Not fragile," he said, insistently. "Just different. As powerful as we are, in their own way. That's what I'm trying to…"

"And undermining yourself at every turn while you do. Why did you surrender your own power before we came here? I am helpless, bound and fettered and under guard as a criminal should be. You are under no such limitations. You are free. If you had your power, you would have nothing to fear here. You could break this entire street like a child's toy. So I am forced to conclude that you don't trust yourself not to do exactly that. You have to bring yourself down to their level so you don't hurt them without thinking, these creatures you love so much. You're like a mother with her new babe, a Valkyrie who settled down to have children with some horse farmer and now can't stop prattling about them, and I cannot for the life of me understand why they make you so soft."

Thor had been listening, even if he didn't like what he was hearing, and even if his brilliant brother was getting so many things so wrong. Loki had been listening to him all day, and so he felt he owed the other that much. Besides, Loki was also talking. This was the most he'd spoken in almost longer than Thor could remember.

And it wasn't just mockery. He could tell, by the way Loki's voice rose as he talked, growing more heated, that his brother really didn't understand, and he knew that he didn't it even if he didn't quite know how. And he wanted to understand, even if it was only the not knowing that was driving him mad. He wanted Thor to make it all make sense. This knowledge helped Thor stay calm, even if Loki teetered precariously on the verge of completely losing his temper.

Furthermore, he thought he caught a hint of something unsaid, in a way he hadn't been able to since they were children. Why them over me?

He wanted to answer, but he didn't get the chance, when the gunshots rang out from three doors down.

They were both on their feet in a second. People were rushing past, pouring from the door just up the street. Loki stayed where he was, wary, looking around the streets and the fearful, panicking people for any sign of where the attack had come from. He was nervous, and it was one of the most inexpressibly comforting things Thor had ever seen. Loki had always been prone to bouts of nerves or fear. Possessed by the Tesseract, he'd been fearless to the point of insanity.

Thor paused just long enough to give his brother a reassuring smile, and then he ran towards the building and inside. The fact that he was powerless and unarmed only just crossed his mind. Sif and the others would be nearby, and would surely intervene before things got out of hand. Even unarmed and powerless, sitting and hiding safely out of the way while innocent people were held at gunpoint was utterly against his nature.

One of the four would-be burglars immediately turned their weapons on him as he barged through the door. Quickly surveying the scene, Thor saw that he had entered a bank, and that several people were bleeding to various degrees – either they'd been shot at, or they'd been hit anyway by a stray bullet. A few weren't moving. A couple were obviously dead.

They were telling him to back away, get out and not get involved. Thor just smiled at them, the sort of smile he reserved only for enemies he was going to enjoy taking down. "Too late for that," he said, and lunged, too quickly for the scared boy with the gun trained on him to fire.

Unfortunately, while he'd had his eyes on the other two further inside the bank, he'd completely missed the one by the wall, just outside his field of peripheral vision. Even as Thor dropped the first unfortunate like a tree, the loud bang was his only warning, and it came too late to stop the bullet ripping through his chest.

A lot of things happened after that. He was never quite sure of the sequence of events, as he sagged to his knees, pressing a hand over the hole in his chest as it bled freely, far too freely. There was movement all around him, as he'd apparently distracted the attackers enough for a few brave souls to try their luck at subduing them. Sirens sounded in the distance.

A blast of pure, frigid cold screamed. Thor looked up wildly, dreading what he would see. Indeed, there stood Loki, cornering the one who had shot him. It took him a second to recognize his brother, but he did, even under the ridged blue skin and bright red eyes.

Where Loki could have subdued Heimdall normally, now he was exerting himself to kill this one human. But he kept up the cold and the ice, steady and relentless, looking down at the shivering, whimpering man with nothing in his eyes as he slowly froze him solid. "Worthless little worm," he breathed, and then gritted his teeth and prepared to deliver the killing strike.

"No!" Thor choked. With an almighty effort, he hurled himself over the distance between them, throwing his arms around his brother in an attempt to make him lose his balance. It worked, even as the impossible cold pouring off of Loki in waves burned him to the point that Thor, weakened as he was, screamed with pain.

"Fragile," he heard Loki say softly, before his grip gave out and Thor slumped to his knees, and then to the floor with a heavy finality. He sounded as though he were speaking to himself. "Different. Precious."

"Yes," Thor murmured, his voice heavy and slurred with pain. Fragile, but not weak. Different, and all the more marvelous for it. Precious, because even if individual humans deserved their just punishment, Midgard was a wonderful world that produced wonderful people, and even if they weren't Asgardians they deserved to thrive because these clever people had figured out how to turn paper into cups…

He realized that he was going dizzy, in that way that meant his wound was taking a real toll on his body. Thor tried to push himself upright, but Loki was there, kneeling beside him, pushing him back down. His own face, what Thor still couldn't help but think of as his real face, was already reasserting itself. His fingers were still cold, as he pressed them down tightly over Thor's wound, but he felt them warmed by his own blood.

He heard voices, familiar voices – his friends had arrived at last, and others were fighting, now, fighting against their hostage keepers. His friends would make sure that everyone else was okay, Thor believed that. And all the shouting voices sounded like they were coming at him from underwater anyway. And it felt like he was looking up at Loki's face as though through a long, dark tunnel. But it was enough to see the pain in his brother's eyes, or the way he was having to hold back tears as he knelt over his brother's body and tried to press his life back into him with his bare hands.

Close as he was, Thor could even hear the way Loki's voice broke when he spoke, soft enough that only Thor could hear over the chaos. "You are a fool. Still, always, and forever."

Thor smiled, even at the end. With an almighty effort, he lifted his hands and covered Loki's with his, helping him press down while trying to soothe away some of the fear in his eyes. "How much of a fool can I be," he said. "If I can teach the great and wise Loki Odinson something new about the Nine Worlds?"

It was not often that he could render Loki speechless, either. But he did, in his last few moments of consciousness. He saw that he'd left his brother utterly dumbfounded.

It was a good feeling, even now. It spoke to the big brother in him.

"Sentiment," Loki finally whispered, in that same disbelieving, wondering voice he'd used back on Stark Tower.

It wasn't a refusal. It wasn't a denial. And so Thor let himself be comforted as he slipped slowly into blackness. The last thing he was aware of was their hands, joined together and slick with his blood.

In his powerless state, a bullet had been enough to nearly kill him. With his powers returned, combined with being brought as swiftly as possible to the healing chambers of the palace, Thor recovered quickly and well. When he finally awoke, the memory of the pain was worse than what he was currently feeling. It still made him curl in a bit on himself, wincing as awareness returned, pressing a hand to his chest only to be surprised that his skin was whole once more.

"You're fine." He looked up to see Sif, sitting in a chair by his bedside. She smiled at him, an expression that insisted she'd never been worried about him at all. "Despite your best efforts, you fool." And the old familiar affection in her voice told him that she wasn't angry with him, at least.

She told him what he'd missed while he'd been unconscious, and Thor still got the impression that she was drawing out the minutes until he'd demand to get up. He couldn't really blame her, though. It was a situation that could have potentially turned even more disastrous. It paid to be certain, when you could.

She told him how they'd stayed long enough to subdue the human attackers and clear the way for law enforcement. Then they'd run like hell back to the pickup point before they could be stopped, carrying Thor between them.

She told him, not bothering to conceal her surprise as she did so, that Loki had come back with them, and apparently willingly. Thor wondered if they'd seen him use his powers, tip his hand that for all of Odin's efforts, he couldn't be left completely powerless. Loki would have normally been so careful that he would have assumed he'd gone undetected, but his brother had let himself slip in his rage over Thor getting hurt.

The fact that he'd returned with them in the face of that made Thor inexpressibly proud of his brother. And if Sif or the Warriors Three had noticed anything, she didn't say anything to him and gave no other sign.

"The All Father said he wanted to speak to you, when you felt well enough," she said, her voice cutting through his thoughts. She gave him a searching look. "Are you?"

Thor felt that he was, which was good, because he wanted to talk with his father very much but he knew better than to lie to Sif when she gave him a look like that. "I am. Will you take me to him?"

"Of course." She stood up from her chair, waiting for him to follow and ready to catch him if he stumbled. Thor didn't, a fact they were both grateful for.

The walk to where Odin was waiting was quick and quiet. A thoughtful sort of silence lay between them. This time, however, it was a comfortable sort of silence as he mulled over recent events and, he suspected, Sif did the same.

He was struck, suddenly, by how his friends really were a constant in his life – one of the only ones he had, with his family in an uproar. Maybe it was his latest brush with death, but Thor suddenly appreciated that fact as he wasn't sure he had before. He resolved, as they approached the window balcony where Odin waited, to do a bit more to show his friends how much he valued their continued presence in his life.

Sif stopped at the threshold to outside. "I'll see you later," she said, looking up at him.

"I look forward to it," said Thor sincerely. "Until then."

She nodded, offered him a hopeful sort of smile, and then turned on her heel and left. This left Thor to approach his father, who was waiting in their accustomed place at the edge of the balcony with his arms clasped behind his back and his head bowed in thought. He had no doubt that Odin knew he was there, but the elder Asgardian waited patiently for Thor to approach him instead, drawing up beside him in his accustomed place.

"All Father," Thor said, bowing his head in respect.

"You have recovered well," said Odin. "I am glad, and your mother will be relieved. You will not willingly surrender your powers again. I am sure today has shown you that even the greatest care is sometimes not enough to prevent accidents. Every warrior should be able to defend themselves in a strange land, and you of all people cannot afford to needlessly fetter yourself."

"Of course," Thor replied without hesitation. Truth be told, he wasn't eager to experience that sort of pain or weakness or helplessness ever again if he could do anything to prevent it. Today had been a lesson for him as well as for Loki. More than that, Odin's businesslike, almost brusque words were betrayed by the concern in his eye as he looked over at his son, and something in the way he stood that said that he had been worrying as much as Frigga, even if he could not easily show it.

"I am sorry for worrying you," he added, quietly. Odin relaxed, just a little, and nodded in acknowledgement of the apology.

"From the report the warriors and your brother gave me, I would have expected nothing else from you," he said. "You acted well. You just acted without the means to protect yourself, let alone anyone else."

"I see that, now," said Thor. Then, because the matter seemed to be settled and there was one thing he really, truly wanted to know: "Father, about Loki…"

"He has been returned to his cell."

Thor felt a pang of disappointment, of loss at those words. Rationally, however, he knew that that could have been the only possible end to the day. Loki was a prisoner for a reason. He had crimes to answer for, even if they all knew now that he hadn't been completely in his right mind when he'd committed some of them. That fact was the only reason he was receiving any mercy at all, especially since they didn't know how far gone he'd been at the end. Otherwise, Odin wouldn't bend the laws for his adopted son, and neither Thor nor Frigga would have asked him to. Loki hadn't, either, when it came down to it.

All Thor had really been trying to prove, to Loki and his parents and himself, was that his brother might be able to rejoin his family after his sentence was done. And they'd all been wondering if Loki might ever recover from the damage done to his mind.

"May I see him?" Thor asked, trying to keep a note of pleading out of his voice. He wasn't a child begging indulgences from his father, not anymore. Except, in this…he was, and he knew it, and that didn't make a difference when all was said and done.

Odin turned to face him, his one good eye focused and intent, giving Thor the feeling of being pinned to the spot where he stood. Thor made himself keep his head up with an effort of will, looking right back at his father without flinching.

"You asked for this day because you believed Loki could learn." Odin's voice was stern. "Learn respect for those less powerful than him, appreciation for other races. Do you think that he has learned this?"

Thor did his best to choose his reply very, very carefully. "He is learning," he said insistently. "And I am a poor teacher in anything. This tells me that he wants to learn, and is beginning to realize just how little he understands about the humans or their world. Yes, he is stubborn, and proud, and resisting out of spite. He is my brother, and I would expect nothing less of him. But he listened to me today. He could have killed the man who wounded me, and stayed his hand when I asked him not to. He could have run, but he returned with us of his own free will! He is recovering from the Chitauri's influence on his mind! He is learning, and after one interrupted lesson, I think that is all we can ask of him."

For a long moment, father and son regarded one another. To Thor's very great surprise, Odin was the first to break their locked gazes. He thought he saw his father smile, for a moment.

"It is as Heimdall told me," the older man said, relief in his voice. Thor realized that he had just passed his own test on the events of the day. "Very well, my son. You may see him. Tell him that he has done well, and…that I am proud of how far he has come since he was first brought back to us."

Thor nodded, feeling a smile spreading over his face. Odin's permission made him inexpressibly happy, and all he could manage was a heartfelt, "Thank you, father. I will."

He wasted no more time, and hurried away to the forge.

Solitude was Loki's punishment, solitude and heat and toil for three hundred years for the attempted destruction of Jotunheim. His war against Earth could be forgiven because of the madness that had taken him, but Loki had been in his right mind when he'd tried to utterly annihilate their old enemies.

War was one thing. Genocide was another. The giants had been left too wounded and terrified as a whole to try and real retaliation, but they'd still demanded some recompense for the destruction wrought. Odin, hoping to reclaim the peace that both brothers had shattered, had passed down his sentence.

In a chamber deep in the bowels of the castle, beneath even where the Vault was, a small forge had been built, small enough that one could work it. Loki was kept in that chamber, tasked to create for the good of Asgard. Weapons, tools, devices, it didn't matter. Whatever his warped mind could devise and create. He spoke to no one, except to request materials, and no one ever replied except to push them through a slot in the door.

It was a very fitting punishment, to have Asgard's wayward prince reduced to a common laborer. And the heat of the forge was an extra trial to Loki with his Frost Giant blood. And to a man who thrived on manipulating others, fed on his feelings of superiority to those around him, isolation was a special hell.

It was a very fitting punishment indeed, and the Jotun had accepted it.

But Odin was a wise god and, like all good punishments, it was also meant to heal the one being punished. The cell was reasonably comfortable, and kept lit, and Loki was indeed fed regularly. He wasn't even forced to work the forge. Odin just knew that his adopted son wouldn't be able to stand the boredom otherwise, and would turn to work as his only way of occupying himself.

He'd eventually been proven right. If it was quiet and lonely, it was also peaceful and safe, and hard physical labor could do a lot to clear a clouded mind. In addition, some of the creations brought up from the forge told Thor that his brother had started to throw himself into the task of crafting metal and gems with the same twisted glee he used to craft deceptions and lies. Both tasks occupied his mind well enough, and that was what he craved.

More than that, while Loki was a selfish being in so many ways, they'd never doubted that he loved Asgard. If he couldn't be king, at least he could learn to create something real and lasting for his kingdom.

It was a very fitting punishment, and Thor was in no doubt that Loki was healing. He wanted to do what he could to continue that.

Alone, Thor descended the stairs down and down and further down. He finally arrived at the door, distinctive for its golem guards. They were utterly inanimate unless someone tried to get in or out who wasn't supposed to, and utterly silent – two guards that Loki could not talk his way around.

Odin, however, seemed to have sent word ahead. The guardians remained still as statues. When Thor went to push the door open, they did not stop him. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

To his great surprise, he saw that Loki had apparently been asleep before the sound of the door woke him. His brother pushed himself into a sitting position on his bed, staring up at Thor a little blearily for the second it took his mind to catch up.

"Have three hundred years passed while I slept?" he finally asked, his tone one of mild mockery and did nothing to hide the undercurrent of curiosity. "Since the alternative is that my dear, devoted, dutiful brother has violated the All Father's command to keep me in isolation, I can only assume that I've dreamed my imprisonment away instead."

"Your sentence has not changed, and it has only been another day. And I am not violating any rule of father's. He gave me permission to see you."

Loki smiled faintly. "And you took it? Willingly? Or did you leap at the chance to fill me with false hope?"

His gaze searched Thor's face intently, obviously trying to see the truth or the trick behind his brother's visit, even as everything else about him remained carefully casual. Thor realized that his brother was on guard and uncertain, and trying to hide how surprised he was.

Thor didn't let that throw him off, or Loki's mockery, especially since that was so far positively gentle by his brother's standards.

"Or perhaps the trauma of your most recent brush with death has addled your mind," Loki added, in that same quiet tone of voice he'd used back in the bank, where Thor wasn't certain if Loki was talking to him at all. Something in the other Asgardian seemed to falter a little at the memory.

Just a little, but it was enough for Thor to finally, fully understand. He almost laughed. "I wanted to see how you were, after everything that has happened today. Is that really so strange to you?"

"How I am? I am unharmed, despite being dragged from one world to the next to satisfy my brother's desire to discuss his favorite pets. I am unharmed, because I was able to strike back at them when they turned against you, like rabid dogs always will. You bled all the way to the healing chambers." Loki said it as though Thor's injury was a personal insult to him. "I think you should go back there, and you might make it in time for them to cure your insanity."

But Loki couldn't affect him, now. He saw the irritation for what it was – anger at the world for hurting Thor, anger at himself for caring, a spirited effort to convince Thor that he didn't. "You are wrong, brother. You assume so much and so you learn nothing, and you are better than that."

"Then enlighten me." His brother almost snarled. "What, exactly, have I missed in your attempts at a lesson? What have I assumed that you did not force upon me? You are as subtle and insightful as the hammer you carry."

"I didn't give up my powers for them!" Thor snapped back. "I did it for you!"

That stopped Loki cold. His brother fell silent, eyes widening in shock. Thor continued on: "You told me, once, that you only ever wanted us to be equals! After everything that has passed between us, that is all I want as well! And if I was to be the one to look after you outside your cell, I knew I would have to be the one to take that first step!"

"So rather than lowering yourself to their level, you were lowering yourself to mine? Your generosity astounds me, brother. Should I kneel at your feet?"

"You twist my words, and I understand why, now! If you let yourself believe that anyone cares, you might stop to think about all that you have done! You might realize that none of it was justified or right! You might even remember what it feels like to care for them in turn!"

He knew he'd struck a nerve when Loki lunged at him.

Loki wasn't powerless, but he wasn't at full power, either, and he'd never been a fighter. The Chitauri had handicapped him more than they ever could have known when they tried to make him one. It wasn't much of a fight, it was hardly fair, even though Thor held himself back and did only what he had to in order to stop Loki hurting either one of them.

But he let his brother fight, and struggle, and thrash and yell. It seemed to be something he'd been building to, something he needed, and Thor wouldn't begrudge him that. He wouldn't hurt him for it, either. He was actually worried when Loki seemed to exhaust himself far sooner than Thor had expected him to.

It was a short fight, and it ended with Loki slumped against Thor, breathing heavily, his clenched fists resting against Thor's chest. Thor could feel him shaking, with exhaustion or fear or anger or maybe all of that and more.

All of a sudden, Loki seemed very small and lost and overwhelmed. And so Thor only hesitated a second before wrapping his arms around his brother and hugging him.

Predictably, Loki tensed immediately, his breath catching in his throat. Thor thought for a moment that shock would spur him on to fight again, but it didn't. Loki just let out that breath in a long, shuddering sigh, emotionally spent enough to betray such weakness as his relief at the contact. He really was one of the hungriest beings Thor had ever known, and one of the things he hungered for the most, even if he'd fight tooth and nail not to show it, was any sort of genuine affection. The sort that only his family had ever really offered.

For all his pride, he obviously wasn't in any shape to resist that now. Thor was glad. The feeling of finally just not fighting Loki anymore felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Do not lecture me on caring until you understand your own lessons," Loki said softly, tiredly. "You are cared for. You are even loved. And you showed me today that you understand nothing of what that means. I watched you bleed at their hands. I held your life in my hands today, brother. It was far less pleasant than I thought it would be. So I can only hope that any remnants of affection that linger between us will be enough for you to never inflict that on me again."

"It is," Thor replied solemnly. He wished that he could offer more than a half-real reassurance, but he could not swear to Loki that he would never come to harm again. It wasn't a fair request to make, even if he thought Loki really meant well in making it, only asking at all out of worry and care for him. But Thor lived a dangerous life, and he wouldn't have changed that if he could. He fought for those who could not protect themselves, as a king should. The fact that Loki didn't seem to understand that anymore, if he'd ever understood, was something that would always keep him from the throne he so hungered for.

But he seemed to accept his words, and Thor felt him relax ever so slightly.

Thor still believed that Loki could learn, that a part of him wanted to learn. He was starting to understand what it meant to fight for others, even if he'd only fought for Thor. He was starting to understand the value of humans, even if he'd only spared the life of a criminal because Thor had asked him to.

It was a start.

"Go," said Loki, sounding like the word was an effort. "Leave me. Before the All Father locks you down here with me. The sooner you go, the sooner I can return to my isolation."

Thor nodded, nevertheless feeling his heart ache for his brother. This was a punishment well earned, and Odin had chosen it with his other son's well-being in mind. The thought of such loneliness, stretching on for centuries, was still a thought he could barely contemplate.

He stepped away, reluctantly, and turned away, leaving Loki there, standing in the middle of his room, obviously trying to get himself back under control even if there would soon be no one to see.

Surprise brought Thor up short, his hand on the door, when Loki spoke one last time:

"I will admit…coffee is a marvelous thing."

It was suddenly so much harder to leave him, and it hadn't been easy to start with. Maybe Loki had intended that. Maybe this was just one last barb until they could see one another again, and Odin only knew how long that would be.

But Thor couldn't help but smile, feeling encouraged, and think that the day really had been worth it.