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Chapter Text

Loki almost wanted to laugh. Almost. Thor had just handed everything over to him. The throne, their people, and now and infinity stone. He had to agree with Thor's reasoning- the stone was much safer here than with the Collector, and it wasn't like Thanos wouldn't come either way. He had to be ready for that, and the extra infinity stone would only make the defense easier. Especially with him wielding it.

After getting confirmation with Thor that the Collector wouldn't come seeking out the stone, Loki went down to visit it in the vaults. He had to admit, this one intrigued him, and had since Jane Foster had been taken as its host body. Reality. The Aether, in this form, but Loki knew it could be just as solid as the others, if it wished to. Or was forced to.

But Loki had no interest in forcing it into any form but the one it was already in.

This might be a mistake, but Loki was known for those.

He opened the container and reached out a hand.

Stupid Thor. Stupid Odin. Stupid circular portal thing.

Loki hit the ground. "I have been falling for thirty minutes."

The other man in the room besides his brother, presumably the sorcerer who was responsible for all this, turned to Thor. "You can handle him from here."

Now that was just insulting. "Handle me? Who do you think you are? Did you seriously think I would just let that go-"

"Did you seriously get yourself possessed by an infinity stone?"

Oh. The sorcerer was actually good. And had the time stone, according to the entity in Loki's body, which wanted to prod curiously at the other being. Loki held it back. Careful, he reminded it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Loki told the sorcerer.

"Brother..." Thor sighed. He clearly didn't believe Loki- which, fair enough, Loki had already expressed interest in this situation, good for Thor for noticing- so there was no point in attempting to hide it any longer.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I am not possessed by it, I mean really."

"Brother..."

"You're right. Poor wording choice," the sorcerer conceded. Not bad. He knew when not to pick a verbal fight when he was wrong. "You'd call it... hosting it, then?"

"That's better, yes."

"Loki!"

"Yes, Thor?"

"Did you actually put the Aether in the vault?"

"It's the reality stone, Thor, and yes, I did, actually, but I figured it could be more useful with me than sitting down there waiting for someone to steal it-"

"Who would steal-"

"It's an infinity stone. I believe your answer is half the fucking universe!"

"Right. Right. So your solution was to... host it."

"Yes, actually, it was. Very hard for anyone to take it from us right now."

"Malekith took it out of Jane."

"Malekith was also an ancient being who had already attempted to use it to destroy the universe."

"Your point?"

"I don't need a point, Thor, you do. Because you can't exactly take it out of me, if I'm not mistaken."

"Shut up."

"Gladly. I believe we've gotten distracted."

"About that," the sorcerer interjected. "I believe it's best if I come with you. I'd prefer not having an enemy of this planet walk around with something that powerful unsupervised."

"I thought Thor was my supervision."

"And now I'm adding myself in as well."

"Wonderful."

Loki didn't actually want to see Odin. Loki actually felt better seeing Odin with the sorcerer hovering awkwardly in the background. That was strange.

Strange was also apparently the sorcerer's name. Loki was going to call him Stephen, just to annoy him, because it was very clearly not what Stephen wanted to be referred to as by either of them.

Thor had told him to stop antagonizing the sorcerer. Loki didn't want to. Stephen had started it.

Then Odin was dead, and Loki felt like he was in shock. He'd often thought of Odin dying, of course- either in battle or later by Loki's own hand- but he'd never thought the Allfather would just... die. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't. It was kind of terrifying.

None of them said anything for a moment, but then the portal opened.

That would be Hela, for all the good Odin's last minute warning had done.

Loki grabbed a dagger, and both he and Thor returned to their Asgardian outfits. Stephen, beside them- why was he still here, again? Did he consider Hela a threat to his planet too?- summoned twin shields. Not bad. Loki had always been more for illusions, pocket dimensions, shapeshifting, and the like, but that was definitely useful. Still, there was nothing wrong with just using normal weaponry, for all that Asgard had ridiculed him for not being a warrior. Really, the only thing the shields were was showy, and probably not going to do much against the goddess of death.

What was he planning on doing against the goddess of death, again? Right, leave that to Thor.

Honestly, Hela looked more like him than Thor did, which... said a lot about Odin, maybe, since he'd chosen Loki's Asgardian form, but Loki didn't want to think about that right now, and Odin was dead, anyway, so it didn't really matter.

Hela commented that Thor didn't look a lot like Odin, which Loki thought was just ridiculous. "More than either of the other two of you," Stephen commented.

"Do shut up," Loki told the sorcerer.

Hela raised a brow. "And you?"

"He's from Midgard," Loki informed her. "I don't know why he's still here. Please leave." He glanced at Hela. "Not you. Although, actually, yes, you too."

Thor rolled his eyes.

And then Hela spouted off a bunch of nonsense about her being queen, and Thor protested, and Loki pointed out that he was more king than either of them given that he'd been pretending to be Odin for years at this point and was already doing the job, but only got a 'shut up Loki' for his troubles. He was helping, actually, Thor, if he was king than Hela couldn't be.

Thor got to the point where he was throwing mjolnir at their sister, who proceeded to completely destroy it, at which point Loki decided it was time to go.

"Bring us back!" he called to whoever was manning the Bifrost at this point, and they responded. He barely heard Thor's 'Loki no!' before the three of them were picked up.

Apparently the sorcerer was coming to Asgard now. Wonderful.

At Thor's shout, Loki looked back from where he was glaring at Stephen. He had just enough time to watch Hela throw Thor out of the Bifrost- and that was concerning, since when was that possible?- before speeding toward them. Loki's plan was mainly faster faster faster, but that wasn't enough. He grabbed onto Stephen as Hela reached him, because if he was going down he was taking the sorcerer down with him.

He had, until this moment, had his mind on other things, and therefore forgotten about the infinity stone. His, not Stephen's, although either was fine, but his was more useful at the moment.

Hela grabbed him, and the Aether reacted, throwing Hela and Loki in opposite directions out of the Bifrost, Loki taking Stephen with him.

Loki hated space.

They somehow landed on a trash planet.

It was nicer than Thanos, at least.

Stephen struggled to his feet at Loki's side. There was no sign of Hela or Thor.

Loki groaned. "Wonderful."

Chapter Text

"Never fall through space," Loki commented as he and Stephen trudged along. "It never leaves you anywhere good. Like, the only places that open up to space are the ones that are bad, or something. I don't know."

"Please shut up," Stephen muttered. Loki had no intention of shutting up, if only because he was bored. They'd been walking for what felt like hours- might have been, at this point- and the only people they'd found had asked if they were fighters or food. Loki had wanted to stab people, but Stephen had acted first, dropping the whole group through a big portal. Loki had to admit that it was funny to watch from this side. As long as it wasn't him.

"You know, you're not very talkative."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Oh, believe me, I would love pretty much any other company at the moment too. Except maybe my sister. She'd try to kill me again. But anyway, that doesn't seem to be happening, unless you want to just leave. Could your infinity stone make this walk to any faster?"

Stephen glared at him.

"Right, right. Portals?"

"I have to know where I'm going."

"Could you take us back to Midgard?"

"You think I haven't tried?"

"I wouldn't put it past you not to. Can you do anything useful?"

"I notice you're not exactly helping either."

"I'm not the one who specializes in taking people places."

"You think that's my entire job?"

"What is your job, exactly?"

"Protecting this reality."

"That's not at all vague. Do tell me, would you be interested in killing my former boss at any point? Because really, I would appreciate the help. He's coming back to Earth at some point, if that's incentive. And straight to you, if I had to guess. After all, you do have a stone. Sooner or later, he'll come for it. You could just go to him instead of waiting around. I'd help! I have some really good reasons for wanting him dead, so you can trust me with this. Like with Thor and that thing with the Dark Elves. I had personal investment."

"Didn't you also use that to fake your death and impersonate your father for five years?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't mention that." Loki actually didn't have any ulterior motive for this. His own continued existence was enough. Not to mention he really wanted Thanos dead, and would even if he managed to convince himself that he might be left alone, which he wasn't foolish enough to believe. After all, Thanos had promised, as had the Other, and Asgard had no shortage of infinity stones.

"I'm not an idiot," Stephen informed him, "and I'm certainly not stupid enough to team up with you. You're quite possibly the least-" he cut off, and Loki stopped walking at the same time Stephen did. They'd been so intent in their bickering that they'd practically stumbled upon the city.

"Finally," Loki groaned. "I was going to stab someone if we kept walking for much longer."

Stephen casually stepped aside.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Not you," he informed the sorcerer. "If I killed you, I would have no one left to annoy, and then the walking would be even more boring."

"Forgive me if I don't find that comforting," Stephen told him. Then he seemed to leave it. "What do we do?"

Loki grinned. This was his element. "We head to the biggest, shiniest building and get ourselves an invitation," he replied, gesturing to the tall, golden building that might have been made of salvaged junk, but was clearly important, if the faces carved into the sides said anything.

This would be fun.

"This is never going to work," Stephen grumbled as they approached.

"See, you just don't know how to read people," Loki shot back. "You see these people? They're festive! Exuberant! Flashy! They appreciate glamour and shiny, noticeable things. And where do you think they get that from?" He paused for appropriate dramatic effect. Really, these truly were his type of people. "Their leader! The 'Grandmaster' we keep hearing about. So what do you think is going to charm such a man? You must be as loud, flashy, and bright as a man that could inspire so many people to be such!" With this, Loki's outfit shifted slightly. It was subtle, but the highlights of gold, the way the green was a brighter shade, the way even the black accents seemed to shine, these details a man like the Grandmaster, though Loki had yet to meet him, would spot and pick up on. Surely the man would see in him near an equal in the way of grandeur. Near, of course, because to such a man no one could quite come to his level, but near. "See, Stephen, you must lighten up. You certainly have the color scheme down- the cape is perfect-"

"It's a cloak."

"-and the glowing golden magic is wonderful. But you, Stephen, are not a bright person. You're serious, and grumpy. That's what needs to change. Now, I expect nothing when no one is around, but in public, you must smile more. No scowling. Seriously. The scowling is very bad. Bounce with your step a little. These are small things, Stephen, but they are important to master. They change your whole presentation."

"Loki."

"Don't interrupt. Now-"

"I'm not going to go around acting like... you."

"Oh, the sarcasm, now that is good, that we can work with. It gives you flavor, gives you bite. They'll love that. But in that case, form to that image. You must-"

"Loki. I'm not standing around while you give me acting classes."

Loki shot him a glare. "Stephen, Stephen. If we want this to work, we must work together."

Stephen raised an eyebrow.

"You're right, you're right. Just... don't antagonize anyone, and let me do the actual talking. And maybe pretend to like me?"

"Never going to happen."

"Worth a shot."

Getting an audience with the Grandmaster went surprisingly well. Loki walked up to the guards in a boisterous manner, and Stephen gloweringly followed behind, and all Loki had to do was compliment the aesthetic of everything and mention that they were new to the planet and they were being escorted inside to see the Grandmaster.

The Grandmaster was an older but still spry-looking man with a beautiful look- short silver hair, golden robes, coupled with blue underneath. Loki barely had to fake his enthusiasm. "Ah! You must be the Grandmaster. Such style could never be topped, and how it has inspired this place. The perfect blend- beautiful! And the way it has spread throughout all I have seen! Really, it is amazing to be in your presence."

The Grandmaster turned to the woman hovering behind him. "I like this one. I'm keeping him." Then he turned his focus back to Loki, who was beaming at him. "Pleasure to meet you, really. I heard you're new here? I do love it when we get new visitors, they're always fascinating. Now, how did you find your way to this place?"

Loki's eyes lit up. "Here? How could I not? Gorgeous, truly, how could I resist making my way closer? And with the potential to meet the man who I've heard inspired and created this place? I simply could not pass up the opportunity."

"I'm so glad you did. I'm in need of a new court member, actually, if you would be interested in a position."

"How lovely!" Loki declared. "Loki, God of Mischief, at your service."

"And your companion?" The Grandmaster eyed Stephen.

"This is Stephen. Don't mind him, he can't help it. It's just what he's like." Stephen huffed in the background.

"And how did you two come to know each other?"

Now, that was the tricky part. He needed an excuse to keep Stephen around, as he didn't like the idea of taking his eyes off the sorcerer and his infinity stone and potentially helpful portals. They needed to be close. More than friends, but there was no way he was calling Stephen a sibling after his history with them. What...

Oh. That was an idea. Stephen would hate it, and Loki didn't like it all that much either, but the Grandmaster would love it, and it would certainly cement their place here.

So Loki threw an arm around Stephen's shoulders, pulled him close- closer that Loki would have liked, but it was good for the act, and prayed the sorcerer would go along with it.

"He's my fiancé!"

Chapter Text

Loki and Stephen walked around disembodied. It was good for sneaking around but generally bad for witnesses that could help Loki if Stephen decided to kill him. Oh well. Hopefully, Stephen wouldn't try to kill him. He wondered if the reality stone would protect him while they were disembodied.

Whatever the case, Stephen had not tried to kill him yet, although he was fuming.

"Was that really necessary?" Stephen finally gritted out. They had yet to talk about it, all through being given very lovely rooms and eating delicious food and pretending to go to sleep. They hadn't even prepared for what they would do in the case that the Grandmaster summoned them. Loki hadn't really wanted to be the first to bring the topic up, given that he was still slightly afraid for his life, and Stephen hadn't said anything until now.

"Yes," Loki told him, "if you like our new accommodations. He needed an answer, and he needed a good one. If you want to stick around, then I need a reason to keep you around, and I want to keep an eye on you as much as you want to keep an eye on me, so I'd say this arrangement is mutually beneficial. If you ignore the fact that neither of us likes it."

"If you don't like it, then why did you make that our story?"

"Because I couldn't think of a better one! We needed to be close enough to be inseparable, and this was the answer! Unless you'd rather we were actually married..."

"At least if we were married, there would be no chance of them actually trying to organize our wedding."

Loki paused. "Oh. You're right. I didn't think of that. They might actually try to have us get married, won't they?"

Stephen glared at him. "I thought you were good at this!"

"I was not, at the time, thinking about the long term in any way but us sticking together. We really should have planned that part out in advance, but I really just wanted us to get to this point, which I would like to point out I did, and if they do try to have us get married... we can always just make up some cultural thing about how we haven't been engaged long enough or gone through some rituals or something like that to put it off."

"And what would these... rituals entail?"

"I don't know! Are you planning to actually marry me, Stephen? Because if not, there's really no point to it. Maybe we can just say I need parental permission and my father wouldn't give it- which he wouldn't have, I might add, because he hated me, at least I thought he did, and wanted to make my life miserable so there's no way he would have approved a love match, or any match for that matter unless it benefited him- but anyway, he wouldn't give it to me, so we went off in search of my mother- no need to tell them she's dead- but then we ended up here so now we'd need to go off and find her, but we don't know how to leave this place, but if we did-"

Stephen was smirking. "Then maybe we could leave and never come back." The sorcerer's grin grew even more. "I believe that you may have just created us the beginnings of a backstory that could eventually get us out of here, if we play it right."

Loki's eyes widened minutely in surprise, which Stephen must have noticed from the thrilled look on his face, because he would admit that the sorcerer had not only caught him off guard, but also manipulated him into spelling out what was, now that he was looking back over it, actually a good idea. In a pointless attempt to cover up his surprise- and maybe a touch of admiration- he raised an eyebrow. "So, we're doing this, then?"

Stephen grinned. "It appears we are. So tell me, great storyteller, how did the two of us come to meet? After all, we must share our love story, as I'm sure it is as appropriately epic as such a tale must be, to impress our hosts."

Loki sat back, his mind in its natural state: scheming. And he liked this new title of his. "Well, as all great tales do, it begins with a tragedy." Loki's mouth had not yet caught up to his brain, but inside, the story unwound before him, the lie weaved in such a way that even Thor, were he here, might believe it with the right tone. "There's no need to bore them with my terrible childhood, but we begin with me fighting my brother in an epic battle- me, torn apart by betrayal and self-hatred at the discovery of my heritage, him, betrayed by me in another of our Father's terrible games. It was neither of our faults that we found ourselves there, not really- only Odin can be blamed, for driving me over the edge and putting so much pressure on Thor, for always pitting us against each other until it was all we knew. But this battle ends with me and my brother hanging off the edge of our planet, on a staff, which is being held by our father. And in my hurt and betrayed mental state, I let go.

"Flash forward a year or so, and I reappear, after being assumed dead since my battle with my brother. And where do I appear? Earth, an unremarkable world- oh, don't look at me like that, Stephen, it's true- except for the presence of an infinity stone. And this infinity stone is what my new boss wants. So he sends me to Earth, in exchange for an army that I can use to take over the planet to rule. All is going well, I am preparing to open a portal to allow my army through, when I go to scout out the scene of my future invasion, the city of New York."

No one, except the people he'd been mind controlling, knew what occured between his arrival to Earth and Germany, so this could be the truth, as far as anyone knew.

"And this is where I meet a man. And you, Stephen, enter the picture. What would you have been doing while SHEILD frantically searched for me?"

"I was still a surgeon, working in New York. I was one of the people who still thought everything was fine in the world, with no clue that an alien invasion was days away."

"Even better. So, on the streets of New York, I meet a man. And maybe we talk a little, and even have dinner. And I get carried away. I even make up my own fake backstory-" Should he be mentioning fake backstories in a fake backstory? Ah, well, there was no way around it. That little detail would get lost in the coming twists and betrayals- "because I want him to like me. I might be just a little in love with this human. So, obviously, I pack up the alien invasion, give the humans back their infinity stone, and live my happily ever after with the man I love, right?

"But!" and here, and evil grin spread across Loki's face, a mastermind just revealing the trap his victims had missed- "I am being mind controlled!

"And so, I instead go back to my minions and continue on with the alien invasion, and you might just be thinking about me as much as I am about you. Because you might be just a little in love too. At least, until a few days later when I'm back in New York, but this time leading invading aliens against a few powerful defenders, including my own brother. And I fail, and you swear me off in rage and prepare to go on in life forgetting you ever loved me, and I end up in an Asgardian prison cell, free from mind control but unable to reach you, with my father content to leave me there for the rest of my life, forbidding my mother and brother from visiting me, in fear that one might realize that this was all his fault in the first place for lying to me. Of course, my mother had her ways of getting around that, but I guess I just couldn't make myself tell her.

"Time passes. Finally, there comes a time when my brother needs my help, and I, crazy with love, take advantage of him. I fake my death once more and return home, impersonating my father and taking over his reign, banishing him away. And then, once Asgard is back to its full strength and looking away from me, I return to Earth, to see if I can find the beautiful mortal I fell in love with- are you blushing?"

"No."

"Well, anyway, I return, only to find, to my shock, that you have become a powerful sorcerer! Of course, given that you still see me as the alien invader of years ago, your immediate response to seeing me again is to drop me through a portal and leave me falling through another dimension for thirty minutes while you try to come to terms with all the emotions that my return has caused."

"You're still bitter about that, aren't you?"

"Nonsense. A great lie is simply based in truth. Now, you then release me, prepared to deal with me as necessary, only to be shocked yourself when I spill my tale and beg for forgiveness, as I love you. Now, you can't immediately process this, so you lock me back in some dimension, before realizing that you love me still, and you wish for this to be the truth. So, you bring me back, prepared to question me on my story. And so, I tell you of what occurred to me before I came to Earth, as well as who I truly am and what my story is. And you forgive me, and vow revenge against the man that hurt me. But I prevent you from going after him, because for all your power, he is a very dangerous man, and still out there to this day, ready to punish me for my failure. And so, time passes, and we meet up when we can. And then, I propose. You accept. But then I realize that my culture- adopted culture, not my birth culture- demands that I have a parent's blessing to marry. And my mother has been missing since the same conflict that saw me freed from my cell by my brother. So I must turn to my father. My brother accompanies us to ask him, but he refuses. And, before I can do anything to change his mind, he has the nerve to go and die on me as well. So now my only option truly is my mother. Now, my brother is called away to deal with the fallout of our father's death, but as for us, well... we go off in search of my mother, but somehow, in our travels, end up here."

And then, Loki glanced up at Stephen. "So, what do you think?"

Stephen grinned. "I think we've got a plan."

Chapter Text

The next day, the Grandmaster invited them to dine with him, and Loki graciously accepted. After all, what better time was there to share their story than over dinner?

When they arrived, the Grandmaster's... whatever she was, who had been introduced to them as Topaz, lead them into the room, where a feast was spread out over a table that was spread out over way too much space for three people. Loki, of course, immediately moved his chair, which had been across the table from Stephen, right next to Stephen's, shrugging unapologetically at their host, who seemed to find the whole thing amusing. Topaz hovered over the Grandmaster's shoulder as he expressed his hospitality and then they settled down to eat.

"So, how did you two meet?" the Grandmaster eventually asked. Exactly the opening that Loki had been waiting for, but he didn't immediately take the bait. He had to build up the interest in their story, first, because it was rather long, and his audience needed to be invested in it right from the start. Especially since he'd be giving a bit of his own backstory as context before introducing Stephen to the story.

"Well, you know what they say, opposites attract," Loki brushed off carelessly. "You look like you'd know." He gestured to Topaz, standing seriously over the much more eccentric Grandmaster.

The Grandmaster chuckled. "Of course, of course. But don't be shy. Tell the story."

Loki pretended to hesitate. "Well, if you're sure. It's a rather long story, even if it's one of my personal favorites."

"Oh, go on. I'm dying to hear it."

Loki looked at Stephen, who seemed to understand. "Oh, you go on. You know I love listening to you tell it." He smiled flirtatiously, and he had to have practice with that smile because Loki almost believed Stephen actually meant it. "I love to listen to any story if you're telling it."

And Loki, of course, smiled back, before turning to the Grandmaster. "Well then. It starts a bit before we met- around a year, actually, but don't worry, most of that year isn't relevant. But this is, because this is the event that set us on the path to meeting each other, which is I suppose the one thing I might have to that my father for... but I don't want to... ah, sorry, we're not here to talk about my opinions on my father, though he will become important sooner or later. Unfortunately. Well, anyway, when our story starts, I'm in a bit of a fight to the death with my brother." Loki waved that off like it was a small deal. "Hardly the first time, but probably the first time it was so serious, or the consequences so dire. See, I'd recently learned of my heritage being of a species my people despised, and that I was adopted- in other words, that- in my people's eyes, and in a way my own- I was a monster. And my brother had gone through his own trials, but while he'd emerged triumphant and changed for the better, I fell into betrayal and self-loathing and a desperate need to prove myself- even through a method that made me more of a monster than my heritage ever did." Stephen reached for his hand, and that was good, that was perfect for their image, and it was strangely comforting despite being for no more than their act. Loki hadn't realized until just now that this was really the first time he was telling anyone this story from his perspective. Even to these people, and for a much larger (if faker) story, it felt... big. "It's probably for the best that I lost that fight, that my brother stopped me, but when the fight ended, both me and him lay hanging off the face of our planet, hanging on only to a staff that my father held to keep us from falling into the Void to our deaths. But in that moment, I think I lost hope that I would ever mean something to my father. And I let go."

Loki took a deep breath. "Obviously, I'm not dead. Sometimes I still wonder about that, but I guess fate wasn't done with me yet. Anyway, a year passes, and the next time I'm seen- by anyone with any importance to our story at least- I'm on Stephen's planet, Earth. Half-mad, a conqueror, and planning to take the planet and its infinity stone by force." And the Grandmaster leaned in, as Loki spoke of his plans for Earth, of meeting Stephen on the street, of emerging love. Gasping in appropriate shock when Loki made his big reveal. Nodded along, enraptured, as Loki spoke of captivity and freedom and desperate betrayal and reunions. And all throughout, Stephen was there to complement the story not by speaking up, but with subtle gestures- comforting Loki during the hard parts, pressing his lips together angrily whenever Odin was mentioned, even giving an obviously faked embarrassed shrug when Loki brought up the portal incident. If Loki hadn't known they were both faking, he might have believed it himself.

The outrage when Loki spoke of his father's rejection of their appeal for his blessing was expected, as was the sympathetic nodding that said 'how dare he' when Loki spoke of Odin's subsequent death, destroying their chances of changing his mind.

"It was as if he did it to spite me," Loki muttered darkly, before sighing. "Well, anyway, there was a... situation that came up with my father's death, but the task of dealing with that I left to my brother, for I had my own quest- to find our lost mother, so she could give us her blessing instead. That was... oh I don't know, but not long ago. But before our quest could even start, really, we ended up here, somehow." Loki shrugged. "Well, maybe she's found her way here as well." His tone didn't portray much hope. Stephen wrapped an arm around his shoulders, as if to comfort him, and the Cloak followed his lead.

"Maybe," the Grandmaster agreed. "Or if not, we'll see if someone has heard anything. We get types from all around here on Sakaar, and maybe someone's encountered her."

Loki looked up, pretending to be hopeful. "Would you?" It wasn't what he was looking for, but it was a start, and anyway, clearly no one had heard anything about Frigga since she was actually dead. They could work from there.

"Of course! Anything to see you two happy. Now tell me. Have you made any plans for the wedding yet? I can't imagine it will be anything less than spectacular."

Loki gave a laugh. "Oh, we haven't even agreed on whose culture we should do the wedding in the style of. I want to do an Earth marriage- whichever one Stephen would do if he was marrying someone from Earth."

Stephen played along. "I told you, we should do this for you. You deserve it."

"I don't know. After everything, I'm not sure a wedding in the style of my people would be in the cards."

"It would spite your father."

Loki frowned. "It's so very hard to argue with that argument."

The Grandmaster laughed. "Why not do both? Get married twice? Plenty of people do it, so both cultures recognize the marriage. Plus, you get to get married twice."

Loki grinned, as if the Grandmaster had just solved all their problems. "Hard to argue with that, either."

It wasn't like there would be a wedding, anyway, so agreeing didn't hurt.

Upon returning to their rooms, Loki decided that he didn't want to deal with the emotional overload telling that story had unexpectedly awoken, so he was going to go to sleep instead.

And if Stephen looked like he was contemplating asking something whenever he looked at Loki, well, Loki ignored that. He didn't want to deal with that, either.

Chapter Text

Now, Loki knew he told a good story. It was something he'd always been immensely proud of- it aided his lying, too, but he also used it in other ways: the dramatize a great battle during the celebrations that came after, to entertain his brother and his friends, to tell himself when he felt cut off and lonely and oh-too-different from the other children, the other Asgardians. After over a thousand years, Loki was practically the master of storytelling.

But even he hadn't foreseen the smash hit that their love story became among the Sakaarians.

Everyone in the court wanted to hear Loki tell it. The Grandmaster himself stopped by to listen in almost daily, and Loki was about ready to just set up storytelling times because he couldn't walk five steps without someone asking to hear it. He knew the words by heart now, even though he changed the wording a bit with every retelling. Honestly, if it kept up at this rate, he might even start to forget that that wasn't how it had gone down, and that he wasn't actually engaged to Stephen.

Stephen himself had begun to come out of his shell, a little, as well. He was still his usual biting self, but the snark was enough to be amusing without being offensive and he always made sure to soften around Loki, aside from a few good-natured jabs.

They spent most of their time in court. Loki told himself it was a good infiltration technique- the more time they spent with these people, the more rapport they built, and the more it felt to the court like they were always there. The closer they were to eventually getting permission to seek out Loki's dead mother and finally get out of this place.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he hated the awkward silences the always filled their rooms when they were there together.

Loki had always been a master liar, including to himself.

"Stop it, you stupid piece of fabric," Loki muttered. It was the middle of the night, he was trying to sleep, and Stephen's cloak of all things was poking at him.

The Cloak kept poking at him.

Groaning, Loki pushed himself up. He dimly noticed that Stephen was not in bed beside him but instead at the window, gazing out over Sakaar. "What?" he asked irritably, in the general direction of both Stephen and his annoying piece of fabric that had ceased poking him, proving that it had indeed wanted him to get up. He glared at it.

"I was thinking we could go stargazing," Stephen said randomly. "I don't know how common it is out here, but on Earth, it's an activity people do pretty often, if they live in a place where you can see the stars."

Loki had been woken up for this? "I don't know if you remember, but we're not actually engaged. Go on your own, tell them I'm tired if anyone asks. I am. Goodnight." Loki flopped back down.

Stephen sighed. "I want to get a better look at these wormholes or whatever they are. See if there's any indication of which one goes where, or if there are some that are only one way. Maybe even see if we can find the one that we came here through. I don't want to ask around about them, so the only way we're going to learn anything is if we go look into them on our own."

"The one we came through leads to the middle of space," Loki said, because he didn't want to admit that Stephen had a point. If their plan didn't work out, having a backup plan would come in handy, and their best chance was to leave the same way they got here.

"Then we'd better start trying to find one that doesn't." Loki was almost certain Stephen was smirking, although he couldn't see in the dim light.

"Fine," Loki grumbled, and got up. If their cover story didn't require him to not stab Stephen, he would have stabbed Stephen. As it was, he contented himself with the reminder that the moment they were out of this mess, then he could stab the man.

He wondered if Stephen could tell what he was thinking about.

"Nothing," Loki grumbled. "There is nothing out here that tells us anything. It's not like they were ever going to have signs up saying 'this one goes to Earth' or whatever."

"I'm not bringing you back to Earth." Both Loki and Stephen were disguised with Loki's illusions, but there was no need. They hadn't seen signs of anyone since they left the city.

Loki shrugged. "Asgard, then. Or even one that just says 'do not enter, leads to space'."

"It doesn't really matter," Stephen noted. "None of these seem to suck things into them. So we'll need to steal a spaceship anyway, when it comes to that." Then he shot Loki a smirk. "And the ones that have space debris coming out of them are probably the ones that go to space. The ones that have things like furniture and people coming out of them probably lead to planets."

Loki probably would have noticed that, if he wasn't busy being irritable about coming out here in the first place. The fact that Stephen had thought of it before he had just made him all the more irritable and more willing to be difficult. "I haven't seen any people coming out of these, have you?"

Stephen rolled his eyes. "We came out of one. Everyone here came out of one at some point."

"We also came from space."

"I doubt people fall through space very often. Normally they have safe methods of transportation that you don't get thrown out of."

"I'm sure plenty of people get thrown out of spaceships all the time. I saw it happen multiple times with-" and then he shut his mouth. Telling his life story to people must be affecting him, because there was no way he would ever have gotten that close to talking about his time with Thanos with Stephen of all people.

The rest of their walk continued in silence.

They didn't learn anything useful. Loki wanted to feel smug, but he was just too tired to feel much of anything right now, except Stephen's eyes on the back of his neck, burning with unasked questions. Loki didn't know what he wanted to ask, but it was getting annoying.

"Just ask, already," he said, because he was tired and just wanted to sleep.

“Were you… actually being mind controlled during New York?” Stephen asked hesitantly.

Loki looked away. “Yes. I was. And you’re the first person to actually figure out that there was something more going on there.” Not Thor, not his mother, no one had questioned it.

Stephen didn’t answer that, and Loki didn’t look at him, and that was the end of the conversation, but maybe it was a little nice that someone knew, at least.

Chapter Text

Loki was once again animatedly telling their love story to a gathered crowd when Stephen put his hand on Loki's arm.

"What is-" Loki started, before freezing. His eyes found the Grandmaster's new captives as they were brought forward into the room. "Oh."

Stephen chuckled.  Loki shot him a half-hearted glare that was mostly only half-hearted because he was still trying to process the situation. And because he was supposed to actually like Stephen.

Together, the two of them excused themselves- the gathered group had probably already heard the tale, anyway- and moved to greet the two new arrivals, who also happened to be Loki's siblings. Which was not at all a concerning development.

The two had very different expression. Hela's Loki could only describe as 'murder', which he honestly could relate to, but was not in his best interests at the moment. Or ever, really, knowing Hela. Thor looked more disoriented, glancing around, and he looked much more pleased to see Loki. Or maybe Stephen, Loki wasn't sure.

"Loki!" he called in excitement. That answered that question. "You're not dead!"

Loki raised an eyebrow. "You should know better than that by now, brother." Then, sharing a glance with Stephen, he leaned in closer, lowering his voice. They didn't have much time before the Grandmaster came back. "If anyone asks, Mother is alive but we don't know where she is, Stephen and I are engaged but I need parental permission to marry him, and Odin is, in fact, an asshole."

Thor was too used to Loki's schemes to question it, Loki hoped, because that was all they had time for before the Grandmaster was back again. "So, you guys know each other?" he asked. Which they clearly did, given that Loki was whispering with Thor.

Loki spun dramatically. "May I introduce my brother Thor- I told you about him- and," he winced, "my sister Hela. The... situation I mentioned."

"Ah." The Grandmaster nodded wisely. "I see. Well, I was hoping they could both participate in my Contest of Champions, and, well, if your brother is as great of a warrior as you've made him out to be, he should have no problem with my offer."

"Offer?" Loki asked. He honestly didn't care too much what happened to Thor, although having his brother would be helpful if they had to fight their way out, but he had to admit he was curious.

"Any fighter who can defeat my Champion will be given their freedom to do as they please, although I would hope they would continue to participate in the Contest."

Hela scoffed. "Why wouldn't I just kill you all?"

The Grandmaster responded by pressing a button, electrocuting her with some circular device that Loki noticed both prisoners had.

"Then point me in the direction of whoever's ass I have to kick!" Thor declared. Loki sighed. Same old Thor.

"So what are we going to do about this?" Stephen asked.

Loki kicked back in his chair as they settled back into their rooms. "Do? Why would we do anything? It's Thor's fight. Either he fights his way out the legal way or he'll fight his way out some other way, I'm sure. We don't have to do anything about it."

Stephen sighed. "I should have assumed you didn't care what happened to your brother."

Somehow that stung, even if Loki himself had had the thought. "I have confidence in my brother's abilities to cause plenty of damage to anyone who stands in his way."

Stephen raised an eyebrow. "Right."

Loki found himself on the defensive. "What do you want me to do? Come running in, destroying everything in my path to get to my brother? We've been faking our way through this for however long for a reason. Fighting these people is our last resort for a reason. I'm not going to throw away our work when Thor can take care of himself. If they do agree to let us go, I can ask about taking Thor with us, but he can take care of himself."

"I'm sure. And I'm sure that's been how you've convinced yourself to throw your brother into your schemes for years."

"I told you what happened in New York."

"New York, yes, but you've also told me that you were in a fight to the death with your brother before that happened, and you've had no hesitations since to use him to get where you want to be. Unless you were being mind controlled for more of that than you've said, you did all of that because you wanted to, because it benefitted you."

"And what was I supposed to do? Stay in that cell for thousands of years for something I had no control over? I did what I had to do."

"I'm sure you did. I'm just saying, Thor was collateral, wasn't he? As long as you got what you wanted, what happened to him- or anyone else- didn't matter."

Loki scoffed. "You think he cares any more about me? Like I said, no one even questioned the fact that I returned from the dead only to attack a planet. Everyone just assumed it was another one of Loki's plots. Nobody asked. Thor didn't ask. Don't lecture me about caring about my brother when clearly he's just as quick to assume the worst of me as I am to 'use' him."

"I'm not saying he's perfect. But I am saying you certainly didn't help your own case."

Loki turned away. "I don't want to have this conversation right now." He flopped down on the bed. No one was winning that fight, and he had to go out and pretend to be in love with Stephen tomorrow. For now, he was going to bed.

Chapter Text

"Your brother and your sister are very different people," the Grandmaster said to Loki.

Loki chuckled. "Yes." He paused. "How did you figure that out?"

The Grandmaster shrugged. "When your brother decided to be impatient about when he got to fight his challenge while your sister just tried to kill anyone who came near her."

Loki nodded. "That sounds about right."

"So, where's your fiancé?"

Loki had been trying not to think about Stephen, even avoiding the court, so he didn't have to tell their 'love story'. What a joke. This was all a joke. He wasn't going to be able to deal with this much longer. "He wasn't feeling well, decided to stay in our rooms."

"Ah. Hope he gets better soon."

"Yeah," Loki muttered distractedly.

Stephen was waiting in their rooms when Loki returned, and the plan was to avoid the man and leave him to... whatever he'd been doing all day.

He paused when he heard Stephen's voice. "I was in New York, you know."

"So you've said," Loki said flatly. He didn't see why they were talking about this right now.

"No, I mean, during the invasion."

Oh. "I see."

"I'll admit I'm hardly the most impartial view of this situation. Even knowing the full story, part of me is still going to push New York to the front of my mind every once in a while, where your brother was the one saving lives like mine from your army."

"It was never my army."

"I know that now. I didn't for years. It's... hard, to make my mind accept that after all that time."

Stephen sighed. "That's... my problem, not yours, I'm sorry. That's not really what I wanted to say, but... oh, I don't know. I guess I wanted to explain myself. For last night."

That was... new. Nice, maybe. That he cared enough to do that. "And what did you actually want to say?"

Stephen sighed. "It's not my place, I know. This is your family business. But... as someone who spent a good deal of my life pushing everyone away and putting myself above them... it's good to have people. I think you would have your brother, if both of you tried. And I think he'd be open to it, from what I've seen. Don't lose that. It would be good for both of you."

Loki didn't know what to think of that. "I will... take your advice into consideration." He didn't know what else to say, turning away, when he realized something. Turning back slyly, he asked, "Did you spend all day in here thinking of how to say that to me?"

Stephen flushed. That gave Loki his answer, even before the sorcerer answered, "...Perhaps."

"I see." Loki smirked, turning back around.

He wondered why that made him so pleased. Why he was smiling when Stephen couldn't see.

Loki couldn't sleep. His thoughts were swirling around, and he wanted to get up and pace but refused to give into the temptation. Lying in bed wasn't the best place for this, not when he was sharing the single bed in their rooms with Stephen, but he didn't want to lose that battle and move somewhere else.

One question was plaguing him, but it was leading to others.

But, mainly, why was he so pleased that Stephen had devoted almost an entire day to figure out how to give him some advice that Loki had never asked for and didn't know what to do with?

That, of course, led to questions like why was Stephen even giving him that advice and why had Loki actually cared so much last night anyway?

Stephen's motivations would take more time to figure out, so Loki instead focussed on his own.

He should be used to people assuming the worst of him, so Stephen doing the same- especially when they meant almost nothing to each other, temporary allies that had known each other for a couple weeks at most- should have been easy to brush off. Loki was not in the habit of defending, explaining, justifying himself, yet he had done that last night with Stephen.

Why? Why Stephen, when he had long sought Odin's approval, Thor's, his mother's? And why was he comparing these people to Stephen anyway? They were his family, those he had once cared about. Why would he care more about the opinion of some sorcerer who had dropped him off the street than- oh.

No. No. It was impossible. Loki couldn't- it was fake. All of this. It wasn't- he wasn't-

It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn the cloak, from where it was hovering in the corner, looked at him knowingly.

Loki had given up on sleep. The revelation- because he could deny it all he liked, but this was too big to ignore for long- would keep him up for the rest of the night.

Loki was in love with Stephen.

Chapter Text

Despite his claims that he didn't care what happened to Thor, Loki did attend the Contest of Champions the night Thor was scheduled to fight. He told himself it was because he was accepting the Grandmaster's invitation, that he had to go as a member of the court.

The knowing glances Stephen was shooting his way weren't helping in any way.

Together, the two of them made their way into the grand viewing box to watch the fights. Loki spared a passing thought to wonder if Asgard had ever had anything like this. Warriors always loved to spar, yes, and sometimes crowds even gather to watch, though Loki had never quite understood the appeal of either watching or participating. Maybe watching, just a bit, as he got older and learned to appreciate violence more, but he'd always thought most of the warriors were idiotic brutes, and that the fights would be more interesting if the combatants used trickery or magic as well as their swords. But anyway, as far as Loki knew, there had never been any fights to the death on Asgard in his lifetime, at least for sport. But it sounded like a thing Asgardians would do. Although, say what Thor might about what Loki had done while King of Asgard these past five years, he had tried to make things more peaceful for their people. Maybe at the cost of peace in some other realms, if Thor was to be believed, but then, he had tried to stop being as overbearing as Asgard had become over its reign... and okay, maybe he hadn't quite trusted himself wanted to deal with Jotunheim either... whatever. That was all beside the point, anyway. Loki was here to watch Thor kick someone's ass, not reminisce over Asgard's traditions and his time as Odin.

Luckily, he was quickly distracted by the roar of the crowd as Stephen sat down next to him. Or maybe it was Stephen himself who was the cause of the distraction, if Loki was being honest with himself, which he was not exactly in the habit of doing. Loki had avoided getting drawn into any more deeper conversations with the man until he could sort out his feelings. He wasn't sure whether or not the other man had noticed, but either way he'd managed to keep their discussions to light banter for the most part. Banter which he was not enjoying, at all, at least any more than normal... oh, who was he kidding? He enjoyed bantering with Stephen. Very much so.

Again, Loki forced himself to focus on the arena, as Thor made his entrance. He couldn't help the slight chuckle at the way the crowd jeered and booed instead of giving Thor the cheers he'd been given all his life. Maybe that was petty of him, but Loki personally thought he deserved a little pettiness. Well, he was also laughing at his brother's new haircut- he would have loved to watch that debacle go down, as no doubt Thor had not gone through with that willingly- but that was beside the point. The point which was... actually, Loki had no idea what the point was, but that was beside the point, anyway.

That was when the cheers started up, as the announcer built up to the introduction of the Grandmaster's champion. Loki spared a brief thought to amusing himself with guessing at who or what would come out of that door. A brute, perhaps, was likely at these things, perhaps a rather large one- it would be rather funny to see Thor dwarfed by his opponent. But Loki had also seen that before, and that was boring. It would be much more interesting if the being that would walk out those doors was average-sized and unassuming, or even tiny. Yes, the perfect entrance would be Thor coming up against a being that was barely a foot tall... and then getting his ass kicked anyway. And what type of being would Thor be fighting? A beast, or a trained warrior of some common species? Or perhaps something truly exotic...

It was at that moment that the door finished rising, green smoke spread through the air, and out stepped-

Oh.

Well that was...

Loki didn't know what that was. Didn't know what to think, except that he was suddenly regretting every decision that had led him here.

"Perhaps we should go," Loki suggested to Stephen, as the crowd roared the Hulk's name.

Stephen had the nerve to chuckle, the insufferable man. But Loki's outrage was quickly smothered as Stephen leaned in to whisper in his ear, grinning. "Don't worry," Stephen told him, and Loki was all too fixated on how close the man suddenly was. He felt the warm breath on his ear as Stephen continued, "I'll protect you from the big bad green monster."

Loki should growl. Should glare, should do something in response to that, but all he could think of was turning his head to look into Stephen's eyes. Maybe if he kissed the sorcerer, right here and now, he would throw the man off balance-

No. Absolutely not.

And yet Stephen's lips were so close...

They were both distracted by the Grandmaster sitting down next to them, both jumping back from each other as the man commented, "Beauty, isn't he? Never seen anything like him. And that strength. I've never quite had anything in the ring that destroys opponents like him. He's brought so much excitement to the contest. Not that it wasn't exciting before, obviously, but my Champion just makes the crowds crazy."

Loki wondered what the Grandmaster thought of Banner.

As the Grandmaster spoke, Thor was having his reunion with his 'friend from work', which seemed to consist of Thor screaming to everyone that he knew this guy and apparently they were best friends all of a sudden, and Hulk being impatient about fighting Thor.

Loki would chuckle, except he was very much trying not to attract the attention of the huge green monster, which meant unnecessary noises were out of the question.

Finally the Hulk got tired of Thor's attempts to chat, and started furiously launching himself at Thor. Loki let himself get caught up in the excitement and the fight, even forgetting that he was supposed to be keeping the Hulk's attention away from him, and allowed himself the petty enjoyment of seeing his brother tossed about like Loki had been during the battle of New York. It seemed that Thor without his hammer was no match for the Hulk, and while that still left his brother here, and somewhat Loki's problem, that didn't matter at the moment, because Loki was enjoying this.

It was at this point that lightning suddenly blasted from Thor and threw the Hulk away from him.

It was impossible. Mjolnir had been destroyed, Loki had seen it. And yet, Thor rose, lightning crackling from his hands, his eyes.

Stephen's brows rising was nothing compared to the utter shock flowing through Loki. How-?

Through his confusion, Loki noticed the tables beginning to turn as Thor gained the upper hand in the fight. At least until the shocked Grandmaster took that device of his and activated whatever the little disk was and Thor collapsed. And the Hulk leaped.

This was not how he'd expected this night to go.

Chapter Text

"I did not know he could do that," Loki felt it necessary to say as he and Stephen reentered their rooms. Honestly, he was still somewhat in shock from the whole experience with Thor and his new hammerless lightning powers. Could he do that when he was banished to Earth? Or had Odin stripped his power from him, not just his weapon? Surely he would have used it if he'd known, but... had Thor even known he could do that before tonight?

"I could tell," Stephen replied, and Loki sent him a half-hearted glare. Yes, he hadn't tried very hard to hide his shock, but there was no need for Stephen to point it out, really.

Quite frankly, Loki was somewhat terrified of the strength of Thor's newfound lightning. The blasts he'd launched at the Hulk had seemed, at least, far stronger than anything Mjolnir had summoned.

Thankfully, Stephen didn't comment any more on Loki's lapse of control, instead asking, "So, now what?"

Loki had no idea. He hadn't really thought about what he would do when they got to this point. He'd been too distracted by... certain revelations and he hadn't really thought Thor would lose, anyway. It was Thor. He never lost, to Loki's ire throughout the centuries. He'd almost won tonight, before the Grandmaster intervened. But apparently the universe had decided that this was the the for Thor to lose, when it would make Loki's life the most difficult.

Of course it did.

But Loki was not voicing any of that to Stephen. Instead, he replied, "What would you have us do? You seem to care more about my brother's fate than I do, so perhaps you should tell me your plan to deal with it."

He was not using Stephen's investment to avoid making a decision about Thor. Besides, why did Loki have to be the only one making the decisions? Stephen should have to make some decisions too. So he could decide what to do about Thor.

Stephen smirked. Loki didn't know what that meant. Then, Stephen said, "I think you should go talk to him."

Loki sighed and flopped down in a fluffy chair. "Of course you do."

"You asked."

He had. Loki was now regretting that, and regretting even more the fact that he didn't have an actual plan. So he had no reason to say no to Stephen's plan, no alternative to offer, and his only argument was that he really didn't want to.

Somehow, he got the idea that Stephen really wouldn't care that much.

Stephen's smirk grew as Loki tried and failed to come up with an excuse that would get him out of this. Damn sorcerer.

"We have no proof the Grandmaster will even allow us to speak to him," Loki protested finally. Which was true. A weaker argument than he would have liked, but true.

Stephen shrugged. "Even if he doesn't, you and I both have our methods to get places where we aren't supposed to be."

Another excellent point. Why was Stephen this good at making arguments? Loki was supposed to be good at this! There had to be a good reason why Loki shouldn't go talk to his brother...

He just couldn't think of it.

Loki glared at Stephen. "I have no interest in bringing my brother on our plans. He surely has one of his own by now-"

"Then you can ask him about it," Stephen said smugly. The cloak, which had at some point removed itself from around Stephen's shoulders, was suddenly resting on Loki's, spinning him around to face the door. Loki shot it a look of betrayal- it didn't have to do this to him. It could have stayed out of it. And, really, he could walk perfectly fine on his own.

Also, he really didn't want to do this. Which he'd covered already, several times in the past few minutes. But it was important. He really, really didn't want to do this.

He turned, the cloak following, to glare at Stephen. And then he had an idea. Was it an absolutely pathetic idea? Yes. But it was an idea, and at this point Loki didn't really care about making himself look pathetic. Stephen already saw through him anyway.

Which was not supposed to be attractive, but maybe Loki liked people who saw through all the masks he put up.

So he asked, "Will you come with me?"

He wasn't sure how to feel about the relief he felt when Stephen said yes.

Chapter Text

Loki didn't know who had decided that Thor should share a room with the Hulk, but he really, really hated them.

And now he was even more glad that Stephen was here, because he did not want to face the giant green rage monster by himself. He didn't want to face the Hulk at all, actually, but that didn't seem to be an option if he was going to talk to his brother.

Which, incidentally, he also did not want to do. But that fact had long been established, and Loki had already resigned himself to that encounter happening whether he wanted it to or, as happened to be the case, not.

And so, Loki took a deep breath, steeled himself, and said, in a voice he was proud of the steadiness of, "Thor."

"Loki," Thor responded neutrally.

They stood there staring at each other for a few seconds in silence, neither willing to continue.

"Hulk bored," a voice piped up from the corner. Loki tried not to flinch as a huge green form stood and walked heavily to a shelf, grabbed a ball that was probably bigger than Loki's head and threw it... at the wall, catching it as it bounced back.

Loki let out a breath that he hoped wasn't noticed by the others in the room and started, "We wanted to talk to you. Well, actually, he wanted to talk to you," he gestured to Stephen, "but apparently I'm doing the talking, so..." he turned back to Stephen, "What was I supposed to talk to him about again?"

Stephen just smirked at him.

Loki spun back around. "Fine. Given that I'm assuming none of us want to stay here, we were wondering about your plans for leaving this planet."

Thor shrugged. "It's a work in progress."

Loki sighed. "Of course it is."

Thor gestured to the disk attached to his skin. "I need to get this off. So I was planning on pissing off the Valkyrie who has the device that controls it so I can steal it from her."

"Angry woman!" the Hulk piped up from where he was exercising (and why did the Hulk need to exercise, why why why).

Loki sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course you are."

Thor raised an eyebrow. "And I suppose you have a better idea?"

"I did! And then you came along and messed it up!"

"I didn't even do anything!"

"You showed up and made yourself my problem!"

"Nobody said I had to be your problem!"

Loki threw his hands in the air, pointed behind him at Stephen, and replied, "He did."

Thor seemed to consider that for a moment, studying Loki. Whatever he found made his eyes light up with a gleam that Loki did not like in the slightest. "Oh, did he?"

And Loki must be getting paranoid because there was no way Thor was observant enough to figure out that Loki was in love, but he certainly seemed to be implying something with that statement.

Ah, well. There was no use in trying to decipher that. "All that is beside the point. It appears we are to be working together to get out of this, so I do hope you have a plan beyond making a very dangerous woman angry and hoping for the best or we're all doomed."

"Quinjet," the Hulk spoke up from behind them, and Loki most certainly did not jump.

Thor nodded and pointed at the Hulk. "Exactly."

Loki didn't know what they were talking about, but he was suddenly come over with a far more burning question. "Hold on. Is he-" he pointed to the Hulk- "coming with us?" Because Loki might have even more of an issue working with the Hulk than he did with Thor. Thor was just an idiot. The Hulk was terrifying.

"Hulk stay," the terrifying being in question announced.

"He'll come around," Thor whispered conspiritorially.

Loki would just have to hope that the Hulk would not, in fact, come around, although he did think his brother's optimism was misplaced. The Hulk did not seem like the sort of being who would change his mind on anything once he made it up.

Stephen, he had the feeling, might have made some snarky remark about how he knew someone like that, but Stephen wasn't in Loki's head to hear his thoughts, so ha.

Anyway, "Well then," Loki said. "What is the plan with this... 'quinjet'?"

Thor pointed out the window, and Loki and Stephen followed his gaze. "We are going to take the quinjet the Hulk arrived on-" he moved his finger from the jet similar to the ones Loki had seen at SHIELD during his time on Earth, "through the wormhole Heimdall says will take us to Asgard."

And, typically, Thor was pointing at the biggest, redest, most destructive looking wormhole in the sky.

"Let me get this straight," Loki said. "You're expecting that-" he pointed at the quinjet- "to get through that-" he pointed at the wormhole- "and not get ripped to pieces?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Thor asked.

"Steal one of the Grandmaster's," Loki countered. "They're sturdier, and the two of us-" he gestured between himself and Stephen- "could certainly convince him to loan us one. Especially one of the... recreational ones."

Stephen put his head in his hands and groaned. Loki smirked. Thor looked at them confused. "The... what?"

"The ones he uses for orgies," Stephen said, face still in his hands.

"...Right. Or we could steal another one."

Loki grinned. "Where would be the fun in that?"

The glares the other two sent his way were interrupted by a voice behind them. "You know, you should really pay more attention to your surroundings when you're planning illegal activity."

Chapter Text

"Angry girl!" the Hulk said happily, with enough of what Loki was pretty sure was a smirk on his face to give away that he had definitely known she was there and had not bothered to warn them.

Thanks for that, Loki thought sarcastically.

"That's the Valkyrie," Thor whispered loudly in his ear.

"Get away from me, you big oaf," Loki whispered loudly back.

"Aww, that's cute," the woman said from where she was leaning against a rack of weapons.

"I already don't like her," Loki commented, not even bothering to pretend to whisper this time.

"Oh, I don't like her either," Thor agreed.

"My brother, not liking someone? What did she do?"

"She kidnapped me and attached this stupid little electrocuting thing to me and sold me to the Grandmaster."

"I feel like I've done far worse than that."

"Yes, but you're my brother."

"That's never stopped me."

"Yes, well I'm not you."

"I think we're getting off track," Stephen said. But there was something in his smirk that said that Loki had lost something... oh. Loki had just admitted that he knew that Thor still liked him. Why that was such a victory for Stephen, Loki didn't know, but he glared at him anyway. Just because he'd admitted it didn't mean anything. It wasn't like Loki had said he liked Thor. In fact, he'd said exactly the opposite... if indirectly and far more casually than he once would have, but still, Thor had known what he meant! Stephen had no reason to look so triumphant. Especially when he'd directed the conversation back to where it was supposed to be, which was... actually, Loki didn't know what Thor's plan was, other than making the Hulk-declared 'angry girl' angry, so he was going to let everyone else handle this, because why did he have to do everything? This was Thor's plan, Thor could deal with it.

However, despite Thor's self-declared plan of angering the Valkyrie, the next words he spoke were in a decidedly friendly tone. "So, as you've clearly overheard, we are planning on escaping, stealing one of the Grandmaster's ships, and leaving for Asgard. And, now that you've overheard said plans, I suppose I should invite you to join us on our quest to return home."

"I fail to see how your plan is to piss her off," Loki whispered loudly in his brother's ear, not even bothering to attempt to hide his words.

"Oh, that was the old plan," Thor responded in the same fake-whisper. "Now I'm making a new one."

"I don't know why I ever assumed you could stick to a plan," Loki shot back.

"You two can't hide anything, can you?" the Valkyrie asked.

Loki shot her an offended look. "Excuse you, I have been fooling the entirety of this planet for the past few weeks. I am quite capable of hiding things."

"Sure," the woman said. Loki glared at her. "As for this little proposal of yours... what's in it for me?"

While in general, Loki could appreciate that attitude, he scoffed, "You can't tell me you actually want to stay here."

"Is Asgard a better choice?" she shot back.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Than this place? Yeah, I'd say so." He turned to Thor, not even bothering to fake-whisper. "I think we should go back to your first plan."

"Yes, that's a good idea. You're doing very well. You're naturally irritating. Keep going."

"I have no reason to want to go back to Asgard," the Valkyrie interrupted before Loki could decide whether or not to be offended by that. "I have no interest in dealing with either of you or your sister down wherever she is or Odin ever again."

Loki did not point out that she was dealing with the two of them right now. He couldn't stop himself, however, from saying, "Well, I don't think not dealing with Odin is going to be a problem..." He stopped. Realized something.

"How did you know about her?" Stephen asked for him.

"The Valkyrie fought Hela. We lost." The woman didn't seem to care to say more, and Loki decided not to press. He didn't particularly feel like getting stabbed if he rubbed her the wrong way.

"Right." Thor didn't seem to know what to say. "Well, if you leave with us now, she'll still be here, and everything will be fine, right?"

The Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "You really think this place will hold Hela for long? Soon enough she'll find her way back to Asgard, and I don't intend to be there when she does."

"Right. And to return to Asgard, first she'll kill everyone she comes across on this planet," Loki pointed out. "So I doubt you're in a better position if you stay."

"You think I'm planning on sticking around that long?" the Valkyrie shot back. "I'll be gone by then. But I don't intend on heading back to Asgard."

"Well," Stephen pointed out, "If you won't be sticking around, it won't be too much trouble to hand over the key or whatever to that device you put on him." He gestured to Thor.

"Again, I fail to see how that would benefit me," the Valkyrie responded.

"It will save us all the trouble of us having to take it from you," Stephen responded, the smirk on his face suddenly oddly attractive when it wasn't aimed at Loki- not productive thoughts. Not what Loki was going to be thinking about when Thor was standing right next to him. Or when they were threatening the warrior in front of them who Loki actually did not want to fight, thank you Stephen.

"Friends no fight!" Hulk spoke up in the background, and Loki didn't know how to feel about the fact that the Hulk had just unknowingly agreed with him.

"We won't have to if she hands over what we want," Stephen said, not taking his eyes off the Valkyrie.

"What makes you think I can't take you?" the Valkyrie shot back.

Stephen smirked again. And then did that stupid little hand motion of his that opened the portal beneath the Valkyrie, which then proceeded to drop her on her ass behind them. Loki turned quickly, not particularly wanting to have his back to her. The Valkyrie stood, watching Stephen a little more warily now. "I see your point."

"You could always come with us to Asgard and then leave," Thor pointed out.

"I thought you didn't like her," Loki said.

"I don't," Thor responded.

"You seem very invested in her coming with us for someone who doesn't like her."

"She's very good at what she does and I am attempting to recruit someone who could help us fight our way out should it come to that."

"I think the three of us are quite capable of fighting our way out on our own."

"You can never have too many people helping you fight your way out of an entire planet where likely everyone will be trying to kill us if it comes out that we've escaped."

"Are you done?" the Valkyrie asked.

Thor turned to her. "Look. My father is dead. I don't particularly want the throne, which is something we're going to have to deal with at some point when we get back, but anyway this isn't about the throne. It's about how I want to go home. It's about the friends that I had to stop from coming here and putting themselves in danger for me that are waiting for me to come back. And I don't know if there's anyone left for you back on Asgard, but it's still your home and always will be, if you want it. And I doubt you can say that about this place. And maybe you could go out into the universe and find another home if you wanted to try, and if that's what you really want than go ahead. But if you want to stop running, then come with us." At that, Thor extended a hand. Loki gaped at him. Since when could his brother give motivational speeches like that?

The Valkyrie looked at Thor for a few moments. Loki couldn't tell what was going on in her head, but finally she sighed, shaking her head as she muttered, "I'm going to regret this," and moved forward to shake his brother's hand. "What's the plan?"

"You are going to help me escape," Thor said. "And then we're going to cause a distraction, and they-" he gestured to Loki and Stephen- "are going to steal a ship so we can all escape back to Asgard through the big wormhole that leads there."

The Valkyrie sighed. "Of course we are." She rolled her eyes. "We're going to need a big distraction."

Thor grinned. "I have something in mind."

"I don't want to know, do I?" Loki asked.

Thor just smirked at him. Loki groaned. "Fine. I'll leave you to that, then. We need to go so the Grandmaster doesn't suspect anything." He turned to go, leaving his brother and the Valkyrie to... whatever they were about to do, and Stephen followed. The cloak flew off Loki's back- how long had it been there? Had it never left his shoulders after they left their room?- and returned to Stephen's shoulders as they went, and Loki allowed Stephen to portal them back to their rooms.

Now they just had to wait for whatever chaos his brother was about to cause to start.

He hoped it didn't involve the Hulk.

Chapter Text

Loki and Stephen walked down the hall together, clearly out for a romantic walk. They were even holding hands, and Loki tried to keep himself from glowing because this was for the act, but he couldn't help the small grin that came from holding hands with Stephen. It probably helped their head-over-heels-in-love act, so it was fine, right?

At which point, two figures fell one after the other past the window.

Loki casually walked over to the window, peering down after them. Stephen hovered at his shoulder.

"There goes the oaf," Loki said casually, before shrugging and turning away. Stephen followed, and they resumed their romantic walk. After all, Loki was long used to his brother's shenanigans, and clearly, his romantic walk with Stephen was more important.

His romantic walk with Stephen that would happen to take them through the hangar where they would decide that maybe a nice, relaxing flight would be an excellent date, and then they would be unfortunately boarded and kidnapped by two fugitives who would steal their ship...

Yes, maybe Loki was being a little too optimistic as to how long they could keep their cover without the Grandmaster realizing what they were up to, but it was always good to have an excuse ready if this plan failed, wasn't it? He was sure Thor wouldn't mind Loki having him take the fall, after all, Loki had done it so many times when they were younger, Thor would be used to it by now. Besides, someone had to be in the position to rescue them if this did go wrong, didn't they?

Maybe he shouldn't be thinking this hard about the plan going wrong, Loki decided as a group of guards cut them off as they went to make another turn toward the hangar. Was there some saying that thinking about something going wrong could cause it to go wrong? He knew there was some superstition for the other way, that saying something would go right would cause it to go wrong, but he wasn't sure about the other one. And given that if there was one, that would make this his fault, Loki decided that he was just making that up and there was most decidedly no saying to that effect.

"Is something wrong?" Stephen asked neutrally, his face giving nothing away as to their plans. Loki kept his face even as well. It was possible this had nothing to do with their attempted escape. Maybe they just wanted to hear the story...

"The Grandmaster would like to speak with you," the leader of the guards said.

So much for that.

"Well, we'd better not keep him waiting, then," Stephen responded easily, with no indication that they had any idea that this was anything out of the ordinary, and not a hint that it was an inconvenience. Loki nodded in agreement, and they set off, the guards escorting them.

And get this over with as soon as possible, before something goes even more wrong, went unsaid.

For a moment, Loki considered creating illusions of them to walk alongside the guards, allowing them to get away quickly, but he dismissed the idea. He would only be able to do so while he had an idea of where the guards were going, eventually giving them away too quickly. No, best to see what the Grandmaster wanted first. With any luck, they could spin it to convince the man they needed a ship, and even extend the time until they were discovered.

If nothing else, he hopefully wouldn't arrest them. Or come after them with that melty stick of his. But that seemed out of proportion with the situation. Blowing the problem out of proportion before they were even sure what they were dealing with wouldn't do anyone any good.

Loki just hoped the Grandmaster shared his thinking.

His chances did not seem good when the Grandmaster was pacing the floor as they arrived.

"Ah, there they are, thank you for coming on such short notice. I hate to bother you like this, but I've found myself with quite an upsetting problem. You see, your brother has disappeared, and I'm very concerned. And he didn't fulfill his end of the deal, there's still some confusion as to what happened in the Contest, unregistered abilities and all that, and he was not permitted to leave yet, but now he's gone and disappeared with one of my favorite suppliers. So you can imagine I'm not happy."

No, Loki imagined he was not. "Oh dear. I'm so very sorry, I have no idea what he's thinking. Thor never had much of a head for anything regarding what's acceptable, always barreling straight into things without thinking." He paused. Probably best just to check... "My sister, however, is she still being reasonable?"

"Oh, yes, not a whisper from her. A lot of screaming, but no whispers, and no escape attempts." Loki wasn't sure if that was a good thing or if it meant Hela was plotting something that would undoubtedly cause everything to explode in their faces, but he wasn't going to worry about it for now. "Now, I was hoping you two would aid in tracking them down, if it's not too much trouble- you know him better than anyone here, after all."

Loki doubted this was a question so much as an offer of staying in the Grandmaster's good graces. And a chance to do it alone, without being under heavy guard. "Of course. I'm quite used to tracking down the oaf after he's gone and done something stupid. Expect them both back shortly."

He once again considered asking for access to a ship to aid in their 'search', but decided it wouldn't do any good to tip their hand too early. The Grandmaster had no idea so far that Thor might be looking for a sturdy ship to take off-planet, and Loki asking for access to a ship might make him ask the question of if Thor would be sticking around or not. They'd have to find a way to make their way back to the hangar... a high-speed chase, perhaps? Oh, he was getting ahead of himself. First, they had to regroup with Thor and the Valkyrie. Then, they could make a new plan, now that Loki and Stephen were on fugitive-hunting duty.

And, optimally, they wouldn't all end up dead. That would be a good end to Loki's day.

Chapter Text

It's embarrassingly easy to find Thor and the Valkyrie- Loki needs to shorten that, would she cut his tongue out if he called her Val?- once they're out from under the watchful eyes of the Grandmaster's guards. Really, Loki's slightly worried about the state of their escape attempt if he can find Thor and Val this easily, even if he did know what he was looking for.

"Well, this is already going excellently," Val commented sarcastically. Loki thought that was entirely unnecessary. It was hardly in the spirit of working together, and tastelessly petty.

"New plan," Stephen said. "The Grandmaster is sending everyone out after you two, including us. So we're going to take advantage of that and confuse them."

Loki frowned. "What are you thinking?"

Stephen grinned. "I was thinking we'd take a page out of your book." And why did that make Loki feel ridiculously giddy? It was entirely unreasonable. "We're going to trick them."

Ah. Loki was in his element here. "I see." He was pretty sure he was grinning like an idiot, but, well, it wasn't every day someone decided that his way of going about things was a good plan instead of an annoyance. He was allowed to celebrate. And maybe celebrate a bit more because it was coming from Stephen. Never mind that.

"We're going to have to split up. Loki, you go with Thor, I'll go with the Valkyrie." And suddenly Loki was less on board with this plan. Was this really the time for Stephen to be pushing his plan to make Loki and Thor make up? "If you create an illusion, I should be able to sustain it, so that it looks like I'm Thor. And you-"

"Do the same, but as Val," Loki finished, ignoring the glare at the nickname. Really, if she didn't want him to call her that, she should have given them a name that wasn't a number or 'the Valkyrie'. "Thereby creating confusion as they appear to be in two places at once, dividing their forces and leaving them to figure out which pair is real- unaware that one of each is."

"Exactly." Stephen grinned. "And then when they'd thrown off enough, we meet back up and make a break for the hangar."

"And finally get off this planet!" Thor said in triumph. "An excellent plan, sorcerer. Come along, brother."

Loki barely had time to throw up his and Stephen's illusions before Thor was dragging him off eagerly. Truly, what had made Thor this ready to leave the planet? He was still being so annoyingly cheerful, it didn't seem like he was in any great rush...

"So," Thor said as elevator doors closed behind them, sealing Loki in with his brother. Wonderful.

"So," Loki responded, when Thor didn't say anything more.

Thor looked at Loki expectantly. Loki raised an eyebrow and stared back. He didn't know what his brother was expecting. Thor was the one who had clearly been trying to start a conversation. Loki had no interest in having a conversation with his brother. If Thor wanted to have a conversation, Thor could start it. Thor shouldn't be expecting Loki to say anything.

Thor rolled his eyes. "Oh, come now, Loki. Aren't you going to tell me about you and the sorcerer?"

Loki blinked. "Me and-" How had Thor found out he was in love? It was Thor! The singular most unobservant being Loki had ever come across! And Loki had been doing so well at hiding it! How had-

"Yes! How long have you two been together? Before or after you told me to play along with it? And how did it happen? Did you confess first or did he?" Thor raised an eyebrow. "Do I need to have a talk with him?"

"We- we're not-" Loki stuttered, staring at his brother like he'd grown a second head. Where had Thor gotten the idea that he and Stephen were together? Clearly Thor knew that they had been pretending, so why-

Well. Loki supposed he had been wearing Stephen's cloak for a whole conversation they'd had together, and it must have looked like he'd found it natural instead of just forgetting it was there. And wearing each other's clothes was a pretty clear sign that two people were in a relationship. And even Thor couldn't really miss a big red piece of fabric around Loki's shoulders.

...The cloak had totally known what it was doing, hadn't it? It had done this on purpose.

Well, maybe that was a sign that it approved of a potential relationship between Loki and Stephen. Which shouldn't be as satisfying as it was, given that the approval in question was coming from a sentient piece of fabric, but... it was clearly important to Stephen. And Stephen was important to it. So that was a good sign, right?

Probably not the time. Because now Loki's brother was convinced that this potential relationship was actually a thing.

Maybe it was a good thing Stephen and Thor hadn't gone off together. Especially if Thor was considering giving Stephen a shovel talk. Because the last thing Loki needed was for Thor to scare off Loki's potential boyfriend before they even got together. Loki was actually rather sick of Thor scaring off his lovers. Even Odin had never done that to him.

"Fine, no shovel talk," Thor said, and okay, that was progress, but still came with the problem that Thor thought he was dating Stephen and okay maybe Loki wanted to be dating Stephen but he also wasn't and that made this a problem.

"We're not together," Loki insisted.

"Of course," Thor said wisely, and Loki glared at him. Really, for once he wasn't even lying to Thor, and his brother wouldn't believe him.

They continued on for a few seconds of silence, and then, "We should do Get Help."

Loki stared at his brother incredulously. "Thor!"

"Yes?" Thor asked with an infuriating little smirk.

"We're not doing Get Help," Loki responded, trying to keep the outrage out of his voice.

"Why not?"

"I hate it."

"It's a classic."

"I still hate it."

"I know."

"I hate you."

"I know."

"I really hate you."

"I know."

"We're not doing Get Help."

They do Get Help.

Chapter Text

Loki wondered how they were all this stupid.

Not even half an hour after they split up, they'd run into each other in the halls. (As in, Thor and Val had actually collided, which Loki would treasure for the rest of his hopefully very long life.) And before they had the chance to split up again, a group of guards had rounded the corner, and now their secret was out.

Well. At least part of their secret was out. Loki was pretty sure that his and Stephen's actual identities were still safe, as long as the guards they were now running from were not overly smart, but the important thing was that now the guards knew that there were two Vals and two Thors. Which made the whole thing much less effective as causing disorder, though it might still work if they split back up again- after they were done running from these guards- when it came to dividing their forces. Alternatively, they could just split up into four and divide the guards even more, but Loki got the feeling that if they did that, they would end up losing someone, and Loki had no intention of it being him. Or Stephen for that matter. Or maybe even Thor. He didn't know Val well enough to make a decision on her.

No matter what, splitting up four ways was out. And sticking together in a group of four seemed like it was asking for trouble, not to mention they'd look pretty stupid walking around in a group of two Thors and two Vals. Still, Loki was also not exactly overly enthusiastic to spend any more time alone with Thor. Perhaps there was some way to convince them to split up differently. A pair of Thors and a pair of Vals, at least-

Distracted, Loki almost crashed into Thor when Val suddenly stopped them. Stephen steadied Loki as Val opened a random door and dragged Thor inside, Loki and Stephen following before the guards could come around the corner and spot them.

He needed to think about something that wasn't Stephen's hand on his arm, probably, but that was rather difficult and asking a lot of him.

"I assume," Stephen said dryly, "that this is your apartment and we don't have to worry about the owner coming in and raising the alarm?"

Glancing around, Loki realized that they were indeed in an apartment of some sort. A heavily green one- he approved. Maybe that wasn't the priority right now, but he liked green, okay?

Except in the case of big green monsters.

"Yes," Val answer shortly. "I assume we need a new plan?"

"I suggest we return to plan A," Thor said confidently.

"Wonderful," Loki said dryly. "What was plan A, again?" He'd thought plan A was the one where they stole a ship, which they were technically still doing. Or the one where Loki and Stephen ran around pretending to be Val and Thor, which was pretty much out by now.

"We're going to start a revolution," Thor said excitedly.

On one hand, a revolution did sound fun. On the other- "What?" Loki said. "With what army?"

"With the gladiators in the basement," Thor said easily. "I have a friend, Korg, who's been trying to start a revolution, and I was thinking we could steal some guns and give them to him to cause a distraction."

It would, as much as Loki hated to admit it, be a good distraction to start a revolution literally right under the Grandmaster's feet. And revolutions were always fun, in his experience. Chaotic. Which meant that Thor might actually be proposing a good plan. Loki half expected some apocalypse to suddenly drop right on their heads.

Or Thanos. Thanos probably counted as an apocalypse.

"Okay, so say we do that," Stephen said. "Would we be meeting in the hangar, or would Loki and I steal a ship and then pick you two up?"

They were planning. Now was not the time for giddy happiness. But Stephen had just assumed he'd be going with Loki, no questions asked. And he'd seemed perfectly fine with that. Satisfied. Happy, even. And Loki might be holding in a happy scream, just a bit.

This was really starting to become a problem.

"Pick us up when we get caught," Val offered with a raised eyebrow. "Or we'll meet you if we somehow don't."

Loki was starting to like her. "Sounds good with me."

Thor huffed. "I'd switch the wording around, but sure."

Val rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. If we somehow don't get caught, we'll meet you there. When we inevitably do, pick us up."

Oh, Loki definitely liked her. Thor just rolled his eyes. "Right. Well, we do that, and then while the Grandmaster is distracted with the revolution, we take the ship and escape through the wormhole before anyone notices."

"And when they do notice," Val continued, "we shoot them down before they can stop us."

Thor sighed. "Could we perhaps assume that this plan is going to work?"

"No," Val and Loki said at the same time. Thor gave them an exasperated look. Loki beamed back innocently. Val just glared. Loki thought this was an excellent start to a lovely friendship built around annoying Thor. Or maybe she hated him. He still wasn't sure on that part. But Thor had used to tell him that he needed more friends, so Loki could say they were friends. In fact, Loki should make many more friends with the express purpose of annoying Thor with them. That was an excellent idea, to be enacted far away from here.

"Well now that we've sorted that out," Stephen said dryly, "Perhaps we should actually try to get out of here before the guards start going door to door."

Thor, Val, and Loki shared a look. Thor shrugged. Apparently, that was all they needed, because Val turned to the door, Thor following her.

Loki couldn't help himself. "If we're lucky," he said, "There won't even be a herd of guards outside waiting for us."

Thor groaned. Loki thought he saw Stephen's lips twitch up.

Chapter Text

Loki and Stephen hurried through the halls as much as they could without making it seem like they were hurrying through the halls. They were supposed to be very carefully looking for Thor and Val, after all, not hurrying around in... well, in a hurry.

Loki was beginning to get a bit sick of the word hurry.

But anyway, they were moving as quickly as possible on their way to the hangar, because Loki wasn't convinced that this new plan wasn't going to blow up in their faces, and he really wanted to get their hands on a ship before it did so, because he really didn't want to know what their next plan was going to be. While he was in full support of a revolution, such things were rather unpredictable, and their plans only seemed to be going downhill as they went.

Of course, it was in the middle of their hurry that they encountered the Grandmaster.

He was walking with Topaz in a hallway not far from the hangar, talking about the revolution- apparently it had already started, which was either a good or really bad sign- and looking generally not happy. 

Which Loki supposed was not an emotion one would feel if all your so-called 'prisoners with jobs' were suddenly declaring war against you, your high profile prisoners escaping from the room you kept your most prized possession, and your guards not doing their jobs and catching them again.

He'd hoped that he and Stephen would be able to slip past without being noticed, but no such luck. With almost supernatural perceptiveness, the Grandmaster spotted them almost immediately. "There they are!" he called, which was not a good sign in Loki's opinion. "Just the people I've been looking for." He crossed the room to them immediately. "Any luck?"

Loki thought the fact that they were there and Thor and Val were not was answer enough, but that was beside the point. "Unfortunately not. We're gaining on them, but my brother's lack of ability to put together anything remotely resembling a plan makes it rather hard to predict his next moves with enough accuracy to get ahead of them. But we'll catch them soon, I'm sure." Hopefully, that would buy them enough time. They really needed to get that ship, and without any more delays.

"Yes, yes, of course, of course," the Grandmaster said, but it seemed more to himself, and he didn't sound happy. "I just wish it could have happened before he went and freed all the prisoners!" Loki prevent himself from jumping only from years of practice of dealing with Thor when he lost his temper. No, the Grandmaster was not happy, and Loki was getting kind of concerned. Leaving quickly was getting more and more imperative.

"Oh dear," Loki said. "Dreadfully sorry about that. We'd better hurry along before he causes any more trouble."

"It's just so irritating," the Grandmaster continued, as if Loki hadn't spoken. Loki slowly began to back away, pulling Stephen with him. "Now we've got to track them all down on top of finding our original fugitives, meanwhile those two lunatics are running around my planet as if I haven't shown them every hospitality, all because they can't accept that there are certain ways we do things around here. My ways! And just because they don't work for them doesn't mean they have the right to go around threatening my rule and sparking uprisings. I mean really, the nerve. I'm going to have to do something. Something to remind them of who's in charge here. To remind them all!" And that didn't sound good. "You two!" Oh, that sounded even worse. "You two are going to bring them to me, and you're going to do it fast."

"Of course," Loki told him, trying not to let the desperation edge into his voice. He was suddenly all too aware that Topaz was holding the Melt Stick thingy. "We'll get on that, right away. They'll be back to you before you know it!" He tried to force a confident grin, but it probably came out as more of a grimace. The only- well, not the only, but the most dangerous- lunatic there was the Grandmaster himself, and Loki was starting to think that they were quickly working their way towards his bad side, which did not seem like a place where they wanted to be.

"Well, hurry up with it!" the Grandmaster snapped.

Loki turned and pulled Stephen along, and for a moment, he thought that they were free.

And then Topaz had to speak up, a smug smile on her face as she said, "The guards have reported two others helping the fugitives."

That was not good.

"Have they?" Loki responded, faking casual concern. "Oh dear. Has my brother found more allies? That is unfortunate-"

"These others were reported to be using some kind of magic to disguise their appearances to match those of the fugitives." Topaz's smug smile only grew.

Ah.

Loki wasn't entirely sure if he could talk his way out of this one. He was a very talented liar, yes, but there was only so much one could do in certain situations, especially when one was put on the spot. And while it wasn't impossible that there was another magic user on the planet, the fact that there were two allies and the fact that Loki had made great and public use of his illusions while a part of the Grandmaster's court made this somewhat of a tight spot. So all he could manage was a weak, "Really? Fascinating..."

He stopped bothering when the Grandmaster turned back to face them, something like angry betrayal in his eyes. Even if Loki and Stephen had been innocent, there would be no convincing the Grandmaster when he had that look in his eyes. And so Loki stopped bothering. "Oh dear, I'm afraid we really must be going."

Apparently, Stephen took that as a signal, because a portal opened up beneath their feet. Loki gave a cheeky wave to the Grandmaster and Topaz as they fell into it and away.

Chapter Text

"That went well," Stephen commented the moment they were safely through the portal.

"You don't say," Loki shot back, already taking in their new surroundings. They weren't in the hangar, unfortunately, but they were alone, which was the important thing. Well, there went all hopes of a backup plan if this went wrong. The Grandmaster had discovered them, and there would be no way back into his good graces. No safe return to their false backstory and quest. They would be hunted along with Thor and Val now, the threat of the Grandmaster's melt stick hanging over their heads.

And Stephen had just watched Loki absolutely fumble his chance to get them out of this.

Loki shoved that thought aside. He could deal with that later, once they were no longer running for their lives, and he was alone and could properly break down about it.

"Where are we?" Loki asked, because now was the time to focus, before they both ended up dead. Loki didn't want them to be dead. That would be rather counterproductive to all their plans.

"One floor down and a couple halls over from where we just were," Stephen told him, and then continued, almost apologetically if you knew what to look for (wow Loki was starting to know Stephen that well, they'd hated each other mere weeks ago and now they knew each other well enough to pick out the subtleties they tried to hide from everyone else, no, Loki, focus now, be in love later), "I didn't think I could get us much farther with any kind of accuracy without knowing this place better."

"This works," Loki assured him. "How far to the hangar?"

"Well it's just a few halls past all those guards," Stephen said, gesturing behind Loki.

Loki whirled, finding that there were in fact a lot of guards piling into the hall. "Surrender, traitors!" one called.

From personal experience, Loki knew it was never good when people started throwing the word 'traitor' around. Damn.

"We can take the long way," he told Stephen, and then the two of them took off running.

Unfortunately, the guards didn't take the hint that they weren't wanted and took off after them. It was really quite rude- Loki didn't know how more obvious he could make it that he and Stephen had no interest in coming with the people sent to arrest them so the Grandmaster could kill them, because, really, why would they do that? But anyway, these people had no concept of boundaries. When one ran away from you, it often meant that one wished to be left alone. They most certainly did not wish to be chased after, except under very specific circumstances, and these were not those circumstances and- oh look, more guards. Lovely. 

"They have this many guards and they didn't catch us long before this?" Loki grumbled, not even out of breath from all the running yet. He'd been a warrior for centuries, this was just light exercise. With much higher stakes.

"I'd like to think they'd need to have some intellegence to catch us, not just numbers," Stephen shot back.

Loki gave a wild grin. "I suppose so. Got any more tricks in mind, sorcerer?"

"A few," Stephen responded with a smirk, before scooping Loki up in his arms as the cloak carried them above the heads of some new guards that came around the corner, leaving those guards to collide in a pile with the old guards as Stephen set Loki down and the two of them kept running.

Loki hoped the fact that his face was bright red could be played off as exertion and the fact that they were running for their lives.

Oh dear. There would be no hiding it soon, wouldn't there? Even Loki couldn't keep hiding this forever, not when he started glowing every time Stephen touched him. Loki knew, from centuries of watching, that love would always become impossible to hide sooner or later. You just kept falling more and more, until the entire world could see. And Stephen was smart. He'd figure it out soon enough.

Oh, look, there were more guards in front of them. Loki and Stephen skidded to a stop, this time too late to go over. They'd have to turn back.

Oh, yes, and here he was, thinking about how in love he was with Stephen in the middle of their grand escape, where one mistake could get them killed. There was also that. He couldn't go on like this- distracted when their lives were in mortal danger.

More guards- or the same ones they'd left behind earlier- poured in from the other direction, surrounding them. Cursing, Loki grabbed Stephen's hand and dragged him through their only escape route- the door next to them, which turned out to lead to a supply closet. Damn, damn, damn. So now they were stuck with no way out and- the door rattled, and Loki and Stephen shoved back against it- forty guards outside. Lovely. Wonderful. This was all excellent. Exactly how he'd wanted to spend his day. Somehow, this was all Thor's fault, he was sure. Or Odin's, for going and dying on them and causing the whole mess that had gotten them trapped here in the first place.

The door shook again, and Loki shoved back against it with all his strength, Stephen doing the same beside him.

And Loki looked at the damn infuriating sorcerer that was the source of his current crisis and decided that there was only one thing to do.

He was going to have to tell him.

Chapter Text

The door shook as the guards rammed against it again, and Loki realized that he was probably going to have to talk fast if he was going to do this now. Not only because they might not have much time to talk anyway, but because his mind was already whirling with panic at the decision he'd made. What if Stephen still hated him, or at least disliked him?  What if Loki had been misreading the developments in their relationship as improving it when they were simply being forced to spend too much time together? What if there was no hope for Loki's feelings?

But why shouldn't Loki have hope? Why shouldn't he think that Stephen might, just might feel the same way back? He seemed to enjoy their banter, he was oddly invested in Loki's relationship with his brother, and he hadn't thrown Loki to the wolves and left to go get a ship by himself, which might have given him an advantage in his escape. He didn't act hostile anymore- in fact, he joked around with Loki, messing with him, even giving him what could be considered complements sometimes. Maybe, somehow, Stephen truly did feel the same way about Loki than Loki did about him. And maybe he didn't, but Loki couldn't help but think that it was worth the risk. If, somehow, he could actually be with Stephen...

Well. He would just have to take the plunge.

And soon, because the door was still shaking, and there was only so long they were going to be able to hide in this closet. There was no time to think any more about it. He just had to go for it, and hope that he might receive something back.

“Stephen,” Loki said, “I have something to tell you. And this is probably a horrible time for it-”

“Given that this might be our last conversation ever, if we encounter the Melty Stick of Death,” Stephen said, “I’d say it’s the perfect time for it.”

“I love your wit,” Loki blurted out. “I love your smile. I love your laugh. Norns help me, I even love your stupid attempts at getting me to reconcile with my brother.” He looked Stephen in the eyes. “I love you, Stephen Strange.”

Stephen’s expression went from shock, to some unreadable emotion, to something shockingly open. “Loki, I-”

It was, of course, at that moment that the door decided to give in, sending them tumbling as it crashed to the floor. Of all the times. Loki hated Sakaar. Fiercely, passionately hated it. He wasn't sure if he despised the guards or the door that had picked the absolutely worst moment to collapse more in that moment, but he loathed them both with a murderous intensity.

Now, Loki found himself lying on the ground, trying to finish the sentence that Stephen had begun before they'd been so rudely interrupted. He hadn't laughed in Loki's face, which was a good start. He'd seemed caught off-guard, but whether that was because Loki had done a good job of hiding his feelings or because he hadn't expected Loki to confess, he didn't know. It hadn't seemed like a disgusted sort of shock, or any other negative emotion that would signify that he was about to reject Loki. And the words themselves were incredibly unhelpful. They could have been intended to proceed anything, from I don't feel the same way about you to I love you too. It was maddening, because now that it was all out in the open from Loki's side, he desperately wanted that answer that Stephen had been about to give him. He needed to know if Stephen felt the same way, or if he didn't reciprocate Loki's feelings.

However, none of this was going to happen while they were lying stunned on the floor, especially because the guards had started piling in the door, guns pointed at their prone figures as they lay sprawled on the ground. That was neither the place for a romantic response to a love confession or a rejection. But if Loki died without hearing an answer, he was going to be very upset.

Loki stared up at the guns pointed at him and tried to think of a way out of this, because he was going to get that response, dammit. Being on the floor was not the best position when it came to stabbing someone, and if he attacked the guards hovering over him, he risked the others firing at Stephen. He could, perhaps, try an illusion, but what would distract them enough for Loki and Stephen to have a chance to fight back? It would have to be something huge-

It was at that moment that suddenly, a loud crash was heard, and something slammed through the guards that remained out in the hallways, the closet too small to fit all of them. The guards inside the closet whirled, but Loki was too caught off-guard to take advantage. What had that been?

If he was about to be rescued by Thor, he would never live it down.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Loki wasn't quite sure which, the figure that came into view of the doorway was very much not Thor. It was massive, and green, and very, very angry.

For whatever reason, the Hulk was standing there, roaring. He grabbed a guard and slammed them into the wall, before dropping them and grabbing another. Loki simply lay on the floor and watched in shock that the Hulk decimated the remaining guards, leaving the three of them alone in the closet that was very much not meant for someone of the Hulk's size. Loki tensed for a moment when all the guards were down, but the Hulk didn't seem to have any intention of turning his smashing on Loki now that all Sakaarian targets were taken care of, so he relaxed, just a bit. The Hulk had just rescued him from a rather precarious position, he supposed that perhaps that made them shaky allies.

A glance over at Stephen showed him unharmed, if staring up at the Hulk in similar shock to what Loki felt. Somehow, they were both unscathed, and they weren't going to die, and maybe now he could get the rest of that response that Stephen had been about to give him.

Just... not here, in front of the Hulk. That would be rather awkward, even if Loki was tempted to ask for it anyway, because he needed to know what that answer had been about to be.

Still, Loki glanced up at their rescuer, and found that what came out of his mouth instead was not even directed at Stephen, but the big green monster that he was still a bit (rightfully, he thought) terrified by. "Thank you."

The Hulk stared at him for a moment, an expression like confusion crossing his face- had he never had that said to him? Or so rarely?- before it contorted into something else. Loki froze as the Hulk staggered back, stumbling around as his balance failed him. He didn't truly understand what was happening until the Hulk began shrinking, paling. And then, after a few seconds, what stood before them was not the Hulk at all but an unassuming, almost naked man.

Bruce Banner stared around him in complete and utter confusion, as if trying to figure out where he was, until his eyes widened as they found the two magic users still lying on the floor. "Loki?"

Chapter Text

"Hello, Dr. Banner," Loki said, trying to decide if he should get up or if staying on the ground would give Banner less of a reason to panic. He hadn't bolted immediately, which was a good sign, because now Loki would feel bad if he left his brother's friend lost on this planet with no way out, which was annoying, but anyway, it was better to keep Banner here than go chasing him around Sakaar.

"What are you doing here?" Banner asked, staring at him. Loki didn't know much about Banner's transformations, but considering the amount of confusion the man was radiating, he didn't remember much, if at all, of what was happening. Which was... less than ideal. Also probably contributing to the panic then man was radiating. Loki had better stay on the floor, for now. He still wasn't entirely thrilled with the idea of bringing back the Hulk.

"We were just leaving," Loki settled on. "Or trying to, anyway. We got a bit cornered, and, well..." he gestured around at the unconscious guards. "The Hulk helped us out."

Banner eyed Loki suspiciously. To be fair, Loki hadn't exactly thought he was on good terms with the Hulk, either. "...Why?"

Loki shrugged. "He didn't say." Well, time to make his move, if he was going to. "We were hoping you would join us on our way offworld.”

“I’m not leaving Earth with you,” Banner protested defensively.

“We are not on Earth, Dr. Banner.”

Banner froze, glancing around as if just now taking in their surroundings. The colorful walls, the guards- some of them clearly not from Earth- the strange technology.

"Then where are we?"

"Sakaar," Stephen jumped in. "A planet surrounded by wormholes. You must have, somehow, found your way through one, just like we did."

Banner turned to him, eyes wide. "Who are you?"

"Stephen Strange,” Stephen introduced, holding out a hand.

Banner blinked, cautiously taking it. “The neurosurgeon?”

Loki blinked as well. He’d known Stephen had been a surgeon, from his addition to their false backstory, but he hadn’t known that he’d been well-known enough that Banner would recognize the name. Huh. He’d have to ask about that.

“I was, yes,” Stephen said. “It’s a long story.”

Yes, Loki would definitely have to get that story later. Assuming Stephen still wanted to talk to him. He'd confessed. He'd told Stephen he loved him. That was still sinking in.

Banner seemed to trust Stephen a bit more than Loki, at least, which was good. "And you'll take me back to Earth?"

"Well, we're heading to Asgard first," Loki supplied. "But then I'm sure Thor will find you a way home. And Stephen needs to get back as well." That hit him suddenly. Once all this was over, Stephen would go back to Earth, and Loki? He didn't know. Was he still welcome on Asgard? Would Stephen welcome him on Earth? He certainly hadn't seemed to trust him there the first time, but with what he now knew, would that change? Though, Loki doubted he'd go to Earth if Stephen didn't love him back, and if Stephen did, he'd have to trust him enough to live on his planet, right? He hadn't even thought about what would happen after they left Sakaar.

To be fair, it was still not entirely certain they would be making it off Sakaar, so Loki couldn't be blamed for not thinking ahead.

"Is he here?" Banner asked, glancing if someone would pop up out of thin air.

Loki, who had forgotten for a moment what they were talking about, took an embarrassingly long moment where his thought process went through several people Banner could mean, starting with Stephen and somehow passing through Thanos before landing on the answer.

"Thor? Oh, he's around here somewhere. No doubt leaving a trail of destruction in his path."

Stephen looked at Loki, raised an eyebrow, and pointedly glanced over all the unconscious bodies on the floor. Loki thought that was entirely unfair. They'd mostly been avoiding all the guards until the Hulk had come along. The destruction wasn't exactly their doing, even if it was done in their benefit.

Banner glanced between Loki and Stephen, and seemed to come to a decision. "Fine."

Loki nodded, and summoned some clothes from a pocket dimension, climbing to his feet. Stephen followed as Loki held out the clothes to Banner. They were probably a bit more Asgardian than he was used to, but they were comfortable, useful for running, and more than what the man was wearing right now.

Banner blinked. "...Thanks."

Once Banner changed, the three of them hurried off. This time, they managed to make it to the hangar, where they found Thor and Val waiting around a ship that the Grandmaster definitely used for orgies, not that Loki would be informing his brother about that until they'd already stolen it.

"Took you long enough!" Thor announced, before he realized who was with them. "Bruce!" he yelled, loud enough that half the building probably heard him, which meant they should probably be leaving soon. "You're back!"

"Talk later, escape now," Val ordered, which Loki could get behind. He followed Stephen into the ship, sliding into the pilot's seat. He was definitely not letting Thor fly. Especially after last time. He'd had to be the one to oversee that cleanup which, to be fair, had been somewhat his fault considering he'd been the one to decide to impersonate Odin. But still.

Unfortunately, almost the moment they shot out of the hangar, people started following them. And shooting at them. It was all very rude.

The problem with the orgy ship had been that it didn't have any guns.

Thor made some noise between a sigh and a groan when Loki informed them about that, and proceeded to jump out of the ship and onto one of the ones following them. And then, while Loki was busy rolling his eyes (and also dodging the nearest round of people shooting at them), Val jumped out after him. Stephen, from the seat beside Loki, watched them disappear with a bemused expression.

Loki sent them rolling out of the way of more enemy fire.

"You know," Stephen commented, and Loki risked a glance over at him, "when all this is over, you should come to Earth sometime. We could have that dinner we've been claiming we had years ago."

Loki's hands slipped on the controls, almost sending them careening into a nearby building. Was Stephen-

And then Stephen kissed him.

It was fast. They couldn't really afford more than that while Loki was actively flying them away from the people shooting at them. But it was, somehow, the most amazing moment of Loki's life. He was kissing Stephen he was kissing Stephen he was kissing Stephen-

And then Stephen pulled back with a wink, leaving Loki reeling. He was pretty sure he had the stupidest smile he'd even worn on his face right now. But there was no room for interpretation in that. Stephen really, truly returned his feelings. They had a date.

And then Stephen, like the irritating asshole he'd fallen in love with, jumped out of the ship after Thor and Val.

Well. At least Stephen could actually fly, unlike Thor and Val. Or, at least, the Cloak could. Which was good enough.

Still that didn't stop Loki from standing, giving Banner some quick instructions on the controls that he couldn't entirely remember, and jumping out after them.

He landed on the nearest scrapper's ship, immediately glancing around to keep track of the others. Thor and Val were ripping vital parts from one ship together, while Stephen perched on a second, sending golden whips of magic to wrap around the wing of a third, sending it spinning off-course. It crashed into another as Stephen took to the air.

Loki was gone. Well, he'd been gone, but still.

Now with some sense of his surroundings, Loki crashed through the glass and landed on the controls of his own ship, knife in his hand as he stabbed the pilot. The ship spun out of control, and Loki leaped again.

Banner had apparently hit some button he hadn't meant to- or maybe he had, Loki didn't know- because fireworks shot out the back of their own ship, blinding several of the other pilots. Loki saw Topaz's ship fly straight into a nearby building.

Good riddiance.

As the sky cleared, Loki, Stephen, Thor, and Val made their way back onto the ship, and Loki couldn't help joining in with Thor's wild laugh. He was riding high on the thrill of the battle, even higher on the brief kiss that he'd shared with Stephen. They were finally getting off of this awful planet, he thought he might have a boyfriend... even Thor's idiocy had been somewhat fun.

Of course, that was when Banner let out a yelp of surprise, and Loki glanced up, only having a moment to realize, oh, that's my sister hovering there right in front of us.

Chapter Text

Loki had, admittedly, forgotten about Hela. In his defense, there had been a lot going on, and also he'd met her all of twice. She wasn't exactly the first thing on his mind.

Still, the whole situation wasn't ideal, especially because, in the five seconds they were all reacting to Hela's sudden appearance, she launched a spear right through their ship.

Rather rude of her, really. They were trying to escape here. And honestly, they'd already been sidetracked enough.

Unfortunately, Loki's sister apparently had other plans, as the engines of their ship failed, and they began dropping through the air. Loki grabbed for the nearest thing to steady himself- and if that happened to be Stephen, who was being steadied by the Cloak, then sue him, Stephen returned his feelings and he could do what he liked. Especially when Stephen responded by wrapping an arm around him and keeping them both upright, which was nice and a position Loki would want to stay in forever if they weren't in a currently crashing ship.

Plus, he wouldn't want to end up like Thor and Val, who were thrown to the ground. That would just be embarrassing, and quite uncomfortable. He'd much rather remain on his feet, thank you very much.

Banner was freaking out. Loki had just enough time to think that this was probably not a good thing before they slammed into the ground, and Loki was thrown away from Stephen.

Loki found himself lying on the ground- just where he hadn't wanted to be, damn- dazed, and he couldn't find Stephen. Admittedly, he couldn't find much of anything except the ground right in front of and beneath him, but it was still a worrying concept. Was Stephen okay? What about the others? But mostly Stephen?

There were sounds of a fight coming from... somewhere. Somewhere nearby. Loki tried to follow them, only to find that he was pinned by something. He tried to twist out from under whatever was pinning his leg to the ground, but only succeeded in making pain shoot up his leg. He hissed. He didn't have the time for this, he had to find Stephen-

Something lifted him up, freeing him, and Loki glanced up to see the Hulk holding him, before suddenly they were leaping, and then he was being set down, surprisingly gently considering who was carrying him. He grimaced, testing weight on his leg. "My thanks again." After all, being on the Hulk's good side seemed to be quite helpful.

"Hulk helps friends," the other responded, before leaping off again, leaving Loki to process the fact that apparently, he and the Hulk were friends now.

Huh.

He didn't have much time to deal with that, though (which seemed to be a theme of the day), because the Hulk returned, this time carrying Thor and Val.

Which, through process of elimination, meant that the person fighting Hela was Stephen. Damn. Damn, damn, damn.

Loki shot to his feet, ignoring the pain in his leg as he looked around wildly. No sign of Stephen and Hela besides the sounds of the battle, farther now than when they'd been in the ship. It didn't sound like Stephen was hurt or Hela was about to win, luckily, but still, this was the goddess of death. That was not the kind of opponent anyone should be facing alone, much less one of the few people Loki cared about.

"What's the plan?" Val hissed, as if they had the time to plan when Stephen needed help, now-

"Hulk smash," the Hulk piped up helpfully.

"Great plan, big guy," Thor said, and Loki wanted to groan at the fact that, unlike a normal, sane person would be, Thor was entirely serious. "I'll go left, you guys go right?" Without waiting for a response, he headed off.

Just for spite, Loki went left.

As he approached, he came into view of the battle, casting an illusion to keep himself invisible. Stephen was holding his own against Hela, at least, managing to stay a step ahead of her many, many spears and insane combat skills. Only one of the pair being able to fly definitely helped. Still, seeing Stephen out there alone fighting Hela was definitely not helping Loki's nerves.

At which point, Thor came flying down off of a junk pile, new lightning powers on full display as he blasted Hela with the biggest lightning bolt Loki had ever seen. Loki made a note to maybe not get on Thor's bad side for a little while, because that did not look like something he wanted to come into contact with.

Although, given Thor's recent attitude towards him, Loki wasn't entirely sure what he could do to get on Thor's bad side. It was definitely a different side of his brother that Loki was still getting useful. When had he gotten so... cheerful?

But more importantly, Hela was... not dead? Very much not dead. Maybe not unbothered, definitely a bit singed, but still not at all dead, which was a major problem. Especially because her next move was to send both Thor and Stephen flying away, and in his distraction, Loki had dropped his illusion. Stupid mistake. And now, Hela was focusing on him.

If you'd asked Loki a month ago what he would do if the goddess of death was charging at him full speed with intent to kill, he would have told you that he would do what any sane person would do, which would be to run away screaming and get out of there as fast as possible. However, Loki of a month ago had also not been in love with Stephen, and he couldn't just leave him. Or, unfortunately, Thor, because then Stephen would be disappointed with him and then he would feel bad. And maybe he also might feel a bit bad for leaving Thor (and Val and the Hulk) to fight the goddess of death alone.

However, Loki also didn't exactly know what good he was going to be in a fight against Hela.

Not that it seemed like he had much choice any longer, he mused as a spear went flying at his head.

It shattered into pieces before getting within five feet of him.

Oh. Yes. He did in fact have an infinity stone. There was that.

Loki mentally thanked the Aether for saving him- did infinity stones care if you thanked them? Well, it seemed to be working with the Hulk, so it was worth a shot- and asked if it would please be of more help as his sister tried to kill him.

The Aether reacted, and Loki's vision went red.

Well. Not entirely red. But everything that wasn't in red was in black and white, and Loki found himself strangely fascinated with the sensation. He'd never purposely used the Aether before since absorbing it- there hadn't really been the need, or, in other cases, he'd rather forgotten that he could. But this was... well. It was definitely weird. But it wasn't necessarily bad weird. And also, it was hopefully going to save his life. And Stephen's life. And his idiot brother's life. And his new friends' lives. So that was a good thing, too.

Anyway, the Aether lashed out, shoving Hela backwards with glowing black and red tendrils that were... coming from Loki. Yes, this was a very interesting experience, and one he would have to get used to. But still saving his life, and therefore still an overall positive experience.

Hela shoved back against the tendrils, but the reality stone was stronger, pushing her away, until a strange feeling began to overcome Loki...

And then Hela turned to stone.

Loki blinked, the Aether slithering back into his chest and settling there, waiting until it was needed again. He stared at the spot where Hela had been- and still was, he supposed, if a literal statue. Thor and Stephen gaped at the spot as well.

"That works, I guess," Stephen managed.

At which point the Hulk lumbered out from behind a pile of junk and smashed the Hela-statue to pieces.

Loki raised his eyebrows but nodded approvingly. "Best to be safe."

Stephen gave him an amused look.

"Well, that's all wonderful," Val said, following Hulk out from behind the pile of junk. "But we have a slight problem, given that we've kind of lost our ship."

At this moment, a voice called out, "Hello down there!"

Loki glanced up to find a massive ship hovering over them, which explained why they were suddenly in shadow. Standing on the open ramp of the ship was a man of rocks, waving cheerfully.

"Korg!" Thor shouted enthusiastically, so apparently he knew the rock man. And was hopefully friends with him, although Thor had also greeted Loki like that, and Loki and Thor were not exactly friends. "That's the guy I helped start a revolution," he explained to Loki. "I like your ship!" he shouted up to Korg.

"Thanks, mate!" Korg shouted back. "Would you like a ride in it?"

Thor looked at them hopefully. Val rolled her eyes but shrugged, which was pretty much an acceptance from her. Stephen and the Hulk seemed on board, so Loki sighed. "Fine."

"We'd love one!" Thor shouted back, and the Hulk grabbed Val, leaping the two of them up to the ramp. Loki wrapped an arm around Stephen, both so he could fly them up and just because.

"Well then," he told Thor, who looked ready to do some dumb but somehow successful show-off stunt to get up there. He even threw in a smile at his brother, though that was just because he'd just killed the goddess of death and was in a good mood in general. "Let's go home."

Chapter Text

Loki thought that, given that he'd been impersonating the king the last time he'd been on Asgard, his return went very well.

Which is to say, no one tried to kill him. He didn't exactly think Thor's friends were happy to see him, but they were distracted by the initial freaking out, given that both he and Thor had just utterly vanished in the middle of a Bifrost trip, leaving Asgard with absolutely no idea as to where they had gone or what had happened to them. And, of course, the fact that they'd showed up in a spaceship- given that the last time that had happened hadn't exactly been a... pleasant experience, Loki could understand that- with several dozen now ex-gladiators from all over the universe. He could understand the confusion they were going through. And the panic. Really, he wouldn't want to be in their shoes. It was maybe a little funny, but they didn't have to do that.

And then, of course, once the freaking out was over, the questions had started up. Why there was a Valkyrie, where they had been, what had happened, who were all these people, why was Loki all wrapped up in the Midgardian sorcerer. At which point, after he'd informed them that Stephen was, in fact, his boyfriend, which felt absolutely incredible to say and possibly had him uncharacteristically beaming, to the unease of Thor's friends, Thor had just had to be all smug and so you are dating him now, are you Loki? ("Yes, but I wasn't at the time you big oaf- Stephen, tell him-")

But anyway, after all that had been taken care of... well, at that point, they'd had to deal with the fact that Odin was now dead, and that meant they needed a new king. And Loki, though he had been doing the job for the past several years, had a new boyfriend and a date at some unspecified-but-upcoming-time, which meant that he didn't have time to be king anymore, so actually, Thor could have the job. At which point quite a few people had looked at him like he'd grown another head, which, rude, he had a personality outside of wanting a throne, thank you very much, but Stephen had just smiled at him, so that made up for it. And so it was decided that Thor would be king, and they would have a coronation after the respectful mourning time for Odin had passed.

But, with Thor as unofficial king and Loki as, apparently, his top advisor (which was a job Loki hadn't exactly volunteered for but if Thor still trusted him after everything then that was his problem. And, fine, it felt nice. Damn it, Stephen was being a bad influence on him. Or, objectively, a good influence, but Loki was choosing to call it a bad influence) there was a lot of work to be done. They had, after all, just taken in a rather large influx of refugees, after Asgard had kept itself rather closed off from other worlds for a long time. And while Loki had tried to slowly work on opening them up again, it was still a bit of a shock to suddenly be expected to host so many.

At least they were gladiators. And some of them rather enjoyed what they did. They fit right in with the Asgardians. It gave them something to do while Loki and Thor worked on finding somewhere for them to go, whether on Asgard, their homeworlds, or anywhere else out in the universe. Loki suspected at least some of them would like it on Asgard enough to stay permanently, or at least long-term.

The Hulk and Stephen stuck around too, or at least, they had so far. Thor was supposedly talking with the Hulk about whether or not he wanted to return to Earth- there had been no reemergence of Banner to chime in on the discussion, and from what Loki could tell, the Hulk was in no hurry to go home. Loki suspected he knew what Banner would say on the matter, if he was there to do so, but given that from what Loki had gathered Banner didn't really know what was happening while the Hulk was in control, he supposed they could always wait and let Banner decide at a later date. He also suspected that Thor wasn't trying too hard to convince the Hulk to leave- he clearly liked having one of his Avenger friends on Asgard.

Not that Loki could, exactly, say anything, given that he would rather Stephen not go anywhere anytime soon, unless he was taking Loki with him. Stephen could, technically, leave now, either by the Bifrost or by using one of his own portals. But he hadn't said a word about doing so, and Loki wasn't quite ready to bring up the topic, either. Yes, he knew that with the Bifrost and Stephen's portals, they could see each other as often as they liked even if they lived on different planets, but he didn't want to. He wanted to be with Stephen all the time, walking hand in hand for real, instead of to play up a romance for their Sakaarian audience.

So instead of talking about what they were going to do next, Loki showed Stephen around Asgard. The palace, especially the royal library, and everywhere else he could think of showing Stephen. He took a skiff and reenacted his and Thor's escape route on their way to Svartalfheim, just as an excuse to spend the time with Stephen. Not that he was exactly lacking in time with Stephen. But time away from the palace, just the two of them, was different, and Loki found himself smiling that whole day far more than he ever had.

He was pretty sure it was freaking out his brother's friends. He might be having just a bit too much fun with that fact, but then, who was going to stop him?

So Loki found himself enjoying the time that had passed since their return to Asgard. Mainly because of Stephen, but still, it was rather odd. He was even getting along with his brother better than ever, which was how you knew something was off. But Loki couldn't find it in him to care. What really mattered was that Stephen was here. He would never stop being happy about that fact, he thought. It was something that should be a happy thing, always. And Loki had to stop himself there, because they might be boyfriends but they hadn't even gone on their first official date yet, no matter how much time they'd been spending together, and if he kept going down that road, he might start wondering how long before they could discuss making the other part of their deception a reality, and it was probably a bit too soon for that.

But anyway, it was on yet another of his walks with Stephen around the palace, beaming in a way that had everyone who knew him staring at him in mild terror (unfounded, he wanted it said, he was not plotting anything, he just had an amazing boyfriend and was very happy about that particular fact), that Loki's vision suddenly flashed red, and he collapsed to the ground, shaking as the Aether writhed inside him.

He distantly heard Stephen's cry of "Loki!" and the murmured concern of the servants, but he was too busy trying to remember how to breathe, crying out as the sensation tore through him, sending every sense into overdrive in detecting only pain, pain, pain.

Finally, Loki managed to pull himself together, still shaking slightly- he was in Stephen's arms now, when had that happened- as he tried to bring the Aether under control. And then it hit him what the whole thing meant, what had set off that fit, and he suddenly had to remember how to breathe for an entirely different reason.

Stephen was looking at him with gentle concern in his eyes, asking if he was okay, if he needed anything, and Loki had to desperately shove down his terror, because he couldn't panic. Not right now.

And so Loki gasped in a breath, shoved his panic to a corner of his mind because he couldn't deal with it at the moment, met Stephen's eyes, and gasped out, "He's here."