Archive of Our Own ^beta

Aricin was raised by a regular American woman that Loki barely remembered. So much for a fun night on the most boring realm. She had named the boy “Aricin” after her Norwegian great grandpa who came to America in the early 1900s. It was ironic that the name came to mean “Son of the eternal king” ,as spiteful as it was for the son of Loki. Out of all of Lokis (many) kids Aricin is most likely the youngest. After the New York invasion Aricin began to notice the chaos that seemed to follow him wherever he went. It was only a matter of time that a certain retired surgeon took notice of this almost.. magical phenomenon.

After identifying the problem (which was in this case a twelve year old boy minding his business) said boy was given to Thor and taken to Asgard. It took a long time to convince him that he was not on crack and his (previously unknown) father actually was the very same person who tried to claim Earth just a couple of months ago. Thor was insanely awkward yet fond, since probably even a blind man could see the resemblance between father and son. The short black hair and that same “I’m better than you” -attitude did nothing to help Aricins case. Obviously Asgard was a godly place made of gold and full of warriors, so when he was offered (more or less) to stay it did not take a lot of convincing on Thors part.

Previously Odin had forbidden anyone from seeing Loki in his cell, but after days of annoying begging from both Thor and Aricin (who was at this point considered family) and whispers in his ears from Frigga as well as the warriors three Odin had no choice but to allow him to visit his father. It wasn’t Aricins fault that his father was who he was. Or was it mother? Everyone was still unsure due to Lokis strange family dynamics.

Lokis jaw hit the floor when he saw a tiny version of him being lead down the stairs by his brother. It did not take long for Loki to come to the conclusions that either Thor was trying to trick the trickster or that something was actually happening in the castle that he was not aware of. The dark hair and the mischievous twinkling in the boys eyes mirrored his own and the proud look on Thors face basically confirmed him that this was most likely not an attempt at mockery or whatever dumb joke only Thor could come up with. Loki had heard whispers, of course. Whispers of a forgotten prince of Asgard. He has just assumed that they were talking about him but he was starting to doubt that with every step that they took closer to Lokis cell.”Brother! I have good news!” Thor called out and ruffled the boys hair as if giving him the go-ahead. Aricin had a curious look on his face and an excited smile as he stepped forward. “Why didn’t you tell me you got pregnant?” Thor joked with a hearty laugh. Loki on the other hand was not laughing, he was silent. Processing. The boy looked just like him and Loki was probably start crying if the two of them would just keep standing there and staring. “Hello, small one. I was.. not expecting any visitors.” Loki choked out before glancing at Thor. “Can’t he come inside? I’d like some privacy.” He demanded all while starting to fiddle with his hands and armour. Thor was explicitly told not to let Aricin out of his sight but he could not deny Loki his tender scene reuniting with his baby so he silently took Aricin inside. “Not a word of this to anyone.” Thor sighed softly, so softly that he was not sure which dark haired trickster he was talking to. Thor then went to watch them to the outside of the cell, most likely also heartfelt by the tender moment happening in front of his very eyes.

Aricin didn’t even hesitate to hug Loki. This was his father, he was sure of it. Loki gasped and hesitantly patted the boys back. “Hi dad.” Aricin whispered and pulled back “I saw you on the news…” He told the god next and the smile was wiped off Lokis face in an instant. “Oh. So you did.” Loki mused and knelt down on one knee so they were at the same height. “Tell me, what’s your name?” He asked quietly and held gently onto Aricins arm. “Aricin. Aricin Davis.” The boy told and Loki tsked as he heard the surname. “Don’t be ridiculous. You are not Son of Dave, are you?” Aricin huffed in amusement and rolled his eyes. “Okay fine.. Lokison.” He corrected playfully and Loki smiled at the correct answer. “Thats correct, my boy.” The god said tenderly and pulled Aricin into another hug. “Now, tell me about your life, I’m afraid I’ve missed a couple of years-…” Loki continued and the two of them spoke and spoke. About Asgard. About Thor and about Earth.

“You must be a very mighty sorcerer…”

“Huh?”

That seemed to snap Loki back to reality. The harsh reminder that the boy was raised on Midgard out of all the realms. A godling among humankind. Blissfully unaware why he was so advanced in languages or why he seemed to never run out of breath or get badly hurt. Loki had a lot to teach this boy, it seemed.

“A sorcerer? You know, like a wizard but much better?” Loki furrowed his brows as the child still seemed confused as to what Loki was talking about. Aricin had already seen magic happen during his stay in Asgard but Loki seemed to think that he was a wizard of some kind.

“I’m not a wizard, dad.“ Aricin snorted in amusement and an increasingly confused look took over Lokis face. “Well surely you know some magic.” He then blew some fireworks form the tips of his fingers and then raised his brows expectantly. The boy just shook his head. “Nothing?”

Loki was horrified to find out that Aricin could not do any magic at all. Nothing. He was obviously very eager to teach the boy but he was sure the Allfather would not allow that. It had taken years for Loki to tame his unstable magic and it would not be very fun to deal with another Loki around the castle playing tricks and making mischief.

So, naturally Loki came up with a plan.

He got Aricin interested in magic by telling tales of great shows of magic and Aricin rushed back upstairs to ask Frigga to teach him. A couple of weeks later another visit was arranged for Loki and the boy, where he eagerly showed all the basic magic spells he had already learned. Loki smiled to himself when he saw the boy trying very hard to cast even the smallest spell. It had been quite hard for Loki to learn magic as a child (he later realized it was because of his heritage that his seidr was all over the place) but he had mastered the art to near perfection. He would have loved to teach Aricin just like his mother had taught him, but Frigga had once more came to their aid. Loki could always teach Aricin after he escaped from the cell.

”Very nice, Aricin. Just feel the magic flow through you and focus it right there…” Loki muttered and gently fixed Aricins posture. A ball of light formed between Aricins two hands before it quickly shot off at the nearest yellow wall of the cell. Simple energy centering, but it was still something. Loki was not surprised that the boy was horribly bad at magic, after all, he was some sort of human-Jotun hybrid. Or maybe he just couldn’t concentrate hard enough. Seeing the disappointment on Aricins face Loki quickly came to soothe him, starting to slowly stroke his hair behind his ear.

“That’s how it always begins, my son. I’ve practiced my magic for my whole life, and it was hard for me too at times.” He admitted quietly and pressed a tiny kiss to Aricins head. As bad as Loki was at conquering he was surprisingly good with children. He obviously thought babies were the most gross things he had ever come across (being a proud mother of twins, a snake, and an eight legged horse), but more grown children were manageable.

“You’ll get there eventually. I can assure you.” Loki murmured before leaning back to look at Aricins face. The boys eyes were closed and he looked pretty happy, actually. Loki had never seen someone get so used to all sorts of non-Midgardian things in such a short amount of time. However, the boy had somehow managed to plug in (?) a game console and that might just be why he had not had an identity crisis yet. Did Aricin not realize he was a prince? A god in making? Then again, the whole thing was more than a little complicated. Would the boy be long lived or live his life with a human lifespan? Aricin was probably a little too young to think about that, but that didn’t mean that Loki didn’t worry for him.