Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 94

"Get out of the way!' Loki yells, practically shoving his brother backwards without so much as a glance at him.

"You're on my side of the field!" Thor yells back.

"I am not!" Loki says defiantly. "You keep coming forward!"

"You keep moving backward!" Thor argues.

"I do not—"

Whack.

Loki gasps and whips around to look at his brother. Thor drops his Wii remote, letting it hang from the strap on his wrist as he slaps his hand over his mouth.

"Are you okay?" Loki asks quickly. He hits the home button on his own Wii remote, pausing their very intense game of Wii Sports tennis to give his brother his full attention.

"Ow." Thor takes his hand away from his mouth, and already, the corner of his lips are gushing blood. "Ice?"

"Ice," Loki agrees.

He teleports to the kitchen, where Steve and Natasha are sitting at the table with empty plates in front of them. He doesn't pay them any mind, instead going straight to the freezer. He rummages around for an ice pack. He still can't believe Midgard has fake ice specifically for injuries. A part of him finds it weird. A part of him thinks Asgard should do the same. Injuries are certainly not a rarity in his home realm.

"Hey, what's up?" Steve asks, a hint of concern in his voice.

"I hit Thor in the face."

"You what?"

"Good for you," Natasha says. "Violence is usually the answer."

"Don't encourage him!" Steve hisses.

Loki pulls out an ice pack and kicks the freezer door shut behind him. He teleports back to the man cave before they can say anything else.

Thor is still standing where he'd been before, his shirt pulled up and pressed against his lip, baring his abs for the whole world to see because he's a show-off.

"That was fast," Thor remarks, though it's a bit muffled with the shirt against his lips. He takes the ice pack and lets his shirt fall, and it's stained with red on the bottom.

"Did I really hit you that hard?" Loki asks.

Thor looks at him with as much exasperation as possible. "Yes, you did." He puts the ice pack to his lip. "I believe this means I win by default."

Loki scoffs. "It does not!"

"I beg to differ," Thor says. "You hit me in the face. That should disqualify you from winning our electronic tennis tournament."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Loki says sarcastically, "is that how the Midgardians play it?"

"I advise you not to speak with such contempt," Thor says teasingly. "You're Midgardian now, brother."

Loki narrows his eyes. "I am getting dangerously close to hitting you again."

Thor just grins, unphased.

"The next time we play, we will have to divide the floor visibly," Loki says. "I cannot play this game with you breathing down my neck."

"I agree," Thor says. "It will be much easier without you backing up into me."

"I was not!" Loki says defensively. "You walked into me. If I moved any further forward, I would have hit the television instead."

"No, you moved backward during the game," Thor insists. "If you'd stayed where you started, you would have hit nothing."