Loki oneshots

Unexpected Visitor (Brodinsons + Love)

A/N this takes place post-Love and Thunder and post-Loki season one

"Can we watch a movie?" Love asks the very moment they step in the house.

Thor fights back a sigh. "You need to take a shower. You're covered in blood and dirt."

Love looks down at her formerly white unicorn t-shirt, now a dull gray with splashes of red – not her own blood, of course; the blood of the monsters she killed this afternoon, but just as unsightly and, quite frankly, unhygienic.

"And then can we watch a movie?" Love asks.

"Then I need to take a shower," Thor says. He doesn't even have to look at himself to know that he's no better off than she is.

"And then we can watch a movie!"

"No, then it will be time for bed," Thor says.

Love pouts. "You're no fun."

"I know," Thor deadpans. "Now go take a shower."

Love groans dramatically and stalks away to the bathroom. Despite his exhaustion, he can't help but smile as he watches her. What did he even do with himself before he took Love in? He can hardly remember life without her.

While he waits for her to take her shower, he plops himself down on the couch and turns on the TV. Family Feud is on, and he's become rather fond of that show over the last six or seven years of living (mostly) on Earth. It's just some nice, mindless fun – like Jeopardy! for dumb people. He loves that about it.

Then the doorbell rings.

Thor sighs and pushes himself to his feet. He was just starting to get comfortable, too. It's probably someone from the village – Valkyrie, maybe, looking for somebody to rant to about the horrors of being king, or maybe Korg and Miek hoping to grab a bit of pizza and play video games. If he wasn't so tired from fighting all day, he might have gone along with it, but whoever's looking for him will have to wait until the morning.

Thor opens the door, already prepared to tell his visitor to come back later, but he freezes.

Is that...

No.

It can't be.

He's dead.

He's so incredibly dead – even deader than he's ever been before, and he gets dead a lot.

But there he is, standing right in the doorway.

Loki.

He looks like absolute shit. He's wearing some type of fancy Midgardian-looking dress shirt that, much like Love's shirt, probably used to be white; his hair is a dirty, tangled mess; his pants are ripped and torn. But, perhaps worst of all, is the look on his face. He looks... scared. That can't be a good sign.

"Are, uh..." Loki swallows hard. "Are we friends in this timeline?"

Thor answers that the only way he can: he barrels into him, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing him tight. Loki hugs him right back, burying his face in the crook of his brother's neck, and it takes every ounce of self-control Thor has not to break down in sobs.

"You're alive," Thor whispers, as much to himself as to his brother.

"I'm alive," Loki whispers back.

Thor finally pulls away from him, but his hands stay on his brother's shoulders, looking at him in disbelief. "You were dead," he says quietly. "I watched you die. I mourned you. I – I killed Thanos in your honor. And you're..." He shakes his head to himself. This doesn't make sense. This doesn't make any sense.