In Plain Sight (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 8

Loki retreated into the bedroom with the excuse of organizing the different, mostly unknown, and all uncalled for items Thor had brought along and labeled as personal hygiene products, using the opportunity to look for something that could fulfill his purpose.

He ran a quick look over the bedroom, in the semi darkness of near noon. It's just as it was when he first got it, a large bed, two lamps, one on each of the bedside tables, and a bookshelf, collecting dust on its uninteresting literary options. Loki thought this apartment was used by Stark when he had to house someone he didn't really like enough to let them into the tower, but couldn't risk to offend by sending them to find accommodations on their own.

Just when his eyes roamed over the dusty book titles, he caught sight of it.

It was a transparent (slightly opaque due to the dust layer that he promptly blows off) crystal sphere, carved in the inside in resemblance to an atom. Or a galaxy. Maybe. Honestly, the work was so poor Loki had problems discerning it.

But then again, it wasn't the carving he was interested in.

A quick scanning of the decorative object revealed the purity of the material, and the God figured it would have to do, since he wasn't exactly hoping on finding uncut gemstones lying around the apartment.

He tugged the sphere safely into his clothes, and surprised Thor by sitting at the kitchen counter, just a couple of steps away from where he was busying himself with the pancakes.

Loki rummaged through the remaining plastic bags, wondering briefly about how humans managed to hold entire, cooked meals into such tiny containers, opening every bottle he could find and giving it a tentative sniff, until he found the expected syrup. So nice of Stark.

After a few minutes, his nose was blessed with a sweet, heavenly scent, and the first two pancakes landed on a plate with a soft thud. He watched in expectance as the pile grew in height, and was finally placed over the counter, right between him and Thor, who had taken a seat across him.

"Thanks. You may leave now." Loki reached for the bottle syrup he'd left apart when checking the bags' contents.

He didn't really expect Thor to leave. It had been said because he had to, and the blond knew that, as seen when he ignored it completely.

"We need to talk, brother."

Loki squeezed the syrup bottle ceremoniously over the pancakes, still avoiding Thor's look, uninterested. When he spoke, he did so as someone would when approaching a particularly stubborn child.

"How many times do we have to go through this Thor? I'm not your brother. I told you before: I never was."

Thor shook his head. "Why do you care, Loki? Of what lies beneath your skin?" He started. It was painfully obvious that the words had been thought over and over, polished a bit more each time to make them worth his time. If just out of respect to those efforts (And the fact that the pancakes were every bit as delicious as the ones he'd had with Stark, and he was enjoying them fully) Loki listened. "I don't care. Father and Mother, they don't care... We love you all the same, you're what you've always been. You're Loki. My brother."

When Thor finished, Loki nodded thoughtfully, chewing slowly through his fourth pancake (Thor was a slow speaker when he was emotional, it seemed)

"The same, you say?" He smirked, when Thor nodded hopefully. "Look at me, Thor." He felt the bulk of the sphere in his clothes, slowly filling up with energy. He sighed internally, and leaned a bit closer to the blond, using his magic to dissolve the glamour that was his Aesir appearance.

He watched in amusement, as Thor's eyes widened in amazement and horror.

"This is what I really am." He smirked. "Do you remember, Thor? That time at the treasure vault..." His voce lowered to a whisper." You swore to kill them all, so that I had nothing to fear." He rose form his seat, and walked around the counter, nearing Thor on the other side. "You failed. The monsters are not out there for you to beat." His voice changed into a venomous whisper. "The monster has always been inside."