so I can rest now

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"You're not the Loki I know, are you?"

There was a pause from the Loki's side and, as Peter was studying him, he noticed the tension in Loki's shoulders, the way he shielded back slightly and the way his eyes darted part him, like he was looking for an escape route. And to top it all, Peter doubted he was even aware of himself doing so, which was... almost, if not exactly, like the Loki Peter knew; all the insecurities Loki was attempting to hide (keyword, attempting) It reminded Peter of the first time his Loki woke up on Peter's bed in May's apartment.

"I..." the other Loki trailed off, as though searching for words, then, "No... no, I'm afraid not." He finished it at last, and really, Peter wasn't surprised by the answer he received.

Loki looked, for a moment, hesitated and confused, like his being here was rather an outcome of an event he had no control of than a thoroughly calculated scheme, like he had so many questions he wanted to ask he didn't know which to ask first, which, shoot, Peter couldn't blame him. The feeling was, of course, mutual; Peter, too, had dozens of questions.
'Who are you?' , 'Do I know you?' , 'Are you ally or enemy?' These were, If Peter had to guess, what went on in Loki's head.

"Okay, we're gonna play a game," Peter blurted out, and it caught Loki off guard.

The look of complete confusion on Loki's face mirrored Peter's Loki perfectly it was something Peter thought was... adorable. Not that he ever voiced it out loud. He put Zeus down and made himself comfortable on Loki's bed, the other Loki's bed, the not-so-spooky Loki's. Whatever.

"Sit." Peter said, nodding toward the armchair since he thought this Loki probably wouldn't let his guard down enough to join him on the bed and allow them to have a nice little chat like two high school girls at a sleepover.

Loki, to Peter's surprise, sat on the armchair almost obediently. Then he looked like he wanted to snarl at himself for having obeyed so easily.

"The rules are simple," Peter begun, "I'm gonna tell you what you want to know and, in exchange, you're answer my questions. Sound good?"

Loki narrowed his eyes. He was considering, Peter could tell, because the similarities between this Loki and the Loki he knew... that was the only reason why Peter didn't feel threatened; Loki wouldn't hurt him, no matter which version.

"Very well," Loki said at last, still guarded. "Enlighten me what you think I might love to know, little mortal."

It's a deal, Peter was suddenly very satisfied. He collected his thoughts, arranging his words. "Okay, so, I'm Peter. Peter Parker. I'm an Avenger. I know you and you know me, we're buddies. I mean, the other you and I are buddies, the other you that's on a date with Captain America right now, and this is his room, the less-homicidal-looking Loki's room. Oh, this is Zeus, by the way. You met Zeus. He's harmless so you don't have to be scared of him. I mean the other you was, at first, he kept thinking he was gonna get eaten, so that's another thing you and he have in common. I mean isn't it crazy! There're two of you. Shit, I'm rambling. Anyway, hi, I'm Peter Peter and we're in the Avengers compound,"

Peter reached out a hand for him to shake, but Loki just blinked. The God looked... even more confused, like Ned looked when he was in a class and, ninety percent of the time, Ned had no idea what was going on. That's the look on Loki's face right now.

"I'm dating Captain America?" Was what came out of Loki's mouth after a long awkward moment. Loki blinked again, now he looked like a lost puppy, and Peter didn't really appreciate Loki's keeping his hand waiting. Don't Asgardians ever shake hands?
"The Captain America?"

"The whole Avengers ship you both pretty hard. You just don't know it, the other you, I mean," Peter shrugged, retracting his hand a bit unhappily Loki wouldn't shake it.

"They what? How are you an Avenger? You're - you're tiny. Why is the other me having a sexual relationship with Captain America. He's an enemy! Do not tell me I've gone soft like my idiotic not-brother —"

"Your turn," Peter cut him off. Loki blinked for the third time.

"What?"

"It's the rules, remember? I tell and you tell. I already told you what you wanted to know,"

"I did not want to know the Captain and I — I still don't understand a damn thing!"

"How did you get here and why here?" Peter cut him off again and, again, Loki blinked, taken aback.
(If anything he was more lost now, after Peter bombarded him with all these informations, than he had been when the Tesseract took him here)

Loki muttered something under his breath, probably cursing in Asgardian. Then, to answer Peter's questions, "The Tesseract took me here," he said. He would've lied, surely, had it been under any circumstance. Or, the circumstance where he didn't get his brain thoroughly fucked, by this little mortal who claimed to be an Avenger who claimed he and Steve Rogers were in love, that he couldn't think straight, let alone weave a mischievous, misleading lie for his own gain.
"I was attacking your precious earth. I failed. The Avengers captured me but I escaped. He was after me, after my failure, so I had to run, take shelter here, in another existence of realities. A parallel universe, you could say. Here the Titan can't reach me."

"You mean Thanos,"

Loki was... shocked. He left the name unsaid for more than one reason (speaking it still sent shivers down his spine, for one. The other, he didn't think anyone knew about Thanos, he didn't)
"You... how did you..."

"How did I know? It's a parallel universe, so Thanos existed here, too."

And Loki hadn't noticed that the past tense was used. He was actually considering bolting. Run now. Not safe. Not safe here. Thanos.

"You tried to take over earth, and you didn't succeed. I've already lived through that years ago. I wasn't a part of the team back then, but it was all over the news. Everyone knows,"

"Way to honor a man's pride," Loki said, though his voice sounded far away.
Still not safe. Thanos is... Thanos is here.

"But the thing is," Peter went on. If he noticed the paleness suddenly creeping through Loki's face, he didn't comment anything about it. "The other you, the you in this universe, didn't escape the custody."

Something in Loki's eyes twisted as he looked at Peter.

"It's a long story, but I suppose you managing to free yourself before Mister Thor took you back to Asgard and coming here was the game changer,"

"You know about Thanos. Why are you still acting so... so nonchalant —"

"Thanos is dead," Peter interjected confidently. "In this... existence, he's dead."

Something crossed Loki's face; fear, disbelief, relief, then disbelief again. "No, no, no, that's... that's impossible," he chuckled, there was anything but humor. "Thanos can't be slain. He's —"

Unless it is possible. That's why the Tesseract took you here, because here, he's dead.

"He's dead," Loki's voice almost a whisper, it seemed more to himself than to Peter.
You're safe.

"You don't have to worry about him anymore," Peter's voice broke Loki out of his trance.

"Now, don't get me wrong," the kid added, "I like you, Mister Other Loki, I really do. But what are we going to do next?"

///

Author's note: sorry this is so short! I've been kinda busy lately, but wanted to get something out for you guys so you didn't have to wait too long! Hope you enjoyed!!

Comment what you think will happen next! Or what you think should happen next (;

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