Discovery- a Loki story

~Library Secrets~

((in which Loki spends time at hide-and-seek, and fails to recognize irony))

Loki spent a lot of time in the library. Today was no exception. Although today was a little different because today Loki had lured Thor in.

Not that Loki had tried to get the great oaf's attention. It was just that Frigga was away, Odin was busy, and Thor had not gotten to train with Loki in over a week. The Thunder God, in other words, was bored as Hel.

Loki in contrast was quite happy. He had been reading up on illusion spells and learned a couple of new ones. He actually wasn't pleased when Thor entered.

"The big oaf is disrupting the entire library," Loki hissed, shaking his head. Someone needed to teach Thor patience, and quiet.

But Thor was annoying, and at the moment it was way too tempting to bother him for Loki to just march up and hiss "be quiet." Loki smirked to himself. Thor wouldn't know what hit him.

Quite literally. Only a moment into the massive bookshelves, something swooped out of nothing brushing over Thor's head, like a too-eager cloud or a cotton ball.

Only when Thor turned to see where it was gone, he could see no trace of it; and he was suddenly soaking wet.

Then he heard a light cackle coming from somewhere in front of him. Loki hadn't tried to cackle but it had just slipped out. Thor looked so comical, soaking wet in the library. His clothes and shaggy hair were actually dripping onto the pristine carpeted floor.

"LOKI?!!" Thor had heard the stifled sound and was now charging down the hall. At the end, he thought he saw a familiar slender figure in green, fingering a book- but he got to the end of the hall and there was nothing.

" A trick of the light,'' Thor muttered. After all, the light did cast magnificent shadows on this side of the hall, helped by the filtering sunlight. And there were many dusty green volumes back here that could have looked like Loki...and a fair filtering of dust.

But then he heard the cackle again, and this time it was right behind him.

"Loki?!"

He spun around, imagining he had even felt the lightest brush on his back. There was no one, but again, he thought he saw a green figure vanish, around the bookshelf corner.

Thor chased after. "LOKI?!" He bellowed. He was beginning to guess that this was a game, but Loki didn't show himself the way he did when they were playing tag, peeking his head smugly out from behind a bookshelf.

As a matter of fact, it had been a year since they'd played tag. Thor laughed and began to chase after the imaginary figure's vanished back, down one row, turning at another, and down and down until he ran panting to the end of the row- a DEAD end- and there was nothing.

Sopping wet and out of breath, Thor was beginning to get irritated.

"Loki," he called out. "Cease these games, I want to train with you!"

There was no direct reply, but out of the corner of his eye, Thor surely saw a green figure dart out from a bookshelf behind him, slinking back around to the next row of shelves. Thor cursed under his breath.

A voice right over his head took him by surprise. "Careful, Thor," it was Loki's voice, "You are not old enough yet for such language." And as he looked up in surprise, another cloud of water swooped from nowhere and sploshed onto his face!

Thor's irritation broke free. "LOKI, STOP PLAYING GAMES WITH ME!" he bellowed, furiously spitting wet hair from his face.

Loki's innocent voice drifted down again, this time from two rows over. "What? But I thought you wanted to play with me!" it sounded as if he was pouting, and Thor's hope rose.