The Tin-Man and His Reindeer Games

Chapter-2

"Brother," Thor-the-buffoon sidled up to him wearing an innocent little smile that was not about to fool Loki. "You look miffed. Are you not enjoying yourself?"

Loki responded to his oaf-brother's stupid question with a side-eyed glare. "Anthony told you, didn't he?"

Thor had the nerve to chuckle, despite the menacing glower Loki had trained on him, albeit sideways. "Not everything but I know enough to understand whose fault it was," he returned with a meaningful stare.

Loki's jaw subtly dropped, the full power of his glare now rounded on his ape of a brother. "Whose brother are you? Should you not be on my side, brother?"

"Would you like it if I were to support you and stand against Anthony?" Thor raised his brows knowingly, which definitely did not cause Loki to let out a huff. Absolutely not! Loki would not do something as amateur as huff, and anybody who claimed otherwise was clearly a shameless liar.

Thor continued, "And I do not think Anthony would have you sleep in a separate room. He is as hopelessly in love with you as you are."

Loki's head snapped up, green eyes harshly clashing with blue ones. "Thor!" He hissed out his brother's name. "Do not say things you evidently know nothing about!"

"Don't I?" Thor arched a single eyebrow up challengingly. "Loki, it is plain to every eye bothering to look long enough how much the two of you adore each other!"

So, Thor might not have been as big of a fool as Loki had thought him to be and might have been one of the six people to know of Loki's relationship with Anthony.

(The remaining five consisted of Anthony's friends: Lady Pepper, Colonel Rhodes and Mr. Hogan; and of course, the Allfather and Allmother, and Loki had little to nothing to do in both cases. He had never deluded himself into thinking that Mother Frigga would not know — she was a Seer, there was seldom anything he could hide from her — but he hadn't expected Odin to spare enough time to make the effort to know the happenings of Loki's life. He had thought the Allfather would be happy to wash his hands off Loki once he reached Midgard. It had been a...pleasant surprise to be proven wrong.)

Loki hadn't initially wanted for Thor to know either — he could be protective when he got into his brotherly space — but Anthony had requested, or more like nagged at him unless he gave in and promised the man, that he would not lie to Thor if his brother made the connection by himself.

The sole reason why Loki had acquiesced was because he had been nearly certain that Thor would never be able to make the correct deduction on his own. His brother was an oblivious buffoon at most times.

Loki had been stupefied with amazement when he realised Thor knew of their hidden relationship, when he realised that Thor had paid enough attention to him to conclude such an important but honest detail all by himself. It was a pleasing thought, to say the least!

However, that certainly did not mean he would let his bosthoon of a brother to bully him. "We might be fond of each other but that does not mean we...we are in love." At least, Anthony wasn't. Loki would know otherwise.

"Loki, Anthony is one of the best things to have happened to you in quite some time." And didn't he know that? "Do not let him go because you are scared to fall in love." Thor's tone was soft, imploring but not suffocating, gentle but not patronising. Loki had never heard that tone from him before, or at minimum, had never been on the receiving end of it.

But where did he even start with listing down just how many ways Thor was wrong now?

Loki was not scared to fall in love with Anthony.