A Whole Bunch of Loki's

My Little Monster

(Ugh, this is a lot cheesier than I intended it to be.)

He was startled awake by a terrified yell coming from the other room.

For a moment, Loki had completely forgotten that he had ordered for a new bedroom to be built onto his own, one for his son to stay in whenever he had custody of him for the day.

Although they hadn't fully sorted things out between them, Loki was more than happy that she had agreed to let him share custody over their son.

To spoil him rotten like the princeling deserved after all the years they had missed together.

He didn't however miss the lie-ins he could have when not looking after Saemneir.

The boy had a habit of waking up as hours that even the early rising God found unholy, though he always put that down to him having to get up when his mother had to prepare for her palace duties.

Unlike him, she didn't have the luxury of getting up later on in the day should she wish to and Loki accepted this, but that didn't mean that having his son waking him up was anymore pleasant.

Though today was different.

The yelling and crying from the other room was more from terror than anything playful, a heart wrenching sound that put him instantly on edge and made him uncharacteristically jump into action without thinking anything through first.

He burst into the joined room, barefoot, messy haired, heart racing and full of an adrenaline rush that made him feel immediately prepared to attack anyone threatening his son.

His eyes roamed the room in search of anything that posed a threat, his eyebrows furrowing when he found nothing but his son sat up in bed.

His son who was staring at his pale blue hands in horror as tears streamed down his cheeks from his faded red eyes.

"Saem?" He asked carefully, stepping further into the room and moving to the bed whilst still keeping an eye out for any intruders.

The boy only hiccupped and sniffled, continuing in his wailing.

"What's the matter?" He continued gently, sitting down on the edge of the bed as his adrenaline finally started to die down and be replaced by paternal concern.

Young Lokison couldn't reply, each time he tried it came out as a garbled version of the word 'blue' as he held his hands towards his father.

"Is this why?" Loki asked, clasping his son's hands in his own.

Saemneir nodded, another sniffle adding to the sombre moment.

For a moment, Loki couldn't help but to wonder why Saemneir had never shifted even a little in the years that he had been alive, though it soon dawned on him that he himself had had never shifted until many ages after his own son and he pushed the questioning thoughts away.

Never once in all of his years of not knowing his true origins had he accidentally revealed his true self, something that seemed like a miracle now that he thought about it.

However, part of him couldn't help but wonder if it would have been easier to accept his true origins had he known from an early age.

Loki let out a deep sigh and pulled his son onto his lap, sliding his arms underneath the young boy's so he could cradle Saemneir's significantly smaller hands in his own large ones.

"Watch," he mumbled gently into the boy's ear.

Saemneir watched as a deeper blue hue than his own slowly ran out of his father's long green sleeves to envelope his hands.

The contrast was astounding to Loki, seeing that Saem's skin appeared to be closer to a faint blue that covered his natural skin tone as opposed to the blue taking over the original colour completely, but he rationalised that that also explained why his son's eyes weren't as deep a red as his own.

Despite the more faded appearance of the colours, the Jotun scar-like markings still appeared on the boy's body and marked him as an official half-Frost Giant.

"See?" Loki finally spoke again, "you are just like me."

Saemneir remained silent, his eyes trailing over the markings on his father's skin.

His small fingers moved to pull Loki's sleeve up further so he could examine more of the markings, his tears slowing down and his breathing becoming more even, though still broken by the occasional hiccup.

"I know it frightened you, but there is nothing to worry about."

Loki had always feared his children taking after him, worrying that people would be relentlessly cruel upon learning of their true heritage from his side of the family and perhaps going as far as to shun the child.

"You are still as perfect as the day I learned that you are mine."

He had also feared his own reaction, unsure of what he would think upon seeing his own flesh and blood looking like something he had been brought up to believe were an enemy never to be trusted.

"Your mother and father love you and will always love you."

However, seeing his son now somehow made his heart clench in a way that, whilst uncomfortable, didn't upset him as emotionally as he initially believed it would during his deepest hours of self loathing.

"Others may not understand, but you must know that they don't have to."

If anything, it made his love for his son grow further and made him regret even more that he hadn't been there from the beginning.

"Some may even call you a monster, don't listen to them."

He continued to speak words of love and encouragement to Saemneir, happy to see him calming down and becoming more comfortable in his new skin now that his tears had subsided and he'd taken to leaning back against his father's chest, his eyes slowly beginning to droop once again.

"All that matters is that you become the best Lokison that you can be."

Loki carefully moved to lie them both down on the bed, the boy's head tucked carefully under his chin as he felt his own eyes beginning to grow heavy as well and soon both were fast asleep, neither of them hiding their Jotun genes.