A Whole Bunch of Loki's

The Next Step - Sequel to The Stable Lad

It had been a long day and Loki looked forward to finally flopping into bed with a good book and his husband curled into his side as he read to him, perhaps playing with the other man's hair as he half-dozed with his head resting on his lap.

Loki knew that the day had tired his lover out more physically while he was more socially exhausted from an event they had attended and now, they were both ready to ignore the world and live in their own bubble of comfort as they had every night for the past three years.

He looked across the bed to where his husband was stripping down to his underwear, stretching out any aches that were beginning to build in his tense muscles before he turned to climb beneath the sheets.

For a brief moment, their eyes met and Loki caught a glimpse of that cocky smirk he'd fallen for five years ago upon his visit to the stables.

Loki climbed in beside him and settled into place after grabbing the book they had been reading together from the bed stand, he worked on opening the book to the page they had stopped on as his stable boy got into position, his head resting closer to Loki's side than his chest with one arm resting over the God's hips.

"Are you ready?" Loki asked, already playing with a tuft of his husband's hair.

"As ever," he nodded, stifling a yawn as if the two words had exhausted him.

Loki chuckled lightly then settled into his usual reading chance, letting his voice carry softly, almost intimately quiet as if the words were for his husband and his husband alone.

This story was theirs, for no one else.

As usual, they stayed like this for a while, cuddling and reaching while sharing light touches, until Loki's throat began to ache and he had to pause for a drink of water.

He plucked up the glass from the table the book had been sat on and took a few sips, his eyes drifting from the page number they had stopped on to his husband.

His brows furrowed as he noticed the faraway look within those eyes that usually twinkled with a hint of mischief, much like his own, and the blank expression on his face caused alarm bells of worry to sound in the back of Loki's mind.

Setting the glass back down, he tucked the bookmark into the pages of the book and set it to one side so that he could focus his attention fully on his husband, his cold fingers running through his hair and rubbing at his scalp.

"Penny for your thoughts, my little stallion."

Loki felt his husband flinch, as is startled out of a reverie, before he blinked rapidly then tilted his head to look up at the dark-haired man, who offered him a comforting smile.

"Oh, he answered, shaking his head, "it's nothing."

"It's clearly something if it has drawn your attention away from me," Loki smirked.

"Point taken," he laughed, then let out a long sigh as he started to draw circles on Loki's thigh. "It's about earlier."

"Earlier? Earlier as in the event or earlier this morning? Did I do som-"

"No, Loki," he smiled, rolling his eyes, "you were great, as always, I meant earlier at the event."

"Oh, then do continue."

"It was when I was helping those children with the horse riding," he sighed softly, face falling into a sombre expression, "seeing all those happy families together, loving each other and knowing that I helped put a smile on that child's face."

Loki's eyebrow twitched upward briefly, but he stayed silent.

"It just got me thinking, that's all, nothing to worry about."

There's a brief moment of silence before Loki finally speaks.

"You wish to have a child?"

His husband nodded slowly, letting out a small hum.

"I think it'd be nice to have a family of our own."

Loki's eyes widened a little, his fingers stopping their hair-fiddling as he looked down to meet his husband's eyes.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, I've kind of thought about it before but today I've been feeling kind of...I don't know...broody, I suppose."

Loki nodded slowly, lifting his hand as the other man pulled away and sat up while turning to face him better.

There was a look in his eyes that Loki had never seen before, something soft and desiring, the look of a person ready to progress in their life.

The silence comes down once again as Loki takes a moment to think things over.

Was he really ready to bring a child into this?

He loved his husband, that went without saying, but this was a huge step and parenthood was not something that should be considered lightly. It wasn't anything that he had really thought about before and it had taken him by surprise to hear it come up.

Now that he did think about it, he couldn't say that he was against the idea, despite the lingering unease that settled in his chest at the thought of raising a living thing that would be so dependent on him.

Regarding his husband once again, he found himself not as opposed to the idea as he initially would have thought.

In fact, he found the idea rather comforting and found himself smiling as he finally nodded his agreement.

"It's something we shall discuss a little more and settle on," he said, "but I can't deny that the idea is kind of appealing."

The smile that rose on his lover's face warmed his heart and he eagerly reciprocated the kiss that he initiated before they went back to their previous cuddling position, though Loki didn't pick the book back up just yet.

"How shall we go about it anyway?"

"Hm?"

Loki looked down at the other man, who had tilted his head to look up at him, "The child, shall we have a biological child?"

"Um," he frowned in thought then slowly shook his head, "while I appreciate the sentiment, I wouldn't feel wholly comfortable with seeing you like that."

"Okay," Loki nodded, "surrogacy then?"

The stable boy let out a long sigh and started playing with Loki's fingers as he puffed his cheeks out.

"Honestly? I think, if we do settle on this happening, that we should go down the adoption route."

"Adoption?"

"Yes, why not give a less fortunate child a chance?"

Loki smiled and moved some of the man's hair away from his face, both of them exchanging a look of pure adoration.

"You are too kind-hearted for me," he chuckled, earning a proud smile in return.

"I know," he laughed in return then lifted Loki's hand and kissed his palm, pressing the appendage to his face to try and hide the mischievous grin that was growing. "Besides, shouldn't this be easier for you? Afterall, if the rumours are tr-"

"I swear, if you bring up that ridiculous story of Sleipnir being my son one more time, I'm divorcing you."

The laugh that sounded like music to his ears filled the air once again and Loki had to fight to keep himself from smiling.

"You have one past life that screws around and suddenly it's every life after that faces the torment," he grumbled, picking the book up.

"You'll have to travel back in time and have a word with yourself."

"Don't tempt me, that man ruined my life."

"All the more reason for us to make it better," he smiled, snuggling up to the God once again as Loki resumed his reading.