A Tale of Mischief and Mutants

Birthday

—-Loki—-

When Thor arrives with Peter I'm ambushed by Thor in a hug.

"Ah look at you little brother! Another year older!"

I squirm away embarrassed. It's not a big deal I don't understand his enthusiasm over everything, I laugh slightly.

"Get off me you oaf!"

He laughs at this. Then looks at me with more seriousness his expression concerned.

"Are you feeling better?"

I smile.

"Yes, quite a bit actually."

He smiles widely at this, then turns to leave, Hel with it I'll admit I love the idiot I want him here.

"Hey."

He turns back around.

"Stay for a bit?"

He nods still smiling.

"Of course."

Peter comes up to me next arms open.

"Come on dude you're not getting out of this."

I roll my eyes and step forward allowing him to hug me. When he's done I feign annoyance.

"Alright enough with all that else I won't be able to keep the cake down."

Sam smirks mischievously stepping close to me with her hands on her hips.

"What about me?"

Damnit, I smile and don't hesitate to pull her close to me kissing her cheek as I do so. As I hold her I see both Thor and Peter giving me a teasing look. I roll my eyes then smile and perform an obscene Midgardian gesture I picked up from Sam. This causes Peter to burst out laughing. Sam pulls away.

"What's so funny?"

Thor laughs slightly too.

"Loki was just being Loki that's all."

She looks at me smiling suspiciously and shakes her head.

"Alright trouble let's have some cake."

The cake has candles in the shape of the numbers '1058' Thor and I exchange a look mutually agreeing this tradition is odd. Putting candles on something meant to be eaten then lighting them only to blow them out a moment later makes little sense. Ah well, I have always just gone along with it. I do this then we begin eating. As we eat we talk Peter asks Sam a question I should have been pondering myself but with everything that had happened I hadn't been.

"So Sam what did Magneto want with you anyway?"

"He... he wanted me to join him."

I'm shocked by this.

"What?"

"He thought with everything that happened to me because of non mutants kidnapping me I'd be angry enough to join his cause, I'll admit that yes sometimes I do feel angry, but never at innocent people."

Sam does a better job controlling her anger than I do but I can imagine with everything she's been through if it was ever let loose on someone... well, Norns have mercy. If she ever did join the Brotherhood and adopted that philosophy I assume Mjölnir would reject her but even without it she would be a force to be reckoned with. Humanity should count themselves lucky she's somehow still so optimistic about them. She goes on seeming sad and frustrated.

"I can't understand how he believes what he does so strongly, sure there are people who are bigoted but there are also a whole lot of people who are accepting."

We continue with this topic for a bit longer then move on from talking. Peter's seemingly overcome with anticipation to give me my gift. I laugh as he runs to get his he does this every year and he's quite a bit older now. Sam in contrast calmly walks over to the closet to get her's. That seems to be her hiding place for everything.

I know she has unwrapped Christmas gifts in there too. It's not a very good hiding place but perhaps it's better if I know precisely where it is. If I didn't my curiosity would drive me to search for the hiding place and look over everything she's hidden. Simply hiding them from view is too easy a target for my recalcitrant tendencies. This way I know I could look over everything there at any time and that's enough to keep me pacified.

Sam and Peter sit back down holding wrapped gifts. I unwrap each of them starting with Peter's he got me a book one of Brothers Grim fairytales it's leather bound and I can smell the fresh ink on its pages. I smile slightly as I leaf through it I'm already intrigued by what I see. Peter knows me so well I'm going to enjoy reading this during my recovery. Peter looks at me in excitement.

"So what do you think?!"

I smile to my friend.

"This is wonderful, thank you."

He smiles at my words happy he succeeded in getting me something I like. I turn my attention to Sam's. Within the box is tissue paper covering the gift on top of it sits a bottle of black nail polish. I laugh. Sam had gotten genuinely annoyed by my usage of her bottle. She giggles a little too at my reaction.

"Now you won't use all of mine."

I hold up the small bottle and tease her.

"Until this runs out."

She laughs slightly.

"Get your own thief!"

I laugh then continue opening her gift lifting the tissue paper to reveal a set of two gorgeous daggers. There are gold designs in each of the black handles approximating the Avengers logo, Asgard's symbol, a snake, and a silhouette of my helmet all accompanied by abstract designs. I'm in awe at their beauty.

"Sam... these are beautiful."

I start to think of the price of such high quality.

"How much-"

She cuts me off smiling.

"-Hush your face. On Midgard it's a don't ask don't tell policy when it comes to the cost of gifts."

I nod looking over the daggers again and smile.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome... I love you."

I'm overwhelmed by this, my sentiment about all the kind gestures that others have displayed towards me in the past week getting the best of me. I feel a tear roll down my cheek and quickly cover it up with an illusion I know Sam sees but Peter and Thor seem oblivious to it.

"I love you too."

I let a few more tears fall behind my illusion as we continue visiting but soon it's time for me to as Sam put it 'go back into the fridge' we say our goodbyes and Peter leaves with Thor.