Brotherhood - Loki & Thor ♡

55. all we have is each other

Five (bad) habits of Loki in which Thor found unbearable, and one (bad) habit of Thor in which Loki found unbearable.

Took place in the Avengers compound after Endgame. Everybody lived.

The chapter included eating disorder. Nothing too graphic, but it could be triggering to some. Proceed with caution.

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I.

Thor seated on the couch, opposite from Loki. The spaces between them weren't so great that hadn't Loki been so occupied with his reading, he would have been able to catch Thor staring unhappily. And seriously, Thor didn't have any problem with Loki always having his nose in a book. It was Loki's unconsciously biting his nail that irritated Thor very, very much.

The habit was something Loki took with him from his childhood. Thor remembered, when they were both so little, seeing Frigga scold Loki for such a behavior, saying it wouldn't look good for a prince to be biting his own nail. Loki was stubborn. Ridiculously stubborn and had been that way ever since he was tiny. Sure, he may have listened to his mother back then, or every time he was scolded at by her, by reluctantly releasing his, at that time, little finger from his mouth, but it was only for the same behavior to keep occurring — so many times that it surprised Thor how Frigga never gave up on telling her youngest son to stop doing that.

Thor had thought Loki would eventually grow out of the habit. He was, well, wrong. If anything it got worse.

"Loki," Thor broke the silence at last, his voice low and with a hint of disapproval. Still, whatever annoyance or disapproval was in Thor's voice or on Thor's face, it wasn't enough to earn even a quick glance from Loki.

"Hmm," Loki responded absentmindedly in his throat, his eyes remained glued to his book, it moved slightly and slowing from left to right, indicating he was still reading and wouldn't stop to have a conversation with Thor anytime soon. His fingertip, unsurprisingly, still caged between his lips as he bit carelessly at his own nail.

Thor growled. Rolling his eyes, he got on his feet and crossed the spaces between them. He didn't offer any forewarning before he wrapped fingers around Loki's smaller wrist and, gently but firmly, freed Loki's nail from Loki's teeth.

It bled only a little, and it was what Thor expected. It doubled Thor's irritation nonetheless. "Loki," he said with a heavy sigh. "We've talked about this."

But Loki, perfectly followed the pattern, huffed in annoyance at his peaceful little me-time getting once again interrupted by his brother. "I'm reading," he muttered, trying to no avail to free his wrist from Thor's not-harsh-but-unyielding hold.

"You're bleeding." Thor corrected. And Loki had the nerve to roll his eyes, like he wasn't the one biting his own nail till it oozed blood.

He yelped, letting go of his book, but didn't protest too much, when Thor bodily moved him from the couch. Heading to the bathroom, he didn't ask what Thor was doing because, honestly, this had long become a pattern that happened quite frequently between the two of them. Tony saw. The rest, too. And they stopped asking because they knew what was going on and, even if they thought it was kinda childish and ridiculous at first, they genuinely started to think it was also cute.

Thor sat Loki on the edge of the bathtub. Loki, of course, stood back up defiantly, stubbornly. Thor made no comment about it (part of the pattern) as he, mumbling something grumpily under his breath, grabbed a pack of bandage above the sink, putting it where he could easily reach.

"Hand." He said, a command. Loki rolled his eyes behind him and hoped he would see it in the mirror in front of them. Though he complied wordlessly. Again, part of the pattern. Thor took his wrist with one hand, the other turned on the faucet. He held Loki's 'injured' finger under the tap as the water ran through it.