Chapter Text
Twilight filtered downward over the North Sea. The lights of the great city of Bergen began to alight one-by-one, outpacing the stars above. Overlooking this scene, nestled in the tree-covered hills sat the palatial clapboard house of the Odinsons. It was an old family home, one that had seen six generations of Odinsons pass through. It was in the second-floor nursey where Thor Odinson was preparing his little brother Loki for bed. Thor had gotten Loki bathed and dressed in his two-piece pajamas, something he rarely wore…but Loki was in an unusual mood that evening; he wanted to be big.
‘Big’ for Loki meant his headspace was around four or five. He could walk and talk and manage toileting fairly well. Well-enough that he could be trusted to wear only his nighttime underwear under his thermal bottoms.
“Brush my hair?” Loki presented his brother with a hairbrush. When in a little headspace, Loki hated having his hair brushed after a bath. He would fuss and cry and try to wiggle away. Only a warm bottle and a lullaby could calm him. But when he was big (-ish), Loki adored having his hair played with; brushed or braided, anything was welcome.
“Of course, brother,” Thor took a seat on Loki’s crib. The side had been pulled down so the big-Little could sleep in it like a regular bed. Loki laughed and sat down with his back to his brother, shoulders firm and ready to have his hair brushed.
Loki’s room was a proper nursery that had been lovingly put together just for him by Frigga and the best interior designer money could buy. All told, she spent four-hundred Krona on the one room alone. The walls were a soft sage green with hand painted birch trees. All the furniture was natural pine, including the crib whose headboard had been designed with the inlay of a crown. There were all the necessary trappings as well; changing table, dressers and a beast of chest labeled ‘Loki’s Toys’ that concealed a great number of stuffies. And of course, a proper tee-pee where Loki could run and hide with his books or Bjorn, the stuffed bear he told all his secret to.
“Today was fun,” Loki sighed happily as Thor pulled the brush through his hair, “can we go to the zoo again tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” Thor chuckled, “Do you think there’ll be new animals?”
“No, but I wanna see my favorites again.”
“And what was your favorite?”
“Tigers,” Loki giggled, pointing to the new stuffed tiger Thor had brought him, sitting on the dresser. “And the elephants, too. And the snakes!”
“I think Mummy’s taking you to see Dr. Mobius tomorrow, and then to get ice cream.”
“Oh…,” Loki fidgeted slightly. Seeing the doctor made him nervous.
“You’ll be a good boy, right? And behave for Dr. Mobius? I know you like him.”
“Yeah…,” Loki nodded, “but I don’t have to stay there, right?”
“Of course not,” Thor grabbed his little brother around the chest and pulled him close, placing a kiss on his cheek. “You’re stuck with me!” Loki laughed and kicked his feet.
“Goodness, what’ve I walked in on?” It was Sylvie Laufeydottir, the live-in nanny the Odinsons had hired to help care for their adopted Little.
“Nothing!” Both brothers said together.
“That was not reassuring…,” Sylvie was as shrewd as they came, but beneath her no-nonsense façade was a devoted caretaker who would do anything for the boy she referred to as the ‘little prince’.
“I was just brushing some tangles out, nothing to concern yourself with,” said Thor.
“What tangles?” Sylvie came over and petted Loki’s hair. Recently, Frigga Odinson had a whole six inches cut off. Loki’s jet-black hair sat in bunches around his shoulders. “All I see is his pretty little curls,” she tugged at one and watched it bounced back in place. “Love doing that!”
“I like Thor’s beard,” Loki said as he turned to play with his brother’s brambly beard. “Why’s it not white like daddy’s?”
“Why should it be?” Thor asked, slightly wounded, “You think I’m as old as dad?”
“No,” said Loki, “I think Thor is…,” he hummed with thought before holding up all his fingers. “This many!”
“And how many is that?” Asked Sylvie.
Loki frowned at his fingers, then looked up at Thor with eyes begging for help.
“We’ll do it together,” he said, “ready?” Loki nodded. Thor touched Loki’s thumb.
“One,” Loki said.
Next finger.
“Two.”
Next.
“Three.”
And so on until he got stuck and ‘eight’.
“Rhymes with gate,” Thor told Loki’s anxious expression.
“Eight!”
“Very good; and what’s after eight?”
“Nine.”
“Last one!”
“Ten!” Loki laughed, clapping his hands. “Did it!”
“What a smart little brother I have.”
“Okay Loki, come here,” Sylvie curled a finger at him from across the room. Without a thought, Loki went right over to her. “Give me a hug,” again, the Little was happy to comply and threw his arms around Sylvie’s neck. The clever caregiver took the moment to pull out Loki’s thermal bottoms so she could at a peek at his nighttime underwear. “Sylvie!” He laughed.
“You’re going to have dry bottoms for me?” Loki nodded. “No coming to Miss Sylvie’s room with wet trainers in the middle of the night?” Loki shook his head, putting his hands over his crotch.
“Gotta potty…” He whispered sheepishly.
“Do you need me to help?” Loki answered by taking Sylvie’s hand. “All right little prince, let’s see if we can make a wee before bed.” She led him to the nursery’s en-suite restroom, “if you make and wash your hands, I’ll give you a sticker for your potty chart.”
“Okay!”
In his pocket, Thor’s phone vibrated and pinged, alerting him to a new text message. He was surprised to see it was from Sif; she had not messaged him since he canceled plans with her last week. Upon opening it, he could see the icon image he had chosen for her: an image of the two of them at a festival in Berlin. A wild weekend Thor had almost no memory of.
“going to the mjøll tonite – you in?”
An invite to the best bar in Bergen with the hottest woman in Norway? Thor couldn’t blow it again.
“time?”
“9 – theres a whole group! you have to come!”
The toilet from the en-suit could be heard flushing.
“Good job,” Sylvie said, “let’s wash your hands and pick out a sticker.”
“Yay!”
“war vixen is playing <3 ! ! !” Thor’s phone pinged, ‘last show before Oslo - dont ditch me again”
“Thor!” Looked up to see Loki running to him.
“Brother!” Thor quickly slid the phone into his front pocket and opened his arms for Loki to tumble in to.
“I did it! I used the potty and Sylvie gave me a sticker!”
“I am so proud of you!” Hugging Loki was the best feeling in the world. Though tall and gangly, he still managed to fit perfectly in Thor’s arms, like the two were just made for each other.
“I’m going downstairs to make you some warm milk, okay?” Sylvie said, looking to Thor, “Stop getting him riled up, it’s bedtime.”
“Yes Miss Sylvie,” Thor said in a mocking dead-pan voice.
“I’m not gonna sleep!” Loki stood up once the door was closed. His top had scrunched up a bit, showing where his nighttime underwear was peeking out of his bottoms. “I stay up all night!” He then ran across the room and got into his tee-pee, pulling the flaps down around him. “Can’t tell Sylvie!”
“I won’t,” Thor assured. He then reached back into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“with loki – give me 30 min”
“again?”
Again?
“hes my little bro Sif – be cool”
“whatever hes not your brother have fun changing nappies tonite”
Thor let out a long groan. Two months ago, he thought his parents adopting a Little was the craziest thing in the world. Now, his whole world revolved around Loki. Life went from late night bar crawls and mosh pits to playing Candyland and…and Sif put it…changing nappies.
The nursery door opened, and Sylvie came back into the bedroom with a sippy cup with handles, farmyard animas printed all around it. She did a cursory glance around the room, his lips pursed in annoyance. She could clearly see the flaps on the tee-pee had been closed…but decided that one good act of mischief deserved another.
“Dear, oh dear; where has the little prince gone?”
“Afraid I don’t know,” Thor said, playing along with her ruse.
“Well, I suppose no one gets this yummy cup of honey milk or a bedtime story,” she grabbed the stuffed tiger from the dresser, “and I guess Miss Sylvie gets to sleep with tiger stuffy…”
“No!” Loki’s head popped out of the tee-pee, “Story!”
“Then you have to come and have your nighttime milk and get into bed like a good boy.”
“Okay!” Loki grabbed Bjorn, his big, black stuffed bear on his way out.
“Silly boy,” Sylvie sighed, giving him a tap on the bum as he went past, “get in your crib.” Both Thor and Sylvie watched as the Little awkwardly made himself comfortable with both his toys on the pillows at the head of the crib. “Good?”
“Milk!” Loki held out his hands.
“Since we want to be big, we can use nice words,” said Sylvie.
“Milk please!” Loki said with a laugh, kicking his legs.
“There you are my love,” Sylvie handed him the sippy cup and Loki brought the plastic tip straight to his lips.
“What story do we want to hear tonight?” Thor asked, looking over to the overstuffed bookshelf in the corner. “Do you want me to read one?”
Loki shook his head, and in a sweet and tiny voice he said,
“Tell about when I came home.”
“That is such a long story,” said Thor.
“Please, it’s my favorite…”
“Do you remember that day?” Sylvie asked, taking a seat beside Loki at the head of the bed.
“No…”
“Of course not,” she sighed, “you slept it away. Sweet thing, you were so tired.”
“We can tell it,” Thor said, “but if you fall asleep, then the story is over.”
Loki pulled the cup from his mouth, eyes wide.
“Won’t fall ‘sleep! Promise!” It was clear that his headspace was shrinking.
“Drink your milk, Loki,” Sylvie touched the bottom of the cup, gently guiding it back into Loki’s mouth, “be a good boy.”
“I remember that day being the first nice one of the year,” Thor began, “perfect day for a motorcycle ride!”
Sylvie laughed.
“And I remember that thing coming into the drive-way! There I was, pulling burp clothes and onesies and nappy covered from the clothesline and that horrible noise came sputtering up to the house! I was about ready to call the authorities.”
“Such a prude,” Thor shook his head over her, “but admit it; you were glad to see me.”
“I was happy to get any help I could get,” she conceded, “only because that day…that day was so crazy…”