An Interesting Arrangement

Chapter One

Several months later

Loki groaned and whacked his alarm clock as it went off. It might've been a little hard, but right now he didn't really care if it broke.

"Blasted contraption." He muttered as he got up and headed to the shower. He'd been staying with the Rogers for a few months now and had basically settled into a routine. Get up, shower, make breakfast, take care of the animals, train (both physically and magically), lunch, and then catching up on Midgardian traditions for several hours. After that, it really depended on what he felt like whether he rode his horse Sigurd (who Heimdall had thoughtfully sent from Asgard) or whether he read, or just took a nap.

Loki sighed as he dried off, pulled on a light t shirt and jeans and headed down stairs to make breakfast. It wasn't that he was bored exactly, he just felt... well... homesick. He missed the waterfalls and trees of Asgard, the cool breezes that carried melodies from the music school. He missed his mother and Thor. He even missed Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, though decidedly not Odin.

Loki pondered this as he whipped up some pancake batter. He supposed this must be what Steve and Bucky felt like, where the world was similar, but just not the same.

"Morning!" A cheerful voice called. Loki snorted, as was his current custom. Bucky almost always seemed cheerful and sometimes, like today, it just grated on his nerves.

Bucky smirked. He knew Loki was perturbed this morning, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Half the time Loki was perturbed and the other half, nothing could bother him. There was something familiar about this attitude, but Bucky couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Bucky sniffed the air appreciatively. "Are you making pancakes?"

Loki shrugged dismissively. "Maybe. But you aren't getting any."

Bucky grinned, knowing that in about ten minutes, Loki would place a plate of pancakes in front of him, complain about his workload, and then proceed to eat his own pancakes. Loki, as they had all discovered, loved cooking. He might grumble about it, but if anyone else tried to cook, he would shoo them out of the kitchen and finish the meal himself.

"Hey Loki!" Bucky called to him as he sat down.

"What?" Loki asked irritably, poking his head into the dining room.

"Do you mind if I turn on some tv while I eat?"

Loki's eyes almost bugged out of his head. "You called me all the way from the kitchen for that?! Why would I care what you do?!" Loki stormed back into the kitchen as Steve and Natasha walked in.

"One of his moods?" Natasha asked Bucky teasingly.

Bucky grinned. "Oh yeah. It's a real doozy too."

Steve rolled his eyes. "He's over a thousand years old you'd think he'd be more grown up."

"Well that depends on whether you're looking at it as just a number or relative to Midgardian ages." A new voice came from the doorway. They all turned and saw Thor standing there in his Asgardian armor.

"Thor!" They exclaimed, but before anyone could make a move, Loki dashed out of the kitchen and hugged his brother.

"I missed you!" Loki exclaimed before whacking him on the head. "How dare you leave me alone with these mortals for so long!"

Thor chuckled and ruffled his brother's hair. "Feeling dramatic today?"

Loki huffed and stalked back into the kitchen to flip his pancakes.

"Have a seat, Thor." Steve said after shaking his friend's hand. Thor gratefully sat down in one of the chairs.

"Where have you been this time?" Natasha asked curiously.

"Nidavellir checking up on the dwarves." Thor replied amiably. "Nice people, though tend to look more on the dark side of life."

"So, Thor," Bucky said. "I've been wondering..."

"Yes?"

"How old are you and Loki exactly?"

Natasha facepalmed. "Bucky you can't just ask people how old they are, even if they're from Asgard. It's not polite."

Thor chuckled. "No, no. It's quite all right. Loki is 1048 years old and I am 1049 years old." Thor thought for a moment. "Give or take a little. After the first 800 years it just kind of blurs together."

"So in earth terms that would be..." Steve trailed off as Thor did a few quick calculations.

"That would make Loki about 17 and me roughly 18 or 19."

"WHAT?!" Natasha and the others bolted to their feet.

"Are you trying to tell me that Loki's changeable habits are just him being a normal teenager?" Bucky asked. "That explains A LOT."

Natasha grinned. "So you're trying to tell me that Loki trying to take over the entire earth was just him going through his rebellious teenage phase?" Natasha burst out laughing. "This is just too good!"

Steve chuckled. "And to think some people think that Wanda Maximoff is too young to be on the team."

Loki rolled his eyes as he slammed a huge plate of pancakes on the table. "Laugh all you like, but your food is getting cold."
*
Hey guys! Sorry if this chapter kind of dragged, but I really didn't know what I wanted out of this chapter, so I decided to address Loki and Thor's age. Loki actually would be about 17 if he was a mortal! How cool is that? Anyhow, I'm going to try to do better in the next chapter (but admittedly I am writing this while battling a cold so...😂). But I promise this is going to get interesting!

Have a great day!