Change || Loki.

15.

The morning is as assured as the passing of time and just as unstoppable. But Loki needed a few more hours of darkness. Not to sleep but to, have some more time before he finally has to carry on with rest of his day which would possibly be a hassle. Today would especially be a mess for Loki considering All-father had a special announcement to make.

Loki let out a long sigh as he got up from the bed.

The first thing he did was walk to the mirror and look at himself. He stared at the reflection of his lips as he ran a finger on it. They had healed almost completely. He looked down at his bare chest and stared at the old scars still imprinted on his skin from years ago. The sight seemed to enkindle thousands of memories from the past, stuck in the back of his mind.

And then he wondered how Thor was said to be strong. He let out a bitter chuckle as he pulled over his wear. No glory for him.

After getting dressed, Loki walked out of his room, making way to the grand hall of Asgard. By the time he had reached, everyone was already present, chatting and giggling amongst themselves. Loki sighed and made way towards Thor and stood by him as they waited for Odin.

Thor glanced shortly at Loki before looking away. "Where have you been all these days?" Thor spoke, his heavy voice being almost abrupt. Loki thought for a moment about what he could possibly tell him. Clearly, he wasn't aware of the events that took place in the past few days. "I was ill." Loki decided to lie.

"Well are you aware what father is going to announce today?" Thor asked, trying to hide his smile. "No. Do you?"

"He plans to declare me the heir to the throne." Thor said, trying to suppress his excitement. Loki's head snapped in his direction immediately. Loki didn't say anything for a moment. He couldn't. He didn't understand how this was actually happening.

Loki looked at his feet then looked up at Thor with a forced smile. "Congratulations, brother!" Loki exclaimed, hiding his pain behind the cover of a big bright smile and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Loki."

"Excuse me for a moment, I'll be back shortly." Loki said, walking out to process the information.

He was sad, hurt and disappointed. Not because he wanted the throne. No; not at all, actually. He was hurt at the fact that his father chose the son who was arrogant, ignorant and reckless, over him, who was intelligent, understanding and especially not a fool.

He felt so disgusted at himself for feeling these emotions while actually, he should be feeling happy for his brother whom he loved dearly.

But as much as Loki wanted to fight that feeling inside of him, he knew Thor just wasn't worthy. He was stupid, overly ambitious and had an exceeding bloodlust. He still lived on the soft prince-y cushion and refused to accept how reality really was. Power wasn't just physical strength.

He wondered how his father could choose him to be the heir when he clearly wasn't ready. Not yet.

He shut his eyes and took a long breath and tried to calm himself for a moment. Although he didn't want to, he knew he had to go back.

He sighed, walking back in.

_________________

Loki was so done with the constant blabbering of Thor. All he could speak of was about how great he was and it was obvious to him that the others would join him too. This time when Loki actually sat with Thor and his group of friends, he couldn't help but feel the number of eyes on him. He sensed that all that looked at him, compared him to Thor. Loki's insecurity told him they probably saw him as the second best but in reality, the opinions varied just like they do in every scenario.

That was the problem with Loki, he thought of Thor to be far from the reality but he too, was nowhere close to it.

The only difference between the two was that Thor thought too high of himself while Loki thought too low of himself.

His low self esteem also caused him to ignore the number of gorgeous women that eyed him in lust. Often Loki didn't realise that he had grown into a handsome young man with looks that were distinct from any other Asgardian, including his own brother. The distinction between him and other men was enough to intrigue women of all kinds. But Loki didn't want to involve himself in a relation with someone else while he couldn't even handle the weight of his three family members.

While Loki continued to stay lost in his trance, Fandral noticed the disheartened look Loki had painted on his face. Being true to his nature, Fandral decided to mock. "Not a happy day for you today, is it Loki?"

Loki looked at Fandral, internally agitated but plastered a smile on his face. "Oh I'm truly delighted today but I must say, probably not as much as you. How joyous you must be since you too got an enhanced prestige" Loki smiled brighter at him as he continued, while everyone looked at him confused. "Must be so exciting for you, growing from the Yes-man of the Prince to the Yes-man of the soon to be king."

There was silence for a moment while everyone tried to hold back the bubbling laughter inside them. Soon Volstagg burst into laughter followed by the rest of them. But Thor didn't laugh, nor did Loki. They shared eye contact for a mere second and looked away.

"Not funny, Loki." Thor says, slightly angered by the words of insult thrown towards Fandral. "I agree." Loki says, getting up and leaving them.

Despite the laughs, everyone was slightly surprised at the sudden outburst of Loki. It was quite usual for Loki to stay silent at situations similar to these but today was dramatically, drastically different.

"I thought that was pretty hilarious." Volstagg comments breaking the silence that was building up again. "Oh shut up, will you?" Fandral rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Thor looked at Loki as he left with his eyebrows scrunched together. He realised at that moment, that something was different.

Something had changed.