My Best Friend's the God of Mischief // Peter x Loki

i heard you died for your only family

"This is Loki."

Silence stretched between Peter and Ned, and both boys wanted to fill it with dozens questions they knew couldn't be answered, though just being this close to the world's first super villain - who once tried to take over Earth, and was declared dead with his body lost in space, but now laying next to the dumpster behind the school, got them at a loss for words. It took a long moment for them to snap out of their trance. Peter was the first to speak, "You think he's still alive?"

"Ain't they said he was dead? That big purple grape killed him. Remember?" Ned responded.

The world only knew that Thanos killed Loki, that the God died saving his brother. Died a hero. And that his body was lost in the cosmos. But only that. Thor wouldn't go any deeper in details, and no one dared to ask him how Loki was killed because every time someone mentioned Loki's name Thor would either breakdown or lock himself in his rooms for days. Peter still remembered the pain in Thor's eyes - both his real eye and the one the space raccoon gave, so raw and so fresh, on that day after they defeated Thanos and everyone who went to the Soul Stone (including Peter) came back; families reunited, streets were filled with laughter and tears of joy. As Aunt May was crashing Peter's bones in the tightest hug ever when Peter's eyes landed on Thor, and the look on Thor's face made it hard for Peter to smile even in time when everybody else was smiling, when Peter should be smiling wildly because he just came back to life, Peter could only mutter a faint smile since Thor was so sad. The God of Thunder didn't know he was being watched. But Peter was watching him and he knew that look; Thor was waiting for someone - his brother, and he was having his hope crashing down because Loki didn't come back. Every life that lost came back except Thor's brother.

After months of searching through the galaxy Thor seemed to eventually accept that he'd never find his brother's body. "I don't even have the body to at least give him a proper funeral he deserves. He died saving me, Captain." Peter once overheard the conversations between Thor and Captain Rogers. And it made Peter sad. He didn't want to think how sad Aunt May must be during the time he was dead. It was just so heartbreaking.

Thor thought Loki's body was lost for good, but for whatever reason, after months of floating aimlessly in space, it landed here; at the dumpster behind Peter's school.

"He's dead," Ned concluded after a while, poking Loki's leg with a branch, "Like as dead as Mister Gibson. You remember Mister Gibson, right? My favorite goldfish when I was five. You came to his funeral." He continued poking and the fact Loki didn't stir only confirmed Ned's statements.

"How can you be so sure?" Peter argued because he so wanted Loki to still be alive so Thor would be happy, "What if he actually survived Thanos but Mister Thor thought he was-"

"Come on, Peter, even if he actually survived the purple grape there's no way he survived months in space. No oxygen. No food. No water. It's like... common logic." Ned pointed out.

"Time works differently out there," Peter could be so stubborn when it came to things he wanted his way, "It could be like five minutes after Purple Grape hurt him, and he... he's a God! We don't know how God's body works, how long he can go without oxygen or food or-"

"Alright alright, I get it," Ned cut him off, "Why don't we just... I don't know... find out?"

And then both boys shared a glance. From the look on Ned's face Peter knew his buddy wasn't going to touch the may-or-may-not-be-corpse on the dirty ground. And Peter sighed in defeat. "Fine." He murmured, trying to recall what he learned in class and what Karen taught him during the training wheel protocols about how to check for someone's pulse.

Peter knelt down next to Loki, hesitantly he reached a hand out, but stopped only a few inches before he could reach Loki's throat. This is a bad idea, Peter thought, I shouldn't be touching Mister Loki's neck because it's broken and by touching it, I might make it worse. He might still be alive and I don't want to hurt him. So Peter retracted his hand, lowering it till he almost touched Loki's wrist instead.