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

burnt down icicle

"Look after him?" Thor asked. "I'll run him a bath,"

"Sure," Peter nodded. Then they parted, Thor to the bathroom to prepare stuff and Peter to his poor friend who seemed to be melting.

"Hey, so ummm, how are you feeling?" Peter leaned in, particularly hovering above Loki's face and Loki grimaced miserably; Peter's voice too loud in his ears - it felt as though his brain were melting out through those ears and his skin was burning. That was precisely how Loki was feeling, though he doubted he would want to say that aloud to confirm how pathetic he was.

Instead he said, or mouthed, "Hot. Too hot," It sounded so hoarse he barely recognised his own voice. I'm burning. Loki wanted to say. He twisted uncomfortably, breathing through his parted lips.

When Peter touched his forehead he whined. The simple contact doubled the heat Loki found unbearable. "Oh jeez," Peter jerked the hand back, "Mister Loki, you're burning!"

"That obvious?" Loki laughed wryly, hollowly. It made him look even more miserable.

Peter opened his mouth to say something, then he remembered the pack of cold washcloths Tony brought for them to use. Loki could use one of those right now. "Hang in there, just a sec." Peter said, "I'll go get you something,"

"Take all time you need," Loki smiled, though he weren't looking at Peter. Other worrying thing about all of these; it seemed his eyes could no longer focus.

Peter darted out the door, he came back within 30 seconds, in his arms a pile of what he hoped would ease his friend's misery, at least a little. "Mister Loki?" Peter stopped for a few seconds, apparently Loki had fallen asleep on the couch. He still looked pretty fucked up with his brows tied into a knot and his breathing uneven, but at least he was sleeping.

So Peter made sure to silence his footsteps as he approached. He knelt next to his friend before carefully placed a washcloth on his forehead. Loki made a noise in his throat, but his expression soon smoothed out, and Peter counted that as a good sign.

He then sat on an armchair next to his friend, watching and hoping it wasn't... creepy. Him watching Mister Loki sleep, but Mister Thor asked he looked after his brother. So Peter was going to do his best.

***

Thor entered the room minutes later. Peter shushed him before he could make any noise; sleep wasn't something that came easy for Loki lately, the last thing Pete wanted was for it to be taken away from him so abruptly.

Thor nodded in understanding. He walked over quietly, kneeling down on the floor next to his brother before pushing a strand of hair out of Loki's face. He murmured something, Peter supposed was in Asgardian. Then in English, "you're burning up. I'm going to give you a nice bath, okay?" Which, of course, Loki was still sleeping.

Thor scooped him up, nice and slow, in his arms. Loki whimpered something before nuzzling his face against his brother's chest.

Peter followed behind. Thor didn't particularly invite him but he could tell he would be welcome nonetheless.

The water in the tub was cold, just the way Loki needed, Peter knew because they were filled with ice cubes. Pete leaned against the doorframe as Thor gently lowered Loki down, still clothed, and Loki only stirred a little as Thor eased his head against the edge of the tub with the rest of his body underwater.

(Peter watched a lot of videos on YouTube where a dude pulled a prank on his friend by pouring down iced water on his head when he was asleep. The friend did jump and the dude got kicked in the balls. Well, that wasn't the case here, apparently)

Though Loki did wake, after around five minutes later. He didn't jerk awake from the cold but rather slowly blinking his eyes open, still clearly groggy, as though he were drugged. "Thor?" Loki asked, voice weak, confused. The last he remembered was falling asleep on the couch, Peter doubted he expected to wake up in a bathtub.

"Feeling better?" Thor asked as Loki looked at the water surrounding him.

Loki didn't answer, instead he drove his head into the water before breaking the surface half a minute later with a gasp. He did look better; his colour was better and he didn't look so miserable anymore. So the bath helped.

"Thank you," Loki said. He closed his eyes and tilted his head backward against the round edge.

Thor seemed satisfied with it. "I'll give you some privacy," he kissed the top of Loki's head, despite Loki's sudden (forged) dismay.

Then Thor and Peter left him to it, closing the door behind.

***

"He always has it worst every summer. Every year. Since we were on Asgard, since he was a child. Loki, he... doesn't do well with heat," Thor said to Peter once they were alone."But I figure you already saw to that,"

Peter just nodded because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. He felt bad for Loki, sure. Since he was a kid, Peter hated to imagine being a kid and not being able to go play outside with friends during the summer. That must be... suck.

"He got sick during these times a lot, too. Our mother had to constantly make sure he didn't fall into illness again. There was a time, he was barely five, when he got so sick during one long summer that we -" Thor paused, he took in a deep breath as though he wasn't sure if he should be telling Peter this, but he ended up continuing nonetheless. "We weren't sure he was going to make it. Well, we as in our mother and father. I was, at that time, too young to understand things. All I knew was that I wasn't allowed to see him, but I didn't know why until one night, my mother came to my room and woke me up. She said Loki was going to join my grandfather in Valhalla soon and that I should say goodbye. I asked when he was going to be coming back and she said she didn't think he would come back. I didn't know what that meant back then. Only that I didn't want him to go if he weren't coming back. I mean 'that's my brother how can he just leave me like that' but that was all my mother was willing to say and I was even angry because I didn't know what was going on, why he was leaving. But I end up saying goodbye eventually. I remember my mother crying. Loki in that bed looking so small, so... fragile. He didn't even know I was there saying goodbye to him. But then, days later, somehow, he got better. My mother said miracle happened and Loki wasn't going to Valhalla anymore. And I was just so relieved. Even if I didn't understand a thing, I knew he wasn't going to go away anymore and I was... happy." There were tears in Thor's eyes, but Thor was smiling.

"You know, I believe he always comes back to you. No matter what. He's stubborn," said Peter. "Like you,"

Thor laughed. "Yeah, like me." He looked at Peter and his smile widened a little.

~~~

Things got better after the next three days. It was still hot, but it wasn't so unbearable anymore. Peter and Loki sat on the couch, eating ice-cream with the rest of the folks, when Tony entered the room, smiling wildly. He was holding some kind of a remote control in his hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Iron Man once he reached the midst of the hall, "may I present to you," he pushed a button and the temperature around suddenly dropped dramatically. Which was... a blessing. So Tony was finally able to fix the air conditioner, at last. For a moment the room was just the overlapping speak - 'oh, thanks God' and 'finally' and sighs of relief.

Loki sighed loudly. He closed his eyes, head rested against the cushion and smiled, a genuine smile this time.

Peter glanced at him sideway and thought of what Mister Thor told him, about Mister Loki nearly died from heat when he was little, and Peter was actually very scared. Loki was fine now, he wasn't dying, obviously. But just by thinking about the possibility of losing him one day terrified Peter so much.

Because Peter couldn't imagine a world without his best friend.