New Mexico Town!
"Loki, why are you down here too?"
Seeing Loki suddenly appear, Thor, who had been watching a program on TV, was filled with surprise.
"Haha, have you come to pick me up? Loki, Father must be willing to forgive my recklessness, right?" Thor asked excitedly, looking at Loki in his suit and scarf.
"It looks like you're doing well on Earth," Loki said with a grin as Thor hugged him tightly to express his excitement.
Loki looked around his surroundings. Well, the room wasn't as big as the ones in Asgard, and the decor wasn't as magnificent as his or Thor's palace. However, it gave off a very warm feeling. Seeing Thor in such good spirits at this moment—drinking beer and watching shows when he arrived, not becoming as decadent and lost as Heimdall had said just because he could no longer lift Mjolnir—proved that Thor was quite satisfied with his current life.
"Thor, it seems you're still enjoying your life here."
"Haha, that's because I have a really, really good girlfriend!"
Hearing Loki's words, Thor excitedly began telling him how good his girlfriend, Jane, was—how gentle, kind, and considerate she was. In his excitement, Thor even started gesturing animatedly, as if words alone couldn't describe how perfect his girlfriend was.
Facing Thor's enthusiastic display, Loki just watched quietly with a smile on his face.
Gradually, Thor's excitement subsided. Although he really wanted to continue explaining Jane's perfection, to tell Loki that his earlier adjectives didn't even capture one ten-thousandth of it, and to let Loki know how lucky he was to have met her on Earth, he slowly stopped when he saw Loki's calm expression.
"Loki, has something bad happened in Asgard?" Thor asked uncertainly. "Tell me, is something wrong with Asgard?"
Seeing Thor suddenly become serious and stern, just like in the past 1,500 years whenever he had to curb his impulsiveness, Loki, who had originally intended to trick Thor by telling him their father was "dead," suddenly fell silent.
After a moment, Loki used magic to turn off the TV, waved his hand lightly to summon a chair, and sat down opposite Thor. He put on an elegant smile again.
"How is that possible? With me here, what could happen to Asgard? Asgard is the same Asgard we know. No enemy dares to invade, there's no internal strife, and everything is running as smoothly as ever."
"Only..."
"Only what?" Thor was somewhat relieved by Loki's words, but his heart tightened again at the trailing tone.
"It's nothing, it's just... well, I'm sorry. It's my fault. I couldn't get your sins pardoned!"
"Hey, is that all? Don't worry about it. Sooner or later, Father will forgive me."
Hearing the "sorry" in Loki's tone, Thor didn't care at all. He was doing very well now; although he had lost his strength, he had gained a perfect woman!
Seeing that Thor didn't seem too disappointed, Loki folded his hands on his lap and said with a smile, "That's a good mindset, not like your old self. But speaking of which, Thor, I was really jealous of you back then. It seemed like no matter what you did, you were always more popular than me."
"Hey, isn't that normal? You know, I'm the first in line for the throne of Asgard, and you're the second. As the big brother, it's only natural that I'm more excellent than my younger brother!"
Listening to Thor's words, which were confident and utterly without humility—even shamelessly admitting it—Loki couldn't help but laugh! This guy was still so clueless!
After the two brothers shared a laugh, Loki's smile faded. He then said, "In the past, I really hoped you would disappear, so I could prove to Father that I can do everything better than you. But Thor, my big brother, when you weren't in Asgard, I suddenly realized... I seem to miss you a little bit!"
It seemed like a heartfelt confession, but Loki changed the subject in the very next second: "To be honest, I'm not used to not having a chattering, impulsive, reckless, and arrogant idiot around me."
Hearing Loki start to "mock" him again, Thor laughed out of habit. Same old recipe, same old taste. This was the Loki he knew! This was the brother he had grown up with! If Loki had genuinely praised him and said he missed him, then it wouldn't be Loki!
Imitating a gesture he had learned from the town residents during his stay, Thor raised a middle finger at Loki: "Don't get too cocky, Loki! I'll go back sooner or later. When I return to Asgard, I'll annoy you every day by living in your room!"
"By the way, Mother misses you a lot. So do Sif and Fandral. It's just... you know you're exiled now, so I'm the only one who can come see you!"
"Well, it seems you're doing fine for now, so I can rest assured."
With that, Loki stood up and looked at Thor with a smile. "I can't stay on Earth too long; I have to go back. Is there anything you want me to bring to Mother or Sif?"
When he first arrived, Loki had intended to deceive and trick Thor. But seeing that Thor, even without his divine power, was currently enjoying life on Earth, Loki suddenly felt that letting him stay on Earth like this might not be a bad choice.
The goal was the same; there was no need for elaborate schemes. After all, Heimdall might still be watching. Moreover, if Thor could truly stay on Earth and live like a commoner, Loki wouldn't mind visiting him from time to time.
As for the matter of their father falling into the Odinsleep to recuperate, and the plans Loki was preparing next, he had no intention of telling Thor.
Unlike the original timeline, where Loki came down specifically to deliver their father's "parting words," Loki wasn't currently worried that Thor strongly desired to lift Mjolnir and return to Asgard. At least, during their conversation, Loki didn't sense that kind of intense "longing" from Thor. His desire to return to Asgard didn't seem that strong, which put Loki somewhat at ease.
This was actually quite normal. After all, when Thor was exiled, Loki was also very confused. He had been planning how to ruin Thor's coronation and how to make Thor impulsively provoke the Frost Giants and get himself exiled by their enraged father. But before he could act, Thor was exiled directly by their father—proactively!
The circumstances of the exile made a significant difference, at least from Loki's perspective.
And now, with their father in the Odinsleep, their mother accompanying him, and Loki himself in charge of Asgard while Thor was living well on Earth... perhaps there was no need to complicate things.
Well, this Loki hadn't experienced Thor's coronation ceremony at its most glorious, surrounded by all of Asgard. Although his jealousy remained, and he still envied their father's favoritism towards Thor, it hadn't yet reached an extreme. After all, he was now the acting ruler of Asgard! And Thor, his big brother, was merely a commoner stripped of his divine power!
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(TL : More Chapters @)[1]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/c/Gooberilla