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there's just something beautiful about walking on snow that nobody else has walked on. it makes you believe you're special, even though you know you're not
Cold, snowy days were as rare in Asgard as sunny summer days were on Jotunheim.
While Jotunheim is known to be the realm of eternal winter, Asgard is said to be the land were the summer never ends. And yet, once every 200 years, the realms aligned in such a way that the cold wind from Jotunheim had the potential to travel through Yggdrasil branches to Asgard to fill their skies with heavy snow clouds.
It happend so rarely that everyone pretended it didn't happen at all. Loki was still young and had barely learned to walk the first time he saw snow in Asgard. It seemed familiar then, a little bit like coming home.
His mother had called him inside at once when she had noticed that he had escaped the nursery and scolded him terribly for going out in the cold like that. He could get hurt, his mother had said, and get terrible frostbites. Loki hadn't noticed a thing.
With his mother being weird and unreasonable, Loki had gone searching for his brother. They could sneak out together and play many, many great games in this white, fluffy wonderland outside.
But Thor frowned, shook his head and put on his best "big brother"-face. Loki rolled his eyes.
“The snow comes from the Frost Giants”, Thor tried to imitate his teachers and even lifted a single finger up in the air, “and they are evil monsters. We don't want to touch anything that comes from them”, he said because that was what the warriors had told him and Thor wanted to be just like them when he was older.
Loki thought it best to kept his mouth shut after that. Best not say how much he had loved the feeling of snow on his bare feet and the flakes slowly falling on his face. He didn't want to be like the monsters, after all.
The alignment had to happen two times before Loki saw snow again. The first time the branches and leaves on Yggdrasil had grown so big and heavy that they protected Asgard from Jotunheims harsh winds. While Asgard had celebrated, Loki had sulked in his room. The royal household was so used to Loki's swaying moods that they just all shrugged and went their way.
Now though, 400 years later, Yggdrasil let the cold pass through and thick clouds began forming on Asgards sky. Thor, who had received his mighty hammer Mjölnir on his 500th nameday, was hopefully approached by Odin, but when he shook his head with an apologetic smile everyone crumbled and moaned and went inside to wait for Jotunheims powers to leave their realm again.
Loki, though, who had waited for an opportunity to see and feel the snow again, grinned, went to his rooms, locked his doors with the most powerful spells he knew and went to his windows to watch as the snow slowly drifted to the ground. He would sneak out as soon as the sidewalks were covered in a nice, thick snow blanket.
He would have to be careful, of course, to not get caught outside; he knew his father would be furious as he had told both Loki and Thor many, many times to never venture outside while it was snowing.
Quite frankly Loki thought this was one of the stupidest things he had ever heard. He understood why the warriors who had fought in the great war against Jotunheim might want to avoid the snow; but really, it was just white fluff!
Odin always preached about peace with Jotunheim and how important and meaningful such peace was; all the Nine Realms peacefully united under his rule.
But if Loki couldn't even go outside in the snow because it came originally from Jotunheim, he didn't think this "peace" held much weight at all.
The name "Silvertongue" had been meant as an insult: a mockery of his tentancy to lie when it suited him.
But Loki took pride in that name and had claimed it as his own; had made it into something that made the mortal men think of his skill with words, spoken or written.
But now, standing on Asgards streets in a thick layer of snow with more dancing wildly around him, he could think of nothing to describe how wonderful and amazing this felt.
He had his boots on, but no coat and he didn't feel like he needed one. The snow felt pleasingly fresh on his skin and even stayed there for a few seconds before it melted.
Loki didn't think it any weird; he had always hated Asgards hottest days and Thor had always complained that Loki ran too cold. The cold wheater suited him better, that was all.
He could almost pretend he was alone on this realm, it was so quiet and still. All the other Asgardians had hidden themselves in their homes, waiting for Jotunheims evil cold to pass and for their eternal summer to come back.
So long as Loki kept himself out of sight of the palace windows to avoid getting caught outside he could be free to roam through this white wonderland as he pleased. He had to be careful there, though; he imagined that there were a lot of people in this castle, from the staff to the nobles, that would just love to run to the Allfather, telling him that the awful Mischief-Maker Loki broke the rules again.
Soon he would master his shapeshifting abilities and never worry about such silly things ever again.
The snow began to fall faster and thicker and Loki smiled widley. And since he was all alone and nobody could see him and call him weird and womanly, he spread his arms and spun a quick circle. He imagnied he could become one with the snow and dance together with them and the thought made him laugh and spin quicker.
He rarley induldged in such childish sillyness anymore; people already had few kind things to say about him and there was a reason his mischief was hated through the whole realm, even if nobody had the guts to say it out loud in his face. A warrior society did not appreciate childish fun.
The snow wouldn't judge him though, like all his peers did and so Loki spun and spun in quick circles till he ran out of breath.
Then he let himself fall and the snow softened his landing as he knew it would.
He lay there, in the middle of the street and watched the flakes slowly drift down on him until it was dark and he had to venture back inside before he was missed.
It never snowed on Asgard again and Loki would always miss it dearly.
No, the next time Loki felt snow brush his skin and tangle in his hair he was on Jotunheim herself and had just ruined Thor's coronation.
And he didn't even get to enjoy it, not even in secret, before a fight broke out and one of them grabbed his arm and –
His whole world fell apart.
And then he fell, too, like snow slowly drifting down into nothing.
"It's snowing.“
Thor glanced towards the windows. "Yes", he said. "Has been all through the night.“
"Hm", his little brother said from his perch on the kitchen island, because using furniture was beneath him, "I did not know that Midgard has snow.“
Thor hesitated for a second before he threw his pen ontop off the legal documents he had promised to look through and sign when needed before midday and turned to face his brother.
They were alone in the hut that was technically Thor’s but that Loki walked in and out of like he owned it. Thor never even thought to complain.
"It is their seasons", he explained, mavbe a bit to eager. But when was there ever a time when he knew something his brother didn't? Never mind that Loki likely just had never cared for Midgards weather. "They call it winter.“
Loki stared out of the window at the snow blanket covering their new kingdom of New Asgard. He held a cup of tea in his hands, steam still rising.
Thor hesitated. "Do you … want to go outside? Midgardians quite enjoy snow -"
Loki dropped his tea into the sink with a loud clatter and stood. "I hate the snow.“
It sounded like a lie, but he was gone before Thor could ask.
That he had danced in the snow as a child and called it the greatest day of his life now only served to remind him about all the things he hated about himself. And there was quite a lot.