Work Text:
“Would you still love me if I was a worm?”
Thor had been eating silently in the palace feast hall when he heard Loki speak, looking up from his meats to see his 900-year-old brother staring intently at him.
“What kind of question is that?”
He asked, utterly confused. Loki frowned.
“Would you still love me if I was a worm.” He repeated, tone serious.
(Why was that in question? Of course, he would. Loki would make an incredible worm, Thor thought. He was already an excellent snake. Worms were just naked snakes. Snaked.)
“Aren’t worms those slimy things you hate?” Once, Thor had picked one up while they were strolling through the gardens, and Loki had freaked out, telling him to put the fleshy snake down. Thor had laughed for hours.
“Yes. Answer the question.”
“I love you in any form, brother,” Thor said hesitantly, “Are you going to shift into a worm?”
Loki didn’t reply. Just stared at him consideringly. Thor went to go back to his food when Loki spoke
up again.
“Farewell, Thor.”
“Good..bye?”
Loki left the room with a determined stride. Thor watched him leave with a baffled expression. Loki never talked to him, let alone cared if he loved him or not.
Deciding it was not a pressing issue, he went back to his meats, thinking of a worm with his brother's horns and holding back a laugh.
————-
He woke up the next morning with a yawn, stretching his arms as he got out of bed.
Thor liked to consider himself a morning person. The sun shining on him, breaking his fast. The start of a new adventure. Loki was a night person, Thor only really saw him midday and when he snuck out of his chambers into the kitchens.
Thor got dressed with help from one of the palace servants, getting ready to head to the feasting hall, when he saw it.
It was a slimy thing, a small pink worm sliding around on one of the shelves. Seeing it made Thor think of his conversation with Loki yesterday. What if it was Loki?
Loki had a weird habit of testing people’s words. It was normally the little things, like if Frigga actually was going to take him to the gardens later or if she was just trying to get him to stop asking her. But sometimes it was things like spying on them as a bird to see what people were saying about him behind his back.
Would Loki doubt his love for him? Sure, Thor had been averse to his brother’s shapeshifting after his time as a frog, but his brother being able to switch forms was one of the many things that Thor loved about him. Some days Loki would be his sister or a crocodile. Sure, others hated it- called Loki argr, but Thor would stick by Loki no matter what shape he took.
Resolute to show his brother that his words were true, he held out his hand and watched as the worm crawled into his calloused palms.
“Loki, you can shift back now,” He told the creature. Thor waited patiently for his brother to turn back. The worm continued snaking through his fingers.
“I still love you, Loki.” Thor continued, poking the slimy dirt snake gently. The worm didn’t move for a second and then went back to sliding around his palm.
“Alright, if that’s how you’re going to be, then.”
He put the worm on his shoulder, and walked slowly to the feasting hall, watching as it slid across his leathers and left slime in its trail.
Worms ate their poop, didn’t they? No, they ate the plants first. There were some berries on the tables, maybe Loki could eat those!
He made his plate and then went back for a second one, piling it with whatever looked like something a worm might eat. It wasn’t very much, but luckily the worm was small enough that it probably wouldn’t need that much food anyway.
The worm ate it slowly, nibbling the strawberry Thor had picked out little by little. Thor knew his brother didn’t like to be watched while he ate, so he steadied his gaze on his meal and ignored the other’s stares at the worm in Loki’s spot.
———-
Thor brought the worm with him all day, bringing it around Asgard and asking it if worms could even see. Loki didn’t answer. Thor laughed at himself, imagining what Loki would say if worms could speak.
Of course, I can see, you oaf! This is not your angle.
Heading back to his chambers, he didn’t notice as the worm fell off his armored shoulder and landed on the ground in front of him.
“So, that’s why Fandral is afraid of spiders-“
Splerch!
Thor looked down at the source of the noise to see a squished worm underneath his boot.
“No…”
Thor moved backward slowly, inspecting it hopefully for any life signs, but finding none.
“Loki, this isn’t funny!” Thor whispered angrily, poking the squished invertebrate. All it did was coat his finger in slime.
Tears found their way down his cheeks, landing next to his worm-brother's corpse. He told Loki that he’d love him just as much as a worm, but he hadn’t defended Loki as he had in his Aesir form. Loki couldn’t be dead. Loki was his brother, and his brother was one of the strongest people he knew. But here he was, smooshed on the palace floors.
Thor sat down next to the mush that was his worm-brother and cried. Distantly, he heard footsteps approach, but he didn’t pay it any mind.
“..Thor?” He heard a familiar voice speak up from behind him. Not just any voice.
Loki’s.
“Loki?” He questioned, looking up from the worm to see his alive brother standing in the middle of the hallway.
“What…” Thor mumbled, looking down at the worm again. “You were dead. I stepped on you.”
“Stepped on-“ Loki stopped, leaning over him to look at the dead worm, understanding falling over his face. “You thought I was a worm.”
Thor nodded numbly, looking closely at his brother's face. He looked tired like he’d just woken up, but he still had that expression that said ‘Everyone is so stupid’.
“Thor, you know I don’t wake up until 11.”
“I know,” Thor said defensively. He’d forgotten, but he wouldn’t tell Loki that. “But last night-“
“What about last night?”
“Never mind.” Thor wiped his teary face with his sleeve and rose from his sitting position. Loki was still staring at him, but then he shrugged and kept on walking.
“Can-“ Thor asked, stopping when Loki stopped, looking back at him with a ‘What now?’ face. “Can you fix him?”
“Fix the worm?” Loki asked incredulously, his eyebrow arching.
“You can heal animals, right?” Thor had watched Loki nurse the palace horses back to health many a time, surely an invertebrate wouldn’t be too difficult?
“Yes, but that worm is definitely dead. I don’t do necromancy.”
“Pretty please?” Loki glared at him, before sighing and approaching the pink mush that was the Loki-worm.
“Fine. But you owe me a favor, got that?”
“Yes, of course, brother!” Thor smiled. His brother was the best.
Loki looked at him fondly before beginning to use his seidr. Thor watched fascinated as the worm began to be placed back together, until finally it was whole again.
Thor stuck out his hand and smiled as his worm friend crawled back into his palm.
“Can’t believe you thought I was a worm, I wouldn’t touch your dirty hands with a ten-meter-long pole.”
Loki then took his free hand into his and squeezed. Thor laughed, all his worries melting away. Everything would be alright.
————
“At least I have proof you'd love me even as a worm.”
“I love you in all your forms, Loki.”
“I know.” Loki smiled softly. “Now, what if I was a spider?”