The power and intensity of the room was overwhelming to even Loki who had no acquaintance with trepidation. Every God in Asgard was in attendance and even given the seriousness of their meeting each was most concerned with posturing and showing dominance. One God in particular, who tended to take great delight in such performances, appeared uncharacteristically humble, to the delight of many who had been bested by him.

Normally, Loki would take great pleasure in a modest showing of Thor, but unless the massive shoulders of the thunder God were slumped under the administration of Loki himself it seems sacrilege. Perhaps that was why despite the satisfaction of seeing Thor make a colossal mistake Loki was dead set on rectifying the situation.

Freyja entered with a flourish, as she was prone to do, and the hush fell over the communion of Gods.

"My lady, beautiful Freyja," Odin greeted, "your sacrifice will not be taken for granted."

Whatever more the mighty King had planned to say was quickly hushed by a flick of Freyja's hand. "You are correct, my Lord, I shall not be taken for granted just as I will not be made a sacrifice." Her arresting eyes then turned to meet her peer's burning red ones. "Thor, your well-being and the safety of Midgard is the utmost of my concern, but you are the one who has missed placed your hammer, Mjölnir, and it shall be your responsibility to retrieve it."

Beside him, Thor said nothing nor made any move to argue but a rumbling of discontent among the Gods began to drowned out the symphonic reprimand Freyja was administering.

Unconcerned, Freyja continued, "it is a tragedy that the Mjölnir is now in the giant Thrym's possession, but the greatest tragedy may be that he demands my hand in marriage for its return, for this will never happen." She then addressed the congregation of fearsome, all-powerful deities, "I offer you my condolences. Call upon me again when I can be of reasonable help."

And with that, she was gone.

Loki, being known for mischief, made no effort to hide his grin. The admiration he had for Freyja knew no bounds.

"I'll fight him," Thor suddenly announced although few but Loki heard him over the din.

"Ridiculous," Loki said meaning both his brother and his plan. "You cannot fight Thrym and the giants without your hammer, it would be suicide and not even you are foolish enough to attempt it."

"What would you have me do?" Thor came to his feet with the crushing destruction of lightning he held such an intimate control of.

One of the few things Thor actually had control over, Loki thought to himself.

Now that silence had once again fallen and attention was directed in Loki's general direction, if not at him specifically, he took it upon himself to take control of the situation as he and had intended all along. He rose to his feet and a much more elegant fashion then his brother and awarded his fellow Gods with a slow smile before disregarding them completely and attending so solely to his brother. "Our only option is to give Thrym his bride, so he shall have her."

Thor still appeared enraged but there was hope there. "But Freyja has refused and there is no swaying her."

"Brother, my heart," Loki crooned at him, and Thor stiffened at the affection, only egging Loki on further. "Don't you trust me?"

"You know I do not."

"Uncharacteristically wise of you; in your newfound wisdom can you not also see that you have no other option but to foolishly trust me?"

"I cannot do this."

"You can."

"I will not do this."

"You will."

Right outside Thrym's den and already swaddled in masses of silk and fur, Thor refused to go along with the charade.

It wasn't unexpected, but the delight Loki felt in seeing his brother so torn down tasted more sweetly than he had anticipated. Thor looked nothing like Freyja, who was the epitome of femininity and elegant beauty, even in his whole form was covered in female's attire the God of thunder appeared lumbering and massive. The only solution was to add yet more delicate cloth and lace with the explanation that the delicate and travel worn Goddess needed all the protection and comfort available to her.

The ruse was a little too transparent for Loki's liking but he knew it wouldn't fail given the giant's reputation for ignorance and the stench of intoxicating and altering liquids that permeated the air even outside the den where they stood.

"I will not be shamed like this."

"Am I not shamed as well?" Loki gestured to his own feminine garments. "I am facing danger beside you in a maidservant's attire."

"It is a shame you feel, brother? For you are hardly altered from your normal state and a woman's wrap does not seem so below you," Thor made to be facetious but steel in his voice was sharp enough to border on mockery.

"Ahoy!" came a shout from within the den of Giants. "Who but the goddess Freyja comes to delight us?" Thrym greeted the imposters at the mouth of his home were snow easily pooled at the yawning mouth of the cave.

"Not to delight, my Lord, but to be delighted as any woman is on her wedding day," Loki said to the jovial monster before Thor could be discovered.

Thrym laughed mightily but had eyes for no one other than the visage he thought to be Freyja. "Come inside, my bride, and unburden yourself."

Once inside the trio was greeted to fanfare unlike that Thor and Loki had become accustomed to in Asgard. Here, riches abounded but they lay under the shuffling feet of Giants and at the mercy of bare frozen earth. Beasts sat with humans sat with monsters in an orgy of filth and no regard for one's betters. There was, of course, one universal commonality that didn't go unnoticed, especially not by Thor.

As the food and drink made its rounds from hand-to-hand all in what was supposed to be Freyja's general area disappeared beneath her wraps.

"I have never before seen a woman so ferocious in her hunger," Thrym commented. "The delicacy of Freyja's nature have been highly embellished in their retellings."

Alarmed, Loki was quick to reply, "A more delicate woman you'll never find; if anything, the tales of Freyja have been insultingly under embellished. My lady is simply a worn and hungry from the long journey we've made. I begged of her to slow her pace, in fear of her life, but she demanded being united with you at once."

An un–feminine chuckle came from beneath the bride's veils.

"And that is but a bit of indigestion," Loki explained sweetly.

Thrym was undisturbed and even appeared even more pleased, if it was possible. "I shall never reprimand a beautiful woman's desperation to be with me. Have the hammer brought out," Thrym demanded of his servants, "I'll have my debt paid so I'm a sate yet another hunger of my bride's." Again he laughed and it was picked up within the sea of the wedding party as if it was an intoxicant of its own, but this particular one Thor refrained from.

With no ceremony the Mjölnir was brought forth and Loki braced himself for the inevitable.

Thor tore from the feminine bindings and made immediate contact with Mjölnir. Thrym was the first to die before comprehension of the situation even dawned on him. The monsters and sinners as well as all inhabitants of the den soon came to their death, unable to fight despite their numbers. Loki himself might not have been unscathed had he not melted back into the shadows he controlled.

The carnage came to its eventual end and Thor stood among it in none of his silk wrappings and all of his former glory. It was a beautiful scene in a way that few but Loki could understand; it was both profane and ridiculous, bestial and otherworldly. It was the son of a God in the blood and plasma of mundane life's juices. The imagery was too electric to keep Loki in the shadows and even as he emerged in reverence, untouched by the violence, his true nature made it impossible for him not to turn the tone.

"You make a beautiful bride, brother."

Thor's hand was around Loki's throat immediately, crushing down with the strength that would've killed a human.

"I am aware that I owe you my gratitude," Thor admitted although he looked far from gracious, "but although your plan has worked I am still displeased with your methods. It is only my debt of gratitude that will allow you to be the sole living witness to my humiliation."

Loki remained unable to respond but the silence may have been the only reason Thor was able to perceive the defiance in his brother's eyes.

"But you still are not pleased; victorious and yet still wanting," Thor scoffed, "that may be the biggest difference in us, brother. Maybe it is my role as the elder to teach you the glory in victory, and to appreciate the small boons you are granted."

The tone and Thor's voice was one Loki had never encountered before and it, among other things, sent a shock of fear and anticipation down his spine. He had his tricks, this wasn't the first time Thor had brought him under heel physically and he was more than capable of retreating even if not defeating his older brother, but he felt not the slightest inclination to do so.

"You are dressed like a maidservant, perhaps you should serve me like a maid." Thor released his vice like grip of Loki's throat only to force him down to his knees where he faced the result of what he would surely only admittedly attributed to the exertion of a hard-won battle.

Movement unimpaired and tongue free of restraint Loki surprised himself by not relying on his old tricks; they may have been instinctual, but so were the needs that overrode him and had him submissive to his brother's command.

The sound of shock escape Thor's throat as Loki's own encompassed him. Perhaps in an attempt to convey his control despite his surprise Thor fisted Loki's hair and set the path toward his release in his own rhythm. The force and the taste quickly led Loki to seek his own pleasure between his makeshift skirts only to be torn from his brother's body.

"If you are a maid, then you must not touch yourself in a way a maid cannot," Thor's voice was ragged but no less authoritative.

Loki's common smirk replaced the one of rare innocence and when he pulled away from the firm grip on his hair, Thor allowed him. "If no exceptions will be made then perhaps you should take this maid in a fashion they all whisper of." Loki then laid on the blood–soaked earth and answered his brother's questioning expression by arranging his skirts to cover his manhood (although unable to hide it) and reached down to stroke between the soft and pale skin of his cheeks.

Thor's eyes ignited as he followed his Loki's movement but the light within them suddenly went out. "Get up," he commanded.

"Please,"

"Get up!" Thor hollered and the corpses shook with fear.

Loki, reprimanded, was sick with himself over his show of vulnerability. He retracted his arm from between his thighs and laid back defiantly. "But can you not see I am already up for you, brother?" His tone was so icy that it put a chill in the frozen earth beneath his back in the blood around him all but crystallized.

Bravado gone, Thor said, "you would be wise to forget this."

"I am nothing if not wise," Loki answered even though he was aware the instruction wasn't meant for him.