A/N: So, this is not the short I meant to write, but that's what happens. :) I got bit by the idea of Loki and Thor as kids and it wouldn't let go. Enjoy!

The first time Thor started a fight, it was for Loki.

A noble son of a man on his father's council had chosen his words poorly, being a precious few years older than the princes which he lorded about obscenely.

"Where on earth did you learn the word obscenely?" Frigga asked of him, as she pressed a cool cloth against his blackening eye.

"Loki taught me." Thor said proudly, eyes wide and sincere as he described the fight to their mother.

Strange, the boy had said. The dark haired son of Odin was strange. Strange looking, strange acting, strange of manner and interests, and did not everyone agree with him? Strange. Not like us.

At first, young Thor had thought nothing of the words except that they were wrong and untrue and just as equally annoying as everything else that fell from this boy's lips. A roll of his eyes and the words were dismissed from his mind - until he happened to look upon his brother.

Loki's expression was enough tilt Thor's world on its axis. Thor could not even think of a word to describe it at first, his mind casting to place something that should not belong to his little brother. Hurt. Confusion. Wounded. His brother was wounded and that was not right.

Green eyes had turned to him, full of questioning. In that moment Thor realized he might know that all those things were untrue, but now Loki had a question -had a fear- in his eyes where there was none before. Loki opened his mouth, and Thor almost rushed him instead, to clamp a hand over his mouth so that his brother would not repeat the foul words. If his brother did not repeat them maybe he would not believe them.

Instead he had turned and rammed his fist into the foul boy's nose. It had given way with a satisfying crack and a splash of blood. Thor pulled his fist away with red on his knuckles and a sneer on his face.

One day he would earn the right to be certain in victory, but not that day.

"Have you not been paying attention to your tutors?" his mother asked with a smile.

"He jumped on me when my back was turned. It was very unsporting." Thor grumbled, poking at the bruise growing under his eye.

"True enemies will wait until your back is turned, my brave one. You must always be cautious." Frigga said quietly.

They had been pulled apart before a true winner could be declared. Their screams of youthful anger and the taunts and cheers of the others had drawn an audience of adults who did not defer to young children fist fighting, even if they were princes. It mattered little to Thor, though, as long as Loki had not repeated the words. That was his victory.

Thor had heard the admonishment give to boy by his father -What were you thinking, striking a prince? You are lucky blood and bruises is the worst you'll get. You will send your formal apologies to both princes in the morning!- but had only enjoyed his smug triumph until Odin sent for him.

Loki tried to accompany him, claiming that it had been his fault the fight started in the first place. Thor quickly dismissed the notion, and was believed. He was the one with blood on his hand and an ugly purple mark swelling on his face. For the briefest of moments as he prepared to face the Allfather, he wished he had not gotten his brother out of having to face their father so readily. He missed the comfort of Loki's palm against his own.

Odin had sighed, but had not seemed terribly distressed. It was in his blood, Thor had been told, but it still was not good to break the noses of noble boys. Especially ones that were older and stronger and more likely to win a fight for some years to come. Thor still did not understand why he had to make apologies when he was not sorry in the slightest. He also had no plans to not fight again if the boy ever breathed his brother's name in the same sentence as something uncomplimentary. Odin merely shook his head and dismissed his son into his mother's care.

"He's got to learn to control his temper now, before he becomes older and it becomes permanently ingrained in him." Odin warned Frigga later. "It would not be acceptable to have a wild and unruly heir."

"Gracious no. Whatever would Asgard do with a king who had a temper?" she asked, wide eyed and innocent.

Odin opened his mouth to agree, but realized the catch in time and fell silent. It was too late; he met his wife's knowing gaze and the trap was set. She always could find a way of having him.

Thor laid awake in his room that night, poking at the bruise under his eye every now and again to remind himself of what it felt like. He was not sorry he had broken the boy's nose; was not sorry he threw the first punch. Loki had vanished that night as he was wont to do and even Thor had been unable to find him. The only thing he was sorry for was not being certain the boy wouldn't say the words again.

In the wee hours of the morning, Thor woke to the sound of the passage panel in his room shifting open. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, wincing when his fist caught his own injury. Blinking, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light and could just make out the shape of his brother hovering against the now closed panel door.

"Where have you been?" Thor asked with some exasperation.

Loki took this as invitation enough and slipped through the shadows across the room, scrambling under the covers to sit side by side with his brother. He made no reply but stared mournfully at the injuries on Thor's face.

"What?" Thor asked. "I think it makes me look grown up." he said, puffing out his chest and poking the bruise.

He managed too much enthusiasm and winced, bringing a small smile to Loki's face as the dark haired boy shook his head.

"Were you in a great deal of trouble?" Loki whispered.

"Not so much." Thor admitted.

Loki shifted closer and leaned his head against Thor's shoulder. "Thor…" he said softly.

"No. You are not to listen to a word that fool says, do you hear me? He is the brainless, heartless, son of a bilgesnipe and the next time we encounter one another I shall remake his face to resemble his ancestors. Are you listening, brother? Loki? Are you laughing at me?" Thor finished, incredulous.

He tilted his head to look at his little brother, who was looking up at him, indeed with laughter in his green eyes. Loki smiled at him.

"All I was going to say…what I mean is…thank you."

Thor beamed at him.

They slept well that night.

Days and weeks passed, but the foul boy did not return to their ranks of comrades. It finally occurred to Thor to inquire after him. He was quite astonished to learn that the father had resigned his post in the council and moved his family back to their home and land to the east of the city. Rumors in the palace said the boy had taken to great dramatics in the middle of the night for days upon days, claiming to see snakes in his bed - snakes no one else could see. The father had written to say that the boy was doing much better now that they had returned home, in order to lay to rest stories that his son was mad.

Thor puzzled over this for some time and decided he had been right all along.

Not only was the boy rude and insolent and a cheat, he was crazy as well. Snakes no one else could see, he told Loki. Clearly the boy was mad and it was a shame, Thor told his brother, that he would not get to truly best the older boy in a real fight.

Loki simply smiled.

A/N: I played a bit with dialogue and prose style, (it's different for me, at least) so I apologize for any tense oddities. My brother is quite a bit older than I am, so the idea of Thor and Loki as children being so close together and laying the foundation of a bond that comes to shape them both appeals to me, I think. Thanks for bearing with, and I hope you enjoyed!