The sun came up faster than Loki thought reasonable. Where had the hours gone? His eyes were sandy but he didn't feel tired, exactly. Just…resigned. Ready. And at the same time, not ready at all. His head was on Stephen's shoulder as the two of them leaned against the headboard of the bed, Loki's leg hooked over Stephen's and Stephen's fingers rubbing circles in Loki's palm.

They had talked about everything, and yet, what Loki didn't say could have filled libraries. How did you compress a thousand years into ten hours? Especially when he wanted to listen to Stephen talk more than he wanted to hear his own voice. They made love. Had Loki ever applied that phrase to any of the times he'd slept with someone? He didn't think so. But it was the right one for this, and the way afterwards they laid there kissing each other slowly, Stephen's fingers in Loki's hair, Loki's hands running up and down his back.

But now it was morning. Loki didn't see much point in showering, and Stephen didn't bother. If Loki was romantic, he'd have wondered if it was because Stephen wanted Loki's scent on him a little longer. But Loki wasn't romantic, so, well.

Strange went upstairs to tell Wong they were leaving and Loki trailed after him, standing and looking at the Oculus until he returned. When he did, he simply stared at Loki, looking like he was pouring every ounce of his willpower into keeping his expression free from crushing sadness.

Then, he held up a finger and said, "Hold on. We never listened to any music. We never danced."

"I don't dance," Loki said automatically.

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't. Do you listen to music?"

"I've been known to."

Shaking his head and smiling, Stephen walked into the Chamber of Relics. There was a dusty old gramophone on a table there—well, appropriate place for it, as it was certainly a relic—with a stack of records on a shelf beneath it. Stephen flipped through them, made a noise, and pulled one out, sliding it out of the case and flipping it onto the turntable. He turned the gramophone on and put the needle down, and the record crackled.

Loki took the opportunity to look around the room one last time, the Oculus casting white light across everything as the sun rose outside. As the music began playing, Stephen came to Loki's side. A woman's voice came on, singing, We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day. Keep smiling through, just like you always do, 'til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away…"

"'We'll Meet Again,' Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. 1939. Made popular by Vera Lynn," Strange said, catching Loki's fingertips in his.

"Maudlin in the extreme," Loki said, though he didn't roll his eyes. "And when have I ever kept smiling through anything?"

With a small laugh, Stephen said, "You do, actually, and you know you do."

"Well." Loki slipped his hand further into Stephen's, intertwining their fingers. "I wouldn't be much of a trickster if I couldn't see the fun in just about anything. Or the humor, at the very least." He put his other hand on Stephen's neck, Stephen's skin feeling hot against Loki's cold fingers. The Cloak shivered, and Loki smiled crookedly. "You know, we've never talked about how your cape has always seemed to like me."

The Cloak's collar caressed Loki's hand once, and then its edges flared out around Strange and wrapped around the two of them, drawing them closer together. Loki found his chest pressed to Stephen's, the feeling of Stephen's heart thumping through his own sternum. With a sigh, he dropped his reservations and buried his face in the side of Stephen's neck, closing his eyes and breathing in his scent.

They remained that way, Stephen turning his head so that his face was pressed to Loki's hair. It wasn't dancing, but perhaps they swayed to the song. Just a little.

So will you please say hello to the folks that I know, they'll be happy to know that as you saw me go I was singing this song…

Humans were absurd. Sentimental fools, who always believed there was more than what they could see, that there was some cosmic force for good that brought people together for a reason, and would see to it that they were together in the end, whatever 'the end' looked like. They didn't want to believe in the universe as it was, which was cruel, capricious and uncaring by turns. The Norns spun all of their fates, but they didn't control them. There was no rhyme or reason, no destiny. There were only choices and the people you surrounded yourself with.

In the end, Loki thought he'd done well with one of those things. And if he'd made too many poor choices to count, at least this final one mattered. At least this final choice was to do something good.

Speaking of sentimental fools.

He straightened up and looked into Stephen's eyes, tightened his hold on his hand, and smoothed his fingers over the gray hair at Stephen's temple. He was beautiful, Stephen Strange, scarred hands and all.

"Not to be really corny, but who knows, maybe in the other universe…" Stephen hesitated, then smiled and ran a thumb over Loki's cheekbone. "Maybe they'll figure out what we did."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "The versions of us there? Well. That would require a number of coincidences, not the least of which being that we only ended up this way because chance brought us together." Loki paused. "And don't say it was fate."

With a chuckle, Strange said, "Yeah, okay. I won't."

"And quite honestly," Loki went on, "I'm not convinced that this wasn't just because it was…convenient."

Rolling his eyes, Stephen asked, "Do you really think that?"

No.

Loki shrugged.

Stephen held Loki's eyes. Then, he said, "It may have just been chance, but if the other universe's me is anything like…well, me, and the other you is like you, then I'm going to be honest, I don't see how alternate reality Stephen Strange doesn't end up falling for you, too."

Loki's heart did something tectonic in his chest. But, raising his eyebrows, all he said was, "Technically, aren't you alternate reality Stephen Strange?" As though he was going to address what Stephen had said, instead of choosing to be pedantic. Well, Stephen should know him well enough by now to know that he'd avoid the substance of what someone was saying to him, especially if it dealt with anything resembling affection or trust. Or love.

Stephen's arm circled Loki's waist. "Yeah," he said. "I guess so."

With a breath of laughter, Loki leaned into Stephen and said, "You shouldn't discount my capacity for stubbornness and pathological belief in my own unworthiness. If our counterparts should meet, I can only imagine he'll fight feeling like this every step of the way."

His mouth twitching into a lopsided smile, Stephen said, "At least you recognize that it's pathological."

Loki snorted. "Thanks."

"You kind of walked into it."

"True." Loki leaned forward and kissed Stephen softly, keeping his eyes closed after he'd pulled away. "You'll meet my counterpart soon."

Stephen's arm tightened. "I know what you're thinking," he said. Loki opened his eyes and looked into Stephen's. They were steady, intense, and bright with emotion. "Don't."

Laughing mirthlessly, Loki said, "You should know by now that I never stop thinking."

"I know. But don't think that."

Loki drew in a deep, slow breath, and told a lie. "It's alright. If you…do. I don't know what he'll be like, but he'll still be me, in some sense."

Stephen put his trembling hands on either side of Loki's face. "Don't," he repeated. He pulled Loki towards him and kissed him, then murmured into his mouth, "There isn't anyone like you." Their lips brushed and Loki wrapped his arms around Stephen, closing his eyes as the kiss deepened. The two of them stood there while the record played, and Loki thanked and cursed the Norns for breaking him and giving him this. This beautiful thing that he didn't deserve, had never looked for, and couldn't keep. Were they laughing? Or did they have hearts to break, too?

It was only when the record had reached its end, hissing on the inner groove, that the two of them separated. Loki let his fingers ghost over the gray hair at Stephen's temples again, and he smiled. "You and my brother would have gotten along. He was a do-gooder, too. And you could have commiserated with each other about how difficult I am."

"I have a feeling Thor's the kind of guy who wouldn't hear a bad word against his little brother," Stephen said, returning the smile. Loki appreciated his use of the present tense. Thor was gone, but not completely while Loki was still here. Once he was gone too…well, Asgard was no more, anyway. Perhaps it was only right that her remaining sons followed her. Two sons of the crown, adrift for so long now. Loki drew in a slow breath. He hoped he'd see Thor again soon. He hoped he'd done enough to follow his family to Valhalla. He hoped they would welcome him.

Stephen took his hands in his own, his thumbs shakily stroking Loki's knuckles, and Loki said, his voice feeling like it might crack apart, "I miss him." He had been such a fool, such an idiot; he'd spent so long torn between bitterness and jealousy and though his love had never dimmed, it had been too easy to push it aside. Once upon a time, Loki would perhaps have stolen the Time Stone to put things back to the way he wanted them to be. Now, though, he couldn't do it. He couldn't do more harm.

Squeezing his hands, Stephen said, "I know." He sighed. "I've always known that."

Loki almost apologized for being so damaged, so broken, when Stephen deserved someone whole. Old habits died hard, though. He never apologized, not for anything. Not for anything that mattered, at least. He drew in a breath through his nose to steady himself. There was one loose end, one thing he hadn't been able to contemplate until the last couple days. "Do you know what happened to Thor's body?" he asked, trying to maintain an even tone.

What was left of it.

Stephen hesitated before he said, "My main concern was getting you to the hospital. You were alive, barely."

Right. It had been a foolish question. Thor's body was probably locked in some government facility. Whatever pieces of SHIELD were left, officially sanctioned or not. It was a horrible thought, his brother's remains being…studied.

"But," Stephen said, and Loki looked at him sharply. "Wong stayed behind to make sure…that is, we thought there might be…people…who wouldn't show the right respect. We didn't really have a plan, the whole thing was…I mean, it was…a bad scene. It was…"

Loki could fill in the blanks. It was the worst thing I've ever seen.

"We didn't really talk before I left, is what I'm trying to say," Stephen said. "You were bleeding out; to this day I don't know how you made it." He shook his head. "I went back, and Thor…he wasn't there. Wong said he—" Stephen gestured vaguely. "—turned to light. That sound like something that happens?"

Tears stung at Loki's eyes, sudden and sharp. Before he could stop it, one slipped out, sliding down his cheek, a burning track across his face. "Yes," he said, his voice still even. "That sounds like something that happens."

He'd miscounted. Two loose ends. Swiping the back of his hand across his nose, which was suddenly leaking, he said, "I have to do something before we go."

Without speaking, Stephen nodded, then brushed his fingers over Loki's face, wiping the tear away gently. He seemed to understand that Loki needed to do whatever it was alone, because he stepped back. The Cloak of Levitation rippled. "Whenever you're ready," Stephen said quietly.

Loki tried to swallow, couldn't, and just nodded jerkily, before he turned and walked down the stairs to his room. He closed the door with a quiet click, then opened the window. For a moment, he stood there, listening to the pigeons coo gently. His chest felt tight, too small for his heart, too small for the grief that had been living inside him, clawing a bigger and bigger space for itself. Eventually, there would have been nothing but his grief. It would have taken him over, eaten him alive.

He closed his eyes and remembered happier days. He remembered his brother, before everything had gone wrong. Tears slipped out from beneath his eyelids, and he knelt on the ground beneath the window, bowing his head and putting his hands on knees, palms facing towards the ceiling. Towards the sky.

"Thor, son of Odin," he said softly. "I bid you take your place in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave shall live forever." A single, glowing orb appeared between his hands, hovering at his fingertips. It bobbed there, filled with light, a beacon against the darkness of loss. He swallowed hard and completed the prayer, his voice shaking. "Nor shall we mourn but rejoice for those that have died the glorious death."

Then, he raised his hands. The orb caught on his fingers, and when he released it, it floated upwards, towards the window, and out into the sky.

Loki watched it go, his breathing ragged, tears streaking his face.

"Good-bye, brother," he whispered.

If the Norns will it, I'll see you soon.

He remained there until it was out of sight, and then longer, looking into the blue Midgard sky. Listening to the traffic outside. The pigeons. His own breathing, each breath counting down to his last one.

Odd. That thought didn't bother him.

There was a flutter of wings outside, and Loki thought again of Thor's gentleness with the birds in the dovecote.

He climbed to his feet, rested his palms on the windowsill, and breathed in. Then, he closed the window and went to rejoin Stephen.

They stepped out of the portal onto the brickwork terrace overlooking Bethesda Fountain. The light was shining through the trees, crisp and bright. Everything seemed…more. The sounds of cars whooshing by on Central Park West and Fifth Avenue carrying crystal clear on the air, the occasional sharp car horn blaring. Bethesda Fountain gurgling below, squirrels busily preparing for winter. Ducks taking off across the water, the flap of their wings cracking on the air. A perfect autumn day, the sort of morning that made you want to bottle it, so you could pull it out later and feel a moment that you'd felt so painfully alive that it had been in every nerve of your body. The kind of day that was so New York that it hurt.

Damn. He really had come to love this city.

"Central Park," Loki observed.

Stephen nodded. "All our protections on the city merge here. There's no stronger spot for interdimensional travel."

Loki nodded once, slowly, then again, his head jerking. This was it, then. What did you say at the end?

Stephen sighed and raised a hand. The mirror dimension folded out around them, leaving them isolated from the world. Maybe there was nothing to say. Not out loud, anyway.

With a sharp inhale of breath, Loki stepped forward. He put a hand to the back of Stephen's head, pausing to hold his gaze. Then, he brought his other hand up to cup the side of Stephen's face, while Stephen wrapped his arms around Loki's back, and their lips met in a hard, fierce kiss.

There was no way to take in enough of each other in this moment, but they tried, there in the mirror dimension, hands over clothes, mouths on whatever bare skin they could find, Stephen's fingers twisting hard in Loki's hair and all of it, all of it, saying what neither of them ever had out loud.

I love you. I would have loved you for as long you wanted me to.

It really was magic, this thing between them.

They broke apart and Loki leaned his forehead against Stephen's. Smiling, because what else could he do, he said, "Thank you for your hospitality, Doctor Strange."

With a quiet snort of laughter, Stephen said, "Yeah. Anytime."

A moment passed. Or maybe it was an hour. It could have been an eternity, and it wouldn't have been long enough. He'd never leave if he didn't just do it, though. Nothing was going to make it easier. No kiss was going to be a good enough last one. He'd never get tired of the feel of Stephen's heart beating.

Stephen ran a hand gently through Loki's hair, then pressed his lips to his forehead. "Good luck, God of Mischief," he murmured, his breath sending shivers through Loki.

Reaching a hand up to twine their fingers together one last time, to feel the scars on the back of Stephen's hand and the way the tremor went still at his touch, Loki said, "You too. I hope the other me is just as much of a challenge as I've been." But he smiled a little crookedly and got a smile in return.

Stephen tightened his fingers around Loki's, and the response was clear. He won't be you. No one ever will be.

Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on Loki's part.

Then, Stephen stepped back and circled a hand. The mirror dimension dropped away around them. Loki held up a hand, where the Tesseract shimmered into existence, glowing a bright, steady blue. People walking by stared, but Loki didn't care. They had no idea how much worse things were going to get.

The two of them held each other's gazes and Loki tightened his grip on the Tesseract as he thought about where he wanted to go. Bring me to where Loki, son of Odin, died. Bring me to where Thor lost everything.

Behind him, a portal opened up, darkness, fire, and destruction on the other side. A spaceship, attacked and adrift, its defenses down, its occupants slaughtered. Loki glanced over his shoulder at it, then gave Stephen a crooked half-smile. Stephen returned it, only the lines around his eyes betraying how difficult it was.

Loki took a breath, turned towards the portal, and straightened his shoulders. It turned out, he'd been wrong. You could fight for the greater good and the people you loved. You might just have to sacrifice something along the way. Something? Ha. He was Loki. He sacrificed everything and nothing. He'd reach for it all and end up with none of it. He wouldn't be him if he didn't.

Without looking back, he stepped through the portal, into another universe, and onto the deck of The Statesman. He couldn't take back the harm that he'd done, the pain that he'd caused. He couldn't ever get his brother back. But he could do this one good thing, and give this universe, the one he wasn't ever supposed to have left, a fighting chance. He could give this Thor, and this Loki, a chance to be a family.

The portal closed behind him.

Hi all,

I don't plan on posting on this site anymore. We've had a good run, this site and I, but it's time for me to move on for many reasons. If you enjoy my work, I'm on AO3 as AuroraWest. You can find a link in my profile. The continuation of my MCU fic universe is on AO3, so if you liked Do No Harm, definitely come check out what I'm posting over on AO3.