A/N this takes place post-Love and Thunder and post-Loki season one

"Can we watch a movie?" Love asks the very moment they step in the house.

Thor fights back a sigh. "You need to take a shower. You're covered in blood and dirt."

Love looks down at her formerly white unicorn t-shirt, now a dull gray with splashes of red – not her own blood, of course; the blood of the monsters she killed this afternoon, but just as unsightly and, quite frankly, unhygienic.

"And then can we watch a movie?" Love asks.

"Then I need to take a shower," Thor says. He doesn't even have to look at himself to know that he's no better off than she is.

"And then we can watch a movie!"

"No, then it will be time for bed," Thor says.

Love pouts. "You're no fun."

"I know," Thor deadpans. "Now go take a shower."

Love groans dramatically and stalks away to the bathroom. Despite his exhaustion, he can't help but smile as he watches her. What did he even do with himself before he took Love in? He can hardly remember life without her.

While he waits for her to take her shower, he plops himself down on the couch and turns on the TV. Family Feud is on, and he's become rather fond of that show over the last six or seven years of living (mostly) on Earth. It's just some nice, mindless fun – like Jeopardy! for dumb people. He loves that about it.

Then the doorbell rings.

Thor sighs and pushes himself to his feet. He was just starting to get comfortable, too. It's probably someone from the village – Valkyrie, maybe, looking for somebody to rant to about the horrors of being king, or maybe Korg and Miek hoping to grab a bit of pizza and play video games. If he wasn't so tired from fighting all day, he might have gone along with it, but whoever's looking for him will have to wait until the morning.

Thor opens the door, already prepared to tell his visitor to come back later, but he freezes.

Is that...

No.

It can't be.

He's dead.

He's so incredibly dead – even deader than he's ever been before, and he gets dead a lot.

But there he is, standing right in the doorway.

Loki.

He looks like absolute shit. He's wearing some type of fancy Midgardian-looking dress shirt that, much like Love's shirt, probably used to be white; his hair is a dirty, tangled mess; his pants are ripped and torn. But, perhaps worst of all, is the look on his face. He looks... scared. That can't be a good sign.

"Are, uh..." Loki swallows hard. "Are we friends in this timeline?"

Thor answers that the only way he can: he barrels into him, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing him tight. Loki hugs him right back, burying his face in the crook of his brother's neck, and it takes every ounce of self-control Thor has not to break down in sobs.

"You're alive," Thor whispers, as much to himself as to his brother.

"I'm alive," Loki whispers back.

Thor finally pulls away from him, but his hands stay on his brother's shoulders, looking at him in disbelief. "You were dead," he says quietly. "I watched you die. I mourned you. I – I killed Thanos in your honor. And you're..." He shakes his head to himself. This doesn't make sense. This doesn't make any sense.

Loki's eyes widen. "You killed Thanos?"

"Sliced his head clean off," Thor says darkly. "And I did it for you. I thought he killed you."

"He did," Loki says. "He did kill me. I am dead. Except I am not... me?"

Thor cocks his head to the side, furrowing his brows.

"Sorry; that made no sense," Loki says. He takes a deep breath. "I am not your Loki."

That only confuses Thor more.

"The Loki of your timeline is dead," Loki explains. "But I'm not from your timeline. I'm from a different timeline, almost identical to this one, except in 2012, I stole the Tesseract as you were dragging me out of Stark Tower, and for that, I was imprisoned by the organization that dictates the flow of time by destroying every universe that deviates from their set path."

"Is..." Thor frowns. "Is this a trick?" It's so ridiculously nonsensical that he wants to laugh, but there's a look of panic on his brother's face that feels too real to be a game.

"I wish this was a trick, brother," Loki says, "but it is very real."

Thor's still very, very, confused, but whatever Loki's talking about, it's very clearly bothering him, and he's not going to write off anything that could leave his brother in this shape.

"The entire multiverse is in danger," Loki tells him. "I've just lost the only two friends I had. I don't know what to do or where else to go. I need your help."

When Loki said the sun would shine on them again, this isn't quite what he had in mind.

"What can I do?" Thor asks.

"I don't know," Loki admits. "I don't know what to do. I'm lost and I'm scared and I miss my friends and I don't know what I'm doing."

Oh.

Okay.

This isn't going to be as straightforward as he'd hoped.

Thor puts an arm around his brother's waist and gently leads him into the house. "Come here," he says gently. "Go sit on the couch. Do you want something to eat? Something to drink? What can I do for you?"

Loki seems a little taken aback by Thor's fantastic hosting skills (he had to pick those up quickly when he took Love in), but he does as he's told, sitting down on the couch and wrapping himself up in a blanket. "A glass of wine?"

Thor sucks in a breath through his teeth. "I don't really have alcohol," he says awkwardly.

Loki gapes at him. "You don't have alcohol?"

Thor shakes his head.

"You don't have alcohol," Loki repeats, incredulous.

Again, Thor shakes his head, more timidly this time. "I had a bit of a... problem... with it."

Loki's expression softens, and Thor knows that he knows. He doesn't make a big deal of it; instead, all he says is, "I wouldn't mind a glass of water, then."

Thor gives him a small smile, then heads to the kitchen, just barely out of sight, but still too far from his brother for his comfort. He fills up a glass with water and brings it to Loki, who murmurs his thanks before downing the whole thing. Maybe it's good that there's no alcohol in the building.

Loki puts the glass on the coffee table and looks up at his brother, a somewhat nervous smile on his lips. Thor sits down next to him, returning it with an awkward smile of his own. He should probably ask for more information about this multiversal threat he spoke about, but really, he just wants to chat and chat and chat until the sun comes up. He's missed his brother, more than he could possibly say.

Loki sighs, lolling his head back until it rests awkwardly on the back of the couch. "I don't know what to do."

"Talk to me," Thor says. "What's happening? We can figure it out together."

So that's what Loki does.

He talks about this mind-boggling Time Variance Authority that held him prisoner and coerced him into working with them. He talks about his friend, Mobius, one of its workers to whom he helped show the truth. He talks about a girl, Sylvie, with a certain glint in his eyes that says she's more than just a friend. And he talks about the Time Keepers, a symbol of hope that stands hollow while the TVA is truly controlled by a man from outside of time.

It's a lot to take in, and when Loki's done, Thor needs a minute to process it all. There's a whole new set of rules to the universe – to the multiverse, apparently – that he'd never even thought to consider. He probably shouldn't have promised his help before he knew what he was getting into.

"So the current threat to our existence," Thor says slowly, "is that this He Who Remains exists in every timeline, and every He Who Remains is going to rise up and start a multiversal war?"

"Yes."

"How can we even... stop that?" Thor asks uncertainly. This isn't Thanos. This isn't a single powerful being that they need to stop. It sounds as though time itself is their enemy now, and how could they possibly fight time?

Loki groans and buries his head in his hands. "I don't know," he mumbles. "I don't know what to do."

Thor lets out a long breath. He doesn't know, either, though he's sure that's not the answer his brother wants to hear. So instead, he slides closer and puts an arm around his shoulders. Loki looks over at him, forcing a small smile, and Thor returns it with one of his own.

"I don't know what to do," Loki says quietly. "I just don't know."

Thor shakes his head helplessly. "Should we look for your friends?"

"I don't know if I can trust Sylvie to set this right," Loki admits. "We don't see it the same way. We couldn't agree on the problem, never mind the solution. And Mobius..." He sighs. "I don't know if there is another Mobius. He may have truly forgotten me."

Thor's not sure what to say to that, so all he says is, "I'm sorry."

Loki just shrugs, a frown on his face that pains him to see. Their reunion was supposed to be a happy one. That doesn't seem to be happening.

"You can stay with us until you figure out what to do next," Thor tells him. "And if there's anything we can do to help, we will."

Loki gives him a weird look. "'We'?"

As though on cue, Love appears in the hallway, wet hair dripping all over the floor. She's hugging her stuffed cat in her arms so she must be about ready for bed, but right now, she seems far more interested in Loki.

"Loki, this is Love," Thor says. "Love, this is your Uncle Loki. I've told you about him, remember?"

Love cocks her head to the side, looking at Loki through squinted eyes. "I thought you were dead."

Loki, who's been staring at her with wide eyes since she showed up, manages to get himself together enough to say, "I was. It's all very complicated." He looks at his brother in disbelief and whispers, "She's...?"

"She is just going to bed," Thor says, pushing himself to his feet. "Give me a moment."

"You said I didn't have to go to bed until after you took a shower," Love pouts.

"That is not what I meant and you know that," Thor says.

"I don't want to go to bed!" Love whines. "It's too early!"

Thor sighs. "Love–"

Love runs past him and jumps onto the couch, giggling into her stuffed cat.

Thor rolls his eyes. "Loki, do you mind if she...?"

"Uh, no," he says quickly. "No, not at all."

With that settled, Thor sits back down on the couch, squeezing himself between Loki and Love, though the latter is taking up much more than her fair share of the cushion. Loki's still looking at her in awe, and it's actually kind of comical.

"How old are you?" Loki asks her.

"Eleven!"

"Eleven," Loki repeats quietly. He looks to his brother, brows furrowed. "Is she... Who's the mother?"

Thor's brows shoot up at that. "Oh! No! No, she's not–" He huffs a laugh. "She's not my daughter."

Loki furrows his brows. "Oh?"

"Yes, I knew her father," Thor explains. "And when he, um..." He glances at Love awkwardly. He's trying to be nice. He's not even going to mention that he only knew her father because her father wanted to murder him and all of his friends. But this is not easy.

Love pipes in with, "Died."

Thor gestures to her awkwardly. That sure would be the very blunt word he was trying to avoid using. "I promised that I would take care of her."

"Oh." Loki presses his lips into a firm line, clearly thinking about something, though Thor's not sure he likes the look of it.

"Loki...?" Thor says cautiously.

Loki sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sorry," he says. "I should have found a different Thor. I didn't realize you had a family. I don't want my problems to get in the way."

Thor scoffs. "Loki, this sounds like the perfect family outing," he says, then adds as an afterthought, "assuming it doesn't lead to the destruction of the entire multiverse."

"I know how to fight, you know," Love tells her new uncle. "Whoever you're gonna go fight, I can fight, too. Uncle Thor and I just got home after a big fight on... some planet. I forget where."

Thor fights back a laugh. She's too cute – and very eager to save the multiverse, apparently.

"We can help you," Love promises.

Loki raises a brow and looks at Thor.

"She's not wrong," Thor says. She's a promising warrior. He's raising her well, he'd say.

"Are you sure?" Loki asks cautiously. "This is going to be dangerous."

"She'll be alright," Thor assures him. She knows her limits. She won't get into something she can't get out of.

"Are you positive?" Loki asks. "I've already lost two friends in this battle. I can't stand to lose another."

"It will be fine," Thor insists. "She's a smart girl. You'll be surprised."

Loki hesitates, but he nods. "Alright," he says. "I trust you. But it does still leave the question of what to do next."

Thor ponders that for a few moments. That is a very good question.

Love volunteers her own answer. "I think you should both take a shower and we can all go to bed and start fresh tomorrow."

Thor bites his lip, fighting back a laugh, and looks at his brother expectantly. Loki looks back at him, shrugging minutely, and Thor nods back. It sounds like as good a plan as any.

"Alright, Lovebug." Thor leans over and kisses the top of Love's head. "I'll see you in the morning."

"I'm still not going to bed until after your shower," she tells him.

Thor rolls his eyes good-naturedly. "Alright, but you better be in your room by the time I open the bathroom door."

Love just beams, exaggerating her innocence. He can already tell he'll hear her running down the hall as soon as he opens the door. He looks forward to it.

"Now, Loki, come with me," Thor says. "Let's find you some clean clothes."

Loki smiles gratefully, and Thor leads him down the hallway and away from the little girl still dripping water all over his nice couch. He really should get her a hair dryer.

"Thor?" Loki says quietly.

"Hmm?" he hums.

"Thank you," he says. "I know I can't do this alone, and I truly appreciate that you're willing to help."

"I will always be willing to help you," Thor assures him. He teasingly bumps his brother's shoulder with his own. "A lot has changed since 2012, brother. You're my best friend. I would do anything for you."

Loki bumps his shoulder right back. "Stop that," he says playfully. "You're going to make me cry."

Thor just puts an arm around him, pulling him in for a (somewhat awkward) side hug. "I've missed you, Loki."

"I've missed you, too."