Request by introvertturtle234 ! Sorry it took so long to get out, I've had writers block for a while... I also couldn't fit interactions in with all the Avengers >.< I'm a disappointment. But to make up for it, I made it extra long! Hope you enjoy!

When Peter had met up with Loki for the day - as they had promised to do a week prior - he could tell that there was something wrong with the man. There was something about him that just seemed... off. He wasn't as quirky and sarcastic as he normally was, and he didn't respond to any of Peter's teasing. Not to mention how slow Loki had become and seemed distracted by something...

"Mr. Loki," Peter started, turning towards his friend, "are you okay?"

The man in question raised an eyebrow, his head barely moving to face Peter. "What do you mean?"

"You're acting weird, not at all like yourself. You're spacing out, paler than normal, barely responsive when talking, and your physical response time is slow."

"It is not-" Before Loki could finish his protest, Peter shot a web at him, trapping his arm against the wall of the Compound. 

They both stared at the web for a few moments, before Loki let out a sigh. On a normal day, Loki would have been able to predict Peter's attack and move his hand out of the way with time to spare... His response time was way beyond slow.

"If you must know, I have been feeling slightly..." Loki waved his other hand lazily to try and think of the proper word, "Strange. My head is fuzzy and pounding, and my body feels colder than normal. It will pass though, nothing to concern yourself with."

Peter blinked in confusion, tilting his head slightly, "You're sick?"

"Excuse me?"

Before Loki could react any other way, Peter was in front of him and placing a warm hand against his forehead. It almost felt good. Almost. But Loki would not think of that now, nor indulge in it. The child would never let him live it down otherwise.

"Yeah, you're definitely sick; you've got a fever." Peter took a step back and pulled the webs off of Loki's hand before leading him back down the hall to the bedrooms. "You should have said something before! Going out will only make you suffer more, not to mention that spreading germs isn't cool."

"Peter, I am fine. I don't get... sick. I have never been sick in my life...!"

"There's a first time for everything."

Loki didn't even have time to fire a retort back as Peter pushed him back in his room and forced him to sit on the bed. "Stay here, I'm going to go get medicine and... other stuff that sick people need!" And just like that, Peter was gone.

Loki had the thought to leave while the child was gone, because he didn't need anyone to take care of him and he definitely was not sick. But something stopped him... It was the concern hidden in Peter's eyes when asking if he was okay, or the hesitance in his hand when checking his temperature; Peter was genuinely upset with the idea of him being sick and it made Loki feel something deep in his chest that he never had before... 

So, against his better judgment, Loki stayed on his bed until Peter returned with a bowl. He was about to comment on why the boy only had a bowl of water with him when he had left to get medical supplies, but stopped himself when another figure appeared in the doorway behind Peter.

"Brother, why did you not tell me that you were feeling unwell?" Thor asked, holding Peter's backpack and cloths in his hands.

A sigh left Loki's lips as he leaned his head back down on his pillow. He knew he should have left when he had the chance... "Because I am not sick. I do not get sick."

Thor laughed a bit as he sat in the chair in the corner of the room. "Have you forgotten that time when we were children and accidentally went to Muspelheim? You were sick for weeks after father brought us back. Mother was so worried that she didn't leave your side the entire time, and nearly sent for the healers on Vanaheim."

Peter, who was standing next to Loki's bed and reading the directions for the medicines, could have sworn that he saw a faint blush rise to Loki's cheeks before the man cleared his throat and looked away. 

"No, I remember no such thing."

"Liar."

"I am not lying, you're just delusional."

Peter laughed as the two bickered, handing Loki the medicine pills and a water bottle that he pulled from his bag. Even when he was sick, Loki still had the energy to argue with Thor. They were really good brothers...

"Wait," Loki paused as he looked down at the pills in his hand that he had almost taken without a thought. "What is this? I don't need these, I'm not sick."

It was then that Thor stood up and made his way over to the bedside as well, placing a heavy hand on Loki's shoulder. "Brother, do not make me use Sykepleier's method."

Loki's body tensed for a second, his eyes narrowing at Thor as his hand closed tightly around the pills. Thor held his gaze with a small smirk before Loki turned to look at a confused Peter, then back to Thor again, before he took a deep breath and downed the medicine.

"There, happy now?"

"Indeed," Thor smiled wider, patting Peter's shoulder as he moved away. "I must be going now, but I will return later to check in."

As he moved past Peter, he leaned down to whisper in the boy's ear, "Loki cares for you, use it against him if he gives you any trouble."

Peter chuckled and nodded, eyes drifting over to Loki's -once again- narrowed ones. "Yes sir, Mr. Thor."

The large man waved as he left the room, his hearty chuckles trailing after him. It was silent for a while after, Loki's half-hearted glare aimed at Peter as the boy awkwardly stood there wondering what to do next. He had given Loki the medicine and water... should he put the cool towel on his forehead and get him to sleep again? Something told him that Loki wouldn't allow that right now.

"So what's... 'Moose-pel-him'?" Peter asked, trying (and failing) to remember the name Thor had said earlier. Loki's glare faltered slightly before a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Muspelheim is the realm of fire, ruled by Surtr. It is much like what you humans envision Hell to be like; the grounds burnt black from years of abuse by fire and lava, the two being the only sources of light and casting eerie glows along the rocks. It has a heat so strong that you can burn even from a distance."

Peter's eyes were wide with wonder, "And you and Mr. Thor went there as kids? Why?"

Loki gazed at Peter for a second before sighing and sitting up more in his bed. "Sit, I will tell you the story."

The boy smile brightly as he sat on the edge of Loki's bed, causing the man to smirk.

"We were younger than you when we went, probably around the human age of seven and nine. We hadn't even intended to go there... Thor wanted to visit our sister world, Vanaheim, and snuck into the Bifrost when the Gatekeeper was away. I told him it was a bad idea," Loki shrugged nonchalantly, "but he didn't listen to me and did it anyways.

"He had done something wrong when choosing the destination, because as soon as the Bifrost opened, we were blasted with an intense heat. But it was too late to stop anything and we were both sucked in.

"It really wasn't so bad at first, once the initial heatwave passed... We had landed somewhere that had more rocks than lava and fire, so it was bearable.  Thor was... greatly impressed by the place and wanted to explore. I, on the other hand, not so much. I had heard stories about Surtr and was in no mood to meet him without a weapon. I was once again ignored though and left to follow after Thor.

We wandered for what seemed like hours before we ran into Sinmara, Surtr's consort and guardian of a powerful weapon. She was a nightmare... Beautiful, but terrifying. She thought that Thor and I were there to steal her weapon and started to release the guard dogs on us, if it hadn't been for my quick explanation about why we were there, we would have been eaten alive... But thankfully, Sinmara believed us and helped us leave without Surtr knowing..."

Loki paused for a second, gazing out across the room with a faraway look hazed across his eyes. His bloodshot eyes, Peter soon noted. Upon closer inspection, Loki's cheeks were flushed and he seemed to be panting slightly as a few coughs escaped him.

"Hey, you don't look too good..." Peter stood up from his seat and stretched his hand out to feel Loki's head, reeling back as if he had been burned by the fires of Muspelheim himself. "Your fever's getting worse; you should lay down and sleep."

It was worrisome when Loki didn't fight him as the boy's hands urged him under the blankets of his bed.

"Perhaps a small nap would be favorable now." As Loki closed his eyes, Peter picked up the bowl of water that he had placed on the floor earlier and set it on the bedside table, getting a small face towel and dipping it in the cool water before squeezing it out and placing it on Loki's forehead. The man twitched slightly at the cold shock, but kept his eyes closed. Peter couldn't tell if he had already gone to sleep or was simply ignoring him...

Once everything had been done for Loki that Peter was able, he went to sit in the chair on the other side of the room and took his school books out of his bag, quietly setting to work on his homework.

A few hours had passed when Loki woke up again, a fresh cold cloth on his head and his room empty. He took the cloth off and put it back in the bowl as he sat up, inspecting his room. Peter's school books were stacked around his chair, some still open on the floor.

It was strange, why did Loki feel so... disappointed that Peter had left while he was sleeping? Maybe he was sick... He would never be so needy in his right mind.

The door opened, Loki's eyes shooting towards it to see Peter walking in carrying a bowl. The child's eyes brightened as they saw Loki.

"You're awake!" Peter went over to place the bowl on the small table, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long, I went to get soup and Bruce had told me about how you and some of the other Avengers went to save some people in a burning building the other day. So I thought, 'hey, maybe you got sick because you overheated'? And I had to learn a completely new recipe to make cold soup for you, because hot soup might make you worse. How are you feeling now?"

"Better," Loki chuckled, but his voice sounded strained and caused a hard cough to escape him.

Peter frowned and shook his head, moving his hand to feel Loki's forehead. "No, you're still burning up. I was hoping that your fever would have broken if you went to sleep..."

"It'll pass soon, don't worry. I've never been sick before, so I'll be healed before you know it." It took everything Loki had not to start coughing in the middle of his sentence, or letting his strained voice crack. But he really didn't want to worry Peter anymore than he already had... Perhaps if he created an illusion? No, Peter would see through that immediately and get angry with him. He would just have to do this the old fashioned way (no matter how tiring it was).

After that, Loki was forced to eat the 'cold soup' that was actually decent, while Peter told him about his previous school days and hero nights. The boy was trying to keep Loki from talking as much as possible, that much was obvious. But the extra effort was useless. The trickster always liked hearing about what Peter did around others, and he didn't want to interrupt the story process.

"-Not only did he manage to derail the subway, but he also nearly pushed a school bus off a bridge! I mean, how low can someone go? I barely made it there in time, stopping the subway from crashing took so long and kinda hurt! What would he have done if I didn't get there in time? Geez, sometimes I think these bad guys think I'm Superman or somethi-"

A knock at the door interrupted Peter, Tony's head popping in not long after. "Hey there, I was looking for a little spiderling when heard a certain resident of this room was sick. With the power of excellent detective skills, I figured that my spider-kid would be playing doctor." Tony chuckled a bit as he saw the two in bed. "I'm so good, I should be the next Sherlock."

"Mr. Stark!" Peter straightened up slightly, smiling at the man. "You were looking for me? Did you need something?"

"Not really, no." Tony batted his hand dismissively as he neared the bed. "That was just an excuse to come see Loki sick. I didn't think it was possible for you to catch an 'earth bug'."

Loki rolled his eyes as he set the empty soup bowl down, "I am not sick. I'm just not at full strength today."

"Same thing." He glanced around at the Ibuprofen bottle and cold cloths on the table, and Peter's school books in the corner, hiding a chuckle at the sight. "It was caused by the fire the other day, right? Are you sure it's not heat exhaustion?"

"It's neither-" Loki broke off into a coughing fit, causing Peter to frown but answer Tony's question.

"No, he's pretty coherent, and he's not really sweating or fainting, or anything like that."

"I see..." Tony nodded a bit, "I know just the thing that will cure that cough though! It's in the lab, I'll go get it."

He was gone before Loki could protest, because he really didn't need help... All of this would be gone shortly; he just needed to bear with it until then. But no one seemed keen to listen to him.

"He just wants to help out too," Peter grinned, apparently amused with Loki's annoyed expression. 

"I don't need helping... I don't like the idea of owing favors to others."

"Favors?" Peter's head tilted slightly before shaking. "It's nothing like that! Mr. Stark is helping you because he wants to, not to mention he's been trying to find a way to thank you for saving me that time with the enhanced bad guys in the blizzard...!"

"Thank me...?"

"Yeah, I almost died, remember?" -Loki remembered it painfully well- "Mr. Stark was there when I woke up and told me that if it weren't for you, I would have died. You were fast thinking and protected me when the enhanced came to get us, not to mention finding a way to call the others in. But even if you hadn't of done that, we'd still want to help you. You're our friend, and we humans hate seeing our friends suffer."

It was quiet for a while, Loki taking in the information. He had assumed that during that time, just him being near Peter would have made it worse... but now they were saying that he had saved him? 

"Fine..." Loki finally, and reluctantly, agreed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be taken care of for once."

When Tony had come back, it was to their surprise that he was holding a medicine bottle as well. Apparently Wakanda had sent over their 'cure all' medicine. It was tasteless and small; the only side effect was drowsiness that hit Loki almost immediately. 

Tony stayed for a little after the trickster had gone to sleep, talking with Peter before he was called out for business, letting Peter get back to his school books. Now and then, the other Avengers in the Compound stopped by to check up on Loki, bringing their own little gifts for him. Wouldn't Loki be surprised when he saw all the stuffed animals and hot tea waiting for him...

Sometime later, just as Peter was finishing his homework, Thor came back with his own stuffed animal (a snake, to both of their amusement).

"I'm glad to see he's resting now," Thor chuckled, placing the toy snake on the edge of the bed. "He hardly slept when he was sick last time."

"Last time?" Peter asked, "You mean when you two went to the fire realm as kids?"

"He told you about it?"

Peter nodded, "Before he went to sleep the first time, he told me a bit about how you two went there and the lady helped you get back."

"Ah, Sinmara... So nice of her to not tell Surtr about our visit. However, father was furious when she had called upon him to get us..." Thor chuckled and shook his head at the memory. "I didn't know that Loki was a Frost Giant at the time, so it didn't make sense to me why the heat affected him more than I. But he had gotten very sick after being there for so long. He didn't eat and barely slept for days... Mother, father, and I had all spent restless nights by his bedside.

"When his fever broke back then, and he was able to get a proper night's sleep, I was still worried for him and had the guards move my bed into his room. He called me an idiot when he woke up, but he was still happy. He was very clingy when sick..." Another chuckle left him as Thor reminisced, glancing over at his brother.

"So much has changed since then... But I am glad that he's stronger now."

"Change is good though, right?" Peter asked, watching the two of them. "If things hadn't changed the way they did between you two, then you might not be where you are now. If Loki hadn't of tricked you that first time, and you weren't sent to Earth and met Ms. Foster, then the Avengers might never have been formed into such a great team."

Thor thought about it before smiling and nodding along, "Correct indeed, Man of Spiders. Change is very good."

The topic changed as the two continued to talk, neither of them noticing the green eye opening slightly, or the small -genuine- smile spreading across pale lips. 

Change was definitely good, Loki silently agreed.