A/N

If you're not familiar with actual Norse Mythology, this whole chapter won't make any goddamn sense.

***

Maya had an English paper she needed to write and for once, the internet was down at the Avengers Tower. After much complaining, Tony told her to suck it up and go to the library. Maya didn't mind the library, in fact she loved going there, but it was so much easier to Google stuff and site stuff on a computer. She hated doing bibliographies for books because they took up so much time. It also didn't help that in her no-WiFi moodiness, she left her laptop at the Tower.

Okay, maybe not a "new" book. She was dead set on finding "The Maze Runner" and reading that again. She knew what shelf it was on and made a beeline for it.

On her way, a different book caught her eye.

"A book on Norse Mythology?" Maya said aloud when she picked up the book for closer inspection. The cover was black and had a depiction of Thor's hammer on the cover.

Her curiosity got the better of her. She opened the book and skimmed through the pages. She saw familiar names as she skimmed by. Walking back over to the table she and Peter were working at, she began to read through the book. There were other gods and creatures that the book talked about that her friends had mentioned every so often. She payed extra special attention to the chapters about her friends.

Thor's chapter was the first of these. It mentioned stuff about his hammer, some of the battles he had fought in, and something about a wedding crash in an attempt to get his hammer back from some giants. That gave her a good laugh at the idea of Thor in a wedding dress.

Olivia's chapter was a little shorter, mostly mentioning stuff about her and Loki and some of her smaller exploits. It didn't inherently mention if or when they were to marry, but as far as Maya knew, they weren't. Not yet at least.

Loki's chapter was last. There was a lot in the chapter, some of which Maya questioned the truth of. Slowly reading through, she came to a particular section that caught her off guard. She blinked, re read it, then...

"WHAT??" Maya yelled. Of course, someone shushed her because it was a library, but she didn't care.

"What is it?" Peter asked, looking up from his textbook.

"Is this for real?" Maya mumbled to herself.

"Maya, what happened?" Peter pressed. Maya finally seemed to register Peter's question.

"We need to go back to the Tower. Now." Maya said, packing up, walking over and checking out the mythology book.

"But I'm almost done with my paper, can we wait, like, 15 minutes?" Peter asked.

"Nope, besides, the internet might be back up, so you can finish the paper once we get back." Maya said, shoving Peter's papers into his bag. She then started for the door.

"What's with the urgency?" Peter asked, running after her.

"You'll see." Maya said.

~at the tower~

"You guys are back early. Good news, the Wi-Fi is back up-" Tony started.

"I don't care about the Wi-Fi right now. Where is Loki?" Maya asked.

"Wow, not caring about the internet? That's new for you. Anyway, he's in the lounge with Olivia and Thor." Tony said.

"Thanks." Maya said, darting off.

"What's gotten into her?" Tony asked.

"Not sure." Peter admitted, running after Maya. He found her marching towards the doorway with her book in hand, a bookmark sticking out of the top. She found Thor throwing his hammer up and down while eating a bowl of popcorn. On the other couch, she saw Loki and Olivia with their feet propped on each other while reading books.

"I demand answers!" Maya said, causing the inhabitants of the lounge to jump at the sound of her voice.

"What for?" Olivia asked. Maya walked right up to Loki and held out the book she had brought.

"There is a bookmark in this book." Maya said.

"Yes, I can see that." Loki said, rolling his eyes. Maya opened the book to where her bookmark was and shoved the book into Loki's face.

"Kindly explain this for me!!" Maya said. Loki took the book from Maya and slowly read through the passage she was indicating. He slowly paled as he read further.

"What is it?" Olivia asked. Loki held up five fingers, then three. Eight in total. Olivia knew what he was indicating. "Oh no..."

"So is it true or not?" Maya asked, her arms folded.

"What is she talking about?" Thor asked. Olivia then repeated the gesture Loki made at her, and then Thor nodded in understanding.

"Maya, what are you even talking about?" Peter asked. Loki still hadn't answered Maya, just silently handed the book back to her, biting his lip.

"Loki, did you give birth to an eight legged horse??" Maya asked loudly. There was a brief quiet.

"Wait, what??" Tony asked, popping his head in. Loki groaned and put his head into his hands, still not replying.

"So you did!" Maya deduced.

"Wait, 'gave birth?' You mean fathered, right?" Tony asked. Maya threw him the book with the bookmark still inside. Tony read through it and promptly fell onto the floor, absolutely crying laughing. "OH M-MY GOD!!"

At this point, Loki's was hugging hus knees, his forehead on top of them. Olivia rubbed his back comfortingly as he kept groaning in embarassment.

"It is not exactly something he is proud of." Olivia said.

"It came as quite a shock." Thor admitted.

"I still remember when we found out." Olivia said.

***

~Asgard, Hundreds of Years Prior. (The Asgardians look about 18 or 19 physically)~

"Frigga, have you seen Loki?" Olivia asked.

"No, I'm afraid not, I'd have thought he'd be with you." Frigga replied.

"I haven't seen him all day. He's been acting a bit weird for the past few months, though." Olivia thought aloud.

"You're right. Is there anywhere you haven't checked?" Frigga asked.

"The stables, but I don't know why he'd be there." Olivia admitted.

"Then check there. If not, then come find me." Frigga said.

"Of course." Olivia said, running off to the stables. After a few minutes, she found them and began checking every housing. There were a lot of them, they needed a lot of horses for the royal family and the soldiers if needed.

Eventually, she heard a very quiet neigh from a far stall. It sounded like it belonged to a foal, though she hadn't heard news that one was born. Then she heard something else.

"Shush, be quiet until we figure this out." A hushed voice that sounded like Loki's replied.

"Loki, is that you?" Olivia called out. She jogged over to the stall where she heard the noises. Eventually finding it, she opened the gate and saw a very disheveled Loki in the corner huddled with a little foal in his arms.

"I've been looking all over for you. Why do you have a foal with you?" Olivia asked. Loki's eyes shifted around the stall, biting his lip. "You didn't tell me one of the horses gave birth. Which one was it?"

"Well, you see..." Loki started, but then the foal shifted in his arms so Olivia could get a better look at it's legs...

...It's eight little legs. Olivia blinked a few times and then recounted, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Nope. There are eight.

"Since when does a horse have eight legs, how does that happen? Is one of the horses sick?" Olivia asked.

"Well, no, you see-" Loki again tried to explain.

"We should bring him to Frigga and see what the problem is." Olivia said.

"No you can't!" Loki said quickly.

"Why not? Something must have happened to the poor thing and we need to find out what it-"

"I gave birth to it!" Loki blurted, turning a very deep shade of red. There was a tense silence.

"You did what?" Olivia whispered, ducking into the stall and shutting the gate. She sat down and faced Loki and his horse.

"It was several months ago. I was practicing turning into a horse, attempting the gender shift as well. It worked, though a little too well. One of the wild stallions saw me and cornered me. In my anxiety, I forgot to change back... And... Well... Several months later, this guy came along. This morning, actually. Now you know why I was so sick and irritable. I was pregnant with a goddamn horse." Loki explained. Olivia said nothing, just leaned in and kissed Loki on the forehead and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Well, now you have a horse for a son. That's the least of my worries. What confuses me is why does it have eight legs?" Olivia asked.

"I'm a new parent of a horse and you're most concerned about why it has double the normal amount of legs? What about Mother and Father? What will they think? Or Thor and his idiot friends? I'm doomed." Loki lamented.

"Well, your mother will probably know what to do. As for everyone else, who cares? They can think what they like. Now, come along, we probably should find your mother. And secondly, why aren't you worried about the amount of legs it has? That's not normal." Olivia said, pulling Loki to his feet, Loki still cradling the foal, well, his son.

"Just hurry up and go. We need to find Mother soon. Before anyone else sees." Loki said worridley. They started for the palace, trying to hide the horse's extra legs,

"By the way, what are you gonna name it?" Olivia asked.

"I didn't really think about it. I suppose I'm supposed to do that as his... Mother." Loki said, cringing at the end.

"Hey, think outside of your own issues, I have a horse for a step-son." Olivia said.

"I've only been courting you for a couple hundred years, if that. You are not his step-mother yet as we are not married." Loki scoffed.

"Please, most people would say this would be the end of the relationship since technically you had intercourse with someone else and had a child because of it. I'm still here." Olivia replied.

"That's true." Loki consented.

"Now... His name?" Olivia asked. Loki thought for a moment.

"Sleipnir." Loki decided.

"It's cute, I like it." Olivia agreed.

***

"...And he's still on Asgard to this day." Olivia finished. Tony kept on snorting with laughter.

"That is the single best thing I've heard in a long time." He said, wiping his eyes. Loki shot him a dirty look.

"Come on, that's got to be the fastest horse in all of Asgard, right?" Peter asked.

"He is very fast, you're right. Very sweet, too." Olivia said.

"And yes, my friends did think it was hilarious." Thor said.

"And so did you. Loki refused to look at you for weeks." Olivia said.

"What is going on?" Carson asked as he walked into the lounge.

"You're not gonna believe this." Tony said, picking up the Norse Mythology book. Loki groaned again and teleported himself and Olivia out of the room.

***

A/N

God, I love mythology.