Even before Peter lifted the hammer, Thor had been threatening everyone with a trip to Asgard.
For some reason, the Avengers were not enthusiastic about the idea, and Peter could not understand why.
It was Asgard!
The actual place!
On another planet!
Peter had already designed a complete sightseeing program for himself and his friends for the next school break, which was still a month away.
Then yesterday Thor announced that he had received ‘a vision from Heimdall’ and needed to return home briefly.
Peter simply could not miss an opportunity like that.
He needed to make sure Asgard was good enough before bringing MJ and Ned there.
Obviously.
Tony did not want to let him go.
Of course he did not.
Tony disliked letting him travel to Washington on a school trip, never mind Asgard.
Had Peter mentioned that it was technically on another planet?
Tony was not particularly pleased with the proposal, but then, to everyone’s surprise, he agreed.
Naturally, he established conditions.
First, Peter swore on his puppy that he would return by evening, even if something happened.
Especially if something happened.
Second, Peter had to bring the Iron Spider and E.D.I.T.H.’s communications systems so Tony could contact him even from the opposite end of the galaxy.
Those were Tony’s exact words.
Third, Peter was not to involve himself in trouble under any circumstances.
The list was not impossible.
Peter promised to be a good child.
He did not have much faith in the success of that promise, but he would try not to break it.
Interesting.
Did Tony’s prohibition against trouble include an invasion by a hostile alien race?
*** Peter nearly fainted with happiness the moment they used the Rainbow Bridge.
As a devoted fan of theories about interstellar transportation, he was in seventh heaven—or whichever number heaven Asgard occupied in mythology.
Thor watched with a smirk as Peter stared at everything in awe.
The Bifrost, Heimdall, Asgard itself—the kid met everything with sincere delight.
Deciding that this time he ought to show Peter everything, Thor suggested walking to the palace.
He normally flew there, but Peter would certainly want to see the local people.
The most embarrassing part was that nearly everyone recognized Thor, attempted to bow, or simply stared at him with delight.
It embarrassed not only Peter but the Asgardian himself, who began babbling excessively and pretended not to notice yet another person dropping at his feet.
The palace was almost the coolest thing Peter had seen there.
To be fair, he said that about everything.
The top position on his personal list of coolness currently belonged to ‘the waterfall at the edge of the world.’ Had Tony been there, he would absolutely have laughed while hurriedly erasing it from his own list of cool things.
Once they entered the palace, Peter became slightly uncomfortable.
The only royal people he had ever spoken with were T’Challa, Shuri, and Thor himself, and none of them could quite compare to the actual Odin.
The All-Father one.
Thor had already said they should visit him first before meeting anyone else.
He had not explained who the ‘anyone else’ were, but Peter desperately hoped Lady Sif would be among them.
Because she was cool.
Also because he did not know anyone else in Thor’s immediate circle.
Heimdall, Hela, Odin, Frigga, Thor, Lady Sif, and Loki were the only names Peter remembered from his book of Norse mythology.
Had he known he would meet these people in person, he would have studied much more carefully.
He also very much wanted to meet Loki.
It probably would not happen, but a person could dream.
Peter knew what Loki had done in the past and how badly the Avengers had suffered, but Thor once said his brother had been forced into it.
Some Thanos guy—terrifying, probably—but Peter was certainly never going to meet him.
Odin and Hela had gathered an army from across the cosmos, including some people called the Guardians, and defeated him some time ago.
Apparently he had intended to kill half the universe.
Odin himself was slightly displeased when he learned Thor had dragged a child along for a sightseeing trip, but puppy eyes worked even on an ancient deity.
Peter needed to tell Tony how powerful he was.
Perhaps the gift could be used to persuade Stark to buy that incredibly cool LEGO car set.
The fact that Thor announced Peter could lift Mjolnir probably played a meaningful role in Odin not ordering him thrown out of the palace.
Still, the puppy eyes had done most of the work.
No one would convince Peter otherwise.
Thor said he needed to handle something urgent and asked Peter to wander around the castle for a while.
That seemed to fit the definition of not getting into trouble.
And if Peter caused an apocalypse by knocking over a vase or speaking to a guard, it would be Thor’s fault.
He should not leave children unattended on another planet.
The first fifteen minutes Peter spent roaming the palace, photographing interesting objects, staring at everything, and radiating wonder passed successfully.
During the sixteenth minute, a corner appeared in his path, and for some reason his spider-sense failed to warn him that he was about to collide with another person.
A woman and a young man stared down at him with surprise and mild displeasure while Peter attempted to stand.
It was slightly difficult.
He had struck his head against one of the hard chest pieces Asgardians wore, and the world was spinning a little.
“What is a child doing here?” asked the male voice.
Peter felt the stranger study him from head to toe.
“He is wearing the clothing of Midgard.” Peter knew Earth was called Midgard here, so that did not surprise him.
Once the room stopped rotating, he managed to return to an upright position.
The man and woman looked vaguely familiar, but mythology books rarely included accurate portraits.
Where could he have seen them?
“Oh, um, hello.” Peter tried not to look nervous.
There was little chance Thor would appear to rescue him.
“You’re right.
I’m from Earth, and I’m very uncertain that I know who either of you are.” “I am Frigga, wife of King Odin.” The woman smiled with kindness and authority, reminding Peter slightly of Pepper.
Of course the first person he ran into in the entire palace would be the queen.
How else could it possibly happen?
“How did you come to be here?” “Thor invited me.
More accurately, I persuaded him to bring me.” The woman’s face brightened at the mention of her son, while the man narrowed his eyes slightly.
“My brother has returned?” Peter squeaked as he finally realized who stood before him.
“Oh my God, you’re Loki.
The actual one.
That is so cool.” Peter could feel the god’s amused gaze, but nothing was going to stop his excitement.
Probably nothing in existence could.
“Yes, Thor is busy with something, so he told me to walk around and stay out of trouble, which I’m not very good at.
But I was really hoping to meet you.
I didn’t think it would happen this quickly.” “Loki, dear,” Frigga managed to insert between Peter’s words.
“I am going to greet Thor.
We will continue our conversation later.
Watch the boy.
He truly should avoid trouble.” “Of course.” Loki smiled politely and watched his mother leave before turning back to Peter.
“You are one of those Avengers too, aren’t you?” “Part-time.
They don’t let me ‘play with the adults.'” Peter drew quotation marks in the air.
A smile flickered across Loki’s face, then vanished beneath caution.
“I did not harm you or your family, did I?” Peter did not immediately understand what the god meant.
“Back then.” Once Peter realized what Loki was asking, he shook his head quickly and saw relief cross the god’s face.
Right.
It was probably difficult to live with the fear that he had hurt a child.
“I wasn’t fighting then.” Peter hesitated, deciding whether to continue.
“Tony still has a hard time dealing with those events.
He’s my father.
Adoptive father.” Loki looked at the child with surprise but said nothing.
Since Peter had not angered the god yet and Loki showed no sign of leaving, Peter decided he could ask him about absolutely everything.
Thor was nowhere in sight anyway.
With a degree of good nature that was probably new even to himself, Loki led Peter through the palace, brought him to a hall ‘for rest and feasting,’ and answered his questions and delighted exclamations with surprising patience.
If Tony saw this, he would probably announce that Peter’s puppy magic knew no limits.
Befriending a dangerous god?
No problem.
They actually had quite a lot in common.
Both possessed superhuman abilities, both loved reading, and both had been adopted by the coolest man on their respective planets.
The similarities were obvious, were they not?
Loki was stunned by how much Peter knew about Asgard.
In the artifact hall, the kid raced from one object to another in wonder.
“Oh my God, that’s Draupnir!
I’ve read so much about it!
Wait—is that actually Gjallarhorn?
I can’t believe I’m seeing them!” Loki smiled and tried not to laugh—or at least not too loudly—while Peter told him how he had lifted Mjolnir and then defeated the God of Thunder.
Thor suddenly appeared in the hall and stared in disbelief at his brother and the child.
He had already begun calculating how badly this violated the rule against getting into trouble, but everything looked peaceful, so perhaps it was acceptable.
“Hello, brother,” Loki drawled, turning lazily toward Thor.
Peter stopped talking and looked over as well.
“Don’t worry.
I am not seducing the child to the dark side or planning his destruction.
We are merely talking.” “Yep,” Peter immediately confirmed, jumping to his feet and running to Thor.
“Mister Loki is awesome!
Can he come to the picnic with us?” Thor gave his brother a suspicious look.
Loki arranged his features into the most innocent expression imaginable.
This was one of the strangest things Thor had experienced in his entire life, but his brother appeared genuinely interested in spending time with the Earth child.
Peter watched the exchange and snorted.
These two were supposed to be gods?
Even Tony could behave more seriously.
The picnic in Asgard’s magnificent gardens was wonderful.
Lady Sif, Hogun, and Fandral joined them—Thor’s absolutely, completely, genuinely real friends.
Though Loki remained the most interesting.
He sat calmly on the grass, showed Peter various magical tricks, and, in Thor’s opinion, was even less sarcastic than usual.
When Peter told everyone he had defeated Thor and lifted the hammer, Thor’s friends reacted skeptically.
Peter had to demonstrate, twirling Mjolnir in one hand and then lifting a vehicle Loki obligingly conjured.
Once he described his Spider-Man abilities as well, even Thor’s friends admitted he was rather impressive.
Peter did not want to leave, but he had promised Tony he would return in the evening.
Thor was probably simply afraid of what Stark might do if the kid stayed longer than permitted.
Loki agreed to escort them to the Rainbow Bridge and gave Peter several books from Odin’s library as a farewell gift.
*** Tony was eating cereal when Peter began recounting his ‘awesome day’ in Asgard, and nearly choked when Loki entered the story.
That Loki.
The one who had destroyed half of New York.
Apparently he was ‘interesting, intelligent, and awesome,’ had given Peter books, and had shown him magic tricks.
What a miracle.
Practically not a god at all.
No one doubted that Peter could befriend a rock, but the revelation still threw Tony off balance.
Experience showed that the kid always found something good in people—or gods—which meant Loki was probably not entirely hopeless.
Perhaps Tony should open a rehabilitation center and use Peter to reform everyone into better people.
Why not?
It sounded profitable.