Thor laughed. "It is far from the strangest thing my brother has given birth to! Why, I recall - but nay, that story is not mine to tell."

"Excuse me, did you just say your brother has given birth." This whole conversation was rapidly giving Tony a headache, and then it got worse because Steve sucked in a breath and turned to him with an absolutely horrified and appalled expression.

"You slept with Loki?!"

Well, shit. Tony took a breath, mentally sorting through his options. He'd been drunk? Loki had put some kind of spell on him? He'd been drunk and Loki had put some kind of spell on him?

Sif is not a very good liar. Loki is.

It doesn't matter, in either case, because it's a very easy secret to keep.

Many assume Sif's attentions lie elsewhere, or will in time. And even among the most dedicated of gossips, rarely does Loki's name trip from their mouths as such a prospect. Loki has many talents, but few are held in very high esteem by the people of Asgard. They assume that Sif, great among them, values what they do and in all of the same ways.

She has also long been, and remains, short-tempered about his pranks. So, if she understands him a little more than she ought and sometimes elbows Volstagg or Fandral when they tease him like children at play, no one pays it any mind.

Some suspect it of Loki, if not of her, but that is only because they assume that he covets everything his brother has.

"You hit me."

"That's different," she said.

She didn't know if it was. Something about the way his eyes showed, all dark and soft as he looked right at her, made her want to pick him up and shove him against a tree so the branches shook and the leaves fell down on him. He was smiling still.

"Is it?" he wondered. "In what way?"

She showed him the blood on her fingers, some of it Hallormr's, most of it Loki's. "I don't hurt you!"

He caught her hand between his and brought her hand down to his chest that she might feel his heart fluttering against his ribs. He'd worn a thin, white shirt, and his skin burned her through it. Her hair fell dark along his breast.

"Oh," he said softly, "but you do. You hurt me very badly."

The blur has resolved itself into a man, mostly covered in red and blue, who turns his masked head and snarks cheerfully at Tony.