I was tagged by @loxxxlay and @wnnbdarklord… probably about 2 weeks ago, but I’ve been procrastinating because this is actually the kind of thing that requires some thought. But I’m finally doing it because who would pass up an opportunity to rec their own work?
Hello, you have been identified as An Awesome Fic Writer™. Congrats, you rock! So that all of your readers can shower you with some extra love today, please tell us your favourite five stories of yours and why you like them and then send this to another five fic authors you think deserve this title!
1. The Abyss Gazes Also(gen; Loki in the Void / Loki & Thanos fic, a.k.a. WTF happened to Loki between Thor 1 and The Avengers?)
This fic isn’t my favorite for the writing quality, which I’ll admit is pretty uneven, but because it’s the longest thing I’ve ever written (at 72k words, it’s longer than my dissertation); it’s the first fic I started writing when I got back into fanfiction in 2015, after 10 years’ hiatus; and it’s the fic that I’ve put the most thought into. It’s also been one of the most frustrating, both because I have trouble writing plot – introspection and conversations are where I’m most comfortable – and because nobody’s fucking reading it. (OK, not nobody, but very few people.) It’s especially frustrating when I see people on Tumblr complaining about the lack of Loki-in-the-Void fic that isn’t straight-up torture porn (hello!), or spitballing half-formed theories about what happened with Thanos, and I’m like, I have thought about this extensively! Here are my extensive thoughts! Yes, they are in fic form, and I don’t really want to rehash them in meta. I will say, though, that the few people who have read it have been very enthusiastic, and a remarkable number of the comments are people saying they’ve made it their headcanon about what happened, which is an incredible vote of confidence. Perhaps one of the things that makes me proudest is that the enthusiastic readers are split between people who would consider themselves “Loki stans/apologists” and Thorki or Thor&Loki fans who get annoyed about said Loki stans/apologists trying to absolve Loki of all blame. The fact that people in both camps like my fic indicates that I’ve come up with an account that assigns Loki just the right amount of culpability: he’s not completely innocent, but there are some major extenuating circumstances. (And maybe the two camps don’t actually disagree as much as they think they do… it may be mostly a matter of emphasis and group membership signaling.)
2. Desert Flowers(very mild Thorki; Thor and Loki get high and talk philosophy)
This is my first Thorki fic, written before I was really committed to shipping it, but it ended up kicking off my now 12-fic Thorki series Whatever is done from love. The funniest thing about this fic is that it started as a crack idea: what would happen if Loki got Thor stoned and then tried to get him to talk about philosophy? But then I took it entirely too seriously, thinking about when and where Loki would have gotten marijuana, and then suddenly it veered into issues of racism and morality and I really started thinking about Loki’s Jewish coding in Marvel media. And there are Nietzsche quotes, of course.
This is my first fully committed Thorki fic, with actual sex. I also think it’s probably my most consistently well-written fic. It seemed to flow more quickly and easily than most of my other fics; parts of it were fully formed in my head before I committed it to electronic paper.
4. Winter, Autumn, and Spring(Thorki porn with feelings; 10 years before Thor’s coronation, Loki tells him they need to end their affair)
I have kind of mixed feelings about this fic because the writing is sometimes on the florid side, but a lot of my Thorki readers say it’s their favorite. And I think it’s also one of my more original ideas. In the realm of canon-compliant fic, there’s a lot of first-time pre-canon Thorki out there, a lot of TDW prison sex, imagined reunions before Ragnarok came out, post-Ragnarok “where did that ‘I’m here’ scene go?” or “married life” on the Ark… but as far as I know, I’m the only one who’s written a fic bridging the gap between pre-canon Thorki and the tense, semi-hostile situation between them as the first Thor movie begins. And I think I did a reasonable job making it plausible, if I may say so.
5. The Third Time(gen; Loki dies for real in some vaguely described speculative version of Ragnarok, he and Thor have a last conversation)
This is the first fic I posted on AO3 (though I had started working on “Abyss” beforehand), and like “The Tree of Knowledge,” I think it’s one of my best-written. It’s more concise and precisely worded than most of my other fics, probably because I had it almost entirely formulated in my head before I wrote it down: it was worn smooth over the course of many showers, like a river pebble. I wish Loki’s actual movie death had permitted him as much dignity.
Everything Loki said and/or did in the opening sequence of Infinity War makes very little sense. Yes, we can pull out some meaning out of it but in actuality, none of it makes senseas a whole. When you put all of his words and actions together, it seems like they were throwing darts at an idea board and going with whatever came up. That could ultimately mean two things: 1) They didn’t know what they were doing with Loki or 2) There are reasons why he said and did those things which need to be explained at a later date, with multiple clues suggesting that Loki has a plan of some sort. I’m thinking about how Strange let Thanos win, too. Loki has a lot of the same powers as Strange, and a lot more than that. It wouldn’t be two weird for the both of them to come to the same conclusions about how this will end in this timeline. Still, my faith in the MCU as a whole has been wavering a bit and I don’t know how much I should read into anything because of that.
I feel it was lazy writing and not knowing the character of Loki or not caring about him. Marvel has shit on Thor and Loki since the first movie, for some strange reason. Maybe because they didn’t expect those two characters to get as popular as they did, sometimes over shadowing their “babies” of Iron Man and Capt America.
It was very uncharacteristic of Loki to do what he did. Especially after seeing him do multiple fight scenes in the other movies. Which again leads me to think either bad writing or them not caring about the character.
He better come back in the next Avengers because how he was taken out was shitty, cheap and a low blow by Marvel and the writers/directors.
After several movies of not knowing how to deal with Loki’s unplanned popularity they finally sacrificed him as a launchpad for King!Thor. Which also 100% appeased the fanboys with their “characters won’t stay dead” complaint. So Loki was doubly sacrificed: in-story and as a fourth wall shout out (no resurrection this time).
As for the writing, Marvel shrouded the entire thing in “ambiguity” (not even Loki’s main characteristic) and ended up making a mess.
It was an artless mess. I have no idea who these fanboys are, they are attempting to appease. But their time might be better spent watching Adam Sandler movies. Or Mall Cop.
Oh, the Reddit fanboys (and fanboys in general) hate Loki. There is a black hole around his name that is wildly suspicious. Even in discussions where a mention of Loki would be completely pertinent, there is no said mention. Korg? Awesome. Heimdall? Great guy. The warriors 3? Still remembered. Loki? Who dis. I’m not sure what aspect of his makes them clutch their pearls and overcompensate trying to hide it, but they are wildly threatened.
And that’s the demo Marvel is actively trying to cultivate.
I know exactly what aspects threaten them: he isn’t a conventionally masculine power fantasy, and more women are into him than are into the male power fantasies. I think TR was trying to make him less threatening by making him a ridiculous gay stereotype, before IW took him out altogether.
It was early in the morning when the two parties met at the border between Jotunheim and Asgard. The sun was just beginning to rise and the snow sparkled under it’s weak beams. There was a beautiful harshness to the scene, something that would be captured later in paintings and sketches.
Thor came with his attendants, with an entourage of servants. They came on horse back, each and every one of them. There was even a scribe there, hastily recording this historic moment for future sagas and to report back to the King.
Thor’s betrothed arrived escorted by soldiers.
Between the towering figures of his guards, he looked even smaller and younger than Thor knew him to be.
Thor smiled at him.
Loki scowled back.
Thor wondered how he would feel if he was in Loki’s place, if he was the one being made to leave his homeland. Loki was only fourteen, a child really, although Thor was not much older than him at seventeen. It was cruel to put so much on their shoulders, to require them to unite their Kingdoms and bring a stop to an unwinnable war.
Thor had only seen Loki once before, when their betrothal was announced. Loki had bared his fangs at him then. He did it again now.
It would have been frightening on a full-grown Jotun.
On Loki it was oddly endearing.
He reminded Thor of a kitten trying to defend itself. Loki postured, attempting to intimidate him, but he did not have the bulk or the ferocity to pull it off. Thor suspected that was the reason they had been betrothed to each other. Loki was a Jotun runt. No Asgardian would find him fearsome.
Loki took a step towards the boundary, but a large hand clamped down on his shoulder, stopping him.
One of his guards spoke in a low voice, his words lost to Thor.
Loki’s eyes widened and the color drained from his face. He shook his head, but the guard’s grip only tightened, fingers digging in.
“What’s happening?” Thor asked quietly, turning his head to direct his question to Sif.
She stood beside him, her face stoic.
Thor was supposed to accept Loki here at the border and escort him back to Asgard. That was what Thor knew. Loki was coming to live with them, to stay in Asgard until he came of age, then he and Thor would marry. That was the plan as Thor understood it, but looking at Sif’s face, he realized that there was something of this plan he had not been told.
“Prince Loki is leaving all of Jotunheim behind,” she said, keeping her eyes trained on the horizon.
Thor looked back at Loki in confusion. The meaning behind Sif’s words dawned on him as he saw Loki resignedly removing his clothing, his movements slow and his fingers trembling.
Loki was to cross over the border naked, to come to Thor in subjugation.
Thor felt bile rise in his throat. He could not imagine being in Loki’s place, could not imagine having all these people watching his humiliation, having one of them recording it for the ages. Thor knew it would have been his own father who requested this, who would have insisted on humbling the Jotun Prince.
Loki couldn’t come to Thor as an equal. Odin had seen to that. He had ensured that with this one action he stripped Loki of his standing. This would be the story people would tell of the day Prince Loki crossed the border to Asgard.
Thor found himself shaking.
Furious, unthinking, he reached for the clasp of his cloak.
“Thor!” Sif hissed at him, but he didn’t listen.
It was freezing and Thor’s shaking now had more to do with the cold than rage, but he undressed, leaving Sif with his clothes and walked across the border to join Loki’s side.
Loki looked up at him with wide eyes, taking in all of him. Thor hoped he approved of what he saw.
“I would not ask my future husband to do anything I would not do myself,” he said, offering his hand to Loki.
He pointedly did not look at Loki’s own nude form. He kept his eyes trained on Loki’s face.
Shyly, Loki placed his hand in Thor’s.
They crossed the border together, hand in hand, naked and smiling; Thor a beaming smile that threatening to out do the weak morning sun, Loki a smaller, softer smile, but one that Thor still noted all the same.
When they reached the Asgardian side, Thor took his cloak from Sif and throw it around Loki’s shoulders, hiding him from the assembly.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, his voice low and pitched for Loki alone to hear.
Loki tugged the cloak tight around him, watching Thor with his large, dark eyes. There were no bared teeth now, no sneers. He seemed awed and Thor found himself warmed despite the chill of the snow under his feet.
**
Odin berated Thor until the windows rattled and the ground shook, but Thor did not care.
He knew his father had wanted to make Loki a symbol, to show the other realms that Asgard had gained mastery over the proud Jotuns, but Thor was not interesting in playing his father’s games.
He was the one who Loki would be married to and he would not have Loki made to feel like a conquered prize.
Their marriage would be a partnership, not a battlefield.
Loki is the Philosopher King 