An old friend {TAG Loki}

The trickster muttered something to himself under his breath, through brightening up a little as he saw the treat Pips had passed him. He gave the redhead a smile, but instead of devouring the cake he instead took small and slow bites while his mind wandered off again.
"I might be attracted to someone," he finally spoke then, but still said in such an insignificant manner. He always appreciated that Pips never pushed him to tell anything, and always gave him his own space and time to think. So maybe that's why Loki didn't mind opening up to the guy.
"In a way that would make you uncomfortable, I mean," he added, pouting to himself the more he thought about the royal bastard.

As he had guessed, something was actually bothering he boy. Although he would have never guessed it could be such a thing! Still, he kept his surprise for himself. He never teased Loki when he knew he was opening up a bit, that was probably why the boy felt allowed to do so. He could understand it...
"Well, that makes me uncomfortable, but not you. What's the problem?" he asked casually, finishing the lemon cake and taking another cake with cream and caramel.

Loki sighed, at first just attempting to glare a whole throguh his cake before bothering to answear again. "Well that's the thing you see..." he murmured, leaning his head agaisnt Pips shoulder. "...I liked it so much it made me uncomfortable."
Did that make sense? No, probably not. But for once not even the quick.wicked trickster could make sense out of this. And they were his feelings, as pathetic as that was. Damn that stuck-up rich kid.

"I'm not suppose to enjoy it," he went on, starting to sound a little frustrated the more he thought about the Targaryen. "I pretend to like it, totally different... but this!" He flailed his arm as he suddenly sat up straight. "This... guy. Stuck-up, guillbile and stubborn bastard..!"
Another sigh left Loki's lips, and he slumped back against the redhead. "Not ok," he mumbled tireadly. "I need more cake."
Why the hell can't I stop thinking about that stupid face of his?

It's not that he expected for Pips to have the answers he needed, or even some advice. But sometimes even the trickster just needed someone to listen to his problems for once. Something he'll gladly do for Pips as well should he ever need it.

Pips listened to his friend venting his frustration, talking about this guy that apparently had the power to make Loki uncomfortable! That was really something... he was almost curious to meet the guy!
As Loki leaned his head against Pips's shoulder, the boy just looked at him but let him do so: it was true closeness made him uncomfortable, but he was willing to endure some uncomfortability for his friend. In fact, when the boy asked for more cake, he put another one with strawberry jam in his hand and leaned toward him to kiss him on the cheek. He knew that to Loki those kind of things were pretty meaningless, but he also knew the boy enjoyed manifestation of affection, and he did so when he felt his friend needed some. "Well... if you like it, it should be even better, no?" he asked shrugging "Why don't you just go for it?". He took another bite of his cake, looking at Loki: he didn't really know what the guy was going through, so the help he could give was limited, but for what the guy had said he simply didn't see the problem...

Loki kept pouting to himself, trying desperatly to wipe Targaryen's arrogant smirk out from his mind. No luck there. Yeah ok, so the guy was good looking, (those eyes he had being the most mesmerizing) and as much his stubborn attitude pissed the theif off, it was also challenign and fun. The stuck-up wasn't boring... and he had yet to break some of Loki's bones, so maybe he wans't such a hot-head afterall?
He sighed, souding more exhused than he actually was. As he felt Pips lean in towards him, Loki gave his friend and warm and appreciating smile at the kiss, and snuggled the redhead's arm happily. Despite these sort of things being uncomftoable for Pips made that little gesture so much sweeter.

Loki's smile fell however at the question, and stayed quiet again for a couple of seconds before letting out another sigh. "I'm too selfish for that," he chuckled humorlessly, taking a bite of the starwberrie jam cake Pips had just given him. "I desire freedom over anything else. If I would get to attached to someone, byebye to that," he explained, appearing to be unbotherd as he said all this with a small smile. But for someone who him like Pips did, it held nothing but emptynes. "Besides," he went on, turning his head so they were face to face. "It's not like I can trust anyone. We both know how that usually ends for people like us."
Loki still didn't look bother or even as much as little upset, just said all this what that typical smirk of his while nomming away on his treat. It wasn't something he could get upset anymore, sinc eit was just an establoshed fact ever sicne the day he was started to fend for himself on the streets. Still... why did it twist in his gut every time he resufed to belive Jim's words?
"But you're right Red," he agreed after he finished eatign the cake, now back to looking like his typical, michevious self. "As long as I'm here in King's Landing, I should just 'go for it', I'll surley find someone else to play with in the next city I visit."

Pips smiled back to Loki, observing him while he spoke again. He could easily understand his love for his freedom, Pips shared that with him, and he could easily understand his issues with trusting this boy, after all he had far more trust issues than Loki... "Who said to trust him or get attached?" he replied flatly, shrugging "I might not be an expert but even I know that you don't need trust or such to have sex with someone..." When Loki agreed with him, saying how he should just go for it, Pips nodded with a grin.

Loki rolled his eyes. Now see, this wouldn't have been such a problem, if the guy who now had taken a liking to him, wasn't so... persistent. Not that it would really stop Loki from keep doing whatever the hell he wanted, but still. Jim had somehow managed to settle himself deep inside in the trickster mind, and popped up on th most unwelcomed and undesirbled situations. It was if the male was set out to tease him, even while not even being there!
"He's really possessive though," he thoguht out loud, leaning his head back onto Pips shoulder. When was the last time he had slept through a whole night again? "Well, maybe that's a common thing for royals," he chuckled, pouting to himself when he took notice of there only being one strawberrie left.

"Urgh" was the only comment Pips could make at the fact the boy was possessive. He would have probably added more if only Loki wouldn't have mentioned the fact that he boy was a fucking royal!
"How the fuck did you even meet with a royal?" he turned once again toward Loki in disbelief. A royal! He knew that Loki had noble blood in his veins, but it was something quite hidden, nobody knew and Loki was in every other aspect just a common thief life himself, so how could he meet up with a royal... and not only take a like on him, but make him exchange such feelings? Now that was impressive...

Loki let out a small yelp of surprise at Pips sudden movement, barely able to catch himself before he would've slumped down to the floor. As he straightened back up, at first merely quirking an eyebrow at the redhead, as if not understanding what the big deal was. "He's the one who dragged me off in the first place," he pouted at first as he recalled their first meeting, crossing his thin arms over his chest. "Well ok, I'm the one who robbed him, and he noticed, cornered me in the alley, moleste-I mean 'stripped-search' me, and then decided to take me back home." He looked back at Pips, smiling all cheerfully and unbothered. "And things things just escalated from there," he finished with a shrug.

Pips's eyes kept widening at each information he received: Loki had tried to rob a royal, had been discovered, cornered in a alley and strip-searched! For the gods's sake! And he even said that things escalated from there. In Pips's eyes, things would have escalated even too much if he had stopped at the strip search! He was so shocked his surprise and horror were totally clear in his face. "You weird little thing... I don't even know how you manage to find yourself in such situations..."

Loki couldn't help but laugh now, understadning Pips reaction and concern, but yet thinking he was over reacting a little. He wa sstill wans't he? All in one piece. He was weird alright, and damn porud of it too!
His smile softened a little at his friend's words, and glanced away slightly with a thoguhtful look. "Neither did my brothers," he murmured out, poking at the last strawberrie. "...they would've like you," he said out nowhere, smiling birhglty bakc up at Pips. "And teased the hell out ya~"

Pips rolled his eyes in annoyance at Loki's laughter, resting once again his back on the wall. He remained silent, even when Loki talked about his deceased brothers. He didn't do that often, and Pips was a bit surprised by the sudden comment, but as the boy mentioned how they would have teased him Pips couldn't help but frown "then they would have find themselves with a black eye!" it wasn't really respectful of him to talk like that about Loki's deceased brothers... but hey, he would allow nobody to tease him like that! Well... possibly nobody except Loki himself... and he still didn't appreciate the boy's teasing!

Loki's smile didn't falter at Pips response to this, instead it just widened. Respectful or not, Loki saw nothign wrong with the redhead's words. He knew the guy didn't meant anything bad with it. He was just being his typical, hot-headed self. "Yeah, that would've been a hard one to pull off," he snickerd. "You wouldn't even have been able to reach their chin."
While everyone else in his family where tall and strong built, he had taken after their mother in not only her personality, but aspect and physique as well apparently.

Pips rose an eyebrow: that was funny, so Loki's brothers were so much taller than him? That would also explain why the boy was so touchy about his height. Pips was shirt too, almost as much as the other boy, but he didn't complain as much. "To bad for them, there are more painful targets I can still hit..." he replied with a teasing smirk.

Loki's smile turned into a cheecky smirk instead at this. "See, tha's exactly why they would've liked you," he winked, poking Pips on the nose again. "You think with your head! Although, that would've in turn ened up with you losing a finger or two..." he trailed off in thought. His brother's hand't been known for being that overly violent, but like their father their temper was somethignh to watch out for, on the rare occastions they got pushed enough.

"Now I'm not sure I would have liked them" her replied with a playful grimace "I'm much too fond on my body as a whole" sure, it was a tiny body, it was all bones and it had those hideous red hair... but still, it was his body and he quite liked it as it was.
"But I do wonder how you managed to keep all your fingers then" Pips knew he could be insufferable, but Loki could be ten times worse than him! If his brothers were so terrible, it was a miracle he managed to stay whole...

Loki hummed to himself at Pips smart question, laughing a little sheepishly the more he thought back on those days. As much as Loki enjoyed being a pest to those two oversized brats (especially when they decided to ignore him), his brothers were kind of the reason to why he grew up to be such an annoying prankster. He leraned from best one could say.
"They were smart enough to fear mother's wrath I guess?" he snickerd. "And they satisfied themselves with pinching my cheeks as revenge anyway...." he added in a grumble, shuddering to himself as he thought back on that. His whole face could end up numb for a week.

Pips couldn't help but laugh: he knew how is friend's cheeks were so overly sensitive, he could only imagine how amusing this must have been for the two older males. For a moment he wondered if Loki missed them... he had no idea what it meant like to have a proper family, he didn't even remember what his own mother looked like and the closest things he had to a family were the groups of thieves he grew up with... and let's face it, they were nothing like a real family.
"Hey, there's another strawberry here" he said in a cheerful tone, passing Loki another cake with cream and a big strawberry on top. He hoped that, if his friend was feeling sad in that moment, that would help him feeling better...

Without having realized it himself, Loki had apparently dazed off into his own little world. A world of memories, where soon enough it had began to take him back to all the times and places he wished he could just forget.
He blinked, snapping out of it at hearing Pips speak up again in a cheerful way. He gave the cake a look, just staring at it wordlessly for a few seconds before giving the redhead a wide grin. "You're almost as precious as strawberries," he said happily, wasting no time in devouring the fruit. Since they've know each other for years now, Pips probably understood by now Loki's odd way of saying 'thanks'.
"...do you really not remember what you mom looked like?"

He grinned cheerfully to he male, happy he had managed to distract him from his thoughts. Loki was quite a difficult and reserved kid, but over the years Pips had learnt not just to appreciate him, but to understand him as well. Well... most of the times. He could usually guess if his friend was in a good or in a bad mood... sure enough, Loki still managed to reserve some surprises.
At his question he shrugged: it wasn't the first time Loki asked him such a question, but luckily he wasn't touchy on the subject. "Not a clue. he put his hands behind his head, resting his back on the wall, making himself more comfortable I do remember some whores from when I was a child, she might have been one of them but I really don't know." he added with a second shrug: he didn't really care much. He never experienced what having a mother was like... but you can't miss something you don't know...

Loki stared aimlessly ahead of them, not saying anything for a while. In a weird way, he sometimes envied his friends. Maybe things would've been alot easier, if he had started out life with nothing at all. Then he wouldn't have anything to miss... Like his family for instance.
He still remembers his mother of course, her face, voice, her weird ways of thinking and such... and it's still nohing but painful everytime he thought about her. Yet, he stopped crying that day he lost it all, haven't shed a tear of them ever since.
"I wish i didn't remember mine," he thought out loud, humming to himself in thought. "Wish I didn't remember anything actually." He smiled as he looked back over at Pips, as if what he said hadn't been of any meaning at all. "Don't you have any good memories from your earlier life?"

He stayed quiet as well, getting even a little sleepy, and after how much they had eaten it actually came to no surprise. At Loki's remark he stared at him in silence, feeling slightly uncomfortable: was it really better not to remember? When he was a child, before he was arrested to be precise, he often wished to have a family, to have mother, a father, siblings, someone who'd love him, someone who'd care for him for real, someone who would feed him without wanting nothing in return... But those were just childish nonsenses, his time in jail made him grow up even faster than what he was doing. After his so called friend betrayed him, he decided he could do it on his own, he needed nobody. Better, he didn't want anybody. He could take care of himself. Loki was the only one he let in in his little world, and still for him to come to trust the other it took a great amount of time, and he still wouldn't rely on the boy. He wouldn't say now, for example, that he wished he could remember, now and then. That he wished to know if his mother was still alive or not. But no, saying such things out loud would make them actually real, and he wanted those to be just foolish nonsenses his mind generated now and then.
At Loki's question he grinned amused "I have many, actually: every time I ate as a child was a sort of feast to me" Pips knew to Loki this could sound weird, but maybe not even too much: he was quite young as well when he lost his family, he knew what was like to starve as a child...

Loki's warm smile didn't falter at Pips reply, not even twitching a little to laugh or give the other a funny look. He's spent almost more than half his life on the streets to be able to relate to this afterall. "And to think I used to just throw a whole plate filled with food if I didn't happen to like something on it," he snorted to himself, recalling how his oldest brother used to scowled him about it. And his mother had simply just sighed, telling him how he'd one day only will feel stupid and regret for wasting away everything. She'd really known what she had been talking about...

Loki stare aimlessly ahead of them again, bringing up his knees and hugging them to his chest. He knew Pips didn't tell him everything, but he was more than ok with that. Even if they both trusted each other, they still knew it was ok to keep some secrets. Something just needed time, while other things were just not mean to be shared. But the younger thief would be there, if the redhead ever needed a shoulder to lean on.
"One of mine is when I realized I wasn't completely alone out here," he said casually, but truthfully, glancing up sideways at the older with a cheerful look. Realizing he had made one real frined in the redhead, had saved the theif from doing alot of stupid things. Things that was even too stupid for him that is. "I'm not saying you have to rely on me Red, 'cause who am I to talk right?" he snickered. "I have some serious trust issues as well after all. But don't feel ashamed or think yourself as weak when the times comes for you needing help. I can't promise I'll be able to fix your problems, but can at least be there for you."

“You lucky bastard…” he replied shaking his head, faking horror at his words. Pips didn't actually judge Loki for that, after all he had had plenty time on his own to regret it, but he surely didn't understand how it was actually possible to throw away food, it was just something that felt unnatural to him.
As Loki spoke up again, he turned slightly to look at him, slightly surprised by his words: not that he didn't believe that this could actually be a nice thing for him.

He still remembered as well the first time he had seen the other boy: he looked even more miserable than himself, and they were both shivering under the rain... He had swore himself he wouldn't have trusted anybody else, that he would have counted only on himself, that he didn't need anyone... but that time with the boy i wasn't trust he had to give, it was just a little help... after all i didn't happen often to be in the position to be the helpful one... Loki had sneaked in his life little by little, winning his trust and his affection...

He stared at the boy, for a moment he was totally speechless. Heartfelt moment were just difficult to him, it's not like he ever had the chance to have any growing up... heck, he couldn't even remember ever receiving a kiss or a hug as an infant, that was probably at the basis with his problems with touching other people and sharing emotions and feelings... well, only the basis since the rest of his life hadn't been much kinder to him...

"You won't get all sentimental now, will you?" he replied teasingly, trying to hide the fact that such discussion made him uncomfortable and embarrassed, giving him a playful nudge. He couldn't help though but wonder if he would actually ask help to Loki if he needed it... he wasn't sure... knowing himself, he would feel the need to solve his messes on his own... but it was still heartwarming that the boy wanted to help, and weirdly enough, Pips had no doubt Loki meant his words

Loki laughed at his friend's teasing, figring this whole conversation was starting to make the other uncomfortable. Well, the trickster didn't blame him, since they never really talked like this anyway. "Too late for that Red, I might even start to cry any second now," he said overdramaticlly, throwing his skinny arms around the redhead's shoulder and leaned his barely excisting weight onto the older, laughing teasignly while he did.
Loki knew how to fake tears, but he stopped crying for real years ago as said. And while he might be a liar and deciver, he was never one to waste away empty promises to those few he cared about. Not anymore...