To Teach a Trickster

The ride home from the hospital proved even more miserable for the trickster. Even with the car’s plush seats, sitting down in them was out of the question so he had to settle instead for lying on his stomach across the backseats. Jane drove as carefully as she could since he wasn’t able to use a seatbelt.

That night, Loki lay on his stomach in bed, nestled snuggly under the covers. He hugged tightly to the little plush dog Jane had given him and the corner of his cape, his thumb stuck in his mouth. After everything that happened, it felt good to be back in his own bed, although he still thought he could hear hospital noises. Not to mention he felt like he reeked of hospital smell. He had taken a very painful shower before going to bed, but he still smelt like hospital. He sniffed at the plush dog in his arms and wrinkled his nose. It smelt like hospital too. He threw it onto the floor and pulled his cape closer to his face. At this point, he was glad he hadn’t taken his cape with him.

Loki slipped in and out of sleep for a few hours until he started getting a crick in his neck. He sighed, moved his head to the opposite side, and struggled to get comfortable. He wanted to lose himself in sleep, but a certain part of his body kept waking him up to reality. His bottom was so sore. Every move he made awakened a new wave of pain that made tears crop at the corners of his eyes. Earlier, he had never been more thankful that he was able to pee standing up.

He lay there, thinking about everything that had happened up to that point. A shudder coursed through his body at remembering events at the hospital. He never, ever wanted to go back to that awful place. Then he was reminded that he still had two more series of shots to go through next week. Fear gripped him and he snuggled deeper into his pillow. There was no way he’d be able to go through more of that. He couldn’t. He would have to get away somehow. Maybe some night after Jane fell asleep he could sneak out of the apartment. Something inside him screamed at him that it was a stupid thing to do. What if Jane caught him? She’d certainly spank him with the ruler like she promised. A twinge of pain hit his rear. He wasn’t sure if it was from the injections or if it was remembered pain from the spankings. He shuddered again. Surely she wouldn’t spank him while his bottom was already sore from the shots. She said herself that she wasn’t a cruel person.

While thinking over his plans, Loki’s mind became foggy and he drifted off into a half-asleep, half-awake state. It wasn’t until he felt a gentle hand on his hair that he startled awake. He looked around the dark room until he found his bearings again. It had been a dream, he thought. No, it hadn’t been a dream. He was suddenly aware that someone was in the room with him, seated on the side of the bed. The gentle hand he had felt was still there on his head, slowly going down his back. Jane? No, it wasn’t Jane.

“Mama?” he breathed in a small voice. There was movement and the lamp on the night table came on, illuminating the smiling face of Frigga. She slowly pulled her hand away from the lamp, her caring eyes looking deep into Loki’s face.

“Hello, Loki,” she said in a soft whisper.

For a brief moment, Loki forgot everything else. Frigga opened her arms, inviting Loki into a hug.

“My baby,” she said, her voice still low. Loki could see that she had tears in her eyes. He quickly threw off the covers and scrambled to be at her side, never minding the pain in his bottom. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder.

“Oh, Mother,” he said, his voice muffled in her dress. “What are you doing here?”

“After Odin finally told me you were alive, I just had to see you.” she hugged Loki tight in her arms and caressed him, kissing and stroking his head. “I had to see my baby boy again. I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, Mama,” Loki nuzzled Frigga.

“I thought you were dead.” A few tears fell down Frigga’s cheek and she lifted a hand to wipe them away. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” She gave his bottom a firm swat, which sent the trickster into agonized pain.

“Owwwwww! Mama!” he gasped and cringed, arching his back.

Frigga blinked in surprise. “What’s wrong? I didn’t swat you that hard.”

“My bottom is sore!” Loki hissed out between his teeth. “The mortals…they stuck darts in me. They hurt me, Mama!” He sniveled and made a rather large show of it like he was dying.

“Darts?” Frigga was both confused and alarmed. Her protective motherly instincts kicked in. If these mortals were hurting and abusing her baby, they would feel her wrath. She quickly turned Loki over and yanked his pants down to examine the injection sites.

“They call them va-vaccinations.” Loki breathed out. “They say it’s to keep me from getting sick while I’m here on Midgard.”

A caring and amused smile creased Frigga’s lips. She had heard about vaccinations before, though she hadn’t fully understood at the time what all was involved aside from the humans using needles to do it with.

“They’re not darts, Loki,” she corrected, easing Loki’s pants back up and gently running her hand over his injured cheeks. “They’re needles.”

Loki frowned, simply not caring. “So Jane told me. Regardless of what they’re called, it’s evil. It’s pure evil! And they’re going to do it to me again next week! Please, take me back to Asgard. I don’t want to be in this horrible place anymore!”

“You know I can’t do that. Odin has banished you here to teach you a lesson. I’m not saying that I approve of his methods, but they are as they are. I can’t interfere.”

“Whatever that lesson is, I’ve learned it!” Loki’s eyes watered. Despite Loki being an adult, Frigga cradled him in her arms as if he were still that newborn babe Odin brought to her when he was first found, lifting him up to plant kisses on his face and nuzzle him with her nose.

“Jane spanked me, too.” Loki continued with his sob story. “Twice!”

“Oh?” Frigga raised an eyebrow, knowing full well what Loki was doing.

“These mortals are insane! They seem to derive pleasure from hurting my backside. You can’t leave me here!” he whined.

“Did you deserve the spankings?”

“I—No! Of course not!”

Frigga raised both eyebrows at the reply. “I see. Then why did she spank you? I’m sure there must have been a good reason behind it. Jane doesn’t strike me as the type that would spank you for nothing.”

“She enjoys torturing me, I suppose.”

“Loki, if your backside wasn’t sore enough already, I would personally take you over my knee right now and make it sore.”

A worried look washed over the trickster’s face and he cowered into her arms, looking more like a five-year-old child than a thousand-year-old god. “Wh-why?”

“Because you’ve been lying to me, and you’re trying to use your silver tongue on me right this moment.” Frigga fixed a stern gaze on her son. Loki swallowed, his mouth working nervously. “As you probably already know, Heimdall has been keeping an eye on what goes on here and has been reporting back to Odin. Odin filled me in on some of it, which is partly what prompted me to come visit you. He told me he had to come down here and speak with Jane a few weeks ago. It was because you were giving her a hard time, lying to her, disobeying, and trying to manipulate her.” She smacked the back of his thighs, where he wasn’t sore. Loki whimpered and scowled. “You should be ashamed of yourself for such actions. Thor dropped you off here in order to help you, and this is how you repay that kindness? I don’t blame Jane for spanking you. As far as I’m concerned, you deserved each of those spankings. And I’m going to tell her myself that she’s free to do it ever how many times is necessary to keep you in line.”

“Mama,” Loki sniveled. “How could you? I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you, my son. I love you more than you know. That’s why I want you to learn from these hard lessons.” She kissed his forehead. “I would much rather you get a spanking than for you to face death.”

The bedroom door suddenly swung open. Frigga turned to see Jane standing in the doorway. Loki leaned his head back to look at her upside down.

“I thought I heard voices in here,” Jane said. “You…you must be…”

“Frigga,” The All-Mother smiled. “I just came by to see how Loki is doing.” She gathered Loki up in her arms again, to keep him from slipping off the bed. He yelped when his bottom touched the bed and Frigga eased him into a better position, giving his rear a gentle rub.

Jane smiled as she watched Loki snuggle up next to the All-Mother. At the same time, a twinge of jealousy surged up in her and she suppressed it. The feelings surprised her, but then again she silently admitted that she actually enjoyed mothering Loki.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jane said, walking closer to the bed. “You’ve got…” She searched for the right words to use, “an interesting son.”

Frigga chuckled, looking down at Loki. “Yes, he is unique.”

“Not to mention cute,”

“Oh, yes, he is definitely cute.” Frigga beamed. “He’s always been that. And I think he’s gotten cuter since he’s grown older.”

“Motherrrrr,” Loki whined, blushing.

“It’s true,” Frigga smiled down at him. She gently grabbed hold of his nose and gave it a light, playful squeeze. He pushed her hand away. Grinning, Frigga turned her attention back to Jane, her voice lowered. “He’s also a huge baby, as you’ve probably noticed.”

“Mother!”

Jane laughed. “Oh, yes, I’ve noticed.”

“A very naughty baby,” Frigga corrected. “I understand that you’ve had to spank him a few times.”

Jane swallowed, not entirely sure where this conversation was leading. She didn’t like the thought of being in trouble over spanking an Asgardian prince. But then again, Odin had pretty much hinted at it, so she felt better knowing she had that to back up her side of the argument with.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Jane sat down next to the All-Mother.

“Mother, don’t,” Loki protested.

“Hush, my son,”

Jane wasn’t sure what was going on, but she continued to keep her attention on Frigga, speaking up before she had a chance to continue. “Listen, he deserved it. In fact, Odin even hinted at it.”

“Oh, I know,” said Frigga. “I’m not mad.”

Jane visibly relaxed. “Good, I thought for a moment that you were going to accuse me of hurting your baby.”

Loki shot her a glare. Frigga laughed.

“No, no, I completely approve of what you did.” Frigga adjusted Loki in her arms. “In fact, I give you my full permission to spank him ever how many times you need to. If he gives you any trouble at all, feel free to take him over your knee.”

“Mother, noooo,” Loki groaned. Frigga swatted his thigh.

“Um…thank you.” Jane wasn’t sure what to say. “Glad to know that.”

“I hope that from now on you won’t have to. Right?” Frigga looked down at Loki. He frowned up at her distastefully. “Am I right?”

Loki grumbled something under his breath.

“I’m sorry, what was that you said?” The All-Mother lowered her head.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said a little louder, sighing.

“Good,”

Frigga and Jane both knew Loki all too well to believe he would keep out of trouble, but at least Frigga felt that she had asserted her authority as his mother.

“If you have any trouble with him, outside of what you can handle, you just say the word and I’ll come down here and personally tan his hide myself,” said Frigga. Loki’s face turned a deep red. He was getting tired of them discussing the painful future of his rear.

“I’m pretty sure I can handle him. Odin gave me some of his strength when he visited, so I’ve been doing quite well on my own. But I’ll keep your offer in mind, just in case.”

Frigga nodded, looking down at Loki again. “I want you to keep that in mind, too.” Her voice had a hint of warning to it.

“Would you like some tea or coffee or something?” Jane said, clearing her throat. She wasn’t exactly sure what to offer the All-Mother.

“Thank you, but no. I probably need to be getting back to Asgard.” She patted Loki’s back and eased him up out of her arms. She kept her hands on him until he found a comfortable position on the bed beside her.

“Don’t go,” he said.

“I’m sorry, but I must. Your father will be worried about me if I stay gone for too long.” Frigga leaned over and kissed Loki’s cheek. “You be good for Jane.”

“Will you come back?” Loki asked, his eyes wide and innocent.

Frigga smiled and gave him another kiss. “I think that can be arranged. But I expect you to behave. I don’t want to return and hear that you’ve been a bad boy again.”

Loki wanted to comment on that, but he thought better of it and held his tongue. He felt his bottom was in no condition to make Frigga mad. Even though he knew she wasn’t that cruel, he still didn’t want to press his luck.

“Good bye, Loki. I love you. Don’t you ever forget that.” With one last kiss applied to Loki’s forehead, Frigga got up from the bed and walked to the door. She turned to Jane. “Good bye, my dear. Be sure to take good care of him for me.”

“I will,” Jane smiled. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you, too.”

With that, Frigga disappeared down the hallway, literally. When Jane got up and looked, the All-Mother was nowhere to be found.

Notes