Chapter Text
Loki slumped out of the most comfortable mattress he had ever slept on, and hopped down off the side of the open crib. He washed up for breakfast, combed out his hair, and tried his best to largely ignore his surroundings-- although, as he’d admit to no one, he had taken quite an interest in the toy chest in the far corner of the room. It was filled entirely with baby toys, but some of them had interesting premises, with clockwork insides and buttons he could press to make panels flip and move. Obviously a lot of craftsmanship had been put into making these designs, and more than a few were most definitely custom made for him. Little or not, perhaps he could still appreciate these often overlooked little pieces of art.
He put on some of the most adult looking clothes he could find and went downstairs for the morning feast that was breakfast.
An extra chair had been pushed in for him in place of the highchair.
“Loki, my boy!” Odin greeted him.
“Good morning, father,” Loki answered.
“Are you ready for your big day today?”
“My big da--” Oh… that was today? Loki had sworn his first outing was tomorrow.
Loki must’ve shown that he was anxious because Thor quickly jumped into the conversation. “It’s not that big,” he said. “Today we just sit in the carriage and are brought around the kingdom, and wave and smile and on Thursday you just sit with mother while I give my speech and we have dinner.”
“Here’s to king Thor,” Loki said, raising up his glass with as much energy as he could muster with it being 5 in the morning and all. He only meant it slightly sarcastically, too.
“Loki, that does mean you need to at least try to be in your headspace,” Frigga reminded him.
“Okay,” Loki agreed with a deep breath. He had a little bit of a plan, but he really thought he would have had an extra day to work it all out.
After breakfast, Frigga took on that sweet tone that Loki had been hearing prior to seeing the healer. “Mommy has to get some things ready, so can you play for a little while?”
Loki considered arguing, but eventually just decided to make this easy, after these two days he could relax back into adulthood if he just made it easy for her-- slightly easier than full defiance-- then he’d have more time to plan something, or at least hope Mobius and Sylvie would arrive for him in that time.
He opened up the toy bin and began to take a closer look at more of the toys now that he had an excuse, inspecting all the little mechanical intricacies and wooden details.
“Loki? Are you ready?”
He left the toys on the ground and tried to keep some dignity as he got up onto the changing mat.
Now came time for the most current plan: As Frigga undressed him, Loki used a little bit of magic to change genders.
“Oh!” Frigga sounded a little surprised.
Loki chewed on her thumb, pretending as if she hadn’t noticed.
“That’s a funny change of plans,” her mother said as she continued to undress and diaper her.
Loki hoped that this stalling would lead to something. She wasn’t sure quite what she was hoping for, but maybe this Loki wasn’t ever a girl. Maybe they’d have to make her a whole new dress if they had decided on something custom for the event. Maybe they would just leave her here to avoid questioning from the citizens. Maybe they wouldn’t know she could control this.
But as Loki considered all these possibilities, she was made slightly more anxious as Frigga did not show any worry.
The woman walked up to the closet and tugged on a rope just inside of the doorway, hidden by the fabrics of all the clothes crammed in there.
A mechanical whir started up, and Loki propped herself up onto her elbows to take a look.
The entire contents of the closet had shifted and slid back into place, this time with dresses and skirts galore.
Loki let herself thud back onto the table as she realized she wasn’t going to get out of this so easily. She chewed on the back of her hand as she awaited whatever cruel and horrible bow-and-ruffle-covered fate awaited her. “You cannot be serious,” she whined.
“Oh hush, this one’s very cute,” Frigga told her.
Loki’s hips were lifted as a light green cover was slid on her. “At least the color’s nice,” she mumbled to herself.
“And it just gets better, be patient, Loki,” Frigga said, rubbing Loki’s tummy as she said it.
It did feel nice, admittedly, but she couldn’t help but whine a little as she thought about how she’d look. “It just gets better” could only mean it was about to get much worse.
Loki’s fears were proven valid as Frigga dressed her in a matching green dress that almost didn’t even cover her diaper. It didn’t help that even the frilly little skirt seemed to have been starched to hel and back, crinkling like paper whenever she twisted or dared to make any movement.
“Can I get up?” Loki asked.
“Not just yet,” she said, retrieving a pair of little black slip-on shoes from the wardrobe and sliding them onto her feet.
Given everything, these weren’t awful.
“Now just the mittens…”
“ Mittens ?” Loki groaned.
“I thought you were all about illusions…”
Loki grumbled under her breath as two big, bulky mittens were fastened onto her hands, and perhaps to just take away her last remaining shred of dignity, a pacifier was placed into her mouth.
Frigga helped her up off the table. “Come with mummy as she gets ready?” she asked her, politely taking Loki’s hand.
Loki couldn’t do anything but groan behind the binkie in her mouth and awkwardly toddle to help her mother collect toys to keep her busy, which was much harder than it looked. She tried to pick up the wolf off her crib mattress-- maybe that would make this go faster, a stuffed animal would take up a lot of room in that bag, surely --, only to find that she couldn’t grip hardly anything with the mittens, taking two hands just to lift it up and eventually settling to crush the toy under her arm.
She sat down on the side of the crib and waited impatiently for Frigga to work out the rest herself before being taken by the hand and led to her parents’ chambers.
Loki couldn’t remember the last time she had set foot there. It hadn’t been since the last time she had been dressed this way thousands of years ago. The walls were at least twice as tall as the ones in her own room and seemed to stretch on upwards for miles. The bed was also bigger than any she had seen before, probably between 3 or 4 times the size of the crib in her room in width. You could’ve fit probably the whole family on the bed and everyone still would’ve had the space to spread out.
Frigga sat down at a vanity placed at the wall of the room. Although there weren’t lights in front of her, the floor-to-ceiling windows catching the sunrise on the adjacent wall illuminated her well enough.
“Loki?” she asked.
“Yes?” Loki returned, her voice muddled by the pacifier in her mouth.
“Can you sit on the bed so I can see you, please?”
Loki rolled her eyes. The rest of the room was mostly empty anyway, and she didn’t really want to go through her parent’s wardrobes that much. She climbed up onto the bed. It was nearly as tall as her own-- barely allowing her long legs to touch the floor when sitting down.
She laid back, and rolled restlessly in the space, it wasn’t like there was much else she could do, as she waited.
But someone knocked on the door.
“Come in!” Frigga called.
Loki didn’t bother to sit up, as she didn’t really care.
“Is Loki in here?” Thor asked, only hesitantly poking his head through the door.
“She is.”
“ She , today? I wanted to show her the carriage we’d be taking. I know she always likes seeing the ponies,” he teased.
“She’s on the bed if you’d like to take her. Do you want her bag, too?”
“I can take that,” Thor said absently as he looked for Loki on the bed. “Hi little sister!” he cooed at her.
“Hi…” she said behind her pacifier, sitting up to go with him.
“Are you excited to see the ponies?”
Loki shrugged.
“Don’t exhaust her too much, Thor. She has a very big day and she’ll definitely make a fuss if we let her nap through the fair.”
“I won’t,” Thor called as he took Loki’s hand and led her out of the room. “Either way, I’m sure some fresh air will be much less boring than waiting for mother to get ready,” he whispered.
Loki smiled a little bit, too.
The spring air was cool on her face as she stepped out into the overcast morning. It felt a bit wet outside to Loki, like the dew hadn’t quite settled yet.
Four golden clydesdales were hooked to the carriage and waited on the cobblestone just outside the grand doors, and Loki could already see villagers crowding around the gates of the palace awaiting the grand entrance of their royals. They cheered as her and Thor emerged.
He led her up to the great towering beasts attached to the carriage, removed her mittens, and encouraged her to feed them carrots and hay provided by the driver.
As much as Loki hated to admit it, she couldn’t help but be a little charmed at the way they lapped out of the palm of her hand. She crinkled her nose and giggled.
“And can you pet them, too?” Thor asked.
Loki raised her eyebrows at him. She may have been enjoying feeding the horses, but she still wasn’t going to stand for such talk, not at least until they were out on the road.
The horse nuzzled Loki before she could protest.
But soon it was time to go back inside for the grand royal entrance. Thor needed to adjust his cape and make sure his hair looked presentable, and Loki realized she’d be toddling alongside, holding her mother’s hand.
The horns blared as the grand doors of the palace flung open, presenting the family to the crowds outside. Loki knew that regardless of how she was costumed, her chin should be held high and her gaze should not trend downward.
Everyone waved politely, even Thor, as he followed behind with his best attempt at poise and grace as the soon-to-be-king.
The carriage could have easily fit four riders, but Loki was still hoisted into Thor’s lap nonetheless as he climbed into the carriage.
Not long into the trip, she began to feel rather green. All the bouncing and rocking along the cobblestone paths never left her tummy well.
“We’re almost to our stop,” Frigga assured her, petting her knee.
Loki let her and screwed her eyes shut, not wanting to look at the rushing scenery out the window.
“Thor? Hand her to mother, won’t you?” Frigga requested.
Loki felt herself being lifted off his lap and onto the seat in front of her. Frigga tucked her head over her shoulder, leaving Loki’s long legs to awkwardly drape onto the bench around her, crumpled like those of a baby deer’s.
“Poor little princess,” Odin hummed, petting her arm gently.
Loki chewed on the pacifier she had been given as she kept her eyes shut. There was a slight hope that perhaps she could nap through this.
The carriage rolled to a stop a few miles outside the next large city. Here, everyone got out to stretch, and answer nature’s call, far from where they could be disturbed by most of the populace before they made their big appearance at the main festival in the town center.
Thor lifted the side of Loki’s dress and slid her diaper cover down a little. “Mother!” he called. “Loki’s still all dry.”
Loki pushed him away. “Stop that!” she complained.
“Do not worry about her. She’ll go when she needs to,” Odin said.
Loki did need to, and was very much trying her best not to, leaning awkwardly onto the carriage with her knees pressed just slightly together.
Soon, the carriage rolled into the grand plaza of the city, which was fully decorated with market tents and festival games as far as the eye could see.
Guards stood in waiting near where the carriage would roll to a stop. Loki could tell by the stepping stool and carpet awaiting them.
But Loki also knew all this pomp was about to fall away the second Thor got out of the carriage. Although he may have been a near king at this point, and had completed all the traditional steps towards ruling, Thor, and Loki, had never really cared to stick to the act of not mingling with the common folk.
Odin and Frigga left the carriage first, followed by Thor, who was met with uproarious applause from the crowd. Loki squeezed herself out the tiny carriage door with as much grace as she could before her brother picked her up off the step and set her on his hip.
“Loki,” Thor whispered to her. “Wave to them, sister.”
But Loki froze. She couldn’t just keep her chin high and her shoulders back and expect to be alright anymore. Now she was about to go directly into the crowd with her brother and face them directly. This wasn’t a quick thirty second appearance or a long speech where she just had to stand there next to mother and listen-- she was a part of it.
“Sister, are you alright?” Thor asked as he pet her back.
He must’ve felt her breathing quicken.
Loki tucked her face down and looked away from the crowd. She couldn’t face them like this. Not right now.
She hadn’t meant to, but a little whine escaped her throat.
As soon as she did, Frigga’s delicate fingers began to pry her off of Thor, easing her back into the magical hold at the edge of the stage.
Loki made another noise, letting the pacifier drop out of her mouth, but this time because she was feeling another different sensation.
“I’ll give you right back to him when he’s done with his speech, but you know how loud your brother can be,” Frigga whispered.
That was all well and good, but Loki wasn’t really thinking about that, as her thoughts rested instead on the fact that her bladder was no longer allowing her to store her liquids as they emptied into the nappy around her lower half.
Frigga didn’t seem to notice anything, thankfully.
But Odin did. “Oh, the little one dropped something.” He picked up he-- the pacifier and exchanged it for another in Frigga’s bag, setting the new one in Loki’s mouth. “Isn’t that better?” he asked.
Loki didn’t think so. She opened her mouth just to let it fall out again, but this time it stayed put as Frigga noticed and enchanted it properly to stay.
“Dearest, could you take her wolf out of my bag? Big pocket.”
Loki half-expected Odin to tell her to just give these duties to a servant. That’s what he had always said in Loki’s universe, but of course he didn’t say that here. He got out the toy and stood behind Frigga, where Loki was leaning over her back shoulder and set the puppy on Frigga’s shoulder, moving its head a little and trying to make the tail wag.
Loki didn’t immediately grab at it with her mitted hands, but she watched with a little bit of curiosity.
He pretended the wolf was sniffing at her, eventually having the stuffed animal come up and kiss her on the pacifier, at which point Loki snatched it out of his hands.
She hated the face Odin made after she took it-- the way he cooed at her slightly chilled her spine. She brought the wolf up to hide her face in its fur.
As applause rang through the plaza, Loki was lifted off her mother’s hip.
“C’mon, Loki. Why don’t we go for a walk? Bet you’d like to stretch your legs,” Thor suggested.
Loki looked at the crowd, she might have a chance to slip off if she just changed her form…
Thor took her hand and Loki felt her awkward toddle for the first time, struggling to walk normally as her nappy sagged just slightly.
“Loki, are you keeping your wolf with you?” Frigga asked.
Loki shook her head and set it down with her mother before wandering off with Thor. It would make a much more difficult getaway if she also had to carry around a toy dog.