KAIPO AND THOR REFUSED TO TALK ABOUT WAKING UP IN EACH OTHER'S ARMS. The two had woken up at about the same time, a by-product of their newfound bond, and had promptly thrown themselves their respective sides, backs turned to the other, wide-eyed and panicked, but silent in the hopes that the other hadn't been awake enough to realize what had happened.

There was no real reason as to why they reacted that way other than they weren't yet comfortable with the other to be alright with waking up in that manner, chalking up that one night of vague civility to the mead and general pain. There was mutual respect, but that was about it.

"We'll leave after our clothes are taken care of and we stock up on supplies," Thor said gruffly, after the two had accepted that the other had been well aware of their unfortunate positioning and dealt with it in their own way.

"Fine by me," Kaipo replied, and he wished he wasn't as cold as he was, because the last thing he wanted to do was move closer to the large mass of warmth on the other side of the bed. After a moment, he asked, "How is your face?"

Thor snorted. "As handsome as it always is."

"You know what I mean," Kaipo scoffed, shifting around to face him, reaching out and tugging at his arm until the blond turned to reveal the gash that hadn't been properly treated.

Kaipo inhaled sharply, his hand moving to caress the part of Thor's cheek by the gash, the blond wincing under his touch, unsure of what he was doing. Mumbling lowly under his breath, Kaipo allowed his eyes to slip closed, veins glowing a dull gold, partly healing the wound before his body buckled and he fell forward, partly onto Thor.

"What happened?" the god demanded, trying to adjust Kaipo who had been overcome with a wave of exhaustion despite having slept and gained back most of his energy.

"I think last night still has me drained," he groaned, shivering involuntarily, and Thor reached out, grabbing a blanket from the side table, throwing it over him, "Thank you."

"Rest for now, we'll leave when you are well," Thor said, moving him back onto the pillows with minimal effort, grabbing a blanket of his own and throwing it over himself, moving so he was farther from the edge, he and Kaipo both now in the middle of the bed.

"I thought you were going to get supplies," Kaipo pointed out, but his body betrayed him, shifting closer to the god, still shivering underneath the thick blanket.

"I'm tired too," Thor reasoned, yawning loudly, shifting on the bed, careful of his gash, "We can get the supplies later."

Kaipo thought to try and convince Thor of leaving him be for some time, just let him rest without the worry of another being in the bed, but the gradual warmth from the blanket and Thor himself had Kaipo drifting back to a dreamless sleep.

º º º

"Time to go."

Kaipo groaned as he was roused from his sleep by a significantly more chipper Thor who smiled down at him, his hair unkempt and falling in his face, and Kaipo knew that his own hair was in a similar state of disarray.

"I restocked our supplies without too much damage on our money, though I would say we should try to find ourselves a job or two to work quickly," Thor suggested, placing a bandage to his gash.

"By job you mean you're going to punch in the general direction the highest payer points to," Kaipo corrected, raising an eyebrow, and Thor straightened, pointing his finger at him with a furrowed brow.

"I'll have you know, I actually have a great moral compass and sense of self, I am," he paused to harshly adjust their supplies in the bundles he had made, "The arrogant, self-important fool of my youth, I have made major development in myself. Thank you."

Kaipo shrugged. "Yet you love to fight."

"I was raised to fight, I am a gifted warrior," Thor replied easily, clearly done with paying too much mind to the conversation with someone unwilling to listen.

"So was I," Kaipo replied, "Am I any less strong than you?"

"Of course not," Thor scoffed, "Your muscles don't make you who you are, and they don't make me either. There is more to us than just brute strength, and if you can see it in yourself, I'd appreciate it if you saw it in me."

Kaipo was at a loss for words at that, just watching Thor finish his final adjustments to the bundles of supplies he had gone out to get while letting him rest, coming to stand with his arms crossed, looking down at him.

"I'm sorry," he admitted, feeling his cheeks warm in shame, "You're right, it was unfair of me to judge you."

"Thank you," Thor said, nodding, "Now, come on, Xandar awaits."

With that, he heaved a few of the bundles over his shoulder, leaving the other half for Kaipo, reaching out and clapping a hand onto the brunette's shoulder goodnaturedly, giving him a smile before venturing out into the hall, apologizing to the woman he nearly hit, pressing himself up against the wall to let her pass, giving Kaipo one last look before disappearing.

The Asterion was at a loss for words. He had expected Thor to be cold to him, what with him insulting his intelligence and practically his whole being since they had met, yet there he was, wholly accepting of his lackluster albeit truthful apology, letting it flow over his back like water, caring not for the past any longer than he had to.

It was admirable, he would admit.

Heaving the other half of the bundles onto his shoulders, Kaipo left the room, glancing back once to make sure he didn't leave anything, catching the necklace Thor had gotten for him lying on the bed, no doubt jostled from his neck when he had been sleeping.

Grabbing it, he left the room, walking down the hall and the stairs, catching Thor waiting for him at the bottom, standing amongst the tables and booths that were starting to fill as more travelers came to stay.

Following him to the unit, the two dumped their supplies in the back, taking their seats and sitting for a few moments in silence, making no move to reach for the controls, simply breathing and being.

"Okay," Thor said, reaching out and patting Kaipo's knee, "Let's go."

Wordlessly, Kaipo reached out and started the unit, refusing to speak until they were far from the planet and Thor had settled in, fiddling with his fresh clothes, shifting around restlessly in his seat.

"Is something bothering you?" Kaipo asked, leaning back in his seat, sighing minutely.

After a few moments of silence in which Thor tried and failed to stop fidgeting and play nonchalant, the blond finally caved, asking, "Do you think I would make a terrible king?"

Kaipo raised his eyebrows, caught off guard by the question. "What?"

"You heard me," Thor grumbled, "You clearly don't think I'm competent enough to protect you, how am I supposed to protect my people?"

Kaipo looked down at that, shame coursing through his body as the weight of his words came back to haunt him. He could barely lift his head to look at Thor, who spared him a glance, his blue eyes clouded with poorly masked insecurity and pain.

"Don't listen to me," he finally breathed, shaking his head, "Thank you for protecting me last night."

Thor shrugged. "The bond kept me from not. Not that I wouldn't regardless."

Kaipo nodded. "I know."

The blond sighed and shifted away from Kaipo, trying to get comfortable, finally settling down and falling asleep, choosing to let the rightful owner of the unit control without the worry of another person. Despite the silence, Kaipo understood the message, and sighed to himself, shaking his head.

"Just get to Xandar," he grumbled to himself, fiddling with the controls, raising his eyebrows as another panel appeared in front of him, "Just get to Xandar."

º º º

When Thor awoke, he found that Kaipo had allowed the unit to make a quick jump, depleting their unit's resources in half, but giving them a farther start on Xandar, just enough that they wouldn't have to make another stop before arriving at the planet.

He glanced over to Kaipo who was asleep, a hand clutching at something by his throat, and he realized, with a start, that it was the necklace he had given him. He was glad he still had it, if only to anchor himself; it wasn't that he cared that Thor himself had given it to him.

He tried not to take anything he said personally, he did lose everything in such a short amount of time, but his words had begun to chip away under his skin. Of course, Thor was stronger than that, but having a virtual stranger mock and deride his skills, it made him wonder if he should even choose to return to Asgard; the All-Father wouldn't live forever, and Thor would have to take up the mantle, but it begged the question if he was even worthy.

Kaipo, who had woken partly as a result of his heavy sighing, mumbled with his trademark drawl, "You are worthy of being the king of your people. I just think you're an idiot."

Thor smiled at that, because Kaipo added the last line as an afterthought, a statement that did nothing more than establish where they still stood, yet let him know that, despite his statement, he was growing on him. At least enough to warrant an apology of sorts.

"I don't know, I think I'm pretty clever," Thor drawled back, grinning as he watched Kaipo scoff, moving to turn away from him, grumbling with the bare minimum amount of bite needed to sound somewhat disgruntled.

"Brutum fulmen."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 06.09.18 )

I'm sorry it's taken me like 20 years to actually get anywhere in terms of plot, but next chapter, we're getting to Xandar, we're actually gonna get the ball rolling, I'm sorry, I promise, we're getting there.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!