Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 8

"Sir, Loki has opened his door."

Steve groans and rubs his eyes. Alright, he thinks he understands why Natasha said he wasn't going to like this. He still stands by his decision, though. Someone needs to keep an eye on the guy, and if no one else is going to, he'll do it himself.

He rolls out of bed and runs a hand through his hair. It would take far more than that to make it look presentable, but, to be fair, he's also walking around in pajamas. No amount of time spent on just his hair would make him look presentable.

"Where's he going, JARVIS?" Steve asks.

"The kitchen, I presume," JARVIS says.

"Thank you," Steve says before heading out of the room.

Admittedly, Steve doesn't know Stark Tower very well, but he manages to find the kitchen with relative ease. Loki isn't there, so Steve takes a seat at the table to wait. If he's not out here in the next two minutes, he's going on a Loki hunt.

It seems that planning was unnecessary, because Loki does eventually show up. Steve has to do a double-take when he sees him. He's almost unrecognizable with his tangled-up black hair pointing in so different directions, and he walks into the room not only with no shoes on, but no shirt, either. He is getting way too comfortable living here. It's almost unnerving.

When Loki sees him, all he says is, "Oh, joy. The tower grows more crowded by the day."

Steve raises an eyebrow. "Where's your shirt?"

Loki rolls his eyes. A dim glow of green light overtakes him and a dark green shirt appears, a strange sort of V-neck made by the two sides crossing. It almost looks like a woman's top, but it's probably normal in Asgard.

As the light disappears, Loki stumbles, and he catches himself against the wall, his water bottle hitting it with a loud thud.

Instantly, Steve jumps to his feet. "Loki?"

Loki squeezes his eyes shut for a few moments before pushing himself away from the wall. Without a word, he heads for the freezer, opening it up and just staring at it.

"Loki?" Steve says again, this time more cautiously.

"They typically leave me alone," Loki says.

"What?"

Loki pulls out a bag of dinosaur chicken nuggets, closes the freezer door, and turns to look at him. "Your friends. They typically leave me alone."

"I know that," Steve says cautiously. "But I didn't want..." He cocks his head to the side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Loki says through gritted teeth. He turns his attention back to his food. He puts both his water bottle and the bag of chicken nuggets on the counter, then pulls out a paper plate to dump some nuggets on.

The longer Steve watches this, the more concerned he gets. Even just Loki's lack of attention to him is disconcerting. Tony had prepared him for it, but it doesn't make it any less weird to see the god that had tried to kill him not too long ago pretending he doesn't even exist.

Loki puts his chicken nuggets in the microwave, then turns his attention to his water bottle, filling it in the sink. Steve briefly debates telling him that the fridge dispenses fresh, filtered water — which he thought was the coolest thing the first time he saw it — but if no one's told him that already, there must be a reason, so he doesn't mention it.

Loki puts his water bottle back on the counter, then opens up the freezer, slips the rest of the nuggets in, and stands in front of it. Steve watches him silently, trying to figure out what the hell he's doing, but he can't. When the microwave goes off, Loki just flips his chicken nuggets, puts them back on, and stands in front of the freezer again.

Finally, Steve decides he has to ask. "What are you doing?"

"The freezer is cold," Loki says, like that's any type of explanation.

"That's kind of... the point..." Steve says slowly. But Loki seems to be in no rush to elaborate, so it looks like that's all he's getting.

The microwave goes off again, and Loki takes his chicken nuggets and his water bottle and leaves. There's a part of Steve that wants to follow him just to make sure he's not going to get in any trouble, but he can pretty much tell that Loki's not going to do anything right now.

A couple minutes later, JARVIS chimes in with, "Loki has opened his door again."

Steve purses his lips. He supposes he would know better than anyone... "JARVIS?"

"Yes, Captain Rogers?" JARVIS says.

"Is Loki usually like that?" He would like to elaborate more on what "like that" means, but it's really just his whole vibe. He looks like a mess. He acts like a mess. He just... is a mess.

"Recently, yes," JARVIS says. "I suspect that the extended isolation is beginning to affect his health, but he insists that he's okay."

"And is he?" Steve asks. "Okay, I mean."

"I don't know," JARVIS admits. "I don't know much about Asgardians. I have no baseline data to compare it to."

"Huh." Steve nods slowly. "Okay, just... tell me next time he opens his door."

"Of course," JARVIS says.

Steve hesitates, then sighs. There's nothing to be done right now. He might as well just go back to bed.