Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 20

Steve gave Loki a few hours to come back out, but, to the surprise of absolutely no one, he did not. It pretty much confirms his theory that Loki's not coming back willingly if he thinks there's a chance they're still around, but Steve isn't going to let him rot in his room for the rest of his life so he sets out to find him.

He knocks on Loki's door, holding it shut through the hole where the handle once was. (They should really replace this door.). "Loki, can you open up?"

Nothing.

He knocks again. "Loki, hey. It's just me. Can you open the door real quick?"

He doesn't.

Steve sighs. He feels bad, but he really does think this will be for the best in the long run. He knocks again and says, "Just open the door. Please."

JARVIS cuts in. "He has not come back to his room, sir. He is in the bathroom down the hall."

Steve's eyebrows shoot up. "He's what?" It's been hours. What the hell is he doing?

"I can almost guarantee he would like to be left alone," JARVIS says, "but I do believe he would benefit from having a visitor."

"Is he okay?" Steve asks.

"That would depend on your definition of 'okay,'" JARVIS says.

Steve gives a resigned nod. That's been the unspoken consensus the whole time he's been here. "Alright, I'll go find him." He heads back down the hall where he came. "The same bathroom that Thor dumped him in the tub yesterday?"

"Yes, sir," JARVIS says.

Good, because he knows where to find that. He pauses outside the door, and takes a deep breath. Okay, here goes nothing. He knocks on the door. "Hey, Loki."

Loki doesn't respond, but Steve had expected that. If he's hiding in the bathroom, he must really not want to talk. That's fine. Steve can do the talking, at least at first. He'll make sure Loki knows he doesn't mean any harm before he asks him to open the door.

"I just want to let you know that Thor left," Steve says. It feels like an eternity has passed since then, but he'd be surprised if Loki somehow already knew it. "He's back in Asgard. I don't think he's planning on coming back any time soon. Or, you know, at all." He'd like to think that's a good thing in Loki's mind, but just in case that's a disappointment, Steve tries to sound neutral about it.

"Nat and Barton left, too," Steve tells him. "SHIELD called them in, so they're not around." Steve assured Fury that between him and Tony, Loki would be well-supervised if he wanted Natasha back, so they're off doing god-only-knows-what. "And Tony's down in his lab, so he won't come back for a while, either."

Steve waits to see if Loki responds, but, unsurprisingly, he does not. He keeps talking anyway.

"Listen, I'm gonna go make dinner," Steve tells him. "I've basically got the tower to myself, so I don't know if you want to come out and eat, too, or...?"

Silence.

"I think it would be good for you to get up and eat something," Steve continues. "I'll leave you alone while you eat, and, like I said, it's just me here, so you won't have to worry about the other Avengers, you know, talking down to you."

Once again, he's met with silence.

"I just don't want to leave you in the bathroom all day," Steve says. "Even if you just want me to walk you back to your room." Baby steps. If Loki will at least get up and go back to his room, Steve will just bring him dinner and leave it. He just wants to see Loki doing something.