Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 38

There are seven people now living in Stark Tower, but, somehow, Steve rarely sees any of them. Tony's always either in his lab or with Pepper; Bruce spends most of his time playing around with Tony's equipment; Natasha and Clint go in and out a lot for their work with SHIELD, and Thor's been returning to Asgard frequently when he gets bored. It leaves most of Steve's day to himself, both a blessing and a curse.

Steve heads over to Loki's room for dinner, but the sound of voices inside makes him second-guess that. Bruce has really made himself at home since he moved in, possibly more so than anyone else. He's the only person who feels comfortable going to Loki's room on a whim, and when he does, he can stay there for hours. Tony finds it frustrating, but Steve's happy for the god. It's nice that he has someone to talk to, and it's great that he's no longer isolating himself the way he used to.

It's just... weird. It took Steve weeks to earn Loki's trust, but Loki and Bruce hit it off immediately. They may be better friends than Steve and Loki are. He doesn't get it. He feels like he has to be doing something wrong; he just doesn't know what it is.

Steve's only been standing outside Loki's room for a few seconds, debating whether or not to disturb the two, when the door swings open. Loki's still sitting on his bed and Bruce is still next to him on his rolling office chair that's found a permanent home in this room, so Loki must have opened the door with magic. He doesn't usually notice Steve outside, so he wasn't expecting that.

"Oh, hey!" Bruce says with a grin. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," Steve says awkwardly. "I was going to have dinner, but if you guys are busy, I can just make it for myself."

Bruce looks over at Loki, who, after a pause, asks, "What are you making?"

"I don't know, I was thinking mac n cheese," Steve says. "Unless you want something else?"

"I like mac n cheese," Loki says. He looks over at Bruce. "Would you mind?"

"Actually, I'm kind of hungry, too," Bruce says. "Mind if I join you? I'll make the mac n cheese if you want, do my part."

Steve forces a smile. "Yeah, sure." He likes Bruce, but he was kind of hoping he'd get to talk to Loki a bit. He's not sure he expects to do that with Bruce around.

Steve takes the lead down the hallway, with Loki and Bruce lagging behind him and talking at length in words that he doesn't understand.

"I can't believe it," Bruce says to the god. "We've been studying it for, like, a century, but it's still just a theory."

"I thought theories and facts were interchangeable in Midgard," Loki says, confused.

"No, they are — I mean, kind of; it means we accept it as fact, but we can't prove it. Like gravity."

"You can't prove gravity?" Loki repeats in disbelief. "The fact that we are not on the ceiling right now proves gravity."

"Not scientifically," Bruce says. "But that's how a theory works in science; we accept it as fact."

"If you accept quantum mechanics as fact, why does the soul forge surprise you?" Loki asks. "Surely you're not surprised that one could transfer molecular energy in that way."

"But we're decades away from discovering that kind of technology," Bruce says. "We're still learning the ins and outs of quantum mechanics, and you just have these quantum field generators lying around to use whenever you want?"

"Well, our healers use them, but yes," Loki says. "You really don't have that kind of technology?"

"No, we don't!" Bruce says. "God, how do you people still travel on horseback and use birds to carry your mail but you have quantum field generators lying around?"