Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 40

After a very long time of sitting with Loki in silence, hoping for answers but too afraid to ask any questions, Thor finally convinces his brother to come out and eat something. He's fairly certain Loki was going to ignore him until he'd suggested ice cream for breakfast, and even that only got a hesitant nod.

Loki doesn't speak at all as they walk, and Thor doesn't try to make him. The silence stretches on in the kitchen as well, and the first thing Thor notices is that Loki makes a point of sitting facing the doorway, wasting no time in turning around so his back is only to the entrance for a second. He's not shaking anymore, though, Thor notices. He's not sure when that stopped. He wasn't paying much attention, too busy trying to think of something to say.

As they eat their ice cream, Thor tries his luck. "Do you feel any better?"

Loki doesn't even look at him.

Maybe small talk's not going to work.

They eat in silence, and Thor spares his brother the occasional worried look, not that he ever seems to notice. Whatever this was, it must have been bad. He can't remember the last time he saw Loki this shaken up. He supposes he isn't too surprised by that; he'd never seen Loki as bruised and beaten as his illusion showed earlier, either — and they've fought a lot of battles together.

There's a quiet knocking from the doorway, and Loki whips his head in the direction. Thor looks over as well to see Tony peeking his head in. He's fairly sure he sees a flash movement behind him, so he must not have come alone. It's probably Bruce, Thor reasons. He knows he and Loki have become fast friends. It makes sense that Bruce would want to check on him, too.

Loki turns his gaze back to his ice cream, going as far as to pick up his spoon, but he doesn't continue eating.

"Hey guys," Tony says with an awkward smile. "How's it going?"

"Well..." Thor looks over at Loki with a frown. That's about the best answer he can give.

Tony steps into the room, but he doesn't go far. The others shift into view, all leaning against the wall opposite them and barely in sight. It seems the entire tower has come to check on him: Bruce, Clint, and Natasha are all standing outside the kitchen, all looking very uncomfortable doing so.

Tony watches Loki for a few moments with a sympathetic frown. "Are you okay?"

Thor doesn't expect him to answer that. He hasn't answered it the few times that Thor's tried to ask. Loki looks over at him again, and, after a pause, he just says, "Are you?"

That's also a fair question. Tony did get thrown into a wall, after all.

But Tony brushes that off. "Oh, yeah, no, I'm fine," he says, and though his carefree attitude looks to be at least slightly exaggerated, it usually is with him. "Don't worry about it. I haven't slept in, like, 60 hours. That was the jolt of energy I needed."

"Tony," Natasha says quietly, "you really need to go to bed."

Tony flails a hand in her general direction to shut her up. "Do you need anything? I could pull out all the ice cream sundae stuff if you think that'd make you feel better."

Loki doesn't respond, his attention having already turned away, but it's pretty obvious that it's going to take more than some ice cream toppings to make him feel better.

"Is there anything I can do?" Tony asks, with more sincerity in his voice than Thor has ever heard from the man. "Anything at all. Just say the word." With a forced smile, he adds, "This is probably an offer you're never going to get again, so you should make the most of it while you can."