Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 49

Knock knock knock.

"Hey, Loki, you still unconscious?"

Loki groans and shoves a pillow over his face. "Yes." He's too tired to do this right now. He's not sure he's ever been this tired in his life. He's definitely not in the mood to deal with Tony...

Wait.

He just saw Tony yesterday. (Yesterday?) He'd nearly forgotten about that. He was following him around, and then he left and... And he went to see Pepper... And she...

Loki lets out a long breath. "I'm up." If Tony wants to talk to him, he should probably let him. His girlfriend just died. It would be kind of rude to ignore him.

Tony knocks on the door again. "C'mon, open up."

Loki tosses his pillow at the door, which he hopes will make enough of a noise that Tony will know he's up. He swings his legs over the side of the bed, and the world blurs before his eyes. Does he really have to stand up? Can't he just go back to sleep?

Tony knocks again. "Please open up?"

Loki raises his brows. That was suspiciously not rude. He supposes that deserves some sort of response, so he says, "Give me a minute." It shouldn't take much more than a minute to get to the door, right?

He pushes himself to his feet with a soft groan. He has to hold on to the wall to steady himself for a few seconds. He's exhausted. Just holding his eyes open stings, and every blink comes as a warm relief.

He looks down at himself. He spent his alone time in his Asgardian clothes. He just found it more comfortable; more familiar. The Avengers have mocked his attire before, and he almost wonders if he should change into something more Midgardian — it would only take a second; no one would know — but he decides against it, if only because he's too tired to.

He crosses the room, and, after a moment of hesitation, he pulls open the door.

Before him stands Tony Stark...

And Pepper Potts.

Loki furrows his brows. "What...?" He says it so quietly, he's not even sure the word leaves his mouth.

"Loki!" Pepper throws her arms around him.

Loki looks down at her uncomfortably. "What are you...?"

"I'm hugging you," Pepper says. "What, you don't do hugs in Asgard?"

"Not frequently." He would get hugs from his mother and very rarely would he get hugs from his brother, but that was it. This is very strange to him.

"Well, I'm gonna fix that," Pepper tells him, squeezing him just a little bit tighter. Her tone softening, she says, "Thank you, Loki."

Loki glances at Tony awkwardly, a silent plea for help, but he seems to be fighting the urge to laugh. That's no help. He looks back down at Pepper, and, after a very long few seconds, he gently hugs her back.

"You're welcome," Loki says, because what else is he supposed to say? He feels like he should say something, but he feels incredibly uncomfortable right now. She's being very nice to him. He doesn't like it. It's weird.

Finally, Tony steps in. "Alright, alright, that's enough," he says. "Loki, stop trying to steal my girlfriend."

Loki's too confused to respond to that, but, fortunately, it does get Pepper to stop hugging him. She takes a step away, standing by Tony's side once more, and Loki just stares at her blankly. She died. He's almost positive he remembers her dying. Right? That did happen, didn't it?