Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 53

"So you connect the spring right here..." Harley does just that, angling himself awkwardly so that Loki can watch. "And there!" He beams. "That's how you make a potato gun!"

Loki fights the urge to laugh, instead mustering as much fake sincerity into his voice as he can when he says, "This is most impressive." You are a brilliant inventor. I look forward to seeing what other works you create as you grow older."

Harley's smile grows impossibly bigger. "I've always said I wanted to be an inventor," he says. "Everyone at school laughed at it, though."

"Then your school is full of idiots," Loki says. "You'll be a brilliant inventor. And now you have the added bonus of knowing Tony Stark. He'll help you make this dream a reality if you can prove to him that you have what it takes, and I do believe you can."

"I'll just have to make something he'll want to invest in," Harley says.

Loki gets the feeling from that sentence alone that Harley understands Midgardian economics much better than he does, and, as such, he's not entirely sure how to respond to it.

Fortunately for him, a knock on the door interrupts him before he has to answer. When Harley doesn't acknowledge it, Loki reaches the conclusion that it's coming from the real world, and he figures that's as good a reason as any to end this conversation.

"I trust you'll do well with that," Loki tells him. "I'm needed back at the tower, but I've enjoyed this. Thank you for teaching me the mechanics of a potato gun."

"Are you gonna come back?" Harley asks, a glimmer of hope in his eye.

"If you'd like me to, I will," Loki says. "That is your choice."

"Well, duh, I want you to come back," Harley says. "You're the coolest friend I have!"

Loki can't fight the smile that creeps up on his face at that.

Friend.

He doesn't usually like that title. It always feels like a lie; like a relationship built to fall apart. But he'll accept it this time. From Harley, he'll accept this promise of friendship.

"Then I will return within the next week," Loki tells him. "I hope you'll have some more inventions to show me."

"I will!" Harley says. "Bye!"

Loki nods once before he disappears, returning to his bedroom in an instant. The door is still closed, so at least he knows it wasn't Thor. His brother likely would have just barged right in, regardless of how many times Loki has told him not to, and even the hole he left in the wall the last time he tried it wouldn't stop it. Admittedly, Loki's not sure who else it would be. The Avengers have been getting much too comfortable coming to his room lately; it could be any of them, really.

He opens the door telekinetically, but there's no one there. He's decently sure he heard someone knock. He crosses his room, standing in the doorway as he pokes his head out. Pepper is halfway down the hallway, oblivious to his presence with her back to him.

"Were you looking for me?" Loki asks her.

Pepper turns around, and a smile creeps up on her face at the sight. "Oh, you are up!"

"I am," Loki says. "I was off in my own world; I barely heard you knock." Technically, he was still off in her world; he never left Midgard, and he'd hardly call the Earth his (though not for lack of trying). He doesn't feel she needs the specifics, though. "Is everything alright?"

Pepper walks back towards him as she talks. "Yeah, no, it's great!" she says. "I was just coming to tell you that I just brought a cat home."

Loki's brows shoot up. "There's a cat in the tower?" he asks in disbelief. "Now?"