Still Holding On

Chapter 4

"He's not doing anything."

"I see that," Pepper says.

"He hasn't done anything all day," Tony adds.

"Okay."

Tony sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I hate this," he mutters. "I want him gone. He's creeping me out."

They both look at the projection in front of them. He's had this security camera footage up all day. He slept with it up by his bed so he could make sure Loki didn't leave. (Unsurprisingly, he didn't sleep very well last night.) And this whole time, Loki hasn't done anything.

He's standing next to his bed, leaning against the wall with his hands clasped in front of him. And he has been like this all day. He hasn't moved at all since last night, excluding the two meals Tony has brought him, and even then, the only way Tony knows he's eaten is that they're gone by the time he's returned to watch the footage. It's just creepy. There's no other way to put it.

"When's Thor coming back?" Pepper asks.

"Today, I hope," Tony says. "I'm getting sick of watching him."

"If he's not doing anything, do you have to keep watching him?" Pepper asks. "It doesn't look like he's going anywhere."

Tony scoffs. "You want me to let the mass murderer living in my house do whatever he wants?"

"Well, if all he wants to do is stand there..."

Tony looks at the projection warily. She might have a point. If he hasn't done anything yet, that's probably not going to change. If he wants to go to Asgard, he has to play along until he gets there.

"Okay, I'm gonna get him something to eat, and then I'll take a break," Tony says. That sounds reasonable to him.

"Good," Pepper says.

So that's what he does. He makes Loki a sandwich — which probably isn't enough to sustain a god, but at this point, Tony doesn't care — and takes it down to Loki's temporary bedroom.

He knocks on the door, more out of habit than anything, but he doesn't wait for an answer before he opens it. Loki is still standing exactly where he'd been left, leaning against the wall with his hands clasped in front of him. He raises a brow, watching the Avenger wordlessly.

Tony puts the plate down on the small fold-up table by the door. "Here. Eat."

Loki doesn't respond, so Tony walks out.

Easy peasy.

It's kind of funny, actually. Loki hasn't said a word since Thor left. There hasn't been a single sarcastic remark. Tony has JARVIS piping the audio into whatever room he's in, and he hasn't heard a sound. He's not quite so cocky now, it seems.

Tony returns to Pepper's side, ready to — rather reluctantly — keep up their agreement. He's fed the rabid god downstairs. Now they can move on.

But Pepper seems less sure about that. "Do these cameras have playback?"

"'Course they do," Tony says. "You think I'm putting Houdini in a room with no way to watch it back if he busts out?"

"Can you go back to when you brought him the sandwich?" Pepper asks.

"I thought we were gonna leave him alone now," Tony reminds her. It was her idea, after all.

"I know," she says. "It just... It glitched out and I want to know what happened. It looked off."

Tony raises his brows. "Okay...?" He could rewind the tape manually, but for the sake of saving time, he tells JARVIS to do what she said. Time to watch a god eat lunch. Because that's how he wants to spend his day.

Tony steps into the room, the plate in hand. Loki looks over at him, a brow raised. Tony puts the food down, tells him to eat, and then leaves.

"Look at that," Tony says. "Nothing happened."

"No, no, wait." Pepper gestures for him to keep watching.

Loki waits for a few seconds, his eyes glued to the door. Then his gaze shifts to the cameras, taking a moment to look at each one individually.

The footage glitches.

A second later, it's returned.

"See?" Tony says. "Nothing."

"When'd he eat the sandwich?" Pepper asks.

Tony furrows his brows. She's right; the sandwich is gone. That glitch in the film wasn't nearly long enough for him to eat it. It wasn't even long enough for him to pick it up. Not to mention the chains holding his limbs together are completely still, so he couldn't have moved. So how...?

"JARVIS," Tony says cautiously, "did Loki eat his sandwich?"

"I do not know, sir," JARVIS replies. "It disappeared shortly after you left. It has happened to all of his food, so I do not believe it is cause for concern."

Tony scoffs. "And you're just telling me this now?"

"It is not hurting anybody," JARVIS says. "It did not seem worth noting."

"Oh my god." Tony pinches the bridge of his nose. Idiot. "Okay, whatever. Moving on." He looks at Pepper expectantly. "I'll give you 90 minutes of not watching the footage if you can give me 90 minutes of distractions. Deal?"

Pepper grins. "Deal."