The Multiversal Road-Trip: Book Five

2

So Strange wanted answers. Because of course he did.

Loki wanted more than anything to give them to him and Scott. But it was the one thing he couldn't tell them. Especially not now. Not now Wanda was so close. She'd find out. And then things would get a lot worse. Much worse than they were already.

But things would still get worse for Strange and Scott if they walked into this without realising what they were walking into. And by extension – for him too. Because while he could just leave them... well, he wouldn't. So things would get worse both ways.

Strange must have thought he was ignoring him, because he was still trying to get Loki's attention. "Strange, shut up. I'm thinking."

"But don't you think I should know, you know, if anything's going off that could be important," Strange continued, as though he hadn't said anything. "I don't want to be kept in the dark if there's something. Unless you just said it too darkly accidentally-"

"Maybe I should rephrase," Loki interrupted, coolly, staring Strange down. "I'm thinking about reconsidering breaking my promise to Wanda to tell you what happened to her and can't reach a conclusion while you're blathering on about shit. So shut up."

Strange's eyebrows went practically up to space, but he shut up.

What did he do? Loki hadn't been lying when he said how much he had wanted to tell them. Honestly he'd been hoping Wanda would change her mind. Or that the truth would come out to the public so he didn't have to say anything. It had been on his mind for this entire journey, and now they were only two or three hours away from wherever Wanda was, he guessed. And they knew nothing.

To tell, or not to tell? He didn't even think what happened in Westview was even public news yet, so Strange wouldn't have heard about that yet, either. And then there was the small matter of whether, in fact, he'd even understand. Especially Scott. And then there was that plan she mentioned...

Loki put a hand to his chin in thought. Why was he even taking this long to decide? He'd never had the trouble of reaching a decision before. Unfortunately, the look must have registered on his face, because Strange spoke up again. And he wasn't expecting him to say what he did.

"Have you been sleeping at all recently?" he asked.

Loki turned towards him and blinked. "Well... no. But why are you asking that when we weren't even talking about that?"

"Because I'm concerned about you," Strange replied, and whatever Loki had been expecting to hear, it wasn't that. "You haven't been yourself since... I dunno, a while, anyway. Since space, I guess. And I'm not as stupid as you think, by the way. I can tell something's up."

Loki hesitated for a moment. For some reason he was kind of affected by that. Strange thought he thought he was stupid? Now, there were a lot of words Loki would use to describe Strange, but stupid wasn't one of them. Surely he didn't think so lowly of him. "I don't think you're stupid," he said, realising afterwards that it shouldn't have been the first thing he responded to. And then realising he didn't care. He removed his hand from his mouth and exhaled. "And the only thing that's up right now is this situation with Wanda. It's stressful, OK?"

Strange wasn't convinced. Loki didn't blame him. He didn't believe himself either.

Well... he wasn't lying. Not properly lying anyway. The main reason was just what was going on with Wanda. Strange didn't need to know the other reasons. They were private. Not to mention unimportant. "Strange, seriously. I get you're concerned about me. But don't be. We need to focus on this. Maybe I'll tell you after. But it's really not important."

Strange didn't look happy, but nodded. He turned to return to his hunched up position facing the window. "Alright. Tell me when you've decided."

"I've decided," Loki said, and Strange whipped back around in anticipation of his answer. Shit... he couldn't believe he was going to do this. "The question is, do you want me to wake Scott so he can listen in too?"