Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 103

"You're alone," Tony remarks, eyeing Thor with a brow raised.

"Hallelujah," Clint mutters under his breath.

"Loki didn't want to come," Thor tells them.

"Why not?" Bruce asks. "He doesn't have any new books to read. He hates that new Taylor Swift album. What else does he have to do?"

"I do not know," Thor says. "I didn't ask."

"Is he okay?" Steve asks.

"He seems to be," Thor says. "I suspect he just dislikes your Wii device."

"Well, he does suck at it," Tony remarks, "so I guess I can't blame him."

"But he likes to sit and watch," Steve reminds him.

"Apparently not," Tony says with a shrug.

Steve frowns. That's weird. Loki likes game night — at least when game night consists entirely of Wii games. He always looks like he loves watching them battle it out over Super Mario Bros. Maybe he'll come out later. He's bound to get bored at some point, right?

He does his best to push thoughts of Loki out of his mind, and, for the most part, it works. He gets to try his hand at Super Mario Bros, and he does pretty good, if he does say so himself. He's been getting better at it. All of these game nights have been doing wonders for his technological skills — and the amount of time he's spent practicing helps, too.

But, unfortunately, there are six Avengers and only four remotes, so, roughly half an hour later, it's time to cycle through the players. Steve is, as always, the first two give up his remote, and Thor is very eager to take his place.

Steve sits back on the couch, relaxing for the first time since he picked up that remote. It's a stressful game. As fun as it is, he's glad to be done with it for now.

He still has another half-hour or so before the next switcheroo puts him back in the game, so he decides to go do something productive while the game continues: he's going to check on Loki.

He excuses himself under the guise of taking a bathroom break, an excuse hardly audible over Tony and Natasha's arguing anyway, and leaves them to have their fun.

It's eerily silent outside of Loki's room. Usually, he's greeted by the sound of Taylor Swift down the hallway or the quiet flipping of pages outside the door, but right now, it's silent, save the faint whistling of the wind.

Steve puts his hands on his hips, pressing his lips in a firm line. Does he even want to go in there? Maybe he's asleep. But wouldn't Thor have mentioned it when their game began that Loki was going to sleep?

Finally, Steve just decides to knock quietly. If he gets a response, great. If not, he can slip away unnoticed.

Though Steve's touch doesn't open the door, it opens itself a second or two later, and instantly, Steve is hit with a blast of cold air. Loki is sitting on his bed, gazing out the open window at the snowy city below. He doesn't look when the door opens, paying Steve no mind, though he must know he's here.

Steve just watches him for a few moments, waiting for some sign of acknowledgement, but it doesn't come. Finally, he just says, "Hey, we're missing you at game night."

"That's alright," Loki says, still looking out the window.

"Are you okay?" Steve asks.

"Of course."

Steve raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" As far as he knows, most people don't just stare out the window if they're okay.

Loki hums in response. After a pause, he says, "You can come in. There's no reason to stand in the doorway."