Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 120

"Knock knock."

Steve looks at the doorway as Tony announces his presence, though he seems to be far more interested in the fridge than he is in his friend. Steve's glad. He doesn't want to talk to the guy, anyway.

Except Tony doesn't seem to get that memo.

"You heard from Loki yet?" he asks conversationally, opening the freezer for something to eat.

"What do you think?" Steve deadpans.

"Not yet, huh?" Tony pulls out a tub of ice cream — a very interesting breakfast, but it's hard to expect more from him. "He's probably still sleeping. I'm sure he'll come out for lunch."

Steve scoffs, staring at him incredulously "That's it?"

Tony blinks at that. "That's what?"

"That's all you have to say," Steve says in disbelief. "You let Wanda play around in his head, and that's all you have to say."

Tony waves that off. "He'll be fine." He grabs a spoon from the silverware drawer and sets it down on the counter.

"Tony!"

"What?" Tony says defensively. "He's a god. She's a teenager. He'll be fine."

Steve shakes his head to himself. "I can't believe you," he says. "What did you think was going to happen? You let her traumatize him and you get to come away all happy and smiley because you got your revenge?"

Tony rolls his eyes. "No, but thank you for telling me how little you think of me." He sits down across from Steve at the table. "I figured, look, we let Wanda in his head for a minute, she figures out what his deal is, and he takes the night off and bounces back in the morning. No 'trauma,' just solutions."

"Are you an idiot?" Steve demands.

"Okay, I get it," Tony says. "It didn't work. She doesn't know what his problem is. But he's had all night to get his shit together which is way longer than it took the rest of us, and he'll be fine."

"Tony!" Steve scoffs. "He's not like the rest of us!"

"Well, yeah, he's—"

"Do you even remember when I left for a week and I came back and you said he had a nightmare so bad that he destroyed half the floor?" Steve demands. "When he told you that someone was out to get him, and that death would be a mercy? Is any of this ringing a bell?"

Tony's mouth forms a silent oh.

"I don't know what she showed you, but it sure as hell wasn't my biggest fear that she showed me," Steve says. "And it still took me out for hours. And you think Loki — a god who's been through who-only-knows-what and sometimes looks like he's holding on by a thread — is going to just bounce back?"

Tony just sits there for a moment, spoon half-dug into his ice cream, as that registers. Finally, he drops his spoon on the table and stands up. "We fucked up."

Steve steps in front of him, blocking his exit before he can take it. "No, you fucked up," he says. "And now you're going to leave him alone. If he's going to talk to anyone, it's not going to be the guy who egged this on."

"I'm not sure that he knows that I—"

"That's not the point," Steve snaps. "You let her do this, and now we're back to square one with him. So stay out of his way, tell everyone else to stay out of his way, and let me see if I can salvage any of the progress we've made in the last three years."

Tony sighs, dropping his head. "Yes, sir," he mumbles.

Steve changes the subject — though, in reality, it's only changed from berating him about Loki to annoying him into doing something about it. "How's FRIDAY coming?"

"She's coming," Tony says. "Everything I've done to this tower in the last three years has been JARVIS-centric. I've been working on reconfiguring the—" He pauses. "You won't know what that means." He takes a deep breath, then tries again. "I'm working on hooking FRIDAY up. I was thinking probably by the end of the week, but I'm sure I can have her done quicker if you need me to."

"Then do it," Steve says. "Because if I can't get Loki to come out for lunch, I want FRIDAY's eyes and ears on that room."

Tony nods solemnly. "I'll see what I can do," he says.

"Good."

"Good luck," Tony says. "Do your best. And, um..." He shrugs. "Don't get strangled in the process."

"I find it's easy not to get strangled if you don't do stupid shit," Steve says darkly. "You should try it sometime."

~~~

It's a painfully long couple of hours later when Steve finally goes to check on Loki. He's spent most of his time debating whether it would be better to check on him sooner or if he should let the god have his space. Admittedly, he's still not fully sure, but what he does know is that Loki needs to eat, and that's as good a reason as any to check on him.

He tries to be as casual as possible when he knocks on the door. "Hey, Loki. Hungry?"

Usually, Loki's up and about by lunch, but this is far from the first time he's had to remind him of the time. Unfortunately, it is the first time in a while that he hasn't gotten an answer.

Steve knocks a little louder. "It's a little late to be sleeping," he says teasingly. He hopes the little bit of levity in his voice will help defuse the tension.

Silence.

Shit.

He knocks again. "You want to go grab a bite to eat?"

Again, there's no answer.

Steve's monologuing continues, if only because he doesn't know what else to do. "Tony and Bruce are in the lab, and Nat and Clint went out for a few days," he says. He leaves out the part that the latter two only left because Steve yelled at them until they didn't have much of a choice and that the former two are only in the lab because Steve told them they had to get FRIDAY up and running. "And Wanda and Pietro are eating in their room, so you don't have to worry about them. It's just you and me."

He has a little bit of hope with that one. It worked years ago, when Loki only knew Steve as the soldier that stopped him in Germany and the guy who bought him clean pants. After all they've been through since then, he'd like to think this will work again.

It doesn't.

He listens closely for some sign that Loki's listening. The squeak of the mattress, his footsteps on the floor; hell, even quiet snoring would make him feel better. But it's silent.

Steve sighs. "I'm sorry about Wanda," he says. "She shouldn't have done that. I've already told her and Pietro off for it, and they're going to stay out of your way. I told them I'd kick them back out on the street if they didn't." And then Tony vetoed that, but Steve doesn't mention that part. He's not above pissing them off until they feel like they have no choice but to leave. If they pull another stunt like this, he's going to make sure they don't stick around. If he had it his way, he'd send them away now.

"I really think you should come out and eat with me," Steve says. "I'll even let you pick the meal. Just don't make me eat alone, will you?" That last part is supposed to be a bit of a joke. He hopes it will lighten the mood at least a little bit. He doesn't think it works.

But then the bed squeaks, just a little bit, and Steve feels a glimmer of hope. He's dumb enough to think that Loki might actually be coming to eat with him. As the silence stretches on, reality sinks in. He's not opening his door at all.

But, because he at least knows now that Loki is in there and probably awake, he says, "If you really want to stay in your room, I can bring you something to eat. Just let me know what you want."

It's silent once more, and that's how Steve knows he has to give up. Loki's not coming out. He's not saying a damn thing. And right now, the most Steve can hope for is that he's at least going to eat whatever's set outside his room. As long as he keeps himself alive, Steve's not sure he can hope for much else right now.