Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 140

Loki finishes what little bit of coffee remains in his borrowed Captain America mug, then rests it back on the coffee table (an aptly named object, he must admit) with a sigh. Would it be weird to make another cup of coffee? He's already had... three? Four, maybe? He hasn't really been counting.

Steve must misread his sigh, because he says, "If you don't like these movies, we don't have to watch them."

"Oh, no, the movies are fine," Loki says. "I'm enjoying them."

"Are you sure?" Steve asks skeptically. "'I know we've been watching for a while. If you're getting bored..."

Loki looks over at him. "Are you getting bored?" Because if Steve's getting bored, then he's more than happy to stop watching them. The Lord of the Rings movies are good, but not necessarily the type of thing he wants to binge all at once.

Steve shrugs. "I don't care. I'm good to take a break; I'm good to keep watching. Up to you."

Well, that's no help. Loki looks at his mug thoughtfully. Maybe they could call it quits and grab a snack, and he could use that as an excuse to make another cup of coffee. But there's always the possibility that the other Avengers are going to be in the kitchen, and he's not sure he can handle talking to anybody else right now.

So Loki shakes his head. "I think we should at least finish the movie. How long is left?"

"Uh..." Steve pauses the movie to check. "Almost two hours."

Loki scoffs. "And we've already been watching for an hour?"

"I think the other two were three hours, too," Steve tells him. "So if you don't want to watch nine hours of the same storyline in a row, we could..." He shrugs. "I don't know. We could get lunch."

"Is it lunchtime?" Loki asks. That would explain why he's hungry. Maybe it's time for more than just a snack.

"Well, we had breakfast a movie and a half ago, so probably," Steve says. He cranes his neck to look at the clock. "It's, like, 11:30. You wanna call it quits?"

Loki hesitates. They're doubtlessly not the only people thinking about having lunch right around now, so there's a good chance he'll have to talk to the other Avengers. That's... a little intimidating. He's only just come around to spending time with Steve, and even that was really only because he didn't want to sleep alone. He's not sure he's ready to talk to the other Avengers.

But he also doesn't want to wait a few hours until everybody's done trickling in and out for lunch, so, reluctantly, he says, "I suppose we could eat."

Steve turns the TV off, and they both stand up. Loki grabs his mug off the table — and a part of him feels like he should be much more embarrassed than he is about using a mug with Captain America's shield on it in front of Captain America. Steve hasn't mentioned it, and it's certainly not the first time that Loki's used his friend's Christmas gift from Tony for himself, so he's not too worried about it. He's not giving up this perfectly sized mug just because it has Steve's logo on it.

They head out of the room together, and they choose a good time to do so. There are two figures heading their way — two figures he's very excited to see.

Loki smiles. "Mother." He picks up the pace, and as soon as she's within an arm's reach, he envelopes her in a big hug. "You're back."

Frigga hugs him, too. "Hello, darling," she murmurs. "How are you doing?"

"I've been worse," he says quietly. "I've been better, too."

Frigga rubs his back soothingly before letting him go, though one hand still rests on his shoulder even as she steps away. "Do you like your new home? Thor's told me wonderful things about it."