Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 144

"We'll keep looking, then." Steve's voice is faintly audible from down the hallway, and Loki glances at Bruce, an eyebrow raised. Bruce just shrugs in response. "He's gotta be somewhere, right? He couldn't have just dropped off the face of the planet."

The nosy side of Loki wants to stop and listen, and if he'd been alone, he might have. Unfortunately, he doesn't think Bruce would go for that, and, perhaps more importantly, Bruce would think he's very, very weird, so eavesdropping isn't going to happen right now. At least it's just Steve, though. If anybody is going to tell him what their private conversations are about, it's going to be Steve.

"Should we go somewhere else?" Bruce asks quietly.

"Of course not," Loki says. "Where else could I get ice cream?"

That settles it, and they head to the kitchen despite Steve's presence. It does kind of ruin the "catching up with Bruce" thing he'd had planned, but at least they're both his friends – and, more importantly, they're his best friends (his brother excluded, of course), because how can he complain about spending time with his two best friends?

Steve is on the phone when they arrive, which explains the silence that followed his statement. Loki's not entirely sure what proper Midgardian phone etiquette is but he's fairly certain interrupting him mid-conversation would go against it, so he's content to just go to the freezer and take some ice cream to go.

Steve seems to have other ideas, though, because he greets them with a polite, "Hey, guys."

Loki raises his hand in a small, silent wave, so as not to disrupt his phone call. Bruce gives him an equally silent nod of his head in acknowledgment.

It seems that doesn't work, because, after the briefest of pauses, Steve says to whoever's on the phone, "Yeah, it's Loki and Banner."

Loki raises an eyebrow. So, whoever he's talking to knows that Loki's here. To be honest, that doesn't narrow it down much, but the fact that he seems to talk to so few people does. If it's somebody who knows about Loki, it's presumably somebody Loki knows, too, and he has a feeling he can guess who that would be.

Loki cocks an eyebrow. "Sam Wilson?"

Steve nods once. "He says 'hi.'"

"I say 'hello' back," Loki replies.

"Me, too," Bruce adds.

Steve furrows his brows, eyeing Loki skeptically. "You do?"

Loki shrugs. "I like Sam Wilson," he says. Admittedly, he was somewhat skeptical of him when he showed up for Christmas with his baby nephew in tow, but his nonchalance and obvious disregard for Loki's admittedly problematic past was a nice surprise – and he was a decent babysitter while the Avengers fought Ultron, which solidified his spot on Loki's "people he doesn't dislike" list.

Steve blinks a few times, obviously taken aback, and says to Sam, "They both say 'hi' back."

Loki's not entirely sure saying "hi" back was proper Midgardian telephone etiquette, but nobody seems to think it's all that weird and Bruce did the same, so he'll call it a win.

"I'll talk to you later," Steve tells his friend. "Keep me updated."

There's a pause, presumably while Sam responds, and Steve hangs up, putting his phone face-down on the counter in front of him to give Loki and Bruce his full attention. "What are you two up to?"

"Eating ice cream," Loki replies. "Care to join us?"

Steve glances at Bruce, who must give some kind of silent response because Steve says, "Sure, if I'm not intruding."