Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 158

Loki and Lila do not end up watching Night at the Museum after dinner, only because the Avengers decide they'd rather have a movie night together. He's alright with that. He's even offered an invitation to join, which he obviously takes, mostly because he finds Lila adorable. It marks the first big group activity he's been a part of in months, and he finds himself kind of looking forward to it.

Loki walks behind everyone else as they head to the common room. Ordinarily, he'd spend the time talking to Thor, but he's still off in Asgard or wherever he goes when he's not in the compound, so it's a rather quiet walk for him.

That is, until Clint somewhat-subtly makes his way back to walk next to Loki. The god gives him a weird look, but he doesn't say anything about it. That's probably for the best, because then Clint speaks.

"Hey, I'm sorry about Lila," he says quietly. "She can be... really excitable."

"Oh, that's alright," Loki assures him. "I quite enjoyed our movie." With a small smile, he adds, "You're raising a wonderful young girl." It's a peace offering of sorts; extending an olive branch to the only Avenger he's never gotten along with. Things have been less tense with him recently. If there's ever been a time to broker a peace, it's now.

Clint returns his smile with one of his own. "I think that's Laura's influence," he says.

"I imagine having a superhero father has helped," Loki replies.

Clint huffs at that, like he doesn't quite buy it, but not enough to refute it.

It grows quiet, and Loki assumes that's the end of it. He's wrong.

"You're really good with her," Clint remarks. "I was impressed – and a little surprised, too."

Loki shrugs sheepishly. "I like children."

"Stark said that when I mentioned bringing them up here," Clint says. "I guess I just didn't expect... that."

Again, Loki shrugs. What else is there to say? He likes children.

"Especially because you didn't seem to like Sam's nephew," Clint adds.

"Oh, no, I don't like babies," Loki says. "I like children." Babies are just loud, messy little meat bricks. That's not his idea of good company in the least.

Clint furrows his brows, a look of confused amusement on his face. "Where's the cutoff between 'babies' and 'children'?"

"I don't know," Loki says. "I haven't the slightest idea how Midgardians age. It would be whenever they start to become fun."

Clint huffs a laugh. "Noted."

That's about the extent of their conversation – and by far the longest pleasant interaction they've ever had. Clint sneaks back up toward the front of the group with his family, and Loki remains in the back.

This common room is set up differently than the so-called man cave in the tower, but while there are more seats, there aren't enough for everyone now that the Bartons are here, so Loki claims a spot on the floor the way he usually does. He sits down cross-legged and turns his attention to the television, where Tony is, as usual, in charge of setting up the movie.

"You want to sit on the couch?" Clint asks him. "The kids can sit on the floor."

With a glance around the room, he realizes that there are, in fact, just enough seats for everyone but the kids to claim, but he still shakes his head. "I'm alright on the floor." It's where he always sits. At this point, it would be weird not to.

Lila lies down on the floor, too, propping her head up with pillows she stole from the couch. She gives Loki a smile, and he smiles back at her. She really is a cute kid. Clint got lucky with her.