Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 163

Everybody is gathered in the kitchen as they wait for their delicious cinnamon roll breakfast to come out of the oven. Most of them are using the time to chat and be merry, but Loki's busy trying to figure out how his phone works.

Steve is looking over his shoulder, instructing him about what to do — a perfect example of the blind leading the blind. The only thing that could be worse is Thor's help, though fortunately, he's rather distracted talking to Jane.

"So you hit my name..." Steve taps his own contact (and Tony was nice enough to put all the Avengers' phone numbers in before he gave it to him). "And then you hit the message button..." He does that. "And then you can type whatever you want."

Loki thinks for a few moments, then types, "Hello" in the text box.

"This is the send button." Steve taps the button beside the newly typed words, and they appear at the top of the screen in a little gray bubble. "And now I'm going to get that message on my phone." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and shows Loki his lock screen, where he has a notification from a random phone number – his, he'd assume. "And then I can text you back." He unlocks his phone and types, "Hi."

Loki looks down at his phone, and the "Hi" appears. "I assume that I would get that banner on my screen if I was not in the conversation? If I exit this... message... part of the device..." Is there a word for that? There has to be a word for that. "I would still be informed if somebody sent me a text."

"Yeah, no, you would," Steve says. "Here, hit the home button on the bottom."

Loki does that, and he's brought back to the screen with all of his apps.

A few seconds pass, and then a banner appears at the top of his screen.

Steve Rogers

"Hi again."

"And you can tap it and it brings you to the conversation," Steve tells him.

Loki taps the message, and, sure enough, he's brought right back to their conversation.

"You can send pictures, too," Steve says. "I'll show you how to use your camera."

"I don't expect to take any pictures," Loki says, a bit uncertain. "What would I want to take a picture of?" If he was still free to roam the Nine Realms, he's sure his camera would get a lot of use, but from the Compound? He has nothing to document.

"I don't know; anything," Steve says with a shrug. "The sunset. Snowflake. Whatever you want. Something'll happen that you'll want to take a picture of, trust me."

Loki's not fully convinced – he can see his cat and the sunset every day – but he'll go along with it just so he can say he knows how to use this camera. Maybe one day he will need it. Maybe one of the Avengers will do something embarrassing that he'll want to capture forever.

Steve shows him where the camera app is, and they aim the camera toward the doorway as they play around with it together. Loki learns to zoom in and out, to focus, to switch the camera around. He's really getting the hang of this.

Then a shape appears on his camera screen.

He raises his gaze to the doorway, and there she stands, a slight smile on her face as she meets his eye.

"Mother." Loki puts his phone down on the counter and crosses the room in an instant, engulfing her in a hug. It's been too long since she's come to visit. He hadn't realized how much he missed her until now.

"Hi, darling," she murmurs, hugging him close. "How are you doing?"

Loki hums quietly. "I'd rather be celebrating Yule," he admits. They might not have cinnamon rolls in Asgard, but that's been his home for so long, and he can't help but miss the holiday he used to celebrate this time of year.