Room AU

Chapter 02 - Curiosity

Loki is using a needle and thread to take in Fenrir's new, much too-large jeans. Fenrir finds a cigarette butt under the corner of the rug and Fenrir studies it. Thanos must have tracked it in on his boot the night before.

"Cheap piece of..." Loki growls, referring to the jeans. "Throw that away, please."

Fenrir sighs and tosses the butt into the trash, spotting their dead plant.

"Why Plant doesn't make flowers anymore?" Fenrir asks, staring at the dead leaves.

Loki shakes her head; the plant had stressed her out even more, so she quit watering it. Fenrir doesn't need to know this. So, she lies. "Maybe she's tired."

He nods and accepts this as an answer, and suddenly a burst of energy hits him, causing Fenrir to wiggle, squirm, twist, and bounce on the bed with intense boyish energy. Beside the bed he runs on the same spot at maximum speed. Loki is has given up for now on the pants and is making a sandwich cutting in in half to share with the boy who was still bouncing all over the room for breakfast. It isn't much, a single piece of bread with a small bit of peanut butter.

Later, Loki naps while Fenrir plays on the floor. Counting stains on the roof, tracing the patterns of Rug with his finger. His head pops up as he spots something moving. He stares at the floor near the stove.

Fenrir tiptoes over, but the moving thing is gone. He looks furtively at Ma and then takes the cake out of the fridge. He crumbles some and sets the plate on the floor. He squats and waits. Then, a mouse puts its nose out, sniffs and takes a crumb. Fenrir reaches out a hand but then something smashes into the stove: one of Ma's heavy books.

Fenrir cries out. "You made him gone! He was an alive thing, he was real!"

Loki begins to sweep up the crumbs.

"They'd steal our food," Loki responds as she crawls under the counter, finding the hole. She stuffs it quickly with aluminum foil. She curses herself for not seeing it earlier.

"Mouse can have my food, I'm not hungry."

"They'd bring in germs, bite us in the night."

"Mouse is my friend and you splatted him dead."

"No, I didn't, he's still alive. There is no need to worry," Loki stops plugging the hole, crawls out, and hugs Fenrir close to her. She hadn't meant to scare him, but if that mouse had bit him, she doesn't know if they could have gotten medicine quick enough.

"Are you just tricking me?"

"I swear he's safe at home with his Ma in the backyard."

"What backyard?" Fenrir asks, curiosity in his voice.

Loki stands realizing her slip and begins tidying instead of answering, picking up her book and placing it back with the others. She shoves the cake back into the fridge.

"Mouse lives in a yard in TV?"

Loki holds up the aluminum foil to distract him, "Let's make a UFO with this."

Fenrir grumbles, angry that she won't answer him and brings out the other grudge he's been nursing.

"Why didn't you tell Thanos it was my birthday?"

"Because he's not our friend."

"He said he'd bring me a present."

"You shouldn't hear what he - You're meant to be asleep."

"I never had a present."

"He didn't mean it."

"It might be Rocket my dog."