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Chapter Text

"The soldier. The man out of time."

Loki turned to face Steve Rogers, staring at him through the Helicarrier's rounded glass cage. His lips stretched into a disturbing caricature of a smile, and Steve tried desperately to keep himself from looking unnerved

"I must say that I had not expected you." Loki stated, gesturing toward him. "I thought perhaps the Spider, as a balm after whatever tortures your Director could concoct, but not you, the soldier." Loki bared his teeth once more. "Have you come to pledge allegiance to your future king?" he mocked.

Steve tried to keep the revulsion out of his expression, but judging by Loki's barked laugh, he failed.

"Ah," Loki smiled. "You do not think I would make a good king?"

"In my opinion, no earthly king is a good king." Steve replied flatly.

"Ah, but I am not from your precious Earth, but from the realm of the gods," Loki returned smugly.

"And how could a so-called 'god' like you ever hope to rule a race you do not understand? You have never walked a mile in a human's shoes. What would a spoiled alien prince like you know of pain, of hunger, of sacrifice, of living every day as though it were your last?" Steve raised his chin, staring Loki down.

Loki broke his gaze with a hollow laugh. "More than you might think. You would have to be very lucky to live a thousand years without experiencing all of those things, and "spoiled prince" I might be, but lucky I am not."

"Perhaps your problem isn't lack of luck but lack of character," Steve suggested flatly. 

"My dear Captain, I think I am sensing some hostility," Loki remarked, lips curling upward. "Your dislike seems almost personal."

"I don't like bullies." The statement was plain, simple even, but it was a big part of what made Steve who he was.

"Good for you." Loki replied. "Judging from your looks, I suspect you have not had to tolerate their presence often."

"My looks?" Steve's voice was laced with amusement.

"Oh, yes," Loki said bitterly. "Blond hair, blue eyes, six foot three, and capable of lifting, what, ten tons? You would fit right in on Asgard."

"And before I took the serum to gain this strength, I was just an anemic kid with asthma, rheumatic fever, heart palpitations, and poor vision, getting beaten up in just about every other alleyway in Brooklyn," Steve retorted.

Loki blinked, staring at Steve Rogers. "Well, I am allergic to nuts!" he shot back.

Steve gaped at him. "This isn't a competition, Loki." 

"Well, if it was, I would win." Loki sniffed.

Steve looked at him incredulously. "You really think," he said slowly, "that a nut allergy is worse than everything I've just said."

"You do not understand." Loki stated, lifting his chin. "No one else on Asgard was allergic to nuts. I was the only one. No one believed me. Thor's friends kept slipping peanuts into my stew and saying I was faking it when I went into anaphylactic shock. Once I forgot my antiallergy potion and stopped breathing on the way to the healing chambers! And yet they only stopped when I poisoned their stew to show them what it felt like."

"Okay, that is pretty bad," Steve admitted. "But it's no excuse for the way you've been acting. You could have chosen to be the bigger person and not follow in your bullies' footsteps."

"I am not following in their footsteps," Loki protested. "The fact that the Warriors Three visited Midgard just before me does in no way mean that I am following after them!"

"I feel like this conversation got sidetracked," Steve said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Nonsense. I said hello, you preached about having no earthly kings, and..." Loki scrunched his brow. "Perhaps we might have gotten a little sidetracked," he admitted. "Why did the Director send you, exactly?"

"Answer my question first," Steve replied. "Where is the Tesseract?"

Loki rolled his eyes and studied his nails. "No idea, I am afraid."

Steve sighed impatiently. "Look, Loki. You are not going anywhere, and this is your last chance to make a wise decision and give up your pointless, doomed campaign. We need that Tesseract back. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way."

Loki chuckled, his gaze turning distant. "Believe me, Captain. There is no easy way out. You could say I learned that the hard way."

Steve sighed once more and waited for Thor to arrive before opening the cage's door. Loki watched the proceedings with a frown, glaring at Thor as he pulled him out by the shoulder, holding Mjolnir threateningly.

"Where are you taking me?" he demanded.

The corner of Steve's mouth twitched upward. "To whatever tortures Director Fury can concoct," he replied wryly, and led the way to the interrogation room. Loki followed in silence.

***

After almost an hour of Director Fury standing threateningly above a seated Loki, while Steve and Thor hovered behind him, and Agent Romanov lurked in the corner, they had gotten precisely nowhere.

Loki sat looking quite smug despite Mjolnir resting on his foot, pinning him in place. Steve still had no idea how that hammer worked, but it seemed to be pretty effective-- unlike Director Fury's interrogation technique, which seemed to be shouting in Loki's unaffected face and throwing out threats Thor would never allow them to follow through on.

They were starting to delve into the topic of the scepter and Agent Barton when a glimmer of an idea began to grow in Steve's head.

"Loki, have you ever heard of the saying, 'An eye for an eye'?"

Everyone grew silent and looked to Steve in confusion.

Loki rolled his eyes. "If this is about that fellow in Germany--"

"Have you?" Steve interrupted. The others were still looking at him oddly, but this was the first time Loki had responded in a while, so they let him work as he saw fit.

Loki huffed. "I believe it had something to do with forgiveness and how without it the whole of Midgard would be blind, or some such nonsense."

Steve smiled. "I prefer to think that people would eventually learn to stop gouging out people's eyes in the first place. The way I see it, we have you, and we have the mind control scepter, or whatever it's called. Why shouldn't we return the favor and solve all our problems by doing to you what you did to Agent Barton?"

Silence.

Everyone in the room stared at him in shock, Loki included.

"I-- you insolent--" Loki spluttered, clearly trying to hide his fear. "Thor would never allow you to make me into a thrall!"

Thor begrudgingly acknowledged that fact with a nod.

"Perhaps, but I don't see why we couldn't experiment a little," Steve replied with a shrug. "The scepter seems to have power over minds. Perhaps we should skip this nasty interrogation business and use it to read your mind rather than control it." Steve waited for Loki to say that the scepter didn't work like that.

Instead, Loki paled. "You mortals would never be able to wield the scepter's power!" he finally spat. So the scepter could be used to read minds.

"I don't believe you." Steve replied flatly, and Loki paled even further. "If that was the case, you would have said so when I brought up mind control."

"That-- I-- " Loki stammered, eyes darting from face to face.

"Let's try it."

Everyone turned to Agent Romanov, who had been silent up until this point. Steve had almost forgotten she was there. She was staring at Loki with a knowing look in her eyes, a faint smirk starting to curl on her lips.

"I'll get the scepter." She looked to Director Fury, he gave her a hesitant nod, and she was quickly out the door.

Loki sat on his chair stunned, before looking to Thor in disbelief.

After a thoughtful pause, Thor said, "I will not protest this course of action."

And Loki threw his chair at Thor and proceeded to go feral.

Chapter Text

Loki was thrashing away from the scepter, eyes wide, face pale, but Romanoff was merciless as she drew closer, her face an emotionless mask. Mjolnir, placed on his boot, kept him in place no matter how he twisted and turned.

"As a test run, is there a memory of your brother's that we could try to bring up? An answer to something you don't know, but could tell whether it was real or not?" she asked Thor cooly, and Loki's gaze snapped toward him, venom practically dripping from his blue eyes as he all but dared his brother to reply.

Thor drew his lips in a firm line as he met his brother's hateful gaze. "Vanaheim," he replied softly after a moment of reflection. "He dumped a glass of wine over my head. I would like to know what set him off on that particular occasion."

Loki ceased his struggling long enough to stare at Thor in surprise before letting out a strange, bitter laugh and renewing his yanking at his trapped appendage.

"Thor, do you mind?" Natasha nodded toward Loki, who gave her an affronted look.

Thor, however, just sighed and stomped over to Loki, securing his arms after a short scuffle. "This would not be necessary if you would simply tell us of your norns-cursed plans of conquest."

Loki merely pressed his lips in a thin line, though he quickly broke his self imposed silence as Romanoff drew ever nearer.

"Keep that away from me, you foolish, reckless mortal!" His voice jumped an octave. "You have no idea what you are messing with--"

Romanoff pressed the scepter to his head, and the room was bathed in blue light.

***

Steve Rogers blinked as the light faded, looking around to see the room had completely changed from the interrogation room, with its bare walls and single table and chair, to a ornate bedroom.

He searched for a sign of who lived there and quickly noted the lack of personalization. Perhaps it was a guest room? Abruptly, he remembered his companions and looked about himself for them, but they were nowhere to be found.

A knock sounded, and Steve whirled around to face the door, only to pivot back around when he heard a familiar voice yell, "Come in." He watched, aghast, as Thor came bounding out of the walk-in closet, a grin on his face, which Steve was surprised to find looking very youthful, as though he were still a teenager.

"Thor?" Steve whispered, but he paid Steve no mind, eyes seemingly seeing straight through him to the door.

"Loki!" Thor bellowed, and Steve's attention snapped back toward the door. His jaw dropped as he saw a raven haired boy who couldn't have been more than thirteen hesitantly coming through the door.

"Hurry on in here," Thor continued cheerfully, grabbing him by the shoulder and tugging him inside. "I require your advice, brother"

"Thor," Loki said, and Steve was surprised to find him nervously chewing his lower lip. Was this the spoiled, arrogant, wanna be conquerer of Earth? "Father sent me to check in on you. Why are you not yet dressed? We are going to be late." He wrung his hands worriedly.

"Do not fret brother. It is just a feast. Ragnarok will not come just because we are not on time for some Vanir festival," Thor replied carelessly, and Steve frowned disapprovingly at his nonchalance.

Loki seemed to share his disapproval. "Just a feast? Some Vanir festival? Did you not listen at all to our tutors? To Father?"

Loki huffed as Thor turned his back on him and disappeared once more into the closet. That did not deter him from continuing on with his rant, however. "This "festival" as you call it, is in fact a very important ball in honor of Vanaheim's queen, a celebration integral to Vanir culture, one that is only held after every ten centuries of successful rule--"

"Yes, yes, I heard the first few hundred times," Thor interrupted with an eye roll as he reappeared. "Which of these do you think looks better on me?" He held up two crimson garments, differing only in embroidery.

Loki just stared at him, seemingly speechless in horror.

"At first I thought the one with the gold embroidery," Thor continued, "but the silver--"

"Thor! Everyone is to wear orange in honor of the queen!" Loki shouted with a panicked gesture to his own clothes, which, Steve noticed, were indeed orange.

"Ah, so I should wear the red with the gold embroidery. That is close enough to orange, is it not?" Thor replied with a grin.

"No, it is not!" Loki yelped, diving into Thor' closet and reappearing with an orange garment. "See! You were also given orange attire to wear! Is it so hard to just do as you're told?" Steve snorted at the irony of a statement like that coming from Loki's mouth.

"That is easy for you to say!" Thor protested. "You look great in orange, whereas I look hideous!"

"You do not look hideous!" Loki denied, though he looked pleased at Thor's offhanded compliment. "But what you will look is stupid if you show up in anything other than orange." He shoved the clothes at Thor insistently.

Thor sighed. "I would rather stand out as a handsome idiot than appear a hideous follower," he grumbled, but took the proffered clothes. As he frowned down at them, Steve thought he saw a lightbulb go off in his head, though Loki seemed unaware, still waiting on him with a relieved smile.

"You know," Thor said slowly, "I was going to escort Lady Sif into the Ball, but there is no way I will make it in time. However, I do not see why she or you should be made late on my account. Would you mind escorting her in my stead?"

Loki looked to Steve as though Christmas had come early. "I suppose, if you insist--" he began inching toward the door.

"Oh, I do," Thor replied with a smile, and that was all it took for Loki to go running for the door. He hesitated once there, looking back at Thor with a shadow of his former worry, mouth opening, but then he shook the shadow away and continued happily out the door.

As the door slammed behind him, a brilliant flash of blue filled Steve's eyes once more.

***

This time, Steve was before an ornate doorway, Loki fidgeting excitedly beside him. He smiled with amusement as Loki took a deep breath, seemingly steeling himself, before knocking on the door.

A lovely young lady with a beautiful head of blonde curls answered the door, and both Steve and Loki winced at the immediate obvious disappointment at the sight of the younger prince.

"What is it, Loki?" Lady Sif said with a sigh. "Where is your brother?"

Loki flashed her a nervous smile. "Thor is going to be late, I am afraid. You know how he loves to make an entrance. He sent me to escort you in his stead." He held out an arm.

Lady Sif instead patted him on the head, reminding Steve of the way one would pat a dog. "That is kind of you, but I do know of Thor's tardy habits, and Fandral has already asked to be my backup escort in the case of Thor's failing to come through. I will see you at the Ball!" She gave him a little wave and slammed the door.

Loki lowered his arm, and his kicked-puppy look had Steve feeling sorry for him. Loki turned away dejectedly, and the scene was swallowed up in blue light.

***

Dancing, radiant couples with pointy ears spun across the marble floor under shining candelabras. Men (or are they elves, Steve wondered) in sharp uniforms strolled from one group of party goers to another, laden with trays stacked high with wine glasses. Steve was disconcerted to see people walk straight through him on their merry way.

Tables overflowing with appetizers were set in the corners of the overwhelmingly vast room, which was filled with laughter, joy.... and orange. Lots and lots of orange. Orange gowns, orange tunics covered in orange leather, orange slippers and boots, orange tablecloths, orange napkins, and even orange silverware.

Though in this case I suppose it would be orange orangeware, Steve mused, eyes searching the celebration until he spied Loki hovering anxiously beside an old, regal man with an orange eye patch. Steve moved closer, eavesdropping on their conversation.

"--Father," Loki was saying in an imploring tone, and Steve studied the man with renewed interest. This was the so-called Allfather of the Nine Realms?

"I am sorry Thor is late, but I am sure he will be here any--Damn."

Both Steve and the Allfather followed Loki's horrified gaze to the entrance of the Ballroom, where Thor was strutting through the doors. Dressed in red and silver and sticking out like a sore thumb.

Steve groaned, feeling a deep secondhand embarrassment, and then turned back to catch the Allfather's reaction. All he saw were Loki and and his father's backs as the Allfather led Loki from the Ballroom, a firm grip on his shoulder.

Steve hurried after them. The Allfather expression seemed perfectly cheerful as he nodded to the people he passed, and Loki, after glancing upward fearfully, tried miserably to imitate him.

Unexpectedly, everything began to shake, blue mist starting to creep into the edges of Steve's vision.

ENOUGH!!! Loki's snarling voice suddenly rang out in Steve's mind. STOP! You insolent mortals! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! HOW DARE--

Abruptly, the blue mist retreated, taking the furious voice with it, and the scene settled back down. Steve bit his lip, feeling guilty, but his curiosity won out, and he continued to follow the royal pair.

The Allfather led them to an empty side room, and closed the door gently behind them.

"Father--" Loki began, and the Allfather whirled around to face him, shocking Steve with the sheer fury on his face.

"You had one job, Loki!" His father roared. "Just the one! Ensure your brother was presentable for the feast. And yet here he is, the laughingstock of the Nine Realms--"

"I tried!" Loki protested, anger beginning to take over his features. "I told him he had to wear orange, and he assented and sent me away!"

Loki seemed to throw all caution to the wind. "He is the one you should be yelling at, not me! I am sick and tired of taking the blame for his mistakes. I am not his older brother, and I am not his nursemaid! It is not my fault you dropped him on the head as a baby--"

"Enough!"

The sound of a fist striking flesh rang out, and Loki stared to the side, eyes wide, as a bruise began to bloom on his cheek. Steve took a step forward, hands clenched into fists.

"Enough shirking responsibility and whining like a child!" The Allfather continued, spittle flying into Loki's turned face. "How can you ever even dream of being king with this insolent behavior? You would be useless even as an advisor to Thor, as you cannot even convince him in his choice of dress!"

A little of his former rebellion came back to Loki at that remark, and he met his father's gaze. "Surely, that speaks badly on Thor's part! What kind of king would he be if he cannot take even the simplest of advice--"

"Know your place, obstinate boy!" The Allfather raged, wrapping his hands about Loki's throat and slamming him against the wall. "How dare you lecture me on Thor's worthiness! You are a vain, greedy, conniving brat, ungrateful of the family you have been given!"

Steve tried to pull the Allfather off of the boy, but it was no use, his hands going straight through them. He could only watch as Loki's face quickly turned purple, his fingers clawing at his throat, while his father leaned in to spew more vitriol.

"Why must you be a leech on this family? Whining and complaining, acting as if you have no responsibility to be useful to your kin! Do you think you are entitled to be useless? Lazy? Looking after only your own interests?"

Odin finally threw Loki aside, and he lay gasping on the floor.

"I expect better of you, Loki." And Steve was sickened by the way he managed to sound almost fond as he said it.

The Allfather sighed and walked toward the door, leaving his son trembling on the floor. "Make yourself presentable, and in the meantime, stay out of my sight until you are ready to behave yourself."

"Yes, Father," Loki said dully as the door closed, picking himself off the floor. With a gesture of his hands, as though brushing himself off, green shimmers of light ran across his body and clothes, hiding the bruises and general dishevelment.

Steve followed him, heart heavy with sympathy, as he left the crime scene and re-entered the Ballroom, taking care to steer clear of his father.

As Loki weaved through the crowd, seemingly aimed for the exit, he was abruptly accosted by his brother.

"Loki! Is not this party marvelous!" Thor proclaimed, gesturing around himself. "You were right! This is much more glamorous than "just a feast"! Though I must say, I believe I was right about the red and silver! Already I have gotten several compliments!" Steve facepalmed. "Here, I have acquired us some drinks! You must try this wine, it is most delicious!" Thor shoved a glass of wine into Loki's hands with a grin.

Loki stared into Thor's beaming face and then at the deep red wine in his crystal glass. Steve could hardly blame him when he dumped it into Thor's face.

Thor gaped at Loki, drips of red rolling down his face, as several nearby people turned to stare as well. As the wine ran down Thor's face, the blood slowly drained from Loki's and his eyes turned wide with horror.

"Did I do that?" he whispered, and Steve followed his quick glance to his father's face. The Allfather did not look pleased.

Thor broke into laughter, abruptly pasting a bright smile across his face. He wiped some wine off his face with his finger and gave it a taste.

"Good one, brother!" he proclaimed with another laugh, throwing his arm round his brother's shoulder, and Loki nervously chuckled along. Thor drained his glass of wine with a single gulp, took Loki's empty glass from his numb fingers, and, raising both of them high, shouted, "Another!" and smashed the glasses on the marble floor.

Steve looked around, wide eyed, and to his surprise the onlookers had all shared amused smiles and gone back to their celebrating, several of them murmuring, "Asgardians!" in exasperated and mirthful tones.

Loki slowly relaxed into his brother's embrace, his smile becoming more sincere. Steve glanced toward the Allfather and saw he was gazing at Thor with a fond, approving smile, which quickly vanished in a final flash of blue light.

Chapter Text

"Well. At least we know it works."

Agent Romanov's wry voice literally sounded from out of the blue. Steve blinked the last glimmers of the scepter's glow out of his eyes and reacquainted himself with reality.

The interrogation room seemed extraordinarily bland and drab compared to the orange-tinted memory of Vanaheim. A chair lay mangled on the floor. The table sat in the middle of the room as the solitary piece of furniture. Unless you counted Thor's hammer, which continued to sit on Loki's black leather boots.

Loki. He sat slumped over Mjolnir, face downturned, hidden in his crossed arms. His posture stated that he was in no mood for human interaction.

"Did everyone else see all of that?" Steve blurted out.

"It seems the scepter projected the memories into everyone's minds. At least, everyone who is in the interrogation room," Agent Romanov answered very matter-of-factly. "Not intentional on my part, but on the bright side it will save time getting everyone up to speed."

She was still holding the scepter, but had stepped away from Loki, keeping the table as a barrier between them.

Steve winced, looking down to see how Loki had taken that, but it seemed Loki had reinstated his silent treatment. Steve honestly couldn't blame him. He had several memories of his own he wouldn't be exactly ecstatic to have shared to the class.

Steve glanced over to Director Fury, who had pressed a hand against the table, steadying himself. Steve thought he saw a bit of unsettlement in his otherwise emotionless face.

Steve looked to his side and met Thor's gaze. He had released Loki, allowing him to drop to the floor, and was now standing a few feet away, arms crossed and lips pressed into a thin line.

"Lovely old man you've got ruling the 'golden realm'," Steve couldn't help but sarcastically point out. "A real outstanding example of the joys of tyranny."

"You will not speak ill of the Allfather," Thor growled. "Everything he does is for a reason."

Steve blinked. Was Thor being serious? Steve eyed him and realized that what he had taken earlier for anger on his brother's behalf, had actually been an unhappy resignation. The regret in Thor's eyes was not for his father's behavior, but rather for how Thor had inadvertently dragged it into the spotlight.

Steve felt a deep disappointment in humanity, or rather just in sentient people in general. He had the sinking feeling that the reason Thor was not shocked by his father's behavior was that he had seen it in action many times before, perhaps even directed at himself.

"Sure," Steve said, his light tone belying his boiling vexation. "And clearly sometimes the reason he does certain things is that he is a complete heel."

Thor let out an angry, frustrated sigh. "You have no idea what it takes to be the Ruler and Protector of the Nine Realms--"

"Perhaps, but I know what it takes to be a complete and utter heel," Steve retorted. "And let me tell you, he checks every single box--"

"You--"

"Enough!" Director Fury interrupted, though from his sudden grimace he quickly regretted his choice of words. "We are not here to discuss ancient alien space god drama. We're here to settle the current and rather urgent alien space god drama, namely your alien brother trying to portal his alien army into my planet. And to stop him from doing that, we need the Tesseract."

He paused to take a deep breath. "So. We now know the Scepter works. Let's use it to get what we brought it in for." With that said, he gestured for Thor to hold down his brother again.

Thor frowned, clearly not thrilled to be bossed around by mortals, but started forward nonetheless.

As he reached for Loki's shoulder, Loki spun around, somehow conjuring a knife from his already searched boots. Loki's face looked crazed, every tooth bared, nostrils flared,and his eyes-- His eyes were impossibly wide and gleaming an unnatural blue. From them, branching out across his skin, were what looked like glowing blue veins.

It was then, with young Loki's face fresh in his mind, that Steve noticed how sharp Loki's cheekbones were, how hollow the cheeks underneath them looked. Loki's lips, stretched grotesquely around his teeth, were chapped, and the bags under his eyes were bruised a deep purple.

Had he looked this sickly before without me noticing? Steve wondered. Or was the scepter damaging him?

Thor leaped away from Loki, barely escaping with just a thin cut across his cheek. Any slower and he could have lost an eye.

"Keep that thing away from me!" Loki hissed, holding the knife out threateningly at Thor. "I refuse to have my mind played with any longer--"

A blast of light slammed into Loki from behind, sending him smacking into floor, dagger clattering away. The foot still trapped by Mjolnir was the only thing that kept him from flying across the room.

"You should have thought about that before you played with Agent Barton's mind," Agent Romanov said coldly, holding the scepter in her hands. "It appears this thing is remarkably intuitive. Act out again, and we'll see what it decides I want to happen to you next."

Loki slowly raised his hands up in surrender, pure hatred shining out of his gleaming blue eyes.

"Stay down," Romanov barked when Loki began to sit up, and he begrudgingly stayed put.

Steve felt guilty as she walked forward to place the scepter against Loki's head. When he had suggested using the scepter, he had been trying to avoid painful interrogation methods, not trying to introduce a brand new one.

The guilt deepened as a few tears slipped out of Loki's eyes, though from his expression Steve did suspect they were mostly tears of helpless rage.

"You should not try to fight the scepter like last time, Loki. This need not be more painful then it already is." Thor told Loki, holding the corner of his cape against his bleeding cheek.

More painful than it already is? Steve thought. If Thor knew it would be painful why did he not say?

"You sound more and more like Odin every day," Loki spat, eyes leaving the scepter for barely a second before snapping back to it, filled with anger and fearful anticipation. "Your father would be proud."

Thor's reply was cut off as Romanov pressed the scepter against Loki's head and asked, "Where is the Tesseract?"

***

A flash of blue light.

For a second, the interrogation room was replaced by a glimpse of Loki handing the Tesseract to Dr. Selvig.

A flash of blue light.

***

Steve was back in the interrogation room, looking down into Loki's grinning face.

"I told you, Odinson. I've sent it off, I know not where."

His demented cackling filled the room.

Agent Romanov's lips pressed into a thin line, and she pressed the scepter against Loki's head again, cutting off his laughter.

"Perhaps a better question," she mused. "What are your plans with the Tesseract?"

Loki's eyes widened. "No!" His voice was filled with anger and panic. "You--"

A sea of blue swallowed up his protests.

***

Steve was standing on a rocky astroid watching as a limp body plummeted from a black tear in a star-filled sky.

Beside him, a hulking purple figure grinned, watching the body slam into the asteroid and splatter across the barren rocks with an eerie satisfaction.

The scepter's blue flashed like lightning, illuminating the scene one moment, and then vanishing with it the next.

***

Steve glanced around the giant cage he found himself in. Aliens of many different shapes, sizes and colors were chained against the stone walls. A mountain of miscellaneous weapons, covered in sharp, glistening edges, sat in the center of the area. Through the dome of thick, interlacing metal overhead, Steve caught a glimpse of shining stars... and was that another planet?

Steve looked to his left and nearly jumped out of his skin. There was Loki, meer inches away from him, and looking a far cry away from the broken, crumpled body that had smashed itself against the asteroid. He stood chained against the wall, limbs no longer crooked and bent, bruises and scars nowhere to be found. His face was still deathly pale, however, and there was an empty look in his eyes.

"Hear me, and rejoice!"

A sinister voice rang out throughout the arena, echoing off the walls, but with no visible origin.

"You have had the privilege of being saved by the great Titan. You may think this is suffering… no! It is salvation."

Steve shivered, though Loki seemed unaffected, staring upward unflinchingly at the few patches of sky visible.

"Yet you must prove yourself worthy to serve your savior. Half of you will be welcomed with open arms, and half of you will give your lives to the great and noble cause. The choice is yours which half you will be."

The chains fell away from their captives, freeing them from the walls.

Immediately, one raced toward the weapons pile, and soon more followed. The arena quickly became a blood bath. The ones that arrived first rapidly started chopping away with axes, swords, clubs...

Loki hadn't moved an inch.

Soon, a tall, greyish, blood splattered alien came running toward him with an axe, eyes crazed. It swung the axe above its head, readying for a chop...

And Loki's eyes suddenly snapped into focus, and, just like that, he came to life.

With a quick throat chop and an aggressive bit of maneuvering, Loki gained possession of the axe. And he did not hold back. Soon, he was nothing more than another one of the bloodthirsty killing machines painting the floor of the arena red.

As the butchery continued, the voice from before rang out once again.

"The universal scales tip toward balance because of your sacrifice. Smile, for even in death, you have become children of Thanos!"

Chapter Text

Steve reappeared in a large, alien-crammed city square beside Loki and the purple giant from before.

The alien, who Steve had a hunch was the formerly mentioned Thanos, was clad in blue and gold armor, and wielded a double-bladed sword that was easily twice Loki's size.

Loki and Thanos were standing silently, staring out at the thousands of people packed against each other by gray reptilian aliens armed with spears. The unarmed civilians were separated into two groups and were increasingly protesting their confinement.

Loud, bloodcurdling war cries sounded as a group of brave souls fought their way past their guards, and then, somewhat less bravely, took a run for the hills.

Thanos simply looked at Loki, and a message was conveyed.

Loki, his eyes gleaming with a strange, almost desperate passion, held his hands out at his sides. There was a flash of green light, and daggers fell into his waiting hands.

With movements so fast Steve could barely follow them, Loki hurled the daggers into the fleeing civilians, summoning and releasing them one after another.

He came to an abrupt halt, watching, breathing heavily, as the poor souls twitched and writhed in agony on the cobblestones, daggers buried deep into their flesh.

Steve watched as Loki's eyes flicked down to meet those of a dying young woman's, and what seemed like a flicker of regret or guilt appeared in his eyes. It was quickly drowned out in fear when Thanos finally spoke.

"Left or right?"

Loki licked his lips nervously. "Left or right handed?"

Thanos just looked at him dispassionately.

"I am ambidextrous," Loki stated with a shaky smile.

"Wrong answer. One is always favored over the other," Thanos replied, eyes cold. "Choose one, or I will take them both."

Loki paled quickly. "You speak the truth, as always. I did favor one over the other, once. Among the Jotnar and the Vanir it is common to favor one's left hand, whereas among the Aesir it is unheard of."

"Because I had a Vanir tutor, my, ah, difference went unnoticed for much of my childhood, until before all of Asgard, I went to shake a Vanir ambassador's hand.

"It is Aesir custom, though I knew not at the time, to force the lesser races to use their less dominant hand. The ambassador expected that and went with his right. I went with my left. He switched to his left just as I switched to my right. It sounds amusing, but the aftermath was not."

"My Vanir tutor was dismissed. My new Aesir one was to rid me of my flaw by any means necessary. He had me hold a burning coal in my hand while writing out Aesir rules of etiquette. When I was finally let go, I reached for the door with my still raw left hand, enraging my tutor.

"When I arrived the next day, he had a set of magic suppressing bands he locked onto my arms to suppress my healing abilities. I wore them, and an arm sling, for the next year, my tutor insisting I naturally heal the bones he broke so that I would learn to depend upon my right hand.

And so now, I am ambidextrous."

Perhaps he might win the past trauma competition after all, Steve thought dazedly.

His eyes fell on Loki's left hand, which he was absentmindedly rubbing with his right. Steve imagined it being broken, and the younger Loki's pain-filled face flashed through his mind.

"Your false father was a fool, as was the tutor he hired." Steve's eyes snapped back to Thanos, who wore a contemplative expression. "He made you weaker than you already were. I would have removed your right arm and replaced it with something stronger than your left."

Loki gulped, and now his left hand clutched his right.

Thanos' expression turned cold. "That brings us back to my question. Left or right? Choose which you would spare now, or both will be sacrificed."

Steve and Loki both shared identical looks of horror. Steve's mind was whirling in confusion. Loki's arms had looked fine. Was that an illusion? Was one of them a fake?

"Left," Loki said, his voice shaky and faint.

Thanos turned away from Loki and toward the city square, raising a meaty left arm high in the air.

Steve could only watch in dismay as the armed aliens turned their spears on the civilians on the right, shooting blasts of energy out of the ends, killing men, women, and children.

Steve took a step forward, helpless to stop the massacre, feeling as though his heart was being torn apart as he saw fathers try futilely to shield their children with their own bodies. As he saw mothers fall, their babies still in their arms.

He turned, and in a fit of frustrated anger, slammed his fists through Thanos' torso. It was pointless, but it felt better than doing nothing. Slowly, Steve's attacks petered out, and he turned to see how Loki could just stand there and watch.

Loki had his arms held close to his chest, relief and horror warring for center stage in his eyes. Then slowly, before Steve's eyes, both feelings seemed to draw back, leaving behind an expressionless mask.

Steve had never been so happy to see the blue glow of the scepter as it washed over the scene.

***

The blue glow was still present in the next memory, lighting up an otherwise dark throne room. It gleamed off of Loki's armor as he knelt before the throne. It gleamed in Thanos' blue eyes, and on the massive hand the scepter was held in.

"I give you the Tesseract in exchange for Midgard?" Loki's voice sounded as though Steve had appeared mid-conversation.

"Correct."

Thanos sat there, perfectly calm, as though he had not brought about the massacre of thousands of innocents.

Steve had heard there was no rest for the wicked, but in moments like these, he doubted. Oftentimes it seemed as though the truly pure and good people never knew a moments peace, constantly trying to take responsibility for things out of their control, constantly wondering how they could have done better.

The wicked, on the other hand, just seemed to delight in fantasizing on all the ways they could have done worse.

Steve watched as Loki seemed to steel himself, raising his chin, and he was abruptly reminded of young Loki standing up to Odin.

"Very well," Loki stated calmly, "but I want all of Midgard. Not just half of it."

Thanos' hand tightened on the scepter. "The balance must be kept. Once I have gathered the stones none shall be safe. It will not be personal. Chance will dictate who lives or dies."

Loki, though fear flashed across his expressionless facade, did not back down.

"What are the lives of such mortal creatures to beings like you and I?" he asked. "They die in droves every day, born already but a century from their graves.

"I know you find beauty in chance, fairness in the roll of the die. But the die did not come into existence purely by chance, but by design, with set sides to roll. What are the chances of half of all life suddenly dying? You seek out the infinity stones and create the chance. The die is of your design. I only ask that you do not save a side on it for my future kingdom."

There was a moment of tense silence, and then Thanos smiled. "I see why they call you silver-tongued. Very well. The Tesseract for Midgard. All of Midgard."

Steve felt conflicted. On the one hand, massacring half of humanity did not seem to be acceptable to Loki, which was good to know. On the other hand, that was pretty much the least one could possibly ask for in a king, and on the other hand (and the aliens in Loki's memories had confirmed that three-handed people were not actually unrealistic), half of humanity being massacred or not, there was no way Steve was going to let Loki give Thanos that Tesseract, or become King of Midgard, for that matter.

Loki started to smile, further stoking Steve's annoyance toward him, but the smile quickly faded at Thanos' next words.

"Before you return to your... chambers," Thanos said, still wearing that twisted smirk, "I think I will... reinforce the terms of our agreement, and... refresh in your mind why you who were the rightful king of Asgard must now seek a throne."

Thanos stood up, scepter in hand, and the scepter's glow burned Steve's eyes with its brilliance.

As his eyes were squeezed shut, he thought he heard Loki's voice saying, "We will need a power source strong and stable enough to keep the portal open for the invasion. Luckily, I know of one hiding in plain sight, and it is the perfect symbol to claim as my own--" But the voice ceased, and the blazing blue died down.

When Steve opened his eyes, he was back in the interrogation room.

Chapter Text

"Why did it stop?" Romanov questioned angrily. "Those surely weren't the only plans you made concerning the Tesseract."

Steve stared at Loki, who was lying limply on the floor, glowing blue eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. The glowing blue veins had spread all across his face and had started creeping down his neck.

At the sound of Romanov's voice, his eyes flicked towards her briefly, a murderous gleam appearing in his eyes.

Steve shuddered as he remembered Loki tearing through people with an ax, acting much more like the would-be conquerer of Earth than from the memory before that.

However, Loki seemed too drain to attempt such violence. The gleam of murder faded from his eyes, and he went back to staring unseeingly at the ceiling.

Romanov stood above him, the Scepter held tightly in her hands, tip still resting against Loki's forehead. Her lips were pressed in a thin line.

"What are the rest of your plans for the Tesseract?" she growled.

The Scepter glowed briefly, strengthening the glow of Loki's eyes and sending blue creeping into the corners of Steve's vision, but then the glow faded, leaving them all none the wiser.

"Enough!" Thor shouted (and what was it with Asgardians and constantly using that word?). "It is no use. The Scepter uses Loki's mental energy to recreate past memories. Alas, his mental energy has become too drained for the Scepter to work its magic without causing damage to his mind."

Thor looked down at his brother, sorrow and something suspiciously like hope clouding his eyes. "Brother, I am glad you would have Midgard's people spared for my sake, but you must think of the rest of the galaxy, of Asgard. You must forsake this bargain you have made with the Mad Titan. Together, with Asgard and Midgard's aid, we can defeat him once and for all, as our father attempted to do before us!"

Loki slowly blinked and, without turning his head, perhaps afraid to cut himself on the Scepter, he glanced over and met Thor's eyes. His own were filled with poisonous malice.

"First off," Loki began, his voice a harsh whisper. "I would not spare the mortals for your sake, but my own. Mortals are rebellious enough when they are happy. It would hardly be much fun to attempt to rule over a population furious and in mourning over the death of half of everyone they held dear.

"Second off, why should I forsake this bargain, give up the promise of a kingdom filled with potential, if not much else, and in doing so, enrage the most powerful being in the galaxy? And for what? Why should I think of Asgard when its king took me in only to use me and lie to me, when its prince THREW ME INTO THE VOID!" By the end, his whisper had turned into a hateful scream.

"I see you would blame me and Asgard for your every mistake, for your every misfortune and poor choice," Thor replied coldly. "But I refuse for you to take your misdirected anger out on Midgard."

"Well, unfortunately for you, you do not have a say in the matter," Loki spat. "I will conquer Midgard, and you and your precious mortal woman will have no choice but to be my subjects, for without the Tesseract there will be no running away from my rule!"

"How dare you!?" Thor lunged for Loki, causing Romanov to quickly back away with the Scepter. Steve spurred into action as he saw Thor yank Loki off the ground like a limp rag doll, Mjolnir flying into his hand, and slam him against the wall, holding Loki a foot off the ground by his neck.

"Let him down, Thor," Steve commanded sternly, striding over and grasping his arm.

Thor met his eyes, and Steve could see the helpless fury shining out of them. He tried to project calm and peace, and it seemed to work, as Thor's gaze softened. It was then, of course, that Loki had to add his two cents.

"Yes, be a good boy and let me down, hm?" Loki choked out, which of course only made Thor tighten his grip more. Loki's eyes widened and he quickly wheezed, "If you let me down nice and easy, I will let you and your mortal woman be a part of my council!"

Thor blinked, letting Loki down and slightly lowering Mjolnir, though his hand remained around Loki's throat. "Truly?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Of course not. Council members are elected, and you are not even Midgardian! Perhaps I would consider selecting you both as my advisors. Let us see how you like your advice being constantly ignored!"

"I told you I was sorry about refusing to wear orange," Thor said with a scowl.

"No, you did not!" Loki shot back.

"You really didn't," Steve noted, and Thor shot him a glare, shaking his arm off his shoulder.

"Quit your squabbling!" Director Fury barked. "This is a waste of time. Take Loki back to his cell until he is ready to be questioned again. Agent Romanov, get that Scepter back to Banner and Stark."

Loki gave Thor an infuriating smirk as he and Steve led Loki back to his cell, and Steve wondered uneasily what it could mean. Was it simply false bravado, or was being in that cell all part of his mysterious plan?

***

"So you're telling there's some giant purple alien whose big dream is to use the Tesseract to end half of all life in the universe?" Stark crossed his arms. "This is great, just great."

Steve tried not to roll his eyes. He wasn't exactly enthused about it either, but the way Stark seemed to make it all about him, as though Thanos had set out on his quest just to make Stark's life harder, irked him. Stark wasn't one of the people who had to watch thousands get massacred, unlike Steve, yet here he was acting all personally offended.

"Thanos would not be able achieve that with just the Tesseract," Thor broke in. "He would have to first gather all six infinity stones, sources of power similar to the Tesseract, which are scattered across the universe. However, with the Tesseract and its ability to create portals through space, his mission of gathering the stones would be made much easier."

"So, as long as we keep your brother from creating a portal with the Tesseract, Thanos can't reach Earth?" Director Fury asked, his brow furrowed.

"Thanos sent my brother to do his dirty work due to Loki's unique skills in world walking," Thor stated. "I am sure Thanos would not dare show his face in the Nine Realms, even by proxy, if it were not for the Bifrost's destruction. Once Asgard has the Tesseract, rebuilding it will go much quicker, and Thanos will not dare threaten Midgard."

"Wait, since when is Asgard getting the Tesseract?" Director Fury demanded.

"Do we really want to be in charge of keeping it from Thanos?" Stark asked, raising his eyebrows.

"He has a point," Steve admitted. His eyes grew hard. "Also, perhaps it would be better in Asgard, where there will be no temptation to use it to create weapons."

"Now he has a point." Stark smirked as Director Fury glared at them both for calling him out.

"That is true," Thor nodded. "The Allfather never uses ancient relics for selfish purposes. We simply put them in the Vault, as trophies showcasing Asgard's might."

"Fine!" Director Fury spat. "Asgard gets the Tesseract, so long as it makes sure Thanos doesn't get it and it takes its psycho prince back with it."

"Do not worry," Thor said grimly. "Asgard will ensure Loki never plagues Midgard with his presence again."

Steve looked down at the floor. On the one hand, he didn't want the ax-wielding maniac anywhere close to Earth's citizens. On the other, he didn't enjoy the idea of sending Loki back to Odin, the fist-throwing maniac.

"Thanos clearly used the Scepter on Loki," Steve reluctantly reminded everyone. "Though it doesn't seem as though Thanos is controlling him, Loki could still be acting this way due to its influence. We should at least offer Loki one more chance to cease and desist."

Everyone gave him identical looks of incredulity, before Stark laughed and replied, "Sure, I'll offer him a glass of milk and tell him that if he doesn't stop being a bad boy we'll have to put him in time out. I'm sure that'll do the trick."

As if Loki was responding to Stark's mockery, the room promptly exploded.

***

Steve stared at the bloody Captain America card lying on the table. Stained red with Coulson's blood. Why hadn't he signed it?

He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, feeling the weight of another loss on his shoulders. He had barely known the man, but his death felt like the beginning of a new round of failures on this side of the ice.

"He killed Coulson?"

Steve looked up and tensed as he saw Agent Barton walk in, bow and arrows on his back. His eyes lacked their former blue glow however.

"Agent Barton. Agent Romanov tells me you're back with us," Director Fury stated, giving him a discerning look.

"Good to be back," Barton replied sharply. "Will be even better when I put an arrow in Loki's eye socket."

Steve winced at the gory mental image that statement produced.

Director Fury smiled grimly. "What was that you said, Cap? An eye for an eye? Loki took out my best eye, so by all means go for his, Agent Barton. In fact, I have a suggestion."

Agent Barton raised an eyebrow.

"Put some peanut butter on your arrowheads," Director Fury said, eyes cold. "I hear he's allergic."

***

"The real question is where Loki is opening that portal." Romanov scowled, as she took a seat beside Steve, Stark, and Barton. Director Fury stood before them all, his gaze feeling to Steve almost as demanding as the sight of Coulson's bloodstained cards. "We can't fight Loki if we can't find him. It's a pity we never saw any relevant plans of his for the Tesseract."

"Well, we do know that Loki said he needed a power source strong and stable enough for the portal, and that he knew of one hiding in plain sight that was a perfect symbol to claim as his own, whatever that means," Steve pointed out, only for everyone to stare at him in confusion.

"When did he say that?" Romanov finally asked.

"At the end of the memory of Thanos? Right before we got out of his head," Steve prompted, surprised no one was remembering.

"I didn't hear that." Romanov threw an uncertain look at Director Fury, who shook his head in agreement. "You must have lingered in his head longer than us or something," Romanov said at last with a frown. "Can you repeat--"

"No need," Stark interrupted, and he wore an expression Steve had never before seen on his face, one of utter fury. "I know exactly where he's opening that portal."

Chapter Text

"Well, if it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

Steve stared at Loki in disbelief. He was in the act of trying to crawl out of a small crater in the middle of the floor of Stark Tower. Bruises adorned his face, his armour was noticeably scuffed, but what surprised Steve the most was the tranquility of his expression. Where before Loki had been oozing hatred and rage, he now had an almost affable tilt to his tone.

So much for no rest for the wicked, Steve thought wryly.

"Sorry, no take backsies in my kingdom" Stark snarked back, wagging his finger at Loki. Did Stark really offer Loki a glass of milk? Steve wondered. 

"I thought you said there was no throne here?" Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Not for you anyway," Stark quipped. "We just nuked your allies into Valhalla, or wherever you space aliens go. You failed."

"Yes, very sad." Loki, still sitting laid back on the floor, lowered his head and gave the most performative sad face Steve had ever seen, which he quickly dropped. "Anyways... which one of you gents is going to give me a hand up?"

Thor growled and stalked forward, lifting Loki up roughly by his neck and dragging him out onto the balcony. Steve and the rest of the Avengers quickly followed after him in equal parts confusion and amusement.

Thor abruptly halted at the edge of the balcony, a firm hold on the back of Loki's neck, and Steve noted how Loki looked at the drop with a bit of uneasy apprehension, as though he thought Thor might shove him off it.

Thor turned to Stark. "Where is this shawarma place you spoke of?" he asked curtly, and listened impassively as Stark hesitantly gave him directions. 

"Loki and I will await you there," he stated firmly, starting to swing Mjolnir in quick circles. 

"Wait--" Steve began, but Loki let out a startled yelp as Thor threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and then they were gone.

The Avengers stood in silence and watched the receding figures for a moment, and then Stark said, "Well, you heard the guy. Let's go get some shawarma."

***

When Steve and the others made it to the shawarma place, Steve was stunned by the sight he arrived to.

"Where did you even get that from?" he asked, failing to keep the amusement from his voice.

"The owner suggested it," Thor replied, pausing in his act of duct taping Loki to the restaurant sign post. "Do you not think it, along with Mjolnir," -he gestured to the hammer once again resting on Loki's boot- "sufficiently strong restraint?"

"I think it will do," Steve replied, struggling to keep a straight face. The other avengers went on into the restaurant, laughing jovially, Barton most of all. Loki gave Steve a long-suffering look of exasperation as Thor renewed his duct taping efforts. After Thor had wrapped it around Loki a few more times, Steve felt he ought to intervene. "It's perhaps a bit overkill, though."

Thor paused, took a step back to admire his handiwork, and at last, with a curt nod, ended his long string of tape. "Now that my brother has been taken care of, let us feast to our victory," he said, causing Loki to scowl, though the scowl looked more tired than angry.

"Not your brother!" Loki interjected. "And not taken care of! Last I checked, starving one's prisoners is generally considered a war crime--"

Thor broke off a piece of tape and placed it over Loki's mouth. 

Steve didn't even bother addressing the hypocrisy of that statement, coming from someone who tried to blow up an elderly man for refusing to kneel. At last, Steve and Thor joined the others for their 'victory feast' as Thor would put it.

***

Watching Thor tape up Loki had been amusing. Helping Thor untape Loki was even more so.

After several minutes of lighthearted struggle with the clingy mess, Thor finally peeled away the piece covering Loki's mouth, which they had wisely saved for last.

"Ow," Loki deadpanned.

"You just got hulk smashed, and yet duct tape is too much for you?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Have you ever stubbed your toe?" Loki asked in reply.

"Point taken," Steve conceded.

"You need not fear the duct tape any longer, brother," Thor began, causing Loki to pull a face, "while my companions and I feasted, Father saw fit to expend enough dark energy to send proper restraints and a device to harness the Tesseract's power and bring us home."

"Oh joy!" Loki said sarcastically as Thor clapped the shackles on his wrists. "Magic suppressing shackles. These bring back all the warm memories."

"Enough of your self pity, Loki," Thor reprimanded. "Save it for your sentencing. But before we return to Asgard, Director Fury would have words with you."

Steve waited for more childish words of complaint, but Loki just sighed and allowed his brother to drag him along.

***

"You want me to do what?!"

Loki stared at Director Fury, a look of shocked scorn on his face.

"The last time we settled for a simple search, you almost slashed your brother's eye out with a smuggled in dagger. We aren't falling for that again. You will change, or be changed."

"...Do you at least have something in green?" Loki asked, eyeing the proffered clothing with thinly veiled disgust.

"But you look great in orange, remember?" Steve joked, but Loki looked as though he had been slapped, and Steve felt a stab of guilt.

Thor, with a chuckle, did something to the shackles that caused them to separate and sit snugly around Loki's wrists just under his sleeves, Steve assumed so that he would be able to undress himself.

Loki silently stood motionless for a moment, then said haltingly, "Surely you do not expect me to undress myself?"

Director Fury let out an exasperated sigh. "Do we have to go through this again? Change or be changed."

Loki glanced down at his shackles. "Usually I use magic to change out of my armor. At least since my valet died," he admitted in an oddly abashed tone.

"Yes, we are aware you are a privileged little prince," Director Fury growled. "What, are you threatening to tell your Alldaddy on me?"

Thor looked irritated by his words, but Loki just cringed 

"Wait," Steve blurted, a revelation dawning. "Loki, do you not know how to take off your armor?"

Thor and Director Fury both gaped at Loki, who turned beet red and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Of course I know how to take my own armor off... theoretically." The last word was muttered so quietly Steve barely caught it. Loki tugged at his arm vambraces. "How hard can it be? It just might... take a bit." He started examining them, obviously trying to be subtle in figuring out how to take them off.

"Loki, I told you that you relied too much on your magic and that valet of yours," Thor remonstrated, and Loki's lips tightened into a thin white line as he frustratedly shook his left vambrace. "Here," Thor said, reaching for it. "Just let me--"

"I can do it myself!" Loki burst out. "Just give me a second, Norns damn it!"

Thor slowly took back his outstretched arm and watched, wincing, as his brother struggled on.

"You've got to be kidding me," Director Fury groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Our entire planet was threatened by a guy who can't even untie his own shoelaces."

"Ha ha," Loki said flatly. "Shirts have laces, shoes have buckles. I am not a clueless moron!"

"Clearly," Director Fury muttered, with an eye roll. "Thor.. do you mind?" He gestured toward Loki.

"No, I do not need help!" Loki protested, taking a step back. Thor ignored his protests and started forward. He removed Loki's shoulder pieces with practiced ease and then grabbed his arm roughly and began to remove the vambraces. Loki, his shoulders stiff with indignation, tried to pull his arms away, making his brother's job all the harder. 

Thor was having none of it. He held up a hand, and Mjolnir leapt into it. "Loki, that is enough. Cease your childish squirming at once," he demanded, holding the hammer up threateningly.

Loki stopped his childish squirming.

Dropping his hammer, Thor returned to his task, quickly stripping away every layer of Loki's getup and stacking each battered piece in a neat pile on the floor. 

"Loki's armor will be returned to him before our return to Asgard," Thor mentioned offhandedly as he peeled off Loki's sweat stained undershirt, and Director Fury and Steve were too shocked by what the shirt's removal had revealed to argue.

Loki was ridiculously thin, practically emaciated. His ribs were protruding grotesquely under his skin, and his hip bones jutted out from his waist to a sickening degree. Most of his back was bruised purple and black, no doubt due to the prior Hulk smashing.

Loki glared at all three of their staring, horrified faces, quickly taking the orange scrubs Steve was holding and throwing them on. Once more clothed, he crossed his arms and returned their stares defiantly.

Director Fury at last cleared his throat. "Your allies forgot to feed you?" he asked quietly.

Loki acted unaffected, but his arms tightened around himself. "They offered," he replied cooly, "after I had proven myself useful. However, what they offered I felt I could not in good conscience partake in." A queasy expression crossed his face, and no one questioned him further in that matter.

"Take him to the interrogation room," Director Fury told Thor and Steve, his voice grim. "I will join you there presently."

Steve and Thor led Loki to the interrogation room in silence. The image of Loki's starved body kept flashing through Steve's mind, along with Loki's words. When exactly had Loki proved himself useful enough to be offered food? After he had slaughtered his way to safety in the arena? After he had chosen which half of an innocent crowd would be spared? After he had agreed to invade Midgard?

Last I checked, starving one's prisoners is generally considered a war crime... Loki's words echoed through Steve's head. Words that before had only increased his irritation toward Loki now took on a darker turn. 

Steve and Thor sat Loki down, Thor securing Loki with Mjolnir as an added precaution, and then stood behind him on either side. Finally, Director Fury entered the room.

He held a paper bag and a cup in his hands, and, striding over, he placed them in front of Loki and took a seat across from him. "I got you a present," he remarked wryly.

Loki blinked, staring at the simple paper bag. "Is it a bomb?"

"What?" Director Fury's flabbergasted look drew a startled laugh from Steve. "No, it's not a bomb," Director Fury stated flatly.

Loki's brow scrunched up. "Is it a kitten?"

Steve tried to smother his laughter to no avail. Loki's random answers were giving him whiplash.

"Just open it!" Director Fury barked. "Honestly, why on earth would I give you a kitten?"

Loki hesitantly opened the bag and drew out a hamburger, which he unwrapped with some hesitation, releasing the heavenly smell into the air. He lifted the top bun curiously, causing Steve to smile, and then he put it back down and looked Director Fury in the eye. 

"Thank you," Loki stated softly, and Steve's heart ached when he saw tears gathering in Loki's eyes. He went to take a bite, and then paused. "Definitely not a kitten," he remarked, and Steve felt queasy at the slightly uncertain undertone.

"I wouldn't give you a kitten I didn't like," Director Fury replied with an eye roll, and at last Loki took a bite. Steve watched, a pit in his stomach, as Loki chewed, eyes squeezed shut, tears squeezing from the corners of his eyes and running down his cheeks. After the first slow bite, he abruptly started to scarf down the hamburger like he was afraid it was going to disappear.

"You were wise not to give him a kitten, Director Fury," Thor remarked in a teasing tone. "Especially considering what happened to his last kitten."

Uh, oh, Steve thought as Loki paused in the act of unwrapping a second hamburger to glare at Thor, and Steve realized that this was the first time he had seen that particular look of malice in Loki's eyes since he had been smashed into Stark Tower's floor.

"YOU happened, Thor!" Loki yelled. "YOU'RE the reason my kitten died." Perhaps the malice is justified, Steve noted mentally.

"You fed Trickster the Midgardian chocolate Father gifted you even though I told you not to," Loki continued angrily. "I told you chocolate was poison to cats, but did you listen? No, because you never--" 

"I told you, over and over, Trickster did not die from chocolate!" Thor interrupted. "Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun played pass with her, even after I told them you would not approve, and Volstagg fumbled up his catch! Blame me for not being more strict with them if you wish, but do not blame me for feeding Trickster chocolate, because it did not kill her. Volstagg's poor catching skills did!"

Steve and Director Fury listened with eyes wide. Loki took an aggressive bite out of his hamburger, looking as though he wished he could bite off Thor's head.

"Despite my protests, the Warriors Three played pass with Trickster and dropped her on several occasions with her being none the worse off," Loki said, pointing his hamburger at Thor accusingly. "You expect me to believe that the one day she failed to land on her feet was the day you fed her chocolate... but that it was just a coincidence? Because of you, she was too weakened from chocolate poison to walk it off!"

"You're being ridiculous, Loki," Thor huffed. "There is no way a little chocolate could hurt a cat. Do you not agree, Captain?"

Steve blinked as Thor turned to him. "Um, sorry Thor. I'm pretty sure chocolate is poison to cats."

"Ha!" Loki gloated at Thor, pompously lifting his glass and taking a sip. Steve watched curiously as Loki stared down at it in confusion before slowly taking another sip.

"Your Midgardian milk is very different from what we have on Asgard," he remarked between sips.

"Oh, really?" Director Fury raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, it is much richer," he replied with a nod, and took another large gulp.

"That's probably because it's almond milk," Director Fury stated with an evil smile.

Steve gasped as Loki spat out his mouthful directly into Director Fury's smirking face.

"I am allergic to nuts!" Loki shrieked, clutching at his throat. His face was completely drained off blood.

Steve stared at Director Fury, horrified. Had he really--

"Don't worry, it's just eggnog." Director Fury pulled out a black handkerchief, wiping the white droplets off his face.

Loki paused in his panicking, slowly lowering his hands from his throat. "Eggnog?" he asked, eyes still wide with worry.

"In May?" Steve felt compelled to add.

"Yes, eggnog," Director Fury huffed. "Cream with sugar, eggs, and nutmeg--"

Loki let out a terrified shriek and flung his cup at Director Fury's head, missing him by barely an inch.

Steve groaned and facepalmed.

Chapter Text

"Loki, you need to calm down."

"That is easy for you to say! You are not about to die!"

Steve gently pulled Loki's hands away, keeping them from continuing to claw at Loki's throat. Loki was gasping as though he had been plugged into ice cold water. His eyes were ringed with white and darted about the room

"You're not about to die," Steve stated calmly, and Loki turned toward him sharply, face stricken with betrayal. 

"I am not lying!" he screamed. "I really am allergic--"

"Loki, calm yourself," Thor rumbled. "You are allergic to peanuts, not this nut of meg--"

"How many times do I have to tell you I am allergic to all nuts, Thor?!" Loki said shrilly, his voice jumping two octaves. "Perhaps I cannot know for certain as I have not tried them all, but after ten near-death experiences one begins to notice a pattern!" 

Steve noticed Loki was teetering toward hyperventilation once again and said what he should have started with. "Nutmeg is a seed, not a nut."

Loki paused mid-gasp to stare at Steve. "Truly?" he asked, his voice full of fragile hope.

Steve nodded, and Loki let out a deep breath and slumped onto the table, resting his head on his arms. Thor began to lecture him on how his unjustified reactions were precisely why everyone had a hard time believing his allergies weren't made up. Loki determinedly ignored him.

Steve frowned at Director Fury, who was watching the scene with an amused smile. "You think this is funny?" Steve asked, his disapproval plain.

Director Fury looked at Steve, his expression flat. "I think Loki got a little taste of what Agent Coulson felt, before he died. I can't say I'm sorry. Especially as I have a hunch Loki would say the same."

"Why should I be sorry?" Loki raised his head and glared defiantly around the room, tears still drying on his cheeks. Everyone went completely still, eyeing him silently, their stares cold and judging. "The way I see it, he came off better than I in that exchange."

"You killed him," Director Fury hissed, all joviality wiped from his face.

"Yes, and no doubt he is feasting happily in Valhalla this very moment, as a reward for dying in defense of his nation," Loki returned in a dreary monotone. "Whereas no doubt very soon I will be publicly shamed and executed, followed by a miserable eternity in Hel, where I was predistined to end up from birth no matter my actions."

Steve frowned, noticing how Thor looked away uncomfortably at Loki's final statement. "Why, exactly, are you predestined to go to Hel?" he questioned, his eyes narrowed.

Loki huffed as though in irritation, but Steve could tell his heart was not in it. "Thor told you I was adopted, did he not?"

"So what? All adopted kids go to Hel?" Director Fury asked impatiently. At the look Loki shot him, he barked out, "Don't roll your eyes at me! You say you're predestined for Hel, and when asked why, you say you're adopted. What conclusion are we supposed to draw?!"

Loki crossed his arms. "The reason is not just that I am adopted. Obviously." He glanced disdainfully at a bristling Director. "The reason is that I was adopted from a race of monsters, a plague upon the World Tree." He glanced over at Thor, who didn't meet his eyes. "The Frost Giants."

Steve frowned as Loki continued on with a sneer, a bit of hatred starting to come back to life in his eyes. Only, Steve saw it for what it truly was: self-hatred. 

"Every child on Asgard is taught of the Frost Giants, of how they are the eternal enemies of Asgard, each one fated to be the villain in the hero's story."

Loki's voice was calm, even, as though he was reciting poetry. 

"They are all destined to die an inglorious death and spend out their afterlife on the cold, dark slopes of Helheim. Their sole purpose is to prove as effective and terrible a nemesis as possible, thereby guaranteeing themselves a more impressive status in the social hierarchy of Hel."

Loki finished abruptly, ending the stream of words with the same mechanical precision of one turning off a faucet.

Steve let the silence linger, uncertain of how to break it. Where would one even start with addressing all of that? Thor, however, quickly provided the answer: don't address it at all.

"Do you truly believe that you are destined for an inglorious death, that Father will undoubtedly sentence you to death?" Thor looked conflicted, staring down avoidantly at his hands.

"You know what they say." Loki's lips tugged upwards in a mirthless smile. "Those who live by the axe, die by the axe."

"You sound strangely calm for someone who was just recently panicking at the erroneous belief that you were dying," Director Fury noted drily. He appeared unaffected, but Steve could tell Loki's religious monologue had unnerved him.

Loki frowned, looking contemplative. "I suppose," he said slowly, "that after centuries of being terrified of suffering a humiliating death from allergies, centuries of believing myself Aesir and thinking that from one thoughtless crunch I could lose my chance of getting into Valhalla through dying in combat... after all that, I may have developed a bit of an adverse automatic reaction. Execution, on the other hand..." 

He raised the corners of his lips in a poor imitation of a smile. "Knowing what I do now, it does not seem so terrible an end. My afterlife hardly depends upon it, and it is not nearly as humiliating an end as my lifelong fear of being defeated by a nut." His voice was emotionless, almost matter-of-fact.

"You are speaking of your parents, people who have loved you since your infancy, being forced to put you down like a mad dog!" Thor burst out. "Do you not even care?"

Loki stared at Thor, eyes devoid of all light or warmth. "Before, the meer thought of them infuriated me, drove me mad with rage. Perhaps that was the Scepter's influence. Now, I feel nothing. I just wonder why I expected anything from anyone in the first place after being consistently let down."

Thor opened his mouth to protest, but he was cut off by Steve's abrupt sigh. "Loki, you invaded my home, kidnapped and mentally enslaved people, brought an alien army into a populated area, resulting in hundreds of innocents dead," Steve paused, wondering if that was a hint of remorse in Loki's downturned eyes, "and yet, I can't help but feel sympathy toward you."

"I do not want your pity," Loki said flatly.

"Well, you don't always get what you want," Steve replied. "In fact, you rarely seem to, which is part of why I pity you. You were dealt a poor hand, and you played it poorly. I understand why you did so. It sounds like you had some really hypocritical, lying parents as role models. However, that doesn't--"

"I think you forgot a hypocritical, backstabbing brother," Loki interjected.

"Backstabbing?!" Thor yelled. "You stabbed me in the back just this afternoon!"

"It was more your side," Loki corrected, "and it was the least you deserved after you threw me from a shattered bridge into an abyss." 

Thor's hands clenched into fists, knuckles turning white. "You and your imagined slights."

"Imagined slights?" Loki repeated, hands also clenching into fists. "Imagined slights?!"

"Alright, both of you settle down," Steve said sharply. "Thor, don't just dismiss your brother's grievances. His reactions have been way out of proportion, but they have an origin. Loki, enough with the metaphors. If you want Thor to apologize for the harm he has done, the least you can do is be specific about what said harm was."

"I am not speaking in metaphors!" Loki protested. "Two years or so ago, Thor threw me off a shattered bridge, also known as the Bifrost, into an abyss, also known as the unstable wormhole that brought me straight to Thanos. I would never have even invaded Midgard had Thor not tried to kill me!"

Silence. Steve stared at Thor, who was gaping like a fish, complete and utter confusion in his eyes. Loki was also staring at Thor, brow furrowed, his condemning expression turning more and more unsure.

"...Is this true, Thor?" Steve asked hesitantly. "Did you try to kill him?"

"No," Thor replied firmly. "Loki, I know not why you would accuse me of this. I did not throw you into the abyss. We both fell. Father caught hold of my ankle, I caught hold of one end of Gungnir, and you clung from the other, over the abyss. You and Father exchanged words, and then..." Pain flashed across Thor's face. "You let go."

Loki scanned Thor's face in silence for a moment, and then he slowly began shaking his head. "No. I know what I remember. You told me that you would never stomach having a filthy Jotun beast as King of Asgard, nor as a member of your family, and then you threw me in..."

Thor shook his head, eyes wide. "I did not even know of your heritage until when we learned of your survival, of your preparing to invade Midgard. I have not known of it more than a month, most certainly not two years."

Loki stared at Thor, lips parted in shock. "That cannot be true." He looked down at the table and started to pull at his hair, causing Steve to wince. "You knew. You knew all along. Mother and-- Your parents let you in on the hoax, and you were constantly mocking me for my ignorance... You were all too happy to toss me aside--"

"That is a lie, Brother!" Thor cried, his voice thick with passion. He hurried forward, and Director Fury moved so that he could take the chair across from Loki. Gently, Thor removed Loki's fingers from his hair and made Loki meet his eyes. Thor looked as though he was trying to prove his innocence simply by the power of the earnestness in his gaze. "A cruel lie, and I know not how you could have come to believe it. I have never called you a monster, and I never will. You are my brother, and I have never called you otherwise, nor will I."

Loki examined Thor's face like it was a scroll that held the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. "You are a terrible liar," he whispered. "Yet I sense no lie. Therefore, I must believe you are telling the truth, even if it goes against my very memories." 

Loki's eyes abruptly filled with tears, and he hid his face in his hands. "You did not throw me off the Bifrost?" he asked, his voice tremulous and muffled. 

"No, I did not." Thor's answer came, confident and sure.

"You did not call me a filthy Jotun monster who had no place posing as a son of Odin?" Loki asked, face still hidden in his hands.

"Never," Thor replied, placing a hand on Loki's shoulder.

"When we were boys, you did not say you wished the Allfather had left me to die where my birth father had abandoned me?" 

"What? No!" Thor exclaimed. "Loki, that does not even make sense. How could I taunt you about your heritage when we were boys, when both of us knew not of it until recently?"

Loki let out a shaky exhale, lowering his hands from his tear-stained face. "You are right. I see that now," he said hollowly. "The memories I have, of you taunting me for my heritage as children, of me discovering the truth on Jotunheim, of you throwing me into the Bifrost... they each feel so real, so true... but viewed objectively, together they make no sense."

He frowned, absentmindedly tracing a pattern out on the table top, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. "I knew not of my heritage until Jotunheim, so you could not have used it to taunt me as children. So in our childhood, you and your friends could not have set me on fire with oil from the palace lamps for being a filthy Jotun."

"...Well, we did do that, but we were just pretending you were a Jotun spy as part of a game," Thor admitted, and Steve and Director Fury both started, eyes widening in horror. Thor had the decency to look ashamed.

Loki squinted at Thor suspiciously. "So it was all just pretend? You did not actually light me on fire, the way I remember it?" 

"No, we did do that." Thor grimaced. "But we put you out very quickly," he continued on hurriedly, "and you got us back with your alterations to Hide and Seek, remember?"

"Oh, yes," Loki replied, a genuine smile appearing on his lips for the first time since... Steve didn't know when, "I remember. I changed it to Hide and Stab. Without informing you all beforehand, naturally."

"Naturally," Thor said, returning Loki's smile.

"You guys are insane," Steve muttered, rubbing his forehead, and the brothers both broke out into laughter, prompting a groan from Director Fury.

"So, you guys got it all sorted out?" Steve questioned cautiously as the chuckles died down. "Thor didn't call you a monster and throw you off the Bifrost. Thanos used the Scepter to mess with your memories. You guys can stop hating each other now?"

Loki looked to Thor, mirth quickly dying, leaving behind the depressed Loki of old. "You did not call me a monster before, and you say you never will, but I am born of the Frost Giants, and they... we are monsters. You know this. I know this. We both know my nature is corrupt, that there is no place for me in Valhalla. There is nothing for me in Asgard but the executioner's block, or, if Odin is feeling exceptionally cruel, a cell for me to rot away in for the next several thousand years. You say you do not hate me, but that is simply habit and sentiment. Once you come to terms with the truth, you will see that the Nine Realms are better off without me, without all of us."

Loki's last words echoed hollowly in the room, in Steve's head. He was at a loss when it came to aliens and religion, but he did know one thing. Raising a child to consider themselves damned and the devil... that was not anywhere near the realm of good. 

"Loki," Thor began, unsure but trying nonetheless, "I think that what we know of the Jotnar must be wrong. They must not be monsters. This must be a case of prejudice, like the Aesir have toward the Midgardians. We consider them weak and primitive, but I have come to see that they are strong, in ideals if not in body, and ingenious, even with such short lifespans to experience the universe. 

"Perhaps the distance between Jotunheim and Asgard after the war turned Jotuns into false caricatures of evil. Perhaps they do go to Valhalla, or have some other great feasting hall the valiant go to after a glorious death. Surely they don't all go to Helheim."

Steve smiled, feeling a bit of pride in his home. It seemed that it had managed to instill some open-mindedness into Asgard's heir, even in such little time.

"Why not?" Loki replied sharply, eyes narrowing. "I do not just get my belief in their inherent evil from old tales and bedtime stories. I have seen evidence of their twisted ways with my own eyes. You have as well. Remember the disguised Jotun builder we hired to build a wall for Asgard's golden city, how we caught him secretly carving runes of death and destruction into the stones? Remember the Jotun who was kidnapping innocent children in the market place and selling them as slaves in distant realms? Remember the pack of Frost Giants we discovered were accosting and killing townsfolk in cold blood, in that Vanir forest, the one the poor souls still fear to enter?" 

"Just because some, or even many Jotnar commit terrible deeds, does not mean that all are bad. I am sure there are good and evil people from all the realms," Thor replied stubbornly.

"You do not hear of the Aesir commiting such atrocities." Loki paused, anguish crossing his face. "Except me. Raised by the Aesir I was, yet as Odin would always say, blood will out."

Thor winced. "I am sure he was not thinking of you when he said it."

"That makes one of us," Loki replied, and Steve felt inclined to agree. Who just says that in front of their adopted child?

"Your parents lied to you," Steve pointed out. "Asgardian children deliberately preyed on your allergies. Your Asgardian tutor broke your arm. Doesn't that show you that even some Aesir are inclined toward evil, just like some Jotnar, just like some Midgardians?" 

"Perhaps," Loki acknowledged, and Steve felt hopeful. Perhaps they were getting through to him! However his hopes were dashed when Loki added, "or perhaps they could sense the wickedness in me and felt compelled to punish it."

"Loki," Thor said gravely, "even though I was born Aesir, I have had Aesir tutors that have been senselessly cruel to me too, in the name of preparing me for the throne. Surely this means that one is not born good in one realm and evil in another, but one is good or evil by choice."

Steve saw hope come to life in Loki's eyes, but then, just as quickly, it died. 

"If I am not a monster because I am Jotun," Loki stated blandly, "then I am a monster for trying to wipe out all the Jotnar. Either way I am a monster."

Chapter Text

"You did what?"

Steve and Director Fury waited with bated breath for Loki's answer to Steve's query, but Loki's face had become completely closed off, like a door slammed shut... and locked for good measure. 

Loki didn't even bother to meet their eyes, instead turning his full attention to digging another hamburger out of the paper bag sitting before him. He started to unwrap it slowly, yet precisely, with the same sacred anticipation one might unroll an ancient manuscript with.

When Thor realized that no answer from Loki was forthcoming, he took it upon himself to explain the grim details. "Loki weaponized the Bifrost by leaving it open on Jotunheim, threatening the entire realm with being wiped off the World Tree."

Steve felt sick. It was bad enough fighting off an alien invasion. He couldn't imagine not having anything to fight off, unable to do anything but just stand there and watch as his entire world was destroyed.

He felt the same sick feeling he had felt when he had learned of what had happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He knew people had viewed it as a necessary evil. Earth had advanced so much that the necessary evil of killing another human had grown into wiping out cities.

He wondered if it would ever advance so much that they started viewing wiping out planets in the same light.

"Why?" Steve asked Loki, his voice hoarse. "You couldn't stand being a Frost Giant so much that you tried to kill them all?"

Loki looked up, meeting Steve's emotion-filled eyes with his own empty ones, then looked back down and took a nonchalant bite out of his burger.

"Asgard and Jotunheim were at war with each other at the time," Thor explained hesitantly. "They had disrupted my coronation by breaking into the royal vault. It was the actions of only a few, but in direct defiance of the Allfather, I foolishly took my shield brothers and Loki with me to confront Jotunheim's king. In the end, I lost my temper and attacked them, killing many and starting a war, for which I was banished to Midgard."

Steve blinked. "Well," he said hesitantly, "I'm glad you realized it was foolish?"

"As am I," Thor returned solemnly, causing Loki pause in his munching long enough for an eye roll. "The humility I learned on Midgard was priceless. Alas, while I was learning it, Loki was coming to terms, quite poorly, with his heritage. He allowed Laufey and a band of Frost Giants into Asgard, and just before Laufey slew Odin as he lay in a deep, regenerative sleep, Loki turned on the Frost Giants, killing them and using their attack as an excuse to destroy Jotunheim. I destroyed the Bifrost in order to save Jotunheim, and the rest you know."

"Except for the fact that I let the Frost Giants in to disrupt your coronation in the first place," Loki abruptly interjected, baring his teeth in a manic grin as he met each of their eyes.

"You... did what?" Thor asked, his brow furrowed, betrayal written across his face. "Why?"

Loki's crazed grin somehow widened. "Pick your poison. I did it because I am incapable of being happy for you. I did it because I did not think you were ready to be king. I did it because I knew I was not ready to take my place as your forever ignored, nagging advisor, the one who gets blamed for everything that goes wrong and nothing that goes right. I did it because it seemed a good idea at the time."

"And why did you make an excuse to try to destroy Jotunheim?" Steve asked quietly.

"Because..." Loki stared at the last remaining mouthful he held pinched between his fingers. "Because in order for a Frost Giant to be the hero of the story, he must turn his back on his wicked origins and prove his loyalty to his betters. To make up for the stain of his existence, he must wipe out stains equal to it, a thousand times over..."

Loki gaze turned glassy, and his fingers tightened, causing crumbs to tumble onto the table. "Because if Jotunheim no longer existed, then Odin could not send me back to it whenever I inevitably failed to live up to his expectations." Loki gave a wry smirk. "Or rather, when I inevitably lived up to his expectations of failure."

A pause, and then Loki blinked, seemingly coming back to reality. He shoved in his last bite, and then he licked his finger and started to dab up the crumbs.

Steve watched him silently, unsure of what to say or how to feel. How did one feel sorry for someone who had tried to commit genocide? In this case it felt inevitable... but how did one go about it? He was conflicted, pity for Loki warring with the fact that he had tried to wipe out an entire realm. There was so much guilt that came along with pitying a victim with so many victims.

"Loki," Thor began hesitantly, conquering his internal struggle faster than Steve, "what you did was wrong, and you are right to feel bad for it, but do not despair! Though you fought against me, I stopped you from doing bad, so in a way, you won!" 

Loki squinted at Thor, looking as confused as Steve felt. Thor's face scrunched up in concentration, his struggle to articulate his thoughts plain to all. 

"What I mean to say is," Thor continued, "because I won, so too did your conscience! You may have tried to wipe out Jotunheim, but do not forget that in the end, you did not wipe out Jotunheim, and you do not have their blood on your hands. I am sure that I destroyed the Bifrost before any real harm was done."

"What do you think about that?" Steve prompted when Loki didn't bother to reply.

"I think," Loki said quietly, "I think that Thor is simply choosing to believe that no real harm was done because I have a high enough body count as it is. I think in terms of conscience, it matters not whether I succeeded in my attempt. I think that it is the thought that counts."

"What about the thought that you were right to destroy Jotunheim? Is it that thought that counts?" Steve asked, and Loki huffed a sigh.

"I think," Loki stated irately, "that this whole interrogation got sidetracked."

"Nonsense. We brought you in, offered you a meal, you told us about how Thor poisoned your cat, and..." Steve smiled bemusedly. "Perhaps we might have gotten a little sidetracked." He glanced to the Director.

Director Fury sighed as though he knew he ought to get the interrogation back on track, but honestly had no place he wouldn't rather be. "Tell us about Thanos."

Loki's posture stiffened, his face turning pale. He stared at his hands, slowly cleaning grime out from under his nails. At last, he spoke. "I would never have actually given him the Tesseract. I am not a fool." 

He looked up, a spark of defiance now glinting in his eyes. "He would never have left Midgard to me, I am sure. He would have crushed it, burned it into a coal useful only to fuel his mad search for the Infinity Stones. He does not reward past usefulness. He destroys everything the moment it loses present usefulness." 

Loki's lips curled upward in a bitter snarl of a smile. "He would have found some clever phrasing to pretend he was keeping his word. 'Death is sparing them.' 'You can rule all of Midgard in Hel.' Whatever his twisted reasoning, in the end, I would be lucky to receive so much as a quick death for my trouble."

"And how exactly were you planning on keeping the Tesseract from him?" Director Fury questioned, lips pursed dubiously. "How do we know you are telling the truth? You seemed perfectly willing to work with Thanos during our last interrogation."

Steve glanced at Thor and found him listening to Loki intently, reminding Steve slightly of a puppy, head cocked to one side and eager for whatever scrap of decency Loki could offer.

Loki scowled, crossing his arms defensively. "I could hardly tell you I was going to double cross Thanos with the Other monitoring my mind. I do not know how I would have kept the Tesseract from Thanos. I only know that I would not have handed it over. I could not plan anything specific without drawing suspicion. I could only know, not think."

Steve and Director Fury exchanged glances. "What do you mean when you say the Other was monitoring you?" Steve asked slowly. "Who's the Other?"

Loki's nose wrinkled in thinly veiled disgust. "The Other is a pathetic, nagging, glorified babysitter," he spat. "He serves as Thanos's intermediary. He was linked to my mind through the Scepter to ensure that I acted according to his crude plan of conquest. All throughout the invasion, he was filling my head with his whispers and malice, egging me on, threatening me whenever he caught so much as a trace of a thought to keep the Tesseract from Thanos. A smashing from your green rage monster was more than worth it to get his odious presence out of my head."

Loki abruptly jerked his head up, meeting Steve's sympathetic gaze. "Do not think he was controlling me as I controlled Agent Barton!" he snapped. "My actions were my own! I was not some helpless puppet. The failsafe you all used to close the portal-- I arranged for that to be put in place! I set it up right under the Other's nose, so that I would be able to keep out Thanos once I had my army." 

Loki frowned, a bit of embarrassment flashing across his face. "I am not sure I would have been able to remember to use it in the midst of battle, with the Other's bloodlust clouding my mind, however," he admitted. 

"Perhaps it is best your Avengers pulled through and closed the portal. With my thoughts being monitored, I was trusting I would stumble upon an opportunity to make spur-of-the-moment decisions to keep the Tesseract from Thanos's grasp." 

Loki grimaced. "It occurs to me now that perhaps I am not the best when it comes to spur-of-the-moment decisions." 

Thor snorted. "There it is, Loki!" he proclaimed, pointed a finger imperiously. "That is now officially your greatest understatement of the century!"

Loki raised an eyebrow. "What about that feast right before your failed coronation, when I told you I was having a bit of trouble holding my liquor?"

"Ha!" Thor chortled. "That is a worthy runner-up, I will not deny, but there can only be one."

Steve rolled his eyes with a smile. Adopted or not, no one sane could deny those two were brothers. Except Loki. Then again, he was hardly a shinning example of sanity. Perhaps his denial would serve as valuable evidence if Loki pleaded insanity in Asgard. 

The moment the thought of Loki being tried by his adopted father crossed Steve's mind, his smile faded. For some reason, Steve had a hunch the Allfather would not take any extenuating circumstances into account. It might have had something to do with the memory of Odin blaming Loki for his brother's fashion choices.

"Tell me about your time as Thanos's guest," Director Fury said abruptly, cutting off Steve's train of thought.

Loki's expression became as cold and unreadable as stone. "I would rather not. There is not much to say about it anyway."

"I disagree," Director Fury replied. "Where did you go? What did you do? What did he do? In my opinion, ignorance is an accident waiting to happen."

Loki let out a deep breath and answered in a bland monotone. "I proved myself useful, as you saw." He sneered slightly, remembering his invaded memories. "Afterwards, I trained for ridiculously long periods of time and had several unwanted, mind numbing conversations with an annoyingly patronizing Mad Titan, mainly about Asgard and the beauty of death.

"In the few hours I was not kept occupied with tedious tasks or talks, I was confined to a horrendously decorated room, forced to listen to an awfully screechy recording of Thanos's manifesto on repeat, because apparently one quiet night of sleep is too much to ask for." After that last statement, Loki shot Director Fury a pointed look, the dark bags underneath his eyes on clear display.

Steve felt a stab of guilt. "Perhaps we should continue this interrogation in the morning," he suggested to the Director.

Director Fury gave Loki a long, contemplative look, then nodded curtly. "Very well. It's been a long day. First, however, I want the alien prince to answer two more questions."

Loki groaned, rested his head on a propped up hand. "Fine, do your worst," he said with fake flippancy.

"When was the last time you had a decent night's sleep?" Director Fury asked, his tone grim.

"I do not know," Loki said irately. "Maybe sometime before I learned that my oaf of a brother was soon to be King of the Nine Realms. What can I say? I was traumatized."

Director Fury scowled, but Steve noted that Thor beamed the moment Loki referred to him as his brother.

"Next question," Director Fury stated flatly. "How many days has it been since you last had a decent meal?"

Loki's expression remained nonchalant, but his hands clenched into fists. "Well, let me think," he replied, his voice deceptively calm. "I believe my last decent meal would have consisted of the leftovers from Thor's coronation feast... had he not flipped the tables in his wrath when it was canceled, wasting enough food to feed a small village." 

Loki shot Thor a look of disapproval, and Thor had the decency to look abashed. 

"After that," Loki continued, "meals were in rather short supply. What can I say? The cooks were traumatized."

"So you have not had a proper meal in two years?" Thor asked, horrified.

"There is no need to look so worried," Loki huffed. "You and I both know that we are not like the fragile mortals, requiring constant nourishment to survive."

"And you and I both know that we feel hunger just as strongly as the mortals, if not more!" Thor shot back. "Perhaps we could survive decades without nourishment, but they would be years of torture!"

Loki just half-heartedly rolled his eyes. "Can we be done with this sorry excuse for an interrogation? It is not that I do not love our little talks, I just... do not love them." His eyes fell on the empty paper bag before him, and he paused. "I do thank you for the meal," he said hesitantly, causing Steve to wish he could hunt down Thanos and whoever else that had starved Loki and make sure they never again saw the light of day. 

Loki seemed to notice the emotion welling up in Steve's eyes, and he quickly hid his vulnerability behind a mask of arrogance. "It was fairly tolerable, I suppose," he continued haughtily, "though of course the meat could not even slightly compare to that of Asgard's."

Thor frowned. "That is debatable."

Loki scowled at Thor, then his eyes lit up. "Do you not always carry dried meat with you on your travels? Why not share some with your companions and let them decide for themselves?"

Thor brightened, pulling out a large leather pouch from a ridiculously small side pocket. "That is an excellent idea, Brother!"

"How on earth did that fit in there?!" Director Fury exclaimed, eyeing the pouch with suspicion.

The brothers just looked at him as though he had asked the dumbest question in the history of interrogations. 

"Magic," Loki finally said, as though the answer was so obvious even a toddler should know it.

Director Fury scowled, opening his mouth to deliver what would have been undoubtedly a scathing retort, but then Thor pressed a piece of dried meat into his hand. Steve took his own piece curiously. He had never tried alien beef jerky before. Loki made grabby hand motions, and Thor gave him a large piece with a grin.

Steve's eyes widened as he took a bite and his mouth was flooded with flavor.

"I can see what you were talking about," Director Fury told Loki, chewing thoughtfully. "This is ridiculously good." Steve nodded in agreement.

Loki grinned, mouth full. After a quick swallow he said, "It is also incredibly rich in nutrients. You know what they say. Nothing is tastier than the placentas of Asgard's finest goddesses."

Dead silence.

All the blood drained from Steve's face, and he felt nausea building.

Director Fury pressed a hand to his mouth, gagging.

"Just kidding!" Loki said brightly, a smirk abruptly appearing. 

Director Fury looked like he wanted to punch the smile right off of Loki's face. Steve wasn't far from doing so himself. 

"Come now, Director," Loki said with a wide grin, "did you really think I would not get you back for that eggnog prank? I am the Norse god of Mischief!" 

"And I am officially done with this interrogation," Director Fury growled, stalking toward the door. "Thor, Captain, you're on babysitting duty. Agent Hill will direct you to a room to sleep in." He paused in the doorway, turning to face them. "One of you are to have eyes or the magic hammer on Loki at all times, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir!" Steve said sharply, snapping to attention. He thought he saw Director Fury trying to suppress a smile as he stormed out.

"Do you know what this means?" Thor said with a huge smile, slinging an arm round Steve's shoulder.

"No?" Steve replied, confused.

Thor grinned, summoning Mjolnir and yanking Loki up off his chair, throwing an arm around his disgruntled brother. "You are about to experience your first Asgardian slumber party!"

Steve and Loki both groaned in unison, reluctantly allowing Thor to propel them through the door.

Chapter Text

Steve frowned when he opened the door to the room Agent Hill had directed them to and discovered only two very narrow beds. He wasn't the only one who took a quick dislike to the arrangement.

"No, there is no way I am sharing with Thor!" Loki shouted immediately as his brother shoved him inside. 

Thor rolled his eyes. "Says the one who used to sneak into my bed at night because he was scared monsters were going to gobble him up."

Loki scowled, his face turning a bright red. "I knew if you were unable to defeat them, they would be too full after eating a big oaf like you to bother with me," he muttered.

"Ah, so it was nothing but a logically inspired course of action?" Thor asked, a small smirk on his lips.

"Of course," Loki huffed, not meeting Thor's eyes. 

Steve began to examine the room, finding practically nothing more than too few beds overflowing with too many pillows. There weren't even wall hangings or a TV. The only things in the room besides the beds were a bedside table, a small lamp, and a little notepad with an eraserless pencil. He supposed SHIELD was on a budget, and that budget didn't extend to guest rooms. 

He opened what he first took for a closet and found a incredibly small bathroom crammed inside. The bathroom did bring something to mind that he hadn't thought of, though.

"Erm, Loki?" he said awkwardly, and Loki raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

A smile abruptly split across Loki's face. "Norns, yes!" he exclaimed cheerfully, walking over and peering into the bathroom. "I have not had a bath in ages." Loki's smile faded, and he squinted at the clear absence of a bath tub. Thor quickly capered to Loki's side, excitedly pulling him into the room to show off his knowledge of one of the greatest inventions Midgard had to offer... also known as the shower.

That hadn't been what Steve had been thinking of, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to let Loki take a quick shower.

"Thor, you keep an eye on Loki. I'm going to get us something to snack on." As Steve started for the door, the brothers instantly broke into bickering.

"I do not need you to 'keep an eye on me'!" he heard Loki shout. "I am perfectly capable of operating this shower contraption by myself."

"Nevertheless, I must keep you from mischief," came Thor's reply. "Do you need help taking off your shirt? How does your back fare?"

"How does your side fare?" Loki mimicked in reply just as Steve closed the door. Steve thought he heard what sounded suspiciously like a wet towel snapping, and a yelp quickly followed.

***

Steve was strolling back toward their room when something from inside a vending machine caught his eye. 

Though their guest rooms left much to be desired, apparently SHIELD's budget could afford a small restaurant a floor down, and Steve was currently burdened with a bag loaded with glorious burgers and fries. He had made sure they were safe in the case of Loki's allergies. He had also shoved a dozen water bottles into another bag just in case Loki's former allies had saw fit to withhold water from him as well as food. 

Steve stared at the jelly beans through the vending machine glass, memories of his time before the ice flashing through his mind. For a moment, he was back in Bucky's house on one of their many sleepovers, laughing as he tried to toss jelly beans into Bucky's mouth. He remembered the way Bucky had smiled, how they'd stayed up late talking about everything and nothing, building blanket forts and eating their weight in popcorn. 

A warmth filled Steve's chest, a warmth he had rarely felt since the cold of the ice had swallowed up everything. He was glad to finally remember the good times he had spent with Bucky, instead of just remembering the last time he had seen him, right as he fell--

Steve shook his head, refusing to taint the sweet childhood memories with the horror of Bucky's death. On a whim, he bought a large bag of jelly beans and stuffed it in next to the water bottles, checking the back to confirm his belief that it was nut-free.

He opened the door to find Loki and Thor having what looked to be a battle of wills. Loki sat on one bed with his arms crossed, chin raised in defiance. His damp hair appeared surprisingly curly and soft now that it no longer looked like a greasy imitation of a Christmas tree. 

Thor, who had shed his armor in favor of more comfortable clothing, was looming over Loki, Mjolnir in hand and expression stern. He brightened as soon as he saw Steve walk through the door.

"My friend, Loki refuses to let me place Mjolnir on him so that we may all sleep in peace! Perhaps you could persuade him?" Thor gestured to Loki with his hammer, causing Loki to stiffen with indignation.

"Like I am going to sleep peacefully with the physical representation of my own unworthiness slowly crushing my ribcage," Loki drawled, voice scathingly sarcastic.

"That does seem a bit... uncomfortable," Steve acknowledged.

"I could put it on your hand," Thor pointed out.

Loki let Thor know where else he could put it, and the matter was quickly dropped.

"Are you not going to go to sleep?" Thor at last demanded after several minutes of staring at Loki expectantly.

"With both of you staring at me? Not likely," Loki scoffed.

"I thought you were tired," Thor said with a pout.

"And I thought you were going to show the Captain what an Asgardian slumber party feels like," Loki replied as though issuing a challenge.

A smile slowly bloomed on Thor's face. "Well, if you are sure you are not too exhausted..."

"I am sure I would rather spend one of my last nights alive enjoying myself as opposed to trying to fall asleep with two of my former enemies watching my every facial twitch," Loki stated flatly.

Thor's smile wilted slightly, but then quickly revived. "Former?" he questioned smugly.

"That-- I... You know what I mean!" Loki spluttered. "You know what? Perhaps I should be the one to introduce the Captain to the ancient Asgardian tradition of storytelling, starting with the tale of how you almost married a Frost Giant!"

"What? No!" Thor protested, but Loki just wrapped a blanket over his shoulders like a cape and continued on in a lofty tone.

"There once was an Asgardian prince named Thor Odinson, and though many adored him, he was not the sharpest sword in the armory. In fact, he favored the hammer, blunt and pointless. Speaking of hammers..."

Thor groaned, but, with an amused smile, grabbed the blanket from the other bed and, draping it across his shoulders, settled down on the carpeted floor, listening without further interruption.

Steve settled down on the floor next to him and handed around hamburgers and water bottles, which both brothers received eagerly. Loki, upon receiving his, slide down onto the floor with them, continuing his story between bites. 

After a minute, Loki paused in the middle of his story and turned on the little lamp on the bedside table. He then turned off the ceiling lights and set the lamp in the middle of their little circle as though it were a campfire. The yellow light barely lit up the whole room, and the shadows it cast created an ominous atmosphere. The room's aura now appropriately established, Loki went back to storytelling as though he had never stopped.

Steve listened avidly to the amusing tale, marveling at the fact that every ridiculous action Loki described was something he and Thor had actually done. Steve burst out laughing when Loki used two hamburger to demonstrate the way Thor had gobbled down an entire ox while disguised as Freyja, the beautiful bride-to-be.

However, he felt a little uncomfortable when Loki ended the tale with describing in vivid detail how Thor crushed the Frost Giant Thyrm's bald, blue skull, and went on to slaughter every other Frost Giant in sight. 

Thor, on the other hand, didn't seem troubled by it in the least. In fact, as soon as Loki was finished, he leaped into telling the tale of the disguised Frost Giant who had tried to build Asgard a wall with cursed stones.

When Thor got to the part where Loki transformed into a mare to distract the builder's horse, he shot Loki a sly smile and said, "In some Midgardian versions of the tale, Loki was too slow, and the builder's horse caught up to him, resulting in Sleipnir, the Allfather's eight-legged steed."

Loki, face flushed, looked like he had several choice words to say, but managed to hold his tongue as interrupting a tale was apparently considered very tactless among the Aesir.

When Steve's turn came, he yanked a sheet off the bed and draped it around his shoulders, and, trying his very best to imitate their pompous style of delivery, regaled them with the tale of his battle against Red Skull. 

He apparently did a good job because half the time they were listening with bated breath, burgers held frozen still before their open mouths. He thought he even saw Thor shed a tear when he, voice wavering, told of Bucky's fall. Loki just focused intently on opening a ketchup packet, lips pressed in a thin, white line and eyes all but dripping with emotion.

After he finished his tale, they sat in silence for a moment. "Well, I told you about the tragedy that is the extent of my love life," Steve started awkwardly. "Perhaps you guys could return the favor?"

Loki scowled, ripping a French fry in half. "What is there to say? No woman I have been interested in ever passed the throne-digger test." 

Steve raised an eyebrow. "What's the throne-digger test?"

"The throne-digger test," Loki explained with a glower, "is an annoying test Thor insists on using on anyone who so much as gives me the time of day. He flirts with them behind my back and should they ditch me for him, which they all quickly do, he tells me they were not good enough for me in the first place." He shot Thor a dirty look. "I thought it was a good idea... the first few dozen times. Now, I think that it would be a completely unnecessary test... if I could only trust Thor to stay in his own lane!" 

"Surely, you do not want the type of woman who would drop you the moment something better came along!" Thor protested.

"Without you making it possible, nothing better would come along!" Loki hissed back.

"No offense, Thor," Steve interjected, "but that sounds like the worst test ever when it comes to fostering a healthy relationship with your brother."

"It is not like he is the only one with a test that constantly rules out his courting prospects!" Thor defended. "He has his own test that he puts every woman who so much as bats an eye at me through, and so far none have passed."

"What's the test?" Steve asked curiously.

"He cannot court them if I do not like them," Loki admitted.

"You haven't liked any of them?!" Steve exclaimed, eyes wide.

"The type of women who typically go after Thor do not bother to try to get on his little brother's good side," Loki explained, "which just goes to show that they are after Thor's power and prestige, not after a meaningful relationship with him and the people he cares about." Loki grimaced, realizing he had just acknowledged that Thor cared about him.

"I can see the logic to both of your tests," Steve said slowly to Loki, "but it seems like both are designed in a way that makes you bitter and resentful of Thor's overwhelming charisma."

Thor winced, guilt flashing across his features. Loki crossed his arms and looked away sullenly.

Steve figured there was only way to salvage the mood. He pulled out the bag of jelly beans. 

Loki and Thor watched curiously as he opened the bag, each holding out their hands to receive their own handful. 

Loki cautiously popped a green one into his mouth. As he chewed, his eyes widened. "Are all your Midgardian beans this delicious? I should have tried harder to conquer this realm!" Loki exclaimed, quickly tasting every color in his handful.

Thor immediately followed his lead. "They are so colorful and joy-inducing," he noted, munching thoughtfully. "Do they have magical properties?"

Steve gaped. "They're not actual beans!" he at last burst out, struggling to hold back his laughter. 

"Then what are they?" Loki demanded, staring at Steve suspiciously. 

"They're..." Steve paused, and then just handed him the bag, pointing to the list of ingredients. "They're all these things mixed together and molded into a bean shape," Steve explained.

Loki scratched his head, staring at the ingredients. "But... why disguise them as beans?"

"Midgardians are odd," Thor stated, as though that explained everything, which, perhaps it did. "Still, they evidently know what they are doing in regards to sweets. You must try Pop-Tarts, Brother. Truly, they are without compare."

"Especially the cherry flavored ones," Steve added, but Thor turned and stared at him as though he had grown an extra head

"Surely," he said, voice low and dangerous, "you meant to say strawberry." Steve thought he heard thunder rumbling in the distance.

"Um, they're good too," Steve replied nervously.

Thor"s brows lowered, hand clenching Mjolnir's handle. "I would not have you leading my brother astray," he warned.

Steve nodded, letting out a sigh of relief as Thor turned away from him to grab another handful of jelly beans from where Loki was hoarding them.

Loki frowned as Thor stuffed a handful into his mouth at once, and Steve noticed that Loki himself tasted each jelly bean one at a time. As Steve watched, Loki finally decided to branch out from green, red, and purple. 

"Ack!" Loki exclaimed, face scrunched up in disgust. "Beware the black jelly beans, Thor! They are most distasteful." 

Thor immediately ignored Loki's warning and tried one, quickly grimacing as well.

"So, what are some things Midgardians do during slumber parties?" Thor asked Steve.

"Well, we could play twenty questions?" Steve suggested hesitantly.

"I am sick of questions," Loki spat crossly.

"And I am sick of questioning," Steve admitted. "Perhaps Truth or Dare?"

"Yes, we have this game on Asgard as well!" Thor exclaimed excitedly, but then he paused, looking conflicted. "Father banned us from playing it after I dared Loki to do a backflip on the roof of Himinbjorg," seeing Steve's confused look, Thor added, "the observatory at the end of the Bifrost, where Heimdall keeps watch over the realms."

"Odin can add breaking his little ban to my long list of crimes," Loki said dismissively, then grinned evilly. "I call going first." He hummed, tapping a finger against his chin. "I dare you to kneel. No? Fine, I dare you both to battle one another... in a staring contest."

Two pairs of blue eyes battled for dominance. One stare inspired the intense dread that followed after lightning, the fearful anticipation that permeated the waiting for the thunder. The other stare's power was more subtle. It held the cold of a thousand layers of ice. What had before been welcoming waters open to exploration had now become frozen solid, the depths underneath left untouchable. 

The battle was awe inspiring, but in the end, the ice shattered when the thunder roared.

In other words, Thor abruptly stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes, and Steve fell to the ground shaking with peals of laughter.

As he slowly reigned in his mirth, his eyes fell on Loki's face, which wore a self-satisfied smile that Steve longed to wipe off.

"My turn," Steve said with a grin. "I dare you both to give your brother a hug."

Loki stiffened, smile frozen on his face. "He is not--"

Loki cut off abruptly as Thor yanked him into a hug. For a moment he just sat there unresponsive as Thor squeezed him against his chest. Then, ever so slowly, he lifted his arms and returned the hug, burying his head in Thor's shoulder. The moment seemed frozen in time, both lasting an eternity and ending far too soon. As Loki at last pulled away, Steve caught a glimpse of a tear on his cheek before he wiped it away with an orange sleeve. Afterwards, he refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"My turn!" Thor said, seemingly realizing Loki's need for a distraction from his tears. "I choose truth instead of dare. What is your favorite thing about earth?"

"The food and Shakespeare," Loki answered immediately, demonstratively reaching for the bag of jelly beans and grabbing another handful. Steve watched with amusement as he picked out the black jelly beans and put them back in the bag.

"The people," Steve answered with a smile, causing Loki to raise his eyebrows incredulously. Thor, however, nodded in agreement.

Loki suddenly took a deep breath, as though bracing himself. "I choose truth as well." He paused, uncertainty lurking in his eyes, before he steeled himself enough to ask. "Do you think I am a monster?"

Thor met his brother's eyes and stated, simply and calmly, "No."

Loki let out a shaky breath, eyes turning misty, then looked to Steve with apprehension.

"I think a monster is someone who has fallen so far that they are beyond redemption," Steve stated calmly as he reached for more jelly beans. He met Loki's eyes. "I don't think you're a monster."

Loki squeezed his eyes shut, and a few tears escaped from their corners, which he tried to brush away inconspicuously. When that failed, he simply hid his face in his hands. "This game is boring," he stated, tremulous voice muffled. "Let us play something else."

Steve decided not to argue that Loki had gotten an extra turn. "Have you guys ever played Never Have I Ever?" he asked. At their headshakes, he quickly explained the game.

"Usually, whoever had done what the other person hadn't would take a shot, but we don't have any, and I can't get drunk anyways because of the supersoldier serum," Steve ended.

Loki uncovered his face and held out the bag of jelly beans. "Here are my terms," he stated loftily, "whoever has done the deed must eat a black jelly bean."

Thor grimaced, but Steve, who actually enjoyed the flavor of licorice, quickly agreed to the terms.

"Never have I ever been considered royalty," Steve stated dryly, and the brothers both glared at him and ate their jelly beans with a shudder.

"Never have I ever..." Thor squinted, searching for something he hadn't done that the other two had. "Never have I ever... Never have I ever been considered short for my age?" 

Steve ate his jelly bean with a smile.

"You just had to rub in the fact that I am a runt, didn't you?" Loki glared, then looked down at his jelly bean thoughtfully. "You know, all the times Mother called me her 'little blueberry' suddenly make sense now."

Thor let out a startled laugh. "I had not remembered that."

"Apparently Laufey had already had two normal children before his abnormal runt came along. I heard their names are Helblindi and Byleistr," Loki mused. He met Thor's eyes abruptly as he tossed his jelly bean into his mouth with a grimace. "Never have I ever been an only child."

Steve ate his jelly bean and waited as Loki stared at Thor expectantly.

"Are you trying to make a point?" Thor said slowly. "Because I am not an only child."

"You were before I was born," Loki pointed out, voice harsh, "so eat the damn jelly bean."

Thor shook his head slowly. "This feels like a trap."

"Do not be ridiculous! You have to follow the rules! Eat the black jelly bean!" Loki picked one up out of the bag and tried to shove it in Thor's mouth. Thor bolted up and ran away, with Loki quickly following after. 

Just as Loki caught up to him, Thor grabbed a pillow and slammed it into his face, thus beginning the greatest pillow fight of the century.

***

Thor collapsed onto a bed, the shreds of what had been the last intact pillow slamming into his chest in a pitiful cloud of fluff. "You win, Brother! At last I am vanquished." He threw an arm over his face and played dead. 

With a triumphant grin, Loki collapsed beside him. "Your corpse shall from this day forth serve as my pillow as righteous punishment... for destroying all the actual pillows," Loki declared, lying his head on Thor's chest. 

"You are the one who destroyed all the pillows!" Thor protested with a smile.

"Hush! Pillows do not speak," Loki reprimanded. "Besides I clearly remember--"

"You 'clearly remember' me throwing you off the Bifrost," Thor interrupted. "Clearly your remembrances cannot be trusted."

"Shut up!" Loki scowled, closing his eyes.

"You shut up," Thor returned with a yawn.

"If you do not shut up, I will stab you," Loki muttered drowsily.

"Yeah, right. With what dagger?" Thor murmured back.

"I'll... I'll..." Loki's voice trailed off, face relaxing with sleep. Thor eventually began to snore.

Steve watched the brothers with a small smile. He dropped the piece of stuffing he had been holding onto the floor, figuring he could clean it up in the morning. However, he quickly changed his mind and started to gather the mess into a pile. He supposed that he might as well keep busy since he needed to stay up anyway to keep an eye on Loki. 

At last, Steve settled down into the other bed to keep watch. As he did, he noticed how young Loki looked when he was asleep, stripped of the defiant mask he was constantly wearing when awake. Absentmindedly, Steve grabbed the notepad and pencil resting on the bedside table and started to sketch Loki and Thor cuddling as a way to pass the time. As he did, he came to a slow realization. 

He did not want Loki to die. He did not want Loki to be sent back to Asgard and executed by his sorry excuse for a father. As Steve doodled away the hours, he resolved to make it his new mission to ensure that Loki wasn't.

Chapter Text

“What is this supposed to be?”

Loki yawned, prodding his food curiously with his fork, practically asleep in his chair. Waking Thor and him up that morning had been a battle, Steve’s annoyance at the futility of trying to disrupt their ridiculously impenetrable sleeping states warring with his hesitancy to be rougher than a gentle shake. After ten minutes of gradually more aggressive shakes, Steve had finally just pinched them into consciousness. It had resulted in Thor instinctively tackling him into a chokehold, Loki reacting with a high-pitched shriek and a kick that sent him flying into the wall, and an absurd amount of grumbling, but eventually Steve managed to get them out the door and back into the interrogation room.

“Breakfast,” Steve answered Loki shortly. He was running on an insanely low amount of sleep, and all of Thor and Loki’s yawning and sleepy questioning just seemed to rub that fact in his face. He was also quickly starting to despise the interrogation room, with its bland, nondescript setup. At least this time around Director Fury had provided breakfast and enough chairs for all of them. Steve eyed the Director sitting impatiently in his chair across from the three of them. He looked infuriatingly well rested.

“They are called waffles,” Thor explained, his cheerful nature starting to overcome his drowsiness. He then went on to show Loki how to fill the little waffle pockets with maple syrup. By the time he was demonstrating how to spray whipped cream from the can, he had completely regained his nauseatingly chipper attitude.

Steve groaned, sipping his coffee and missing the days when a few cups of it had the power to transform him into a morning person. He knew that physically he did not need a night’s worth of sleep as much as the average Joe, but mentally he was stuck in the mindset that without the added energy of caffeine a night devoid of sleep was simply unacceptable.

Steve blinked, an idea dawning. If it was just his mindset that was the problem, perhaps he could fix it through a bit of mental gymnastics! With each sip of coffee he took, he imagined his mind clearing, his mood lifting, his toleration for social interaction reviving. By the time he was setting aside his grounds-filled last sip, a smile was tugging at the corners of his lips. Yesterday was over and done with, and today was a new day. He had had his coffee, stimulating or not, and now he was ready to tackle anything.

“You are all looking much too motivated for this early in the morning,” Loki said abruptly with a groan, resting his head on the table, not even deigning to touch the tower of waffles Thor had so painstakingly prepared for him.

“Early?” Director Fury questioned incredulously. “It’s almost noon. I think I have been patient with you long enough, so if you could kindly finish your breakfast, I would like to get through with this interrogation and have you both back in Asgard sometime within this decade, if you don’t mind.”

Loki sighed, but straightened up and attacked his waffles with the ferocity of a ravenous wolf. By the time Steve had helped himself to two, Loki had devoured the dozen on his plate and licked off every last drop of maple syrup for good measure.

“Alright, what more could you possibly wish to know?” Loki said at last, pushing his plate away and wiping at his face with a napkin. “Shall we delve into my early years? Discuss how being the only bald baby on Asgard might have contributed to my foundational feelings of inadequacy, inevitably leading to my desperate bid for power?”

“Why don’t we just start with everything you know about Thanos?” Director Fury replied dryly.

Loki crossed his arms. “I believe you already know all the relevant bits and pieces.”

“Give me all the details,” Director Fury insisted, leaning forward intently.

Loki didn’t meet his gaze. “The details, as you put it, are all a bit of a blur. What, specifically, do you want to know?”

“I want to know about his chain of command,” Director Fury began. “I want to know about the resources at his disposal, how many planets he has conquered and massacred, and what his weaknesses are. I also want to know where he is now, and when we might expect a visit from him in the future.”

Loki said nothing for a moment, his stare unfocussed and empty. After a long, drawn out silence, Director Fury opened his mouth, undoubtedly to cajole him on, but before he could Loki began to speak.

His voice was flat and emotionless as he did his best to answer Director Fury’s questions. He informed them of The Black Order, also known as the Children of Thanos, of the massacres of Katath and Zen-Whoberi, of the forces of the Chitauri and Outriders… Steve’s blood ran cold as Loki, expression still cold and closed off, relayed the Other’s threat: if the Tesseract was kept from them, there would be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where Thanos could not find him and make him long for something as sweet as pain.

Whenever Loki paused, Director Fury prompted him on. At several questions, Loki just squinted as though searching his memories before shaking his head helplessly. Director Fury just fired another question at him, until, eventually, he ran out of ammunition.

Silence lingered for a moment, and then Director Fury said, “I think we’re finished here, if no one has anything else to ask—”

“I do,” Steve interrupted. “Loki, what do you think your sentence will be on Asgard?”

Thor frowned. “I do not see how that is any of your concern—”

“Execution or living out the rest of my days in a lonely prison cell,” Loki answered flatly.

Steve turned to Thor and raised an eyebrow. Thor looked down, his lips pressed into a thin line. “I would not be surprised if it were so,” he said at last.

“How long do Asgardians and Frost Giants live, typically, and how old are you two?” Steve asked.

“We typically live for five thousand years or so,” Thor replied. “Loki has lived for around one millennium and I a millennium and five centuries.”

“So, does time pass differently for you? Like, ten years feel like a day?” Steve questioned.

“No,” Thor said with a chuckle. “We experience time as the mortals do. We are considered exceptionally good at remembering, taking into account the plentitude of our memories. I would say I remember a day a century ago as if it were yesterday, but that would not accurately capture the truth, for I also remember all the years in between so well that a century ago feels like a century ago… It is difficult to explain.”

“Each day is its own,” Loki said quietly, “even for those who live to experience a million. They each remain distinct from one another, even nestled amongst a thousand of their kind. Many things can happen in a day, in an hour, in a second. True, when one is happy the time flies by, days becoming as seconds. At the same time, a word of praise, a kindly smile… that can last longer in memory than a decade’s worth of feasting.

“A day can also feel like an eternity, when one is bored, or hungry, or in pain. That eternity does not simply disappear after it is buried under a hundred years. No, we know the value of a day. It does not become cheaper or smaller for us. There is just more.

“If we are lucky, we could live a hundred years experiencing no great hardship or loss. If we are unlucky, in one moment we could watch a loved one fall in battle. In one moment, we could scramble to their side, and believe me that moment would last longer to an Asgardian than a decade of the mundane would to a mortal.”

Steve stared at Loki, marveling at the fact that one moment he could be spouting the most juvenile rhetoric known to man and the next he could utter something so profound it belonged in a quotation book.

“So,” Steve cleared his throat. “It’s death or four thousand years locked up. What about the circumstances? You know, the threats and mental manipulation? Shouldn’t that warrant a lighter sentence?”

Loki let out a harsh bark of a laugh and leaned forward with a malicious grin etched on his face. “There once was a servant at the palace who was always kind and cheerful toward Thor and I when we were children. He would bring us pastries after the cook chased us out of the kitchen. Once he even took the blame for a vase we accidentally smashed during a game of tag. Then one day he was caught trying to slip poison into our dinner.”

Thor looked away as though pained by the memory. Loki just smiled hollowly at their shocked expressions. “Under questioning, he confessed that his family was being held hostage by one of the Allfather’s main dissenters. Immediately, the Allfather had them rescued, and they had front rows seats from which to witness the servant’s execution.”

“What?!” Steve exclaimed. “That’s ridiculous! What did they expect the servant to do, let his own family be killed for the sake of the royal family?”

“Exactly,” Thor stated grimly. “If treason was acceptable according to the circumstances, then everyone would do it.”

Steve raised an eyebrow.

“Perhaps not everyone,” Thor admitted, “but in order for a monarchy to function properly, the people must view the royal family as untouchable. Killing them must not be considered as a viable option. Had the servant come to the Allfather immediately, his family would have been rescued without delay. Instead, his cowardice caused him to choose treason, and he paid the price.”

Thor ran his fingers across the runes engraved on Mjolnir, not meeting any of their eyes. “Father told me that the servant should have prevented his family’s capture in the first place. I am afraid he will most likely hold to this reasoning when sentencing Loki. Loki could have prevented his fall from the Bifrost and subsequent capture by Thanos. He will consider Loki prioritizing his own wellbeing over others enough to be willing to ally with Thanos, of all beings, and to invade Midgard… He will consider that to show a deep lack of principals, one unacceptable for any society to tolerate, least of all the golden realm.”

“What about the memory alteration?” Steve questioned.

Thor shrugged helplessly. “Perhaps that, along with Mother, will persuade him to forgo execution.”

Steve gritted his teeth, his mind made up. “What if we don’t send Loki back to Asgard? What if he stays on Midgard until he has developed the necessary principals?”

Loki’s head jerked up, eyes wide as he stared at Steve. Thor gaped, and Steve thought he saw hope hesitantly begin to creep into his eyes. Director Fury, on the other hand, immediately stiffened, hands grasping his armrests tightly. “Absolutely not!” he barked.

Steve calmly met the Director’s prickly, defensive gaze. “We know that his memories were altered, his negative emotions enhanced, and that they deprived him of sleep and sustenance. Look me in the eyes and tell me that means nothing to you. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you want Loki executed.”

Director Fury’s jaw clenched. “I—” He paused, and then looked away in surrender. “We do not have the resources to safely keep him in check,” he said at last.

“Do I not have a say in the matter?” Loki broke in, and Steve turned to him, swallowing down his automatic No. Loki was sitting in his chair stiffly, his expression unreadable. “I have no wish to stay on Midgard,” he stated flatly.

Steve stared at him incredulously. “Are you joking? You would rather face execution and eternal imprisonment than suffer the indignity of being offered a chance at redemption?”

Loki’s lips pressed into a thin white line. “I doubt the hundreds of mortals killed during my invasion would approve of your offer.”

“First off,” Steve replied harshly, “they are dead, so I doubt they care. Hopefully, they have better things to worry about in the afterlife than if your head remains attached to your neck. Second off, I am offering redemption, not amnesty. Because of your invasion, people will have to go about their lives with a gaping hole in their heart where one of their loved ones should be, and for their sake I am not offering to let you get off scot-free. I think it would be fair to them to require you to have a century or so of good behavior under your belt before that’s on the table.”

“A century?” Loki gaped.

“That way most anyone horrifically affected by your actions would not have to live in the same universe in which you roam free,” Steve explained.

“You seem to have thought a lot about this,” Director Fury noted, his eyes narrowed.

“All night,” Steve admitted. “Four thousand years in prison seems like such a waste. Think of how much good Loki could do for Earth! He could help us learn more about the other realms out there, and he could help defend Earth from extraterrestrial threats.”

Director Fury pursed his lips. “And who would be overseeing Loki? After mind controlling agents, destroying the base where the Tesseract was housed, and nearly crashing the Helicarrier, I think SHIELD would have a hard time remaining objective where Loki is concerned.” Director Fury abruptly smirked. “You know what? This is your idea, Captain, so if we go through with it, I think it will be your responsibility to keep Loki in check and guide him towards redemption.”

“Enough!” Loki slammed his hands against the table, and Steve turned toward him, startled at the vitriol in his voice as Loki hissed at him, “You surely cannot expect me to accept you as my master—”

“I was thinking more along the lines of sidekick,” Steve mused.

“Sidekick?” Loki scoffed. “What could you possibly teach me, your elder by a thousand years?”

“The value of human life,” Steve replied immediately.

Loki clenched his hands into fists. “That is just the problem!” he exploded frustratedly. “Do you have any idea what it is you are proposing? There is a reason Midgard is considered off limits to Asgardians! You are expecting me to learn to be fond of and value mortal lives, even as much as my own, and then stand by and helplessly watch, ever youthful, as everyone I have grown fond of and found value in withers away before my eyes?”

Loki shook his head frantically. “No! Trickster’s death was bad enough, and she was just a cat! I am not Thor! I refuse to be stupid enough to set myself up for such heartbreak.”

Steve couldn’t stop a small smile from stretching across his lips. “Is this your way of saying you don’t want me dead?”

Loki hunched his shoulders. “Perhaps,” he muttered, suddenly fascinated with the ingredients on the back of the maple syrup bottle.

“I understand that it will be hard for you,” Steve said, taking care to keep his tone gentle. He put his hand on Loki’s shoulder to draw back his attention. “But that is precisely why you need to do this. You need to grow close to mortals, to view them as equals and value the time you spend with them. You need to see them as individuals with hopes and dreams, not just a species with a limited lifespan. You need to learn to value their lives, and sometimes the only way to understand something’s true value is to have it and lose it.”

Loki furrowed his brow, and Steve could see him trying to hide his vulnerability behind a flippant facade. “My ‘understanding the value of human life’ will not bring back the mortals lying dead in the wreckage outside, so why bother with it all?”

Steve held Loki’s gaze. “Do you want to be happy?”

Loki frowned. “I do not see what that has to do with anything. I am sure many would say I do not deserve happiness, anyway.”

“Do you want to be happy?” Steve repeated.

“Of course I do!” Loki burst out. “Does not everyone? What is your point? It is too late for me, just as it is for the mortals I slaughtered, for your Agent Coulson.”

“I disagree,” Steve replied simply, “and if you want to be happy, you need to take this chance. It is your last chance at happiness, your last chance to leave behind your anger and embrace this opportunity to make amends.

“A wise person once told me that if you want to be happy you need to help someone. You need to rise above your circumstances and live for more than just yourself. This is your opportunity to do that. Take it!”

Loki stared into Steve’s earnest blue eyes, his own filled with fear, but also something that looked a lot like hope. He took a deep breath, getting that same look on his face that he had worn before he had knocked on Lady Sif’s door on Vanaheim, before he had asked Thanos for all of Midgard as opposed to just half of it. It was the look of someone bracing himself just before he jumped off the deep end.

“Alright. I will stay on Midgard, if you will have me.”

Chapter Text

“Wait a second.”

Steve frowned at Director Fury’s sudden statement. Director Fury’s eyebrows were knitted together in consternation. “Wait a second,” he repeated. “Am I seriously considering letting the pretty rich boy with the sympathetic backstory get off with community service after he invaded New York, causing hundreds of innocents to die?”

Loki stared at Director Fury, eyes wide. “You think I am pretty?” Steve snorted uncontrollably, and Loki grinned at Director Fury’s spluttering. “If you think about it from one viewpoint,” Loki reasoned, “surely being adopted into a royal family should come with some perks?”

The two Americans looked at him disdainfully.

“And if you think about it from another,” Loki added quickly, “I am just a first-time offender.”

Thor gave him a side eye.

“On Midgard,” Loki belatedly added.

Thor pursed his lips.

“In this century,” Loki tagged on.

Thor raised an eyebrow.

“On record,” Loki concluded.

Director Fury sighed. “Do I even want to know?”

The brothers looked at each other, and then both simultaneously shook their heads.

“The problem,” Director Fury began, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, “is that even with the Captain’s enhanced strength, Loki was clearly gaining the upper hand when they last went toe to toe. Loki could lull us into a false sense of security and strike the moment anyone capable of reigning him in, in other words Thor or the Hulk, is out of the picture."

Director Fury crossed his arms. “Are we really willing to risk vulnerable human lives just so that some alien prince from outer space can get his second chance? What’s to stop Loki from doing whatever the hell he wants should he have a change of heart? For that matter, what’s to stop him from just playing along for the first couple decades and manipulating himself into a position of power?”

“I could give you my word I will not?” Loki suggested hesitantly.

Director Fury let out a dry, humorless bark of a laugh. “Yeah, right, because alien space gods are incapable of breaking their word.”

“Well, they are so long as they use a sorcerer’s blood to seal the oath,” Thor pointed out offhandedly.

Everyone froze, staring at Thor, who obliviously continued to stack more waffles onto his plate. The silence was broken by Loki, who had gone completely pale. “Thor!” he hissed reproachfully, as though Thor was handing out state secrets.

“You wouldn’t happen to have some sorcerer’s blood stashed away somewhere, would you?” Director Fury asked slowly, watching Thor intently.

Thor continued to pour maple syrup over his waffles in a carefree manner. “Loki is a sorcerer, so you could just get some from him,” he stated absentmindedly. “Normally, one would have to be careful to ensure no trickery was involved in the procurement of the blood, as many sorcerers use illusions to swap their blood out for another’s, but with Loki’s magic suppressed, I do not think you will need to worry about that.”

A smile slowly crept across Director Fury’s face. “Thanks, Thor, for your cooperation.”

“Yeah, thanks, Thor,” Loki spat out, voice thick with sarcasm.

“It shouldn’t be a problem if you have no intention of breaking your word,” Steve pointed out, and Loki crossed his arms sulkily.

“Very well, we can use my blood to make my word binding,” Loki at last conceded. “But I want the terms of our arrangement written out beforehand to ensure you do not throw in anything ridiculously demeaning mid-ceremony. And I want to be the one to make the cut!”

“I suppose I could allow that,” Director Fury said, still looking like the cat that got the cream. “I think we can start with putting ‘no killing or maiming humans under any circumstances’ in bold lettering on the top.”

“Except in cases of self-defense,” Loki immediately contested, and his eyes widened when Steve shook his head. “You do not agree, Captain? I thought you Americans favored the right to defend oneself!”

“That would allow too much wiggle room,” Steve explained patiently. “Yes, I believe in self-defense, but I do not base my life on it. If I did, I would never have jumped on what I believed to be a real grenade in an attempt to save the life of my companions, I would never have crashed a plane full of weapons into the Atlantic Ocean, and I would never have dared to offer you a second chance.

“One of the most important principals to learn is that there are some things worth risking your life for. If you truly want this chance of redemption, you will need to be willing to risk finding yourself in a situation you will not be able to kill yourself out of. However, I will give you my word in return that I will do my best to keep you out of such situations.”

Loki frowned. “I thought I was to help you protect Midgard as penance for my invasion?”

“Only against extraterrestrial threats,” Steve promised. “I want you to protect humans as a whole against beings like Thanos, not just to protect one group of humans against another group of humans.”

Loki nodded, brow furrowed in thought. At last, resolve entered his eyes. “Very well. I am willing to take that risk.”

“I just want to say,” Thor said around a mouthful of waffles, “I will not protest this course of action. In fact, I greatly approve, and I will do my best to gain Father’s approval once I return to Asgard.”

Loki smiled. “I am glad you approve, Brother.”

***

Steve watched as Loki stared blankly at the place where his brother had vanished with the Tesseract. They were standing in a small field filled with the rest of the Avengers and a few members of SHIELD who had gathered to watch the sendoff.

For the most part, the rest of the Avengers had taken their decision in regards to Loki well enough. Agent Barton still shot the occasional suspicious glance, and Stark had proclaimed he still was never standing between Loki and a window, but the knowledge that Loki was unable to so much as think about killing any human being without losing all control of his limbs had greatly comforted them.

Steve ran his thumb over the fresh cut on his palm, noting Loki picking at his own matching one.

After all the details had been worked out, the binding ceremony had gone surprisingly smoothly, minus the part when Fury had checked whether or not it had worked by having an agent stage an attack. Watching Loki eyeing the agent’s neck and subsequently collapsing into a limp pile of limbs had been equal parts reassuring and disconcerting.

Hopefully he could get Loki into the mindset of restraining rather than killing before anyone tried to jump him.

“Come on, Loki,” Steve said, placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder and drawing him out of his stupor. “Director Fury tried to reduce your presence in the media, but I think it would be best for us to lie low for the next couple weeks. Thus…” —Steve pulled hoodies, hats, and sunglasses out of the duffel bag he had brought along— “Welcome to your first lesson in disguises!”

Loki stared at the hoodie held out to him with incredulity. “Please tell me you are joking.”

Steve just shook the hoodie at him until at last he took it and pulled it on. After a few more looks of disbelief, he put on the hat and shades. “This is ridiculous,” he said sullenly, but fell into step with Steve as they left the field. A small smile curled at the edges of Steve’s lips, and after a moment Loki started to smile as well.

“Why are you doing this for me?” Loki asked abruptly, smile fading. “When Thanos told me I was to invade Midgard, I could have refused, at least for a while. I did not. I did not even care enough to try. Yet you repay my apathy with kindness. Why?”

Steve met Loki’s eyes, considering his query. Then Steve smiled.

 “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Epilogue

~ Four Years Later ~

Loki let out a roar of frustration and threw his pen at the wall. As it clattered onto the cold, tiled, apartment floor, he swept his notebooks off of the table with a snarl. They were filled with clumsy attempts at play writing. Steve had encouraged his idea of teaching the history of the Nine Realms to the Midgardians through plays— Steve, who had not had the decency to show his face or so much as send Loki a text in over nine days.

Standing up abruptly, Loki marched into the living room of his apartment and began to pace. His mind was plagued by the endless possibilities. Perhaps Steve was injured or imprisoned. Perhaps he was dead.

Letting out a shaky breath, Loki collapsed onto the sofa and stared at the door, willing it to open. Part of him was full of despair and hopelessness after several nights of having done the same thing with no results. The other part of him was disgusted at how far he had fallen. Here he was, Loki, Norse god of Mischief, standing watch at the door like a dog waiting for its master to come home.

However, he had to admit that perhaps dogs were onto something, as the relief he felt when the door suddenly opened and Steve walked through was greater than he had ever felt before in his thousand-year long lifetime. 

“Come on, Loki, we have to go!” Steve exclaimed, grabbing a hoodie off of the kitchen counter and throwing it at him. A pair of sunglasses soon followed, and Loki finally noticed that Steve was already dressed in what he called his 'random civilian' disguise.

“Excuse me?!” Loki’s knuckles whitened as he clenched a handful of the proffered hoodie like he was trying to strangle the life out of it. He watched, furious, as Steve paid him no mind, instead running around and shoving all of Loki’s possessions that were in sight into a pile.

“Do you have nothing to say for yourself?” Loki growled, shooting Steve an irritated look when he shushed him. “I have been staying put here, all alone, just as you texted me to, for nine days! That is over a week, and with nary an explanation!” Loki leaned forward and hissed into Steve’s guilty face, “I ran out of ramen noodles four days ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve replied sincerely, “but I didn’t want to draw any attention to you. I am a fugitive, Loki! I’m on the run from the government, and we have to go now!”

Loki gaped, face draining of color, and then jumped into action, pulling out a suitcase and packing his necessities as quickly as possible. As he did, he noticed Steve shoving less necessary items, mainly coffee, a French press, and Loki’s apparently not-so-secret stash of chocolate, into a trash bag.

“I think I have everything,” Loki stage whispered to Steve as he shoved on his shades. They both started for the door, and then Loki leaped back like a cat from a cucumber when a strange Midgardian slammed open the door.

“What’s taking you so long?” the man hissed, and Loki tried to calm his racing heart when he saw the lack of alarm in Steve’s expression.

“Who the hell are you?” Loki shot back, crossing his arms.

“Bucky,” the man replied flatly, and Loki’s eyes lit up in recognition at the name.

“Oh, are you the Bucky who fell off a train seventy years ago, and then somehow came back to life and pulled Steve out of a lake two years ago?” Loki asked.

“Yeah,” Bucky replied shortly.

“Steve told me all about you,” Loki said, giving Bucky a searching look. Ah, yes. There was the metal arm Steve had mentioned, although all Loki could see at the moment was the metallic hand.

“Really?” Bucky raised an eyebrow. “He told me nothing about you.”

Loki turned to Steve, eyes shining with betrayal.

Steve just sighed. “It’s been a hectic couple of days. I promise I’ll fill you both in as soon as we get in the car, but right now we really need to drive back to the field where we left the Quinjet before someone discovers it.”

They quickly followed Steve's lead and hurried out the door. Soon, however, they ran across a new problem. Both Loki and Bucky wanted to sit up front.

“I called it first,” Bucky stated simply, sitting in the seat with his arms crossed.

“But it is my car!” Loki whined. “Director Fury gave it to me! Besides, I get car sick.” He scowled at their uncaring expressions. “You know what, how about I drive?”

“Just get in the back, Loki,” Steve said with an exasperated sigh. “We can’t afford to get a speeding ticket right now.” At Loki’s mulish expression, Steve added, “If you stop complaining, I’ll let you fly the Quinjet.”

Loki immediately stopped complaining.

***

“So let me get this straight,” Loki began once Steve had filled him in, “you took on Stark and did not even think to invite me?”

“Extraterrestrial threats only,” Steve reminded him. “Besides, I didn’t want you to have to pick sides.”

Loki huffed. “Are you forgetting the fact that if Stark’s side won, I would have to spend the rest of the century in a straitjacket?”

“I know that you’re still angry at Stark about Ultron—” Steve began, but Loki quickly interrupted.

“Of course I am still angry!” he exclaimed. “If Stark wanted to create a sentient life so much, he should have just married Pepper and done it the old-fashioned way. Instead, he uses a magical force known to influence people’s minds negatively and creates a murderous robot that wants to kill all of human life!

“And now Stark feels bad so he approves of this plan to hold all the Avengers accountable to a higher power? If he does not trust his own decision-making skills so much, which admittedly is understandable, maybe he should just listen to you instead of sneaking behind your back!

“And he does not really want to be held accountable for Sokovia," Loki added with a scoff, “otherwise he would be in a cell right next to Wanda for creating a murderous robot!

“It is utterly ridiculous that we are the ones on the run while he gets off scot-free, once again,” Loki finished his rant, crossing his arms.

“I know,” Steve said with a sigh, “and I think that he would have come round, if not for…”

“For what?” Loki questioned, cocking his head.

“I killed his mom,” Bucky answered bluntly.

Loki gaped at him, and Steve hurriedly explained that Bucky had been brainwashed at the time.

“Well,” Loki finally said, “on the one hand, a lot of people’s moms probably died during my invasion of New York, and I was only barely brainwashed, so I am hardly one to judge. On the other hand, if one of them came after me for revenge I would hardly blame them. After all, I have been giving Thor the silent treatment for the past two years, and he did not kill our mother; he just forgot to invite me to her funeral.”

“I really wish you would make up with him,” Steve remarked. “In his defense, he hadn’t seen you in two years, and he was a little preoccupied with a Dark Elf invasion and a dying girlfriend. Not everyone works well under pressure.”

“I know that,” Loki said irately, “but that does not change the fact that he forgot my existence to the point that he went to my mother’s funeral and did not stop and think, ‘Maybe we are missing a family member?’ He does not see me for two years and suddenly the thousand years I was his brother and Mother’s son are nothing to him.”

Steve did not try to speak in Thor’s defense after that, and they sat in silence for a moment.

“So where is Thor?” Bucky said at last. “Do you think he will be a part of Team Captain America or Team Iron Man?”

“He is in Asgard,” Loki said with a scowl, “hiding from his ex-girlfriend, preparing to take over the throne with the Allfather, and worrying about how to handle his real sibling. As to what side he will align himself with, I know not.”

Loki abruptly narrowed his eyes at Steve. “You do know I have not yet forgiven you for abandoning me in that apartment for nine days, right?”

“Yes, Loki,” Steve said with a sigh, trying to concentrate on the road.

“Also, have you been sneaking chocolate from my stash?” Loki inquired, poking Steve’s shoulder.

Steve grimaced, swatting away Loki’s finger. “Yes, Loki.”

“…Would you like some MnM’s?” Loki held up the bag.

Steve smiled and held out his hand. “Yes, Loki.”

“You know what? I think I will forgive Thor,” Loki declared suddenly, and Steve shot him a surprised look. “Why should I care if he gets all of Odin’s attention? You are way better than Odin anyway.”

“Thanks, it’s nice to know I’m better than the guy who won the Worst Dad Ever Award for ten centuries in a row,” Steve said with a grin.

“If only Stark was as forgiving as me,” Loki said with a sigh, and Steve struggled to contain his laughter. “I think when I next see him, I will tell him that the Bible says that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you are being poisoned yourself.”

Steve’s smile disappeared. “That is not from the Bible, Loki!” he reprimanded. “That’s from Avatar the Last Airbender.”

“Oh, is it?” Loki replied teasingly. “I am always getting the two of those confused.”

“You’ve read the Bible?” Bucky asked, tone thick with disbelief.

Loki sighed. “Steve made it his New Year's resolution to convert me to Christianity.”

Bucky burst out laughing, and Steve’s cheeks flushed a deep red. “Are aliens even allowed to convert to Christianity, being as they’re not, you know, human?” Bucky asked, not bothering to hide his grin.

“I believe all can be adopted into God’s family,” Steve replied stubbornly.

“And I believe being adopted into one godly family was bad enough,” Loki returned, and Steve just rolled his eyes at Loki’s heresy.

“So, what’s Avatar the Last Airbender?” Bucky questioned curiously.

“Only the greatest theatrical masterpiece of all time,” Loki promptly replied. “Do not worry. Steve and I will make sure you are introduced to its greatness. Though, I must warn you. If you speak ill of Zuko, I will gut you like a fish.”

“No death threats!” Steve chastised.

“I was only joking,” Loki reassured him, but behind Steve’s back he made eye contact with Bucky and mimed slitting his throat, much to Bucky's amusement.

“Do you not think now would be a good time to release me from my magic suppressing shackles?” Loki abruptly asked Steve. “If we are to live as fugitives, we could use some better disguises, and disguises are considered my forte.”

“That’s a great idea…” Steve began to exclaim, but then he paused abruptly. After a moment, realization dawned on Loki.

“… You have no idea how to take them off, do you?” Loki asked flatly.

Steve winced, hands tightening on the steering wheel. “… We’ll figure it out later.”

Loki sighed. “What about Thanos? If he attacks, he will find me defenseless, and the Avengers at odds with one another!”

“... We’ll figure that out later, too,” Steve said finally with a sigh.

Loki eyed the silver shackles on his wrists, and then he eyed the worried furrow between Steve’s eyebrows. He, as well, could think of no solutions. At last, Loki shrugged.

“Okay, sounds good to me.”

The End