Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 73

Loki has the inexplicable urge to rewatch his Taylor Swift music videos.

It's not even that he likes the videos themselves. He doesn't really care for them either way. But the DVD in his Beautiful Eyes case has the song "Tim McGraw" which he doesn't have on a CD, so this is the only way he gets to listen to it. And, if he's playing that video, he might as well play the rest, too. He can make a day of it.

Unfortunately, the only DVD player he's aware of in the tower is all the way in the man cave, so, with his cat trailing close behind him, that's where he's off to.

It seems someone's already beat him to it. Steve is sitting on the couch with his legs pulled up in front of him, holding up a notebook in his lap. His pencil is fast at work, though it seems his eraser cap is taking the brunt of the damage. He looks up when he notices Loki in the doorway, flipping his pencil around between his fingers absentmindedly.

"Hey, you stealing the TV?" Steve asks.

"I'd planned to," Loki says, "though now I'm more interested in what you're doing."

"Oh, just..." Steve closes his notebook and holds it up a bit. "Doodling."

Loki raises a brow. "Can I see what you've drawn?"

Steve physically cringes at the question. "It's really bad."

"I don't believe that," Loki says, although, honestly, he would not be at all surprised if it really does suck. Drawing is not a talent for just anyone. He takes a seat on the couch, and Snowflake follows, jumping up on the cushions and plopping down between them. Loki doesn't ask again, but he does make a point of looking at the notebook, a silent signal that he's still interested.

"You really want to see it?" Steve asks reluctantly.

"I would."

Steve hesitates, then opens his notebook back up. He's careful to shield the pages from view as he flips through them until he finally settles on the one he'd been working on. He turns it toward the god, adding the disclaimer, "It's really not that good."

Loki's brows shoot up. "Not that good" his ass. He takes the notebook to get a better look at it. He's not sure what exactly he's looking at, but the line art and the shading are incredible. He brushes his thumb over the large globe-like structure in the center, partially covered by a train of some sort zipping by. There are buildings along the outskirts, and though there's not as much detail put into them, they're incredibly well-drawn.

"What is this?" Loki asks.

"It's supposed to be Stark Expo," Steve says. He looks at it with a frown. "I guess I don't remember it as well as I thought I did."

"Well, if it's something of Stark's, I imagine you're better off forgetting," Loki jokes. (It's not really a joke.)

Steve chuckles. "No, not Tony. It was Howard Stark's."

Loki furrows his brows. "I beg your pardon?"

"Howard," Steve repeats. "Tony's dad."

Loki cocks his head to the side. "You knew Stark's father?"

"Well, not at the time, but yeah," Steve says. "He was one of my closest friends before I went in the ice."

"Really?" Loki looks at him curiously. "I was under the impression that he was a rather... unpleasant person."

Steve's brows shoot up. "Who told you that?"

Stark did.

But that was a rather personal conversation, and if this surprises Steve, then maybe it's not something he advertises. Maybe he's not as open about hating his father as Loki is. If that's the case, he doesn't want to be the one to tell Steve.