Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 100

"You did it."

Bucky looks up from the books he's reading. He doesn't seem at all disturbed by Loki's sudden appearance. He must be getting used to it by now – which is surprising; Loki's only seen him a handful of times. He must not startle easily.

"I did what?" Bucky asks.

Loki gestures with his head. "You got a cat."

As if on cue, the cat curled up in his lap jumps up, darting off the couch and up to Loki. She tries to jump up at him as though to put her front paws on his legs, but she falls right through him. She turns around and looks up at him, this time from the back, and tries to jump on him again. Unsurprisingly, she falls right through him again.

Bucky huffs, amused, and pats the cushion next to him. Immediately, the cat comes running back, jumping up on his lap and standing with her front feet on his shoulders. Bucky chuckles softly, and as he begins to pet her, she comes back down, curling up in his lap with her head resting on his leg.

"You were right," Bucky admits. "Life is better with a cat."

"Isn't it?" Loki agrees. "Much less lonely." Especially for Bucky, he'd imagine. At least in Avengers Tower, he's always had the Avengers to talk to, even when he didn't want to. Bucky seems to be all alone – though maybe Loki only visits him when he's alone. Maybe he is making friends outside of these impromptu visits. He wouldn't know. "Does your cat have a name?"

"Alpine," Bucky replies. He gently pets the top of the cat's head, and Alpine purrs softly.

"She's cute," Loki says. She's bigger than Snowflake, though not by much, and her all-white fur is much more befitting of the name than his own cat. "How old is she?" He pauses. "He?"

"I don't know," Bucky admits. "She's been wandering the streets for weeks. I let her in to get out of the rain and she just hasn't left."

Loki raises a brow. "So you adopted a cat by accident?"

"I guess so."

"Hmm." Loki watches Alpine for a few moments. He supposes he shouldn't be surprised. She looks a little thin. He wouldn't be too surprised if she'd been homeless before Bucky took her in. "What do you feed her?"

"Fish," Bucky replies. "The fisherman in the market sells it to me cheap. He says he's fed her a few times, too; he's glad I got her off the street."

That puts a small smile on his lips. "It sounds like you have quite the community here."

"It's nice," Bucky admits. "It's kind of homely. Nice place; good people. A lot different than New York in the 30s."

"I imagine it is," Loki says. "Better, do you think?"

"I don't know," Bucky says. "New York is still kind of fuzzy."

"Hmm," Loki hums. He's not sure there's much he can do about that. Maybe if Bucky would come to Avengers Tower, he could play around in his head a little, but he doesn't want to make any promises he can't keep.

"If you're here," Bucky says, "where are the Avengers?"

"Off on another mission they cannot tell me about." Loki rolls his eyes. "Whatever they're trying to do, it doesn't seem to be going well. They've gone out half a dozen times trying to finish what I assume must be the same mission, and they've nothing to show for it."

"You should offer to help," Bucky says, like it could possibly be that easy.

"They won't even speak about it to me," Loki reminds him. "They certainly will not accept my help."