Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 109

As much as Loki hates to tap out in the middle of a fight, he knows he's no use when he can hardly think, so he tries to sleep off the headache. It kind of works. It works enough. He can still feel the pulsing through his head, but it's not as strong; not as debilitating. He can push through it.

His immediate course of action when he wakes is to check on the Avengers. He's pleased to find that they're not dead, but he must admit, he's a little confused to find them in Clint Barton's house. He'd been under the impression that nobody but Natasha knew he had a family. When did that change?

The mood is fairly gloomy, but everybody seems to be safe, so Loki leaves them be. He'll go back to check on them later — maybe in a few hours. They don't seem to be in a rush to do anything stupid.

Loki crawls out of bed, briefly scans the room for Snowflake (who is, unfortunately, not here), and then heads out. He's hungry, he's dehydrated, and he has a very strong desire to down an entire bottle of Advil, which is, of course, the very first thing he does when he gets to the kitchen.

Loki chugs a few cups of apple juice, then dumps a few chicken nuggets on a plate and plops them in the microwave. As he waits for them to cook, he grabs a plastic bag, fills it with ice from the freezer, and holds it against his head. That's better. That's much better. Maybe he should have started with this.

He's so distracted by the pain in his head and the soft humming of the microwave that he doesn't even notice the approaching footsteps. It's not until he hears the voice behind him that he turns to look.

"Well, you look like hell."

Loki glances over his shoulder to find Sam Wilson standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching him with an eyebrow raised, and a small smile on his face. If his head wasn't pounding, he might actually consider it a pleasant sight. After his last interaction with the Avengers, he hadn't expected to see anybody smile at him for a long time.

"You're still here," Loki says. He hasn't given much thought to Sam Wilson's whereabouts, but if he'd had to have taken a guess, he would have assumed he was with the others. Isn't he one of their so-called heroes, too?

"Yeah, I'm watching Jane and Darcy," Sam says, "but I'm not supposed to tell you that."

Loki raises his brows. "But you just did."

"Yeah, well, last time someone kept secrets from you, you choked them half to death," Sam says, "and Thor's not here to save me if you try that on me." His words are cold, but his tone is light, almost friendly. It's strange. Loki's not sure what to make of it.

"Is it just you and them?" Loki asks. Does he have to worry about running into anybody else?

"Yep," Sam says. "Everyone else is off dealing with Ultron, but I told 'em not to tell me anything they didn't want you to know so that's all I got."

"Hmm," Loki hums. He doesn't have it in him to be pissed that he's not allowed to know what's going on. He can figure that out himself. He's just glad that Sam's not keeping secrets from him the way everybody else has been. He has to admit, he likes this guy.

Sam gestures with his head to the bag of ice he holds. "Thor hit you that hard?"

That sounds like a much better story than "some girl the Avengers are fighting overpowered my distant, weakened form, and left me with a horrible headache," so he lies and agrees. Thor did hit him pretty hard, so at least it's partially truthful.

"Looked like it," Sam says. "Hell, I'm almost surprised you woke up at all."

Loki rolls his eyes good-naturedly. "He's done worse."