Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 160

The Avengers have spent the last couple of hours decorating for Christmas, and Loki is going to lose his mind over it.

It was kind of fun at first, but it just keeps dragging on and on. Why do they need so many ornaments on the Christmas tree? Are they aware that the beads they draped over its branches look stupid? Why do they need to put up a second tree in another common room? Why does Tony have so many ornaments of the Avengers to smother it in?

He doesn't understand Christmas. He tends to enjoy the gift-giving. He certainly enjoys making and eating cookies – and the chocolate chip ones are by far his favorite. He loves that they have cinnamon rolls for breakfast every year. But everything else, he has no interest in.

On that note, if he has to listen to that stupid "All I Want For Christmas Is You" song one more time, he will attempt another genocide.

Fortunately, his bedroom is quiet, save for the sound of Snowflake's soft purring in his lap. He looks down at his baby, a slight smile on his face. He loves his little kitty. It kills him to know that she'll one day pass away and he'll have to learn to live without her.

But that day is far away, he tries to remind himself. She's a healthy little girl, and she's going to live for years and years, and he's going to embrace that with open arms. He's not going to push her away again. She doesn't deserve that.

Still, with a sleepy little cat in his lap, there's not much he can do. He doesn't even want to pet her and risk agitating her in her near-sleeping state. He really has no choice but to sit here and do nothing until she finishes resting up and decides she wants to have fun.

Although there is something he can do without bothering his cat...

He closes his eyes and projects his consciousness all the way across the world to the wonderful city of Bucharest, Romania.

Bucky is in the middle of washing his dishes in his sink. Alpine lurks behind the faucet, presumably watching (or playing in the water?), but when Loki appears, her attention shifts. She hops off the counter and trots over to him, settling right in front of him and looking up at him with her big, pleading eyes.

Bucky glances over his shoulder at her, and his gaze rises to Loki's face. "Oh, hey."

"You should invest in a dishwasher," Loki remarks. They seem like a much easier way to wash dishes — not that he'd know; he never washes his own dishes.

Bucky huffs and turns his attention back to his dishes.

"And how have you been?" Loki asks him. It's certainly been a while since they've talked. He needs to get better about checking in on him — and checking in on Harley, too. He should do that soon.

"The same as always," Bucky says, which Loki will take as a decently good sign. "You?"

"The Avengers have gotten in on my last nerve," Loki says, exaggerating his annoyance.

Bucky looks back at him again, an eyebrow raised.

"They will not stop playing their ridiculous Christmas music," Loki tells him. "It's all I've heard all day."

"Oh." Bucky turns back to the dishes, but not before Loki catches that slight smile on his face. "At least they waited until December."

"Is it December?" He wouldn't know. Nobody ever tells him the date — probably because he never asks.

"As of midnight this morning," Bucky replies. "But I've been hearing Christmas music for weeks."

Loki furrows his brows. "Before Thanksgiving, even?" Even just 25 days of celebrating Christmas with holiday-themed music is strange to him. Listening to it even before Thanksgiving, which seems to be equally as important a holiday, is even stranger.