Asshole Father Anonymous

The meaning of Home

Coulson would find out about how horrible he was soon enough, and until then the student would take whatever kindness he could get. Including sitting in the front seat.

It didn't take long to arrive at Phil's house. A simple but nice looking home. Complete with white picket fence and a red mailbox.
It almost seemed to be pulled from an old movie, so perfect. Loki could barely believe it as they pulled in the driveway.
Coulson parked carefully inside his garage and told Loki to stay put while he grabbed the wheelchair.
Loki didn't really understand why Phil was acting the way he was. Didn't he realise what a waste of space Loki was?

But the councillor simply grabbed the wheelchair from the trunk and unfolded it. Opened the door for Loki, and carefully helped him move. Coulson pushed the chair inside the house and smiled softly at the feeling of coming home.
It was rather early on in the day, and normally Phil wouldn't be home for many hours. But today, tomorrow, and probably the whole weekend, would be focussed on making Loki feel a little safer.

"This is the livingroom, the kitchen and diningroom are that way. I'm afraid I don't have an elevator so I will have to help you up and down the stairs until you're allowed to walk again." Coulson said calmly as he pointed to the right doors and pushed Loki in a clear spot in the livingroom.
"Until we can have your stuff picked up, you'll need some basics. I'm going to get some groceries for the weekend, make yourself at home. You can watch a movie or whatever you want. I'll be back before dinner." Phil explained calmly as he already made a mental list from what they would need.

Loki just nodded, keeping quiet as he listened to the older man speak. It was confusing not to know what was expected of him, but at least he would not have to sleep on the streets for now.

Phil accepted Loki's silence and quickly wrote down his number. After assuring Loki knew where the phone was, and telling him to call when anything happened, Coulson left.

The dark haired student took a moment to simply sit and rest his aching muscles. He remembered miss Potts telling him to take his painkillers regularly, but she had only given him a dozen or so. If he took them now, while the pain was still manageable, he would no longer have any by the time he would really need them.
And so he just sat and allowed his body to rest for a moment, keeping an eye on the clock.
Mister Coulson had said he would be back before dinner. And so Loki would have to make sure dinner was ready by then. After all, Coulson could easily kick him out.

The young man rolled his wheelchair towards the kitchen and carefully looked around for something that could be made. There wasn't much food around. But Loki had always been good at improvising.
He grabbed some jars and pasta and set to cooking a nice pasta salad. It was the best he could do with the things he found in the fridge, and he could only hope it was good enough.

He had to drag himself up from the chair to grab a pot, biting his lip to silence a pained whimper, but otherwise everything went rather well. The small burn on his palm from the hot water hitting his skin while draining the pasta was barely anything.

It took him longer than he had wanted, but finally there was a pasta finished in the fridge, ready to be eaten. Loki hoped Coulson wouldn't be too hungry since there hadn't been much food. And the student just knew there wouldn't be a lot of leftovers. Which meant not a lot to eat for him.
There was a small voice in the back of his mind nagging that Coulson was different, that he would just get food. He quickly pushed the spark of pathetic hope away.

Loki set the table, his ankles were throbbing by the time he had gotten a glass and plate from the cabinets, and rolled back to the livingroom.
There was still time left, but Loki did not know what his other chores would be yet. He also couldn't hide in his room, since he did not know which room he would be staying in. And so he put the TV on softly and watched some scientific documentary about plasma. It was rather interesting.

In the mean time...

Coulson arrived at the mall quickly and went straight to the nearest clothing store. It wasn't anything fancy, they just sold basics, exactly what Phil needed. He roughly guessed Loki's size and bought a few pair of pants, some shirts, underwear, and socks.
A trip to the shop next door gave him toothpaste, a toothbrush, and some soap. He had the rest spare at home.
With that safely tucked away in the back of his car, Phil went to get some real groceries.

It took the older man a bit longer than he wanted, he hadn't wanted to keep Loki alone for too long, but eventually he had bags with bread and meat and vegetables and everything else they would need throughout the weekend. Especially with the guys coming over tomorrow. They ate in bulk.
He looked down at his watch and decided to get some take out, too tired to cook once he would get back home.
With his car stocked and the delicious scent of fresh Indian food filling the small space, Phil quickly drove home.

Loki was completely wrapped up in the documentary. He had always loved learning and studying. Even though it was immensely frustrating having to hide his knowledge.
When he heard the door open and Coulson entering, he paled and immediately turned off the TV. Dammit. He hadn't been paying attention. He should have been helping unloading the car!
The student rolled his chair quickly to the kitchen and grabbed the pasta from the fridge, setting it on the table and rolling out of the way. His hands were nervously twitching in his lap. The What-if's buzzing around his mind. Loki closed his eyes and hoped. Hoped that Phil would like the food. Hoped that he wouldn't be thrown out yet. Hoped that for once he could rest without fear of Odin walking in.

Surprisingly light footsteps announced Phil walking in with his bags of groceries and Loki tensed just a bit more when they froze in the door opening.

"Loki? Did you make me dinner?" Coulson asked gently and carefully, he had a gut feeling as to why. But he very much hoped to be wrong.

The dark haired student nodded and wished he could disappear on the spot. "Yes Sir."

Phil knew he had to be very careful with what he said now, he didn't want to scare Loki off after all. "Loki, there is something I should have told you before, but unless I directly ask you to do something, you do not have to cook or clean. Or do any chores for that matter. I should have said so before leaving, and I apologise for the misunderstanding." Coulson spoke calm but clear, watching the fear morph into shame and change into confusion on the student's face.

Phil was sorry? No one ever apologised to Loki... That was... Strange. Why would he do that? Even if Coulson had made a mistake, he was the head of the house.
Loki kept very silent as he didn't understand what was expected of him now.

Coulson smiled softly and put the bags of Indian food on the dinner table. "How about I put the pasta salad you made in the fridge, and we'll eat that for lunch tomorrow with some bread. It's not really enough to feed us both for dinner but it looks delicious."
Phil didn't lie, it did look good, the kid was a good cook. The reason why was rather bitter though.
But just as the councillor finished his suggestion, Loki already grabbed some foil, covered the salad, and put it away. He wasn't as awkward and clumsy with his wheelchair as Phil thought he would be.
The older man cleared his throat and thanked Loki, creating surprise on his expression once more. He began unloading the food, he had basically ordered a little bit of everything, but his head shot up when he catched a soft whisper.
Loki had gotten to his feet to grab another plate, and didn't quite manage to silence the pained noise.

Shocked, Phil quickly took the plate from the young adult's hand and made him sit down again. "No, Loki, don't do that. You'll get injured. You have to rest your ankles, doctor's order." Coulson said a little sternly and watched Loki twirl his fingers nervously.
The older man sighed softly and put the plate on the table before calmly loading both plates with food. "Let's eat in the livingroom."
It wasn't something Phil preferred when he had guests, but the wheelchair was too low to eat by the dining table.

Loki pushed himself towards the livingroom and looked in awe at the plate he gotten. It was loaded with food. Even more food than Loki would get when there were guests over which forced Odin to feed Loki. This was incredible.

The student couldn't quite finish it all, his body wasn't used to it. But when he didn't get punished for wasting food, when Phil just put everything in the fridge and smiled, Loki decided that perhaps Coulson truly was different. It gave him a spark of hope that maybe not everyone was like Odin.

Maybe... Maybe this could work out.