Loki's Pain

Chapter Eight- Unexpected Treat

It would be weeks before Ash was back on his feet. So during his recovery, every current member of the Avengers came to see him in the med bay. They all sat around and visited to pass the time, surprising Ash with their intelligence and humor. Even Thor would stop by occasionally, which felt a bit awkward when Loki refused to stay.

Loki had recovered quickly, which had been unsurprising really. He was nearly immortal after all. So when Thor stopped by to visit, Loki would leave the room, otherwise he stayed by Ash's side. Thor was almost jealous of Ash for that, often standing by outside and watching them laugh and joke around with each other as the brothers used to do as children. Some days Thor could not bring himself to interrupt, and would just walk away instead.

Ash grew slowly stronger, and by week two he was standing and walking short distances. So it was with great fanfare that he was escorted out of the med bay and into the living room. Once settled onto the couch, he was covered with a thin blanket and handed a bowl of buttery popcorn. Loki flopped down next to him as the lights began to dim. Suddenly, the television burst to life, loud drum and trumpet sounds emitted from speakers around the room as the 20th Century Fox logo blared across the wall. When LucasFilm Limited popped up a few seconds later, Ash finally understood what was happening.

He had mentioned to Barton that he had never seen the Star Wars films, for which he had promptly been teased by at least half of the team. Eventually, he told them to put up, or shut up, since he couldn't do anything about it from a hospital bed. The team had gone quiet after that, and Ash had thought they simply felt bad about it. Now he knew different. They must have been planning this for awhile, and Ash's heart clenched almost painfully at the thoughtfulness of it all.

What they didn't know was that it wasn't simply Star Wars he had never seen. He had never seen any movie. He had never been to a theatre, or even been allowed to rent a dvd. The only television or player belonged to Pops, and neither of his children had ever been allowed to watch it.

Growing up, if he had wanted to watch something different, he was forced to stand in front of a shop and watch whatever channel they had deemed fitting thru the glass. They rarely ever got to watch for long either, since they were usually chased off by the shop owners pretty quickly.

So sitting comfortably on the couch, surrounded by new friends, watching the largest television he had ever seen, was suddenly the best day of his entire life. He was quickly enthralled by the images onscreen, even the opening text was fascinating to him. By the time the movie ended he had discovered a newfound love for the medium.

Natasha turned and asked Ash if he wanted more to eat as the ending credits started to roll, and he nodded indicating that he did with his eyes still glued to the screen. She rolled her eyes as she chuckled, amused by his reaction to something as simple as a movie played on a big screen.

Quickly climbing to her feet, she tapped Barton and motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen to help prepare dinner for everyone. She decided on simple tacos, since it was mainly chopping up vegetables. So about an hour later, the food was finally ready and set out in bowls on the table, save for both the soft and hard taco shells laying on plates at the end.

Natasha asked Friday to alert everyone that dinner was ready a moment later. Grabbing the stack of plates, she was setting them down on the table as a soft "whump" was heard near the windows. As people began to filter into the room, Natasha was looking at the windows cautiously. A hand on her knife, she slid towards the wall soundlessly.

When Ash entered the room he instantly noticed her behavior, and wondered what had set her off. Knowing better than to call out to her and alert whatever she was stalking, he reached out with his thoughts only to be shocked by teenage laughter.