Chapter Text
“Do not tell us that this is a bad idea again.“ Valkyrie turned in the passenger seat, pointing her finger at Loki in the back.
“I wasn’t.”
“You took a deep breath as if you were going to complain again.” She narrowed her eyes. “I just wanted to make sure.”
Loki raised an eyebrow and flashed her a grin. “Don’t you worry. I won’t be complaining again.”
“Good.” She leaned back and then smirked. “And you had to promise Morgan to come to play with her again?”
“Yes, she is quite fond of me. But on the other hand, she knows nothing about the things I did.”
When they had left the previous evening, Loki had to promise to come back to tell Peter more about space and to play with Morgan.
The mage turned towards his brother just to be met with a worried expression. “Fear not, I’m sure Steve and his friends will be accepting of you.”
“Brother, if you start patronising me because of my experiences, I--”
“No one will.” Bruce interrupted them while driving down the road. “We are worried about you. People genuinely worrying about you and people patronizing you are two different things. And it would be great if you could stop trying to push us away, especially your brother. He mourned you and he wants to help you.”
Loki looked at Bruce for a few seconds before sinking back in his seat slightly. He simply couldn’t afford people caring for him, for their sake and his own. Everyone that had ever cared for him had died or otherwise suffered.
“What’s wrong? Cat’s caught your tongue, Lokes?” Valkyrie joked.
Her amusement stopped when Loki didn’t reply. And despite not being the tricksters best friend, she started to worry when he remained quiet until they reached Steve’s house. He was currently living in a small, suburban house with Bucky, Sam and Natasha.
They all walked up to the house in silence and before they could even ring the doorbell, Steve opened the door. Tony must have informed him that they were coming.
“It’s nice to see you.” He smiled but Loki knew that he wasn’t meant. “Would you come inside? Oh, and please excuse the painting supplies. After resigning from the Avengers, I picked up painting.”
“Don’t worry. Our cabin is also full of various things. If you came over, you would see what an actually untidy place looks like.” Valkyrie laughed.
Steve smiled at her and then stepped back to let them inside. Loki followed slowly, trying to stay close to his brother. He knew that neither Steve nor Natasha were overly fond of him.
“And you must be Loki?” Sam asked and held out a hand. “Do people on Assguard great each other like that?”
“It’s Asgard.” Thor corrected him. “Are you just saying that to make fun of me?”
Sam laughed. “Maybe, maybe not.”
“How have you been?” Steve asked and then looked over at Loki. “And when did he get here?”
“Two nights ago in a flash of green light.” Thor explained. “We were all quite shocked. My brother is currently sleeping on our couch.”
“But if he keeps waking me up by screaming in his sleep just to be an ass to me in the morning, he will sleep on the porch.” Valkyrie smirked. “I don’t mind the screaming but if I ask about your wellbeing the next morning and you tell me to leave you alone and then ignore me, I’m angry.”
“Great, within a week everyone will know about my nightmares.” Loki crossed his arms. “Why don’t you write it in the papers?”
“Bucky had nightmares, too when he first came back.” Steve whispered. “I used to share a bed with him a lot and whenever he woke up screaming, I calmed him down.”
“Do you all desperately want me to share a bed with my brother? I’m not a child anymore.” Loki huffed.
“All I’m saying it that it helps.” Steve shrugged. “Let’s sit down and talk. Bucky and Natasha are getting groceries but they should be back soon.”
And just as Steve had instructed, everyone sat down at the dining table. Sam leaned forward, supporting his head on his hands.
“So you attacked New York?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Did that purple raisin make you do it?”
Valykrie snorted at that. “You call the most dangerous man in the universe a purple raisin?”
“He’s dead.” Sam shrugged. “Was it your plan or did he persuade you?”
Loki was taken aback. How come that Sam expected him to be influenced? Why was he not judging him or trying to throw Loki out?
“He was under control.” Thor said.
“Brother!” Loki hissed. “Stop lying to him to make me look better. He controlled me a little but not much. Most of my obedience came from torture.”
Steve looked shocked. “I didn’t know. God, had we known we could have tried to help you and stopped the invasion before it began. We could--
Sam put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Easy, Steve. You didn’t know and you did the best you could. Now is the present and dwelling on the past never does you good. All it does is make you feel anxious and guilty.”
The blond nodded and swallowed. “Torture?”
“Yes, physical, psychological but that shouldn’t concern you. All I hope for is that I can live in this realm and not be attacked or suspected of wrong-doings by you and your friends. That is why we’re here.”
Steve nodded along. “I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t know if you are telling the truth but I learned to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I met a lot of people who I maybe should not have blindly trusted but I did, so I think that you deserve my trust, too. I won’t blindly trust you, I will be on guard but I will give you a chance.”
Loki was dumbfounded. He sat there, stock still, staring at Steven. Never in his life had he expected a man that he caused so much trouble for to simply give him another chance. He didn’t know what he ever did to deserve this but perhaps his brother had let it slip how he ‘died’ trying to stop Thanos. Still, it was not like it made the things he did in the past disappear.
“Why would you do that?”
“I just told you. Also, I’m a trusting person so I will give you another chance. But if you betray us or cause any trouble that warrants a fight against you, don’t think I won’t support that fight.”
“I understand.”
“That’s good.” Steve flashed him a smile. “Do you want to talk about what happened? Thanos hurt all of us and we came to understand that talking helps a great deal.”
“Thank you but I can deal with all of that myself.”
“Tony suggested seeing someone, as well.” Bruce pointed out. “But since Loki doesn’t want that, we came to the conclusion that we should just wait and see if he gets better.”
“I’m fine.” Loki hissed at Bruce. “Don’t patronise me.”
“What did I just tell you twenty minutes ago in the car?” Bruce shook his head. “There is a big difference between being patronising and caring.”
Sam then decided to speak. “Listen, I don’t know you and I have no history with you and if Steve trusts you, I will. Just know that if you try anything, I will definitely be on Steve’s side and not yours.”
“That’s understandable.” Loki nodded.
Thor then smiled at them. “That’s wonderful to hear. I’m very glad that you all accept that my brother will be here from now on. In all honesty, I was worried.”
“Don’t be.” Steve smiled. “I’m sure Nat and Bucky will be fine with it, too. Even though Natasha might be a little weary about it.”
“I understand that. I was not very pleasant to talk to when she came to interrogate me.” Loki nodded. “All I hope for is that she will accept me being on Midgard.”
“She will.” Steve nodded. “If she’s not, I will talk to her about it.”
As if on cue, they heard keys turning in the front door and heard Natsha and Bucky talking as they walked in.
“I’m telling you, she was totally interested in you.” They heard Natasha say in an excited voice. “You should have talked to her.”
“She wasn’t.” Bucky answered. “And even if she was, I was not interested in her. Not every lady that’s nice to me is potential girlfriend material, Nat.”
“But she was.” The woman argued.
“Whatever you say.” Bucky chuckled and then he walked into the living room, shopping bags in hand. “Stevie, if you had told me there was a party, I would have brought some chips and dip.”
Natasha walked in behind him, peering over Bucky’s shoulder. “A party? What-- Oh no, what is this about? And why is Loki here?”
Steve got up and turned to Bucky and Natasha. “Alright, listen. I can explain or Thor can explain. Bucky, could you bring the groceries to the kitchen with Sam while we talk to Natasha?”
Sam got up and walked over to Bucky. “Come on, let’s get going.”
“You do the fridge and I do the cupboards.” Bucky followed Sam into the kitchen.
“Sure.”
Steve turned back to Natasha. “Alright, Nat, I know you’re worried and--”
“Worried? What is the guy who hurt all of us doing in here? He hurt Bruce, he brainwashed Clint, he nearly--”
Thor stopped her rambling. “He was tortured by Thanos.”
“What?” Natasha turned to Thor, confusion clearly written on her face.
“Before he attacked New York, Thanos tortured him, broke his mind and partially controlled him.” Thor explained quickly before Natasha could interrupt him. “He attacked Thanos and tried to help me save the Asgardians on the ship. He was willing to give his life for us. Thanos tried to kill him and I thought he had succeeded but in reality, Loki had been falling through space for days on end before the guardians found him and eventually they brought him to Midgard and then he found me.”
“Is that true?” Natasha seemed surprised and looked at Bruce. “Bruce, is that true?”
“As far as I know, it is. Natasha, listen to me.” Bruce got up and walked towards Natasha, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Thor, Valkyrie and I will keep an eye on him. No one is expecting you to trust him completely and be friends with him. We just want him to stay on Earth with us. Maybe he can get another chance. He’s made mistakes but so have we all. I know I would want a second chance if I were in his place.”
Natasha eyed Bruce for a second before looking over at Steve. Steve gave her a reassuring nod and Bruce squeezed her shoulder a little. She sighed quietly. “Alright, I think a second chance might not be a bad idea. After all, it sounds like you risked your life fighting against Thanos. But I will be on guard, so don’t think you can get away with anything.”
“Yes, I heard that two times today.” Loki raised an eyebrow. “But I’m thankful that you try to give me another chance. Believe me, I have no desire in getting caught up in trouble again.”
“Good.” Came a voice from the door. Bucky stood there, arms crossed. “You got the ‘I’ll give you another chance but don’t betray us’ speech a couple of times now, so let me just say that as someone who got a second chance, I will give you one but don’t you dare hurt my friends because I cannot give you another chance after that.”
“I won’t. I have no reason to.” Loki swallowed a little. “Then I assume we settled this issue.”
“Yes.” Bucky nodded. “Did you come for anything else?”
“Are you kicking us out?” Valkyrie chuckled.
“I was just asking.” Bucky defended himself, putting his hands up in mock defeat.
“I mean you could stay for some coffee.” Steve suggested.
“I like the sound of that.” Bruce smiled. “Should I help?”
“No, what hosts would we be then?” Natasha said softly. “I’ll get Sam on the case. He’ll make some coffee.”
“Am I supposed to be in the kitchen all day?” Sam called from said room. “You could help, you know?”
“I will.” Bruce offered but Natasha stopped him.
“No, I’ll go and help him.” She smiled and then left.
Steve looked at Loki. “Don’t let her intimidate you. She’s just protective after all that happened. We are her family and she wants to protect her family.”
“I understand. Don’t worry about me.” Loki tried to appease him.
“But she’ll come around to accepting you.” Steve smiled. “Just give her some time.”
“Did you tell anyone else, yet?” Bucky asked.
“We told Tony and Pepper. And I time everyone else will know, too.” Valkyrie explained. “Tony suggested we tell Dr Strange.”
“Yes, he might be wary about it.” Steve chuckled. “But you’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
Loki nodded. “So, you paint?” He tried to make conversation.
“Steve is an amazing artist.” Thor proclaimed. “Did you see the painting of the mountains and woods in our dining hall? Steve painted it.”
“Really? That sounds amazing.”
Steve waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not all that great. You make it sound like I’m Picasso.”
“I like you more than Picasso, to be honest.” Bruce smirked.
“Bruce, stop.” Steve shook his head.
“Bruce, stop embarrassing Stevie.” Bucky chuckled. “But he can show you his paintings or sketches some other time if you would like to.”
Loki didn’t know what made him this interested in Steve’s paintings. Maybe it was the desire to make peace with his former enemies - not that he would admit this desire to anyone. He simply nodded at Bucky’s question and watched as Steve’s cheeks got a little flushed. The man was still trying to dismiss these claims but his friend wouldn’t let him, insisting that his art was amazing.
While everyone watched Bucky and Steve argue, Natasha and Sam came in with a few cups of coffee and put them down on the table. The two of them sat down and eyed Steve and Bucky in amusement.
“Alright, would you two cut it out?” Natasha chuckled. “I mean, I’m all for supporting each other but I’m not for fighting over supporting each other.”
“Sorry.” Steve mumbled sheepishly and sat down. “Now, do tell me how Loki showed up at your doorstep. I feel like it might be an interesting story.”
Everyone sat down and looked over at Thor and Loki, waiting for the story to start. Loki nodded at his brother, indicating that he was going to tell the story. Thor nodded, excited to do so and looked at his friends.
“It was a flash of green that woke me up.”