Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 169

Loki just looks at his brother helplessly.

Usually, Thor would leave his brother to fight his own battles – and usually, he'd be thrilled to send Loki off to be social and make friends – but right now, with what happened last night and how dull he's been most of the day, he doesn't want to send him away. He doesn't want to make it worse.

So Thor says to the girls, "Maybe tomorrow would be a better day for this." If tonight is nightmare-free, tomorrow should be a fantastic day to harass Loki into having a girls night, but today is supposed to be dull and boring and comfortable, and a girls night sounds like none of that.

Natasha and Wanda share a look, and Thor finds himself wishing he had Wanda's mind-reading abilities, because something is definitely going on.

"I think we should do it today," Natasha says finally.

"I think you should wait until tomorrow," Thor replies. Why does it matter when Wanda has her first girls night? It will be just as girly tomorrow night as it would be right now – and it would be much more nighty if they waited until tomorrow night instead of doing it right now in the evening.

"And I think we should do it today," Natasha says again, which leads Thor to think this will be a very long back-and-forth if he lets it.

Thor sighs. "Now is not the time," he says. "If you want to pester him about this tomorrow, you are more than welcome to, but he's already said 'no.' Leave him be."

A glance at Loki shows that he's grateful for this. A look at Natasha shows that she's less than thrilled.

It's Wanda who tries next. She's quiet, a bit timid, but there's a real sense of sincerity in her voice when she says, "I would really appreciate your time. Even just twenty minutes. We won't ask you to do anything you don't want to, but it would mean a lot to me if you were there."

A part of Thor feels he should shoot this down the same way he's been shooting Natasha down. A part of him feels like this is different; this is more meaningful. He doesn't expect his brother to change his mind, but he should still have the chance to do it.

Loki's quiet for a few moments, long enough that Thor starts to think he'll have to answer for him anyway, but then Loki sighs and looks up at her.

"What will I be expected to do?" he asks finally.

The two girls share a not-so-subtle subtle smile.

It's Natasha who answers. "Whatever you want to," she says. "You can just sit and hang out with us if that's all you're up for right now. We just need another girl around, 'cause it's not a girls night with two girls."

Loki's silent as he ponders that; then, "Is there a dress code for this 'girls night'?"

"I'll leave it up to you," Natasha says. "Do you want to do 'hot and sexy' or 'comfy and cozy'?"

"Comfortable," Loki says without hesitation. "And you said only twenty minutes?"

Natasha glances at Wanda, who answers, "We'd like you to stay longer, but if you want to leave after 20 minutes, you can do that."

Loki sighs and looks over at Thor. "I'll be back in 20 minutes. Whether you want to wait or not is your choice."

Thor looks at him with a frown. He doesn't seem at all happy about this. The fact that he's willing to humor them at all right now is so surprising that it borders on concerning. But he trusts Natasha. She'll take care of Loki. He knows she will.

So Thor gives his brother a smile and bumps their shoulders together. "Try to have some fun?"

Loki gives him a small smile, then stands up. A flash of green overtakes him, and then she's standing there in her now very baggy sweatshirt, hands already clasping her sweatpants that are now many sizes too big. She pulls them tight by the drawstrings and ties them into a quick bow, and though it does nothing to change how ridiculously large they look on her, it does keep them from falling down.

Loki slips her hands into her hoodie pocket. "Now what?"

"C'mon." Natasha gestures for her to follow, and then leads the two girls out of the room.

Thor just sits there for a minute or so.

So...

Now what does he do?

He'd come to accept hours ago that he was going to spend his entire day with Loki. He wasn't really ready for that to change.

He pulls out his phone and opens up his last conversation with Jane. He could check in with her. He could give her a call or shoot her a text. But it's the middle of the night over there, if he remembers correctly. If she's not out at some party, she's probably asleep. He doesn't want to bother her.

Although if he just sends her one text, that shouldn't bother her, right? Just one text? She probably doesn't even have her ringer on while she's in bed. If she's asleep, she won't notice. If she's at a party, she can ignore it. And if she's just relaxing but not asleep, maybe they can chat for a little while; make up for the fact that he didn't get to see her today.

That's what he'll do, then. He'll just send her a quick text – just one; just so she knows he's thinking of her, and maybe they'll get to chat for a while if he's lucky.

Thor: I hope your conference went well. I apologize that I could not be there for you today, but I send you all of my love, and I hope we can arrange another day to meet.

Is that a good message? He feels like it is. He feels like he did well. Texting has never been his forte – and it's so different from sending letters by bird – but he's content with this.

So he hits the send button and leans back against the couch.

Buzz.

And then he un-leans back.

Whose phone was that? It wasn't his phone. He didn't get a notification. Is someone else's phone around here? Did Loki leave her phone in the room? Though he can't imagine it would be hers; who would be messaging her?

He looks around, brows furrowed. That was weird. Was it his? It did vibrate right after he sent the message. Did his phone vibrate because he sent it, and he just didn't feel it? He's so confused.

And then he hears a very familiar voice from just beyond the doorway.

"We should arrange another day to meet up," Jane says. "How does today sound?"

Thor smiles as his girlfriend steps into the room, accompanied by Bruce, presumably as he shows her her way around. She's still wearing her blazer and dress pants from the conference, but the way her hair tumbles down in messy waves makes him think she must have put it up earlier; a professional hairstyle that has long since disappeared.

Jane smiles back at him. "Surprise?"

Thor huffs and climbs to his feet. "This is a surprise," he says. "What are you doing here?"

"Bruce invited me!" she tells him. "He asked if I wanted company at the conference today, and I said I was fine – but, you know, a little disappointed because I wanted to see you – and he asked if I wanted to come over after!"

"He did?" Thor gives the scientist a weird look. He appreciates it, of course. He's glad Jane is here. He just didn't realize they were so...

Bruce shrugs awkwardly (which, to be fair, is his natural state of being). "You looked disappointed this morning. I thought it would be a nice surprise."

Admittedly, Thor is still a bit confused by their friendship that he somehow didn't know existed until now, but it strikes him as a professional, sciencey friendship and not a stealing-Thor's-girlfriend kind of friendship, so he tries not to think about it too much. It's good that Jane has a friend to talk science with. It's something he can't really provide. And that definitely doesn't stress him out at all.

But then Jane runs up to him and wraps her arms around him in a tight hug, pressing her lips to his, and any worries he may have had slip away in an instant. This is his girlfriend. She loves him – exactly as he is, with or without an understanding of astrophysics as Midgardians know it.

"It's good to see you," she murmurs. "I missed you."

Thor sighs softly. "I know," he says quietly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she says. "You're an important person with important things to do. I'm just glad I get to see you today."

Thor presses a kiss to the top of her head. "I am, too."