Steve is sitting at the kitchen table, just finishing up his breakfast when Tony comes in, snuggled up in an oversized hoodie. He looks tired, but he usually looks tired, so that doesn't mean much. He goes straight for the freezer, then throws his head back with an exaggerated groan and closes it.
Steve raises an eyebrow. "Everything okay?"
"He ate my ice cream."
Steve stares at him blankly. "What?"
"He ate my ice cream," Tony repeats. He turns to look at him. "There were, like, two bowls of ice cream left, and now they're gone."
"Okay...?" Steve says uncertainly. "I'll get more ice cream today." It's not that hard to drive to the grocery store.
"And how does that help me now?" Tony asks irritably.
Steve rolls his eyes. "I'll have it in time for lunch, but I think you'll survive without ice cream for breakfast."
Tony's eyebrows shoot up. "It's already morning?"
Steve nods slowly. "Yeah, it's, like, eight o'clock." He cocks his head to the side. "Were you up all night?"
Tony shrugs lazily. "Apparently."
"What were you doing?"
"At first, absolutely nothing," Tony says. "But then I started thinking about Loki and trying to figure out the..." He gestures vaguely in front of him while he tries to think of the word. "The spell. The enchantment. Whatever Thor called it."
Steve furrows his brows. "I'm pretty sure it's just a spell," he says. "It's magic. What's there to figure out?"
"I don't know because I haven't figured it out yet," Tony says irritably. "But there's something there. I've been running tests all night. Some of them pick it up. Some of them don't. So if I can just figure out what it is..."
Steve scoffs. "I know you don't want him here, but letting him loose —"
"No, no, not that," Tony says quickly. "I'm not an idiot. If I let him go, he becomes our responsibility out there instead of in here."
"Then..." Steve gives him a confused look. "What are you trying to do?"
"I don't know, modify it?" Tony says. "You know, change where he's stuck. Keep him off every floor below the kitchen."
"He doesn't go below the kitchen," Steve reminds him. He's pretty sure Loki quite literally never has. Magic or no magic, he just doesn't seem interested in it.
"I know that," Tony says, "but Pepper doesn't. and she doesn't listen to me when I tell her that — which, you know, I get; homicidal maniacs are my forte, not hers — but if I can prove he's not going to bother her..."
"Maybe she'll come back," Steve finishes, and Tony nods. "You know, you're allowed to leave. You're not stuck in the tower like he is. If you want to see her, go see her."
"Which is great," Tony says. "Short-term. I'm gonna see her in a couple days, actually, so yay me!" He gives a sarcastic pump of his fist. "But if he's going to be here for the rest of our lives... She's not gonna want to do this for the rest of our lives. She's just not."
Steve nods slowly. He really wasn't expecting to play therapist this early in the morning, but he'll give it a try. He definitely understands the problem. He doubts a simple "it will all work out" is going to make Tony feel any better.
"We could just ask him," Steve says finally.
Tony scoffs. "We could what?"
"Ask him," Steve repeats. "You could record it, send it to Pepper."
Tony stares at him.
"We know he's not a threat because we live with him," Steve says. "We've seen him. Maybe that's all it will take."
Tony shakes his head. "You're insane."
"It's worth a try," Steve says. "Worst that happens, it doesn't work and we're back where we started."
Tony hesitates, then nods, rather reluctantly. "I guess you're right. We might as well try it, get it out of the way."
Steve didn't actually mean they should ask him now, that it looks like that's what Tony's thinking, so that's what they do. They head up to Loki's room, and through the hole where the doorknob once rested, they can clearly see that the lights are off. He's probably asleep. It's still early, and who knows when Loki goes to bed when he spends all day in that room anyway?
"Maybe we should come back later," Steve says quietly. "When we know he's awake."
Tony shakes his head. "I just want to get this over with." He pulls out his phone and starts recording, the camera pointed at the door in front of them. He looks over at Steve. "You do it."
Steve's eyebrows shoot up. "What?"
"You do it," Tony repeats. "I don't want to talk to him."
"I don't want to talk to him, either!" Steve says. Just because he's nice(ish) to the guy doesn't mean he wants to be.
"It was your idea; you talk to him," Tony hisses.
"Tony —"
"You're aware that I can hear you."
Steve and Tony both freeze. Loki's awake? What the hell is he doing with the light off? Steve had just assumed he was asleep! God, this is really awkward.
"I presume you're here to talk to me," Loki says. "What do you want?"
Steve looks at Tony, who gestures for him to go on. Biting back a sigh, Steve says, "Hey, Loki. What, uh..." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "What are you doing with the lights off?"
"I was trying to sleep," Loki says. "It's still early." He pauses. "I think."
Steve cracks a small smile at that. "We'll get you a clock, how about that?"
Tony smacks Steve on the arm and gives him a really? look. Steve just rolls his eyes. It's just a clock. He has a feeling Loki would appreciate knowing that there actually is a passage of time, even if it's unbelievably slow.
"What do you want?" Loki asks again, more irritably this time.
Okay, no more small talk. "I was just wondering," Steve says, "if I were to ask you not to do something, would you listen or would it just make you more likely to actually do it?"
Tony shakes his head to himself, but Steve stands by the question. It's a good starting point. He's not going to ask Loki not to walk around if it's going to make him want to walk around. It defeats the whole purpose.
It takes a moment for Loki to answer. "It depends on what you're asking me not to do."
That's not quite the answer he was hoping for, but it's enough that he feels like he has to keep talking. He can't just leave it at that. That would be weird. "If I asked you not to go downstairs — below the kitchen, I mean; you can obviously go eat — would you listen?"
"I had no plans to," Loki says. "I have no desire to explore any more of this tower than I have to. But you know that already, so you must be asking for a reason."
"No, no reason," Steve says quickly. "Just wondering."
"What's on the floor below the kitchen?" Loki asks.
"Nothing," Steve says. "Empty rooms. Offices, probably — but no one uses them." God, this is hard. He's trying to make it sound boring, but he's not sure what Loki would and would not want to see. What if he likes empty offices? He doesn't know.
"You're having company," Loki says.
Steve's jaw drops. How the hell did he figure that out? He looks over at Tony, who looks just as confused. What the fuck?
"That was all you had to say," Loki says. "I have no desire to meet your friends. If you keep them away from me, I will gladly stay away from them."
"Huh," Steve says, because what else does one say to that? "Well, good. That works out well." He glances down at Tony, who just shrugs. "They're not here now, so do you want to come out and get something to eat?"
Tony shoots him a look, and Steve gives an awkward shrug. What? They're here. It can't hurt to ask.
"No, I want to sleep," Loki says, annoyed. "Are you done?"
"Yep, we're done," Tony says quickly, putting a hand on Steve's back and pushing him away, not taking his hand back until they're at least halfway down the hall. He ends the video. "I just hope that's enough."
"If it's not, give it a few weeks and try again," Steve says. "When she realizes that he's not doing anything, maybe she'll decide to come back on her own."
"Maybe," Tony says, but he doesn't seem convinced.
"Just don't give up yet," Steve says. "It'll work out." Probably.
Tony nods. "Yeah, I know, it's just..." He sighs. "I'm sick of having him here. He doesn't even have to be out here with us to fuck everything up."
"I know," Steve says. "We're all sick of him."
"Yeah, well, he wasn't dumped in your house, so I don't think that counts," Tony snaps.
Steve ignores that. He understands why Tony's upset, and he knows it's not at him. He's not going to take that personally. "Look, I have no problem staying here and taking care of Loki. If you need to get out, get out. I'll give you my keys. You can crash at my place."
Tony snorts. "God, no wonder my dad wanted me to turn out like you."
Steve raises an eyebrow. "Um... thank you?" Is that a compliment? It doesn't really sound like a compliment, but, to be fair, Tony's probably never given a real compliment in his life, so this is as close as he's probably ever going to get.
"I'm not going to your place," Tony says. "Your entire apartment is probably smaller than my bedroom."
Steve rolls his eyes. "I'm sorry we're not all billionaires."
"You should be," Tony says, and his flippancy would be annoying if this wasn't the first time Steve's seen him smile all morning.
"Just send the video to Pepper," Steve says. "Let me know what she says. We'll make it work."
Tony claps him on the back. "Thanks, Cap. It's always nice to be treated as well as you treat the neighborhood war criminal."
Steve rolls his eyes. Why does he even bother?