Loki is still really, really bad at using the Wii.
He's gotten good at Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. He can do those games, to some degree. They involve real movements. They involve really doing things. The remote isn't there to be a controller in and of itself; it's just there to track his movements. It's his real actions that make the game what it is.
Super Mario Bros is a very different story. He has to use all the little buttons on this little piece of plastic to move this little itty bitty character on the screen. There's so much coordination that goes into it – so much thinking; so much planning, all concentrated in one place. He's not all too good at that sort of thing. He's half-convinced the Avengers have practiced video games every day of their life, so it comes naturally to them. He certainly can't say the same for himself.
Obviously, Thor hasn't grown up with video games, either. They have that in common. And though Thor has a fair amount more experience than him, he's not the greatest at this, either. It makes for a somewhat fair game, if only because they both suck so equally.
They start at the beginning of the game, and, after what must be an hour or so of playing, they're back to level one once more, attempting to recoup the many, many lives they've lost along the way. It was Tony who taught them, quite some time ago, that the first level is ideal for collecting lives. Not only are there extra-life mushroom power-ups, but it's so easy to collect all the coins and gain power-ups that way, too.
They're in the middle of the level when Thor mentions casually, "I told Father that you think we should get rid of the Tesseract."
Loki pauses.
His fingers hover just over the controller.
He takes a deep breath.
He does his best to quell any reaction he may have to the topic.
And then he speaks, as calmly and evenly as can be.
"I presume he refused," he says.
"He did," Thor says solemnly.
Loki nods once. "Thank you for telling me."
And that's that.
He did it. He passed. They had that conversation, and he was fine all the while. He showed no signs of discomfort. He showed no signs that anything was wrong. And now they can go back to playing their video game in peace.
But unfortunately, Thor's not done.
"I assume you had a reason to tell me to ask him," Thor says. "I know that you know much more about the Tesseract than I do myself. What is it that convinced you we must get rid of it?"
He did.
It's that simple, really. He convinced him. He wants it, so Loki wants nothing to do with it. Loki wants to ensure nobody that he loves has anything to do with it. But he can't say that. These are fears he can't put into words – fears Thor wouldn't understand; fears he'd have to elaborate on in ways he truly doesn't think he can.
So instead of answering, Loki shakes his head. "It doesn't matter," he says. "Forget that I mentioned it." If Odin won't listen – and of course he won't; why would he? – then it doesn't matter.
Thor is unconvinced. "Even Father agrees, if you know something that we should be aware of..."
"Father wouldn't believe a word I had to say," Loki says, and he grimaces as the word father leaves his lips. Odin isn't his father. He lost that title a long time ago.
"I'll admit that he doesn't quite trust you," Thor says, "but I talked to him about this. He wasn't going to get rid of the Tesseract without a reason, but he was open to hearing your reasoning. So if you know something..."
"I know nothing of substance," Loki answers evenly. He has an idea – a very vague, somewhat foggy idea that still haunts him even years later. He has nothing concrete. He has no evidence. He has his hidden history and a bad feeling in his gut, and what good does that do? How is that supposed to convince the Allfather to give away the most powerful relic he's ever laid his eyes on?
So, with that settled, he turns his attention back to the game. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Thor looking at him, but ultimately, he does the same.
They finish the level for what must be the twentieth time by now, and all is well in the common room once more. After a brief conversation, they agree to go through the level two or three more times before they try their hand at the boss level once more, just to be safe. So back to the beginning they go.
Loki's getting better, he feels. He's getting used to this controller. He's getting used to controlling his little green guy on the screen. It doesn't take quite so much thinking anymore. It's not quite instinctual, but it's getting there.
And then Thor speaks again.
"If you ever want to talk about anything," he says, "I will be more than happy to listen."
"I know," Loki says absently.
"It can be anything, truly," Thor adds. "If there's anything that you would like to talk about..."
Loki shrugs minutely. "Not so much."
"Including the Tesseract," Thor adds. "Or the other Infinity Stones. Just... anything you may want to talk about."
Loki feels himself tense at the words Infinity Stones, which is ridiculous. They're just words. It's not as though they weren't just talking about an Infinity Stone mere moments ago. But to hear those words come out of Thor's mouth... There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but when he hears those words, he thinks of one particular man; one much less forgiving than the one sitting beside him.
He swallows hard, and answers as evenly as he can, "I have nothing of the sort to talk about, but thank you for the offer."
Thor's looking at him. He can see it out of the corner of his eye, though he refuses to look back at him. He just has to act normal. He can do that. He acts normal every second of every day. He just has to continue to do that. Easy. Right?
Loki's little green character picks up Thor's little red character and throws him across the screen. He scoffs, the corners of his lips turning upward in a grin. "I did not know that I could do that."
That gets Thor's attention back to the game where it belongs. "What? What did you do?"
"Watch," Loki says eagerly. His character runs up to Thor's, picks him up, and throws him back the way he came.
Thor scoffs. "Excuse you!"
"This is amazing," Loki declares. "This is the most amazing development of the night."
"How did you do that?" Thor asks. "What did you hit? I want to do it to you."
"Ah, ah!" Loki mimes zipping his lips. "If you want to throw me, you must decode it yourself, much the same way I did."
Thor groans. "I hate you sometimes."
Loki's grin only grows bigger. "I know."
Loki runs further into the level, to the little turtle dudes that like to walk back and forth for no reason other than that they can. He has his big-person power-up, so if this fails, he's protected from sudden, unavoidable death. He runs up to the little turtle dude, does his little picker-upper thing...
And he's holding the evil turtle shell!
Loki huffs, beaming. "This is incredible!" he says. "Why has nobody shown me this before?"
"Probably because you never use the Wii," Thor reminds him.
"Well, why has nobody shown you this before, then?" Loki counters.
Thor's quiet for a moment.
"That is an excellent question," he admits finally.
Loki puts the little turtle down, ready to stomp on its head and be done with it, but instead, when he lets the turtle go, its shell zooms across the ground, running straight into Thor and taking his fire power-up from him.
Thor scoffs. "Loki!"
Loki sucks in a breath through his teeth. "Sorry?"
"I don't like you," Thor grumbles.
"In my defense," Loki says, "I did not know it would do that."
"Uh-huh." Thor shakes his head to himself, unamused.
"We will find you a new power-up," Loki assures him. "You can have the next one we stumble upon." Although technically, they're both on equal footing right now with their big-person power-ups, but he'll be nice. He'll give it to Thor.
They finish the level, and that's that. Now it's time to play it again.
This time goes much smoother than the last – most likely because Loki doesn't try to pick anybody up this time – and they both end the game with a power-up to carry over to the boss level.
"Are you ready to face Bowser once more?" Thor asks his brother.
"I most certainly am," Loki lies. He is not ready. He will never be ready. He hates boss levels. They should be abolished.
Thor leads them over to the castle on the map that signifies the boss level they gave up on a solid twenty minutes earlier in favor of gathering more lives, but then he pauses before he enters it.
Loki gives him a weird look. "Thor?"
Thor sighs and puts his remote down in his lap, turning to face his brother. Loki frowns, gripping his remote a little tighter as he subtly leans away. He doesn't like this. He doesn't know what's going on, but he doesn't like it.
"Father isn't the only person I spoke to today before I returned," Thor begins.
Loki can feel his heart stop.
"Mother?" he asks quickly. "What happened? Is she alright?" She seemed fine earlier today. What could have happened in the short time it's been since he saw her?
"No!" Thor says immediately. "I mean, yes! Yes, she is alright; no, I was not talking about her."
"Oh." Loki cocks his head to the side. "Then... who?" One of the Warriors Three? Sif? Oh, he hopes it wasn't Sif. He hopes this isn't going to be a conversation about Sif. Those are some of his least favorite kinds of conversations.
"I spoke with Heimdall," Thor says.
"Oh," Loki says once more. That actually only serves to confuse him more. He'd assumed Thor spoke with Heimdall. He came here with a general idea of what had transpired since he left. Where else would he have gotten it from if not Heimdall?
"We're concerned for you," Thor tells him.
"You do not need to be," Loki assures him. "I'll be the first to admit that I was not all too pleasant with the Avengers when I learned what they'd been doing, but it's been a day or so. I've calmed down. I've talked to Mother. I've talked to some of the Avengers. I am fine."
Thor shakes his head. "I'm not talking about the Accords," he says. "I understand your frustration. Humans can be emotional and reckless. I imagine I would have been just as upset with them as you were."
Loki cocks his head to the side. "Then why are you concerned?" Has he done anything stupid recently? He doesn't feel like he has. He's had a fairly non-stupid few weeks, hasn't he?
Thor doesn't answer immediately, but Loki can see him thinking; can see him trying to piece the words together. Finally, he says, "I've tried to respect your wishes by not talking about this with you, but the longer I wait, the worse it makes me feel."
Loki frowns. What is he...?
"I know that something happened to you between your fall from the Bifrost and your reemergence on Midgard," Thor says. "I don't know what exactly it was, but I know that it was not good."
Loki can feel himself tense, but he tries not to react. He lets his gaze shift to the side, looking just beyond Thor's ear instead of meeting his eyes. He won't shy away. He won't lower his gaze in an obvious show of shame or fear. He's going to act as normal as possible. He has to.
"I just want you to know that you can talk to me about it," Thor tells him. "I want to know what happened. I want to be here for you. And if there's something that scared you in the past or something that still scares you, I want to know about it. I want to help you. But I can't do that if you won't talk to me."
Loki takes a deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth. He doesn't know what to say here. Can he even deny it at this point? It's never occurred to him how obvious his past trauma must be by now. Is there even a point in pretending otherwise?
But he's not going to talk about it. He can't talk about it. Even if he wanted to, even if he thought it could bring about some sort of catharsis, he wouldn't be able to get the words out. The pain, the fear, it runs too deep for him to dare try to bring it back up.
So when he finally responds, he does so vaguely and monotonously. "There is nothing of the sort that I would like to discuss." It's formal; it's clear. He doesn't want to talk about this, and he's making it known. Thor has respected his wishes for years. Surely he'll continue that streak.
Thor sighs and nods once. "Alright," he says. "If you ever decide that you would like to talk about it, I will always be here to listen."
Loki nods once in return. "Thank you." He doesn't expect it to happen. He's nearly positive it will not – not unless he has reason to believe there's danger approaching, and even then, would there be a point in talking about it? Would there even be a reason to warn them? There is nothing that the Avengers or Asgard's armies could do to stave off their impending doom.
But still, he appreciates the offer. He appreciates the connotations that come with the offer. If he wants to talk about it, Thor will be there to talk about it with him. If he doesn't want to – and he most certainly does not – then Thor will leave it alone. That's what matters to him. He doesn't want to talk about it, and Thor's going to respect that.
"Now," Loki says, "back to our game?"
Thor grins. "Back to our game, indeed."
"Are you ready to lose?" Loki asks.
Thor chuckles. "I always am."
A conveniently timed buzz interrupts them just before they can turn back to their game. Loki grabs his phone off the arm of the couch. Who's texting him right now? Steve, maybe? Or maybe Harley – they're the only two who message him on a semi-regular basis.
Thor pulls out his own phone at the same time, which seems a little strange until Loki looks at his own phone and realizes it's a group message. That's strange. He never gets group messages unless everybody's home and they're planning some sort of movie night or game night or other little group activity.
It's a message from Tony, he sees, and he wastes no time in opening it, if only because he knows Thor is going to do the same so he might as well see what's going on, too. He doesn't know what he's expecting, but it's definitely not this.
Tony: Just wanted to make sure you heard it from me.
Loki taps on the attached photo to get a better look. He's not entirely sure what he's looking at, but he does note the tiny little picture of him at the top left, with "Tony Stark" written beside it, and "@TonyStark" underneath that.
In larger letters, the photo reads, "It's been a great eight years, but I think the time has come to retire the Iron Man suit and title. I have nothing but love and respect for the Avengers, and I wish them the best of luck with their future endeavors."
Loki gives Thor a weird look. "He's retiring?"
Thor gives him a weird look in return. "Can he do that?"
Loki just shrugs. Apparently.
Thor types out a reply, but he's beat to it.
Nat: YOU'RE DOING WHAT?
Clint: Tony what the fuck
Thor: What made you decide this?
Should Loki respond, too? Would that be weird? Would it be weird not to respond? What is group chat etiquette in this situation?
Tony: I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I decided that this is what I needed to do. If you want to continue fighting the good fight, I will cheer you on from the sidelines, but I can't fight it with you anymore. I'll still be around, but I'm not a soldier, and it's time I stop pretending I am.
Loki finds himself frowning, though he can't quite say why. It makes no difference to him whether Iron Man continues to do his Iron Man duties. But after everything that's just happened... The whole point of the Accords and the fighting that followed was to find a way to ensure that the Avengers could continue doing what they do in a way that benefits everybody. They were fighting for their right to continue fighting. And after all that, he's just going to stop?
Thor looks over at him. "Do you know where this decision came from?"
Loki shakes his head. "I wouldn't have guessed it."
Natasha: You're the brains of the whole operation. We can't do this without you.
Rhodey: I can't believe I found out about this in a GROUP CHAT
Pietro: Why couldn't it be Barton instead?
Clint: Fuck off
Pietro: I can very clearly see you laughing
Clint: Fuck you -_-
Loki and Thor share a look. They're so... uniquely themselves. There is definitely nobody else like them.
Tony: Like I said, I'll still be around - but in a non-combatant role instead
Tony: I'll be kind of like Banner except more fun
Tony: I've been thinking of making a bowling alley
Tony: And maybe an indoor pool
Pietro: I TOLD YOU TO MAKE A BOWLING ALLEY LAST YEAR
Tony: ... Better late than never?
Loki hums thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll like retired Stark. He sounds wonderful."
"I would like to have a pool here," Thor agrees. "Maybe a hot tub as well?"
Loki's face scrunches in distaste. "I will stay firmly in the pool that is not filled with scalding hot water, thank you very much."
Thor rolls his eyes goodnaturedly. "I will never understand how you enjoy your showers hot and your pools cold."
"I prefer my both showers and my pools to be warm enough that I do not freeze, but cool enough that I not burst into flames."
Thor shakes his head to himself. "You are a strange individual."
"You enjoy burning your skin for pleasure," Loki reminds him. "I do not think I am the strange one here."
Wanda: I also think I am going to leave the Avengers.
Thor gives Loki yet another strange look. "Are you sure there was no precedent for this that I am unaware of?"
"I can understand why she would want to quit," Loki says. "Did Heimdall tell you about the explosion in Nigeria that led to the Accords?"
Thor's lips form a silent oh as he processes that. "I suppose it does make sense that she'd want to stop after that."
Loki just nods. It most certainly does.
Tony: Ur what
Tony: This is not where I was expecting this conversation to go at all
Tony: Is everything okay over on that side of the country?
Tony: By which I mostly mean are you okay but also is everyone else okay?
Loki waits for the answer.
And he waits.
And he waits some more.
It doesn't come.
"This is strange," Thor remarks.
"It is strange, isn't it?" Loki agrees. He shrugs. Oh well. "Back to our game?"
Thor hesitates. "I feel like we should say something."
Loki cocks his head to the side. "You've already said something." What more is there to say? The conversation isn't even about them. Tony wanted them to know his plan, and now they do. Wanda decided to share her own decision, and she did. It's all over now. They can go back to Super Mario Bros.
"I feel like we should say something more," Thor says. "If two of our teammates are leaving our team, I feel that deserves some sort of acknowledgement."
Oh, that would be why Loki doesn't understand why he would say anything about this: "They're not my teammates, but if you'd like to say something, go right ahead."
Thor rolls his eyes. "They are your teammates," he says. "They see you as one of their own, whether you want to admit it or not."
Loki rolls his eyes, too. If he was one of their teammates, he would have been involved in the whole big fight amongst the team. As it was, he's fairly certain the only reason he even knew about the Accords was that Secretary Ross asked for him to be there – which is actually really sad, now that he thinks about it. That pompous prick was the only person who wanted him involved? He hopes that's not true.
"I am going to write one more message," Thor tells him. "Then we can return to our game."
Loki rolls his eyes once more, but gestures for Thor to go ahead. The sooner he gets this over with, the sooner they can go back to their game.
Thor starts typing, but once again, somebody beats him to it.
Pietro: She's not ignoring you she's talking to Nat and Clint
Pietro: Things are great over here tho
Pietro: I love the Barton kids
Pietro: I can't believe their father is so.................
Loki huffs a laugh. He doesn't know what is going on between those two, but their feud is endlessly amusing to watch.
Thor: It has been an honor and a joy to fight with you both. I'm saddened to hear that you've decided to quit, but I trust that you're doing what's right for yourselves, and I respect that you've been able to make this difficult decision. You've both done amazing things, and you should be proud of the work you've put in ❤️
Loki raises an eyebrow, looking at his brother in amusement. He can't believe he ended that with a heart. That's such a him thing to do in the most comical way.
"Alright," Thor says, "now we can go back to what we were doing."
Loki grins. "Now are you ready to lose?"
Thor grins, too. "Oh, absolutely."