Loki is using a needle and thread to take in Fenrir's new, much too-large jeans. Fenrir finds a cigarette butt under the corner of the rug and Fenrir studies it. Thanos must have tracked it in on his boot the night before.

"Cheap piece of…" Loki growls, referring to the jeans. "Throw that away, please."

Fenrir sighs and tosses the butt into the trash, spotting their dead plant.

"Why Plant doesn't make flowers anymore?" Fenrir asks, staring at the dead leaves.

Loki shakes her head; the plant had stressed her out even more, so she quit watering it. Fenrir doesn't need to know this. So, she lies. "Maybe she's tired."

He nods and accepts this as an answer, and suddenly a burst of energy hits him, causing Fenrir to wiggle, squirm, twist, and bounce on the bed with intense boyish energy. Beside the bed he runs on the same spot at maximum speed. Loki is has given up for now on the pants and is making a sandwich cutting in in half to share with the boy who was still bouncing all over the room for breakfast. It isn't much, a single piece of bread with a small bit of peanut butter.

Later, Loki naps while Fenrir plays on the floor. Counting stains on the roof, tracing the patterns of Rug with his finger. His head pops up as he spots something moving. He stares at the floor near the stove.

Fenrir tiptoes over, but the moving thing is gone. He looks furtively at Ma and then takes the cake out of the fridge. He crumbles some and sets the plate on the floor. He squats and waits. Then, a mouse puts its nose out, sniffs and takes a crumb. Fenrir reaches out a hand but then something smashes into the stove: one of Ma's heavy books.

Fenrir cries out. "You made him gone! He was an alive thing, he was real!"

Loki begins to sweep up the crumbs.

"They'd steal our food," Loki responds as she crawls under the counter, finding the hole. She stuffs it quickly with aluminum foil. She curses herself for not seeing it earlier.

"Mouse can have my food, I'm not hungry."

"They'd bring in germs, bite us in the night."

"Mouse is my friend and you splatted him dead."

"No, I didn't, he's still alive. There is no need to worry," Loki stops plugging the hole, crawls out, and hugs Fenrir close to her. She hadn't meant to scare him, but if that mouse had bit him, she doesn't know if they could have gotten medicine quick enough.

"Are you just tricking me?"

"I swear he's safe at home with his Ma in the backyard."

"What backyard?" Fenrir asks, curiosity in his voice.

Loki stands realizing her slip and begins tidying instead of answering, picking up her book and placing it back with the others. She shoves the cake back into the fridge.

"Mouse lives in a yard in TV?"

Loki holds up the aluminum foil to distract him, "Let's make a UFO with this."

Fenrir grumbles, angry that she won't answer him and brings out the other grudge he's been nursing.

"Why didn't you tell Thanos it was my birthday?"

"Because he's not our friend."

"He said he'd bring me a present."

"You shouldn't hear what he - You're meant to be asleep."

"I never had a present."

"He didn't mean it."

"It might be Rocket my dog."

"Fenrir, we can't have a dog. We don't have room- "Fenrir crinkles his brows, confused, "-space, enough space - cooped up in here with the barking, the scratching…" Loki gestures to the small space.

"Rocket won't scratch! He promises." Fenrir pleads with his mother.

Loki breaks, a moment of weakness and shouts. "There is no Rocket!"

"Yeah there is!"

"He's just made-up, in your head, he's not real."

Fenrir bursts into tears, so Loki sits next to him and strokes his head. They do not comment on their argument... Later they sit watching TV, stringing eggshells onto Eggsnake. Loki lets out a yawn and discreetly rubs her aching jaw.

"Ma, where are we when we're asleep?"

"Right here in Room."

"But dreams. Do we go into TV for dreaming?"

"We're never anywhere but here," she whispers, a harsh reality that she tries to brush off.

"I want some," Fenrir gestures at his shirt and Loki relents so he can breastfeed.

That night, Fenrir is in Wardrobe again, his voice calling out from beyond the closed doors. "Ma! I think Thanos lives in TV, like Mouse. That's where he goes when he's not here in Room."

"Go to sleep, Fen."

"I love you, Ma."

"I love you too."

Sleep comes to him quickly.


The next morning, Fenrir wakes up in bed and feels the bed next to him, no Ma.

Loki is up already, sitting at the table, staring at a shiny red truck and remote in a hard pack. Fenrir can hardly believe what's in front of him. He only looks at it for a while. His fingers itch to touch it so he looks up at Loki, his eyes pleading and begging with her. She doesn't want to give it to him, wants to throw it back in the asshole's face but she relents.

"You can open it." Fenrir digs into the box and Loki tries to help him when he finds the packaging difficult.

Fenrir pulls it away from Loki. "I can do it." Fenrir finally gets it open and begins to play. Loki watches uneasily, she had tried to convince Thanos to take the truck back. She didn't want Fenrir to think that Thanos would comply to his every whim or for him to become angry at her if she said no.

He plays with the truck the rest of the day, almost driving Loki insane.

"Fenrir quit hitting me," Loki growls as the truck bumps into her chair for about the 80th time. "Keep doing that and it's going on High Shelf."

"Sorry Ma," the boy says and finally turns the truck to bump it into something else. The wall.


"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Loki is standing on a chair screaming and howling at the Skylight. Fenrir stands in the bath screaming into the small air vent above the shelf. He holds his truck up to the vent, so it can join in. Then they hush and listen.

"Why the aliens never scream back?"

"I guess they still can't hear us."

"Tomorrow we'll do even louderer."

It was a small tradition Loki had started when Fenrir was old enough, thinking that if she could scream loud enough someone could hear. Loki had explained that they needed to get the attention of the aliens outside.

Later, Loki is preoccupied with her thoughts, but trims mold off cheese she slices very thin and lays on brown bread. She slides it into the small toaster oven. Fenrir zigzags his truck around chair and table legs. Loki looks to see if the frozen peas are boiling yet. Fenrir drives the truck at the door and it hits with a loud clang, distracting her.

"Fenrir!"

"What smells bad?"

Loki belatedly realizes the grilled cheese is smoking. She burns her hand slightly on the oven, wrenching it open. She sighs when she sees that the bread is burnt, they don't have enough for her to start over, so she eats the burnt bread anyway, Fenrir rejects it with a scrunched-up nose.


Fenrir, again, is in the wardrobe, meant to be asleep, but he's still playing with his truck. The door beeps; he kneels up for a glimpse as it shuts.

"What's that smell, Loki?"

"Sorry, I burned some cheese."

"You need to take more care."

"I will. I wasn't thinking."

"Yeah, well, thinking isn't your strong suit."

Loki begins unpacking the groceries. "I know. I'm really sorry."

"Did he like his truck?" Thanos asks and then laughs at his discomfort that appears on Loki's face. "I know boys, I was one once."

Loki looks at the empty bag. "The vitamins?"

"Waste of money."

"If we had a better diet, maybe it would be, but he needs those, we need them" Loki argues.

"Here we go again. You know instead of complaining maybe you should thank your lucky stars you've got a place like this. Cozy, safe, especially with the kid - no drunk drivers, drug-pushers, perverts-"

Loki cuts him off, too tired and hungry to argue. "I'm sorry.'

"It's like pulling teeth sometimes. Your problem is you have no idea about the world of today."

"No."

"Who pays the power bills? Who pays for everything?"

"You."

"And where do you think the money's going to keep coming from?"

"What do you mean?" Loki freezes.

"Nothing."

"No, but-"

"Six months I've been laid off, have you had to worry your little head?" Thanos snaps at her.

Loki gasps, dropping a can of beans on the floor but proceeds cautiously.

"What are you going to do?"

No answer.

"Are you looking for another job?"

"What job? There are no damn jobs, Jesus Christ!"

Fenrir becomes frightened and shrinks back into the wardrobe, knocking into the back panel.

Thanos turns his attention to the wardrobe. "Hey in there."

Loki steps in front of him. "He's asleep."

"Don't think so. You keep him in the closet all day as well as all night? Poor little freak has two heads or something?" Thanos digs in his pocket and pulls out an old tube of hard candy, stepping around her. "Hey Fenrir. You like candy? Wanna come out and have some candy?"

Fenrir reaches out for the door, tempted. His mouth waters.

Desperate for Thanos to become distracted, Loki touches his arm. She gives him her best smile and pulls on his arm when Thanos hesitates. "Let's go to bed. Now."

"Didn't your Momma ever teach you manners?" Thanos barks at her.

"Please?"

Thanos pockets the old candy and wraps himself around Loki, pulling her close by way of her long, black hair. Loki knows it is going to be a long night and she doubts she will get much sleep. Thanos draws it out, making Loki pay for "seducing" him into bed. She can barely breathe from underneath him.


Fenrir wakes up and everything is quiet, moonlight still seeps through Skylight. He wakes with a jump, a bad dream. He whimpers but Ma doesn't come. He sits up and rubs his neck. Finds his truck and pulls it close. He opens the door and peeks out. Thanos is still here. The candy he mentioned earlier is enough to pull him out of Wardrobe. He stumbles into something, a belt. Fenrir takes a few more steps and stubs his toe on a huge boot. Fenrir stares at Thanos, asleep in the middle of the bed. Ma is sleeping too, clinging to the far side of the bed. Fenrir has forgotten the candy, fascinated by Thanos, whom he's seeing for the very first time up close. Fenrir puts his finger out, almost touching the man's face. Thanos' eyes open. A grin crosses the man's face.

"Hey sonny."

Loki then screeches, flailing at Thanos, scrambling on top of him to try and hold him down. "Get away from him! Get away!"

Fenrir isn't sure if she is telling him to get away or to warn Thanos not to touch him. Fenrir drops the truck and races towards the wardrobe. He jumps in and pulls the door shut, banging his head. He clutches his head, curled up in the corner, because it hurts and to shut out Ma's screaming.

"Don't you dare touch him! He's mine!"

"Stop that noise, bitch!"

Ma is suddenly muted, Thanos' giant hand wrapped around her throat. She claws at his hand with all the energy she can muster and kicks at him with her legs. At the sound of the thump of Thanos throwing her down on the bed Fenrir flinches and turns his face away from the light. He curls into the corner and hopes Thanos leaves.

"Of all the crazy…" Fenrir hears Thanos pulling on his clothes angrily.

"Just leave him alone," Ma's hoarse voice comes out, as if she had just gained her breath back, her hands guarding her throat.

The door makes three beeps.

"Just don't forget where you got him."

Loki gives a loud sob.

The door opens, then shuts with a boom. Fenrir waits to hear what Ma will do or say to him. The lamp clicks off again. He dives out of the wardrobe. "Sorry I - Sorry - Sorry" he sobs and hyperventilates by the side of the bed. "Sorry I came out of Wardrobe."

Loki pulls Fenrir into bed, whispering because it's all she can manage. "It's okay. It's okay. You're okay, my love."