Chapter 2 - See I CAN update two fics in two days. Though I never tend to update regularly be aware I am always working on something. I'll try and update this a bit sooner next time, I promise.
The cheesy romcom the Avengers were watching was roughly halfway through when Loki slipped into the room, silent and unnoticed. He stood at the back of the room, leaning up against the wall as he had done earlier on in the day. The movie really was very dull and tedious and so he took it as an opportunity to watch those in the room with him. Tony was sprawled out on one sofa, taking two thirds of it up by himself, completely ignoring the film and typing on one of his many handheld devices. Clint and Natasha were curled up next to each other on the next sofa, watching the movie silently, with Pepper perched on the other end, also typing on her phone. Thor sat on an armchair, laughing heartily at the bad jokes and tearing up at the cliché moments and on the last sofa were Steve and Bruce, sitting quietly and contently.
It was weird for Loki to stand so close to those whom he had the intention to kill not long ago and who undoubtedly disliked him back. Since his banishment Thor had been ridiculously eager to give people moral lessons like the ones he had learned, and so it was understandable that he was encouraging Loki to be open-minded. The similarities between his and Thor's punishments struck Loki and bitterness flooded his stomach as he realised how Odin had presumed he would follow in Thor's footsteps when it came to suddenly gaining a sense of nobility. Yet again the Allfather seems to think he will follow the same path as the beloved blonde haired golden child of Asgard. As well as this, to give Loki the same punishment Odin must have thought Loki incapable of seeing the change in Thor; to think his intellect low enough to not notice the lesson that Thor had learnt. The sense of inferiority burned through him again as he looked across the room at the Golden Child of Asgard himself.
Thor, the same as everyone else, was completely oblivious to Loki's presence. He stared at the over-sized screen with honest emotion on his face, no pressures to weigh down his consciousness. Loki stared at his open face and hated it, there were no troubles weighing down his mind, no blame cast upon his acts. Looking across Loki's eyes settled on Steve Rogers, the epitome of righteousness and duty. The man was calmly and contently sitting and watching the film. How easy must it be to simply follow what people deemed to be "good"? Loki wondered if the man had any original thoughts at all, or if he just lived to people's expectations. Next to him was the mellow looking Bruce Banner. Loki's eyes narrowed at the memory of being smashed into the floor, echoes of the pain seeping through his memory. He was a God, at least beforehand, and the shame at a mortal finding that much physical power over him filled him with spite.
He looked round to the next sofa, venom seeping through into his observations. Pepper was sitting on the next sofa still looking ridiculously neat and organised for someone casually watching a film. She had been sickeningly sweet in asking him to join them earlier in the night, if she was going to baby him with meals and clothes like this from now he may have to find a way to get rid of her. Permanently. Next to Pepper was Natasha and Clint, silent as ever. Clint had ceased to bear any sings of his capture under Loki, and seemed to be taking having the one who'd mind controlled him in the house pretty well. Loki smirked, his anger twisting into mischief, how long would it take to drive him mad again?
On the last sofa sprawled in his usual arrogant manner was Tony Stark, working away on one if his many portable screens. Loki was somewhat amused by his constant attachment to technology, much of which could easily be overridden by simple magic. (If he had it - he thought bitterly). However, there was part of him that did admire the time Stark had dedicated to his craft, it reminded him of the time he had spent honing his magic for weeks at a time back in Asgard. There was somewhat of a mirror between the two of them in that regard, he realised. On the sofa Tony yawned loudly and shuffled around noisily, attracting glares from the rest of the room. Well, thought Loki, maybe only in that one respect were they the same. He stood straight and edged out, leaving the Avengers to their film in peace.
The next day Loki did not emerge from his room at all. By mid-afternoon Thor and Steve started to seem worried, though they knew he hadn't found a way to escape - JARVIS informed Tony he was still in the room. Pepper assured them that he should just be left alone, saying that from experience with Tony she knows there's no way of getting someone to emerge from their bedroom/science lab unless they really want to, and if they tried to baby him he'd dig his heels in further. Despite this Thor still tried to go and speak to his adopted brother, knocking on the door and receiving a curt "Leave me be!" and then being resolutely ignored after that.
Clint expressed quite openly that Loki was welcome to stay in his room for as long as he wants, especially if he ended up starving himself to death. Natasha just rolled her eyes and that and didn't comment. Everyone else just got on with their daily lives as if the fallen god wasn't there.
By around 11 in the evening however Loki found that his body devoid of magic was far less able to sustain itself. Pepper had brought no more food to him and so the need for energy eventually drove him out of his room.
It didn't take long for him to navigate the interior of Tony Stark's supposed "house". The top third of the skyscraper were supposed living quarters, yet everyone was positioned bizarrely close together within the tower, he realised. All the bedrooms but Tony's were spread over only two floors, and they shared one main communal living room and kitchen. Oddly intimate for a bunch of people widely known as unsociable.
Loki reached the kitchen and riffled through the fridge and cupboards. For someone who never seemed to cook, Tony Stark really did have a wonderful array of ingredients in his kitchen. Loki smiled and pulled down various items from the cupboards.
Tony Stark himself was walking through the building a while later, when he was distracted by the smell of food wafting from the kitchen. He stopped and turned to walk there, in the hope of getting a helping of whatever was cooking, because wow that smell was good. He was incredibly surprised however to turn the corner and find their very own resident black haired mischief-maker sitting at the bar in the middle of the room, humming to himself as he absent-mindedly twirled spaghetti onto his fork.
"Well, I did wonder about what god's ate. So ordinary, are you sure you don't want something sacrificed to go with that?"
Loki glared as Tony walked in, going tense and alert and glaring. Tony noticed he'd ditched the armour for a dark green shirt, rolled up to the elbows. It looked good. Too good. He'd have to have words with Pepper.
"Wow, no need to go cold on me, just wanted to sample your cooking. That green stuff looks interesting, is that sage?"
"I cook for myself, Stark. You are sadly mistaken if you believe me ready to stare seasoning tips." The cool glare remained, but Loki started to twirl more pasta into his mouth.
"Well then," Tony paused, "Are you ready to get a job? Redeem yourself, all that crap?"
Loki just looked at him.
"What, is it such an alien question? You can't sit and sulk in that bedroom forever."
"I can try."
"Waste of time. And you won't be getting anything done that way." Tony smirked. "Try leaving a little more often. You can't be enjoying yourself in there, unless you really like the look of lilac walls."
"Do not even mention the lilac walls, they are nauseating."
"You want them changed? I can do that. But seriously you must be really bored, what did you do with your time back on Asgard?"
"I plotted how to overthrow my golden child brother." Loki said with a completely straight face.
"Well… anything else? What else does a god do with their time?"
"Many things which you would not understand. Reading, educating myself in the ways of magic."
"You know we have books here."
"Your books, huh. Inferior science and the fantasised idealised worlds of authors clamouring to fill their empty lives."
"Oh so you have done some reading here then?" Tony smirked. "Seriously if you want something to do just ask. I mean for god's sake at least give Thor something to do to help you he's going to injure himself being this over-eager."
"Perhaps I shall see how much I can injure him." Loki finished and went to dump his empty bowl in the sink. Tony considered a retort but ended up momentarily wordless watching him wash up instead.
"Well that's… oddly domestic. It took a while to get Thor to clean up after himself but you washing up is an even stranger sight."
"I may be used to being waited on in Asgard but I do understand how to live on my own, Stark. It is something I have done much in the past." He turned round to face Tony, drying his hands on a tea-towel and looking so absurdly out of place it made Steve look modern. "I assume you came into the kitchen for something, Stark."
"Oh yeah, uh, actually I came in because what you cooked smelled real good. But if there's none of that on the menu, I'll just go get some coffee and go back to my lab." He moved over to the coffee machine in the corner.
Loki had made to move towards the door, but lingered when Tony spoke. "You work all night?" he asked.
"I work whenever I want. Ideas don't come on a schedule." Tony smiled. "You should come and have a look some time, for all this talk of inferior science I think you might be interested."
Loki smirked, almost laughing. "You'd let me into your lab? I could get my hands on any information."
"Yeah but as I'm significantly more powerful than you until your personality has changed to the point you wouldn't take advantage of it I think I'm fine."
Loki's face darkened, but he didn't rise to the bait. "I may come and have a look." he said simply, then froze as they heard a door close elsewhere in the house.
"Well you can come and have a look now if you wan-" Tony cut off as Loki's attention now turned sharply to the heavy footsteps coming down the hallway.
"Though your offer is gracious Stark I am now returning to my room, I have no desire to face my brother yet." he turned and left with a speed Natasha would be proud of, leaving Tony stood with coffee in the middle of the kitchen.