A Promise Never Kept Chapter 10, an avengers fanfic

Ch. 10

Back in New Mexico, Jane was quickly learning how difficult it was to deal with children, especially a kid like Loki.

When Thor had first left, Loki began to sulk around, sitting in the bedroom and staring out the window longingly. Jane felt bad and had done everything in her power to cheer Loki up. Eventually she had gotten him out with the promise of watching The Spongebob Movie on the big screen television in the living room. Thankfully the movie was on Netflix.

So, they had watched Spongebob. After that, Jane prepared dinner - a somewhat healthy meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. Loki played with the potatoes more than he ate them. It made Loki happy, so Jane didn't get on him for it.

Once the table was cleared she decided to teach Loki to make cupcakes. He was actually excited about this. Maybe because he had an interest in magic, which required the occasional brewing of a potion, mixing the ingredients for baking seemed interesting.

They made both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and Loki did a very good job mixing them. He wasn't even messy about it. Rather, he was very good with measuring the exact amounts of ingredients and stirring everything thoroughly.

Later in the evening, the two settled down in the living room again, eating some of the cupcakes. It hadn't occurred to Jane what giving a kid four sugary cupcakes might do, but she soon found out when Loki got on a sugar high and started to run around the apartment, insisting that Jane play some Asgardian version of 'tag' with him.

That had been fun. Really, it had been. Jane enjoyed it. It made her feel young again, and Loki loved having someone play with him. Even when he won a game he made an effort to tell Jane that she had done a good job. Jane began to think that perhaps Loki hadn't had anyone to play with as a child. He seemed almost desperate to keep Jane happy, like he was afraid that she might go away. Jane filed that thought to a little folder in her mind. She would bring it up later with Thor.

It had taken close to two hours for Loki to get tired. When he finally did, it was close to his bed time. Jane had tried to get him to get ready for bed, but Loki kept begging to stay up. Feeling bad again, Jane agreed. She even agreed to let Loki watch another movie. A movie called 'Child's Play'. That... That had been Jane's biggest mistake. The movie had terrified Loki, and now he was afraid to go to sleep. So, there they were - Loki tucked in to bed, Jane sitting by his side, trying to comfort him.

"Loki, Chucky isn't real. It's just a movie. It's fake. Either way, he died at the end, remember?"

Loki shook his head and held up Arrow, almost as if he wanted the stuffed dragon to protect him.

"I promise he isn't real."

Loki looked at her with big eyes. "If Thor was here he could protect us," he whispered.

Jane sighed and shook her head. "Thor doesn't need to be here because Chucky won't hurt us because he is not real. Darn, I knew I shouldn't have let you watch that movie."

"He's gonna sneak up on us when we don't expect it," Loki whispered.

Jane ran her hand through Loki's hair. "It's going to be fine."

Loki still didn't seem to believe her, but he didn't say anything in reply, either.

"Would it make you feel better if I stay in here tonight?" Jane wasn't sure what else to do. It was almost midnight and it didn't look like Loki was going to be able to go to sleep any time soon.

"Then he'll just get us both!" Loki whined. "I wish Thor was here!"

"No he won't. You remember how I beat Thor at wrestling?" Jane hated to bring that whole thing back up, but she felt it might help.

"Yeah," Loki replied, holding Arrow to his chest.

"Well I'm just as strong as Thor so you have nothing to fear! If Chucky comes in then I'll beat him up. I won't let him get to you."

"I forgot!" Loki said, looking a hundred times calmer, "Oh good! We'll be safe then!"

Jane smiled at him. "Yes, we'll be fine. I'll stay here and fight off any bad guys."

"Alright then."

"Okay. So let's go to sleep."

"Okay," Loki agreed.

Jane turned off the lights and cuddled up next to Loki, and within minutes both were asleep.

Tony had been kind enough to let Steve and Thor use one of his private jets without much explanation. Thor had mentioned something about wanting Steve to meet someone in New Mexico, so he assumed that Thor was trying to introduce him to a woman. That was good. Steve needed a lady in his life.

The small aircraft touched down at the local airport just before dawn, and Thor and Steve made it back to Jane's research area just after the sun came up.

Jane had left door unlocked, so both of them walked in. Thor led Steve to the apartment upstairs.

"Are you sure they're here?" Steve asked, looking around. The whole place looked dark.

Thor had to admit that he was surprised not to see either Jane or Loki sleeping on the couch. He wondered if something bad had happened while he was gone.

"They may be sleeping in the bedroom," Thor replied, hoping that he was right.

Both men quietly walked towards the bedroom, and Thor gently opened the door. There on the bed was Jane, who was lying next to Loki, who was cuddling Arrow and sucking his thumb again.

"...Wow," Was all that Steve could think to say. He never would've imagined the God of Chaos sucking his thumb and sleeping with a stuffed animal.

"Do you mind if we let them sleep? My brother needs his rest," Thor asked.

"Uh, no... no."

Thor closed the door and the two headed back towards the living room. Just as they sat down, they heard someone else walk up behind them. They turned to see Jane, standing there in her nightgown.

"Thor," she said, coming over to give him a kiss. "And Captain Rogers. Have you come to help?"

Steve opened his mouth but Thor spoke instead.

"He is here to meet Loki."

"Ohh."

"Did all go well last night?" Thor asked. He had been concerned about leaving Loki alone with Jane.

"Yeah. Well, I might've made one mistake."

Thor looked at her, wanting her to continue.

"He wanted to watch this movie called Child's Play because he thought the doll on the cover looked cool but it ended up being a horror movie so he was up really late because he was scared. I managed to get him to sleep, though." Jane waited for Thor to get angry at her, but his expression remained the same.

"I imagined something far worse than that," he replied, laughing a little.

"I still feel bad about it. It's hard, ya know, because he looks older and all."

"I understand. Loki will be fine, I am sure."

"So... he's really like that?" Steve interrupted. "I mean, he's really like a kid?"

"He is. You'll see it for yourself, though."

Steve nodded. "Right."

Loki woke up an hour later. Thor, Steve and Jane were drinking coffee when Loki walked out of the bedroom. He was still dressed in his snake pajamas and his hair was splayed in all directions.

The adult's conversation stopped when they saw him.

"Good morning," Jane said, motioning for Loki to come over. He sat down in the empty seat between Thor and Jane.

"'Morning," he replied, before yawning. Then he realized who was sitting there.

"Thor!", he said, excitedly, "You're back!" He gave his brother a hug.

"Yes I am," Thor answered, "Did you have fun with Jane?"

"We made cupcakes and watched Spongebob and played games. Then she protected me from Chucky! She's really strong, you know."

"I know."

Loki saw Steve sitting across from him. He seemed to be staring.

"Is this your friend?" Loki asked Thor.

"Yes. His name is Captain Rogers."

Loki remembered how his mother had always taught him to be polite. He stood up, walked over to Steve, and shook Steve's hand.

"Hi Captain Rogers. I'm Loki."

"Hi Loki. You, uh... you can call me Steve."

Loki smiled at him and sat back down.

"Miss Jane?" Loki looked at her, "May we have breakfast?"

"Sure thing. Let me go get us some cereal."

Jane returned a moment later holding the Cheerios and Lucky Charm cereals.

"Sorry we don't have more choices," she told Steve.

"Oh, no worries. Cheerios are fine."

The four ate their breakfast, Steve watching Loki the whole time.

"So, Loki... what do you like to do?" Steve asked, looking on as Loki picked all the regular cereal pieces out of his Lucky Charms, leaving only the marshmellows.

Loki stopped doing this for a second and looked up.

"I like to draw, and read, and play with Thor. Oh! You know Gróa right? She put magic on you too?"

Thor tensed up, hoping that Steve would remember what he had told him about the situation.

Steve glanced over at Thor and saw how uncomfortable he looked. He took a chance and decided to play along.

"Yes, I know her. Thor introduced us."

Loki grinned, "So you're like us! We're really young but she made us look older. How old are you?"

"Er..." Steve tried to take a guess as to how old Loki thought he was. Thor had mentioned that he had the mind of a child, but not a specific age. "I'm... eight."

"I figured," Loki said, "Thor is eight too so it makes sense because you're friends. Do you ever play at the castle? I've never seen you."

Thor cleared his throat. "Captain Rogers and I usually play at his home in the city."

"Ohhh." Loki looked down at his cereal again. He seemed almost sad. It made sense that he had never met Cap- Steve before. Thor usually went off on his own to play with his friends and left Loki behind. Still, it was nice to meet him at least.

After an uncomfortable silence, Steve spoke up again.

"Do you like it here? On, um, Midgard?"

"Mhmm. It seems nice. But we haven't been outside much, only once, in the desert, and then I got sick." Loki looked sad again.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Loki shrugged and took a bite of his marshmellows. He remained quiet for the rest of the meal.

Steve watched Loki for the rest of the day. He noticed how Thor helped him get dressed, and how Jane took time to brush out Loki's hair. Really, if you only looked at him, Loki would look like any other guy in his late 20s. Today he was wearing the Metallica shirt and a pair of jeans.

In the afternoon Thor invited Steve to color with them. He hoped that Loki might draw something like the picture he had draw previously - something tied to the events in New York - but it didn't happen. Today he was focused on drawing happy pictures.

"What's that you drew there?" Steve asked, looking at Loki's paper.

"It's me and Thor on the Bifrost," he explained, "And there's Heimdall and Father and Mother." Then Loki's eye caught Steve's paper. "Steve! You're a great artist!"

Steve had drawn a picture of a sunset over the ocean. It was simple but beautiful. The thought of it relaxed him.

"Oh, thank you," Steve replied, smiling.

"It's so pretty... is this on Asgard?"

"No. It's here. It's an ocean, and that is the sun setting over it," Steve pointed to various parts of the picture, "That's the beach, where the sand is, and those are waves rolling in. And that there is a boy and a girl holding hands and looking at the sun set."

"It's wonderful," Loki whispered, continuing to stare at it.

Steve put his pen down and handed the drawing over.

"You can have it."

Loki looked stunned, then he grinned.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Steve handed him the picture.

Loki took it. "Thank you! Oh, you can have mine, then!" He handed over the drawing of himself and his family. It was good but clearly drawn by a young child.

Steve forced a smile. "Thank you, Loki."

There was really no escaping it. What Thor had told him was true. Not only that, Loki was a really cute, sweet child. He had to help Thor protect him. The problem would be convincing the others to do so as well.