Loki sat quietly and listened to the whole story. There was times when he wanted to interject with outrage, or to comfort his friends, or to simply ask questions. But he saved everything until the end, not wanting to interrupt. James had a certain way with stories apparently, and Loki thought it would be a sin to break the magic. He never got sidetracked, he never had to struggle to find the right words, even though Loki could tell this wasn't something he told often. It was truly amazing how James could evoke emotions in Loki as if he himself had been the one to go through it.
James and Steve had been the very best of friends from a young age. The were practically inseparable. In fact, they were like brothers. So much so that James would often spend most of his time with Steve and his Mother Sarah. James' own Mother had been sick for as long as he could remember. His Father was strict. No running, don't be loud, and 'don't disturb your Mother.' So he spent his time playing at Steve's place. Steve's Father died in combat. He had never even met him. But for James, it was great. He was secretly afraid of his own Father. So being in a place with no male, just a wonderful Mother was amazing.
James was always protective of Steve. Apparently Steve had been scrawny and sickly, which was hard to believe. It was the complete opposite of the man he had seen the night before. Puberty had hit him like a train. Which is why it took James a while to recognize his childhood friend. He looked so different. Even though he had been a tiny little thing, he had the attitude of someone twice his size. Steve was always getting into fights. Not to fight, but to 'uphold honor', like he was some sort of justice warrior.
It was admirable, but not something Loki could picture himself doing. Always fighting, knowing you'd always lose. But then again, Thor had always fought for him. If anyone even looked at Loki the wrong way, Thor would put them in their place. Somehow annoying when Thor did it, Loki couldn't help but think it was the sweetest thing in the world knowing James did it for Steve.
When James was twelve, his Mother finally passed away. It had been hard on him, but he had Steve and Sarah to help him through it. His Father had no one. He wouldn't talk to James about it. Things got worse at home, so James stopped going home all together. His Father tried telling the police he ran away. They dragged him home. The more he snuck out, the angrier his Father got, until one day he forbid James from seeing Steve anymore.
The fight that sprung from that had been their worst one yet. In a fit of rage, his Father beat James down, leaving him bloodied and bruised. So the more he saw Steve, the more James got hit. Finally he stopped. It hurt him so bad that he started acting out. He started shoplifting. Never anything big. Just enough to get in trouble. Even James wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish. It broke Loki's heart hearing about it. When his Father found out he was cutting himself, stealing things, and even vandalizing public property, he sent him away.
James never even got to say goodbye to Steve. He spent his thirteenth birthday alone in a boarding school. Loki made a vow to himself that his friend would never have to spend another birthday alone. James was at the boarding school for six and a half years, halfway around the country, alone. The brief times he was allowed home, he was still forbidden to see Steve, but by then the fight had been snuffed out of him. When he graduated, he started working on his tattoo sleeve, to cover up the scars that had riddled his arm. He claimed he wanted something beautiful to come out of such an ugly time in his life. It was beautiful. Letting him take a closer look, Loki could see some scars here and there. The artist did a beautiful job at hiding them in the ink.
Loki took a good few minutes to look through the tattoos. The most noticeable one was a big red star on his shoulder. He stifled a smiling, realizing it matched the one on James' hip perfectly, just bigger. He wondered if there was a story there. It was the most noticeable one, because it was red, whereas there wasn't any red anywhere else. There were a lot of flowers, uncolored stars, swirls, animals, and even a small Jesus on a cross weaved into it. The best by far was a tiny, naked pinup girl on the inside of his arm, towards his armpit. She wasn't colored in, and was surrounded by so much other, more distracting images that he only noticed her because James specifically pointed her out. He also noticed the metal aspects. The were set up as if his skin was ripping off to reveal a metal arm underneath. It was scattered here and there on his arm, across his knuckles, on his elbow, his shoulder blade, his forearm.
Loki was so blown away. It really was amazing. James even pulled down his pajama bottoms and rolled up the leg of his boxers to show Loki the few tattoos there too. Clearly it wasn't finished, because he could see the trail of scars headed further down. His breath caught in his throat. This poor boy. Loki was going to make sure to take extra care of James from now on.
"And I haven't seen Steve since. I didn't even know he came here." James said, wrapping up his story. Loki had so much to say, he couldn't even get any of it out.
"So you got so drunk because seeing him brought up a lot of memories?" Loki guessed. It was the only thing he could think of.
"Partially. Not at first. We were having a great time just catching up. And then he went to the bathroom…" James' expression turned sour. "And his friend tried giving me the 'if you hurt him' speech. Can you believe that?!"
No. He couldn't. What did that even mean? Although he had noticed the way Sam's face changed when he looked at James. It was drastically different than the way he looked at Steve, or even Loki for that matter.
"He threatened me, Loki. Can you believe that?" James' calm demeanor of story telling was gone now. He had a mixed look of anger and disbelief on his face. "And went back to being decent as soon as Steve came back. As if nothing ever happened. So I started drinking. I just wanted a reason to go home. Maybe it wasn't my best plan."
"No kidding." Loki told him. "Next time you need a quick get away, tell them I need you. I'll play along. I can think something up on the fly."
"Yeah ok. That's better." Then James put his head in his hands. "Steve wants to hang out tomorrow. Me, Him, and Sam. They're room mates. I don't know what to do. I cant just avoid Sam forever. But I really miss Steve."
"So suck it up. This Sam guy cant hate you forever, right?" Loki told him. He was so sure of it. In hindsight, he should've known better than to be so optimistic.
