Thor has found new friendship as well with Carol Danvers. They love to spar together and they tell stories from their travels at dinner, comparing notes from different worlds and laughing about chance encounters with the same people. Loki welcomes her presence at their table – that she and Thor fill the time with stories means neither of them attempt to force him into conversation. Peter and Bucky are happy to spend most of their time listening, too, though they both contribute their own stories, when they can. Shuri joins them every few evenings, her other suppers spent with her mother as they prepare for changes coming to Wakanda's way of governance, now that there is no flower to grant the powers of the Black Panther to their leaders and their princess is still a child.

But unlike Thor, who actively seeks to find new friends amongst the people in the palace, Loki keeps to himself as much as possible, spending time every few days with Peter and Shuri, and occasionally sitting with Bucky outside the palace in his simple home away from the busyness of the city. The quiet is soothing and Loki often brings Sleipnir with him – it is rare he goes more than a day without seeing his son.

Loki doesn't mean to start telling anyone more about his experiences, but when he sits outside in the calm, one of two things happens – he gets lost in the natural sounds and his mind clears or he gets lost in his thoughts and his heart sinks with the memories. Bucky learns quickly how to tell which of the two directions Loki is going simply by watching his body language.

It is on one of the days that it's clear he's lost in his head that Bucky sits across from him, crosses his legs, and says, "Hey – I need you to come back to the present with me for a minute."

Loki looks up, "Oh? I'm sorry, did I miss something?"

"Nah, but I know you're not having a great time in there, either, so how about you tell me one thing I can to do to help you process whatever's going on in your head."

Loki's first inclination is to decline, to resist saying anything, and to call for Sleipnir to return to the palace, but instead, he stops himself, "I was thinking about what I did to gain my safety with the Grandmaster."

"OK. You told me once that what you did wasn't something you wanted to, right?"

"Yes. But it kept me alive and gained his favour, so...it at least bought what it needed to."

"Do you regret it?" Bucky asks.

"I don't know that I can regret something that kept me alive," Loki answers.

Bucky shrugs, "Yeah, sure you can. You can regret a lot of shit, whether or not it got you something better in the end. Nothing's really an either/or anymore. You don't have to judge something as just good or just bad. It can be a mixed bag. It can be a both/and."

Loki slowly nods, "I suppose you're right. So yes. I do regret it."

"Care to say anything else about it?" Bucky asks.

Loki pauses, thinking, before he carefully chooses his words, "He was intrigued by me. He played that he didn't know the names of my worlds, but I think it was all a game – a way to toy with my head. He told me I was too pretty to be a fighter, and most definitely too refined a creature to be simply left for the scavengers to tear apart for meat – he was glad he'd had me brought in. But I wasn't going to meet his champion, the warrior who killed all the fighters he faced in some gladiatorial sport." Loki laughs softly, "And here I found out when Thor arrived that the beast was none-other than the Hulk. I'd faced him before. Thor arrived a few weeks after I did, which was incredibly odd, given that we were both knocked from the Bifrost by our sister mere moments apart. But in those few weeks, I allowed the Grandmaster to flatter me and I learned what flattery worked on him. Safety was secured through private audiences...and some not-so-private audiences. What he asked...that was not something I could negotiate. And it was not what I was prepared to offer. It wasn't pleasant. I still sometimes think about it and when I do, I want to go sit in the shower for hours as though I can scrub the memories from my skin."

Bucky meets Loki's eyes as he looks up from where he has been staring at the ground, "Hey...I know this isn't easy, but you're safe and I'm not going to judge you for what you've been and done. You know that, right?" Loki nods. "I mean it when I say this is a big deal and you should be really proud of yourself for talking about this kind of thing. Shuri told me it's our trauma – stuff that sticks in our heads and changes us. Things that make our world feel less safe. It's hard to put out there. So...I'm glad you're willing to tell me this."

"After you told me what you've been through, I almost feel as though, despite the vast differences between us, we have more in common than not. We've both been used, against our own wills, to the ends of others. We've had someone else in our minds and we've had to reclaim our own bodies. And I didn't think anyone else would share that with me. Ever," Loki says.

Bucky smiles, "Yeah, well...welcome to the shittiest club on Earth, Loki. But at least we have each other."

Loki laughs, "Yes, at least we do."

"So...you want me to make you some tea? I've got some of that blend you really liked last time. Made a new batch."

Loki nods, "I'd like that."

Bucky sets to work putting the kettle over the fire and goes to his home to find mugs while Loki takes in the day around him, breathing deeply to calm himself. It feels good to talk to Bucky, to be able to say some of the things he hasn't told Thor. Thor would feel sorry for him, would pity him, and would try to make it right. But this human doesn't and for that, Loki is immensely grateful.

When Bucky returns, he has two mugs with loose-leaf tea in them waiting for the water to be hot enough; he hands one to Loki, "You feeling any better?"

"Yes, actually. A little."

"Good to hear. A little's better than nothing."

"Thank you, James. I really do appreciate your kindness."

"Any time, Loki. Like I said...we're in the same shitty club. I think I'm just a few steps ahead of you in dealing with all the crap I've been through. Least I can do is be here when you need me."

"I still haven't told some of these things to Thor," Loki says.

"You don't owe anybody your story."

"I feel as though I do him. I let him think me dead three times now, even if the last was only for a short while and to assure we both survived. He's mourned me too many times. I owe him the reasons why."

Bucky shakes his head, "No, you still don't owe him. Don't let anybody feel like you don't control this part of your life."

Loki tilts his head, "Oh?"

"Yeah. The time in your life when you weren't in control...you can't change what happened, but you can take back the story by not letting anybody make you feel like you have to tell them about it. You can keep control of the story, even if you didn't have control of what happened to you in the moment."

"Ah," Loki says as Bucky pulls the kettle off the fire, "I've never thought of it that way."

"Well there you go, you can now," Bucky says, carefully pouring the water over the tea leaves, "Story's yours. And so's this cup of tea." He smiles as he hands it to Loki.

Loki takes it and smiles back, "Thank you. For both the advice and the tea."

Bucky sits beside him and nods before pointing to where Sleipnir is chasing a butterfly, "Kid's having a good time out there. But he's not going to like it if he tries to catch that one – they taste terrible."

Loki raises his eyebrows as he glances to his companion, "And you know this how?"

"Let's just say that my first few attempts at foraging weren't the most successful and I was too stubborn to ask for help."

"Oh dear."

"Yeah, 'oh dear' was right."

"I assume you asked for help after?"

Bucky nods, "Yep. Got Shuri to find me a guide to the things that were actually edible and not just 'didn't kill me because supersoldier.'"

"I'm rather grateful I haven't had to forage lately. I've gone hungry before, had to seek out food that was...less than palatable, but not during this fall from grace, thankfully."

"Good to hear. I didn't really have to when I got here, but it was one of those things where I didn't want to hurt anybody, so I didn't want to be around anybody. And then I just didn't want to ask. That part's on me," Bucky says. "So...eating disgusting butterfly was really my own damned fault."

They look out to Sleipnir as he starts running for the sheer joy of it, "I haven't seen him this happy in a very long time," Loki says, "Perhaps not ever. I didn't ever get to take him out of the palace and Odin used him as a warhorse. So I don't know that he's had this much room before. I'd imagine it's especially sweet, given the time he spent in the cramped ship."

"Can I be blunt about something?" Bucky asks.

Loki nods, "Yes."

"It's really weird your dad used your kid as a method of transportation."

Loki laughs quietly, "When you put it that way...it really is. But I was never really allowed to talk of him as mine, so I suppose I quieted the part of my mind that yearned for my child for so long that the oddity of it just...faded."

"It's also fucking terrible you couldn't act like he was your own kid."

"Well, he is a horse. That made things a bit tricky."

Bucky shrugs, "Yeah, and from what Thor's told me, you grew up on a city floating in space with a distinct flair for saying 'fuck you' to physics, so...that shouldn't have been too weird. I mean, I just fought a battle alongside a talking raccoon with a big gun, so...if I can get over it, your people should have been able to, too."

"One person is different than a whole world, even if it's a small one," Loki replies, "and the Aesir are one for tradition and stability. I don't know how it would have upended their expectation if they'd have realized their youngest prince was mother to an eight-legged horse."

"So...why eight legs?" Bucky asks.

"Now that I don't know," Loki answers, "His father had only the expected number, as did I."

"Must be a magic thing."

"Indeed. Though not one with which I'm familiar. Perhaps it had something to do with me not being a horse by nature. I don't know. But whatever it is...it's just Sleipnir. It always made me uncomfortable how Odin paraded him around as a gift and showed him off as though he were simply another stolen relic, but unlike me, not one he was ashamed to have taken."

Bucky sips his tea and, finding it cool enough, takes a drink, "So that's another thing you've got tangled up in your head, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Odin stole you and hid that from everybody, even you. But when it wasn't from an enemy realm, when it was you he was stealing from, he paraded Sleipnir around like he was just another treasure to show off."

Loki stares at Bucky for a few seconds as what he's said sinks in, "I...I never put the pieces together. But you're right. It just felt wrong how he treated us. I've always told myself he was stolen from me, but...I didn't really have the time to think much of it after I learned I'd also been stolen, what with everything that came after." He takes a long swig of his tea.

Bucky reaches out and hovers his hand over Loki's shoulder, "K?" he asks. Loki nods and Bucky sets his hand down, "Sleipnir's your kid, no matter how Odin treated him and you. It was wrong, what he did, to both of you. Odin's gone, but you still have each other." He draws back his hand.

Loki watches Sleipnir prance happily in the grass, "We do."

"And even if it's a little unusual...you're still a family."

Loki smiles and looks toward Bucky, "Thank you, my friend."

Bucky smiles back, "Hey, it's true. And you're welcome, buddy. Now you take your time with the tea. I've got to fix a leak in the roof, but you're welcome to stay as long as you want, same as always."

Loki nods as Bucky walks back to his home. He sips his tea and watches his son playing in the sunlight. When he has finished his drink, he sets the mug on the bench beside Bucky's and stretches his back. He hasn't shapeshifted into an animal since Sleipnir's birth, but watching his child, he yearns for the feeling of the wind in his hair. He considers transforming and lets his magic settle on the process, but it sets his heart racing. He sighs and starts walking instead. Sleipnir sees him and gallops to him, whinnying and nuzzling his face when he greets Loki.

"Come to say hello to your mother, have you?" Sleipnir impatiently prances around him. "You're not ready to go in yet, are you?" A nudge from behind confirms this. Loki laughs, "Fine..but only if you carry me." Sleipnir stops and stands still, waiting. Loki lightly springs onto his back, "Now...show your mother just how fast you can go." Sleipnir excitedly turns and takes off across the grassland, Loki laughing on his back, wind streaming through is hair. When they return to the stable, they are both windblown, sweaty, breathless, and happy.