Hi guys, and welcome back! I think I'm doing better at semi-regular updates so lets hope I keep this up!

For what happened in the first fic see the summary in the first chapter.
What's happened so far in this fic?
- Everyone's living in Malibu together
- Sleipnir (and the other kids) have started school. Sleipnir freaks out because of the abuse he suffered from Odin
- Tony, Loki etc. are building an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Secretary Pierce, the World Security Council and Fury want its plans. Tony is uncooperative
- Loki and Sleipnir talk about school and Odin and Loki convinces Sleipnir to keep trying to go to school for a bit
- Tony and Loki find Captain America
- Laufey, Frigga and the rest of Loki's family come over for dinner.
- Steve wakes up in the 21st century, he comes downstairs to find a) a room full of people (some of which are blue) b) that most of his friends are dead. Fun times! :|

Thank you guys all so much for reviews/follows/favourites, you're all awesome!

15/03/19

Chapter Five - Adjusting

"Mr Rogers," new-fangled-Jarvis announced, causing Steve to jump slightly at the interruption, the yellow crayon in his hand narrowly avoiding scraping over the carefully drawn words on his pilfered sketchpad. "I thought you ought to know that your new clothes have been delivered. Thor has signed for them and wishes to know if your request to be alone extends to him bringing them to you."

Steve frowned, wondering if he could bear to be with another stranger in this odd new world where people were blue and puppies could turn into children. The latter had given him the fright of his life. He had almost whacked the kid on instinct before he'd realised it was a boy and not an imminent threat. Though it wouldn't have mattered whether he had been able to stop himself because the next second had found him slammed backwards into the wall by an invisible force. Through the haze of plaster dust he had been threatened by the younger Stark (Tony, he reminded himself), pleaded his innocence, demanded to know what had just happened, been given a confusing explanation about magic from the boy's father - Loki - who seemed to alternative between intense anxiety for the shape-shifting child (who seemed fine), rage and panic. In the past Steve would have scoffed at the idea of magic existing, but that was before he'd been flung into the wall by it and seen a dog (or was it a wolf?) change into a child, and honestly, it wasn't that much stranger than anything else that had happened to him in the last few years.

There came a knock at the door and Steve sighed, realising he hadn't given Jarvis an answer. All he wanted to do was curl up in his soft new bed and mourn.

Instead he said "come in," because even if his Ma had been dead for about eighty years now she had raised him to be polite.

The door swung open to reveal the tall, blonde man who had been present the night before. Steve stared at the bulging muscled arms that were currently holding several boxes and wondered if this man was a result of another super soldier experiment. He looked stronger than Steve. And being stronger than Steve was not something normal people were capable of.

"I thought you would want your own clothes as soon as possible," the man said, his British accent making Steve very determined to stop thinking about Peggy. "How do you fare?"

"Huh, um, I'm fine," Steve replied. "If that's what you're asking."

"It is," Thor confirmed before putting down the boxes and staring at Steve thoughtfully. Steve nodded at him uncomfortably. "Captain, I realise that it can be seen as unmanly for a warrior to admit his feelings. However, I am no stranger to loss, nor of finding oneself in a strange place with unfamiliar customs. If you wish to talk with me, I will do my best to listen and give counsel."

Steve blinked, British people could talk strange, sure, but he'd never heard any of them use the kind of words Thor did. "Uh, thanks," he said. "It is a lot to take in. I'm not sure what to do with myself."

"I usually learn about this Realm with Jarvis and my brother's children for several hours each day," Thor offered. "Though that is now only reserved for weekends as the children are at school. You would be very welcome to join us. I also tend to my goats and spend time with my girlfriend. If you wish we could go and visit my goats up on the cliffs now, you get a very good view of the sea from up there and I often find that working with goats lends itself to peace and reflection."

"That would be great," Steve said, trying to smile. He didn't exactly want to go outside with Thor, he wanted to be alone, but he had vivid images of Bucky dragging him to the pictures after his Ma had died (it hadn't exactly been difficult, he had weighed next to nothing), shouting over Steve's protests that he'd been moping inside for three weeks, it wasn't healthy, and he needed to get out and do something to feel normal. Steve didn't know if goats in this century were normal (he had been fooled by a puppy yesterday after all) but he hoped they were, and he had visions of Bucky's ghost calling him a punk and attempting to kick his ass for not taking this opportunity.

He put the crayon back in the tin box and started to close the sketchbook.

"What did you draw?"

Steve flushed, reopening the book to show Thor. Thor was a stranger and everyone, even Bucky (though he had been good-natured about it), teased Steve about his love of drawing. Steve had tried not to let it bother him, it had been one of the only things he had been able to do as a frequently bed-ridden child, and he was good at it. The serum had only improved his control of a pencil and eye for detail.

"It's the Howling Commandos," Steve explained, looking down at the laughing faces and the carefully etched 'Rest in Peace' at the top of the page. "They're all dead now, I'm the only one left."

"It is beautiful," Thor declared. "Your artwork does them a great honour."

"I hope it does," Steve said. "I feel like I have to do something, you know."

"I do," Thor said gravely. "I have lived for over a millennium now and have lost many a shield brother. You must tell me about them. I have no doubt their deeds were worthy of sagas. Perhaps with Loki's help we could write one, he always had a gift for words and your friends should be duly remembered."

"Thank you, Thor," Steve said, blinking rapidly in case his eyes started to water, and feeling very moved despite the strangeness of what Thor had said. "That's very kind of you."

"It is no trouble," said Thor. "Now come, it will do you good to be out in the fresh air."

-Q-

"Gentlemen," a voice said, and Steve looked up from where he had Thor in a headlock to see Tony looking at them nonchalantly, his hands in the pockets of his three-piece suit.

"Stark," Steve replied before Thor flipped Steve over his shoulder and onto his back. Steve winced at the breath was knocked out of him.

"Okay, I'm calling it, end of fight, ding ding ding and all that," Tony said. Steve sat up from the dirt to see the younger Stark grinning at them. Steve couldn't help laughing, partly because of the exhilaration of it all. Fighting Thor had been good. It was great to find someone that could challenge him in a fight and rolling in the dirt for the past half-hour or so had helped to work out the frustration that he'd been feeling since he'd woken. He'd been wanting to punch something for a while, but hadn't thought Stark would have appreciated holes in his furniture, so when Thor had suggested that they spar he had leapt at the chance. "How're you feeling?" Stark asked.

"Better now I've fought Thor."

"Good," Tony said. "Loki and me came back to have lunch with you guys, if you want to come back inside."

"Sure," Steve said, and allowed Thor to pull him to his feet.

Once inside Steve went quickly to his room to change and wash up, Stark said he didn't have to, but he was sweaty and muddy and whatever Stark said he wasn't rude enough to eat in this fancy place looking like he was still in the trenches.

Steve came back downstairs to find the table strewn with what looked like the leftover food from yesterday. Thor was sitting at the table with the other two, looking pristine, and Steve frowned, no way had Thor had time to comb all the mud and tangles out of his long hair. He realised with a jolt that it must have been magic.

"Come and sit down, eat whatever you want," Stark offered. Steve pulled out a chair and sat down. With a dawning sense of horror he realised that he had no idea what half of this food was.

The plate nearest to him looked like it contained sliced vegetables (the ones that he couldn't identify at least seemed like they could be vegetables) and rice. He hadn't had rice much, growing up his diet had mainly consisted of stews and potatoes, things that his Ma could get cheap and knew how to cook. Although his diet had broadened since then, it hadn't been very adventurous and the only times he had ever eaten rice was when Bucky had dragged him round to his friend Amar's apartment and Amar's parents had insisted on feeding them. That hadn't lasted long, his memory was foggy on the subject but he thought Amar had moved out of Brooklyn before they'd become teenagers.

Steve helped himself to the vegetable rice and was about to dig in when Loki interrupted.

"Do you want me to heat it up?" he asked.

"No, it's fine," Steve said. "I wouldn't want to be any trouble."

"Let him do it all he needs to do is wave a hand," Stark smirked.

Steve's eyes widened as he felt comprehension and wonder flow through him. "You mean you want to heat it up with magic?"

"Yes," Loki said.

"Okay then," Steve said, looking forward to hot food but even more so to seeing more of Loki's magic.

Loki squinted at the food, muttered something, and steam began to rise from the rice.

Steve stared at it in amazement.

"How does it work?" he asked.

Loki laughed and shook his head. "It's just energy transfer. If I tried to give you a more detailed explanation than that we'd be here all week."

Steve cautiously took a forkful of the vegetable rice. His eyes lit up in amazement. "These are vegetables?"

Tony broke out into raucous laughter. "Yeah," he said through his glee. "Fried vegetables."

"I'm never eating boiled vegetables again!"

-Q-

"I'd like to visit the Howling Commandos graves," Steve said after polishing off several plates of different nations' cuisines. Being in the future was now looking considerably less bleak.

Tony sighed. "Yeah you're gonna have to wait a bit for that."

Steve bristled automatically. "Why?"

"No one except us knows you're alive."

"So what?"

"So, we want to keep SHIELD off your back."

"SHIELD?"

"This super-secret organisation that I'm a consultant for. If they get their hands on you they won't let go, they'll want to make you into their pet super soldier."

"I think," Steve said, his teeth gritted, "that after the number of covert missions I've done I can handle the danger of visiting a few graves."

"You don't understand, there are cameras everywhere now, watching everyone."

"That sounds awful!" Steve's eyes widened. "Why do you work for them?"

"Because they're useful," Tony said. "Look, just give me a few days to set up a new identity for you, get Jarvis to familiarise you with modern technology, we don't want you freaking out over an iPod."

But Steve was stubborn to the bone and he was damned if he was going to give in. He needed to see his friends' graves, he needed to. He needed to know they were really gone, to say goodbye, to come to terms with it. Maybe then he would stop feeling like he was stuck in limbo. "That's not good enough." he snapped.

"God," Tony sighed. "I always knew that you were-"

"I could go with him," Loki said quickly, Steve looked across at him and noticed that Loki was looking paler than usual and was shaking slightly. "I can glamour him, he'll be fine with me, no one will recognise him."

"I don't know what that means, but fine," Steve conceded, nevertheless hoping fervently that being glamoured didn't involve make-up.

"No." Tony said quickly.

"No?" Steve demanded. "What do you want, to keep me trapped here? What do you really want, Stark?"

"I am just trying to keep you safe," Tony snapped. "But if you're going to-"

"I think you both should calm down," Thor warned. Steve ignored him.

"You're working for an organisation that you say wants to use me. How do I know that that's not exactly what you're going to do and..."

He suddenly became aware that Loki's breathing had become fast and ragged. Steve looked towards him to see him racked with terror, nails digging into the table and gasping for breath like a fish out of water.

"He's having an asthma attack!" Steve leapt to his feet and would have vaulted across the table if Thor hadn't grabbed him.

"He's having a panic attack you fucking genius," Stark snapped.

"Tony," Thor growled.

"Stop!" Loki gasped out, choking for air, and everyone fell silent.

"Take the Captain and go," Tony said coldly, and against every instinct in his body that screamed at him that he needed to help and protect people Steve allowed himself to be led out onto the clifftop again. He barely looked in the direction he was going he was too focused on gazing back to where Tony was gripping Loki's hands and saying something that Steve couldn't make out.

"What's wrong with him?" Steve asked when they were once again out in the crisp winter breeze.

"Many unjust and terrible things have happened to my brother," Thor said, his expression serious. "Sometimes he gets reminded of those things and falls into a panic. Something that can trigger this is people arguing around him."

"So..." Steve said, trying to process this and not to let the guilt swallow him up (it had been Tony's fault too). "It's like shell shock."

"The Allspeak has translated that very strangely for me," Thor said. "But I believe it to be a bit like that, yes."

-Q-

Sleipnir had never known how bad something could smell until he'd discovered the boys' restroom. He stepped round a puddle of what he hoped was water and wrinkled his nose as he washed his hands in the sink. When he had been a horse he had relieved himself in the corner of his stall and he was certain that that was more hygienic than this was.

The door opened violently, slamming against the red tile walls and Sleipnir squeaked and stepped backwards.

"I'm not fucking doing it!"

It was Jamie, the boy from Monday who'd had the courage to argue with the Maths teacher. Jamie hung up his phone, shoved it into his jacket pocket and then his gaze met Sleipnir's. He was livid.

Sleipnir took another step back out of pure, ingrained self-preservation.

"What are you looking at?" Jamie demanded, stepping towards Sleipnir, his hands balled into fists at his sides.

Sleipnir opened and closed his mouth, no sound coming out. What was he meant to say?

"You're that new kid, ain't you?" said Jamie. "The weirdo who freaked the hell out after I left Mr Allen's classroom?"

Sleipnir nodded slightly.

"You have problems."

Sleipnir snorted despite himself. Jamie had no idea.

"I swear to God if you're going to keep staring at me like that-" Jamie said, striding towards him. Sleipnir tripped over his own legs and fell backwards against the wall. Jamie raised his hand and Sleipnir gasped and shut his eyes.

Nothing happened.

"Okay, what is wrong with you?" Jamie snapped and Sleipnir cracked his eyes open. Jamie was standing two feet away with his arms folded. "I wasn't actually gonna hit you, I just wanted to see what you'd do," Jamie said. Sleipnir was fairly certain that neither of them believed that. "I'm legit not that scary. For fuck's sake say something!"

"Okay..." Sleipnir ventured after a pause.

"You're useless."

"Yep."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Lesson number one in how not to look pathetic; look like you don't give a shit when someone walks into the room, people will pay less attention to you that way." Then he turned to walk into one of the stalls.

"Wait," Sleipnir said, and then wished he hadn't.

Jamie spun round. "What?"

Sleipnir's mouth formed soundless letters before he managed to get out, "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Say what you did to the teacher."

"It was easy. He pissed me off I told him what I think."

"And you weren't... scared... that he'd hurt you."

Jamie ran a hand through his hair and sighed in frustration. "No. The teachers can't do shit! That's the best thing about them."

"And that's really true?"

"Yeah!" Jamie was clearly exasperated. "Look, the worst thing they can do is call your parents, and then you may or may not be fucked depending on what mood they're in, but what else can they do? Detentions? Suspensions? That's nothing, man. They're assholes but they can't do shit."

"Oh," said Sleipnir.

"Look, you've got a weird accent. Where d'you come from that teachers can make you that freaked out?"

"Uh..." Sleipnir said, thinking rapidly. Shit, where was he meant to be from? "I don't know..."

"You are as dumb as shit," Jamie declared. Sleipnir smiled weakly.

"I lived with my Grandfather. I didn't go to school," Sleipnir added, trying to be helpful.

"You've never been to school?"

Sleipnir shook his head.

"No wonder you're so fucked up. Oh my God you're gonna be so screwed here. You need help. Okay... Look. Stick with me, don't embarrass me too much, and I'll teach you how to be a normal kid. Cool?"

"Yeah," Sleipnir nodded automatically, very confused about this change of direction.

"Cool, just give me one sec, yeah?" he finished, and then disappeared into the cubicle.

Sleipnir paled as he watched the closed stall door. On the one hand, he thought he might have managed to make a friend. Jamie was a bit mean but far nicer than anyone (except his Dad) had been to him on Asgard. On the other, as Jamie had turned, Sleipnir had caught sight of a partly-healed gash on his forehead, briefly visible under the thick fringe that swished to the side. Was his new friend okay?

I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter!

Next up: Steve and Tony have an actually rational conversation!
Sleipnir starts to grow in confidence.