That is a scene that I originally placed somewhere between chapter 32 and chapter 33, before I decided to leave them all unconscious because, well, more angst.
Unfortunately—or maybe, fortunately, but he would have been dammed if he had been able to tell the difference at that moment—Thor also saw that the Bifrost had teleported the frozen corpse of Thanos to Midgard with them, which was now leaning precariously against one of the trees that separated the Avengers facility from the nearby river.
"Didn't you say this kind of ice can only be melted by the fires of Muscle—whatever?" Tony asked eventually. He was lying on his back, eyes half-closed, his left iron-gloved hand still clasped around the pulp he had made of his right.
"Muspelheim," Valkyrie answered quietly, breathlessly. "And yes."
"Nice," Tony remarked on a sigh of exasperation.
"What is it that ails you so, Man of Iron?" Loki enquired on a soft chuckle even though he was still lying on his back as well, his eyes closed and his entire body, Thor surmised, drained by the vast amount of magic he had conjured during the past hours. "Are you averse to what your people commonly refer to as Modern Art?"
"I swear to God if you make one more wisecrack," Steve gasped but, curiously, the directive sounded almost endearing and not at all hostile.
"Which one," came Loki's witty reply.
"What do you mean 'which one'?" Steve repeated.
"Which God?" Loki clarified, which elicited a genuine laugh from Captain America. Thor found himself releasing a breath he was not aware he had been holding.
Valkyrie was the first to sit up, followed by Nebula, who was glancing around, her eyes searching for the gauntlet. "What was that?"
"Are we doomed?" Pepper asked.
Loki took a deep breath before he tried to prop his body up on his elbows but now that all the adrenaline flooding through his veins had ebbed away, he failed and sank back to the ground. A nervous chuckle escaped his lips and, knowing how much his brother hated it to find himself in such a vulnerable physical position, Thor felt his heart swell with sympathy.
He cleared his throat to speak just as Loki whispered, "I cannot be entirely sure, I am afraid, but the Mind Stone …" His voice trailed off, his eyes flying open. "Where is the scepter?!"
"It's right here," said Valkyrie. "Relax."
"Alright, alright," Steve conceded. He scrambled to his feet and slowly crossed what little distance there was between them. Loki raised an eyebrow at the other man's approach and heaved himself to his feet with what seemed like a tremendous effort to Thor. Steve held out his hand towards Loki and his brother squared his shoulders before he took it hesitantly. Thor's heart made a leap of joy when it registered with him that Loki had finally proven himself enough to become the beneficiary of Captain America's respect.
"We owe you both an apology and a thank you," said Steve, firmly shaking his brother's Jotun hand. His lips pinched tight for a moment but he did not recoil at the touch.
Loki tried his best to keep his lips from breaking into a smile. "No need to get overly sentimental, Captain," he replied.
Steve frowned at this and then, suddenly, let go of Loki's hand with a jerk, his jaws clenching as he inspected his hand with an expression of disappointment and anger. "What did you—"
Loki cleared his throat. "It is a Jotun thing, I am afraid," he said, shrugging an apology. "I meant you no harm. But it just so happens that we tend to give other beings frostbites if we touch them, whether we want it or not."
Steve blew out a breath. "That is …" He seemed to think of an adjective for a second and settled on, "Unfortunate."
Loki grimaced at him. "You have no idea."