Loki was walking on the streets of the city. For once in his life, he hoped for his appearance to be as ordinary as possible. He wanted to be left alone so he could anonymously walk through the empty streets and think about all that has happened lately.

Asgard had been destroyed.

He was reunited with his brother.

Then they came to Midgard.

He was tortured.

Then Thor came for him and they finally functioned as a family.

He let the Avengers see his time with the contemptible monster…

Oh no.

He was once again slipping to the mindset when the name itself filled him with so much horror that he couldn't even voice it in his mind. Saying it would make it too real.

But he is Loki. The God of Mischief. He is not afraid of saying a stupid name of someone so hideous that he does not even deserve his fear.

Thanos.

Loki smiled slightly. He said it. Only to himself, but that didn't matter.

Yet remembering his encounter with the Mad Titan now with his head being a bit clearer than in the room full of his supposed enemies, Loki understood that it had only one major consequence.

He understood what it meant to be alone.

And, as he told Thor when that annoyingly self-confident sorcerer was in their room, Loki didn't want to be alone anymore.

So why was he now walking alone through the city?

Maybe Thor wasn't the only hot-headed fool in the family.

Loki turned back with the intention of going to the Stark Tower.

Aa he was preparing to make a first step back to his brother, a brute force suddenly threw him into a small side street.

Loki felt his ribs cracking again as he hit a couple of rubbish bins and swore to himself that he must do something about them.

Promptly, he put himself back onto his feet to face the unknown enemy.

The street was narrow, dark and dirty. In his wandering, Loki must have unconsciously find his way towards a worse part of the city. Looking in front of himself, he saw a tall, male shadow walking towards him.

Loki conjured his daggers and rolled his eyes. Was he really just attacked by some pathetic Midgardian robber?

Well, the robber's fault.

When the man was close enough, Loki attacked.

The man was ready.

But Loki knew he couldn't measure with the Asgardian power.

Loki went for a quick blow into the man's skull to render him defenceless yet alive. But when he went for the hit, the man put his arm to block the push and Loki's arm collided with a force of metal so strong that the blow sent him flying back.

The man was immediately back onto him. He pushed him on the ground and Loki ended up on his belly. The man grabbed his arms with his artificial arm and brought them behind his back.

"Loki. What do you think you are doing here?" The man said.

Loki tried to get him off himself, but the man's grip was as if made from iron.

"Nothing. How do you know me?" Loki said to buy time.

"You tried to kill my best friend." The man answered and tightened his grip.

"I am sure I didn't…" Loki began saying but was interrupted.

"Steve will surely not be happy to see you, but if there is anyone who can contain you, it is them." The man said. "I wanted to surprise him, but it seems that a call would have to be enough."

Loki's brain kicked in.

He turned his head around a bit and saw the man's long, black hair.

Bucky has these same wild, untamed black hair as well.

My best friend.

Steve.

Those who can contain you.

"You're Bucky." Loki said incredulously.

Immediately, he felt the other man's surprise and the grip on his wrists has loosened.

Loki didn't wait for a second opportunity and catching Bucky off guard, he slipped out and before the mortal's instincts gave him a warning, Loki kicked him hard into his chest.

Bucky ended up on his back. Before he could understand the situation, Loki put the blade of his dagger onto his throat.

"Don't make any sudden moves." He told the man lying on the ground.

"You bastard." Bucky swallowed hard. There was anger in his eyes, but no fear.

"Oh, I've been called worse." Loki gave an unhappy smile.

"How do you know my name?" Bucky asked.

Loki narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure whether the man was just trying to buy time or if he was curious as well.

In the end, he decided that if he intended to successfully implement his plan of not being alone anymore, killing Captain's best friend may not be the best way to go about it.

"I came on Earth with Thor. I met Steve in the Stark Tower and he told me about you. He said you are his best friend." Loki gave a short version of the events of the last few days.

"You're kidding me." Bucky answered.

"Am I? How would I know who you are if Steve didn't tell me?"

"Didn't you mess up with people's minds?"

"Never with Steve's. You know that."

Bucky seemed to be thinking.

Loki was ruminating about the situation as well.

Then he made a decision.

Slowly, he removed the dagger from Bucky's throat and stood up.

Bucky was staring at him with his eyes wide open. Slowly, he got to his feet as well. He eyed Loki disbelievingly.

"I am on my way to the Stark Tower right now. You can join me, and we can go together. In that way, you can be sure that I will be…how did you phrase it…contained by the Avengers and you can also see your best friend. I am sure Steve will be very much surprised to see you. He mentioned that your mind wasn't stable and so you decided to…rest." Loki said, keeping the eye contact with Bucky.

"Why would Steve tell you all this about myself?" Bucky asked with suspicion.

"Because of the t-shirt that I am wearing. Stark gave it to me." Loki said quickly.

Bucky eyed the t-shirt, but it didn't make much sense to him. There were some lions on it.

"He said that you would feel like the lion with the dark mane. Like me. Anyway, it's too complicated." Loki pretended to babble as he knew that people would usually take it as a sign of talking your mind.

Indeed, it seemed to work.

"Fine, let's go." Bucky said and began walking away.

Loki followed him.

…

The dark-haired duo was standing at the entrance to the Stark's apartment. None of them seemed to be too enthusiastic to press the ring after their long, wordless journey to the Tower.

"I am probably not going to be exactly welcomed here." Bucky said when the silence was beginning to get awkward.

"The last time I went through, they shot me." Loki replied.

The man and the god gave each other a resigned look and Loki pressed the ring.

Soon, the doors opened.

As the men walked out from the long corridor to the main living room, Loki quickly scanned the room only to understand that not much have changed during his short absence.

The room was tidier than he left it; the scattered things were tidied up and the glass in the windows replaced.

Stark was effective, he had to give him that.

A more perceptive look made Loki understand that the Avengers were still there.

"Bucky?" Steve's astonished tone echoed through the room.

Loki curiously went for Stark's reaction whose mouth was wide open.

"Loki." The words coming out of the mouth of his brother were the thing that mattered to the God of Mischief and so he shifted his attention towards the Thunderer.

Thor stood up and eyed Loki insecurely.

"Brother. Please, can we talk?" The God of Thunder said pleadingly, as if afraid that Loki might as well disappear any second.

"Yes. But not now. Right now…I just want to know that you are by my side, brother." Loki finally lifted his gaze to look Thor in the eye. When he saw his brother's expression melting, the Trickster didn't wait for anything any longer and let himself be carried by the suppressed instinct he had wanted to follow immediately upon emerging from the memories.

Not paying the rest of the people any attention, Loki made a few quick steps towards Thor and without hesitation, embraced his brother.

Thor was perplexed only for a moment and soon, he brought his arms around his brother to hold him tight. The brothers hugged in the absolutely harmony. Their similar height enabled them to fully melt into each other's embrace.

"I am so glad you came back, little brother." Thor whispered so that only Loki could hear him.

"No matter what I say, I will always come back to you, Thor." Loki answered and felt the corners of his mouth lifting up.

Loki buried his face into his brother's broad shoulder and smiled some more.

The words were his biggest weapon with his silver tongue being perfectly able to deliver them in the deadliest way.

And yet now, there was nothing to say as the embrace seemed to convey all the emotions more effectively than words ever could.

At that very moment, the brothers felt whole. Their other half balancing the flaws in their personality was there for them and neither would let go.