A/N: Longer than the last couple of chapters, and a little more serious. Also contains Loki attempting comfort. XD
Btw, I'm thinking about writing a Clintasha fic, basically my take on how they met and stuff, kind of based off the song Lonely Eyes. Thoughts?
"So what are we watching?"
The man just gave him an appreciative look before turning back to the TV, although Jack had no idea why. He hung out with Loki, it wasn't as though this was all that unusual, him hanging out with someone with less than honorable habits.
"Sharknado." Was the answer and Jack looked at the screen with some interest.
"Wow." Was all he could say. Anything else was cut off by Tony Stark breaking in.
"Okay, does anyone else find it weird that our resident creepy dude apparently can see Jack? And knows him?" Jack gave a shrug, then laughed at a particularly gruesome death.
"Dude, this is kind of a terrible movie, you know that, right?" He pointed out, and the smile that answered him was larger this time, a reward in and of itself.
"Steve hates it." He said smugly, and the blonde looked mildly offended.
"I don't hate it! I just...don't really like it." He finished lamely and the man just looked smug.
"He's letting me do whatever I want, even though I almost killed him." He said the last part a little louder, as though making a point and Jack's eyebrow rose.
"Wow. How long was I gone?" He asked, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish sort of way.
"A few weeks, but that's all it takes for everything to go to shit around here." Tony put in dryly and Jack sighed.
"I've got to check in more. Next time stuff like this goes down, tell Loki or something." He told them with a frown.
"Loki?" Winter asked, his look making the question much more.
"Oh yeah, Bucky, he's BFFs with Loki. It's weird." Tony said, seeming to relish this far too much.
"Oh, so your name's Bucky. Cool." Jack commented, looking back at the TV.
"So...how long have you two known each other?" Steve put in awkwardly.
"Um...A pretty long time." Jack said vaguely, then glanced at Bucky. That was a weird name.
"Do you remember how long?" There was a long silence after that, and Jack looked around, wondering what he'd done wrong. It seemed like an innocent question, but he'd learned fairly quickly that apparently even innocent questions could make things awkward.
"Um, Bucky doesn't really remember much…" Steve trailed off, giving a sad look to the dark-haired man, who's attention was firmly fixed to the TV, although Jack noted that his jaw was clenched.
"Why?" He couldn't stop the curiosity, he'd read something in the files about some procedure, but it hadn't made much sense at the time.
"Mind wipe. Something went zap, his memories were gone, it wasn't pretty." Tony was the one to speak up, as insensitive as usual, and Jack could feel the blood drain from his face as he stared at the dark-haired man. 'Jack, you don't remember anything?' Tooth's voice rang out in his head, and for an instant he had that same lost feeling once more, and he couldn't believe that he'd missed it, that he'd let someone he'd considered a friend feel the same. His turmoil must have been showing clearly on his face, because even Bucky was looking concerned.
"Jack? Is something wrong?" Steve was the one that spoke up, and Jack just shook his head as the air grew colder.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, eyes fixed on Bucky. "I'm so, so sorry." His voice was hardly audible, and he didn't give anyone a chance to respond before he was up and flying out the door, a trail of frost and snowflakes left in his wake. A silence rang out after the door slammed shut, not broken until Tony apparently decided it had gone too long.
"Someone get Loki, maybe? He can deal with Frostbite pretty well, right?"
It never took Loki long to find Jack. Especially when he was worried about him, like he was right now. Although if anyone asked, he would insist that he was merely concerned about him as one would be concerned about a fond pet. Certainly not a friend. Or an equal. Especially not as someone far better than he could ever dream of being. No, only mild concern.
Jack only had a few places he went when he was upset, and Loki checked all of them before going to the one that the boy only seemed to go to when he was truly questioning himself. Somewhere in the Arctic, where a sculpture of ice and darkness stood out against the gray sky. Jack sat on the cliff nearby, staring at the the thing and Loki could recognize the self hatred in the boy's face and gave a sigh. This was going to be difficult. He made his slow way to where the boy was sitting and settled next to him, silent for now, waiting. He didn't have long.
"I failed." Jack said softly, looking down at his hands. Loki raised an eyebrow.
"At being perfect? Yes, congratulations on joining the rest of us." He said dryly. Honestly, the boy expected far too much of himself. Jack scowled, hands clenching into fists.
"I'm a Guardian. I'm supposed to protect people. I'm supposed to know these things!" His voice was slowly rising, the wind beginning to swirl around them and Loki pulled his coat the tiniest bit tighter around himself.
"I-how did I miss it?" The kid sounded so broken though, and Loki reached out a hand, resting it on the boy's shoulder, wincing at how his skin immediately took on a blue hue, but didn't move.
"Jack. You are a protector, yes. But that does not make you all-knowing." He pointed out, leaving out his opinion that it could make people rather blind to what was right in front of him.
"But...I didn't remember either. I didn't know who I was before I was this. I should have seen it. I should have seen what was happening to him. They hurt him, Loki. They hurt him, and he's my friend." Loki was at a loss for a moment, the three hundred year old teen sounded broken, and he didn't really know what to do about it, but then a thought occurred to him and a smile spread across his lips, showing far too many teeth to be friendly.
"Well then. Let's hurt them back."