We have food at home
Next hour was quite peaceful. Thor has returned to watching Animal Planet. For a few minutes Croki was watching with him, but soon lost interest and climbed on a couch to lay down on Louis’ legs for a nap.
The boy lifted his eyes from the Action Comics #1 to his reptilian friend and then moved to his brother. The sight of Thor sitting alone too close to the big telly was somewhat sad.
“Hey”, Louis called and his brother turned around.
“Yes?”
Louis hesitated for a bit, unsure if Thor wouldn't take the wrong way what he was about to say.
“Remember what Papa said right before he left for work, about us staying in the house?”
Much to Louis’ surprise, Thor smiled widely.
“Yes! He said only one of us needs to be there while the other can leave for a bit.”
He was correct. Each of them could leave if the other one stayed behind to check on their father and call if something happens. Although there wasn’t much talk about the details, Louis assumed that he should be one who stays in there all the time until Papa Mobius returns. There were few reasons for that. Firstly, during his time in the Void he had to quickly mature and be crafty in order to survive. This, along with living with their fathers for much longer, made him more responsible and much trustworthy, although Mobius or Loki never admitted that.
“So, do you wanna go outside?”, Louis asked carefully as he didn’t want Thor to think he wanted him gone.
This time the older brother shook his head energetically, but was still smiling widely.
“Nah, I’m fine with staying here with you if you need some help.”
“If you say so”, Louis nodded his head with a tiny smile of his own. “Thank you.”
He was sure Thor was saying all of it honestly, but there was also a familiar hidden tone of fake confidence, that Thor… this one and Louis' original brother… used to hide embarrassment.
Louis was aware how much his current big brother struggled with adapting to this new life far from Asgard on top of still dealing with guilt over his Loki’s fate. He wanted to be a better big brother for Louis but at the same time was depending on him and others. Because of that he never ventured very far or used certain devices without someone he trusted being nearby.
On one hand Louis was very proud of finally being something of an authority for Thor, but at the same time felt it wasn’t right, so he rooted for the big brother to be more independent.
Louis wanted to say something about this, but suddenly his phone started to ring. A song by Daft Punk along with movement of the boy’s legs woke up Croki. Grumpig, he slided on the floor.
As Louis suspected, it was Papa who rang. The time also seemed fitting as lunchbreak would be soon. Seeing Thor approaching him, the boy pressed a button so all of them could hear what’s on the other side.
“Hi Louis”, said Mobius.
“Hi, Papa”, the boy greeted him along with Thor and Croki.
“Hi to all of you”, Mobius chuckled. “How are you all? Is everything alright?”
Louis dutifully reported almost everything, skipping only the discussion about Croki. Mobius was content with the news, but then he went silent for a few seconds.
“I’m afraid I don’t have that good of a news for you boys” he said finally.
“What happened, Papa?”, asked Louis. It was ridiculous, but he instinctively prepared himself to hear that something truly horrific had happened. A quick glance at Thor showed him doing the same.
Somehow Papa Mobius must’ve sensed their illogical distress.
“Don’t worry kids! I’m fine and nothing is happening! It’s just that there is much more paperwork for me to do on my own than I estimated before. I will be able to finish it all today, but I need to stay in the office over lunch.”
Louis sighted partially in relief since all of them suspected something like this might happen.
“Don’t worry about us, Papa. We will be fine.”
“I trust you on that, Louis. If you want, you can order for you and Loki some take out. A flyer with a menu and number to McMinutes’ Burgers & Pizza is on the fridge.”
Louis was about to protest and state that he will try to prepare something himself, because the same fridge also was full to the brim with food, but Thor ran to the kitchen to check the flyer. Croki followed him, probably in hopes of getting a snack.
“I’ll think about something”, said Louis instead and when Papa didn’t answer, he added: “that won’t set the house on fire.”
On the other side Mobius chuckled again.
“I hope so. I’m sorry I have to go now. Work awaits.”
“Sure Papa, but don’t take more than necessary. I think dad will have enough energy in the evening to give you an earful if you overwork yourself again.”
“And you must make sure he’s gonna take his meds.”
“Sure, I still have that note you left me.”
“Okay then, Louis. I love you all. Bye!”
“I love you too, Papa. Bye!”
Just a few seconds after the phone call ended, from the kitchen came a sound of something heavy and wet falling on the tiles. Louis ran there only to find confused Thor holding open the fridge and Croki eagerly eating a pile of fresh meat from a plastic bag.
“It fell off by itself right after I opened the fridge”, Thor explained, to which Louis nodded. Since breakfast no one really looked inside and Papa, having so much to do in the morning was a bit sloppy.
“Looks like making lunch for you is no longer a problem”, said Louis to which Croki made a sound of agreement.
Seeing a mess made by the alligator in such a short amount of time, the boy picked up the meat which he carefully brought to Croki’s bowl. After emptying the bag, he tossed teared plastic to the trash can.
“What do you want for lunch, Thor?” he asked while washing his hands.
First, the other boy realised that he was still holding the fridge open, so he closed it after peeking inside for the last time.
“I know we have a lot of food, but since our last visit at McMinutes’ I wanted to try their hot chicken strip bucket.”
“We can order it. No problem”, said Louis while drying his hands with a paper towel.
“Actually, brother, I want to go and order it.”
Louis turned to Thor and stared at him, processing what he just heard. At first he thought this declaration came from the fact that Thor preferred talking with someone face to face, as he still wasn’t quite used to local communication devices.
“You don’t have too,” he said and picked his phone. “If you want, I can order this for you.”
Much to his surprise, Thor shook his head.
“It’s not that, Louis”, he said with a rather serious tone, sighted and then continued. “You know I’m still adapting to… all of this. And when you asked me earlier about going out, I was reminded that I actually need to do that if I want to no longer be a burden for Papa, dad… and you.”
For a split second Louis felt like his heart was going to jump out of his mouth.
“You’re not a burden”, he thought, but seeing his brother’s sad smile, he realised he also spoke those words out loud.
“I know. It’s just… I sometimes feel like it and wonder…”, Thor stopped with a gulp.
“...if back on Asgard my Loki often felt the same”, Louis finished in his mind and before he would get lost in those darko thoughts, came closer to Thor.
“It’s okay. You can go and you know? I want something from McMinutes’ too.”
Seeing the spark returning to Thor’s eyes made him smile.
“What do you want?”
In around fifteen minutes Thor was ready to go with money, their orders written on a piece of paper and his phone showing the map of TVA with a highlighted route to the restaurant. It wasn’t that far from here. If Louis’s estimates were correct about on the lines during lunch, Thor’s average walking speed and time needed to prepare their orders during the hottest time for TVA restaurants, his brother should be back in forty minutes to an hour. Just to be safe he added his number to the emergency calls list and also updated his contact pic with a quick selfie.
With all that, Thor left, but then…
“Thor!” Louis called from the front door.
“What?”
“Watch out for albatrosses.”
“There are…” Thor was visibly shocked until he noticed Louis’ grin. “Very funny.”
And with that, he went on his trip. Louis was observing as long as he could and then once again turned into a sparrow. Not to follow Thor (although he considered it) but to check on their dad, who luckily, was still sleeping. Croki too, after a good meal, took another nap.
Louis smiled widely. With no one to interrupt him (at least for a while) he set out to do what he was planning all along.