Chapter 38
When Loki woke up early in the morning a few days later, he had an irresistible urge to prepare.
He gathered all of the blanket throws from his bed and rushed into the living room, only to stand blankly at the center of it.
Where would he—?
He headed for the pantry.
It took a lot of seidr, and he exhausted his supply, but he set up a pocket dimension that wouldn’t move. It wouldn’t be seen by anyone else, accessed only by the jar of honey Loki knew no one would think to touch.
Inside the pocket dimension, more of a secret room than anything, he dropped the blankets and went back to his bedroom for pillows. He probably should’ve started with them, but whatever. He set those on the ground of the room, too.
Three blankets. Two pillows.
It wouldn’t be nearly enough.
He grabbed a few pillows from the living room (leaving a few so no one would ask questions), and headed down the hallway.
Thankfully, Steve left the door open.
He snuck into the room and took a few of their blankets, careful not to wake the two super soldiers.
That brought it up to seven blankets and five pillows. Better, but he’d need to work on it.
Okay, blankets, pillows, what else?
A mattress, it wouldn’t be comfortable without a mattress. He grabbed the air mattress from when Bucky first arrived. He’d just have to wait for his seidr to heal a while to power the motor to fill it.
In the meantime, he could stash some food. He wasn’t sure how long he would need to recover, after all. Collecting food wouldn’t be a problem; he had access to the pantry, but even so . . .
Better safe than sorry.
Water would be important, too. He filled up a a few jug-style water bottles and set them to one side of the pocket dimension room.
Satisfied that he’d done all he could for now, he started making an early breakfast.
“You’re up early,” Bucky commented as he finished making the 3rd batch of bacon.
“Got up early, couldn’t fall back asleep.”
“Mm.”
“You guys get any sleep?” Loki asked, allowing a bit of mischief into his expression, “Your door was open, so I’m assuming you didn’t stay up all night?”
“Hardy har har,” Steve muttered, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a piece of bacon.
“No. We did not stay up all night.” Bucky confirmed, and added slyly, “ . . . Yet.”
Steve choked on thin air, turning a bright red.
Loki laughed, “You okay?”
“He can’t wait,” Bucky assured him with a smirk, and turned to Steve, “It’s alright, Darling. I’m ready when you are.”
“Bucky—“ Steve’s voice held a warning, but he gazed at Loki with concern.
“It’s fine, Steve,” Loki stopped him, “Just cause I can’t enjoy it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”
“You’re serious?”
“As long as you don’t drag me into it,” Loki scoffed, “I happen to like my sleep, thank you very much.”
“Suit yourself,” Bucky shrugged, sipping his coffee.
Even after making breakfast, Loki’s unexplained sense of anticipation kept him nervous, so he sat down in the living room with his plate and turned on the tv. He didn’t usually watch tv aside from movie nights, so looking for something on cable proved frustrating. Eventually, he settled on some random cooking channel with an unimpressed sigh.
Behind him, he could hear Steve and Bucky speaking softly to each other.
“You okay?” Steve asked, suddenly right next to him.
Bucky hummed, leaning against the back of the couch to agree with him. “You seem . . . tense. Almost jittery.”
He glanced meaningfully at Loki’s leg, which Loki realized he had started shaking.
“I’m fine,” Loki answered, pulling his legs up on the couch to sit cross-legged.
“Alright, Jitterbug,” Bucky sighed, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders, “But you gotta watch something better than the cooking channel.”
He took the remote and started flipping through channels, but Loki didn’t notice. He was too busy examining the blanket Bucky gave him.
“Is this . . . Cashmere?”
Bucky nodded.
“Where did you even get a cashmere blanket?” Steve asked.
“Same place I got the cashmere scarf,” Bucky smirked.
Steve moved to touch the blanket, but Loki pulled it tighter around himself.
“Well, it’s mine now.”
The look on Steve’s face almost made him want to laugh. “Wha—?”
“I need it.”
Bucky scoffed, “For what?”
“S-stuff.”
“Well, I got it,” Bucky said, “So we’re gonna have to share it.”
Loki groaned, reluctantly spreading out the blanket across all of their legs, “Fine.”
The comms crackled to life.
“Tyr’s on the move again,” Clint reported.
Loki’s stomach dropped.
It couldn’t be a worse time.
Bucky sneered, a disgusted look on his face, “Guy really just doesn’t have any self-preservation, does he?”
After he’d found out what happened to Loki, Bucky’s general distaste towards Tyr and the Chitauri quickly deepened into a sharp hatred.
Loki knew he would need to keep a level head to bring them down, but lately, Bucky’s call for vengeance at any cost had been sounding more and more appealing.
Loki had given them his plan for the next time Tyr attacked.
He just hoped the plan would work.