Holiday Beginnings
The next morning, the avengers got up earlier than usual to go to work putting decorations up, so by the time Thor and Loki walked into the living space to have breakfast, there was a huge Christmas tree with red and gold lights sitting by the window overlooking the city. The walls had colorful wreaths and lights pinned almost everywhere and on every shelf there was a layer of fake snow. The fireplace even had stockings lined up on it.
Loki and Thor stared in wonder at the sight.
"Hey you two! You're finally up!" Tony said as he came waltzing over to them. "Hey Rock of Ages, close your eyes for me would'ya? Same goes for you Bolt! I got a surprise!"
Loki eyed him a little warily before closing his eyes. Thor beamed, waiting for the surprise. They both felt something being placed on their heads. Loki heard Clint snickering a little in the background.
'Oh no', Loki thought.
"Okay, open up!" Tony said excitedly.
They both opened their eyes and they looked at each other. Thor was wearing a red Santa hat. When Thor looked at him though he was trying unsuccessfully to hold in a laugh.
"What?" Loki asked confused.
Natasha didn't say anything but just handed him a mirror.
He looked into it...
....
...
..
.
"STARK I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" Loki screamed at Tony in frustration and playful anger.....or at least they think it's playful...
He leaped toward the inventor and tackled him pinning him down...
...He was wearing a pair of fake reindeer antlers.
Loki glared down the inventor as he pinned him down.
"Hey! Hey! It's just a prank bro!" Tony defended.
Loki growled at him before getting up and trying to take off the antlers, but they wouldn't come off.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?!?!??" Loki said, panicked.
Tony rubbed the nape of his neck and said," I might have totally programmed little micro-clips into them that automatically react to your hair so that it'll stay on you until after Christmas? Sssssorry"
Loki stared at the inventor for a couple of seconds. Then....he did the unexpected.
He started to laugh...a lot!
The avengers just stared at him utterly confused, until Loki finally stopped laughing enough to speak.
"You don't think I knew you would do something like this. Honestly, do you all think I'm stupid? I have already planned my revenge...excluding Thor, Bruce, and Clint of course."
Tony yelled, "WHY THEM?!"
Loki smiled at him, "Because Thor had nothing to do with this, I do not wish to be smashed to the ground, and Clint helped with my revenge after he confirmed your plan." He and Clint fist-bumped.
Tony looked betrayed. "How could you do this to me, Barton? I thought we were bros!"
Natasha was going to ask something when she, Tony, and Steve saw Loki giving noise-canceling headphones to Thor, Clint, Bruce, and himself. Loki said," Jarvis, activate plan RevengeForAntlers."
"Right away King Loki."
Tony stared. "King Loki?"
"I might have hacked Jarvis a bit. Sorry-not-sorry."
"Ok so, what's your play Reindeer Games," Tony said.
"Activating protocol," Jarvis said as the headphones were put on the four.
"What are y--" Tony started to say before he was interrupted by the song from hell itself.
"Nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan
"NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!" Tony pleaded. Natasha was stoic and Steve just looked confused.
"nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan...."
"Okay this song is getting on my nerves," Natasha said through clenched teeth.
"nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan...."
"Reset Protocol," Loki said as the music faded. They took their headphones off and looked at the other three. Steve stood there with clenched fists. Nat was banging her head against the wall. Tony was on the floor, curled up, hands covering his ears. The four laughed and the other three looked at them with rage.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!" Tony yelled.
Loki simply said, "Anytime you call me reindeer games or any semi-related nickname at any point between now and Christmas, that will happen."
Tony's mouth fell open.
"Oh and, by the way, don't go searching for ways around it, you can't."
"Boys..." Natasha mumbled.
After "The Incident", as they now refer to it, the rest of the day was fairly normal. They hung up some ornaments later in the night. When they settled down a bit to watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas"(Because they were having a debate on whether it was a Christmas movie or not), Loki looked at the stockings and chuckled a little at them.
They were, in order: "The Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist." , "Natashalie", "Grandpa", "Legolas", "O' Worthy One", "Radiation Poisoning... Don't Recommend it", "Elsa", "Allergic to Strawberries...You have been warned", "Thor's Gurl"(Jane was coming over), "Staying Alive"(Loki could not for the life of him figure out who this could be), and "Flerkin Dad."
(Fury was also joining them. Loki and Tony were bored one day and so they hacked SHIELD and found out what happened to his eye. Their faces when they found out were priceless.)
As if on cue the elevator dinged and there stood Pepper, Jane, Fury, and two others, both of whom looked slightly nervous. The first one Loki knew, definitely not the second one though.
Apparently, no one was going to tell him that the freaking guy he killed earlier in the year would be visiting. Well, now he knew who had the "Staying Alive" stocking.
"Hello Loki," the man said calmly, "Surprised to see me?"
Loki was staring into the face of none other than Phil Coulson...
Loki was unsure how he should respond. 'I mean, I killed him! How is he even alive? Does he still hold a grudge? Of course, he still holds a grudge... I killed him! Do I just say hi? Sorry for spearing you like a kabob? Come on Silvertongue! Make up something!'
"Ummm... Hi?", was all that he said.
'Goddammit, Loki! That was awful! You can do better than that!"
Coulson spoke."Hi. By the way, don't feel bad about the helicarrier thing. I know."
Loki looked a little surprised but mostly confused. " Know what?"
Coulson walked over to Loki and whispered so only Loki could hear. " About Thanos, and everything that happened at the Sanctuary."
Loki's eyes widened and he turned to face Coulson. He mouthed 'How?'
Coulson just said," We can talk later if you want. Just know that I don't blame you."
Almost everyone had equal looks of shock on their faces as Loki did.
The only one who didn't look shocked was the other new person. He just stood quietly in the back. He was rubbing his arm, not knowing what to do. Steve noticed the movement and his smile spread across his face.
"Buck, is that you?!"
The man just looked at Steve and silently nodded. Steve rushed over to him and hugged him. After a couple of seconds Tony asked," Steve, why the hell is HE here?" The rest of the avengers seemed to silently agree with him.
*A month after Loki was sentenced ~ Camp Lehigh, New Jersey*
"Ugh!" Nat exclaimed as her back hit the concrete walls of the underground warehouse.
"Nat! Are you okay?!" Clint yelled as he rushed towards her.
"Bucky stop! We aren't your enemies!" Steve screamed at his old friend. Hearing the Nazi's voice again, even if it was on the computer triggered a flashback. Bucky started to slowly come out of it. He collapsed for a second and Steve caught him. "Buck, it's me."
"Steve?" He rasped.
"Yeah, it's me."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was them, I didn't know it was Howard."
"It's okay, you had no choice."
"He killed my parents Steve!" Tony yelled as Thor held him back.
"It wasn't his fault! Besides we have all killed someone's parents. Nat and Clint have been assassins for a while now, Thor's been battling his entire life, Hulk destroyed a city, I was a soldier, and you made weapons of mass destruction. Even if they were the enemy, there were probably people who loved and cared for them the same way you did your parents. Calm down Tony, you don't have to make this personal!"
Stark took a deep breath. "If you don't want this to be personal, turn him in."
"Tony, I can't he's my friend-"
"Steve, do it," Bucky said from next to his friend. "I don't want to get in the way of what you have now. I did bad things, it's only right that I pay for them."
Steve closed his eyes. After a minute... "Fine."
*Flashback end*
"Captain asked if it would be possible for Barnes to come over for Christmas due to the conditions of his house arrest. I saw no problem with it considering both myself and you all are here," Fury explained.
"He got house arrest? Seriously?!" Nat said exasperated. Steve tried explaining to them about the man Bucky was before the war and the very long explanation of his and Bucky's friendship. Bucky, Fury, Coulson, and Loki seemed disinterested
Bucky tried to look anywhere but a person who knew of his past and he landed eyes on Loki. He gave him a look that was a silent plea for help. No one else seemed to notice but Loki understood that look, and he felt bad. That is the look of a man who is tortured by the thought of his own past.
"Hey, what room is he gonna be staying in? Maybe I could show him around while you guys talk?"
At the same time Steve said, "He can stay in my room," Tony said, "A cell."
Both of them continued to argue again to which Coulson whispered, "Maybe just take him to one of the cells until this is settled. We can get him a room later."
Loki nodded in assent, as much as he hated the answer. He waved Bucky over to the elevator, where the stood in silence as it reached its destination. Loki decided his old cell would probably be the best place considering it was slightly more comfy than the others at least.
When he opened the door, Bucky immediately went over to the small bed and sat on it like it was instinct. Loki joined him as the door slid shut behind him.
After a moment of hesitation, Bucky asked," Shouldn't you be leaving me here and going back up to the others?"
Loki just let out a small sigh. "As much as the others might want me to just lock you up down here, I'm not going to. I can tell you want to talk to someone who isn't prejudiced because of your past. And before you even ask, no Steve didn't send me to do this."
Neither of them said anything for a couple more minutes before Loki spoke again. "Do you know of me?"
Bucky shook his head.
"I am Loki, and I am the God of Mischief."
"Right, I think I remember hearing of you... Wait, didn't you attack New York?"
Loki smirked at Bucky's surprised face and said,"Ah! So you do remember!"
Bucky furrowed his eyebrow. "Wait so, the Avengers just trust you now? It's only been like half of a year since then!"
"7 months and 4 days, but who's counting?" Loki said nonchalantly. Bucky slouched a bit. "They'll come around. I don't know what your history is with them but I'm sure it'll work out. They just gotta get to know you."
"How did you manage to get them to like you."
"Well then, I suppose I should start after the battle. I was taken back to Asgard where Odin told me I was to spend the rest of my life here on Midgard. Thor took me back here and they imprisoned me right in this very cell."
Bucky took the time to look around the room. It was around 4x5 meters and had grey walls with a white floor and ceiling, all concrete. There were two doors, one being the one they just came from, and another one leading to a small bathroom. There was a small white desk and a metal chair in one corner, both bolted to the floor, and a twin-sized couch in the other. The bed they were sitting on was a cot, not terribly uncomfortable but not really that comfortable either.
The room would have looked sterile if not for the few signs that it had been lived in: the subtle dents and scrapes in the walls, signs of past frustrations, the short pencils and small stack of paper of the desk along with a few books, the way the couch was dented on one side more than the other.
Loki paused to let him look around and the continued. "So here I was for about 4 months, with a couple of books and Stark's iPhone( which I stole from him), until one day while I was reading, I heard shouting upstairs..."