The Souls

"Excuse me, Mr. Loki?" Loki opened his eyes slowly, and was greeted by three faces in front of him. Dammit. He thought he had gotten rid of Peter Parker when he threatened him with transfiguration. A newt this time instead of a sloth.

He had eventually gone back to the other children and left Loki with some peace. For a little while. And now he was back, with company.

"Are we disturbing?"

Loki blinked at the African princess. Yes. Yes, they were disturbing, actually.

He was doing nothing. He so rarely did nothing that this was a welcome change. And these children were ruining it. Why couldn't they bother Strange instead? Why did he get to meditate in peace while Loki got disturbed?

He had half a mind to turn them all into newts, just for some damn peace.

"What do you want." he said instead.

The three looked around at each other, as if deciding who was going to be the one to speak. Surely they could have decided this before forcing him to open his eyes.

It was eventually the Spider Boy who spoke, "Well, Shuri and me.. uh.. we... we wanted to know if maybe you could teach us how to speak Groot."

Loki's eyebrow shot up. Well that's not what he was expecting.

"You see," the princess took over, "The three of us have been hanging out a lot. But it's just hard communicating with Groot when we don't know what he is saying. Even though he seems to understand us."

"I am Groot." agreed Groot, "I am Groot."

"And we.. we weren't sure if you even spoke Groot but Mantis says that Thor did, so I though maybe you did too."

Loki scoffed, "Of course I do. Who do you think forced Thor to go to those elective classes in the first place."

"Perfect!" Shuri grinned, "So you can teach us. I doubt it will take long, I am somewhat of a genius. And Peter here... well, he's not stupid."

Peter narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't say anything lest it annoy Loki.

The god in question rolled his eyes, "The Guardians understand Groot. Go ask them."

"I am Groot." he crossed his arms.

Loki sighed at Groot, "And what makes you think i won't take these two years to learn as well."

Groot tilted his head at Loki and scoffed, "I am Groot?"'

Loki raised an amused eyebrow, "That's a bold statement for a Tree."

Groot raised a challenging eyebrow back, and shrugged, "I am Groot."

"And you're any different, are you?"

Groot narrowed his eyes, "I. Am. Groot."

Despite himself, Loki let out a little chuckle. This Groot sure had an attitude on him.

"You're right, of course," he nodded." He turned to the other teenagers who were looking between the two of them, quite jealous that they didn't know what was going on.

"Come here." Loki said simply. Peter raised his eyebrows worriedly, and then shuffled closer, "So you're... you're gonna do it? We knew it was a long shot, and we didn't want to disturb you, so than-Ah!"

Peter was cut off when suddenly, Loki's hand was on his forehead, holding on like vice. Shuri let out a horrified gasp as Peter went motionless, his eyes rolling back in his head. She spluttered a few times, trying to get a sentence together, but before she got a chance, Loki let go, and Peter was back with a gasp.

"What the hell was that!" Shuri all but shrieked.

Peter blinked rapidly, shaking his head, "Holy shit!" he gasped, holding his head.

Groot looked at him closely, "I am Groot?" he asked quietly.

As if in slow motion, Peter's eyes widened at him." Say that again." he said.

"I... I am Groot?"

Peter gasped loudly, and Shuri grabbed his shoulder impatiently, "Well?!"

"He asked me if it worked." Peter told her with wide eyes.

"I am Groot?"

"You can understand him?" Shuri asked with wide eyes.

"I am Groot!" Peter replied happily.

"What are you saying?" she asked frantically.

Groot's mouth was wide open as he shook his head, "I am Groot."

"You guys!" she punched their arms.

"I am Groot!" Peter and Groot laughed together, with Shuri looking pained. She spun around to a smirking Loki.

"It's my turn. Do me now."

Loki held out his hand, but then Shuri was pulled back, "I don't think that is the best idea."

Shuri tuned around, "T'Challa," she all but whined.

Her brother shook his head, "I am not entirely comfortable with a god of mischief playing around in your brain,"

Shuri glared at him, but before she could retort, Bucky beat her to it, "Hey, you let her play around in my brain enough."

"That's different," Sam chipped in, "Your brain was broken and she was fixing you."

Bucky sighed at Sam, "I feel like you're just saying that so you can not be on my side."

Sam smirked, "Well obviously."

Shuri rolled her eyes at them, and then turned her wide eyes to Loki, who now looked kinda bored.

"Don't listen to these idiots," she pleaded with him, waving her hand at her protesting brother, "I would love to have my brain modified by you. Please." she grinned sweetly, "Your Highness."

Loki smirked. He knew that she was trying to butter him up by calling him Your Highness' He would't fall for something like that, obviously, but still. A younger sibling being denied something by an older brother who thought he knew better? Of course he would oblige.

And also, he did love being called 'Your Highness'.

So he ignored the King behind her and latched his hand to Shuri's head.

"No!" T'Challa held out his hands as Shuri's eyes rolled to the back of her head. Loki wanted to laugh at him, but then saw the genuine worry in his eyes.

He sighed "Calm yourself," Loki told him, "It's just a transfer of knowledge."

Before T'Challa could turn angry eyes at the god, Shuri was released with a gasp. She turned quickly to the beaming boys behind her.

"I am Groot?"

Shuri's grin was radiant, "I am Groot!" she exclaimed!

Loki smirked at the worried looks on the adults. T'Challa kept trying to inquire about her health, but Shuri was too buy enjoying the new language.

"I'm glad they can all communicate," said Vision, "But, I rather liked it when they were just laying down quietly."

"But it is good that Groot has friends to talk to," Mantis smiled at the chattering trio, "Instead of that awful, awful game."

"He has us to talk to." Quill frowned.

"He says you are boring," Drax reminded him, "And he is not wrong."

Quill glared a him, "You know you don't always have to be so honest about your feelings, Drax."

"And besides," Gamora cut in before a fight could start, "It's different talking to people his own age. Good for him."

Gamora was happy to see the smile on Groot's face as the three chatted animatedly.

Her happiness dwindled after a few minutes. There was only so many times a person could hear the words 'I am Groot.'

"Uh... hey Peter?" she called out, "Shuri?"

The two turned to her.

"You know... you can speak English. He understands what you're saying."

We know." they said, before turning back to their conversation.

"I am Groot." snickered Shuri, and the others laughed as they glanced at Gamora. She leaned back in her seat, sighing.

"How long until this starts to get annoying?"

"Starts?" grumbled Sam.

Loki chuckled at their irritability, happy that he had been a part of it.

"Oh yeah, laugh it up, pal." Quill glared at him, "This is your fault, you know. They were perfectly fine not talking.

"Yes," Loki nodded, "Much less irritating."

"Does this not annoy you at all?" Sam asked as loud laughs sounded from the three on the floor.

"I lived with Thor and his pointless babbling for over a thousand years." Said Loki, "I've learned to tune out what I don't want to hear."

"Well we haven't had a thousand years of practice," Quill all but whined, "So make it stop."

"Let the kids be." Said Wanda as she smiled fondly at them, "Don't you remember being a teenager? Just you and your best friend, having fun and annoying everyone around you?"

Her smile faded slightly, and just by looking at her, Vision could tell that she was thinking about the brother she had lost, all those years ago. He pulled her close and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

The others in the room wanted to stay annoyed, but Wanda's words hit the mark.

T'Challa sat back with a small sigh, and a hint of a smile gracing his lips as he remembered. He and Okoye, running around the palace, fighting with sticks much too long for them. Bumping into servants and breaking vases and being reprimanded by the Queen. Only to get back to it as soon as their punishment ended. Nakia shaking her head an their recklessness, but giving T'Challa tips on how best to beat the far more skilled Okoye.

The three of them had been nothing less than a nuisance to all the adults around them. And it had been amazing.

One sofa over, Drax had a faraway look on his face. He too was smiling. Years and years had passed since he had been young. Since he lived to cause the elders around him grief. But he remembered it like it was yesterday. He remembered her like it was yesterday.

The two of them invading the celebrations that children were not allowed to attend. Swimming in the forbidden pools until they were caught and severely punished. Performing daring acts just so she could smile at him. They had lived to make life difficult for their caretakers, and they had succeeded magnificently. But nothing made them as angry as when the two decided to marry.

Drax remembered that day like it was yesterday as well. Hovat had been his best friend, long before she became his wife. He didn't even know he wanted to marry her until the first festival where they were actually allowed to dance, and he watched as she stood, not moving a muscle.

Drax's smile widened. Yes, he remembered his best friend. So he decided to let these children have their fun as they irritated their elders.

Mantis was also smiling. Friends. For the longest time, she knew nothing of the concept. All she knew was her master, Ego, and the children he would kill one by one.

And then the Guardians came. And she had this strange thing. Friendship. Mantis was an empath, and still, she had never felt anything like that before. She could never hope to take such merriment from another. If that was what Groot felt with Peter and Shuri she would happily hope it carried on forever. No matter how much the noise hurt her head.

Quill was frowning at the floor. Best friends, huh? Well, he had spent his teenage years on a Ravagers ship trying not to get killed. Or eaten. If not for Yondu, that probably would have happened, even though most of the threats came from him anyway.

Quill had hated Yondu for most of his life. But honestly, he had been the closest thing he had ever had to a friend. Right now, he couldn't even imagine growing up without him.

So yeah, he'd had a friend. And he missed him like hell.

Next to him, Gamora's teeth were clenched as her hands wrapped around her knife.

Best friend. Huh. She had had Nebula, but back then, they didn't even consider each other acquaintances, never mind friends. The other children of Thanos had done nothing but help with their 'training'. Which was just a polite way of saying 'torture'.

Gamora hadn't had a friends until… until Peter. Until the guardians. And eventually, until her sister.

She watched Groot laugh with abandon at something the princess had said. She didn't hear that laugh nearly enough from him. She loved seeing him like this. It seemed that he had forgotten for a second that he was dead. It looked like they had all forgotten. She shook her head. Wanda was right. Who cared if they were giving them all headaches? Look how happy they were.

Sam was still irritated. Yeah he had had best friends too. That didn't mean he was okay with spending eternity with bothersome teens. Sure, he had been a bothersome teen once. And a bothersome adult too, to be honest. He'd heard that enough from Natasha.

Sam disagreed, of course. Just because he didn't exactly discourage Steve's more reckless antics, and just because Steve would help Sam coordinate the more dangerous stunts on his wings. It didn't mean that they were irritating.

Sure Nat might think they were annoying sometimes because she was the one who would have to patch them up when things inevitably went wrong.

...Okay maybe they had been little irritating, now that he thought about it.

It especially drove poor Romanoff crazy when Sam and Steve would compete over every damn thing, all the damn time.

Sam wasn't delusional, he always knew that whenever he'd compete against Steve Rogers, he would lose. Dismally.

But that didn't stop him from trying anyway.

Whether it was arm wrestling or lifting weights or running. Things Steve, a damn super soldier, was obviously better at, but that Sam, a regular human, insisted on trying anyway.

Steve would try his hardest to refuse the obviously unfair competitions, but enough goading and teasing from Sam would make him roll his eyes and sigh his acceptance at yet another challenge. And no matter how much he would slow down, he would still win everything by a landslide

Far too many times, Nat had had to massage Sam's aching muscles or reset a dislocated shoulder or bandage a strained wrist.

Once, when Sam was almost passed out from exhaustion after a particularly grueling race, he had heard Natasha growl at Steve, asking him why he entertained Sam when they all knew that he didn't have a chance

Steve, sitting on the side of his bed, must have thought he was passed out, because he let out small laugh, "I used to be he same with Bucky." He had said quietly, "Back when I was… you know… really small, and really sick. I'd make him race me, or fight me, or… anything really. We both knew I wouldn't win, and I didn't care. Just competing with someone who wouldn't let me win just cause I wasn't as strong as him was… I don't know, It just felt good." Steve had sighed softly, leaning against Sam's bed, "And now that I'm not so small and sick, it feels good to know I can be someone elses Bucky Barnes."

Sam sighed to himself as he thought back to that day. It was the first time he had heard Steve talk about Bucky since he had pulled him from the river, and after that, Steve couldn't seem to shut up about him. It seemed like everything they ever did seemed to remind him of something he and Bucky had done 80 years before. And by the sounds of it, teenage Steve and Bucky were a damn pain.

To Sam he'd sounded like an okay guy to be around. But of course, he would never say that out loud. not if there was a gun to his head.

Sam turned to the man in question. He was looking at the floor, elbows on his knees and his hair hanging like a curtain over his face. Sam didn't even have to wonder about who was on his mind.

He was thinking about Steve Rogers, all small and sick, the two of them being a nuisance to everyone in 1930's Brooklyn. He was also probably thinking about Steve Rogers in the army, tall and strong, the two of them being a nuisance to the Howling Commandos and everyone around them. Maybe he was thinking about little Steve challenging him day in and day out, promising to get him next time, every time he lost.

Oh yeah. Teenage Steve and Bucky were probably the most annoying of them all.

And when a barely audible sniff sounded from under the curtain of black hair, and Sam sighed to himself. He guessed that after all that had happened since those times, those memories weren't as happy as they should have been.

"Barnes?" he said softly.

Already knowing what he was going to say, Bucky sat up quickly, clearing his throat and shaking his head.

"Nothing. It's fine. I'm fine." He sat back on the sofa, his face already transformed into hard indifference and staring straight ahead.

Sighing deeply to himself, Sam reached over and placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder.

"It's alright, old man," he patted his shoulder, "I miss him too."

Bucky glanced at Sam with soft eyes, and managed a soft smile, "Yeah. Yeah I know."