The Reward II
Twenty thousand credits. A bag full of clothing like the suit he was wearing. A goddamn horse.
He keeps replaying that in his mind. Loki had offered either of those things to him as a reward for helping Jane, and when Bucky refused, he had offered all of them. Bucky could have laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, but he had the feeling that Loki could have him executed. After all, he didn’t seem to be all there. With his extravagant house, strange obsession with one scheme of color, and the way his temper seemed to change quickly. One second he was yelling like a madman at the maids, and the next one he was smiling politely at Jane and Darcy as they entered the dining room. He stands up to greet them, and gestures Bucky to do so – he does, just because – but Hela remains seated on her chair, sipping her cup of red wine with an unimpressed look on her face.
Jane is wearing a dress similar to Darcy’s, but in a deep shade of purple. They all take their respective seats as Loki calls the maids to serve diner. The man sits in the main chair and Hela facing him on the other side of the table, Jane and Darcy on the left side of the table, while Bucky occupies the right, infront of Jane who doesn’t lifts her gaze to look at him.
Bucky hadn’t realise how hungry he was until the maids bring out the food, settling the plates and glasses infront of each of them. He can see Jane’s mouth water too, and feels a pang of guilt for not remembering that neither had the chance to have breakfast before they left Catalean. He wishes things had been different, that he had being honest with her and that Jane had understand that this was the best for her. It was, he kept telling himself that.
“Before we begin” Loki says.
Bucky catches Hela, who had already started to dig into her salad, rolling her eyes before dropping the fork she had in her hands.
“This has been a rough few months for all of us”
Jane looks at him then, before she reaches for her glass of wine and looks at Loki.
“After my father’s death, we all fell lost” Loki continues, and Hela scoffs which earns her a glare from the man, “And then my dear brother…”
Darcy glances at Jane. Who doesn’t seem to react, before she swallows and frowns slightly.
“Thor was a great High Commander-“
“The whole five months he ruled” Hela adds, taking a sip from her glass.
“Hela” Loki says between gritted teeth, and then clears his throat, “It has been hard to adjust without him”
He makes a pause, a tad too dramatic, before he shakes his head and reaches for the handkerchief inside his front pocket, drying the barely there tears on the corner of his eyes. Bucky frowns slightly, and it takes a real effort to not look around to see if anyone was gullible enough to believe he was actually affected by his brother’s death.
“For Thor” Loki finally says, raising his glass, “And for Cinders to prosper”
Before he can begin to eat, Loki leans towards him.
“Meet me in my studio after diner” He says, and it sounds like an order, “We shall discuss your reward then”
Bucky swallows tightly, but nods. He catches Jane staring at him, but she looks away when he sees her, and then there’s Darcy. There is something odd in the way she looks at him, and Bucky glares at her, before Darcy looks back at her plate he swears he sees her shake her head.
“What do you think Loki wants to talk to him about?”
Darcy is walking Jane to her room. For some reason, she had been fidgety during dinner. After Loki had revealed that Thor Odinson had died, and she wants to ask if Darcy knew about it, and what had happened to him. But she was more worried about Bucky than anything else.
“Darcy”
But she isn’t paying attention to Jane. Suddenly, the halls feels a lot longer, Darcy is walking at a slow pace like she deliberately wants to take her time getting to Jane’s room. Jane reaches for her arm.
“Darcy, talk to me”
Darcy grabs her hand and turns to her so quickly they bump into eachother. Jane is about to protest but Darcy covers her mouth. She scowls at her, but doesn’t move her hand away.
“After nine everyone is suppose to be quiet” Darcy says in hushed tone, “Loki’s rules”
Jane nods, and Darcy takes his hand off her mouth.
“You called him Bucky” Darcy adds.
She nods, and then looks around at the empty halls, “We should talk about this in the room” she says.
Darcy doesn’t move, instead just stares at Jane. Once again, that flash of… Something crosses her features. And Jane can’t put a finger on what exactly it is, like she did something wrong that can’t even tell Jane about.
Jane holds her hand, and takes it to her chest.
“You can tell me” She assures her barely above a whisper.
“I need you to go to sleep” Darcy says slowly, quietly, “I will tell you everything by the morning”
Jane feels a heavy weight on her chest again, and wants to ask further, but when Darcy looks at her pleadingly she simply nods. When they start walking to the room again, Jane sees one of the maids walk pass them and offer a polite nod to her, but a furtive glance at Darcy. She would have to wait for the morning to know what all of it is about.
Bucky was taken to Loki’s studio room by one of the maids an hour after they had finished having diner. The maid had told him that Loki would be there ‘in a bit’, but it had been about an hour now and he was starting to get impatient. It was as if they were trying to keep him in the house longer that he actually wanted to stay. He loosens the tie around his neck – he hadn’t even had time to change – and rolls up his sleeves, feeling too hot as the nerves made the blood run hot across his body. It happened when he felt out of his element, which he rarely was, and right now he felt as comfortable as a lamb in a lions den.
He paces around the empty room then, despite the maid telling him to stay put and not touch anything. There are many books in the shelves on every wall – a library Jane would probably enjoy – and a few picture frames. He looks at them one by one, recognising Loki and Hela in a few, alongside a blond man that must have been Thor Odinson. Hela had said he had passed suddenly, and he can’t help but wonder if Pierce had something to do with it.
Or Loki. His mind supplies. There was something about Loki he couldn’t quiet swallow. Perhaps the air of superiority around him, or the sardonic grin that adorned his face and how it never reached his green eyes, cold and calculating.
Bucky tries ignoring the chills that run down his spine just thinking about leaving Jane with him, but he knew that she would be with Darcy, and she promised she would take care of Jane on her life. Darcy loved Jane, and he couldn’t deny that. He leans on the wooden table in the middle of the room then, and tries to figure the carving on it. It takes him a few seconds to realise that is a map of the New World. Just like Jane had described it to him.
She could have been lying, but with those big bambi eyes…
“Well she didn’t lie about this”
It looks like some kind of game too. Battleship, he thinks, and remembers playing it with Steve at some point of his childhood. He grabs one of the figurines on the table – the red ones, not the green ones – in the shape of an octopus, and when he feels the weight of it, he scratches it slightly with his thumbnail.
“Solid gold” He chuckles, “Of course”
He turns around and puts it in his pocket. If he’s not taking the horse, he might as well get a trinket to pound somewhere later. Maybe once he reaches Roseburn, or if he decides to stay in Catalean after all. He sighs deeply, running a hand through his hair tiredly and wonders if his plans should change after all, if he stayed he would be close to Jane. But after what he told her, he isn’t sure she wants to have anything to do with him.
You’re a nobody.
He’s also dangerous to be with.
Bucky finds himself staring at single painting hung behind the desk at the very end of the room. as he move closer it seem to make less sense, but the more he stares at it he realises how beautiful it really is. A landscape at night, the stars and the moon. He leans it towards the small plaque under it.
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.
“Do you like it?”
He turns quickly, tensing when he sees Loki a few steps away from him.
“It’s a relic from the Old World”
Bucky nods but keeps his eyes on him. The man walks towards the corner of the room, where there is a glass cabinet similar to the one he had in Arcadia. Loki reaches inside for a familiar looking bottle of bourbon and two tumblers.
“My father, Odin, spent almost a million credits on it” Loki fills the glasses and then leaves the bottle aside, “He told me that it was one of a kind” he chuckles, “truth is, I could afford hundreds more like it”
He walks towards Bucky and offers him one glass, which he accepts but doesn’t drink from.
“Go ahead, it’s not poisoned” Loki says jokingly.
Ha. Bucky thinks dryly.
“Thanks” Bucky says dryly, and takes the glass to his lips at the same time as Loki, but doesn’t drown the glass like he does.
Loki continues to walk around the room, around him really, and Bucky follows him with his eyes. Loki stands infront of the painting and Bucky stares at it again. There is the wooden desk separating them so he doesn’t worry much about Loki when the man scans him with dagger eyes.
“Jane doesn’t seem too happy about having to part ways with her saviour”
Bucky ignores the way he says it, like he finds the fact hard to swallow.
“I’m glad you brought her” Loki continues, “Despite her clearly getting… Attached”
“Attached” Bucky repeats, and this time he has to take a swing from the drink in his hand to avoid saying something he would regret.
The man chuckles humourlessly, “Women are like that” he waves a hand, and he pulls out his chair, “Specially her type”
“What type is that?” Bucky asks, genuinely interesting in how Loki had painted Jane after his first impression of her.
Loki looks at him for a few seconds, and then a smile splits her face again. Bucky wishes he could punch every single white teeth he flashes at him.
“Jane grew up sheltered” Loki shrugs, “Us upper class people do”
Bucky looks at the half empty glass in his hands, suddenly the alcohol didn’t appeal to him as much as breaking Loki’s jaw with his fist. He keeps his gaze – glare – on Loki as he leaves the glass infront of him, but miscalculates and it’s content spills on the table.
“What the-“
Loki’s eye widen in horror and he stands from his chair, frantically picking the papers.
“Look what you’ve done!” He exclaims, “You brute!"
Bucky suppresses a smile, and apologises before he pretends to help. Loki mutters something about them being important and Bucky cocks and eyebrow catching a few glimpses of the pages. One of the pages fall and he leans in to pick it up. There is drawing on the page, blueprints for some kind of machine. It isn’t the fact that he had never seen something like it before – he could recognise different engines but no this – but how old and yellowed the page is, and the fact that it is signed at the bottom by Howard Stark.
Howard Stark was an Old World scientist, and the creator of the bomb Jericho. Known as the biggest traitor in history after he sold it across the sea, and they ended up dropping it in place called Manhattan. Little is known about him other than the fact, everything else had been erased from every book. With the exception apparently of the one falling apart in Loki’s hand at the moment.
Bucky glances at the man, still trying to clean his mess, and folds the paper before he slyly puts it in his pocket.
“I apologise for-“
“Forget it” Loki grits out, trying to keep his composure.
Bucky clears his throat, “I should go” he says, “I’ll be going back to Catalean tomorrow”
Loki cocks an eyebrow, “What about your reward?”
“I don’t need a horse”
Bucky sees Loki grits his jaw, and turns around to allow himself to smirk proudly. He is halfway through the study room when something comes to mind. He turns on his heels.
“Could I ask for anything?” He asks.
Loki shrugs, “Of course”
“I want that painting”
The other man looks taken aback, “You want-“
“The Starry Night” Bucky offers a sardonic little smile, “You did say you could afford hundreds like it, after all”
Loki scoffs, “Of course I can” he says, and there is a hint of annoyance in his tone, “it’s all yours” he offers a strained smile.
Bucky then smiles and walks towards the wall behind Loki, taking the framed painting off the wall. Loki’s mouth open and closes but he doesn’t say anything as Bucky walks away.
“Asshole” He mutters as he makes his way back to the guest room.