Chapter 8: Stars and Stripes (Steve Roger’s POV)

Loki just finished telling his story. He leaves immediately and Thor tries to follow him. Tony stops him and talks about how we can watch him on the camera. Thor obliges though reluctantly I notice. He sits down and Tony turns on the TV. Loki is sleeping at the moment. The sleeping is not restful and he is tossing and turning. I tell Thor how he should bring food after Loki wakes. Thor agrees.

I see Loki wake up suddenly. I can hear his ragged breath through the camera and see the way he looks around the room. He goes into a curled position hiding his head. I turn to Thor but as I do I hear a scream, not of joy. Not of celebration. But of sadness. My head quickly snaps back to look at the camera. Loki's voice slowly fades. Thor leaves the room claiming he is grabbing food. After Thor leaves Tony suggests that we go to the lab and watch the camera as there is more space. Everyone agrees. So we walk to the Lab. Tony pulls seats out and I choose a seat closer to the TV. We watch as Thor and Loki are arguing. Loki dismisses Thor and Thor leaves. Thor walks in looking both sad and annoyed. We saw the whole argument with Loki and I think he knows that. Thor sits down and watch's Loki's camera with the rest of us. Loki was sitting on his bed but he gets up and starts pacing in a circle. I notice it is dark out so I check my watch. It's 11:00 PM.

"I believe we should go to bed, Loki isn't going anywhere or doing anything of concern," I say trying to reason. Everyone nods and slowly they start leaving. I was the last to leave as I wanted to make sure everyone got to bed. I left and went to the room Tony prepared for me a while ago. I go to my bed and lay down, falling asleep almost instantly.

I wake up and walk down to breakfast and sit down at the coffee bar.

Everyone is tired looking.

"Should we get Loki, he hasn't really eaten much?" Bruce says.

"I can go invite him to breakfast," I say.

Bruce nods and I walk down the hallway. I knock on Loki's door. I hear footsteps hurry and the bed creak.

"Come in," Loki says the tiredness in his voice is apparent. I walk in a little.

"I..uh... Sorry if I woke you" I say unnecessarily. It's apparent he didn't get any sleep.

He nods.

"Anyway, we were wondering if you would like to join us for breakfast down the hall" I say leaning on the door frame.

"We?" He says question raising his eyebrow

"The team," I say.

He nods his head as a contemplative expression appears on his face.

"I will join you," He says finally.

I nod my head and motion to follow.

Loki gets up and follows close behind me. I notice when we get to the kitchen he was looking timid. He sits a little further away than the rest of us and looks down at his lap not saying anything. I decide to make some toast for myself. So I go over to the toaster and put some bread in. I can feel somebody's eyes on the back of my head. Loki is looking at the toaster. I hear my bread jump out of the toaster and Loki himself jumps as well. I turn back around trying to control my laughter.

The fearsome Loki got scared by a toaster.

I put my toast on a plate and notice Loki leaving.

"Loki, Aren't you going to eat something?" I say looking at the back of Loki's head.

"It is fine, It is clear when I am not wanted," He says turning around once again

"Loki, as the person who's trying to heal you, you need to eat. Nobody is trying to push you away, this is how it is in the morning" Bruce says.

Loki goes back to his seat rather sleepy and looks down into his lap. I walk over to Bruce and whisper "I don't think Loki slept, you should check up on him."

Bruce nods "I believe your right" He whispers back.

"Did you sleep Loki? You look awful," Bruce says Looking over at Loki.

Loki's face looks hurt at Bruce's comment.

"I didn't mean it as an insult Loki, I mean you have horrible bags under your eyes. Did you sleep?" Bruce says apologetically.

Loki's face lightens.

"I.uh…. Yes, ``he says unconvincingly.

Bruce raises an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, Loki, do you mind if we head to the med bay, just to check how you are doing," Bruce says, looking closely at Loki.

"Fine" Loki says, his voice tainted with resentment.

Loki leaves with Bruce. I eat my two pieces of toast and follow them hurriedly. The only reason why is because Loki (Though injured at the moment) is still powerful and I don't want Bruce to hulk out. I wait silently outside the door, listening for any trouble.

I hear yelling. I believe from Loki.

"I hope you don't believe I want to evade sleep! I hope you don't believe I want to…. To relive the worst moments of my life every night, I HOPE YOUR NOT ANOTHER BLUBBERING IDIOT THAT THINKS THAT NIGHTMARES ARE JUST THAT. NO, they are memories, so don't speak of what you don't understand" Loki was yelling this at Bruce.

I walk in.

"Is everything in here ok guys?" I say looking at Loki who is standing up, fist clenched.

He nods then sits back down.

"Ready to go back to breakfast," Bruce says casually.

Loki looks a little guilty as he nods. We get up and go back down the hall. Loki sits back at the seat he was in before.

I go to the toaster and put one piece of toast in. When it pops back up I go over to Loki and put it on his plate.

"Thank you," He says, almost whispering.

Bruce comes up in front of Loki and sits a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Here you go, one coffee," He says, looking at Loki.

I look over at Loki and he seems unsure of the drink. He takes a sip and then another. Bruce turns away and goes to sit down in his previous seat.

"Where is the restroom?" Loki suddenly blurts out in an unusually ungraceful manner.

Clint looks over at him.

"Down the hall to the left," Clint says, pointing towards the hall.

Loki hurries off leaving us all baffled.

"I'm not going after him," Clint says looking down at his empty plate.

I sigh.

"I guess I will since I doubt anyone else will volunteer," I say looking around.

Everyone murmurs in agreement. I sigh again and go to the bathroom down the hallway.

I knock on the door "Are you ok in here Loki?" I say seeing how disheveled Loki looks.

He pauses as if thinking.

"You could say that," He says clearly trying to avoid the question.

I'm betting that's a no.

"Did you throw up?" I say looking around the bathroom.

Loki paused again looking everywhere but my eyes.

"Yes, my stomach wasn't used to the intake of food," He says this with a blank face.

"Would you like to go back out?" I ask, nodding towards the dining room.

"I think I will go back to the room I was in before," He says.

I can hear the tiredness in his voice. He walks past me and turns to go to the room we put him in. I go back to the dining room. As I walk in everybody looks at me. Thor looks at me expectantly.

"He threw up, he said that his stomach wasn't used to the intake of food," I say looking over at Thor mainly though I was talking to everyone in the room.

Thor nods and stares off into the distance.

"Hey, Clint want to train some?" I say needing an excuse to leave the room.

"Why not?" He says shrugging.

We walk down to the training area.

When we get down to the mats we stand opposite to each other.

"So do you think Loki's telling the truth?" Clit says throwing a right hook almost hitting my face.

"I think he is…. Just not the whole story" I say blocking as Clint kicks at my stomach.

"Is it just me or did Bruce look pale when he came back from bandaging up Loki for the first time?" Clint says taking a couple of steps back as I kick towards him.

"Yeah, he did, and also today while Bruce was checking his bandages he started shouting at him about nightmares," I say calling a time out.

Clint nods and sits on a bench and I join him.

Bruce walks in.

"I thought you guys were training," He says chuckling.

"We were then distracted by Loki," I say.

"Speaking of, did anything happen when you first helped with his injuries?" Clint asks, looking at Bruce as he sits down on a bench across from us.

Bruce looks nervous.

"Well… yes but I.. don't know for sure if it's true or not….." His voice falters.

"Just tell us, either way, it could be useful," Clint says beside me.

"Well keep in mind he was probably under a lot of stress…. I had to stitch up his wounds. When he saw the needle he freaked, he cowered in the corner and kept touching his mouth. Thor started asking him questions and Loki started yelling about..." Bruce says, voice trailing off awkwardly.

"About?" I say.

"About how he had gotten his mouth sewn shut when Thor and he were children," Bruce says looking pale.

We sit in shocked silence.

"I…um…Why?" Clint says looking disgusted.

Bruce shakes his head.

"Well, we need to ask Loki then! About everything!" Clint says jumping up.

"No! He's probably traumatized!" Bruce says, also getting up.

"How will we ever know! He certainly won't open up! You know that!" Clint argues.

"Steve, what do you think?" Bruce says, looking at me.

"I think both of you are right… but I believe Clint is leading a stronger case" I say.

Bruce looks exasperated.

"What are we waiting for?'' Clint says, walking towards the door.

I follow him and Bruce follows me. We get to Loki's room and knock on the door. I can hear footsteps stopping.

"Come in," Loki says.