Your watching spiderman far from home. The after credits scene has finished and people are just starting to leave. The lights go back down and the screen lights up. Everyone stops.
The screen shows an apartment and a blonde getting out of bed in overwashed purple boxers. He has messy stubble that matches his disaster of a bedroom. He throws on an old grey hoodie and goes to the kitchen to start the coffee machine.
He was Hawkeye, now he’s just the neighbour people warn their kids about. He downs coffee straight from the pot and checks the mail. There’s the usual overdue bills, divorce papers and a large grey package. He opens it to discover a plastic case the entire front filled with a loud font. “a dummies guide to Budapest”.
Great which idiots idea of a sick joke is this.
He opens the case and discovers its an audioguide. Throwing the CD on he continues to drink from the coffee pot not a clean mug in sight. The CD begins filling the apartment with classical music. It ends abruptly.
Scrambling to stop the CD he manages to reach for the plastic case. The CD stops and he examines the case. There’s a postcard from Budapest. He turns it over to find the words “Did you miss me?” written in a swirling calligraphy that can only belong to one person. He pales before laughing as he sees a silver arrow necklace taped to the bottom. “you little-” he begins but the footage cuts before he can cuss her out.
Its replaced with the words “Natasha Romanoff will return in” and the black widow movie logo. Toxic by Britney Spears is playing. The audience erupts. Somewhere in the distance, Joss Wheldon is crying.
After Ragnarok, the Revengers travel back to earth, which includes everybody meeting up with Loki again. As prompted by the post by @artemxmendacium Loki meeting Peter goes a lot better than a certain Irondad feared.
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“Thor, why on earth would you bring Loki here?”
Stark was angry, and Thor had to admit for good
reason. The last time the Avengers had seen his brother he was in chains after
attacking New York and was trying to kill them. But a lot had happened since
then and Loki was no longer the homicidal maniac, as some may have put it; he
was getting better, which Thor tried to explain to his friends.
“I understand your hesitation, but believe me when I
tell you that he has changed.”
“He threw me off a building!”
“I am aware, but…”
“Do you remember how many people he killed?”, Natasha
continued.
“I do.” Thor knew it would be hard to convince them of
Loki’s changed nature. They hadn’t seen him back on Asgard and Sakaar, how they
worked together, side by side. “I also do remember how many people he saved on
Asgard.”
“And we’re just supposed to believe that?”
“Tony, I know it’s hard to believe, but I actually saw
it with my own eyes”, Bruce explained, “we did fight together.”
Thank Frigga for Bruce. Maybe Tony would trust his
word.
“I’m sorry Bruce, but I don’t trust Hulk’s judgement
on fighting.”
“You know, I don’t either. But we have travelled
all across the galaxy together, and, as weird as it is to admit
it, but we’re actually friends.”
Thor looked around the room, at his fellow Avengers,
as reassuringly as he could.
“Guys, I’m sorry, but it is a lot to take in. You
disappear for two years which you spent as gladiator-style slaves on an alien
planet before blowing up your homeplanet to defeat your evil older sister you
never knew and oh, by the way, Loki is good now”, Clint summarized. “Excuse us
for taking a moment to process all this.”
“I understand”, Thor answered, “though if you put it
like that, my brother being good is the most believable of all this.” He
grinned a little and heard a chuckle from Bruce.
“It’s really not funny, guys”, Nat grumbled.
“It’s a little funny.”
“Maybe you had to be there…” Bruce gently patted his
arm, sort of pulled him back. Maybe humour was the wrong way to smooth things
over.
“Friends, we are not asking you to trust Loki. We are
asking you to trust us!”, he pleaded.
Tony locked eyes with Bruce. “You really trust him?”
“I trust that he is willing to better himself and I
trust that we can help him with that”, he nodded.
The Avengers exchanged a few glances, before Tony took
two steps towards Thor, who was getting a little nervous. What if they were to
tell them to leave?
“You vouch for your brother, Point Break?”
“I take full responsibility”, Thor nodded.
“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”, he grumbled and
shook his head, before looking back up. “Fine. We will give him a chance. But
the slightest slip-up…”
“Thank you, Stark, a chance is all I’m asking for.”
Gratefully, he smiled at the man, before he turned to Bruce. “What do you say,
we go and give him the good news?”
“That will not be necessary.”
Thor didn’t need to turn around to recognize his
little brother’s voice. Of course, he had listened in on the entire discussion.
And his friends looked mad about that.
“Loki, what about waiting outside?”, Bruce hissed at
him.
“But it is so much more fun here!” With a smug grin,
Loki greeted the Avengers. “Hello. Long time, no see. How have you been?”
Silence. Thor and Bruce exchanged a quick, worried
glance, before Bruce broke it. “How about I take Loki back to the ship and get
all our belongings?”
“That is a good idea, Bruce.” He nodded at his friend
and shot his brother a warning glance. Loki did a theatrical curtsy and
followed Bruce out of the room.
As soon as the door closed, it felt like all the
tension vanished out of the room. Everybody sank on a chair, leaned against the
furniture and Thor wasn’t sure what to do or say.
