This takes place shortly after The Avengers (and I definitely didn't write it in, like, March, and then forget about it)

There's no day or night in the dungeon.

There are no windows. There are no clocks. The three meals the prisoners are provided daily all blend together; a largely flavorless mush that can't be differentiated from breakfast and dinner.

Loki passes much of the time by sleeping. If there is one thing he enjoys about being imprisoned, it's the bed he was provided; a luxury no other prisoner in the dungeon has. His home, of course, has places to rest, too. They're not barbarians. But nothing can compare to the feeling of a warm, wool-filled mattress. He has Frigga to thank for that, he's sure.

She's come down to visit him a few times since his return to Asgard. She's tried to understand him and she's tried to reason with him, but she'll never succeed. He won't give her that satisfaction. He'll drop the occasional lie when her questions become too much to bear – and occasionally a fraction of the truth when he knows it will hurt her more – but he won't do her the honor of a true conversation.

He lived a life built on her lies. He doesn't owe her his truth.

There's some commotion down the hallway, and though it fills Loki with a glimmer of hope, he doesn't allow himself to react. Until they come – until she comes – he is not giving anybody the satisfaction of seeing his hopes dashed every time somebody else enters the dungeon.

Thor's voice sounds in the distance, speaking in words that Loki can't make out. That bodes well, he'd say, or perhaps it bodes exceptionally poorly. Thor can't be coming alone. This is far too many footsteps for that. He looks forward to seeing who accompanies him.

Still, he stays where he is, seated in his chair with his back angled to the window. There's a book in his lap, though he hasn't been reading it. He pretends to, of course. The guards would certainly assume he finds these books fascinating, with how much time he's spent looking at them. But it's a guise. He'd rather come off as an obsessive reader than admit he spends most of his time in his own head and thinking about home.

Oh, how he can't wait to go home.

"Loki," Thor's voice booms from behind him.

Loki closes his book slowly, pointedly, but doesn't yet turn around, lest his brother see the glimmer of hope he still has that his wait is over.

"Thor," he says, his voice filled with an eerily empty insincerity. "Finally here to visit your dear old brother?"

"Hardly," he replies, an unfamiliar coldness in his tone – a well-earned one, admittedly, but unfamiliar nonetheless.

Finally, Loki turns around, and he hopes his disappointment isn't as blatant as it feels. It's only Thor and two guards who stand in front of his cell; nobody more. Nobody he'd wanted to see. But that's alright. It's only a matter of time, he's sure. He's waited this long; he can wait a while longer.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Loki asks, his insincerity only growing. It is never a pleasure to see Thor. Having gone this long without him has been a blessing in its own right.

"You are leaving our care," Thor replies, his voice even and emotionless, as though this prisoner he's speaking to is just that: a prisoner. "You are being transferred out of Asgard, to be effective immediately."

Loki tries to suppress the excitement that brings him. This can only mean one thing, he's sure. It will be interesting to see who came for him, though he suspects he already knows. He hopes he already knows. He'll be disappointed if it's somebody else.

"Well, go on, then." Loki waves him on. "Send me away." Words cannot express how much he has been looking forward to this. It's taken quite some time, but he is asking a lot of his family right now. He's glad they care enough to come for him at all. Asgard certainly didn't.

Thor looks off toward the doorway and gestures for somebody to approach. Loki tries to act casual as he follows his gaze – and perhaps for the best; the first people he sees are two more guards, this time with Odin between them. That's far less exciting than he'd hoped. But then he catches sight of three more shapes behind them, and, with a bit of patience, he's able to make out who they are.

There's one more guard, a set of chains in his arms – unsurprising, though he can't say he truly expected it. Then there's Frigga, the only person he's seen so far displaying any emotion. He can see it in her face that she's upset. The way she picks at her fingers exposes her nerves, her wariness – about letting him go free to wreak more havoc, or about losing him again? It hardly matters; both will happen just the same.

And finally, the familiar face he'd been waiting for.

Gamora.

She's largely expressionless as she walks, though when she meets Loki's gaze, the corner of her lips twitch upwards, only for a moment. He bounces his eyebrows once, subtly enough that anybody else would overlook it, but pointedly enough that he knows she won't.

"It's taken you long enough," Loki says by way of greeting. His tone is lightly teasing, but there's an underlying sense of sincerity underneath it. He's been here far longer than he'd expected – weeks, he'd guess, though time has no meaning in the dungeon.

"I know," Gamora says. "He told me I could have come to get you earlier. I told him to make you wait."

Loki huffs. "Thank you for that," he says sarcastically. "That's exactly what I'd hoped to hear."

"Oh, yes," she says, just as sarcastically as him, "how dare you face the consequences of your own actions?"

Loki rolls his eyes. That's all he's going to say – or not say, more accurately – to that. "How angry is he?" Does he even want to know? Does he even want to go home and face him?

"Very."

His heart stops.

Shit.

Loki's hardly had a problem with Thanos in the time he's spent living in his Sanctuary, but he's seen what he can do when he's angry. He's seen what he's done to others; what he's done to Nebula. He would give anything to avoid that same fate himself. He would lose Gamora and spend the rest of his days in the dungeon if that's what it took to stay out of his line of fire.

But then she cracks a smile. "No, he understands," she tells him. "He's upset, but he understands. As long as we right your wrongs, you'll be okay."

A wave of relief washes over him. He can do that. He's fairly certain he can do it. And he can't help but note the use of the royal we. If he has Gamora's help, he can do anything.

Changing the subject, he asks, "Is it only you here?"

Gamora cocks an eyebrow. "What, were you hoping for someone else?"

"Of course not," Loki says. There's nobody he would rather have escort him back to the Sanctuary than Gamora. "I'm just surprised it's only you." With a small smirk, he adds, "He's not worried about what you might do to me when you have me alone?"

"He was more worried what you might do to me," Gamora answers evenly. "You are in Asgard, after all."

Loki scoffs. "And what about it?" he asks, incredulous. "He thought I would be welcomed back with open arms and decide I'd rather stay here with my so-called 'family' of liars and hypocrites?" He thought they knew better. He thought he'd made it clear to them. This world, these people, they mean nothing to him. He knows his place now, and it's not in Asgard. It never was.

Frigga sighs at that, but she doesn't speak. She's learned from the last few times she's gone to visit, he's sure. He doesn't owe her forgiveness, and he's not going to give her it. But because she's here, because this is likely the last time he'll ever see her again, he decides to push her buttons one last time.

"Don't tell me you're surprised, Mother." He uses the word condescendingly. It's hardly a fitting title for someone like her. "You raised me to see myself, my kind, as monsters, then punished me for acting like one. Rather unfair, I'd say."

Frigga shakes her head sadly. "You're not a monster, Loki."

"Of course I am," he says. "In Asgard, I will always be a monster." He looks at Gamora, a small smile on his face. "But not everybody sees me that way."

Gamora smiles back. Oh, how lucky he was to find her; how lucky he was to find a new family to call his own.

"Enough," Odin booms. It wipes Gamora's smile off her face. Loki's remains. "She has paid a hefty price in exchange for your freedom, but make no mistake: if I find that you've done anything like this, if I hear that you've hurt one more innocent soul, I will find you and I will kill you."

Loki frowns, making a show of it. "I'd hardly call that people I've hurt innocent." They're only people, after all. They're only human.

Odin narrows his eye, a subtle movement, but one that Loki knows means he's pushing all his right buttons.

Loki spreads his arms, a small smirk on his lips. "My lovely family." In case Gamora had any doubt that they were as shitty as he's always said they were.

She huffs, a subtle smile on her own face. They both know who his real family is, and it's not the one that caged him like the animal they think he is.

On Odin's cue, one of the guards enters the cell, though the walls that hold him in come back in an instant, trapping them both inside. In the back of his mind, he can't help but think about how funny it would be – to him, at least – to throw that back in their faces. They trapped one of their own in here with him. He could take this guard out before they even thought to open the cell to stop him.

But he doesn't. He certainly wouldn't have a chance of getting out of here if he did, and he can't imagine what they would do to Gamora. So instead, he allows the guard to chain him up like a dog, latching his wrists, ankles, and neck in these ridiculous restraints.

It's only when his every limb is secured in its chains that he's allowed to leave his cell, and the guard guides him the whole way, holding onto the chain that connects to the cuff on his wrist. A part of him wants to pull himself free. He can walk without a leash, thank you very much. But Odin would never let that fly.

As Loki descends the steps, he gives Thor a pointed smirk. He's free. After all of that fighting, after all that hard work Thor put into proving himself to be a hero by taking down the big bad, Loki's walking free. Thor clenches his jaw, but he remains silent. It's probably the smartest choice.

Loki comes to a halt in front of Gamora, and his smirk only grows. She wastes no time in grabbing the chain that connects to his collar and pulls him down to her height. She presses her lips against his, and he doesn't hesitate to kiss her back. The things he would do with her if he could move freely right now...

Eventually, Thor steps in with an exasperated, "Alright, that's enough."

The fact that Thor would like them to stop is truly only a reason not to, but he must admit, he doesn't want to spend much more time in Asgard than necessary, so rather reluctantly, they pull apart.

He bites his lip and looks down at her with a grin. "Hello, darling. Did you miss me?"

"Always," she says.

He kisses the top of her head. It's so nice to have her back. He's been without her for too long.

She tugs on his chain a few times before she lets it go. "We could have some fun with these."

"I'd be disappointed if we didn't," he replies.

Frigga clears her throat loudly as though reminding them that they're not alone – as though that's not half the fun of talking to her like this right now. His so-called family in Asgard lost him. They drove him away. They deserve to see the better home and the better family he's found since then.

Odin looks pointedly at the guards. "Escort them out of here."

"Yes, sir."

Odin turns to leave, and, after a moment of hesitation, Frigga reluctantly follows him out. One guard goes with them, but the rest stay with Loki and Gamora – and, to his surprise, so does Thor. He hadn't expected that. He'd rather hoped he wouldn't, really, but hardly makes a difference. He won't let Thor dampen his excitement the way he has so many times before.

As they leave the dungeon, Gamora takes Loki's hand and gives it a squeeze. He looks at her out of the corner of his eye, and she smirks at him. He loves that playful little smirk of hers.

"You know," she says to him, "I forgot how boring the Sanctuary can be."

"I truly don't know how you survived this long without me," Loki says teasingly.

"I almost didn't," she tells him. "I almost broke and came a few days ago, but I had to make sure you knew I was mad at you."

Loki cocks an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" he says. "How come?"

"You promised me you'd make me your queen," she reminds him. "How am I supposed to be your queen when you couldn't even get the throne?"

Loki sighs dramatically. "Patience, darling," he murmurs. "I'll find you a throne. I'll find us a new home to call our own. It just..." He shrugs. "It might take a little longer than planned."

"I know you will." She stands on her toes and kisses his cheek, and if there hadn't been a guard dragging him away, he would have stopped right there and pulled her in for a real kiss. He doesn't care that they just shared one no more than a minute earlier. They have a lot to make up for.

Unfortunately, Thor interrupts, ruining the moment they couldn't have. "The Allfather was serious, Loki," he says darkly. "He will kill you. He would love nothing more."

Loki clicks his tongue. To Gamora, he says, "And this, as I'm sure you've figured out, is my lovely big brother. I'm sure you can see that Asgard will accept nothing but the kindest, most compassionate, most forgiving individuals to wield the throne."

Thor rolls his eyes at that. "I offered you forgiveness and you spat in my face," he says. "You brought this on yourself."

Loki rolls his eyes, too. I offered you forgiveness. The closest he came was an opportunity to hand the Tesseract over and go home. That's hardly forgiveness. He'd lose the most valuable weapon he'd ever had, and he was given no promise of a second chance. Not that he'd have taken it, of course. He's come to enjoy his new family's presence much more than he ever did his Asgardian one. But he would have liked to have been offered it.

Actually, speaking of trades...

He looks at Gamora curiously. "What price did you pay for my freedom?" What was Odin talking about?

"I returned the Casket," she tells him.

Loki scoffs. "The Casket of Ancient Winters?" But that was his. That was the only thing he could truly call his own. It was all he had with him when he fell from Asgard; when he fell to what he'd hoped to be his death. His knives were nothing in the face of the dangers he fought. The casket was the only true defense he had for the weeks, the months he spent on his own, when death lurked around every corner.

Gamora frowns. "Hey." She squeezes his hand gently. "You don't need it now. You have us."

He forces a small smile. "I know." It doesn't make it any easier to give it up. It doesn't make it any easier to lose this piece of him. There is no part of him he still considers Asgardian. He can't say the same of his Jotun heritage, and that's something Gamora and their family helped him accept about himself — helped him love about himself. To lose this piece of himself...

But that's the price he has to pay for his failures. Gamora said they'd be expected to right his wrongs, so they'll doubtlessly have to retrieve the Tesseract from the weapons vault. When that day comes, he'll take his Casket back, too. He has far more claim to it than Odin does.

"Oh, cheer up." Gamora steps in front of him, halting their journey, much to the dismay of Thor and the guards around them. "We're going home, Lokes." She stands on her toes and presses another kiss to his lips, though it only lasts a fraction of the time their last one did.

"Do you have to do this?" Thor asks, exasperated.

Loki gives him a shit-eating grin. "Only because it bothers you."

Gamora claims her rightful place by his side once more, and she takes his hand again. He hates that he has to wear these chains. He hates that it's on her to touch him; to show him love. He'll have to fix this when they get home. He's not sure he'll even be able to wait that long.

The rest of the walk is largely silent. It's a long way on foot from the Palace to Himinbjorg, and with the chains weighing Loki down, he's exhausted by the time he reaches the ship. Far be it for him to question his love, but did she really have to leave the ship all the way out here?

Heimdall waits from outside his post, watching them with a blank expression. Loki just smirks. They've never gotten along, even on their best days. It must pain him to watch Loki go free. It must pain him to see Loki finally be happy.

Thor has the key to Loki's chains, so he follows them up the ramp and into the ship. He's trusted so little, he can't even enter his own ship without hundreds of pounds of metal weighing him down. It's only when they've made it inside that he's finally freed from these restraints, and there's truly only one thing to do now.

Loki grabs Gamora by the waist and pulls her in for another kiss. He can feel her smile against his lips, and it makes his heart flutter. It's been too damn long since he's gotten to taste her, to feel her. He lets his hands slide down to her ass, gripping the cold leather on her pants. She hooks a leg around his waist, and he hoists her up off the ground, letting her legs wrap around him.

Thor lets out a disgusted groan and sets off to leave. Loki rather reluctantly turns his face away from his lover's lips.

"Thor?"

Thor turns around to face him, though it couldn't be more obvious that he doesn't want to.

"Leave the chains, will you?"

Thor rolls his eyes. "You are disgusting." He tosses the chains back into the ship, then rejoins the guards at the base of the ship. They're not leaving yet. They must be waiting for Loki and Gamora to leave first.

"Though I hate to end this prematurely..." Loki presses another brief kiss to Gamora's lips. "I do believe we should go."

"You're probably right," she agrees, though she makes no move to do so.

Loki presses their foreheads together, a small smirk on his lips. "Perhaps we could stop somewhere on the way home for some... alone time?"

"It's like you read my mind."