Sometimes Thor wonders if he exaggerated the threat he felt Loki posed when he showed up on Midgard all those years ago. He's not a bad person. He's never been a bad person. He was hostile, of course. He'd been hostile when they were in Asgard in the end, and he was hostile when he reappeared on Midgard. But he was never truly a bad person. He was never truly evil.

Unfortunately, trying to reason with the United Nations council doesn't work. They don't care that they nearly killed an innocent man; they don't consider Bucky Barnes innocent at all. They don't care that they almost let the real murderer go – they should have shared that information with the council, they claim; it wasn't Steve's place to take his teammates and sort it out himself.

They won't accept the proposition that the Avengers forfeit many of their potential missions in exchange for maintaining their autonomy. They want them on lockdown. They want to control the Avengers' every move, and they insist that they'll take nothing less. Nobody can change their mind – not Thor, the crown prince of Asgard; not T'Challa, the king of Wakanda. They're set firm in their beliefs.

So Loki takes matters into their own hands.

And he's kind of terrifying.

Thor knows he doesn't mean a word he says. He's not going to hurt anybody here. He can't hurt anybody here. Asgard would never allow it. But there are times, even for only a few moments, where he truly fears that Loki will do something rash. With what is said to him, Thor certainly couldn't fault him for it, but at the same time...

"The Avengers are under my protection," Loki had said finally. "You will not touch them. You have already seen the lengths I will go to to get my way. For your safety and that of the people you claim to protect, I recommend you not test me."

That, Thor feels, is about when it became clear that Loki was not taking 'no' for an answer. A few people tried to put up a bit more of a fight after that, but ultimately, Loki had said his piece, and nobody truly felt they could argue.

And, in true Loki fashion, once his dramatic rage has ended and the Avengers board the Quinjet to go home, he's all smiles, as though that had never even happened.

"You," Sam points at him, "are a miracle worker."

"I know," Loki replies smugly.

"You know," Natasha says, "for a minute there, I didn't think that was going to work."

"Never underestimate my ability to get what I want," Loki says. "Just because it does not work on you does not mean it does not work."

"Yes," Tony agrees, "we are immune to your Loki anti-charm."

Loki scoffs, mock-offended. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you're sure as hell not charming," Tony says teasingly.

Loki makes a show of rolling his eyes before he turns his attention to Bucky. "And how does it feel to know that you are no longer a wanted terrorist?"

Bucky shrugs unenthusiastically. "Fine."

"Does it?" Loki asks. "I wouldn't know."

That gets a bit of a laugh out of the others, which means they must be in high spirits because it really wasn't very funny. All this worrying, and for what? Everything's fine. Everyone is fine. They're still one big, happy Avengers family, just the way he likes them to be.

Natasha pats Bucky on the back once. "We'll have your name cleared in no time. It'll be a fresh start."

Bucky just nods. He's not a very loud person, Thor notices. He's certainly no Tony Stark. Maybe they should get him drunk. Every quiet person is more fun when they're drunk (except for Loki; he ends up crying a lot, for some inexplicable reason).

As if reading his mind, Tony declares, "I'm gonna throw myself a retirement party."

Natasha cups her hands around her mouth and cheers, and the others join in, Thor included. He's not entirely sure why this requires cheering, but he loves a good party, so who is he to object?

"How does next weekend sound?" Tony asks. "Anyone got plans next weekend?" He pauses, only for a second. "Just kidding; that was rhetorical. No, you don't."

"No plan could ever be more important than a Stark party," Clint says.

Tony points at him. "Damn right."

Natasha shoots the archer a look. "Hey, stop that," she chides him. "Stark's got a big enough ego as it is."

"And it gets bigger by the day," Tony declares with pride.

Bucky, who's been eying him warily since he announced this, asks, "What does a 'Stark party' include?"

"Booze," Tony answers plainly.

"It's a lot of fun," Natasha assures him. "You'll enjoy it."

"And if not," Steve adds, "we can always head out and grab a bite to eat if you want."

Bucky gives him a small smile for that.

Thor offers up the other solution for the potential problem of not enjoying oneself: "I will be bringing liquor from Asgard if you would like some."

Bucky makes a face at that. "No, thank you?"

"Good answer," Loki agrees.

Tony huffs a laugh. "Yeah, you might end up reciting a poem about how blue Cap's eyes are."

Loki shoots him a look. "You are lucky there is nothing I can throw at you right now."

Tony flashes him a grin. "I know. That's why I said it."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up," Sam says, looking between the three of them with intrigue. "What's this poem? I never heard about a poem."

"Nothing!" Loki says quickly.

"It was amazing," Tony gushes with faux enthusiasm. "You had to be there. Loki is such a poet."

"Crayola could never come up with so many names for 'blue,'" Natasha adds teasingly.

"The joke is on you," Loki says, "because I do not know what Crayola is, so that can't hurt my feelings."

"Damn." Natasha snaps her fingers in exaggerated disappointment. "I'll do better next time."

"Alrighty, guys," Tony says, clapping his hands together once. "Ready to go home?"

"Always," Clint and Natasha reply in unison.

Thor cracks a smile. He's about ready to go home, too.

~~~

"Yeah, you can bring Peter Parker up this weekend," Tony says to Bruce as they exit the helicarrier. "It'll be nice to officially meet him."

"You did make a pretty bad first impression," Bruce remarks.

"Okay, in my defense," Tony says, "life sucks, so there's that."

Bruce rolls his eyes, an amused smile on his lips.

"You know," Steve says, "I talked to that Matthew Murdock guy, too?"

Tony scoffs. "Then why didn't you take him along, too?"

Steve stares at him. "Because he's blind?"

"Never stopped him from beating anyone to hell and back before."

Steve balks at that. "What?"

"Who the hell are you two talking about?" Rhodey asks. Thor was wondering the same thing, but, unlike Rhodey, he is very used to not knowing what conversations are about, and he's come to accept it as an unfortunate fact of life in this realm.

Tony waves a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it."

"He's a lawyer," Steve says. "I mentioned maybe hiring him if things didn't work out with the Accords. Obviously, things worked out great, but..." He shrugs. "I don't know. I was thinking I might send him, like, a fruit basket or something."

"I'll do you one better," Tony says. "A fruit basket and a nice hefty check by mail."

Steve shrugs. "Hey, if you're paying..."

Tony heaves a dramatic sigh. "The curse of not being Iron Man anymore," he says. "Now I exist solely as a bank account."

"Oh, cheer up, Stark," Natasha says. "We've seen you as our personal bank account long before you retired."

Tony makes a show of rolling his eyes, and Thor finds himself smiling. He loves his friends. He loves when they're in a good mood. He loves when they're all just laughing and joking with each other. It was a bit nicer before Loki disappeared, but this is still really, really nice.

Speaking of Loki, he meets them as they enter the compound, a cardboard box in his hands. Thor gives him a curious look. Why does he have a cardboard box? Where did he get a cardboard box? He's not even sure how one would go about finding a cardboard box in the compound.

Steve gives him a curious look, too. "What's that?"

"FRIDAY alerted me to it a half-hour ago or so," Loki says. "It's addressed to Romanoff."

Natasha's face scrunches in confusion. "It's addressed to me?"

"Ooh," Tony says. "Whatcha ordering?"

Natasha shrugs uncertainly. "Nothing, I think." She gives him a look. "Do we even get mail here? I thought we didn't want to risk anyone running into him." She gestures to Loki with her head.

Tony pauses.

"No, we don't," he says slowly. "Um, FRIDAY? Where's the box from?"

"Somebody brought it 42 minutes ago," FRIDAY answers. "They were wearing a mask. I do not know who it was."

Tony nods slowly. "Well, shit, huh?"

"What's in it?" Natasha asks.

"I do not know," FRIDAY says.

Natasha heaves a sigh. "Alright, let me open it outside in case it blows up."

Loki cocks his head to the side. "Are you sure you would like to open this if you fear it may blow up?"

Natasha shrugs. "You know what they say," she says, a bit defeated. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Would you like me to open it?" Thor offers. "Curiosity most likely will not kill this cat."

Natasha hesitates, then reluctantly hands him the box. "If you think it's going to explode, I give you my full permission to throw it."

Thor grins. "Exciting."

"You're still opening it outside, though," Tony says. "Nobody's blowing up my compound."

So they all file right back out the door they just walked through, and Thor heads out to the treeline to see what's in this box. He glances back at them, and he's met with a bunch of wary looks, and, of course, Loki beaming at him. The god gives him a thumbs up, and Thor shakes his head to himself, amused.

He turns his attention back to the box in front of him. He places it on the ground, kneeling beside it. He really should have brought scissors – or a knife, even. Usually, he could count on Loki to have one. Stupid Asgard stealing all his brother's weapons when they threw him in prison.

With no other glaringly obvious options, he tears the little flappy wings – does that part of the box have a name? – off as quickly and bluntly as he can. He turns his face away and braces himself for the impact...

And it doesn't come.

He loves when things go right!

He looks back down at the box, peering into it to see its contents, and he furrows his brows, face contorting in confusion.

"What is it?" Natasha calls from the other side of the yard.

Thor picks it up, slowly, carefully. He's not sure what it is. It almost reminds him of the Aether, in a weird way. It's just vials of red, glowing... liquid? It looks like liquid to him. But what are they?

In the blink of an eye, Loki stands behind him, peering over his shoulder. He takes a look at it, then walks around so he stands in front of his brother. Thor hands the vials over to him, and Loki turns the vials over in his hands, confused. He reaches in between them, and out comes a little piece of paper. How he knew it was in there, Thor can't even guess.

Loki holds the paper up to his face, and the corners of his lips turn down in a frown.

"What?" Thor asks. What is it? What is he looking at?

Loki looks over at the others, all watching with bated breath. "Romanoff," he says cautiously.

"What?" Natasha asks. "What is it?"

Loki hands the vials back to Thor, then uses that free hand to wave her toward him. Natasha glances at Clint warily, then walks up to them, clearly hesitant. Thor doesn't blame her. He's almost afraid to find out what Loki's found out.

As Natasha approaches, Loki holds out that little slip of paper to her. "I don't suppose that would be yourself and Yelena."

Natasha had begun to reach for the paper; hearing that name come out of his mouth makes her freeze. "How do you know about Yelena?" she asks cautiously.

"Because Barton knows about Yelena," Loki answers evenly, "and though he didn't tell me much about her, he most certainly did mention her."

Natasha eyes him uncertainly, and slowly, she takes the piece of paper from him. She looks at it for a few moments, her face expressionless, and Thor looks between them, confused. What are they talking about? Who is Yelena, and what does she have to do with these vials? What are these vials? What is happening right now?

Finally, Natasha looks up at Loki. "I need to find her."

"Unfortunately," Loki says, "that is not something I can help with."

Natasha nods slowly, lowering her gaze to the photo as she thinks, and then her gaze snaps up to meet his. "Budapest."

Loki cocks his head to the side. "Budapest?"

"That's where she'll be," Natasha says. She holds out her hands. "Give it to me."

Loki hands her the vials without further question.

Natasha whips around and marches back toward her friends. "Alright, Barton," she says. "We're going on a field trip."

Clint gives her a weird look. "What kind of field trip?"

"I'll tell you on the way," she answers.

Steve frowns. "Is everything okay?

"I don't know," Natasha says. "That's what I'm going to find out."

Clint eyes her warily. "I guess it's a good thing we didn't officially retire, then."

"Yeah, really," she agrees.

"Do you need an extra hand?" Steve asks.

"I have two of them," Pietro adds. "Two hands that get bored very easily when there is nothing to do."

Natasha huffs a laugh. "I think we'll be fine," she tells him. "I'll let you guys know what's going on once we figure it out ourselves."

"Good luck," Bruce says.

"If you decide you need help, we've got your back," Sam adds.

Natasha cracks a smile. "Thanks," she says. "I'll keep that in mind."

Clint puts a hand on her back, gently pushing her away. "And now we're leaving," he says, "because I want to hear what the fuck is going on."

"Have fun!" Tony says. "Stay safe! Try not to die; that's bad for business!"

"Fuck off, Stark." Natasha flips him off as she walks away.

Tony just smirks at that.

Thor elbows his brother. "What was that about?" he asks quietly. "Who is Yelena?"

Loki shakes his head. "Not my secret to tell."

Thor scoffs. "Oh, now you decide to be the bigger person."

"I suspect everyone will find out who she is soon enough," Loki tells him. "I would simply prefer it happen on her terms."

Thor shakes his head to himself. "I hate when you have morals."

"I know; it's a rare occurrence, isn't it?" Loki remarks.

"It is," Thor agrees, "which only makes it more frustrating when it happens."

Loki just smiles at that. "Alright, now I believe we have earned a good dinner. Who wants to make the mac n cheese?"

Thor raises a brow. "Mac n cheese is your idea of a 'good dinner'?"

"Of course," Loki says. "There are so few dinners better than it."

"You are ridiculous," Thor tells him. But if Loki wants mac n cheese... He did just save the future of the Avengers. He's earned some cheesy noodles.