It's around noon when Steve finally decides to ask FRIDAY what's going on.

"Where's Tony?" he asks first.

"Mr. Stark is still sleeping," FRIDAY answers.

"And Loki?"

"As far as I am aware, Loki has not left his room since your return," FRIDAY says. "He may very well still be sleeping as well."

Steve nods slowly. "Bucky?"

"Mr. Barnes is watching television in the common room," FRIDAY tells him.

Steve purses his lips. He could go talk to Bucky. Sure, it always ends up feeling really awkward and uncomfortable, but he keeps hoping that if he continues to talk to him, eventually it will start feeling more natural, like old times. So far, though...

Maybe he won't do that right now. Instead, he asks, "Where's Banner?"

"Dr. Banner is in his bedroom," FRIDAY says, "but he is awake if you'd like to speak to him."

Steve nods once. That's what he'll do, then. He'll go talk to Bruce. He'll see how things are going for the resident scientist, and he'll check in on how things are going with Peter Parker and their planned-but-not-really-planned compound visit with him this weekend. It will be nice. He'll make it a nice conversation. He could use one.

But then FRIDAY says, "Loki is awake and appears to be going outside, if you would still like to speak to him."

So Steve puts his visit with Bruce on the backburner for a whIle. and instead, he heads to the back door. He hasn't seen Loki in-person in a couple of days, and while they were on their mission, the guy mostly popped up when he was needed, not for a social call. He could use a nice, normal conversation with the guy.

He walks slowly, so by the time he makes it to the back door, Loki is already outside, lying in the grass with his earbuds in. He's come to learn over the few years he's lived in this century that when someone is wearing earbuds, it's usually a sign that they don't want someone to approach them and start a conversation with them, but Loki probably doesn't see it that way, right? If it's a largely unspoken norm that Steve had to learn through human interaction, then it's probably one that Loki hasn't had the chance to learn? So it's okay if Steve approaches him?

He's going to assume that that's the case, so he slips out the door and crosses the yard to join his friend. He doesn't realize until he reaches him that Loki's eyes are closed, and if he has his eyes closed and ears blocked, it really does kind of feel like he doesn't want to be bothered. But he's already come all the way out here, and it's not like he has much else to do besides bothering Bruce, so he just takes a seat a couple yards away, giving Loki his space while they both enjoy the outside air.

Somehow, even with his eyes closed and earbuds in, Loki realizes he's there, because it's only seconds later when he takes his earbuds out and turns his head to the side, looking up at him.

"Did you just wake up?" Steve asks him. He's assuming he did, if he hasn't left his FRIDAY-less hallway since they got back, but he supposes he could have been watching TV all day. He does have his own collection of Owen Wilson movies in there, after all. What more could he need?

"I did," Loki says, "though I may very well fall back asleep at any moment."

"Worn out from fighting, or just your lack of a consistent sleep schedule coming into play?" Steve asks.

"Given that I've slept nearly a full day straight, I have to assume it's the former," Loki answers. "If you could keep the majority of your fighting within the United States for the future instead of the skies of Russia, I would greatly appreciate it."

Steve chuckles. "I can't make any promises," he says, "but we'll do our best."

"Wonderful," Loki says, and he folds his arms behind his head, gazing up at the sky. "Are Yelena and the Taskmaster still here?"

"For now," Steve says. "Yelena's gonna hang around for a while, and Stark's working on setting up someplace for Antonia to stay somewhere in the city."

"Are we thinking there's going to be another permanent resident at the compound, then?" Loki asks.

Steve shrugs one shoulder. "I don't know," he says. "I wouldn't be too surprised."

"Did she and Rmoanoff make up after the mission like I said they would?" Loki asks.

"It looks like it," Steve says – although he doesn't remember Loki saying anything about that.

"Wonderful," Loki says. "And now everybody lives happily ever after."

Steve's mind flashes back to Tony's drunken ramblings the night before. He's not sure he'd say everybody is living happily ever after.

"I heard rumors of the Spider child coming for a visit this weekend," Loki says, "and perhaps a 'retirement party' for Stark the following weekend. Is that still happening?"

"As far as I know, it is," Steve tells him – though given how last night went, maybe they should think about making it an alcohol-free party. "Why? Is there a chance that Sylvie's going to make an appearance at the party?" He asks it with a bit of a smirk, but despite his somewhat teasing tone, he really does hope that Loki comes to the party. He'll feel bad if he decides to lock himself away in his room – and everything is more fun with Loki around.

"There might be," Loki replies, though the faint hint of a smile on his lips says there's a very good chance that she will. "She will be remaining sober this time, though."

Steve chuckles. "That's probably for the best." If only he could trust everybody to be that wise about their drinking. Just to tease his friend a little bit, he adds, "Although I'm going to miss listening to your poetry about my eyes."

Loki looks over at him. "You're lucky you chose to sit that far away, or I would hit you for that."

"Believe me, I thought about that before I said it," Steve tells him with a grin.

Loki huffs a laugh, and he turns his head back up to the sky, squinting from the sun's rays.

Steve opts to lie down, too, and as though the world is rewarding him for it, the sun goes behind a cloud, which lets him look up at the sky without blinding himself. He's pleased to see that the clouds are all fluffy and white; no storm clouds to be found. It's as though the weather is telling them that today is going to be an all-around good day.

"I've begun to realize something recently," Loki says, "that I don't think I'd really thought of before – that I don't think I'd known was possible until now."

"Yeah? What's that?" Steve asks.

Loki lets out a long breath. "I think I'm happy here."

Steve looks over at him, brows furrowed, but Loki's gaze doesn't stray from the clouds above. There's still a slight smile on his face, and the sight puts one on Steve's own face as well. He's happy here. That's not something Steve had thought to expect from him. He'd known that he tolerated it; he'd obviously suspected that he enjoyed some parts of it. He knew it wasn't all bad.

But Loki is happy here. He's imprisoned, a life sentence that they both know will doubtlessly end in lonely misery, but for right now, he's happy.

"You know," Steve says, "I think you just made my day."

"I think this realization has made mine, too."