Chapter Text
The day Sam went to live with his uncle, Bucky was in tears. Sam’s uncle lived two hours away so they wouldn’t be able to see each other often.
“Hey, it’s okay,” said Sam, tears on his own cheeks. “Rhodey already promised to bring you with him when we have visits. And I’ll call you every week, okay? And you can always call me. Right Loki?”
Sam looked up from where he was hugging a sobbing Bucky.
“Of course,” said Loki swiftly, picking Bucky up to free Sam to hug his cousin and Tony. “Sam’s uncle has my number and Sam has Rhodey’s number memorized. This isn’t good-bye forever. Sam gets to go live with his uncle, this is a good thing.”
Bucky sniffed and nodded. He knew it was good but he would miss his roommate.
“I’ll see you later, Bucky,” said Sam at last, waving at the younger boy before following Mr. Lee out to his car to drive the two hours to live with his uncle.
“Bye Sam,” yelled Bucky before sobbing again, this time burying his face in Loki’s neck.
Reunification days were always hard on the kids left behind. As happy as Loki was for Sam – and he was so happy for the boy to be able to live with family that clearly loved him – he was devastated for his three boys still at home. That, and Sam’s leaving came just on the heels of getting the confirmation that Bucky was up for adoption. Neither Bucky nor Loki were shocked but thinking that it would happen and having it confirmed were two different things. Because of those both, Bucky was having a hard day.
“Hey, come on Bucky,” said Tony, holding out his arms for Bucky. “It’s okay. See, you me and Rhodey get to stay together at least. That’s something.”
“Only because none of our parents want us,” sobbed Bucky. “Or they’re dead!”
“Yeah,” said Tony with a nod. “But we also have Loki. And he wants to parent us regardless, so maybe we give him a chance?”
Bucky continued to cry into Loki’s chest, so Tony shrugged and went to the kitchen to make them all some hot chocolate. He had been through a lot of reunification days, said good-bye to a lot of friends, so he knew that he wasn’t going to fix it for Bucky. Bucky had only ever known them as his family since he joined the foster system. Saying good-bye to Peter had been hard but he was within walking distance. They still saw Peter a fair amount. Sam was moving hours away, they wouldn’t get to see him as often.
Loki sat on the couch with Bucky and let the boy cry, Rhodey hovering at the door for several minutes before he took a seat in the armchair where he could keep an eye on everyone. Darcy had been working with him about letting go of some of the responsibility he had taken upon himself and for the most part he was doing well with that, but today was not an average day.
“How are you doing?” asked Loki.
It took Rhodey a moment to realize Loki was talking to him.
“I’m okay,” said Rhodey with a shrug. “But it’s different for me. I’ll get to see Sam since he’s my cousin. Bucky has to get special permission for official visits. It’s just, it’s different.”
“I appreciate how you take Bucky into consideration,” said Loki softly, because Bucky had finally cried himself to sleep on him. “But I wasn’t asking about your feelings in relation to others. I was asking how you are doing as an individual.”
Rhodey shrugged. It was difficult to stop worrying about Sam. He had been responsible for the boy for so long, looking out for his little cousin as much as he could, but now he was gone. Sam was out of sight of Rhodey, out of reach, and while Rhodey trusted that Mr. Lee wouldn’t have brought Sam to a bad home, he was having a hard time being separated from his cousin.
Loki nodded, as though he hadn’t expected a verbal answer. In all honesty, he hadn’t. He knew that Tony and Rhodey both had a difficult time articulating their emotions without comparing them to the emotions of others. But Loki was trying to help them realize that their emotions as individuals mattered too. It was a work in progress.
Tony came in and handed Loki a steaming mug of hot chocolate, setting Bucky’s mug on the coffee table, before giving Rhodey his own mug. Tony then sat down on the other end of the couch.
“And then there were three,” said Tony, taking a sip of the warm, creamy liquid. “You going to adopt Bucky?”
“That is the goal now,” said Loki. “The paperwork for the both of you have gone through. So at any point, if you wish, you may say the word and we can set up a court date to make it official. I know that you both requested that, but know that you can back out at any time. I will not change my mind, I would love to adopt you. But you also have a home here regardless.”
Tony studied Loki.
When they had arrived at his house almost a year ago, Tony could barely stand being in the same room as Loki, now he was sitting on the same couch voluntarily.
At every turn, Loki had stood firm. Throughout disastrous therapy sessions, hard days at school, night terrors, trials, and many other tense moments, Loki had stood firm and been a pillar for the boys. He never pushed them, he kept the older boys as involved as he could, and he always treated them with respect and love. In the days after the trial, Tony had pushed and pushed the man, looking for him to break and show his true colors. Loki had shown his true colors by responding with the same consistency he always had, by not pushing Tony, and by being there for every late, insomnia filled night where he just sat in the armchair while Tony and Rhodey hung out of the couch, Tony on his phone, Rhodey asleep.
“Can we set it for when Bucky is also ready to be adopted?” asked Tony. “I don’t want him to feel left out. He’s little, he needs to know that we are all in the same boat as foster kids until we can all be adopted.”
“I will talk to Thor and make that happen,” said Loki with a smile, because they had just agreed to be his sons, officially.