The Devil You Know 8
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A/N: THE AVENGERS. THE FEELINGS. I CAN'T.
Unf. Go see it if you haven't it. It's worth the wait.
The Ties That Bind (Part II)
“Here.”
Something black slid into Thor's line of sight, and he caught it purely on reflex, feeling plastic creak under his fingers. He stared at it warily, turning it over in his hands. It resembled a gun, but nothing happened when he pulled the trigger.
“Try not to break it.”
Thor looked quizzically up at his brother, who stood behind the couch, arms crossed and expression blank. Not for the first time, Thor wished he could read minds.
“What is this?” he asked, brandishing the toy and hearing it rattle as he did so.
“It's a fake gun,” Loki supplied with a surprising lack of snark. His face remained a mask, his thoughts closed off to Thor. “For a game Tony calls... 'laser tag'?” He tilted his head as though unsure of the name.
Thor bit back a smile. “Ah, yes,” he said. “I have played this tag of lasers once before with Steve, Tony and Clint.”
“Yes, well,” Loki muttered, fidgeting only a bit, barely enough for Thor to pick up on his discomfort. “The humans wish to play. Steve, Clint, and Natasha are one team, which means that Tony and I need a third.” He looked meaningfully at Thor before his gaze darted to the rug.
Thor stared first at his brother, then down at the 'gun', amazed, surprised, and struggling against proclaiming his joy. He knew how Loki hated when he did that. He allowed himself to smile, however.
“Do you think that's fair?” he asked. “Two gods on one team?”
Thor just caught the smirk that flashed across his brother's face. “Tony insists it balances out our 'lack of experience' with Midgardian technology.”
Thor laughed. “Very well, then!” he boomed. “I accept!”
He stood and clapped his brother on the shoulder, not noticing his grimace but only the wan smile that covered it.
“Sometimes it pays to be rich,” Tony said as he affixed the breastplate-like device that would register his enemies' blows. Loki kept trying to sneak his off, but Tony would grab his hand and give him a look that said, I'd be laughing at this, but I have to set a good example.
“So to speak?” Loki prompted archly. Tony grinned wolfishly and adjusted his grip on his weapon of choice.
“Hey,” he said, “not many people get their own personal laser tag court. Being a billionaire rules!”
“Mhmm,” Loki hummed noncommittally, tightening a few straps. “I reserve judgment until I see just how much this laser tag 'rules'.”
“'Tis a game that favors tricksters,” Thor replied, too-loudly, as was his only volume. “I suspect that you will be most good at it!”
He clapped Loki on the shoulder and jostled him nearly enough to drop his gun. Loki shot him a sidelong glare to which Thor remained blissfully oblivious.
“Alright, guys,” Tony said, hefting his gun. “We've less than a minute before Hell breaks loose. Scatter!”
Loki darted out in the opposite direction of Thor.
Loki had to concede that Thor was right about one thing. He was rather good at this.
He milked his ignorance of the game for all it was worth, using dopplegangers, illusion, and teleportation to evade the “enemy”, until the third time Steve shouted that magic was cheating and Tony, laughing, had told him to “cut it out”.
“We're way ahead, anyway,” he whispered to Loki when they found themselves nestled in a corner together. “Give 'em a chance to catch up a bit or they'll get cranky.”
Loki smirked and saluted him with his gun. He turned to leave, only to think better of it. “How long do you think we could sit here before they find us?” He snaked an arm around Tony's shoulders to make his meaning clear.
“We can't,” Tony said, even while his eyes gleamed in a way that said, Okay, yeah, maybe we can.
They never found out, because Thor barreled into their corner seconds later, swatting Tony upside the head when he found them lip-locked. “Anthony Stark!” he growled. “The battlefield is no place for such antics!”
Loki arched an eyebrow, amused that he was excluded from the scolding.
“Okay, first, ow,” Tony groused. “Second, it was your damn brother's idea in the first place!”
Thor pursed his lips, hunching close to remain under cover. “Be that as it may,” he said. “I may or may not have led the others straight here.” He looked away sheepishly.
Tony groaned and pushed himself up. “Alright,” he said. “Fan out. Maybe we can flank them.”
“They've only one life left.”
“We've only two.”
Loki and Thor glanced at each other and then at Tony. Their makeshift fort consisted of two walls, which joined to form a right angle, and each of them took a corner to guard, pausing to catch his breath.
Loki peeked around his corner and pulled back when he caught the flash of a laser aimed his way. He shook his head and huffed. “It seems that Hawkeye has found a nest,” he said. He pointed up and behind him, in the direction of the fort Clint had claimed. “An ideal sniping location, unfortunately for us.”
Tony hummed in agreement. “He's our biggest problem right now, and they know it,” he muttered. He paused to chew his lip. “They're down to one life, so chances are Steve and Natasha are guarding him, since he's the best shot and already has some prime real estate.”
“We can sneak out the other side,” Loki added absently, his mind awhirr with possibilities. “I've an idea...”
Thor started to chuckle, and Loki threw a questioning look over his shoulder at the blond idiot.
“'Tis just like old times!” Thor said, his whisper still somehow too loud. He reached over to clap Loki on the shoulder and squeeze. Loki felt his expression darken. “My bravery and your brains. An unstoppable match!”
Tony pointedly cleared his throat. “I'd like to think I helped a bit, you know,” he griped.
“Thor,” Loki muttered, brushing off his brother's hand, “you are making me wish to engage in friendly fire.” He looked to Tony for confirmation. “That is the term, correct? Though it seems to me that said fire would be particularly unfriendly.”
“Yeah, that's the term. Though with you, I suppose it would be 'unfriendly' fire.”
Loki looked askance at the smirking human. He suspected there was an insult in there somewhere.
Thor merely smiled wider and pulled his hand away. “Always so cynical, my brother.”
Loki opened his mouth to say something biting, only to catch sight of Tony out of the corner of his eye. Tony eyed him pleadingly, eyebrows raised just so, and Loki pursed his lips and remained silent.
“Very well,” Loki said instead. “Here's what we'll do...”
“Have they moved yet?”
Clint wished Steve would stop hovering and shot a glare over his shoulder that said just that. “Dunno,” he muttered. He squinted down the barrel of his gun. “Loki's still there, at least. I can see the edge of his foot.”
“I don't trust that,” Natasha whispered back, her eyes fixed on the passage leading up to their nest. “He's probably letting us see it on purpose. He wants us to know he's still there, so that we think the other two are there as well. He's the diversion.”
Steve nodded, brow furrowing in thought. “Seems like something he'd do,” he murmured. “On your guard, everyone.”
“There!” Hawkeye shouted, pulling the trigger as a blond streak hurdled past. He cursed when the Thunder God ducked behind another partition. For such a large target, he was surprisingly agile. Clint suspected he would have been down already if he had had his trusty bow instead. It was an entirely different art-form, wielding a gun, but he was still the best shot of the group. Thor darted out again, and Hawkeye continued to fire even as Steve and Natasha shouted behind him, the cheesy laser sound amplified suddenly.
“Aw, you got me!” Stark's voice from the passage behind them, and Clint smirked, alternating his gaze between the edge of Loki's shoe and Thor's ducking and diving blond head. One more kill, and they would win this.
The lasers continued to blare.
Suddenly, the game was over, and the overhead lights flickered on. “What the - ?” he sputtered. Then Clint looked down to see Loki hanging one-handed beneath him from the window he was sniping from, gun pressed to Clint's chest piece. “How the - ?” Clint looked back and saw the point of Loki's shoe still where it was.
Loki laughed and clambered into the fort, holding up his gun and pretending to blow smoke from the barrel. Tony's been making him watch too many movies, Clint thought. Then Loki held up his right foot and wiggled his besocked toes. Thor stood up, grinned, and waved from his position.
“Come on,” Tony panted, grinning far too widely as he patted Steve on the shoulder. “Winners buy dinner.”
He draped an arm about Loki's shoulder and kept it there as they walked out, pausing first to retrieve Loki's shoe.
“Those two,” Steve sighed, shaking his head, “are a lethal combination.”
They ate together at a local pizza joint, one sweaty mass crammed into a too-small booth. If Loki shared a meat-lover's pizza with Thor, no one commented on it, though he whispered, “You'll pay up tonight,” into Tony's ear.
Later, he taught Tony a new spell that would be useless in battle, but Tony had no complaints.
Footnote: Got the laser tag idea from the Loki to my Sigyn on my facebook roleplaying account (which I essentially made so that I could flirt shamelessly with a Loki, and ohhhh, dear lord, how quickly everything turns to innuendo between us, hehehe). “Loki” posted a status update that had to do with how he should never be allowed to play laser tag. The idea amused me, so I borrowed it. xD