Steve Rogers, Doctor Stephen Strange and Loki returned from their mission earlier than expected. They arrived in the night with no one except Friday to greet them.
The trio decided to take a break to drink and toast to their success. They did not want to make a racket and decided to chill in the smaller meeting room with a newly added whiteboard.
"What is that written on the board?" said Loki.
Steve got up and went for a closer look. "Tony Stark's New Boyfriend?" he read.
"Our names are on the board," observed Loki.
"Are they betting on us?" said Stephen.
"Seems like it," said Steve. "I wonder if Tony knows about this."
"Pretty sureā¦.Not," said Loki "Though of the three names, they did get one right," he smirked.
Steve eyed Loki and Stephen just rolled his eyes. They all knew who it was. Tony had formed a close bond with all three of them over the years and trusted them with his life. Steve and Loki obviously took the longer route. Steve had since always been truthful to Tony no matter what and earned back Tony's trust bit by bit, day by day. Loki, on the other hand, had saved Tony's ass countless of times over the course of years, slowly redeeming himself to earn a place with the Avengers. Stephen too had been spending a lot of time with Tony as a counsel for mystic arts matters. Tony had since regularly confided in them and even fallen in love with one of them.
Five minutes later, Tony himself was staring at the board. "Cockroach my ass," he huffed.
"They're just curious, Tony. The way of betting is not...ideal but maybe is time you could tell the team," said Steve placing a hand on Tony's shoulder.
"If you want to call them out on it, I would support you too," said Stephen.
Loki stood up. "Well...maybe we can achieve both and have some fun," he smirked.
"What are you suggesting?" asked Steve.
"It's a bet, isn't it? I'm sure that all of Tony's movements will be monitored and the bet will be changed accordingly to whoever is the likeliest candidate."
Tony caught on. "Therefore, since we know, we can have some fun and manipulate those betting odds. Let them sweat a little. Once it's done, I can call on them and also share the news at the same time. I like it," he said grinning.
"The pleasure is alll mine," said Loki.
"When do we start?" asked Stephen.
"Tomorrow," said Steve.
"The game is on," concurred Tony.
"This is going to be so much fun," said Loki.
Author's Note: Did you expect Tony and gang to be on to the others this soon? Next chapter is a date. XD
