In the early hours of the morning where there was just enough sunlight to spill into the penthouse to light up the room when the blinds were down sat Tony. He had an important call to make.

"Sam Wilson; the billionaire, genius and dashingly handsome leader of The Avengers would like to make a request- "

"What is it Tony?" Sam groaned from the other end of the telephone.

"Okay, I will drop the act." Tony said straightening up and becoming more serious. "How would you like to join us in a little team exercise?" Although, all of 'us' weren't yet in the room. In fact, they probably weren't even awake yet, unless they were being incredibly quiet. As far as Tony knew Sam was the first human he told about his idea. None of them were called in by S.H.I.E.L.D since the Red Skull incident and considering his sleep schedule was messed up anyway, he thought it was a good one. He did tell JARVIS.

"Which would involve? Sam replied with caution upon hearing the question.

"Paintball. We need an extra player to fill out the teams. Nat is going to be captain of one team- which would be fine- but her team is also going to have Loki." Tony said the part about Loki quickly in desperate hope that it will fly under the radar. It didn't work.

"Loki? No way in hell. Not in a million years. Steve told me about the carnage he did in the Battle of New York. I mean- you do know what my job is, right? And you want me to work with him? What you are doing is sending me on a suicide mission."

"Come on, man. We have made arrangements with S.H.I.E.L.D and Asgard and or Thor. Loki is a prisoner here to repent for his sins. He doesn't have the glow stick of destiny that can brainwash people anymore. His magic is limited and in all honesty," Tony run his fingers through his hair, the reality of what he was saying not having fully sunk in, "he hasn't done anything too terrible as of yet. Which is actually rather surprising now that I think about it. So, what do you say? Is it a yes?" There was no reply. "Thor has assured us he is safe. Even if it goes south we can handle it. We are earth's mightiest heroes remember?" Still no reply. Time for a desperate move, "If there is any consideration Steve would appreciate it if you would come."

At that there was an audible sigh from Sam, "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Not really, no."

"Fine. Tell me where and I will meet you there."

"You might need to bring your wings."

. . .

"Since I was going insane with boredom and I'm sure I was not the only one," said Tony who stood in front of the group and addressed them. They all looked wary with bleary eyes or looked stern. The sun had properly risen now, and it was beating down, the overhang of the building they were standing outside of doing little in regards to shade.

Natasha and Clint glanced at each other at Tony Stark's' words. They were to a certain point but their main concern was what kind of plan Tony had cooked up to require them to meet in a place that usually would be below them. Thor although wary looked excited almost bouncing up and down on the soles of his feet, Like always.

Loki was a few paces behind the rest of the group. Nearest to the doorway of the building-having managed to claim a scrap of shelter from the sun- arms folded, looking utterly bored. What am I doing here?

"Which is why I have decided to stage this game of paintball." The looks on Clint's and Natasha's faces brightened slightly, "Now, I know that there are some of you- most of you," he corrected, glancing around of who was present and noticing the frowns of both Steve and Bruce, "don't know how to play or are worried. Don't be, I've got it all worked out. I have booked the whole place out and paid extra in case of any damages. This allows us to use our full capabilities," Loki's eyes widened Is this going to be fun after all? "Within reason." Apparently not. His attention lapsed back as Stark kept on talking, "Steve, this might interest you- you might not have played a round of paintball before but the modern military sometimes engages in a variation of the one we are going to play so I am sure you will do okay."

"You know that I still don't like fighting of any kind," Steve said, "but if this is primarily for fun and team building I am willing to give it a try."

"Awesome." Said Tony happily "Knew you would be up for it. Also, it is in fact going to be a team exercise because you-" Caught unaware Loki's heart jumped upon finding Iron Man without his mask, standing so close right in front of him. Iron Man's hands on either side of his shoulders pinning him against the wall.

Loki quickly recovered and within a second he had his smile back on his face, "Yes?"

"Couldn't even stay on one team even if you tried."

Loki chuckled, "I will take that as a threat and a challenge." Tony slowly removed his hands and turned his back to him, Whatever, this battle entails- I will defeat you Loki crossed his arms again, as he watched Tony walking back to the front of the group.

"Before, you continue Tony," Bruce spoke up "let me get this straight-you want me to be shot at with round capsules filled with paint that are known to bruise upon impact." Bruce pushed his glasses up. "Boredom must've gotten to you because there is no scenario in which The Other Guy- "

"Bruce, man. It's going to be fine." Tony came up to Bruce and casually put a hand on Bruce's shoulder "If anything it will allow you to relax a bit, de-stress."

"Whatever, you say Tony." Bruce said as he brushed Tony's hand off him. Not believing a word.

"So, the rules: If you get hit twice by someone from the other team, you lose. It's that simple. Rule two," Tony put up two fingers to indicate the rule, "you can't shoot someone within a metre and a half. Anything closer than that then it will count as a hit towards the shooter. Got that so far?" There were a few nods and some muttering but Tony didn't wait for a solid answer from any of them "The goal of course is to eliminate those on the other team following those two rules. The teams are Clint, Bruce, Steve and myself against Natasha, Thor, Sam Wilson also known as The Falcon," Sam put up a hand as a silent hello, "and Loki. Any questions?"

"Wait." Said Sam "I was under the impression that Steve was also going to be on Nat's and my team. And yes, I do have a question, what is all this talk about him-" Sam pointed towards Loki "not being able to stay on one team? You said that he hasn't done anything horrible yet."

"You already know me well Son of Will." Loki spoke quietly keeping his tone low, using his position for all its worth and letting the words seep in," I'm sure we will get along quite nicely."

"Somehow I doubt that."

"That was a technicality." Said Stark cutting in before the tension became too much "As much as I hate to say it. Even though he did stab us in the back, he also still managed to fucking finish the mission and I have to give him credit for that." Do you really mean that? Do you actually mean those words that came out of your mouth? Well, this just got more interesting.

Maybe I will stay around for longer. There was a long silence as everyone stared at Tony, "What? Don't look at me like that. And don't just stand there. Grab a helmet and put it on." He said holding up one of the headgears and indicating the pile where the other headgear lay "That's the last rule."

The battleground was a maze of wooden barriers leaving plenty of opportunities to hide and lie in wait for a victim to come. The centrepiece was a raised wooden walkway located at one end of the playing ground. It had steps leading up to it on both sides so as to make it easy to flee if found but also hard to defend against. Complete with walls that rose half-way up to the roof, it was perfect for an assassin who was used to sniping.

Crouching low Black Widow aimed her gun, "I've got you now." She whispered, her target was a several metres away moving, his back turned away from her, "No ill feelings, Rogers." She was about to press the trigger but at the last moment she hesitated, distracted.

Sounds of footsteps came closer and a well-known voice called out "Nat! You took my idea." She turned to face Clint and his tone softened in mock hurt, "How could you?"

"You snooze, you lose. You also made me miss my target, don't make me shoot you instead." She said training her paintball gun on Clint.

"Woah, Okay." Clint rose his hands in surrender, however his giant grin on his face gave away his true feelings, "You know I can't defeat you with this." He indicated the gun "I do however, like it when you act all serious though."

Natasha lightly pushed Clint away, as a new arrival appeared descending from the sky who said "Now, I'm a pretty trusting guy but even I know something is up when two people who are supposed to be on opposite sides haven't done so much as shoot at each other." Sam took the chance to shoot at Clint upon seeing their shocked expressions.

"Hey," exclaimed Clint who looked down at his chest where he had been hit then back up facing The Falcon, "What was that for?"

"What was that for?" Sam repeated, retracting his wings, "Barton, this is a competition, you chose to talk. I can't go after Rogers he is my best friend out of everyone here, but I can go after others on his team and that unfortunately includes you."

Clint made a brief pleading look at Natasha as though to silently ask 'help me', Natasha just shrugged, before turning back and asking Sam "Oh yeah?" trying and failing to keep laughter out of his voice, he winced feeling the pain left by the impact of the paintball. "In that case…" he directed his paintball gun on Sam and pressing the trigger shot a paintball. It hit leaving a neon splat of paint on his torso. Sam blinked and inspected the splash of paint then looked back up

"Well, I can't say I didn't deserve that." Sam paused and narrowed his eyes confused at the wide-eyed expressions of both Natasha and Clint, "What are you looking at?"

His answer came as a voice "On your left." Quickly followed by a jolt that he felt on his back, which he knew was yet another paintball. He turned around and saw Steve running in the opposite direction back to where there was cover.

"Dammit Rogers." Sam said with gritted teeth.

No longer able to hold it in Clint cracked up laughing at Steve's nerve, finding it hilarious given the context of what the three of them were talking about a moment before. Even Natasha broke into a smile.

"Please, excuse me." Said Sam running off to follow Steve, wanting to avenge himself. His heart wasn't really in it though - he meant what he said about Steve and it was just a game nothing too serious. No big deal- and as such he began to slow.

After he left and after Clint had stopped laughing, Natasha spoke her eye brow raised "So you don't think you can defeat me with a gun of any sort," she said to Clint, "that's funny. That implies you can defeat me any way whatsoever."

"Oh, now it's personal."

You have made yourself a target Man of Iron. He was keeping low prowling between the wooden walls, searching for his next victim. Beware, for I am a monster who has spent a lifetime in the darkness perfecting his method of killing. He stopped walking, on guard his back against the nearest wall. He thought he had heard something. Or someone in his surroundings although he couldn't see anyone. Breath sharp, heart beating he listened.

Hurried footsteps but they seemed to be slowing, coming from the direction behind him. Where the wooden walkway in the guise of a castle towered above the area. The breathing of this unknown identity was level like his own but softer in tone. Not quite as soft as a woman's such as Lady Sif but not as heavy as Thor's either. Undoubtedly male. All this pointed to one person, the one that the others refer to as Captain. He peered around his hiding place to confirm his suspicion. Yes, he was correct. Donned in blue armour a few feet away was Rogers. His back to Loki moving further away as times moved onward, I will get you, but first… He watched as Steve disappeared from sight then removing himself from the protection of the wall he headed in the opposite direction.

A few minutes of Midgardian time passed without occurrence, not meeting anyone. He could use one of his invisibility spells to make it more interesting or one of his illusions to send out a copy of himself but what was the point? This was only a child's game Thor's friends had created no point in wasting his energy on something so insignificant.

He stopped walking and looked up again, noticing that his route directly in front of him was blocked by one of the wooden walls. He Looked to his right-also blocked this time by a fence made from wire. It was crude but for those lesser than him, he assumed effective. Considering he couldn't see where either side ended and the height finished above the average mortal. That was not all that would make it difficult someone else to get across, on top there was what appeared to be spikes or barbs to complete the fencing. This must therefore be the edge of the arena. Go beyond into the other the other side would be considered against the rules of the game. He brushed his hand against the fence feeling the bumps made from the criss-crossing of the wire. If he were to scale it- there were gaps to place his feet and hands- and use it to be unobstructed in getting closer to his target or finding where they were unnoticed- he would lose.

A breath of wind disturbed the silence followed by a voice he had been wanting to hear since this…would he really call it a battle? Exercise had begun.

"You better not be doing what I think you are doing." Tony said raising his weapon ready to strike.

Loki sighed as he turned to face Tony. It was an exercise all right, an exercise in trying his patience," And what would that be?" He leered as he waited for an answer. He didn't even bother readying his own weapon, he could defeat Stark quite easily without it.

"What would that be?" Tony repeated taking a couple of steps closer, forcing Loki to step back against the wire fence. The knots where the wires crossed digging into his skin. His above average durability and the tight leather of his coat prevented it from hurting per se but it definitely made his position uncomfortable. Tony continued talking "And I thought you were intelligent Reindeer Games. What I think you are doing is escaping." On the last word Tony pulled the trigger, firing a paintball. At this close range and at the velocity of the speeding object, Loki simply didn't have time to move or cast a spell to try and escape. He scowled at the feeling of helplessness and with great indignation, stood rooted to the spot out of spite as the paintball made contact with his body.

The force of the impact made the fence rattle behind him. He definitely underestimated the power of the mortal weaponry. If there wasn't the fencing behind him, he would surely have stepped backwards. The area on his body- his lower ribcage- that the little ball had made contact with, hurt. In the same way…as Mjolnir. His eyes glazed over, he remembered the roar of the Bifrost. Being pinned down on the bridge. The weight of Thor's hammer and the lies of his existence stifling him. Before being tossed. And that wasn't the only time. He was pulled from his thoughts by a sharp push. He blinked as Tony Stark's voice floated to the surface saying, "Are you listening?" Starks' expression was filled with anger and confusion, "You ought to be more careful. The next will be your last."

"Is that a threat? Wow, that is something new." A smile was playing on Loki's face as he supressed his laughter, "Well, as much as I would like to see you try to carry out that particular plan, you can't seriously think that this one counted."

Tony narrowed his brow, "What? What do you-?"

"Look," Loki said putting his hand on Tony's shoulder firmly. Tony looked down surprised at the sudden movement, "and think." His eyes snapped back up. Irritation prickling at the condescending nature of Loki's tone. Loki continued, "Didn't you say in the so-called rules something about being within four feet?"

"I-" Tony spattered. Heat rising in his face. Loki's smile widened into a grin and slowly turned Tony around.

"I will leave here to think about what you have just done." Loki said flatly, like a parent disciplining a five-year-old.

Tony regained his ability to speak when he felt the chains of the fence shake. He found Loki leering at him so close that he swore he could feel Loki's breath on his skin, before seeing Loki draw back. "How? ...Hang on…When did we switch places?"

Tony's question was left hanging in the air, unanswered as Loki left.

That will deal with him for the moment. Loki weaved through the maze, now properly armed. It would have been more favourable if I finished him right there but no matter. Now I understand the true power of this mortal weapon. What it can do and what damage can be made. Besides, he is not the only target in this hunt. He slowed his pace when he laid sight on the mortal wearing the blue and white outfit, despite The Captain being known for being proficient with a shield, he currently did not possess the object. He also, Loki noted-didn't seem to have any of the sticky substance that came from those round capsules on him. Which meant… "I suppose given your history you are rather adept at this?"

Steve looked at Loki upon being addressed. "I guess you could say that." Steve frowned aware that the person who he decided to talk to was untrustworthy, "but I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."

"So, you admit that you felt triumphant when you defeated the Skull?" Loki said with a smile.

Steve's eyes widened, shocked "No. It's not like that." He thought of Bucky. 'Missing in action' the files said. But S.H.I.E.L.D had lied before, for all intents and purposes Bucky was dead. "There were casualties in that fight. Casualties I'm not proud of."

I see."

"No. I don't think you do." Steve's voice rose in anger but he kept it under control. "If you did you wouldn't have asked in the first place." It was lucky that the paintball gun was basically a replica of the real thing, recoil and all with the only major difference being the ammunition or else it would be much more difficult to use. With a steady hand that only experience could bring Steve pulled the trigger.

Although Loki tried to dodge by casting one of his illusions he was not quick enough and the plastic bullet hit him on the shoulder. Loki gritted his teeth and glowered at Steve who was turning his back to him. He removed the paintball gun and wiped the muck off his shoulder before pulling out one of his daggers.

Rushing towards Steve he raised his dagger, but before he could plunge his weapon into the skin of his target someone whose voice was starting to grate on his nerves called out, "Cap! Look out!"

He looked to see Iron Man land and begin walking towards them. This gave the time needed for Steve to turn around. Loki let his arm drop to his side as Stark began rousing on him "What the hell," Loki rolled his eyes. Always someone, "do you think you are doing?"

Loki flashed a menacing look which quickly softened into a wolfish grin, which somehow was just as terrifying, "Do I need to ask again?"

Loki laughed, "Didn't you say we could use all of our abilities?" he idly twirled his dagger, "using knives such as this," he indicated the long thin blade- and looked up to meet Stark eye-to-eye, "happens to be one of mine. What's the problem?"

The tension increased as the silence grew, both Tony and Loki staring down each other. Eager to stop the fight before it escalated further, Steve placed a hand on Tony's shoulder to cut in,

"Tony. It's no big de- "

"No big deal?" Tony brushed off Steve's hand and turned to face him," Steve, he was trying to kill you."

"You did say we were allowed to use all of our capabilities."

"Yeah. Within reason. I meant I don't know, trip wires or something. Maybe for him using his magic to confuse to avoid being hit. Not… not attacking you with a fucking knife."

"But Tony- "

"Move away Steve." Tony pushed Steve back and faced Loki again, "Let me take care of him."

Loki chuckled as he leaned next to the divider wall, crossing his arms.

"What are you laughing at?" Tony asked.

"Oh, nothing. "Loki replied, "This just reminds me of something." A world covered in ice and snow came to his mind. A battle. A confrontation. A blue hand touching- No. I will not allow myself to go there. Focus. "Tell me Captain, how does it feel to be pushed around by someone who is weaker than you?"

"Steve, don't answer that." Tony cut in after seeing Steve open his mouth to speak then retuned his attention to his Loki, "We are a team. That means we put aside our differences to get things done."

"Yes," Loki said straightening up from leaning on the wall and rolled his eyes. "This little thing called 'teamwork'" he used air quotes on the last word, "I am familiar with the concept. That went marvelously the last time I was here. You all fighting each other."

"We didn't spend that much time arguing with each other." Steve said.

"No, we didn't" Tony agreed. "Also, I seem to remember we all came together with little warning to defend against something. Or maybe…someone? Cap any guesses?"

"No. Not a clue." Said Steve with corner of his mouth twitching upwards."

"Oh, that's right." Tony raised a hand to his forehead in mock shock, "It's all coming back to me. It was you." He pointed the paintball gun at Loki with both hands, "You tried to kill me. You and your army." Tony fired. Loki didn't attempt to move away or retaliate instead he chose to let himself fall. Just like that game we used to play. Except this time…

With his eyes closed he back hit the ground. He landed with his arms spread out and let darkness consume him. Let's see how long it takes.

A number of voices. A number of footsteps but none that he could recognize or worth focusing on. The voices however, they were different. The two that were most clear belonged of course to The Man of Iron and The Captain, they hadn't gotten around to checking on him yet. He didn't really expect that they would, no one had been this early not even Thor. And yet…The Man of Iron seemed to be filling The Captain in on the last encounter something about he shouldn't have made the rule about the distance. Loki smiled his misdirection had indeed worked and then let his attention wander to the next pair of voices he could hear. Thor and The Monster although the others referred to The Monster in his human form as Banner or Bruce the scientist. That was odd, when had they become so close? Further away although he could still hear he could no longer hear them talk he guessed that the muffled thuds would be the one who he had used the scepter on and the woman called The Black Widow, out of all of them it was her who perhaps could beat him He let the sounds surrounding him bleed into each other, content for once as the world and wind brushed past him. The wind pushed some of his long loose hair onto his face. Felt the light weight prickle his skin and he exhaled, Not yet…soon. They are taking longer than Thor would have. Footsteps then he heard his name being mentioned, "Loki has been down for about five minutes," That came from The Captain. Five minutes I have waited. "All through your talking. Is he asleep? He can't be unconscious those capsules don't hit that hard, Far softer than a regular bullet. Even if they did he's an Asgardian, maybe we should try to wake him?"

"Wake him?" Said Iron Man, "Can I be the one to it? I want to poke him."

He felt a sharp prod to his side and gritted his teeth at the unnecessary pain and opened his eyes to see Rogers who at least had the decency to stand near his feet and Stark standing over besides him, with a satisfied sneer. He looked away from Stark disgusted.

"Is this what death feels like?" resignation dripping in his voice.

Tony scoffed "With a question like that you're worse than me. Get up." Not the reaction I wanted. Tony turned away from him as Steve came closer and offered a hand.

"I don't need help to get up." Loki replied to Steve's gesture and got to his feet.

"No hard feelings but you now need to exit the playing field." Said Steve no longer with direct earshot of Tony. "You have been hit twice."

"Fine." Said Loki bitterly without looking at Steve.

"If it helps, I don't think this will go on for much longer."

Kindhearted to a fault. Like somebody else that I know. He straightened his attire and left to find the nearest exit.

In a clearing located in the middle of the paintball playing field stood Bruce Banner and Thor. "I will make it simple, shall I?" Bruce was talking, "Why don't you press the button that's the trigger," he pointed to where the trigger was located on Thor's paintball gun, "and shoot me then I can shoot you in return. I'm really not the one to fight."

"Your pacifism and knowledge is inspiring. If I was confident enough on using this." Thor indicated the paintball gun by raising it slightly, "I would have gone after him in return."

"I don't blame you for not using it if you are uncomfortable. In truth, I hate guns. All types. They give me anxiety. It's the sound. Same with fireworks. Do you have fireworks on Asgard?"

"I do not know. What are they?"

Bruce dismissed Thor's question with a wave of his hand, "I can explain later. My point being, this way we both get warning before this gets out of control. What do you say?"

Thor paused before replying, "I would like to avoid the madness."

After finally hitting Loki out Tony wanted to be as far away from both him and Steve as he possibly could. He felt on edge with pent up energy and didn't know what to do with it. "If I do something stupid in front of Cap I will never hear the end of it." He mumbled, stroking the strap that held the gun to his body as he made his way up to the opposite end of the arena. What he guessed was the cause of his unsettled feeling was what Loki had said. Not about teamwork but the other thing. Maybe it was something he would say. At one of his low points. Like during a hangover. That's why he had to turn away, to hide his own fucking smile. He couldn't give Loki that type of satisfaction. To let it be known that something that was said had gotten under his skin. He couldn't and now he was paying for it. He suppressed the urge to laugh, "Fuck." He said out loud.

He regained some form of composure when he got to the steps of the walkway and looked ahead to find Natasha and Clint on the floor fighting each other. He walked over and saw that both paintball guns were left forgotten as Clint struggled to throw Natasha off. Tony glared at the two of them until they stopped. Clint took the chance to push Natasha off, "Hey Tony, what brings you here?"

Tony rolled his eyes and ignored the question. "Okay, that's enough. Both of you," he pointed his fingers at both of them, "are disqualified."

Clint rolled over to his stomach in order to get up, Natasha already on her knees.

"May I ask why?" asked Clint as he got into a sitting position.

"Neither of you even attempted to play by the rules." He offered a hand to help Clint stand up. Clint took it and Tony pulled him up.

"Fair enough. So where do we stand? Who's still in?"

"Apart from myself and you guys if you weren't just disqualified, Thor, Bruce and Steve. That's it.

"Oh okay." Clint grabbed the paintball gun that Natasha gave to him. "What should we do now then?" Clint asked once they retraced Tony's steps back down.

"We should find Loki." Natasha spoke for the first time since Tony joined them, "Even if Sam is with him… well he can manipulate people." They were now weaving through the wooden divisions that acted as protection to get to the exist on this end of the arena.

"Right. Good idea." Agreed Tony.

"Hang on just a moment." Said Clint, seeing where Bruce and Thor were standing, talking to each other. He raised his paintball gun- aiming for Thor- and pressed the trigger.

"Seriously?" Tony said exasperated and grabbed Clint's gun, pulling it away.

Although the capsule missed the intended target, Tony's intervention wasn't enough and the plastic shell full of paint collided with Bruce instead. Shocked and angry at being hit, Bruce started to turn green and let out a growl of rage as the Hulk appeared.

"I hope you're happy." Tony said.

Sam and Loki were sitting in booth at the café that was inside the building. The few people that were around looked hesitant. It wasn't so much because of Sam who had taken off his wings by now, but who he was sitting with. In the black leather coat that he wore the last time he was in New York, Loki was almost certain that he was recognized as the same person who had once attempted to rule over them all. Even though at the moment he neither had the proper means nor want to do so. Still, to ensure that either of them weren't bothered he had summoned another one of his knives and was inattentively twisting it. The point slowly drilling a whole in the wooden surface of the table.

They both looked up as the rest of the team entered looking disheveled and exhausted.

"Ah, What's up?" Said Sam looking at the gaunt faces, "Who ended up winning.?"

"My team, duh." Tony answered and would have leaved it as that if it not for the skeptical look Sam gave him. Tony sighed and continued as Steve, Bruce and Natasha filled into the booth leaving one spot left. Clint made a leap for it however, Tony held him back, "That's if it wasn't for this idiot who made The Other Guy appear, even though he already broke the rules." Clint looked sheepish as everyone else stared at him, except for Sam who was wearing a shocked expression that read- 'That explains everything', and Loki who had kept his head low. He had however, stopped spinning his dagger which now lay flat on the table. Looks like I'm not the only one who is prepared to take risks in order to come out on top.

Tony released Clint and stated, "Well, I'm going to get some food before I spontaneously combust. Who wants fries?" There was nodding and a chorus of Yesses from the group.

"Right. Thor come with me. I'm going to need an extra pair of hands."

At the counter, Tony ordered two servings of fires and a bunch of coffee's. As they waited for their order to arrive Tony leaned against the bench and asked, "So Thor, there is something I have been wondering, what was your brother like before he decided to play space invaders with us? Like was he sarcastic by any chance?" Tony wanted to remark, 'we know he is now ', but thought that was likely to push the topic over the edge so he withheld.

"He has always been a talented liar." Thor replied simply.

"Yes. I get that but what else? Any names you or the other Asgardians used to call him?"

"He was rather quite most of the time. Perhaps distant. But he always came to me if he wanted to talk about something important to him. Or to us- my Asgard friends and I, he always came to me. His lean build often worked against him. However, "Thor paused watching and waiting for Stark to say something before he continued.

"Keep going." Tony encouraged him after confirming that their order was still not ready.

"I shouldn't be telling you this, it would embarrass him if he knew I told you, but we often mocked him, called him silvertongue mostly for the lies, but also for the tricks and jokes he made- he simply wasn't as strong as we were. He needed to find something else to develop an advantage he landed on magic and words. One time-one time when I was nervous he asked me to give him a kiss. I found it amusing."

"Stop right there." He interrupted Thor taking the food and beverages that were on the counter and passing a tray of coffee cups and a basket of fries to Thor to carry, "That's exactly what I needed. Your brother has a gift. He made me laugh today." Tony paused, what he just said was giving Loki to much credit, "Well, he made me smile."

He raised a finger and said to the worker behind the counter, "One more coffee please. I miscounted." If his eyes weren't deceiving him he could have sworn that Thor's disposition just grew brighter.

He hadn't really miscounted. But someone on that table had just earned themselves a reward. Yes, they had just attempted to backstab his best friend but compared to setting off the anger management issues of his other best friend…it could have been worse. Also, given what Tony just learned from Thor, it seemed natural that, that particular someone had developed a sense of humor that had a layer of fatalism somewhere down the line. Which he-Tony apparently shared.

They reached the booth where the others were sitting. Tony got out one of the coffee cups, bent over the table and placed it in front of Loki. Loki looked up perplexed. "Well played. It seems you can in fact stay on one team."

"Was there any doubt?" Loki replied with a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. A light somewhere in his chest glowed.

"I'm giving you a compliment. If you ask me to say it again I might vomit. Don't push it and don't ruin the nice moment."

"Alright." Loki said bringing the cup closer as Tony and Thor put down the rest of the stuff they were holding so the others could eat and drink then pulled over another table and two chairs so they could join.

A/N: Thanks for reading. If you like it or dislike it please let me know in the comments. Or fav, follow ect. I'm happy to receive those too. If you both comment and fav/follow that would be really great!