-8:34 pm-
"How about that one?" Steve suggested, pointing to the flashing neon sign that read "Motel 5".
"Please tell me you're kidding me." Tony said dryly, speeding past the sign. "That is a literal step down from Motel 6, so I'm assuming that there are confirmed murders in motel 5."
"Auuunt May..." Peter moans, and May worriedly placed a slim hand on her nephew's forehead, checking his temperature, and her brows furrowed even more.
"What the-"
"AH-hem!" Steve cleared his throat loudly, cutting May off.
"Peter, you have a fever!" May screeched.
"What?!" Tony yelled and turned completely around, abandoning the steering wheel.
Nat yelled in Russian before leaning over and grabbing the wheel, steering wildly out of the incoming traffic while switching through multiple languages with her descriptions of Tony's stupidity.
The billionaire paid the redhead no mind, his face lined with worry.
"Jarvis, scan the kid."
A blue light appeared from the ceiling of the vehicle and scanned the teenager.
"Mr Parker has a fever of approximately 104.6 degrees Fahrenheit. I would recommend immediate cooling procedures." The AI said calmly.
"Jarvis, locate the nearest Hilton."
"The nearest Hilton hotel is 34 minutes away." Jarvis replied.
"Okay, J. Punch it."
"WHAT?" May screeched.
"Well, we need to get him somewhere where we can treat him!" Tony yelled back.
"WATCH YOUR TONE!" May snapped.
Tony flinched away from the angry woman, as did everyone else in the vehicle.
"Miss Romanoff, turn around and go back to that motel." May ordered.
Natasha, the battle-hardened, espionage agent who always did exactly what she pleased, decided that she'd rather face four thousand Russian Cossacks than the anger of this surprisingly scary little woman.
"Nat, don't you dare!" Tony growled. "I am the one in charge here, and I will say where we go!"
May leveled her heated gaze on the billionaire, and Tony flinchingly stared back.
'This is one time I'm not going to back down.' He thought smugly.
-8:36 pm at Motel 5-
The clerk stared with fish eyes at Tony, who was drumming his fingers on the sticky reception desk with impatience.
"W-what?" The rodent-looking man stuttered as he gasped at the billionaire.
"I didn't stutter, unlike some." Tony rolled his eyes. "I said; 'I'll-take-all-the-roooooms!' " He enunciated slowly.
"R-right Mr Stark." The shaken employee gulped.
"Oh, and hurry it up, would you? I've got a sick kid here, who needs his rest."
The receptionist nodded quickly, stringy hair bouncing.
Steve pulled Tony back by the shoulder.
"All the rooms? Isn't that a little... extravagant?"
Tony scoffed in derision. "Extravagant is my middle name, Capsicle."
Loki rolled his eyes as he listened to the men talk. "Really? I thought it was 'weakling', or 'inferior'. Surely those would fit you better."
"Says the guy who was abandoned as a baby, and kicked off his adopted planet."
"Anthony Edward Stark! You apologize right now!" May said, glaring up at the man, fists on her hips.
"But he started it!" Tony whined, pointing at Loki.
The god of mischief smirked. "Do as the lady says, mortal."
"You too Loki!" May turned her glare on the frost giant. "Both of you are acting like infants!"
"While, ironically, the only person able to be classified as an infant has a 104.6 fever and won't stop blabbing about how his senses are overloading." Dr strange said dryly from his crouching position next to Peter.
"He needs to be cooled down ASAP." Bruce said, placing a cool rag on the teen's sweaty face.
Nat frowned, and looked up at Clint. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" She asked the archer.
He nodded. "Yo, Loki! Care to help us for a sec?"
Loki looked from Clint to Natasha. He caught onto their train of thought and rolled his eyes, uncrossing his arms as he walked quietly over to them.
"Does your child require my assistance?"
"Um, he's not my kid." Clint said with a chuckle.
Loki frowned and looked from Nat to Peter.
"But she is the mother spider, and he is her child. Is the Doctor the father then?"
Both Dr Strange and Dr Banner both sputtered and started laughing until the red-haired assassin silenced them with a glare. They both grew pink in the face, and were suddenly VERY interested in their patient.
"He's not my kid." Natasha said nonchalantly. "But he needs to cool down, or he could get even worse."
Loki nodded, and walked toward the teen, surprising everyone by wrapping the surprised boy in a large hug.
"Erm, did I miss like, some major bonding between my least favorite villain and prodigy?" Tony asked, looking at the awkward embrace.
"He's cooling the kid down, Tony." Steve muttered.
"Oh. Well, in that case-"
"Mr Stark?" The shaken employee squeaked.
Tony whirled around. "WHAT?"
"Um, we only have two rooms available."
Tony opened his mouth to protest that they should open more for the one and only Tony Stark, when Natasha cut him off.
"Perfect. Girls get one room, guys get the other." She leveled her gaze on Tony and Steve, as if daring them to object. "RIGHT?"
They all turned to Loki; the Jotun had closed his eyes in concentration. When they opened, everyone was met with crimson red eyes. His skin had begun to pale even more until he was blue, and then dark blue. The Avengers had known he was a frost giant, but none of the group had actually seen him as one.
Peter shuddered as the cold enveloped him, and began shivering so hard his teeth chattered.
"This is good. Just stay like that for a minute." Bruce sighed.
Loki tried to pretend he was anywhere but hugging the teenager with spider powers.
-Motel 5-8:40 P.M.-
"'We'll take it' she says..." Tony growled under his breath.
"Quit whining ,Stark." Loki spat from his reclined position on the arm chair.
"There's six of us, and Peter can't sleep on the floor." Tony's gaze fell on the youngest member of the group, who was laying on the bed, looking rather pale and sluggish.
"Tony, it is what it is. I was in way worse situations during the war: bunkers, fox holes, tents… The point is you have a lot to be grateful for." Steve snapped at the hotheaded billionaire .
Strange rubbed his temples, and Clint was sorting through the extra blankets and pillows that had been brought to them.
Bruce had left the room after the fight had erupted, concerned that he would turn an unwanted shade of green.
"M'sorry." Peter muttered from the bed. Tony pinched the bridge of nose, more out of guilt than anything.
"Not you're fault underoos. Just get some rest." Tony shrugged.
Rising from his seat, Loki straitened his jacket and stalked towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Strange called after him.
"For some air, as you mortals would say." Loki called over his shoulder as he pulled the hotel door open.
Strange took a step in his direction, but Rogers grabbed his arm, shaking his head.
"Let him go. In the off chance he does run, I'll be able to track him." The super soldier assured.
That statement peaked Strange's curiosity, but Rogers didn't offer more of an explanation.
The warm air lapped at Loki's gold engraved jacket as he stood on the porch that connected all the rooms.
Leaning on the railing, Loki took in the surroundings. This Motel was in the middle of nowhere, as forest encased the small building in all directions.
A creak signified another door opening.
Slight surprise overtook the god of mischief as May Parker leaned on the rail to his right.
"Thank you. Thank you for helping Peter." She smiled.
"You must think I'm a monster." Loki pointed out.
"Why would I think that?" May asked ,slight surprise seeping into her face.
"Most of my people probably would. The Frost Giants are either feared or hated on Asgard, and my real father, a Frost giant, abandoned me due to my small size when I was a baby." May's eyes widened as Loki shrugged.
"And you just accepted that? That- That's not right!"
"You saw just what I can do; Lady May, have you already forgotten New York?"
"No, but that bothers me. I can't believe that someone, would attack and kill innocent people, and then without hesitation help someone they barely knew. There's more to what happened than we know, isn't there?"
"Th-That's none of your concern." Loki shuddered, before turning his back and walking away.
Unbeknownst to either of them, a third party had witnessed the exchange from the shadows.
Back in the room, Bruce had piled blankets in the bath tub and claimed it as his own. Tony was sleeping on the floor on one side of the bed, Strange was on the other, Loki had claimed the futon, Peter was still on the bed, Clint was on the top shelf of the closet (for some dumb reason nobody remembered) , and Steve slept on the arm chair.
The Tv had been turned on and everyone was doing something that didn't involve trying to verbally maim each other. Strange was reading a book on spells for novices; he had made a mental note to thank Wong for slipping it in his bag.
"How many times have you read that?" Loki asked from his spot on the futon.
"Six." Was the absent reply.
Humming Loki stared down at the Asgardian spell book he had been flipping through.
Strange's eyes were torn from the pages as the book was yanked off his lap. He shot Loki a glare as he trickster looked it over.
"What are you-?" He didn't get a chance to finish as the Asgardian spell book was roughly dropped on his lap.
"I've read that one ten times." The Trickster yawned.
Strange considered shooting back some sort of response, but then considered the value of reading a spell book from the libraries of Asgard. Sighing, he opened the first page, and used a spell to help him understand the foreign language.
"Thanks." He muttered under his breath, hoping Loki hadn't heard it.
The slight grin across Loki's face suggested that indeed he had.
Clint sat hunched over a computer, a frown on his lips.
"Clint, What's up?" Asked Tony from his nest of blankets as he tinkered with one of his gloves,
"Just a project..." The archer shrugged without looking up.
"What kind of project?" The inventor was met with silence. "Fine don't tell me; I didn't want to know anyway." Tony pouted.
"Alright time for supper!" Natasha shouted as she kicked the door open with her foot and walked in ,followed closely by a surprised May.
"Natasha! I have to pay for any doors you break!" Tony yelped.
She shrugged and dropped four brown paper bags down on the table.
Supper was eaten in silence before the group settled down for the night. In a couple hours everyone had dozed off, in rather funny positions. Loki had the spell book on his face, Strange was cuddling the cloak of Levitation (he would be annoyed about it and deny it later), tony was wearing his glove (which honestly looked more like scrap metal), Clint was curled up on the top shelf with a teddy bear (only Nat knew about that aspect), and the others were sleeping somewhat normally... well as normal as things can be with a guy sleeping in the tub and another over the edge of an arm chair, but oh well.
At some point in the night the door creaked open and closed again a few minutes later.
-Motel 6, Men's room- 6:27 A.M.-
"It's not coming off!" Everyone awoke to Steve Roger's angry exclamation from the bathroom.
"What's wrong?" Strange asked Stark who was hovering at the bathroom door.
The question was answered as Rogers exited the bathroom. His lips were cherry red, his eyes had been heavily highlighted by dark black eyeliner, he was sporting heavy blue eye shadow, and the mascara on his eyelashes only added to the awkwardness.
Loki burst into laughter and nearly toppled off the futon he was sitting on.
The captain glared daggers at him.
"Did you do this?" He all but shouted, mentally counting to keep from quite possibly blowing up as he stalked towards the trickster.
"No!" Loki shook his head as he fell backwards to escape Rogers. "I had nothing to do with this!"
Of course Rogers didn't buy it. This was Loki after all, a being with such a reputation that he was even known in the mortal world for his tricks.
The door opened as Natasha and May walked in. Somehow Nat had found a way to access the room without a key.
No surprise.
They both stood stunned. Rogers was towering over Loki who literally had his back to the wall as everyone else stood back with either grins or grimaces on their faces (mostly grins). May poked Clint who had a rather wry smile on his face. He turned to face her, and she scowled. "How dare you let that poor man take the fall for our prank?" She whispered so only the people near could hear.
"Well I don't see you doing anything. Besides this is Loki, no one will believe him." Clint pointed out.
"You tell him, or I will." May warned. Clint rubbed his face and sighed. Admittedly he had let the girls in late last night, and admittedly he was pretty good with makeup, but why not let Loki take the fall?
Right, Aunt May took responsibility for her actions.
"Please." Loki whimpered. "Do you honestly think I could apply whatever is on your face with such accuracy?" The question was rhetorical. Of course he couldn't; Loki was good at a lot of things, but Rogers debated the fact, that Loki's total one month on earth (mostly during and right after the attack on New York) would give him enough time to learn much less practice the intricacies of makeup application.
Rogers turned his back to Loki, and faced the small group.
"Who was it?" He snapped.
The Spectators had heard May's words to Clint; thus Peter, Banner, and Strange all stepped away from the actual guilty party.
Clint gulped and Loki let out a sigh of relief.
"Okay, I'm never going to live this down. Now can I have some makeup remover , please? " Rogers asked with his arms crossed.
"Nope!" Natasha shouted, snapping a picture on her phone and darting out of the room with May and Clint in tow.
Rogers scowled, walked into the bathroom, and then slammed and locked the door.
Loki knew today would be a disaster.
Howdy, Darkwolf here. Once again thanks to Ariathestarrprincess for her ideas and input. In the future (Because Aria is a co-author) any of her work will be marked in stars. (ex.) *Aria's Work* so be on the lookout for more of her work in upcoming chapters, and thanks again for reading and for the reviews we have received so far, they are very encouraging to both of us!