Thanks to Quantumphysica, livelaughlove, Cerca39, Tsukiau, thestralrider, SkyFsireLady15, and no-MY name's Anonymous for their reviews

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"Well, isn't it nice to have the whole family together again," Loki beamed at breakfast the next morning.

He looked so delighted that everybody else was on edge, nervously picking at their oatmeal, all except Thor, who was on his third bowl already and still eyeing the pan in the middle of the table. Pepper was happy to see that he had embraced wearing the clothes she had bought for him the previous day, although Loki still wore his Asgardian garments. Not that she blamed him, after Tony's stunt, but she had carefully selected clothing that she thought would suit him and was hoping that he would accept the attempt to build a truce. That didn't look like it was going to happen.

While Pepper was sort of glad that whatever Tony had talked with Loki the previous night had caused the demigod come out of his room (in her opinion 'out of sight, out of mind' just didn't work), she was terrified of that grin, and she wasn't sure how much more of the stress she could put up with.

Between Barton and Natasha coming home bruised and bleeding, Steve's extreme seriousness, Bruce locking himself in the labs, and Thor's disastrous attempts at doing his own laundry, the only thing keeping her sane was the fact that Tony had given her a neck rub the previous night and swore on everything he held dear that he would back her up 110% in all her decisions concerning Loki from then on. Now she was doubting whether she could back herself up.

Tony sensed her tension and patted her hand. She smiled at him gratefully. And then she caught a glimpse of a smirk that passed over Loki's face and all her stress redoubled.

"So I was thinking, – and captain, you don't have to listen, you've heard this already," the demigod started innocently. "Since we're all stuck here together for an undetermined length of time, we might as well try to make the best of it. To start off with, it would be best for us all if we at least pretended to try to get along."

"What's your point?" Barton demanded.

Loki smiled in a very patronizing way. "That doesn't sound like you're trying to get along, Clint."

Pepper was certain that the situation could very quickly escalate into blood, so she intervened. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Well, I was reading on your – what is it called? – internet this morning, and I found a game called Candyland-"

"Whoa!" Rogers bolted upright in his chair. "You were on the internet?"

Loki gave him an innocent look. "That is what I just said. It is remarkably easy, isn't it? Oh, have you not got the hang of it yet? I'd be happy to help you."

"How did you get on a computer?" Tony demanded.

"You left your laptop on the table last night."

"You did not use my laptop."

Loki couldn't stop a smug grin, and shrugged as if the whole thing had just been a random conversation. "Then I guess somebody else left their patented Stark laptop out here... in the open... waiting to be used. You should find out who it is, because there were some very interesting pictures on it of Miss Potts wearing... ah..." here Loki cleared his throat, as if embarrassed.

Pepper flushed red. "Tony?"

"My laptop is password protected," he responded quickly, looking a little afraid.

"Then it couldn't have been Mr. Stark's laptop, Miss Potts," Loki said with another devilish grin. "This password was ridiculously easy to guess. Not protection at all, really... "iron man is cool" with a dollar sign instead of a 's', a number 1 instead of a 'i' and zeros instead of 'o's."

"Stark, you let Loki break into your laptop?" Natasha snarled.

"I didn't let him."

"But you left it lying around?" Barton demanded.

"I-"

Pepper interrupted. "What pictures are on there?"

"None!" Tony responded, panic coming to his brown eyes. He looked around the table, and saw only glares directed at him, except Loki who was chuckling into his oatmeal. "There are pictures of us at that last charity ball, but nothing-"

Natasha threw down her spoon. "I think a more pressing issue here is the fact that Loki was able to just stroll through the internet-"

"It's called "surfing", actually Agent Romanoff."

"I don't give a-"

"Language, agent! There are children present."

"Hey, you're the only child here," Tony spat at Loki.

Loki put on an expression of false offense. "I am far older than you, Mr. Stark. If I'm a child, what does that make you?"

"I-" Tony cut off and suddenly started laughing. Pepper stared at him. He had lost it. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, given that he was Tony Stark, but why now of all times? She was mad at him! She didn't have the fortitude to work up the appropriate pity.

"This is because of the pyjamas, isn't it?" Tony asked.

Loki laughed as well, and the two shared their chuckles like a pair of old friends who wanted to kill each other.

"Don't be absurd, Mr. Stark. I haven't even started on the pyjamas."

Thor seemed slightly alarmed. "What are you speaking of? What are pyjamas?"

"Do not fret," Loki responded, still grinning at Tony. "Mr Stark just pulled a little prank on me."

Thor groaned and thunked his head against the table. He muttered something in a language that Pepper didn't recognise. Loki broke eye contact with Tony to look at Thor with raised eyebrows. He said something in the same language. Thor looked up glaring and replied. Loki flushed. With a definite bite to his voice, he let off a rather long stream of words – some of which Pepper understood, which were not exactly polite.

Thor jumped to his feet, knocking against the table. The milk carton tipped over. Milk gushed over the table, soaking through the tablecloth and spilling over the edge into Loki's lap. The dark-haired demigod pushed away from the table with a disgusted cry.

"Do you have to be as clumsy as you are stupid?" he snapped at Thor.

"Loki," Pepper said, her head pounding with a tension headache that was creeping up her neck. She heard the stress in her voice and attempted to breathe calmly. It didn't help. Not in the slightest.

"What now?" Loki turned to her, the mischievous glint in his eye replaced by anger.

"Apologise to Thor."

"No."

"Then go to your room."

Loki narrowed his eyes at her, but stood up. He gave his brother a disgusted look, and then headed out of the room. At the doorway he stopped and glanced back. "Does this mean we're not going to play candyland?"

#

Bruce looked up as somebody entered the lab. Tony walked in, carrying the same laptop that Loki had hacked into. The billionaire looked irate, and practically threw the computer down in front of Bruce and then began pacing in wild circles.

"Should I be worried about you turning into a giant green rage monster?" the scientist asked mildly.

"Loki!" Tony spat out in reply. "He changed the password on my laptop."

"Can't Jarvis hack into it?"

Tony stopped pacing and laughed manically. "Oh, yeah. Jarvis can. And Jarvis did. But guess what I found? Go on, guess!"

Bruce decided that guessing probably wasn't going to be the best course of action. "Tony, you need to calm down. This is exactly the kind of reaction that Loki was looking for."

"Yeah, it is!" Tony replied. "That's why I'm here reacting instead of there reacting. He changed the desktop! I can't find anything. I can't even change the password again! This is my laptop and Loki has managed to completely screw it up in ways that I can't fix! I'm the genius who built it! And he's just-"

Bruce couldn't help but smile a little at Tony's wild anger. Loki had known exactly where to strike. "Loki is from Asgard which is more advanced than earth in ways we don't understand. It makes sense that he would be able to figure out our technology, even your laptop, quickly. He's not stupid."

"And yet Thor still has trouble with the washing machine. Even I know you don't put a full bottle of laundry soap in one load," Tony muttered, sitting down on a nearby chair.

Bruce shrugged. "You'll be able to figure it out. Give yourself time."

Tony breathed deeply. "You're right. Thanks, Bruce. I guess I just needed to let off some steam. I'm all right now."

The laptop made a small dinging noise. Bruce looked at the little bubble that had popped up on the screen, and his face went white. As Tony reached for the computer, Bruce snatched it and backed away. Tony raised his eyebrows.

"Trust me, you don't want to see this right now," Bruce told him.

"Why?"

"Just remember how calm and relaxed you are-"

"Bruce?" Tony was advancing on the doctor with a slightly crazy gleam in his eye. "Hand over the laptop."

Bruce hesitated for a long time. With a sigh, he reluctantly handed the computer over and waited in silence. Tony looked at the screen. His eyebrows shot up, and then narrowed in confusion. Slowly, all emotion drained from his face. For a long time he stood like that, staring at the computer screen.

"I have to go have a chat with Loki."

"Don't get yourself hurt," Bruce replied, as Tony left the lab.

#

Loki didn't look up from his book as the door to his room flew open and an irate Tony Stark barged in. The demigod smirked as he turned the page. "I'm disappointed, Mr Stark. I thought that you were going to get back into your laptop hours ago. Are you sure you are the one who built that reactor in your chest?"

"Yeah, yeah, very funny," Stark replied shortly. "You bought flowers this morning?"

Loki casually marked his place with a ribbon. "I was only trying to help with your and Miss Potts's relationship."

Stark's eyes narrowed.

"You told me yesterday that she was mad at you. I have an understanding that earth women like flowers when they are mad with their lovers, and so I took the liberty of sending Miss Potts some at her office for you."

"Five thousand dollars worth!" Stark snapped. "Of my money."

"You've got plenty." Loki could have laughed at how red Stark's face was. The Iron Man was trembling with his anger.

"That's not the point-"

"It's just a joke."

Stark opened his mouth to reply, but at that time his phone started ringing. Loki smirked. Stark glared, and looked at the phone. He blanched, and Loki guessed that Potts was on the other end. The ringing was loud in the room, and Loki's smug grin widened. Stark took a deep breath, and then answered.

"Hey, Pepper!" Loki watched Stark's face as it went from slightly afraid to confused. "It's nothing, really... I'm just glad that you like them... It's not too much? That's great. That's really, really great." Stark glared at Loki as the demigod started to giggle. "Yeah. See you tonight. Love you too."

Loki looked back at his book. "You're welcome."

"Nicely played," Stark said, with somewhat of a begrudging, admiring tone. "Nicely played."

"Just wait until she gets the diamonds."

"Diamonds?"

"Oh, and you will probably be getting a phone call from PETA shortly to thank you for your substantial donation to their truly wonderful cause."

Loki looked up from his book again to grin widely at Stark's flabbergasted face. The billionaire (who was down a few million dollars but what kind of difference did that make?) was so shocked that all he could do was stand stock-still and gape like a fish out of water. Loki was very satisfied with himself. Now this was a prank.

"I would just like to say, Mr. Stark, that you are truly a shining example of heroics in these troubled times," Loki continued, rubbing salt into the raw wound. "You should be commended for your generosity."

Stark took a deep breath and shook his head. "This is all revenge because I bought you a pair of Iron Man pyjamas?"

"Revenge?" Loki said as if he was offended. He stood up and placed his hand over his heart, as though wounded or swearing an oath. "This is not revenge. You played a prank upon me and I merely repaid you in kind. This is reciprocity."

"Reciprocity?" Stark repeated, and he managed to calm himself enough to plaster a false smile over his face. "But that would mean that I now owe you another prank."

"Well yes, it does." Loki smiled again, a mischievous glint in his eye. "I look forward to it."

...

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