Agent Coulson walked into the living room of Tony Stark's mansion and paused in shock. Lounging around on couches and chairs were Loki, the Avengers, and an unexpected, rather dangerous person.
"Tony, you are aware that the man sitting next to you is a wanted criminal in several countries and credited with a handful of high profile assassins over the years?"
"Yeah. Which man were you referring to?" Tony said, indicating Clint and the other man.
"The one with the metal arm."
"Bucky's cool. Capsicle brought him for poker night."
"Poker night?"
"That's why you're here right? To play?"
"No. Fury sent me t-"
Tony turned to look at Steve. "Capsicle, the poker table is upstairs. Why don't you take Mr. Winter and Phil and go get it."
Coulson looked at Natasha, "Help!" clear on his face. Nat just shrugged helplessly and gestured for him to follow Steve and Bucky.
"I'm not too late, am I?" Peter Parker asked as he swung in and pulled off his mask. "I had to hitch a ride on a plane, and then on a bus."
Tony looked suspiciously at Loki. "Loki, what did you do?"
The picture of innocence, Loki replied, "I didn't do anything. Why is it that whenever anything happens, you all suspect me?"
"You're a trickster." Natasha countered.
"Lady Natasha is right brother. And among us you are the only one with the power to reach between dimensions."
"Very well. I'll send Mr. Parker home... once we finish our poker game."
Just then Bucky came back into the room. "Steve said to tell you the card table is all set up. And Coulson wanted me to let you know that he is here on Director Fury's orders."
"Tell Phil that he has two options. He can play poker with us or he can leave." Tony said.
Directing his next statement to the rest of the room, he said, "You all head in. I have to take care of one thing and then I'll join you."
As soon as they left, Tony said, "Jarvis, initiate protocol 62."
"Initiating Hidden Party Protocol. Shall I tell Miss Potts?"
"No! Do not tell Pepper what we're doing!"
"Very well, sir."
"Jarvis, why don't you go ahead and put on some music for our game. I think… AC/DC would do nicely."
Tony joined the rest of the group around the card table.
"Since we have a minor playing with us -thanks to Loki- we can't play for money." Tony said, with a pointed look at Loki.
"Why don't we play for stories?" Clint suggested.
"Good idea Legolas. Alright, we'll play for stories." Tony agreed, picking up the cards. He dealt everyone a hand. Under the table, he activated several cameras around the room.
As Loki received his cards, he couldn't help but laugh silently. With a thought, he set in motion a trick he had been planning all night.
Natasha barely glanced at her cards, instead focusing on everyone's faces.
"Alright everyone. Put your cards on the table." Tony ordered.
Everyone placed their cards face up on the table and broke out into laughter. The moment the cards had touched the table, the faces of each person's cards had been changed into multi-colored pictures of that person's face.
As the laughter subsided, Bucky said, "Thor, control your brother. I want to "play" poker."
"Loki, enough games. Turn these cards back to their original form."
"As you wish, brother." Loki replied, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. With a wave of his hand, a puff of smoke surrounded the piles of cards. When the smoke cleared, a miniature tree stood before each of the players.
"Loki!" Clint and Coulson exclaimed in exasperation.
"I was simply doing what my brother asked."
"I asked you to return them to their original state. Instead, you turned them into trees."
"Loki simply decided to take you a little too seriously." Natasha said, her eyes still twinkling with laughter.
When Thor still looked confused, Bruce took pity on him, explaining, "The cards come from paper which is made from trees. So technically, the playing cards original form is a tree, even though everyone knows you meant their original card form."
"Loki, enough. Turn them back into playing cards." Steve said.
With a thought, Loki complied. Everyone revealed their real cards and Clint laughed.
"I win. Looks like I get to pick stories for you all to tell. Let's see. Steve, I think you should tell the story of the first time you kissed Agent Peggy Carter. Coulson, I'm quite curious about your team's missions, including how you all cooperate for more than five minutes and why Skye hacked the Avengers Tower and only changed the music playing in the elevator." He considered it for a moment. "Loki, I think it's high time we hear the story of how you realized you had a crush on Sif."
Loki's pale skin gained a hint of color as Peter, Coulson, and the rest of the team laughed.
Yes, I do ship Sifki. And yes, there will be a few mentions of it throughout the story. It won't play a major role though, so don't worry.
I don't honestly think any of the Avengers would play completely honest in a team poker game (except Steve). Tony and Bruce have gadgets, and I wouldn't put it past Clint and Natasha (and Bucky) to have mirrors or count cards, or have some other type of trick. I do think that if Loki really wanted to, he would be able to move people between dimensions (although whether by raw power or trickery I'm not sure).