Darcy was trying to paint her toenails, a bright blue with glitter run through the polish. She had meticulously trimmed and filed them into equal size; living in the same tower as Captain America just made attention to detail very necessary. Lest she looked down at her feet whilst talking to him earlier that morning and saw what her hyperactive mind had described as hangnails.
Attention to detail was exactly why Jane had not begrudged going bra shopping after Steve had settled into his temporary state of residence. Jane didn't really have a lot to offer in the er- chest, department, but Darcy's help and strategic bra padding and she certainly had the illusion of something to fill the b-cup.
Darcy was painting with her eyes glued to the huge projection of 16 and Pregnant with Jane at her side, scowling into various mathematical schematics while Thor slept in for the morning. Tony, in ugly brown sweat pants and a Iron Man zip up hoodie, made a disgusted sound and told JARVIS to turn it off.
"Don't you dare!" Darcy turned and scowled at him. JARVIS naturally listened to her. "Tony! Do you want me to dragon-kick you in the head?"
Loki entered, though no one looked up at him. He slid onto Darcy's other side, though he kept a distance. He watched her cap the bottle of white nail color and look at her badly done left foot, the emptiness of the right glaring back
"Don't watch that crap, it's poison."
"It's not poison, you're poison."
"I'm the best kind of poison."
"Like arsenic, emphasis on the arse!" she shot back, twisting to look at her unfinished paint job. "Ugh. Eff my life, seriously right now. Why do you even have the season, if you hate it so much?"
"Just to weed out moments like this." he said, cup of coffee in hand. "I don't encourage teen pregnancy."
"Unless it's you gettin' bitches pregnant." Darcy complained, making Loki let a small 'heh' into his coffee. "See? Loki agrees with me."
"So what? He also tried to take over the world."
"Not relevant. We're right. You're wrong." Loki straightened at 'we', blinking widely at the side of her head. It was so confusing, to be counted in her number.
Tony told JARVIS to turn the tv off, and hesitantly, he did.
"Put my show back on."
"No. Don't get pregnant." he warned her.
"Ah, Tony, you need a boyfriend to get pregnant-"
"No you don't. Trust me."
"Oh, wow." Jane muttered. "Is this really happening?"
"Do you take me for a- a-...?!"
"Harlot." Loki offered, bemused, as she thanked him and took use of the word. He turned in his seat to watch the escalating verbal spar, though both parties wore smiles, enjoying the snarky banter. It became apparent they both lived off of that kind of energy, both liked to have a wit to butt against, keep their tongues sharp.
He noticed that Stark had a similar smirk to the one Darcy wore. Similarly shaped eyes. Her mouth was poutier, however, and her eyes a bright blue, where his were thin and dark, respectively.
Loki began to notice a lot of similar things, then.
"Look, kid, you're under my roof, don't get pregnant."
"And who exactly am I going to get pregnant with?"
"I'd volunteer my services if I didn't already fear being dragon-kicked in the head." Loki mused, raising his eyebrows at the back of her head. Jane whipped her head up, her mouth open, while Stark just looked on him with a confused, slightly damaged expression. Darcy turned more slowly, mimicking the exact same look.
He repressed a snort and stood with a sigh, sipping his coffee, beginning to walk away under the chaos assuredly to follow.
"Psh, you couldn't handle me." Darcy said with a bright grin, rolling over the back of the couch into standing.
"I'd put my life on being quite able to handle you." he said without missing a beat. "They have not bequeathed me with title of 'Silvertongue' unjustly."
"Wow." Jane cleared her throat. "Okay. I'm just going to-" and she got up, most of her equations left behind on the seat in the ring around where she'd been sitting. She was shaking her head as she left, refusing to make eye contact with anything but the floor.
Darcy put her hand over her mouth to catch the laugh that shouted out. She could feel she was blushing, but it had been a damn long time since Lewis' daughter had blushed. She pressed the other hand to her cheek and laughed again, because the look on Tony's face was mortified, while Loki stood there, half amused, half prepared to be hit.
He was like an abused animal, or something. Darcy had not ever been able to walk past a bullied creature without at least offering her friendship. It was an impairment; it had gotten her into a lot of childhood fistfights.
"So there's the joker Thor tells me about." she said, removing hands from her face. "Nice to meet you."
Loki just blinked, the humor from him visibly draining. Tony was watching his face with a frown - he didn't like where the joke had been going, and he didn't like how easily Darcy encouraged it. Darcy was smiling at him, this retired god, and he had no idea what to make of it.
"Hey Loki," she said with a particularly mischievous glitter in her eye. "I was thinking you and I should-"
"Miss Lewis? Your mother is on the phone." JARVIS said politely, possibly sensing Tony's raising blood pressure. "She insists it's an emergency."
"She always does. Where's the nearest headset?" she looked around. Loki followed her only with his eyes, a hopeful breath trapped behind his lips. "Thanks JARVIS, you're the best." she slid the arm of a small bluetooth piece over her ear, sending Tony and Loki smiles that looked like lies.
"Excuse me for like, an hour. My mother will talk my ear off. Yes, I mean you. I say it with love. How are you feeling?" and she casually left the room.
"So... You're going to invite the rest of the team over." Bruce had chopsticks poised in his hand, eyebrows hiked high in disbelief. "In the tower. Together."
"Yup." Tony simply shoveled his noodles into his mouth with no finesse, just mess.
"I thought it might be- a bad, idea." Pepper offered, more elegantly twirling her fork into her noodles. "You guys haven't all been assembled since you cornered Loki in our lounge room. The same lounge room, may I remind you, they'll be living in."
"Jane says SHIELD's in on Thor's arrival, we'll be fine."
"Having SHIELD know something and having the members of SHIELD in on that secret are two different things. This is a bad idea." Jane offered quietly. "They'll either start collecting DNA samples from Thor or they'll set up permanent surveillance or... Not to mention what Loki did to Hawkeye." She was sat on the floor, her head tucked on Thor's shoulder, while he had his tongue out in concentration, trying to make his hand conform to the shape the chopsticks required him to make.
"Now he's human... Hawkeye is highly trained assassin. He has the means and the motive. Is this... going to end well?"
"I will talk to my brother, and my brother of the shield." Thor offered in a low, thrumming rumble. "Since coming to this tower he has withdrawn from me more - I felt our usual companionship stir in the desert. I had thought he might yet break his cool and earn his magic back by now; I cannot say it isn't disappointing for the both of us. I watch him age daily and I do not like it." he took a small, sad breath in, and very quietly said:
"He was supposed to live forever, with me."
There was a very heavy silence. Bruce averted his eyes, shifting in the lab chair.
"What do you expect to get out of this, Tony?" Bruce asked him, burying through his noodles, hunting for some chicken he might've neglected earlier.
"I expect that we'll have to bond, or something. Steve's having nightmares and won't tell me - what would I know, it's not like I've suffered POW style." he rolled his eyes. "I figure, the rest of us are here, and we're - bonding, or whatever, makes a better team, right? Romanoff and Barton are already on the outer, let's be honest. We've got a dude from another century and a dude from another world and you're both still in, with us, compared to them."
"I thank you for including me in your 'in'." Thor teased with a grin. Tony bowed with all due theatrics.
"So you're doing this to help the team?" Bruce was not convinced.
"It is an excellent idea, given that Hawkeye does not harbor deathly ill-will toward my brother, and only then." Thor lifted his eyes to Tony. "This has- potential, to end very badly."
"But if it ends well, it ends really well. I'll throw down with Robin Hood if it comes to it. Steve'll connect and have a solider to chat with - I don't know what Romanoff's gonna do. Naked redheaded pillow fights?" he said hopefully, staring at Pepper.
"Semi naked and you're not allowed to touch." and she effortlessly made him sag, defeated.
"I don't know." Bruce was saying, shaking his head slowly. He found a stray bit of chicken and captured it, lifting it from the bowl. "I just- I don't know. There's... a lot, of variables."
"Tell me about it." Tony shoveled more food into his mouth, pushed it into one cheek, and said: "Like our hammer-friendly demi-god said, it had 'potential' to end badly. 'Potential' is an undefinable percentile. This could 'potentially' end very well."
"And if it doesn't?" Pepper looked at him then, concerned. "This is on you. I'll call Natasha ahead and explain. She's close with Hawkeye, and he's the one I'm worried about the most."
"It is not as though my brother is entirely without skill." Thor amended roughly. "But to lose him to a comrade would be - painful."
"Understandably." Bruce nodded to him, acknowledging the risk.
Jane was staring holes into Tony's forehead, and he was very animatedly ignoring her. Pepper caught this first - her awareness picked up the other two on the battle of wills. Finally, Tony sent her a mega watt smile.
She was not amused.
"You're not doing this because of-... Steve and Loki needing to be... Distracted." her narrowed her eyes slightly. "Are you?"
Thor's brows furrowed. Then apparently something slotted in his brain, because he made a small, agreeable noise, and went back to stabbing his noodles with sticks.
"What makes you say that? I'm not defending anyone."
"That's not what I said."
"Distracting. Right. That's what I said."
"You said defending." Thor mumbled, though it was loud enough to echo through the room.
"I'm missing something." Pepper glanced to Bruce, who could only shrug. "Tony?"
"I'm not defend- distracting, anyone. I'm not. I'm not like that. Why would I-? No. That's dumb. Illogical. I'm not." he stood. "It's for the greater good. It's not selfish, or whatever. I'm going to bed."
"It's half past six-"
"I'm a big boy now, and I can say when I go to bed. Nighty night, losers."
"Out of the question." were the first words out of Loki's mouth. They quietened, glanced his way. He reiterated, in so small a term as there human brains would process. "No."
"Well, seeing as it's my tower and they're already here, you don't actually get choice. The head's up was me being nice."
"They're what?" Steve repeated sharply.
"They're already here," Tony said, swinging around to the opening elevator doors. He put a hand down on the back of Darcy's chair, waving the other around absently. "The foxy redhead is Natasha, and this is Cupid. Just don't mind-"
"Clint?!" Darcy had jumped to her feet so hard her chair had tipped up, nearly sending Tony down. Both hands folded over her mouth, and her glasses had fallen off of her face, hitting the floor, unmistakably cracked.
"Hey, Darce." his grin was only slightly strained, as his eyes did the circuit of the room, looking for the trickster that wasn't there.
She ran at him, nearly barreling over Bruce to fling herself into his arms, which were open and waiting. He'd strode forward to catch her, making a gruff noise as she landed. His hand closed familiarly over the back of her head, the other arm pulling her waist tight to his body - she put his face against his throat like she was trying to inhale his pulse, her arms wound around his shoulders.
"Ohmygod, ohmygod!" she pressed her hand over her eyes, then did a double take to see he was still there, still under her face. She wiggled until she was set down, and put both hands on his biceps, squeezing for further assurance he was really there, and let out a happy laugh. "What the-? You're an Avenger!"
"Yeah. About that. We didn't really have a lot of time to discuss, did we, cupcake?" he slung a familiar arm around her, and she wrapped both hers around his waist. He kissed the side of her head and grinned, putting his nose to her hairline. "You look good, kid."
"I know, right?! It's been- months!"
"Nearly a whole year."
"How are you? What have you been doing? Are you allowed to tell me? Are you going to do it any way? Is this- is this, Natasha? The, Natasha? Oh my god. You're a legend. Nice work! Someone has to keep this old bum in line when I'm not around, and I'm glad it's you!" she stuck out her hand and shook Natasha's without removing her person from Clint. Natasha seemed to take the hero worship in her stride, smiling politely, shaking the hand back. "I'm having all the feels."
"Why is this on hand?" he plucked her tazer from her pocket, cocking a brow. "Like you aren't safe enough under this roof."
"Psh, I live with Tony Stark, he upgraded it for me, like the boss he is." she flipped her hair to grin at the aforementioned technology prodigy, who preened under the compliment. "Six prongs and equal charge in one device. I nearly cried."
"Pretty." he poked the metallic lightning strike up along the side.
Tony inflated, with a casual:
"I'm arty."
They ignored him.
"Also, I hang out with a retired god of mischief. This is my life." she took the tazer back, tucking it into her back pocket. Clint had noticeably reacted to hearing who she lived with, tightening all across the shoulders and arms. She wrapped her arm tighter around him, putting her head to his shoulder. "Catching up would be good now, huh?"
He made a flat noise, and with his arm still around her, they turned to go to her room.
"Woah, where are you two going?" Tony actually started to stride forward to catch them physically.
"We're catching up. BRB." he didn't have a chance - they were marching, intent, backs turned to the rest of the world.
"Are they...?" Steve's brow came down. "Together?"
"I don't know." even Natasha was coolly surprised. She turned to survey Tony with a cocked brow - Jane was giving him a withering, lecturing look. Thor was beaming at the spy, who nodded at him in greeting. He came forward with a hand outstretched - if he had a tail it'd be wagging a hundred miles a minute.
"Hello, sister in battle."
"Thor." she took his hand and shook it twice, then relented with a sigh, and opened up the other arm.
He lifted her off the floor with enthusiasm, gruffly laughing into her shoulder.
"It is good to see you whole and well." he told her, and set her back down on the floor. "This is my lady Jane. How have you fared? Was your journey kind?"
"It was... eventful." she said her hellos to everyone in the room, lingering pointedly at Tony, who's eyes were fixed on the elevator doors Darcy and Clint had disappeared behind. "But it always is when Clint's involved."
"Tea?" Pepper offered, but only Jane, Bruce and Natasha agreed.