Chapter 11, Bump, Set, Burn.

It truly was a beautiful morning. The birds were chirping the sun was shining and and Thor hadn't snored at all during the night. The three in Tony's tent even had a peaceful rest as Captain America decided not to thrash around every five minutes, unlike the night before.

Tony was the first of them to wake up. Sleepily he opened his eyes, glad to see that no one was touching him this morning. He yawned, and stretched out noticing the sun was just shining through the slit in their tent and knew it would definitely be hot today. He pulled off his sweater and placed on a fresh shirt, glancing over to Steve and Loki who were still asleep. He bit his lip for a moment wondering how he should wake them up. He was about to get Natasha but soon had a better idea. He smirked to himself, and picked up his pillow. Without hesitation he whipped it right at Loki's head.

The God woke up groggily, turning over to see what happened when Tony threw another pillow right to his face.

"Agh, Stark!" came his muffled scream. "Imbecile!" he remarked once he ripped the pillow away, which hit Steve and woke him up.

Steve shot up startled form the impact and was looking around disoriented, as usual.

"Two birds with one stone." Tony muttered to himself with a smile, unzipping the tent to leave.

Loki frowned, "You'll pay for this rude awakening!" he shouted, glancing over to Steve who just raised an eyebrow.

"Good morning?" the solider tried, but was just faced with another one of Loki's scoffs.

Outside, Tony walked over to the other tents and woke them up in a nicer fashion.

"Get up!" he shouted, walking over to get some breakfast. "Up, up up!"

Well, slightly nicer.

Natasha emerged from her lonely tent, and the rest of the boys were soon to follow.

"It's gonna be hot today." Tony mentioned to her, as she joined him in grabbing some food.

She nodded in agreement, walking over to sit in the chairs now with a poptart in hand. She had to hide the last box from Thor as he destroyed the other three.

"Like really hot, you should put on some sunscreen." Tony teased, sitting beside her. "Cause you know… redheads and all."

"Enough with the comments." she said rolling her eyes, sick of his annoying tone.

"Alright alright, just looking out for you." Tony smirked, continuing to bother her. "Although I did hear an interesting fact the other day about gingers."

Natasha quirked an eyebrow at him, slightly intrigued. "And?"

"Is it true that you guys don't have sou-" Tony was interrupted by a poptart to the face. It broke in half and fell to the ground while he just sat in his chair in shock. "Umm, ow!" Stark finally shouted, rubbing his cheek. While Natasha had a good laugh beside him.

Thor looked over to the commotion across from him and nearly cringed as he saw the sugary treat on the ground. "We had more of these?" he whined and stared at the pink frosted pastry that was now abandoned in the dirt. He eyed the food, trying to restrain himself from going over there and eating it.

"Don't do it." came Clint's steady tone as if he could read the gods mind. He gave Thor a sympathetic look and passed him a granola bar. "Here."

Thor nearly whimpered. "I do not like these." but he opened the wrapper and ate it regardless.

Tony was still rubbing his face when the rest of the team decided to join them in the circle.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Bruce asked, glancing between the smirking Black Widow and the frowning Iron Man.

"Natasha was being too sensitive." Tony said giving her a dirty look.

"Tony, leaned a lesson." Natasha stated simply with a grin.

"It was an honest question!" he blurted out, trying to defend himself the best he could.

"Well why don't you save those for Pepper?" asked Natasha. "She has red hair as well." she shot back.

"Yeah, well Pepper would kill me." he said shrugging his shoulders.

"And you don't think I will?" Natasha asked with a devilish smile, raising one eyebrow.

The Avengers all let out a collective "Ooooh." as Tony tried to come up with some sort of response to top that.

"Okay, okay. I give. No mas." Tony said putting up his hands in a mock surrender.

Natasha sighed with a satisfied smirk, and relaxed back into her chair.

"So what's the plan for today?" Steve asked changing the subject, glad that their little episode was over.

Tony thought for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Beach volleyball?" he asked, a little more excited than he should be.

"Oh Coulson packed us the net! I saw it." Clint said, just as eager.

"You guys up for a game?" Tony asked, glancing around hoping for a yes.

"Why are you guys so excited?" Natasha asked, puzzled. She had enjoyed playing volleyball when she was younger, but never found anything too spectacular about it.

"Volleyball and sand are just two things that go perfectly together." Clint said, getting a nod from Tony. "It makes the game, ten times more fun."

Natasha gave them a weird look but couldn't help but smile at their joy.

"I'm afraid that Loki and I are unaware of this thing you speak of." Thor said speaking up. "Would you care to enlighten us?"

Tony glanced over to Loki, who once again looked completely lost. Although he covered it well with a bored expression.

"Okay, let's set up the nets down where it gets sandier and grab the ball. I'll bring the gods up to speed." Tony said, as the team got up and did what they were told.

Natasha walked over to where the equipment was but made a quick detour into her tent first. Tony was right, it was extremely sunny out today and she would get burnt if she wasn't careful. She quickly sprayed on some sunscreen hoping no one noticed her dissapearance and went to help out the others.

Soon enough, Thor and Loki had the basic rules of volleyball in their minds and the nets were placed nicely in the sand. Tony and Clint set the ball back and forth to each other as to give them a better idea before they actually started up a game.

"Let's make teams." Steve said as everyone came towards him. He was always taking the leading role.

"Sure, you and I are captains, Captain." Tony smirked, stepping beside him.

Steve smiled, he was always chosen last for sports. Never once was he the captain. Look at me now he mused to himself. "Okay, Clint." he chose, shaking himself from his thoughts.

Tony sighed, he wanted Clint.

Stark's team ended up being Loki, Bruce, and Thor. While Steve got Clint, and Natasha. They silently agreed that Loki was a fair handicap, as he really showed no interest in the game.

Thor proved to be rather good, as he was extremely strong and athletic. Bruce was alright, and Loki… well, Loki sucked to be honest. Every time the ball came near him he would step away, and stare at it in distaste. Tony soon grew tired of Natasha and Clint's unstoppable moves that would end up with a perfect bump set spike ending up with Steve in the front, and decided they should take a break.

Loki sighed and muttered. "Finally." to himself and turned his back to the others, glad to have some time to his own thoughts. Although those were soon interrupted.

"Hey why aren't you even trying?" Tony asked walking up beside Loki.

"Because this game, is childish. And I do not wish to participate." He said flippantly, dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand.

"Oh come on, there's got to be another reason." Tony said more quietly, glancing around them to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation.

Loki shook his head and looked to the man in front of him. "Why do you care?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because, our team sucks because of you!" Tony joked lightly, "But seriously though, you don't look like you're having any fun."

Loki sighed, wondering why Tony Stark would care about how much fun he was having. "I never really excelled in things such as these 'sports'." Loki admitted.

Tony nodded, happy he could get some sort of answer out of him. "And, why is that?" he pressed further.

"Everyone always was bigger, or stronger than myself. I never had a chance." he said quietly. "I've found that if you do not even try, you truly can't be seen as failing."

Tony felt a pang of sadness for the smaller god, and glanced down. "I can see what you're getting at." he raised a hand and put it on the gods shoulder. "But honestly, anyone can play volleyball." he said with a smirk, trying to lighten the situation. "Although, maybe you should take off your helmet so you can at least see the ball better." he chided, pointing upwards. "Also, you'd probably get really weird tan lines from that."

Loki smiled, "Perhaps."

"Hey are you guys ready?" Steve yelled over from where the rest of them were getting back into position, interrupting their talk.

Tony gave Loki one last look before turning back, to which Loki nodded. "Yeah we're good!" and he walked back onto their area.

Loki followed suit but paused for a moment as he took of his helmet and placed it over to the side of the court.

Unaware of the suns harmful rays that would soon effect some more than others.

Agh the sun! Don't worry, next chapter will have more volleyball for those who suggested! And nearly 100 reviews! I'm so flattered, I never expected this to get anywhere as many! You guys are awesome! :)

Thanks! :)