The costume of a feast after a battle was another thing Loki recognized from Asgard, he did note the peculiarity of some things just being the same no matter where he went.
Loads of food and loads of drinks, while people would recount their former adventure in big loud voices, laugh and sing while being high both on adrenaline and the drinks.
Loki was pleased to find that while true enough, there was laughter and recounting of events, it was more subdued than the big parties of Asgard. Mostly they would just be slouching on the couches in Tony's lounge.
Tony of course had not missed a beat taking a seat next to Pepper, and was happily putting an arm around her shoulder.
Clint was sitting on an arm chair by himself with crossed legs and a plate of his own pizza, Natasha had situated herself right next to Bruce… And it was not lost on Loki that she would try to scootc closer to the scientist when-ever he wasn't looking. It made Loki wonder if Bruce had some kind of information she was trying to get out of him, he had a hard time figuring out what else she would be doing.
Loki was sharing a couch with Steve, sitting on each their side of it, all were collected around a table which had all the open pizza boxes, the meat lovers, the one Hawaiian and Pepper had ordered something called Greek style for her and Loki which was rather nice.
"The HULK is not so scary at all." Natasha informed as the talk went to Bruces involvement. "He's sweet." she smiled.
Loki and Natasha had very different ideas of what sweet meant.
Bruce as well lowered his head, a blush of shame crawling over his neck.
"Seriously." Natasha informed. "He was scared at first, because he thought I was going to attack him, but when he realized I wouldn't, he was so careful. Like he was… really afraid of hurting me, but wanted me to stay. It's almost a shame he went away so quick."
"What a pitiful creature, that big green ogre." Loki commented.
That made them all turn to him.
Loki looked up. "What?" he asked.
"What do you mean by that Rob?" Tony asked in a frown.
"It is pity full isn't it?" Loki asked. "So much power, and yet this creature find himself a prisoner inside of Bruce most of the time. Only allowed a glimpse of the outside world when Bruce feels anger or in other ways demands his presence. And yet when it is time to relax the HULK is not allowed to stay around to enjoy the scenery nor discover the world around him. Like right now, it was the HULK whom destroyed and then fixed the dam, but it is Bruce whom is allowed to be here afterwards and celebrate with the rest."
There was an absolute utter and stunned silence as everyone looked at Loki whom looked up at them.
"Am I wrong?" Loki asked. "Clearly the HULK has the ability to grow more intelligent, how-ever he is never allowed to stay out long enough to evolve in that way. I am not saying he will ever be as smart as Bruce, but he has learned to form simple sentences at least. How old is he?" he asked.
"Erh.." Bruce halted. "The accident happened about fourteen years ago, fifteen now I think." he stated.
"Well, for how long of that time has the HULK been awake?" Loki asked. "If you accumulate all the time you let him outside, a weeks worth? Perhaps a month if we are generous, in either case that would make him a child, just a baby in fact." he stated taking a bite of his pizza.
Natasha nodded. "He did seem like a child." she admitted. "Longing for friendship, he reached out to me… There was, so much longing in his eyes. He looked, so lonely."
"I got a question." Tony reached up a hand. "Are Bruce and the HULK just two sides of the same person, you know, ultimately the same person underneath. Or are they two separate entities?"
Bruce frowned removing his glasses. "I'm not sure." he admitted. "We do seem to affect each other, how-ever we don't… We don't seem to share a lot of memories, nothing else than flashes at least. Vague ideas of what the other was up to."
"Maybe we should try and talk to the HULK." Natasha pointed out.
"Talk to him?!" Bruce asked. "Natasha! You know what destruction he brings when he.."
"Well, when you loose control." Natasha pointed out. "But, have you ever tried to let him out peacefully?" she asked. "Have you ever tried talking to him yourself?"
"How would I even?" Bruce asked then he sighed. "No." he admitted.
"We should try that!" Tony stated.
"Tony are you insane?!" Bruce asked. "You know what destruction he can bring!"
"Nat handled him fine before." Tony pointed out.
"STEVE!" Bruce tried, Steve usually being the one agreeing the HULK should only ever be used as a last resort, he how-ever seemed thoughtful, then he slowly nodded.
"We need to take measures of course, but we should talk to him." Steve agreed. "I mean, he is our team mate! Without him, we would have lost the battle in new york, we would not have been able to succeed today. We owe him our thanks and gratitude, as a team."
Clint sighed deeply. "Yeah." he admitted.
Wide-eyed Bruce looked at all of them. "Do you even know what you're.."
"It's going to be okay Bruce." Natasha spoke in a soft voice, touching his arm and Bruce looked at her.
"Yeah, just one thing." Loki now held up his hand. "What-ever you're going to do, please tell me before you do it so I am not anywhere near the place!" he asked.
"Aww, still scared of the big bad HULK?" Tony asked amused.
Loki frowned annoyed. "No." he stated, in a way so it was clear he wasn't being honest and the rest chuckled.
"Fair enough." Tony laughed. "We owe you one to, dude! You are super good at observation, you know that?" he asked.
Loki blinked. "Yes..." he tried carefully.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind for the future." Tony chuckled. "Man, this team is really shaping up!" he grinned. "For the avengers!" he held up his can of beer and the rest joined.
Loki sighed, he had to keep up appearances though and picked up his own can to join. "For the avengers." they all saluted and as they drank, Loki reminded himself of how he was going to betray them, of how sad and devastated their faces were going to be when they realized they had come to depend on their own enemy.
And how good it was going to feel, when they all realized they had been had by Loki himself! Their big, stupid faces…
Loki hated that the emotion was fleeting, ones again… he had to remind himself, he would not loose himself, he refused to change.
He was Loki, god of mischief, he had positioned himself at the place that gave him the greatest advantage in the upcoming battle. That was all.
