Chapter 13 – Mistletoe Challenge Christmas Day

Loki is trying not to feel smug as he walks along the corridors of the facility, having left a slightly gaping Scott behind him. He's still chuckling as he meets Wanda, coming out of her room.

'Merry Christmas, young witch, did you sleep well?'

'Merry Christmas, Loki,' she replies with a small smile. 'And better than other days at least. How about you?' She frowns as she catches sight of Scott's red face as he walks past. 'You caught Scott didn't you? How many others have you already ticked off your list this morning?'

He simply smiles and bows. 'As always you are far too clever for me to fool.' She scoffs and they begin walking towards the common area. 'Scott is simply the latest in my list as you referred to. I have also found Groot and Rocket this morning and even Bruce.'

She pulls him to a stop, shock on her face. 'You caught Bruce under the mistletoe and Hulk didn't come out?'

Loki gives her a wry smile. 'We deemed it prudent to reach a truce and both caught the other at the same time. Though we're not divulging that information to the group at large as we're not sure if it would be classed as cheating.'

Wanda laughs, the sound light and bright for the first time in a while. 'I won't tell anyone.'

'And I also found young Peter, though I imagine he would appreciate it if you didn't comment on the way he turns bright red every time I grin at him.'

'What did you do to him?' she's breathless with laughter now.

He shrugs. 'I may have been a little more…thorough than with many others. I couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him in the future.'

'Every time you grin at him?'

'I'll make a point to prove it to you. Although…perhaps I should not do so too much whilst Wade is around or I may find myself at risk of losing appendages.'

Wanda's still laughing as they reach the common area. Loki take the opportunity to twirl her around under the mistletoe, dipping her back and then, as he pulls her up placing a soft kiss to her lips. Once she's upright again, a slightly shocked look on her face, he tells her. 'You are too fair to be so sorrowful, let your heart heal, little witch, you deserve to laugh more.'

He leaves her to think over his words as he joins the others, a couple of tears threatening to fall.

'What the hell is going on?' Loki looks up from his spot at Fury's feet to answer the man's question.

'A spot of friendly competition, my dear Fury,' he grins, climbing to his feet. 'Although dear Carol was not impressed with my catching her unawares by the mistletoe at the glasses rack.'

'So I blasted him across the room,' Carol calls from the breakfast bar.

'Can someone please explain what's going on?' Fury asks. Clint fills him in as he brings him a drink. 'Please tell me I don't have to take part,' he eyes Loki with his one good eye.

'Don't worry, Nick you get a free pass since you've arrived halfway through,' Tony laughs.

Loki takes the opportunity to drag Clint forwards once he gives Fury his drink so he's under the mistletoe and plants a loud and messy kiss to his lips before he manages to land his punch.

'Dammit Loki keep your damn mouth away from me!' Clint roars after him.

'Stop being a sore loser Clint,' Natasha shakes her head, laughing at the archer roughly wiping at his mouth.

'It's not over yet I can still win!' he counters.

'Just come and open some presents,' Steve sighs, 'since we're all here now.'

'Yeah, I want to find out what these packages are,' Quill says, poking at a pile of similar looking parcels. Loki hides his grin behind the mug that Wanda passes him, and winks at Peter. Who proceeds to turn bright red and look away, prompting a laugh from Wanda.

'You weren't kidding were you?'

'Not at all,' he answers as they go to join the others at the chairs around the tree.

'I think we should start with those that Quill found,' Natasha grins. Steve just laughs and hands them out; most of the team are looking excited, but the rest are confused.

'Everyone got their present?' Steve asks.

'Can we open them yet?' Peter's virtually vibrating with excitement, a huge grin on his face.

'Let Cap sit down, kid,' Tony laughs. Once the blond has returned to his seat he gives everyone the go ahead to open their gifts.

'What the hell is this?' Rocket asks, holding up his sweater, a racoon face decorating the front surrounded by a variety of guns.

'We all got knitted Christmas sweaters!' Peter grins, pulling his Spider-Man one over his head. 'They're all personalised to us.'

'Where did they come from?' Thor asks, pulling his hammer and lightning decorated one over his head.

'A knitting group from the city sent some in, and then Wade organised getting the other ones sorted,' Natasha explains, her Black Widow one now in place.

'Where did you get the other ones from anyway?' Sam asks him.

'Err…that's my secret and I shall take it to the grave with-'

'He made them himself,' Loki cuts across Wade.

Silence reigns after his statement. 'I was really hoping no one would find out about that,' Wade sighs.

'You made them?' Sam asks. 'By yourself? How?'

'Well I learned to knit for a mission once-'

'Don't ask,' Peter sighs.

'-and so I just worked on it when you guys were busy.'

'I have so many questions',' Bucky shakes his head.

'You seriously made this?' Quill asks holding his up in front of him. 'Dude that's awesome!'

'My revealing your secret, Wade,' Loki says, standing up and pulling his own sweater on, 'was merely so that proper gratitude can be expressed. Thank you for creating this. I believe these are supposed to "ugly" but I will admit to enjoying wearing mine.'

'Huh, well thanks Loki,' Wade chuckles, 'and you're welcome.'

'The only thing I hate about these damn things,' Quill's muffled voice comes from inside his where he's gotten stuck, 'is getting them on!'

'Can we leave him like that all day?' Rocket asks.

Loki grins as he sees what's hanging above Quill. 'Certainly not if you want some peace and quiet at some point today. Here, Star Lord, allow me.' He pulls the sweater down, planting a kiss on Quill's lips as his flushed face emerges. 'And might I suggest moving from under the mistletoe?'

'Oh for the love of-!' Quill curses as everyone else bursts out laughing. Loki resumes his seat and winks at Valkyrie.

'For you information, dear Valkyrie, that leaves me five away from completing the challenge.'

'One of them is me, Loki, and you are not coming anywhere near me,' she grins back.

Loki manages to catch Steve whilst they're taking the food to the table for lunch, and can't help but grin at the teasing the soldier receives for the shade of red he turns. Honestly this contest is doing wonders for his ego. By mutual agreement there's a pause in the competition while they eat lunch, and Loki surprisingly finds himself seated near the children along with Strange.

'Mr Loki, sir, is it really true you can do magic?' Cassie asks him as Scott loads her plate up with food, lisping over some of the words with her missing front tooth.

'It is indeed,' he replies, 'in fact I can do two brands of magic: Asgardian and Jotun. Though some would argue that the Jotun one is not really magic, and more abilities inherent to the race.'

'Did you really turn Mr Thor into a frog?' Cooper asks.

'Of course not,' he replies with a smirk in Thor's direction. 'I turned him into a toad.'

There's an eruption of laughter from the children at this, causing Clint to eye him suspiciously before Laura hits him over the head with a wooden spoon and chastises him for being rude.

'Can you teach me how to do that?' Nathaniel asks.

'I do not think your father would approve.'

'Oh no Dad would approve,' Lila grins, 'but Mom wouldn't.'

'You can do magic as well can't you Mr-sorry I mean Doctor Strange?' Cooper asks.

'I can,' the other man replies, 'but not the same kind of magic as Loki, and not the same as Wanda.'

'I never realised there was so much magic in the world,' Cassie says, her eyes wide. 'Can you teach me any of it?'

'Perhaps when you're older,' Strange says, catching Scott's panicked expression over the top of the girl's head, 'and with both your parents' permission.'

'Aww that's no fun,' she pouts.

'What's also not much fun,' Loki warns her, 'is the amount of studying you have to do in order to be able to use it. It will mean hard work if you want to become a magic user.'

'But Wanda didn't do loads of studying,' Lila argues.

Wanda looks to Loki and Strange, eyes wide, for help. 'That's because Wanda's magic,' Loki jumps in, 'is more like my Jotun abilities: something innate to her. Perhaps you will have your own innate abilities that you will discover in time. I didn't discover my Jotun abilities for centuries.'

'Was that because your dad was trying to stop you from becoming a murdering psycho?' Nathaniel asks innocently. His sister turns to him horrified.

'Why would you say something like that?' she demands.

Nathaniel's lip starts to quiver, obviously realising he's said something wrong. 'That's what I heard Dad say to Mom one night when I couldn't sleep and went downstairs.' Out of the corner of his eye Loki sees Clint hide his head in hands and slowly sink down in his chair. Other members of the table have started to realise what's happening and he realises this could quickly turn awkward. Wanda seems to be trying to find the best thing to say, and Thor is frowning at Clint and Loki's wondering how long before Mjolnir will make an appearance.

'In a way yes it was, Nathaniel,' he turns to respond quietly to the boy, though still loud enough for others to hear. 'I shan't bore you with the details, but in summary: as a Jotun I was supposed to be a sworn enemy of Asgard. In order to try and ensure that I was treated the same as Thor, our father kept my true parentage a secret and raised us as brothers. I suppose he didn't want me to feel like I was a prisoner as I was growing up, or have me want to turn on the rest of Asgard because I was different to them. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances I found out the truth, the thing he was trying to avoid ended up happening and when I…left Asgard I found creatures who were not quite so concerned about taking the feelings of hurt and rejection I felt and twisting them to their own ends.'

'Wasn't your dad supposed to be the god of wisdom or something?' Lila asks, curiosity apparently outweighing her awkwardness at the turn of the situation.

Loki laughs. 'To mortals here on Midgard yes he was. But even the wisest cannot see all possible outcomes of their actions, for that you need the gift of foresight and even that comes with its own difficulties as its down to how you interpret your visions.'

'Did you ever forgive him?' she asks.

Loki feels his smile shrink but become no less real. 'I did. He was my father. Regardless of the consequences of his actions I cannot argue that he did what he did with what he believed to be my best interests at heart.'

'But…' Lila trails off, frowning in confusion. 'Didn't he hurt you?'

Loki has to restrain himself from looking at Thor. 'Yes he did. More so with actions he took after my first visit to Midgard. What I came to realise was that it was my rage and my hurt that had taken me to where I was and it could take me no further.'

'So you just forgave him? Just like that?'

Loki laughs. 'Oh no dear child. I am still working on forgiving him completely even now, something like that cannot just be forgiven in a moment's decision, it takes time and work. But I was able to forgive him enough that, before he died, I could look on him as my father again.' He smiles at the confused look on the girl's face. 'I am sure you will never be in the situation where you can fully understand my meaning, but perhaps one day you will come closer to. Now I suggest we change this topic of conversation to one more appropriate for Christmas Day. You were asking about magic: would you like to see some ice shapes?'

There's a ring of agreement from the children and, as they steadily make their way through their meal, the children ask Loki for more and more elaborate ice shapes. Eventually Wanda and Strange each help him with shaping the ice and making the shapes come to life so that, by the end of the meal, there's a veritable zoo running between plates and serving dishes.

Valkyrie nearly stabs him when he catches her on their return to the common area, and Natasha manages a slap before he darts out of reach. Strange shoves him through a portal which sends him to the other side of the compound when he catches him by the breakfast bar.

Now he only has one person left.