Chapter 5: Ski trip!

"You've got to be kidding me," Tony chuckled, slightly relaxing back more on the couch.

Natasha shook her head, "Words straight from the director himself. We're getting another vacation."

Loki couldn't help but have a bit of an amused smile grace his lips. As much as he hated ( at first ) their first trip away, he had to admit it would be better than staying almost captive at Stark Tower again.

"Why? Ol' Patchy feel bad for ruining our Christmas?" Tony asked with a grin.

"Well, not exactly. He was planning on giving us some sort of reward, or break after our efforts with the 'Godzilla' incident. The fatality rate was in the lowest ever seen from an extreme disaster like that, and we handled ourselves well. ….Apparently less casualties equals vacation for us." Natasha explained as she shrugged to Tony and then even took a glance to Loki.

Tony brought his hand up to his beard, scratching lightly in thought. "We've gone on other missions with no casualties…" he said skeptically. "We didn't get any sort of reward for that, other than a pat on the back."

"Well the scale on which Godzilla was on…"

Tony began to smirk. "It's cause this guy's back isn't it." he grinned, pointing to the God beside him.

Natasha looked between the two men and sighed. "…Once I heard he was back I texted Fury." she admitted, "He replied with a …not so subtle message of wanting him away from Stark Tower. Saying we deserved a vacation and this would be a perfect time to take advantage of it."

Loki wasn't sure to be offended by that or amused. He decided on the latter and managed a small smirk. "Well, you're very welcome then."

Tony gave him a grin. "Hey well, vacations a vacation right?" he continued to smile. "I'm thinking Bahamas. You good with Bahamas? I've got this great beach house with a ho-"

"Tony…" Natasha had to cut him off. "...We can't go to the Bahamas."

The man frowned. "What? Of course we can. I'll can literally have my private jet ready in under three hours."

Natasha shook her head. "Fury was pretty lenient on rules but he did give me two major instructions."

Tony raised his eyebrows, his mood drooping already.

"They were to not let Loki out of our site ….and it had to be at your cabin."

Tony didn't think that sounded too bad after all. "Well, which cabin?"

Natasha sighed, of course the man would have more than one cabin. "Up north. He said there's a Shield base located there that's not too far away. We could contact them if we needed any extra help."

Tony's mood suddenly elevated, ignoring the last bit she'd explained. "Ski trip!" he shouted, getting off of his seat on the couch.

Loki still sat puzzled there, watching Tony excitedly grab out his phone and begin making what seemed to be text messages.

"I guess that's okay then?" Natasha smiled, looking over to Loki and sharing the same puzzled face with him.

"Yeah! I haven't been there in a while. Just gotta make sure it's all set for us. You know, heating and stuff. I'm just seeing if I've got Jarvis installed too…" he hummed the last bit to himself slightly.

Natasha got up off her chair, deciding this went over rather well. "Alright, would it be ready for say… tomorrow night?"

Tony jerked his head up from his phone. "That soon? Well ah yeah, he'll have his newest updates in an hour or so." he said chuckling slightly. "Man, Fury really doesn't want to see Loki around does he." he asked as he quickly got back to his screen.

Natasha met Loki's unchanging eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "Can you blame him?" she teased, giving the God a wink before making her way back up the stairs. "I'll tell the rest to get ready." she called out behind her.

Loki rolled his eyes at the woman and got up to join Tony, peering over at his phone once she was gone. "Ski trip?" he asked him, being confused with Tony's original outburst after hearing it was 'up north'.

Tony finished sending out the updates and pocketed his phone. "Yeah, we're going on a trip and we're going to ski?"

Loki furrowed his eyebrows, he had to think of where he heard the term ski before. "…Does this have to do with the jet ski you originally took me on?"

Tony gave him a strange look before he started laughing. "No, no no no." he snickered, "This is skiing, or well snowboarding in my case, down a mountain. A mountain with snow, and you go down on a board."

Loki had on a blank expression, not following.

Tony shook his head, "It's fun, just trust me."

"I believe that is what you said about the jet ski…" Loki hummed skeptically.

"Oh, come on you had fun." Tony chuckled, beginning to walk away from him.

Loki was quick to follow after him. "Not exactly." he said, although Tony blew it off with a wave of his hand.

"Well this type of ski trip doesn't involve water. Frozen water, to be exact. Snow, you know that white stuff that falls from the sky?" he smirked, bounding up the stairs.

Loki frowned… yes, he knew about snow. He knew about snow very very well. He slumped his shoulders and continued to follow him up the stairs.

xxx

Upstairs Bruce, Clint, Steve, and Natasha were all conversing around in the TV room still.

"Yeah, I don't know. Why don't you ask Tony?" Clint asked, looking over to the two now joining in on them.

Tony cocked his head to the side as he came up to join them. "Ask me what?"

Bruce sheepishly took a step toward them. "We were just wondering about skiing, and stuff." he said, his hand fiddling with his cuffs. "All of us ski or snowboard, except Thor and we were wondering what to do with boards and stuff?"

"Because it's a private spot, correct?" Natasha clarified.

Tony nodded, "Yeah, don't worry about it." he smiled with a wave of his hand, "I've got a huge garage there. It's like snow sport heaven. One could say it rivals a rental shop."

They all smiled, glad they wouldn't have to make any awkward appearances on their way up trying to rent boards.

"What's the point of having all of that gear?" Steve asked, clearly curious over who would need that much.

Tony shrugged, "Let's just say I throw some awesome parties." he grinned, that little glimmer in his eye. "And I like everyone to have a good time. "

The Avengers were sure cool with that, and even Thor continued to smile along with the group. Meanwhile Loki was standing beside Tony, pretending to know exactly what they were all chatting about.

"So now what? We leave tomorrow?" Clint asked.

"Yeah," Tony said, "Are you flying us, or what?"

Clint shrugged, "Guess so, it's the fastest way."

Tony nodded, "Alright then, guys pack warm. We're going to experience winter the right way."

"Yeah, so do your packing now. I want to leave early tomorrow morning so we'll get there while it's still visible." Clint said.

The avengers all took their cue to leave, and began heading off to each of their rooms. Except for Thor, who stayed back with Tony and Loki.

The Thunder God was looking at his brother with concern, and Loki was staring back. Tony noticed the exchange between the two and was quick to pull out his phone and take a few steps in the other direction, busying himself with the device, although he stayed to wait for Loki.

Thor gave the younger God a bit of a sad smile, and Loki just nodded.

"You have your helmet back?" Thor questioned quietly after a moment.

Loki nodded once again, "Tony crafted it for me."

"It is identical." he complimented. "Perhaps even better than what the royal blacksmith would have done." he said with a bit of a smile.

Loki managed a smile in return. After what Thor had done, lying for him and all he supposed the least he could do was humour him with a friendly conversation for once. "It is rather impressive."

It was now Thor's turn to nod, taking a glance to Tony who appeared to be very engrossed with his phone. "Truly."

Thor seemed like he was about to say something more, but Loki's judging eye upon him made him hold his wasn't sure if it was because Tony was in the room, or just because of the way he was feeling, but Loki definitely didn't want Thor to start some sympathy party. Or talk about sentiment. Feelings. Ugh.

A few moments of silence later, Thor took a hint and decided to get on his way. It was rare when Loki talked to him. The last time they had really conversed in a good few months was when Loki was hurt back on Asgard, and explained to him in little detail what the All Father had done to him. He decided he should have been lucky of the few kind words he had gotten already, and decided to end on a good note. "Well, I suppose I shall be off to pack now…" Thor said, giving his brother one last reassuring nod before making his way to his room.

As Thor disappeared down the hallway, Tony smirked to himself and pocketed his phone. "Well. That was awkward."

Loki sighed, "I'm aware." he said, following Tony as he led them to the elevator.

Tony chuckled slightly, brushing off the two brothers differences as he pressed the button for their floor, and stepped in once the doors opened for them. ". . .So, I'm royal blacksmithing material?"

Loki smirked, "Thor's words, not mine." he added, not wanting to inflate the mans ego even more so than it was.

"Yeah, but you agreed." Tony teased, glancing over the helmet. "Tell you what. I'll do your blacksmithing for you, if you promise not to hit me with whatever I make." he said, pointing to his cheek that was still slightly red from earlier with a grin.

Loki let out another soft chuckle. "I'm not so sure if I can oblige."

"Then no new helmets." Tony shrugged, raising his eyebrows to him teasingly.

"I only need one." he replied easily.

"Oh?" Tony smirked, "And what if your helmet suddenly disappears, or you lose it, or goes missing one night while you're asleep? I've seen a few of the guys eyeing it around here."

"No one would dare take it from me."

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I've read that hawks are attracted to shiny objects."

Loki smiled slightly. "Barton should know better than to mess with me."

Tony shrugged again. "I don't know about that, these are instincts we're talking here."

The God managed a bit of a laugh. He'd always thought Barton's nickname with the bird was slightly humiliating. "Well, I'll have to be sure to hide it then."

"Or you could just be nice to the person who could make you another."

The elevator doors opened at Tony's floor and Loki turned to him with a grin. "Mm, I think I'll just cherish this one."

Tony recognized his teasing tone and nudged him slightly as they walked out and into the hallway. "We'll see about that."

Loki just shook his head and followed him in the hallway up to Tony's room. He glanced down the hallway to the door across, the one that Tony allowed him to sleep in. The one he was taken in.

Tony had gone in his own room, taking out his phone quickly to check how the update on Jarvis had been. He only looked up when he didn't feel the God's presence beside him any longer. He frowned for a moment, before realizing Loki was probably going into the spare room. Uh oh, that would just be a memoir of bad unneeded memories right about now. And they were doing so well, he'd even gotten Loki to laugh. The room would ruin everything. No one had even gone in there since Loki had been taken except for Thor, and he was pretty sure it was still in it's disarrayed shape. Blankets strewn across the room. Definitely a good source for bad memories . . .He needed to stop Loki.

Throwing his phone on the bed, he made his way quickly back to his door to tell him to stop.

Loki had in fact made his way over to the door. He did hesitated slightly before he slowly reached for the handle, stopping once he heard Tony pop his head out from his own door. "…Hey! You ah, don't need to go in there. I've got a suitcase for you in here."

Loki was beyond thankful for that. To be honest, he didn't exactly feel like going into that room just yet, and was glad Tony had stopped him. He took a bit of a reassuring breath, not wanting Tony to see the relief on his features.

"You have a suitcase for me?" he asked, walking over to Tony and entering his room with him.

"Well it's not for you. It's one of mine, and I'm letting you use it." he corrected, walking into his closet and looking for the bags, slightly relived himself. Crisis averted.

Loki nodded slowly, "I have no clothes, though."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." he called out sarcastically, dragging the two bags out of the closet and dropping one at Loki's feet.

"I'll let you wear some of my t-shirts." he said, "Pants are gonna be an issue. Sorry, I'm not as lanky as you." he said, placing his own suitcase on the bed.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "It's a shame I'm not as short and stout as you."

Tony turned back to glare at him, although he saw the teasing grin on his face and had to laugh it off. "Ha ha, very funny." he chimed, going back into his closet to grab some clothes.

Loki chuckled slightly to himself and placed his suitcase up on the bed as Tony's was, finding a zipper on the side and unzipping it so.

He allowed his mind a second of rest as he waited for Tony to return with the shirts. It had been a long day for him, and finally being able to relax felt good. Although, he wasn't able to relax long as a sound began erupting from Tony's phone.

Loki jumped from the sound, squeezing his eyes shut; angry with himself for being startled so easily.

"Hey, wanna check who that is?" Tony called from the closet.

Loki frowned. "Who what is?"

Tony felt like slapping his forehead. "My phone. On the bed. The source of that noise. Look on the screen, what does it say?" he asked.

Loki felt slightly embarrassed from not knowing at first what he meant, but complied nonetheless and glanced over to the screen that was thrown upon the bed earlier.

There was a picture of a red haired woman, the name "Pepper Potts" flashing below it as the tune continued to blare.

"Pepper Potts?" Loki tried, wondering what that meant. Was it a code name for something? He'd never seen that woman before. Now that he thought about it, he did think he'd heard Tony mention a pepper out of the usual context a while ago.

"Oh, one sec." Tony said, taking a moment before coming out of the closet with a bundle of shirts in his hand. He placed the shirts down on the bed before he picked up the phone.

Loki couldn't help but ask, the curiosity getting the better of him. "Who's this Pepper?"

Tony raised an eyebrow to him before sliding his finger across the bottom of his phone finally seizing the noise. ". . .My girlfriend?" he said, bringing the phone up to his ear.

Loki was shocked, to say the least.

Who would name somebody Pepper?

HEY. spelling errors. I am sorry, I need to sleep now and really wanted this up for you guys.

I know I know. UPDATE, JEEZ. No worries guys, sports are coming to and end. I should have more time to write very very soon. :) Also, I would just like to know, do I have any Pepperony shippers out there? This isn't regarding this story, Pepper won't be in it much besides the talk Tony is going to have to have explaining to Loki that he does have a girlfriend and some random phone calls. I personally do ship it, and was wondering if anyone would be interested in a Pepperony little fic thing. nothing like this, probably just a little one shot thing. BUT NO WORRIES IF YOU'RE NOT! I probably wont ever upload one, but if anyone is a shipper and would like to let me know that wold be awesome! If not, carry on reading this story guys! I've got lot's of fun stuff planned! Alright, bed now. Night!