We are SO sorry for the super long wait! O.O But now that my sister and I are on summer vacation, updates will be much more frequent ;)
We would love to thank all SO FREAKING MUCH of for all your support! The response to this fic has been absolutely stunning *-*
And I would especially love to thank Misty Blue for all her reviews! ^.^ I honestly can't say how much it means to me!
And without further ado, enjoy the chapter ;D
"Hey!" Tony said indignantly, "I thought we were science buddies!"
"We still are," Bruce said, looking at Tony in confusion.
Tony huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Alright... now Stevie needs to play us something!"
"No," Steve shook his head quickly, taking a few steps back.
"Why not?" Tony prodded.
"Because I don't know any songs!"
"I heard you playing What Makes You Beautiful," Fury accused.
Steve blushed. "Well... that's actually the only new song I've learned..."
"Play it!" Clint whooped, snickering slightly. Out of all the songs Steve could have chosen...
"I am not singing that song," Loki declared, leaning back against the wall.
"Oh come on! Your fangirls would love it!" Tony exclaimed.
"Fangirls?" Loki asked in confusion.
"Yep, fangirls!" Tony affirmed, "Do you have any idea how many letters they've sent here since you've been staying?"
"I haven't been getting them," Loki said coolly.
"Wait a second. I'll be right back," Tony said, dashing out of the room.
Everyone stared at each other in confusion.
Tony soon came back hauling a huge sack, dumping it at Loki's feet.
"There!" he announced.
Loki hesitantly leaned down and opened it, revealing it to be stock full of letters of various sizes and colors, as well as a few packages.
Everybody else stared at the sack, Clint finally exclaiming in shock "He must have gotten more fanmail than all the rest of us put together!"
Tony nodded grimly. "Why do you think I kept it from him?" he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Thor started cracking up at his brother's expression as Loki opened one of the letters, his finely-carved dark eyebrows shooting up as he read the contents. He blinked his eyes in bafflement.
Curious, Tony pulled the letter out of Loki's hands, reading it aloud.
"Dear Loki, I love you so freaking much! Please, let me hug you!"
"You've got to be kidding me," Clint muttered, grabbing the letter out of Tony's hand to read it for himself.
"He wasn't kidding, huh?" Natasha concluded from Clint's expression.
Steve took the opportunity to start sneaking away.
"Captain Rogers, I do believe you still need to perform your piece," Loki called out, without looking up from the letter he was reading. "Don't think you're going to get away so easily."
"Damn!" Steve swore, before immediately covering his mouth. "Oh no, that was horrible of me! I shouldn't have said that!" he freaked out.
"Congratulations," Tony said, slapping the taller man on the shoulder. "You might actually survive in the twenty-first century!"
Bruce pressed Steve's bass into the super soldier's hands.
"Play," Natasha said forcefully.
Steve sighed in resignation, fingering the neck nervously.
"You all have fun with that," Loki said, waving a letter in the air. "I'm too busy reading my fanmail to sing for you."
"I'm not joining in either," Fury agreed, his tambourine tucked safely away in some secret pocket of his trench coat.
"Fine, I'll sing," Tony shrugged. "Hit it, Capsicle!"
Steve began strumming.
"You're insecure
Don't know what for
You're turning heads when you walk through the door
Don't need make up
To cover up
Being the way that you are is enough
Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but you," Tony sang, pretending to hold a microphone. He gestured to the other Avengers to pick up their instruments and play along. Thor's forehead was creased as he listened to the new Migardian song, and Natasha just shook her head. Clint, on the other hand, happily picked up his guitar and started playing.
"Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
Oh Oh
You don't know you're beautiful
If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
That what makes you beautiful"
Loki raised an eyebrow at these Midgardians idea of a love song, though his disconcerted expression might have been partially do to the letters he was reading as well. One would almost think that these teenage girls had wanted him to take over this realm...
"So c-come on," Tony continued.
"You got it wrong
To prove I'm right I put it in a song
I don't know why
You're being shy," Here he winked at Steve, who turned as red as a beet.
"—And turn away when I look into your eyes
Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but you
Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful
If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
That's what makes you beautiful
Na na Na na Na na Na na
Na na Na na Na na Na na
Na na Na na Na na Na na
Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
Oh Oh
You don't know you're beautiful
Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell
You don't know
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful
If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
Oh Oh
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
That's what makes you beautiful!"
Pepper had walked in at the very end of the song, stopping and staring as her boyfriend pointed at her, directing his words her way. Pepper rolled her eyes and moved to exit the room, but Tony, not one to be ignored, walked swiftly to her and pulled her into a kiss.
"And you call Natasha and I lovebirds," Clint muttered darkly.
"Ah, shut up, Birdbrain," Tony said, pulling away from Pepper. "You and spidey are denying your love for one another! At least Pepper and I don't try to hide it,"
"Sentiment," Loki murmured absently, though whether this was directed at the others or at the author of the letter he was currently reading was unclear.
"Is that the Midgardian's version of a love song?" Thor asked, brow creased in confusion.
"Yep!" Tony said happily.
"I must learn this song and perform it for my lady Jane!" Thor announced.
He didn't seem to notice the wide eyes around him.
"Thor, hate to break it to you," Loki said smoothly, glancing up, "But you can't sing worth a bilgesnipe. You'd surely murder the song."
Thor's face fell, then brightened. "You can help me, Loki! We can do it together, just like the old days!"
"I don't recall you ever needing my help to woo maidens," Loki said sharply.
"But Loooooooookiiiiiiiiiii..." Thor whined, "You're mybrother!"
"I am not," Loki said coldly. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I must retire to my chambers to sort all of... this out," he gestured to the huge sack of letters and left without waiting for an answer.
That letters were amusing, if nothing else, Loki thought. One girl had asked him if he would be her cat for a day, and he had gotten more requests for hugs than he could remember actually being hugged for centuries.
Setting the sack down in one corner of the room to finish reading later, he crossed over to the table, where he'd left one of the Iron Man suits lying. Humming in idle curiosity, he began to dismantle it with deft fingers.
Meanwhile, Thor had turned his best attempt at puppy dog eyes at the other Avengers. All of them shook their heads at the unasked question.
"Nuh uh, Point Break," Tony said, backing away from the god. "Like your adopted brother said: you can woo your own maidens."
Thor pouted and turned to Steve, who started blushing furiously. "Uh... s-sorry, I can't... uh... I can't help you... um... woo Jane. At all. Um..." And then he promptly fled from the room.
"Brucie and I have a project we need to work on," Tony excused themselves, grabbing Bruce's arm on the way out and pulling him with him. He paused in the doorway, calling over his shoulder "Have fun dudes! And dudette," he added, glancing at Natasha before taking his leave.
Now desperate, Thor looked to Clint in a last effort to gain assistance in his great quest. Clint took one look at the puppy eyed god and started walking away, yelling, "Oh no! I'm losing control of my feet! Holy cow, I can't stop!" And thus he too disappeared from the room.
Natasha rolled her eyes at her partner's childish behavior. "Thor, maybe you should just buy Jane some flowers or something, or take her out to dinner. I'm sure she'd appreciate it."
"But I do not know Midgardian customs!" Thor wailed. "I know not what I should do!"
"Then why don't you ask Jane what she wants to do?" Natasha said reasonably. "I'm sure Jane would be happy to show you about Midgardian culture."
Thor brightened considerably. "Aye, I shall do that! Thank you for your help, Lady Natasha!"
"Just Natasha is fine," Natasha corrected. "You're welcome, Thor."
"Finally, a safe, quiet, peaceful environment where we can do science without being bothered!" Tony sighed in relief upon entering his workshop with Bruce. He cast his gaze proudly at the many suits that were arrayed around the room, frowning when he came upon an empty slot.
"Hey, where did Silver Centurion go?" He asked, frowning. "Jarvis?"
"I am afraid my databases have been overwritten," the AI answered in his professional British accent.
"What?!" Tony exclaimed. "Are you suggesting that he just got up and walked away or something?!"
"No, sir," Jarvis corrected, "I am only stating that I have no knowledge of Silver Centurion's current position."
"Maybe someone could have stolen it?" Bruce inquired uncertainly.
"Nobody on earth aside from myself has the authority to man any of my suits," Tony said confidently.
"But I'm not talking about somebody trying to use it, I'm talking about somebody just takingit," Bruce pointed out.
"Nobody on earth has the ability to hack my systems either," Tony pontificated, crossing his arms, his frown deepening.
"Maybe they weren't from earth," Bruce said slowly, eyes widening as he thought of something. "Could it... have been Loki?"
Tony opened his mouth slightly in realization. "Son of a bitch!"
Eheheheh XD Sorry for the lack of Loki singing this chapter, but... Steve needed to play something... and there was no way Loki was singing that song. (Neither of us really like One Direction... but after watching that fanvid on youtube I can't help thinking about Loki every time I hear it O.o)
Oh, and the by the way, there's a little reference to (er, we kind of stole part of a line of dialogue from) Lady Charity's Syrja. Just to let you know.
Anyways, please leave a review and let us know what you think! (You can leave song suggestions, just know that there is no guarantee we will use them.)
Also, WHO'S PART OF LOKI'S ARMY?! ;D