Yes, it has been like 6 months since I last updated. This story has been giving a helluva time - I don't have many mental blocks when it comes to writing fanfiction, but for some reason this story has managed to hit every single one of them. I kind of hate this story - actually, I really hate it XD And honestly? I would have just discontinued it, except there were some absolutely amazing reviewers who convinced me to finish this story. So this chapter's existence is thanks to them.
So I plan on finishing this story, if ya'll are still with me despite the long wait. And since I've already achieved what the basic goal of this story was (Thor and Loki making up using songs), I don't have much farther to go. There will probably be only one more chapter after this (although it should be nice and long, 'cause I have plans and I know what I want to do lol). And yes, there are a bazillion songs that are perfect for these guys, but sadly I cannot do all of them. And if I don't finish this story ASAP I will go crazy XD
BTW, I kept forgetting to mention that the gas that Tony breathed in to make his voice deeper in chapter 3 was sulfur hexafluoride, NOT helium.
Anyways, this chapter is for all you amazing readers, especially those of you who were so inspiringly enthusiastic in your reviews, and I really, really hope you enjoy reading this chapter far more than I enjoyed writing it! XD
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS NOR THE SONGS AND I MAKE NO MONEY OFF THIS OR ANYTHING IT'S JUST FOR ENTERTAINMENT
Dealing with the public, it turned out, was almost as exhausting as beating the crap out of bad guys.
So by the time all of the trick or treaters had gotten their candy (or apples) and a hug, the Avengers staggered inside, piled into the elevator, got out on their respective floors and barely made it to their beds before they conked out.
So nobody saw Loki sleeping soundly with his head on Thor's lap, Thor stroking his brother's soft, dark hair.
Except for Jarvis, who saw everything.
Eventually Thor fell asleep as well, his head leaning back against the top of the couch and his hand stilled at Loki's temple.
Loki was the first awake.
He blinked his eyes blearily, and when he stared upwards and saw Thor's sleeping face and realized that he was sleeping against Thor, Loki immediately jerked into a sitting position, accidentally banging his head against Thor's chin.
"Ow!" Loki grumped as he threw himself off the couch, while Thor was jerked awake.
"Brother?" Thor asked.
Just then the elevator doors slid open, and Tony stepped onto the floor, holding his phone.
"Oh," he said, voice dropping in disappointment as he saw the two of them awake, Thor sitting up on the couch and Loki standing on the other side of the room. "You're awake."
Loki narrowed his eyes. "Were you going to take a picture?"
"Nooooooooooo," Tony said suspiciously, glancing down at his phone and beginning to text something out. "I was just... texting the president Steve's phone number... asking him to set up a gig for our band, you know..."
Elsewhere, Bruce's phone beeped.
He grabbed it, opening the text.
TonyStarkTheAwesome: Hey Brucie, did you snap a photo of the Gods of Cuddles via Jarvis's security cams?
Bruce grinned, quickly typing back a response.
DoctorBanner: You bet. Shall I post to Facebook?
TonyStarkTheAwesome: Hell yeah. It'll get more likes than the pic of Fury and his tambourine!
Bruce was smirking as he posted the photo of Loki using Thor as a pillow, the both of them fast asleep on a couch with blanket the color of Loki's cape.
DoctorBanner: Done.
Back at the roof, Loki raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh really?" he drawled.
"Hell yeah really," Tony answered, glancing at his phone and grinning. "President says we got a gig in Tompkins Square Park in three days."
"You're kidding," Thor rumbled, getting to his feet and stretching. He glanced between Tony and Loki, turning worried.
"He's kidding, right Loki?" he asked his brother.
Loki scrutinized Tony. "I think he's telling the truth."
"Course I am!" Tony snorted, turning his phone around to show them the text.
MrPresident: I think you should be asking the Mayor of New York about that, not me. Thanks for the Captain's number, though.
Thor frowned. "But he didn't say—"
"Tony's got the Mayor of New York in his pocket," Loki supplied, rolling his eyes at his brother.
This just made Thor frown further. "Stark has magic pockets?"
Facepalming, Loki muttered, "Thor, you are an absolute idiot. I am so glad I'm not related to you."
"Soooooooo," Tony said, glancing between the two gods and grinning knowingly while he rocked back and forth on his heels. "Did we humans miss anything last night?"
Thor started to open his mouth to say something, but Loki grabbed the blanket off the floor where it had fallen and threw it over the thunderer's head.
Clint was eating a breakfast of bacon and eggs when Natasha came in, smirking at her phone.
"Did you see Bruce's latest post?" she asked, slipping into the seat beside him, raising her eyes to his face. There was a rather smug glint there.
"No," Clint said.
Natasha clicked on something, then held her phone out for Clint to see the picture.
Clint hooted. "Oh, that's priceless! Is Thor drooling? It looks like Thor's drooling."
"Somebody's gonna lose his tempah," Natasha agree with a smirk, as flipped the phone back around to face her. "Maybe I'll make the picture my background."
"Wanna bet which of them is going to be the one to lose their temper?" Clint asked, still grinning, chuckling and shaking his head at the photo. "Twenty bucks says it's Thor."
"Twenty on Loki," Natasha said immediately.
"Forty on they both lose it," came Steve's voice, and the two assassins turned to see the blond man walk into the kitchen, holding his phone in his hand and smirking.
"I didn't know you bet, Steve," Natasha remarked, at the same time Clint blurted, "I didn't know you figured out how to use a phone!"
"Yeah," Steve said wryly, stealing a piece of bacon from Clint's plate. "There's a lot you don't know about me."
As it turned out, Steve won eighty dollars that day.
When Thor realized what had happened, dark thunder clouds congealed in the sky and thunder boomed ominously above them.
"YOU DARE TAKE A PHOTO OF A PERSONAL MOMENT AND USE IT AS A MEANS OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INTERNET FAME?!"
"Dude, calm down!" Tony said, eyes wide as he raised his hands placatingly. "We didn't mean it like that! You two are just so adorkable sometimes, and we loved seeing that you two have like, made up, because being around you two with your sibling fighting was really not-fun. Like, anti-fun."
Thor raised his hammer threateningly, but Loki calmed him with a soft touch to his arm.
"Thor you hotheaded doofus, calm yourself," Loki said, and Thor immediately did, looking incredibly guilty.
"But Brother—" Thor started.
"Don't you know it's not nice to hit people with hammers?" Loki asked him, raising an eyebrow. "But we can still get our revenge."
"Oh no..." Tony said, glancing around the kitchen at the other Avengers, who had all gotten up when the angry gods had stormed in, and now stood warily around the edges of the room, seeming to be considering their fight or flight options.
Loki's grin grew to a huge, maniacally gleeful grin, like a child who had just gotten a water gun for their birthday and was planning on using it against their siblings.
"Jarvis?" Loki asked calmly.
Yes, King Loki?
Loki's grin was scarier than his Chitauri army. "Please play 'Peanut Butter Jelly Time' by the The Buckwheat Boys on a ten-hour loop."
Tony's eyes went wide as frying pans in his face. "NO!" he yelled, waving his arms frantically at the ceiling. "DON'T DO IT JARVIS!"
But Jarvis started playing the song anyway.
It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!" Tony cried, while everybody else listened to the song with eyebrows raised, not being familiar with it.
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Now, there he go!
There he go!
There he go!
There he go!
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!" Tony cried.
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!" Tony cried, covering his ears.
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
At this point, Clint just shrugged, taking his iPod and earbuds out of his pockets and plugging in, clicking on one of his favorite songs.
His eyes widened when the song didn't play, his iPod instead playing only "Peanut Butter Jelly Time." Panicked, he clicked on another song, and then another, and another, to no avail.
Jarvis had hacked his iPod.
Clint joined Tony is his horrified yelling of, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!"
Now, where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Now, there he go!
There he go!
There he go!
There he go!
"It's not the worst song I've heard," Steve said, shrugging.
"Let's see if you still think that after listening to it for 10 hours," Natasha said coolly, lips twitching when Steve's expression turned vaguely alarmed.
Now, peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Loki was cackling madly.
"Loki," Thor ventured, staring at his brother as if he was about to do something he thought was clever but was really very stupid, "You do realize that this means we'll have to listen to this song as well?"
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
Now, break it down and freeze!
Break it down and freeze!
Now, break it down and freeze!
Break it down and freeze!
"What, you don't like it?" Loki asked, grinning with a toothed smirk, as he began mouthing the lyrics and gesturing animatedly.
Now, where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Now, there he go!
There he go!
There he go!
There he go!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
"Guys," Bruce said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "If I have to listen to this much longer, the Other Guy is going to make an appearance."
Loki stopped dancing along to the song and stared at Bruce, considering.
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
Now, tic tac toe, Uh-huh!
Tic tac toe, Let's go!
Tic tac toe, You got it!
Tic tac toe, Let's ride!
Bruce was taking deep breaths, in through his nose, out through his mouth.
"Fine," Loki said finally, snapping his fingers.
Suddenly neither he, Thor, nor Bruce could hear the song any longer, though everybody else still could.
Bruce heaved a sigh of relief.
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Now, there he go!
There he go!
There he go!
There he go!
"NOT FAIR!" Tony protested. "BRUCE WAS PART OF THE CONSPIRACY TOO! IT'S NOT FAIR THAT HE GETS OFF EASY JUST BECAUSE HE GETS A LITTLE GREEN IN THE FACE WHEN HE GETS ANGRY!"
"Just because I 'get a little green in the face,'" Bruce said dryly. "That is the grossest understatement of the Hulk I have ever heard."
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
"JARVIS TURN IT OFF!" Tony begged.
Jarvis didn't.
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
Do the peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
Now, freestyle
Freestyle, freestyle
Freestyle, freestyle
Your style!
Freestyle
Freestyle, freestyle
Freestyle, freestyle
Your style!
Clint had resorted to covering his ears and saying "Lalalalalala," Steve was still listening with an intensely bewildered expression on his face, Natasha was fiddling with her EMP and wondering if it would work on Jarvis, while Bruce chuckled and shook his head, Thor laughed, and Loki just kept grinning evilly.
"JARIVS WHY YOU BETRAY MEEEEEE?!" Tony said, falling to his knees and practically sobbing.
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Now, there he go!
There he go!
There he go!
There he go!
"WHYYYYYYYYY?!"
The song started over, playing again.
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Where he at?
Now, there he go!
There he go!
There he go!
There he go!
"Okay," Steve said. "Now it's starting to get annoying."
"Jarvis," Tony besought, "Jarvis please turn it off."
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
Peanut butter jelly!
"I'm sorry, okay! I'm sorry! Bruce is sorry we're too! We didn't mean anything by it!" Tony blurted, as he grabbed a pillow off the couch and pulled it over his head to try to drown out the sound.
And then suddenly he couldn't hear it.
He stayed there frozen for a moment, before taking the pillow off his head apprehensively.
But the song wasn't playing.
Looking around, he saw everyone watching him, chuckling, smiling, laughing, or smirking.
"Well," Natasha drawled, "I think we all know how to torture Tony now."
"And that Loki likes it when people are polite and apologize," Clint added, snorting.
"That was inhumane," Tony growled, as he stood up, crossing his arms and glaring heatedly at the Trickster God.
"Well, more news for you then," Loki smirked. "Because I'm not human."
"YOU TURNED MY AI AGAINST ME!" Tony yelled, trembling furiously, hands clenched to fists at his sides. "I don't turn Thor against you, do I?!"
Loki didn't so much as blink. "No," Loki agreed. "But you did take part in posting that picture of us on the internet."
"I don't understand why you have such a problem with that!" Tony protested, gesturing angrily with a hand. "That's what we do in this day and age: take pictures of each other being cute or weird or whatever and post it on the internet. It's just part of our modern human culture!"
"You do realize, Anthony," Thor said, "That that was the first time Loki has let me hold him like that in centuries?"
"All the more reason to document it!" Tony said.
"All right boys," Natasha said, stepping into the middle of the two gods and the enraged genius (which was not a task for the lighthearted). "Obviously this is a misunderstanding between different races and cultures. Now, Tony will promise not to post pictures of you two without your permission in the future, Thor will promise not to almost hit anybody with his hammer, and Loki, you will promise not to take control of Jarvis in the future. Alright?"
She stared at them all coolly, hands on her hips like a stern mother reprimanding her children.
"You have my word," Thor said, nodding.
"Nah, Loki's certainly welcome to try hacking Jarvis again," Tony said, and now he turned a challenging look to the Mischief God. "I am going to be doing some serious updating of his security systems. If I can get it so that even the genius of Asgard can't hack my AI, then no villain will ever be able to."
Loki was still smiling wrly, but it softened into something more genuine. "I would be more than willing to help you with that quest, Son of Stark."
"Oh please," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "Don't get all formal on me now."
"Right, now that that's sorted out," Natasha said, turning her gaze to the ceiling. "Jarvis, play something. This silence is bothering me."
"Silence?" Tony asked indignantly. "I was just talking?"
Any particular request, Agent Romanoff?
She smiled. "How about something for Steve? He's been tortured by quite a bit of our modern music lately."
"You don't need to—" Steve started, but immediately stopped, freezing when an all too familiar song started playing.
I'll never smile again
Until I smile at you
I'll never laugh again
What good would it do?
For tears would fill my eyes
My heart would realize
That our romance is through
I'll never love again
I'm so in love with you
I'll never thrill again
To somebody new
Within my heart
I know I will never start
To smile again
Until I smile at you
Nobody had made a sound throughout the entire song, all of them watching Steve.
Steve's bright blue eyes were glistening and he was blinking quickly, looking down at the floor, and his body seemed to be trembling ever so slightly.
"God, I..." he breathed, shaking his head. "I remember... Bucky loved this song, he would always dance to it, and..."
Taking a deep shuddering breath, Steve quickly turned and strode out of the room, breaking into a run as soon as he was out the door and heading for the stairs, taking them a flight at a time as he headed to his floor.
"Damn," Tony said, a few moments after Steve left.
"Hasn't he been listening to this old music?" Clint asked, confused.
"He might have been avoiding it," Tony pointed out, "Not wanting to have to deal with the memories they would evoke, when he was having such a hard time adjusting to life in the modern day as it is."
He glanced at Natasha, who just stared back.
"You know he had to face everything some day," she said. "And as we're currently having a lull in apocalypses, now is a good time."
"Poor guy," Clint said, shaking his head. "He lost everyone. And adjust remarkably well—I mean, have you guys looked at him lately? He's like the most stalwart member of our team."
"Steven is a good man," Thor agreed.
"Okay Thor," Tony interjected, turning to the god and raising his eyebrows. "What is it with you and full first names today?"
"He does as he pleases," Loki shrugged, answering for his adopted brother.
Natasha, meanwhile, had pulled her violin out of its hiding place behind the refrigerator. Placing her chin against the chinrest and taking up her bow, she began to draw the horsehair across the violin strings.
Loki's eyes widened as he realized he knew the song, and started to sing along.
"I pirouette in the dark
I see the stars through me
Tired mechanical heart
Beats 'til the song disappears"
Natasha closed her eyes as she played her violin, body swaying to the rhythm.
"Somebody shine a light
I'm frozen by the fear in me
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me
So cut me from the line
Dizzy, spinning endlessly
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me!"
The violin music picked up, Natasha's red hair tossing as she played, letting the music guide her movements.
Loki meanwhile was acting as if he was in a dramatic music video, eyes wide and making melodramatic gestures that had the other Avengers chuckling despite the serious song.
"Shatter me!
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me!"
Even though the original song was sung by a female singer, Loki was doing a fine job in his deeper voice, even if his screaming made it sound more like a hard rock song.
Natasha's violin playing though balanced it out by turning the song sound into a purely instrumental piece.
"If only the clockwork could speak
I wouldn't be so alone
We'd burn every magnet and spring
And spiral into the unknown"
The other Avengers just watched appreciatively as Natasha and Loki performed their duet.
Loki pulled Natasha out into the middle of the floor, guiding her in a dance with a hand on her shoulder blade as she continued to play her fiddle.
"Somebody shine a light
I'm frozen by the fear in me
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me
So cut me from the line
Dizzy, spinning endlessly
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me!"
Loki let Natasha twirl away, quick ballet turns across the floor, bright hair flying as the violin music picked up pace again, while Loki went back to being melodramatic, sliding to his knees.
"If I break the glass, then I'll have to fly
There's no one to catch me if I take a dive
I'm scared of change, and the days stay the same
The world is spinning but only in gray
If I break the glass, then I'll have to fly
There's no one to catch me if I take a dive
I'm scared of change, and the days stay the same
The world is spinning but only in gray
(Only...)"
During this Loki had managed to freak the Avengers out by proceeding to jump up onto the table and land in a crouch before leaping off like a cat straight at them, making them scatter as he rolled to the floor.
He had then run straight at the windows, and before Tony could shout, "NO! Not my windows again!" Loki had hit the glass and disappeared in a green and gold fizzle, only to reappear instantly singing right behind them.
"Somebody shine a light
I'm frozen by the fear in me
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me
So cut me from the line
Dizzy, spinning endlessly
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me!"
Loki slid to his knees again, his skin shifting and transforming till he seemed to be made out of translucent glass.
Cracks crept along the surface of his skin.
"Me...!
Shatter me!
Somebody make me feel alive
And shatter me!"
At the end of the song as Natasha played her last note and Loki screamed the last line, the glass that appeared to be his skin shattered, revealing Loki's normal skin underneath.
The fallen glass turned to silver sparkles as it met the floor.
"What is that song about?" Thor asked after a moment.
Loki was brushing silver sparkles off his white collared shirt and black pants and didn't look like he was about to answer, so Natasha supplied a cryptic, "Sometimes you have to break in order to heal."
Thor thought about this for a moment. His brows were pulled in confused consideration, and he started, "That doesn't make any sense—"
"That song," Loki interrupted, as he looked up from his clothes and met Thor's gaze, "Is clearly about toaster ovens."
This just made Thor even more hopelessly befuddled.
"I really need to make a music video of you guys doing stuff like that, what with how you sing and dance all over the place and pull those dramatic faces," Tony remarked, not seeming to have taken note of the conversation, turning it back around to talk about Loki and Natasha's duet. "Jarvis?"
Yes, Sir.
"Save all the security footage from that performance and download it to my computer—I'm making a music video later."
As you request, Sir. May I suggest you run this idea by Natasha and King Loki?
"I really need to fix your programming so you stop calling him 'King,'" Tony grumbled, before turning to look at the god and redhead who were watching him with amused smirks. "So? Can I make a music video?"
"You mean a fanvideo?" Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because we don't own the song..."
"Yeah, whatever," Tony said as he waved a hand dismissively. "Lots of people make covers that they post on YouTube. Which reminds me!"
Clint groaned. "Oh no."
Tony was grinning his you-are-going-to-hate-this-but-believe-me-you-will-actually-love-it grin. "We're all performing a public gig in three days!"
"We're WHAT?!" Clint, Natasha, and Bruce demanded, while Thor and Loki just gave longsuffering sighs.
"Yup!" Tony said, grinning cheekily. "It'll be great. We just need a little more practice playing together, and then we'll be good. We'll be more than good. We're awesome."
"Wait, so would we like, play covers, then?" Clint asked with a furrowed brow. "Or will we be writing our own songs?"
"Maybe a little of both?" Tony said, shrugging. "If any of us know how to write songs. Which of course, it can't be that hard, right? Besides, we've got three genuine geniuses, three other really smart people, and one thunder god."
At this, Loki cackled, and Thor frowned.
"Did he just—?" Thor started.
"BURN, Thor!" Loki hooted, still snickering. "You've been PWNED!"
Natasha raised a fiery eyebrow. "Since when did you play Warcraft?" she asked the trickster god.
"Whoever said I did?" Loki snorted, raising a dark eyebrow back. "I have simply picked up on some things via you humans' very interesting internet."
This time it was Tony's turn to snort. "'Interesting internet,' Reindeer Games? Really?"
"I call I'm not the one to tell Steve about this gig of yours," Loki answered instead, completely changing the subject and turning the conversation on its head.
"Not it," Natasha said immediately.
"Not it," chorused Clint and Tony.
"Not it," said Bruce.
"Not what?" Thor asked in confusion.
The others all looked at him, smirking.
"Guess that means it's your job, big guy," Tony said. "Although, if I were you I'd probably wait, and let him get over his whole nostalgia for the 40s thing—which one of us should probably check in on him at some point to make sure he's alright, maybe Natasha since it's her fault he's dealing with the barrage of memories right now—so maybe you should wait a few days and not tell the ol' fogey about our gig until, say, right before we're about to leave," Tony finished, having spoken very quickly.
Thor just blinked at him. Then he looked to his brother, asking, "Loki? Translation please?"
Loki sighed.
Don't ask me why this story is so hard for me to write. It just is... I really, REALLY hope this chapter was okay though.
Songs in this chapter:
1. "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" by The Buckwheat Boys (if you haven't hear this song, it's REALLY annoying! XD)
2. "I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey (A popular song from 1940)
3. "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling (Because Natasha needed to strut her violin stuff)
And yeah, the Avengers' band is going to throw a gig next chapter, much to the delight of their fans. Though it'll be mostly covers, of course, though I might have the Avengers do like one original song... I'm no good with music - I know nothing, seriously - but I could probably make up some lyrics... ;3
Please review and let me know what you think! Because your responses to this have been the only thing keeping me writing it, and though I hate to pull the 'review or else no more chapters' card, this story gets me frustrated like no other fanfic I have ever written, and I just want to know if you're enjoying it because if you're not then I'm not writing it XD