"Okay, who's up for some Wii bowling?" Tony asked casually, standing up and stretching his arms over his head.
"NO!" everyone yelled in unison, staring at him with wide eyes and frightened expressions.
"Tony, we vowed never to bowl as a group never again, or in any smaller combinations thereof," Steve reminded him firmly.
"The contract is filed upstairs, if you need to have a second look at it," added Bruce, crossing his arms.
"But this isn't even real bowling! It's a video game!" Tony cried, staring after them in dismay as the rest of the inhabitants of the mansion walked out into the hall, one by one. "Peter! Even you?"
Peter shrugged, giving Tony an apologetic smile over his shoulder in the doorway.
"Sorry. But there is no way I am going through that again."
Tony stood in the middle of the room, staring after his departed friends sadly, when the silence was interrupted by the soft clearing of a throat from behind him. Tony turned to see Loki, still sitting in his substitute for a throne, even when everyone else had left.
"Yeah? And what do you want?" Tony asked, sneering at him out of habit.
Loki's carefully blank expression morphed briefly into an affronted grimace before he managed to smooth it back out again.
"What is this idiotic 'bowling' game you mortals speak of?" he asked, throwing as much disdain as he could into the word.
"Only the most grand and honorable sport ever invented," Tony shot back, collapsing back onto the now-empty sofa and glaring at Loki.
"Somehow I doubt that," replied Loki coolly. "Why did they all run away like fearful peasants?"
Tony sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair.
"Honestly, they've just got to realize that most of it was probably just a coincidence, and there's probably not that much fire every time we go bowling together..."
"So, Tony Stark," said Loki, regarding Tony carefully. "Do you believe yourself to be quite skilled in this particular test of human honor?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty good," replied Tony, regarding Loki just as carefully.
"Good enough to beat a god?"
"Is that a challenge?"
"Only if you perceive it as such."
They stared at each other for a moment, and the corner of Tony's mouth lifted almost unnoticeably.
"Alright, then," Tony said, grabbing two Wii remotes and tossing one to Loki before turning back to the huge television screen. "You're on."