Written to: Mountain Sound - Of Monsters and Men, crosspost from AO3, referencing one of my other stories: Haze, in which dragon's heart and mermaid hair has been replaced by commonplace spaghetti and meatballs, and Loki cannot tell the difference.
Sobremesa: the time spent around the table after lunch or dinner, talking to the people you shared the meal with; time to digest and savor both food and friendship.
"You Midgardians have gotten more sophisticated," Loki tells Steve nonchalantly after Jarvis clears the dishes away from the dinner table. The Avengers (well, really, it was mostly Steve) had asked Loki to come have a meal with them, as a toast to their tentative alliance (and really, Steve just wanted to see Modi again, and was currently tickling him under the chin as he sat in his high chair and banged his fists on his little plastic tray).
"What do you mean by that?" Steve asks, making faces at Modi, who looks at him curiously for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and imitating the face back at him. Steve is absolutely fascinated by Modi making tiny little duck faces at him, and Loki vaguely wonders if Steve is really just that entranced by Modi, or if Modi is somehow harnessing his undeveloped seidr to take control of Steve's mind. Loki isn't sure which one he'd prefer.
"You dine on dragon's heart and mermaid's hair as well," Loki says. Steve looks across at him, opens his mouth to tell him otherwise, before catching Thor making frantic gestures at him from across the table, complete with drawing his hand across his throat and making a motion to zip his mouth shut and toss the key away.
"I love the spice you added to it," Loki continues. "Something to add a hint of freshness. Normally I do not eat so carnally, but I must admit, dragon's heart is quite a lovely delicacy in Asgard. I am glad that you have decided to study up on Asgardian culture. Perhaps you Midgardians are not as ignorant as you seem."
Steve just stares at Thor, who has his hands clasped together and is silently begging Steve not to say anything.
Steve shrugs. "A bit of parsley, some basil. It adds a depth of flavour to the spa - dragon's heart."
"I quite agree," Loki says, examining his nails for dirt.
Clint rolls his eyes from his spot three seats down from Loki, mutters to Natasha under his breath about how stupid Loki is, not being able to recognise spaghetti and meatballs. Unfortunately, Loki has unnaturally sharp ears, and he glares down the table at Clint, whom Thor is staring in horror at.
Natasha catches them staring, smacks Clint on the arm, and cheerfully tells Loki that Clint had had a bit too much to drink and didn't know what he was saying. Loki seems to accept this, with a little huff and a roll of his eyes, and proceeds to completely forget about the incident once Pepper carries in a raspberry cheesecake.