POV: Tony
Team games.
That's what we're doing. We're playing team games. HYDRA just attacked the street we're on. And we're playing team games. With Jarvis.
"Yes!" Thor yelled, having rolled matching symbols. Did I mention this game is for ages 3 and up?
"How do we decide who wins?" I asked Peter. "For the contest thing."
"We'll all get a point if we win. So it'll just count for when we do this again, when we're comparing scores," he explained. "Your turn, Mr. Barton!"
"So... is this going to be like an annual thing, or-"
"I was thinking like once a week, Mr. Stark. Then we can learn all the games. Your turn!"
I roll the dice unenthusiastically and play my turn.
"How about whoever wins on their turn gets the point?" Loki said, looking at the board with way too much focus for a kiddie board game.
"Yes, let's do that," Steve said, nodding. "Wait-"
"What?" Loki said innocently, the way he talked when he didn't even care if you knew he was lying. "That's the first time you agreed with me and you're in denial?"
"We're going to win on your turn!" Clint pointed out. Peter grabbed the dice.
"Nope, watch," he said, rolling. The icons didn't match, and he rolled again. "We're winning on my turn. Right now. It's going to be awesome."
He shakes the dice in his hands and closes his eyes, finally letting go to roll three mismatching symbols. The little fox token is three spaces away from the losing zone. I try not to laugh for the sake of the kid's dignity, but he's dying laughing anyways and I don't think he cares.
"I get to pick now?" Loki said, grinning in a childish way that put me- and everyone else- off. But Thor just shrugged.
"We're going around the circle, brother, so yes, I believe it is your turn," he said, ignoring everyone else's unsteady glances.
"Let's do... this one," he said, picking up Exploding Kittens. I didn't expect a pick like that, but we played it out, and somehow he ended up winning by lucky draws. Or maybe he stacked the deck. I wouldn't put it past him.
"So... exactly how many games are we playing, kid?" I asked, midway through a round of Uno. I was currently in second.
"Whatever you want, Mr. Stark. I was thinking we'd all pick, but as long as it's not a tie, we're all good."
"Okay, kid," I said, drawing from the deck. Was this how I anticipated my first day with my intern? No. Not at all.
"Haha, I win!" Loki said, slapping two matching cards onto the deck. Steve dropped his hand of mismatching colors, and Clint made his into a stack half the size of the deck.
"Come on. This is why we don't play Uno," he said, gesturing to the comparison.
"I know not the ways of board game night," Thor said, defending his pick. "Steve?"
"Let's do this one," he said, getting Axis and Allies. Peter dropped the Uno cards.
"That one takes forever. It's like, out for a month while you play hours and hours every day. I mean, if you really want to-"
"Pick again, Capsicle," I said, getting the kid to stop implying we could play that. Cap sighed and picked up a deck of cards.
"War? That's the only game I really know..."
We all flip cards over for a while and I wonder why someone invented this game. I mean, wars are a lot different. You nuke stuff and kill a bunch of people and no one gets anything from it, just destruction.
Of course, this is board game night, and no one cares.
I win after way, way too long, and Clint picks some game about birds that I remind myself to joke about later. Jarvis wins that one and skips his pick, because "I'm pretty sure five games is enough for one night."
So it's my pick. I look at the holograms and don't see anything worth playing. Of course, the kid wants to play, and so does everyone else. So I just get out Yahtzee and continue thinking. The kid definitely needs a suit, and improved webs. Steve would probably allow that, because he has powers. And needs a bit more than a sweater and jeans for a costume-uniform-suit or whatever you want to call it.
"Yes!" Peter says, snapping me out of my daydreams. His roll is only slightly above average, but I don't say so. Thor, Loki, and Steve all look impressed, Clint not caring about the game. I love how 50% of us haven't played any modern board games, and I'm the only person who knows what's normal for a score. Except for Peter's clue game. That doesn't count.
"How do you roll right?" Thor inquired, looking thoroughly interested. I was definitely saving the security footage of this.
"You don't. You just... roll the dice," I said, trying not to smirk.
"It's luck, brother. Allow me," Loki said, taking the dice and rolling five sixes. Thor rolled his eyes and waved his hand across the dice a few times. Green smoke wisped away and the roll was about 30% as good. Loki tried to shove Thor's shoulder but couldn't. I couldn't hold in my smirk, but I did try not to laugh.
"Where's the score sheet?" I asked, deciding to let statistics distract me.
"Right here, Mr. Stark," Peter said, ignoring Thor and Loki trying to shove each other off their chairs.
"Don't forget my turn, please..." Clint said, grabbing the dice and rolling. I write the scores, trying to ignore Thor and Loki's chaotic brotherliness. Loki fell off his chair backward onto the ground.
"Are you okay, Uncle Loki?" Peter said after a full second of everyone doing absolutely nothing.
"I'm fine, young Peter," Loki said, poking Thor with a screw or something he found on the ground. I sure hope that wasn't from something important.
"Brother, where did you find that?" he asked, grabbing his wrist to take it from him.
"Tony's lab. Honestly, I should've found a sharper one. You're not even bleeding..."
"Yahtzee!" Clint yelled, reminding everyone he was there. I wrote his score, only five twos. I wonder if he just set them up when no one was looking. Honestly, no one would care.
The game wasn't particularly eventful, although, as he pointed out, Loki's best roll was immediately followed by Thor's, one more than it.
"This kind of thing always happens. I cannot think of a single time-"
"You got second," I said, having added up the scores. Loki stopped talking.
"Wait- what?"
"Let me see-" Thor grabbed the score sheet and looked it over.
"Well, in my own defense, I haven't played this before," Steve said, while Peter tried to roll the dice on their points.
"And you think I have?" Loki said, looking over Thor's shoulder at the scores.
"Can I see that?" Peter said, dropping the dice. He grabbed the pen from off the table and wrote a little table on the back of the paper we'd been using. Mr. Stark: 1 Jarvis: 1 Thor: 0 Mr. Clint: 1 Peter: 0
Then, slightly bigger, he wrote Loki: 3.
"Behold the scores for the first weekly game night," he said, passing around the paper.
"Do I get anything for winning? Perhaps a suitable dagger?" Loki said, somewhat timidly and less obnoxiously boastful like I'd expected he'd be acting.
"Brother, is being supreme overlord and ruler of board games not enough?" Thor said. He smiled in an exasperated way.
"We need a trophy," Peter said. "Or a crown or-"
"Can I have my helmet?" Loki interrupted. Steve and Clint exchanged a glance saying, we really don't matter right now, do we?
"I'm... okay with that," I said. Thor shrugged.
"Congratulations, brother. It might not be in history books, but these so called 'board games' are extremely difficult."
Peter smiled and put away the dice. No one mentioned it or noticed, but the Iron Man game piece for Peter's clue game lingered out of the box.