(A/N: You people are very lucky I have an extra long weekend. I might actually write a chapter or two of decent length. Although I'm out most of Friday (going to see Dredd for my (very) late birthday), so I shall see what I can do. And hey, past 200 reads. Thanks everyone, you guys brighten up my day when i check and see that the reads have increased. I feel so loved <3 )
"How was it?"
I looked up from my book. I hadn't even noticed Bruce was standing right in front of me.
"Meh." I shrugged.
He raised his eyebrows and sat down next to me.
"What are you reading?" He asked.
I stopped and had to look at the cover. I wasn't even reading, I was too distracted with Daken's imminent arrival. I hope he has sleeping arrangements, as he sure as hell can't stay here. "Um, Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. I found it on the bookshelf downstairs, and it sounded cool, so..." I trailed off. As soon as I'd gotten back, I kind of blanked out. I was curled up in the armchair, afternoon sunlight streaming in the windows. I'd been there for a few hours, staring at the same page. Just thinking.
"You are more antisocial than I am. And I have better reasons to be." He said. "What's up?"
I didn't answer straight away. I was still staring at the page. A paragraph had caught my eye. 'Such a move wasn't a defensive move at all. It was a co-ordinated move, a planned move, an attacking move... Make your enemy look at one hand while you're doing something with the other...' I looked at him sideways.
"We could possibly, maybe have a guest in the next week. I'm hoping not, but..."
"I'm sure someone will vacate their room for you."
"WHAT THE HELL'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" I growled defensively.
"Nothing. I wasn't implying anything." He said quietly.
I went back to my bubble of nothingness, thinking about that paragraph. What if Tania was a distraction? What if there's something else going on? And we can't see it, because its happening right under our noses. Great, Daken will be in even more shit when he comes. As if being number 17 on S.H.I.E.L.D's most-wanted list wasn't enough. I was thinking so hard, I never noticed Thor come in and turn the TV on to watch My Little Pony. I didn't notice when Bruce got up to ask Steve something. I didn't notice when Stark came in, bellowing someone had broken his stereo. I didn't react to his screaming match with Steve, nor when Clint stepped in and yelled at them both for being immature. I didn't react when Loki magicked the remote away from Thor and turned the channel over to watch Sherlock. I didn't even notice it was dark out. I just stared at that page, playing absentmindedly with my necklace. I didn't surface from my pool of thoughts until I heard my phone ring.
I jumped at the noise and snatched it off the coffee table. I looked at the ID. It was him. Fuck. I answered it.
"Yes?"
"Well, that was incredibly warm greeting. How are you, Fox?" He answered, his voice as husky as I remembered it.
"I've been better." I noticed everyone had stopped what they were doing as soon as I answered the phone. I guess it's because they hadn't seen me move for hours. "If you are coming, you can't stay here."
"Damn. I miss our old roommate days." He's such a sarcastic little shit. "Why ever not? I was really looking forward to it."
I sighed. I turned to the guys and held my phone in the air. "Say hi everyone." Everyone shouted a 'hey' and I put the phone back on my ear. "That's why."
"Aw, new roomies? Can't be as good as me."
"Yeah, you're right. But they're the Avengers. I'll guess they'll have to do."
He stifled a cough. "Thanks for the tip. I'm still coming to New York though. Might see you around?"
"If you're lucky. Goodbye." I hung up and dropped the phone back on the table. Resuming my mental Fortress of Solitude, I plonked back into the chair. But I'd lost my train of thought. At least I didn't have to worry about Daken clashing with the guys now. He would kill Stark in the first five minutes of his arrival.
Suddenly, Steve was in front of me holding a plate of steak and vegetables.
"Here." He handed it to me, with cutlery.
"Thanks, Steve. I haven't eaten since breakfast." I smiled and started eating.
"No problem." He said and grinned warmly back. I haven't really spoken to him much at all. He's such a quiet guy, you sometimes forget he's there. Except when he's in that spandex suit of his. Then he's full-leader mode, shouting orders and looking out for everyone.
Clint was whispering something to Thor, who then nodded enthusiastically. He got up, grabbed his laptop and proceeded to hook it up to the TV.
"Clint, what the hell are you doing? If my TV gets broken as well as my stereo, I will kill you." Stark stated, looking curiously over from the table.
"Clint has decided he is going to teach me how to play a game on one of your midgardian devices." Thor called, sounding excited. I looked at him. He was grinning like a small child about to go on their first roller coaster.
"What game?" Stark asked, standing behind Clint and peering over his shoulder. Clint finished plugging everything in, started up the laptop and turned to him. The desktop came up on the TV screen.
"Slender."
Everybody stopped. Oh no he fucking didn't.
"I don't think that's an appropriate 'my first video game'." I declared. Come on, it's bad enough on a small screen. On a 55 inch TV, he will kill us all.
"Yeah. Start with Pong." Stark agreed.
"What's Slender?" Asked Steve.
"You don't want to know..." I answered. I shivered. The game gives me the creeps.
"I have stuff to do in my lab." Bruce announced. "I'll come back when the screaming starts." He walked off to the elevator.
"You coward!" Clint yelled after him.
"He is more sadistic than I am." Loki muttered and sat in the arm chair next to mine. He nodded at me then turned his attention back to Thor, who was looking a little less giddy after Bruce's mention of the screams.
"Clint, this is not one of those games of horror is it?" He asked.
"Thor, it's not scary. All you have to do is find 8 pieces of paper. That's it." The game started up. "Here."
He showed Thor all the controls and off he went. Thor found the first page easily. Clint turned off the lights.
"Are you high?" I yelled at him.
"More of an atmosphere. It's better in the dark." He smirked, knowing this game freaks me out. Revenge for a few days ago, I guess. I grumbled. Fuck this.
Thor found the second and third pages. He laughed. "Where is the challenge of this game?" He moved the camera around. Boom, there's Slender Man. He yelled in surprise and I jumped a foot in the air. Steve yelped and Tony threw a cushion at Clint. Loki stiffened and Clint just laughed.
"By Odin, what was that creature!?" Thor roared. He hadn't been killed, which was lucky. Bloody hell, this game pisses me off.
"I don't know. I've never seen him before." Clint whispered, full of sarcasm.
"No matter. I shall defeat this creature." Thor went back to the game, his figure oozing concentration. I didn't have the heart to tell him the game couldn't be won. "I shall find these scraps of paper and shall be victorious. What manner of creature would be terrorising these forests at this hour of the night?"
Loki was looking very amused at everyone else's fear. He relished it. I turned to him. I saw him flinch before though. Just because he behaves like an emotionless lump of granite half the time doesn't mean anything.
3 more pages and too many close calls later, Thor died. He wasn't happy and challenged the computer to a rematch. It didn't reply, so Clint set it back up so he could play MOD. On that one he died in the first minute. He was trying so hard, and it didn't help having Loki laughing at him. He refused to give in. Clint set up a video, planning to put it on YouTube. Game Time with the Mighty Thor. Because we don't have enough publicity.
The crunching of the grass and creepy music was getting to me. Every time Slendy turned up, I either laughed maniacally or told him to shut up.
"Ok, is there any aim to this game at all, whatsoever?" Steve asked, frustrated. Even his determination was taking a beating every time Thor died.
I went and sat next to him. "Kind of, but not really. As Clint said, you have to collect the eight pages, but you have to do it without being killed, otherwise you have to start again. Case in point." I pointed to Thor, who was swearing under his breath in what I guess was Asgardian. "Depending on the version, you either escape when you collect the pages by getting back to a gate or something, or Slender Man gets you anyway." As I was finishing my sentence, Thor died again. We jumped, not expecting it at that moment.
Loki cackled again. "Thor, just give up. You cannot win this."
"How can you give up so easily, brother?" He replied, I swear he is going crazy with frustration. "That is how you ended up here, after all. You have never been the persistent one."
I joined in with the "Oooooooooooooh." reverberating around the room. Loki scowled at us and I poked my tongue out at him. He did it back, throwing something unidentifiable at his brother.
"I surrendered because the battle was not worth it, not because I would lose."
"Hey, what time is it?" I interrupted. I don't like it when people dig themselves holes, even if they are or were evil.
Steve looked at his watch. "Wow, 12:35. We've been at this a while."
I snapped my fingers. "That's why everyone's getting grumpy. Hey Thor, I think it's time to turn that off."
"Soon. As soon as I get the eighth page." He mumbled. Good job Clint. Now we have a god with an active imagination obsessed with Slender. As soon as you teach him how to use YouTube he's going to have nightmares about MarbleHornets or something. After watching all the funny cat videos, of course.
"Ugh, fine. Don't blame me if Slender Man magically jumps out of the TV and kills us all." I mumbled sarcastically.
"He can do that?" Thor gasped, like a little kid when you're telling them stories about Santa.
Clint joined in. He had enough film, so he was bored. "Yeah big guy, didn't you know that? He'll stalk you if you play the games too much. That's what happened to this guy on the Internet, who made videos of him playing it every day for hours."
Thor shut down the game and walked out the door.
"He's so gullible, it's kinda cute." I laughed.
"Score. See if we can beat Pewdiepie's views with this." Clint exclaimed as he uploaded the footage.
"Right, well I'm going to grab a coffee and head down to see what Bruce is doing." Stark stretched and looked at his watch. "Not worth going to bed now."
Steve shrugged. I stood up and grabbed one of the Playstation controllers. I chucked it to him. "Up for a little non-violent gaming?" I asked.
"No jump scares?"
"Definently. I couldn't take anymore." I rifled through the games. "Hmm. Need For Speed, LittleBigPlanet, Tekken Tag Tournament, Grand Theft Auto, Assassin's Creed, MotorStorm, Blur, Call Of Duty, ok maybe not COD. MotorStorm it is!" I picked up my controller and fiddled with the TV until it was on the game's main menu. "Did either of you guys want to play?"
Clint yawned and declined. "As soon as this is done uploading, I'm going to bed. I have a meeting with Fury tomorrow."
Loki stood up and walked over. I offered him the other controller and he took it. I handed him the instruction book as well, as I wasn't going to teach both him and Steve how to play. It was hard enough teaching one person and trying to play yourself without running into something and crashing. Which I did end up doing twice, but after Steve got the hang of it, it was every man for themselves.
"Hey J.A.R.V.I.S, put on some music." Steve called out, narrowly avoiding missing a jump. I skidded around him on my dirt bike.
"Of course, sir. Anything in particular?"
Steve looked at me. I shrugged, eyes on the screen.
"Play Bohemian Rhapsody, J.A.R.V.I.S." Loki said.
I looked sideways at him. We were sitting on the couch, Steve, me, then Loki. Steve doing the MarioKart move with the PS3 controller, Loki just sitting there with it in his lap, fingers a blur.
"Fox!" Steve warned.
I looked back at the screen. "Shit!" I nearly crashed into Steve's car. "Sorry! I just didn't think of this guy," I elbowed Loki, causing him to lose control of his bike and curse at me. "as a Queen person."
"I shall have you know, I quite like your rock music. It is some of the best in the realm. And as I have been told is accepted widely, I consider Queen to be a 'classic'." He informed us, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Queen was one of the first bands Tony made me listen to after New York. They are some of the best, I have to say, for their time. I like the Ramones as well." Steve added.
"J.A.R.V.I.S! A greatest hits playlist is in order!" I punched the air, nearly crashing. Again.
We finished the race. Steve won out of us three, so he got up and got a few beers out of the fridge, throwing one to each of us.
"J.A.R.V.I.S, hit it."
And so went our night. Starting with 'I Want It All' and moving through most of the 51 songs on the CD, we were up all night, slightly intoxicated. I started singing on the third song, 'Another One Bites The Dust', Steve on 'Princes of the Universe'. Loki didn't start until he was a bit drunk and 'Radio Ga Ga' came on. I got up and danced to 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' while steering my bike, which I did quite well. I only crashed once. 'We Will Rock You' set off everyone, Steve getting very enthusiastic and breaking a beer bottle. He blushed, but Loki magicked it away before he could clean it up. We all kind of calmed down after that, humming to the next few. Before we knew it, the sun was rising. We laughed, still a tiny bit drunk, at the fact we'd been playing the same game all night. Steve yawned, looking dead on his section of the couch, his feet up on the coffee table. Loki was tired but trying not to show it. He still hadn't beaten Steve yet, so he was taking advantage of his zombie state. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' came on and I started singing. It went down like a broadway musical. Steve joined in on the second verse, Loki the third. I don't think they really noticed they'd started singing, everyone was just that dead. I was doing it mindlessly. We all came together on the fourth verse, enthusiastic and over the top. Loki had jumped on the table, full actor mode. I had fallen over onto my arse, just laughing because he was resembling a normal person. We sang so loud I swear we woke everyone up.
Which it turns out we did. Clint came up and yelled at us. Thor was just amused his brother was standing on a table as he was usually 'more of an observer than a participant'. Loki, an explosive mix of hungover, half asleep and still slightly drunk, muttered something unintelligible, gave Thor the finger and got in the elevator. I laughed, still sitting on the floor, and got weird looks.
"I think you two should get some sleep. It's 5 am and Fury's going to be here at 11." Clint said.
I sighed. "Fine. But you shouldn't be the responsible one."
"No, that's supposed to be Steve, but since he was up all night as well, I'm taking charge. Go to bed. You look like hell."
"Excuse me, but that's no way to treat a lady. Apologise to Steve right now!" I cackled.
"Hey!" He yelled. "I'm just not a morning person, ok..."
"And that is the reason you two shouldn't have stayed up all night. Bed. GO." Clint pointed at the door.
I picked myself off the floor and skipped to the elevator, holding the door for Steve. He was moving slower than a melting stick of butter down a hill.
Thor was trying not to laugh.
"C'mon, Slowpoke." I called out.
He hurried up a bit and collapsed when the doors closed. I pulled him up a floor down and went to my room. I toppled onto my bed and was instantly asleep.