Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 161

Pietro's latkes are surprisingly decent.

They're not as good as the ones their mother used to make, but Wanda enjoys them. It's not even so much about the taste as it is the nostalgia. Latkes were a staple of her childhood, and to finally have them again after all these years really brings back memories – even if Pietro did just use the first recipe that popped up on google (and then slightly overcooked them).

With the menorah lit and the latkes (mostly) finished, it's time to play dreidel.

They have a bit of a Hanukkah gang built up. Obviously, Wanda and Pietro are going to play. Natasha and Clint had agreed to play over Thanksgiving dinner. Even Tony popped in this morning and asked – with zero prompting – if there was room for one more, and how could she possibly refuse?

The five of them all sit around in a circle in the common room, and Wanda begins to explain the rules of the game. They have a singular dollar store dreidel and a giant bag of Hanukkah gelt – chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil – which Pietro divides between the five of them while she speaks.

The game is simple. Each of the four symbols on the dreidel are Hebrew letters. Every round, they put a chocolate coin in the pot. Then, somebody spins the dreidel, and the letter it lands on decides what the play has to do. Nun means they do nothing; gimel means they get the entire pot; hey means they get half the pot, and shin means they have to put a coin in. She even made little cheat sheets on index cards for each of the newbies to help them remember what each letter means.

Then it's time to start.

"So, put a piece in the middle," Wanda says, doing it as she says it.

Pietro unwraps one, takes a bite, then puts a different coin in the middle.

Wanda scoffs. "Pietro!"

Pietro holds a finger up as he chews; then, "It's definitely American."

Clint grabs a coin and throws it at him, and it bounces off his chest and into his lap. "Hey, don't eat the game pieces."

Pietro grabs it out of his lap with a smirk. "I'll eat this one, too."

Clint narrows his eyes. "Don't you dare." He lunges across the circle, arm outstretched to take it back.

In the blink of an eye, Pietro is on the other side of the room, looking at him smugly. He holds up his stolen chocolate coin. "Were you looking for this?" he asks teasingly.

"I was looking for this." Clint grabs a coin from his collection and tosses it in the pot. "Now we're even."

Pietro scoffs, but technically, Clint's done nothing wrong (or, at least, nothing more wrong than Pietro's done), so he returns to his spot around the circle, pouting.

The others put their coins in, and then it's time to spin. Wanda's the one teaching the game, so she goes first. She spins the dreidel, and it lands on hey.

"So now I get half the pot," Wanda says. "And you round up, so I get three." She takes three coins from the pot, leaving two more in the middle, then hands the dreidel to Natasha. "And now it's your turn."

"I'm gonna get the last two," Natasha says confidently. "Just you watch."

She spins the dreidel.

Shin: put in a piece.

Natasha checks her little cheat sheet, then groans. "This is not what I said I wanted." Still, she puts a piece in the middle.

Then it's Clint's turn. He spins the dreidel.