Hidden Troubles

Chapter 21

Natasha was bored. Clint was away for some mission from SHIELD, a mission that didn't require her particular skill set. Tony and Bruce were mucking about in the lab, trying to enhance certain elements of the suit. Steve had decided to go out for a few days, returning to Brooklyn and seeing all the changes from his day. And so Natasha was alone. She let her feet lead her to the communal room, only to find one of the sofas occupied. The god of mischief sat, curled up as though asleep, although the uneven movement of his chest gave him away. He no longer really required his wheelchair to get around, yet he continued to isolate himself until mealtimes.

"You waiting for Thor?"

His eyes opened slowly, a frown settling on his face. Why would I be waiting for Thor? his stare seemed to say.

"No reason. You tend to spend most of your days locked up in your room, that's all."

She watched as his face settled into a more neutral expression, with a small hint of annoyance. She could still see the exhaustion buried deep in his eyes, and his dreadfully skinny appearance caught her eyes more than those complex emerald orbs. She almost felt bad for disturbing him now.

Instead she sat next to him. Loki shifted uncomfortably beside her.

"Have you ever played Bluff?" she blurted out suddenly.

A look of confusion overcame the broken god, followed by a shake of the head.

" I think you'll like it. It applies to your particular skill set." Natasha allowed a small smirk to pass her features. She got up to rummage around for a deck of cards, which she found at the back of the "scrappy drawer", as Stark called it.

"It's a card game," she could feel the trickster's gaze fixed on her hands, transfixed by how her hands effortlessly shuffled the cards in an oddly elegant manner, "a game of deception. The aim is to get rid of all your cards. You can start by placing face down any cards you want, like two 2s or just one 9. Then your opponent adds a card or more than one to the pile. But the card(s) added must be higher than the previous card added, also face down, and says what they placed down. So say I put two 2s, you'd have to put something higher than 4, because two times two is four. But you can lie. You can say you put down a 4, when you actually placed a 3, or Ace. If I think you're lying, I call your Bluff. If you were lying, you take all the cards in the pile. If you weren't lying, I take all the cards. The game ends when someone runs out."

Loki looked at her now with raised eyebrows.

You think you can lie to the god of lies?

"I can try." She stared into the green, two shades battling one another. "So, are you playing or not?" A swift nod was given to her as a response.

She split the pack into half, placed one half to the side, and split the other half, then handing one part to Loki. A small frown floated in his gaunt features.

"There's four of each card, and two jokers. Neither of us know what combination of cards are in that pile, so it makes it harder for us to know what the other has."

A silent nod spoke his understanding.

"You'll need to talk for this game you know." A mild smile flickered on his features. Something in Natasha wanted that smile to stay, to grow and burn and fill the room. But it flickered out like a weak flame.

"Also, the order. Ok so it's Ace, 2, 3, 4, up til 10, Jack, Queen, King. And the Joker's sort of like a clean slate. You can place the joker and then whatever other card you want."

She watched the trickster analyse his cards, absorb the information she'd given him, she could the gears slowing turning in his head, thinking, planning, plotting...

"I understand." The voice was quiet and rough and unused, yet it still carried its former royal elegance and liar's smoothness. Trust him to be able to preserve that much of him. "Shall we play, Lady Romanoff?"

She held her cards in a weapon used fan before her. "You or me?"

Loki waved a hand to her as if to say, Ladies first.

Natasha placed two cards face down.

"Two Aces."

"One 3."

"Two 5s."

"Bluff."

Natasha sighed as she was forced to reveal her lie. She could practically smell the glee of the small victory from the god.

Skeletal hands shook slightly as two cards were placed face down.

"Two 4s."

***

The game continued at a deadly calm pace, victories and losses on both sides. An hour had almost flown by, time marked only by the darkening of the New York sky, before they both decided to call it quits- the game would never end at this rate. Instead, Natasha slid down onto the floor, head resting against the couch with her legs stretched out in front of her, an unusually relaxed position for the assassin. Above her was Loki, lanky legs taking up the couch once more as he resumed his initial position before the spy's entrance. A comfortable silence passed between the two, thoughts and memories passed in their heads, fingers occupied with subconsciously tracing unique patterns to thread their thoughts together.

There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.

But what is fact- a truth or a lie?

Myth perhaps, for freedom is life's greatest lie.

Of the mind or soul?

Pain is the truth, sweet sweet pain

Phantoms lay beneath my eyes

But do the ghosts speak the truth?

"The Chitauri."

***

AN: THE ONLY REASON WHY THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT IS BECAUSE THE NEXT ONE IS GOING TO BE QUITE LONG SO BEAR WITH ME.

Also I'm not entirely sure how other people play Bluff; I'm aware there are different versions of it but this is the one I tend to stick to so I'm sorry if it differs from yours :)