Mischief on Midgard

Bonus Fluff Chapter

Loki was in a sour mood. He had been up all night doing research. Writing on pieces of paper, looking up various books, and making calculations on little hand-held machines. Tony kept insisting that Loki should do his work on one of the many computers, but honestly, that felt wrong to him. He couldn't draw what he wanted on a computer, and well... working with pen and paper just felt nice. Calming in a way.

As the sun rose, Loki had moved into the Avengers' main lounge with his work. He wanted a cup of coffee, well, multiple cups of coffee and the lounge was usually a quiet place to work at this time of the morning. Sadly, as he was making his way back to his make-shift workstation with a fresh cup, Clint came running through the room. The archer didn't see Loki and barrelled right into him. Loki's cup went flying and said fresh coffee spilled all over his work.

"Excuse me, pal!" Clint shouted over his shoulder, not even looking back to see who he had run into before he was gone.

Loki just stood there, staring blankly at his paperwork. Twenty hours of work. Twenty. Hours. RUINED. Loki picked up his mug with a shaking hand and stood back, staring at the papers with a blank expression. The coffee spill had spread to the edge of the table and was now dripping onto the floor. Tony walked in next and looked over the mess, letting out a whistle.

"Yeah, ya see? This is why I work on a computer. They automatically save every so often, and the saves are stored on a cloud server," Tony said in a casual tone.

Loki's head whipped up, and he glared at the other man venomously. If looks could kill, Tony would be dead.

"I'm just saying," Tony said, raising his hands defensively before moving over to pour a cup of coffee for himself. "Even if you spill coffee on a computer and kill the thing, as long as stuff is properly backed up, you won't lose anything in the long run."

A low growl escaped Loki as Tony left the room. This... This indignity would not go unpunished!

"Where is it, Tony!?" Clint was shouting at Tony, clearly upset.

"I already told you I didn't take it!" Tony yelled back. "Why the heck would you think that I took that stupid thing?!"

"Because I know where I put it, and you were the only one who goes in there!" Clint snapped back.

Loki was calmly sitting on the other end of the room, watching the drama unfold as he sipped at his coffee. He hid a grin behind the rim of his cup. He wasn't about to let either man know that Clint's high-tech, foldable bow was currently tucked inside the coat he was wearing.

The two men kept arguing for several minutes before walking away from each other, each clearly in a foul mood. Loki let them leave without saying anything. In fact, he allowed the pair to keep bickering off and on until late in the evening once everyone started gathering in the lounge for food. Once he was satisfied that both of them were equally frustrated, he stood up and put the bow down in a place where it was clearly visible. Specifically, right in the middle of the dining table.

Bruce just happened to be the first person to walk by and see the bow. The scientist blinked in surprise and looked over to where Clint was standing on the far side of the room.

"Hey, Clint?" he called out.

"What?" Clint responded, voice laced with annoyance.

"Is there a reason why your bow is laying out on the table?" he asked.

Clint turned to the other man and stared in stunned silence for several minutes before looking at the table.

"What?" he asked, tone confused.