~I Remember You~

Chapter 9: Of Ice Cream and Carrots

Loki did not answer the text he sent.

After waiting fruitlessly over an hour for a reply the night before, Steve grew tired and decided to head to bed instead, thinking that perhaps Loki was long asleep as well. However, there was no reply text from Loki today either, and the only text Steve found waiting in his phone after checking it first thing in the morning once he awoke was from Tony Stark.

'So how was google last night? ;) ;) ;)'

Trying to ignore the pangs of disappointment gnawing at his heart, Steve texted back with a simple 'Useful :)' and placed his phone back on the bedside table, heading to the bathroom to prepare himself for the day. On his way to breakfast, and while he was having breakfast, the Captain saw no sign of the god either. After finishing his cereal and clearing up, without any reply from Loki even then, Steve decided that Loki must still be mad at him after all. He was just wondering if he should head straight to the god's room and force him to come out of hiding to talk things through, or if sending another text would suffice when along the way, Steve spotted the very person he was searching for. Just sitting alone right there on the couch in the living room.

"Loki?"

The god in question gazed up from his phone, which he had been fervently texting with, just long enough to shoot Steve a look of displeasure before turning his attention back to it again. Steve watched with a frown as the trickster's lips curled up slightly in a smirk, reading the text he had received on his phone, and felt a sudden sense of indignation rise within him.

So he must have seen my text. And he didn't reply. All night.

Walking over to sit opposite Loki on the circular couch, and observing as the god gave a snicker at another text he received, Steve soon decided that it was best not to mention his own text and delve straight into the more pressing issues instead.

"Hey, erm, can we talk?" The man tried at starting a conversation but Loki simply gave him an unimpressed look over his phone.

"Normally I would have loved to, but as you can see, I'm a little busy right now." The god sneered. Another 'bling' sound came on the trickster's phone a second later and his attention immediately went back to the device, eagerly typing out another message and leaving Steve to stare exasperatedly at him.

"Alright look," the man sighed. "I know you're still mad at me for the other night, and I admit I had been a little abrupt- okay, I had been very abrupt!" Steve corrected after seeing Loki's eyebrows rise sceptically at his statement. "I didn't handle the issue well, and I made things awkward. I'm sorry about that," he admitted and the hard look in Loki's eyes softened a little at the truthful apology. "What you said that day had surprised me," Steve continued in his explanation, "but that was only because I had been raised in a culture where such issues were not often spoken about. I didn't mean to offend you, and I certainly will not treat you any differently from before because of this... So can we just put this thing behind us, and you know, continue being friends?" Steve finished to a somewhat awkward silence and bit his lip anxiously in wait for a reply.

Loki gazed at the man blankly for a moment, stunned by what he had said. Then, after a few seconds, he opened his mouth and looked about to answer before seemingly thinking the better of it and choosing to remain silent instead. Then, without warning, his expression of surprise changed into a smirk.

"Oh, but I've long placed the matter behind me, Captain." The god drawled smoothly and Steve frowned in bewilderment at his sentence.

"Really? Since when?" He asked disbelievingly and Loki's eyes gleamed with wicked glee.

"Since a minute ago."

Before Steve could say anything about this strange statement, his cell phone rang. As the Captain gazed down at the caller ID on the screen and saw Fury's name, a jolt of realisation hit him and he turned to Loki with an incredulous look. The god simply smirked back.

"Hello?" Steve started gingerly as he picked up the call and winced the very next moment at Fury's extremely loud voice.

"YOU GAVE LOKI MY PHONE NUMBER?!"

Shooting Loki a dirty look, Steve got up immediately from his seat, heading to a quiet corner of the room to explain things to the furious director. Loki watched him with a smug, satisfied smirk, occasionally chuckling when Fury's voice could be heard blaring from the phone even as Steve was across the other side of the room. After the Captain was done getting his ear drums tortured, he came back to the couch with a scowl.

"What the hell did you send to Fury?" He asked crossly and Loki snickered as he showed the man his phone. Steve received the phone irritably and scrolled to the top of the trickster's long text history, reading it from the start and suddenly feeling faint as he did so.

7.48 a.m. 'Greetings Nicholas.'

7.50 a.m. 'Who is this?'

7.50 a.m. 'Oh, just someone you should be familiar with.'

7.51 a.m. 'Who are you?'

7. 52 a.m. 'Why don't you take a guess?'

7.53 a.m. 'No games here. Who the fuck are you?!'

7.55 a.m. 'Don't you get tired of repeating yourself, Director?'

7.56 a.m. 'Alright, last warning asshole. You'd better answer my question before I'll find out myself and things turn ugly.'

7.58 a.m. 'Ugly is a rather subjective term, don't you think, dear Nicholas?'

8.11 a.m. 'Stark?! Is that you?! Don't try to deny it! The GPS tracking indicated that this is coming from that fucking tower of yours and there's no one else there who would do something as idiotic as this!'

8.13 a.m. 'Oh my. Poor Stark. Always on your blacklist.'

8.14 a.m. 'Stark, if this is you, you'd better cease it immediately before I go up there and stick my foot up your billion dollar ass.'

8.15 a.m. 'Dear dear... do you want me to warn him, Director?'

8.17 a.m. 'You aren't Stark?'

8.20 a.m. 'I would most certainly hope so. It'd be most tragic otherwise.'

8.21 a.m. 'THEN WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!'

Somewhere along the lengthy history of texts, Fury finally clued in on who the mysterious text messenger is, and the results weren't pretty.

8. 44 a.m. "LOKI? How the fuck did you get a fucking phone and who gave you my number?'

8.45 a.m. 'Do you really have to ask?'

9.12 a.m. 'Stark's phone is unreachable, but you can tell him that I'm going to have a word with him later.'

9.13 a.m. 'And such wonderful words they shall be, I can imagine. But to be fair, Nicholas, although Stark was the one to present me with this lovely piece of Midgardian device, it was your favourite Captain who taught me how to text and gave me your number.'

9. 15 a.m. 'ROGERS?!'

9.16 a.m. 'I wasn't under the impression that you had another favourite Captain.'

And that was the last message sent by Loki ten minutes ago.

Steve rubbed his face in frustration after reading through the messages and shot Loki another disapproving glare. The god, however, simply smirked gleefully as he took back his phone and pocketed it. He then leant back comfortably on one of the cushions on the couch, as though waiting for Steve to say something, and the Captain did.

"You do know that-" He started furiously but then stopped midway through his reproach. After all, Steve had just somewhat patched things up with the god and he wasn't sure if blowing up over this matter and ruining things again was worth it. Besides, it was just a harmless prank. Maybe. "Alright fine," the man sighed in resignation after seeing the smug look Loki gave him. "I'll let it go this time."

Loki's brows rose with amusement. "How gracious," he drawled, and Steve glared exasperatedly at him. A moment of silence then swept across the room as both men found nothing else to say and it wasn't long before Loki got bored again.

"So are you just going to spend the entire morning sitting there and staring at me?" The god asked casually as Steve gave him a blank look. "As fun as that sounds I would very much prefer if we did something else to celebrate our renewed friendship."

Steve stared at Loki wordlessly for a second, taken aback by the question before finally gathering his thoughts sufficiently enough to speak. "Erm, something? I don't- Oh!" The Captain's face beamed as an idea came into his mind. "Why don't we head out of the tower for a while? You know, tour the city? You haven't been around much." He suggested lightly and Loki gazed back at him in surprise.

"I don't think I'm allowed to leave this tower in the first place." He pointed out flatly and Steve grinned.

"Well, you're not allowed alone, but you're going to be with me, right? Besides, you just landed me on Fury's bad side. I don't think anything else I do would matter too much to him anymore, at least for now." The Captain ended with a chuckle and Loki gave a wide grin.

"Rebellious," The god smirked approvingly. "I like it. So where are we heading?"

XXX

After spending the morning strolling through various parts of the city, showing Loki where the Central Park was and explaining to the god about the concepts of picnics and Frisbees, they stopped to have lunch at a decent restaurant Loki approved of. Then, after wandering around for a while more, Steve finally decided that it was about time to head back to the tower before the other Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. noticed that they were missing and started a city-wide search for them. Along the way, they passed by an ice-cream shop and Loki stopped abruptly. He gazed at the pictures of colourful ice-cream on the signboard and felt a sudden pang of nostalgia. The god then turned to Steve.

"I want to get one of those." He pointed out and Steve blinked in confusion at the sudden request.

"An ice-cream?" The Captain asked in surprise and Loki shot him an unimpressed look, as though to ask if his sentence had been that hard to understand. "Wow," Steve continued uncertainly as he started making his way towards the ice-cream shop. "I had no idea you would like these things."

"A friend introduced it to me once." Loki drawled matter-of-factly as he followed Steve, but that was all he would say about the topic.

"So what flavour do you want?" Steve asked as he stared at the vast number of flavours listed on the sign board, spoiled for choice.

Loki frowned. "Get me the pink one." The god said simply, remembering the first cone he had ever gotten.

"The pink-? Oh, you mean strawberry?"

Steve took the nonchalant shrug he received from the god as confirmation of his question and turned to the girl at the counter whose eyes were shining, awestruck by the fact that Captain America was actually patronising her store. "One strawberry and one vanilla cone please."

"Would you like any sprinkles with that?" The girl asked earnestly and Steve was stunned for a moment. Sprinkles? "We have chocolate rice, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts and rainbow sprinkles!" The girl offered helpfully as she showed the two men jars by the side of the counter, each containing the different types of sprinkles, and Steve gaped at the variety. This wasn't how he remembered buying ice-cream to be like.

"I would love some almonds on my ice-cream, thank you." Loki informed Steve lightly and the Captain nodded mutely before turning back to the girl and placing his order. He got a strawberry cone with almond sprinkles for Loki and a plain old vanilla cone for himself, politely declining the girl's enthusiastic offer to give it to them on the house. The two men then left the shop, stopping by just a few metres away to taste their ice-cream.

"What's that flavour?" Loki eyed Steve's cone curiously, and the Captain chuckled.

"It's vanilla," he replied, "one of my favourites. Though I don't really get it often." Steve admitted and Loki remembered how his friend told him in the past that he seldom ate cold things due to his sickly body.

"Can I try it?" The god asked and Steve nodded, offering the ice cream to him.

Just as Loki leant forward to get a taste of the ice cream, a group of rowdy boys rode by on their bicycles, loudly ringing their bells as they zipped past. Shocked by the sudden commotion, Steve jolted and most unfortunately squashed the ice-cream into Loki's face.

"Oh god! I'm sorry!" The man apologised hastily after seeing the furious glare his friend shot him. "I'm sorry, I-" Then, after realising how comical the usually dignified god looked with the white cream smeared all over his nose and lips, Steve broke out into a fit of uncontrolled laughter. Loki cleared the ice-cream on his face promptly with his magic, all while shooting the laughing man affronted glares and finally, Steve composed himself enough to stand straight and give him an apologetic look.

"I'm really sorry," Steve chuckled at last, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye as he did so. "I didn't mean to do that, but you really looked too hilarious earlier, and-"

As Loki listened to his friend's explanation, his lips curled up into a sudden sly grin. The god then silently flexed his fingers and a boy who was walking past them, carrying his own ice cream, suddenly tripped over an invisible rock like thing. The ice cream flew out of the boy's hand and landed right smack on the sleeve of Steve's shirt.

"Hey!" Steve yelled in indignation and it was now Loki's turn to snicker.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" The boy cried out, horrified by this turn of events and Steve was quick to comfort him.

"No no, it wasn't your fault!" The man gave him an assuring smile as he tried to wipe the ice-cream off his sleeve. He then turned furiously to Loki, who was still smirking at him. "You aren't supposed to use your magic outside of battles!" Steve hissed in a low whisper to the god, who returned his glare with a smug look.

"So what if I did? Are you going to snitch on me now?" He teased and Steve scowled.

"No. But you owe this kid an apology." The Captain pointed out shortly and Loki frowned at the stern look Steve gave him. The god then took a glance at the poor, unknowing boy, scared half to death by the two men arguing and gave a sigh, turning towards him.

"Here, take this," Loki said curtly as he pushed his ice cream towards the boy with reluctance. "It will replace the one you lost. And no arguments-" He snapped just as the stunned boy opened his mouth to speak. "-this is a strawberry cone with almond sprinkles, child, be grateful! Now off with you!"

"You call that an apology?" Steve gaped as the frightened boy fled with Loki's ice cream in hand. The god turned towards the man and gave him a sour look.

"Don't look at me like that," Loki retorted. "None of this would have happened if you did not smash your ice cream into my face!"

Steve spluttered with indignation at the accusation. "I've said that it was an accident. And I had apologised." He pointed out heatedly and Loki smirked.

"Yes, I could feel your sincerity while you were laughing away earlier," he replied snidely and Steve bit his lip in frustration, not knowing what to say. "But if you do feel bad about it, you may make it up to me by purchasing me another one of those cones." Loki suggested with a grin, amused by the annoyed look on the man's face.

Steve glared at the smirking god for a moment, feeling thoroughly irked by how Loki had so smoothly avoided all fault and pushed the blame to him. However, for some reason he could not explain, after seeing the way Loki's eyes twinkled while he flashed him his usual wide grin, Steve felt the anger within him slowly ebb and fade away. It then took him a while to realise that he had been staring at Loki's face for the past minute in a daze while his friend clicked his tongue impatiently in wait for Steve's answer.

Ah, what the heck!

The Captain gave a huff and turned reluctantly to walk back and join the queue of the ice-cream shop.

"Don't forget the almonds!" Loki called after him and chuckled gleefully when Steve made some incomprehensible sound in reply, irritated by the reminder.

XXX

"So you went out to town with Loki today?" Tony asked as he chewed on a piece of chicken from his chop suey, staring at Steve with amazement.

"Yeah," Steve replied as he carefully sliced some ham on the counter.

"Mmhmm," Tony hummed thoughtfully as he picked a carrot out from the packet of noodles before him. "So remind me what you're doing now again?" The billionaire continued, popping a pea into his mouth.

Steve rolled his eyes with annoyance at the constant surge of questions. "I'm making sandwiches?" He answered sarcastically, gesturing to the ham, cheese, lettuce and bread before him. Tony chuckled.

"For yourself and Loki," he pointed out matter-of-factly, adding on to his friend's sentence and Steve sighed.

"Well yeah."

"So where is that freeloading bum then?"

"Loki's in the living room watching America's Funniest Home Videos right now." Steve explained huffily as he opened the packet of cheddar cheese and Tony gave an amused snort.

"And he couldn't make his own sandwiches?" The billionaire chuckled.

Steve gave an irritated sigh. "That's what I said," he complained and Tony couldn't contain his laughter any longer. It took him a while to catch the annoyed look Steve shot him before he calmed himself down and returned to his noodles, still smirking nonetheless. Obviously Loki must have had a better counter argument to what the Captain said for Steve to be here in the kitchen now, preparing sandwiches by himself.

"My brother likes his sandwiches with two slices of cheese." Thor piped up helpfully from beside Tony, causing the billionaire to choke on his noodles. Steve closed his eyes in frustration.

"Thank you Thor," he deadpanned, picking up a second slice of cheese nonetheless and adding it to Loki's meal.

"You're welcome," Thor grinned, and Steve could have sworn that the usually oblivious Thunder god was actually making fun of him for once. Steve placed the sandwiches he prepared carefully into the microwave to toast for a moment before turning back to his two team mates, frowning at the grins they flashed at him.

"So I see you and Loki are back on talking terms," Tony pointed out with a smug look and Thor laughed knowingly.

"Of course, my brother never holds grudges for too long," the Thunder god said cheerily and Tony gave a sceptical snort at this.

"Says you!" He retorted and Thor frowned.

"For minor issues such as this, I guess," he admitted sheepishly.

Steve gave his friend a sympathetic smile. "Give him some time. He's starting to get over it." The Captain said comfortingly and Thor grinned at the thought.

"Indeed! And I'm sure it would not be long before things returned to how they used to be," the Thunder god declared, "just like the days in our youth when we were wild and free."

"Wild and free?" Tony's ears perked up at the potential source of gossip. "You, I can imagine, but Reindeer games? He used to be wild?"

Thor laughed heartily at his friend's question. "Indeed! Loki had been just as wild as I had been in our youth, or perhaps even more!" He chuckled at the looks of disbelief on both Tony and Steve's faces. "In fact, I stopped setting limits on just how wild my brother can be after that time he bedded Svaðilfari!"

"Oh, a one night stand," Tony nodded knowingly as he chewed on some of his noodles. "So who's this Svaðilfari guy, or girl, anyway?"

Thor chuckled with amusement to his question and even Steve, who normally did not approve of gossip, leant in a little forward to listen out of curiosity.

"Svaðilfari is a stallion."

Tony spat out the noodles in his mouth.

"What?!" Steve gaped in shock at the smiling Norse god.

"You're fucking kidding me!" Tony choked as he, too, stared incredulously at his team mate beside him. When it was clear that Thor was definitely not joking, the billionaire gave a low disbelieving laugh. "Well, that gives a whole new perspective on the term 'horsing around'."

"Loki's mated with a horse?" Steve repeated with a traumatised look on his face. "Please tell me that this is not legalised in anywhere in America, even now!" He turned towards Tony, voice filled with dread.

"You're safe there, Cap." The billionaire confirmed and Steve felt a wave of relief washing over him.

"Thank goodness."

Thor shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat, realising that he had once again unwittingly opened a can of worms about Loki. "Well, Loki had shape-shifted himself into a mare when that happened, if it helps anything..." He muttered uncertainly and Tony laughed, slapping him on the back.

"Don't worry big guy, we won't hold this against Loki! The days of our youth is the time to be wild, right Cap?"

Steve blinked in surprise for a moment before realising that the question was targeted at him. "Erm, yeah. Sure." He agreed half-heartedly to Tony's statement about being 'wild' and then noticed the look of anxiety on Thor's face. "Don't worry too much about this Thor. I'm not going to judge Loki, or anyone for that matter, just because of their sexual preferences." He added, with a firmer tone this time round and Thor gave him an appreciative smile.

Just then, the timer on the microwave sounded and Steve hastily got out the sandwiches, setting them on a plate.

"Alright, I'll see you guys around then," he smiled as he brought the plate out of the kitchen, heading to the living room where Loki was most probably grumpily waiting for his dinner. Thor waved cheerfully to the Captain as he left and Tony gave a cynical snort as he returned to his chop suey.

"Capsicle's too nice for his own good," the billionaire said matter-of-factly as he took another mouthful of his noodles. "He's totally getting bullied by Loki right now."

"Loki can get a little demanding at times." Thor agreed, picking up one of the abandoned carrots that Tony had picked out and chewing on the orange stick absent-mindedly.

Tony, however, gave a little smirk. "We've already established the fact that Loki likes men, right?" He pointed out, and Thor nodded mutely, unsure of where this conversation was heading. "Well then," Tony continued, a wicked little gleam in his eyes, "as his brother, and basically the only person here in this tower to know him for decades, do you think that perhaps Rudolph has this tendency to hang around people he's interested in, like say... all the time?"

Thor frowned in confusion at this question. "I believe he does have this tendency," he admitted. "Back then when we were youths, he met this charming lady from a distant realm and- oh!" The Thunder god's eyes shone with sudden realisation as he understood what his team mate was getting at. Tony laughed and dragged his chair a little closer to Thor's, huddling towards the god.

"So do you think Rogers knows?" He asked in a conspiratorial whisper and Thor's brows furrowed at the question.

"I highly doubt it." He replied with a serious expression. "The Captain does seem highly oblivious when it comes to matters such as these."

Tony smirked at the reply and was just opening his mouth to answer when they suddenly heard footsteps approaching the kitchen. Both men turned around and soon saw a weary looking Bruce shuffling tiredly towards the doorway of the kitchen, looking as though he hadn't slept for days.

"Oh hey!" The scientist's eyes lit up a little when he spotted his teammates sitting at the dining table.

"Hello Brucie!" Tony greeted his friend while Thor flashed the man a huge grin. "Haven't seen you for ages! Had a fun vacation?"

"I was only gone for two days Tony," Bruce replied exasperatedly as he approached the table and pulled out a chair. "And I wasn't too hyped about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s labs, to be honest. I much prefer the ones we have here."

Tony beamed with pleasure at his friend's indirect compliment. "So what did S.H.I.E.L.D. want you for?" He asked curiously and Bruce shot him a wry smile.

"You seem pretty concerned," the man replied, somewhat teasingly.

Tony gave a slight pout. "Of course I'm concerned. They borrowed my lab partner for a whole 46 hours. I do believe I have the right to know what they're up to." He finished indignantly and Bruce chuckled.

"It's nothing much," he sighed, giving his eyes a tired rub. "They wanted me to run some tests on several stabilizing agents similar to the one Loki used during his invasion a few months back." The man explained. "Normally I wouldn't be needed but since some of them were giving off mild amounts of radiation they figured it'd be safer for me to head down personally."

"I see." Tony chewed thoughtfully and Bruce grinned at the man.

"So, I'm pretty hungry. Is there anything for dinner?" He asked hopefully and Tony chuckled.

"We ordered Chinese," he pointed at the packet of nearly finished chop suey before him. "But you didn't call to say you'd be coming home for dinner, so there's none for you." The genius smirked, "I did save a few carrots for you though." He added brightly, gesturing to the pile of unwanted carrot bits at the side of the packet and Bruce grimaced.

"Thanks, but I think I'll make myself a sandwich." The scientist grumbled before getting up and making his way towards the kitchen counter.

Tony snickered at the sounds of Bruce rustling through the cupboards in search of food and turned back to Thor. "So what were we talking about again?"

Thor picked up another piece of carrot and chewed on it thoughtfully. "Ah yes, we were discussing about whether the Captain knows my brother is interested in him."

There was a loud thud after the god's sentence and both men turned towards Bruce once more, only to see the scientist staring at them with his eyes widened in disbelief. The packet of bread he originally held was now lying on the clean kitchen floor.

"Excuse me?" The question came out as a low, horrified whisper. "Correct me if I'm wrong but, did you just say that Loki is interested in Steve? Or is there something I missed there?" He finished with an incredulous look at both Thor and Tony. The two men exchanged glances for a moment before turning back to him.

"Yep." Tony replied honestly. "Loki totally has the hots for Rogers." There. Short and simple.

"Oh god," Bruce leant back in shock against the counter. "This is-" he gaped at Tony, as though waiting for the man to suddenly shout 'April's Fool' in glee or something, even though it wasn't April, and when he received no such reaction, turned to Thor instead. After the Thunder god confirmed what Tony had said with a grim nod, Bruce sighed and rubbed his temples wearily.

"Okay, this is all too much for me to absorb in one night," he grumbled, bending over to pick up his dropped loaf of bread. "I'm tired, and I'm hungry, and I can't find my jar of olives." He deadpanned with a frustrated glance at the wide arrays of cabinets in the kitchen and Tony gave a sympathetic shrug.

"I know," the billionaire agreed. "Thor took a while too, to grasp this," he continued much to the indignation of the Thunder god beside him. "And I swear I saw Clint last with your olive jar by the way," Tony added as Bruce turned to him with an irked look. "Just saying."

Bruce gave a long suffering sigh. "I've nothing against LGBT rights or anything, Tony, you of all people should know. (Tony gave a tiny grin at this) But this... this is just too amazing for me to take all in one shot. I mean, Loki and Steve? They are like- like-"

"Polar opposites?" Tony offered helpfully.

"Exactly!" Bruce gave the counter surface beside him a triumphant bang with his fist. "Polar opposites!" He emphasised in earnest. Tony gave a tiny chuckle.

"Remember the laws of attraction in physics, pal? Opposites attract." The man pointed out with a smirk and Bruce's eyebrows rose cynically.

"I don't think it works the same way in relationships as it does with magnets, Tony." He replied dryly. Tony was about to retort back when Steve suddenly entered through the doorway again, much to the surprise of all three men. He was greeted with a stunned silence.

Tony was the first to find his tongue again. "Oh hey Cappie, what brings you back?"

"Oh, I came to grab a couple of drinks and- oh hey Bruce!" Steve suddenly caught sight of the man standing by the counter and gave him a wide smile. "Didn't know you were back."

"I only just returned," Bruce replied amiably and Steve grinned before turning back to Tony.

"So what were you guys talking about earlier?" He inquired curiously. "You stopped after I came in."

Thor exchanged an anxious glance with Bruce while Tony, as unfazed as ever, gave a smirk. "We were discussing about how fresh these carrots were." The billionaire replied casually, showing the Captain the pile of carrots by the side of his chop suey packet.

"Carrots?"

"Yeah, Point Break loves them, don't you big guy?"

"Ah yes!" Thor agreed hurriedly. "They are divine!" He picked up another piece, biting into it immediately as if to prove his point.

"Okay..." Steve cast a doubtful look as Tony bit back on his urge to laugh. The Captain then went over to the fridge and took out two beers before turning to leave again. "I shall leave you two to talk about carrots then," he continued cynically. "Goodnight Bruce," Steve added with a polite nod in the scientist's direction and Bruce smiled, waving to the man as he left.

When it was certain that Steve was definitely out of eavesdropping distance, Tony heaved a sigh of relief and turned back to Thor.

"We can't let Rogers know about this for now. You know how he is about all these lovey dovey stuff. He'd probably just freak out and then, there goes all your brother's chances!"

"What should we do then, my friend?" Thor asked anxiously and behind them, Bruce gave a wry laugh.

"I think you guys are thinking too much." The scientist pointed out wearily and Tony smirked, wagging a finger at his friend.

"Stop being a party pooper Brucie. We all do wish for our team leader, and good friend, to get some love, don't we?" He quipped and Bruce shot him a disbelieving look. "Thor and I are definitely going to be in this-," Tony stated as a matter of fact and beside him, Thor nodded fervently, "-so the question now is, are you in? Or out?"

Bruce stared exasperatedly at his friend, carefully considering the issue for a moment before the sides of his lips twitched upwards to form a slight grin. Tony only needed one look at the expression on the scientist's face to know what his answer would be and he chuckled, giving his hands a gleeful clap.

"Alright, Jarvis, open a file and label it 'Operation Stoki'. We gotta start some planning for this project!"

A/N:

I just love passive aggressive Loki, don't you? And yes, the relationship's progressing along now, it just needs a little push, or rather a couple of jump starts before it would work.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed yesterday! I probably won't be posting in the next few days as I will be busy but I'm hoping to at least get to the mid point of this story before my vacation is over. In the meantime, I hope to hear from all of you in your reviews! :D