
A Dark and Stormy Night
“Who the hell thought this was a good idea?” Tony exclaimed as he removed his shirt.
“I believe that would be you.” Bruce sighed as he did the same.
“I swear I said never again the last time we did this.” Clint grumbled, removing his pants.
“Well the power’s out and I couldn’t think of anything better to do!” Tony whined in defense as he began shuffling the deck of cards.
“Leave it to Anthony and his bright ideas.” Loki hissed, already missing his jacket, shirt, and pants.
“My questions is how we all got wrapped in this again.” [Y/N] remarked as she stared down at her dealt cards.
“Boredom. Alcohol. Blackmail.” Natasha named off as she too looked down at her cards, “Take your pick.
“It could be worse.” Steve chimed in as he tossed a blue chip into the pot.
“Says the solider still wearing his pants.” Bucky muttered, following suit and tossing a blue chip in.
“I like this game!” Thor roared with laughter as he tossed a red chip in, causing everyone around the table to groan.
The Avengers were once again crowded around the large table in the penthouse playing none other than strip poker. A hurricane had swept through New York and knocked the power out leaving the team with little to do in the form of entertainment and now sat playing the terrifying game by candle light.
“And that’s a win for me~” Clint chirped merrily as everyone began removing bits of their clothing.
“Hey Buck, how’d you get that scar there?” Steve asked curiously as he pointed out the red line running down Bucky’s left side.
Bucky looked down to see where Steve was pointing and gave a heavy sigh when he located the particular scar.
“Battle stories,” Thor said loudly, “far more interesting that a game of cards.”
“Agreed.” Tony said as he threw down his cards.
It was easy to tell that the billionaire had the least amount to scars, or at least was more willing than the others to share his stories, for everyone else fell silent at the prospect of having to tell the tale of a scar.
“It happened when I was still the Winter Solider.” Bucky mumbled, wanting more than anything for the spotlight to be off of him, “A mission didn’t go quite right and I ended up in a fight with my target, a target who happened to be wielding a machete at the time.”
“Bet HYDRA had fun stitching you up.” Clint commented as Bucky laughed humorlessly.
“What about that one on your chest Bruce?” Nat asked.
“Let’s just say it’s a reminder of another one of my moments of weakness.” Bruce answered with no further explanation to the circular mark on his chest, “And that mark on your hip Nat, what’s the story on that?”
“Oh.” She said with an air of humor and gave Bucky a quick look before answering, “That’s all thanks to our friend the Winter Solider, he wasn’t too happy that I was covering up his target.”
Everyone gave a soft laugh but the humor was strained as they all gave Bucky a look as he mutter a soft “Sorry.”
“Alright Tony, give us the details on that one on your leg.” Clint ordered as silence fell over the group.
“That my friend is what happens when you attempt to use a blow torch while drunk enough to see your dead mother.” Tony laughed loudly, “Man I had a hell of a time explained to Pepper why there was a blow torch in the kitchen let alone what actually happened to the kitchen.”
“Is that why you guys had to renovate?” [Y/N] asked curiously.
“You got it.” Tony answered as he continued to chuckled, “To this day Pepper makes sure I don’t bring anything with me when I leave the lab.”
“I can’t say that I blame her much.” Steve chortled.
“Alright Cap you’re up.” Tony exclaimed, “The parcel ones on your shoulder.”
“Got a mission out in the country.” Steve began, blues eyes glazing over as if he were taken back there, “The guy made a break for it and hid in a barn, when I found him he attacked me with a pitchfork.”
“Ouch.” Nearly everyone hissed in unison.
“My turn!” Thor bellowed the pointed to a blackened mark on his gut, “I received this wound when fighting in Jountunheim.” He then pointed to a light pink scar on his right bicep, “And this one while fighting in Venaheim.”
“Oh yes how very valiant of you.” Loki remarked bitterly with a roll of his emerald eyes.
“Alright Reindeer Games,” Tony stated with disinterest, “the one on your forehead.”
“I don’t remember that being there when we fought him.” Clint said as if he were trying to remember every detail of the battle he wanted nothing more than to forget.
“That’s because this is a more recent addition to my scars, though I received it more than a year ago.” Loki stated, “I obtained this from our lovely [Y/N] when I attempted to dispose of that retched cat you Midgardians refer to as a pet when it bit me.”
“Remind me to give Snickers extra cat treats tomorrow.” Tony laughed.
“You really did that [Y/N]?” Steve asked, looking between the red mark and the young [h/c] haired woman sitting beside Loki.
“It was either that or watch Snickers get tossed off the tower.” She answered with a shrug.
“Do not fret Loki, you look more like a man now!” Thor said as he clapped his brother on the back.
“Well [n/n] tell us a story.” Nat ordered.
[Y/N] sighed and moved her [h/c] hair from her neck and turned to allow everyone to see the deep long red mark that went across the back of her neck.
“I was [age].” She started as she dropped her hair and turned to face them all once more, settling in her chair before continuing, “Sometimes missions don’t go as planned, that mission nothing went like it should have and I would have died had Steve not shown up when he did.”
“Ever the knight in star spangled armor.” Tony commented as the tension became suffocating.
“Everyone gave a soft laughed then all eyes were on Clint.
“Alright Robin Hood, you’re up.” [Y/N] said with a smirk, “I wanna know the tale behind that one on your back.”
“Which one exactly?” Clint laughed.
“Middle of your back, kinda looks like a triangle.” She answered.
“Nat shot me with an arrow.” Clint answered and laughed hard as everyone stared at him in surprise, “It’s not like she did it on purpose! We just became partners and she want me to teach her some archery.”
“Never again.” Nat grumbled with a sour look as she crossed her arms.
“Oh come on it wasn’t that bad.” Clint reminded her.
“It was bad enough.”
At that moment the lights flickered on and everyone jumped to their feet.
“Freedom!” [Y/N] shouted as she bolted for the elevator, quickly followed by everyone but Tony.
“Come on guys!” He whined as they piled into the metal box, “I thought we were having a bonding moment!”