Game Night
Chapter 28: Game Night
They got back to Sean's apartment right around eight thirty, just like Loki had been aiming for and it was a mad dash to the door to avoid the rain that was coming down. It wasn't pouring, but it was a steady rain shower. Kevin had tried to bring in the Panda, but Mobius assured him it would be okay in the trunk until the morning.
Once they were all tucked inside They all retreated to their own spaces to get changed into some dry comfy clothes. Sean to his room. Kevin to the bathroom. Mobius and Loki to their guest room the bag that contained some delicious looking sandwiches sat on the counter.
Loki pulled on a pair of light brown cotton pants and a deep green long sleeved cotton shirt after a moment of deliberation he took off one of his bracelets just for a second and used a small drop of his magic to dry his hair before he hurriedly put it back on and seated himself on the bed for a moment. "I rather enjoyed our outing today."
"I'm really glad to hear that Lokes." Mobius said as he pulled on a shirt of his own. "New York isn't all bad."
Loki sighed. "No...I know...just not good for me." He chuckled a little. "Or for my health."
There was knock on the door out in the living room, but before anyone could say anything Sean was quick to holler that he would get it followed by his excited his footsteps.
Loki stood and looked over himself one last time in the mirror. Making sure his glamour was intact before he looked over to Mobius. "Let's go meet his friends." Just as he stepped out of the guest room he heard a fairly loud crash of Thunder outside and he jumped at the sound and pressed himself against Mobius.
Mobius just rubbed his back and took a moment to whisper a couple reassurances. "You're inside sweetheart, it can't get you. It's just a little thunder. We're alright."
Loki nodded and when a second crack went off he wasn't nearly as startled. He still flinched a little, but he separated himself from Mobius and stepped full into the living room where he could already hear excited talking from all three boys.
Loki looked around the little crowd and Mobius stood with him, but hung back for just a moment. Peter had his back to him talking with Sean and Kevin who seemed to be getting along with him as well which was good. He had never forced Sean to take Kevin with him some places or to include him with his friends, but he was guessing because they were fairly close in age, only two years apart, a lot of
their interests aligned and they had shared some of the friends throughout the years. There was a woman as well who managed a to get a word in here and there.
"Let's go introduce ourselves." Loki said with a little laugh and Mobius nodded as he lead the way over to the little group.
Sean smiled as he saw them at last. "Guys come meet my friends." He said before he gestured to Peter. "This is Peter Parker. Peter this is my step dad Lyle and this is my dad, Mobius." He said before he turned to the woman. "And this is May Parker. Peter's Aunt."
Loki reached out a hand to both of them as did Mobius to shake hands properly. "It's very nice to meet both of you." He said before he looked to May. "Peter's a good kid. I've heard a fair amount about him from Sean."
"That's always good to hear. I try my best to steer him right. I think I've been pretty successful so far."
Peter's cheeks were a little red and Loki just chuckled. "Well, I'm sure you guys are hungry. I know I certainly am. Let's all have a seat at the table."
***
Sandwiches were doled out once they all migrated to the table and a pitcher of iced tea that Mobius had made with enough sugar to feed a small city in Loki's opinion and much to Loki's horror was passed around to fill glasses. Loki stuck with water.
Sean had also produced a new Monopoly game from his room. Board games had been a common occurance for both of the boys growing up. Loki had loved it because it was just a way for everyone to spend time together with some very low stakes friendly competition. Mobius just really liked board games because of course he did. Loki suspected it was coded into his DNA somewhere.
Sean was bankrupt pretty early on on one of Kevin's properties. May followed him out having fallen to Loki. Mobius tried his best. He really did, but Peter proved to be kind of a ruthless player and
Mobius followed May to bankruptcy. Kevin had always been good, but he got hit by Boardwalk and then managed to roll snake eyes and hit Park Place. Both with three houses on them and that had put the nail in his coffin. Thus it came down to Peter and Loki.
Loki looked over the board as he leaned back in his seat. He didn't have a whole of the more expensive properties. He did have both water works and the electric company as well as two of the rail roads. He had hotels on both the light blues and the brown properties between the Go space and Jail. He had hotels on the brown properties and he was set to put hotels on the light blues. He had also lucked out and gotten the yellows and the Orange properties which were on the higher end. Peter had everything else though and had just hit free parking which had a little over a grand saved up. Loki wasn't hurting to badly for money, but all it would take is one or two landings on either the green properties or either Boardwalk or Park Place and it would spell trouble for him.
The dice seemed to be wanting to drag this out as well though, because he had yet to hit to much trouble. He did land on Illinois which did kind of hurt, but it wasn't something he couldn't recover from. Peter was slowly being nickel and dimed to death.
Everyone looked over when they heard May yawning. "Peter we should probably head out."
Just as she said that thunder cracked outside. A little louder than it had been for the majority of the evening and Loki flinched slightly. "May, I don't think you should be out driving in that weather tonight."
"Why don't you guys the night?" Sean offered. "I have a third smaller room that I have an air mattress in that I can air up for you real quick and I've got some blankets and pillows."
Peter looked over to his Aunt with a bit of excitement at the notion of a sleepover and May looked over to Sean. "Are you sure?"
Sean beamed. "Am I sure I want to use this as an excuse to have Peter over so me and Kev can play videogames all night? Yes I am. I don't mind. Give me fifteen minutes to set up the air mattress for
you. Kev can you give me a hand?"
Kevin looked between Loki and Peter and then back to Sean. "But I wanna see the rest of the game. This is getting good!"
Loki chuckled as he set down the dice. "I'll wait until you get back. Go help your brother."
"Yes Lyle." Kevin said as he scrambled off the chair to go do so.
Loki pushed himself up and after a small hunt for a pen and two pieces of scratch paper that he wrote down his number on and came back over to the table. "It would be nice to have someone who actually lives in this city who knows my son to have eyes and ears on him. So I think it would be a good idea to stay in touch. And of course if you ever need any help, with anything, you're welcome to
call my number." Loki said as he handed one of the slips of paper to May.
"Oh. Thank you. That's right you don't live here do you?"
Loki shook his head. "No, we live in Ohio, it's where the boys grew up. New York is a bit...stressful for me so I don't foresee myself moving here anytime soon, but I can still help if you ever need it." He said before he held out the other slip with his number to Peter. "The same goes for you. If you're ever in trouble or you just need someone to talk to. I'm alway here. Just like I tell my boys, just pick up the phone."
Peter took it and looked down at the number before he looked back up to Loki with wide eyes. "Are...are you sure? I don't want to bother you when you're busy with your own life."
Loki waved one of his hands. "That doesn't mean I can't make room in my life for one more young man that might need a little extra support."
Peter clutched the slip of paper as he swallowed a lump in his throat and let out a quiet thank you. It was about all he could get out without possibly crying.
Sean and Kevin came back out soon enough and pointed out the room for May.
"Thank you for inviting us tonight. This was a lovely time. I don't get to do things like this often. Work keeps me pretty busy."
They all bid her a goodnight before the Monopoly board was the center of attention again.
It was another hour of back and forth and close calls, but eventually and to everyone's surprise, including Loki's Peter finally bankrupted Loki. He wasn't even sure how it had happened exactly, but he
smiled as he shook his hand and commended him for a good game.
Mobius was yawning and he himself was tired so he looked over to Mobius. "I'll help put away, why don't you go lay down. I'll be there in a moment."
Mobius didn't bother trying to argue as he got up and stopped to place a kiss atop Loki's head. "I'll see you in a couple minutes. Peter it was great to meet you and your Aunt and I wish you the best of luck in your studies and at these bot battles." He said before he also bid his own boys a good evening.
Loki watched him go before he looked to Sean and Kevin. "Why don't you go get a place set up on the couch for Peter and get your videogames set up. I would like a moment alone with Peter."
Sean and Kevin knew that though it was worded and said casually this request was not a suggestion so they both nodded and Peter shifted in his seat as they watched them go.
Loki looked over Peter with a rather serious expression on his face. "You're hiding something."
Peter sputtered. "What? No. Me? I'm just-" He shut up as Loki raised one of his hands.
"You are. Please do not try and lie to me. My boys haven't been able to lie to me in twelve years and my husband in even longer than that. You're also not very good at it so please don't insult both of us by trying."
Peter stayed silent, but he was getting more anxious by the second.
Loki leaned forward a little. "I'm not going to ask you what you're hiding. I assume you have your reasons whatever they may be."
Peter relaxed just a little, but he was still wary. "You're not?"
Loki shook his head. "No. There is something I need you to understand though. Those boys out there and that man in the room, this little family I have is my everything. There is nothing I won't do for them and nothing that I will not give up for them. I live for them and I will die for them if there ever came a need to do so." He lifted his sleeves a little to show off his bracelets briefly. "I have my own secrets. I understand the need for them sometimes, but I keep mine because in turn it keeps my family safe. So, what I need you to tell me, and be truthful about, is if your secret is going to be a threat to my family's safety. In any way. Because I like you Peter and Sean does to, but if there's something I need to know about you need to tell me. Because you are now in my sons life and thus it now affects him."
As Loki talked slowly Peter started to relax and instead of feeling scared per se, instead as he saw the bracelets briefly shown off, it was replaced with understanding. This man sitting across from him had his secrets he could not tell. Just like him. He was worried about his loved ones, just like he worried about Ned and MJ and May and Morgan. He mulled over how to answer that for a long time. Because...yes there was always a chance that being an Avenger if it ever got out who was under the mask it would not be...good. He finally looked over to Loki. "I try my hardest not to let it threaten those that are close to me and it never really has before. Not...to badly anyway, but there is always going to be a small risk." He said quietly before he looked down. "I guess you would rather I stay away from Sean?"
Loki mulled over that answer. It wasn't the certain yes he had been hoping for, but it wasn't as bad of an answer as he had thought. So finally he shook his head as he set the lid on the Monopoly box and slid it to the side to be put away in the morning. "If it's a small risk...I think I can probably live with that. He would be...sad and probably furious at me for telling him he can't be friends with you anymore and I do like you Peter. I can tell you have a good heart. You're smart, obviously, I've heard one has to be to get a Stark Internship. Just...look out for my son. Please."
"I can do that Lyle. I promise you I will. To the best of my abilities." That at least Peter could say with complete and utter conviction. He could never promise or guarantee things wouldn't go awry, but he could indeed promise to try his best.
Loki took a deep breath before he nodded. "Alright." He said as his expression finally softened a little. "And Peter, just so you know, I can keep a secret. I know everyone says that, but I can. I've kept my own secrets for a long time, I understand the importance of them sometimes. If you ever need someone that you can talk to I'm here to listen."
Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't just the smallest bit tempted to unload everything on his shoulders that he couldn't really talk about with his friends or even his Aunt, but he wasn't ready for that just yet. "Thank you."
Loki smiled a little before he pushed himself up. "Sleep well tonight." He said before he went out to the living room to say goodnight to Sean and Kevin before he disappeared to the guest room and slipped into bed next to Mobius.