moon croissants
- - -
It was the slowest of mornings. No one was doing anything, yet everyone found themselves in the game room, some by the bar/snack bar, others playing cards, most just staring in silence at the ceiling
"We're earth's mightiest heroes, how come we can't come up with a singular interesting thing to do?"
"I don't know Cora, please, if you have any mind blowing ideas, please do share"
"Cut the bitchiness, greaseball" she snarled, the others just ignoring them, "And as a matter of fact, I do have an excellent idea" now that piqued everyone's interest "can the Quinjet work if we take it higher? Say, like, to the exosphere?" the bored heroes looked at her perplexed. "What? I wanna go to the moon" she shrugged as if it was the most common thing to say
"You wanna go to the moon?" questioned Sam, who looked very preoccupied for his friend's sanity (clearly, he wasn't the only one)
"C'mon! It makes sense! Bruce ended up on another planet, which is, by the way, much farther away" she pointed out, "Why wouldn't we just go and have a little tea party on the moon?" she whined trying to convince her friends
The team still looked skeptical, which is why, in Cora's mind, she had to bring out the big guns
"Steve, Tony thinks the moon landing was fake" Cora said loudly, grinning at Thor who was giving her a disappointed mom look, knowing full well that she was just manipulating them.
Instantly, Tony jumped in to back himself up
"I don't think the moon landing was fake, I know it was"
"Fucking traitor-" he muttered menacingly
"Language!", that made him turn his angry glare from the billionaire towards the rest of the team, sighing before opening his mouth again
"Pack your bags, we're going to the fricking moon" and with that, everyone scurried away to follow the orders, too scared of the fuming captain
"I get why you love being the god of mischief, tricking people into doing exactly what you wanted them to do in the first place... it feels amazing" Cora sighed dreamily, snickering to the god as they walked side by side to get ready.
Both them, Thor and Wanda walked out of the elevator together, since Loki had taken the last empty room in the floor, and after they all had gotten ready, they stepped into the lift once again
"Why the moon, though?" questioned the god of thunder
"I wanna see them when they find out there's no flag nor footprints" cackled the woman, as Wanda's jaw fell in surprise and the two Asgardians laughed
"We're having tea though, right, lolite?" Wondered the blonde god, Cora hummed in response, leaning into Thor's shoulder, oblivious to the slight frown that took place in the face of the raven haired prince at seeing the closeness between his brother and Cora
Loki is jealous
Shut up, witchling
Cora just giggled at the two voices resounding in her head, turning towards the god of mischief and throwing him a wink and a teasing smirk as she hugged the blonde man closer before letting go
You're so easy to rile up, mischief
I'll show you riled up, darling
Bring it on
I'm still here, you guys are disgusting... adopt me?
Sure
No
Too late. What? Don't tell me you don't want my babies, rude
"Are you guys getting off or...?" asked the only one in the elevator who wasn't part of the telepathic conversation, apparently they had arrived to the floor where the jets were stored without realising
"Yeah, sorry, just thinking about how I really wanna have a croissant on the moon for some reason, don't know what's wrong with those two though" joked the woman pointing at the asgardian and the sokovian mockingly
As they walked outside, towards the jet, suddenly, a beam of rainbow lights formed in front of Thor, inviting him to step in. Their group of four halted, and the god of thunder showed hesitancy at seeing the mournful look on his brother, knowing he wasn't invited on this spontaneous trip home
"Don't worry Thor, go, we'll tell you how the moon was, something must be going on if you were summoned like this" encouraged Cora with a gentle smile. At the same time, she found Loki's hand behind her back and subtly squeezed it two times in reassurance, which earned her an almost invisible smile
"I'll be back as soon as possible, promise" he stated, aiming his words mainly at Loki.
He walked into the bifrost and just as it appeared, it vanished, leaving as evidence only a mark on the floor that Stark would surely whine about the moment he saw it
- - -
"Okay, bets time" announced Clint once everyone was inside the jet, waving around two hats, one blue, "this one's for the moon believers", and the other red "the other one, for the ones who... don't, i guess" he finished
One by one, everyone put their money where they thought they would win, ignoring the angry and betrayed glares Steve sent anytime money was placed on the 'hat of treachery', as he decided to call it in an attempt to guilt trip them
"Natasha, Wanda, Peter, Cora, Loki, Tony, you're all officially dead to me- Bucky you too?" he yelled, interrupting himself as he saw his best friend/almost boyfriend placing his wager in the red hat
"Sorry, punk, I wasn't going to, but Cora put her money there, that's like the only reassurance I need" shrugged the ex assassin apologetically
"Don't speak to me anymore" pouted the heartbroken captain
"I'm regretting not bringing a herd of cows" snickered Peter, only being understood by the twins, Scott (who had been seeing too much TV with Cassie) and Cora (who just really loved the show)
"I'll magic up some ice cream for you, kid, don't worry" assured the grey eyed woman
"What the- you know what, I don't even wanna know what the connection is" sighed the archer, who was then, much to everyone's dismay, explained in full detail what it meant by Peter and Pietro.
"You know" started Sam when there was a second of silence "most people just go for a walk in the park, catch a movie, go shopping, or do a million other things when they are bored, they don't just up and go to the fucking moon" finished the falcon with a chuckle of disbelief
"Are you serious?" questioned Banner, looking around the ship with a 'can you believe this guy?' face
"Our group consists of: a genius with daddy issues, a second genius who turns big and green, an assassin who prefers bows and arrows to guns, a ballerina assassin, a hundred year-old ex Hydra assassin with a plum obsession, an equally old walking popsicle with a frisbee, a guy with a bird suit and goggles, a man who speaks with ants and can change in sizes, a kid who can crawl through walls, two norse gods, twins with super powers, the android son of the two geniuses and one of the gods, and whatever Cora is" summed up Natasha with an indifferent tone
"Yeah, I don't think we should compare ourselves with what 'most people' would do" hummed Tony, sipping on his thermus, which was definitely filled with some sort of alcohol "And I don't have daddy issues" his whines were met with a wave of sarcastic 'sure thing Tony' from everyone
"I feel like Valkyrie and Tony would get on perfectly, right?" whispered Loki from his seat next to Cora, watching Stark hand out space suits for all the oxygen breathers of the team
"I'd even say they'd work as a couple, if they weren't both as fruity as they are" giggled the woman, making the god revel in the sound of her laugh
On the other side of the ship, the twins and Peter were watching the exchange, "I still have a week and a half for them to get together and win the bet" said the witch, munching on her popcorn
"The way things are going, they'll be having non gravitational sex in the moon" joked Pietro, causing him and his sister to laugh
"Actually, it's a misconception that the moon has zero gravity, it does have it, just not the same amount we have on Earth" explained Peter matter of factly, causing the siblings to deadpan at him
"I know, I know, dial the nerdiness down around you" sighed the spiderling in defeat "this can be considered bullying, you know?" he added
"Hey, if I can't geek out about my powers, and speedy gonzales isn't allowed to brag about how long - or how not long, actually - it takes him to do absolutely anything, then you can't correct anything we say with your cleverness" pointed out Wanda, to which Peter just nodded, especially because of the point she'd made about Pietro, then continued on silently spying on the two most powerful sorcerers in the ship
"Ooh, have I told you? Peter has a girlfriend" sang Cora, laughing at the shocked face Loki pulled
"Really? The kid I caught dancing in maid dresses along Pietro, has a girlfriend? Woah" said the god in incredulity
"And that's not even the worst part" she mumbled to herself without thinking, but the prince still caught it
"What is then, darling?" enquired the mischievous god
"Oh, uhm, yeah, no, it's just he, you know, he didn't tell me, I found out through someone else, yeah" she said, lying a very unbelievable lie, she knew it, he knew it, anyone who heard it would know it, but he had the decency of not pressing on it
"What do you think they needed Thor for?" questioned the god, his voice resembling that of a sad and neglected boy, which, in more than one way, he was, making Cora grimace at the change of topic
"We can ask him when he's back, don't worry about it" said the woman, she hesitated before sheepishly asking something else "Uhm, what did you do, anyway?"
Loki stayed silent for a bit and she thought she had crossed a line and had got him even sadder, those assumptions were dismissed the second she heard the angelical sound of the god's dry and amused chuckle
"I don't know if you were aware, but I had been kept in the palace's dungeons since New York, last time Thor came to visit, the king decided to give me my freedom and magic, so long as the all mighty god of thunder was around to keep my in check" started Loki, stopping to see if he still had the woman's attention
"Yes, carry on, please" she pressed nodding along her words
"Well, I dyed Odin's hair to pink the second I was out of the dungeons, so here I am, banished" finished the god with a slight hint of hilarity at the recalling of his... prank
Cora was definitely having the hardest time trying not to double over in laughter, yet she lost it the second her mind drifted off to the image of the allfather, the man who had played a parental figure during her childhood, that same old man, with his white hair replaced by a - surely - scandalous shade of pink
Not only was it an extremely amusing mental image to have in her head, but it also reminded her of the many times Hela and her would get in trouble for doing similar stuff, like putting wheels on the throne, or stealing food from the kitchen prior to big feasts, even using their powers to turn themselves into rats and hiding from Frigga.
"God, I'd kill to had been able to see Odin's face, totally worth the banishment" she said once she had ceased her laughter, and just by hearing her laugh, the prince couldn't help but agree, 'totally worth it'
After her laughter died down, in a softer tone she added, "They'll come around, you'll be able to go back to Asgard soon, I promise" earning a soft smile from the prince, one she quickly mirrored
They got lost in each other's eyes; his, green as a jade stone worth more than any diamond Cora could've ever laid eyes on, and hers, the grey resembling a fog that hides behind it everything he never knew he was looking for. And for a minute, there was a compelling force pulling them together, and neither of them had the willpower to fight against it, and if you looked into their minds, at that moment it would've been the last thing either of them wanted
"We're here! Get up everyone, we have a flag to find!" and with the announcement of their arrival, the magnetic force between the god and the queen seemed to fade away, like a poisonous mist cleared under the newfound lunar gleam
"Good luck with that, stars and stripes" Cora called, practically jumping from her previous seat next to the god, smoothing down the wrinkles that had formed on her clothes, as if brushing off what had almost happened a second ago, and without so much as a glance back, she walked out of the jet and into the dusty soil of the moon.
On the other hand, Loki was still seating where he had been seating for the time it took to get to their destination, frozen in place, replaying the whole thing as if he would forget it, as if he didn't think about it the moment would fade, as if he needed to engrave it on his mind that he hadn't been the only one to lean in
"Hey, Lokes, c'mon, you okay?" urged the metal armed man, being the last one to get off the jet, he knelt in front of the god, then waved his hand in front of the man's green spaced out eyes, bringing him out of his daze
"What's wrong, James? Are you okay?" he asked when he realized the soldier was in front of him with a slightly worried look on his face. The two got on very well, bonding over the common ground of having been tortured and controlled, resulting in a pretty wholesome friendship between the two disturbed souls
"I'm fine, man, you were the one with his head all the way in wonderland or something, did something happen? Are you alright?" insisted Bucky, helping the god to his feet so as to walk out to the group of astronaut heroes looking for proof of the moon landing
"No, and never better" sighed the raven haired prince in a haze as he lied eyes on the woman responsible for his internal dispute
Loki relished on Cora, looking ever so blissfully oblivious as she jumped up and down with the younger avengers, revelling on the way her hair floated freely from the lack of helmet, as if under the water
Cora felt her phone buzz and turned so furiously red she could feel her temperature rising up like crazy
Please tell me for once my eyes deceive me
Heimdall
I swear to myself that if you tell Thor or Hela about this i'll have your head on the silverest fucking platter, shinnier than Skurge's bald head
Cora x
Queen Cora and Prince Loki
Sitting on a jet
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Heimdall
I hereby revoke you of your post as Asgard's gatekeeper, reason? Treason
Cora x
Heimdall
No words, bye
Cora x
"Cora!!" a voice yelled frantically, without waiting for a response, it started again, "Tell me where the flag is, where is it? Redwing scoped the area and said there's nothing, but it's wrong, isn't it? Now tell me, c'mon, tell us"
"Clint, since when do you care?" questioned Wanda confused by the, usually level headed, agent's tantrum
"Since I bet Natasha I would use her old ballet clothes for our next mission" yelled the archer, with the group of moon landing believers behind him
"Yeah, sorry guys, there's no flag, but hey, we can put one ourselves" said Cora trying to make them feel better, Steve made a little punch in the air in victory, so she stepped in "it's not going to be the USA flag, cap, only half of you are americans, and that's without counting the ones that aren't here right now" she argued, supported by most of the group, the rest hanging down their heads
"Stop being little bitches, let's just put up one with the avengers' symbol, плаксивые суки" grumbled the russian spy
After figuring out the design for the flag, they spent the rest of the 'day' doing all sorts of random things, both as a whole and individually. Cora kept her promise and gave everyone ice cream, Steve confessed he would like to live there for some reason. Bruce, Peter and Tony collected a million different lunar samples to study in their labs back home. They all played hide and seek in craters, also marco polo without the water, and anything else that came to mind, until they were too exhausted and made their way back
- - -
As if it had been planned in a movie, the minute the Quinjet landed on the compound's yard, the bifrost opened, revealing an overly excited god of thunder
He ran to meet the team at the ship's gate, waiting for the whole group to be around to make an announcement, apparently,
"Loki!" the blonde prince exclaimed with the wide smile still plastered on his face, frightening his brother to death
"Brother, what is the meaning of all-" he started questioning, but was quickly cut off by the revelation of the millenia, at least for the gods and the queen, since they were the only ones who understood
"Hela has returned!"
"What?" the god of mischief muttered in disbelief
"That's not all, brother" he turned, now directing his broad smile to the rest of his friends, "you have all been invited to attend the ball in her honour!" he exclaimed
- - -