END-GAME

Finding her way to the closest thing to resemble a bar there, Theo thought she could finally find a moment of peace. She caught a glimpse of Thor sitting down, slowly drinking a rather large glass filled with beer.

Next to him was Peter, his body crouched and face pouting as he swirled his straw on a drink that was most certainly not beer.

“Hey-”,she huffed out,sitting in between them. “Now you too look like proper party boys, don't you?”

“Poor thing here tried to flirt with Asta”,Thor chuckled,sipping once more. “He never stood a chance. Been a little gloom ever since”.

Theo let out a series of small chuckles,patting Peter's back gently.

“Parker turned out to be a loverboy,huh? What a surprise..”

“She talked to me first!”,he protested,frustration written all over his face.

“Ah yes”,Tho sighed. “Asta's been known to be a tease,Spider kid. Sorry for that”.

“You seem to be speaking from experience Big Guy”,she joked.

“Well,Theodora, I too was once young and naive, like Parker here”.

Theo and Peter both turned to look at him, hints of disbelief painted in their eyes. In the end, neither of them wanted to drag this on any longer. Theo's eye eventually fell on Peter's drink; the unfamiliarity pink shade of it, to be exact.

“Parker”.

“Hm? Yeah?”

“Is that a cocktail you're drinking?”

Peter pumped his cheeks. He had that expression on his eyes that he only held on to when thought to be in trouble.

“I..”

“I thought there was only beer here”,she turned to Thor.

“Oh no. Of course not Theodora, we're modern people. Edith shall serve you any cocktail of beverage you wish to drink”.

He motioned his hand and a young woman showed herself from behind the bar. Her hair blond white and curly, braided all the way down in many delicate little plaits.

“Want me to get you something?”,she asked in a warm smile, her voice extremely high.

“Ah,yeah.. would you happen to have gin? Alright, then a gin tonic, please”.

Edith nodded at her, and after a couple minutes she passed the glass to her. Theo finished her beer,put it aside and started drinking the gin.

“Never took you for the alcoholic type”,Pietro said in a sly smile as he forced his way into sitting in between her and Thor.

“That's cause I'm not”,she spelled out.

“Sure. Whatever you say,Bennet”.

Theo shook her head a little,gulped down a snort and continued drinking her gin. Pietro himself ordered a vodka- neat as he asked it to be. So much for a peace of mind, she though to herself.

Pietro was most definitely the loudest, most annoying person in their group. Peter could be, Stark was, and the list goes on, but Pietro did that by choice. Thinking about it, Theo figured that Tony also did that by choice. She began second guessing all her years being around those two.

“By the way..”,she said, her voice hinting some hesitance. “Have you seen James around? He wasn't on the jet. Wilson,too”.

“Ah”,Thor motioned his brows, “I believe they'll be late. If they are to come at all, that is. Barnes mentioned something about taking care of some businesses. I believe you're aware of Wilson's-”

“Promotion”,she said bitterly. “Yes, I figured that much,Thor”.

They mostly remained silent for a few moments after that. Even Peter and Pietro found themselves to be in a state of nervousness as to the recent events and the tie in between Sam's getting the shield and Steve's departure.

None of them was as inconsiderate though as to address the matter directly.

Thankfully enough, Tony's appearance made Theo momentarily forget about it all, as he walked into the bar without the wheelchair, but instead holding onto a short, metallic looking cane with engraved flames on it, of all things.

Theo's nostrils opened, as her eyes were practically glued on him while he approached. Holding a margarita on one hand,pressing the other down to the cane as to hold himself from falling. The cast was gone as well.

“Looking anything you like there Theo?”,he asked with an arched eyebrow, pulling a stool over to sit in front of them.

“What I'm looking at is an old man holding a cane”.

“You've never seen an old man holding a cane this good,now, have you?”

Pietro laughed a little. “It sure is unique Stark”,he admitted.

“See? Quicky over here gets it”,he spelled out,almost whispering to her.

After that point, everything progressed as it should; they were all deep into their drinks, the music floating through their ears, the people dancing seeming to be a stage performance just for them.

Theo herself had had a headstart of two days in the drinking game, but by that time,they were all pretty much drunk over their heads.

Natasha and Wanda joined them soon after, along with Carol. Although, it should be said; Carol was the most sober person in the entire New Asgard. Given her durability, that is.

“I must say”,Thor spoke rather loudly, “I'll hate watch you all leave after tonight,my friends”.

“Asgard's on Earth now, Thor”,Natasha stated, her smile a little too big,and her eyes too narrowed. “It's not as if you'll have to travel through the realms to see us anymore”.

Theo slammed her palm against the bar before Thor himself could reply to Natasha.

“Jesus, remember that time,when was it.. Must have been after that mission in Lagos-”

“Oh shit..”,Tony tried containing his laughter,some tears gathering on the corners of his eyes as he figured where Theo was going with this. “It was after we almost got fried by those terrorists”,he explained,still trying to hide the series of chuckles coming in.

“Yeah,yeah- “,Theo motioned her hand at him, “And,and Stark here,being the diva he is, he held a party. We hadn't been in the States in months,so.. he held a party”,she nodded her head,biting her tongue.

“Please Theodora, you're always using that story against me. It's not amusing any more..”

“Oh,but it is,Odinson”,Natasha hummed. “It still is, and will always be”.

Peter was turning his head around, trying to catch up. He poke Pietros shoulder, but he shook his head. Given that this all happened a little before him and Wanda joined the Avengers, he had no idea what had happened.

“Yeah well, Thor brought that weird looking ,ancient like Asgardian drink-”

“Excelsior Theodora. It's called Excelsior”,he sighed,brushing his hair back. “And it's not just a drink,it's a-”

“Yeah yeah. Well, long story short he got completely hammered”,she slammed her hand down again,still laughing too much to speak properly.

Peter's lips parted, him still being confused as to the point of that story.

“S'that it? Thor has gotten drunk in every single party, that's no news..”

“Oh no kid”,Tony shook his head. “After that party, Thor has never been truly drunk again,i can guarantee that”.

Thor pursed his lips,rolling his eyes as he turned to his beer again.

“Okay,first of all,have care of that: we were on one of Stark's ridiculously many skyscrapers. Eighty fifth fucking floor up. Alright? And- and Thor.. at some point,for some reason we still don't understand to this very day- he called on to Heimdall, to open the fuckingBifrost”,she spelled out,waiting for a response.

Peter didn't quite get it at first, but they all waited patiently for him to connect the dots. Pietro and Wanda were already chuckling lightly,when Peter's eyes slowly widened, his one hand covering his mouth, the other pointing at Thor who was now once again sighing.

“No. You don't mean.. For real?!”

“Oh yes kiddo”,Tony hummed. “Blondie over here fried up the entire building, almost killed us all and caused the all so familiar to all us Americans, 2013 New York black out”,he explained,his voice shifting gradually as he started to laugh again.

Theo herself almost fell off her stool from the laughter. Peter was still very shook though,and so he turned to Thor.

“You caused the 2013 black out?!”,he gasped. “Dude- we were out of power for like a week!”,he said in a high pitched voice.

“Sorry about that little Parker. Wasn't exactly in my best form at the moment. Seemed like a good enough idea, although my teammates could have stopped me”,Thor noted,his tongue swimming in sarcasm.

Natasha slammed her thighs with her palms,looking at Thor with an opened mouth, showing just how unbelievable his statement was to her.

“You have got to be kidding”,she said,her eyebrows raised all the way up. “All you said was some gibberish none of us got, and then summoned the damned Bifrost! We had no time to even think of how to act!”

“Oh yeah. And ,as if the intergalactic bridge frying us up wasn't enough”,Tony took the chance to speak, “Fury was up to finish the job the next day. That's how much it took us to come out of it. Blondie really did us a good one there. We survived the terrorists in Kenya, yet barely lived through that party...Oh boy, these were the days...”

Theo was still giggling behind her glass, almost finding it hard to believe that it was possible to have this much fun. Not after what had happened two days ago. Not after...

“I've never seen Fury this enraged before”,Theo shook her head. “I though he'd get us deported.. Thank god he find a loophole in there somewhere, given that there were some construction matters taking place and pinned the black out on them.. “

Pietro glanced over at her, his smile awfully warm for some reason she couldn't exactly explain in words. No tease in sight, just mere,simple enjoyment.

“You sure had your fun,back in the day”,he commented,his voice coming out low and deep.

“Know what Maximoff?”

She leaned in,most her upper body hanging as she put her hands and most her weight around his neck. Pietro didn't even flinch, her merely looked at her in an almost charming smile, waiting for her to say what she needed.

“After this many drinks- your accent is almost alluring”,she noted,a half smile on her lips.

“S'that so now,Bennet? Want me to keep on talking then?”

Wanda's nostrils opened a bit too much, a quiet snort coming out.

“This is hurtful to my eyes...”,she huffed out.

But Tony waved at her, passively so, as he leaned in closer to listen better.

“Shh”,he grunted. “Things are finally getting interesting here, don't ruin this for me”,he yelled as quietly as he could.

Natasha slammed her hand against Carol's back, both of them trying hard to contain a series of laughter,looking at just how much Tony had invested in this.

Pietro clenched his jaw, tilted his head just so slightly, waiting for a response. Theo leaned in even closer, her lips only inches away from his. Pietro could feel her breath's warmth gently hitting his lips.

Theo chuckled slightly. “Maximoff?”

“Yeah Bennet?”,he whispered at her,his eyes fixed on her lips.

“I”,she spelled out, “in that exact position- can snap your neck in less than five seconds”.

And she poked his forehead with her index finger, causing him to almost fall down. Nevertheless, Pietro didn't lose his cool. He merely laughed,still looking at her. Tony on the other hand made a gesture that suggested things didn't evolve the way he was hoping they would.

“Wouldn't do that if I were you,Theo”,Wanda hummed,her smile bright. “Now he'll get the more invested”,she raised her shoulders.

“Oh”,Theo put on a half smile. “Fast boy likes it rough then?”

Pietro bit the inside of his cheek,tilting his head as he smiled, though there was no answer from his part.

But, even if he was to answer, Loki's arrival would interrupt his words.

He rushed in, and sat next to Natasha, right across Thor. His hand,as always, was full by the glass of beer,which he seemed to only now have filled.

“Here comes the Queen”,Tony said,looking at him cautiously.

“Don't worry Stark”,Loki huffed out in a deep voice. “I wouldn't dare and steal your crown from you”.

Natasha raised her eyebrows, a huffed out chuckled escaping her mouth. She then leaned over to Carol and whispered something to her ear, to which in response they both laughed at.

“I believe they're laughing at you”,Theo remarked, drinking her gin.

“Yeah,sure. Let the twisted sisters have their laughs, what's new?”,he shrugged.

“Having fun,brother?”,Thor asked him, making himself a tad more comfortable in his stool.

“Sure,brother. Although, I have to admit, seeing how the guests of honor have crammed themselves in the bar like a bunch of rats isn't all that appealing to me”.

Theo put her drink down and attempted to stand up.

“He's right. We should dance a little,shouldn't we?”,she suggested.

“Now, that's an attitude I can back up”,Loki said. “Care to give me this one?”,he asked, offering his hand.

Theo wasn't all that sure about it, but it was too late anyway. As her father always said, 'we shouldn't be held responsible for actions done after two o'clock in the morning,Dora '.

“Sure”,she let her shoulders fall down,taking his hand. “Why the hell not..”