Chapter 36
Sylvie and Natasha continued to talk and swap stories as the catering arrived. Thor followed the chefs like a hungry stray as they unloaded the food.
Wanting to be useful Steve helped carry things for them while Bruce tested the chairs which had been set around a table for their meal. He was wary of their ability to support his weight but Steve assured him that Tony would have taken this into account.
Eventually Tony and Loki came inside, a kind of understanding having been reached on the balcony. Natasha’s eyes followed them causing Sylvie to turn to see what had caught her attention.
“Seems like they worked it out,” Natasha said sounding a little more relaxed.
“Mm,” Sylvie hummed quietly.
Sylvie watched the two walk to meet the group by the table, noticing Loki glance subtly around for her. He stopped when their eyes met and smiled softly. She felt something flutter in her chest and fought to not grin like an idiot as she held up her hand in a small wave.
“You got it bad,” Natasha murmured with a smug grin.
“Oh piss off,” Sylvie said softly, completely devoid of malice.
She watched as Thor embraced his brother warmly, Loki pretending not to enjoy it but Sylvie could tell he did. When he released him, Loki straightened his suit jacket and gestured to the table saying something Sylvie couldn’t hear. Thor nodded happily and grinned, clapping his brother on the shoulder before Loki turned and walked over to the bar.
“Ladies,” Loki said politely as he approached, tipping his head in an ever so slight nod to Natasha.
“Was beginning to wonder if I’d be cleaning Stark off the pavement tomorrow,” Natasha said mildly.
“Yes, I do apologize for my earlier behavior—” Loki said self consciously.
“Not at all, I’ve considered choking Tony on multiple occasions, unfortunately I’m afraid I might finish the job…” she said with amusement.
Loki huffed a laugh and Sylvie grinned, “glad to see you smile again,” she whispered softly to him as he draped an arm lightly over the back of her barstool. He looked down at her fondly, enjoying the way her skin was flushed from drink.
“Alright well I’m heading over there before Thor finishes off all the dumplings again, don’t spend too long over here making googly eyes at each other,” Natasha teased before heading over to join her fellow Avengers.
Sylvie smirked and watched her go for a moment before turning back to see Loki studying her face affectionately. She smiled at him softly and he leaned in to press a brief gentle kiss to her lips before pulling back with a relaxed sigh.
“Did Stark suitably apologize?” Sylvie asked quietly.
“He did, by his standards anyway,” Loki smirked, “we came to an understanding of sorts… I believe he is more trusting of my intentions now.”
“You sure?” Sylvie said with a small smile, “Because I’ll gladly hit him again if you like…”
Loki chuckled softly, “that won’t be necessary—wait did you actually hit him?” He looked slightly puzzled.
“I did,” Sylvie said proudly, “Natasha seemed to find it quite amusing.”
“No surprise there,” he grinned, “my hero…” he teased softly earning a gentle shove from Sylvie.
He caught the hand she used to push him with lightly and lifted it to his lips to place a kiss on the back of her palm, eyes fixed on hers. Sylvie tried not to look impressed by this show of affection but couldn’t help the way a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
“Come on,” she breathed softly, “you heard Natasha… if we don’t get over there quick there may be nothing left.”
“Ah yes, and I know only too well what havoc a hungry Thor may wreak…” he smirked, holding her hand lightly to help her down from the stool.
As Sylvie set her foot down her ankle wobbled in the high heel and Loki grinned as she fell slightly into him, only too happy to catch her against his chest.
“Not a word—” she said firmly.
Loki only grinned harder then mimed zipping and locking his lips, throwing the imaginary key behind him as they walked to join everyone at the dinner table.
“Brother! Come, join the feast!” Thor boomed happily as they approached.
“Grab a seat, there’s space here and I think there’s also room over there by Natasha,” Steve said warmly.
“Well there was room for you both over here, but our big hulk sort of manspread into the space I was saving,” Natasha teased dryly.
“Sorry Nat, I can try to make room…” Bruce said hastily, oversized fork and knife in each hand as he attempted to shift over into Tony.
“Um, excuse me? Just cause you take up two parking spaces now doesn’t mean you can crowd the Ferrari on your left buddy,” Tony huffed.
“Come on Tony, just skooch over a little,” Bruce urged.
“I will not, I’m establishing boundaries here—no sliding into my DMs at the dinner table—Romeo and Juliet will just have to play footsie from across the table,” Tony said holding a hand out to prevent Bruce from sliding his chair any closer.
“Sylvie! Sit beside myself and Rogers, we have plenty of room here,” Thor called to her enthusiastically.
Natasha rolled her eyes and Sylvie sighed, giving Loki’s hand a gentle squeeze before moving to sit between Thor and Steve on the other side of the large round table.
Loki stood dumbly unsure if he should attempt to follow or sit in the space between Bruce and Natasha until she grabbed his arm and pulled him down to sit. Loki gave her a small uncertain smile and Natasha shook her head with mild amusement, returning to her meal.
In the middle of the table there was a large circular lazy susan laden with Chinese food. Looking at the dishes Loki suddenly realized that Bruce was using serving ware as utensils and smirked to himself mildly. Natasha pointed out to him a few items which were her favorite and he gladly accepted the recommendations.
Across the table Sylvie was quickly subjected in detail to Thor’s opinions about every food on the table. Steve watched with amusement, eventually cutting his friend off.
“You know she might want to try them and come up with an opinion on them herself, bud,” Steve teased good-naturedly.
Sylvie smirked, “it’s alright Captain, I pretty much tune him out at this point,” she laughed as Thor threw up his hands in defeat.
“How is she to know which foods to avoid, Rogers? It is a minefield of spices and flavors!”
Sylvie ignored his outburst patting his enormous bicep reassuringly before turning to Steve as she began scooping food onto her plate.
“How did the alcohol treat you? Was it indeed a wasted endeavor?” She asked mildly.
“Eh, not entirely, I felt a little something for the first five minutes,” he said with a shrug.
Sylvie laughed softly then paused when she went to pick up her fork and found only chopsticks.
“What am I supposed to do with these?” Sylvie asked skeptically, looking around the table and seeing most of them using the foreign utensils easily.
She looked to Thor and noted he was merely stabbing the pieces of food with one stick and eating it that way as if it were entirely normal.
“Yeah they took some getting used to,” Steve said sympathetically, “I’m sure I can find you a fork behind the bar—”
“No need,” Loki interjected with a small smile from across the table as the chopsticks in her hand suddenly were replaced with a sterling silver fork which glinted in the light.
Sylvie looked at the fork smiling softly then looked at him affectionately, mouthing the words ‘thank you’. Loki blushed mildly and looked down at his food for a moment before looking back up with that familiar smitten expression.
“—or you could just have your own personal magician on hand,” Steve said with an amused chuckle.
Sylvie smirked and gave Steve a cocky wink before beginning to eat.
“Uh, okay, so is money just worthless to you?” Tony asked Loki sarcastically.
“Of course!” Thor said with a laugh, “we have no need for currency, we’re Gods!”
Tony huffed and looked up at his fellow Avenger shaking his head with mock irritation, “that’s what’s wrong with you kids today, you don’t understand the value of a hard day’s work…”
“Oh, can it MIT,” Bruce nudged Tony playfully, “you’ve been like a bazillionaire since birth!”
“I’ll have you know it’s pronounced bazillioneer,” Tony pretended to correct him.
“Ignore the science nerds,” Natasha said to Loki in a fake aside, “once they start throwing around their alma maters it gets ugly.”
Loki gave her a half smile, “no fancy education for you—Natasha?” He made a conscious effort to use her first name which earned a small smile from the former spy.
“No, I was already a trained assassin by the time I was 18, they didn’t exactly have an international student program…” she said with mild amusement.
“Well I’m what you humans would call ‘home schooled’ so I won’t hold it against you,” he said with a cheeky grin, “just say the word and I’ll conjure you a postgraduate degree from any institution on earth,” he said mischievously.
“‘Dr Romanov’ does have a nice ring to it…” she grinned and they both chuckled softly.