Loki Laufeyson - Saviour {2}

Chapter Forty Nine - Games

Tony and Loki, and many of the others, refused to let me move us on until I had colour back in my cheeks. I tried to swallow back the guilty feeling that was rising in me as Bucky kept basically forcing water down my throat. I knew they were just trying to look out for me, but it was a weird feeling that even after this long, I was trying to get used to.

It was at least 20 minutes before Tony finally let me stand, and even then as we moved through the crowds to whatever stalls caught someone's eye, he wouldn't stop glancing back over his shoulder. I had Bucky and Loki on either side of me, so I knew that even if I tripped slightly, they would catch me instantly.

We stopped regularly at different rides, though I made sure to steer clear from any that remotely looked like they could make me throw up again. I never realised it before, but there were serious benefits to having someone who was a millionaire; by about an hour, we were all completely covered in prizes. Nat and I had won ourselves big sloth plushies at one stall that were basically as tall as us. Thankfully, they had little patches of Velcro on their hands so we could wrap their arms around our necks and they would hold in place.

We stopped quickly at one of the food stands to grab a bite to eat; Thor basically ate the van out of business with the amount of food he brought. We tried to tell Thor that it was only a snack, but that didn't seem to register. Most of us got these strange battered hot dogs called Dagwood dogs, or burgers in Steve and Thor's cases.

After we were all full, we continued to move around the stalls. Nat found a target game with fake guns, and challenged me to a round, which I dragged Bucky into too. They gave us a choice of what plastic fun we wanted, which I debated long over because none of them were remotely close to Glocks. I had no choice but to take the pair that an impatient Nat stuffed into my hands.

Nat ended up hitting 9 out of 10 of the targets, which was pretty good considering that the stall owner had rigged them to move as fast as possible. She ended up getting one of the prizes from the highest racks, which the stall owner reluctantly handed over to her.

Bucky and I went up together, having already planned to try and hit all of the targets together to annoy the stall owner. We had barely shot five bullets together before he stopped us and began to tape coloured dots onto the wooden targets, making it more difficult by yelling out the different colours we had to shoot.

It was kind of unnerving how easily I fell into the rhythm of it and I could see Bucky out of the corner of my eye clearly feeling the same. Both of us had the same grip on our guns, our stances exactly identical, our eyes focused on nothing but the targets. It was like HYDRA had made our training part of out DNA.

Even with the stall manager making it as difficult as possible, Bucky and I managed to get all of the targets down, leaving the owner with no choice but to give us each a prize from the top shelf. As we turned back to the group, a couple of them were staring at us with side eyes.

"I can see why you guys are efficient assassins now." Tony whistled, before groaning as Pepper elbowed him in the ribs.

"You two are literally twins." Wanda shook her head, smiling faintly.

"I would hate to be related to him." I wrinkled my nose, trying to get rid of the tenseness lining Bucky's shoulders as he no doubt thought about what HYDRA had molded us in to.

He managed a weak smile, huffing out a heavy breath as he ruffled the top of my head with his metal hand. I winced and elbowed him back in the stomach, which he obviously had to retaliate too. Steve eventually had to pull us away when people began to stare, rolling his eyes and muttering about our childness as the others faintly grinned. I shot Bucky a playful glare as I tried to fix up my hair. He grinned back and I swore at him in Russian as my scalp stung. Nat, who had been sipping a slushie, immediately spat it out as she snorted.

"Watch your language." Bucky replied, also in Russian, as he grinned.

-{+}-

The further we got into the showground, the more we stopped at every stall. I knew Tony's card was going to take a hit from it, but he didn't try to stop us once. We loaded ourselves up on food too, and now that my stomach had settled down a little, I wasn't holding back.

We had stopped at a place that sold this sugary fluffy stuff apparently called cotton candy and I had loved it so much that I had dragged Loki back to get some more. Tony said that we could meet up with them again, but the showgrounds were so full of people that it was impossible to find them again. Instead, I dragged him onto as many rides as I could, the cash Tony had slipped me at the start of the day quickly diminishing. I was surprised with the endless amount of patience Loki had for me when I was on a sugar high, as Nat had called it.

It took the others half an hour to realise we hadn't found them and they called us.

We finally managed to meet up with them at a Horror House, Tony ruffling my head and trying to tell me that he hadn't forgotten me. Apparently, the Horror House had been Thor's choice and Bucky had already brought tickets for us all. Bruce had tried to sit out of it because of 'The Big Guy', but Tony dragged him in through the cobweb-coated doors, saying that he couldn't sit out on everything.

It was pitch black inside for the first couple of moments and then it when it began to become creepier as we walked. There were noises and things jumping out at us, completely freaking us all out. I didn't know how I managed to keep a grip on myself, maybe it was Loki's presence just behind me or his hand carefully steadying me every time I jumped. Through the occasional flickering from fake torches on the wall, I could see Bucky's shoulders tensing and his metal hand softly clicking as he fought against his instincts. I made sure to stay next to him once we had gotten out, knowing that he probably needed a comforting presence nearby, and in some soft of way, I wanted his comfort too.

Once we had made out way through most of the rides, Wanda spotted several animal exhibits. There was even one where we got to hold tiny little baby chicks that chirped quietly in our hands as they drifted between wakefulness and sleep. As I carefully cradled my black and white one in my hand, I took photos of the others. Thor's seemed determined to escape his massive hands, chirping and flapping its tiny wings as he desperately tried to keep it contained. Bucky looked absolutely ridiculous holding the chick in his flesh hand, his face had softened visible. I couldn't stop myself from thinking how a mass-murder could become so soft over a baby chicken.

As the day began to turn to night, we walked to the showbag pavilion, and although we didn't really need anything else, we still grabbed at least three showbags each. I grabbed all chocolate ones, obviously, and by the time we had made our way to the show ring again for the fireworks, I had almost eaten a whole bag. We sat down on the concrete seats and began sharing photos and chatting about the day as we waited for the fireworks show to start.

At around 5 o'clock, they started off the show by having trotting races with horses, and Thor got way too far into it and made us all bet on a horse, though we used chocolates and sweets from our showbags as betting money instead. In the end, Pepper and I ended up winning and we spit the prize chocolates between us all.

Then they brought out motorbikes and cars to preform tricks, and I looked down the row to see Steve and Bucky completely fascinated. I chuckled and quickly took a picture of them both.

As it got darker and darker, they brought out more entertainment until it was finally dark enough for the fireworks. I looked up at the sky eagerly as the crowds slowly began to quieten down.

"Remember the first time you ever saw fireworks?" Loki murmured from where he sat next to me. "You were completely terrified."

"I didn't know what they were." I pointed out. "I honestly thought they were bombs or something."

He chuckled and nudged me gently before both of our eyes slowly turned back to the sky as the first firework exploded up the sky with bright colours. It was equally as breathtaking as the first time that I saw them. 

AN:

I'm sorry, this whole chapter is a serious mess.