Marvel shorties

Ice, ice, baby

Characters: Natasha Romanoff, Peter Parker, Loki

***

"Gah! Even my soda is hot!" Natasha scrunched up her nose and held the can of soda at an arms length. Nobody bothered to react and after a moment she sighed and took another swig of the warm Coca Cola. It was better than nothing.

The inside of the non descriptive van was sweltering hot. The vehicle had been parked in the sun all day, its occupants in the back hidden by the one way windows in the side of the surveillance van. A battered van without air conditioning, on one of the hottest days of the year. 

"Remind me again why I'm here?" said Natasha after she emptied her drink and crunched the can. She really regretted offering her assistance for this job, her back was sticking to the hot leather of her seat.

"To teach me how to do surveillance," Peter said perkily. The boy had been watching the video monitors for the last two hours, keeping tabs on the work inside the secret laboratory they had been watching for the better part of the day. The ceiling of the van was decorated in webby flowers, put there when Natasha had watched the monitors and Peter took a break. 

"At least you have a job to do," grumbled a low voice from the back of the van. "I'm bored out of my mind." Loki was laying on his back on the floor, his feet propped up high against the side of the van. 

"You have a job. There are just no asses to kick at the moment." Natasha pulled her tanktop away from her sweaty skin, the damp cotton scrunching up where she pulled at it with her fingers.
She had taken off her blouse over an hour ago and was still sweating, even when she was only wearing a tanktop. She would have considered taking off her pants as well, if she wasn't stuck in a van with a hormone-ruled teenager and an Asgardian God of Lies she still didn't trust completely. 

Peter was hot as well, beads of sweat slowly trickling down his temple. He was wearing cargo shorts and a T-shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders. Every once in a while he pushed his hair out of his face, the strands wet with sweat. The webshooters that had been on his wrists earlier, now lay discarded in a corner of the van. His spider suit was still at Stark Tower, as this was just a surveillance job.
Tony had ordered Peter to get some hours of ground work in, meaning he had to do surveillance the regular way, not stuck upside down to a ceiling. Natasha was there to teach him the basics and Loki was back up, in case the HYDRA scientists got any ideas. But until now, there wasn't anything interesting to see. It was just a lab, with men and women in white lab coats, who were looking down microscopes and mixing coloured fluids together. 

"How come you aren't hot?" Peter asked, looking at Loki. He was wearing his Asgardian attire, some sort of everyday armour, all leather and some bits of metal. "You should have melted by now in that outfit."

Loki shrugged, which looked a bit weird in his current position on the floor. "Frost Giant."

Peter got up from his seat and Natasha took his place. The arachnid kid stretched and stood next to Loki, looking down on the dark haired Asgardian. "Want a drink?" 

When Loki nodded, Peter got two cans of soda from a bag. Natasha was right, the cans felt warm to the touch. "Sorry, it's not really a cold beverage."
He didn't know exactly why he apologized to Loki, it was not Peter's fault the airconditioning was broken. But the God of Lies gave him the heebie jeebies, with his dark looks and sparse conversation. Nevertheless, Loki had proved himself useful on missions with the Avengers, so Peter guessed he could trust him, at least to some point.

Loki took the beverage from Peter and pushed himself across the floor of the van with his feet, so his head was now resting against the wheel arch behind him. 

Two cans hissed when they were opened and Peter made a face when the slightly warm liquid entered his mouth. When he swallowed, his gaze fell on Loki, who seemed to be enjoying his drink. Peter's eyes went wide when he saw the droplets of water on the can.

"Your drink is cold!"

Loki arched one of his eyebrows as he looked at Peter, not lowering the can he was drinking from. "Your point being?"

"Share!" Peter yelled and pounded on the Asgardian on the floor.

He surprised Loki, who was in a position of disadvantage to the Spider kid, and Peter actually managed to grab the cold can of soda. But he also kneed the Asgardian in his ribs by accident, which Loki didn't take lightly. With a roar Loki threw Peter off, smashing him in the side of the van. The vehicle rocked on its wheels with the impact. 

"Damn it! Don't make me shoot you!" Natasha yelled, a gun aimed somewhere between Loki and Peter, leaving them to wonder if she had used the single or plural form of the pronoun.

Loki ignored the gun and glared angrily at Peter, but he didn't make a move. Peter also stayed still, sitting against the wall of the van, underneath a dent in the shape of his back.

Five minutes later Peter was back in his seat in front of the monitors and Loki was sitting against the back doors of the van, with Natasha in the middle. She had an angry look on her face, but on the inside she was smiling. The temperature in the van had dropped significantly, which made being stuck inside a lot more pleasant than before. 

"This cold enough for you?" muttered Loki, holding out an iced can of soda to Natasha. Behind his back, ice flowers formed on the metal doors of the van.