It was a couple of days before everything was sorted with the casino. Cleaning up wasn't the hard part, it was explaining everything to the UN and the government. The several hour-long meetings were infuriating to say the least: Stephen had to calm Loki down multiple times before he stabbed anyone important (and Scott a couple of times, though he wasn't so bad) and Loki even had to calm Strange down on one occasion. Wanda was the best at containing her temper, but after their meetings about the casino, Wanda was asked to have a discussion about a "private matter" without Loki, Strange and Scott, and was taken into an interview room. They waited outside for nearly an hour before she was let out, and Wanda came out bad-mouthing the interviewer like a pro at cursing. It took all three of them ages to calm her down. Wanda refused to share what they'd talked about, but she and Loki did share a glance and Loki had mouthed to Strange, "The secret thing." Stephen understood then – Wanda had been taken to talk about whatever she refused to share that happened a couple of months ago.

So he decided not to press it and just let Wanda get her anger out. She was scary when she was angry.

But after a couple of days it was over – a casino company had won the building at auction and were going to use it as a regular casino. Apparently having the devil in the basement was very good for business.

But all that was behind them now, and Scott had finally managed to act on his promise and had taken them to one of the bars that was only a 5 minute walk from the Sanctum. The sun should have been scorching, but after the searing heat of hell and Vegas, sitting outside in the New York summer sun just didn't seem as warm as before.

The table didn't exactly have a fantastic view (unless you counted the sidewalk, empty road and a Domino's as a fantastic view) but out on one of the outdoors tables in the evening sun it was a nice place to sit and chat with friends and enjoy the novelty of not being in mortal danger for a change.

Which was exactly what they were doing, oddly enough.

"This is nice," Stephen interrupted the silence they'd been in for a few minutes now.

"The beer?" asked Scott. "I should hope so, it cost enough."

"No," Stephen said, though the beer was nice too. He gestured weakly around him. "Just... this."

"Channelling your inner Shakespeare there, Stephen?" asked Scott, stopping himself from laughing.

"You know what I mean," Strange said, slightly impatiently.

"The novelty of not being in mortal danger or physical or mental agony?" suggested Loki.

"Yep, that," said Stephen.

He realised it was quite strange, but he'd never actually seen either Loki or Scott in anything but their Asgardian/Ant-Man attire. Seeing them both in jeans and t-shirts somehow changed their entire look, and he wasn't entirely sure why. It made them all seem more casual, almost as though they were all just regular people having a regular day out. He couldn't even remember what that was like anymore.

"You know what else is nice?" Wanda asked, sipping her raspberry cider thoughtfully.

"Is it the nachos?" asked Scott, making Strange and Loki laugh.

"Um, well, the nachos are great too, Scott," Wanda admitted, taking one from the bowl they were sharing as she said so, "but I was thinking more about the peace and quiet. Not having to think about how we're going to survive another dangerous, multiverse-ending mission as well. We can just relax and talk about normal stuff like normal people do."

Scott nodded slowly, like he was thinking about what she said. "Huh. I'm still thinking about nachos."

Loki was eyeing the nachos sceptically. "You're sure they're not poisonous? They look poisonous."

"Nachos are not poisonous," Scott said, hand on his chest like Loki had offended him. "They're delicious. Utterly delectable. Wait... do you not have nachos on Asgard?"

"No," Loki said, still watching the nachos suspiciously.

Scott shook his head like he was feeling really sorry for Loki. "Do not worry, my friend, you shall no longer be deprived of the pleasure of the divine art form we on Earth call the nacho. Try one."

Strange was certain Loki was going to refuse, but he slowly took one out of the bowl and took a tiny bite from it, pulling a face like he found it absolutely revolting.

Scott didn't seem to register the distaste on his face. "Delicious, right?"

Only Strange noticed Loki feed a nearby pigeon the rest of his nacho.

"And this is what I mean by talking about normal stuff," Wanda said, frankly.

Stephen took a sip of his drink thoughtfully. It was actually really good, or maybe he just hadn't had anything alcoholic in a long time.

He felt like he had to say something – not because the silence was awkward, on the contrary it was quite relaxing and comfortable – but it just seemed like this was a good opportunity to talk about small talk, and maybe to find out more about themselves.

"So, Wanda," he started. "At what point did you figure out Mephisto was afraid of ants?"

"Um, well, during the fight, I was reading his mind and I sort of collected these suspicions he hated insects," Wanda shrugged, tracing the rim of her bottle with her finger. "Then I figured, if we had giant ones, he'd be scared to death of them. But it wasn't the ants that stopped him in the end, because he was scared to death of me, you and Loki of course, and Scott, since he referred to him as the Almighty Ant-Lord."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Ant-Lord," he repeated.

Scott sighed. "Hardly the best name I've ever been called."

"And you didn't, uh, teleport me and Loki because..." Strange said, gesturing for Wanda to continue.

Wanda looked sheepish. "Sorry, but I tried to. I've tried to practise that spell, but it isn't easy, especially when you have... no willing test subjects."

That sounded ominous.

He must've been pulling a face, because Wanda changed the subject by saying, "So, um, speaking of teleportation, when were you going to tell us you could teleport Loki?"

Loki gave a non-committal jerk of the head and took a sip of his pint. "Slipped my mind I guess."

Scott's jaw unhinged itself. "H-how could something as cool as that just... slip your mind?"

"I got a lot of powers," he replied, which was inarguable. Stephen found him hard to keep track of. "I don't use it that much."

"You know, if I could teleport, I'd be using it to scare people to death by teleporting right next to them and screaming "BOO!" as loud as I can," Scott said, laughing at his own idea. "Wouldn't that be like, the best prank ever?"

"That got old about 600 years ago," Loki said flatly.

Scott's smile faded slightly. "Oh."

Stephen put a hand to his forehead in thought. "You know, I still find it hard to believe that you're over a thousand years old," he said. At noticing Loki's face change subtly, he hastily added, "I mean, you don't look a thousand years old. Are you immortal, or does time work differently in Asgard..."

"You want me to explain how it works?" Loki cut across Strange's waffle.

"Um, yeah."

Loki sighed, like this was something he was well used to explaining and was thoroughly fed-up of it. "We aren't immortal. We just have a much longer lifespan than humans, about 5000 or so years, give or take a couple of centuries."

Stephen had a hard time processing this. "But... don't you age?"

Loki had to refrain himself from rolling his eyes exasperatedly. "Of course we do. Weren't you listening?"

"I mean, like, appearance-wise. Do you just age a lot slower?"

Loki feigned applause. The sarcasm in his voice was practically visible when he said, "Give this man a cookie."

"We don't have cookies," Scott reminded him. "Just nachos."

Loki threw his hands up in mock annoyance. "Outsmarted again by the Almighty Ant-Lord."

Wanda laughed at this. "OK, but to rephrase Stephen's earlier question, kind of, not really, if you converted the Asgardian years to human years, how old would you be?"

Why couldn't he have just said that? thought Strange to himself.

"Uh..." Loki started, thinking. He took a gulp of his drink while he thought. "Maybe about... 21? Just under 21 I think."

Strange felt his eyes widen before he could help himself. "That suddenly makes me feel old."

Loki gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Think about it this way. I'm not 21, I'm 1070. You're not old. And you're nowhere near as old as Thor." Then his face changed subtly, as though he'd just recovered an old memory he'd rather have forgotten about. "Actually, I have to tell you all something." There was a pause. "I'm going back up to space."

"Woah, woah, woah, back up a minute," Wanda interrupted, setting aside her cider to pay full attention. "You're just, going to space?"

"It's a lot easier than it sounds you know," Loki told her. He fidgeted awkwardly with his glass as though trying to find the right words. "This is hard for me to admit, but... I actually want to see Thor again. After everything I heard about the stress he's been through, I want to tell him myself that I'm alive."

Wanda nodded sympathetically. "That makes a lot of sense. I wish... I wish I could see my family again."

"You mean your brother?" guessed Scott.

"Hm?" Wanda said, snapping out of her train of thought. Strange suspected her brother wasn't the first person on her mind. "Oh, yes, Pietro. I miss him a lot." She fumbled around with her bottle as though wondering whether to take a sip or not. "I'm happy for you Loki. I hope you find Thor."

Loki smiled at her. "Thanks Wanda. To be honest I'll probably end up stabbing him."

Stephen sipped his drink. "Will you come back to Earth afterwards?"

Loki shrugged. "Depends. Space isn't exactly the greatest place to be in the universe. In most places you can't trust anyone at all."

"I wouldn't know. I've never been to space," Scott shrugged, taking a nacho and nibbling on it seriously.

"Me neither," Wanda admitted. "I feel like everyone in the Avengers has left this planet at some point. I should totally go sometime."

"Don't," Loki and Stephen advised simultaneously. They looked at each other for about five seconds, then for absolutely no reason at all, started laughing.

Wanda and Scott exchanged raised-eyebrows looks. They were probably thinking, oh great, they've both lost it.

It didn't take them long to stop laughing, to be fair. Loki calmed down pretty quickly to say, "Yes. Well, Wanda, if you really want to go to space, please go with an expert. There are only three people on this entire planet I feel comfortable hanging around with and probably won't kill me, and I don't want one of them alone without supervision out in the wilderness of the ever-expanding universe."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "A person on the planet you feel comfortable hanging around with and probably won't kill you. I think the word you're looking for is friend."

Loki gave a nonchalant shrug. "If that's what you prefer."

Strange felt his heart lift slightly. There, he'd said it – they were friends.

"Who wants a bet on how long this break will last?" Scott asked. "You know, before we have to go on yet another multiverse-saving expedition. Is this whole saving the universe business going to become a regular thing?"

Stephen smiled, nearly giving a laugh. "Scott, you're an Avenger. You should know better than to assume anything otherwise."

"Fair enough."

"In that case, I propose a toast," Wanda said, raising her bottle slightly. "To a long break between this and the next multiverse-saving expedition."

Stephen, Loki and Scott all raised their pints to meet her toast. The chinking of the glass was possibly the sweetest sound Strange had heard in a long time.

The End.

(For now...)