Shervengers Chapter 5

Sherlock had interviewed the staff as a whole while waiting for Sean Waters, but had decided that it wasn't any of them. Pepper and Tony had a press conference scheduled, so they went to attend that. Steve went down to the gym and started punching things, and Natasha took a nap. Clint and Thor went to the shooting range and Loki decided to paint. Sherlock looked over the transcripts of his interviews, looking thorougly stumped. John, in his ajoining bedroom, absently browsed the internet, looking at Peter's Facebook profile, his barely used Twitter, his still-active Tumblr. Pictures of him and his friends littered his Wall, and his dozen or so tweets were from a year ago, and were about mundane fifteen-year-old boy things. The Tumblr blog John didn't quite understand, it seemed to be a dumping ground for random images. Pictures of movies, GIF files of celebrity interviews, pictures of teenagers holding packaged food. Lots of baby animals, too. John gave up his halfhearted search and brought up Netflix, but anything he wanted to watch seemed to be DVD only. He wondered about lunch, but decided he shouldn't bother anyone, so he headed down to the Lavender Garden. The pastries and fruit bowls were gone, but there were still some juice, yogurt, soda and sandwiches in the mini-fridge he had seen Pepper use earlier. He decided on an egg salad sandwich and some guava nectar, with a bit of frozen yougurt from the freezer for dessert. The egg salad was delicious, probably filled with all sorts of expensive herbs and spices. The guava nectar was thick and refreshing, and it soothed him. He opened up the little container of frozen yogurt, realizing that there was no silverware. Nobody was looking, though, they were all around blowing off steam and taking care of buisiness, so John began to lick the tub of yogurt. It was really, really good, and he began to use his hands to scoop up the yougurt into his mouth. He startled when Loki entered. John hadn't noticed how tall he was, and it was rather intimidating. He realized he had purple yogurt all over his face and arms, and did  his best to frantically clean up before Loki noticed him. It was too late, and Loki cracked a small smile at John's ridiculous appearance.

"Need a napkin?"

"That'd be lovely, thanks." Loki opened a concealed drawer underneath some ivy and handed John a napkin and a spoon.

"If you don't mind me asking, how are you liking it here so far? We're... rather difficult to get used to."

"No, it's good, it's fine."

"I'm glad to hear it." John found himself entranced by Loki's voice.

"Yeah..."

"So, are you and Mr. Holmes a couple?"

"No...." John found it quite difficult to disagree with the taller man.

"Do you want to be?"

"I...." John only wanted to please him, tell him what he wanted to hear. The napkin dropped to the floor, and the spoon followed with a clatter. The noise woke John from the dream-like state, and he found himself standing a little too close to Loki than was comfortable. Loki blinked and sat down on one of the wrought-iron benches. John shook his head to clear it and began to clean his face.

"Are you alright, Mr. Watson? You seem....out of sorts."

"I'm fine," he said. They sat in silence for a little while and John cleaned up his lunch. Loki began to read a paperback novel in a language John didn't recognise. Neither of the men noticed Rob/Dan enter and then exit just as quickly.

~~

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. THe household and John had dinner in the dining room that they had met Pepper and Natasha in the previous night.The dinner was venison steak with scalloped potatoes, braised vegetables and shrimp cocktail, sent up on a large dumbwaiter from the kitchens. John hadn't realized those were still around. Nobody ate much, and attempts at small talk were shot down as soon as they started.  After they had finished, some of the waiters began to clear it up, asking again and again if they wanted some dessert. Tony asked for some red wine, and a petite waitress brought out nine glasses and emptied the ridicously expensive bottle into them. Pepper drank hers quickly and Natasha refilled her wife's glass subtly with her own wine. Bruce swirled his around as if he was attempting to divine tea leaves. Clint sipped his elegantly, and Steve set his down after one sip and stared at the wall. Thor finished his, as did Loki, but with noticably more grace. John began to tap his foot, uncomfortable. Everyone jumped as JARVIS spoke suddenly.

"There is a package at the front door, Mr. Stark."

"I'll get that," said Pepper, who jumped up. Natasha followed after.

"The front door? All packages are supposed to go around to the East Wing. Who's it from?" Tony asked.

"The vehicle belongs to FedEx, sir."

"At this hour?"

"It appears so."

"Summon Mr. Holmes from his room, please."

A few minutes later, Sherlock arrived, looking impeccable as always but he seemed stressed to John. Natasha and Pepper came in a minute or two later. Natasha was carrying a cardboard box about a cubic foot in size.

"The driver's waiting downstairs. Mr. Holmes, would you come with me? I just want you to make sure he's of no suspicion." Pepper and Sherlock went off to accost the driver, while Tony and Bruce went to the lab. Tony mumbled something about explosives. Steve pulled a yo-yo out of a drawer, and began to play with it. Thor stared at him, until Steve handed him one too. Everyone was lightly amused by the blond's antics, but nobody could bring themself to smile. Sherlock and Pepper returned, and all eyes were on the detective.

"He's just a driver. Overnight delivery, apparently. He's a devout Catholic, there's no way he's in on this, as he was in Rome for a holiday this past month. He's working overtime to make up the hours." He sat down to John's left, and Pepper sat next to Natasha, who took her hand. "I presume Tony and Steve went to run tests on the package?" Clint nodded. Thor had given up on the yo-yo, and was now looking at the abstract green painting on the wall. More silence.

"It's not explosive or radioactive." Bruce returned to the room. "Tony's in the restroom." He sat down, with a sympathetic squeeze to Steve's slumped shoulder. Nobody responded. Clint took out a pack of pink bubble gum and passed it around silently. Twenty minutes passed.

"Uh, someone should probably go check on Tony," Thor said.

"I'll go," Steve went.

Twenty more minutes and still nothing. Then there was a shriek coming from the kitchens.