This was not exactly how Layla was planning on spending her New Year's Eve, but she wasn't completely disappointed either. The spaceship was well on its way to Jotunheim and Tony decided that there was a need for a party to celebrate the Midgardian new year. He couldn't pass up an opportunity to celebrate- or get wasted- so here they were. Tony had decorated the lounge area with some decorations he must've been originally planning on using at the tower, as well as a large string of plastic dinosaur lights draped along the railing to the upper floor that he had dubbed "the party lizards." Loud music pulsed through the ship's speakers, and everyone, other than a very sober Bruce, was drunk off of their choice alcohol. It had been a while since Layla had been in a room that smelled so much of alcohol and sweat, yet it was a strange and welcoming stench. Honestly the whole scene was far more amusing than it should've been, and she was more than happy about that.

    The blonde was on her fourth or fifth glass of wine- she had honestly lost count- and was more than comfortable on the couch in the lounge, mostly observing all the chaos surrounding her. Tony had convinced Spencer, Bruce, Brunnhilde, as well as Korg and Miek, to do some dancing. He was currently twirling Spencer around the floor in a drunken sort of waltz and was nearly bumping into everyone else on the dance floor. Thor was standing off to the side, leaning against a table as he chugged what seemed to be his millionth mug of ale, seemingly most amused by all the fun his friends were having. Meanwhile, on the other end of the couch, Anja and Loki sat uncomfortably close to each other as they talked, each of them holding onto a cocktail glass, seemingly oblivious to the rest of their friends.

    Layla shook her head, taking a sip from her glass. "Get a room, you two."

    This caught Anja's attention, and she shifted a few inches away from the God of Mischief. "Oh shut the hell up," she responded. "We're not doing anything scandalous."

    Layla snorted in response. "Give it time."

    Loki raised an eyebrow at her, but Anja didn't have time to respond before the song slowly dwindled to an end, and another more upbeat song took its place. One that almost made her immediately roll her eyes. Tony stopped dancing with Spencer abruptly, and ran to the alcohol table and immediately began pouring out a bunch of shots of whatever alcohol was sitting on the table. It took him longer than a sober person would've but he somehow still managed to start passing them out to everyone just as the lyrics became all too appropriate. Tony, of course, couldn't resist singing along.

    "Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots
        Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots
        Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots!
        Everybody!"

    The other humans rolled their friend's antics, but couldn't resist smiling at him actually letting loose and having fun for the first time in a long time- no matter how annoying he was truly being. The three Asgardians and the two other aliens all just looked at Tony in confusion as they wondered if this was normal Midgardian behavior.

    "You know, Tony, this song is almost a decade old now," Layla reminded as he handed her a shot, quickly drinking it without a second thought. "Anja and I were still in high school, and Spencer was in middle school when it came out, for crying out loud."

    "And?" he replied with a shrug as he handed Spencer a shot glass. "It's the perfect party song, and I will not apologize for that. Take your shots and shut up. It's time to get riggity riggity wrecked!"

    "It was a mistake letting you watch Rick & Morty," Layla muttered.

    Anja rolled her eyes in response as he handed both her and Loki a shot. Layla saw her friend hesitantly sniff the glass in an attempt to figure out what Tony had poured in her glass. After a few seconds, Anja expertly took the shot, setting the empty glass on the table in front of her. "You're lucky, asshole," she said, tossing her friend a smirk. "If this had been anything other than my Crown Royal Regal Apple, I probably would've decked you."

    "I know you better than that, princess. It's the only alcohol other than wine you tolerate not mixed," Tony replied. With his hands free of shot glasses now, he grabbed Layla and Anja both by their hands, pulling them to their feet. "C'mon girls. I think I owe the both of you a dance. It's been too long!"

    Layla knew how this was going to go, but she went along with it anyway, as did Anja. Drunk Tony was incredibly too flirtatious, and Layla was sure he was going to try to put the moves on both of them by the end of this. Then again, maybe this time drunk Tony would remember Pepper. The girls slid their respective glasses onto a nearby table just as Tony began dancing along to the beat of the song. The girls joined in with their own respective dancing styles, although both a bit more sloppily than what they would've been had they been completely sober. A painstaking minute or so passed, and while Layla was doing her best to keep up with Tony's dancing and making eye contact with him, she couldn't help but notice Anja's attention was elsewhere.

    Layla glanced over at her friend, and noticed she was looking right past Tony. She followed Anja's gaze and she wasn't even shocked to see her making eye contact with Loki on the other side of the room, a smirk very apparent on his face as he watched her dance. Anja could deny it all she wanted- even after the mall incident made it obvious to most on the ship, but Layla knew when her friend was attracted to someone. If anything, it had only become more apparent as time went on. Honestly, Layla was coming close to locking the two of them in a room together just to see what would happen. Her thoughts were interrupted as Tony pulled her and Anja closer, nearly spinning them completely around, continuing to drunkenly sing along to the song.

    "The women come around every time I'm pourin' shots.
Their panties hit the ground every time I give 'em shots."

Tony winked at the girls suggestively, and Anja was done.

    "Annnnnd I'm gonna stop you right there," Anja snapped, and pulled her hand away from him. "I think I'm done dancing for the evening. My mood has been ruined."

    Of course, Anja was too busy backing away from Tony to notice anything else going on, especially behind her. Layla couldn't resist smirking a bit as she watched her friend bump right into Loki, who had come to stand close behind her, seemingly going to interrupt them. Anja turned, and Layla saw the color drain from her friend's face for a moment before she flushed pink upon seeing him. Anja's face betrayed her once again.

    "Done for the evening? Mm, for shame. And to think I was going to ask you to dance," Loki drawled, a smirk plastered to his face as he offered her his hand.

    By this point, Layla and Tony had stopped dancing, both watching Anja with curiosity. This could be interesting. Was she going to take him up on the offer, or was her mood ruined as badly as she insisted it was?

    "Well, I suppose one dance couldn't hurt," Anja replied quietly, placing her hand in his.

    Layla knew she would say that. Anja was beginning to show a real weakness for the God of Mischief. Layla wasn't sure how she should feel about it. On one hand, it was nice seeing Anja open up again after all the trouble she had been through with the guys from high school and college- let alone the mess that had been her relationship with Clint Barton. But on the other hand, was it really a good thing for that new infatuation to be technically a war criminal who had nearly killed a bunch of their friends? Probably not. Layla shook the thoughts from her mind; she was in no place to judge her friend, but it certainly didn't mean she couldn't be concerned.

    Tony snorted from beside her as Loki led Anja away from the two of them as the song faded into the next. "Oh, so Reindeer Games can flirt with her, but I can't?" he questioned. "What the hell?"

    Layla sighed. "You know just as much as I do she has the hots for him," she answered. "It's only becoming increasingly more obvious."

    "Unfortunately," he muttered, unable to hide his disapproval. "There are better options for her though."

    "We have to let her make her own choices, Tony," Layla continued quietly. "Yes, this may be a questionable decision, but we can't stop her. Anja is a stubborn girl. You and I both know that."

    Tony took a step back to lean against the table, grabbing what used to be Layla's glass of wine to take a sip. "Stubborn is the understatement of the century," he mumbled into the glass.

    Layla shook her head. He was right, but she wasn't going to encourage his bad behavior. "I'm going to go chat with Thor, mmkay?" she decided. She didn't wait for Tony to respond before she walked over to lean on the table next to Thor. Layla looked up to the God of Thunder and smiled. Even while intoxicated he was incredibly dreamy, and she tried to ignore that when she finally spoke to him. "Enjoying yourself?"

    Thor looked down at her and smiled. "This has been most amusing, Lady Layla. Are these 'new year' celebrations always so jubilant?"

    Layla couldn't resist laughing. "Well, when Tony is in charge of the celebrations, yes," she replied. "If nothing else, he certainly knows how to have a good time."

    "He is not the only one, it seems," Thor pointed out, shooting her a sly smile and then a glance towards their friends.

    Layla looked over at the makeshift dance floor again, and sure enough their friends seemed to be having more than enough fun. Some of them were having almost too much fun. Tony had resumed dancing- this time with Brunnhilde, Bruce and Spencer had paired off as well- and were dancing a waltz that did not match the song choice, Korg and Miek had stepped off to the side and were having some sort of animated conversation that was causing Miek to wave his sword-like arms around, but Layla's eyes went wide when she finally saw Loki and Anja. The two were dancing in a much more sensual way than Anja had allowed with Tony; her back nearly pressed to his chest, her arms bent over her head allowing her hands to caress his neck, while his hands loosely rested on her hips as the two of them swayed to the music.

    "Yeah, I'd say," Layla answered, hardly hiding the exasperation in her voice.

    "You were right, you know," Thor added, taking a swig of his ale. "About them."

    The blonde woman sighed. "I'm not sure if I should be proud of that or not. Given the circumstances." She paused, contemplating her next words carefully, before she looked back at Thor. "I've... never seen Anja gravitate towards someone so quickly, and given your brother's track record it does worry me a bit. I mean, she's out there grinding on him for crying out loud. She never does that." Layla took a deep breath. "I just... don't want her hurt again. I'd have to kill him."

    Layla saw the confusion on Thor's face and just knew his next question was coming. "Grinding? I'm afraid I don't understand."

    "It's a form of dancing, usually considered 'dirty' or sexual in nature," Layla quickly explained, trying to not be embarrassed that she had to explain this to him. Although she wasn't entirely surprised that she did. "Lots of suggestive hip and lower body movements. A lot of... that." She gestured at the two of them subtly, hoping they wouldn't notice they were being spoken about. Luckily they were too intoxicated and too into each other to pay any attention to Layla's gesture.

    Thor barely nodded, and went silent for a moment. "I do not blame you for your concern. I've come to the same conclusions about the situation. I do not know what happened to Anja in my absence after Ultron, but I know it could not have been anything good." He took another drink from his mug. "On the other hand... my brother does not get close to people, myself included, and he has been through much. But Lady Anja somehow has broken through his icy shell. He has not said so himself, but... I think it is all too apparent he does have some sort of feelings for her."

    "Well, she was seeing Clint and it turns out he had that wife and kids, so I think that explains itself," she explained briefly. Layla paused and looked up at the god. "As for Loki, I mean, the difference in how he treats her and the rest of us makes it kind of obvious."

    "I had forgotten about her relationship with Barton," Thor muttered before taking a deep breath. "At any rate, this is an interesting development. Only time will tell what will come out of this. Despite the celebration, these are still dark times."

    Layla frowned slightly at his statement. He was right, but she certainly didn't want to be reminded of the danger lurking around every corner. None of them knew for certain where Thanos was heading, or even how many of these Infinity Stones he had already acquired. They were playing a dangerous game right now, but Layla would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy these festivities.

    "Let's not think about that right now," she finally said quietly before averting her gaze away from Thor for a moment. "Why aren't you out there dancing like everyone else? I mean, even Korg and Miek have joined in."

    "I am a warrior; dancing isn't exactly my forte," Thor answered her, setting his now empty mug on the table.

    Layla couldn't resist smirking at him. "I was under the impression that Loki is also a trained warrior and he's certainly out there dancing," she teased. "Look at him; having the time of his life."

    "He is more graceful than I," Thor muttered, seemingly embarrassed. "His fighting style requires it."

    "Brunnhilde is dancing too- also a warrior," Layla pointed out.

    Thor sighed. "It is just not my thing."

    The young woman grabbed his forearm gently, trying her hardest to not marvel at how large his muscles were. Her small hands would never be able to reach all the way around his forearm. "Everyone's drunk, Thor. No one will remember it. And hardly any of us can dance to begin with. No one's going to make fun of you."

    Before Thor had an opportunity to reply, the song playing changed again, and this time Tony was almost singing the song louder than the volume the speakers were playing it at.

    "All the single ladies! All the single ladies!"

    Layla facepalmed. Of course Tony would have this song on his playlist. She looked to Thor once more, an almost pleading look on her face. "So uh... you should totally dance with me so Tony doesn't. I don't think I can handle him drunk scream-singing Beyoncé in my ear the whole time," she suggested, a small grin on her face.

    "Twist my arm, why don't you?" Thor responded with a small sigh, unable to hide a smile. He offered her his arm despite Layla still holding onto it, and led her out onto the dance floor.

As the two of them started dancing, Layla couldn't help but smile up at the God of Thunder. She knew he was just as stressed as the rest of them, and it was nice to see him forget his troubles, even if only for a little while. Layla didn't like seeing Thor unhappy and she was determined somehow to change that. Even if it meant making him dance with her the rest of the night.

They'd be landing on Jotunheim soon, and it would be back to serious business again. But for now, Layla was grateful for the break from the cruel reality they all faced.

After all, being drunk with friends was far better than dealing with impending death and destruction.

*****

Hi everyone! Sorry for the slight delay in posting this chapter. I wrote this chapter some time ago, and it was so much fun to write. This is definitely the turning point, I think. The next chapter things start to get serious. Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of the upcoming chapters have their highlights and fun moments, but they certainly aren't parties!

It's been sort of a weird week. I admittedly haven't been feeling much like myself the past several days and have been wanting to sleep more than anything. I think it has a lot to do with the weather (it's been cold, cloudy, and icy for most of the week), and the rest of it has to do with me sleeping pretty poorly. I'm hoping this weekend I can get one good day of sleep to counteract some of this sleepiness. It's supposed to snow tomorrow night going into Saturday, so we don't have any plans. Although I may take the dog out into the backyard and play in the snow with him if I don't feel too crappy.

Also, I am going back to work! It looks like as it stands right now, my first day back will be about February 2nd. I will only be working weekends and holidays, so it probably won't bother my writing too much since I do most of it in the late afternoon, early evening. I'm excited to go back. Truly.

I hope all of you have been well! Talk to you all soon!

~arty_writes