Record high temperatures were being reached in New York. The AC was working in the Tower, sure, but Tony was directing it to the labs because he needed the extra cold for an experiment he was conducting.

Which of course meant that lots of the Avengers were spending a lot more time in the labs than usual. It was unclear if Loki was groaning constantly because of the heat, or the fact that he had to sit by the primary AC unit in the lab Tony was in and actually socialize for an extended period.

Loki barely tolerated the genius on a normal day and his mood only soured when Tony kept making jokes about the possibility of Loki melting. It got to a point where Olivia and Nat had to physically restrain him, else Tony's life would be in serious jeopardy.

"What experiment are you even conducting?" Maya asked, a bag of peas from the freezer on her forehead.

"Can't really tell you that." Tony said, swirling a solution in a beaker.

"Is it to see how long we tolerate your presence before I throw you out the window?" Loki asked, arms folded as he sat with his legs sticking out in a V shape, his back in front of the vent.

"No, but that's a fun side project." Tony said, flashing a grin. Loki grumbled as Olivia came back with several Otter Pops in her arms. She passed them around to the team, saving one for herself. She gave the rest to Loki, who proceeded to shove them down his shirt.

"You really have no regards for your own personal safety, do you?" Nat asked.

"No, he doesn't." Olivia interjected.

"Hey, give me some credit, Khaleesi. My suits are designed for safety. The Tower has security measures, and the Iron Legion keeps the public safe from our missions." Tony said.

"You provoke the Hulk for kicks." Wanda pointed out.

"You're not wearing a lab coat." Bruce, a stickler for lab safety, added.

"You have stolen Bucky's arm while he sleeps." Carson said.

"Sometimes you do repairs outside the Tower, only suspended by your rocket boots from your suit." Pietro said.

"And now you're taunting Loki, who has thrown you out the window on several occasions. Face it. You have no sense of self preservation." Nat said.

"And there is the fact of our safety. Your dancing puts us at risk." Bucky said. Everyone started laughing and Clint used his sound effects app to make air horn noises. Tony huffed and examined a Petri dish.

"Well, I need to let these things sit for a little while-" Tony started.

"Does that mean you can re-route the AC?" Wanda asked.

"No, they need to sit in a cool environment for an extended time. AC stays in the lab." Tony said. Everyone groaned and Clint started banging his head against the wall. "But what I was gonna say was that we should go somewhere outside the Tower."

"It's hotter than hell outside, which is why we're in here." Pietro said.

"Visit Muspelheim someday, it's a real treat." Olivia muttered.

"Well, what if went to the beach or something?" Peter suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, kid." Tony said. "Okay, we're going to the beach! Get your things and meet in the lobby in twenty."

***

The nearest beach that wasn't super public was a long drive away, and Avengers road trips usually went to shit pretty quickly. Though, Bruce had enough sense to suggest taking two cars, one Tony drove, and one he drove. There was a long time of deliberation as they tried to figure out who would go in what car. Everyone was already sort of sick of Tony because of the lab thing. Inherintly, only Peter, Maya, and Thor were open to riding with Tony, as they were the least annoyed with him.

It eventually went to picking straws to see who'd drive with Tony. Loki and Olivia were exempt from the drawing because Loki probably would blow something up if he had to spend more time with Tony in a smaller space. Of course, Loki refused to go anywhere unless Olivia would be "safe" as well; they weren't separate very often. Everyone else's fates were up in the air (except for the volunteers, they stuck with Tony).

Tony's car had seven seats total, as did Bruce. There were three short straws in the little bundle. In the end, Nat, Pietro and Clint came up short.

Bruce's team was a far less chaotic ride than their counterparts. There was light conversation, no one argued over the music (they just agreed to turn on the radio and let it do it's thing), and Wanda had managed to take Tony's snack bag before they left.

Tony's team nearly imploded in on itself. Less so because of his volunteers, but more because of the unlucky losers in the drawing. Nat and Clint were already high up on the "already annoyed with Tony" list, and Pietro didn't have his sister to annoy, Clint being the unlucky replacement. After Tony went on the wrong exit, Clint said the snack bag was missing. Immediately, Nat, fueled by her pre-existing annoyance and the fact that Tony went on the wrong exit, started arguing with Tony about whether or not he forgot it. They didn't stop arguing the entire time.

Maya and Peter tuned it out by playing car games. Thor just fell asleep.

Tony's team arrived nearly twenty minutes after Bruce's. They had already staked out spots and had towels and umbrella's set up. Wanda smugly tossed the empty snack bag to her brother. Tony almost went bat shit, but Peter managed to calm him down.

"It's okay, Mr. Stark. There's a snack bar over there." Peter said, pointing. Tony grunted and put down his beach bag.

The Avengers were all in various swimsuits. From Olivia's royal blue and black one piece to the American flag trunks Steve had begrudgingly put on after Tony's pestering. Clint nudged Pietro.

"That is America's ass." He mumbled. Pietro burst out laughing and relayed the statement to Nat. She snickered and began to rub sunscreen on her arms.

"Why did we have to come? It's boiling out here." Loki groaned as Olivia rubbed sunscreen on his back.

"My god you're whiney today. It's just for a few hours." Tony sassed, putting up an umbrella. "I'm setting up the volleyball net!" He called, taking the poles and net with him a few yards away from their setup.

"I really hate him sometimes." Olivia muttered. Loki snorted as Olivia passed him the sunscreen bottle so he could get the exposed parts of her back.

"Exactly why I insisted you come in Banner's car." Loki said.

"I wonder if there was a way to get Tony back?" Olivia said slyly.

"If you two are thinking what I think you're thinking, I'd be careful." Thor said.

"Just a bit of fun, Thor." Olivia said sweetly.

"What's the harm?" Loki added.

"No wonder you two are perfect for each other. You're basically the same person." Clint called over. They ignored him.

"We just need to wait for the right opportunity." Olivia said.

"Net's up!" Tony announced. "Who's got the ball?"

"I thought it was in your car." Bruce said. Tony blinked.

"Oh, perfect, now we have a net and no ball. Just lovely. Fan-freaking-tas-" Tony started to gripe, just as the volleyball hurtled towards and made contact with his face. He hit the sand, his sunglasses dangling over one ear.

"On your left, Tony!" Bucky called. Tony grumbled as he stood back up.

"Who threw that?" He asked. No one spoke up. Tony rolled his eyes and picked up the ball. "Anyone up for a game?"

"Sure." Nat offered. "Anyone wanna be on my team?"

"Please take Wanda." Pietro said. Wanda just smiled as she threw more sand into her brother's hair with her abilities. "Please!"

"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted. I'm coming, Nat!" Wanda said, getting up off her beach chair.

"Who's on my team?" Tony asked.

"I can do it, Mr. Stark." Peter said.

"Great! First to 21 wins." Tony said excitedly.

This was a bit of a predicament. Loki and Olivia didn't want to make Peter feel bad in any way. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to worry too much. After about 14 sets, Tony was serving. He hit the ball over the net and Wanda dove for it. Tony was about to hit it again, but then he yelped in surprise, shielding his eyes, causing the ball to bonk his head.

"Alright, who did it??" Tony snapped. Olivia looked around her friends, until Loki poked her shoulder and pointed to her right. She saw Carson pass Bucky's arm back to him, both of them snickering.

"Did they reflect the sun into his eyes?" Olivia asked.

"It would seem so." Loki said, smirking.

Tony rolled his eyes and went back to the game.

Maya wanted to have a little fun messing with Tony as well. She wasn't exactly annoyed with him per se... But Maya now had superior prank status among the team for her cookie prank. She had to take every chance she could take. Something simple.

Thinking hard, she eventually found a crab skittering along. Normally, she'd just leave it alone, but she was drawing prank blanks, as Peter called them. Shrugging, she picked it up and snuck up behind Tony, preparing for Peter to serve the ball.

Quickly, she closed her eyes and shoved the crab down the back of Tony's swim trunks. She stepped back as Tony started to freak out, trying to reach behind to pull whatever was invading his personal space out of his trunks. Eventually getting the crab out, he let it fall to the ground and go on it's way. He turned around to see Maya, giving him a small wave with her fingers.

"Maya... Do I need to remind you who you work for? Who's house you can stay in?" Tony asked.

"No." Maya said innocently.

"Then tell me who you work for." Tony replied.

"SCOOPS AHOY!!" Maya yelled, running back to her chair. Nat and Wanda started dying laughing (to be fair, they already were), Peter snickering as well. The volleyball game ended, Nat and Wanda winning in the end.

Back at the chairs, Loki and Olivia were thinking of prank ideas. Though, they tried to keep it a secret from the others.

"Gjøre buksene hans usynlige? [Make his pants invisible?]" Olivia suggested.

"For lett. [Too simple]" Loki said.

"Har du noen bedre ideer? [Well, do you have any better ideas?]" Olivia huffed. They noticed some of their friends getting into the water, Tony included in this bunch. That sparked an idea.

"Han er i vannet. Satser på at det er hyggelig og varmt... [He's in the water. Bet it's nice and warm...]" Olivia said slyly.

"Og så? [So what?]" Loki scoffed.

"Frys vannet rundt ham, blå gutt. [Freeze the water around him, blue boy]" Olivia said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Loki looked skeptical, but Olivia had the devious look in her eyes that he absolutely loved. He found it hard to go against what she said with that expression. He smirked and nodded. They both got up from their seats.

"Hei, du vet at jeg snakker norsk, idioter. [Hey, you know I speak Norwegian, idiots]" Nat called over.

"Du hørte ingenting! [You heard nothing!]" Olivia cried. Nat just rolled her eyes, smiled, and went back to her sunbathing. The pair went into the water waist deep and magicked a beach ball into existence. They began to toss it back and forth between them. Tony inevitably swam up to them.

"Hey, why not invite me?" Tony asked.

"Why would we?" Loki asked. But then Olivia threw the ball straight into his face, causing him to slip and fall under the water.

"Loki? Loki??" Olivia asked, swimming over, but he didn't resurface.

"Hey, Rock of Ages, you good?" Tony asked. What he didn't know was that everything was planned. Loki could see under the water just fine. He inched closer to Tony's legs and extended a hand so that his fingers almost touched them, but not quite. Then, he let his fingers turn a frosty blue color, causing the water around them to freeze in fractals.

"Hey... Is the water getting cold, or is it just me?" Tony asked.

"Think it's just you." Olivia said, pretending to reach under the water to rouse a seemingly underwater/unresponsive Loki. In actuality, she could feel the chill of the water. But she wasn't about to tell Tony that.

Under the surface, the spreading ice had started to touch Tony's leg, creeping it's way around and below the contact point.

"Ow, ow! Something's touching my leg... And it's cold! You have to feel it!" Tony said.

"Nope. Nothing. You're imagining things, Stark." Olivia replied.

The ice had spread to around Tony's heel (from mid calf), so it was like an icy boot. Loki decided to stop. His hand went back to it's normal color as he swam back to where Olivia was. He put her legs on his shoulders and then shot out of the water, her sitting on his shoulders. She squealed, Loki laughing as Stark yelped in pain, hobbling out of the water. He then saw the ice around his leg and screamed in a mix of pain and anger.

"WHAT THE HELL, YOU GUYS??" He screamed at them. Thor went over to the wailing billionaire and used Mjolnir to break the ice around Tony's leg. The rest of the team was laughing.

"Hey, I thought you were insistent on a cold environment!" Clint called over. Tony flipped Clint the bird before limping back to his seat.

There were several more shenanigans that occured that day. Tony bought a soda and a large bag of gummy worms and downed them both stupidly quickly.

An hour later, he barfed it up because he ate so quickly.

Natasha had buried Clint in the sand, a picture being taken of Clint's head above the sand looking absolutely disgruntled and Nat standing behind him with a rather large shovel meant for gardening. She looked smug as all heck. Clint eventually clawed his way out and dove into the water to get the sand out from where the sun don't shine.

(*cough* the MCU *cough*)

(I'm sorry, that was such a bad joke)

Carson and Bucky started to make a sand castle, but once they got the foundation done, the rest of the team started adding things, like Wanda adding shells to the walls and Olivia making trees from dripping wet sand from her fingers. It eventually got really big and really clustered. But they were proud of it anyways.

Half an hour later, the tide came in and broke it down, washing it away.

Peter found a little beached jellyfish on the sand. He startee poking at it with a stick to look for movement. Eventually, he pushed it with said stick to the water, letting it go on it's way.

Thor accidentally sat on and popped the volleyball. No one was super mad because they had taken the net down a long time ago.

It was inevitable, but there were sunburns among the team. It was Tony who had the worst one, his face and back completely red. Clint was sort of red on his face because he was out in the sun for so long after Nat buried him. Olivia had a light red on her shoulders and under her eyes. There were a few more minor ones. They passed around the aloe gel, and Olivia found that Loki's cold hands soothed the itchy feeling.

The sun started to set, and that's when they called it a day. They packed up and had the same car arrangement they came with. Tony's team had calmed down though and there wasn't much arguing.

Except for when Tony left the snack bag at the beach by mistake.

***