Only For You | Loki Laufeyson

     “I’m just saying,” Olivia laughs, “if you want me to stop calling you a chemistry teacher, you shouldn’t dress like one!” He scoffs, but can’t keep the waver of laughter out of his voice. 

     “That’s really— that’s rich coming from you,” he points out, gesturing to her oversized Santa sweatshirt. Honestly, it could just be a really thick dress that she’s wearing over her pajamas. “Miss, uh, Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.” 

     “Actually,” she corrects, smirking, “I was more going for Miss Santa Baby.” Bruce’s nose crinkles up as he instantaneously cringes. 

     “That’s the worst Christmas song,” he complains. She snickers. 

     “Rather be the worst Christmas song than the teacher that assigns homework over winter break,” she bites back tauntingly. He chucks one of the decorative pillows at her. She catches it with a loud, victorious laugh. 

     “Cookies are done,” their mother announces, stepping into the living room with a tray. Her two adult children lean away from the coffee table a little by pure instinct to make room, despite not being close enough to be in her way. 

     “Ooh, those look good,” Olivia grins greedily, reaching to pluck one off the tray before her mother can even set it down. 

     “Hey— wait until I put them down at least,” the older woman complains, though she remains grinning. “Gosh, Olivia, have a little patience.” 

     The chided girl grins wolfishly at her mother, half the cookie already gone. 

     “Aw c’mon mom,” she hums lightly with her mouth full, “your cookies are just that good.” Bruce shoots her a repulsed look, grabbing a cookie off the tray as politely as he can. 

     “You’re so gross,” he complains. Olivia finishes off her cookie, this time opting to swallow her food before she speaks. 

     “Not as gross as your face,” she retorts, picking up her mug from the Christmas tree coaster it was resting on. 

     “Okay, okay,” their mother cuts in before they can start bickering again. “Who wants presents?” Olivia raises her hand with an excited noise. 

     She coughs, struggling to force down her sip of— miraculously— hot chocolate, rather than coffee. Truly, Christmas miracles do exist. 

     “I’ll let Liv go first if she’s desperate enough to choke to death over it,” Bruce muses, though he looks like he’s fighting the urge to laugh at his sister’s misery. 

     She gives him the middle finger when their mother turns around. 

     “Okay, let’s see,” she hums. “Two for me, two for Bruce, and… three… for Olivia?” She looks up at her daughter quizzically. The woman shrugs. 

     “Self-love is important,” she reminds her family dismissively. Her mother shakes her head with a fond smile, handing the presents out to their recipients. 

     Olivia goes first for “her present to herself”. She’ll never admit it, but while she bought it for herself, it was actually Loki’s idea. She chooses to consider it her gift from him. 

     “Alright, what did I get me,” she hums, flashing a grin at her amused family. Ripping open the box and paper in one shot, she pulls out a new book about flowers; the second volume of the one she already owns. “I love it,” she announces. 

     “Okay, you’ve had your fun,” her mother chuckles. “Now open mine.” Olivia nods, obediently reaching for the medium-sized box with silver wrapping paper. 

     This time, because she really likes the paper, she pulls it apart carefully instead of tearing into it. She finds a new coffeemaker greeting her. 

     “Aw, Mom,” she coos, looking up at her mom with a warm smile. “I’m gonna save so much money on Starbucks now. Thanks.” In truth, her old one broke about 2 months ago. Her mother smiles warmly back.

     Olivia reaches for the much-anticipated green box, from Bruce; she has literally no clue what could be in here. She prepares herself to fake it if the gift is thoughtful, but a miss. 

     Tearing it open, she finds inside…

     Oh. 

     It’s a framed old picture of Olivia and Bruce at her elementary school’s rendition of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. She’s wearing a cute but very cheap Cindy Lou Who costume and a beaming smile. The teenage Bruce looks a little less than happy to be in the picture, but he’s still holding a flower for her. 

     …also, there’s 40 bucks tucked into the corner of the frame. 

     “Thanks, Bruce,” she smiles, plucking the money out of the frame to put in her wallet later. “I love it.” He suddenly looks a little bashful about it. 

     “No problem; your turn, mom,” he decides, glossing over her gratitude as quickly as possible. 

     As their mom opens her presents (not one, but two new radios; apparently great minds think alike), Olivia can’t help but quietly wish Dad was here to make fun of them. 

     “Your knitting is really good,” Bruce compliments as he wraps the homemade scarf around his neck. His mother smiles warmly back, appreciative of the compliment. 

     “Yeah yeah, we all know mom’s the best; open mine now,” Olivia urges him, grinning. He shakes his head, pulling the purple box over. 

     “Okay, what kind of snake joke did you set up this…” he trails off, seeing the contents. “You didn’t.” She did. 

     “I did,” she grins. He looks up at her in astonishment, which is rapidly growing into a grin. 

     “What did she do?” their mother wonders, looking between the two of them in confusion.

     “She got me a limited-edition behind-the-scenes copy of the Bleeding Colors movie,” he informs his mother, pulling the movie case out of its box. “They only ever made 200.” 

     Yes, and she got this copy off eBay for 30 bucks because the previous owner hated it so much. 

     “Don’t worry,” she whispers quietly to her mother, “the movie sucks. It’s still a gag gift.” Her mother grins with amusement at this.

     “Thanks, Liv,” he sighs emphatically. She does her best to keep her face from betraying her. 

     “You said you’d never seen it,” she shrugs dismissively. 

     She cannot wait to see his face when he finally watches that movie for the first time. 

***

     Olivia is passing through the living room when she hears a reporter’s voice say a very familiar name. 

     “—seems to be locked into a fierce battle with Iron Man—“ the reporter rushes out, as the camera clumsily zooms in on Tony crashing out of one suit and into another, the footage too grainy and distant to properly catch much of anything. 

     “Bruce,” she calls, her head tilting slightly towards the hallway but her eyes never moving from the screen. He emerges from the hallway, giving her a confused look as she scoops the remote off the coffee table. 

     “What’s up?” he wonders. She turns up the volume on the TV, pulling his attention to it. 

     “—suit seems to be on its way—,” the reporter continues, her voice a little hard to make out over the sounds of crashing metal, flames, and a few distant screams. The camera is shakily trying to follow what looks like one of Tony’s suits flying through the air towards him. 

     Bruce falls silent, leaning over to watch with her as, for a brief moment, it seems like neither Tony nor his indecipherable opponent move. Then, suddenly, one of them goes crashing into the wall. 

     Tony jumps and slides down the structure as the other man blows up, coaxing some alarmed screams from onlookers. The flames almost seem to chase him down, and the Banner siblings anxiously hold their breath. 

     “—there’s another suit! It seems Iron Man has done it again, the—“ the reporter exclaims excitedly, as Tony jumps into another one of his suits, going down into a crash landing that he can definitely survive with his armor. 

     “Oh thank God,” Olivia sighs with relief, slumping and tossing her head back. Bruce rubs his face tiredly. 

     “The one time we’re not there, he manages to get himself into this,” he remarks, gesturing to the TV. Olivia closes her eyes, letting her head drop. 

     “You know he’s probably gonna talk about this for, like, at least a month, right?” she muses, offering him a slightly amused smile. Bruce shakes his head. 

     “No; he knows I’m not that kind of doctor,” he denies. Olivia raises her eyebrows like she doesn’t fully believe him, but concedes. 

     “If you think so,” she hums. “Hey, while you’re here, do you think the tree smells like pine? Mom says it’s scented, but I don’t smell anything, and— hey, come back!” He continues walking away, still shaking his head. 

     “I’m going back to sleep,” he decides, vanishing into his old room. Olivia takes a disapproving sip out of her mug— which is, sadly, back to being full of coffee.

     “And after I got him that movie,” she hums ironically to herself. She snorts at the thought.

     “Ow! Ow, shit, fuck,” she hisses as the coffee burns the inside of her nose. “Shit, shit, shit, shit—“ 

     Maybe she should’ve stuck with hot chocolate for a little while longer.