Getting help for Christmas

“Look! There they are!” Sadie exclaimed. “With… no food…” As soon as her sister opened the door, Sadie walked into the hallway. “Where is the food? I only see gifts and clothes. And a tree, of course.” She pointed an accusing finger at Layna.

   Layna hit herself on the forehead. “I forgot about that! I got distracted by the small forest in the mall,” she said.

   “Of course you did, it’s you. You have the attention span of squirrel.” Sadie shook her head.

   “That’s,” Layna said, pausing for a dramatic effect, “so true.” She pulled Thor into the living room and showed him where to drop the bags. “Sadie, we have to go shopping with just the two of us so we can buy gifts for our favourite gods,” she called to her little sister.

   Sadie huffed. “Alright, but only when they are going outside too. They can buy presents for us, though they would use our money, so I don’t know if that really counts. Nah, who cares, it’s the thought that counts.”

   Layna rolled her eyes at her sister. It was obvious Sadie just wanted presents, but she agreed it would be more fun with the two of them. Again, it looked like the two gods didn’t have any say in their activities, but they weren’t protesting. Layna turned to look at her sister. “Did you call Peter?” she asked.

   This time it was Sadie’s turn to hit herself against her forehead. “Uhmm, nooo?” she said.

   “That’s not a question you can answer with a question,” Layna said. “I’ll call him, if I leave it you, it’ll never happen…” Sadie grinned sheepishly at the truth in those words and dropped down on the couch. Layna grabbed her phone out her bag and dialled Peter’s number.

   He didn’t pick up for a long time, but just before Layna could hang up, he answered. “Hello?” it sounded sleepily. “Who is this? What are you calling me for at… six in the morning?!”

   “Greetings Petey,” Layna said, a grin in her voice. “How are you doing, my fellow earthling?”

   Peter groaned as he recognised who was calling him. When he spoke again, he sounded ready to hang up again. "Layna, geez, it’s too early for your chatter. What do you want?”

   “Petey, aren’t you happy to talk to me again? It’s been, what? Three days, entirely too long,” Layna said smugly.

   Because she was looking out of the window, she didn’t see the look Loki gave Sadie, that said, ‘Are you sure he’s just a friend?’.

   Sadie whispered: “Yeah, I’m sure. You’ve no idea how she acts when she’s around guys she likes. Or actually…” She gave Thor a thoughtful look. “Maybe you do.” Loki’s eyes glimmered with mirth as he looked between Layna and Thor. The latter seemed totally oblivious to all that was being discussed.

   “Okay, here’s the deal,” Layna spoke in the phone. “Sadie came up with the most brilliant idea ever. What would you say about celebrating Christmas with us here in Belgium? Bring the Avengers…”

   Peter made a thoughtful noise. “I would love to, but don’t know about the rest. Wait a minute, I’ll go and see if Tony’s hasn’t collapsed in his lab yet.” Layna proceeded to tell him all about the last few days while Peter went down to Tony’s lab. She left out the fact that both Sadie and she probably had a crush on the gods, but made a mental note to tell him in person when the Avengers arrived at their house.  She heard a door open and the sounds of a small explosion.

   “Shit!” came through the phone in Tony’s voice. “Dum-E, I’m not on fire, stop that.” Layna burst out laughing. She could easily imagine what Tony’s lab must have looked like after what she assumed was an explosion just now. Peter apparently couldn’t keep in his laughter either, and thus alerted Tony that he wasn’t alone anymore.

   “Everything is going well, I see?” he said as greeting.

   “Oh, oh, oh! Put me on speaker,” Layna demanded. After Peter had confirmed she was now on speaker phone, she spoke to Tony. “We kidnapped someone. Actually, we kidnapped two someones. Want to find out who?”

   Before Layna could say more, Sadie called from the other side of the room. “She’s lying! We didn’t kidnap anyone!” she yelled.  

   Layna spluttered. “Sis, you’re ruining a perfectly confusing phone call. Now how am I going to convince them to come here?”

   They all heard Tony and Peter laughing in the background. “Well, if that isn’t my two favourite ladies,” Tony said, still laughing softly. “To what do we owe the pleasure, Layna and Sadie?”

   “We are inviting you all to celebrate Christmas here in Belgium,” was the only thing Layna said.

   Tony huffed. “So you really didn’t kidnap someone?” he asked.  

   “Weeell…” she answered in a high pitched voice. “We never said that.”

   Peter chuckled, as he already knew what she meant, but kept his mouth shut about what Layna had told him. It was way more fun like this.

   “What?” Tony asked. You could practically see the way he must have narrowed his eyes at that. “Okay, that’s it, we’re coming. When can you have us?”

   Layna cheered and Sadie smiled. “As soon as you’re available,” Sadie told him. “Make sure to bring Steve, Bruce, Tash and Clint too. We already got them gifts, so they have to come.”

   Layna nodded, then remembered they couldn't see him on the other end of the phone and spoke up. “Yes! You have to bring them! Promise?” Layna asked.

   Tony chuckled. “Yes, alright, they’re probably dying to see you guys anyway. We have a surprise for you, though… We picked up a few stray dogs when you weren't here. Get ready to meet the Winter Soldier and Falcon.”

   Layna basically threw her phone when Tony said those names. Lucky for her, Thor was standing close by and caught it before it could hit the ground. “What?!” Layna screamed. “That’s awesome, man! Sadie, we should buy them gifts too!”

   “Okay, Layna, calm down. I’m going to tell the others and Peter will text you when we’re coming.”

   After saying their goodbyes, they both hang up and Layna jumped up and down. Sadie stood up from her seat and put her hands on her sister’s shoulders, but Layna grabbed Sadie’s hands and danced through the room with her. Loki and Thor looked at them with a fond expression on their face. Their eyes met and they knew they both thought the same thing: ‘Yep, those are the idiots we like.’ Layna and Sadie dropped on the floor laughing and it took them (Layna) a while to be able to stop crying and rolling across the floor with laughter. She laid on her back and looked up to the ceiling, trying to control her breathing.

   “Bucky!” she yelled. “We’re going to meet Bucky, Thor, do you realise how awesome that is?”

   Thor grinned. “Well, he is a bit quiet at first, but when you get to know him, he’s really funny.” He looked over at the stack of bags with presents. “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, clean that up?” When Layna nodded, he and Loki pulled the sisters up from the floor and the four of them set to work. Thor and Layna put away the presents and Loki and Sadie found a way to keep the Christmas tree upright. They pulled the decorations out of the basement and decorated the tree with gold and red festoons and angel's hair. When not only the tree, but the entire room had been decorated, they all felt like they deserved a break, so they left the decorations for what they were and sat down on the couch. After a small discussion, Sadie and Layna decided the gods had to have a taste of 'oliebollen’. They had bought them the day before, so they were still edible. Sadie put them in the microwave and a minute later, she came back from the kitchen, balancing the Dutch Doughnuts and powdered sugar in her arms. Layna doused her and Thor’s Dutch Doughnuts in a generous amount of powdered sugar and took a bite, accidentally blowing a cloud of sugar in Thor’s face.

   “Hey!” he yelled, and wiped the sugar out his eyes. Loki arched an eyebrow and, shaking his head, turned to Sadie. She had put a much more sensible amount of sugar on their treats and digged in as well. The Dutch Doughnuts were delicious and everyone was quiet for a minute.

   Thor was the first one to finish his. He licked his fingers and smiled. “As you had predicted, this was delicious.” He smiled again, this time to Layna. Her cheeks slightly reddened. She turned around and looked at the clock on the wall. It was five p.m. by now and they were exhausted. Layna took everyone’s plates and stood up to walk the kitchen. It had been all fun and games up till now, but she and her sister actually had some work to do over their vacation. Where on earth had she put that book? Despite having last read it in the kitchen, it wasn’t on the table or in any cupboards, so she must have put it away in a more logical place. Sighing, she walked back to the living room and turned around in a circle. Suddenly, she saw her book peeping out from under a stack of books. However, Thor's hammer was inconveniently placed on top of it. She walked over and pulled it towards her with one hand, making sure the books wouldn’t topple over with the other. The hammer was surprisingly easy to lift and she walked over to the couch with Mjölnir in her hand.

   “Thor,” she sighed. “Really? Please don’t leave your stuff all over the place.” She dropped the hammer in Thor’s lap and walked back to the books, totally missing the flabbergasted look on the brothers’ faces.

   “Loki,” Thor started, but couldn’t form any other words as he opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. Loki didn’t look any better as he stared to the object Thor was now holding in his hands.

   Sadie looked confused, but couldn’t suppress a mischievous grin at their faces. “Layna, I don't know what’s going on, but I believe you’ll want to see the faces they’re making.”

   Layna had managed to get the book she was looking for without dropping everything else and walked over to the couch. She placed the book on her chair next to Thor and waved a hand in front of his face, grinning. “Uhmm, Thor? Everything okay?”

   He snapped out of his surprised state and looked at her with a mix of awe and disbelief in his eyes. “I… you… What do you know about Mjölnir?” he asked.

   Layna arched an eyebrow, but shrugged. “Not that much, actually. I believe there was this myth about you being the only one who can lift it, but obviously that’s all it is, a myth…”

   Thor shook his head. “No, it's not. I’ve used it multiple times to pin enemies down, because no-one was able to move it even an inch. Mjölnir refuses to be moved by anyone who isn’t worthy of its powers.” When he saw Layna still didn’t believe him, he walked over to Loki and put it on the small table in front of them. “Brother, please show Layna and Sadie I’m telling the truth?” Loki stood next to his brother and grabbed the hammer with both his hands, using his entire weight to move the hammer. It didn’t budge and remained where it was.

   Sadie jumped up from the couch. “Wait, lemme try it.” She gently pushed Loki to the side and took the same position as he had. She pulled with all her might, but Mjølnir didn’t move an inch. Sadie looked at her sister and a huge grin appeared on their faces.

   “Man, that’s awesome,” Layna whispered, taking Mjölnir from the table. She pointed it at Thor. “You do realise I’m never going to put this thing down again, right?”

   Thor nodded. “Yeah, I thought as much. But go ahead, I don’t need it to fight enemies here anyway.”

   Suddenly, Layna’s phone chimed with an incoming text and she lurched forward to grab it from the coffee table, where Thor had put it after their call with Tony. “It’s from Peter,” she said. “He says they’re able to come in a few days. Probably three, so that’s the 21st. Well, I don’t see any reason that won’t work.” She sent him a quick text with the hand that wasn’t holding Mjölnir, saying that that worked for them too, and put her phone on the table again. She smiled and turned to her younger sister. “I guess we’re going to have to buy more presents tomorrow.”

The following three days were spent preparing for their Christmas party, considering there were going to be thrice as many people as they had originally thought. The tree looked extremely beautiful and every single present beneath it was wrapped in cute gift wrap. The four of them bonded over all the small tasks that came with preparing a party, such as shopping. Explaining to the brothers how an ATM worked turned out to be quite difficult… (“Don’t hit it, just press it, gently.” (Loki) “I AM PRESSING IT GENTLY, IT’S NOT WORKING!” (Thor)). Layna and Sadie eventually put them on a bench in the middle of the mall, telling them to stay put as they bought gifts for Bucky, Sam, Thor and Loki. The brothers helped them as much as they could and slowly, they grew closer to each other. There were a lot of casual touches and by the time the day had come of the Avengers’ arrival, they were completely comfortable around each other. It was 9 o’clock in the morning when Sadie was preparing the food and needed Layna’s help. She opened the door and walked outside, but was stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her sister, standing close to Thor. Like, close  close. Really close. They hadn’t seen her yet, so she kept quiet. After a few seconds, Thor lifted Layna’s chin with his hand and gently pressed his lips on hers. She inwardly fangirled and walked back inside as silently as she could, tapping Loki on the shoulder where he was seated on the couch.  When he looked up, she placed a finger on her lips to stop his questions. She nodded to the window. You need to see this, she mouthed. He frowned, but stood and walked after her. When he saw what was happening in the garden, his eyes grew big and he grinned mischievously. As he made a move to open the door, Sadie put a hand on his shoulder.

   “Don’t you dare,” she said, effectively stopping the god’s movement. “My sister deserves this.”

   After what seemed like an eternity, the couple outside broke apart. Thor suddenly looked up and looked right at Sadie and Loki. “Stop peeking!” he yelled. Layna turned tomato red and started giggling uncontrollably. She hid her face in Thor’s chest and he wrapped his arms around her. He laid his chin on her head and smiled. Loki held his thumbs up and turned around, walking to the kitchen to help Sadie with the food. The Avengers had left in the afternoon, so they were due to arrive in only half an hour. Though they wouldn’t judge if the food wasn’t ready, Sadie still wanted it to be ready, even if it was just to calm her mind. She pulled the last things out of the oven and put them on the counter. She looked approvingly at the food and nodded. Then she turned to look at the clock on the wall.

   “What are we going to do when they arrive? They don’t know you’re here yet…”

   Loki shrugged. “Does it matter?” he asked.

   Sadie looked at him in disbelief. “Does it matter, he asks. Of course it does!” She sighed and shook her head. “They think you’re in space. Not here. Wait, I’ll ask Layna what she had in mind. Or maybe… not. If she’s still busy… with your brother…”

   Loki snorted and walked to the back of the house. He knocked on the door to get the pair’s attention and opened the door. “Sadie wants to know what Layna’s idea was about receiving the Avengers.”

   Layna’s head poked around Thor’s broad shoulders and she furrowed her brows. “What do you mean, ideas?”

   “Most of them still don’t know we’re here. What did you plan for their arrival?” Loki repeated.

   Layna's eyes began to shine with mirth. “Well, you know, just let them in. You guys will be sitting on the couch. I want to see their faces when they recognise you.” Both Thor and Loki laughed at her enthusiasm and the three of them walked inside, helping Sadie with the last preparations, before they sat down on the couch. Without thinking about it anymore, she picked up Mjölnir and spun it around her finger, almost hitting herself on the head while doing so. When the doorbell rang, Layna dropped Mjölnir in Thor’s lap and she and Sadie jumped out of their seats and ran to the front door.  Sadie was the fastest and opened the door. Immediately, she was thrown to the ground by Peter, who hugged her tightly. Layna stepped over the two of them and embraced Tony and Steve. Only after they had let each other go, Steve turned to the only two guys the girls didn't know to introduce them.

   “Sadie, Layna, these are Bucky and Sam. Sam, Bucky, meet these two lovely friends of Peter’s. Girls, how nice to finally see you again.” Layna was bouncing on her feet again and didn’t wait until Steve had finished talking to push him aside gently and pull Bucky in a tight hug. Sadie rolled her eyes and just waved. Bucky seemed surprised and a little uncomfortable at first, but soon relaxed into the warm hug. Layna let go of Bucky and gave Sam the same treatment. He had been expecting it, however, so he immediately returned the hug. Sadie walked over to Clint and Natasha and held out her arms. Clint smiled and only held out his hand in return, but Natasha quickly embraced the girl and pressed a kiss on the crown on her head.

   “Well, not that this reunion isn’t touching, but I, for one, would like to see if you’ve really kidnapped someone,” Tony eventually said. Both of the girls began to smile and turned to the door to the living room, gesturing for them to follow. Curiously, the group of superheroes followed them inside, only to be stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Thor and Loki sitting on the couch. They both had their casual  clothes on, but they were easily recognisable.

   “Surprise,” Loki said in a sing-song voice.

   Peter was the first one the say something. “Dude, you really did kidnap Thor and Loki, didn’t you? That’s awesome!”  

   “I know, right?” Layna said and showed their flabbergasted guests where they could sit down. Once everyone had sat down around the coffee table, Layna squirmed in her seat next to Thor. He laughed as she tried to make herself smaller than she was to fit in the little space that was left and pulled her on his lap.

   Sadie turned to Peter once more and whispered in his ear. “I think Layna has more reasons to think they’re awesome. Especially Thor.” When Peter raised his eyebrows, she nodded.

   “They…?” he whispered.

   “Caught them red-handed this morning.”

   Peter’s jaw dropped. “No way.” He was silent for a minute. “And you and Loki…?” Sadie’s cheeks flushed a crimson red and she shook her head. “Well…” Peter wiggled his eyebrows. “Not yet, you mean.” He burst out laughing at the scandalised look Sadie gave him as she slapped him on the leg. Loki looked at the interaction curiously, but Sadie shook her head to assure him everything was fine. Then she threw another meaningful look at Peter.

   “So…” Clint said as he turned to Loki. “Have you turned someone else over to the dark side yet? No evil plans made for today?” Natasha clipped him on the head, but didn’t apologise for his behaviour, nor did anyone else. Sadie looked at Loki to see how the words affected him and was surprised to see that he appeared to have become see-through. Not that anyone noticed. She had read something about that when reading up on Norse mythology. Loki had the power to conjure up illusions of himself. Was that what was happening right now? Sadie looked at Layna, but she was too busy with sitting on Thor’s lap and laughing at something Steve had said to notice their little situation. Eventually, Sadie got up and walked towards the door, waving away the questioning gazes she got from Tony and Sam. There was no one outside, so she went upstairs. When she opened the door to her room, she saw Loki standing in front of the window, looking outside. He heard her enter and turned around.

   “What?” he asked. “Have you come to mock me too?”

   “No,” she said, and went to stand next to him in front of the window. “I noticed it wasn’t you sitting downstairs, so I decided to come looking for you.”

   “You noticed? How did you see it wasn’t me?” He looked distressed at finding out his illusion hadn’t worked. His lower lip began to tremble, but he tried to hide it. He never cried. Never. Not even now. Most certainly not now.

   “Hey, it’s okay, no-one else saw,” Sadie tried to calm him down. She didn’t know how to deal with crying men. “When I looked around the room, no-one looked at you twice, so I think I’m the only one for whom you seemed see-through.”

   Suddenly, he slammed his fist on the window sill. “You looked through my illusion? Who am I if even my illusions fail?” he said dramatically. Sadie frowned her eyes and put a hand on his shoulder, but he slapped it away. “Please, my fair lady, don’t. If you try to calm me down now, you might get hurt.” Sadie ignored his warning and pulled the god into a hug. Loki looked down at her, surprised. No-one had ever disobeyed his orders like that. He stood there uncomfortably, but after a minute or two, he started to relax, realising that he wasn’t going to hurt her. He basked in her warmth for a few minutes. He could feel her rapid heartbeat through their clothes. When she looked up at him, he couldn’t help himself. This girl had accepted him for who he was without preamble. She made him feel like he was actually special and a good person. He had to do everything he could to keep her in his life. After a few seconds of staring in each other’s eyes, he leaned forward. She didn’t pull away. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth while he pressed his lips on hers. It felt like coming home. She moved her arms up to lie around his neck and pulled him closer as the kiss grew more heated. Before clothes could be lost, they pulled back and shyly let go of each other.

   “How were you able to leave the room with everyone there? From what I’ve heard, you have to walk away from the place you’ve left an illusion?” Sadie asked softly.

  “I didn’t. I left the room when you were greeting everyone. Thor promised not to tell anyone, he knew they were probably going to react poorly to seeing me there.”

   “And you were planning on staying here the entire night? What were you going to do during dinner? You didn’t really think this through, huh?”

   Loki shook his head and sighed. “No, not really. I guess I panicked. I don’t know if I want to go downstairs when everyone is so hostile…”

   Sadie run her hands through his hair and pressed her forehead against his. “Not everyone. You already know Layna and I like you. The only one reacting badly were Clint and maybe Natasha, because Clint was put under your spell once. Everyone else were douchebags because they didn’t tell him to quit it.” During her little speech, she had been working herself up about what had happened and by now she was ready to hit Clint for speaking to Loki like that.

   He tried to smile and stood upright. “You’re probably right.”

  “Probably?”

   A genuine smile now appeared on Loki’s face. “You are right.”

  “That’s better. Come on, we’re going downstairs and slap Clint in the face,” Sadie said, pulling Loki down the stairs with a hand loosely around his wrist.