Christmas!
After Layna had attempted to sit in her chair next to Thor, not sure whether she wanted the rest to know about their new found relationship, Thor had laughed and pulled her in his lap, deciding for her. Everyone had congratulated them and Layna had blushed furiously again, but didn’t hide her face from the group. She had been too distracted by all the stories that were told about the Avengers’ victories to notice Sadie leaving the room. She did, however, notice the atmosphere had become far too tense at the other side of the room to converse comfortably. What was going on over there? She turned to Thor.
“What’s going on over there?” she whispered in his ear. “I don’t see Sadie anywhere and it’s like they are too uncomfortable to have a normal conversation…”
“Okay, don’t tell the others, but before you invited the other Avengers inside Loki conjured an illusion and went upstairs himself. He was afraid the others wouldn’t be as happy to see him as you at first were and would make snide remarks, and I suspect that’s exactly what’s happened. No, don’t get mad!” Layna had almost the same reaction as Sadie had had upstairs, unbeknownst to them. Thor tried to calm her down, but couldn’t smooth out the frown that had appeared on her face. She sat up straight and wanted to stand, but Thor pulled her down softly and shook his head. Slowly, he pointed to the ceiling above their heads.
“If he is there, which I'm fairly certain of, she is probably there too.”
Layna's eyes began to shine with mischief. “You mean…?” she asked.
Thor nodded. “I can't be sure, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if…” Before he could continue, however, they heard loud footsteps running down the stairs, calmer ones following one second later. Layna turned around in Thor's lap and pushed her hands against his chest to look at the door, which made Thor oomph loudly. Sadie came barging through the door, closely followed by Loki, who cancelled out his illusion. If people hadn't looked up when Sadie threw open the door, they did when Loki suddenly disappeared in front of their eyes. It had been a while since Layna had last seen her sister so angry. It kind of scared her. Sadie pulled Loki with her as she walked to the chairs everyone was sitting on and folded her arms in front of her chest. She gave everyone a stern look before she opened her mouth.
“How dare you?” she hissed through gritted teeth. “How dare you insult one of our guests? He has paid for his mistakes and doesn't deserve any of your…. Your… Ugh! Why can't I find that stupid English word?!” Loki winced and put a hand on her shoulder, probably to calm her down, but it didn't help much. Actually, it didn't help at all. She just grew angrier and angrier, yelling at everyone, even Peter.
“No Loki, I’m not going to calm down. This is serious. If they can't respect you, they can just leave.” Layna looked at their circle of friends, slightly amused at the ashamed looks on most of their faces. Even though Sadie could be a bit dramatic, her outburst was getting the message across. When Sadie fell silent, Natasha stood up and extended her hand towards Loki. After some hesitation, he shook it and they nodded curtly, Loki acknowledging and accepting Natasha’s unspoken words.
“Fine,” Clint said eventually. He too stood up and walked over to Loki. “Sorry, dude.”
A mocking smile appeared on Loki's face. “Dude?” he asked.
Clint scrunched up his face. “What? You want a ‘my humble apologies, my lord Loki of Asgard, God of Mischief’?” Natasha slapped his arm, hard. “Hey!” Clint yelled. “What was that for?”
“That is not a proper apology, Clint. You won't get out of this one, I promise you. Sorry for him, Loki, he is just… Weird. A bit childish too… He is just… Clint. You will get used to it.” She gave Clint a glare. “In a few decades.”
Loki snorted and gave Clint a small smile. “I’m afraid I can't say I’m never childish, either, so apologies accepted.” Sadie raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Loki. He made a mocking bow and pressed a kiss on her knuckles. Her cheeks flushed a crimson red and she took a step backwards. “Thank you for standing up for me, my fair lady.”
Sadie’s cheeks reddened and reddened. “I’m not your fair lady,” she whispered, but it was only for show. Loki smirked as if to say, 'Right… You sure about that?’ and walked to the couch to take the place where his illusion had been seated earlier. When he had sat down, he gestured for Sadie to sit beside him. When she did, he put an arm around her and pulled her closer. Layna looked at Thor conspiratorially.
“Told you,” Thor whispered.
Layna pursed her lips to keep herself from laughing. “Alright guys, lunchtime!” she yelled after a look at her watch and Sam eagerly agreed. He was the first one to jump up and walk to the kitchen with Layna. They walked back quickly, their arms full with baskets of bread and other food. Sadie immediately shot up and snatched a croissant from a basket in Sam’s arms.
When Loki gave her a queer look, she shrugged. “What? It's with cheese. Here, try it.” She tore off a small piece and handed it to Loki. He arched an eyebrow, but leaned forward nonetheless and opened his mouth a little, just enough to fit the chunk of bread Sadie was trying to feed him. After Layna and Sam had put all the food on the small coffee table (which only fit because there were several baskets put on top of each other), Thor pulled Layna in his lap once more. She started to giggle and made Thor try every single sort of bread before he could choose one on his own. He only smiled and cooperated. It wasn’t like he could do anything about it. She would probably force the pieces down his throat if she had to. The conversations around them started to flow more easily and within ten minutes, the spirit was up to normal. Still, a warning glance was shot at Clint every time he opened his mouth, but he behaved and didn't mock Loki again. When all the bread had disappeared, the group continued to chatter about their lives, catching up on the most recent events, even though some of the Avengers dozed off through the course of the afternoon.
Around five o’clock, Layna's patience was gone and she pointed at the Christmas tree. “Hey guys, I know it isn't officially Christmas yet, but what about opening some presents?” Everyone looked her way excitedly at the prospect of presents and they got up to grab their own presents for the others. When everyone was done tripping the others to be the first to reach the tree and find their presents and was seated again, Tony looked at the sisters.
“Who is going to start?”
Layna shot up in Thor’s lap. “Ooh, me, me, me! But first, some music.” She got up to put on some music and grabbed the present she had bought for Sadie on her way back. Until this moment, she had forgotten what she had chosen for her sister, but the moment they had put the presents under the tree, she had remembered. This was going to be hilarious. “Sadie, the first present of the evening is for you.” She couldn't hide her smirk and Sadie looked at her with suspicion.
“What is it? Layna, what did you do?”
Layna just shook her head. “Come on, open it. You’ll see.”
Sadie took the large package from Layna's hands and started unwrapping it. The moment she recognised the object, she started to squeal excitedly, momentarily forgetting about the god next to her. “No freaking way! You bought this?! Where did you find it?!” she screamed. She grabbed the object with her right hand and stood up. The scepter was longer than she was. Most of the others looked confused at first, but a groan could be heard from Loki. Layna burst out laughing from where she had sat down in Thor’s lap again.
Thor couldn't keep a straight face either. “Where and why did you buy a replica of Loki’s scepter?” he asked Layna, who was wiping tears from laughter from her eyes.
“I thought it would be awesome,” she said, still half crying. “Look at her! It's longer than she is. I totally forgot about it until we were placing the presents underneath the tree.”
“That’s my… scepter,” they heard Loki say.
They looked up to see Sadie nodding vigorously before pointing the scepter at him. “Kneel,” she said in an over serious and commanding tone. Loki’s jaw dropped and his eyes grew big. A small shudder ran over his back when he looked at her eyes, both commanding and laughing at the same time. They were a beautiful shade of green.
Beside Layna, Thor burst out laughing. “It’s a perfect fit!” Thor bellowed.
“Oh my gosh, you're right!” Layna said, starting to laugh again. Soon, all the Avengers joined in. When everyone had calmed down a bit, Sadie got a mischievous look in her eyes. She shot one glance at her sister before turning to Loki again. He tried to stand, but Sadie put the scepter on his chest and pushed him back.
“Don’t you dare. Just stay put.”
“He’s not your dog!” Layna said.
Sadie chuckled. “Well… Usually you’re right, sis, but now… No.”
Layna instantly understood what had happened upstairs and clapped in her hands excitedly. She looked as her sister as she reached for the pile of presents next to the couch and pulling out a present just as big as hers had been. When Loki tried to stand again, she pushed against his chest with more force. Then she turned to her sister. “Layna, you're up next. You’re going to like this, trust me.”
Layna took the present from her sister's hands and looked at Loki amusedly one last time before tearing away the wrappings. She almost crushed Thor when she whooped and fell back into the couch, or in this case, Thor. Layna was rendered speechless as she took out a bow and arrow just like Hawkeye's. Layna jumped from her seat, notched an arrow and pointed it at Thor.
“Any last words, sweetie?” she asked coyly. Thor arched and eyebrow.
Clint had jumped from the couch too and thrust his fist into the air. Thor didn't get the chance to say any last words, for Clint interrupted him. “Girl, that's awesome! How good is your aim?”
Layna chuckled. “I probably wouldn't hit Thor from this distance, you moron, so not very good.” Clint promised to help her with that as soon as they got the chance and when Thor was once again safe, more presents were opened. Tony wouldn't stop bragging at how handsome his doppelganger was, Natasha playfully threatened everyone with her new knives, Clint was absolutely in love with his action figure, Steve looked like he immediately wanted to start drawing in his sketchbook, and Peter was taking in almost the entire table with newly drawn 3D-structures. When they got to the presents for Bucky and Sam, Sadie and Layna were bouncing up and down their seats.
“For Asgard’s sake, what’s wrong with you, Sadie?” asked Loki.
“Shut up.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Make me.”
“Fine.” Sadie looked at Loki challengingly.
“People, people, easy!” Peter said, but Layna covered his mouth with her hand, urging him to be quiet.
“Shh, it's just getting interesting.”
“It’s your sister, you pervert!” he hissed.
“I told you to zip it.” Without saying anything else, Layna turned in Thor’s lap. Sadie and Loki were still looking at each other, waiting for the other to move. Eventually, Loki was the one to lean forward. He cupped Sadie’s face with his hands and gently pushed his lips on hers. Layna cheered and the pair pulled away, turning red. “Okay, enough fluffiness for now, Bucky and Sam still haven't had our presents.” She gave Bucky an original copy of a Romanian book and Sam a book about Falcons. They both hugged the sisters and suddenly, Layna and Sadie were hugged by all the Avengers. Although Layna loved all the hugging, she didn't really feel the need to be in the center of attention for a long time, so she distracted everyone by turning up the volume of the music. “Karaoke, anyone? I know at least some of us can sing properly and I would love to find out about the rest of you.” Even though some groans could be heard around the room, there were no real protests against the idea, so Layna scrolled through her playlist for some good songs.
“Oh oh oh, I know a song!” Sadie said. She walked over to her sister and whispered something in her ear. Layna began to chuckle and scrolled down her playlist. The moment they heard 'You’re teasing me’, Layna threw all her dignity out the window and went in full performance mode. She walked towards Thor and ran a finger over his shirt. Some of the Avengers had started chuckling when the first notes of the song had sounded through the room, but since Thor and Loki weren’t born on Earth, they had no idea about the nature of the song. Hence why a hilarious look of surprise appeared on Thor’s face the moment Layna sang the first words. Their audience started cheering and encouraged Layna to go even further. She let her hands slide to the hem of his shirt and playfully slid it up a few inches, revealing a stripe of tanned skin. However, that’s where she drew the line, so she dropped his shirt and continued singing with a little more distance between them. When the song was finished, everyone cheered and applauded and the next song was put on. Most of the others songs were mostly innocent, but Sadie had her own moment to shine with ‘I just want to make love to you’. Almost everyone sang at least one song. A few voices were a huge surprise, like Natasha's and Tony's.
When they had all had dinner, after Layna had almost accidentally put the house on fire, Thor spoke up. “I saw there was a place to make a fire outside. Perhaps we could-”
Layna jumped up (again, Thor oomphed loudly) and clapped her hands together. “That’s an awesome idea! Let’s go!”
“Layna, how much have you drunk?” Sadie asked.
“Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s go.” Sadie stood up too, a little bit slower than her sister, and grabbed Loki’s hand. She softly pulled him towards the garden, where her whirlwind of a sister had already started to set up a fire. She wasn’t very good at it, though.
Thor walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Need some help, sweetheart?” Before Layna could answer, he had pulled her back from the heap of wood she had made slightly and a bolt of lightning shot from the air. It hit the wood and instantly lit the fire.
Layna gaped at the fire. “Oh. My. Gods. That was awesome! Show me more,” she demanded.
Thor, however, shook his head, smiling smugly, and pulled her down with him on the ground. After a look of dismay from Layna, he burst out laughing and buried his face in the crook of her neck. She let out a soft squeal of excitement and clapped her hands when he lifted his hand, sparkles dancing in the air.
“Awesomesauce,” she whispered, her eyes gleaming with mirth.
Everybody sat down around the fire. Somewhere, someone got hold of some marshmallows and a few sticks to roast them. This was the best Christmas the sisters had ever had.