The Trials of IKEA
Sage and Tony had been trying to put together this damn bookshelf for at least an hour, and there was no end in sight. Loki had the faintest thought that this might end in tears. He waited until Tony took a break to go get coffee and Sage had sat down in the corner with one of the Game of Thrones books, and began to assemble the bookshelf. Admittedly, with magic, but there was a guarantee it would never fall apart. He put together two more shelves by the time Tony had returned, and he noticed that Sage’s amusement and anticipation mirrored his own.
“Whoa, what the shit?” Tony looked to Sage, bewildered by her snickering. “How did you- you had as much-” realisation dawned on him, and her turned to Loki. “Lo’, I told you I wanted to do it!”
“I left one for you to assemble, Anthony, never fear.” Loki smirked at the inventor, unable to resist a bit of teasing.
“Can you believe this guy?” Tony threw up his hands and turned to Sage, acting exasperated. Seeing her hiding giggles behind her hand, his heart melted a bit, but he kept up the pretense. “Et tu, Sage? I’m being disrespected in my own home. How did you even figure out how to set it up?” He directed the question to Loki.
The god shrugged, willing to continue the game, but Sage piped up from the corner.
“He used magic.” Her eyes were bright with excitement. “It was super cool.” She realised both of them were looking at her, and flushed slightly. “Sorry. It’s just… So much different than my powers. His magic is so… subtle and refined. Elegant. Like, all of a sudden, there’s parts of a bookshelf just floating around and putting themselves together, and he’s barely breaking a sweat, and they just glide, ya know? My powers? Pssh.” She waved a hand as if dismissing the notion. “My powers are explosive, and emotional, and nowhere near subtle. I mean, I get mad and vwhoompf, there’s a thunderstorm. I get sad enough, and oh hey, it’s raining! I’ve even made twisters form during panic attacks before. It’s just… so cool.”
Loki smiled at her gently. “I am glad you appreciate my magic, Sage. I must say, your powers intrigue me, though. I understand your wish to keep a tight control over them, but I would like to see your powers in action sometime, if you’d be amenable.”
Sage looked down and to the side, biting her lip lightly. “I- I guess I wouldn’t mind.” She glanced up shyly. “No one’s ever… wanted to see my powers before. It’s always easier to just… keep ‘em under wraps.” She grinned brightly at Loki. “I’d totally show you if you want. I mean, now’s probably not great timing, because we’re… you know, inside, and we’ve still gotta put together that one shelf, and then I’ve gotta actually shelve the books, but um.” She couldn’t help but smile again. “Yeah. We should… yeah.”
Tony regarded her softly, scarcely able to hide his own smile. “What say we get this damn bookshelf put together, huh? Maybe Mister Magic-Pants over there could help us with this one.” He winked at Loki, and pulled him by the hand onto the floor next to him and Sage. “So, Lokes, since you’ve already put two of these together, what’s the first step?”
Loki rolled his eyes and pulled out the instruction manual. “Perhaps, Anthony, if you would read the instructions, you would not have so much trouble with this. Now…”
As Sage collapsed into her bed that night, her room feeling much more like home now that she had bookshelves, she couldn’t help but smile. This was going better than expected.