The Windup
“Lokes?” Tony whispered the god’s name, hoping he was still awake too. “Loki.”
“Hmm?” He rolled over to face the inventor, blinking blearily.
“Can’t sleep.” Tony admitted, guilt roiling in his gut. “I just…”
Loki sighed and wrapped his arms around Tony, leaning their foreheads together. “I know, love. And, unfortunately, I know you, and know that you won’t be able to rest until this matter is resolved.” He pressed a kiss to Tony’s temple as the other man buried his face in the crook of his neck. “Is it worth continuing to lie here, or do you need to get up?”
Tony shrugged and mumbled something unintelligible.
“I can’t understand you.”
The inventor huffed and drew back slightly. “I don’t know. I can’t do anything right now. It’s exam studying breakdown o’clock. It’s way past business hours. I can’t schedule a meeting with her counselor, I can’t go tell this teacher to pull his head out of his ass and realise these kids aren’t learning anything.”
“I have already informed Miss Potts of the situation, and she’s made an appointment with the counselor for tomorrow morning at nine.”
“Really? J?”
“Mister Laufeyson indeed had Miss Potts make such an appointment, Sir.”
Tony turned back to Loki, his eyes wide. “I love you.”
Loki chuckled fondly. “And I you, yet you still trust your AI over me.”
“Not all the time!”
“It is only because Sir created me, Mister Laufeyson.”
Tony shot the ceiling a betrayed look. “Traitor.”
“If I may, Sir, until a more decent hour perhaps you could compose your thoughts in a comprehensive manner to present at this meeting.”
“I think JARVIS just called me emotional.”
“With good reason.” Loki muttered. “He does have a point, Anthony. It would be best to arrive well-rested, but well prepared is a close second. Record your thoughts. Have JARVIS take note, and when you are finished, allow me to make edits. Then you can take that to the meeting. Alright?”
Tony sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I get it, you win.”
Loki smirked. “As I well should.”
---
“Sage, darling?”
“Hmm?”
She took a sip of her smoothie. She’d taken to drinking them instead of eating breakfast so that she wasn’t already starving by third period.
“Anthony and I are going to pay your counselor a visit today.”
The poor girl almost choked. “You’re what now?”
“It’s just ot make sure you can drop the class second semester and still get credit.” Tony smiled at her sympathetically. “I just don’t want you to have to deal with this crap for longer than you have to.”
“You’re actually coming into the school?”
“Yeah…” Tony hesitated at her look of panic. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Totally! It’s just…” She set her smoothing down and began drumming her fingers on the counter. “There’s only, like, a hundred sixty kids in my school. If word gets out Tony Stark is my foster dad, the populars with want to ‘be my friend.’ I-”
“I can put a glamour over him, Sage.”
Her wide eyes turned on Loki. “What?”
“I can put a glamour on both him and myself so that only you, your counselor, and we will be able to see us truly. To everyone else, we will be average private school fathers.”
“He just wants to see me in a sweater vest.” Tony winked at her and Sage giggled. “Hey, if you’re really worried about it, we’ll do everything possible to make sure I’m not recognized, okay?”
“Okay…” She gave a tight smile and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him tightly in a hug. “Thanks for this, again.”
“Hey.” He lifted up her chin so she would look at him. “Seriously, it’s no problem. I literally signed up for this.”
She smirked. “Guess you did. Too bad you got stuck with me.”
“Uh-uh. None of that. Drink your smoothie, kid. Let’s hit the road.”
---
It was weird, Sage thought, having Tony ride with her on the way to school. She was used to taking the drive with Loki in the mornings, with him usually reading a book while she scrolled through social media on her phone. Tony was a talker, which honestly wasn’t a bad thing. It was just… different.
Tony chattered the entire drive to the school, and for the most part Sage was snickering at his ridiculous stories while Loki just nodded along and hummed in appropriate spots. Sometimes Sage wondered about their dynamic. When they weren’t together, you would swear the two couldn’t possibly get along. Loki was so quiet and reserved most of the time. Rarely was he seen without a book in hand. Tony, on the other hand was so loud and brash and… Tony. In his lab, there was always music blaring, and he was so reckless. Sometimes there were days where Sage didn’t think she’d seen Tony sit still for even ten minutes. Together though? Man, together they were a force to be reckoned with.
They balanced each other, funnily enough. Tony around Loki was more subdued. Less sporadic. More focused. Around Tony, Loki smiled more. He was downright mischievous in a way that he didn’t seem to be able to let himself be alone. Sage loved the way they acted around each other. She felt like they were both.. Freer that way. Like those little things from their pasts that still haunted them just melted away whenever they saw each other.
She was a little terrified of the outcome of their conversation with Miss Betts, but she knew it would be okay. She didn’t want to hurt Mr. Lafitte’s feelings, but this class was unbelievable. She knew they’d keep her in the class for the rest of the semester, so another five weeks or so. Then she could drop the class. But she’d have to take finals first. Yikes.
Sage must’ve visibly winced, because Tony asked her what was wrong. Ugh. Wrong. She kind of hated that word. “Nothing.” She gave him a smile that even she thought was genuine. “I just realised that I’m going to have to take a Chemistry exam before I can drop the class. Which, you know. Exams are gross in general, but I might need a lot of help to get through that exam.”
Tony smiled sympathetically, and Loki put a comforting hand on her knee. “Banner will be more than willing to help you darling, and we are always available if there is anything we can do to help.”
She grinned at him gratefully, and took a sip of the bubble tea that Tony had insisted on getting when he saw the little shop on their route to school. “You guys… I just… Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Well we weren’t about to let you suffer with an imbecile like that for an instructor, now were we?” Loki could practically feel the look Tony was giving him, but he didn’t care. As much as Tony was the doer in their relationship, unqualified teachers being paid for torturing children in an attempt to wrongly teach them infuriated him. Knowledge was one of the greatest tools in one’s arsenal. He wasn’t about to let his foster daughter suffer because her instructor didn’t understand how to teach. He would take every step possible to ensure that she was being taught properly, even if they had to hire a tutor.
Sage snickered quietly. “I’m just glad you agree.”