That Season
On December thirteenth, Sage started freaking out. Exams were a week away. Christmas was two days after that. She hadn’t done any Christmas shopping or prepared anything. She had been planning to make everyone their own unique, personalised gift, but she was quickly realising that she’d have to scrap that idea. And on top of that, she had so much studying to do for each of her classes. She was so streassed out.
She jetted quickly to the communal floor, smiling gratefully at Phil as she snatched a waffle, and then sprinted back to the elevator, shouting, “This counts as attending a meal!”
Wanda shook her head slightly, pity clear on her face. “You could give the girl an Eggo and she would finish it before she noticed the difference.”
Pietro looked offended from where he was chin deep in his own plate of waffles. “Eggos are good!”
Wanda rolled her eyes.
---
“Niece Sage?”
A blonde head popped out from behind the door of the fridge. There was a bit of shredded cheese on her face, and she grinned at the sight of Thor. “Hey! What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing much, nothing much. Bruce has taken notice that you have seemed to be in distress as of late. Is anything wrong?”
She laughed lightly. “It’s ‘stressed out’ not ‘in distress,’ Thor. I mean, you can say ‘in distress’ but it kinda… means something else.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. So, like, when you’re in distress, something’s wrong, but when you’re stressed you’re just, like, overwhelmed? I think that’s a good way to put it.” She realised that his eyes were sparkling with amusement, and flushed slightly. “You already knew that, didn’t you?”
He let out a laugh and inclined his head slightly. “Why are you so ‘stressed’?”
She grinned at the air quotes, pleased she and Pietro had been doing their job properly. “Oh, you know. Exams. Christmas is coming up, and I haven’t gotten around to ordering gifts yet. Just normal December stuff. I’m good, really.”
Thor nodded slowly, but eyed her suspiciously. “If you insist. Perhaps… we could have a night of games soon? Would that help? If we all played Dutch Blitz for an evening?”
Sage’s face lit up in delight at the proposition. “That would be so much fun! I- well.” Suddenly her face fell. “Actually, I won’t have time. Crap. I’m sorry, Thor, I’ve just got so much studying to do for finals, I really just came down to pretend I’m still interacting with people and steal some cheese.”
“Sage.”
The girl flinched slightly and turned, seeing Bruce standing behind her, a mug of tea in his hand, looking sad. Fuck. She hated disappointing him. “Doc- Bruce! I- uh- you-”
“Would you like help studying? I don’t have an ongoing project at the moment, I could-”
“No! I- I’m good. I- uh, I’ve just gotta-”
“Honey, you’re running yourself ragged. How much have you been sleeping lately?”
“Well. You see, I-”
“Thought so.” He smiled at her softly. “I know you live in a tower full of scientists, but you have got to sleep, Sage.” He noted the guiltily sickened look on her face, and the way her arms were wrapped around herself as if to shield her from chastisement. He shared a worried glance with Thor, and decided to switch tactics. “Tell you what. Let’s have a game night, like Thor suggested, and in between rounds, I’ll quiz you on whatever you’re studying right now. I’ll get Tony to order pizzas, we’ll put on some music or something, just have a mostly relaxing night. Sound reasonable?”
Sage nodded slightly, smiling at him, but still not quite making eye contact. “Sure. I could live with that. Um. I’m gonna… be in my room doing… a thing, if you wanna, like, gather people and set things up? I’ll be back down at… five? Does that work?”
“Of course.” He smiled at her, watching as she walked to the elevator, and then turning to Thor.
“I am sorry, Bruce. I was trying to help, but clearly I-”
“No, hey.” Bruce stepped closer to the god, taking one of his hands and lacing their fingers together. “You got her to stay down here long enough to have a conversation with you. She hasn’t done that for a couple days. Youd did wonderful, my love.” He pressed a kiss to Thor’s cheek, and smiled when the god flushed lightly.
“You praise me too highly. I did nothing.” He squeezed Bruce’s hand gently, bringing their hands up and pressing a kiss to Bruce’s knuckles, locking eyes with him, smiling softly.
Clint walked into the kitchen, intent on making himself some Ramen, but stopped and groaned exaggeratedly at the sight of Bruce and Thor. “Really guys? Right in front of my salad? The two of you have rooms for a reason.”
Bruce rolled his eyes good naturedly and Thor let out a low, rumbling chuckle.
“You have no salad, Friend Clint.”
“Yeah, I know, Thor, it’s- yeah nevermind. I’m just here for Ramen. I’ll be out of your hair in a second. Just… PDA to a minimum while I’m here, ‘kay?”
“Because you always keep your PDA to a minimum, right, Barton?”
Clint laughed at the teasing, the tips of his ears turning red. Yeah, the good doctor had definitely caught both him and Nat and him and Phil going at it on the couch. More than once. In fact, it had been all three of them once or twice. Whoops. “That’s fair. But still.”
“Do not worry, Friend Clint. We shall be on our best behaviour.”
“Oh, don’t promise him that.” Bruce winked at Clint, eyes twinkling with humour. “Clint, we were thinking of organizing a game night tonight, just to cheer Sage up since she’s been so stressed lately. Interested?”
“For sure. By games, you mean…”
“Dutch Blitz!” Thor grinned widely. “So you will join?”
“Yeah, absolutely. Anything to help Sage feel better.”