Almost There
Sage sighed with relief as she climbed into the car. Exams were over. She was free. She’d never have to take Chemistry with Lafitte ever again. Praise the frickin lord.
Happy chuckled from the front seat as she toppled over dramatically and laid out across the back seat. “That bad, huh?”
“Worse. My smarts are all fried. I’m brain dead. There are no more thinks in my head.” She smiled softly as she heard another laugh from the front seat, closing her eyes and pressing her cheek into the seat. “Would it be problematic if I fell asleep back here? Because I just might-”
Sage’s phone went off in her bag, and she groaned as she sat up to retrieve it, pulling a mildly irritated face when she read the caller ID. “Hey, loser. What do you want?”
Sam’s laugh huffed across the line. “Well hello to you too.”
“What’s up?”
“We’re still on for Christmas, right?”
“Yeah, I’m game if you are.”
“Okay. Dope. Umm. Is it okay if someone else is there too?”
“Sam, I can’t hang out with your stoner friends anymore, my dude.”
“No, that’s not… Sage, I want you to meet my boyfriend.”
“...Oh. I- shit. Fuck. Sam, I didn’t mean…”
“No, no, no, it’s okay. That was a totally fair assumption.”
“Well? What’s he like? What’s his name? Where’s he from?”
“His name is Jason. You don’t have to get him a gift or anything but since I know you, he likes to do puzzles.”
“A puzzle man, huh? I like him already. Like, Lisa Frank puzzles or more Thomas Kinkade?”
His eye roll was nearly audible. “I’m sure he’d love either. This isn’t gonna be awkward, is it? Because if you think it will be, that’s fine, we don’t-”
“No! I want to meet him! I’m not about to keep you from spending Christmas with your boyfriend.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll make sure he comes, then. Will it be okay if he stays the night? That won’t weird you out?”
“As long as y’all save room for Jesus and I don’t hear any strange bumps in the nighttime, I don’t have a problem with it.”
“Fair.” He chuckled. “So, how’re you doing? How did exams go?”
“Man, they were rough.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I dunno how many A’s we’ll be pumping out this year. There’s definitely gonna be several B’s. Spanish and Chemistry at least. Wanna know something? I think I might have failed the Algebra. I don’t remember taking it.”
“Are you for real? What happened?”
“I don’t know. All of the Spanish and French exams happened at once, so I got stressed out and I started sort of making things up because Mrs. Gates couldn’t answer all the questions at once, and you know how I am about waiting. By the time I got to the Algebra exam, I sped through it and by the time the period was over, I had no idea what was on the exam.”
“That’s awful. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. At this point, I’ll get the grades I get, y’know?”
“Yeah, I suppose so. Hey, how’d your birthday go? I was going to take you out, but I didn’t want to call if you were busy.”
“It was chill. Truth be told, I was studying so hard that I forgot it was my birthday, but they dragged me out of my room, and we had a little mini party. I’m not used ot seperate presents any more.”
“Well mine were meant to be seperate. They’re just being given at the same time.”
Sage laughed. “Yeah, I know.”
“So, see you Saturday?”
“Yep. Seeya.”
“Bye, babe.”
---
“Uuuuuugh.” Sage groaned as she flopped down on her bed. “I don’t want to wrap presents.”
“You want some help?” Clint dropped from the vent onto one of her bookshelves, and Sage nearly peed herself.
“Jesus, Clint! Not okay!”
He grinned at her sheepishly. “Sorry. I was bored. I could help you wrap presents?”
She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “You just want to know what I got you.”
“Well of course.”
Sage barely kept herself from screaming as Natasha’s voice drifted down from the vent and her head appeared, the woman herself seemingly hanging upside down. “Hey, JARVIS?” she said, eyeing the redhead warily, “Would you mind letting me know whenever there are people in my vents?’
“Of course, Miss Ahlers… Miss Ahlers, Agent Romanov is in your vents.”
“Gee, thanks, bud.” She sighed. “Alright, fine. I already have your gifts wrapped anyway.” She hauled a tub out from under her bed, as well as several rolls of wrapping paper. “Okay, I’m going to set out the things by person, and I’ll set the proper roll of wrapping paper with each gift. You guys can wrap. Deal?”
“Deal.” The two dropped onto the floor simultaneously, and Clint walked over to peer in the tub. “What’d you get Phil?”
She pulled out the lunchbox, and showed him sheepishly. “Do you think it’s a good idea? I wasn’t sure.”
“Oh, he’ll love this. Nat.”
Natasha looked up from her survery of the tub, a smile spreading across her face at the sight of the lunchbox. “That’s perfect. Nicely spotted.”
Sage grinned and set it down on the floor with a dark grey, nondescript wrapping paper.
“Did you… did you match that to his suit?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She sniffed haughtily and pulled a Chronicles of Narnia box set from the tub, laying it on the floor accompanied by a roll of scarlet wrapping paper, patterned with raised starbursts.
“Wanda?” Natasha guessed, glancing at the set interestedly. "It’s nice.”
Sage flushed lightly. “Yeah. D’you think she’ll like them? Like, I feel like they’re pretty much her speed, but I guess I’ve never really talked to her about Chronicles, and-”
“”Oh, yeah. She’ll love them.” Clint shot her a reassuring smile. “She’s into Tolkien, and in my experience, Tolkien and Lewis go pretty much hand-in-hand.”
“This is true. Hey, JA-” Sage grinned softly as music filled the room, the AI having anticipated the request. “Thanks, buddy. Uh, maybe some Beatles?”
“Of course, Miss Ahlers.”
She smiled broadly and pulled Steve’s gift from the box, turning back to the spies, eyes bright. “Commence Operation ‘Wrap Sage’s Presents’.”
Clint laughed, his head thrown back and Natasha chuckled, reaching for Phil’s gift.
---
Sage woke up blearily, noticing an arm thrown over her waist, and a head cushioned on her calf. Right, she’d crashed with Clint and Natasha in her room after they’d finished wrapping presents. They’d started watching Friends and Clint had tried to claim that she was a Monica. Sage had almost smacked him. She was clearly a Chandler. It was okay, though, because Nat agreed that he was a Ross. (He wasn’t really, they both knew that, but sometimes you gotta take a guy down a peg.) Tomorrow was Christmas, she realised suddenly. Man. By now, she’d been living in the tower for around four months and it had felt like a life time, but… It didn't feel close to the end. Normally at this point, she’d be itching to pack a bag, and her foster parents would be ready to lose her. She felt like she belonged here. If this ended, she’d be devastated.
She felt Natasha’s arm shift to start stroking her hair, jarring her out of her thoughts, and Clint began stirring where he was laying on her leg. “I wanna watch Great British Bake Off.” Sage said, testing to see if either of them was really awake.
Clint groaned. “Why?”
“Because it’s fun. Russet Gandalf, Clint. Russet Gandalf!”
“That idiot threw his entire bake in the trash.” Natasha protested, her voice low and rough with sleep.
Sage pouted. “You guys are no fun. Hey, JARVIS, can you put on Good Eats?”
“Of course-”
Natasha groaned, and Clint’s laughter drowned out the rest of the AI’s sentence.