The Deep Breath
“So, how do we feel?”
Sage considered Aerin witha skeptical eyebrow. “We?”
“Shut up.” They shouldered her playfully. “You know what I meant. How are you doing? You’re adopted now. You’ve got a whole ass girlfriend who loves you. What’s going on in that noggin?”
“Well for one thing, I want you to never say ‘noggin’ ever again. I… I dunno. It feels kind of surreal, honestly. Almost like I’ll wake up, and all of this will have been a dream. Or that it’s all just… the simulation.”
“The sim- Sage. Don’t be that person. I will disown you.”
She grinned, leaning her head on Aerin’s shoulder as she watched Addy talk to Natasha. “I’m… happy. It’s a good feeling. We’re doing well.”
---
They held a huge impromptu movie night after Judge Lingren left, Loki making a couple beanbag chairs and a loveseat to accommodate for the extra people.
“Wait, why can’t we watch The Incredibles?”
Wanda rolled her eyes. “We want to watch a good movie, Sam.”
“Hey! The Incredibles is a good movie! Don’t make me fight you, Wanda. I was in a good mood today.” Sage glared at Wanda, mouth dropping open in shock when the other girl threw popcorn at her. “You little-”
“Well, if we can’t watch The Incredibles, what about Megamind?” Addy asked, throwing her legs over Sage’s lap to keep her from Wanda.
“Are all of the movies that you kids like superhero related? What about-”
“Shrek!” Aerin cried, cutting Bruce off and causing everyone to groan and throw pillows at them.
“What about The Lord of the Rings? We have time for that, right? No one has important plans tomorrow?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Cap. We can’t watch The Lord of the Rings without watching The Hobbit first. Them’s the rules now.” Natasha winked at Sage. “Any objections? No? Great. JARVIS, queue up the movies, please.”
“Hey, I’m gonna call my mom really quick, just to make sure that it’s alright I stay.”
“Okay, good luck.” Sage pressed a kiss to her temple and curled into the far sid eof the loveseat so that she could stand up.
She stood and drifted toward the kitchen so that she wouldn’t interrupt the movie. “Hey, Mom?”
”Adeline? Are you on your way home?”
“Actually… that’s what I called about.”
”What?! What’s going on? Are you alright?”
“No, yeah, Mom. I’m with Sage, remember? We were just starting a Tolkien marathon, and I wanted to know if I can stay.”
”I don’t know, honey. I don’t really know her parents, and I want to make sure you’re making good decisions, and-”
“Would you feel better if you could talk to one of her dads?” Both Tony and Loki looked over to her, and she winced apologetically.
Loki laid a gentle hand on Tony’s shoulder, standing to approach adeline.
Sage gave her a worried look and she returned a strained smile.
”Well maybe, but the thing is-”
Addy handed the phone to Loki, and he took it easily.
“Hello? Ah, Mrs. Collins, lovely to speak with you. Yes. yes, of course. Well if it makes you feel any btter, Adeline can sleep in our guest toom tonight. Oh, of course I understand. At least Sage isn’t a boy, eh?”
Addy made a disgusted face, and Sage glared at her father from across the room.
He rolled his eyes at both of them and put a finger to his lips. “Yes, of coursem m’am. Well thank you very much for trusting us to watch your daughter tonight. Yes. Yes, of course. Have a wonderful night yourself.” He hung up and winked at Adeline. “You’re good to go. And I do believe that I told her you would sleep in the guest room, so I suppose you’ve got all sorts of options. Between pulling an all-nighter or having Sage sleep in the guess room with you… It’s your choice now, isn’t it?”
Adeline grinned and followed him back to the common area, going so far as to sit down beside Sage before realising that they hadn’t actually started the movie yet. “Oh… you didn’t have to-”
“Yeah, we did. Not about to start the movie if you can’t stay, are we? Now does anyone else have a pressing matter to attend to, or can we start this marathon properly? No? Good. Now everyone shut the hell up.”
Sage rolled her eyes at Clint and curled into Addy’s side, resting her cheek on the other girl’s shoulder.
---
“Oh my god, I have a story to tell you!” Sage exclaimed in the middle of Arwen and Aragorn’s Rivendell scene. They’d been watching the movies nonstop, and those still awake were only remaining so through hopes and dreams. Needless to say, Sage was a little loopy.
“Right now? This is a good part.”
“I know! The first time that I ever saw this scene, I was kind of young, so my foster mom at the time was reading the captions to me, even though I didn’t need it. And right around ‘do you remember the first time we met’, her translation got a little wonky. She may or may not have been a little drunk. Anyway, her following translations were, and I quote; ‘yeah, I tripped over a rock.’ ‘Do you remember what I said to you?’ ‘Get up stupid!’ And so I can’t ever watch this scene the same ever again.”
Addy laughed. “Alright, that’s fair. It’s a good story.” She grinned and dropped a kiss on the top of Sage’s head.
“Hey!” Tony cried, getting their attention and making the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. “No canoodling on my couch. Canoodling is for adults only.” He amended, after noting Sage’s glance and him and Loki.
“Sam, quick!” Addy hissed, “Canoodle with Aerin!”
“No!” Tony yelped, causing the four to laugh and Loki to jolt awake. “Shit, sorry.” He settled back down with a glare at Sage that didn’t have any heat.
She giggled and blew him a kiss.
---
Life sort of settled in for everyone over the course of the next few months. Sage transitioned back into the school routine much easier with a supportive girlfriend at her side. Tony started pulling a few all-nighters again from time to time, but not anywhere as frequently as he had previously. One or two day shop binges to keep his workload light and SI products from stagnation were preferrable to any nine-to-five he could ever have in Tony’s opinion. If you asked Sage and Pietro, something was going on between Wanda and the cute girl who ran the bookstore across the street from the sandwich shop, but she refused to give them an inch. Even their semi-regular run-ins with Doom and all the other self-styled supervillains had been fairly tame recently. Everything seemed to be taking a long, deep breath.