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Chp. Three
"So what is your plan?" Jane asks Thana once the girls go to their shared spare bedroom. Thana had taken her hair out of its ponytail and was brushing it with a black brush. Thana's mismatched eyes glittered as they landed on Darcy, a plan forming in her head. She wasn't paying attention to the girl dating Thor, one of her least favorite gods.
"Plan? Thana? What is it?" Jane said, waving her hand in front of her new friend's face, ignoring the soft glare and playful smile thrown her way. Thana sat up, tossing her brush to Darcy so she could use it.
"Well, it's a simple plan, only a few steps. Step one: getting him to sleep. Step two: getting him back to physically fit. Step three: getting him to eat regularly. Step four: therapy sessions, getting him to talk it out and tell me what is wrong. Step five: fix the issue. Sixth and last step: keep the issue from returning. Vwa la, behold my master plan!" Thana said dramatically, as she counted the steps off of her fingers. Darcy and Jane chuckled at the theatrics performed by their newest friend.
"Well, if it is so easy, what are your plans for tomorrow?" Darcy asked teasingly. All three girls were sitting on separate beds in a tank top and shorts only, being girls for once in their lives with the talking and hanging out like they've known each other forever. This time Jane was thrown the brush.
"I, ladies, am visiting the gym after a nice walk in the park and lunch. He needs to get out of the house and start off steps two and three."
"Ooh, can I join you at the gym later on? For maybe about an hour or so? Depends on what you are doing, though, of course," Darcy says, flexing her biceps when she talks about joining Thana and Loki.
"Yeah, ya can. We are, if my plan works, are going to do a light warm-up then practice some hand-to-hand combat," Thana says once she's done laughing at Darcy. Jane throws Thana back her brush. They finish getting ready before they go to sleep. Darcy's snoring prolonging the wait for Jane while Thana passes out immediately.
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Tony walks into the kitchen, looking for the coffee that he had told Jarvis to make before the time when he gets up, so when he does wake up it's already ready. He yawns as Jarvis turns on the lights for his creator. He pours himself a cup of coffee as he mumbles a 'thank you' to Jarvis through a yawn.
"You are very welcome, Mr. Stark. Would you like me to tell the others to get up soon?" Jarvis asks of Tony, who merely shook his head as he drank his coffee. He sat down in the living room for a few minutes, relaxing, enjoying his freshly made coffee. He turned his head towards the kitchen and froze any movements he was about to make when he heard sizzling.
"Jarvis, who is in the kitchen?"
"Miss Scurangelo is making breakfast at the moment, sir."
Tony was surprised. Why would she be the one making breakfast? How come Capsicle wasn't up yet? How did she get in there without him realizing it?
"Good morning, Tony. How did you sleep?" Speak of the devil and he shall arrive. Steve walked into the kitchen assumingly to grab his coffee. He said a quick greeting towards the mutant making breakfast when he gasped. Tony decided that he was going to finally get up to see what she was making.
He walked into the kitchen/dining room to see the table fill with all sorts of food, enough to feed around sixteen people, which was more than enough for their ten people. There were eggs, sausages, bacon, rolls, omelets, burritos, pancakes, grits, oatmeal, coffee, orange juice, milk, and more still. The places were set, complete with name tags, folded napkins and silverware. The entire place was done in less than thirty minutes. Or did she start in darkness and he was just blind? In other words, the two men thought it was just purely magical in their eyes… or stomachs.
Thana loaded tons of bacon onto a plate before she asked Jarvis to call everyone while she washed her hands. She turned to see her spectators.
"Oh! I didn't see you! Why don't you take a seat where your name is written upon the card?" Thana asked of the two. They sat down. Tony reached for food when his hand was smacked sharply.
"No! You must wait for your food or you will not get any at all!" she scolded as Tony clutched his hand in both surprise and pain. The others started to trickle in, filling up the seats until only one was left: Loki's. Thana smacked Clint's hand one more time before she put Natasha in charge of keeping the food safe, leaving to go get Loki.
Let's just say that nobody was brave enough to touch the food even before the Black Widow was put into charge except for Clint and Tony who had ignored the warnings. Thana left the table as the others chatted, some nursing their clutched hands.
She reached Loki's room and knocked politely, softly calling the god's name. She opened the door when she heard no response. She turned on the lights to see that Loki was still asleep, one of his arms spilling over the side of his bed.
"Loki, get up… Loki…Loki, get up…LOKI!" Thana said as she tried to wake the god. She was shaking him at the end. He suddenly woke up and fell out of his bed and landed on Thana's feet. He groaned as he opened his eyes, the bright light temporarily blinding him. He looked up and saw Thana, who was staring at him with a disappointed look on her face, her arms crossed as she stared down at Loki. He sighed and rolled over, pulling the blanket off of himself as he stood up wearing only a pair of sweatpants.
"Loki, breakfast is ready, let's go." Now he realized why she looked like a giant when he was laying on the floor; Thana was only a few inches shorter than the god, measuring at a whopping 5'11'' or so. He merely groaned again as he collapsed back onto his bed, too sad to want to get up, but too well-rested to go back to sleep, space off, or doze as he usually did.
He thought she had left by this point but was proved wrong when he heard her sigh, grab his elbow, and literally drag him out of bed and into the hall. He asked Jarvis to turn off the light so she didn't have to stop moving the god, who wasn't even going to try to fight the girl.
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The Avengers had clearly not reached the food yet as their plates were sparkling. They were chatting as they waited for Thana and Loki. They figured that she was just going to try to get him up before just leaving him there to wallow in his misery. But they were proved wrong, just as Loki was. She was heard to be asking Jarvis to turn the light off for her. Then they heard the dragging sound. They were all silent as they watched the tall, lean girl wearing nothing but workout shorts and a tank top jersey supporting the Chicago Cubs, drag a god into the dining room to eat by his elbow.
She pulled him into his seat, which was next to hers. She sat down and smiled evilly at everyone, looking creepily enough like Loki, who was just sitting there idly as he watched her through surprised eyes.
"Alright, ladies, you may make your plates. Men, you can wait," Thana ordered as she grabbed Loki's plate from in front of him. Jane and Thana loaded the plates they had with bacon, pancakes, and sausage, Thana doing the same with another plate which was her own. Darcy was drooling at Loki, which nobody has noticed except for Thana, Jane, and Loki himself. Thana had, after all, not allowed him to put on a t-shirt he was given before she dragged him out here. Darcy was elbowed by Jane. They quickly filled up their plates.
"Alright, dig in," Natasha said as she finished with her plate. The talking had started up again once the other five had finished fighting one another tooth and nail for food. Thana was talking with the other girls when she noticed that both Loki's plate and cup of orange juice were untouched.
"One moment, girls, I have to fix him if he is going out later," Thana said as a dismissal. She turned towards Loki, picking up a piece of bacon as she did.
"Loki, you have to eat."
"No, I'm not hungry."
"Loki," Thana said warningly.
"N-"he was cut off by Thana legitimately shoving the piece of bacon down his throat, making him eat the deliciousness. The guys took no notice of what was going on while the girls watched the exchange. Natasha laughed as she watched Loki being forced to eat his food. Every single time he opened his mouth another piece of food was put in his mouth by the mutant sitting next to him. The guys had started to notice what was going on. They watched Thana work her magic.
Loki's entire plate was almost finished by the time Loki just took the fork from Thana's hand, Thana's fork, and started to eat his food himself. He started to work on his pancakes when he noticed that it was pretty quiet besides the chattering from the girls.
He looked up, mid-bite, to see the five male Avengers staring at him with amusement and pride in their eyes. He snarled at them but got back to eating when Thana slapped him over the head, saying something about continuing to eat his food until it was gone.
Thana looked at him in pride. She had a feeling that they were going to get through more than just steps two and three today.
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Okay, Loki had to give this one: Thana was an amazing chef. He felt better than what he did, but he was still pretty sad with his thoughts. He was full and was about to get up to go sit by his window and think when a shirt was thrown in his face, along with pants, gym shoes, socks, and a toothbrush.
"Come on, Loki. You need to get changed if you are going with me today." Loki grumbled under his breath as he stood from the table. Thana whipped her towards him and narrowed her eyes.
"What was that?" Loki looked taken aback; he didn't know her hearing was that good.
"Nothing!" he said a little too quickly before he rushed off to his bedroom to do the stuff he was told to do before he got hit again. He decided to brush his teeth first, throwing the outfit onto the bed as he grabbed the toothbrush and toothpaste he had already found in the bathroom. When had that gotten there? Shaking his head he looked in the mirror as he brushed.
He looked awful. There were dark circles under his eyes and you could see a hint of his ribs. His eyes were dull and his hair was long; he needed a haircut. His skin was paler than before and his face thinner. Maybe he needed what Thana was trying to give: help. Loki decided that he should try to ignore what was bothering him for years, since his childhood, and try for Thana's sake along with his own. He had known her for years before this. He just hadn't seen her or heard from her in the last decade.
He threw on the clothes: black and blue polyester Cubs t-shirt and silver shorts that boxers would wear. He decided to do something with his hair first; it was too long to belong in the Midgardian world properly with its style, so he would probably have to cut it.
"THANA!" he yelled as he exited his room. He wanted her to cut his hair if possible, as he trusted her the most right now. She appeared out of nowhere, making his jump in fright.
"Thana, can I ask you a question?"
"You just did but you may ask another."
"Do you know how to cut hair?" he said with a smile. Thana nodded before pulling him back into the bathroom off of his room. She reached into the linen closet which had the cutters in it and pulled out not only those but a stool and a cape. Loki, forgetting his sadness completely rushed to her side, inspecting the linen closet before the items.
"Wha-"
"Sit down so I can cut your hair." She started to buzz it off, leaving his hair and inch or two long when Natasha called her name.
"In here!" Thana called out of Loki's bathroom. She continued to buzz Loki's hair when Lint nad Natasha walked into the bathroom. They looked at them in surprise. Thor had mentioned a few times that Loki had always had his hair long and refused to have it shortened, Thor only did it as a family tradition and his father, well, that's unknown.
"Umm…" was Clint's glorious response.
"Why are you here?"
"Well, Clint thinks that you have a contact in and that is why your eyes are mismatched," Natasha answered, glaring at Clint.
"I do have contacts-"
"HA!"
"BUT…. They are to make my eyes blue when I go out into public so nobody stares when it is too dark to wear sunglasses," Thana finished, never taking her eyes off of Loki's hair. Loki suddenly grabbed her hand, sending a bright greenish-blue pulse of energy through her.
"Look in the mirror," Loki said softly, embarrassed that the two assassins would witness his show of kindness. His cheeks were a nice shade of pink at that thought. Thana gasped as she looked up. Her eyes were different, more normal than they were before. Even with the contacts, her eyes were two different shades: dark blue and greenish blue. Now they were both a bright bluish- green; her eyes were the exact same shade as Loki's. She thought of how they would change back. Her eyes glowed bright as they faded back into the mismatched gold and pitch black.
"Thanks, Loki. That was really sweet. Can you do that the next time it is too dark?" At Loki's nod she smiled, then quickly finished her work at the nape of his neck. Tendrils of darkness snaked out from under the bottom of the linen closet door, making Clint and Natasha, who were previously snickering at the thought that Loki had a crush on the mutant, take a step back. They shadows cleaned up everything and even helped Loki stand.
"That is a cool trick, is that part of your powers?"
"Yeah, it is Loki. Alright, let's go since your hair is done. Wanna go show Thor?" Thana asked, getting excited over what she imagined would be Thor's reaction. She raced out of the room, pulling Loki behind her. Clint was last as Natasha just mindlessly followed them out into the dining room, where the others were still chatting.
"GUYS! Look!" Thana said enthusiastically as she pushed the god in front of her. Darcy did what she always did: she drooled. The others looked agape at the two.
"Bye! I'm taking this one!" Thana shouted behind her as she dragged Loki out of the door and into the elevator.
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"Why are we here?" Loki asked as he looked at the entrance to the gym. Thana scoffed as if the answer was obvious.
"I heard that you were not the greatest at fighting hand-to-hand o I am going to continue being awesome and am going to teach you so you can crush that pathetic thunder god into smithereens." Thana said the last part in a dark voice and then smiled back sweetly up at Loki. He grinned t her behavior, reminding him drastically of someone.
"Alright, I can live with that."
Thana led the god into the gym, quickly handing the girl checking in the members two cards she obviously didn't have before. The girl smiled a little too brightly to be working at a big place full of sweaty people who continuously got worse over the time that they were here. They checked in without any problems and went straight to the rings.
"Get in after you put the tape on your knuckles. Then take off your shoes and shirt, alright?" Thana said, doing what she told him to do as she said it. She took off her shoes and socks, leaving her barefoot. Loki did the same. She took off her shirt, leaving her in a gold and black sports bra. Loki did the same, leaving him bare-chested. She wrapped her knuckles in the pristine white tape. He did the same. They got in the ring.
"Let's see what you can do," Thana said, getting into a stance.
"Ladies first," Loki taunted, once again miming her. Thana smiled before launching herself forward suddenly.
