I know what you're thinking! It's been a freakin' month since the last update! I'm sincerely sorry for the gap between chapter 2 and 3, I admittedly had a difficult time writing this one - not for any particular reason, just a mix of having a lot on my mind, being busy with work, and being busy with personal stuff during my time off work. I also caught covid, so that had me out for about a week or so.
I hope that this long, long chapter makes up for it!
I would like to say that there's some mild homophobia in this chapter, no slurs or anything like that, just some derisive language. There is also a jump in time between this chapter and the last, and I'm planning for that to basically be the case for each chapter - like every new chapter, about 6 months to a year will pass unless it directly tacks onto the last chapter, in which case I'll probably state that in the beginning notes so there's no confusion :)
Enjoy!
Edelweiss Say I'll Be With You Till The Day You Leave
Chapter Three: Three Strikes and You're Out
There was no reply when Loki knocked on the door of his eldest daughter's bedroom that morning, which was unusual and worrying given Aster was always the first one up and out of bed on school mornings. Kari was already downstairs, dressed and eating breakfast whereas Aster was nowhere to be seen.
"Aster?" Loki called as he knocked again, to no avail. Without waiting any longer, he entered the room, the little tendrils from past traumatic memories pushing into his head the notion that something may have happened to his daughter. She wasn't in bed, but the blankets and pillows were all askew.
After a moment, Aster's apprehensive voice called out from the en suite bathroom, "Mum?"
"No, it's me," Loki responded, his prior fears alleviated. He had to remind himself that Avengers Tower was near impossible to break into, meaning his children were safe. The security system was immensely advanced and any chances of his kids randomly going missing were slim.
There was a lull of silence, and then Aster spoke up again from behind the locked door.
"Can you go get mum?"
Loki's nerves fizzled with concern at the barely concealed unease in his daughter's tone, "Is everything alright?"
Again, there was a pause, "I want to talk to mum."
Loki frowned, trying not to feel upset that his daughter was refusing to confide in him when there was clearly a problem, but he relented at the anxiousness in her voice and agreed, leaving the room to quickly find his wife.
Amelia was in the kitchen making packed lunches for her twins when Loki entered the room with a little more haste than usual.
"Aster needs your help with something," Loki explained concisely, "she's locked herself in her bathroom and won't tell me what's wrong, just that she wants to talk to you."
Amelia's eyebrows furrowed and she let out a slightly exasperated sigh, "She didn't give any indication as to what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Right… well, can you finish packing the kids' lunches then? I'll go and see what's wrong," Amelia stated, motioning to two lunchboxes on the counter that had been filled only with sandwiches so far.
"Uhhh," Loki hummed with uncertainty, eyes flicking between the lunchboxes.
"Really? You fight deadly bad guys for a living but you can't pack two lunchboxes?" Amelia grumbled as she washed her hands and gave her husband a serious eye-roll as she passed him.
"No, it's fine. I've got it," Loki hurried to say, not willing to let Amelia believe even for a moment that he was inept at something; at the last moment before Amelia left his line of sight, he saw a little smirk tug at the edge of her mouth.
Loki looked over the lunchboxes and then opened the fridge, eyeing the various selection of snacks and drinks - there were so many to choose from, he had no clue what Amelia usually put in Aster and Kari's lunches.
"Hey," Loki called over to his son, who was sitting at the table with his youngest sister, both eating cereal - though the latter was a lot more messy with the activity, "What does mum usually put in your lunchboxes?"
Kari looked up, eyes shining as a very obvious, mischievous smile formed on his face, "Uhh, chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Oh and cake. Maybe some brownies too. Like, any candy really."
Loki gave his son a deadpan look, "Uh huh."
"I wan' dotdot," Daisy remarked, pushing away her bowl of cheerios - or rather, her bowl which was surrounded by cheerios because she had put them everywhere but in her mouth.
"You can't have any chocolate just yet, Daisy. It's too early to consume vast amounts of sugar," Loki told his young daughter, pausing a moment before adding a little more quietly, "you can have some later though."
Loki couldn't flat-out say no to the girl. Her adorable little smile held too much power over him.
"Yay!" Daisy squeaked.
Kari turned to look blankly at his youngest sister, "How does it feel to be the favourite child?"
The young girl smiled innocently at her brother, not truly comprehending the question, and threw both her arms up, exclaiming, "Good!"
Loki shook his head, stifling the smirk that threatened to make itself known on his face, before turning back to the fridge to pick out some snacks that he figured Amelia would approve of.
Roughly five minutes later, Amelia came back into the room and quickly clapped her hands twice as if encouraging a sense of urgency, "Ready to go, Kari?"
Kari frowned, peering around his mother, "Where's Aster?"
"Aster isn't feeling well so she's staying off school today," Amelia explained, "get your shoes on and grab your bag, we're going to leave in a minute."
Kari pouted but did as he was told while Amelia lifted Daisy out of her high-chair and placed her down so the toddler could scramble off to grab one of her toys to take with her in the car journey to the school.
Loki waited with his arms folded across his chest, confused as to why Aster hadn't just told him that she wasn't feeling well; instead she'd been vague and left Loki worrying that there was something much more concerning going on - not that Aster being unwell wasn't concerning at all.
"Is she alright?" Loki questioned as Amelia approached and grabbed Aster's lunchbox, placing it in the fridge for her to have later.
Amelia peered over her shoulder and then lowered her voice, "Aster's started her period. Her cramps are bad so I've told her to get some rest, I'm gonna inform the school that she won't be in today because she's unwell."
Loki relaxed, glad that it wasn't anything to worry about, but also felt vaguely deflated, "And she couldn't tell me that?"
"Come on, love. Don't take it personally. She was probably just embarrassed."
"But I'm her dad."
"Exactly," Amelia shrugged, "most teenage girls don't feel comfortable with talking to their dads about that kind of stuff. Lord knows I didn't."
Loki made a face, "Yes, but your dad was an arsehole."
"That he was," Amelia agreed, "anyway, I need you to go to the store for me to pick up some pads for Aster while I take Kari to school."
Loki paused, a flicker of uncertainty passing over his face, "Me? Can't you do it?"
Amelia gave her husband a trying look, "She needs them as soon as possible, and I need to go in and talk to the receptionist to confirm Aster's absence, so I'm gonna be a little bit longer than usual. Unless you'd rather enter a school of rowdy children first thing this morning and fight your way to the reception that you have no idea where to find?"
Loki didn't take too long to make up his mind, "I'll go to the store."
When Amelia reached the school, she stepped out of the car with Daisy on her hip and followed her sulky son into the building. He was agitated that Aster was blessed with a day off, but ignored Amelia whenever she told him that his sister was feeling unwell and he should be glad his abdomen didn't feel like it was tearing itself apart.
"But now I have to deal with school by myself," he grumbled, "it's not fair."
"I'm sure you'll survive," Amelia responded, "which way is the reception from here?"
Kari shrugged his shoulders, muttering a half-hearted, "I dunno."
"You don't know?" Amelia blinked, mouth opening in shock, "It's your second year at this school and you still don't know how to get around?"
Just then, Louis rushed up behind Kari and jabbed him in the side, causing Kari to jump and let out an undignified yelp, which then prompted Louis to give a loud snort that was just as undignified.
"I saw your purple sweater and I ran to catch up," Louis chuckled, before noticing for the first time Amelia standing there with her gaze on him and giving a quick, shy wave, "oh, hi."
"Hi," Amelia smiled, "you must be Louis, right?"
"Yup," the boy smiled back, though he seemed slightly awkward, "are you Kari's mom?"
"The one and only," Amelia replied.
"Hiyaaaaaaa," Daisy waved happily, joyful in the presence of a new person. Louis returned the little girl's grin and waved his hand a little more enthusiastically.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Amelia inclined her head amicably, "now, it's my belief that out of you and my son, you're the much better navigator. Would you be able to point me in the direction of your school's reception desk, Louis?"
Kari gave a muted whine of embarrassment, rolling his eyes as his mother spoke to his friend, but Louis let out a chuckle, wordlessly agreeing that Kari had an awful sense of direction, and pointed down the hallway to the left of the entrance, "The reception desk is down there, second turning on the right, there's a sign for it."
Amelia gave Louis an appreciative look, "Thank you, Louis. I think my son is lucky to have you as a friend, how else would he find his way anywhere?" She joked.
"Mooooom," Kari groaned, pouting at her.
"Alright, alright. I'll be back to pick you up with the driver this afternoon, okay?" She paused, smirking slightly, "If you can recall how to find your way to the parking lot without Aster's help."
"Come on, mom!" Kari lifted his arms in protest.
"Okay, I'm going," Amelia laughed, "see you later, bug. Bye Louis." She waved again as she walked off towards the direction Louis had indicated and when she was out of earshot, Louis turned to Kari and gave him a smirk.
"Bug?"
"Don't," Kari stated concisely, "don't even mention the nickname. Just forget you heard it, okay?"
Louis snorted as the two fell into step in the direction of their first lesson that morning, "Your mom's really pretty."
"Uh, thanks?" Kari raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to respond to the compliment his best friend had given his mother.
"And your little sister is so cute."
"Yeah, she's sweet," Kari agreed.
Before the boys could make their way further down the main corridor, they were accosted by Trevor and his goons, Justin and Brad, which instantly put them into a foul mood, because seeing their infuriating faces always managed to rile Kari up.
"Who was that, curly? Was that your mommy? Did you need your mommy to walk you into school?" Trevor gave an exaggerated pout, putting a condescending lilt into his voice as he spoke, his nickname for Kari sounding particularly demeaning in the way it was said. The two boys on either side of Trevor laughed in a way that sounded automatic, like they existed only to make Trevor look good.
Kari scowled at Trevor, wanting so badly to just shove the boy out of his way, but the last thing he wanted was for the three obnoxious bullies to gang up on him in retaliation - he already got enough flak from teachers for not listening in class and not always finishing his homework, he didn't need to give them ammo to accuse him of being violent either.
"She just needed to speak to reception," Kari groused, wishing his mother hadn't walked into the building with him. It was embarrassing.
"Oh yeah, what about?" Trevor's eyes narrowed, ever prying and poking his nose into other people's matters.
Kari should've just mumbled 'none of your business' and pushed past them, but he was growing impatient and he could subtly sense Louis taking a nervous step back behind him; it angered Kari that Trevor had such an effect on his friend, especially since learning that Trevor's older brother Richard - affectionately referred to as 'Dick' by Louis and himself - was the one to push Louis into a locker on the first day of school the previous year.
"She had a few complaints… something about how unacceptable it is for them to allow an unruly pack of monkeys to attend the school as students," Kari looked pointedly at Trevor and his minions, finding delight in the few seconds of processing on their faces before they realised he was making fun of them.
Louis flinched when Trevor grabbed Kari by the collar and pulled him closer, glaring him in the eye in an attempt at intimidation, "Listen here you prick, I'm going to wipe the floor with you in dodgeball today and you're gonna be crying for your mommy when I'm done."
The intimidation didn't work, mainly because Kari knew he was better than Trevor in every single way in gym class, and just sarcastically responded, "Yeah, sure."
Seeing that his attempt to unnerve Kari had failed, Trevor immediately tried a different approach to riling him up. Kari knew the boy was about to say something stupid when an agitating smirk spread over Trevor's face.
"Hey, curly. Your mom's hot. How'd she give birth to such an ugly kid like you?"
Kari pursed his lips, face going red with anger. He vividly imagined himself punching Trevor's lights out and how cathartic it would be, but before he could let his control slip and actually follow through with it, Louis was pulling on the strap of his bag and ushering him away from the other kid. Louis was well in tune with Kari's emotions and he could see in his face that a fight could have been imminent had he not intervened.
Trevor and his two followers chortled with laughter as Kari tore his gaze away from them and stomped down the corridor with Louis in tow trying to calm him down. That damn bully wasn't going to be laughing after gym class that day.
Across the city, Loki stood in a store, staring at a very colourful aisle full of tampons and sanitary towels, wondering just what in the world he was supposed to be buying. Amelia hadn't been specific enough and Loki hadn't thought to ask for clarification, because he had no idea just how many different types of menstrual products there were.
He recognised the brand Amelia used, but he knew that Amelia always kept plenty of them stocked in the bathroom cabinet, meaning those must not have been the ones Aster needed. But there was little indication on any of the packaging what he would need to purchase; Amelia really should have been the one to buy these things because he was absolutely clueless with it. He was lucky enough to not have to deal with 'menstruation' every month.
Loki sighed, pulling out his phone and calling his wife, hoping she didn't have her phone on silent.
It rang three times before Amelia answered, sounding somewhat exasperated, "Hi, honey."
"Amelia, what am I supposed to be buying?"
Amelia paused on the other side of the phone, "Wh- pads, obviously. I thought I made that clear."
"Well you didn't make it clear," Loki grumbled. In the background, he heard Daisy singing a song from the movie 'Encanto' to herself, "what pads does Aster need? There's like thirty different types here!"
Amelia sighed, "Just grab the green ones from the same brand I use."
Loki's eyes scrutinised the shelf and then he groaned, "Darling, there's five different shades of green ones. Which green ones?"
"The light green ones. They should have an indicator on them for a medium flow."
Squinting at the packaging, Loki picked up the one Amelia had described, "Okay, I think I have the right ones. How many does she need? Five packs?"
Amelia stifled a laugh, repeating 'five packs' to herself in an amused murmur before stating, "Listening to a man navigate the period products aisle for the first time is hilarious."
"Ten packs?" Loki tried again tentatively.
This time Amelia failed to stifle her mirth, "You're funny. One pack is fine for the moment, honey. Thank you for heading to the store. Daisy and I are going back to the car now."
Loki grumpily placed the pads into his basket, somewhat embarrassed by Amelia's teasing. How was he supposed to know what was needed?
"Alright, see you soon," said Loki.
"Oh wait!" Amelia's voice came over the phone before he could hang up, "I finally met Louis."
Loki was quiet for a moment, "Louis?"
"Yes. Louis. Kari's best friend? The kid he never stops talking about at home?"
"Oh, right. That Louis," Loki admittedly wasn't very good at remembering all the names of the children his kids talked about from school.
"He's very polite, I think Kari made a good friend. You should drop the kids off some time and see if you can meet him."
Loki hummed, "I don't think that's a good idea. Children are more likely to recognise me," as he said that, he peered over his shoulder, noticing a mother and her young toddler down the other end of the aisle, the young child of which was staring right at him. It was probably a coincidence, because that child seemed a bit too young to recognise him, but the unwavering stare of the boy still managed to unnerve him a little, so he walked off and down the next aisle.
"Oh, right," Amelia sounded a little disheartened, "I guess you're right. That's a shame…"
She seemed like she was going to say something else, but then quickly brushed her thoughts away, "Well, either way he's a really nice boy and he seems like a good influence on Kari."
"I'm glad," Loki perused the aisle he had walked down, coming face to face with shelves full of all sorts of confectionery, and an idea occurred, "I'm hanging up now. See you soon."
After Amelia responded in kind, he put his phone away and started picking up goodies left and right before eventually bringing them all to the till. The woman who scanned his items appeared to be in her late thirties and wasn't subtle about dragging her eyes over him like he was a piece of juicy meat.
"For your girlfriend?" She asked nosily as she scanned the pads, and Loki's eyes narrowed slightly.
"No. Teenage daughter," he answered succinctly.
The woman laughed and eyed him up a little more, "Please, you don't look old enough to have a teenage daughter!"
Loki found the woman's awful attempt at flirting to be beyond agitating; either that, or she genuinely believed he was lying about having a teenage daughter. Why was it that whenever he actually told the truth, he was never believed?
He was reminded of an old fable he had heard Amelia telling Daisy as a bedtime story, the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Tell too many lies and no one would ever believe you again. Loki hoped it wasn't bad karma coming back to bite him in the arse for all the times he lied before.
"So you think I'm lying?" Loki groused with little effort, not bothering to mask his irritation.
The woman seemed surprised by his response and quickly dropped the flirtatious act, clearing her throat and shaking her head as she finished scanning his items, "That'll be thirty-four dollars and eighty-three cents, sir."
Loki paid for his purchases, plucked up his bag and gave the woman a condescending smile before leaving the store to head back to Avengers Tower where his daughter was waiting for her much-needed supplies.
When he later found himself knocking on Aster's bedroom door, he held a gift box in his hands and waited to be called in, respectfully not entering until he heard Aster invite him in; when he stepped into the room, he saw his daughter lying in bed, watching television, looking uncomfortable and tired, and her face fell the moment she realised it was her father and not her mother.
"Oh, I thought mum was going to-"
"Hey," Loki gently interjected, "you know you don't have to be embarrassed around me, okay? I've known your mother for almost sixteen years, you think I don't know how to deal with someone on their period?"
Aster sighed, fidgeting with the thread of the bedsheet and gave a weak shrug of her shoulders.
"How are you feeling?" Loki asked softly, sitting down on the edge of his daughter's bed.
Aster frowned, her hand resting on her abdomen, "My tummy hurts."
Loki nodded, "I have some things that might help," he told her, opening up the box to reveal its contents, "first off, your mother asked me to get you some pads, which I needed help with because I had no clue which ones to get, so hopefully these are the correct ones. Secondly, I got you a hot water bottle-" he lifted said item out of the box, revealing that it was a small hot water bottle with a cover in the shape of a fox, which was incidentally Aster's favourite animal, "I know you like foxes. Your mother has told me before that applying a hot water bottle to your stomach will help the cramps ease up, but make sure you don't place it directly against your skin, I don't want you to burn yourself."
Aster smiled with watery eyes, looking up at her father with gratitude, "Thank you, dad," she murmured softly, her gaze lingering on the hot water bottle.
"Oh, and I also got you these," Loki added, tilting the box to show her a lot of chocolate bars and other types of candy, "kit-kat, reese's cups, m&m's, snickers, junior mints… this always makes your mother feel better when she's having a bad time of the month. Just don't tell your brother, okay?" He gave his daughter a smile and she sat up and hugged him tightly.
"Hey," Loki said softly, hugging her and rubbing her back soothingly.
"Thank you," Aster repeated, "I kind of want to rub it in Kari's face that I get chocolate but I'll resist temptation."
Loki chuckled, "Yeah, I'd probably rub it in Thor's face if it was me. But I appreciate that you will refrain. It's our little secret." He pulled back, giving Aster's hair a light ruffle before kissing her forehead, "I'll go fill your hot water bottle. Hang tight, eat some chocolate."
"I will, dad," Aster nodded contentedly.
Kari had been receiving dirty looks from Trevor for the duration of the day thus far, and had been dishing out just as many. Normally, Aster would be present to nudge Kari and tell him to ignore the class bully, but Aster wasn't there and Kari was growing irritated that Trevor wouldn't stop glaring at him.
Louis and Autumn tried multiple times to convince him to concentrate on his work rather than the other boy, but Kari wasn't one to pay attention to his work on a good day, let alone a day where Trevor was being annoying purely by the direction his eyes were looking.
Not only that, but Trevor kept dragging his finger across his neck in an overdramatic bid to remind him that he was going to beat Kari's ass at dodgeball.
When the Geography teacher popped his head out of the classroom for about thirty seconds to ask the teacher in the adjacent classroom a question, Kari looked over his shoulder to return Trevor's invasive glare, to which the agitating boy smirked and quipped aloud, "Stop staring like you're obsessed with my face, are you gay or something? Gay boy."
The scattering of laughter from the other children in the class made the hairs on the back of Kari's neck stand up. Half the people in the classroom hated Trevor's guts, but they still tended to join in with laughter whenever he teased someone - a side effect of them not wanting to be Trevor's next victim.
"I'm not gay," Kari protested with a snap, but Trevor and his goons only snorted louder, making the tips of Kari's ears go red.
"You say you're not gay but you dress like that? Okay then," Trevor sneered, unconvinced.
Kari's gaze fell to his lilac sweater in confusion, "What's wrong with my clothes?" He couldn't quite fathom what it was about his clothing choice that made him 'gay'.
"It's purple," Trevor stated, as if it was obvious.
"So?"
"It's a girl's colour, dumbass."
Kari's face scrunched up, "Actually, it's a royal colour, asshat."
"Well I'm gonna royally knock you on your ass in gym, gay boy," Trevor clapped back, sitting back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest and a wretched half-smirk pulling at his lips.
Before Kari could respond impulsively and lose his cool, Louis grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back to face the front of class where the Geography teacher, Mr Harris was just stepping back into the room, none the wiser to the conflict that had been stirring in his classroom in his absence.
The anger, though still present, began seeping out of him as Kari peered at his best friend and gave him a thankful look. Louis just looked upset in general, probably also pissed off with Trevor's bullying.
After Geography class, it was time for the much anticipated dodgeball duel of the century in gym class. Kari and Trevor eyed each other maliciously when they entered onto the court after changing into their gym clothes with the rest of the class; when the coach called for volunteers for team captains, only Kari and Trevor's hands shot up, because the rest of the class already knew by word of mouth what was going to go down.
Trevor picked two of his goons, plus another three pupils of his choice, while Kari picked Autumn and Louis for his team, plus three more for the purposes of adding up to six players per team. His team didn't much matter beyond Autumn and Louis - if Aster had been at school then he would've picked her too, but it wasn't a problem considering Trevor was going to go down either way.
The dodgeballs were placed in the centre of the court and each team took their places, moving only when the coach blew his whistle, signalling the start of the game. Kari and Louis managed to secure a ball each while Trevor's team overwhelmed the centre line before they all rushed back behind the attack line.
After that, it was a rush of balls flying across the court with impressive speed. As it happened, two of Kari's team were not all that good at playing dodgeball, and were knocked out of the game almost immediately, leaving four against six.
Kari quickly rectified that, aiming for the bulkier and slower moving kids on Trevor's team with each ball he grabbed, levelling the playing field while making an effort to try and protect the remaining members of his own team.
Trevor's team was knocked down to three by a well-aimed ball on Louis's part, to which Kari subtly raised a hand in victory, but it was short-lived as Trevor stole revenge and pummelled Louis with a ball right to his chest.
Kari's team lost the edge when Autumn and the other classmate were knocked out within the next minute, leaving Kari alone against the three opposing players. Trevor and his friends all found this hysterically funny, jeering and quipping that Kari was left alone on the court because his team sucked.
Rolling his eyes while simultaneously evading the balls being thrown his way, Kari caught a ball thrown by Justin, which automatically eliminated the player, and then immediately launched it back at Brad, hitting the boy's hip and leaving the game at one versus one.
Louis and Autumn cheered from the sidelines, impressed and anxious to see their friend win the game while Trevor snapped at his eliminated teammates a few unkind words. Kari refused to lose momentum and continued to dodge the balls Trevor launched at him while throwing them back just as purposefully.
Rather annoyingly, Trevor was quite elusive and quick on his feet, and since Kari was throwing the balls at a controlled speed to avoid doing any real harm, the bully was managing to evade all of Kari's projectiles.
Thankfully, Trevor's throws were slow and easy to sidestep, and Kari made a point of doing so effortlessly, in an attempt to rile the other boy up.
After a few minutes of back and forth with no success, Kari figured he had two options. He could just throw the damn ball with excessive force and possibly knock Trevor off his feet like he deserved, but risk getting in trouble for it from the coach, or he could think of a way to throw Trevor off and catch him off-guard.
Kari didn't really want the coach to yell at him, so he resisted the temptation to launch a ball at Trevor's face with damaging force and instead faked the boy out, making an action like he was going to throw the ball but actually keeping a solid hold on it. Trevor took the bait, jumping away from where he thought the ball was going to hit, and Kari seized the easy opportunity and launched the ball before Trevor even knew what hit him.
Trevor was eliminated, letting out an angry growl as the coach called the game, while Louis and Autumn jumped up in celebration, cheering Kari's name along with the rest of the class who appreciated the good show.
It felt good to put Trevor in his place when the boy so consistently made threatening remarks about beating people up. Clearly he was all bark and no bite.
"So, what game will I be beating you at next week, huh?" Kari asked as he approached the class bully.
"Watch your mouth, Avery," Trevor snapped, and then lowered his voice so that the coach couldn't hear him, "maybe go suck a dick since that's clearly something you like doing."
Kari's face scrunched up in disgust, "You're gross."
"And you're gay. Bet your daddy's proud of you," Trevor hissed sarcastically before storming off.
"I'm not gay." Kari protested with displeasure, throwing his arms up exasperatedly at Trevor's retreating form.
Louis came up beside Kari, giving his friend an anxious look, "He's just mad cause you embarrassed him big time. Don't let him upset you…"
Kari scoffed, "Yeah, I know, he's just… What did I ever do to him, huh? Now he's calling me names and saying I'm gay - why, because I wear a purple sweater? What's his problem?"
Louis's gaze shifted between Kari's eyes before he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. He's just a jerk."
"Damn right he is," Kari grumbled.
For whatever reason, Louis acted weird from that moment on. He was quiet and didn't initiate conversation even when Kari prompted it - the boy gave him one word responses and seemed to sigh every few minutes. After lunch, they both used the restroom and Kari took the opportunity to press his friend for an explanation.
The toilets were empty while Kari and Louis washed their hands in front of the mirror, so Kari spoke up, "Hey, are you okay? You've been quiet all day."
Louis looked up at him like a deer caught in headlines, before the tips of his ears went red and he shook his head a little too quickly, "Nothing, I'm fine."
"Come on, what's up?" Kari asked.
Louis swallowed nervously as he dried his hands, his gaze falling as if he couldn't meet his friend's eyes, but still he said nothing.
"Louis," said Kari, "you know you can tell me anything, right? Don't you trust me?"
"No!" Louis stated quickly, before backpedalling, "I mean- yes, I do trust you, that's not the problem!"
"So there is a problem?" Kari concluded, raising an eyebrow as a very subtle smirk pulled at his lips, because he'd successfully gotten his friend to admit that there was something the matter.
Louis appeared to mentally facepalm but sighed, moving his weight from foot to foot before finally mustering up some courage and giving in to Kari's question.
"Did it make you mad that Trevor was saying you were gay?" Louis asked tentatively.
Kari's brow furrowed, "Well yeah, he was being really annoying."
Louis chewed on his lower lip, "Do you think there's anything wrong with being gay?"
Kari frowned, turning to face his friend, "What? No. I think there's something wrong with Trevor."
Louis looked comforted by Kari's clarification and nodded his head, stifling a small smile, "Good," he was quiet for a few moments, "hey, Kari, can I tell you a secret?" He peered over his shoulder, double-checking that the two of them weren't going to be interrupted by a student suddenly pushing their way into the bathroom.
Kari tilted his head, "Sure. What's up?"
"You can't tell anyone, okay?" Louis's face looked serious as he said this, triggering a muted sort of urgency in Kari that something was wrong, but at the same time he felt oddly honoured that he was going to be entrusted with some deep, dark secret from his best friend.
"I promise I won't tell anyone," Kari assured.
Louis took a step closer and lowered his voice, "I… I think I'm gay."
Kari blinked, raising an eyebrow as an amused look passed over his face, "Wait, that's your secret?"
A look of hurt flashed over Louis's face, followed by a flicker of panic, "Well, yeah…"
Kari didn't understand why it was such a big deal that Louis was gay, and moreover why Louis said it was something that had to be kept secret, "But why is that something to be tiptoed around?"
This time, Louis just looked confused, "Wh- because… because of people like Trevor. If he knew, he'd tease me constantly and call me names and stuff. Like he was doing to you earlier."
Kari nodded his head slowly, "Ohh… so you're keeping it a secret because of Trevor?"
A sigh of frustration escaped Louis, before he let out an exasperated little chuckle, "No, not just Trevor. Loads of people. There's loads of people that think there's something wrong with being gay… I'm surprised you don't know about that. But also… I'm glad you don't see anything wrong with it. Just… just don't tell anyone, okay?"
Kari frowned, struggling to understand why it was a problem for a boy to love another boy in the eyes of some people, but he reassured his friend that he would not pass around this secret, "I won't tell anyone, I swear… you can trust me."
Louis smiled, the hints of prior fear on his face melting away, he looked thankful. Kari realised then that even though he hadn't found it a huge deal for Louis to admit he was gay, it was clearly a big step for Louis - he probably was scared that Kari was one of the people who thought there was a problem with it, and so for him to confide in Kari, it meant a lot.
It was a huge secret, a potentially detrimental secret in Louis's mind, something that could end up damaging him if the secret ended up in the wrong hands. And Louis put trust in Kari to hold that secret.
"I, um…" Kari began, wanting to express how glad he was that Louis trusted him so dearly, but not quite knowing what words to use, "I… have a secret too." He spoke without really thinking it through, and immediately cringed on the inside, knowing he couldn't take it back now, not after offering it up in the way he did.
"Oh, what's that?" Louis asked, eyes wide and curious.
"I… okay, this is like a really big secret, okay? You can't tell anyone, it could mean life or death," Kari stumbled over his words, a thin layer of perspiration breaking out over his skin as he realised he was about to break the biggest rule his parents had given him.
"Tell me! I won't tell anyone, I swear," Louis hurriedly assured, laying a hand on his best friend's arm by way of wordlessly expressing that he too could be trusted.
"Okay, well… you know Loki, of the Avengers?" Kari asked quietly, and gulped.
"Of course!"
"Well, I'm… I'm…" Kari bit his tongue, his hesitation palpable, "I'm his… son."
The room went quiet, too quiet for Kari, and he didn't dare look his friend in the eye as he vividly imagined all the ways his dad was going to discipline him for this if he ever found out; but eventually the silence became too much, and Kari lifted his gaze to Louis, who was giving him a very sardonic look.
Rolling his eyes, Louis lightly punched Kari's arm affectionately, "You're such an idiot," he snorted, "I told you a real secret."
"It- it is a real secret!" Kari insisted, shocked that Louis assumed he was lying, "I swear!"
"Sure, you're the son of a freakin' Norse God alien," Louis scoffed, "ha ha ha."
Kari pouted at the unexpected reaction, but he kept his mouth shut rather than continuing to insist it was true - maybe it was for the best Louis didn't believe him. It could've been bad if Louis had believed him and then told others. Kari would take this blessing of a second chance, because the prospect of his mother and father grounding him for a whole year was not something he liked the idea of.
A few months later, Amelia and Loki were at home with Daisy doing their usual activities that often involved baking cookies, building pillow forts for the toddler or watching Disney's Encanto for the three-hundredth time, when Amelia received an unexpected call from the school principal informing her that there had been an incident involving one of her children and that Principal Miller would appreciate it if both Amelia and her husband would come to the school and meet her in her office to discuss it.
Amelia's stomach had dropped immediately and she'd assumed that Kari had gotten in trouble somehow, but when she'd tried to persuade the principal that only her presence was required, not her husband's, Principal Miller had insisted that they both attend, and drilled in the fact that it was a highly serious matter.
Amelia glanced anxiously over her shoulder at Loki, who looked back at her in confusion as he was only picking up one half of the conversation, "Can I ask what this serious matter involves?"
"Yes, Mrs. Avery. The matter concerns your daughter. She was caught assaulting another student in her History class this afternoon."
"What?" Amelia yelled, "That's not- Aster would never-"
"We have reliable eye-witness accounts, Mrs. Avery. I would appreciate it if you could turn up ASAP as I would rather resolve this matter without having to call the police," the principal spoke clearly, an undertone of sternness to her words that made Amelia fizzle with anger.
"We'll be there," was all Amelia said before hanging up and letting out an exclamation of disbelief and agitation; she turned around only to come face to face with Loki, who had jumped up upon hearing Amelia's previous shriek of incredulity, and startled slightly at how close he was.
"What's going on? Is Aster okay?" Loki inquired hurriedly.
Across the room, Bruce lifted his head from his tablet with interest, curious to know what had sent Amelia into such a fraught state, his concerned gaze lingered as Amelia practically sputtered out what the principal had told her, "The school principal just told me that Aster assaulted a student!"
Loki was momentarily at a loss for words, stunned by the idea that his daughter could be violent towards another student. Aster was the well-behaved one, Loki didn't expect either of his children to hit another kid at school, but if he'd had to guess which one it would sooner be, he would've guessed Kari.
"Aster wouldn't do that," Loki stated, shaking his head.
"Yeah, that's what I said, but apparently they have reliable eye-witness accounts," Amelia threw her arms up in disbelief, "Why would she do that?"
"Aster wouldn't do something like that… not without cause," Bruce spoke up across the room, "if you're going to the school, I'd hear her out before making assumptions."
Loki hummed at Banner's words, "You're right," and he glanced back at his wife, "whatever reason Aster has for doing such a thing, I'd like to hear it from her mouth."
Amelia was quiet for a moment before her expression turned resolute, "Yeah… good call."
They took Daisy and headed to the car to be driven over to the school, but not before Loki added an extra layer of disguise to his face by means of illusory magic to subtly modify his bone structure, only very slightly, just in case.
Amelia was simmering with determination to hear her daughter out, because she knew Aster was not a bad student, there was no way she would hit somebody without reason, and she wasn't going to let the principal call the damn police on the girl.
Daisy sang to herself during the car ride, happy and oblivious to the simmering outrage Amelia and Loki were feeling, just as a two and a half year old should be, but reached her tiny hand out, making a grabbing gesture for her daddy's hand when he failed to compliment her on her singing.
"Dada, where we going?" The girl inquired, finally voicing her curiosity, "To the park?"
"Mmm, not today, sweetheart," Loki answered, wrenching his stern gaze away from the window to give his youngest daughter a far softer look; he took her offered hand between his fingers and smiled at her, "we're going to Kari and Aster's school because… I believe Aster might be in a spot of trouble."
"What happen?" Daisy asked, her sweet face creasing into something akin to worry.
"That's… what we're going to find out."
Stepping into the school sometime later, Amelia walked briskly down the thankfully empty halls towards where she believed the principal's office to be while Loki followed behind, carrying Daisy as he moved. Occasionally, Amelia turned back to her husband over her shoulder and spoke quietly with an edge of tension, "When we get in there, don't say anything. Just let me do the talking, alright?"
This was surprising for Loki, because out of the two of them, who was the one with the silvertongue, exactly? He let it go however, trusting that his wife would keep her composure, and if she did sound like she was going to mess up and say the wrong thing, Loki would interject and do whatever it took to save their daughter from punishment.
They found the reception desk and the receptionist buzzed them through into the corridor that led to Principal Miller's office, as they approached the clear windows that revealed the principal and several others within the room, Amelia started to absorb the situation they had on their hands.
Firstly, Principal Miller was sitting at her desk, her back ramrod straight, with her hands intertwined on the surface in front of her. Her pursed lips and wrinkled forehead betrayed that she was stressed out and agitated - whether it was simply from the events of today or if she always looked this way as a side effect to being in charge of a school that taught hundreds of children, Amelia wasn't sure.
Aster sat in one of the empty seats on one side of the room, her head hanging with her hands fidgeting in her lap; Amelia frowned at the sight, because her daughter looked guilty, which didn't help the narrative that Aster was being incorrectly accused. It was distressing to see her daughter looking so upset, but it only made Amelia more determined to hear the girl out.
On the other side of the room was a slew of individuals. Most notably, though, was a boy clutching a red-stained cloth to his nose as his hard glare drilled into Aster, while a man and woman sat on either side of him - presumably his parents - and they appeared to be coddling him.
A woman Amelia didn't know stood on the parent's side of the room, leaving Aster in a very intimidating situation with so many people clearly against her. Puffing up her chest and drawing her expression into a stern look, Amelia knocked a little forcefully on the office door, drawing the attention of everybody in the room.
The principal rose from her seat and crossed the room to open the door, ushering Amelia and Loki inside with a hint of relief on her face, "Mr. and Mrs. Avery, thank you for coming. As I mentioned on the phone, this is a serious matter and I appreciate that you arrived swiftly. Please, take a seat."
Aster didn't even look up as Amelia and Loki took a seat on either side of her, despite the direct eye-contact they were giving her.
"Uh oh," little Daisy remarked, pointing at the boy with the bloody nose.
"Shh," Loki whispered gently, putting a finger to his lips, which Daisy mimicked.
"Now, I've called you in because not too long ago, Mrs. Balfour-" she motioned to the teacher standing in the room "-alerted me to an incident in her classroom. She informed me that she had seen your daughter punch Trevor Blakely in the face, and as you can see, some significant damage has been done. This is unacceptable behaviour as I'm sure you're aware, Mr. and Mrs. Avery, and at this time I am inclined to suspend Aster from attending until I can be sure she has learned that actions have consequences."
Amelia bristled at the mention of suspension, and she felt Aster tense in the seat beside her, the girl's hands clenching in fear. Before she could speak her response, the father of the injured boy interjected with animosity.
"Suspension? I believe my wife and I called for the girl's expulsion! She has done lasting damage to my son's face, she should count herself lucky we didn't immediately call the police!" Mr. Blakely wasn't shy about openly glaring at Aster, and the girl tried her best not to flinch under his gaze.
If looks could kill, Mr. Blakely would be on his deathbed, because the glare Loki was returning to him was enough to physically knock someone off their feet if they weren't already sitting down.
"Is this what you're teaching your daughter? That violence is okay?" Mrs. Blakely spoke up, sounding utterly affronted. If she had pearls around her neck, she would definitely be clutching them.
Amelia took a deep breath, trying to lower her boiling blood to a simmer, and then calmly stated, "I would like to hear the whole story, exactly how it happened."
Mrs. Balfour straightened up from where she was leaning against the wall and immediately launched into an explanation, "I was teaching my class about the Founding Fathers of this country and the Declaration of Independence when your daughter-"
"Excuse me," Amelia interrupted forcefully, raising her voice above the rest of the room, something that Loki was visibly impressed by, "I would like to hear the order of events from my daughter, if you don't mind. Be as detailed as you can, love."
Aster lifted her head for the first time since Amelia and Loki had entered; she looked nervous, yet surprised that her mother was giving her the opportunity to voice things from her own perspective. When the principal nodded her head and motioned for Aster to speak, the girl gulped.
"I was… in my history class, paying attention to Mrs. Balfour's lesson, and out of nowhere, Trevor - who was sitting behind me - started trying to mess with my bra strap. I tried to ignore it at first because I figured he would stop if I didn't acknowledge it, but he kept on doing it, so I turned and whispered for him to stop. He and his friend Brad were laughing about it and Trevor said I shouldn't wear such an obvious bra. I went back to my work and he didn't stop," Aster's eyes flickered briefly to Trevor, her gaze filled with anger, "I asked him again to stop, and then Kari had to swat his hand away because he just kept doing it, but that didn't stop him either, so I put my hand up and tried to get Mrs. Balfour's attention, but she told me to put my hand down and said that she would take questions at the end. So eventually, it got so annoying and distracting that I turned around and whispered to Trevor that if he did it one more time, I would hit him. He said he'd like to see me try. Well… he did it again. So I hit him."
Loki was fuming, his cold gaze had been redirected to the delinquent child sitting across from them, but when Trevor noticed the accusatory gaze, he protested, "She's lying. I never touched her dumb bra strap," his voice was distinctly nasally due to the state of his nose.
Amelia's gaze was drawn to Aster's incredible modest outfit. She was wearing a green form-fitting turtleneck sweater, a black skirt and black tights - the strap of her bra, while completely concealed was only just apparent in the form of a raised line across her back and over her shoulders, meaning Trevor must have been pinching it quite hard to be able to pull it back through the material of the sweater.
"Our son would never do anything like that," Mrs. Blakely chimed in, "and even if he did, that is no excuse to hit him!"
Amelia grinded her teeth, finding the sound of the woman's voice to be grating and highly unpleasant. Aster and Kari had told her and their father about Trevor before - he was an irritating little shit of a boy who endlessly bullied almost everyone in their grade and thought he was invincible, often threatening to get his older brother to beat up anyone who opposed him.
With another grounding breath, Amelia looked to her husband, who hadn't taken his deadly gaze off of the thirteen year old boy across from them. It seemed he was having the same thought that she was: how dare this boy lay his hands on their daughter and try to paint himself the victim.
Amelia knew Aster was telling the truth. Aster rarely lied, she wasn't the type to make something like this up, she was always very well behaved and would only react physically if pushed into a corner, which it was clear she had been. But it seemed everybody on the other side of the room was intent on believing the boy who constantly tyrannised everyone.
"It's unreasonable to simply suspend this girl for this. You must expel her," Mr. Blakely continued to argue at the principal, who looked extremely torn.
"Mr. Blakely, expulsion is a last resort often reserved for students who repeatedly misbehave. Before this, Miss Avery had a spotless record. I don't think it's equitable to jump immediately past a final warning."
"But she broke my son's nose! What kind of school are you running here?"
"If I may," Amelia quickly spoke up, slicing through the growing tension in the room, "I would like to ask what kind of punishment Trevor will receive for repeatedly pulling on my daughter's bra strap."
Mr. and Mrs. Blakely both scoffed derisively, the former of which continued to snap at Amelia, "You can't be serious! My son shouldn't receive any punishment for doing something as harmless as pulling on some clothing! Plus, is there any proof this actually happened?"
Amelia fully sympathised with her daughter's decision to deliver a swift jab to Trevor's face if the boy was anything like his father. She herself would have loved to do the same to Mr. Blakely, among grabbing some popcorn to sit back and watch what Loki would do to him if his control ended up snapping. But Loki had a good lid on his emotions when insignificant Midgardians were concerned, and sat rigidly in his seat with only his sharp expression doing the talking.
Mr. Blakely seemed unnerved by Loki's stare, because he was making a good effort to avoid looking at him. Good. Amelia was glad the man was intimidated.
"In that case, would it be alright if somebody went and fetched my son, Kari. If we brought him in here and asked for the story from his perspective, that would tell us whether my daughter was telling the truth or not," Amelia was not worried, she trusted her son to give as many accurate details to back up Aster's story as possible.
"How would that prove anything? Obviously her brother will take her side and lie for her," Mrs. Blakely stated shrilly.
Amelia noticed Loki rolling his eyes in her peripheral vision and stifled the urge to do the same, "Because if Kari is able to give the same details as his sister, you can be confident they aren't both lying, otherwise how would their stories match up so perfectly? If their stories don't match up at all, that will show that they are lying, but if they do match up, we can proceed from there."
The principal gave a sigh and then nodded her head, "Very well. Mrs. Balfour, will you go and fetch Kari Avery? I believe he would be in Miss Lance's math class at this time, is that correct?" Her question was directed at Aster, who nodded in confirmation.
Mrs. Balfour eyed Amelia and Loki in a none too friendly way as she left the office to do just that. Amelia wanted to scoff at the teacher, because she was clearly behaving in a childish manner - it truly seemed like she had something against Aster, or maybe she just hated children in general. In which case, why did the woman become a damn teacher? It made sense now why she sometimes heard her kids refer to the woman as Mrs. Ludicrous.
After a few minutes, Mrs. Balfour returned with Kari trailing along behind her; he bit his lip to hide the smirk at the corner of his when he spotted Trevor in his very sorry state.
"Hello Kari, thanks for joining us. Sorry to pull you out of your math class, but we'd like to hear the incident that happened from your perspective," said Principal Miller.
"It's okay, I hate math," Kari responded, very honestly, earning an exasperated look from Mrs. Balfour and the principal.
"Hi Key!" Daisy waved at her brother enthusiastically, pleased to see him, and Kari responded by patting her head affectionately.
The parents of Trevor pinned Kari with a set of very intense looks, as if they were willing him not to reveal the truth about their son. Perhaps because they knew full well how much of a little shit the boy was, but they didn't want to have to deal with the headache of their son receiving any discipline from the school due to his actions. Amelia could've guessed that the boy's behavioural file was already overflowing with negative statements from his teachers, and she would be damned if she was going to let these people ruin her daughter's clean behavioural record.
Principal Miller cleared her throat, "Go ahead, Kari. Tell us what happened."
"Be as detailed as possible," Loki prompted.
Kari proceeded to explain the whole story exactly as Aster had told it, though he threw in a few personalised jabs at Trevor, being sure to call him a jerk multiple times in the process, clearly finding it funny every time the bully scoffed and audibly growled several times. The smaller details and the mention of the quotes Aster had said previously seemed to solidify for everyone in the room that Aster was telling the truth, and Trevor had gall to look vaguely sheepish when his parents settled their sharp gazes on him.
"Thank you, Kari. You may return to your lesson now," the principal dismissed him with a motion toward the door, and Kari looked visibly disappointed that he wouldn't get to see the imminent fall out, before he shrugged slightly and left the room.
"Well then, now that we've established my daughter was telling the truth-" Amelia began, but was cut off when Mr. Blakely interrupted, raising his voice.
"Now hang on! What my son did doesn't even compare to-"
The man was stunned into silence when Amelia suddenly snapped, loudly exclaiming, "I don't appreciate you talking over me." She'd had enough of this man, she'd had enough of the whole Blakely family in truth, but particularly the father of Trevor, who seemed to be the bully's main source of inspiration. Like father, like son.
Aster looked up at her mother, boundless admiration on her face, while Daisy looked at her father, surprised that her mother had raised her voice at the man, so Loki gave her a reassuring smile and a wink. He would explain later to the girl that her mother was defending Aster's honour and surely then Daisy would understand.
"As I was saying," Amelia continued in a rather snippy tone, "now that we've established that my daughter was telling the truth, I would like to discuss the matter of punishment." She addressed her statement to the principal, who regarded her with a bemused expression.
"Right, the punishment for Aster…"
"No," Amelia said, her eyes narrowing on Principal Miller, "the punishment for Trevor."
Mr. and Mrs. Blakely practically choked, their faces showing nothing but incredulity.
"That's absurd," Trevor's mother gasped, "my son doesn't deserve to be punished for this! Principal Miller, don't tell me you're going to punish my son while his face looks like this because of her." Aster flinched slightly under the gaze of the mother.
"Okay, everybody please calm down," Principal Miller rubbed her temples and gave the bridge of her nose a pinch before addressing Amelia, "Mrs. Avery, I'm sorry but I think despite the fact that Trevor provoked your daughter, he is still very much the victim in this situation. If he is deserving of punishment, it would be nothing more than a few detentions, his actions today were not worthy of a suspension."
Amelia clenched her fists as the smug looks from the Blakely family were directed her way in her peripheral vision. She relaxed herself and sighed before deciding it was time to pull out the big guns. Loki watched her closely, also finding the whole situation to be tremendously tedious and unfair to his daughter; he was sure he could say something vaguely threatening in order to sway the odds in their favour if it was needed, but he wouldn't speak up unless Amelia looked to him for backup.
"Principal Miller," Amelia began, "is it true that your dress code calls for girl's to wear shirts or dresses that cover their shoulders in order to keep their bra straps concealed?" She knew full well it was the case, because she had read it in the school's information pamphlet she had received a few months before her children were set to begin their education here, and she had scoffed then at how ridiculous and sexist it was.
"Well, yes," Principal Miller responded, unsure where Amelia's line of questioning was headed.
"And this is because you deem a girl's bra straps to be sexual in nature?"
The principal's eyes flickered around the room quickly before she tentatively responded, as if attempting to walk on eggshells, "Our policy is shared by most schools, it is generally agreed that bra straps can be, ah, distracting for male students."
Amelia hummed, fighting the urge to screech an obscenity, "Then may I ask why the school does not consider the snapping of a girl's bra strap to be sexual misconduct?"
Everyone on the opposing side of the room seemed to recoil in horror at the mention of 'sexual misconduct', and even the principal grew tense. It was not a subject taken lightly, Amelia knew this, and the principal clearly knew this too, which is why Amelia brought it up in the first place. If the principal wasn't going to see reason, Amelia would scare her into seeing things from her perspective.
"Now, I- I don't think we really need to go quite so far as to say this is sexual misconduct-" the principal stammered, trying very hard not to trip over her words.
"It is sexual harassment, plain and simple," Amelia stated, "and the fact that you do not see that is unsettling. I'm sure the board of education would not take kindly to complaints of sexual misconduct in your school, especially if you take no action against it," the threat in her words were palpable, and yet she slipped it between the lines so naturally that Loki found himself to be overwhelmingly proud of his wife.
The principal was wringing her hands now, although subtly, like she was trying to stifle the motion. It was clear the woman was stressed, which Amelia was happy about - she was slowly drawing the principal over to her way of thinking through precise warnings.
"I… I suppose more can be done to dissuade any more instances of this behaviour in future," Principal Miller began, her gaze floating over to the Blakely family.
"Are you serious?" Trevor's father exclaimed, "Principal Miller, my son has a bright future ahead of him and I'll be damned if he gets suspended from school after he was the one that was attacked. Surely you're not just going to overlook this girl's violent behaviour!?"
"Actually, I think my daughter's actions were warranted," Amelia seethed, before once again turning her attention to the principal, "Aster's initial instinct was extremely forgiving, she brushed Trevor's actions aside in hopes that he would stop. When he did not stop, she rose her hand and tried to seize the teacher's attention in a bid to ask for help, but when she found the teacher to be completely unhelpful-" Amelia flashed her fiery gaze at Mrs. Balfour, who sunk back under its intensity, "she gave Trevor a verbal warning, telling him exactly what she would do if he were to continue his behaviour, so when this boy sexually harassed my daughter yet again, she was forced to defend herself."
The principal was momentarily at a loss for words, her will to gather up any excuse to punish Aster seemed to be slipping, all because of the very purposeful language Amelia was using. It was quite genius, Loki thought. Clearly, Amelia had picked up a few things from him over the years.
"The fact that you consider your daughter punching my son in the face to be 'self-defence' is very concerning-" Trevor's father began.
"No, Mr. Blakely, what's concerning is the fact that you have taught your son that he is free of consequence if he inappropriately touches girls without their consent," Amelia hissed, rising up to her feet; she'd had enough of this bullshit and she was going to bring this to an end here and now.
"Principal Miller, are you truly comfortable teaching the children who attend your school that the female body is criminal and harmful, but the violation of it is not? Are you going to punish a girl who gave this boy every chance to stop what he was doing before she was left with no choice but to defend herself? What kind of school are you running where sexual harassment is so persistent that my daughter must resort to physical violence in order to escape it?"
The lull of silence spoke volumes, Loki smiled with deep satisfaction at his wife's words, bouncing Daisy in his lap gently to keep her entertained. The little girl hummed to herself quietly, doing hand-motions to the nursery rhyme, the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Aster's head was up now, no longer lowered in shame, and her eyes shone with gratitude as she listened to her mother's impassioned words.
"We live in a world where young girls are constantly told to grin and bear it because the reputation of their male peers is more important than their comfort. This is an awfully unfair example to be setting, not to mention completely appalling. It does nothing but teach girls to keep their mouths shut, because they'll receive no help if they ask for it, so yes, Mrs. Blakely-" Amelia spun around to the other mother suddenly, pinning her with a purposeful stare, "this is what I am teaching my daughter. That she is well within her right to defend herself when somebody is touching her body without her consent and won't stop when asked." The last part was directed more to Trevor, whose eyes had grown wider over the course of the last ten minutes as he realised that he was in deeper and deeper shit.
Amelia cast a sweeping glance around the room before sitting back down beside her daughter and placing a protective arm around her, "Perhaps I should also mention, I have a very good lawyer."
Loki pulled the sliding car door open, standing aside so that his family could start climbing inside the car. Aster and Daisy were all smiles, the former of which grinning wide because her mother had performed wonderfully in the principal's office and convinced the head of the school to allow her daughter to go without punishment while Trevor had received a well-deserved suspension for his actions, while the latter was simply happy that the rest of them were happy.
"We go home now?" Daisy asked innocently, "We get dinner?"
"Of course, bumblebee," Loki chuckled, "we'll get you something to eat just as soon as we get home."
Classes had let out shortly after the principal had dismissed the Avery and Blakely families from her office, and Kari had caught up with his family as they approached the car; his face had grown hugely smug when Aster had explained exactly what had gone down just moments before.
"Way to go, mom!" Kari exclaimed, practically jumping for joy, "Now Louis and I won't have to deal with Trevor for a whole three weeks!" He threw his arms around his mother's waist, who hugged him back tightly, more than just a little bit relieved that she'd been able to keep her emotions in check long enough to lay the verbal smackdown against that awful boy and his awful family.
"I think we should celebrate," Amelia stated, "how about we get McDonald's on the way home? Plus ice cream for dessert?"
The children all gasped at the mention of the 'M' word, and all of them eagerly agreed that McDonald's was well deserved. With revitalised grins on their faces, they scrambled into the car, all of them ready to indulge in a terribly greasy but terribly delicious meal.
"Happy meal! Happy meal!" Daisy chanted.
With the kids all buckled up in the car, Amelia made the move to get in, but Loki stopped her, pulling her lightly aside to whisper so that only she could hear him, "Everything you did and said in there was amazing. I don't think I'm the only one in this family with a silvertongue, because that was truly delightful to watch. And also a little bit sexy."
Amelia smiled coyly, "I think I surprised myself, it was emotionally exhausting and I wanted to scream at some points, but I did it," she said, before her expression turned semi-serious, "nobody touches our baby girl and gets away with it."
"Quite so," Loki lifted Amelia's chin with a loving finger and kissed her with a lingering passion before parting, "I love you."
Amelia licked her lips, a mischievous spark in her eyes, "I know you do," she giggled and hopped into the car, and Loki followed in after her, smirking as he went.
Fuck Trevor, am I right? The chapter title refers to the three strikes he gets - from Kari when he's beaten at dodgeball, from Aster with the off-screen punch, and finally from Amelia when he's put verbally in his damn place ;)
I hope you all enjoyed, I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter in the comments so please do be sure to write one! I'd also like to say, if I'm ever gone for an extended period of time without updating and y'all start to get a little antsy waiting for the next chapter, I totally invite you to pop back and comment on the latest chapter to ask what's going on/why I'm taking so long with the chapter because I'll be happy to let you know my writing progress and how long I think it'll be before I finish the next chapter!