It was so hot as she stood in the dark room. Where was she? How did she get here?
Her brother appeared before her and leaned forward.
"You are nothing. You did nothing." He whispered.
"How could I?" She cried, dropping to her knees. She looked up at her beloved brother.
He was melting.
Eira threw the covers off of her, hyperventilating. Nightmares.
She looked at the clock. 04:36.
"Jarvis, was I yelling?"
"Yes, madam."
"Is Tony awake?"
"Yes, in his lab."
"Tell him to grab a kick shield and a handle of Captain Morgan."
"Will do, ma'am."
Eira glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess. She was still overly warm, and decided to exchange her heavy sweatpants and t-shirt for a camisole and Nike shorts. She stepped into the elevator with Loka, and began to wrap her hands.
"What keeps you up so late, dollface?" Tony asked, toying with the arm of one of his suits.
"Weird dream." she said simply, rolling her neck and shoulders.
"Fun. So you felt the need to beat the hell out of me with an audience?" He asked, leaning on the desk.
An audience? She glanced around. Thor and Loki sat on the couch, discussing something quietly.
"Sure, then I'll have witnesses to my victory." she grinned widely. "So get your shield up, tin man."
He scoffed. "I'll take you on barehanded." he said, raising his arms.
They boxed for the better part of two hours, both working up a sweat, until Eira finally dug her heel into the back of his knee.
"Alright, you win!" He panted, rubbing his knee.
She grinned down at him. "Thanks. I'll cook breakfast in honor of your lack of victory." She glanced at Thor and Loki, laughing at Tony.
"You know what, big guy," he glared at Thor, "I think you should take her on later."
"Yeah, maybe I would be challenged for once." Eira smirked at him, and he rolled his eyes.
"I would not risk bringing harm to Lady Eira." he said solemnly, before beaming, "And it proves much more entertaining for the man of Iron to go against her."
Tony sighed while she laughed, as Banner and Rogers walked in. "Aw, short stuff mug you again, Stark?" Steve asked, smirking.
"Goddamnit, she only took my money once, and it was because we had a bet." Tony glared, finally standing up.
"Sure it was." Eira agreed sarcastically. "I'm going to cook breakfast if anyone cares to follow."
Of course, everyone followed.
"Eira, you need to cook more often." Pepper commented, her mouth full of pancakes.
"Yeah, this is great." Jane agreed, munching on a cinnamon bun.
"Mmm." Romanoff set her fork down. "Hey Eira, I love you, but you need more variety in your daily wardrobe. Every time I see you, it's either pajamas or a black V neck and jeans. So I'm taking Tony's money and I'm making you wear things that aren't that."
"So you're taking me shopping?" she groaned. She didn't need variety.
"Exactly." She grinned.
She looked around the table. Only Romanoff, Tony, Pepper, Jane and Banner were left. Noone here was going to come to her defense. She sighed. "I'll go get dressed, I suppose.
"Hell yeah, you will."
Eira walked into her room and fell gracelessly onto her bed. It was almost 0800. She decided to take a shower, just to spite Natasha. Sitting up, she stretched, eyes closed, and began to undress.
"Do you mind?" Loki inquired, having expected that she notice him. "I'm trying to find something to read, and I must say, your form is rather distracting."
"Jesus!" she shouted, covering herself. He smirked. "You could announce yourself, you know?"
"I could," he agreed, "but this is entirely more entertaining."
She glared at him, her face bright red, and stalked into the bathroom.
His eyes followed the movement of her surprisingly lengthy legs as she strode from him, clearly irritated. He smirked. He had only been here a week, and she had already taken an apparently sexual liking of him. When he thought more thoroughly of it, he realized that he wouldn't entirely mind her acting on said liking.
After several minutes, he heard the running water switch off. He had already read through everything of any interest to him.
"I can take you to a library after I get back." she said, startling him slightly. She was far too light on her feet, he thought.
"An archive?"
She laughed. "Pretty similar. Not as large, maybe, but there's a fair amount of fine literature that I'm sure you'll find to your liking."
He glanced over, only to see that the majority of her legs were exposed.
He cleared his throat. "What's that on your thigh?"
"Oh, this?" she inquired, pulling the cloth up that covered her midsection (not to his objection at all), "It's just a fleur de lis. It's a french symbol, common mostly for the city of New Orleans. My siblings and I had some of the happiest times of our lives there."
He looked up at her, and her eyes were obviously far away. Almost dreamlike, he thought. He reached out and ran his forefinger over the slightly scarred, although notably silk-like skin of her thigh.
She jumped ever so slightly at his touch. "Right then, you head out, Natasha's waiting for me."
"Of course." he replied, standing and shaking his head, hoping to clear it of the less than appropriate thoughts racing through his mind.
"Jesus that was close." Eira muttered, running her fingers through her hair in exasperation. If she were to sleep with Loki (unlikely), she definitely would not want a high running chance of Natasha beating down her door in the middle of it. She went through her closet to find the least plain thing she could, which was a dark green polo and dark jeans.
On cue, Natasha burst into her room. "Ready?"
Eira sighed. "Sure, why not."
Strolling out of the elevator, she noticed something peculiar. "Tony, what's behind your back?" she asked cautiously.
"What? Nothing's behind my back, dunno what you're talking about." He took several steps back, smirking.
Eira sighed again. "You know what Romanoff? Let's get the hell out of here."
About 4 hours had passed when they finally entered a formal dress store. "Jesus no, I already have more fancy clothes than I will ever wear."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Humor me, shorty."
After what Eira was sure had been at least an hour, she finally agreed on a dark red mermaid gown and shoes to match. Natasha found herself enjoying a light blue A-line gown.
"Okay, I humored you. Can I please change out of this?"
"Oh, we're not changing." she said casually, flipping the assistant about 6 bills.
"What?" Eira asked incredulously.
"Yeah, must have slipped my mind. Come on, let's head out."
Eira groaned, threw her clothes into the backseat and sat down, wondering what the hell was going on, when she saw searchlights.
"He isn't." Eira gasped.
"Who isn't what?" Natasha smirked.
"Tony is not throwing a party." she emphasized.
Natasha grinned. "C'mon Derosier, you've been with us for two whole years! That in itself deserves a medal, putting up with Stark and Banner like you've managed!"
Eira groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Why would you do this to me?"
"Chin up, cupcake, it'll be good for you."
"How many people are here?" Eira asked, watching in disbelief as a helicopter landed on the roof.
"Yeah, see, that's the part I figured you would be angry about. We kindof invited fucktons of people." Natasha pursed her lips. "But you're still going to have fun!"
Eira wanted to crawl in a hole. And then crawl out of it and stuff Tony inside, efficiently suffocating him.
Natasha walked around and opened the car door. "You can't stay out here, you know."
"Would you like to bet?" Eira replied, but still stood gracelessly.
"That's the spirit." she grinned. "It really won't be that bad. This is mostly for Tony's benefit, y'know? He barely needs an excuse to invite tons of people over and drink."
Eira sighed. That was definitely true. "Fine. But come one a.m., I'll be going to sleep." Eira glanced at her watch. 7 p.m.
"Deal!" Natasha grabbed her wrist and dragged her through the front door.
Well, Tony had certainly spared no expense.
From the pulsing lights, to the music, to the food and the decorations, Eira could barely hear herself think or tell herself where to walk. She wondered vaguely if people just did this because everyone else did.
"Hey dollface!" Tony shouted, reaching his arms out.
Eira punched his shoulder before hugging him. "You're an asshole, you know that?"
He laughed. "You've put up with it for two years, I can't be that bad."
She sighed and shook her head.
"After the fireworks, be back in here."
"Fireworks? Really? Goddamnit Tony." Eira pinched the bridge of her nose.
For about an hour, she endured strangers patting her on the back, congratulating her, joking and laughing. She endured it politely and was thankful when Tony announced that the fireworks were about to start. Eying her escape route, she dashed to the elevator.
"Is anyone on the roof, Jarvis?"
"Mr. Laufeyson."
At least it was someone she didn't entirely mind. "To the roof."
"Of course, madame. And I must say, it has been an honor to work with you these past two years."
She smiled. "Thanks Jarvis. I don't know if I could handle Tony without you."
Eira exited the elevator and was greeted by clean, cool air, unmarred by alcohol or cigar smoke.
He heard someone exit the elevator, and turned to look. Miss Eira strolled toward him, looking slightly disgruntled, appearing... as lovely as he could have imagined.
She leaned her elbows on the metal bar surrounding the crescent-shaped portion of the rooftop.
"Enjoying the celebration?" he inquired.
She laughed. "Not at all. Tony has plans to embarrass me after the firework show apparently."
"Fireworks?"
She glanced at him. "They're explosions of light and color that people set off for celebrations. They're fun to watch, actually. And they're loud," she said, rubbing her arms.
"Are you cold?"
"Kindof. But cold is better than hot, alcohol-infused air."
He sighed and removed the.. blazer (as Jane had called it) that his brother had made him wear, and placed it over her shoulders. He didn't exactly need it.
A thunderous noise shook his thoughts, and he was blinded by a bright burst of blue light. Many more came after it. In fact, after a few minutes, it was actually enjoyable.
When it was over, he listened to the people below clapping and cheering. Eira sighed. "I should probably get back down there." She looked up at him with her large, green eyes. "Are you coming?"
His thoughts raced. "Yes," he said slowly, placing his hand on the indent of her waist, "in a moment," he finished, leaning toward her.
"Even in heels, I'm a head shorter than he is." she thought nervously. "Oh god what do I even do right now?" Schoolgirlish thoughts circled her brain obnoxiously until she snapped, and tangled her fingers in his hair. His lips didn't crush to hers, as she expected, but were soft and cautious, even as she arched herself into him.
Finally, they broke apart, breathing deeply. Eira cleared her throat. "You should take this back," she said, offering the blazer, "I think the last thing you want is giving Stark something to joke about."
He chuckled as he slipped his arms back into the sleeves and stepped into the elevator. "I believe you're right."
She sighed. "Time to get the hell embarrassed out of myself." she said as the doors opened.
"There she is!" Tony shouted, "Get the hell up here."
Eira smiled and waved as she made her way to the platform, hoping that Tony might be bludgeoned before she reach it. Her hopes went unfulfilled as Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held up a glass of champagne to everyone's silence.
"Standing under my glorious arm is a lovely Miss Eira Derosier. She has not only been a help to basic SHIELD operations over the past two years, and she has not only kept all of the Avengers from killing each other,- Yeah, that's right Rogers, I'm looking at you, - but she's been a fantastic friend to all of them. Including myself. And a great example would be the fact that I know she wants to murder me for throwing a giant party and make a spectacle of it, but she's standing here politely enduring it and will kick the hell out of me when you all go home." He raised his glass. "To a fantastic two years."
Everyone raised their glasses, and chatter started again. Soon, the music was back on and the lights were pulsing. Eira glanced at her watch. 00:30. She stepped off of the platform to be followed by Tony.
"That wasn't that bad, now was it?" he asked innocently.
Eira rolled her eyes. "I didn't want to kill myself. Just to knock myself into a coma."
He grinned. "See? Big difference."
She smiled, despite herself. "Alright, alright. It wasn't terrible. Give me a hug so I can go to bed."
"Guess it's up to me to be the life of the party." He feigned a sigh.
"I'm sure you can handle it." She grinned, squeezing him tightly.
Before Eira reached the elevator, she was stopped by Pepper's hug.
"I tried to tone down Tony's plans as much as possible." she giggled, "He wanted to hire acrobats, but I knew you'd have a fit."
Eira smiled at her as she stepped into the elevator. "Thanks for that. You also saved Tony from a severe concussion."
As the doors closed, Eira relaxed her face and let out a large yawn. "Jarvis, could you have a plate of the sushi downstairs and a rum&coke brought up to me? I could barely maneuver my own feet in a straight line down there."
"Absolutely madame. Would you like a bath drawn up for you?"
She was so exhausted. "No thanks, Jarvis, I may drown."
"Understandable."
She stepped out of the elevator and realized how much her feet hurt. In her room, she flopped down on the floor next to her bed and removed the bright red stilettos. She groaned when she realized she had to get up to open the door and get her food. To her surprise, Loki stood in her doorway holding her drink and sushi.
"Well isn't that nice of you." She grinned, taking both of them.
"A nice excuse to escape from Thor as well," he commented, leaning against her dresser.
Eira tucked her legs under her (as best she could in her dress, anyway) and shamelessly ate several pieces of sushi in a few minutes.
She set the empty glass and plate on her nightstand and fell onto her pillows.
After several minutes, Loki straightened. He strolled to his room and contemplated the events of the evening.
Staying in Midgard may not be as terrible as he had previously thought.