Short Story Saturday: Stirred Up
Title: Stirred UpCharacters: Dr. Hope Chandler (SHIELD OC), Loki, Clint Barton Rating: G Word Count: 509 Her hair twisted up in a messy bun, strands falling out all over the place and dressed in shorts and a tank top Hope felt positively native. They had been in Las Vegas for quite some time now. It was a lot longer than she liked but adjusting was probably a good sign.
"Baking was not a skill I would pick for you," Clint said. He was sprawled on a stool at the kitchen island cracking eggs in a bowl for her. Clint was handling their hiding out the worst of them. Loki was settled now that he'd gotten his rampage over with. Hope was settled now that she had Loki back. Clint was adrift and unwilling to talk. Hope's solution for that was cookies.
"It's chemistry. Why wouldn't I enjoy it?" She dutifully measured the right amount of flour, probably being a bit too precise but that was the scientist in her.
"You like those places that use like nitrogen and weird science stuff I bet." Clint smirked, one corner of his mouth tipping up gently. He rarely gave full smiles these days. Hope teased these little moments out when she could.
"I think they're interesting," she corrected. "The food is not always that remarkable."
"Will these cookies be remarkable?"
She raised her chin as she tapped the brown sugar into the dry ingredients bowl. "Everything I do is remarkable."
Clint shook his head. "You're starting to sound like him."
"Oh hush, I am not." Hope blushed a little at the implication. Yes, she spent a great deal of time in Loki's company. They were lovers, it was natural for them to be close. She wasn't going to become exactly like Loki. She was the voice of reason and emotional maturity in their little trio. "I can't nearly reach his level of arrogance when he speaks. I don't have a deep enough voice."
That little corner twitch of Clint's lips appeared again. Before this, the running and the hiding, that would have prompted a laugh. Clint was usually more warm. Hope knew it was still in him somewhere. "You know he can probably hear us."
"Of course he can hear us," she scoffed. "He's generally aware of everything I'm doing, thinking, and feeling. He's aware we're talking about him and slightly suspicious."
"The mind meld thing is still freaky as hell."
"I've adjusted." To the point where Hope felt empty without Loki's presence in the back of her mind. She was used to the chaotic whirl of thoughts in her brain, it came with her genius, but there was always the reliable stillness of Loki. Maybe he wasn't always still but his presence helped anchor her. It was always something else to think of when she couldn't pick something from her own thoughts. Perhaps that's why Clint was so dispondant. He had no distraction.
Except Hope and her cookies.
"Now, here, you stir." She slid the dry bowl over to him.
"Why me? You're the one who's baking."
"Your arms are as big as my head. You stir."