Abandoned Control

Emma Frost had nothing to do on her Saturday. According to the school system, neither did Thor Odinson. She found herself wandering around the school on the lookout for the godlike head boy, bumping into Sebastian Shaw who just murmured, “By any means…” to her. She pursed her lips and after thinking for thirty seconds, power walked to the sixth form common room where she found Thor sitting with his Viking friend, Volstagg. Thor caught a glimpse of the icy woman in the reflection of the coffee table, dropping his strawberry Pop-Tart and suddenly looking extremely frightened. Volstagg spoke, “Good morning, Lady Frost. How may my friend and I help you?”

Thor gulped and picked the Pop-Tart up from the tatty sofa. “I was just curious if Mr Odinson would help me carry these books? I’ve heard he’s quite muscular and more than capable of lugging a few copies of Romeo & Juliet to the English department.”

Volstagg laughed heartily, downing his cup of ridiculously potent smelling coffee, “Why, we’d both feel honoured to help such a beautiful lady, but I must ask, why do you feel the need to transport the copies of the play on a Saturday afternoon? Why not Monday morning?”

Emma smiled, locking eyes with Thor. “I do admire your enthusiasm and gusto, my beardy acquaintance; however I’ll just be requiring our resident God of Thunder’s assistance today.” Thor sighed and stood up, flashing a grin at Emma and picking up her two tote bags. “And, Fandral is it?” Volstagg shook his head, “Oh, my apologies, but by taking them now, I can spend longer in the bath on Monday morning – it’s just a preference thing.”

With that, she turned on her stiletto heel and led the way out of the musty, book-filled room. As they walked across the chilly courtyard to the back entrance of the large redbrick building, Thor broke the awkward silence surrounding them. “I find it odd that a lady of grace and elegance, like yourself, would dismiss the help of two men willing and instead, only pursue the more hesitant of the two. I am confused why you felt me more able, unless you have an ulterior motive as to why you must have my assistance.”

Emma took a sharp intake of breath, “Wow, such big words, sir. The way your family speaks really does baffle me. It’s like you stepped straight out of Hamlet or something similar.”

Thor chuckled, “Not Hamlet, we’re Norwegian.”

“My most sincere apologies.” Emma unlocked the door to her classroom, putting down her tote bag on a grey desk, “If you just place those bags near that one, that’ll be perfect.”

Thor put them down and glanced at the door, “May I have permission to leave?”

Emma linked her hands together, crossed her legs at the ankle and shook her head, “I’d prefer it if you didn’t – I must discuss some rather pressing issues with you.”

A thick blonde eyebrow quirked, Thor crossed his muscular arms, perched on the desk and frowned, “And what would those be, Miss Frost?”

A cold giggle escaped from Emma’s light pink painted lips, “Oh, sugar, I’m sure you know why I’m on your case.”

Thor’s eyes widened, “Is it my younger brother, Loki? I understand he can be quite a handful as he is prone to mischief, but I must confess, he no longer listens to me – I feel you’d make more of a difference if you had a conversation with our father.”

The woman’s glare was solid and incredulous, “You really aren’t the sharpest pencil in the pot, are you dear?” Thor looked offended, “I’m sorry, you are adorable, but you’re a spy and I dislike spies. I always had a soft spot for the villains in James Bond films as they always attempted to rid their world of the sneaky bastard. Only you’re not sneaky like James Bond and you sure don’t look anything like Daniel Craig. I’ve been onto you since day one, Odinson. Don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes with your puppy dog charm. Stop looking so sad and appalled - you’re as bad as those who told you to spy on me. Tell me why Coulson wants an ‘eye kept on me’ and what purpose that serves or honey, I can get you kicked out of education for good with claims of sexual harassment. I’m a good actress and they will believe me.”

Her hands found their way onto Thor’s upper thighs. He squirmed around on the desk, a look of discomfort on his face, “I do not understand why you are my brother’s favourite teacher and I refuse to tell you anything, Lady Frost as I have sworn to the son of Coul that I would not reveal my objective to anybody.”

Emma scoffed, “You’re starting to remind me a tad of the storyline in my favourite film, Apocalypse Now. Have you seen it? Well, then you won’t know that Martin Sheen eventually told Marlon Brando his objective and in this instance, I am Marlon Brando and you are an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill.” Thor looked awfully confused, Emma leant down and cupped her hand around his ear, whispering, “In other words, if you do not tell me, I’ll put you in a cage and throw decomposing limbs in your general direction. Those decomposing limbs will be allegations. And Jane Foster will be one of the first to hear.”

“Lady Jane? Leave her out of this, I beg.”

“I will if you reveal what Coulson’s plan is.”

“Fine.” Thor scowled, looking down, “The son of Coul approached me two weeks previously, requesting my assistance…”

-

“PEPPER. PEPPER. I NEED YOU, PEPPER.” Tony stormed through the girls’ dorms frantically, knocking over three year sevens and a girl who looked an awful lot like a young Claire Danes. “PEPPER.” Three girls tore their gaze away from Geordie Shore to stare at Tony dreamily. He winked, holding his franticness at bay for a moment, before asking, “Have you beautiful ladies seen Pepper Potts around anywhere?”

The one Tony believed to be called Kitty replied, pointing down the corridor and smiling, “She’s in Jean Grey’s room and the door’s open. Apparently they’re going to a musical.” Tony kissed the girl’s hand and ran off, not far enough away to not hear the, “Oh my god, why is he so beautiful – I’m actually dead on the floor right now.”

He laughed and poked his head around a door with ‘GREY/MUNROE’ written on a whiteboard next to the handle. Tony found himself wondering why Pepper was friends with people in the year below her. He then reminded himself that he was indeed the year above her and felt himself become rapidly more antsy and worked up. He looked around the room and ran over to Pepper, pushing Ororo out of the way and knocking over Jean’s ironing board. Ororo scowled at Tony as a draught breezed through the room. “Pepper, Pepper, Pep, something bad and potentially life endangering has happened.”

Jean turned down the music and Pepper put down her eyebrow pencil, her filled in brow rising. Tony would have laughed if he did not feel so awkward, “What’s happened? Did Howard call? Steve spilt lemonade on your laptop again?” Tony shook his head, “What is it, then? I can’t guess forever; we’re meant to be getting the train in an hour and a half!”

He looked around, eyeing the red haired girl and the white haired girl both watching from a bed. “Is there somewhere we could talk without… the phoenix and the white witch over there listening in?” Pepper rolled her eyes, applying lip gloss and grabbing Tony’s hand, leading him into a supply cupboard filled with boxes of pencils and feminine hygiene products.

“What’s going on?” Pepper asked, snatching the deconstructed tampon from Tony’s hand with a sigh.

“Something terrible, Pepper. Worse than my usual.” He pointed at the itchy bite mark on his neck. Pepper looked a tiny bit disgusted, “I think that Loki Laufeyson gave it to me.”

Her eyes widened comically, “WHAT? What are you doing letting that psycho anywhere near your jugular? You saw what he did to Phil’s hand!”

The teenage boy gave a confused look to his strawberry blonde friend, “What, who’s Phil? Never mind,” Tony lowered his voice to a very quiet whisper, “I think Loki gave me head as well…”

Pepper gagged a little, “Please tell me you didn’t return the affections?”

Tony sighed, holding up his sleeve, “I think I might have given old Vlad the Impaler a goddamn handjob.” Pepper turned around and touched the wall, her fingers curling. “I mean, there’s jizz on my sleeve and I don’t think it’s mine and I woke up dribbling on his shirt and I think his fly might have been undone and oh fuck, Pep, I’m sorry, I’m kinda in some shock here and that look is not helping the panic.”

She turned around, her face the colour of a blanched lobster, “YOU WAKE UP WITH SOMEONE’S FUCKING COME ON YOUR SLEEVE AND YOU THINK YOU JUST MIGHT HAVE WANKED OFF THE GUY WHO ALMOST MURDERED COULSON.” She took a deep breath, “Jesus Christ, Tony, I’m not going to hold you back if you want to pursue this relationship because he is aesthetically pleasing despite being a lunatic, but I sure as hell won’t be inviting you on a double date any time soon.”

“What, who said anything about a relationship? He kicked me out after we were woken up for breakfast.” Tony rubbed his bloodshot eyes, “He’s my partner in this programme. I’m the Romeo to his Juliet. We’re, theoretically, meant to be fucking.”

Pepper muttered something about being paired with “Natasha goddamn Romanoff” and then said, “Tell him that – you’re the one spending the rest of year eleven with him.” Tony rolled his eyes, “Good luck, Tony. Anybody around that maniac needs it.”