Working Title : Loki & Annie

73 Jitters

When the elevator doors opened Bruce stepped out into the common room area and headed to get his tea started. Even with a couple of hours of sleep he still felt bleary and sluggish and a couple cups of tea would-

"Good 'morrow, sir."

Bruce stuttered to a stop as his eyes jumped around until he located the speaker. His mind grabbed on to the name of the speaker, Fandral, while also seizing the woman's name after a slight hesitation. Sif. Sif, all he could hope was that he never called her Stiff no matter how many times Tony called her that.

The two stood at the island counter in the kitchen, Sif was staring down into a mug of something with a disgusted expression on her face, one nostril raised while smelling whatever was in the mug. She took a sip, made a face, and spit the coffee back.

Fandral was standing nearby, a mug also in his hand however he appeared to be more of a morning person because he looked pleasant enough. He even gave Bruce a smile that did nothing to settle that man's nerves.

"Uhm, morn- uh- good morrow to you too," Bruce remembered to start walking towards the kitchen once more even while trying to watch their Asgardian guests while trying to not look like he was watching them. He saw Nat pouring her own coffee in her red mug, offering a raised eyebrow to him.

"Uh, morning, Nat." Bruce elected to be rude and not say anything to Sif who had set her mug down without care on the counter. Bruce noticed it was a bright blue mug, he wondered what Steve would do if she broke it.

"Bruce." Nat sipped her black coffee, the tense atmosphere seeming to not be bothering her in the least. Folding one arm across her midsection she leaned against the counter to observe.

Bruce began preparing his tea, his neck prickling in the jittery silence. He hated tense silence. Experience had taught him at a young age that tension had a way of leading to violence. He hated violence. He jumped at the words being spat into the air.

"We have wasted enough time." Sif's voice was harsh, "We will be leaving now." 

Looking up Bruce wondered if the woman was this rude back in Asgard. A glance at Nat showed him she was still sipping her coffee while the pleasantly neutral expression remained on her face. Bruce felt he really should compliment her on her ability but then he decided that was probably not a good idea. Considering how she had come by that ability.

"Mortal, we will be leaving now. I have had enough of this delay."

Nat raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of her coffee, slowly, before speaking in a pleasant tone that revealed none of her feelings, "Like I told you last night, coffee is the most important meal of a human's day. Besides, it's not even seven in the morning."

"I care not the time, we will be leaving." Sif's eyes were narrowed, she didn't like this female mortal despite the warrior status Midgardians had given her. Compared to an Asgardian the mortal was weak and hardly a threat. Besides, Sif wanted to find Thor and return to Asgard, she despised needing to rely on mortals.

Bruce felt the hair on the back of his neck standing up and it made him shiver. He didn't want to look at Sif so instead, he glanced at Fandral who had remained silent this whole time. His expression was still pleasant, taking a swallow of his drink he looked like he was enjoying a relaxing morning hanging out with friends.

"Uhm, any luck on finding a trace of Thor?" Bruce fiddled with his spoon. His shoulders were rising higher as his head lowered, giving him an unattractive hunch. He knew he looked weak but he couldn't help it, he had learned that looking helpless could lessen the blows received and now it was a default posture. The tension was starting to make the Other Guy growl quietly.