Ablaze (Loki x OC & Thor x Balder)

Part Four

Loki!" Eir yelled sternly as she stomped up to him, holding a stack of wrinkled worksheets and test pages. He groaned at the sound of her irritated voice. "What is this?!" She slammed the pages onto the desk that the fiery-haired god lazily sat at, not seeming to care.

"My... tests and worksheets?" Loki said with a yawn. Since his episode a few days prior involving a lack of sleep and feelings of loneliness, his usual mischievous personality had finally returned... mostly...

While he teased and joked, he would always be more cautious of his words around his fellow Norse gods and the brown-haired goddess. And quite alarmingly, Balder had mentioned to Eir that the fire god still hadn't been returning to their dorm at night.

However, for the moment, the girl buried those specific thoughts within her mind.

"Uh, yeah." The girl rolled her deep emerald eyes. "Look at them! Zero, zero, zero..." She read the red grading points inscribed on each paper, and then pulled a particular one from the stack. "Oh, look at this! You managed to get a five, here."

"So?" He yawned again, causing the goddess's thin eyebrow to twitch.

"So? How do you plan on graduating with this test scores?! Do you want to stay in this garden for eternity?!" She raised her voice, earning the attention of several others in the room. Balder and Thor approached the two of them with confusion.

"What's wrong, Eir?" Balder asked with concern, pulling a strand of blonde hair behind his ear.

Eir sighed, trying to suppress her irritation. "Loki is failing and he doesn't seem to care."

"Loki, how do you plan to pass the cumulative exam tomorrow?" The blonde narrowed his crystalline eyes, trying to instill some seriousness in the trickster.

"There's an exam tomorrow?" The fire god's tone was careless. "How come I didn't know?"

"Maybe, if you had paid attention in class, you would know." Eir growled.

Suddenly, Thor spoke up. "What about a cram session?" He suggested, yet his tone was still monotonous.

"Like that will help." The Norse goddess rolled her green eyes again, organizing the papers she had set on Loki's desk.

"That's actually a good idea. If Loki has a tutor, he may be able to pass tomorrow..." Balder's voice trailed as he raised an eyebrow at Eir, who was oblivious to this fact.

"I still think it's hopeless." The girl sighed again.

"Not unless he has a good tutor." The blonde hinted at the suggestion again.

Loki finally voiced his opinion on the situation, not seeming to care for studies at all. "Hey! I haven't even had a say in all of this!" His lips curved into a pout.

"Oh, come on, Loki." Balder smiled. "What if Eir tutored you? She'd be able to study as she helps you, and she's already one of the top students in the class..."

"Nope." The fiery-haired boy responded too quickly.

"I never said I would tutor him anyway." Eir frowned.

"It would be a study date." Thor's low and monotonous voice caused a blush to rise to both Loki and Eir's cheeks.

"No, no, no, no, no... no study dates." The girl raised her hands defensively and shook her head. "If I did agree to tutor him, it wouldn't be anything like that." Nonetheless, her cheeks were still red.

The turquoise-haired god scoffed at her reaction. But Balder still seemed to be concerned. "At this rate, I don't think he'll be able to graduate unless you tutor him." The blonde showed Eir pleading, blue eyes as Loki pouted. "You don't want him to have to stay here for eternity, do you?" Balder knew how to make the brunette feel guilty.