Duyên || Clint Barton

040 || braids

•••

"Right, let's tame this mane" I grinned, waving my hairbrush like a wand as I approached the god, "gotta get my braiding time in before everyone wants us in the meeting room"
Thor just laughed, relaxing into his chair as I stood behind him, shaking his head teasingly.
"I'm excited to see if you can handle the hair of a god"
I snorted, flipping the hairbrush confidently, "I had five kids, I know how to do hair"
"My mother used to braid my hair..."
Before he could fall into a spiral, I slapped on a smile, peaking my head over Thor's shoulder so that he could see me.
"Well I probably won't be as good as your mother, but I'll certainly try my best"
Thor chuckled at that, tilting his head backwards slightly to give me access to the top of his head.
The first few strokes of the brush through his tangled locks were gentle, as I tried my best to avoid pulling at the knots. After a few minutes of careful detangling, I noticed Thor's shoulders begin to shake slightly.
"You ok-?"
"I'm fine" he said, voice tight, "just - don't stop. Please. It feels nice"
Touch starved, I thought, continuing the brushing as asked, only stopping to quickly place a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder.
By the time I had put his hair into two french plaits, Thor's shaking had settled down, instead replaced with a bone-deep relaxed posture that wasn't dissimilar to a cat sprawled out in the sun.
"Done" I said gently, as to not startle him, "I hope it's okay"
He stood up, moving over to the mirror to get a good look, his face lighting up into a smile at the sight of his reflection.
"Midgardian braids! I love them" he grinned, turning around and pulling me into a tight hug, "thank you Grace"
I chuckled, patting his back.
"You two look happy" Tony said, leaning against the doorway with a small smirk.
Thor let go, moving over to Tony instead.
"Look at these braids!"
"Looking good"

•••

" Okay, so the "how" works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones" Steve started, already slipping back into his Captain persona.
"Well I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones."
"I mean Tony's not wrong"
"I haven't, I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about" Scott said, raising his hand.
I just looked at him, leaning over to pat his shoulder sympathetically, "neither have I"
He just nodded, spirits seemingly lifted.
"Regardless," Bruce stood up from his chair, "we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history"
"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in"
Clint sat up straighter next to me, arms crossed over his chest, "Which means we have to pick our targets"
"Correct"
"Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?"
When no answer came, I turned to look at Thor, only to realise he had fallen asleep, slouched in the armchair with his sunglasses still on.
"Is he asleep?"
Snorting quietly in amusement I exchanged glances with Clint and Rhodey.
"No I think he's dead"
Still trying to withhold my laughter, I stood up and walked over to Thor, shaking his shoulder gently.
"Huh?"
"We're in the meeting - can you tell us about the Aether?"
At that, Thor seemed to come back to life, meandering up to the front of the room by the projector.
"Where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves... Woooh, scary brings. So Jane -" he paused slightly as the woman's picture popped up on to the screen, clearing his throat before continuing, "Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And, she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead-"
I could see Thor visibly start to droop, a concerned frown making its way on to my face.
"and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever,"  Tony started to try and guide Thor back to his chair, his efforts being batted off by the god, "I'm not done yet, the only thing permanent in life is impermanence"
"Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"
"No, id like a Bloody Mary"
"Okay!" I said, getting out of my seat, "I'll go make you a drink and you can carry on telling me that story"
Thor smiled at me, stepping around Tony and following me out of the room, already beginning his story about 'the warriors three'.
Just before I left, Clint caught my eye.
'I'll explain everything to you later' he signed, receiving a nod in response.
It took Thor about a minute for him to realise I was making him a hot chocolate instead of the cocktail he'd asked for.
"Hey! I asked for -"
"I know what you asked for, but alcohol isn't going to help. Besides, it's a Midgardian tradition to tell stories over hot chocolate"
Thor seemed to contemplate this for a minute, before nodding warily.
"Alright, I will drink the hot chocolate" he conceded, readjusting his position on the seat before continuing his story.