LONELY STAR ↭ FANDRAL

CHAPTER THREE

It only took a good twenty minutes to finally reach Mia's apartment building, but all the while Fandral was curious about everything the car had to offer. She could tell that he's never been in one before even as the backrest fell backwards and popped back up with Fandral along with it. She had to stifle a laugh at that, but she was growing a bit annoyed with his curiosity when he wouldn't stop pressing buttons and opening and closing the window. Mia was thankful when they reach her building and she parked the car.

She didn't think the spinning door into the building would be a problem, but it was. Fandral stood outside of it, just watching and observing it before finally figuring out what it does when Mia had demonstrated to him once or twice. He nearly got stuck due to his armor but he came free without any hassle. Now the elevator was a different story...

"What kind of sorcery-?!" Fandral had asked rhetorically after entering and exiting the elevator on different floors. He was amazed. He thought they had just entered a portal before Mia decided to explain it to him.

"It's not actually a portal. There's a cord that lifts up the platform to different floors. Not magic, just simple engineering," She smiles before leading a now understanding Fandral down the hallway and stopping at her door to unlock it. She lets him enter first before closing the door behind them. Mia took in a deep breath after locking the door. Everything that just happened hadn't hit her yet, but now it was seeping in.

She could feel her heart rate pick up and was quick to start to steady her breathing and try to get herself to calm down. She placed her hands on the island top in her kitchen as she closed her eyes to focus on bringing herself back down. Mia hadn't even noticed that Fandral came up to her until he hesitantly places a hand on her's on the island. Her eyes shot open as she looked towards him.

"Are you alright?" He had asked softly. He was busy being curious about the odd Midgardian contraptions when he noticed what was going on. Fandral had been quick to drop his curiosity for one of concern.

Mia took a moment to realize what was happening before she pulled her hand away from his. Her eyes were only slightly wide now as she let out a soft 'I'm fine' before turning away and changing the subject. "Do you want some tea? I'm going to make some tea," Mia had said quickly, not even sure if he picked up what she was saying but she was going to make it anyway. She put water into a kettle and placed it on the stove top before looking at Fandral. She noticed now that he was watching her still with a look of concern. He didn't buy her 'I'm fine' one bit and she could tell.

"Okay...I might not be," Mia started as she leaned against the counter with her arms crossed. "I just never thought I would be someone caught in the middle of anything like this. I know aliens exist and gods- in a way, but never once did I think I'd come face to face with it and have some big role in it. In anything...actually..." She trailed off on that last part, staring down at her feet. She didn't notice as Fandral started to step over towards her before getting cut off by the kettle whistling. They both jumped at the loud noise and Mia was quick to shut the stove off.

"Odin's beard!" Fandral had said in surprise to the noise. This put a smile on Mia's face and caused her to chuckle as she poured the water into two tea cups after putting tea bags into them.

"And here I thought you were some fierce warrior who wasn't afraid of anything," she retorted, sending a smirk in his direction before stirring in some sugar and honey into the tea. She then handed him his cup and picked up her own.

"I am usually not caught off guard such as that..." Fandral said softly as he took the cup in his hands. He noticed how hot it was and decided to wait a moment before taking a sip. Mia just smiles gently towards him as she started to sip her own cup of tea. They stayed like that in silence, Mia to let herself process and Fandral to let her have a moment of peace. He could tell how shaken up she was about the events that had taken place and made the decision to keep quiet about it.