A/N: So I normally and have never written OCs before into a fandom's world, but this was special because it's been written for the Hotel Valhalla Forum for our first official contest. These are two of my favorite characters from there, and as the contest was designed to only use one's OCs from the forum itself, these two were the best ones to write, at least for me and for what I've found. This is centered around their first date. It's more of an experiment, but a fun one, I've enjoyed writing this little piece.

This will be a collection of little stories written for contests we will have in this forum, and I do encourage anyone who truly enjoys the world of Magnus Chase to come join us :) it's a wonderful place, we simply need more RPers, and we'll welcome anyone in!

Prompt: 10) Lightning strikes, gunshots, roses

He sat at the table, legs shaking uncontrollably underneath its glossy surface. It was all planned out, the dinner had been set up to fit perfectly with what was an intentional schedule. For the first time in a long, long time, Alfonso was content with the concept of a plan. With the concept that he had helped create this plan and that it was going to work.

The loud cry of a seagull in the harbor shook him from his thoughts. Alfonso was not familiar with the sounds of Boston - at least, not as familiar with them as he was with his home city of New York - so there was much to be discovered. He'd come and gone a few times here and there over the long years, but he had never investigated it.

Perhaps that was about to change.

"Right on time, I hope." A cheery voice rose over those of other people's as its owner sat down across the table, shrugging off the extra coat layer needed in the cool temperatures. "I tend to make a habit of being late if I'm not careful."

"Puck, you're fine," he chuckled, although he was just as nervous and couldn't blame the elf, "I would have said something if you were late."

"Good."

A waiter interrupted before they could get any further into their conversation, and they ordered drinks before continuing an awkward silence.

"Funny thing, dates. Never been terribly good at them myself, I suppose." Puck was being overly cautious. This was completely unlike him; and it pleased Alfonso immensely that he could cause such discomfort in the elf.

"And exactly how many have you been on?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, here and there over my life… a few. A good few. Most ended on the first date. A few went a little farther. Some lasted at least four months. I'm not sure… so many people are so flaky. It's hard to find someone who will stay with you if they know you're basically immortal. But we've discussed this all before, I feel. Why not talk of something else?"

"You brought it up."

"True, true," the elf tisked, then looked out through the window to the harbor, "Is that stormcloud supposed to be there?"

Out over the water, a large cloud had emerged. It appeared to be drawing nearer - Alfonso couldn't help but curse a little internally.

"Let's ignore it." He suggested, and the elf nodded.

Food came and went without any interruptions from the abnormal giant that was crawling toward the inner harbor at a very slow, but determined, pace. It was not natural at all. It was most definitely a cloud signaling an angry god; but what god had a reason to be angry? And why now, when they were having what was to be the most official date Alfonso had ever experienced?

Everything was so different when both people were equally interested in one another.

Puck was a multi-sided person, even though many doubted he was anything but an idiot. He had a colorful personality for sure, and he was, despite seeming it, quite wise. His years of living definitely gave him a sharp edge.

Noticing all of this had taken some time, of course, but now that Alfonso was able to experience a date where romance took some place in the situation, he had a different view of the elf.

As they made their way out of the restaurant - hands nearly touching but not quite - Alfonso sighed, looking around. The cloud had disappeared from the harbor. It wasn't over the water any longer, or anywhere in particular, in fact. It was more or less gone - "It's somewhere in the city now. I think we have to investigate." Puck sounded as exasperated as he felt.

Gods damn it all, they'd been working up to this for months. Alfonso had hardly gotten any sleep the night before (as if he truly needed it all of the time anyways) and he'd been so nervous to ask Puck in the first place. And here they were, trying to have a normal date in Midgard, in Boston, and the gods were probably interfering, or something bad was happening.

"Take my hand." Puck whispered, his tone, extremely giddy.

They entwined fingers when Alfonso took the hand that was offered. Warmth coursed through him as Puck picked up the pace, forcing him to hurry along with it. It seemed as though the fact that something was interrupting this date was okay with the other. That made it easier to withstand, he found.

Turning a few corners here and there, they eventually arrived at the site of the cloud. Indeed, it was directly over a park. People still inhabited it, unaware of the large dark force above their heads. Even the lightning strikes occurring amidst the clouds were completely ignored and unseen. This made it easy to recognize as the work of some god or creature.

"Ah, here we are." He mumbled. Puck nodded.

"Let's get this over with, eh? I'd really like to take a walk in a different park afterwards, if you're up for it by then." A glimmer in the eye of the other had Alfonso nodding in agreement.

%

"Well, that was torture." One fight with an employee of - well, frankly, Alfonso wasn't sure he knew the deity the thing worked for, but it had put up one hell of a fight - later, and here they were, sitting at the edge of the harbor, legs swung over the sides of the dock.

"You're telling me." Puck smiled, face dirty yet still endearing as ever.

"I think we should probably avoid that for our future dates."

"The very fact that there will be future ones has me thinking the same," the blond elf chuckled, grinning, "I was a little alarmed when it pulled out that gun."

If the sound of gunshots hadn't been heard by the mortals roaming the streets, Alfonso had decided that they would both die and not even be noticed at all even as simply bodies. Luckily, the gun had never reached it target before they were ambushing the creature in return.

"Next time we need a warning. I crushed the roses I was going to give you." He pulled out the strangled looking flowers from his coat pocket, sighing.

Puck took them from his hands gently, "I think these could be replaced."

"Really?" Turning his head to look at the elf, he smiled.

"Really."

And maybe it was something of bad luck on the first date to do so, but the kiss he received from the elf was a very long-awaited action. Alfonso didn't hesitate to follow it up with a much longer one.

In the end of the day, being disrupted by a disturbance from another world didn't even cause Alfonso to hesitate. It seemed things were, for once, going to be okay.