"Looking at me through your window,

Boy, you had your eye out for a little,

'I'll cut you up and make you dinner,

You've reached the end you are the winner'...,"

-Tag, You're It; by Melanie Martinez

Estelle Ortiz-Menendez first saw him at a grocery store. He was very tall, his blonde hair was long and hung around his face and shoulders. He had some facial hair on his jaw, but it looked well trimmed, a stark comparison to how his hair looked. His shoulders were broad, though he hid himself under layers of jackets and jeans that looked a little too big on him. Despite his size, though, he looked very small. He didn't meet the gazes of other people; he seemed lost in his thoughts. But Estelle hadn't gone into such detail the first time she met him; that first time, she thought he was cute, odd, but cute. But each time she went grocery shopping and saw him, that was when she started to pay attention. That was when she noticed how broad his shoulders were, how he didn't meet the gazes of others, and how he seemed to hide himself under layers of clothes.

He rarely interacted with anyone. He didn't say much, even if he found himself in a situation that meant socializing. But Estelle only saw him talk to two people in the months that followed her seeing him that first time. He spoke to Penelope Zachariah, a kind elderly woman who was loved in the small town Estelle lived in. The interaction between Penelope and the man had been brief — he threw a kind smile her way and said something softly. She had laughed and waved whatever he said off. That was the whole interaction.

The next person he spoke to was Julian Ortiz, Estelle's cousin. Julian had been visiting Estelle for the weekend. Julian had gone off to get something and was approached by him. Whatever had been spoken between the two was brief, almost tense. It barely lasted a minute. Julian had returned saying he didn't like the man, that he seemed a bit standoffish.

Estelle brushed it off. What did Julian know? Not once had the man ever did anything dangerous. Another, more rational part of Estelle had to put in that she didn't know him, so who was she to determine whether he was dangerous?

Once that weekend had ended and Julian left, that had been when he first introduced himself to her. That would also be the last day she ever saw other people for a very long time.

.O.O.O.O.

She remembered the way he spoke. His voice was deep and accented, making him sound pretty exotic in Estelle's mind. His tone was gentle, and he seemed to hunch his shoulders a little to make himself look smaller. He'd noticed the number of groceries Estelle had and offered to help carry them. Since Estelle's apartment was just a five minute walk from the store, she didn't mind having a little help. What was the worse that could happen?

"Do you live nearby?" she asked, trying to start conversation on their journey to her apartment. "If you do, maybe we could have lunch or something."

There seemed to be a long silence before he answered. "I live near the edge of town," he murmured.

Estelle's brows furrowed a little. "That's pretty far from here," she replied. "Are you going to be okay walking all the way back there?" It was a stupid question. No one in their right mind would want to pick a fight with him. His height already gave him an advantage, and it looked like he was in decent enough shape to take down whoever was dumb enough to try something.

The corners of his mouth twitched, as if he were about to smile. "I'll be fine," he answered. "Thank you."

Silence fell between them for the remainder of the walk. Estelle wanted to keep talking, to get to know him better, but she wasn't really sure what to say.

"You don't even know his name," she thought. "Why not ask?"

Briefly looking up at him, Estelle pursed her lips for a moment before working up the nerve to say something. "So...I don't think I got your name," she said, hoping she sounded casual enough.

"Thor." The answer was quiet, so quiet Estelle had to listen very carefully just to hear it.

Nodding carefully, Estelle gave a soft hum. "That's a nice name."

A soft smile came across Thor's face.

When they came upon Estelle's apartment building, she opened the door and motioned Thor to go in. Once he was in the lobby, Estelle said her hellos to the receptionist before making her way to the elevator. The apartment building itself wasn't anything big or fancy; it was about as average as apartment buildings could get. It had a good number of people living in it and, for the most part, they all seemed to be pretty nice. Estelle got along fairly well with her neighbors, and it wasn't like she had anything to complain about.

"Would it be rude to ask where you're from?" The question was innocent enough. Given that Thor was helping her with her groceries, she thought it'd be nice to have some small-talk, to at least keep things less awkward between the two. Even though Estelle gathered that Thor seemed to be relatively quiet in nature — or he was just really good at holding his tongue — she was interested in him. There was something about him that kept her intrigued.

"I'd...rather not talk about that." Tension rolled off of him. As did discomfort. It caught Estelle by surprise. She wasn't expecting that type of reaction.

"Sorry," she said nervously. "I didn't mean to upset you or anything."

Silence fell between them.

The ding the elevator gave when arriving on Estelle's floor relieved her a little. Walking out, she waited for Thor to stand beside her before walking to her door.

(A/N):

Holy cow, I apologize for the wait on this chapter! I've been bombarded with school and work, so I got a bit overwhelmed with it all.

Do I own anything in the MCU? No. No I don't.

As another disclaimer, this idea was something I got from another THOR fanfic I read a while ago. The story's no longer up — as far as I can tell, at least — and I remembered it not too long ago and decided I might want to try writing something similar. From what I could remember from the story, Thor never made it back to Asgard after the first THOR movie, he never regained his powers, I don't think he established any kind of relationship with Jane or the others, and he was left shattered and heartbroken on Earth for many years. As far as I'm concerned, Loki remained king on Asgard. I don't think he played any significant role in the story that inspired this one, so I'm still determining whether or not to include him. In the original story, I think it had some kind of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST vibe to it, since the author's interpretation of Thor had "kidnapped" or whatever a woman and was keeping her in a cabin he had in the woods. I can't exactly remember the rest, but like I said, the story is no longer on the site from what I can tell.

Also, this story will not be following any MARVEL movies. Which means there will be no Easter eggs around THOR, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, the 2012 AVENGERS, or AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. It also won't have any kind of connection to THOR: RAGNAROK, despite it not being released in theaters yet.

That is all. If you've got questions, PM me or leave a review.

Thanks!

Zahra