It had been a normal day. Just the everyday routine. That was when he'd met her, and then everything was far, far from normal.

That was how these things normally went, right? In all the stories and all the movies, it always started with an average day. An average person. And then something extraordinary would happen, some stroke of fate that would bring the most incredible person into the average one's life. And they'd proceed to turn everything upside down, but in the absolute best way.

Maybe Doug Eiffel just watched too much TV, but that was kind of how it felt. If the thought of it wasn't so absolutely unromantic, he would have started humming the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. But for once, he'd been left speechless.

It had been the craziest of chance encounters, but Doug seemed to be the king of crazy anymore. He'd been walking out of the local Chinese restaurant, carrying a couple of bags of carry out. He tried not to spend too much money on takeout food- no wait, that was an absolute lie. If there was anything that Doug spent his money on, it was takeout. Besides, he and Anne had decided a while back that there wasn't too much he could manage to cook well, so it was probably best to buy food from a restaurant instead. In his defense, he'd never been taught how to cook, and college had taught him to settle for ramen and pizza. And now here he was, a single dad with a crappy-paying job as a radio DJ. So, needless to say, the tight college budget had not disappeared completely.

In any case, he'd picked up dinner for he and Anne and was walking out of the restaurant when he spotted her. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. At least, as far as he could recollect. There was just something about the way she carried herself, the aura she emitted…

And then Doug tripped over a crack in the sidewalk, like the complete idiot he was.

Sprawled out on the concrete, face landing in a bit of spilled lo mein, he muttered a weak, "Owww…" and letting himself sit in his soy sauce-flavored shame a moment as he tried to recollect himself. This was… not surprising, all things considered. Just his luck. Anne would probably get a good laugh out of this when he told her. One more embarrassing story to add to his collection, he supposed. Finally deciding after a moment that he couldn't just die there on the sidewalk, he started to push himself into a sitting position when he heard a voice right above him. Doug would later describe this voice as the sweet, dulcet tones of an angel, although its owner would insist that he was being ridiculously over-dramatic about it.

"Are you okay?" Boy, it wasn't just the voice that was lovely. As he looked up to meet her gaze, he saw the clearest blue eyes he'd ever witnessed. It was the woman he'd noticed only a moment ago, hovering over him with a worried expression. Her long, black hair was starting to slowly slide off of her shoulder as she leaned down, and her brow was furrowed in concern. Had… Had Doug died from faceplanting on the concrete?

"H-hey!" The slight edge to her tone brought him back to reality. Nope, he was very much alive and still very much looking like an idiot. "I said, are you ok-kay?"

"I…" His words stuck in his throat. "Pretty… Uh, yeah, I think I'm pretty alright, I… I just…" The full reality of the situation hitting him like a train, Doug scrambled to his feet, taking stock of the damage. His hands seemed a bit scraped up and his face hurt some, but that was about the extent to which he'd actually been hurt. The food on the other hand… Well, what wasn't on his shirt was strewn across the sidewalk. He grimaced. Great. There went dinner… and his favorite Star Wars T-shirt. Yeesh, this was turning out ridiculously awful.

"Here…" The woman knelt down, gathering up the boxes and plastic bag, and Doug quickly joined her, attempting to scrape what food he could off of the ground so that no one else would step in it. He heard her heels click softly as she walked over to a nearby trash can to throw it all away, with Doug once again in tow.

"Thanks…" he mumbled sheepishly. "Sorry you had to see that… I promise I'm not always enemies with the sidewalk, but he really had it coming this time."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, I'm sure. But you really should have c-considered the possibility of losing. After all, rock doesn't just, just beat scissors… It also beats soft, delicate human fl-flesh."

What… He couldn't tell if she was being completely serious or joking. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, either. Face red, he went to run a hand through his hair, realized it was covered in food and a little blood, and thought better of it. Instead he let his hand drop awkwardly down to his side, pressing his lips into a thin line as he wondered what to say. Before he even had a chance, though, she was moving past him, not even so much as looking back at the sorry mess he was.

Nice, Doug. Real nice. You blew it again.

At least that was what he thought, until she turned around and caught him off guard with her question. "What did you order?"

"Um…" Doug blinked. "Just… Just some lo mein? And sweet and sour chicken?" Why was he answering that like a question? That was what it had been.

"Got it. Wait here a s-sec." And just like that, she was gone. And almost just as quickly, it seemed, she returned, a fresh plastic bag in her hands, very clearly full of takeout boxes. "Here." She held it out towards him, a soft expression on her face. "No p-point in coming and walking away em-empty-handed."

Doug looked incredulously at the bag now in his hands, then to the woman, then back and forth one more time. "You… Really? Are you serious?"

She shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. "Yeah, why not. People aren't n-nice enough to each other anymore; might as well show a bit of kindness. Besides, you looked like you were having one of those days, and I can really s-sympathize with that tod-day." Shrugging again, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and moved to leave. "Anyway… I hope you have a better day."

And there she was. Leaving again. He hadn't even asked- Oh shoot! He hadn't even asked her what her name was! Boy did Doug feel dumb today.

"Wait!" He called after her. "I'm Doug, Doug Eiffel! What's your name?" What was this, a fairytale? He sounded like the prince calling desperately after Cinderella.

Against all likelihood, she looked over her shoulder, flashed him a grin, and he could have sworn he saw a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I'm Hera Hephaestus. It was nice to m-meet you, Eiffel."