Thoughts of a dark-haired male with a top-knot flitted in and out of Lauren's mind as she listened and sang to the music playing through the fancy headphones she found. Its noise-canceling feature made her ignorant of the odd weather that was an angry typhoon in a minute and then gone with the next. Her singing came in short bursts as she listened to songs she enjoyed but held no sentiment for. One song in particular caught the attention of the blond-haired man who had just exited the elevator and was greeted by the lyrics she sang.

I won't bow, I won't break

No, I'm not afraid to do whatever it takes

I'll never bow, I'll never break

She stopped singing but continued to mouth the lyrics of the chorus and the rest of the song. When she sang once again it was only to the echo of the chorus' lyrics that were the last few seconds of the song.

I am stronger

I will conquer

I'll never falter

I'm a warrior

And so her audience was very much intrigued. Who was this woman who sang of victory in war? As a man raised in warrior culture that exchanged stories of victory of the past and present over a plentiful feast, he was inclined to ask the lady for her stories. His shield-brothers and sister were not ones to sing or share the stories of their victories. It would be a balm to his home-sickness if he could find someone who shared similar practices to his home while he was away.

Still ignorant of her audience, Lauren sang the next song in its entirely. Her knees bouncing to the beat of the song. As she sang she started to make gestures to the lyrics her head twisting to the side when the tone of the song became a bit vindictive. The song ended and seemed to have energized her. She made a move to stand as she bobbed her head to the next song that played once again only singing some parts of it.

Once she turned around to make her way to the kitchen to make herself a drink. She was surprised to see a very tall and muscular man in armor with a red cape flowing behind his back. It immediately made her push down the headphones to rest on her shoulders, realizing that it was likely that he heard her sing just now. She was glad she hadn't started to "dance" (her nephew called it her butt-dance but really it was just her twisting her hips that she tended to do when she got excited or was happy about something). He gave her a small yet blinding smile that just made her flush further with embarrassment. She squeaked a greeting to him in response.

"You have a wonderful voice, my lady." He greeted her. He offered his hand for what she presumed was a handshake. She took his hand and was surprised to see him bow slightly and kiss her knuckles. She knew that Thor – because who else could he be, – spoke like someone out of a Shakespeare novel but wasn't aware that he retained etiquette from that era too. Thankfully, she wasn't too floored by the gesture to give her thanks to his compliment.

"It appears that many things has happened during my absence here on Midgard. Forgive me if I am wrong my lady but I presume that you are a shield-sister to the Man of Iron or the Captain?"

It took her a second to school her features on the way he addressed Tony. It wasn't exactly funny but somehow it was. She was about to correct him when Steve entered her field of vision and greeted Thor. Her mind decided to superimpose an image of a Labrador and Golden Retriever off-leash greeting each other with their tails wagging happily as they played and sniffed each other.

She was brought out of her imagination when she heard an exaggerated gasp from Steve.

"Lauren, you never told me you could sing!"

"It never came up?" She replied bewilderedly. She wondered what Thor told him.

"I must say, my lady, I am quite looking forward to hearing your stories of victory you were singing about earlier."

That made her pause. She tried to recall what songs of victory she sang. She could only recall singing "I'm Alive" by BECCA that she was very surprised to hear. It was a song that she loved way back in high school. She never heard it played in mainstream media. Regardless, she tried to explain to him that she was only singing along to the songs she was listening to. His confused expression prompted her to let him try the headphones that still had music playing through them.

While Thor was learning the wonders of modern music she turned her attention to Steve who was smiling at her mischievously.

"What?" She asked exasperatedly.

"So, imagine my surprise when Bucky told me about that Cervus guy sending you an expensive gift. You sure the dude's just a friend?"

Her mouth opened to deny his statement but her earlier thoughts stopped her. She already made the mistake of acknowledging her feelings too late after years of denial before. Maybe she should just give it a chance? She acknowledged that she admired the guy greatly, but she wasn't in love with the dude. Yup, she definitely wasn't.

Steve seemed to know just exactly what she was thinking of by the knowing look on his face. It made her want to throw something at it to get rid of it.

By then Thor seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed listening to music using the headphones and decided to tell them so. Very loudly in fact.

"This is wonderful! May I borrow this piece of technology?"

Lauren quickly moved to remove the headphones from his ears so he would return to not shouting. She smiled at him telling him that she found the headphones in the communal so anyone could use it. It was confirmed by Steve who nodded his head and proceeded to point them to where they were usually stored. Steve was quick to teach Thor how to use it, eager to share the knowledge that he himself just recently acquired.

Once that was done, Lauren checked the time and was surprised that it was already late in the afternoon. When she asked them if they wanted to have snacks, she realized that she had yet to introduce herself to Thor. Steve was partial to the idea of having a snack but had no preference while Thor excitedly asked for Pop-Tarts.

She smiled at Thor's antics that only strengthened the image of him as an excitable Labrador puppy. "Labrathor" her mind easily supplied.

"While I'm enjoying being referred to as a lady. I think it would be best for me to introduce myself. Formally…" She offered her hand out to Thor and once he reached out she quickly grasped his hand and gave it one shake with a firm grip. "Lauren Grimms – personal chef to the Avengers apparently." She gave him a cheeky smile, he squeezed her hand lightly in response to her introduction and returned the smile. They let go soon after. "Please just call me Lauren."

"Well met Lady Lauren." He responded. She grimaced minutely at the title but was quick to school her features.

"So... Pop-Tarts?" She asked hesitantly. She's heard of them, even seen them whenever she bought her groceries. But she's never had them. Come to think of it, in all the times she's cooked in the communal kitchen she never saw a single box while she was rummaging through the pantry searching for something to cook.

"Is that a suggestion or a question?" Steve teased.

"Both? I haven't seen any in here though."

She could see Thor visibly deflating at her statement.

"It's probably in one of the higher cabinets. Tony made sure that we'd always have some available for whenever Thor's here. Given how tiny you are you probably didn't see it."

She glared at him for that comment. They moved to the kitchen, Lauren moving ahead of the two. Without any preamble, she took off her shoes and climbed onto the counter to reach the top cabinets. She could hear Steve and Thor's amusement behind her as she tried to find the Thunder God's Pop-Tart Stash.

She found them a few cabinets later and carefully set herself down. She was greeted by the amused smiles of not only Steve and Thor – Sam, James and Nat were there all looking amused. She could see the hint of respect in Nat's eyes though.

"What? It isn't my fault this country builds everything for you taller people."

Sam, James, and Steve – being the little shits they were – guffawed at her remark. She was tempted to lump Thor with them for laughing too, but it was only their first meeting. Their laughs were contagious enough that Nat's mouth broke into a wide smile.

She really didn't know how else to react except for sticking her tongue out to them childishly. Though that only made them laugh harder. She could only sigh and ignore them if she wanted to get dinner ready on time, not to mention that she also had to make them snacks. And ignore them she did, she quickly read the instructions on the box of Pop-Tarts which was simple enough. Just stick them in a toaster and you were done. The box she grabbed was strawberry flavored which she was looking forward to.

She took the liberty of taking one of the first pieces of Pop-Tarts that she warmed up and offered the other one to Thor who practically lit up.

She wasn't sure what to expect of a Pop-Tart, but it didn't live up to the hype. A bit disappointing if she was honest, but she didn't dare share her opinion. To put it simply it was sort of a frosted flat… pie? Or maybe calling it a turnover was more accurate. Regardless, she did make a mental note to maybe try making a homemade version. It was a bit too dry for her so she poured herself a glass of milk to go with it. For some reason, it made her crave for some lemon bars. So after finishing off her glass of milk and ridding her fingers of crumbs she set herself to work.

Since Thor was likely to eat as much and probably even more than Steve and James – something easy but filling would be best. Roasted chicken and veggies would be a good idea, along with some spaghetti Bolognese for carbs. The lemon bars were good for dessert so its tartness would cut through the heartiness of the two meals. For appetizer – her eyes caught onto the distinct shape of a baguette wrapped in parchment – bruschetta it was then. It was really just grill toasted bread topped with tomatoes. Though for variety, cucumbers, olives, and feta cheese would be mixed in with the tomatoes – a Greek salad topping basically.

She stopped and evaluated the ingredients she gathered. The chicken might not be enough for everyone, it was on the larger side but with the addition of someone with a large appetite, it might not be enough. There really wasn't much room to cook a second chicken, so another meat dish would be needed.

Her eyebrows scrunched up in concentration as she tried to think of another meat dish. Most of what came to her mind didn't really go with the theme or were tomato-based. She went to do another sweep of the kitchen for ideas. When that didn't help any she gave up and opted to order some pizza.

"Steve? Mind if you called for some pizza?" She paused, she felt like had to justify the delivery despite her preparations. But before she could start explaining Steve already asked Friday to put in an order for the "usual" whatever that meant. She nodded in thanks and started to prepare everything else.

She started with the lemon bars to allow it to cool. The refreshing smell of lemons energized her so that there was a skip to her step as she went about the kitchen. While the crust was baking she asked everyone in the room if it was okay for her to play some music. They gave their assent with Thor requesting for the song that spoke of being a warrior that she sang earlier. It made her realize that he was watching for much longer than she thought. She was really glad that she hadn't started dancing then. She quickly prepared the lemon curd for the lemon bars and started preparing for the main meal.

As she chopped up all the vegetables she needed she would quietly sing along a line or two of the songs that played which curiously consisted of songs that she had on her sing-a-long playlist. Her attention was so focused on preparing the food that by the time the Bolognese sauce was simmering away and the chicken was roasting she was singing along loud enough to be heard by the other two with each song that played. By the time that she was finishing up all the food, her audience had increased who were all very much amused.

When she remembered where she was, she snapped her mouth shut and turned her attention towards the rest of the communal. She fervently hoped that she only had the two blond men as her audience. Only to be met by the large smiles of the entire Avengers team plus Peter. She could feel her entire body warm up in embarrassment though managed to squeak out a small 'Hi' before Clint declared:

"We are definitely having a karaoke night soon."

This was supposed to be posted about 3 weeks ago... but would you guys believe that I was hung-up about the Pop-Tarts? The aforementioned experience with them is my own and is therefore very limited. I try not to give an opinion on anything I have minimal experience with hence my hesitance to put this chapter up without at least trying them again, which was sadly not possible.

TL: DR author was hesitant about Pop-Tarts which is why this chapter took longer than planned

Hope you guys enjoyed it regardless, 'til the next one!