This is my first time updating this quickly, like ever.

Warning: Mention of self-harm

After Tony dropped the bomb that her friends, one of whom was the heir of a very prominent business, hadn't been in contact with their families for most likely 3 weeks now. Tony's lack of prodding for information and updates on her end also added to her worry. Because not only did they: one, go on a very suspicious job; two, they also haven't been in contact with their parents. And if that wasn't enough, Tony was not badgering her on information! All this made her overthink and stress, which was why she's been baking and cooking as much as possible for the past week.

So far, her stress has made her bake a variety of hand-kneaded bread, hand-mince ten kilograms of chuck steak, and tenderize 10 kilograms of pork cutlet. This resulted in the communal kitchen and her floor's personal kitchen being filled with ready-to-eat food.

During one of her lesser labor-intensive stress relief sessions, she impulsively texted Greez to ask if there was any new information. All she got in reply was:

Nada, just the bitch's relatives being on the move and some guys moving into our turf. No signs of it being related, though.

There was definitely nothing helpful so far. Lauren sighed in frustration. She had hoped that there would be something by now. While tempted to use the one information source she had, she decided to only contact them as a last resort.

She sent off her thanks in reply and put down her phone, knowing there was nothing else she could do.

Lauren sat on the sofa closest to the large communal windows that overlooked the city. She finally convinced herself that being idle for a while wouldn't hurt. So for the first time in a week, she let her mind fill with the city's scenery.

She was enjoying the peace that filled her when there was a sudden flash of light in the sky. There were no clouds in the sky, so it couldn't have been lightning. She chalked it off as another peculiarity of New York until a booming voice greeted her.

"Lady Grimms! Friday said I'd find you here!"

"Hello to you too. Looking for food? Dinner's still cooking, so help yourself to any of the baked goods and… whatever else I've whipped up this past week I don't recall anymore."

"I was hoping for pop tarts if they are available? It has been a while since I've had some."

Weird? Didn't he just have them the other day? She'd know since she's been hanging around the kitchen the whole week.

"No, my lady. I haven't had them since we had karaoke! We must have another singing night with the team! Hopefully, we can get everyone around again since I'll be here to help with the missions or whatnot."

"Thor, we just had one recently, or did you have too much Asgardian wine that night?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you are referring to, my lady. If I was not in Asgard, I'd been with my Lady Jane these past months."

Just as he finished his sentence, a neon green glow appeared to her left, making her whole body stiffen. She hadn't faced any intruders in the Tower yet, and it would be the first time she'd have to confront anyone since the charity ball. She saw Thor also brace for the new arrival, although by his stance, he didn't see the intruder as a threat.

"Brother!"

Well, that explained everything. The green glow, not the part where Thor has no memory of the past few months.

"Yes, yes, Thor. It is nice to see you too. Now let go of me!" A familiar voice sighed. Though his words spoke of annoyance, his tone was warmer than one would expect.

"Hello there, Mister Renard."

Thor looked between his brother and friend, lost.

"You've met my brother Lady Grimms?"

"Until 3 weeks ago, I only knew of him. But he decided to be acquaintances and introduced himself as Renard."

"Brother!" Thor chided, "You know the others are still quite angry at you! You shouldn't aggravate them by waltzing around the Tower so casually."

"I'm afraid I couldn't quite help myself, brother. Lady Grimms here is such a fascinating individual."

"Have you been parading around as myself again?"

"Of course! How else would I be able to roam around these areas if not as you?"

Thor made a gesture as if to say, 'see what I have to deal with?'

"Though since meeting you," He nodded towards Lauren, "with Mr. Barnes, I've decided to just simply conceal myself from view once again. I only posed as you during that one ball, brother. So don't be such a sourpuss."

"If hiding yourself was working out so well for you, why reveal yourself now?"

"Wel,l aside from showing my brother that I am, indeed, here in Midgard. It is also to give you a little show of faith, my lady."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Recall that your friend called you, yes?"

She nodded with a frown at the reminder.

"And that immediately after your call, Mr. Stark approached you."

She gestured for him to get on with it.

"He overheard your conversation. So it is likely that he already knows your connection to the Mandu Kids or whatever name it was."

"Fuck."

"Hmm, yes. Fuck indeed."

After allowing herself five minutes to melt down from Loki's revelation, Lauren collected her wits and texted Greez to remind her to update her if she found anything new. It was the only comfort she could think of that wasn't alcohol.

She knew that she shouldn't be allowed to drink at the moment. While she can't let herself have another crying episode – not so soon. She knew that she tended to take out her frustration on her body. She hasn't given herself a bruise yet, but she is usually left with tender spots on her arms.

She let the two Norse gods ask her various questions to prevent herself from staring at her phone. Their questions were about how she ended up in New York, the Philippines' history, and even some more personal questions (courtesy of Loki). One in particular that rendered her speechless was:

"Why are you so adamant about hiding your past as a criminal? A bit of theft as a youngling is hardly a crime."

Which was how Natasha happened upon them.

"I didn't know you were also doing an Ask Me Anything session today. I would've dropped by much earlier, so I could see why Loki is standing in our kitchen."

"Lady Natasha! I beg of you, my brother has done no wrong." Natasha gave him a disbelieving look, to which he added, "Today, at least," with a shrug.

"Lauren," Natasha commanded.

With a wince, she explained how she had met Loki and vigorously defended that she had no idea who he was at the time.

"You need more awareness training." She scolded Lauren and eyed the two gods with a critical eye.

She let the two men sweat for a minute before acquiescing, "I don't know what stupidity you two have decided to do, but I am not letting Reindeer Games here off if he does anything."

"You have my…." Thor tried to reply but was cut off.

"Don't thank me just yet. I am not letting you hang out with a civilian unsupervised. Be thankful it was me who caught you." She then turned to Lauren and told her that if she wanted to continue her little AMA session, she better wrap up cooking and move elsewhere.

Lauren had no intention of contradicting Natasha and quickly finished cooking the food and put away some in containers so they could have something to eat where ever they were going. Natasha initially offered to go to hers since it had the least surveillance, but Clint was more likely to drop by there unannounced. So they ended up going to her floor since her roommates were out on a mission.

After a hearty dinner during which they continued their little Q and A session, alcohol somehow got involved courtesy of Thor. It was, for once, not the more potent drink he usually preferred but good old Midgardian beer.

"I'm surprised you're not busting out the stronger stuff, Thor." Lauren teased while gratefully accepting the bottle of beer from the thunder god.

"I feel tonight is a night for conversation rather than entertainment Lady Grimms."

Natasha lifted her beer in agreement with Thor's statement.

"Was it that obvious that I'm worried about something?"

"No, no, it definitely wasn't obvious. The kitchen was only filled with a plethora of food that could likely feed even all the vagabonds in this city for a week." Loki answered her.

"What he said," Natasha added nonchalantly.

With a heavy sigh, Lauren replied, "I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

"Then, if I may ask? What exactly made you run out so early in the morning that day in your sleepwear?" Loki inquired.

"How do you even know that… You know what? I don't wanna know. So to answer your question, since I do owe Nat here an explanation," Lauren took a large gulp of beer for liquid courage, "To be honest, it wasn't anything serious looking back. I was just so annoyed with how my mom bombarded me with question after question! During what was supposed to be a birthday greeting!"

"Yes, and you mentioned that you hated feeling obliged to 'return their investment' when you never had a choice in said 'investments' they put into you."

"Wait, can we circle back for a little? This is my first time hearing all this." Natasha interrupted.

"Right, to summarize what I told him," Lauren pointed her drink towards Loki, "In the Philippines, traditionally, we are expected to take care of our parents ourselves until they hit the ground to the point that putting them in care homes is frowned upon. That's all fine and all, but I just hate how my parents rub in it my face that they expect me specifically to take care of them."

"But you're all the way here? Don't you have, like, siblings older than you back there?"

"I do. But they all have their own families now. I'm still single with no plans of having kids, ever, so I'm basically my parent's retirement plan."

"What? So let me make sure of a couple of things. Your parents offered to let you study in Japan, correct?" Lauren nodded in confirmation of Natasha's question. "And you were also sent here, in New York, at your parent's behest?" Another nod, but Lauren added that her initial plan was to apply for scholarships and go to whichever university she would pass. But her mom told her to apply to this specific school for this program that was recommended by their friends. So while the bare-bones of it was her idea, everything else was dictated by her parents.

"So that's why you rarely allow people in your kitchen," Natasha concluded. "So what exactly did your mom say to you that aggravated you so much?"

"Hmm… When am I coming home? Don't you miss your family? Truthfully, I don't miss them 'cause I only ever feel stressed out when I'm with them, but I can't tell them that. And then, oh! When am I going to give them another grandkid? Like I even have anyone to make one for them," She scoffed and took another sip of beer, "Plus, me kids? I can barely even function as a human being. I'm never having kids. Thank you very much. And let's see… what else? Why don't I just return to the Philippines? I'm going to inherit the family business anyway, might as well start early instead of working at a place that does the exact same thing. Like, what the fuck? And they aren't going to listen to me anyway! So I will never 'inherit' the business properly unless they've turned to dust."

Lauren's three companions watched her go on a tirade with wide eyes.

"You have a lot of rage for someone so small," Loki commented when she was done.

"Fuck you."

"Is that an offer?" Loki teased, which earned him simultaneous smacks to both biceps.

"If you're comfortable with sharing, what about your parents that's got you to this point? From what I heard, they were pretty decent." Natasha offered.

Lauren sighed after taking another sip, "Yes, they were good parents. They gave us everything we ever needed, materially at least. I just wish we had a better relationship, you know. I'm not sure if it's just me who doesn't communicate well with them, but I find it so hard to talk to them about anything personal."

"Did they do something that made you not trust them?"

"Mom told everyone who my crush was when I was in first grade after she told me she'd keep it a secret. And dad… is a bit hard to approach."

"What about your relationship with your siblings?"

"I'm okay with them, I guess? We don't talk about feelings and stuff much. My sister and I sort of bond over complaining about our parents. My brother… he's reliable, but he's more of the 'fun' sibling, I guess? Like gaming, getting takeout… that kind of stuff. Their kids like me, though, so there's that."

"Not your forte, huh?" Loki commented with a grin. "Now I've heard enough about your family. I'm more curious about your criminal life."

"A few years is hardly a life, and she helped her friends steal a bunch of car parts as a teenager. The rest of the team isn't going to change their opinion of you because of what you did. I'm a literal assassin raised by Hitler fanatics, and they accept that. You have nothing to worry about. Now share with the class what the life of teenage Lauren was like outside of her little side job."

"Did I mention that I helped them do some jobs whenever I visited Japan while still in college?"

"You implied,"

"Right, so that happened too. Shika contacts me occasionally to get my input about a job, but I haven't planned out a whole stint since I graduated college."

"Good to know we have an emergency strategist on hand. Now tell us about the rest of your teenage days."

"There isn't really much to say, though? Not really popular, but I got along with the popular kids because of school stuff. I was a decent student, somewhere along the upper middle range in academic rankings, so the teachers liked me, I guess?"

"No boyfriends?"

Lauren blushed, remembering that one 'friend' she had. "Uhm, not really? Like, I was never asked out or anything. But I was close with this one guy at one point that people mistook as a couple often enough."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her, unimpressed by her attempt to avoid the topic.

"Okay, okay! I did like him. But the fucking prick never said anything about it. I was so infatuated that I did some pretty stupid stuff because I thought I was, 'in love' or whatever my hormone-addled brain thought I was. It was all one-sided. We bonded over our annoyance with our parents, and he treated me pretty well. Or so I thought at the time, but honestly, looking back at it now. The dude was a real asshole, leading me along all those years ago. I thought we were pretty close friends if we didn't include my feelings and all that crap. But he didn't even try to keep in contact after high school, the ass. Anyway, he's dead to me now, so let's just move along."

"Wow. That's a lot of anger towards one person. That tirade earlier? It was understandable, but this? I never expected this." Natasha commented as she pushed another bottle of beer toward Lauren.

Lauren groaned, embarrassed by how much the topic riled her up. "I'm not that upset that he led me on. It's the fact that he never put in the effort to maintain the friendship."

"How did you end up liking the man if he was so crass?" Thor spoke for the first time.

"Rose-tinted glasses, I guess? I've liked other people primarily because of their appearance, but I think having someone of the opposite sex who could relate to me and appreciate me for who I was was the sinker. The fact that I felt so at ease with him back then was probably a factor too. I denied it for a while, thinking that he was 'special' 'cause I saw him as a brother but, well, it wasn't what I thought it was."

"If I may," Loki interjected, "doesn't this mean you're technically attracted to one of the super soldiers?"

His statement made Lauren choke on her beer, taking her a full ten minutes to be able to respond back. Thankfully the beer didn't come out of her nose, but there was still a slight sting."

"Steve? Hell no, he's more of an older brother than anything. Plus, he's too much of a mother-hen for my taste."

"I was referring to the other one. It slipped my mind that you met the Captain first. You seem much more comfortable with Sergeant Barnes. You initiate skinship with him more frequently than you do with the Captain and gravitate towards him when given a choice."

"I never thought I'd agree with him, but he has a point. You and Steve have more of this sibling vibe, while your interactions with Barnes are a tad flirty." Natasha added

"No, no, no, no. Guys! This is not what I signed up for! I just wanted to drink and chat. Not have a revelation." Lauren moaned, rubbing her forehead in distress.

"Sucks to be you then," Natasha replied

"Oh god, he's right."

"Of course I am," Loki answered

"Shut up."

Loki shrugged in response.

"Fucking hell, I have a crush on James 'Bucky' Barnes?"