At least twice a month Stark invites me to the tower. He says it's to encourage Steve to spend more time with the team during his downtime. I guess I don't mind being invited only so someone else will come. I mean, I'm not a superhero so there isn't any real reason they'd want me personally to be there and it is kind of fun to watch them all interact like (mostly) normal people.

They'd go out for drinks, or have a movie night, or try out some modifications Tony made to the training facilities. Although, after the first time Tony invited me over, I didn't think he'd invite me back.

**flashback**

"What's with the jewelry?" I ask, noticing for the first time that he was wearing solid metal bracelets.

"They're like a homing beacon for my Mark VII to identify the user when I call for my suit." He answers easily.

"So, it's like Life Alert? 'Help me Life Alert, I'm falling from a building and I'm going to go splat'? I didn't think you were quite that old."

**end flashback**

He didn't laugh much at that. But he did invite me back again. It almost makes me wonder if he finds my teasing entertaining. Then I remember that he's inviting me for Steve's sake. It's pretty ridiculous actually. If Tony wants Steve to spend more time with them, he just has to ask nicely and not be so annoying when they're together...on second thought, I understand why Tony uses me as a buffer.

He probably figures that if I'm there- a powerless, normal, defenseless bystander –then they'll have to get along well enough to not endanger my life. I guess he is smarter than he looks.

Anyway, I've been coming to the occasional superhero shindig for about six months now, and I guess I'm pretty used to most of them. Bruce is still my favorite, but Clint has actually surprised me with his sly sense of humor. He isn't nearly as 'blood-kill-murder-death' as I had thought.

He and Natasha have shown me a few things to help me refine the defense moves I currently know and also a couple of new things that are just so cool. Our little sessions are never anything formal or serious, just a few minutes here and there when they push to see where I'm at and if I've been practicing.

Anyway, tonight is another Avenger gathering and I'm both looking forward to and freaking out over this one more than the others. 'Why?' you ask. Well, thank you for asking, invisible-figment-of-my-imagination audience. It's because tonight I'm going to meet Thor.

He's been stuck in Asgard because the Bifrost (yes, the rainbow bridge is a legit thing) was damaged. But after the Battle of New York they were able to start repairs with the returned tesseract. I guess they've finished fixing it because he's been in New Mexico for a few days, visiting his girlfriend I think, and he'll be at Stark Tower tonight.

Now, this would be exciting enough for a normal person who knows about what happened in New York and how Thor helped save the world. But I'm not "normal" precisely. My mom was a professor of historical literature and she fed me stories like they were bread and butter. I've grown up hearing mythology; which includes tales of Thor, who actually happens to be an alien from another realm.

Trust me, when I heard about him, my first reaction was excited internal fist-pumping that 'Stargate' got it so right!

Although Bruce did inform me that not all of the myths are accurate. Apparently the storytellers of the time didn't care for Loki- can't imagine why –so they really twisted a lot of what he did and in response Loki spun lies about the activities of his fellow Asgardians.

Regardless, Thor is expected to arrive sometime after sundown. He'll be staying in the Tower before heading to speak to some muckety-muck with SHIELD tomorrow. So Tony will most likely try to get him drunk tonight.

An inebriated alien with the powers of a Norse god? Seems like a sound plan to me. What could possibly go wrong?

So Steve and I are at the Tower with the other four, waiting on Thor's grand entrance (Pepper is in California for some important Stark Industries meeting that Tony couldn't be bothered to attend). Tony has already begun serving drinks while we- okay, mostly they –are talking, bonding, etc. I'm pretty much just sitting and absorbing the situation and contemplating how exactly I wound up surrounded by an egomaniacal genius, a master assassin, an absurdly talented marksmen, a brilliant scientist with a dual personality, and a superhuman senior citizen – all of whom saved the world last year.

'Yeah. Weird.'

I glance around the lounge and wonder for the umpteenth time just how much a billion dollars can buy. Tony has a ridiculous amount of money. There's a bit of a lull in the conversation, so I decide to ask him something I've been embarrassingly curious about. "When you get home from a long day of saving people or sitting through boring business stuff, do you ever just go swimming in a big pile of money, like Scrooge McDuck?"

Tony looks at me with an amused smirk. "I've tried it. Got a nasty headache. I wouldn't recommend it with gold coins. It isn't bad in one of the suits though. But I do tend to feel extra penny-pinching and Scottish afterwards so I try to limit the number of swims I take in a week."

I laugh out loud- yes an honest "lol". This is the first time one of his jokes has made me actually laugh.

Tony seems happily surprised. "Finally!" he groans with a smile. "I was really beginning to doubt your sense of humor. Sure, you're mean sometimes and that's funny, but I'm relieved to discover you can appreciate a joke."

I shake my head at his ridiculous statement as he turns to Steve.

"And you owe me five bucks." He holds out a hand, completely serious.

Steve leans to one side to fetch his wallet out of his back pocket. My jaw drops a little. "What's he talking about? You bet on me?"

Steve, at least, looks a little embarrassed. "I thought you'd last longer before laughing at one of his cornball comments."

"Oh, don't be a sore loser. Pay up, Spangles." Tony wiggles his fingers to encourage Steve to pass him the cash.

Steve complies with reluctance.

"You know," I start. "Calling him 'Spangles' doesn't really make sense. I mean, if you think about it. Spangles are just bits of bright or shiny things, like stars. He isn't at all shiny." Steve looks at me with gratitude and I get the feeling that he finds this nickname to be particularly annoying.

I smirk deviously before finishing my thought. "'Old Glory' would be much more fitting on several levels. Although, with the spandex and all, I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone call him 'Captain Tight Pants' yet." His look of gratitude has shifted to playful indignance and I can't help but laugh.

Tony snorts. "You laugh more at your own jokes than anything else. I thought I was supposed to be the self-obsessed one."

"Don't worry, Tony," Clint condescends. "You still are."

Our laughter is cut short by the sound of a heavy impact on the balcony beyond the glass doors of the lounge.

We all turn to see Thor himself. He's landed on one knee with a hand on the ground and his hammer in the other hand, stretched out behind him, his brilliant red cape ripples to his right.

'So far, so majestic.'

We all rise as to our feet as he stands gracefully and strides into the lounge.

"Friends!" He booms with a smile, his arms out.

'Ha. "Booms". 'Cause thunder. I see what I did there.'

An amiable chorus of "Thor" from most everyone (except for Tony who just raises a glass) answers his hail.

Thor moves about the room, greeting everyone individually with a forearm grasp thingy that I guess would be equated with a fist-bump on Asgard, and a couple of personal words.

As I watch him, I see that he does seem kingly. His bearing is regal and the way he interacts with everyone on both an individual and also a corporate level certainly seems in line with someone in a position of leadership.

When he gets to me, he pauses. "I do not believe I have had the pleasure to make your acquaintance."

'My, my, Steve isn't the only one with manners!'

I smile excitedly and do everything in my power to not fangirl. I mean, I didn't freak out when I realized that Steve is Captain America, also someone whose stories I grew up on, but that was because I knew him before I knew that. This is entirely different.

"Anne Johnson, and I can promise you that the pleasure is all mine." I thrust my hand forward, holding my breath as I wait for him to take it.

"Wait just a second!" Tony interrupts and I drop my hand, turning to him in some confusion and a lot of annoyance. "When you met me, you didn't bat an eye and you called me a butt cheek! But with Simba here, you're acting like you're meeting Channing Tatum or something."

I make a face. "You are just 'modern famous'. Thor has been a celebrity for more than a thousand years. People made a religion with him as a part of it. He has directly and indirectly influenced the lives of millions of people before you were even born. He is an extraterrestrial life form with powers tantamount to a god. He's an honest-to-goodness, living, breathing, corporeal myth from the days of the Vikings! There is no comparison between him and Channing Tatum, or him and you."

Clint inhales sharply and exhales an, "ouch!"

Tony just stands with his mouth hanging open.

'Don't insult my stories.'

I turn back to Thor who, admittedly, looks a bit like a preened peacock from my words. I may have been overzealous in his defense. Trying not to cringe in sudden embarrassment, I hold out my hand again to Thor. "Nice to meet you."

Instead of shaking my hand as I had expected, he takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles, bowing slightly. I feel my face flame in response as a wide grin ignites his blue eyes.

"I hadn't realized I had such a champion amongst the Avengers while I was away." Thor straightens and tilts his head to me in polite curiosity, obviously wondering what I'm doing with them.

I blush still as I answer, "you don't. Th-that is, I don't- I mean, I'm not...I'm just me." I finish lamely, unsure how to explain.

But again, Tony interrupts, "Don't worry about her, Thor. Actually, you might want to. Anne has a high concentration of meanness for someone who looks so harmless."

'Someone's still miffed that I called Thor a bigger celebrity than him.'

"Now, are you going to make me drink alone?" Tony hands Thor a mug of some kind of alcohol. He accepts it with a smile and they move to sit back down around the coffee table.

'I bet flying via hammercopter would be tiring.'

The rest of the night is loud and, happy, I guess. Thor seems surprisingly laid-back and his addition to the group both relaxes and lightens everyone's mood. Ironically, the Norse god of thunder is a little ray of sunshine.

Thor was in the middle of describing a battle between himself and twenty Jotuns, energetically waving his arms about, going into great detail about how he was able to easily dispatch them.

Amused by a sudden thought, I lean towards Clint, who was next to me on one of the couches. "How hard are you fighting the urge to call him 'Captain Hammer' right now?" I whisper out of the side of my mouth.

Clint's lips twitch against his impulse to smile. "So hard," he whispers back through clenched teeth.

Just to help him out, I start whisper-singing, "Yes, Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze. And the day needs my saving expertiiiise!"

He giggle/snorts. "Stop it! You'll get me a lecture in old English and lectures are boring enough without the formality."

I gasp in realization. "Oh my goodness! 'Captain Hammer' would totally be Steve and Thor's ship name!"

We both dissolve into giggles as the rest of the team looks on in confusion.

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A/N: Okay. This chapter was also mostly fluff. But I like fluff. So, yep. I don't think I need to explain any further.