Lesbians, what is your wisdom? Hammer Hard and Cold, Hugs Soft and Warm. Girl Hot. Watch the Mummy.

## Wednesday, February 25th

The small Thoreau family apartment was abuzz with the sound of sirens. As luck would have it, for once these did not come from the kitchen, but instead the television in the living room. Greta had pulled up her legs as she sat on the windowsill, avoiding the messy floor, where in-between a stack of energy drinks and crates of beer her brother Hanz was making a tiny effort to clean up, one of his eyes constantly fixed on the TV.

Greta’s eyes were fixed on her phone. She’d missed Big Team orientation due to a sudden work shift from the job agency. She’d been very excited to attend it. A real superhero team orientation! It of course had to have been nothing like school orientations. Superhero team orientation was cool, it was action-packed, it was fun! It was where most of her friends would be. She heaved a sigh, staring at the apology messages she’d sent to Cambria, Nat, and Brenna.

“Stop moping,” Hanz complained.

“I’m not moping, *you’re* moping. I’m just bummed I couldn’t hang out with my new friends.” Greta grumbled back.

“Then get out of the house and hang out with them. If you’re not here on Friday when my friends are here, that’d be perfect.”

Greta stuck her tongue out at her brother, but it wasn’t such a bad idea. “Maybe I could ask Brenna if there’s things she hasn’t done before in Asgard…” She pondered out loud.

“Dinner and a movie.” Hanz suggested.

“Oh hey, yeah! They probably don’t have movie theaters in Asgard!” Greta’s face brightened, then gave a questioning stare. “Waiiit, that sounds like a date…”

Hanz snickered. Greta threw a pillow at him, then texted Brenna.

‘*Hey Brenna! So I’m mayyybe making some assumptions here, so please scold me if I’m wrong or culturally insensitive, but I assume you haven’t been to a movie theater before? I know a cool one we could go to! This weekend maybe?’*

…

In the two bedroom apartment above PowerUp, Brenna was sitting on the couch, legs tucked under her, and afraid to move. Mashed Potato, Calder’s cat, was sitting on the arm of the chair and washing his face. He wasn’t a very sociable cat, and hadn’t warmed up to Brenna yet. This was the closest he’d gotten of his own volition, and she didn’t want to scare him off. She had a coil of wire and some beads next to her. There weren’t forging facilities here like she had back home, so she was fulfilling her need to make things in other ways. Well, there was Frithr’s forge, but she didn’t feel like she could ask to use that. She didn’t know them well enough. The room was full of other things she’d been trying out: embroidery hoops, some now-broken drawing pencils, other various crafting things. So far, making metal jewelry had fulfilled that need the best.

But right now, she was just watching Mashed Potato clean his face not three feet away from her. It was an auspicious day. Mash paused but didn’t bolt when Brenna’s phone buzzed. Slowly, she reached over to it and picked it up, keeping an eye on Mash in her periphery. Seeing the text from Greta, she grinned and texted back.

*‘It’s an accurate assumption! I have not been to a movie theater, but I’ve heard so much about them! I’d love to go to one with you! I promised I’d try the popcorn with Beatrice though, so I won’t be able to partake in that tradition with you. Is that okay?’*

…

When the response arrived, Greta stopped smothering her brother with a pillow on the hallway floor to look at her phone. Her face lit up like sunshine and she rolled over to send a response.

Behind her, Hanz rose up and looked over her shoulder. “Ooohhh, Greta has a friiieeennndghharfawhafuck--” Hanz’s teasing got cut off by Greta’s hand shoving his face away, smooshing against his mouth and nose.

*‘That’s perfect! I prefer home-made popcorn anyway, but they have a LOT of other snack options at the theater. Lots of sour mats, and fruity rainbows and chocolate and… you’ll see. Are you free this Friday? I can pick you up at the gym.’*

*‘Like, not literally pick you up, although I’m sure I could do that too if you’d let me, you probably could easily stop anyone from picking you up if you didn’t want to be picked up and I wouldn’t want to pick you up if you didn’t want that anyway.’*

…

*Yeah! Friday works for me! I’ll see you then!*

Brenna grinned down at her phone. To her left, the lock to the apartment door clicked open, and Mashed Potato sprinted over to it to greet Calder. They crouched down to let the fluffy kitty rub his head against their hand.

“Hey Mash, hello Brenna. You look happy.” They stand back up, cat in hand, and deposit Mash on their shoulder. Mash continues to rub his head against Calder’s.

“Hmm? Oh, a friend invited me to go to the movies with her on Friday,” Brenna held up her phone, even though Calder was still across the room and couldn’t see it.

Calder nodded. “Is this one of the friends I’ve met?”

“Yeah! Greta. She was here with Arcana and Tony and Faust that one day.”

Calder walked behind the couch to get to their room, and ruffled Brenna’s hair as they passed her. “She seemed nice. Have fun.”

They paused for a moment, perhaps wondering if they should ask if this was a date, but decided that if it was, Brenna would tell them if she wanted them to know. Or also it could be that it was a date and Brenna didn’t know, which would also be very funny to watch play out. Either way, they said nothing, and Brenna got back to working on the bracelet she was making.

## Friday, February 27th

A loud mechanical roar tapered off into a low rumble with Greta’s arrival on an old motorcycle. The name “Beetlejuice” was engraved on the side. It looked like it had until recently been dirty and rusty, with smudges and bits still visible here and there if you gave it more than a cursory look. Otherwise, it looked like any old model from over half a century ago.

Greta herself had tried her best to go all in on a look to match the motorcycle. Beat-up old leather jacket that used to be her mom’s. Mis-matched leather gloves from Hanz that she was pretty sure were stolen from an ex. The most aesthetically-ripped skinny jeans that fit her, made for someone several inches taller so that she had to roll up the ends. She lamented that she didn’t have any good boots or even Doc Martens to wear, but she could only afford one pair of shoes, so she had to make do.

She hit the kickstand and parked the motorcycle close to the PowerUp gym. She put her small helmet away in her satchel, walking up to the front door while looking around for a different possible entrance. “Is there like… a doorbell? Is the apartment entrance inside the gym itself?” Greta mumbled out loud as she stared up at the building awkwardly. She pulled out her phone, thinking she might as well just text Brenna.

*‘Hey, I’m here! Sorry, I forgot where your front door was. Is. Hi! Are you ready? (:’*

…

Brenna had spent a good portion of the time after school anxiously rebraiding her hair in increasingly elaborate ways until Calder forced her to organize her craft supplies into a cabinet they'd bought for her. That kept her distracted for a little while. And then she perched on the edge of the couch so she could see the street where she was pretty sure Greta would show up. She heard the motorcycle well before she saw it, and headed for the door as soon as she saw it was indeed Greta. At the door she paused, brushing down the skirt of her long gray dress. She had leggings on underneath, so she wasn't worried about riding the motorcycle, but she was becoming increasingly aware of how much her wardrobe stood out on Midgard.

"Stop overthinking and have fun," Calder called from the kitchen where they were making dinner.

Brenna made a face at them. It was frustrating how they and Hildr always knew what she was thinking. Brenna's phone buzzed, and she glanced at it before rushing out, figuring it would be faster to just tell Greta in person.

The apartment's front door exited onto a set of questionably stable stairs on the side of the building. She hurried down them and waved at Greta as she rounded the corner.

"Hi Greta! I'm here! Uh, the door is over there, for future reference."

Greta turned in her direction. “Oh, duh!” Greta went, giving out a nervous wheezy laugh noise. She waved back and walked up to Brenna, fiddling with her phone before she put it away. “Hi Brenna! You--” Greta stopped talking for a moment as they met, looking up at Brenna and her elaborate braids. The sunshine made Brenna’s hair look so pretty. “--are very tall. I almost forgot how pretty you were. How tall you were. You look great!”

She did make note of Brenna’s dress being different from Halcyon clothes, but there was no way in Helheim that she’d make her feel different because of it. She nodded quietly, noticing too late that she may have been staring.

Brenna ran her finger along the engravings on her Mjolnir bracelet to try and help calm her nerves. She wasn’t sure she liked how much she stood out in Midgard. “Um. Yes. Midgard is very short, so I’m uh, very tall here. I like your jacket.” Greta’s whole outfit was very nice, very Midgardian. She looked like she belonged here much more than Brenna.

Wanting to change the subject, Brenna gestured at the motorcycle, which she was excited about. “I’ve never ridden on one of those before. But I have driven the Molegic School Bus and ridden in Beatrice’s truck. The vehicles on Midgard are really fantastic. Not that Asgardian ones aren’t, but you ride in one chariot pulled by cats, you pretty much know what they’re like, you know?”

Greta nodded, she was pretty sure she understood that equivalent. A chariot pulled by cats, definitely! She did really want to experience that at least once though, just so she could also know what all the cat-chariots were like. Looking at Brenna, Greta’s expression looked concerned. She was used to reading body language from opponents, which sometimes included people in school that she was on bad terms with for this or that, like that Samantha girl. Brenna did not look comfortable, which was the opposite of what Greta wanted for her friend.

“Hey,” she said softly, touching Brenna’s arm gently. “how about I give you a ride on my cat-chariot to a place where other people don't stare at us?” She smiled, trying to assure Brenna. “Then you can tell me all about your other drive experiences on the way. Okay, maybe not while riding, I don’t have telepathy. I think? But we can talk afterwards, and if you get lucky, I might let you ride it yourself, too.”

Brenna appreciated Greta trying to make her feel more at ease, and offering to let her drive the motorcycle was a great way to do that. “I’d love to learn to drive it! Midgard vehicles are so interesting! But don’t you want to go to the movies? I’ve heard it’s dark there, so it’s probably difficult to stare? I don’t want to ruin our plans, I just feel very conspicuous sometimes. I’m not used to being the center of attention. I was the youngest, and I could fade behind my siblings most of the time. I wasn’t remarkable on Asgard.” Brenna shrugged. “Um. Yeah. Movie?”

“Yeah! It’ll be dark in there. That’s… that’s why I thought it’d be good? I’m sorry, I wasn’t being very clear.” Greta scratched the back of her head and looked sheepishly apologetic. “I can understand being a little uncomfortable with being the center of attention. I only like it at specific times, like when we’ve got sports events with hundreds of spectators, or maybe my birthday with like… my brother, my dad and some friends.”

She fished around inside her satchel, produced two small open-faced helmets and handed one to Brenna. “I hope you don’t mind being the center of *my* attention though, because I kind of had that as the plan today. Here, put this on. I know you’re super tough, but other people won’t know that, so we gotta wear them for legal reasons. Lesson one of driving my motorcycle.” Greta gave Brenna a wink.

Brenna smiled and accepted the helmet. Something about Greta put her at ease. She wasn’t sure how to interpret the wink, and not sure what she wanted it to mean, but decided that for now it didn’t matter. Today was today, and being around Greta was enough, regardless of Greta’s intent. “Of course. safety is very important.” Brenna put on the helmet, accepting that her hair might get a little frizzy. “And I don’t mind when you pay attention to me. I like it. You’re one of my favorite parts of Midgard so far.”

With her helmet already on by the time she heard it, Greta had a moment where she was frozen in place, trying to assess whether she heard Brenna correctly. Her mouth hung open slightly as she stared at the taller girl wordlessly, before she blinked and shook herself awake. She mumbled as she got onto the motorcycle, recalling a line from a film she liked. “You must be brie, because you’re cheesy and smooth.”

Greta took a deep breath, then patted the seat right behind her. “Get on! Let’s ride like warriors.” She smiled broadly, reaching out to grip the handles of the old motorcycle.

“Brie?” Brenna asked, but got on behind Greta and wrapped her arms around the other girl.

Greta didn’t respond right away, and it was far too loud on the motorcycle to have a conversation. But it didn’t take too long for the two of them to arrive outside of a worn movie theater with a manual letter marquis reading “THE MUMMY” and “INDIANA JONES” along with showtimes.

Brenna’s face was flushed with excitement and the cold as she took off her helmet. “That was even cooler than the Molegic School Bus. Don’t tell the Duchess.”

Greta’s freckled cheeks were likewise red, but because she’d just spent the entire ride to the theater trying to think of a good followup to “you must be brie” and failing to because she had Brenna’s arms wrapped around her. That was normal though, right? What was Brenna going to do, NOT hold on to anything while they were going 30 miles an hour?

Greta gave a little laugh and it helped her feel a little less nervous. “You flatterer. Alright, I will keep your secrets, princess!” She parked the motorcycle, took Brenna’s helmet and put both helmets away. All the while, she tried to think. She could say *‘brie is a French soft cheese’* and teach Brenna more about Earth things, but maybe Brenna already knew and was just confused about Greta’s response, so she could say *‘yeah, I have some at my place for later, if you’d like,’* but that would be weird, right, and--while Greta’s human brain was overthinking everything, her lizard brain took over and she blurted out “Brie-na.”

*‘Oh no, what have I done.’*

She looked at Brenna like a deer in headlights. “Brenna!” She tried to save herself. “Princess Brenna. Yes. I will, uh, keep your secrets.”

“Princess? Oh! Is this a reference to a movie?” Brenna took off her helmet and gently touched her hair, wondering how bad the damage was. Not that she was super worried about it, moreso wondering if she could fix it in the bathrooms here. She looked very proud of herself for figuring out that Greta was certainly 100 percent referencing a movie Brenna hadn’t seen. Which wasn’t hard, considering she’d only seen the one with Beatrice so far.

Confident that she’d solved the puzzle, she looked up at the marquis without waiting for a response from Greta. “So which of these are we seeing?”

“You got it!” Greta had to think for a moment on whether it actually was a movie reference that she’d made. Pop culture was so ingrained in her vocabulary that it was almost impossible to tell. It did sound like something from a *Tales From the Dark City* episode though, an old black-and-white TV show her dad had some tapes of. And if it wasn’t? She didn’t want to wipe away that content and proud look Brenna bore. It was kind of adorable.

Standing still for a moment in front of the theater and looking up at the marquis, Greta scrunched up her face into an expression mixing delight with disdain. “Oh DEFINITELY The Mummy! It’s the better movie of the two. Like, Jones doesn’t even have a gay friend, but The Mummy has got adventure and hot librarian women and martial arts and the romantic tension between the main guy and the Egyptian magi is absolutely palpable.” She realized she was gushing. “Or, uh, so I’ve heard.”

Brenna smiled as she watched Greta get excited about this movie that was clearly one of her favorites. “I’m glad that you’re sharing one of your favorite movies with me. Not that you’ve seen it before, of course.” Brenna winked, and gestured at the doors. “Shall we?”

The two bought their tickets (Greta insisted on paying), got a multitude of movie theater snacks (soft pretzel bites, nachos, four different boxes of candy -- and Brenna insisted on paying for these), and found their seats well before the movie began.

Brenna sat enraptured at the size of the screen. “It’s so huge! How are we supposed to see it from this close? The people will be bigger than real people!”

Greta giggled a little upon seeing Brenna so astonished.  With all that she knew about Asgard, it seemed a far more interesting and fantastic place than Halcyon to her in a lot of ways. It was funny knowing that something that felt so mundane to herself was something fantastic to someone else. She liked it. This had been an excellent choice.

“Don’t worry. It will all be big and impressive, sure, but it won’t be TOO big! That’s why I didn’t get us seats all the way at the front. We’ll have just the right amount of shock and awe blasted into our eyes and ears! And hey,” she gently put a hand on Brenna’s arm to get her attention. “If it does turn out to be overwhelming for you, we can get out of here, okay? We don’t have to watch any further if it makes you feel anxious or uncomfortable.”

Brenna pulled her eyes away from the huge screen and smiled at Greta. “Thank you. I don’t think that I will need to? But I appreciate you saying so.” Unable to keep her eyes off the screen for long, she looked back up at it. “I wonder what it’s like to see yourself bigger than life…”

Greta felt lighter inside when Brenna smiled at her. She leaned back in her own chair, her eyes fixed rapt upon the screen. In the darkness of the theater, the blush creeping into her cheeks was invisible. She made a mental note of Brenna’s wonder, already considering what she could show her in the future. “Yeah…” she just said in response. She’d seen herself in family home videos and in tapes from wrestling matches, but seeing herself on the big screen? Especially in a romantic adventure like the kinds she loved most? It was a hell of a dream. A distant, distant dream.

Greta snuck four different pieces of candy into her mouth as the film began.

Movies were magic. They had to be. From the moment the previews started, Brenna sat in rapt attention. She had hundreds of questions, but knew enough about movies that you weren’t supposed to talk in the theater, plus she didn’t know if Greta would even know how they got all those bookshelves to fall without hurting anyone, or how any of the special effects worked. So she just sat in rapt attention, letting herself get swept away in the adventure and love story of these two dashing bisexuals.

Everything on the screen and the sound that surrounded them served to draw Greta in further. Moments like this, she felt alive in a strange kind of way, immersed in the adventurous feeling of someone else’s story. A story that she wished could be hers. She mimicked a few small moments, only to realize right after what she was doing and hoping nobody had noticed that she was whispering at the film screen that it was on the wrong side of the river.

Greta gave a sideways glance at Brenna and saw the wonder on her face. She smiled, incredibly happy to be sharing something she loved with her, and for it to have the same effect it had had on Greta herself the first time. She turned her attention back to the film, but now her brain was churning. During a quieter moment, Greta yawned and stretched, her arms raised up, then coming down again… with one coming down on the far side of Brenna’s shoulders. “Uhhh… do you mind?”

Brenna had barely registered Greta moving beside her until she felt the other girl’s arm go around her shoulders. She missed several seconds of the movie as she tried to process what was going on and her face flushed bright red, though thankfully that was invisible in the darkness of the theater. *This is a flirt thing, right? Has Greta been flirting with me? No, that can’t be it. There has to be another explanation.* Brenna could not come up with another explanation, but there was still no way it could be flirting. Right?

Brenna registered the question and realized she was maybe taking too long to answer. She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Um. No. Yes? I don’t mind is what I mean.” *Smooth.*

A hesitant smile played on Greta’s lips as she tried to interpret Brenna’s response. “Good! Uh. I’m glad. I didn’t mean to catch you off guard. Sorry.” She shifted a little bit to sit more comfortably, then turned her attention back to the screen. She briefly glanced back towards Brenna. She knew the scariest and most romantic parts of the film were still coming--not at the same time, of course--and didn’t want to ruin Brenna’s first experience in a movie theater by being distracting. At the same time though, this felt… nice.

Having Greta’s arm around her was definitely distracting, but also she liked it. There was a deeply buried question of “do I want this to be flirting” that she was staunchly ignoring. Even with Greta’s distraction, the movie soon swept her up again. The librarian was so pretty, and the romantic tension, and the mummies! Everything about the movie was so good. How had she lived this long without movies?

Greta silently thanked the gods that she could have her arm around Brenna like this in a way that definitely would not have been possible while standing—the girl was so much taller!—although on second thought she probably would have tried anyway. With her attention facing forward again, she enjoyed the rest of the film with a fixed gaze, a big smile, and a weirdly happy beat in her chest. It lasted all the way to the end of the movie, which ended the way all the best adventure films did: with a big kiss.

The chilly air greeted the two as they stepped outside into the blooming darkness. Brenna felt a bit like she was floating. The excitement and fear and suspense of the movie was contagious.

“Movie theaters are wonderful! And this movie was so good! The romance, the adventure! Just as good as the one I watched with Beatrice, maybe better? Are all movies this good? I need to convince Heimdall that we need to get a movie theater in Asgard.” Brenna gushed as the two made their way toward Greta’s motorcycle, gesturing excitedly.

Greta laughed, infected by Brenna’s excitement. “Not all movies, but a lot of them! I’m glad you seem to like movies as much as I do. The technology’s pretty simple, I bet even I could show your friend Heimdall how to set it up.” She couldn’t stop smiling. Brenna’s gushing was adorable. Was that how she herself looked when she gushed about movies she loved? It certainly was helped no small part by Brenna just being cute in general. This tall, powerful viking goddess girl being so excited about a thing that to many other humans would seem incredibly mundane was massively endearing. It was great to share in the wonder and love you felt for something.

“Honestly, while most people know me as a girl who loves wrestling, very few people know that I love movies even more. They’re a big awesome show, and I love that! I love the stories they can tell. Wrestling is just, like, a kind of story I can participate in! I couldn’t participate in that kind of story,” Greta gestured back at the theater. “But I love them nonetheless. They’re so, so good!”

Brenna was glad that Greta wasn’t denying her enthusiasm anymore. Hiding your real feelings about things was tiring, and she was glad Greta felt safe enough to drop that charade in front of her.

“I never really used to want to be in any kind of story,” Brenna said softly, eyes far away for a moment. “But isn’t Big Team that kind of story? So you are already in an adventure.”

“Hmmm, you’re right.” Greta nodded slowly. “I can imagine not wanting to be a part of some myth or another. But we can make our own myths, right? Our own big adventure.”

She smiled at Brenna, then shrugged. “Okay it might not be an adventure like The Mummy, otherwise it would end with a big kiss.” Greta realized the second afterwards what she had said and pretended to be really focused on digging her motorcycle keys out of her bag to hide her embarrassment.

“But there isn’t really an ending for our adventures. They just keep going,” Brenna responded, not noticing Greta’s embarrassment as she looked up at the city lights. “Don’t you think that makes them better?”

Turning back around again, keys in hand, Greta looked at Brenna, then followed her gaze to the city lights. “Hm, y’know, you do have a point there. It can be an ever-evolving adventure. Every season bringing something new for us to explore, mysteries to solve and people to save. Stories may have an end, but our story doesn’t need to have one.” She looked wistfully, staring beyond the city lights and to the budding stars beyond. “And like… if you’d like, we can do this again. I’d love to hang out more with you, movies or not.”

Brenna beamed down at Greta. “Of course! I’d love to keep hanging out with you as well. I’m so glad that I found friends here. Midgard is wonderful but also confusing, so I really appreciate you helping me out with stuff and showing me things like this.”

Greta’s expression mirrored Brenna’s at that response. “Of course! I’m happy to help you out and you’ve been a great friend to me so far! A real pal! I enjoy hanging out with you and talking to you.” She nodded vigorously. “So I would be very happy to hang out with you in the future, or go on a date with you if you’d like that.”

She paused, and in her silence Greta’s face slowly grew redder. Her mouth kept quiet, but her brain didn’t, calculating the options of her mistakes at a rapid pace. Clearly right now the best option was to just act as if it was no big deal and she hadn’t just said that. She tried her best to emulate a vibe of “haha jk… unless?” and wasn’t sure if she was succeeding at it.

A date. Had this been a date? Had Greta been flirting with her all this time? Oh no this was a date. Brenna also flushed, but more from embarrassment. Did she want to go on dates with Greta? She tried to envision that, tried to pull up any romantic feelings that might already be there, but all the ones she had right now were firmly, frustratingly, in the “answer unclear, try again later” category.

Brenna knew she was taking too long to answer. She rubbed at her bracelet and cleared her throat, unsure exactly how to say this. “So, um...I don’t...feelings...quickly? Tony said Midgardians call it being demisexual and demiromantic. I uh, I do like you a lot, Greta, but I don’t have those kinds of feelings for you right now. I might in the future, but I don’t know if I will. I can’t control it. I hate that I can’t give you a clear answer. Um…Sorry.” She took a deep breath and looked down at the ground so she didn’t see Greta’s reaction, trying her hardest not to cry. People didn’t like this kind of answer. Saying “hey I just need to be your friend for a while before I’ll be able to catch feelings” shouldn’t be this hard, or get the kinds of negative reactions she’d experienced, but it was.

Greta blinked as she processed Brenna’s response. It came through in a bit of a haze due to her nerves, but she managed to register everything and go over it in her head. Once again though, she was quicker to speak and to act than she was thinking everything through. Luckily, Greta’s default mode was ‘I support my friends’. Plus, she hadn’t been hyping herself up for three weeks like the last time she asked someone out and got shot down.

She gently, if awkwardly, patted Brenna’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re perfectly okay! I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, and I want to be clear that I didn’t think that what we’re doing right now is a date. Like, you kinda have to agree something is a date for it to be a date, and we never said it was, so it isn’t! I am one hundred percent, hundred emoji, hug emoji, demiromantic heart emoji, in support of you.” Greta gave Brenna two thumbs up, her expression serious.

“I understand not being able to control it, and I want you to know that that’s okay. I am already really happy that you told me you like me a lot, and I like being your friend and you being my friend and us being friends, and I want to continue doing that regardless of anything else happening. Heck, I think you can’t even be in a relationship if you can’t be friends. Like…” Greta looked thoughtful for a moment, then seemed to have found an easy point of connection for both of them. “If Rick and Evie hadn’t learned to appreciate each other first and support each other’s interests, that ending could *never* have worked!”

She gave Brenna a smile. “I, uh… hope I’m not saying something dumb, and that this is actually comforting. I asked you a question, you gave me your answer, and I accept it and I’m happy you’re being honest with me.” She held out her arms. “Would a hug help?”

Everything Greta was saying was so counter to what Brenna was expecting that it took her a second to process that had actually heard her correctly. The reference to the movie even made her laugh a little in surprise. The threat of tears was still there, but more due to relief now. *Don’t let me start crying*, she thought desperately. Not trusting her voice not to crack or the tears not to start if she spoke, she nodded and hugged Greta.

After a moment, she felt it was safe to say, “Thank you. You don’t know how relieved I am to hear you say all that.”

Hugging Brenna back strongly, Greta subconsciously activated her mimicry ability to heat herself up like Steel Spirit Alpha and give the gentlest warmest strong hug she could. “And *I’m* relieved that you trust me so much that you’re okay with sharing something so personal with me, even though it seemed to be really scary for you.” She paused for a moment. “You give really good hugs, by the way.”

Brenna grinned at that. “Thanks. You do, too.” She pulled away and took a deep breath. “So um, did you still want to go get something to eat? Or should we call it a night? I’m sure this was a bit more...more than you were expecting from tonight.”

“Yeah! I mean, if you aren’t hungry or want to call it a night, I will drop you off at home first, of course. I’m no knight, but I am chivalrous.” Greta posed with her fists on her hips. “My plans are unchanged though, I was up for going out for dinner with my good friend Brenna before, and I am up for going out for dinner with my good friend Brenna n--” she got interrupted by the rumbling of her stomach. “--ow.”

Stifling a giggle, Brenna gestured at the bike. “Then let’s take your steed and get some Midgardian food. Something else that you highly recommend. You’ve got a good streak going.”

“Oh man, speaking of The Streak, I got some great stories to tell you over pizza.” Greta said, suddenly sounding excited again about something she wanted to share. “Do you like pizza? If you don’t know pizza, you gotta try it! Also, you’ll have to decide if you like pineapple for some reason. It’s a whole thing, apparently.”

She got their helmets out as they walked to Beetlejuice, the motorcycle, full of promises of cheese and tomato sauce.