Hi all, welcome to my first fic. Been in my head ever since I finished Ship of the Dead, so I thought I might as well write it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Magnus Chase series or anything written by Rick Riordan.

More at the end, but first, have fun reading :D

"Hey, Maggie."

I looked up from the book I was reading, curled up on a beanbag chair in the Chase Space's rec room. Soft, buttery springtime sunlight was pouring in from the window, mixing with the Sunday special music burbling from the old radio in the corner. We'd painted the walls cyan and yellow, so as to make it a relaxing place to be, but right now both colours were clashing spectacularly with the bright green hair of the person leaning against the doorway. Alex Fierro was grinning, wrapped in a white robe and obviously just having gotten out of the shower. She was female today, and everything seemed to glow brighter with her entrance, which made my face stretch into an involuntary smile.

"I'm going out. Wanna come with and go grab something to eat?"

I craned my head around and looked at the clock on the wall behind me. "Alex, it's past one in the afternoon, and it's a Sunday. Who in their right mind goes out at one in the afternoon on a Sunday?"

"People who aren't more than 50 years old, Magnus, that's who. And oh my gods, are you seriously listening to that music?" She crossed the room and banged on the radio, shutting John Lennon off mid warble. She turned around and then shrugged, the movement emphasising the slightness of her figure, lost in the folds of the robe. "I dunno. I've just been feeling kinda restless for the past week, staying here. I feel like I need some fresh air."

I considered this. It was true, we hadn't been out of the Chase Space much these past few days, since we'd been pretty full up. Today was a rare quiet day, probably because everyone else was enjoying the unaccustomed sunlight after the last few months of winter. Spring was coming, but it was coming slowly, and all the better for that. For Alex though, who loved change more than anything else, it must have been infuriating.

"Fine, Fierro. What time do you want to go?"

"As soon as I get back to looking fabulous. These robes are too damn plain." She waltzed out of the room, humming something that sounded suspiciously like it was off Jack's top 40 playlist, cutting off any chance I had of making a witty pun about fabulous things.

Then again, that would have led to instant decapitation so it was probably for the best.

Ten minutes later, we were standing outside on the sidewalk, Alex wrapped in a bright pink windbreaker and with her usual pink and green patterned sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose. "So where do you want to go then?", she asked, "and if you even think about suggesting falafel I will do some serious damage to you." I closed my mouth, and put on my usual 'no falafel' glum face. Alex, of course, ignored this and sauntered off, speaking to the air as she walked. "I feel like McD's, for like a really messy, oily burger, y'know what I mean?"

"Uh...no. McDonald's is disgusting and you know it."

"That's the point, Magnus. I've got an urge to massacre something messy and disgusting." She looked at me, her lips curling into her usual derisive grin that foretold a coming insult. "I mean, since I can't massacre you out here…"

"Oh ha, ha. You're really grasping today, Fierro."

"I blame you. Your presence is dragging my scintillating wit into the ground."

I chose to ignore that comment, focusing instead on the looming statue of Leif Erikson. I guess I must have zoned out for a minute, because the next thing I felt was a punch in the shoulder. "Pay attention, Chase. The closest McDonald's is on Commonwealth Avenue, so we've got to turn right here. Seriously, what's so interesting about Leif? You see him practically every night at dinner."

"Eh, it's nothing. Just thinking about an inside joke me and my mum used to make."

"About what?"

"The fact that the armour of Leif Erikson, Viking explorer extraordinaire, consists of a mini skirt and a metal bra."

She looked once at the statue and then burst out laughing, throwing her head back in the sun. Usually I'm not the type to stop and stare (editor's note: he is) but her laughter warmed me up better than the checked jacket I had pulled on before we left. We walked on, Alex still sniggering.

"Hi, welcome to McDonald's, may I take your order?"

The place was half empty on a Sunday afternoon, so the cashier said it with pauses in between the words, instead of the usual rush in one breath. I watched as Alex ordered, pointing at the giant display screens behind the counter a couple of times. She paid with a few notes, and then moved over to let me order.

"Two 25's and a small Coke, please", I said and waited while the dude entered the order.

"What's a twenty five?", Alex asked, looking curiously at the register and trying to read the code upside down. Before I could answer, her order arrived on the usual red plastic tray, looking messy and oily as promised. She took it with a beatific expression on her face and went in search of somewhere to sit, all else forgotten.

I found her at a table for two, next to a window. She'd already gotten through about half her fries, and a burger with a massive chunk missing was sitting in front of her. I sat down opposite her, and unwrapped my order, which was…

"Magnus Chase, you are unbelievable. Absolutely, completely unbelievable."

I dipped my McFalafel in the white concoction on the tray and sat back, grinning as Alex shook her head. "How? Just how do you manage to find the stuff everywhere we go? Seriously, you're like a falafel bloodhound."

"Falafel is amazing, ok! Even if it's from McDonald's!"

Alex proceeded to ignore me for the next 10 minutes, massacring her burger. Only after she'd drained the last few drops of my Coke did she deign to look at me, and even then it was a look tinged with disbelief. I'd finished my falafel and was sitting back, watching the pedestrians walk past, most of them with their faces tilted downwards at their smartphones. Across from me, a toddler was stumbling across the pavement, his mom the sole exception from all the other texting adults. She was watching him with an expression similar to Alex's, a little bit of wonder mixed with a question blending into affection.

Or maybe my Falafel-vision was making me see things.

"You miss her, don't you?"

I looked around. Alex was still looking at me, still with that expression on her face, except now with a little bit of sadness in her eyes. "Yeah", I said. "I do." She closed her eyes for a moment, and then, whispered, almost to herself. "I wish I knew what that was like, you know?" Her heterochromic eyes were half closed, and the eyelashes glittered with a little bit of wetness. I reached over and took her hand. Encouraged by the fact that she didn't immediately whip it away, I held on to it. "Listen, Alex. I know that your dad was a meinfreter, and that Loki is, y'know, Loki, but - that doesn't mean that you haven't got a family. Floor Nineteen was there for me when I came in, and they're all there for you. And there's also me, so that's like winning the lottery twice."

She looked up and gave me a small, watery smile. Then she wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve, and used my outstretched arm to drag me up, and I knew that the old Alex was back.

"C'mon, Maggie. Let's go home."

We walked home slowly, moving against the flow of people going in the opposite direction. We got buffeted particularly hard by two women deep in conversation, and Alex looped her arm through mine, at which point goosebumps erupted all over it, and I was devoutly thankful for the long sleeve covering it.

The Chase Space was soon before us, and Alex withdrew her hand. "Well, Maggie, aren't you going to thank me?"

I admit, I panicked. "What? Why? I mean, thanks, but...what?"

She grinned evilly, as if she enjoyed the sight of me scrambling, which of course she did. "For getting you out of your slow descent into being a boring old fart, that's why. Seriously, who even listens to the radio on Sunday?"

"For peace and quiet. Dying a violent death day after day gets monotonous sometimes."

"Please. If you wanted peace and quiet, you'd have stayed in Folkvanger."

"Nah. Not enough falafel."

"Oh, for the love of Odin!"

We walked inside, and as if by unspoken agreement up to our two deck chairs at the top of the mansion. The sun was going down now, flaring orange through the evening sky. We sat side by side, just watching, content.

"Hey, Alex."

"What, Magnus?"

"Feel better now?"

She laughed softly, and then leaned over and kissed me, just as the sun finally dipped below the horizon.

A massive thanks to my mate happy_little_snek(Insta) for proofreading this over and over again!

Comment on it and let me know what you think, and share it if you're so inclined :)

And most of all, thanks for reading!