Author's Note

This has been such a fun thing for me to write. The drafts for this story were what kept me awake during class in my junior year of Highschool. At that time I was having horrible luck with staying awake due to a major lack of sleep. At that point, I had just moved and was a fair distance from my school, so in order to catch the bus, I had to get up insanely early to go to work with my dad, then catch the bus from there.

This story was inspired by a snippet of a dream, one of those non-sensical dreams that a whole jumble of things happens. I believe the weird scene was I was able to hold the tesseract bare-handed.

From there, there were a couple of versions of the beginning that were scrapped for what I have now. There were a whole lot of things cut from this final version, but in the end, I think it is for the better. There are a few deleted scenes somewhere that weren't able to fit into the story as it is now, but I could add them later on when I find my math folder with all the word-covered math notes!

There are a few landmarks in the story that as I've re-read it, I'm realizing I subconsciously put in. The jerk-dick teacher was based loosely on my chem teacher who had never really done anything mean towards me, he still made me cry myself to sleep often. The evil parents were based on how I perceived my parents at that time when I was going through some major depression issues and saw everyone as hating me or just downright evil.

Faith is the name of a real-life friend of mine from a few years ago, and her character is based on another dear friend.

Jameson is based on a real-life prick that, there is no doubt in my mind, is a regular on r/incel. His hate and obsessions were real, but thank the Almighty that his actions are strictly fiction.

The friend group in the AU world was based on my lunch table on certain days at school, that thing was a BLAST. Not on the level of my regular lunch table, but I miss it just the same.

Mostly every character in Midgard is based on someone from my life, and keep in mind the majority of this was written in quarantine, so it's safe to say that this was a coping mechanism.

The chapter where Asta shows a teacher a bad time was written during my favorite class- Spanish. My teacher was the nicest lady you could ask for, and I gave her quite a scare when I was so asleep in her class she thought I was dead. Literally, she started to panic a little. I should probably send a gift basket to her soon...

A good majority of the beginning ~12 chapters was written in the middle seat in the middle row of math class, in between note-taking and goofing off with my best friend. Yes, it took that long to type it out. I'm not a very skilled typer.

I remember the day that I ran out of my manuscript for the story, how I had such a momentary panic session. I had no idea how to continue, where to take the story. I dropped it for a bit to try to regain some idea of direction.

At certain points, you can tell what type of music I was listening to as well. Hozier was absolutely in my mix, as well as MCR and Florence and the Machine. the rest was whatever youtube deemed 'for me'.

Little Dark Age was played regularly.

Before you ask- yes, I went through a Loki obsession phase. Not an 'oh please rail me, DADDY' phase, but a 'please hug me father' phase. Don't worry, I'm cringing while writing this too.

Before you judge, you're on here too. You have unresolved daddy issues. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Sorry, that got a bit personal! Let me just steer right past that and move on to the acknowledgments.

I want to thank Tom Hiddleston for living rent-free in my brain for so many years, you are absolutely welcome to stay.

I want to thank Silver for all the support and laughs she's given me throughout the process of writing, and for all the fangirling that occurred. For being a good friend.

For Rivers, forever my boss. An absolute queen.

For Binka and Richie, whose hair absolutely went into my eyes on so many occasions while writing this story.

For mom who thought it was hilarious that I write fanfic but proud of me nonetheless. Also for dad, who mom told my little secret to and now teases me over it. I hope to god you guys never find and read this because it will be used as fodder at family events for decades to come.

Finally, for all my readers out there that stuck through this mess. You guys were a huge part of keeping this thing afloat because, without you, it would have just become another unfinished, abandoned, and dead fanfic to be stumbled across years from now only to aggravate those unlucky few who read it. You all are the best, you have no idea how thankful I am for you.

Lots of love,

Onya