The sun was down. Freezing cold. But you were inside on the tail end of one of your night shifts at work in the deep trenches of New York. You were behind the cash register, in full uniform, sighing in complete boredom because of the lack of excitement in your life. The life of a young cashier was hard but you got through it every day by telling yourself that you had to get that bread from somewhere or else you would be starving to death after having eaten the last can of cat food (tastes like tuna and is significantly cheaper with an employee discount so you didn't mind). Working at a drugstore had its benefits sometimes.
You were hunched over the counter, waiting for the next customer to show up so you can ring them up but the entire store was almost empty. The only people there were you, the clerk who just walked around doing nothing all night and a couple pharmacists in the back. You were basically alone at the front of the store so things looked pretty dull.
After about the sixth time you finished counting the number of dust particles on your cash register, the sliding doors opened up. Finally a customer walked in.
A person in a big metallic suit walked in slowly. You heard a big thud with every step he made. It was an Iron Man suit. You rolled your eyes in disbelief and thought to yourself that it must be some nerd with a very elaborate Iron Man cosplay. The suit was quite impressive but as a diehard Iron Man fan you noticed that the suit looked nothing like Tony Stark's.
The person walked slowly, looking around in each direction with those Iron Man glowing eyes. He noticed you at the front and made his way to your cash register.
"One lottery ticket please," he said with his robotic voice changer. Sounded exactly like Iron Man. You were impressed but you barely understood what he said.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."
He opened his mask and you saw his face. It was Tony Stark live in the flesh. His sexy goatee, those beady little eyes, the manly stubble around his jawline. Your eyes opened wide in disbelief.
"Uhhh…M-M-Mr. Stark?!" You exclaimed.
He took his helmet off and slicked his hair back. "One lottery ticket please".
"Holy shit, it's YOU. I'm such a big fan! Thank you for saving New York from those aliens that one time! Oh my god, holy crap, I can't believe you're here!"
He put his finger up as if to say "one moment" and then took out his Airpods from each ear.
"Sorry, I was listening to my theme song. Now could you hand me a lottery ticket?"
"S-s-sure thing Mr. Stark."
"Don't call me that. Just call me Mr. Billionaire or Mr. Amazing. Or maybe just Tony."
"O-oh ok." You nervously replied while ringing up the lottery ticket. "That'll be five dollars sir."
"What did I just say?"
"To call you Tony…" You answered back while blushing.
"Right," He replied. "Do you guys accept the official Avengers™ credit card?"
"Uhm no…We only take Visa."
"Damn, hold on." He patted his suit down as if he was looking for his wallet. "Crap, I forgot it in my Mark IV suit."
"Oh don't worry, it's on me," You offered while frantically taking out a five dollar bill from your own pockets and ringing it up.
"Thanks uhh," He said while squinting his eyes to look at your nametag. "Thanks, Y uhhh N, is it?"
"Oh my name isn't Y.N." You took your nametag off. "I misplaced my nametag and borrowed someone else's."
"Well thanks anyways." He replied with a cheeky grin. "Anyways I'm sure you heard that half the population got wiped out last week so I gotta get back to hunting a guy named Thanos. Have you seen him lately by any chance?"
You looked around in confusion. "Uhm no not really, what does he look like?"
"Big guy, purple, has a big glove with different colored stones on it. Ring a bell?"
"Nope, but I think I saw a man in a giant rhino suit destroying cars the other day."
"Oh that's one of Spider-Man's villains. Don't care about him."
"Ah ok…Sorry then I haven't seen Thanos."
"That's fine, he might be on another planet anyways."
"Oh."
You nodded your head. He picked up his lottery ticket and put it in one of his secret compartments that opened up from his suit.
"Nice meeting you," He put his helmet back on, turned on his jets from underneath his boots and started floating. He floated his way out the door but before he could fly away you ran after him.
"Tony wait!" You yelled out at the top of you lungs. He turned his head back and flew back down to where you stood.
"You need an autograph or something?" He asked.
"No, I just need to ask you something…" You said as your cheeks turned a rosy red with nervousness. You looked down to the ground, grabbed one of your arms as you always did when you became shy and then looked back up to Tony.
"Spit it out, kid."
"Well…I just wanted to ask you…" You paused a bit and then you just blurted it out. "Why does a billionaire like you need a lottery ticket?"
He looked at you awkwardly and then flew away without saying a word.