Wow, it's been a hot minute since I posted anything here! But I got a suggestion from a Careful Frog about doing a bit of a body swap au, and I thought it sounded fun!
This would take place in Universal Headaches, after the explosion in Sutton's house. :)
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The explosion from the kitchen sent a shockwave through the entire house. Sutton stumbled back and knocked into someone else as a ripple echoed through her very bones. It was a hum, a vibration, and it set her teeth on edge and her vision black.
"Is everyone okay?"
Sutton blinked awake and laid still as she heard the other Avengers sound off in reply. She felt woozy and weak and she didn't trust her voice not to sound like it if she answered too quickly. After a moment she sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. She sat up, up and up, and she felt… off.
"Sutton? You okay?" Tony peered around the wall to look at her, but his eyes didn't meet hers.
"I'm alive." Sutton said.
Her body stiffened as her hands snapped up to her throat. Her voice! The voice that came from her throat was distinctly not hers. The last she'd noticed, she didn't speak like a British man. Her voice didn't come from deep under her ribs and she didn't sound nearly so refined.
Tony scowled at her.
"I wasn't talking to you, Reindeer Games." Tony said. "Sutton?"
Sutton looked down and finally noticed the body sprawled over her legs.
No. Not her legs. She didn't wear leather pants or big black boots and her legs weren't the length of a freaking tree.
Panic spiked in her chest.
She was staring down at her own head of hair. She recognized the untamable curls, her purple shirt.
"I'm… alright." Her own voice replied.
Sutton watched her own body push away from her and stand on shaking legs, before not-her took a steadying breath and looked themselves over.
"What's going on?" Sutton snapped. She reached up and felt over a face that wasn't hers. Sharp cheekbones and a square jaw and… and black hair.
"Oh no. No, no, no."
This couldn't be happening. She could not be- be Loki!
Sutton moved to stand and all her limbs felt too long. Like it took forever to finally get off the ground and figure out how to stand without toppling over like the tree she felt like. She could see over the heads of most everyone in the room and it made her feel dizzy.
"Something bad happened," she said. "It's me. I'm Sutton."
Everyone in the room gave her a scathing look, distrust marring their features, and Sutton reached out placating hands.
"Guys, please. It's me. I think that explosion did something. Oh, heck. We swapped bodies. I'm gonna puke. Loki, tell them!"
She looked down at her own face and ice crept through her veins. Her own face was giving her a calculating look, eyes shrewd and sharp in a way that was wholly unfamiliar.
And then the look was gone. Replaced by a much more familiar confused disgust.
"Did you really think that was going to work?" Loki said. In her voice. In her body. "Seriously? A body swap? You're disgusting."
"How dare you! You tell them the truth right now!"
Sutton took a step forward and Loki took a step back, the look of apprehension he wore on her face utterly convincing.
A hand clasped Sutton around her shoulder and she was pulled back forcefully. She snapped her head to the side and Thor frowned at her. It was weird seeing his face at such an even level.
"Enough Loki." He said. "The game is up."
"I'm not playing. Look, ask me a personal question. I won't know the answer!"
Thor rolled his eyes and Tony unknowingly waved Loki over. He threw his hand over Loki's, her?, shoulder and cast a scowl in her direction.
"You sure you're good, Small Fry?"
If Thor's firm grip on her shoulder hadn't been such a deterrent, Sutton might have been inclined to try and snatch Loki up and shake some honesty into him.
Well. Not too harshly, obviously. She didn't want to hurt herself.
Loki gave her another side eye and shifted closer to Tony, as if seeking safety.
"Yeah." He said. And she did not sound that demure and helpless! "I just- I don't get why he's always trying to mess with me. Did I do something to him?"
"You can't rationalize crazy, kid."
"Tony, listen to me. I'm Sutton, and you have to figure out how to fix this! I-I can't be stuck like this forever. And Loki will get me fired in the first hour if he goes to work for me. Please!"
Sutton surged forwards again, desperate for Tony to see and get it and understand. Surely he had to realize she was telling the truth, right? What point would Loki even have to try a charade like this?
"Loki!"
Thor's yell was a roar in her ear as he pulled on her shoulder and she tripped over too long legs in an attempt to remain upright. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear, and her voice died in her throat as Thor glared down at her.
"Enough." He continued. Sutton flinched over the harshness directed at her. "You are doing nothing except for embarrassing yourself. Cease this foolery."
"But-"
His grip tightened on her shoulder and Sutton let out a shocked yelp.
"Ouch! Hey!"
The room was silent as everyone watched. Normally this was the part where Sutton would feel heat erupt over her face, but that didn't happen even as she felt the embarrassment grow.
Why wouldn't anyone listen to her? How was she supposed to convince them?
Tony eyed her with a confused disdain and Natasha's calculating look was contemplative as she watched. No one seemed to know what to do with the outburst. It wasn't exactly Loki's style, which was exactly why they should have known she was telling the truth.
"Getting a bit unhinged there, buddy." Clint said.
Sutton scowled.
"It- it's okay, Thor." Loki stepped forward, in her body, and hesitatingly placed a hand on Thor's arm. "I don't want you to fight with your… brother because of me."
Sutton had to give him points for weasellyness.
Loki shifted his gaze to her again and she did not make those sorts of faces! She didn't look at people like she was a frightened Victorian girl trying to stop a schoolyard fight.
"You don't have to do this, you know." Loki said to her. "I mean, sorry you're stuck here, but you could, you know, try to make it more bearable for everyone."
He didn't even talk like her! Was everyone here suddenly dumb?
But fine. No one believed her? That was fine! Two could play at that game.
"You're right," she said. She tried to go for the same oozing, snobby tone he usually used, but it didn't quite sound right. "My deepest apologies for my foolishness. I will make it my mission to make amends in the fullest way possible."
Steve rolled his eyes and crossed his arms; Bruce held up a finger.
"Ah, yeah." He said. "We have a bigger problem than Loki. The Franken-Toaster is absolutely decimated."
Sutton froze yet again.
The Franken-Toaster. The frequency convertor what-have-you.
Her face may not have heated, but it could certainly grow cold. She looked over at Loki, an accusation in her eyes as he raised one of her brows.
"Well," he said. And this time his voice was actually subdued. "Decimated. That's a problem."
