Tony answered the door for the pizza guy. In his Iron Man suit. Because, why not?
Why not? What could possibly go wrong; he was bored. Who was going to believe a pizza guy?
Sutton tried to wrangle him away from the door, but his suit merely pulled her along, clinging to his arm, like she wasn't even there. Of course the kid proclaimed Tony's suit as "the best cosplay he'd ever seen, like, dude!" And of course Tony preened.
It only got a little awkward when Tony reached for a wallet he didn't have and Sutton had to supply the tip. Not quite as generous as what Iron Man would have given.
They settled in whatever spots they could find around her living and dining room and silently nibbled at their pizza slices. Sutton found herself hanging off the arm of her sofa as she balanced a paper plate in one hand.
"I have to admit." Bruce said after a couple bites. "It's hard to compete with New York pizzas."
Steve hummed through chewing in agreement. They'd have to deal. Delivery didn't quite reach that far.
But. She was eating pizza with the Avengers.
Pizza with the Avengers.
It took her brain a couple times to process as she stared blankly at the wall, but when the realization settled in she let out an amused snort. Natasha looked at her and Sutton swallowed her bite.
"Something funny?" Natasha asked.
Sutton gave a little shrug.
"I just thought about how weird it is, that I'm having pizza with the Avengers."
Natasha rolled her eyes and Tony snapped his fingers.
"Pizza with the Avengers," he said. "That could be a fundraiser prize to raise money for cleaning up New York."
The room groaned. Tony looked insulted.
"What?" He whined. "It's a brilliant idea. Do you know how much some rich sucker would pay to eat with Earth's Mightiest heroes?"
"You're a rich sucker," said Clint.
"You can't just decide to commit us to that," Steve added. "Besides, I'm sure Thor will have to leave right away."
Thor gave his pizza slice a speculative look as he held it in front of him.
"Well." He rumbled. "If it is pizza to make right what my brother has wrought…."
Loki scoffed quietly, to himself, and the room erupted again in jibing remarks that he had no excuse, Thanos or not, to complain.
Sutton wished she had the energy to keep up with the back and forth banter that flew across the room. Her body felt more heavy as the night went on and even her tub bed sounded like a glorious reprieve.
She helped pick up paper plates and the few leftover pieces of pizza that weren't consumed, and brought them to the kitchen to put away. There weren't enough slices left to justify shoving the box in the fridge and washing her hands of it. Honestly, she was going to go broke feeding these people.
Sutton pulled open a drawer and grabbed the roll of tin foil to wrap the slices. It used up less space than tupperware, at least. But she'd have to remind Thor that you could absolutely not put aluminum foil in the microwave.
She already lost her dear toaster.
Her fingers skimmed over the cool foil and her mind flashed back to her past thought. Did the conspiracy theorists have a point? Were they onto something?
Sutton was not entirely proud of herself. But for once she was thankful that people were mostly ignoring her as she pulled a long sheet from the roll and folded it up to fit in her pocket.
She was desperate! And she just really, really wanted to see if it would actually work.
She was Sutton Regan. Myth Buster. Everyone knew that it wasn't sad to try it if it was for science.
Everyone got through with their nightly bathroom rituals, and when they finished she was craving sleep like sugar. She yanked her pajamas on and braided her hair before she sank down onto her mattress and pulled out the tinfoil. It only took a bit of struggle and finesse to craft the ugliest bowl of a hat, but she didn't care. She collapsed onto her back and closed her eyes. It was a delight.
And for the moment she could pretend she was alone. That she wasn't attempting to use kitchen products to block nightmares from an alien. Pretend the government wasn't looking into her connection to said alien.
The peace didn't last long.
Her body relaxed, her brain stopped buzzing, and the release of nothingness swept over her, only for it to abruptly turn sharp. The dreams were a bit more substantial than the previous night. There was the color red and bursts of intense heat. It felt like a trial. Like a confession she didn't ask for.
Over and over and over.
By two in the morning she sat up and crumpled the tinfoil hat into a compressed little ball and flung it across the bathroom.
Myth: Busted.
There were only a couple hours until her alarm was set to go off, and Sutton wanted every meager second of sleep she could get. Rage flickered through her. The sort that comes at the tail end of sleep deprived delusion. The sort of rage you get when you're exhausted enough that someone's mere breathing is enough to convince you they're doing it on purpose.
She wanted to march into her roommate's room and punch Loki square in the face. Right in his stupid, smug face!
What did she ever do to him?
Luckily for her, she still had just enough sense to know that would be a very poor decision. Still, she was mad and she was exhausted and the combination made her feel like crying. But crying only made her eyes hot and, therefore, that much more miserable.
Instead of dooming herself by attempting to fight a phony god, she sat in a daze in the corner of her tub, balled up in her messy blankets.
By six in the morning, and still awake, she knew she wasn't going to work. Jen would know something was up if she stared blankly at her monitor all day, and she didn't trust herself to drive in her current state anyway.
Sutton grabbed her phone and crawled out of the tub. Her foot caught in one of the blankets and she stumbled across the linoleum floor before she caught herself on the bathroom door. A string of grumbling fell from her lips and she groped for the blanket and pulled it over her shoulders instead of leaving it.
She needed coffee before she dared call her boss.
Her kitchen was dim, as it usually was, but there was a pot of coffee already made, so in the back of her mind she noted Tony must be awake. But she wasn't focused on anything besides getting some caffeine in her and calling in sick.
Sutton leaned against the counter, blanket over her shoulders, and took a sip of black coffee. Her entire body seized and shuddered and her face wrinkled in disgust.
Bleh! She forgot the creamer.
The phone rang a couple times before going to voicemail. Voicemail was good. Voicemail didn't question you or talk back.
"Hey Dave," she said. Her voice was actually still hoarse from lack of sleep, which worked in her favor. "It's Sutton. I'm not feeling too great today, and I don't want to, um, spread it around the office. So, ah, I'm not- I'm just going to call out. I can make up time later, if that works. Um. Thanks."
She dropped her phone on the counter and rubbed at her burning eyes. It spoke of her exhaustion that only after hanging up did she notice three figures lurking to the side of her. Sutton jerked around and really questioned how she didn't notice the lot of them before.
Tony and Bruce stared at her from over some paperwork; Tony with a towel draped around his neck as if preparing for a shower. Probably waiting for her to wake up and be done getting ready for work, she realized. Clint perched himself on a counter opposite of her. One of his legs dangled off the edge and he swung it idly back and forth, now and then it lightly tapped the cabinets below.
"Small Fry?" Tony questioned.
Sutton rubbed at her eyes and tried to blink widely, as if that would help her wake up. She certainly didn't have enough acceptable caffeine in her to handle real people.
"Hey guys." She attempted to chirp. But her voice cracked horribly and she winced under their perplexed looks.
Bruce stepped around the counter and walked up to her. Sutton remembered that she had come straight from bed to the kitchen without getting dressed and hastily pulled her blanket more firmly around herself.
"What are your symptoms?" He asked.
Sutton followed his movements with floating eyeballs as he examined her eyes and felt her forehead with the back of his hand.
"You don't have a fever." He noted.
Was he even that kind of doctor? Sutton thought he was the scientist kind. Sure he helped out those sick families, but- well. Okay. Maybe he knew something.
Still. What was he? The illness police?
Sutton stepped back away from his reach and shrugged. To distract herself from the scrutiny, she went to the fridge and pulled out the previously forgotten creamer.
"I'm just having a bit of trouble falling asleep." She said. "The, um, mattress probably needs some more, ah, air. In it."
The quiet thudding of Clint's foot against the cabinet stopped and he shifted to face her more fully; his head dipped to the side.
"You have several tells, when you're lying." He commented. "You can't maintain eye contact, for one."
A shiver ran through her as she turned to put the creamer away. It would be so much less creepy if he didn't say that with his arms crossed, in a dark kitchen, like it was some kind of impromptu interrogation. Sutton faced him and lifted up her chin but still used holding her mug in front of her as a sort of barrier between them.
"I'm not lying," she said. "If the bags under my eyes were any darker I could probably pass them off as shiners."
"Alright, sheesh." Clint griped. "So it's the mattress's fault. Sorry."
Sutton winced and looked away, quickly taking a sip of her coffee to cover her discomfort. Then she realized what she'd done and tried to look back unfazed. But Clint already smiled grimly back at her, one brow raised in challenge.
What she wanted to do, instead of being harassed by people who shouldn't exist, and certainly shouldn't have somehow ended up with her, was roll up like a sad little burrito and not get up again until she was too hungry to ignore it.
"What are you not telling us, Small Fry? Please tell me you're not still torn up about that toaster. I'll buy you a better one."
Sutton couldn't help the small smile.
"The death of my favorite toaster will haunt me forever, Tony. What are you working on now?"
And she'd like to think she was smooth and maybe Tony was oblivious and couldn't read her facial cues like Clint; but he settled her with a look and tilted his head in a barely recognizable nod. He didn't have much room to talk anyway. It wasn't like he had slept much since he'd stayed in her house. She was thankful that he at least complied with her clunky change of subject.
Clint kept his eyes on her, suspicious, but Bruce took the shift in conversation in stride.
And it really wasn't a big deal. They didn't need to worry about her being bullied by Loki. He hadn't actually hurt her, and she didn't plan to look anymore like a whining little kid than she already did.
"Well," Tony said. "We're still working on the math for all this wonky science. Katniss over here just wanted to be part of the slumber party. He was supposed to supply the snacks, but he claimed Thoreal ate them all."
Sutton groaned in annoyance and rubbed at her face. Clint's expression didn't change.
"Okay, how much of this is authentically from you, and how much is from something like tumblr?"
Tony shifted his head from side to side and made a face that said, eh, maybe a little of both.
"You guys have got to stop looking yourselves up on the internet. That can't be healthy."
"Too late for that." Tony popped back.
"It'd definitely…. Interesting." Bruce commented.
Clint wrinkled his nose.
"You're lucky we're too distracted with this getting home crap and looking up your agencies to do much real digging. Looks like y'all have so many dang story lines about us." He tilted his head back and pinned her with an accusatory glare. "And these fan bases have some serious mental issues."
"Yeah." Sutton's voice lilted in exasperated agreement. "I know. I doubt it's much different in your world though."
Sutton excused herself to hurry and shower and get dressed so others could use the bathroom. More than anything she wanted to try and get more sleep, but she had a feeling that wouldn't happen as long as she was in her own house.
Perhaps it'd be best if she stepped out for a bit.
Pulling on some sweats and a basic shirt, Sutton threw up her hair in a messy bun. She checked her phone as she dragged her mattress out of the bathroom to drop it in it's daytime spot in her hallway. It was still early, but her mom would be up making sure Tyrese got ready for school on time.
Her mom did say she was welcome any time.
She sent a text asking if it was alright if she stopped by for coffee then headed for the kitchen to grab something for breakfast. By the time she pulled out a bowl and a box of cereal, her mom replied.
"Yes, of course! And DON'T eat! I made scones. :)"
Sutton blew air from her nose and put the bowl away. Of course her mom did. Most likely she was hurrying to whip together a batch of scones and Tyrese would whine about how she never ever did that for him.
Which she totally did.
She turned to put the cereal box back, but Clint grabbed it from his spot on the counter and grinned when she let out a surprised, hey!
"Change your mind?"
"I'm actually heading out for a bit," she said. "Ah, if you guys need anything let me know?"
He tipped his head and Bruce looked over. Tony seemed to have disappeared for the shower already.
"Do you need help with anything?" Bruce asked.
Sutton shook her head.
"Oh, no. I'm just going to visit my mom. And, ha, it'd be hard to explain if I brought any of you over with me. Sorry."
Clint shoved a handful of dry cereal into his mouth and winked.
"Your mom would love us."
"With manners like that your own mother would be appalled."
Natasha walked into the room, her hair up in a pony and in lounge clothes. No makeup. She looked remarkably… human. It was a little disconcerting. She gave Sutton a once over and her expression went from wry to concerned.
"Are you feeling ok?"
"Stupen-reat."
"Excuse me?"
Sutton grimaced and closed her eyes as she sorted out her thoughts.
"Stupendous. Great. I'm doing fine, basically. Thank you."
"And you're going to drive like that?" Clint asked.
True, she'd questioned her ability earlier, but she felt like she would be able to make it after getting some coffee in her.
"I'll be fine." She insisted. "And if I fall asleep and crash you won't have to deal with me anymore, so win-win, right?"
"Getting morbid this early?"
Sutton yelped in surprise at the new voice behind her. Steve stood in sweats and a white tee and still had messy hair from sleep. He looked down at her, hands on his hips; something in between disapproval and amusement danced in his eyes. Sutton flushed.
"J-just keepin' it real."
She flashed finger guns. Finger guns.
Steve made a face and she wanted to end her miserable existence. Natasha and Clint at least tried to keep their laughter internal and not further embarrass her.
"Okay, well. I'm just going to go now. My cell phone number is on the fridge if you need anything!"
Sutton booked it before she could humiliate herself further. After leaving for work a couple times with no incidents, it was a little easier to leave them alone at her house. And she felt like she needed some space. What with not getting any sleep the last two days and all.
Her mom and her mom's husband, Howard, lived in a small, quaint house halfway across town. It wasn't a terrible drive, but it was enough to protect her from too many impromptu visits, which only really became a concern recently.
The sight of the home filled her with a warm familiarity. A wind chime swayed gently in the breeze on the front porch, and her mom added a hummingbird feeder near some bushes out front since the last time she'd come over.
Sutton covered a yawn as she stepped out of her car in the driveway. She could see her mom walk around the kitchen through the front window, moving quickly about as she cradled a bowl, and Tyrese raced through the room with his backpack in hand. He paused and backtracked as he spotted Sutton through the window. The smile that lit up his face was just as enthusiastic as it always was, and Sutton joyfully mimicked the expression.
Despite being lightheaded, Sutton dutifully adjusted her stance as he ran for the door. Feet shoulder width apart and angled, arms up. The door burst open and Tyrese leaped out with a,
"Hi-ya!"
Both of them made karate-chopping motions at each other with overly stern faces and sound effects to match. Sutton kicked lamely, her foot hardly lifting off the driveway, and Tyrese spun around dramatically, throwing a kick of his own. His kick was much more pulled together. She could tell he'd been practicing diligently for soccer again.
"Get in the house, you weirdos."
Her mom peered down the foyer from the living room, the bowl gone from her hands now, and she rolled her eyes at their display. It was chilly outside, and Sutton didn't feel like standing on her own two feet for too much longer. Tyrese dropped his defensive stance and ran up to her to throw his arms around her waist and give her a squeeze.
Oh geez. He was nearly her height now. It wasn't fair.
Already, he was getting into his more gangly stage. His arms and legs looked long and the curly mass of hair on his head helped him gain an inch or two he hadn't earned. Dark skin, dark eyes, crooked smile. If it wasn't for the slim face they'd both inherited from their mother, he'd look exactly like his dad.
His own gaze flickered briefly to the top of her head, which told her he noticed the closing gap as well. When he caught her disgruntled glare, he ducked his head and smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, hey, guess what! I aced my math test yesterday." He said as they walked into the house.
It smelled like cinnamon and chocolate inside, and it made Sutton's stomach growl.
"Awesome job!" She praised. "But are there any tests you haven't aced? You're too smart for your own good, you know."
"No. Math is just easy. If you listened when I told you what the rules are, you'd get it too."
Sutton and her mother looked to each other, their matching blue eyes mirroring in disbelief.
"You could try," Sutton said. "But I had enough trouble figuring out how to get you the right calculator, so the odds aren't in your favor."
Tyrese shoved a few notebooks into his backpack as he cast her a look. It was a soccer themed backpack, but Sutton's stomach twisted a little at the Avengers notebook he shoved inside.
"The scones are done." Her mother announced.
Tyrese dropped his backpack and darted for the platter stacked with freshly glazed scones.
"Hey." Sutton complained. "Mom made those for me."
"She made them for everyone. And I have to go to school."
Her mom looked at the clock in the kitchen and clicked her tongue.
"The bus will be here in a few minutes," she said. "I hope you're ready to go."
"I am!"
Sutton helped herself to a mug and poured herself another cup of coffee. She shifted over to the plate of scones and gave her mom a squeeze as she reached for one. They were still warm, with a delicious blend of cinnamon and chocolate. The vanilla glaze on top was a nice, sweet touch. She sighed happily as she chewed and her mom smiled.
"Good, then?"
Her mouth was full, so Sutton signed. She made a fist with her right hand and rocked it up and down in a 'yes'. Her mom's smile widened.
"Good. Now sit down and eat up. You look like you haven't slept in days. Is that why you aren't at work?"
Sutton flinched and swallowed. She grabbed her mug and her scone and ducked over to sit on one of the stools at the kitchen bar.
"Yeah. Just feeling a bit under the weather."
Tyrese frowned as he threw his backpack over his shoulders and shoved his arms through the straps. He put down his remaining scone, already half eaten, and put his hand on her forehead.
"Um. Mom." He said. "What's a normal temperature?"
Sutton chuckled and gently moved his hand down.
"I don't have a fever," she said. Her mom still looked a bit too speculative, so Sutton grabbed her phone. "But, hey, do you want to see those pictures I promised you before you go to school?"
His face instantly lit up.
"Yes please!"
She pulled up the falsified photos and handed her phone over with instructions to swipe right to see more. Tyrese's eyebrows rose in shock.
The first picture was of Steve. He was in his suit and giving a salute with a smile reminiscent of his show days. He was also wearing his helmet at Sutton's insistence that it would be harder to recognize him as himself that way. There were two more pictures after that. One with Thor who flexed with his hammer as he gave a beaming smile to the camera. It was a bit more risky than Steve's, if only because there wasn't much to mask his face with. And the hammer didn't look particularly homemade.
The last, Loki's, picture was the worst, in her opinion, because she was in it and Loki had insisted she kneel as if swearing fealty to him. He had his arms outstretched at his sides and an insufferable smirk on his face. If he was an actual cosplayer it would have been a funny picture.
But he wasn't.
The only reason she didn't go feral over it was because the backgrounds actually looked like comic con and she couldn't let Tyrese down after making him a promise.
Tyrese swiped back and forth through the pictures a couple times and his look of disbelief didn't diminish.
"Sutton!" He exclaimed. "That is Captain America!"
"Yeah." Sutton took a sip of coffee. "Pretty impressive costuming, huh?"
"No. It is him. Like, that Chris guy you like! That's actually him!"
Sutton choked on her coffee.
"What? No way." Her voice was high, and she masked it as disbelief rather than terror or embarrassment. She hoped Tony hadn't hacked her phone to listen to her like he'd hacked her computer.
"What the heck would, um, Chris Evans be doing? At comic con? The guy just did a good job."
"It looks exactly like him though. Mom, look."
He held out the phone and Sutton forced herself to stay seated. Her mom didn't even care about Marvel, really. She'd barely watched any of the movies. It wasn't likely that she would immediately be able to tell.
Her mom looked at the picture and pressed her lips together as she stared at it with a forced concentration.
"Hm." She hummed; Sutton knew she was in the clear. "He looks very similar, I think."
"Mom. Look."
He reached around for his backpack, probably to pull out his notebook for reference, but brakes hissed outside and all of them looked out the window to see the school bus stopped at the curb.
"Go!" Her mom scolded. "You know he doesn't wait!"
Tyrese gave Sutton one last, quick, parting hug and zipped out the door.
"Love you; I'll see you later!" He called. "And I still think you met Chris Evans!"
Sutton put her chin in her hand and took another bite of her scone.
Well. As long as he just thought it was an actor. She could work with that.