Stark's Shadow

Chapter 15 - Stay Away From My Pizza

I hear footsteps. I wake up. On the floor. Tony was next to me.

"Tony?" Pepper's voice calls out, "Tony, where are you?"

My brother groans and sits up, "On the floor, apparently,"

"You don't say?" Pepper crosses her arms and smiles, "You sleep anywhere but you're bed."

"I fully planned on going to bed last night," Tony says, then shoots me a sideways glance. It's a don't-you-dare-snitch look. I raise my eyebrows slightly in response. A nod would get Pepper's attention.

Pepper looks at me, "I swear, he was," I tell her, "I asked him to watch a show with me. I was having a hard time falling asleep."

"She's been through a lot," Tony adds.

Pepper laughs, "The other day, you two got in a fight over who has seen more rainbows,"

"I have," Tony says.

"Don't start, Tony," Pepper begs, "Please."

Tony rolls his eyes in response, getting up, "I'm too old to be sleeping on the floor," He complains.

"Then don't sleep on the floor!"

"I didn't mean to Pep. I fell."

"Well, as long as you can get up," I hear a voice say, "I think you're too young for life alert."

I turn to see Peter. I check the time. It's almost noon.

Tony rolls his eyes at the teen, "I'm not that old!"

Peter laughs and agrees, "Okay, Mr. Stark, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Pepper asks.

"Oh, nothing," Tony waves her off. He gets a glare, "Well, not nothing. It's nothing dangerous."

Pepper and Tony bicker a bit. She says he's too busy with all his projects and he should at least eat first. Tony, as usual, insists he is fine. The end result is me offering to bring him and Peter lunch, so they're both happy.

I don't plan on making anything much. Only a few pizzas.

"Long time no see," I hear from behind me.

"Morning, Clint,"

"It's nearly noon,"

I set the oven to the right temperature, "It is still technically morning,"

He shrugs, "Yeah, alright. So, how are you doing?"

"Alive, so that's a good start,"

"I'm serious," He responds, "You haven't been around since, well, you know."

"It's been about two weeks now," I tell him, "I'm fine. You don't need to worry."

I don't get a response. Clint leans against the counter, resting his elbows on them, and he watches me. I put the pizzas in the oven and set a timer.

"What?" I ask, looking at my friend. No response. I stand in silence, not moving. He watches me, and I watch him, "Do you want pizza? Because you can have some,"

"I'm alright,"

I nod and start cleaning up. The kitchen wasn't overly messy, but it was a distraction.

Loki and Thor walk into the kitchen. They were chatting about something but stopped when they saw us.

"Well, hello, mortals," Loki greets.

"Greetings, friends!" Thor greets us at the same time. He looks between us, "Is everything alright?"

"Big time," I tell the god. Clint smiles at them, "Clint's being weird, but that's normal."

"Hey!" He exclaims in protest.

"Sorry, but it's true,"

"I'm probably the least weird person here!"

"In the kitchen? Yes. The whole building, no," I tell him, "Pepper is the only normal person here and I'm somewhat not sure she isn't some super-human."

"Okay and I'm a regular guy too," Clint says, "I'm just really good with a bow. And maybe a few other things,"

I nod, "Well if everyone else here is odd with powers, enhancements, and extremely long lifespans, and all you got is a bow, you're weird."

Clint nods, "True, we can't all be enhanced super witches that don't seem to age,"

"Now I'm not sure if you mean me or her," Loki says.

I snort out a laugh. Clint looks at Thor, "This is why she says not to call her a lady," At that comment I start laughing even harder. So hard I snort like a pig, "Yep, see? Lady my ass."

"Bite me, Clint,"

The timer finally goes off, right before he can respond. I take the pizzas out, and leave one on the kitchen counter, "Don't eat it all," I tell the three, but mostly Thor.

I take the other two pizzas downstairs. Peter can probably eat one on his own. Tony and Bruce can share the other. The three give a quick thanks, hardly looking up from their work. I decided it was best to leave them.

I go upstairs and see a whole single slice of pizza left for me, "I'm impressed, I thought I'd get nothing!" I tell them happily, grabbing the slice. I pause before I take a bite, "Okay, actually, that's weird. Did you guys do something to it?"

"What could we possibly have done to your pizza in the short time you were gone?"

"I don't know, you're the god of pranks. This is your area of expertise."

"Touche,"

I look at Clint, "Did you lick it or something?"

"What? Why me?"

"Loki wouldn't do that because he could do worse, and Thor wouldn't do it because he's too kind."

Loki opens his mouth to argue but closes it.

"If Thor's so nice, why wouldn't he tell you?"

"You could have distracted him, or waited until he wasn't looking,"

"You are paranoid,"

"I have an older brother,"

Clint laughs, "Tony would never,"

"To me, he would, and has, licked my pizza," I tell Clint, "Once he licked every slice."

"So? Just eat it anyway,"

"He had a nasty cold,"

Loki laughed, "Brothers,"

I nod in agreement. Thor looks at Loki confused but decides not to say anything.

"Okay, I'll eat the pizza," I tell them, "But I will be watching security footage later. If any of you messed with my food, you will suffer the consequences."

"I'm so scared," Loki mocks.

"You should be scared," I tell him, "I'm terrifying."

"To who?"

"I could take you on a tour of a few graveyards and point some people out,"

I get some shocked looks from them.

"Oh, that reminds me, I should get more flowers for Heather's grave," I tell them and smile, "That's a job for later."

"I honestly can't tell if you seriously just remembered that or if you said it to prove you're scary," Clint tells me.

"Maybe it was both?" Thor suggests.

Loki rolls his eyes at them.

Later I watch the footage. Nobody licked my pizza. Nobody even touched it. Maybe I am paranoid. All that happened while I was gone was Clint saying he's worried about me. Explains his odd behavior.

A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter. It's 2 am and I'm exhausted, I've been busy with existing. I hope this chapter was happier and/or funnier than the past few have been! I promise, most of this fic will be happy, and any sadder/darker parts won't be as bad anymore.