The Rules of Living with the Avengers

1. be normal when meeting the avengers

I carry my suitcases into the elevator and press the button for the seventh floor which, according to Pepper, is the living space. The doors are just about to close when a blonde man wearing a checked shirt and a leather jacket jumps in. He looks at the buttons then nods. He's seventh floor too apparently.

Seventh Floor Man looks at my suitcase then at me and his face breaks out in a smile. I smile back cautiously. This is New York. He's smiling like a creep.

"You're Ellie, aren't you?" He exclaims.

"Uh yeah? Who are you?"

Seventh Floor Man's smile fades. "D-do you not know?"

"A friend of Tony's?" I guess.

"I'm Steve Rogers!"

"Pleased to meet ya, Steve. I'm Ellie Potts."

"I'm Captain America!" He says even louder when the elevator doors open. Tony looks at us, frowning.

"And I'm Ironman." He announces. I groan. He does that every time I see him. And he probably does it every day. "Steve, this is my niece, sort of. And she's living with us for a while."

"I know. You told us all last night," Steve says grumpily.

"Just didn't want you to have Frostbite's memory loss." Tony smirks.

"The Soldier is in the helicarrier and he's doing well. He remembered your fathers name the other day. He asked about how Howard was," Steve replies then glances at me. "Sorry. You can't know who The Soldier is because-"

"Bucky Barnes, right?" I ask and Steve stares at me.

"How do you-" he glares at Tony. "Stark!"

Tony starts to run then turns back to me. "Your bedroom and kitchen and stuff is on the 21st and 22nd floor so put your stuff there. I have to go! Ah!"

Steve runs after him and I laugh to myself.

Then a man swings out from the ceiling.

I scream. He screams.

"Who the hell are you?" I yell and scowl at him. He stares at me. "Well?" I demand and he just keeps staring.

"H-how old are you?" He stammers.

"Seventeen. Why?"

"You're the...the niece aren't you?"

"Yes," I say.

"I'd better go put some pants on then..." He mumbles and wanders off. I notice that he's just wearing some tight black underwear under his top and groan. For God's sake. I'm sure that's some kind of crime there. Flashing a minor probably.

"Sorry about him," a redheaded woman comes walking in, smiling at me. "That's Clint Barton. He likes to nest up in the ventilation pipes but he forgets stuff. So he assumed there wouldn't be a teenage girl standing in the same room as him when he's not wearing any pants."

"I'm guessing that's Hawkeye?" I smile back. She's nice. She must be Natasha Romanoff, since Natasha is the only girl on the team in the tower (Pepper is away for a week and Jane Foster and her intern are on a science holiday).

"The one and only," she makes a face. "I don't suppose you can keep all that from Pepper?"

"Your secrets safe with me." I wink. She instantly looks relieved and walks out. I'm just about to drag my suitcase back into the elevator when Thor appears, holding his Mjölnir. I did Norse mythology at school; I'm well clued up about him and his brother Loki. The one who fancies horses.

"Sister Ellie!" Thor yells and pulls me into a huge hug. "Would you like a POPTART?"

"Uh...no thanks. I'm pretty full up already. I had a McDonald's happy meal on my way here." I say and he pouts.

"But Doctor Banner says I can only eat some poptarts if I convince someone to eat them with me. He doesn't think I will find anyone." Thor says.

Okay. Maybe I was wrong. I don't know everything about mythology. Apparently they left out the bit about Thor liking pop-tarts and hugging people.

"Sure then. I'll have like one of them." I sigh. I leave my suitcase in the corridor and follow him to the kitchen. A nervous looking man with glasses looks up from his newspaper, frowning.

"Hello," he says to me. "You must be Ellie. I'm Bruce."

I shake his hand and sit down. Thor starts producing numerous packets of pop-tarts from the cupboards and begins preparing them. Bruce sighs then goes back to his paper then looks back at Thor. "Thor?"

"Yes, Doctor Banner?"

"Have you been to the Statue of Liberty lately?"

I can sense the smile in Bruce's voice but Thor looks worried as he turns around. "I went for a bit with Agent Barton.."

"And?"

"And...we had...fun."

"There's a picture here."

"Oh. What of?"

I peer over Bruce's shoulder to look at the photo and laugh. Clint is perched on top of the Statue of Liberty, holding his bow and arrows and an ice cream. Thor is next to him, being sick over the side and Mjölnir abandoned about a metre away.

Thor blushes. "Agent Romanoff said not to tell anyone."

"Natasha went too? Where's she?" Bruce asks. I point to the figure of the redhead standing below them, her expression murderous. "Oh."

"I did not mean to. Agent Barton dared me to go up that high. Then I lost Mjölnir and cried at the police station."

"You could have just summoned it," I say.

"But...oh. Well yes. I could of, couldn't i?" Thor says. "Never mind." He shrugs. "Here's your pop-tart."

"Thanks, Thor," I take it and bite into it. "Blueberry?" I guess.

"Indeed!" Thor yells out and shoves a whole one into his mouth. Bruce and I stare as he does it again. Bruce looks at me, his face full of disgust and I can't help my laugh. He laughs too and Thor smiles at us all, obviously happy that we're having fun.

Suddenly a tall dark-haired man walks into the room and Bruce tenses. That's...um...I've met all the avengers. "Brother!" Thor waves at him.

"Loki!" I say in shock and he looks at me.

"Who is this small mortal? She seems like a teenager."

"This is Ellie, Lady Pepper's niece and my new friend," Thor says. Loki raises his eyebrow at me and pours himself a glass of water.

"I don't care," he mutters and gulps some water down.

"Are you the one who had said sex with a horse?" I frown and he spits water all over the kitchen. Bruce growls as most of it hits him then stands up and walks out. Guess to control his other guy. Thor chortles but Loki glares at me.

"No."

"But in the book-"

"I do not care, mortal."

"Ellie."

"Mortal."

"Ellie!"

"Mortal!"

"Ellie!"

"Mortal!"

"El-hey, Tony." I smile innocently. He looks from me to Loki and back.

"I'm not even going to ask. Fury needs us all on the ship. So that means you're coming too." Tony says. I bounce up, enthusiastically.

"I'm meeting Hill and Coulson and Fury?" I ask. Steve, who's just poked his head in, sighs. "How much has Tony told you?" He asks and I shrug.

"Not that much. But I need to get changed first. And have a shower. And straighten my hair. Because I meet my future husband on this helicarrier and I got to look smart."