"You mean... Avengers?" Mavin asked. She shook her head. "No, never. My job doesn't typically take me in that direction, I'm usually mostly just a paper-wrangler. Someone like me doesn't get to meet anyone like that."

"You met Tony outside of work," Steve pointed out. "And now you know Bucky and I. Figured I should ask."

"You and Sergeant Barnes are a special case," Mavin pointed out. "They needed someone fast, and I was available."

Steve shrugged. "Still, just thought I'd be thorough," he muttered, and then changed topics. "You definitely seem comfortable here, I guess because you've been coming for so long."

Mavin saw the topic change for what it was.

"Yeah," she said, nodding a bit. "I have an x-gene, same as Lucy. Mine just isn't useful for much outside of the occasional costume party or cosplay."

Steve blinked. "What is it? If you don't mind me asking. I know some mutants get tetchy about it."

"Just a little bit of shapeshifting," Mavin said. "I can change the color of my eyes. Last couple of years, I managed to change my hair as well. But that's about it."

"Ah. Nothing disruptive or anything, then." Steve nodded. "That must be kind of a relief for you."

"Most of the time, yeah," Mavin agreed, nodding. "Though it means I'm no good helping Lucy when she's having problems, but that's why we're here in the first place."

"Having problems?" Steve asked, raising one eyebrow. "What kind of problems does she have?"

Mavin shrugged a bit.

"She's an empath," she replied. "I've heard it's not an easy thing to be."

Well that was a careful not quite answer. Steve nodded, figuring that would be the best he'd get for now, and contented himself with that.

Mavin finished her sandwich, and then went over to fish a large plastic container from on top of the fridge. Opening it, she took out a cookie and then offered it to Steve.

"Want one?" she asked. "You're welcome to take some."

"Thanks." Steve took a couple out, keeping one for himself and handing one off to Bucky. Bucky had always had a bit more of a sweet tooth, between the two, so he knew he'd appreciate the treat.

Bucky wordlessly accepted the cookie, and took a small bite. Then he paused, looked distrustfully down at the cookie, and then crammed the whole thing into his mouth like a starving hamster.

"Where did that come from?" he asked around the cookie. "It's amazing."

Steve blinked. Wow. Okay. Bucky still had his sweet tooth, then. Good to know. "I dunno," he said. "Let me find out."

Turning to Mavin again, he asked, "Where did the cookies come from?"

"Hm?" Mavin turned when he spoke to her again. "Oh, Lucy made them. She likes to bake."

"Lucy made these?" Steve's eyebrows shot up. "They're pretty good." He managed to get a few more and pushed them at Bucky.

Mavin grinned.

"Lucy's good at baking," she said.

Bucky took more cookies as they were handed to him, and he might have sent Lucy the slightest adoring glance.

"I guess so." Steve finished off his second cookie. They really were good.

Lucy noticed the attention and blinked. It took her a few moments to figure out that Bucky was the one focused on her, and she blinked at him, looking almost comically puzzled.

"I have some meager skill at cookie decorating, if it's simple enough," Mavin said as she nibbled on a cookie. "Nothing super fancy. But Lucy is the one who bakes all the time."

Bucky watched her for a moment longer before looking away. There was something about her that he kind of liked, even outside of her godlike cookie abilities. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something.

"Well I can't do either, so you've got one up on me," Steve told her with a bit of a grin.

Lucy looked at him for a few moments longer before she grabbed her personal stash of cookies, the experimental ones that she only handed out sometimes. And then she went right back over to Bucky and shyly offered him the little tin.

Mavin rolled her eyes a bit.

"Yes, well, nature does hate perfection," she said, grinning just a bit.

Bucky blinked when he was offered the tin. He glanced at Steve, not sure what to do in this situation. When he saw that Steve was distracted, however, he hesitated a moment and then made the decision himself to take the tin and open it carefully.

Steve snorted quietly. "I'm not perfect, no matter what the media likes to try to sell," he told her with a bit of a shrug. "Still just a guy from Brooklyn."

Inside the tin were various cookies, none of which were like the ones that the kids could get to. One was dark and sinfully rich with chocolate, and half the batch in there had come from an experiment with rum.

"The Smithsonian says otherwise," Mavin said, glancing at him. "Or their exhibits do."

Bucky examined the cookies for a moment before grabbing one from the half-batch. The odds that she would try to poison him were low, so he would probably be okay trying one. He took a bite and then paused when he tasted the rum. Well that was new. He hadn't known anyone could turn booze into a cookie.