Keeping The Light On

The One Where They Watch Rapunzel

"Why are we eating soup at three am?" Avery asked Pepper as she pushed her barely finished bowl away from her. The older woman noticed but didn't say anything, letting Avery recover a bit before forcing her to eat. Avery had been exhausted enough for one night, The woman would just try and get her to eat something tomorrow.

"What better time is there?" The other asked, causing Avery to raise an eyebrow at the statement. She had an amused look on her face as she continued to eat her food. Avery was only more confused-because why is it okay to eat soup three am- and just drank her water.

Avery was about to respond when Tony walked in. He looked at the two who were sitting at the counter eating, went to grab a spoon and sat down next to Pepper. He grabbed Avery's barely eaten bowl and started eating as well. He ignored the girl's surprised look and continued to finish the bowl of soup, still not saying anything.

"Hi, Tony." Pepper greeted the man who only nodded in response. She just continued to stare at him, waiting for him to say something. He looked back at her and then looked at Avery, seeing the confused looks on their faces.

"You took my food." Avery stated, her eyebrows knitted together. She looked at Pepper but she didn't seem bothered by him being here, so she turned away from the man. "Does this mean I can go back to bed?"

"Are you going to try to steal our blankets if you do?"
The guy asked as he turned to Avery and raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for an answer as he continued eating his -Avery's- food. The girl giggled at his question, shaking her head.

"I'm not gonna steal anyone's blankets, Mr. Stark." She answered his question. She looked to the woman to see her response to Tony's question but she was only eating her food and watching them.

"You won't have to steal any, Avery." Pepper told her, giving the girl a small smile. The guy sat next to her turned to say something but she put her hand up to stop him, he stopped."She's staying here, we talked about this."

"No, you talked and I listened, so now she's staying here." He stated, looking somewhat like a pouting toddler. At Pepper's pointed look he hurried to continue. "Which is okay, so as long as she controls her powers, I don't need another blown up room."

"I can do that, Mr. Stark." Avery told him, her voice quiet and her eyes down. The dark haired guy looked at her, an eyebrow raised. "I mean- Okay so it's hard to control them when I'm upset but usually I can keep it down."

Maybe if he stopped asking me so many fucking questions my powers wouldn't be so out of control. And he stole my fucking soup, I mean I wasn't gonna eat it but he didn't even as-

"Avery?" Ms. Potts called, making the teens head snap up to look at her. She looked like she was waiting for something. Avery furrowed her eyebrows in question. "I asked if you wanted to walk back to your room now?"

Avery nodded her head and Pepper got up, telling Tony to wash the dishes -He won't- and motioned for Avery to follow her. Avery and the tall woman walked to the elevator together, Pepper trying and failing to start small talk. They made it to the room and walked in, Pepper didn't leave like Avery assumed she would.

"Do you need something, Ms. Potts?" Avery questioned the older woman. She only shook her head and went to the closet, coming back out with another blanket. This one was thicker than the one Avery had been using -she should really look in that closet when she wakes up- causing her to raise an eyebrow at Pepper.

"It's cold tonight." She said simply, providing no further explanation, giving Avery the blanket and heading for the door to leave. "Goodnight, Avery"

The girl only waved goodbye to Pepper. She laid down to try to sleep, but she couldn't seem to. She was tossing and turning when noticed the TV in the corner of the room.