Next Generation

10: Ease The Tension

The next day started with Tony obnoxiously waking them up.

"WAKEY! WAKEY!", he yelled into the intercom.

Luke, being the light sleeper he is, jolted up awake in bed. Sweat trickling down his forehead, his heartbeat speeding up. The anxiety was about to kick in. After the mishap in the living room yesterday, he ran straight into Bruce on his way up the stairs. Worried, he took his son to the last room down that hall. Once there, he let Luke have all the personal space he needed. He watched as his son ran straight for the corner, breathing in and out as slow as he could. His hands still covering his ears.

Bruce noticed the veins popping out in his arms, and how shallow his breaths became. It took a good fifteen minutes to calm him down. If only Betty was there, she'd help a lot more. Being his mother and all, she knew how to calm Luke down in many ways. Bruce felt like a failure, he was the Hulk, and he couldn't do anything about his son.

Once his breathing was back to a normal state, he began to distract him by telling him about his first days in what was then Stark Tower. Bruce explained to Luke about how the room they were in the moment, looked a lot like his first room. Amazed, he took a look around. It had huge glass windows, and it was bigger than the master bedroom back home. The furniture was nice, and the king size bed looked comfortable as clouds. Not bad. Bruce also explained how everyone back in the monitor room was concerned about him.

He woke up back in his bed, with the same clothes as last night. After his little episode, he was too emotionally tired to even change into something more comfortable. He looked at the clock, he had a little over thirty minutes to get ready. Recharged with energy, he decided to take a shower, taking some extra time. The people downstairs could wait.

James rolled out of bed, irritated and sleepy. When they reached his room last night, Steve and Natasha expressed how disappointed they were by giving him a long lecture. They believed he could do so much better. He stayed up all night thinking about the events, regretting his choices. James wishes he could go back in time and just prevent it from happening. Or at least wipe it from his memory.  (BUCKY)
After brushing his teeth, he looked for something to wear. He was a boy, but a clean freak for that sake. His dresser was very organized, each one containing very specific articles of clothing.

His closet was arranged by colors.

Only him.

That night, Torunn slept very well. Yes, she was mad at herself for giving in to Francis's stupid words, but she felt like she saw progress. The old her would've blasted him into nothing more than ashes right then and there. Even Thor complimented her on that. He was such a great father, instead of yelling at her, he actually made her think about the situation in a way no one else could. She was determined to make things right.

Francis was given the lecture of his life. Clint talked on and on about how wrong it was that he did. Surprised he didn't yell though. He took him to another vacant room in the third story, not wanting to wake Laura up. Poor her, she didn't want to be dragged to this cold place, but seeing as it concerned Francis, she accepted right away. The boy was lucky she cared for him so much. Knowing how much this meant to Francis, and not knowing how else to discipline him, Clint gave him an ultimatum. Either apologize by a certain deadline, or he's out for good.

Victoria was already awake and out of her room. JARVIS had woken her up at 5 in the morning in order for her to say one last goodbye to her mom before she boarded the plane. As she walked up the small set of stairs towards the entrance, Pepper told Victoria to be careful, to make wise decisions. She also told her daughter to call her if she needed anything else. Pepper left worried, and mad about the whole fight that went on while she was asleep. She was even mad at Tony for not waking her up right away.