(Avila P.O.V)

Avila was chopping apples.

Not really chopping, though. More like banging the knife furiously on the apple at supersonic speed with surprising neatness and accuracy. She was going so fast, she made her way through five apples in one minute, and stood in front of an overflowing bowl of chopped apples panting and wondering just how big this pie was going to be.

"What a waste of apples."

"All right."

Avila turned, throwing the knife down with a clatter. She tapped twice on her thigh, and a black jumpsuit appeared, covering her body, leaving only eye-holes. Black boots appeared on her feet. She strode towards Carol.

Carol walked towards her, throwing her arms out to the sides. Gloves. Blue suit. Red mask. They flew towards her, and slipped on easily.

Captain Marvel and Storm met in the middle of the room.

"Don't think that because you're more well known you're stronger," Storm hissed.

Captain Marvel didn't answer, but hit a button on the wall. The floor retracted, and the pair fell into their fighting ring. Both landed with style and accuracy.

Captain Marvel leapt to her feet and sprinted at Storm, trying to land a crushing kick. A golden force field met her foot, then proceeded to wrap her up and push her into the air.

"I'm stronger than you, Captain," Storm called from below as Marvel struggled against the magic.

Marvel took a deep breath, then suddenly burst out of the hold, landing pretty much on top of Storm and delivering a strong punch.

Storm tumbled to the wall, stopped herself, then suddenly pushed off the ground, wings appearing from her back. Captain Marvel sprang into the air, an invisible force also surrounding her, and the two—invisible and golden—powers crashed and rebounded, sending both of them into a wall.

As they crouched, panting, at opposite ends of the room, their suits sort of fell away, and they looked at each other, Carol and Avila, somewhat timidly.

"I'm still stronger," said Avila finally, making them both burst into laughter.

"I know!" gasped Carol, "It's not fair!"

"Now, now, don't fret," said Avila, adopting a "motherly old lady" accent. "Not everyone can have power from an Infinity Stone, you know."

The kitchen appeared around them once again, and they began to shake their heads and chuckle over the apple situation, when suddenly a car motor sounded outside, and they both froze. They were the last house on this cul-de-sac road. The car was coming to their house. Avila turned to a wall where a hologram appeared as she waved her hand over it.

"Who are you? Identify yourself," said Carol, and it came out the other end sounding robotic, as supposed to.

A man in a posh suit and sunglasses stared at the camera for a moment. Then he removed his shades, and Avila dropped the kitchen towel she was holding.

"Tony Stark," he said smoothly, "and Lieutenant James Rhodes."

Rhodes appeared next to Tony, gazing at the gates.

For a moment nobody said a word.

Then.

"Oh shit," whispered Avila.

Avila opened the door. Warm yellow light poured out onto the doorstep. She took a deep breath.

"Hi, Tony. Hi, James."

"You can call me Rhodey." He smiled, but his gaze edged past her to Carol, who was very much hiding behind Avila clutching a baking tray.

"Hey, Avila." Tony, however, was all eyes for her.

Avila smiled. Limitedly. "Come in, Tony. We made lasagna. And apple crumble for dessert. Does that sound good to you?"

She opened the door wider and walked away into the house as an invitation to enter, Carol scurrying after her shyly.

"Carol." Rhodey called.

Carol stopped and turned around to face him, looking more panicked than Avila had ever seen her.

"Can I talk to you?" Rhodey stepped closer and grabbed her arm, not seeming to notice when Carol jumped.

Avila whisked Tony into the kitchen, murmuring, "Would you like to see around?"

(Tony P.O.V)

How did Tony end up helping Avila make apple pie?

No seriously.

How. Did. He. End. Up. Making. Apple pie?

They came here for Rhodey to say sorry to Carol, and so Tony could see Avila again (what? She was pretty) but this was NOT part of the deal.

But, admittedly, it wasn't that bad.

Avila had relaxed. Finally. And the apple crumble was, and he would take this to his grave, fun to make. And it was nice, just chatting casually like this. He was well aware that Rhodey and Carol were arguing in the dining room, which shouldn't be possible since they weren't even a couple anyway, but he didn't really care. Avila told him all about her powers, and he was fascinated.

Avila shoved the apple crumble into the oven and closed it, typing a time of ten minutes. "Would you care for some lasagna now, or would you prefer to wait for them to finish?" She asked.

"I'll wait." Tony smiled at her unconsciously.

Avila nodded and smiled back, then hesitated. "Do you want a tour of the house?"

"Sure."

"...And that's the end of the tour."

"Holy shit." Tony shook his head in amazement.

Avila had taken him around the ginormous training area, the bowling alley (WTF?!) the indoor and outdoor swimming pool, the cinema, the "tech room" which was full of hologram screens displaying too many things for Tony to understand. They'd also been to the girls' rooms, the flying practice area, which was actually magically suspended above the clouds, with a cool flying pod to take them up, and finally, Carol's lab. Avila also had a lab, but she said it was "strictly private".

"So you're a science girl?" Tony joked, grinning.

She smiled back, a REAL smile, "You're not the only genius to walk this planet, Tony Stark."

Just then, Carol stormed into the room fuming and thumped down into her seat so hard the chair nearly collapsed. She was followed by a stressful-looking Rhodey, who smiled thinly at Tony before slumping wearily into a chair, lips pressed together tightly, face looking strained. Avila smiled brightly at them, and, after showing Tony to a chair, brought out a hot plate of lasagna and placed it on the dining table. It was delicious.

"This is really good." Tony grinned, desperately trying to ignore Rhodey and Carol glaring at each other across the table, barely eating.

"Thanks." Avila replied, rather obviously shooting glances at Carol, reminding her to be civil and polite.

Tony polished off his plate quickly, uncomfortable at the tension between Rhodey and Carol. Avila ate quickly too, now giving Carol little kicks under the table.

(Avila P.O.V)

"Okay guys, how about we take our apple crumble and eat it in the living room and I'll play a movie?" Avila suggested, smiling brightly and extremely falsely, tactfully removing the untouched plates of Rhodey and Carol.

"Yeah! Good idea!" agreed Tony enthusiastically, nudging Rhodey.

"Mmm, good idea." Rhodey echoed in a mumble, staring distractedly into space.

"Which movie?" asked Carol, finally making an effort to sound polite and interested while rubbing her ankle where Avila had kicked it multiple times.

Avila glanced at Tony playfully. "Iron Man 1."

"Noooooooo!" Tony shoved her.

"Fine. Iron Man 2."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Iron Man 3?"

"No, how about Captain Marvel?" Rhodey broke in, cheering up at last.

"That's not even out yet!" Carol objected.

"I can hack the Marvel Studios files," offered Tony and Avila spontaneously.

"Okay, okay, how about Infinity Wars?" Rhodey suggested.

Avila exchanged a glance with Tony. "That one's so depressing. I mean, Marvel's been right with all their predictions so far. The Loki Attack, Ultron, there was a movie, and then it actually happened."

"You think Infinity War will actually happen?" Carol asked.

"Well...yeah. I mean, Thanos is a nutjob, why not?"

Rhodey shuddered. "I hope he's a little more sensible than that."

Avila found the DVD. "Let's watch!"

(Tony P.O.V)

"I don't wanna go, Mr Stark. I don't wanna go."

Tony bit his lip as the Tony on the screen laid Pete on the ground.

"I'm sorry." The words were barely a whisper escaping Pete's lips.

"It's okay." His reply was even softer, and Tony had to strain to hear it.

A heartbeat later there was nothing there but a small pile of dust. Iron Man sat back, resting his chin on his clasped hands, and stared at the ground. Tony, although he had seen it before, nearly cried at the sad scene. Suddenly Avila gently took his hand and squeezed it a little, making Tony's heart pound. He nodded at her, taking a deep breath to clear his mind. That wasn't Spidey, that was Tom Holland, and he didn't actually die, it was visual effects. And that wasn't really him, it was Robert Downey Jr, doing, actually, a really good job of pretending to be him. Cut back to Wakanda, and Avila let go of his hand. The movie ended a few minutes later, and Avila fast-forwarded to the post-credit scene. Nick Fury and Maria Hill watched a helicopter crash, and then Maria disintegrated, and a moment later Fury did too, with a last "mother...". The camera zoomed in on his communication device, which blinked a couple times before displaying a red and blue logo with a white star.

"That's me!" Carol announced unnecessarily.

"I love how Fury's last thought was if his mom was okay," joked Avila, and Tony grinned at her.

"Do you know Fury?" Rhodey asked.

"Met him once or twice," Avila answered, shrugging.

"Just like him not to tell us," complained Tony, although he wasn't really annoyed.

"Well, it's getting late. We should go. Come on, Tony," Rhodey said abruptly, standing up and walking off.

"Don't forget your jacket!" called Avila, picking the jacket up off the sofa and throwing it after him.

Tony got to his feet reluctantly. "Well, goodnight."

"Hold on, we'll see you off," insisted Avila, nudging Carol to her feet.

They walked to the front door. Rhodey was waiting outside. Carol shifted her feet awkwardly.

Avila pushed her. "Go say goodnight."

Carol glared at her but hesitantly inched her way towards Rhodey. Tony turned to Avila.

"Listen, um, can I see you again? I mean, it would be great if we could meet sometime," he stuttered embarrassingly.

Avila had turned her gaze towards him. She studied his face for what seemed like hours before replying,

"Yeah, that would be awesome. When do you wanna meet?"

"I'll come and pick you up. Tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Seeya."

She turned and walked away into the mansion, with a fuming Carol (who, by the looks of it, had just had another fight with Rhodey) following her, leaving Tony to stare after them, happily touching his cheek where Avila had kissed it.

(Avila P.O.V)

"Listen, um, can I see you again? I mean, it would be great if we could meet sometime."

Avila stared at Tony. He seemed nervous. Did he really like her? Did she like him? She didn't even know.

"Yeah, that would be awesome. When do you wanna meet?" She replied, trying to sound casual but privately convinced that she was failing.

"I'll come and pick you up. Tomorrow night?"

Her heart skipped a beat. "Tomorrow night."

Without thinking, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his left cheek. "Seeya."

Hurriedly, Avila headed back towards the mansion, all the while feeling his gaze on her.