Penny woke up before Nat, she knew she had a nightmare from how she felt like she was suffocating when she woke up. She rubbed her face with her hands, trying her best to remember the nightmare that shook her from her sleep. She hated waking up for no reason, feeling like she couldn't breathe; it happened more often than not, waking up from nightmares and not remembering anything other than the fear she felt from them. She looked over to the alarm clock on Nat's nightstand and saw it read 4:30am; she knew that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again; she never could. So she wouldn't wake up the redhead who was asleep next to her, she quietly got up and left the room. She carefully walked downstairs and went into the living room where Pepper was sitting at the large desk working on something. Penny quietly tried to walk to the kitchen, she didn't want to disturb the strawberry-blonde and past experiences had taught her that it was a bad idea to do so. She lost concentration while looking at Pepper, trying her best to avoid the woman's gaze was an easy task, but she always managed to mess up easy things at her old home. She noticed how peaceful the woman looked while she worked; she was humming softly to herself while she worked, it was a soft lullaby that Penny remembered hearing her father or May sing her that lullaby before life took an ever crueler turn. While she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, she loudly hit her leg on the coffee table by the couch, causing a wave of pain to travel up the limb.
"Ouch!" she whispered loudly, crouching down to try and rub out the pain.
Pepper quickly turned around when she heard the noise and looked at Penny, "Are you okay Sweetpea?" she asked, turning around a bit more in her chair.
Penny stood up straight and swallowed thickly, "Y-yes ma'am I-I'm okay.....Sorry to disturb you Ms. Potts." Penny apologized quickly, hoping that the usual consequences weren't going to come.
The woman's gaze softened while she looked at the thirteen year old, she smiled at the girl, "It's okay, Did you need something sweetie?" she asked.
Penny felt a small rush of relief wash over her, when the woman didn't do anything, "N-no ma'am.... I just couldn't sleep. I was going to get some water, I was trying not to interrupt you...I-I'm really sorry...pl-please don't be angry with me." she replied, almost whispering the last part of her response.
"Okay," the strawberry-blonde replied; she stood up and took a glass out of the cabinet in the kitchen; Penny followed her slowly and watched her fill it with water, the woman started talking to her again, "I'm not angry with you sweetie," she replied, "I accept your apology." she replied, smiling softly at the younger girl. She turned around to face her, holding out the glass of water to the younger girl, "Here you go sweetie."
"T-thank you Miss Potts." Penny replied as she gingerly took the glass from the blue-eyed woman.
"It's no problem sweetpea."
"W-what are you working on?" she asked after a few seconds.
"Oh, it's just some paperwork for the company." Pepper told her.
"That sounds interesting."
"It is a little but, Stark Industries is putting out a new product soon and we are preparing marketing for it."
There was a short pause between the two of them; Pepper not wanting to press conversation from the younger teen who was obviously on edge and Penny who was nervous to push the boundaries. Pepper looked at the teenager in front and noticed Penny shifting back and forth on the balls of her feet.
"Did you need anything else sweetpea?" she asked.
"N-no ma'am." the girl replied, shaking her head quickly.
"Okay," she replied, giving her a soft smile, " I'm going to get back to work now....Let me know if you need anything else." she replied.
"Yes, ma'am...." she replied, pausing for a few moments.
Pepper turned around to walk back to the desk that was in the back of the living room.
"M-miss Potts?" Penny called quietly, it was so soft that she almost didn't hear it.
"Yes sweetie?" the woman called, pausing in her step.
"Thank you," Penny replied, giving her a small smile.
Pepper smiled softly at the teenager, "Penny..." she called.
"Yes ma'am?" the teenager asked.
"You're very welcome and you can call me Pepper, sweetie."
"O-okay." the brown-eyed teen replied, giving her another small smile.
The two of them parted ways and went back to their areas. Penny went to the living room area farthest away from Pepper, so she wouldn't disturb the woman any further and started to watch cartoons on the T.V.. Pepper smiled to herself as she heard small, quiet giggles as Penny reacted to the characters in the cartoon. When Pepper finished her work, she noticed that the teenager was now quiet; she stood up and went to the couch to go check on the girl. She smiled softly when she noticed that Penny was curled in on herself, sleeping soundly on the couch. She gently picked up the blanket from behind the teenager and unfolded it before laying it on top of her. She looked up from her position to see Wanda at the bottom of the stairs, smiling lightly when she saw the redheaded teenager; she held up her finger to her lips, motioning for her to be quiet. Wanda nodded her head and quietly made her way to the kitchen and started making a pot of coffee; when Pepper walked into the kitchen a few moments later, the seventeen year old was leaning against the counter, sipping on a cup of liquid sanity.
***TIME SKIP***
A few hours later, almost everyone was now awake and coming downstairs. Morgan was on Peter's shoulders as they walked into the kitchen, she was giggling at the boy who was slightly tickling her in the side. Peter moved her from his shoulders and stuck her in the chair next to where he usually sat and sat down himself as he started to prepare his plate of food when he noticed that Penny wasn't there.
"Where's Pen?" he asked, looking around the room to see if anyone knew where his little sister was.
"Oh, she's probably still asleep on the couch." Pepper told him, motioning softly towards the living room.
"I'll go get her," Peter announced standing up.
Peter walked over to the couch and smiled to himself when he noticed her peacefully sleeping with her hair falling in waves over the side of the couch across her small face. He knelt down and gently started brushing her hair out of her face and pulled the soft blanket off of her before he started to shake her awake. She sat up wide eyed and looked around the room.
He placed his hands on her shoulders, making her look at him, "It's time for breakfast princess." he announced.
She nodded, "Oh, okay Pete." she stretched a bit, "Good morning." she greeted.
He laughed a little and ruffled her hair, "Good Morning princess."
Penny followed her brother into the dining room and sat down next to him. She smiled at Morgan, who jumped up from her seat and ran over to hug her when she sat down. Everyone ate breakfast as quiet conversations spread throughout the table. Penny found herself enjoying these times; times where everyone enjoyed each other's presence. Where everyone was kind to each other; and no one seemed to worry about what they did or said. It wasn't like her aunt and uncle's house; here they loved and liked each other with no strings attached, you didn't have to earn it. Here, she didn't have to wait for them to finish eating before she could even start or wait to find out if she could eat at all. She didn't have to patiently wait to do everything they wanted. She never had to worry about doing something wrong or think about every little thing she did; which she still did out of instinct, but it was getting easier for her not to do it as much. Here, everyone respected each other; she really liked it here. After everyone finished and took care of their plates by carrying them to the sink, Tony's voice broke the chatter.
"Penny...." he called.
Penny looked up towards the head of the table, "Y-yes sir?" she replied, straightening herself up a little as he looked at her.
"Your brother and I have a surprise for you kiddo..." he replied, a small grin on his face.
"R-really?"
"Yes, you can see it after you get dressed." he replied, laughing slightly at her small bit of excitement.
"Okay....thank you Mister Stark."
"It's no problem kiddo, what's a billionaire for?" he joked.
The others laughed at his comment before Penny quickly made her way to Peter's room. She pulled off the dress from the night before and put it in the clothes shoot. She ran back over to the closet and pulled a pair of black shorts and a t-shirt, not really caring if it matched. She wasn't a big fan of surprises, but for some reason, she felt like this one was a good one. She quickly pulled the two pieces of clothing on and slipped on a pair of converse. She ran back downstairs to where everyone was waiting for her.
"You ready princess?" Peter asked her, laughing slightly at how quickly she'd gotten ready.
"Yes..." she replied, nodding her head.
"Okay, close your eyes and climb on," he told her as he squatted down in front of her.
Penny wrapped her arms around Peter's neck and closed her eyes as he lifted her up and carried her upstairs. She kept her eyes closed until they abruptly stopped and Peter squatted back down.
"Alright Princess..." Peter announced, "we're here. You can get down." he replied, a child-like excitement obvious in his voice.
"O-okay..." she replied, reaching her legs out for the floor.
"Keep your eyes closed princess." Peter warned.
Penny felt someone's hands land on her arms, "Here let me help you princessa." Pietro announced.
She nodded her head.
Pietro helped guide her off of her position on her brother's back and backed up a little when he was finished. Peter stood up quickly and walked behind his younger sister, placing his hands in front of her eyes. Tony opened the door to her new room and Peter carefully led her into the room.
"Alright," Peter announced as he moved his hands from in front of her eyes, a smile obvious from how his voice sounded, "Open your eyes princess." he whispered.
Penny opened her eyes and looked around the space in front of her. She was greeted by a room decorated in shades green and white. The large four post bed in the center of the room was decorated in large fluffy stuffed animals and pillows layered on top of a floral bedspread. Her attention was drawn in by the green vines that climbed up the posts of the bed; in front of the large bed was a deep green, fluffy rug with a pair of slippers resting on top of it. She looked at the cherry red colored wood of the dresser that had small, fake flowers and glass figurines of little animals sitting on top of it. In the center of it was the picture of her and Peter at the beach when they were kids. On the wall, in the middle of it, was a photo collage of every photo she had taken since she had arrived. She walked closer to the collage and smiled while she looked at the photos of herself and Peter at the zoo and at the photo of everyone at the skating rink. She turned around back to Peter and ran over to him and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you." she quietly thanked while she hugged him.
"You're welcome princess." he replied, grinning as he wrapped her into a hug.
Penny released him from her hug after a few minutes and gently ran over to the billionaire who was standing next to him, she hugged him without thinking about it, knowing that if she thought about it, she would've never done it, "Th-thank you Mister Stark."
Tony had a large, shocked smile on his face as he gingerly wrapped his arms around her, he looked at Pepper with an expression that scream 'Are you seeing this?!!', "You're very welcome kiddo...." he replied, trying to keep his excitement to himself.
"The girls helped decorate it," Peter told her, leaning over so he could whisper that bit of information into her ear.
"Really?" she asked, looking over at Kate and Wanda who were grinning at her reaction.
The boy nodded his head, "Yeah, they worked on decorating it the day you trained with Pietro. That's where they were, Nat was getting stuff...I told her you liked animals and plants. Wanda came up with the idea for the vines and the green. She realized it was your favorite color. If you don't like it, Mister Stark said we could change it." he announced.
She shook her head, "No...I love it. It's perfect Peter." she replied.
"Open this door Princess..." Peter said pointing to the bathroom door.
Penny opened the door and turned around and looked at him, "It's your bathroom Pete?" she replied, slightly confused.
He laughed, "It's our bathroom. Our rooms connect through the bathroom...So if you ever need anything just come into my room. The bathroom door won't be locked unless one of us is in there." he told her.
"That's so cool," she replied, her smile growing slightly.
"Let's finish bringing in your stuff." he announced
"M-my stuff?"
"Yeah you still have some stuff in my room...we can move it in here and that way you can organize it how you like it."
Penny, Peter, and Wanda went into Peter's room and started picking up the shoes and clothes that were in his room. Wanda followed behind them holding four boxes of shoes while Peter carried all the clothes. Penny was in front holding another two boxes and her teddy bear; Peter had refused to let the girls carry large amounts of things. Wanda had rolled her eyes at him and followed behind the boy as she used her powers to pick up the clothes he dropped. Once they came back into the room, they placed everything on her bed.
"I gotta go do something right quick princess," Peter told her, "Why don't you finish setting everything up." he replied, hugging her slightly before leaving out of the door.
"Okay Pete," Penny replied, half distracted by everything in her new room. She'd never had anything this nice and she'd definitely hadn't had an actual in a long time; she was excited by everything in the room.
After a few moments, everyone started leaving except for Wanda and Kate, who offered to help her finish setting up her room.
She nodded her head, appreciative of the help,"O-okay" she replied, smiling, "Where's Morgan?" she asked, looking around the room for the missing eight year old.
"Pepper took her school shopping." Wanda announced, grabbing a sweater off of the girl's bed and placing it on a hanger.
"Oh okay," the younger teen replied.
The three girls started taking everything out of the closet, everything had been on hangers for the most part other than her under clothes. They laid it all on the bed; they organized everything into two piles, closet clothes and dresser clothes. Penny laughed to herself when she realized Peter had Kate get all her underclothes. Penny and Kate organized the dresser drawers, both sitting on the floor while they worked. Wanda helped as well, while the redhead folded the clothes, Kate and Penny put them away in their respective places. The first small top drawer was for her underclothes, the second was for tights and tank tops. Penny placed t-shirts and other tops in the second drawer and her dresses and rompers in the third. The bottom two held her pants and shorts and her skirts. Wanda then started organizing Penny's closet, she placed the longer dresses and skirts in the back then placed the shorter dresses and skirts in the middle. Lastly her blouses were placed in the front. On the left side, Wanda put all Penny's sweaters, which was a large amount considering the girl was almost always cold. While Wanda worked on the right side of the closet, Penny and Kate organized the shoes on the bottom in the left side of the closet. Kate stacked the eleven empty shoe boxes by the front door of the bedroom. When they finished, Penny noticed an area of the room that was closed off by a large emerald green curtain.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing at the curtain.
Kate looked over at where the younger brunette was pointing, "Oh that's something Peter had planned for you." Kate told her, shrugging slightly as she turned her attention to breaking down the shoe boxes.
"Can I see it?" she asked.
"Of course you can, Peanut," Wanda replied, "just hit the button by the curtain or it'll be really dark. This is your room after all."
Penny grinned, she liked the sound of that this was her room, "Okay," Penny replied as she walked towards the area.
Penny pressed the button by the curtain before she gently pushed the curtain to the side. She smiled happily when she saw the two large bookshelves full of books that were decorated with fairy lights; she looked over in the corner and saw the large plush beanbag chair and pillows that were surrounded by more fairy lights. She walked closer to the bookshelves and read the bindings of the books; she traced her fingers softly down the spines of each one. She smiled when she realized they were all of her favorite books and authors. She quickly walked out of the area and pulled the curtain shut again, and pressed the button to turn the lights off.
"What did you think of Peanut?" the redhead asked, a small smile on her lips.
"It's a book nook..." the younger girl replied softly.
"Yes it is," Wanda nodded, "Peter knows you love reading and he thought it would be a nice, quiet place for you. Not everyone knows about it, just us three, Peter, and Nat. It's just for you."
"I love it...I think it's my favorite part."
"Peter will be happy to know that," the redhead replied.
"Why don't we go watch a movie little P?" Kate asked as she finished unfolding the last box.
"Okay!" the teenager replied, nodding her head emphatically.
The three girls turned the light off to Penny's room and gathered up the shoe boxes. They put them in Kate's room since Kate said she could use them for bow practice; Penny realized she hadn't seen the girl practice her bow and arrow at all while she was here. The three girls went to the movie room and started watching Wanda's favorite movie, the Age of Adeline. After a while, Pietro came back in and sat next to Wanda as they watched the movie. He grabbed the large fuzzy blanket and put it over Penny and Kate who were sleeping beside each other; the younger two teens had the habit of falling asleep during a movie. Kate had her head resting against the younger teen's soft snores escaping from her lips as Penny curled up a little closer to her.
Wanda leaned over to her brother, "How was training with Peter?" she whispered, knowing that was where the younger boy had disappeared off to.
Pietro shrugged as he tossed his arm over her shoulders, "It was good, he got a shower and he's going to see Liz."
"Will she be there on Wednesday?" the redhead asked.
"I think so..." the ash-blond replied.
"Great," Wanda responded as she rolled her eyes, she wasn't the biggest fan of the younger boy's girlfriend.
"Don't be like that, Wands," Pietro fussed, slightly flicking her forehead, "She's his girlfriend, and she seems to make him happy. We like a happy small fry, remember?"
She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, "I know, but she's stuck up and rude. She is so mean when he's not around; she's a completely different person. You should see how she looks at Kate and I. I just don't have the heart to tell him..." she replied softly.
"She's nice to me," Pietro told his sister.
"Because she thinks you're hot P," Wanda told him, her tone flat.
"No she doesn't!" Pietro responded, "I'm one of Peter's best friends and I like her best friend..."
The green-eyed teen snorted softly to herself, "Then you're blind dear brother...And she doesn't care...she's spoiled and she goes for what she wants. She doesn't care who she hurts. She better be nice to Penny." she added, a small hint of malice in her voice.
The older boy laughed a little at the protective nature of his twin, "I'm sure she will, little witch," he assured, "she wouldn't be mean to her boyfriend's baby sister right?" he asked, he knew that if his sister said the girl was rude and mean, then she was telling the truth. The redhead didn't make things up, it just wasn't in her.
"You never know P..." Wanda replied, shrugging as she leaned closer into his touch.
He pulled her closer, knowing that there were times when she just wanted him to be close to her. Wanda wasn't the biggest fan of touch for the most part, she had to initiate it usually; he was usually the only exception to the rule. He also knew that she would never tell him when she felt like hugging him or relaxing into his touch; but he knew the signs. He'd made it a habit a long time ago to drape his arm around her, it was a protective stance that he'd taken when they were in HYDRA, it made him feel like he was showing the scientists that his twin was off limits when she didn't want to be messed with. For the most part, they'd listened to them, but it never felt like home, especially not after they got their powers; then they became child soldiers. He didn't regret his powers, because without them he wouldn't be where he was today and Wanda wouldn't be here with him. He knew the hints of when she wanted him to be closer to her. The times when she didn't shrug off his arm was a big one, and so was the one she'd just done. She had a habit of backing herself into his embrace without realizing what she was doing, it was a small sign that she wanted attention. He stayed quiet, knowing that the redhead was lost in her thoughts and that she'd speak up soon; he looped his fingers through hers and rubbed the knuckle of her thumb with his own thumb.
"Are you going to talk with Betty?" she asked quietly.
"Wh-what?" he replied.
"You know Liz's blonde best friend who you and Ned always stare at." she teased.
"W-we don't stare Wanda!" he responded, slightly shocked that she noticed, but he was more embarrassed than anything.
"I always notice Pietro, I can read minds too." she responded laughing, " besides Ned only stares because he doesn't want you to seem weird..." she replied.
He chuckled and laid his head on top of hers,"Well....I might, but she'd never say yes." he replied.
"I can read her mind and see if she likes you." Wanda offered.
"No don't do that Wands," she chided, before breaking out in a small grin, "Remember to keep a low profile," Pietro reminded as he did a mimicry voice of Steve, something he was very good at, despite his slight accent.
"I know, I know," Wanda replied as she started to mimic Steve too, "Don't use your powers for fun, don't show off at school, no mind controlling your peers..." Pietro interrupted her as they started laughing as they mimicked their adoptive father, "He takes the fun out of it." she huffed playfully.
"It's for our good, you'd be in control of all the school if he let you." he teased.
She shrugged, knowing that he was probably right, "Only for fun, but I'd only do it for the annoying people like Flash." Wanda responded, rolling her eyes, "If it wasn't illegal I'd send him where no one would ever find him." she muttered.
Pietro snorted, he found the boy annoying as well, but that wasn't the reason why he didn't like him. The boy had always bullied Peter and anyone who he thought was weaker than him, something that Pietro couldn't stand; no one messed with his family.
"Hmhmmm," Nat announced, clearing her throat.
"Hi Nat," Pietro greeted, waving slightly at the redhead.
"Hey you two, are Kate and Penny in here too?"
"Yeah they fell asleep during the movie." Wanda responded, motioning towards the two brunettes next to her.
"Okay, why don't you wake them up? I got that shawarma stuff Tony loves." she announced.
"Yes!" Wanda said, jumping up, shaking herself from her twin's embrace.
"Well I'll see you four downstairs, Pepper came back with Morgan for lunch, so you might want to get down there before Morgan starts hunting you four down." the redhead warned.
"Okay Nat, we'll be down there soon," Pietro responded as he stood up, stretching out his limbs.
"You get Kate," Wanda told her brother, "I'll get Penny."
"Why do you get the easy one?" Pietro asked.
"'Cause last time Kate tried to punch me," Wanda told him, "and you are stronger my dear brother. You can drag her to the food if need be." she replied.
"Fine" Pietro responded as he knelt down in front of Kate; he stuck his tongue out at his twin.
"Come on Kate," he called as he shook her.
"Noooooo," Kate responded, pulling the blanket farther up on her shoulders, she tightened her grip around Penny.
Pietro pulled the blanket off of the two girls, "Come on Kate, Morgan's here..."
"I'll see her later...." she mumbled as he pulled her arms away from Penny, who she was hugging like a body pillow.
"Nat ordered food..." he called, knowing that it would usually wake her up.
Kate sat up for food and slowly opened her eyes, "Food?" she asked.
"Yes, she did." he replied, nodding his head at the sixteen year old; he stifled a laugh at her expense.
"What type of food?" she asked.
"Shawarma."
"Oh..." she replied, she wasn't the biggest fan of shawarma.
"She got egg rolls and chicken fried rice too." he announced, pulling her to the edge of the see so she wouldn't fall back asleep.
"Did she get chicken?" Kate asked while yawning.
"Always."
"Okay." Kate responded as she stood up, she yawned again, "I'm hungry." she announced.
He laughed.
Wanda was next to the two of them and was smiling at them; she was gently shaking Penny, "Come on Peanut, time for lunch."
Penny still didn't respond.
"Come on Peanut," Wanda said, shaking her a little more.
Penny slowly started to open her eyes, "Is the movie over?" she asked.
"Yes, but Nat ordered lunch."
"Oh, okay." Penny announced as she stood up and stretched.
Wanda smoothed down the younger girl's fly away curls that were sticking on end as the four of them walked to the door of the movie room. The four of them walked out of the movie room and went down the flight of stairs that led them to the main floor; the movie room was located on the third floor, like the other common areas, but it was slightly raised by a higher foundation due to the tech that Tony had placed under the room, so the theater could work more efficiently. They finished walking down the hallway that led them to the living room. Morgan ran over to the four of them, jumping at Pietro, who picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder playfully, making her giggle. He carried the younger girl to the dining room and set her down on the floor, using the ends of her braids to tickle her cheeks. She giggled and dodged his touch, pulling Kate over to the seat next to her as the group sat down to start lunch.
*** TIME SKIP TO PETER GETTING HOME***