Peter was sitting at the end of Penny's bed with Morgan; the thirteen year old was in a similar position as her brother and younger sister with her legs crossed in front of her. A small table with wheels on the bottom of it separated them, a connect four game on the top of it. Wanda was standing behind the thirteen year old, gently braiding back the teen's long brown curls. Morgan giggled as she won for the third time and slid the bar on the bottom of the game, letting the pieces fall onto the table. Peter reached out and started organizing the pieces, pushing the yellow ones towards Penny and the red ones towards him and the younger girl. Morgan placed her first piece in the third slot from the left; Penny followed suit in the right corner. Morgan dropped one next to her own piece and Penny blocked her off from being able to do four in a row. The eight year old whined a little and put a red tile next to her sister's first piece. Penny nodded in acknowledgement and dropped a piece on top of it, Morgan dropped another piece in the board and the game continued until Penny won. It was Tuesday afternoon, three days after Penny had had her splenectomy; she was still in the medbay but was expected to be discharged within the next couple of days; the others were just keeping her company at the moment. After three more rounds of connect four, Wanda declared that they needed to get a start on their homework. Peter nodded and started disassembling the blue connect four board while Morgan scooped the pieces into the box. After they put the game away, Bruce came in and gave Penny a quick checkup before leaving the group to study for their upcoming exams. Morgan slipped out of Peter's lap and crawled under the table up to where Penny was seated. The eight year old took her seat next to the younger teenager and looked over her arm at the biology work that Penny was finishing up. Morgan only had one and a half weeks of school left where the older kids had almost four before they were done for the year. She had no homework of her own, so she spent her time "helping" the older kids study. Her "help" consisted of asking small, quiet questions from Peter, Penny and sometimes Wanda, organizing their highlighters and pens and other similar activities. Peter stayed at his spot at the end of the bed, his legs crossed with his engineering textbooks in his lap. He chewed on the tip of his red pen as he scribbled down last-minute notes that he knew were unnecessary, but did it anyway, because he always stressed himself out over exams even though he knew everything already. Wanda had taken his old seat by the bed. Her red hair tied up in a braid over her shoulder, with her legs crossed under herself. She had a medical tray flipped upside down over the arms of the chair to make a little desk top to rest her textbook and notebook on top of. Her highlighters and her pens in her lap while she studied over her notes and book.
Pietro slipped in before Kate and Yelenda did. He had a towel draped over his shoulder, his ash blond hair that reached just past his ears was slicked back and dripping wet. He was carrying his backpack in his left hand and his laptop tucked under his arm. He took the seat at the end of the thirteen year old's hospital bed like he always did, not failing to notice Wanda eying the brace on his right hand. He averted his eyes from his twin and unzipped his backpack, pulling out his Stark Tech earbuds. Wanda lifted a hand and waved it towards her twin, a red mist enveloped the towel over his shoulders and it started furiously rubbing his head. He groaned and started swatting the enhanced linen away, failing for a few moments, making his sister laugh lightly in amusement. The towel suddenly dropped on his head, it's life suddenly gone; he pulled it off, finding his hair no longer dripping wet from his after training shower. He dropped it on the top of his backpack and plugged the earbuds into his ears, turning his body to where he was leaning against one arm of the chair and his legs dangling over the other. He turned on his laptop and pressed play on his review video. He found watching videos and listening to audiobooks or having his notes being read back to him better for his studying than reading and looking over his books and notes. Kate and Yelena came in fifteen minutes into the session, Pietro glanced up from his computer and smirked at the pair. He could tell the two had just returned from a date. They were both dressed nicely and Kate was wearing makeup. Kate's hair was slicked back into a long, neat ponytail while she sported a pair of wide legged high waisted pants, flats and a lacy white, floral embroidered tank top. She shushed him when he opened his mouth to tease the pair. She sat in the window seat like she always did and slipped off her shoes. She wiped off her already smudged red lipstick with a tissue she found in her backpack as she set it down below her feet. Pietro averted his gaze when Yelena cut him a glare, her green eyes holding unveiled threats that he was pretty sure that she'd follow through on. She sat next to Kate, adjusting the hem of her green dress, crossing her legs as she started yet another Quizlet for her U.S. History class. Kate's hand slipped over to her knee and she started absentmindedly playing with the mesh overlay of Yelena's dress.
Morgan ended up falling asleep almost two hours into the quietness that fell over the study session. Pietro was now hanging upside down from his chair listening to the voice on his laptop read his notes back to him. Kate was leaning against Yelena's chest, both girls going over their last geometry review. Penny had moved on to French almost an hour into the session; within the past three days, she'd spent her recuperation completing all her missing work for her English, History, and Biology classes. Tony had managed to get the P.E. teacher to wave the end of the year fitness test due to her having surgery and the only thing she had for orchestra was the concert. She was ready to go back to school, she found being cooped up in the medbay extremely boring, but she knew that wasn't happening till Monday. Wanda remained in the same position from two hours earlier, her bangs falling out of her brain and into her eyes while she methodically highlighted sections of her notes. Pepper walked into the room, coming to pull the high schooler's out to get their supper. She slid the door open and walked into the hospital room, her heels clicking against the tile floor. She walked over to the hospital bed gently kissing Penny on the cheek and picking Morgan up, effectively waking the eight year old up from her nap.
"Supper is ready upstairs." she announced, her gaze fell on Penny as she adjusted Morgan onto her hip, "How are you feeling, sweetpea?" she asked.
"Pretty good, I'm bored in here though." she replied with a slight shrug.
Pepper nodded, "Well then, you'll like what I came to tell you." she replied, smiling at the teenager.
"What'd you come to tell me mom?" she asked, her brown eyes looking at the strawberry-blonde expectantly.
"Stephen and Bruce agreed that you could start coming up to dinner. You're not discharged just yet, baby, but it's a step closer."
Penny grinned, "Really?! That's great!"
Pepper laughed, "Yes, really. Now let's get you ready and we can go to dinner."
Wanda smiled brightly, the telltale red glow of her powers dancing between her fingertips, "Already on it Peanut." she replied, waving her fingers over the thirteen year old.
A red mist settled over the hospital gown the thirteen year old was wearing and vanished just as quickly as it appeared, leaving the young brunette to be in a loosely fitted dress that she often wore in the previous summer.
Penny looked down at herself, "I gotta learn to do that." she mumbled to herself. "Thank you Wanda."
Wanda laughed, "Maybe one day Peanut. I used a loose fitted dress so it doesn't rub on your stitches and it's no problem." she replied, slightly amused by Penny's revelation about her powers.
"Thank you Wanda," Pepper replied, looking around the room, "Where is your brother sweetpea?" she asked, noticing that her son wasn't in the room.
Pietro cleared his throat and pointed up to the ceiling towards Peter, who was pacing back and forth on the ceiling in his socks while he wrote down equations he'd memorized for his robotics class in notebook.
Pepper followed his gaze and gasped, "Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark get down from the ceiling right now!" she fussed, her blue eyes wide as she stared at the sixteen year old.
The teen looked up from his book, his expression slightly dazed from being pulled out of his concentrated state.
His face paled slightly when he saw his mother staring up at him, "Oh...uh hi mom...When'd you get here?" he asked.
Pepper sighed and rubbed the side of her neck, a habit she did when she was stressed, "A few moments ago...now please get down." she replied.
He nodded and jumped, letting himself freefall towards the floor before flipping upright and planting his feet on the floor, "Hi mom," he greeted again with an impish grin.
"Hi sweetie...." Pepper greeted with a smile, she was glad to see the old Peter back, "Why were you on the ceiling?" she asked.
He shrugged "I couldn't stand to sit still anymore and I know that if I started walking around, then I'd disturb Kate and Pietro, so I went up there so I wouldn't bother anyone."
Pepper nodded, she knew that at times her son held unbridled amounts of restless energy and for the most part only sat still if he was asleep. "Well, supper's ready." she announced, deciding on not giving the brunet a lecture; she was just glad that the old Peter was back, "We just need a wheelchair for your sister so we can take her with us."
Peter nodded, then looked over at his younger sister excitedly, "Is Penny getting discharged?"
She shook her head slightly, "Not yet, but she's allowed to come to dinner."
"I can carry her." the brunet boy offered.
Pepper paused and shook her head again, "We better now, we need to be careful not to rip her stitches."
He nodded, "Right."
Wanda lightly held up her hand, "We don't need a wheelchair." she announced.
Pepper gave her a slightly confused look and Peter tilted his head to the side, causing a stray curl to fall into his face.
"I have teleportation powers, I can simply teleport her into her seat. It doesn't hurt her and you don't have to waste time looking for a wheelchair." the redhead replied, shrugging.
"Oh yeah..." Peter mumbled.
Wanda sighed and laughed a little, for a genius he sure was forgetful at times.
"I xuppose that would work." Pepper replied.
Wanda grinned, "Perfect. Let's get you into a different position, peanut."
Penny nodded and sat up while Peter let the rail of the hospital bed down so she could swing her legs over the side of the bed. Wanda placed her hand on the brunette's shoulder and a burst of red light surrounded them before they appeared in the kitchen. Penny was seated in her usual seat, a seat that had been empty for almost seven weeks. Wanda sat next to the brunette, adjusting her skirt from using her teleportation powers. Pietro arrived a few moments later, his hair sticking up in different directions from using his powers and not combing it after his shower.
Tony smirked and leaned over to ruffle his teenage daughter's hair, "You traveling in style there, aren't ya kiddo?" he teased.
She nodded, "Yes sir," she replied, grinning at him.
He laughed, god he'd missed that smile, "How are you feeling?" he asked, the affectionate smile not leaving his face.
"I feel good, I don't really feel any pain. I have a pretty high pain tolerance for stuff like this."
He nodded, "Well, that's a good thing, I'd be a big baby about the whole thing." he replied, giving the younger girl a slight compliment.
Natasha cleared her throat, "He was a big baby," she corrected.
He scoffed, "I was a perfect patient triple I." he replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair.
The redhead let out an amused laugh, "Please, you whined about it for weeks and used it as an excuse to get out of everything."
Tony laughed, his ears reddening.
Penny looked at her adoptive father, "You had your spleen removed dad?"
"He had heart surgery." Natasha replied.
She nodded, "Oh..yeah... the whole reason you became ironman. Your arc reactor, while it powered the suit, it also kept some shrapnel from getting in your heart." the thirteen year-almost-fourteen year old replied.
Tony blinked in shock at her words, his mouth slightly open, "Uh y-yeah, you're right. Uh how'd you know that kiddo? Not many people know that."
"I read it somewhere, I never forget," she paused for a few seconds, "well not usually, because of my near eidetic memory. Makes it kind of hard to forget stuff."
Tony nodded, "Sometimes I forgot you and your brother are geniuses." he replied, reaching over to pat her arm.
She giggled, "Sometimes I forget he's a genius too."
Everyone laughed at the girl's comment, they all had experience with Peter's more often than not times of when he'd do something that didn't resemble his IQ level. They all knew about how he'd keep his injuries to himself from patrol and missions, how he'd accidentally injure himself doing something ridiculously mundane, how he'd do something knowing he couldn't do it in the first place, and several other little things that sometimes made his genuineness come to question. Pietro had coined the phrase, "he has spider sense, not common sense," when referring to when the younger brunet did something that lacked common sense. When Pepper and the others arrived from the elevator, the group was still laughing at the girl's comment.
"What's everyone laughing at?" Peter asked, taking a seat next to his sister.
Tony smirked, "Don't worry about it underoos." he replied.
"Okay..." he replied uneasily, gaining the feeling that they were laughing at him.
"Dad?" Penny called, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"Yeah kiddo?"
"Why do you call Pete underoos?"
He smirked, "Well, now that you know the truth about your brother's powers, I can tell you. I first met your brother when he was thirteen, I saw this video of this spider-kid swinging around queens in a onesie of sorts. He stopped a bus with his bare hands, I was intrigued, because while he went by spider-man he definitely wasn't a man. I got to looking into it, trying to figure out who this kid was. He was thin and wiry, his fighting was sloppy-"
Peter squawked in offense, "Hey!"
Tony held up his hand, "But he was good, he had potential, so I did what I did best." he let out a low chuckle, "Boy was I surprised when I found an old alleyway camera that showed Spider-man was actually not a fifteen or sixteen year old kid like I thought. He was actually a tiny eighth grader with a mess of brown curly hair and a really squeaky voice by the name of Peter Parker. I knew then I needed to help him, get him a better suit, train him properly, and if he wanted, eventually make him an avenger." he paused and looked over at the teenage boy who was hungrily eyeing the different plates of food at the table, "But then I met him and I just liked the kid. Some crazy part of me invited him over to the lab and I found he was really smart and the rest is history. But to answer your question, kiddo, the nickname is from his old suit. It was awful, it looked like a pair of long underwear from the nineties, hence underoos."
Penny giggled, while her brother turned red.
"It wasn't that bad princess, dad's exaggerating." the boy replied, quickly defending his home-made suit.
Tony laughed sarcastically, "Trust me kiddo, it was awful."
Peter rolled his eyes at the billionaire, "Can we eat? It looks like Bucky made dinner and he cooks amazingly."
Bucky grinned, "Thank you webs."
Peter grinned and gave him a thumbs up.
Tony laughed loudly, it finally felt like everything was normal again, "Sure kid, we can eat."
Peter grinned and started scooping large spoonfuls of mac-n-cheese on his plate.
A few hours later, Penny and Peter were back in the younger teen's hospital room. Wanda had used her powers to change the girl back into her hospital gown and she was now laying back in her bed. Peter had moved the table to the side and had brought down her teddy bear that she'd always slept with. He adjusted the pillow behind her even after she tried to tell him it was okay and that he didn't need to. He turned the lamp on, knowing that his younger sister always had trouble sleeping if there wasn't a little bit of light in the room. He turned around, walked over to the door and flipped the light switch down, leaving them in a dim glow of the lamp.
"I'm going to let you get some sleep princess, I know you're tired." he announced as he walked over to her.
"Okay..." she replied, yawning; he was right, she was tired.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek and ruffled her hair, "Sleep well."
"Okay..." he turned around to leave when she reached out and grabbed his hand, "please don't leave me." she whispered.
He looked down at her, "You need your sleep princess, you won't be able to sleep if I'm here."
"Please Petey?" she whispered.
"I-" his gaze was caught by her big brown eyes that were staring at him, they were wide and pleading with him, a watery glaze taking over. He sighed and nodded his head, "Okay." he conceded. He slipped off his converse, "Scoot over Bri," he replied softly.
"Thank you..." she replied, softly, scooting over.
He sat down on the bed next to her, putting an arm over her shoulder. He stretched himself out, pulling a blanket that was folded up at the end of the bed over himself. He laid his head on another pillow that was stacked above her head for the sole purpose of the reason he was in right now. She scooted over closer to him, and put her right arm over his abdomen, her hand clutching his shirt, it was slightly shaking. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that it was because she was scared, she was terrified of going to sleep. He placed his hand over the small fist that had his t-shirt clutched in its grasp and traced his index fingers over the top of it.
"It's okay, princess. I'm not going anywhere. Not tonight, not ever. Just go to sleep. I'll be right here." he whispered soothingly as he pressed his lips against the soft head of curls that was resting against his shoulder.
He listened to her heartbeat slowly fall to a steady beat as she fell asleep, he knew most people would leave after she fell asleep but he couldn't. He knew why she was terrified of sleeping, she had awful nightmares where she woke up screaming and crying to the point where she was barely breathing. It scared him as much as it scared her, but she seemed to sleep better if someone was with her, especially if it was him. If he stayed with her, she slept almost through the night, she'd start tensing up but he'd hug her or just hold her hand and she seemed to know that it was him and she'd be okay. So he stayed where he was, laying in a hospital bed that wasn't too comfortable but not as uncomfortable as a regular one, listening to his sister sleep as he drifted off to sleep himself.
Two days later, Penny was back in her room. Stephen and Bruce had given her one last check up and declared that she was ready for discharge. She was pretty sure Tony would have climbed the walls like Peter did if he could in his excited state. Before she knew it, she was out of the bare white and glass walls of the hospital room and back into her own room. She looked around the walls, everything felt so familiar but so different at the same time. She'd gotten used to the bare walls of the room that she'd been kept in, she knew most people would go crazy being kept in a blank room with nothing. But she'd basically done it before; her room with her aunt and uncle was an old linen closet that was the third of the size of the room she'd had there. The only difference was that she got more food and that she didn't have a pile of old sheets and comforters for a mattress. The pale green walls of her room felt foreign now, like it wasn't hers. But it was hers, it had her pictures and her decorations, her glass figurines, the little white cherry blossoms that Kate had painted on one wall, it was her room. She walked around it for a bit, pulling the sweater she was wearing tighter around herself. She tugged at the shirt that was slowly rubbing against her stitches, it was uncomfortable, and it made her feel weird. She noticed that all her clothes were changed out from her winter ones. Her brightly colored clothes were back and replaced her tights and thick sweaters that she'd grown accustomed to. It felt a little overwhelming at the moment, she shut her closet door back and pulled off her sweater that was still unbuttoned. She tugged off the shirt she was wearing, finding it too tight and started digging around through her dresser for one that didn't feel as tight and restricting. She finally found one in a black tank top that she realized was now too big for her after she'd tugged it down over her head, she scrubbed away the tears that were brimming in her eyes and slid to the floor against her dresser. Her hands were shaking as she took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself down from the overwhelming feeling she was feeling, she was actually home. She knew that she was home when she'd woken up from the surgery and before that she was pretty confident that she was home too. But now that she was out of the medbay and back in her bedroom, it didn't feel like a dream that she'd cooked up to dis-allude herself from reality, it was real, and it was too much. She heard her door open and felt someone in front of her, she quickly realized who it was when she felt a pair of calloused hands on her arms.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on kiddo?" Tony's voice rang out, bouncing around in her ears.
"I-I don't know....D-dad m-make it stop." she whispered.
"Come on kiddo, deep breaths," he replied, one hand repeatedly brushing through her hair, the other holding onto her arm to steady her, "Everything's okay, you're okay." he assured.
She shook her head, "N-no..."
He pulled her closer, wrapping her into a tight hug, "Shhhhh." he whispered quietly, "Shhhh. You're okay hun."
She reached up a shaking hand and grabbed onto the arms around her, feeling safer than she had in months in that exact moment. She tightened her grip on them, her knuckles turning white as hot, wet tears slid down her cheeks what was happening to her? The billionaire stayed in his position, not bothering to move until he thought she was comfortable. He ended up tucking her head under his chin, that was firmly pressed agains the top of her head, another sign telling her that he was there and that he wasn't going anywhere. After a few more moments it was over, she felt like she could breathe again and embarrassment started to set in.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered, pulling away from her..
Tony moved from in front of her to where he was sitting in a similar position to hers against her dresser, "Don't apologize kiddo." he replied, patting the top of her hand, "It's overwhelming. I know. When I first got back from Afghanistan, everything was too much. At first I didn't really realize that I was home, it almost felt like a dream. But after the press conference and your mom got me through medical, I realized that I was back and I had a pretty similar reaction to yours." he paused for a few seconds to offer her a small reassuring smile, "I know it's overwhelming, you're home after being kept god knows where and you don't know what to do. But you're okay kiddo, I got you and no one is ever going to take you from me again. I promise."
She slowly nodded, "I thought I was dreaming, that I was tricking myself, but it's real and it's really over and now I don't know what to do."
Tony grinned at her, "Well kiddo, now that you're officially off of bedrest you can do whatever you want, except swimming. Can't get those stitches wet for another two weeks. We're going to celebrate your birthday on Saturday-" he paused when he noticed her shocked expression, "What you'd think I'd forget?" he asked.
"No one's ever remembered," she replied, a small happy smile on her lips.
He laid his head on top of hers, "No one's ever going to forget it now, kiddo. But we're not having a big party just yet, we'll wait till you're a little better. Probably till school's out so you can do whatever you want. You get to go back to school on Monday, your exams start Thursday and before you know it, it'll be the summer again and we'll be starting the year all over again." he sounded excited at the prospect of doing everything he was talking about.
She played with the hem of her skirt, "Really?" she asked.
He nodded, "Yup, you can't get rid of us that easy, kiddo. No matter what happens or what you do. We're always going to be here and this will always be your home."
"I like that." she replied, grinning at him.
He laughed a little, "Good, because you're stuck with us," he teased, lightly nudging her with his elbow.
She giggled, "I love you dad."
"I love you too kiddo, more than you know."
"Can I really do anything for my birthday?" she asked after a few moments of silence.
He laughed, "I'm Tony Stark. If you want a party on the moon, I can make it happen."
She grinned at his words, knowing that he was being dramatic but serious at the same time, "Can I have a pool party after the big one? I've never had one before."
He nodded his head, "It's your birthday, anything you want."
"Okay..." she replied quietly, she scooted a little closer to the billionaire and laid her head on his shoulder.
The two sat there for a while in silence, Penny finding comfort in her dad's presence, something that six months ago didn't seem possible to her. Tony had his hand on top of her knee, letting her play with his fingers while they sat there. He told her that she could take all the time she needed for it to feel right and that he'd stay as long as she wanted him to. Peace was finally setting in on the compound and it was well welcomed for everyone.