Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! Hope you are well. Sorry about the late-in-the-day update; I got behind in writing, but I finished everything in time, as I thought I would. Cheers for that! :)

This is a dialogue-heavy chapter. Was not expecting it be this heavy with it, but there you go. Chapter title comes from Don't Panic by Coldplay.

As always, hope you enjoy. Until next week,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~the heavy souls 'verse~

~life in technicolor ii~

~chapter 3: don't panic~

Penny was nervous.

She was pacing the communal floor, walking across the floor until she reached the wall, then going up it and along the ceiling, then back down the opposite wall so she could repeat the process again. She felt like a jittery mess. Her intestines were twisting like a pile of snakes, her hands were wringing nervously and pulling at her hair every couple of minutes. Once more, if she still had a heartbeat, she knew it would absolutely be pounding in her chest right now.

"Penny," Harley said from the couch, watching her make her trek on the ceiling for the umpteenth time half-concerned, half-amused. "Everything's going to be fine?"

"You would say that, wouldn't you?" she snarked.

"Penny."

She winced. "I'm sorry." She let herself unstick from the ceiling, making her fall down on the couch next to him. He muttered something about The Little Vampire, because of that, but she ignored it. For now, anyways. He would pay for it later. "I just can't help but feel like this is all going to go wrong."

"Nothing's going to go wrong." She positioned herself to use his lap as a pillow, making him smile. He started to run his fingers through her hair. "Pietro and Wanda probably already think you're amazing. Sam's...going to make his comments, but that's Sam. He doesn't mean anything by them."

"...And Steve?" she asked when he didn't mention him, looking up at him as she crossed her arms defiantly.

Harley's eyes were always incredibly honest. It was like he wore his heart on his sleeve, just like how she did when she was around him, or that he was an open book. And right now, those blue eyes were hesitant.

"Stop that," he abruptly warned. When she opened her mouth, he booped her on the nose. "I know what you're doing. Steve doesn't care in the slightest about what you've done. Pietro and Wanda ain't exactly saints either, and everybody here has accepted them with open arms. It's not really that different."

She wanted to tell him that it was very different, but she wasn't in the mood for a squabble right now. "What are you worried about, then?"

"Your dad loves Steve, and Steve loves your dad. And as an extension, he definitely already loves you, 'cause that's just how it works when you're in love with the love of your life." She unexpectedly started cackling at that, making him scowl playfully. "Shut up. Anyways, they love each other, but the last time they saw each other in-person besides yesterday, was when they basically broke up because Steve almost killed Tony, and that's...going to cause problems. Not to mention, they don't know that we know, or at least that I did through pestering FRIDAY about it enough. Then I told you."

"Which I advised against," FRIDAY interjected from the ceiling. "If Boss knew either of you knew – "

Harley rolled his eyes. "Relax, FRIDAY. Tony's not going to downgrade you or anything. You're his creation. He's not gonna stay mad at you for long when he finds out, if he even does get mad, and regardless he'll forgive you in a heartbeat." He sighed dramatically. "I swear, same damn argument, different girls."

"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about," Penny ribbed as she sat up. "I take offense to that."

"I will say the same, on both accounts," FRIDAY said. "It has been wonderful to have you here and interact with you on a consistent basis, Penny."

"Ditto."

"...How did I turn this into a bonding moment between you two?" Harley wondered out loud.

Penny once again ignored him. Settling into her own place on the couch, she glanced at the TV. It was once again playing the news on mute. She'd never thought she would watch this much news at the Tower, not of the national variety. But it was a good way of keeping tabs on her dad when he was away for some fancy event, even if he was just one text or phone call away. Plus, as with the secondary reason for her watching SVU that she'd recently gone over with Anne, it was a constant. Not a whole lot of things in her life had ever been that way.

"...I wish May was here," she said.

Her aunt hadn't been able to get the day off. It bothered her more than she would've cared to admit. Harley's mom, Evelyn, hadn't been able to get the day off either, and his sister Abigail still had to go to school. She'd wanted to stay, of course, to get to meet the Avengers again, but Evelyn had been insistent that could wait for later: she'd only called Harley in for the day. Which, on the bright side, meant Penny had him right now. She didn't know what she would currently be doing otherwise.

(Probably having a panic attack.)

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, she would probably be telling you the same things I'm telling you now," Harley offered. "Just, y'know, with more hatred towards Steve that she fails to hide."

She huffed. "I still don't get why she's that protective of him when she doesn't even know what happened in Siberia."

"You know why. It's because May always says Tony's like – "

"The younger brother she never had," they said in unison. Penny grinned. "Jinx."

Harley groaned. "Dammit. What do I owe you now?"

Smirking, she crawled over on the couch, leaning up so that she was of the same height as him. "I think just a kiss would do."

He got the message, his pupils blowing and his heartbeat starting to become erratic. He shifted himself around so that he could lay out on the couch, his long legs maneuvering around or through hers. She leaned down, her hair falling past her face, and then –

"Penny, Bionic Boy, I should inform you that Boss and the others have just landed. They will be coming down here within the next ten minutes."

Just like that, her good mood was gone. Penny backed away to the other end of the couch once more, crossing her arms over her midsection. Harley sat up. "Darlin', do you want – ?"

She shook her head. "No, I think I'm good right now."

He didn't even look sad at her answer, just accepted it. "Okay."

Sometimes, even at times like now when she felt like she was about to bubble over like boiling water in a pot, she really did love him.

The next eight – eight, not ten – minutes seemed to drag on and on. She didn't bother trying to watch the TV, just stared at the elevator, waiting, waiting. Finally, she saw the light above the elevator light up, signifying that someone – at least several someones in fact, were using it. Ten seconds later, there was a ding! And then...

And then...

And then she saw eight people step out of the elevator – which must've been a tight fit, even with its size and carrying abilities, but she digressed. The four in front were the ones she recognized easily enough: her dad, Rhodey, Matt, Natasha. Naturally, that wasn't to say she didn't recognize the others, it was just...

Captain America and the Falcon looked both more and less intimidating in person, a weird dichotomy she hadn't expected. Their faces were soft and friendly even before they looked her way, to which she ducked her entire body so she couldn't be seen because of the back of the couch, because they were also so strong. Sam wouldn't be a problem if he tried to attack her – not that he would, she tried to rationalize with the dark and twisted part of her mind, but if he did, she'd dealt with worse before, but Steve...

She knew she was stronger than him. The tests her dad and Dr. Cho had done to understand her biology down to the minutiae had confirmed that. But that didn't really give her any comfort.

Why wouldn't Captain America try to attack her, that small voice in her brain taunted? He stood for everything good, for doing the right thing. She was the epitome of everything opposite that, even if she'd had her reasons.

Oh, how she wished May was here right now. Clint, too. They'd bonded so much on the cross-country trip back to the Tower in December. She needed his words of encouragement right now. But he was back in Iowa with his family, and she was here.

Drat.

She heard her dad chuckle, no doubt having seen her hide herself like a coward. "Penny."

Slowly, she got up from the couch. She turned around slowly to face the Avengers, smiling in such a way it felt more like a grimace. She waved awkwardly. "Hi, Dad," she said. "Hi, Matt, Natasha, Rhodey, and, uh – "

It surprised her more than it should've, that the Rogue Avengers had no negative reactions whatsoever to her appearance. The only (seeing) people who had ever managed that before were Natasha and Clint, and neither of them counted because she'd been kind of busy dying with Natasha and Clint had already seen a picture of her (and the Rogues probably had to, now that she got to thinking about it), but whatever. The only reactions Captain America, the Falcon, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver had were smiles, or an awkward wave back in the case of Wanda. Penny kind of liked her already, just for that.

"Hey, Penny," her dad said. He ignored the obvious elephant in the room, coming over to her. Like she had before he'd left, she gave him a full-on hug. She hoped it conveyed the "I miss you" she wanted to say but wouldn't, not with the Rogues here. She heard his breath catch. "What, did you miss me that much?"

Well, maybe she could admit to some of it. "A little." Pulling away from him, she looked at the Rogues hesitantly. "So, uh, are you gonna introduce me, or – ?"

"Right." Her dad snapped his fingers. "Penny, meet Pietro," here, the nineteen-year-old gave her a grin, showing off his ridiculously white teeth, "Wanda, Sam, and...Steve." He was hesitant to say his ex-fiancé's name. None of them were oblivious to this. "Guys, this is Penny. My daughter."

"And Harley!" Harley added cheerfully, coming to stand behind her. "But you already know me."

It successfully dispelled the tension she was feeling. She repeated his earlier action of rolling her eyes.

"It's nice to see you again, Harley," Wanda agreed tentatively.

"And it's nice to meet you, kid," said Sam. His expression had changed. It was hard for her to discern what it currently was.

Pietro's grin widened, a feat she hadn't thought possible. "Yes, we've heard a lot about – ow!" He rubbed at his shoulder. "What is up with you hitting me?"

She gave him a look, on top of the hit. "Remember what we said?"

He cringed. "Right. Sorry."

Steve, well-used to the two's antics, waited until they were finished to speak. "I'm glad you're home, Penny," he told her honestly. She could tell from his heartbeat he spoke nothing but the truth. "Tony and I...we spent a long time looking for you."

He looked like he wanted to say more than that – he looked like he wanted to cry, actually – but he didn't.

She felt her cheeks heat and cool at the same time. "I'm...glad to be home."

Her dad jolted at their entire interaction. "Well," he spoke, and his already-fast heartbeat was speeding up, and he had that look on his face when he didn't want her to notice he was nervous, but didn't know that his facade always failed. "I bet some of us would like to unpack. Isn't that right, Cap?"

It was a clear dismissal. Not the first, either, judging by how Natasha purposefully shifted her weight slightly, giving Tony a look.

Steve was pained, he was staring at Penny like he didn't want to leave, like he wanted to ask her the hundreds and hundreds of questions her dad had when she'd first come home, but he accepted Tony's implicit order. "That sounds like a good idea," he replied. To everyone else except her, Matt, and Harley, the cracking of his voice was inaudible. "I'll see you guys later."

"I need to unpack as well," Sam gruffed, undoubtedly for his best friend's benefit.

When they left, her dad's hands twitched. She went to give him another hug, a side one this time. "I missed you," she murmured.

"I missed you, too," he replied. "Is it okay if I go to my lab for a little bit?"

He probably wanted a break from all of them ("them" being the Rogues) after the past forty-eight hours. She could understand that. "Yeah," she said. "See you at dinner?"

He winked. "Probably before then."

That just left her and Harley, Matt, Natasha, Rhodey, and the twins. She didn't know where Vision was. Probably in his room. He understood very well how much she liked her space, even if it was only because of hours and hours of research into victims of childhood sexual assault and patients with complex post-traumatic disorder. Then again, in order to understand you often had to do research.

"What are you watching?" Rhodey asked, eyes trailing over to the TV.

"Oh, nothing," she mumbled. She went over to the remote and switched over the TV to something mindless, if that was possible. Then she sat down on the couch she and Harley had been sitting at before the Avengers had come home nervously, crisscrossed. "If you want to watch something..."

"No, I want to spend time with my favorite fifteen-year-old niece," he said, his eyes twinkling.

"I'm your only fifteen-year-old niece. Lila's five years older than me."

"And I love you both equally," he quipped.

She held out the remote towards both Matt and Natasha. "Do either of you want to watch anything?" When they shook their heads, she did the same to Pietro and Wanda. "What abou – ?"

Before she could even blink, there was a flash of blue, and then the remote was gone from her hands. "Ha, ha, yeah!" Pietro crowed. He went back to sitting next to Wanda on their couch, and promptly started breezing through the channels as fast as they could go, until he found something he wanted: an action movie, which he set on low.

Wanda crossed her arms. "And what if I wanted to watch something?"

"We're not watching another one of your sitcoms, drága."

"Like your action movies are any better?"

"Hey – !"

Penny stared at them in bemusement. "Are you guys always like this?"

"Yes," said Natasha.

That earned her glares from each of the twins.

Matt chuckled.

Pietro gave him a side-eye. "That's still creepy, you know. Are you sure you're blind?"

"Okay, okay," Rhodey interjected. "Watch your movie, Pietro."

Wriggling further into the couch, Pietro settled in, although he did glance over at her. She had a feeling he was going to be doing that a lot over the next couple of days. Maybe he wasn't as used to her appearance as she'd thought.

"So, have you been following your rules?" Natasha questioned her.

She tried not to cringe. "Yes."

Matt, of course, was able to "see" right through her. "Penny," he chided softly. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" She waved her arms around. "I'm completely innocent!"

"She got a cut on her arm last night," Harley informed them.

She glowered. "Traitor."

He made a show of falling on top of her. "You were gonna break anyways," he singsonged. "You always do."

She shoved him off of her, internally pleased at how he fell to the floor with a yelp of protest. "Jerk."

He faked a choke. "Rhodey!" he yelled, clawing an arm out towards the man. "See how she wounds me?"

"...And she says we're weird?" Pietro stage-whispered.

Matt took over the situation, his visage completely serious. "Penny, show us your wound."

Sighing, she rolled up her sleeve. The injury was mostly gone, only the worst of it still scabbed over. The scabs were a dark reddish-purple, wine-colored, the same color as her blood. Pietro's face became deadly morose upon seeing it, him quieting down from the playful character he'd been before. She knew why. It was another sign of how much different she was, besides her appearance and the fact she drank blood instead of eating food in order to survive.

Natasha leaned forwards in her seat to inspect her arm. "It doesn't look too bad," she mused.

"Let me," Matt said.

Knowing what he meant, she went over to his chair. He took her arm into his hands gently, his touch barely there as he ran up his fingers to where the cut was, and then over it. "It is mostly healed," he concurred. "How did it happen?"

"Oh, you know. Same way it always does." She faked nonchalance by shrugging. "Some robbers caught me off guard. It was already healing by the time I got back here. I already repaired my suit, don't worry."

"We aren't worried about that," he admonished her. "We're worried about you. Why didn't you call Tony when it happened?"

She placed the hand of the arm that wasn't injured on her hip. "It wasn't that bad," she defended stubbornly. Did he really have to do this now, with the Maximoff twins around? This was their first impression of her. She didn't want it to go badly. "I can take care of myself."

"We know that, but the whole point is that you don't have to anymore," drawled Natasha.

Penny resumed her place on the couch, putting her elbows on her thighs and her hands on the opposite arm. It was a mopey position, but she felt kind of mopey at having been found out. "Are you going to tell Dad?"

"KAREN already has," said FRIDAY, cutting in.

Penny jumped. "What?" she cried. "She betrayed me?"

"She did her primary objective, which is to protect you at all costs." Even from yourself.

Well, she had a point.

Penny sighed, letting her head fall down. "Dad's not in trouble with me, right? I – I mean, he didn't seem like he was mad at me when he was just here."

"He's not mad at you," confirmed Natasha.

"But he would like to remind you of your rules, and that this is your second strike. Third strike and you will be grounded from Spider-Woman for two weeks, as well as have me permanently refer to you as Baby Spider," FRIDAY chimed in, much too cheerfully for her liking.

She groaned. This is so humiliating.

"Not at all." That was Wanda. Penny looked up and saw that the other girl was looking back, her eyes faintly tinged red. Her cheeks followed suit, and she bit her lip nervously, realizing what she had done. "I'm – I'm sorry. I try not to read everyone's thoughts. But sometimes I don't have the best hold of my powers..." Her Sokovian accent became thicker as she spoke. She sucked in a deep breath. "We know how Tony is. He can be quite the mother hen, can't he?"

Harley snorted. She could hear his silent, "That's one way of putting it." Which was true.

The change in topic was a welcome one. It made her feel better. She wanted to be friends with Pietro and Wanda, she really did. Having never had any before besides Harley, she was anxious about it, but Anne had pointed out that she and the twins would be kind of living together now and interacting on a daily basis. Plus, they had a lot in common. They would be good friends to have, hence why she wanted to make the good impression.

She just had to take the proffered olive branch, which she had to admit was an easier one than she'd been expecting.

So, she said, "Yeah. Did he make FRIDAY call you funny names for a while, too?"

Everybody except for her suddenly expressed various forms of amusement. She was confused. "What?"

"I lost a bet against Tony once. His stipulation for winning was that he could have FRIDAY call us Dorothy and Toto for a month," Pietro explained annoyedly. He looked like a pouting child. "It wasn't that funny."

"Wait, you had to be called the name of the dog? For a solid month?" Penny giggled. "Man, being called Baby Spider doesn't sound that bad anymore."

Pietro lowered. "It's not that funny!" As Harley began to snicker at the mental images that must've been brought up, as did Wanda and Rhodey, his expression intensified. "Seriously, it's not!"

Wanda, who'd been hiding her smile with her hand, lowered her arm. She winked. "What he's not telling you is that Tony also got him a plush toy that looks like Toto. It's one that he still sleeps with to this day. Vision even brought it to our safe house for him the first time he visited."

"Wanda!"

"Hey, it's okay," Penny assured him. "I do, too."

"So does she," Pietro replied, pointing at his sister.

"So do I," Natasha went.

Silence fell over the room, before they all broke out into laughter at the idea of the Black Widow sleeping with a stuffed animal. She was being completely truthful about it too, which made the mental image all the funnier. But Natasha took it in stride. "Sometimes, even heroes need something to cuddle with."

"I'll second that," Matt spoke. He made a motion of toasting a drink, even though he didn't have a glass in his hands.

"You mean someone, for you," Rhodey corrected him. He was absolutely mischievous. "We all know your history, Murdock."

"Ew, gross! Think of us children! We don't need to hear that!" Harley gasped, drawing more laughter from all of them.

The conversation tapered off not long after that, as Penny, being the introvert that she was, needed to go back to her room to recharge, with Harley following after her, but that was alright. She'd been worried about the Rogue Avengers, she thought, but maybe – probably – definitely, they wouldn't be so bad. Pietro and Wanda, at least, wouldn't.

But the jury was still out on Steve, or so when it came to him and her father.

Word Count: 3,750

Next Chapter Title: you can do magic