The kid avengers

Storm

Pepper was awakened one night just before 1am by a quiet murmur and a gentle hand stroking her cheek; she'd barely had time to consciously recognise that someone else was there when a loud clap of thunder and a scared whimper snapped her out of her sleep.

Her eyes flew open to see Natasha stood there, in her pink night gown and bunny slippers; clutching the penguin teddy Clint had chosen for her as a gift from the zoo.
At the next bang of thunder she gripped the stuffed animal tighter and her frown grew deeper. Wordlessly Pepper scooped her up and pulled her into her bed.
With each new bang Natasha shifted closer to Pepper and further down under the covers; it got to the point where Pepper was both uncomfortable and concerned before she said anything.

"Tasha, sweetie, I know it's loud but it's just thunder from the storm; it's nothing to be scared of"

"Just thunder?"

"Just thunder"

"You promise?"

"I promise. Did you think the noise was something else?"

Natasha nodded; suddenly shrinking back into herself and avoiding all eye contact with Pepper. She hadn't seen her like this in a long time; not since she first arrived here all those weeks ago, still insisting on being called Natalia and not trusting anyone. They'd come a long way since then but the fear the young girl felt about the loud noises seemed to erase all that progress. Pepper was torn between prying into her friend's private history; which she knew adult-Natasha would never willingly talk about, but also needing to know, so she could reassure child-Natasha.

"What did you think the bangs were? Why were you so scared?"

Keeping her eyes firmly on the penguin gripped tightly in her grasp Natasha explained;
"Before I came here, I was somewhere else. In Russia..."

Pepper nodded gently, waiting for her to continue.

"When I was there; you had to do what you were told. Don't speak; just listen. You had to train hard, learn fast and always win; always be the best. If you didn't; if you weren't good enough or you were too slow or too weak; then the men would take you away. Take you outside to the forest... T-then there were loud bangs, and they would dig a hole for you."

Pepper was silent for a minute, glad Natasha still had her gaze on her toy penguin, as her mouth fell open with shock and silent tears ran down her face.

She slowly processed what Natasha had just told her about her past; that every day she woke and had to prove herself worthy not to be taken outside, shot and discarded. She couldn't imagine the fear that she must have felt, living through that at just five years old; alone and afraid. The thoughts made Pepper weep; sadness and anger welling inside of her.

Pepper pulled Natasha into her lap and hugged her tightly; comforting both the child and herself in the process.

"You don't have to be scared any more, you don't ever have to be afraid again. Nothing is going to happen to you here; I'll keep you safe"

She felt Natasha nod at the words she spoke; the fact that she didn't ask her to promise made Pepper feel better; it meant some part of her knew it was true, that she didn't need confirmation.

She was rocking Natasha back and forth slightly when her bedroom door creaked open again; Clint was stood there this time clutching Natasha's pink dressing gown; his face was tear soaked and his bottom lip quivered.

"I couldn't find you..." he stammered with a quaking voice.

"I'm s-sorry" Natasha stammered back

They were both going to burst into tears any moment; Pepper was sure of it, so she stood up and put Natasha on the floor next to Clint; allowing him to hug her tightly and grip her hand so he knew she wasn't going to disappear again.

Pepper took their hands in hers and said; "Come on, I've got an idea"

In the hallway they ran into a sheepish looking Tony clutching a frightened Bruce. The five of them made their way into the large lounge area where the group spent most of their time; here they could see the windows being pounded with rain and the occasional flash of lightening.

"Stay here and I'll be right back"

Moments later Pepper reappeared in the room carrying several pillows, blankets, sheets and sleeping bags, Steve appeared behind her; carrying more.

"Where's Thor?" Tony asked

"He's still snoring away" Pepper laughed. "Right, we're going to make a fort, and we can all sleep in here together so you won't be scared of the thunder"

"Really?" Clint asked, sounding equal parts shocked and excited.

"I wasn't scared" Tony muttered under his breath, blaming Bruce for waking him. Though Pepper knew even as an adult Tony wasn't fond of thunder.

20 minutes later and they'd made a fantastic fort; using the two couches to hold up the roof of the fort; they'd draped the sheets over and used some of the kitchen chairs to help.
They'd pulled all the cushions from the couches and the arm chairs to make it comfier and tony had disappeared and brought back a 'homemade' flashlight he'd constructed a few weeks earlier.
They had hot chocolate in the fort and talked for ages; laughing at each other's jokes and telling each other stories.

By this point Pepper had gone to wake Thor; thinking it unfair that he should miss out on a slumber party just because he could sleep through anything.

Pepper sat quietly on the de-cushioned couch listening; learning a lot about her friends in the process.
She learn how Steve's mum used to make most of his clothes, and that every summer his favourite thing to do was to skip rocks in the lake.
She learned that Natasha loved ballet and her favourite season was winter as it reminded her of home.
Clint told the others of the older brother none of them knew about (except probably Natasha), and how he loved to ride horses.
Thor amazed the others with tales of Asgard; their traditions and customs, how he was a prince on his home planet and would one day rule (though Pepper suspected the others were rather disbelieving of his stories, nevertheless they sat and listened politely).
Tony told the others about his best friend; Jarvis the butler, and ever surprised Pepper with a recount of a family holiday he'd been on to Austria.
They then took it in turn to ask Bruce several questions so as not to leave him out. He was curled sleepily by Pepper's feet but he answered anyway; his favourite colour (green), favourite film (Tarzan) and favourite food (chocolate) before he fell asleep.

At 3.15 Pepper announced it was definitely time to go to sleep, and hoped they'd all be so tired as to sleep in in the morning.
Luckily; they did.
Pepper was woken by the smell of coffee and crawled out from under the fort to see Maria smirking at her.

"Thunder?"

"Thunder" Pepper confirmed.

"You all looked so cute and snugly under there" Maria half mocked-half complimented. "It was a good idea to make them all feel safe"

"Yeah, they were pretty scared last night"

"I can imagine; it was really loud; it woke me up more than once. I'm betting Coulson slept right threw though!"

"I'd agree with you on that one! Remember the monster tantrum Bruce threw last week when he woke everyone up at 4am; not a peep from Phil!"

"Typical!" Maria laughed again, "I've got to get some pictures of them in their fort before they wake up!"

The photos Maria took were adorable:
Bruce curled up around one of Natasha's bunny slippers she'd taken off, sucking his thumb while he snored quietly. He was covered with a blanket adorned with the Hulk.
Steve and Thor were in the far corner; Thor had somehow wriggled round in the night and ended up with his feet in Steve's side. Steve was still clutching one of his books; blond hair sticking up at odd angles from sleeping on the floor. He'd somehow lost his pillow in the night and Thor had gained three.
Clint, Tony and Natasha were in the center; the two boys protectively positioned on either side of Natasha. She too had a thumb in her mouth and her other hand was clasped in Clints. He had his free arm wrapped round Natasha's shoulders, while Tony was hugging Natasha's toy penguin; lay back-to back with Natasha.

Several minutes later Phil walked in; eyes going wide at the state of the room. But when he saw them; still sleeping soundly, curled together in a mess of blankets and stuffed animals he couldn't help but smile.