Just A Normal Kid

Chapter 40

Rosie beamed as she led the way through the private entrance of the Tower. Peter's leg wasn't as badly broken as hers had been when she had first moved in, so he was allowed to hobble around on crutches.

Clint had insisted on joining the tour, saying that Peter might need help walking. "Rosie, you might be strong enough to support him, but I really don't think it would be too comfortable for the kid to lean on you, seeing the height difference."

Grumbling about her short height, Rosie had seen the sense in his words and let him join them. She was by far the shortest avenger on the team with her measly height of 5'2'' which made her look even younger than she was. 

It was really annoying as the guys were all either more than six feet tall or barely a couple of inches shy of it, with Thor towering over her by almost a foot and a half. Natasha and Wanda were 5'7'' with Sharon standing at 5'8". (These are the comic book heights) It made her feel like a dwarf at times and left her to be the butt of all the height jokes as well as the baby ones.

With Peter now living with them, she knew he would be getting the title of 'Baby Avenger', considering the fact that he looked like he was twelve except for his insane height. At fifteen, Peter was already 5'11", with lots of time left to grow taller. 

She had a strong feeling of deja-vu as they walked to the tiny room where the Access cards were printed, remembering the first time she had come there in pretty much the same physical and emotional condition. Peter looked at the Resident-Level card in his hands with stars in his eyes, as if it was just sinking in that he was actually going to live in Stark Tower with the Avengers.

Pretty soon, they were on her floor. It had been years since she moved in, but only three rooms were currently occupied. One was her room, the other was Jake's and the last one was the enormous library that Tony had bought as a 'welcome-back' present when she came home from MIT. 

Yeah, he had bought an entire library one night when he was sleep-deprived without Pepper finding out until all the books were brought into the Tower. Rosie had moved a lot of the books from the overflowing bookshelves in her room to the library and quite a few members of the team came up to there to enjoy the silence it afforded.

Peter looked in awe as she opened the door to his room. Though he had told Rosie what he liked, she had not shown him the finished design, wanting it to be a surprise. The wide grin on his face said everything. 

"Thank you." He whispered, his eyes brimming with tears as he looked around the room, drinking it in. Clint had tactfully left a couple of minutes ago and it was only the two of them there now. "Anytime, Pete. So, do you want to make any changes?"

He shook his head. "What's gonna happen to the a-ap-apartment?"

"Do you want to keep it? Or should I arrange for it's sale?"

He considered the question for a few more minutes before replying, "I don't want it. It won't be the same without her."

"Alright. Once we get whatever stuff you want out of there, I'll do that." She reassured him. "You don't have to worry about it."

"Do I have to be there to sign anything?"

"Not unless you want to. The flat is technically yours now, but as you're a minor I can handle the sale with a written authorisation from you. Now let's go meet the team."

She could see the nervousness flare up when she said that, his body tensing slightly as he followed her to the lifts. Trying to reassure him, she said, "They're just people, Peter. Besides, you've already met Tony and Clint."

"Clint is an Avenger?" Peter sounded startled.

"Hawkeye. He prefers to keep his real name away from the press, and we support that. Try not to freak out when you find some weird stuff in the penthouse, okay. There's guns and knives hidden all over the place and Thor tends to leave his hammer in the most annoying places. Clint booby-traps the vent system and Pietro's sole aim in life is to piss off Jake. You might find Pietro and Sam running around with a prosthetic arm while a hundred-year-old super-soldier chases them, cursing in Russian."