The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Fifty-Four

Pepper paced back and forth behind the curtain that divided the backstage from the press below that was on the other side. She looked out through the crack in the curtains, her blue eyes taking in all the people that were waiting for the announcement that they'd stated they'd be releasing today. She ran a hand through her loose curls, why had she agreed to this? She straightened the seams of her navy pencil skirt as she waited for the rest of her family to come from the connecting rooms. Morgan and Penny came into her view first, the younger of the two pulling her older sister towards their mother, her pigtails bouncing slightly as she approached the strawberry-blonde. Pepper picked up the eight year old who tackled her legs, hugging her tightly before pulling Penny in for a hug too. Morgan pressed her forehead against her mother's, their noses touching, it made her smile; she wished the girl could stay this age forever. Penny stood next to her, her own blue dress matching the color of her's and Morgan's skirts; Pepper hoped that the idea of matching made their family look more unified. She knew reporters and the opinion of the public could be brutal, especially to those who didn't know how to navigate it. She'd learned the tricks of the trade- not to wear something too revealing but at the same time not something that was too modest, appear cordial but not overly friendly to the public, and that by wearing similar color matching colors, that a group could appear more unified. That's why she'd requested that everyone wear blue, navy was preferred because it was professional. She noticed Penny swaying back and forth on the balls of her feet, her deep brown eyes full of nervous energy. She reached over to the younger teen, gently gripping onto her hand and rubbing soothing circles on the back of it in an effort to chase away her middle child's nerves; she'd found the action to be soothing during the younger teen's panic attacks. The fourteen year old looked up at her and flashed her a small smile that she returned; she started talking to her two daughters trying to distract them about the upcoming press conference while they waited on the billionaire and the brunet teen. Peter came over with Tony a few moments later, both wearing navy blue suits with similar ties; the younger of the two's curly brown hair had been neatly styled, making him have a more boyish charm look about him. She and Tony pulled their children in for a quick hug, doing their best to make them as comfortable as possible; they pulled away after a few moments and linked hands, stepping out of the curtains. The two teenagers waited for their cue to go on stage; Happy had stayed back with them, quietly waiting with them, and making small talk. Peter kept looking towards the curtains, it was obvious that the teen could hear the murmurs of the crowd from where they were standing along with the noises of the cameras flashing and anything else that might be going on in the room. Happy did his best to distract the teens from the conversations that were going on in the crowd and distracting Peter from listening to everything else. They were both nervous, today marked the day when everything would change for them yet again, and they weren't a hundred percent certain they could handle many more changes between the two of them.

Tony let go of Pepper's hand a few moments after they stepped out from the curtain, the flashes of the cameras had died down and the questions had almost stopped. Morgan had buried her face in the crook of his wife's neck; the flashing cameras and the rapid firing of questions made her nervous. The billionaire looked at all the flashes of light, a growing sense of worry about what they were about to do started forming in his stomach. Was this a good idea? How would Pete react to all the flashes when the cameras started going again? It wasn't like he was wearing the special sunglasses that he'd made for him or that he was wearing his suit. What about Penny? She was new to her powers and wasn't the best at controlling her emotions. They seemed to be controlled by her emotions, especially the telltale sin of her eyes changing color. Had they thought this through enough? He did his best to shove his worries aside. The last thing he needed to do was stress over this because if he stressed, the kids would stress and that wasn't good for any of them. He stepped towards the microphone and pulled it off of its stand, lifting the piece of technology up to his mouth so everyone would hear him.