Work Text:
"You really didn't have to come over, Mr. Stark."
"Are you trying to get rid of me, kid? 'Cause it's not working," Mr. Stark replied snarkily, ripping open another box that was haphazardly filled with stuff. She peeked up behind the last of the boxes she was carrying inside to spy a bunch of her old dolls and action figures. Oh no. Smiling viciously, Mr. Stark pulled out a beat up and very obviously loved Iron Man action figure Ben had gotten her.
Penny blushed, trying to ignore him as she walked away, placing the tipping boxes on the old table she'd lugged upstairs earlier with Mr. Stark's help (just to make it look less suspicious). Mr. Stark was, as usual, relentless, coming up behind her and poking her cheek with the action figure.
"Come on, kiddo. Iron Man needs your help!" he said in an overly cartoonish voice.
She stuck her tongue out at him, moving to snatch the action figure back, but she let him clutch the action figure to his chest instead of taking it. Mercy was a more redeeming trait of hers. Sarcasm, however, was not, "Ha ha ha. Really funny, you should fund an Iron Man TV show, you might be able to land a part."
Mr. Stark switched to a girlishly high voice, "I might try out for the role of Spider-Woman."
"I do not--"
Penny's grinned protest was drowned out by another roll of thunder, and she felt a shiver run down her spine as a burst of rain and hail plundered against the window. The two turned to look at the window, and she grimaced a little, hoping the new apartment's windows would hold up.
It was supposed to be to be the worst storm of the year, the talk of the town (well, city) for nearly two weeks that had caused canned goods to sell out in stores and school to end early yesterday. So of course it had landed on moving day. May had tried to reschedule until after the storm passed, but their old landlord had said very plainly that they had to leave the property at their scheduled time. It made moving slightly more dangerous than usual, but Penny had planned on making a day of it, especially when Mr. Stark had volunteered to drive their boxes over while May finished up her shift.
She and her mentor had barely managed to get all of the boxes in the building before the storm had begun thundering down, which, as advised, meant they shouldn't go back outside. Technically, she guessed Mr. Stark could call the Iron Man suit and leave whenever, but she still felt kinda bad for trapping him here, where there wasn't even food in the fridge yet. And the air conditioning hadn't been turned on for them. It was a good thing she was wearing her Midtown Sweatshirt over a long sleeved shirt over a tank top. It meant she was a little warmer.
As if reading her thoughts, Mr. Stark rubbed his hands together, breathing into them in exaggeration and walking away, "D'you know where the A/C is? It looks like we're going to be here for a while and I'd rather--"
And then the power went out.
Penny made a noise of surprise, blinking as she tried to adjust to the light, and rushing toward the window. Where moments before she'd seen bright yellow and oranges from her new neighbors, there was now nothing but complete darkness. Was there a moon tonight? Definitely no stars. Still, Penny somehow managed to make out the room as though the sun had only just set. Huh, her powers surprised her a little more each day.
"Penny? Are you alright?" Mr. Stark called, and she remembered that he probably couldn't see her at all.
"I'm right here, Mr. Stark!" she called back, beginning to make her way over to a nearby box, "I was just checking the window. I think all of Queens doesn't have power right now, sir."
"Shush it with the 'sirs,'" he ordered, and she listened as he began walking blindly through the dark, barely holding back a laugh as he stubbed his toe, swearing loudly, "Where's your phone? Where's my phone?"
"Aww, that's lame, Mr. Stark. Phone flashlights would ruin the mood."
"Mood. What mood? My mood is I'm cold."
A crack! echoed through the air as Penny broke a green glowstick, shaking it around wildly until it glowed in her hand. She tossed it to her mentor, who caught it sloppily in the dark as she turned to grab another one, "The spooky mood, Mr. Stark."
"It's not Halloween."
"It should be."
"It was literally just Halloween."
"And I already ate all my candy," Penny argued, and she watched Mr. Stark roll his eyes as she broke two more glowsticks, handing another one for him, "Here. For your weak eyes."
"Shut up. You'll be old one day, too."
"And I'll still have better eyesight than you in your twenties."
"Whatever, weirdo," he teased, "When's May getting back?"
"Uhh, I kinda forgot honestly. Do you think she'll be able to get here through the storm?"
"Hold up, let's call her. Now do you mind passing me my phone?"
Penny rolled her eyes, jumping across the room to snatch it from the couch and passing it back to him. Her mentor immediately dialed May, but it went to voicemail. He tried a couple more times before shrugging.
"No luck," he concluded, and she hummed. Suddenly his voice changed, going theatrically serious, "Alright, now it's time to get down. Do we have the bare essentials to survive this dangerous night."
"No."
"You're supposed to play along."
"Between us we have a box of cookies, two Gatorades, and a lot of useless shit. Also, only one of us can survive the cold."
"You're such a downer."
"No, you," she countered, and he rolled his eyes playfully.
"Just go find those blankets. I'll grab the food, and we're keeping you warm. My signal's completely trashed right now, so we're gonna have to rough it out until this storm passes."
"But that could be foreverrrrr!"
"Well, you better go find those blankets then."
She shot him a dirty look, but did as told, searching through boxes until she found the one with all of their blankets in it. She heard Mr. Stark fumbling around for the food and drinks, eventually making his way to the couch pressed up against the wall.
Penny bounced over with the box of blankets, dumping them out on the unsuspecting man, who spluttered in surprise and annoyance as blanket after blanket flopped onto his head before unraveling over him. He glared up at her as he tore the blankets off of his face, scrunching up his nose and sticking out his tongue.
"Brat. I guess I all the blankets are mine now."
She gasped dramatically, flopping down on top of him, "You're just going to let me die, Mr. Stark? We're already low on rations and I don't even get a--"
"Okay, okay! Take your damn blanket. Here, you get the scratchy one."
"No! Ewww! I don't like this one."
He sighed dramatically, "Well, I guess you can share this super nice one with me, but only if you promise to be nice."
"Fine," she said, sitting up and resting her head on his shoulder instead. She took the glowsticks and placed them in their laps, throwing a large blanket over them so that they were trapped with the multicolored lights, "So, what're we gonna do?"
"Uhhhhh--"
"Ooo how about Rock, Paper, Scissors."
"Sure, kid."
They played two hundred twenty-three rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors, and despite Penny's quick reflexes, Mr. Stark won a lot of them. Stupid damn ass strategist. Mr. Stark told her stories, some spooky ghost stories at her request, others about the Avengers or MIT. Sometimes his voice would get really quiet in the middle of a story, his eyes going a little haunted before he jostled himself back to the present and carried on with as much gusto as ever. That was usually when she'd squeeze his hand, or steal some more of the blanket from him, which they still shared despite the fact that there were other ones.
And who was really to say she fell asleep with her head against his knee that night? It would be pretty hard to tell with the thrumming of rain, the blankets that were mounted in a thick layer on top of her, and the only light being provided from a few dim glowsticks.