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Last night had been the best night of Penny’s entire life. Okay, maybe “the best of her entire life” was a slight exaggeration, but it was pretty great. Penny had had her first kiss a few months ago and it wasn’t anything particularly exciting, but last night… last night was very exciting. They hadn’t had sex, she wasn’t ready for that yet, but they’d kissed… a lot, and not just on lips. The only downside to this had been that the kissing had left… marks. And now Penny was completely and utterly screwed, as it was a lab day and her neck had multiple hickeys on it. Maybe Mr. Stark would believe someone tried to choke her to death? She was pretty sure he wouldn’t react any more positively to that, but it was significantly less embarrassing on her part.
Despite the large collection of sweaters and warm clothes she had accumulated due to her inability to thermoregulate, it seemed that she did not own any turtlenecks. Maybe a scarf would work? Not seeing any better options, Penny wrapped her only scarf around her neck. It was a winter scarf, which was unfortunate since it was about 75 degrees outside. She couldn’t thermoregulate very well, but not that badly… maybe he would think it was a new fashion trend? Either way, it was the best choice she had at the moment.
Penny headed down the front steps of her apartment building to where Happy was waiting to pick her up. She got in the backseat and tried her best to look inconspicuous.
“Hey Happy!” She said cheerfully. Happy shot her a somewhat confused look, but didn’t say anything as he pulled back on the road and started driving to the tower. Penny put in her earbuds and closed her eyes, normally she would talk to Happy at least a little (usually a lot), but the only thing on her mind at the moment wasn’t really something she wanted to talk to him about. Happy shot her a couple more strange looks in the rearview mirror on the way to the tower, and she pretended not to notice. Soon enough they arrived at the tower and she got out, heading straight for the elevator.
“Straight to the lab today Fri!” Penny said to the ceiling. Some days she went to the penthouse first, but today she wanted to get straight to work. The elevator door opened a few moments later and Penny stepped out, heading straight for her desk. Mr. Stark wasn’t there yet, it was possible he was waiting in the penthouse. Penny felt a little guilty for leaving him hanging, but it wasn’t a minute later that Mr. Stark stepped out of the elevator and into the lab. Friday must have told him she was here.
“Hey kid, were you really eager to get working or something?” He asked nonchalantly.
“Yeah” she replied, trying to sound normal. Unfortunately Penny was kind of a terrible liar. “I was just feeling inspired you know” Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow at that, and then of course seemed to notice her scarf.
“Were you also feeling cold? What’s with the scarf? It’s like 80 degrees outside.” Penny tried to laugh it off, hoping he would drop it and move on.
“It’s a fashion choice” she said dramatically, as if she were a model.
“Well it certainly is a choice, I’m not sure about the fashion part” He quipped. Penny put her hand to her chest in mock horror, acting horribly offended.
“How dare you! This is what all the magazine models are wearing these days!”
“Whatever you say kid” he shook his head, and Penny inwardly sighed with relief, it looked like was going to drop it. “But seriously kid, what’s up with the scarf? Do you want Fri to turn up the temp in here?”
“No!” She exclaimed, a little too emphatically. Truth be told she was actually getting a little over heated, it seemed her poor thermoregulation worked both ways. “I mean… I don’t want you to get overheated while you work and stuff.” Tony raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, you are seriously being weird. What’s going on?” He asked, sounding a little concerned. Penny hadn’t wanted him to worry about her.
“It’s seriously nothing. I’m just… trying something new… with my outfits and stuff” she tried once again.
Tony was clearly not buying it.
“Yeah, you are totally lying. You keep ending your sentences with ‘and stuff’, which you only do when you are nervous or lying.” Somewhere in the back of her mind, Penny was flattered that he’d noticed that about her, but mostly she was panicking.
“No-“ She tried, but he cut her off.
“Take the scarf off. Now.” He said, not angrily but emphatically.
“But-“
“Now!” He said again, waiting with eyebrows raised.
Not seeing a way out, Penny finally gave in and unwrapped the scarf from her neck. Mr. Stark’s eyes widened as his face seemed to shift through a variety of emotions, first shock, then anger, and finally, concern. He took a few careful steps toward her and reached his hand gently up to her neck, hovering but not touching.
“Who did this to you?” He asked angrily.
“What?” She responded, genuinely confused. “No one did anything to me!” It occurred to her then that maybe her idea that he might think someone tried to choke her to death wasn’t that far off.
“Bullshit!” He exclaimed, surprising her. He didn’t curse in front of her often, which she found kind of amusing since she was sixteen and definitely heard worse things at her high school everyday than anything he could come up with. “It looks like someone tried to murder you!”
“People try to murder me all the time! Superhero much?” She realized immediately that that was probably not the best thing to say at that particular moment. Tony’s eyebrows shot way up and it was clear he was fighting for patience.
“That doesn’t make it ok! And unless you were fighting some crazy enhanced person, which you are not supposed to do alone, I don’t see how this could have happened with your superstrength! Either that or someone tried to kill you while you were out of the suit, and that is an entire other problem.”
“No one tried to kill me!” She cut him off, desperate for this to be over. She was kind of shocked at how oblivious Mr. Stark seemed to be at this point. Given his past as kind of a wild guy you’d think he’d know a hickey when he saw one.
“Well if no one tried to hurt you then what- oh.” He cut himself off mid-sentence, eyes widening once again as he seemed to finally understand. Penny was sure her face had never been this red before. “Oh” he repeated, “um…” he stammered awkwardly, clearly unsure what to do.
“Can we just work!” She exclaimed, eyes downcast.
“Um… sure.” He replied. Mr. Stark went back to his desk and Penny to hers. She tried desperately to focus on her work but was failing pretty miserably, and it seemed Mr. Stark was having the same problem. He kept glancing at her with a weird expression, something like worry? Even though she felt safe around Mr. Stark, her spider senses pretty much always told her when someone was watching her, and they were going off a little like every two seconds. After almost an hour of working in uncomfortable silence, they headed up to the penthouse to have dinner with Pepper.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Penny said awkwardly, heading through the hall and into the bathroom. She shut the door as quickly as possible without slamming it, sliding down to the floor and trying to calm down. She didn’t feel a panic attack coming on, thank goodness, but she felt dangerously close to tears, and she really did not need any more embarrassment today. She wasn’t even entirely sure why she felt like crying! She hadn’t done anything wrong! But now Mr. Stark was acting strange and treating her differently and it was all just embarrassing.
“What the hell is going on with you two?” Penny heard Pepper speak softly to Tony, apparently underestimating her super hearing. “And what was on Penny’s neck? Is she okay?”
“She’s okay… they aren’t bruises” Mr. Stark responded awkwardly.
“I see” Pepper caught on much more quickly than Mr. Stark. “And why are you acting so weird about it?”
“I’m not being weird!” Penny couldn’t see them, but she was pretty sure Pepper was making her patented “we both know you are lying so you’d better fess up before this gets ugly” look, (Penny was still working on the name). Regardless, the look consisted of a single raised eyebrow and could probably scare any number of dangerous criminals into a confession.
“I just… She’s so young… I don’t want her to get hurt.” Tony finally confessed. Penny could hear Pepper chuckle a little. Mr. Stark didn’t want her to get hurt? She’d known that, sort of, but she thought that mostly just applied to spidergirl stuff. She knew Mr. Stark cared about her, they’d known each other for almost a year at this point, but why was he so worried about this? It was just a kiss! Well… not just a kiss. Either way, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“I worry about her Pep, a lot. What if someone hurts her! She’s way too young for boys!” Penny hadn’t been crying before, but she was now. She was no longer crying from embarrassment or shame though, this was a good cry. Mr. Stark worried about her. He cared! He cared like a father would.
“She’s sixteen!” Pepper responded with a laugh, “It’s normal for kids her age to start dating.”
“Well I don’t like it!” Pepper laughed again, and Mr. Stark huffed in exasperation. “I swear that kid is going to give me a heart attack someday… I just really hate seeing her hurt.” Penny’s felt a warmth in her chest that she hadn’t felt since Ben died. He cared about her.
“Unfortunately, you are going to have to get used to it. She’s going to get hurt, it’s inevitable.” She heard Mr. Stark started saying something, but Pepper kept talking before he could get a word out. “-And I know you want to keep her at the tower forever and never let anything happen to her but you can’t!”
“Well I don’t see why not.” Tony grumbled.
“That’s just the dad in you.” Penny fully expected him to object, to correct her or say that just because he cared about her, it didn’t make him her dad, but to her surprise, he just kept quiet and listened. “You are going to have to learn what parts of that voice to listen to and what parts are maybe just a tiny bit overprotective.”
“I am not overprotective! I let her fight criminals!” He objected.
“Yeah, in a million dollar super-suit with like four thousand different safety protocols that’s also programmed to alert you if she so much as stubs a toe. You also literally just said you didn’t see why you can’t keep her in the tower and away from all danger forever.” Pepper pointed out.
“Whatever” he grumbled. There was silence for a moment, and then he spoke again. “I should probably talk to the kid huh?”
“And there’s the helpful part.” She said warmly, “Yes, you should talk to her.”
“You are right, as usual.” He paused for a moment, “I love her, Pep, like my kid… I love her” He said, almost as if he was admitting it to himself as much as to her. Penny felt like her heart was glowing as she heard him say those words. He loved her!
“I know! Now go tell her!” Pepper replied excitedly.
As this was a talk she actually wanted to have, Penny decided it was probably time to get off the bathroom floor. Luckily she had stopped crying by now, though her chest almost felt tight with emotion. She opened the door and made her way to the living room. She spotted Mr. Stark sitting on the sofa, drumming his fingers nervously on his leg, but Pepper was nowhere to be seen. She must have decided to give them some alone time. Mr. Stark spotted her, almost looking startled for a moment.
“Hey kid,” He patted the couch next to him, gesturing for her to sit down. Once she was sitting down next to him, he continued talking.
“Kid… I’m so sorry I- omph!” He was cut off mid-sentence as Penny launched herself onto his chest, wrapping her arms around him. He seemed momentarily startled, but soon his arms wrapped around her and he seemed to relax.
“I love you too.” She said, voice muffled a little by his shirt.
“Wait… did you hear that?” He asked, seeming surprised but not upset.
“I could hear the entire conversation.” She admitted a little sheepishly. He just chuckled and shook his head.
“Good lord kid, we need to test your hearing! I need to know when it’s safe.” He joked.
“Safe to what? Admit you love me and that I’m the best kid you ever could have asked for?” She quipped back.
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t say that last part” he said sarcastically.
“You probably thought it though.”
“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes, but he didn’t deny it.