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Penny shoved all of the papers she’d just received into the pocket of her binder to look through at some other time. She hated the days that homeroom was more than just the place to take attendance before going off to her classes. She always ended up with so many papers to take home and fill out or show to her parents.
When the bell for first period finally rang, she sighed happily, shouldered her bag, and left the room to stop at her locker. Ned was already there, looking through his own locker and MJ was leaned against the locker beside Penny’s as she sketched on the sketchbook propped in her arms.
“So,” MJ started as Penny neared them and opened her locker.
Penny looked to her so she’d finish her sentence and sighed as she didn’t. She got like this when she was concentrating. “So what?” Penny prompted.
“Father/daughter dance. You going?” She asked as she finally looked up from her sketchbook.
“What?” Penny asked in confusion as she switched out her notebooks and grabbed her calculus book.
“The father/daughter dance, Parker. Are you going?” MJ asked her again. When Penny just looked at her blankly, MJ laughed, “I know I hate homeroom, but at least I pay attention. Did you listen at all while you were in there?”
Penny scrunched up her nose in answer and shrugged, “The annual father/daughter dance for the district is next weekend,” MJ told her. Penny nodded for her to go on, “Are you going?”
“Why would I go?” Penny asked and closed her locker as they started walking.
“Pen,” MJ said exasperatedly, “Come on, Ned. Help me here,” She suggested.
“Because you have Mr. Stark,” Ned supplied from her other side, “You can experience it this year. Not that you couldn’t have gone before but you never would,” He told her.
Penny bit her bottom lip. She’d never gone before. She’d dreamed of going, sure, but she never had. The school had always said anyone could come and bring any male figure in their life, that it didn’t matter if it was a father or not. But Penny had always felt like a fraud. She didn’t have parents and she felt like an outsider as it was. She didn’t need everyone in the district to know too.
But she also knew that Tony hated social gatherings like that and that he wouldn’t want to deal with the attention that came with it. She didn’t mind not getting to go, it was enough now that she had parents, she didn’t need to go. She made a mental note to trash the flyer when she got home.
0~0~0
Penny forgot to throw the flyer away. She meant to, but she went patrolling and got sidetracked. She forgot all about it and so it lived there in her binder pocket for the next week and a half. She had forgotten all about it when she realized that she needed a permission slip signed while she was out of the house.
“Hey, darling,” Her mother greeted as she answered the phone.
“Mama!” Penny exclaimed, “I completely forgot about a permission form I need you to sign,” She told Pepper.
“Well, baby, I wouldn’t normally suggest this, but forge my signature,” She suggested as she flipped through the paperwork on her desk.
“I would,” Penny said hesitantly, “But it’s at home,” She finished.
Pepper smirked and shook her head as she stood and left her office, “Where is it?” She asked playfully.
“You’re the best!” Penny told her thankfully, “It’s in my room, white binder on my desk, should be in the front pocket,” She told the woman, “Seriously, mama, life-saver,” She continued.
“Thank you, little bug,” Pepper murmured as she entered Penny’s room and spotted the binder. She easily found the permission form and scratched her signature onto it before spotting the flyer that was behind it. She pulled it out and frowned when she noticed it and the date on it, “That it, baby?” She asked distractedly.
“Yes, ma’am,” Penny sighed.
“I’ll bring it up by the end of the day, is that okay?” She asked and got the approval before telling her daughter she loved her and hanging up. “FRIDAY, has Penny mentioned this dance to Tony?” She asked.
“Penny has not mentioned the dance to her father,” The AI supplied, “She did, however, discuss it in detail with Miss Jones the other night and it appears that she ultimately decided that Boss would not want to go and, therefore, she wouldn’t ask him.”
Pepper felt her heart break and frowned. She thanked the AI and made her way down to the lab, flyer and permission form in hand.
She stepped off of the elevator to the sounds of AC/DC and Tony tinkering away. “Tones?” She called and he looked up from his current model of their latest tech, “You have a minute?” She asked him.
“For you?” He asked as he pushed his goggles up onto his head and started towards her, “Always,” He answered. She smiled softly and pecked his lips as he reached her, “What’s up, Pep?”
Pepper just wordlessly handed him the flyer she’d found in Penny’s binder and watched as he scanned it. “What’s this?” He asked in confusion. Pepper raised an eyebrow, “I mean, obviously I know what it is. Is it Penny’s?” He asked and received a nod. He looked back down at the flyer and pursed his lips, “She hasn’t mentioned it,” He said and Pepper could hear that he was trying to hide the hurt in his voice.
“She apparently feels like you wouldn’t want to go and didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by bringing it up,” Pepper told him gently. Tony’s gaze snapped up and she could see the gears turning in his head as he thought through everything. When a smile started to stretch across his lips, she smirked in response.
“Could you get her a dress for this without her knowing?” He asked, smirking.
“Definitely.”
0~0~0
Penny sat texting MJ and Ned as Pepper curled her hair. She’d sprung a charity event on her at the last minute and Penny couldn’t say ‘no’ to her mother when she asked her for something as simple as going with her.
Pepper finished up Penny’s hair by tying it up into a half-up curled bun and walked around to the front of her daughter to make sure everything looked good. “Perfect,” She grinned at her daughter who just laughed at her, “Okay, your dress is hanging on the back of your door. Shoes are on your desk,” She told Penny and the girl nodded her understanding and stood to leave.
BossLady: She’s getting dressed. Suspects nothing. She’s beautiful.
StarkingMad: Perfect. Limo is ready downstairs. I’ve got flowers and her coat. I’ll be up in fifteen to get her. Will that work?
BossLady: Should be good!
0~0~0
Penny reappeared about thirteen minutes later and looked at Pepper in confusion, “Mama, you aren’t dressed,” She stated bluntly.
Pepper looked down at herself and shrugged, “So I’m not,” She said in answer, “You look beautiful, baby girl,” The woman cooed as she walked through the living room towards the elevator that she could now hear moving towards them.
“I’m confused,” Penny stated as she followed her mother through the penthouse, “Why’d I have to get all dressed up if we’re not going anywhere? I could still be in my PJs,” She told the woman and furrowed her brows together.
“We,” She emphasized the word as she pointed between the two of them, “Aren’t going anywhere,” Pepper told her with a smile she couldn’t contain, “But you are,” She said just as the elevator doors opened and Tony stepped through them.
“You look beautiful, baby,” The man told his daughter quietly. Penny’s eyes flickered back and forth between her parents before she sighed and held her hands up in a clear ‘what is going on?’ motion. Tony laughed, “Limo’s downstairs waiting to take us to your dance,” Tony told her and watched recognition settle on her face, “That is, if you’ll go with me?” He said with a smirk and held the bouquet of flowers out to her.
Penny’s jaw dropped open as she subconsciously accepted the flowers from him. “My dance,” She stated, “How-” She shook her head in confusion again.
“I found the flyer when I signed your permission slip the other day,” Pepper told her softly.
“Oh,” Penny said and looked down at the flowers in her hand before a smile broke out across her face, “We’re going?” She asked.
“Let’s go, kid.”
0~0~0
Tony and Penny had attracted quite the crowd when they’d arrived. The dress that Pepper had picked out for her was perfectly adorable and age appropriate. It was a darker red color that fell just at her knees and the tie that Tony was wearing matched it just right. They’d made quite the spectacle when they’d entered, and cameras had flashed enough that Penny wasn’t sure she’d ever see correctly again. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she was almost positive that Tony had sent a text requesting security as after about ten minutes, no one else was bothering them.
She had a great time at the dance. Tony had paraded her around like a proud father. He’d danced with her standing on his feet (while she was coordinated in battle, she was definitely not coordinated at all in dance). Penny couldn’t stop smiling.
When the crowd started to get even larger and the sound levels started getting higher as the night progressed, Tony noticed that Penny seemed uncomfortable. He knew she was probably having trouble with her senses and offered to leave early. Penny looked torn and Tony smiled at her, “I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve, kid. Come on,” He told her. Penny smiled widely, grabbed his hand, and let him lead her back out to their waiting limo.
0~0~0
When the car pulled up outside of the brightly lit, but completely empty ice rink, Penny looked over to her father in confusion. Tony smiled and pulled her ice skates out from under one of the other seats. She beamed at him and together the two set off for the entrance so they could put their skates on.
Once on the ice, Penny was much more graceful than one would expect and her giggles and whoops could be heard by anyone around. Tony couldn’t help his own laughs and yells as they skated around one another.
They raced one another. They challenged each other to see who could do the best trick. They attempted to carve large pictures into the ice together. Penny smiled the entire time and Tony couldn’t have gotten the answering smile off of his face if he’d tried.
0~0~0
When the elevator doors opened around 11:30, Pepper looked up from her book and let out an “aww” at the sight. Penny was sound asleep in her father’s arms. Tony was carrying her out of the elevator, still dressed in his suit, Penny still in her dress. Her cheek was on his shoulder and her slack form was wrapped around his torso.
Pepper pulled out her phone and snapped several pictures until Tony rolled his eyes at her and she finally walked over to them, “How was it?” She asked as she gently smoothed Penny’s hair back out of her face and pouted at how cute she truly was.
“Perfect,” Tony answered in a whisper, awe evident in his voice, “I plan to do something like this more often. She can handle a little spoiling, right?” He asked, completely seriously.
“It won’t hurt her,” Pepper responded, smirk in place, “She enjoyed it?” She asked, though she knew the answer.
“Smiled the entire time,” Tony said softly. “Was falling asleep before I could even get her skates off of her, stumbling through the snow. How’d we get this lucky?”
“I ask myself that every day,” Pepper told him with a nod. “Let’s get her to bed then,” She suggested and watched him carry Penny down the hallway towards her bedroom. “How’d I get so lucky?” She whispered before following.