From a prompt: Penny sneaks out and Thor comforts her.
Penny leaned against the brick wall behind her, sighing as the rain soaked her to the bone, fighting the exhaustion that had been her constant companion for so long. She wasn’t even supposed to be out...Mr. Stark had given her one rule. Made one request. Don’t go out as Spider-Girl when he was in DC. One thing. And she hadn’t even been able to do that. Wiping a hand over her face, she held back a sob, resting her head on the brick wall and feeling the tears run down her face, mixing with the rainwater. After everything he’d done for her, she couldn’t even do one thing.
What was wrong with her?
He’d taken her in. Despite the ferry, despite taking the suit...despite her mistakes, the moment he’d found out about May (via Happy) Mr. Stark had showed up at the door to her foster house, looking uncomfortable. Out of place. Penny’s foster brother had been the one to open the door, had looked Mr. Stark up and down, and had almost slammed the door in his face in his haste to call for their foster parents.
Penny had stayed in her room, the one she’d shared with another girl that she hadn’t yet spoken to, watching from the top of the stairs as her foster father had gone to talk to him...and then he’d led the man upstairs to where Penny had been sitting, curled up on the bed, back against the pillow, her math book sitting on the bed in front of her. Mr. Stark had hesitated in the doorway behind her foster father who had cleared his throat. “Penny. There’s, um...there’s someone here to see you. You up for a visitor?”
Penny had just nodded. She hadn’t spoken to the people housing her and feeding her yet, despite the fact that she’d been living with them for almost a week. She’d barely spoken to Ned or her teachers...she had felt like she was living her life in an exhausted haze...like she was numb was vaguely sick all the time and then Mr. Stark, the man who’d shouted at her and taken away her suit and sent her home...he had been in her room. Sitting on her bed, just like he had before. But this time, May hadn’t been there. This time, she’d been in a strange place with strange people.
For a long time, the man had been silent. But then he’d reached out, hesitating before patting her on the shoulder. “Hey, kiddo.”
She had just stared at him, wondering if she stayed silent for long enough, she’d forget how to talk. Besides, she’d had no idea what to say to him. Hi? Lovely weather we’re having? My aunt had a heart attack and I found her on the kitchen floor. How’s your month been? So Penny had lowered her eyes instead, wishing he would move his hand and wishing he would leave her alone there in her miserable new life. Instead, he had squeezed her shoulder, looking lost. Looking, for once, like he had no idea what to say.
“I’m, uh...I’m really sorry, Penny. About your aunt.”
Penny had nodded, never knowing how to answer that. Never knowing what to say to people who apologized for things they’d had no control over.
“Happy just found out...I didn’t know. I swear, I...I had no idea.”
What would you have done, Penny had wanted to ask. You took my suit and you told me I was done and now...what? Would have have given it back? Helped me take the Vulture down? But her throat had been closed tight, and so she still hadn’t spoken. Hadn’t known how to speak. So she’d just let them sit in silence.
“Do...do you need anything? Or...is...is there anything I can do?” She’d shaken her head and he’d removed his hand, then stood, arms crossed tight. “Alright. I...I’m sorry, Penny. Really. I...I’m so sorry. If you need anything, just...just call me. Okay? Or Happy. Call Happy.”
And then he’d been gone.
Her next visitor had come a few days later. Her social worker. The woman, who had been surprisingly friendly and soft spoken, had sat on her bed in the same spot that Mr. Stark had, clasping her hands in her lap. “Hello, Penny.”
“Hi.” The word had felt like sandpaper on her throat, but she’d been doing her best.
“So...this is a little unprecedented, but...I know that we haven’t spoken about adoption…”
Penny had jerked her head up at that, eyes narrowing. Adoption? “The Andersons…”
“No, um...actually, a man who says he was a family friend of your aunt’s got in contact with us.”
From then on, life had seemed to move at the speed of light, all a painful, distant blur. One day, she’d been sitting on her bed, the next she’d been asked to pack her things once more, and then she’d been in the back seat of a car and then and then and then...events had happened one after another with no apparent meaning. Her bed in the foster home. The back seat of a car. The Avengers tower where the actual Avengers were now living, apparently unbeknownst to the public. Mr. Stark had introduced her to everyone as his intern and then shown her a room that would apparently belong to her and all she’d been able to think was that she hadn’t asked for any of this. Hadn’t wanted it. All she wanted was her aunt.
He’d given her the suit back. Encouraged her to go on her patrols in the city after school. And then he’d seemed to retreat again, going off to do whatever work he was always doing and it wasn’t like she’d expected him to be her father but it had all been just...incomprehensible.
And then, the day before, he’d knocked on her door, leaning in the doorway and looking out of place even though it was his home. “Hey, kid. Um...I’m off to DC for the weekend. Back to back meetings and all that. So, uh...Pepper’s going too, and Rhodey and Steve, but if you need anything, um...well you know where everything is and I’ve got an extra credit card in the drawer by the fridge if you need money.”
She’d barely spoken to him since coming to live at the tower, and Penny knew that the heaviness, the awkwardness...it was partially on her. But it was as if she’d forgotten how to speak. How to communicate. How to do anything but go to school and patrol and cry in her bed at night.
“Okay.” He’d clapped his hands together and given a weak smile. “So, I should be home by Sunday night. Maybe we’ll have dinner, huh? Just me, you, and Pepper?”
She’d tried to smile. Tried to nod. “Okay.”
“Alright, kiddo. See you Sunday. Oh...uh, no patrolling while we’re all gone, okay?”
“Okay.”
He’d been trying. On and off, he would pop into her life, inviting her down to the lab or trying to talk to her at dinner. Other times he’d seemed to retreat into his busy life, which wasn’t unexpected. It didn’t bother her. She didn’t expect him to be her father.
All day Saturday, she’d stayed in her room. She’d done her homework and texted with Ned and left her room only to get food when the others were nowhere around. Not that she didn’t like the other Avengers but she wasn’t in the mood to mingle. Hadn’t been in the mood to mingle since walking into the kitchen that day and finding her aunt on the floor, a halo of blood around her hair. So she’d stayed in her room. Painted her nails. Watched youtube videos. Read a book. And then...and then she’d stood up from her bed, grabbed her suit, and pulled it on. She’d disabled the tracker the week before while playing around with the coding of the suit, needing something, anything to do after finishing her homework, and so, without worrying about alerting Mr. Stark, she had swung out the window. All she’d wanted to do was get out of that room that had been set up for her without her input. To get out of the tower where she was grateful to live but hadn’t wanted to live.
Shivering in the rain, she stared up at the tower, tears running down her face under the mask. There was a heater in her suit, she knew, but she didn’t turn it on. Didn’t feel like she deserved it. The patrol had been fine. She’d stopped a mugging and intercepted a drug deal and helped an older lady carry her groceries up to her apartment. And then the rain had started, so she’d headed back to the tower.
Back home.
That was the thought that had stopped her short. Home. The tower wasn’t her home. May was her home, and her home was gone. Forever.
Footsteps startled her a little, and she jerked her head to the side only to find Thor approaching...holding an umbrella. Penny blinked at the sight, brain struggling to make it all compute. Yes, she’d known that Thor was back. She’d met him, briefly, when she’d met all of the Avengers. But...what was he doing?
When he finally reached her, he held out the umbrella, shielding her from the rain, and leaned in. “Are you alright?”
Did they know she was Spider-Girl? Had Mr. Stark told them? Had he mentioned that to her at some point? She nodded, and then the man wrapped an arm around her.
“Come. Let’s get you inside.”
“I…” She swallowed hard, blinking behind the tears unsuccessfully. “I wasn’t supposed to go out. Mr. Stark...he told me not to. But...but I did it anyway and now…”
Now what? Would he send her back when he found out? Would he yell at her? Like with the ferry? Would he take the suit again?
“Stark isn’t home yet. Come on.” Thor urged again, leading her over to the back entrance. Penny followed dumbly, stepping with him into the building, then onto the elevator, and then, finally, onto a floor she didn’t think she’d ever been on. A floor with a living room and a kitchen and a hallway decorated differently than Mr. Stark’s, but still...almost the same layout. Not asking where they were or what was going on, Penny let him lead her down the hallway to the bathroom, urging her inside as he stayed in the doorway. “Take a shower and get cleaned up. I’ll find you some clothes.”
Glad to know exactly what she was supposed to do, she followed orders, pressing against the spider on her chest as soon as the door was shut and letting the suit fall to the ground with a wet flop. Stripping off the underclothes, she let them fall as well, then turned the shower on hot and stepped inside, letting the warm replace the chill that had seeped into her skin. For a long time, she stood under the spray. At one point, there was a knock on the door, although she had no idea how long she’d been standing under the spray.
“Yeah?” she called over the water, surprised to find her voice almost hoarse. She was crying, she realized then, reaching up and pressing a hand to her face which had been under the spray. Still crying.
The door opened a little, and through the curtain, she saw the shadow of a figure place something on the sink. “I brought you some clothes.”
And then the door was closed and she was alone again, face turned up toward the hot water pouring from the showerhead.
When the water finally went from hot to tepid, she turned it off, stepping onto the bath mat and wrapping herself in a thick towel. Once she was dry, she held up the pajama shirt, surprised to find that it was hers. Well...one that had been in her room when she’d first arrived at the tower. She hadn’t even taken the tags off yet. So, ripping the little white tags off and dropping them into the garbage, she pulled the clean, dry clothes on, dried her hair as best she could, then stared down at the wet clothes on the floor.
Another tap on the door brought her out of her trance, and she opened it to find Thor standing on the other side, his one good eye looking her over critically, new short hair mussed and standing on end. “Here. For the suit.” He held out a bag that looked like something she would find at a convenience store and she took it, gathering the clothes and dropping them into the bag. “Come with me,” he urged, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder.
She did, following dumbly once more, and found herself in the living room, the bag gently taken from her hands, shoulder pressed until she was sitting on the sofa. Then something new was pressed into her hands. Staring down at them, she found a mug with a cartoonish rendition of Thor himself, lightning bolts filling all the empty space. Inside, she could smell the chocolate, and she brought it up to her lips, closing her eyes when the hot liquid warmed her from the inside.
After a moment, Thor sat on the sofa beside her, not close enough that their legs were touching, but almost. “Were you hurt?” he asked, leaning in. She shook her head. When she was silent, he turned a little toward her. “You know, I used to do this for Loki when he would sneak out...back when we were boys.” He glanced around as if looking for Loki, and she tried to remember if he was there...if he was staying at the tower. Had she met him? Had he been in the group of Avengers she’d been introduced to that day? “When he would fight with our parents...or just when he got bored. He’d come home, upset and afraid of being caught, and I would sneak him inside. Make sure he was alright.”
Penny took another drink of her hot chocolate.
“Stark mentioned that he was adopting you. You know, Loki was adopted as well. As a baby. My father returned home with him when I was very young, and we grew up together.” He clasped his hands in his lap. “Stark didn’t tell us about the circumstances that led to your adoption. He only said that you no longer had a family.
“I don’t,” she whispered.
“I am very sorry to hear that. I know it must be difficult, coming to live with strangers. But I want you to know that we are all happy to have you. That we can be your family, if you wish.”
That was all it took. Those two sentences. Nearly dropping the mug, Penny brought a hand up to her face and let out the sob that refused to stay inside of her, and a hand gently removed the mug, placing it on the table. Then, to her surprise, Thor wrapped an arm around her, and she turned, gripping his shirt and hiding her face in his chest as though he were someone that she loved. As though he was May or Ben, who had held her so many times just like this. Who were both gone.
“I want her back,” Penny sobbed as he wrapped both arms around her, holding her close. He was so warm, his arms so big, that she felt engulfed. Enveloped. “She was all I had and I want her back!”
“I’m so sorry, Penny,” he murmured, rubbing a hand up and down her back.
“I didn’t...I didn’t know he was bringing me here and...and I can’t talk to him...I can’t! I can’t talk to anyone!”
“Why don’t you tell me?” Thor suggested gently, still holding her close.
And she did, words spilling out of her at an alarming rate. But once she’d started, there was no stopping. She told him about May. And Ben. She told him about how she’d met Mr. Stark and about the fight in Germany...about the calls that had gone unanswered and the voice mails and the river Mr. Stark had pulled her out of. She told him about the ferry, and how Mr. Stark had taken her suit. She told him about finding May, and feeling like the world had turned to black and white, and how she couldn’t talk and she couldn’t laugh and she could’t find happy anymore, how all she could do was go to school and do her homework and patrol. How everything was autopilot and how she wanted to go home but home was gone.
Thor didn’t say anything for a long time. He just held her. Just rubbed her back and wrapped her in a blanket and sat, still and warm and comfortable, until she felt like she was drifting off. She was so tired...hadn’t slept without nightmares in so long.
“What do I do?” she finally asked, desperate to know. Desperate to have some direction.
“For now, I think you should sleep,” he murmured as the lights started to go down. “And then, maybe you should try telling some of this to Tony.”
“I can’t.” Penny shook her head despite the exhaustion that had settled over her like a blanket. “I don’t even know why he brought me here! I screwed up and...and he wanted Spider-Girl to help but he didn’t want…” She didn’t finish that statement. Couldn’t. Instead, she let him ease her head down until it was resting on a pillow on his leg.
“I think that Tony regrets the way things happened, and that he is having a difficult time talking to you about it. But if there’s one thing I know about Tony, it’s that he cares deeply for his family. And I believe he sees you as his family.”
“I just want to sleep,” she whispered in the dark, unable to process that...unable to even think about being Mr. Stark’s family.
“Alright. Get some sleep.”
And she did. Maybe, she thought, hoping against hope, all of this would be easier in the morning.
It wasn’t. Not really. But for the first night in so long, she slept without nightmares, thanks to Thor standing guard.