Pick a Penny

Penny Parker shifted nervously from foot to foot as she stood in front of the main entrance at HQ. She held a bag that held Mr. Stark's sandwich, a turkey sandwich on wheat with extra mayo and pickles that he had told her to pick up from 45th West street in downtown Manhattan.

Penny looked at her reflection in the glass door, skinny, short, obviously dorky. She had wide brown eyes and boring brown hair that she always wore back in a messy ponytail when she was Spider Woman. She was in her usual khaki shirt and blue blouse. God, no wonder Flash picked on her, she was a walking target.

She looked back at Happy who was waiting impatiently in the car, Penny gave him a sign to wait 5 minutes. Happy ignored her hand gestures, she had told him to wait and take her back to Queens as soon as she had given Mr. Stark his sandwich. She had tried calling him, but surprise, surprise he hadn't answered.

The door finally opened, and Penny heard a warm voice welcome her. "Welcome, Miss Parker. Mr. Stark is in his laboratory and waiting for you there. The laboratory is on the fifth floor."

"Thank you, Friday." Penny said politely as she somehow managed to find an elevator that would take her to the fifth floor. Penny saw Mr. Stark tinkering on something that she couldn't really see.

"Miss Parker, glad that you finally decided to join us," Tony said as a word of greeting as he took the bag from Penny. "Thanks for the sandwich by the way. Your suit is over there by the table, feel free to use whatever tools you need. I'll be right here-"

"I can't stay Mr. Stark." Penny blurted out. "I'm really sorry, I tried to let you know. Happy is waiting for me outside-"

Tony stared at her in confusion. "What? Parker, the whole reason why we're here is to fix your suit. Why didn't you tell me? I cleared my schedule for you."

"I know," Penny said with a trace of both annoyance and guilt. "And I tried to call you, but you didn't answer your phone."

"Oh, so it's my fault now?"

"I didn't say that," Penny said. "Anyway, can we do this some other time? Just not today."

"Fine," Tony pretended not to be crestfallen. He didn't want to look like a child because Penny had told him that she would rather be somewhere else other than here. "We'll work on the suit some other time, may I ask what is so important that you can't do it another day?"

Penny for some reason looked a little jumpy, she kept staring at her boots. She really needed to buy another pair, Tony made a mental note to let Pepper know to give Penny one of his credit cards. She was too proud to accept it from him, but maybe she would accept it from Pepper. "Aunt May has been working a lot lately. Today is first day off and we were going to have a girls night in. You know paint our nails and stuff."

"You had Ned paint your nails with a sharpie the other day," Tony blurted out. Penny wasn't really known for liking all the girly things. Her closet was an assortment of jeans and cardigans.

"Well, this time is different." Penny said as she grabbed her backpack. "I'll text you, Mr. Stark, later!"

"Later, kid."

"Are you sure that you want me to drop you off here?" Happy said suspiciously. They were far away from Queens, they were nearer Brooklyn. The afternoon had quickly turned to evening, Penny checked her watch. 6:30pm. May would be home in an hour and she would have to take an uber back to their apartment. "This is nowhere near your apartment, Penny."

"I'm meeting my aunt here for dinner," Penny lied and she hoped that Happy didn't ask too many question. "We're trying a new Japanese restaurant."

Happy hesitated, it was clear that he didn't fully believe her, but he also didn't want to miss a new episode of Scandal. "Fine. Good night, kid."

"Good night, Happy. Thank you for the ride."

Happy nodded and speeded off, Penny sighed in relief. Two down, one to go. She walked a few more block ignoring the way that some men stared at her as she walked down the street. She really should have worn jeans.

She relaxed slightly when she saw a man in a red and black suit standing in front of a motorcycle. He was feeding the local cats cheetos.

Penny smiled as she approached him. "You're going to get them sick."

"Nonsense, they love this stuff." Wade Wilson said as he pulled her closer. He kissed the tip of her nose. "What took you so long, baby girl?"

"I told you, Wade-"

"Deadpool."

"I'm not calling you that."

"Understood."

"I told you that I have a bunch of people watching me all the time," Penny said as one of the cats purred at her legs. "Mr. Stark, Happy, May, even Ned doesn't know that you exist. If they did they would kill me. No offense."

"Non taken," Wade chuckled. "Well, what do you know Spider Woman likes the bad boys."

Penny rolled her eyes and said softly. "I wished that you would take off your mask."

Wade hesitated. "I like it better when I have it on."

Penny whispered. "Please, Wade." Wade groaned, but took it off. Penny caressed his skin that was covered in burns and scars. Penny kissed him softly. "Thank you."

"Why are you so quiet?" Pepper asked as she bit into a piece of carrot during dinner. "I usually can't get you to shut up. I'm home for dinner once in a blue moon you would think that you would at least pretend to be glad."

Tony looked up from where he had been moving his vegetables back and forth. "Sorry, Pep. I'm just distracted."

"Did you and your little protégé, have a good time?" Pepper ignored the apology. "Or did you two end up squabbling again?"

"We didn't do anything," Tony corrected. "The kid had to leave early something about a girls' night that she had planned with Aunt May."

Pepper laughed. "Is that why you're pouting? Penny should be hanging out with May more. There's no reason for you to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Tony said defensively.

End of Part 1

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