Disclaimer: Nope, just a fanfiction writer. I would be a man, if I owned it, wouldn't I? So nope.
Story: Penelope Parker had a habit of picking up strays and attracting the wrong kind of men.
Set after various episodes.
Spoilers: Probably.
Warnings: Cursing and violence for now…hm, just in case since I'm usually writing it, bit of crazy humor, perverted humor, morbid or sarcastic humor, and maybe some sexual situations…
Pairings: Fem!Peter/Various Others

Love in Hopeless Places
Chapter One: Second Chance

"Hey, we're just here to…chill. Alright? I told Fury I'd take you out tonight to just chill. Kinda like a date, yeah?"

"Like a…date?"

"Haha, yeah! I guess so. Come on, Flint. Let's go!"

Penelope "Penny" Parker was the kind of girl that tried to be confident and sure of things, even when she wasn't. So she wasn't sure what to make of Flint Marko standing nervously in front of her, which made her a little nervous and off balance herself. The man had come over from the side of the Triskelion that he had been ruminating at ever since she and Amadeus had broken him out of the prison Doc Ock had kept him in, and it was sort of the first time she had seen him here.

She was glad that he finally decided to leave his little "sandy" area and come on over to the Triskelion, which hopefully meant he was ready to join them.

"Hey, Flint –are you going to, um, join us?" she tried not to sound too hopeful, but ever since he'd hinted he wouldn't mind joining them after having some time alone to himself, she'd been anticipating his presence.

"Yeah, yeah," he said distractedly, running a hand through his short brown hair and making Penny wonder if joining wasn't his main purpose in being there, then what was? She watched him take a deep breath, once again noting to herself how strangely human he was in his organic form.

"I owe you a date."

Her brain kind of screeched to a halt then and she just stared at him dumbly.

"Pardon, what was that again?" she said, not sure of what she heard.

Flint coughed, a light red dusting his cheeks. "I said 'I owe you a date.'"

"I thought that was what you said," Penny stopped herself from wincing. "But why are you saying that is what I want to know."

He sighed. "Back then? When you were trying to help me out? You wanted us to just…'chill' together. Like a date. I ruined it and mucked things up when I went after Batroc and then basically freaked out and went on a rampage. So…I owe you a date for messing that one up."

Oh. Penny recalled what he was talking about. When he first tried going straight and wanting to help out –after the whole thing with Swarm, Nova had told her to help Flint be a man first before helping him be Sandman. So she'd ended up okaying with Fury on taking Flint out for a night in the city to just hang out, and she'd ended up with making that comment about it being like a date.

She hadn't known he'd taken that so literally though.

"You really don't have to," she tried to reassure him, hearing panicking monkey noises in the background. Why was her head so weird?

Flint chewed on his lower lip, but ended up shaking his head after a moment.

"You took a chance on me, even then. I screwed it up. I just…I just want to make it up to you," he told her sincerely, and well she was always a sucker for guys acting all soft.

Aw man. She really needed to get it together!

"Alright," she finally agreed. "Tonight?"

"Tonight," Flint nodded with an easy grin on his face. "I'll see you in front of the Triskelion at 8."

"You leaving already?" she raised her eyebrows playfully at him, startling him as he was leaving. He turned back to her, looking at her hesitantly. "How about I give you a tour? Let you see the Academy and what you've got to work with, and see SHIELD from the 'inside' as a hero than 'outside' as a prisoner?"

"Well…beats the hourglass prison," Flint shuffled his feet, before jerking his head into a nod and coming back to her side.

She gave him a bright grin. "Great to have you onboard, Flint! Really."

Maybe this time she won't screw up and make him go back to being an angry Sandman.

He really needed to get a hold on himself. He had Swarm. He had him and then he got angry. Spidergirl had said she trusted him and then he went around and got crazy on her. Damn it, he thought he could do this. He really did. Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a hero…

"Hey!"

There was Spidergirl now, and even with the mask he could feel her grinning at him.

"Hey," he greeted back despondently.

"Come on," Spidergirl grabbed him and started to hustle him out of the lab. "We're going out!"

Bewildered and not sure what was going on (he couldn't even believe that he was able to go out again), he kept quiet and followed Spidergirl out of there. Once outside, she took a hold of him and then shot web out of her web shooters and had grabbed a hold of him. It wasn't long until they were swinging in the air and Flint could feel the air rushing passed him. He basked in the feeling in amazement, and inwardly could understand why Spidergirl enjoyed swinging and traveling through New York City this way.

At the roof of a building, Spidergirl set down and sat on the roof's edge nimbly.

"Alright, partner!" she chirped up cheerily. "How're ya feeling?"

"Good, I guess," he shrugged slightly. "I can't believe Fury let you take me out again for another mission."

"Ah, actually…" she started, catching his attention and making him look at her curiously. "Hey, we're just here to…chill. Alright? I told Fury I'd take you out tonight to just chill. Kinda like a date, yeah?"

"Like a…date?" he ended up repeating, staring at her.

"Haha, yeah! I guess so. Come on, Flint. Let's go!"

He felt himself become really excited and eager to go with her. It had been so long since he had been in someone else's company just to have fun, to hang out. And there was also lingering memories of being isolated on that island all alone…

That she wanted to hang out with him, to have fun and be in his presence…to even, somewhat, be on a date with him…It was more than he could ask of from her.

"Do you –do you like baseball?" he asked breathlessly.

And then Batroc the Leaper appeared, and he had no idea how such an idiot was going to ruin his night and end up wrecking what had looked like a promising time with Spidergirl.

If it hadn't been for him and Jonah Jameson, Flint was sure that he would've had his first real date.

That night had been seared into Flint's mind, ever since he'd lost it and ended up being in SHIELD's custody again and locked up and losing what trust he'd had from them and Penny. It was as if he'd had hope and could see a glimpse of a good future ahead of him, right before it had all been snatched away from him because he lost control again and had to be put away.

And what probably was the worst of it was that, for a moment, he had Penny all to himself and willing to spend the entire night just with him. For once he had someone wanting and willing to be around him, and it wasn't just anyone –it was Penelope Parker, or as he'd only known her then, Spidergirl.

The lost opportunity and the lost moments (what if what if what if) haunted him for a long time after that, and in his hourglass prison, he would console himself with imaginary revisits to that night and pretend that he had never stupidly gone after Batroc and had stayed by Penny's side instead.

Sometimes he would think of them having gone to a baseball game, like he had originally started to suggest to her. Sometimes bowling came up, or maybe they'd go out to Coney Island and have some corn dogs and cotton candy while they joked around. She liked to joke around a lot, he knew, and he would think of that as he pretended they'd gone there that night.

To be honest, no one really wanted to be around him even before he became mutated, especially any women, so that this one time with a girl like Penny had really hit him hard and stuck to him. Especially that he couldn't believe a nice, sweet girl like Penny would have given him a chance, even if only about redeeming himself and trying to be a good guy and hero. And even if she would have given him a chance in that way ("Kinda like a date, yeah?"), that would have been even harder to believe. Girls like her don't go with guys like him.

But she believes in him and he didn't want to waste that like he had before, because no one else had ever believed in him.

He'd been hopeless for a long time, even before he became Sandman. He had hope now and he wasn't going to let go of it anytime soon.

"Hey, Flint! I'm here," Penny said from behind him and he nervously turned to face her, breath taken away at the sight of her in a dark blue dress that reached to her knees. She winked at him. "I figure I can get away with a dress tonight and leave the uniform behind. 'Sides, the others said they had things handled and will call if they run across something they need help with. Ready to go?"

"Yes," he automatically said, still admiring her. He held out his hand and (something he still couldn't get over) she didn't hesitate in reaching out and grabbing his.

He led her out of the Triskelion and wondered if maybe transforming into his sand form would get rid of the rapid heartbeat and sweaty palms, because he was sure that she could hear it and feel his hands.

"Where are we going?" Penny asked curiously and he almost blurted it out.

Instead, he calmed himself down and gave her a small smirk. "It's a secret."

She pouted at him. "Aw, that's no fair, Flint. Not even a hint? Just an itsy bitsy tiny one?"

That made him laugh. "Nope."

Penny huffed, but didn't look all that really aggrieved. "Well, how are we going to get there?"

He…hadn't thought of that. "I can't drive," he looked at her hesitantly. "Don't even have a Driver's License."

Penny grinned widely in amusement. "Don't look at me! There's a reason I prefer to swing around on my webbing. I don't have a license and I don't know how to drive either."

He was grinning back at that. "We're a pair, huh? I guess…bus?"

"Bus it is! Oooooorrr you can just tell me where it is and I'll swing us there –"

"It's a secret," he persisted and she sighed dramatically.

"Fine, fine! But if you're planning a sandy night at the beach, Sandman, then you could have at least let me bring along a swimsuit just in case."

"Har, har."

It really did feel like he had a lifetime of regrets (regrets he wanted to make up for). But that one night wasn't a regret he wanted to repeat, and he hoped and wished that this time he would make it an unforgettable night for Penelope Parker, who had only always tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and stood by him when no one else was willing to.

"Thanks, Penny," he squeezed her hand, focusing ahead and where the bus was just pulling into the sidewalk.

"For what?" she looked at him quizzically, unheeding to the fact she had done so much for him.

"For everything."

Started 4/26/16 – Completed 4/27/16

A/n: I really couldn't help myself –for the pairings or the genderbending. For some reason, I'm especially fond of this pairing. But I'm so not sorry XD Please review? I live for them and not getting any easily depresses me~