A/N: I got a request from myshamy3040 a little while back for a Penny/MJ coming out fic. Here you go! This was a joy to write. :)
"Hey kid," Tony said, tossing the TV remote at Penny as she walked into the Compound living room. She caught it easily and smiled. "Have any Netflix preferences? Or would you rather do something else?"
"Nah, this is good," Penny said. She fell onto the couch next to Tony, throwing her aching feet up. "I'm feeling Brooklynn Nine-Nine?"
"Definitely."
Penny cued up a random episode and took the offered bowl of popcorn, settling it between them. Just as she put the first handful into her mouth, her phone buzzed. Penny glanced at the screen.
"You gotta get that, kid? I can wait."
Penny bit her lip. "No, it's all right." She sent off a quick message in reply and fell back against the cushions.
I'll call you back tonight.
"Wait, so the answer was D? I could've sworn A made more sense." Penny said, walking with MJ down the crowded science wing.
"I'm 95 percent sure it was D." MJ said. She shifted her pile of books so she was only holding them with one arm. "But that question was stupid anyways."
Penny hummed and let her fingers brush against MJ's, just for a second. Her heart stopped when MJ hooked their pinkies together and squeezed.
The phone in Penny's suit rang once, twice. The line picked up and MJ's voice echoed through her mask.
"Am I talking to you, or has KAREN called me against your will for help again?"
"It's me." Penny said, rolling her eyes. Dang KAREN, getting in the way of her poor self-preservation skills.
"You're patrolling."
"Yeah." Penny caught a web on a streetlamp and flung herself upwards. She landed easily on the side of a nearby apartment building. "I wanted you to see this."
"See what?" Ah, there was that suspicion. Penny grinned at positioned herself in front of her carefully selected window. If she'd chosen the wrong one, KAREN would have to call Tony to scrape her out of the nearest dumpster, where she'd be wallowing in humiliation.
"You're in your bedroom?"
"Yes..."
"Look outside."
The curtains in front of her were pushed aside, and MJ caught Penny's masked eyes, shrieking in terror at the figure plastered on the other side of the glass. MJ's cell phone clattered to the floor and she disappeared as she stumbled backwards.
"Surprise!" Penny did jazz hands, laughing so hard she had to keep one hand firmly planted on the brick wall to keep her from falling.
"Don't ever...do that shit...again..." MJ gasped, re-appearing with her cellphone pressed against her ear. "You..."
"Psycho? Maniac? Ever-loving jerk?" Penny was still beaming, now leaning casually against the window pane.
"Ridiculous, lovely idiot." MJ was trying hard to hide how she was blushing furiously, curls in disarray and frowning, though a grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Why're you here?"
"I missed you?"
"We saw each other at school less than an hour ago."
"...I might be having KAREN save that footage."
"Ugh, fine. Play it at my funeral, okay?"
Penny bit her lip. "Okay."
MJ sighed and pulled open the window. "Get in, loser. You can help me burn the pizza."
"Anything you want to tell us, Pen?"
Oh no.
"What?"
Penny looked up from where she was eating dinner with the team. Tony was staring at her, a mischievous glint in his eye. She shoved another forkful of salad in her mouth.
"You seem like you've got something to say, is all."
Oh, crap crap crap.
"Uh, nope. Nothing up here." Penny tapped her temple.
"Seems fishy to me," Sam joked. "Maria?"
"Oh, she's definitely lying." Hill said, smiling. Penny felt sweat bead along her forehead.
They know. They all know.
"No, I really don't know what you guys are talking about," she said, in her best Yes-I-Am-Calm voice. "I was just gonna say how...I might have...kicked Clint's ass in training the other day?"
The laughter that followed swept a sigh of relief over Penny and she relaxed back in her chair as Clint rolled his eyes good-naturedly.
"So maybe exploding arrows aren't a match for the Spider-Kid! So what? I could still take her."
"Let's see you try." Tony smirked. His gaze flitted over to Penny, eyes not quite believing that that was all there was on her mind, then went back to Clint. "So, exploding arrows, huh? I'd like to check those out."
"In your dreams, Stark."
The friendly back-and-forth banter went on, but Penny still couldn't help but wonder if Tony knew.
And what he would say if he did.
"So then I totally got him right in the neck, and—"
Penny was cut off from her patrol recap as MJ pecked her on the lips.
"O-oh."
"Okay?"
She glanced up into MJ's eyes, face warm and bright and alive.
"This is so okay."
"Have you picked a color yet?"
"It's between these two." Penny motioned to a pair of nail polish bottles, one dark red, one green, between the two of them on MJ's rug.
"Christmas? Really?"
"I'm excited for it. Can you blame me?"
"It's June."
"Nevertheless," Penny said, shaking the bottles. "Which one?"
"Hm," MJ hummed, considering. "This one." She held up an electric blue.
"That's not one of the options!"
"Trust me," she said, taking Penny's hand and unscrewing the bottle. "This is gonna look great."
Penny relented, resting her head on her free arm as MJ painted her nails with expert precision. Penny closed her eyes and MJ squeezed her fingers gently. Penny squeezed back and the two fell into an easy silence.
"Do you want me to do details?" MJ asked softly. "I'm killer at this nail art stuff. Gotta keep 'em looking boss."
Penny replied without opening her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you want, babe."
They both froze. Penny's eyes flew open.
"Ah-I mean-unless we aren't-"
MJ shrugged without missing a beat and kept painting her nails, switching to a bright white polish for the detail work. "I mean, I kissed you."
Penny felt her entire being relax. "Yeah? I thought that was me kissing you."
MJ shook her head, curls bouncing in their messy bun. "You're ridiculous."
It wasn't as if Penny didn't want to tell Tony and May the truth. She just...couldn't. Yet. She didn't like not knowing how they'd react, and in all honesty, she was especially worried about Tony. She knew May would come around, but she'd heard nasty things about Howard, and who could say how many beliefs he and Tony shared?
It was an awful thought, she knew that. But the uncertainty lingered, always, and whenever she mustered up enough courage to open her mouth, Tony would look over at her—like he was seeing right through her—and her jaw would clack shut.
The questions swirled and twisted. Would he tell anyone else? Would he refuse to see her again? Would he go so far as to take away the suit for good?
In the end, she told May first. She hadn't exactly been planning too, but circumstances lined up, and she took her chance before she could change her mind. May had seen her and MJ after a winning Decathlon meet in a moment that wasn't quite intimate, but wasn't entirely casual either. Afterwards, while she and May were eating at their favorite Thai place, she oh-so-casually slid in the fact that she maybe-possibly-met-someone.
And May had gasped, and reached across the table, and grabbed both of Penny's hands in her own. And Penny had swallowed (crapcrapcrap now what), and taken a deep breath (oh God), and answered May's Well? Give me the deets! (Deets, May? Really?) with a They're actually...a she?
And then, much to her surprise, May didn't pull her hands away. Within a few tense beats of Penny's unprecedented announcement, she was all in—asking one hundred and one questions like an excited reporter. She hugged Penny, right there, and if tears were shed on the latter's end, no one needed to know.
That night, she told May all about MJ and how they became more than friends. About how amazingly terrifying her kind-of-basically-girlfriend was, about the descreet little notes MJ would slip into her locker, her backpack, her pockets, as a replacement for conversation sometimes. How happy she was. It made May happy, too. She said Ben would be proud of her. That was more than Penny could have ever asked for.
So now May knew about her and MJ and the whole "lesbian thing," as MJ put it.
MJ hadn't told her parents, and she didn't plan to. They were...unsupportive, and Penny only really went over to MJ's when they weren't there, anyways. The one time she met MJ's parents, they'd had a shouting match with their daughter over who-knows-what, and Penny and MJ left immediately after to a waffle house a block down. They mostly stuck to Penny's places after that.
Her coming out to Tony was a little more lengthy. It, too, hadn't been planned for that time, even though she'd practiced a thousand ways to say the words.
Tony had been telling her all about the killer college parties he'd been to.
"I mean, I'm not exactly setting a grand example, what with all the alcohol that was involved," he said as they washed dishes together after another team dinner. "But I did enjoy talking to all the ladies I met there." He paused, considering. "And the gents, too, now that I think about it."
Penny stopped drying a plate and glanced towards him. Her heart skipped a beat, fluttering with hope. "You met...guys? Like—that?"
"Like romantically? Yeah, there were some gorgeous guys at MIT. Myself included."
Penny's thoughts screamed. "But didn't Howard..."
"Hate it? Oh yeah. Didn't stop me, though. If I hadn't met Pepper when I did, I'd probably still be talking to a few of them now."
"O-oh." Oh.
Oh shoot.
Okay.
Okay, then.
We can do this.
"Speaking of which..." Penny said, hating the way her voice went up half an octave. Tony noticed the tremor and set down his sponge, turning towards her fully and leaning up against the counter. Penny felt her mouth go bone dry. She swallowed.
"Uh-so I-" Dang it, Pen, are you gonna spit it out now or not? It's now or never. "Um-"
Tony's face softened. "It's all right, Underoos. You can tell me."
Penny took a breath. "I'm gay." She blurted out.
Tony blinked. "Oh. Is that all?"
Penny nearly choked. "What?"
"I mean, that's great, Pen, and I'm glad you told me." Tony said. He beckoned her over and she took a stumbling step towards him. Arms wrapped around her and she buried her nose in his shoulder. "Hey, hey, shh. You're okay. Thank you for telling me."
Tears fell down her face, dampening Tony's loose cotton t-shirt. "I didn't know if you'd be mad." She whispered.
"Oh, Pen." One hand brushed through her hair and Penny finally let out the months-old breath she'd been holding. "You had me thinking you'd blown up a government building or some shit. This is nothing. I mean, it's also everything, and I'm now legally obliged to buy you rainbow sprinkles on all your ice cream, but I'm definitely not mad, kiddo. If anything, I'm proud of you." Penny laughed weakly and Tony smiled as she pulled away. "So." He said, a playful grin tugging at his lips. "You got a special someone that sparked your big awakening, or have you known for a while?"
"Uh, I mean, I guess I was never super straight," Penny said. A blush crept up her neck. "But there is someone."
"Yeah? That's great, Pen." Tony finished drying off the last of the silverware and threw an arm over Penny's shoulders. Her relief at his reaction was almost palpable. "If you ever want any relationship advice, you know where to find me," he said, steering them out of the kitchen. "For now, how about we collapse next to Birdbrain over here and play some—what is this—Cards Against Humanity? Let's play some Cards Against Humanity."
They settled onto the floor, where Sam, Steve, and Clint were gathered, already elbow-deep in a game.
"Deal us in." Tony said, and Sam obliged. Penny gathered her cards and let herself relax with her team, laughing along with them as Tony and Clint battled for the worst possible phrases they could make. Everything seemed so much more weightless now, she decided.
Later that week, she and MJ went on their first official date. May helped her get ready, primping and preening far more than what was necessary for a low-key fancy dinner. Are you sure you don't want to let you hair down? No, who am I kidding, you look great. Spin around-there! Okay, let me take a picture-
And Tony, too, who texted her that night. Hope you had fun, kid. How was the food? Think Pep and I should give it a try? You should bring MJ over to the Compound some time, introduce me.
They were naggers, yes. A little over-the-top, a little helicoptering. But all things considered, Penny decided she didn't mind.
She leaned back as MJ kissed her, threading one hand through her girlfriend's thick curls.
Not at all.
A/N: Gotta love that Spideychelle! If you're interested in more Penny Parker fics, I have a series of drabbles, a collection of sickfics, and a oneshot ft. protective Natasha Romanoff up at the moment.
Also a friendly reminder that my ~author q&a~ is still up on my profile. Send in those asks!
Thank you for reading, and of you enjoyed, feel free to review or send in prompts. They always make my day. G'night, y'all. :)