Prompt: Penny and Peter switch places

Penny placed her hands on the concrete, groaning in pain when she tried to push herself to her feet. Her knees ached, and her whole body was filled with a strange soreness that made her head spin. Why did she hurt so badly? What had happened? Pushing herself to her knees instead, she swayed and looked around, bringing a suit-covered hand up to her head. It came away sticky, and she flinched at the sight of the blood on her glove. Swearing under her breath, she tried to push herself upright again, head swimming.

Finally, she managed to press her hand against the brick wall to her side and pull herself to her feet. "Karen?" she asked, resting her head against the wall.

"Yes, Penny?"

"Good…what happened?"

"I believe you were in a battle with a wizard."

Penny remembered, the knowledge hitting her as hard as the beam of light the wizard had sent her way. Had Mr. Stark been there? She rubbed the side of her bleeding head, the memories fuzzy and painful. "Where am I?" she asked, leaning heavily against the brick wall, fighting the urge to pull her mask off.

"You are approximately two blocks from the tower."

Sighing in relief, Penny pulled herself up by her hands, the whole world spinning around her, but she needed to get to Mr. Stark. Maybe he could call Dr. Strange and figure out what the man had done to her. Feeling the blood drip down her cheek, she made it to the roof, then jumped, swinging the two blocks to the tower, then clinging to the window that she knew led to Mr. Stark's lab.

"Karen? Can you get Friday to let me…" She gasped as the window swung inward, sending her tumbling. Usually she would have caught herself, but the blood pounding in her ears made it all so much harder, and she found herself on the floor once more, head pounding so painfully that she couldn't get up…couldn't tell up from down.

"Kid?" Mr. Stark called, and she heard his approaching footsteps. "You okay?"

She couldn't answer…couldn't see straight or stop herself from gagging.

"Woah, easy buddy," he murmured, kneeling beside her, a hand on her back. "You're okay. Take a breath."

She swallowed bile and tried to lift her head but failed. "Mr. Stark? There was…a wizard…"

The man stiffened at her words, and when she glanced up at him through the lenses of her mask, she thought he looked pale, the blood drained from his face. A hand slipped under her chin, easing her mask off, and the last thing she knew was his wide eyes, hand recoiling.

And then she was surrounded by blackness.

When Penny came to again, she was on her back, and there was something on her finger. Grimacing at the residual pain in her head, she started to sit up, then froze when she saw Mr. Stark standing in the doorway, looking grim. Letting herself lay back against the pillow, she glanced at the little clip on her finger, then at the monitors at her side. "Mr. Stark?"

"What's your name?" The tone was strange. Was he angry? Had she done something wrong?

"Penny Parker," she told him slowly. Was he just testing to make sure she was okay? The last time she'd been seriously hurt, she'd woken to his hand on hers. His gentle, worried smile. A glass of ice water and pudding.

Now he stood on the other side of the room.

"What's the date?"

She rattled it off, hesitant. "Mr. Stark? Did…did I do something wrong?"

He looked away from her, something strange on his face. "I need to make a call. See if I can get Strange over here."

"Oh…um, okay. Do…do you want me to go? Or should I call May?"

"No. I'll just be a minute."

Mr. Stark left the room then, leaving her feeling cold and alone. She pulled the blanket up, sniffing a little and trying not to cry. It was the concession, she reminded herself, making her so sensitive. Something was going on. Something weird. They just needed Dr. Strange to fix it.

The next time Mr. Stark came into her room, he was followed by Stephen Strange. She gave the man a weak smile. "Hey, Dr. Strange. Sorry to bug you."

The man just stared at her for a moment, then glanced back at Mr. Stark. "Have you been able to contact Peter?"

"His phone goes straight to voicemail." Mr. Stark sounded tense. Afraid. And Penny wondered who Peter was.

"Your name is Penny Parker?" Dr. Strange clarified.

She blinked, looking from him to Mr. Stark. "Yes…we've met…remember the wizard thing last month? The guy with the…" She waved her hands in an approximation of what the wizard guy had done, and the doctor softened.

"I apologize for not explaining myself better, Miss Parker. We have not, in fact, met before. I believe that you were pulled from another universe…and that our version of yourself was sent to that universe."

She stared at them, feeling her stomach clench. "What? Mr. Stark…you…you know me. Right?" she practically begged, turning to the man she'd known for two years now. "We worked together in the lab last weekend! We…we were working on that old car and…" Penny's voice broke, and that's when he finally looked at her, approaching her bed and sitting in the chair at her side. "You know me."

"I'm sorry, kiddo," he murmured, shaking his head. "I think…whatever that wizard did sent you here and took Peter away."

"Peter? Wait…Spider-Girl is a boy here? You guys have Spider-Boy?"

Mr. Stark smiled. "Spider-Man."

She wrinkled her nose, but she couldn't deny the relief. He wasn't angry with her…he wasn't even her Mr. Stark! "Sounds weird."

He snorted, and Doctor Strange took that opportunity to come closer. "According to the blood sample, you and Peter share nearly identical DNA…more than fraternal twins, but not quite as much as identical twins." He studied her for a moment, and she found it hard not to feel comfortable with them. They were Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange…just not her Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange.

"It's going to take me a few hours to reverse this. I'll have to figure out which spell he used." The wizard turned to Mr. Stark. "Would you like me to take her to the sanctum while I work?"

Penny watched Mr. Stark…watched him turn to her, meeting her wide eyes, then sigh. "Are you sure Peter's okay?"

"I'm sure he's having a similar experience to Penny, but I can't be sure. Do you have any reason to think that another version of yourself would ever hurt him?"

He stiffened. "Of course not!"

"Well then, Peter should be fine. Would you like me to take our guest?"

"No…she…she can stay here." Mr. Stark waved a hand, and then Dr. Strange was gone and Penny was alone with Mr. Stark. But not her Mr. Stark. This man didn't know her. Had never seen her before. He knew a boy named Peter.

"Is it all the same, do you think?" Penny wondered, hands clasped in her lap. "I mean…you and Peter and me and…and Mr. Stark?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

She swallowed hard. "Do…do you think Mr. Stark…my Mr. Stark, is worried?"

He looked up at her, then smiled a little, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, kiddo. I'm sure he is."

It took almost four hours for Dr. Strange to appear again. In the meantime, Mr. Stark fed her dinner and asked about her life. But she could tell that he was worried. That he was thinking about Peter. And she wanted her Mr. Stark. The man who had become something of a father to her. She asked about him too. About Peter. She wanted to know what that version of her was like. Penny could see in Mr. Stark's eyes when he talked about Peter that he loved him. That Peter was like a son to him, just like she was a daughter to her Mr. Stark.

And then Steven Strange returned, appearing in the living room through a portal and explaining that he was going to open a new portal that Penny and Peter would both pass through. There was a lot more to it…magical mumbo jumbo to Penny, but she didn't care. She just wanted to go home. So she pulled her suit on over her clothes and watched as Doctor Strange opened the portal.

At first, there was just a light. A bright, painful-to-look-at light. And then a circle. A portal. And she was looking at a boy. He was her age, with short brown hair, his mask clenched in his hand, wide brown eyes staring into hers. It was strange, almost like looking into a mirror…but she wasn't. He was her, but he wasn't. The boy blinked when she did, and then his Mr. Stark came up behind her, her Mr. Stark coming up behind Peter. As Penny and Peter stared at each other, both men spoke at the same time.

"Pete?"

"Pen?"

They both stepped forward then, attention shifting to their own Mr. Stark's, glancing only briefly at one another as they passed through the portal, fingers brushing, shoulders almost touching, the contact making something in her chest tighten…and then she was in Mr. Stark's arms. Her Mr. Stark. The man who was like her father.

"Mr. Stark…" she whispered, face hidden in his shoulder, and Mr. Stark held her tightly, a hand pressed to the back of her head.

"Penny…kiddo…" He pulled away, hands clenching her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

That was her Mr. Stark. She was home. With a relieved sob, she nodded, throwing herself back into his arms.

She was home.

Thank you for reading!