Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Okay, no comments on the chapter title?! I mean...if you thought it was a red herring, valid, because it was originally supposed to be. But efdgdrsedf I figured I couldn't be that evil.

Fun fact: I was expecting this song – Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds – to be the credits song for NWH so much (I have a very morbid sense of humor, so even though I would've been jeering, I also would've been laughing my ass off) that I literally left the movie theaters disappointed rather than in awe for like 5 minutes that it wasn't. Still think it's a missed out opportunity to this day tbh

Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~somebody to love~

~chapter 30: don't you forget about me~

"You can do this," Penny said as she looked at herself in the mirror, her hands clutching her bathroom counter. Her knuckles were white, as in order to prevent herself from breaking the counter with her strength, she had to strain them anyways. Her face was the same color, which made her freckles stand out sharply. "You can do this. You can..."

She groaned, lowering her head so she didn't have to see her own reflection anymore and how much of a dead woman walking she looked. "I can't do this," she whispered.

"Delilah, if I may – "

"Ah!" she retorted, cutting off Jarvis with a raised hand. "That wasn't a sign I needed a pep talk!" Schooling herself, she raised her head again. She watched her lips harden into a thin line. "I know I can – that I have to – do this. It's gonna happen soon enough anyways, even if I wasn't going to do it now. I only have three weeks of the suppressants left."

...Not that she was going to be taking them again after this morning's dose if everything went well, no matter how terrifying of a thought that was to ponder.

The AI remained silent, but she felt his support. Turning on the faucet, she splashed her face a few times with water, before drying off with the towel hanging next to the mirror. "Besides," she added. "After today, you're not going to be calling me Delilah anymore."

"I will refer to you however you want, Miss."

"Thanks, but...it'll be good, to be called by my actual name again."

It'll be good for some people besides Thor to know that I'm Penny Osborn.

...Probably.

Maybe.

She checked herself in the mirror once more before she left the room. Today she was wearing the brown sweater Natasha had gotten her (she'd thought about wearing Clint's, but there was no way in hell that thing was being lugged out again until Thanksgiving at the earliest), blue jeans, and a dark red scrunchie in her hair – but not only these things. When she lifted up her right hand to tuck a stray curl which was too short for the ponytail behind her ear, a flash of gold was revealed on her wrist.

It was the gift Tony had gotten her for Christmas: a charm bracelet. He'd pleaded the Fifth on how much it had cost him to have made, because it was clearly a one-of-a-kind item. The bracelet itself was gold, with a spider of the same composition that had a ruby abdomen forming as its clasp. It had come with several charms, way more than a reasonable amount in her opinion, but there were only four hanging from the bracelet right now: the arc reactor, the Captain America shield, the bow and arrow, and the Black Widow spider. Tony, Steve, Clint, and Natasha. Her soulmates. Her alphas. The people that she was in love with.

Semantics.

"Alright," she muttered. "Time to face the music. Are they ready, JARVIS?"

"They are."

"Okay. Tell them I'm coming down."

"Yes, Delilah."

I'm not Delilah anymore.

I never was.

Leaving her bathroom, she exited her bedroom and went to the elevator. Idly, she wondered as she stepped into the contraption and it took her down, how the diner was faring without her today. It was New Year's Day – because Thor had been right last night, she wanted to do this with him here, with somebody who knew the truth and was in her corner as much as he could be – and she'd called off work, which probably meant things weren't going the greatest there. She felt bad about it. But honestly...her mind hadn't been with the diner for quite some time now. Maybe it was time, after all of this, for her to quit, even though it would make her feel bad for Jason and Bélen. There wasn't anybody currently employed there who would be too enthused about being the opening waiter/waitress on a regular basis, as the days she was off were currently rotated between all of the morning staff that could come in that early.

Oh, well. She'd think more about that later.

Down on the communal floor, the others were all there. Natasha and Clint were sitting together on one of the couches, with Thor and Bruce on the other. Steve and Tony were sitting in armchairs, leaving her usual couch free for the taking. But Penny didn't feel like sitting there for a change, didn't feel like opening herself up even more when she was already going to be baring her soul, so she settled in the armchair that was right next to Thor. The god seemed to have expected this, because he gave her an encouraging smile and a slight nod as she glanced over at him.

Then she looked at everyone else.

"Hey," she said quietly. "Uh, th – thanks for coming."

God, she sounded pathetic.

Unexpectedly, it was Bruce who took the lead. She'd expected it to be one of the others, had counted on it. "Well, you said you wanted to talk with us," the male omega spoke with a crooked smile.

"Yeah," she answered. Her blood was roaring in her ears, and she knew that she wasn't the only person who was hearing it. Bruce and Thor could hear it, and so could Steve. He was staring at her concernedly with those puppy eyes of his, and she couldn't take his gaze. Casting her eyes down, she fidgeted with Tony's bracelet rather than her necklace or her hands, and gave herself two seconds before she started speaking again. "I just...I thought...I've been living here for the past eleven months now, and I think..." Her breathing went in and out after she trailed off. In, out. In, out. "I think it's about time I told you the truth."

"The truth about what?" Again, Bruce.

Penny opened her mouth to speak.

"You don't have to tell us anything."

Shocked, her head snapped up.

It was Natasha who had spoken, because of course it was. The female alpha's face was neutral, but there was something in her body language that said it all. She was subtly leaning away from Thor, which showed that she was not happy with the god, most likely because she thought he had something to do with this.

...Which, okay, she wasn't wrong.

But this had been a long time coming now, ever since she'd been unable to leave. The only things that Thor had done were making her realize that she really was in love with her alphas, and giving her the encouragement and support she needed to push the timeline up five or so weeks and maybe preventing this from devolving into a hot mess, although that last part still seemed like too big of an ask.

Natasha wasn't a telepath, however, so she wasn't a party to this inner monologue. "We promised not to ask you anything about your identity when you first moved in here," she reminded her. "All of the details that you've given us have been of your own volition. If you don't want to give anymore details right now, or ever, that is your choice. Nobody should be pressuring you into doing that."

Tony seemed reluctant to, but he agreed. "She's right," he concurred, aiming a finger gun at the redhead.

Penny gave them both a shaky smile. "Thanks. But Thor isn't putting me up to this, and neither is anyone else." The god calmly bowed his head in agreement, not offended in the slightest by Natasha's barb. "I'm doing this because I want to. I only ask that you guys not say anything, not until I'm done."

"We can do that," Steve said.

Natasha glanced over at Clint slyly. "Most of us can."

"Hey – !" Clint started. He stopped himself before he could get any farther than that, his shoulders slumping a little. "Sorry. You're not going to get a peep out of me until you want us to talk, I promise."

She tugged harder at the bracelet, no longer only fidgeting with it, the pain the pull caused against her wrist very much needed. It was a distraction and an anchoring, all in one.

"Well, first off...my name isn't Delilah, but I know you all kind of figured that," she started. "My name is Penelope May Osborn, née Parker. But I go by Penny."

She paused, waiting for someone to interrupt her in spite of what she'd said.

When they didn't, she pressed on.

"My husband was Harry Osborn. You know, the son of Norman Osborn that died along with him in a car accident two years ago. Except...it wasn't a car accident. They weren't in a car at all." Her eyes squeezed shut. "Norman was the Green Goblin. Long story, that one. What you need to know right now is that he revealed my identity before he died, which caused a shit-show. My gallery of villains attacked me, because of him. Doc Ock, Electro, the Lizard, Sandman...you know them all. Most of them didn't want to be villains, though. I figured out a way to cure them all, and I did when we fought at the Statue of Liberty that November. But we weren't the only ones there. So were my friends, so was Harry. The Goblin threw one of his bombs, and at first I thought it was for me, but..."

She knew she wasn't imagining Steve's breath catching or the sound of Tony clenching one of his hands into a fist.

But she couldn't look at them, not yet.

"I watched him die. I couldn't save him," Penny said. She had to stop the whine in her throat before it even started. She wasn't going to cry, not now. Not until she got the rest of the story out. "And the bond breaking...I was a mess after he died. I...I wasn't thinking straight, I guess. But as long as everyone knew I was Spider-Woman, my friends were going to be in danger. They could've been killed, like Harry. And, um...I had an acquaintance back then. She's a sorcerer."

It wasn't Clint that spoke, like Natasha had teased.

Tony scoffed. "Magic – "

"Magic is a fundamental component of the multiverse," Thor interjected swiftly. "One thing I have learned from my time here is that you mortals tend to believe that there can only be magic or science, not both, but that is not the case. And what our Penny has to say will only prove that."

"...Right. My bad. Sorry, D – Penny," Tony apologized.

She stopped the keen at being called her name by one of her mates for the first time ever, too.

"It's – it's fine," she replied. "Anyways, I went to the sorcerer, and she performed a spell. It's irreversible, so please don't try to figure out if you can undo it, because you can't, or try to find her, because she doesn't remember performing it. Because...I asked her to erase all memories and physical evidence of me from existence. Spider-Woman would remain, but all recollection of Penny Osborn would disappear from reality. And it worked, as you can tell. I mean, you would all remember who I was if it didn't, and you don't, right?"

The laugh that she made was bitter, so incredibly bitter. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw that Thor was still acting as a beacon of support, albeit his eyes were even sadder than they had been last night at the partial admittance of the truth.

But all of the others were horrified. Bruce's eyes were flashing with green, showing it wasn't just him who was upset by her revelation – the Green Guy was, too. Steve looked like he was going to be sick. Tony, Natasha, and Clint were all scowling, showing it wasn't just horror they were experiencing, but also –

Rage.

"She seriously did that?" Tony demanded. "She erased all traces of you from existence because, what – you just asked?"

Penny winced. "Well, knowing her, there was a bit more to it than that, but – "

"Basically, yes," Clint finished for her. He breathed in sharply. "Holy shit, I can't believe this. She – "

"She took advantage of you," Natasha growled.

And it was a growl, as her voice was basically rumbling in her chest. She stood up, her posture as straight as a rod, and walked to one side of the room before pivoting on her feet and going towards the other.

Penny resented the implication. "She did not – "

Natasha's green eyes locked with hers. The fury in them sent shivers down her spine. "You were going through bond withdrawal, you weren't thinking rationally," she said. "And instead of waiting to make sure it was a decision you actually wanted – or instead of not doing it at all – she erased you from existence without ever being able to undo it. That's your friends, your family, gone. You're never getting them back."

The female alpha wasn't the only one with hackles raised now. "You don't think I know that?" Penny asked. It didn't even occur to her to point out the hypocrisy of Natasha having accused Clint of being the one to interrupt and now doing it herself – not that it would've been helpful if it had. "Didn't know that when I asked her to do it? I knew what I was doing, what I was asking her to do."

"She left you without any support," Natasha seethed. "You were grieving, and she – "

She lifted her chin defiantly. "If she hadn't done it, I would've asked her girlfriend to, and she would've done it," she said. "Agatha always had a soft spot for me."

Thor's expression blanked. "You mean Agatha Harkness?"

"Is Tao involved with somebody else named Agatha?"

"You would've trusted a user of the Darkhold to – ?"

"Guys," Steve spoke up.

The horror and anger were now intermixed with bafflement among the rest of the group. She swallowed. "Sorry," she apologized. Now, now her hand did come up to play with the wedding ring and pendant of ashes hanging from her necklace. Please, Harry, if you're here, give me the strength to get through the rest of this. "And, um, Nat, while I appreciate your anger, I'm not quite done yet. There's a few more things I need to go over."

Natasha reluctantly stormed back to her seat and sat down. Clint grabbed her hand comfortingly.

Penny didn't look away this time. She couldn't. This was something that she needed to look Steve, Tony, Clint, and Natasha in the eyes as she said, because then they would know even without her heartbeat that she wasn't lying. And that was kind of important.

She decided to rip off the remaining parts of the truth like a bandaid. "I'm not a beta, either," she stated. She ignored how Bruce exclaimed in shock, his face rapidly paling to the color of bone out of the corner of her eyes. She was sure payback from him would be in her future regardless. "Since that November two years ago...I've been on suppressants. But my supplier is refusing to give me anymore, so I'm going to be running out soon, so I thought you'd deserve to know. Because I'm an omega, but not just that. I'm also your..."

Even with her and Thor's talk last night, Penny had assumed that her soulmates would be angry with her. She assumed that there would be shouting and demanding for why she had done what she had done before the acceptance came...provided that it would.

But when she wasn't able to get the word out, that silly little word which meant so much despite only being two syllables, she watched how all four of them shared a look. Then, in a twist of fate, they all looked back at her and Clint said simply, "We know."

Penny was gobsmacked. Gaping like a fish, she said, "What?"

Bruce was saying something again, but Thor was prepared. Gently pulling the man to his feet, he suggested, "I think this is where we should depart. Bruce, would you mind showing me the greenhouse garden again? I did not get that acquainted with it when you showed me it a few days ago."

The male omega did not want to go – because she could see the gears turning inside his mind and the alarm bells going off as well at the fact that she had been on suppressants without a heat for two years rather than six months like was allowed in most scenarios – but without the Hulk he was no match for Thor. The god led him into the elevator, and then they were gone.

As soon as they left, it was like a switch went off. Her soulmates' postures all became much more relaxed, open, and gentle, perhaps more so than she had ever seen them before. "We know, D – Penny," Tony said. He grimaced. "Shit, you're gonna have to give me some time to get used to that. But yeah, we know. You're our soulmate, our primis. That's what you were going to say, right?"

They knew?

They had known?

"H – how long?" she choked out.

"Depends on who you ask," Clint told her. "The rest of us only found out last month after the gala, but Nat – "

"I had my suspicions. I didn't have confirmation until then," Natasha retorted.

"But still, you suspected."

"Guys, knock it off," Steve ordered. The two spies went silent. He turned his head back to her. "When I got shot...you couldn't hear, but when I was laying on that floor, you called me your 'Alpha.' I thought you were just saying it because of other reasons..." His cheeks flared pink. He cleared his throat. "But Tony, Clint, and Nat filled me in on the rest."

Penny was mortified. Here she was, having thought she was so fucking smart and that they were never going to find out that she was theirs, and then...they had anyways?

How fucking good of a superhero was she supposed to be again? At protecting her identity at the expense of her own happiness and whatever other cost?

But it was more than just embarrassment making its way through her system.

"And you didn't say anything? None of you?"

"We wanted to give you time to tell us on your own," Natasha began to explain. "You weren't ready. We figured that when you would be, you – "

"Nat," Clint said softly. He was successful in shutting her up.

The archer got to his feet. He walked towards her and kneeled in front of her. Despite her telling them practically everything and him being her soulmate, the close proximity still made her almost want to run. She felt too vulnerable, too weak.

"You're wanted, Penny Osborn," he said, pure, unadulterated love shining in his eyes. "You're our Omega, of course we want you."

Reaching his hands up to cup her face, he stood up just enough that –

That he could pull her into a kiss.

It caught her off-guard. Penny whined in surprise, the omegan noise slipping from her throat. But, just like the omegas in those stupid rom-coms May had always liked to watch, she gave in. She melted into his touch, entirely aware of how his right thumb was massaging the skin directly beneath her eye, even though it was wet with her tears.

When he had to break it off due to his need for air, well before she would need the same, he gently led her head over so that her nose was pressed up right against his mating gland, just like it had been with Steve on Christmas. "See?" he asked. "I'm happy, so fucking happy that you're ours."

And indeed, just like on Christmas, he was. There was an undercurrent of sadness to his happiness, but his pheromones were mostly of the positive emotion. He was happy.

Happy.

"I'll admit, we probably fucked up in not telling you for as long as we did, even if it was just a month for most of us," Clint continued. "We didn't mean to make you feel unwanted, because you are very much not. We just wanted to make sure things were on your terms. Isn't that right, guys?"

Tony, Steve, and Natasha all gave their varying ways of assent.

Blinking rapidly, Penny pulled away from Clint to look at them. "Is that why you guys are all still over there?" she questioned. "Because – "

They didn't need for her to finish her sentence, let alone tell them twice. Almost comically, the other three alphas all scrambled over, nearly colliding in their quest to do so. Within seconds, she had all – well, almost all – of her alphas around her. None of the others kissed her on the lips, although it was clear they very much wished to.

Because it had been two years since she'd been touched in this way: romantically, with or without sexual undertones involved. She was touch-starved, which meant them doing what they were doing was pretty much overwhelming on its own.

And what they were doing was basically cuddling her. Like how people in pack dynamics did.

Because they were a pack dynamic.

It was all too much. She bursted into tears outright, becoming a sobbing mess and all.

"Do you want us to – ?" Steve began to ask, cognizant of how easy it was for an enhanced person to go into sensory overload.

Wildly, she shook her head. "Don't," she begged. "Alphas, please – "

Tony squeezed her arm. "We're not going anywhere," he vowed. "Not without you, Omega."

"You're ours," Natasha agreed.

"'Ours,'" Steve repeated, kissing her forehead after Clint stepped aside. "And we wouldn't have it any other way."

Word Count: 3,643

Next Chapter Title: stayin' alive