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: Hi, everyone! Welcome back! Today's chapter title comes from Body Language by Queen. Not much else to say other than that.

Until next week,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~primis, omega, superhero, genius~

~somebody to love~

~chapter 17: body language~

Here was the thing: Penny never could go without being Spider-Woman for very long.

Part of it was because of her responsibility. The city was practically hers, and she felt the urge, the innate desire to protect it. Harry had always understood this. He might've preferred that she stay in bed recovering for a little longer, or gotten irritated when their date plans hadn't worked out due to a plutonium heist chase going on or whatever, but he hadn't ever tried to stop her from being Spider-Woman. "I get it," he'd said, back when she'd first told him her secret. "You have to help people, and this is how you do it. It's dangerous, but I get it."

But it wasn't just that. She had her responsibility, but there was also her biology to consider. Although she could sit and do nothing all day, had done it many times in fact, that wasn't what her body was built for. She was built to climb walls, to benchpress huge weights, to run, to go, go, go. That was why she'd always liked being her own doctor in the past: because she knew her body well, and she knew what it needed, even when she was injured.

...Granted, Dr. Chung did have her point. With the injuries she'd mostly recently sustained, it was probably better for her to take all six days off from Spider-Woman, all things considered.

But that didn't mean her body had to like it.

She didn't like it, either.

Because that need to get her body moving was striking her, and it was her day off from the diner, so she didn't have the excuse to go there. It was sounding off in her mind, a steady stream of tick, tock, tick, tock, 120 beats per minute, incessant, never ceasing. She felt like she was going to go insane from it as she sat on her couch upside-down, her legs hooked over the back of the couch as she watched the current rerun of House. She'd watched the show like this before, so seeing the characters upside-down wasn't anything unusual, and even if it had been, she'd already seen every single episode half a dozen times already on average. If you discounted the more recent seasons, that number was definitely closer to ten, maybe twelve.

But, anyways.

Penny sighed loudly, arching her back by bucking her hips. The stretch felt good on her back, but it didn't make the tension in every inch of her muscles feel any better. If anything, the taste of exercise made them feel worse, as all they wanted was more. More, more, more.

She needed something to do. Something that wasn't just sitting.

Launching herself off of the couch, she went to her bedroom. She opened up her closet and rummaged through her hangers, ignoring her suit, until she found the three items that she was looking for: a bra better equipped for physical activity than the one that she was currently wearing, a black tank top, and a set of dark blue running shorts with a cartoon Spider-Woman insignia on the left leg. She changed into the clothes and slipped on the adequate shoes, then decided to put one of the scrunchies Bridget had gotten her for her birthday into her hair. She hadn't worn them that much for obvious reasons, not even the Spider-Woman one. Still, she felt bad for it. They were a nice gift, and it wasn't like the other omega knew why she didn't want to wear any and all Avengers-related paraphernalia besides the occasional Spider-Woman thing...

She grabbed her water bottle in the kitchen and filled it up before she left, just in case.

"Floor eighty-two, JAR," she requested in the elevator.

"Right away."

Penny had been to the floor which housed the gym – well, technically floors, but there was no ceiling between eighty-two and eighty-three – exactly once before. She'd mostly gone to see what it was all about, because a gym built by Stark, as loathe as she was to admit it, had to be interesting. And it was. A good half of the floor, on the side that the elevator did not open up to, was dedicated to what JARVIS had told her was an obstacle course designed to challenge each of the Avengers on their own, and then all together when the training required for it. The AI had watched videos of them fighting himself, analyzed them, and then accommodated for their strengths and weaknesses. Which totally would have been creepy, if she didn't know for a fact that JARVIS didn't have a single bad line of code in him for those he either had been programmed to protect, told to protect after that, or just liked for whatever reason and knew wouldn't be a threat to those first two. She was glad to be included in that second category merely at the thought of what all he could do to those he had or wanted to fight, in the event that Stark couldn't hold him back. JARVIS could be terrifying.

She digressed again. The other half of the gym was pretty much what you would expect from one. There were sets of physical equipment, a foam pit, some ground trampolines, a running track that could wrap around the entire floor when the obstacle course wasn't in use. The walls and ceiling also had rock climbing pieces on them. She figured Stark had put them there for the others more so than for her own benefit. After all, she didn't really need any places for grappling when she could stick to the walls and ceiling like a spider.

Penny hadn't done anything more than look when she'd been in here previously. She'd thought that she wouldn't have a use for it when she was on her own and not maybe, possibly, in the most unlikely of circumstances, training with the others. The city was her gym. It had pretty much everything that could be offered in here, plus more than that.

But, here she was. Dr. Chung hadn't left her any choice.

Setting down her water bottle on a bench, she surveyed her choices. The running track and the treadmill probably weren't options with how her stomach was feeling still (and her knee, but she wasn't thinking about that), and the punching bag was out of the question with her knuckles. She wasn't feeling like the weights, either, or the gymnastic.

The climbing wall it was, then.

Putting in her earbuds, she cranked them up to a mind-numbing setting, which of course wasn't all that high with her. She jumped up, grasping one of the plastic rocks just for the fun of it, and torpedoed herself up higher. Then she grabbed another one on the ceiling, and pushed herself into a running start. So maybe she did feel like running after all, but it was different on the ceiling and walls. Less pain to her stomach from the shift in gravity, and more of a challenge to place her steps in between the plastic rocks.

Warning: do not try this at home, she thought to herself, a little giddy.

She wasn't sure of how long she exercised for, the songs blurring together and the time passing quickly and slowly all at once. Long enough that her breathing was labored, and her muscles were aching from the strain as she stopped and put her hands on her legs, still hanging from the ceiling. Even though she'd put her hair into a ponytail, her curls fell in her face from the extra tilt – she didn't know when her last haircut had been, she needed to remedy that. Puffing, she grabbed it, pulling it back, and –

"Rogers," she panted, blinking in surprise. She turned down the music on her phone until it was on mute.

He looked like a kid with their hand caught in the cookie jar. "Bad time?" he asked, wrapping for his knuckles and a duffel bag over his shoulder. "I can come back later, if you want. I'm in no rush."

She rolled her eyes. "It's fine. There's plenty of gym to go around, Mr. Good and Righteous."

"Why do you call me that?" he protested.

"Because you're good, and you're righteous."

"That's not an explanation."

Penny shrugged. "I made it up on the fly. Need I say more?"

"Fair enough." He jerked his head. "You do that often?"

"What?" She looked down. Or, well, up. "Hang from the ceiling? I spent many a college night studying like this, I'll have you know."

"Dressed up in a black tank top and a dark blue set of running shorts?"

She flushed. "Why, you – " He started to laugh, making the temperature in her face worse. "You might be good and righteous, but the world has no idea how much of a smart ass you are. Damn you."

"Can't just survive in Brooklyn with your fists alone," he quipped. "Sometimes, you gotta use your words, too."

She let herself unstick from the ceiling, and landed on the floor. The action made her knee and her entire abdomen ache, causing her to wince. Rogers quickly became concerned. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "This is nothing. 'Been through worse."

"Are you even allowed to be exercising right now?" he wondered out loud.

"Dr. Chung didn't say I couldn't."

"Dr. Chung can be terrifying if you anger her. I wouldn't want to cross her."

"You mean Captain America is terrified of a beta woman?"

"When she is the one who is my doctor, yes."

He said it so seriously, with such a straight face, she couldn't help but laugh.

She sat down on the bench she'd deposited her water bottle on, taking a healthy drink from it. As she did, she watched him go over to the punching bag. He tested it out, then when he decided it was stable enough, set down his duffel bag and started to wrap his hands. He was methodical about it, going through what was obviously a well-worn routine.

She was kind of curious about it. "Is that your favorite thing to do? Punch the bag?"

He gave a half-smile. "I wouldn't say favorite, but it is calming. I did it a lot, back when I first came out of the ice. Helped me deal with my surroundings, then I just fell into the habit. Sometimes a morning run just isn't enough, you know?"

She probably would, if she went on morning runs. Still, "Sure."

His smile widened with humor, then became reminiscent. "I lost a lot, going into the ice," Rogers admitted. "Not just Bucky, or his sister Rebecca, or my life as I knew it. I lost what could've been, too. Similar to you."

Penny instantly knew what – or rather, who – he was talking about. "You mean Peggy Carter."

She wasn't exactly sure of what to make of the information. Of course, people knew from her and the Howling Commandos' allusions that she and Rogers had been in love, but hearing it from him himself was different. This was her...alright, fine, this was her soulmate, admitting he had been in love with somebody else. And yes, Peggy Carter was a theta, and yes, she wasn't any real competition because of the sixty-eight years that had passed and how, during that time, she'd found a husband and had children and grandchildren of her own, but still. Something twisted inside her, and it was dark, and it was heavy, and it made her feel territorial.

Jealousy.

She hated feeling it, for the record. She didn't have any intentions with Rogers besides keeping him at arms' distance. He was better in getting into a romantic relationship with somebody else than pining after her...if that was even possible. A soulmate's ability to be with somebody else that they weren't already bonded to after discovering their scent match wasn't exactly a well-researched topic. And he didn't know that they were a scent match, but –

But that was something she would feel guilty about at another time.

Because along with her jealousy, Penny was curious. Rogers was obviously trying to make a point with bringing up his long lost love. She wanted to see what it was.

"Yes," he said. "She was supposed to be my dancing partner, after the war. We..." He trailed off, groaning slightly. "I'm not making much sense here. I'm sorry about your husband."

Her throat abruptly tightened. "I get what you're saying." He was saying that he understood her pain, her grief over Harry, at least as much as he was able to, like Dr. Banner. Except he probably understood it more than the male omega, although still not to the same effect. "Thanks."

"And I know what it was like for my mother, when I was growing up. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't miss my father," he continued. "So...I'm sorry I didn't realize what you were going through, either. I saw the signs, but I didn't recognize them."

Okay, she didn't want to be having this conversation anymore. His words were appreciated, she guessed, but this was quickly becoming too much.

She stood up, tilting her water bottle up and down nervously. "I think I'm gonna – "

"Spar with me?" he interjected.

Penny frowned. "Weren't you just gonna go at that punching bag?"

"Don't really feel like it anymore," he replied. He didn't undo the wrapping on his knuckles that he'd just finished. "Besides, I'll destroy it, and then that'll mean sand I have to clean up. Maybe multiple times, if one doesn't do the trick, which it usually doesn't."

"And you don't mind going after an injured beta?"

"It's just sparring," he pointed out. "Besides, you know your body better than Dr. Chung does."

Hm. So her choices were to either go back to her floor and spend her time wallowing and going out of her mind again, as even with the exertion her body wasn't quite where it needed to be for the day in terms of exercise yet, or to get out some of her frustrations by sparring with Rogers, including the ones at him.

"...Sure, why not," she decided.

His beam was one that she thought could light up the entire world, several times over.

With a quick ask for JARVIS, she got wrapping of her own from the same area where the benches were, which had lockers and miscellaneous supplies. The wrapping stung a little at her knuckles, but she ignored the pain, just thankful that she'd been able to move them without too much pain with the bandages off that morning. She wasn't too worried about her knee, as it was already in a brace and seemed to be doing just fine with the mild extra protection.

Once ready, she and Rogers went to an open section of flooring. She stood in a basic fighting position, with her knees bent and her fists raised in front of her. "Rules?" she asked.

"No weapons," he said, giving her a look. "Including your web-shooters."

She held up her bare wrists for him to see. "I don't even have them on."

"First person to go down and yield loses," he added. "I can't think of anything else. What about you?"

She smirked. "Yeah. Don't go easy on me."

She went after him before she'd even finished speaking. He dodged her easily, but didn't strike her. They circled each other, and she got the distinct impression that he was surveying her, trying to figure out what she was going to do next. When she went to attack him a second time, again he dodged, but this time tried to hit her. Her spider sense tingling, she bounded away.

"Come on," she goaded lowly. "Are you gonna attack me or not?"

That seemed to get him going some. He came after her, and they exchanged a flurry of parries. Hit after hit, but neither of them being able to outmaneuver the other. He was a good fighter...for somebody who had grown up in Brooklyn.

Speaking of which, when she was finally able to get a hit, she slid through his legs before he could return the favor, and gave him another hit on the shoulder as a tap. "That all you got, Brooklyn?" she taunted.

He made a sound half like a growl, pivoting around on his foot. "Don't get cocky, Queens."

"'Cocky?'" she quoted. "I don't know how it's possible for me to be cocky when you're fighting like this. Unless, of course, you're underestimating me."

"People do that?" he grunted as he aimed for her shoulder. Another punch that didn't have his full heart behind it, just like the other ones.

"Oh, all the time," she informed him cheerfully. "People think just because I'm a beta, I'm not as strong as I make myself out to be. But I'll give you a secret, Cap," this, she whispered in his ear as she flounced past him, smiling coyly, "I bet this beta bitch is even stronger than you."

Now, that did it. Growling properly now, he came at her with his full strength and speed.

They moved around each other fluidly, like they were two different streams of water, or two separate currents in the ocean that wove around each other. Penny was surprised. She'd had her fair share of enhanced sparring partners over the years, but none seemed able to predict her moves to the level that he did, or rather not without multiple training sessions or back when she'd first started out and her fighting style had been simple, not the amalgamation of different styles that it was now. She'd learned from the best of the best: Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Daredevil, Deadpool, and Tao.

He was actually giving her a run for her money. As much training as she'd had, he was meeting her step for step, pace for pace. She actually squawked when he hit her on the ass as he moved out of her way. It wasn't a sexual hit, she knew better than to think that, but as she spun around that didn't seem to matter so much. "Did you seriously just do that?" she hissed.

Rogers wasn't regretful in the slightest. "If I did?" he inquired. "Where's that strength you were talking about?"

He was taken aback by how quickly she gained the upper hand after that. She hadn't been using her full strength against him, either. Even now, she still wasn't. She didn't use her full strength, period. People didn't understand how much sheer power went into being able to stop a train in its tracks with much effort, or pushing the ruins of a building off of herself. They didn't understand that she'd had to learn how to use only the barest amounts of her strength during her every living moment, even in sleep. Nor did they know that the one time she actually had used her full strength against a person, she'd killed Wade. He'd been so insistent on them seeing what she could do, and she'd figured he couldn't die, so things couldn't go too bad.

She would never forget the hole she'd punched through his stomach, going all the way through and shattering his spine. It'd taken a long time to clean his blood out of her suit, with the way her hands had shaken the entire time. Cleaning it by hand was the least she could've done as a punishment, regardless of how Wade had said she'd had nothing to apologize for and that, "I asked for it anyways, didn't I?"

With a well-placed kick followed by a punch, she toppled Rogers. He tumbled to the ground, and she jumped and landed on top of his stomach. She straddled his waist, preening with pride as she heaved out her breaths. "Do you yield?"

Rogers tried to get up then, to his surprise, found that he couldn't. She was putting her entire weight and strength in her legs, pushing them into the floor. It was probably going to wind up giving her bruises, but whatever. "H – how are you doing that?"

"Do you yield?" she repeated.

He weighed his choices, and sagged at the inevitable. "I yield," he muttered.

"Told you I'm stronger than you," she said smugly.

A brief silence fell over them. He stared at her, and she stared at him. But to her surprise, his gaze went downwards, towards her lips.

She stopped everything that she was doing, including breathing.

He couldn't seriously be – ?

For the second time in three days, all she could think was: no, no, no...

Suddenly, somebody was clapping. She looked up and saw that it was Stark. "Helluva job, Spidey. Thanks for bringing good ol' Cap down a notch."

Her face flaming and mind spinning, she stood up. "Yeah," she muttered. She grabbed her water bottle off of the bench and stalked off to the elevator without looking back.

Word Count: 3,520

Next Chapter Title: don't stop