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! Sorry for the later update, even if I had a feeling it was going to end up this way. Still trying to get back on my feet haha

Chapter title comes from Oceans by Coldplay. I haven't completely decided on the next one yet; I'll edit it in once I have.

As always, I hope you enjoy,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~the heavy souls 'verse~

~life in technicolor ii~

~chapter 8: in the rain~

Being proud of his daughter and having the strong desire to grab her by the shoulders, shake her, and scream "why are you like this?" were not mutually exclusive things.

"It's not that bad, Dad," Penny protested as he herded her to her bedroom. Her eyes were already half-lidded from the dose of pain medication she'd been given, as even with her metabolism, the specialized medication was good at taking her down for the count. It wasn't so bad this time as he would've had to carry her into her bedroom instead of corralling her there, but of course he would've preferred her to not have needed the medication at all. Just the fact she'd needed stitches had been bad, given her healing factor. "Really."

"Do you want to be grounded for another week?" he asked incredulously. "Because that is how you get grounded for another week."

Her face scrunched up, but the effect wasn't as pronounced as she probably wanted due to how tired she was. "Dad, no," she whined. "Please don't ground me for another week. Please? Two is already enough."

...God, he hated playing the role of the strict parent. He wasn't cut out for this. Not for the first time, he wished that Mary was still with them. Provided that he would've actually been told of Penny's existence after she'd found out that their daughter was Lolita and that she would've been willing to coparent, he had a feeling that she would've been better at him than this.

But, those weren't the cards they'd been dealt, so he had to deal with what they'd gotten.

"I'm kidding – mostly," he said. He didn't want her to think she could tempt fate. He stepped in front of her briefly to open her bedroom door and turn on the light, then let her walk into the room herself. "Come on, spider baby, time for bed."

"It's Baby Spider," she huffed. "If you're gonna program FRIDAY to call me that for two weeks, at least get it a right."

He almost started laughing his ass off right there. "You're right, I'm sorry, Baby Spider."

She didn't dignify him with a response. Since she was already in a set of pajamas – he'd brought them down to MedBay for her while Helen had worked on her stitches – all she had to do was shuck off her slippers before she collapsed down onto her bed face-first and crawled up towards her pillows. Once her face was smushed into one of them, she let out a content sigh, but didn't so much as touch any of her blankets. She had a mess of them, since sleeping with somebody who was ten degrees colder than the average person made one a bit chilly at night, according to Harley. Plus, Tony would prefer them to have too many than not enough.

"Do you want me to tuck you in?" he asked. He sensed that she did.

"...Mmhmm," she went.

Chuckling, he walked over to her bed and grabbed the main comforter for the bed, which was the same opera mauve as the rest of it instead of the black color of the blankets that had been amassed since she'd come home, and pulled it up into the air. He draped it over her, and actually did tuck her in a little, making her open her dark brown eyes to peer up at him curiously.

"Sorry," he apologized. But he wasn't really that sorry at all.

A part of him wondered what to do next. He'd been debating something over the past couple of days, mulling it over. Now wasn't really the time nor place to bring it up with her, since she was already well on her way to falling asleep, but him having to ground her did present him an interesting opportunity. A reason to make what he'd been thinking about come into being.

Penny had closed her eyes after he'd spoken, but she opened them once more due to him briefly pausing over her. "What?" she complained.

"Nothing," he assured her. He moved to step away, but found that he couldn't complete the action. "Well, actually..."

It probably wasn't fair of him to spring this on her when she was half-asleep from being drugged out. But, he figured, depending on her answer, he would broach the subject again in the morning once she was coherent. This would just be the pre-show, the sneak peek.

"I've been thinking," he said. "What do you think about going to the Compound for the next couple of weeks, while you're grounded? Would that be something that you're interested in, yes or no? Harley would still be able to come up for his internship, you don't need to worry about that."

There was a delay in his words and her answer, because she had to process the former first to do the latter. Guilt sent a pang into his heart as he waited, because Jesus, Tony, you really couldn't have waited six or so hours, could you?

But, finally, she let out another sigh. "Yeah," she said afterwards, her eyes slipping back shut.

He was so taken aback by her answer that it took a second to register in his brain. "'Yeah?'" he repeated, albeit as a question.

She was beyond words now. "Mmhmm," she spoke again.

That was his cue for him to leave, no matter how excited he was. "Alright, honey," he replied. He pressed a kiss to her forehead – brief, barely there. He turned off the lights on his way out the door. Before he pulled it closed, he whispered, "'Night. Love you."

He didn't get a response, but that was okay.

He didn't need one to know she thought the same.

In the morning, Penny was still surprisingly agreeable to the idea of them going up to the Compound for two weeks. She shrugged when pressed, rubbing her thermos in between her hands as she said, "I don't know, it sounds fun. I've never really been up there before. Besides, it'll be a good way of keeping the temptation to go out as Spider-Woman at bay."

He appreciated her honesty. Not too many teenagers, he thought, would be willing to admit just how tempted they were to disregard their punishments. It wasn't going to make him ease up at all, but still. "Would you be alright with leaving after lunch?"

She became slightly hesitant, but nodded.

"Alright, then. Finish that – " he pointed at her thermos " – then go pack up the clothes and stuff you want to take with you. Your room at the Compound is pretty much the same as it is here, so you don't need to worry about too much. I'm going to go inform everybody about our arrangements."

He texted Rhodey first. His best friend, naturally, was excited about the news.

Platypus: Fucking finally. I've been waiting for you to do this way too long.

Tony Stank: Yeah, yeah, yeah, honey bear. We'll be there probably around two.

Platypus: I'll hold you to it.

Platypus: And don't make it weird again, please, for the love of God.

Tony Stank: :(

Pepper and Evelyn were next. Pepper was more of just a head's up than anything else, a formality since she was technically his boss. Evelyn was agreeable to the idea of Harley coming up to the Compound for the next two weekends. Actually, she was agreeable to more than that, offering to have him come up for the entirety of the two weeks, period. Tony was reluctant to accede to this outright, since Penny was supposed to be grounded. He told her he'd leave it up to Harley.

Seconds later, his phone buzzed again.

Harley: I'll come up for the internship and go back home on the 25th. Is that alright?

Tony was not used to having teenagers who were willing to compromise like this. At their age, he would've been out for all he could get.

Tony: Yep, that's fine. See you then, Buckaroo

Harley: I am not a cowboy.

Tony: But it goes with Underoos, doesn't it?

That just left the rest of the team.

Sam and Nat were the only people on the communal floor when he got there. She was sitting at the bar, he was standing at it. "I missed breakfast, didn't I?" he asked breezily, swiping a French toast stick off her plate. They were homemade by Sam, and damn were they good.

"You don't usually eat breakfast with us," deadpanned Natasha. "Not on Thursdays, at least."

"You're right, I don't."

"What are you doing here, then?" Sam asked. He smirked. "Ran out of coffee?"

"No, but I'll help myself while I'm here." He grabbed a mug out of one of the cupboards and filled it three-quarters of the way with the coffee from the coffeepot. It was still somewhat warm. "I just needed to let you guys know something."

"'You guys' as in us, or the team?" Natasha questioned.

"The team." He paused long enough to take a sip from his coffee. "Penny and I are going to be out of town for the next two weeks, while she's grounded. We're going up to the Compound."

"Oh." Sam was surprised, but he looked happy for them. "Well, I hope you guys have fun. The fresh air'll probably do her some good."

"That's what I was thinking." He focused on Natasha. "Think you guys can hold down the fort for a couple of weeks?"

Her face was carefully blank and her eyes weren't giving anything away, making it impossible for him to figure out what she was thinking. "You make it sound like the others are kids, not heroes," she deflected.

"Two of them are teenagers, and the rest aren't much better," he pointed out. As Sam snorted, he chugged the rest of his coffee, before rinsing out the mug. He kissed the air right next to her cheek like she had with him at the movie night on his way out. "Thanks, Nat. I owe you one."

"You owe me many."

"...I plead the Fifth on that."

He had a roast beef and provolone panini for lunch, and then by twelve-thirty they were ready to go, Penny having her book bag slung over her shoulder with her things and each of them carrying crates containing more than a sufficient amount of her substitute for the next two weeks – though if she needed more, it wouldn't be hard for him to make up at the Compound.

They took one of the black SUVs with government-grade window tint, so that nobody would catch sight of her in the car. They let FRIDAY choose the music. His AI seemed to be in the mood for the melodramatic today, selecting that one album by Coldplay to play first.

"Wait for your call, love; the call never came. Ready to fall up, ready to claim..."

The stress of the past month and a half seemed to fall off his shoulders the closer they got to the Compound. Leaving the city just seemed like the smart move to make. Two weeks without them being Spider-Woman or Iron Man, two weeks without having to deal with Steve and everything that came with him. Nothing except for them, Rhodey, Maria (she'd already met Penny and frankly adored her, even if she didn't overly show it), and the skeleton crew that'd already been NDA'ed into oblivion. There weren't many people working at the Compound like he'd intended, due to most of the Avengers living at the Tower. But that would work in their favor.

Because not to mention, they had the countryside. An entire forest Penny could run through to her heart's content, in a way she'd never been able to do before.

Rhodey and Maria were already waiting for them outside as he pulled the car up. The former SHIELD agent was shielding – ha, pun – her eyes from the sun, but there was a small smile on her face. "I almost couldn't believe it when Rhodey told me you guys were coming up today," she said. "Hello, Penny."

"Ah, well, you know me," Tony ribbed. "Always making last-minute plans."

Penny smiled back at the woman. "Hi, Maria. Hey, Rhodey."

"Look who it is," he quipped. "You finally get to come up and see us because Tony decided to pull his head out of his ass."

"Sourpatch, language," Tony warned playfully.

"Like she hasn't heard worse," his best friend shot back. He jerked his head towards the main building. "Come on. Let me give you a tour."

There weren't really words to describe the emotions he felt at the pure, unadulterated joy which was written all over Penny's face as she explored the nature surrounding the Compound.

Similar to her, he hadn't been able to take hikes through woods or look at animal tracks at her age. He'd had it a bit better, because his father's mansion had had several trees on the estate, so he hand't had to walk or swing to a park in order to see large swathes of green. Rhodey had been too shocked to give him shit for it when he'd found out back in college; he'd grabbed the keys for his car and pulled Tony to his feet, which had made him squawk in protest. "Come on," he'd said. "We're going to the nearest nature reserve?"

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

"But I've got homework to do, and – "

"Don't care, you're coming with me even if I have to drag your ass out of this building."

He went on a couple of walks with Penny through the woods. She kicked a little at the dirt of the forest floor, but overall seemed fascinated with the tall trees, the canopy of leaves above them. "You didn't go stomping through any woods or anything while you were...gone that month?" he asked her once.

She shook her head. "I told you, I really only stuck to the cities, for the crime," she said. "And I was..." Her eyes darted away from him. "I was too hungry for too much sightseeing."

Because she didn't trust you, that voice in the back of his head whispered traitorously.

He ignored it. "You've got the run of this place now," he replied. "And plenty to drink, I hope."

"More than enough," she agreed, smiling.

They mostly spent their time together working in the lab, watching movies, and eating their meals. Tony played on the playground with her once on the first Friday while they were waiting for Harley to arrive, and – fuck, he was getting old, with the way his bones creaked afterwards. He employed Harley's help that night to make dinner, since he figured it would be easier to teach him how to make his mother's lasagna as a family tradition than Penny, and that...was an event.

Penny laughed so hard she quite literally fell out of her seat. "How are you guys...this bad...at it?" she wheezed.

Harley scowled. "I told him I can't cook," he snapped, raising his hands defensively.

"...I didn't think it was going to end up this bad," Tony remarked dryly, staring at the inside of the oven. He made it a mental note to give the cleaning crew an extra tip than usual when they came through here tomorrow morning.

The kids had their fun when they weren't spending their time with him, since Harley was like a barnacle and spent some one-on-one time with him as well. One morning, while he was drinking his coffee in the communal area which overlooked the playground, he caught sight of Penny laughing while Harley pushed her on the swing. It made him smile. This had definitely been the right choice.

"You seem calmer up here," Rhodey noted the second Friday night. Penny had had her appointment with Anne that afternoon virtually for the second time; she'd said she didn't mind doing it like this when she needed to, but she definitely preferred the interactions that came with being in-person, which made sense. The kids were already in bed, probably sleeping in Penny's case, and watching TV in Harley's.

Tony shrugged. "I am calmer," he said.

...But he was also melancholic, and he was pretending that he had no idea why.

The morning after Harley had gone back home, it was raining. Not the kind of rain where it was pouring buckets and buckets, but the one where it was humid and hot and the water was coming down as more of a mist than a downpour. Penny was sleeping in, as was a teenager's wont when school was out for the summer and they didn't have anything better to do.

He stood outside beneath the part of the building that covered the walkway, nursing his morning cup of joe, watching the rain fall. Not a drop fell on him, but the back of his neck was slick from sweat caused by the humidity. He knew he should probably take a shower after he was done with his drink.

The door to his right opened, and he somehow wasn't surprised when he saw who it was.

"Nat," he greeted her.

"Hello, Tony," she returned, coming to stand right next to him. "Nice day today."

He scoffed. "Did you miss Penny too much? Needed to get your fix on interacting with her? You might have to wait a few hours, if that's the case. She's still sleeping."

"It'll be nice to see her. We've missed her the past week and a half," she admitted, "we" being her and Matt. "But no, I came to talk with you."

"Something happen?"

"Stop that," she warned, bumping his shoulder with her arm. "You're my friend. I can want to talk to you without any strings attached."

"You're right. Sorry." There was a bench about six or so feet away from them. He went over to it and sat down, Natasha following after him. "Just wasn't expecting you to come up all this way to talk only as a friend."

"Friends Will Be Friends," she quipped.

"Point taken." He took a sip from his cup. The coffee had cooled down to lukewarm by now, but he didn't mind. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You know what."

...Great. So this was going to be one of those conversations.

"You're running away from your problems," Natasha stated. She didn't look at him as she spoke, keeping her gaze ahead.

"What, wanting to take my daughter up here to experience some peace and quiet is running away from my problems?"

"That's not the only reason why you came up here, and you know it." She took his coffee cup away from him to take a sip at his drink. He was too tired, too weary to complain about it. She handed it back to him when she was satisfied. "And by 'problems,' I mean Steve."

"I can't deny not wanting to be around him, but – "

She wasn't letting him get an edge in. "You know just talking to him would clear up most of the things between you two."

"I did talk to him," Tony replied, a little too hotly for his liking. He ran a hand over his face. "I talked to him, Nat."

Now, she did look at him. "You yelled at him," she said. "That's not talking, Tony."

"Did he tell you that?"

"No, but you just did."

Giving a short, dark laugh, he pointed at her. "You got me there." He took another swig. "Has it ever occurred to you that I don't want things cleared up between me and him?"

She rapped her fingers against her arm once. "You love him, you don't mean that."

There was a lapse of silence between them.

"I consider you and Steve to be my two closest friends. Clint's my brother, it's not quite the same with him," she said the last part as he raised an eyebrow at her. "I've watched you two for years. Tony...you don't just love someone like that and never want to speak to them again, even with what he did."

He bristled. "Nat – "

"I'm not saying you have to do anything beyond just talking," she pressed on over him. "But it would help clear the air between you two, help you to figure out where you stand."

That was true. He knew it was.

"And it would help you to stop feeling like shit," she added.

He rolled his eyes. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Conscious."

She reached out for his free hand, interlocking their fingers together. "I'm only stating it because you won't admit to it."

He thought about what to say next to get her off of his back. It was pulling something out of his daughter's book, technically. Though naturally, he wasn't going to be quite as mean about it.

"Tell you what," he decided. "If you talk to Matt about whatever it is that's going on between you two, I'll talk with Steve."

Tony was not a former spy like Clint and Natasha, nor had he trained himself to notice everything to make up for his lack of sight like Matt, but he was observant. He'd seen the way Bruce and her had circled around each other for years until Ultron and the man having gone missing afterwards. They'd never acted on their feelings for each other, not until what had turned out to be the end, in which case it had been too late.

Likewise, he saw how she was with Matt now. He didn't think Penny noticed it, the subtle undertones in the interactions between the former spy and the lawyer. They'd gotten close because of their mentoring of her, but they hadn't stayedclose in the months since she'd come home because of her. If that was the case, they wouldn't be hanging out with each other even when she wasn't around all the time like they were.

He didn't want their relationship to end up like Natasha's had with Bruce's – not that the two were comparable. There was only room on the team for one person who wasn't cut out for romance, and that was him.

"Alright," Natasha agreed.

He blinked.

Wait...

What?

"You'll talk with Matt?" he asked. He hadn't expected it to be that easy for her to agree to it.

"I will...but only once you talk with Steve, not the other way around," she told him. Getting up from the bench, she headed towards the doors to go back inside. "Penny'll probably be getting up soon, if she hasn't already. I want to go say hello to my niece."

He scrambled off the bench as well. "Natasha, wait," he complained, trailing after her. There was no way that this conversation of theirs was going to be over, not after what she had just said. He had to convince her that no, it had to be how he had said it, or ask her why she was so willing to talk with Matt about their feelings for each other instead of how she and Bruce had avoided the subject for so long, or...something. They couldn't just leave it off here.

She walked inside, not bothering to hold the door open for him. "Come on, Tony," she said, her voice almost cut off by the door before he grabbed it.

"Nat!"

Word Count: 3,907

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