Irondad and Penny Parker

Spooktober Mark XXV

✨Sand✨

The vulture took her limp body and rammed her back into the sand, her teeth gritted as she stifled a scream.

The flesh on her back was being completely torn up, sand getting in every crevice and crack.

Her eyes were scrunched shut, stinging painfully with the sand that had helpfully managed to get in there as well.

Her blood soaked hands just provided a substance for the sand to stick to, rubbing her eyes became a useless motion, doing more harm than good.

She could taste sand. And blood.

She could feel it everywhere.

Her senses picked up on every small grain that had entered her system.

She snapped back into reality as the sound of children's screams of delight filled her ears.

She was at a playground, standing by the sand pit.

She blinked, trying to get a sense of her surroundings.

She was surprised to feel tears in her eyes and brought up a hand to feel her cheek, feeling the steady trail of silent tears that had been falling down for who knew how long.

She heard Morgan shout for her parents to come look at something she had made.

Morgan.

She was with the Stark family.

Tony and Pepper crossed in front of her, on their way to inspect Morgan's latest architectural masterpiece in the form of a half crushed sandcastle.

Pepper stopped abruptly when she caught Penny's eye, causing an unobservant Tony to walk straight into her back.

"Oh sweetie are you alright?" Pepper asked, voice softening to a gentle tone after scolding Tony for walking into her.

Penny wiped her eyes roughly and nodded, "Yeah I-I'm fine."

Pepper looked back at Tony, "I'll handle this." He whispered and gestured for Pepper to go tend to Morgan.

They watched in silence as Pepper walked away, greeted by a hyper Morgan, jumping up and down beside her castle.

Tony turned back to her.

"What's this all about then huh?" He asked in a tone specifically reserved for her.

"Oh it's nothing." She replied, trying to throw in a laugh to make her lies more convincing.

Tony rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms and stood, looking expectantly at the teen, one eyebrow raised.

Penny sighed and knew she'd have to give up. In a battle of the wills, Tony almost always won.

"I don't even know what it was to be honest, I just- I don't know! I just blinked and I was back on the beach fighting Toomes."

Tony's eyes softened and she could see the guilt returning to his stance.

"Kid I'm so sor-" He began.

"No. No, don't. Please don't apologise for that Mr Stark. It wasn't your fault. You told me to stay away from him and I was a reckless little kid and didn't listen."

He opened his mouth to reply and then closed it, clearly wondering how to respond without apologising.

Instead he simply walked forward and pulled her into a hug.

"I love you kiddo."

Her heart swelled, tears welling in her eyes as she cherished those words.

She was so so safe.

Nothing could hurt her here.

"I love you too." She replied, "Sometimes it just hits me all at once for the stupidest reasons. Like seriously? Spider-Man is taken down by a sandpit at a kiddie park?"

Tony sighed and pulled away from the hug, bringing a hand up to hold her face.

"Kid, it's not stupid. Everyone has different triggers. If I remember correctly my first panic attack was triggered by a crayon drawing. I broke a crayon." He added on the end in mock sadness.

Penny laughed wetly, wiping her tears away again.

"You broke a crayon?" She asked, giggling a little.

"I was a mess kiddo, still am if I'm completely honest. What I'm trying to say here, in dodgy metaphors and analogies about crayons, is that whatever triggers you isn't stupid, it's biased off the trauma you went through. We just have to find a way to get through it that's all."

She nodded silently, she didn't deserve his kindness. He had a kid of his own that he was missing out on core memories with just to help her.

Tony slung an arm around her shoulders and guided her to the park gate.

She looked back at Morgan and Pepper laughing, he was missing out. Tony joined her gaze and lifted an arm up to Pepper, holding his hand in a certain position. Pepper nodded, somehow understanding what he meant.

She watched as sand flew up as Morgan ran through it. She quickly looked away, sand just was not it for her.

"W-What are you doing?" She asked as Tony opened the gate and headed in the direction of the car.

"We're going home and me and you are going to watch some movies and just relax. You're way too stressed at the moment with trying to fit in with this new family and the world." He told her firmly.

"What about Pepper and Morgan?" She asked confused, how were they going to get home?

"Oh Pepper knows, I'll pick her up later."

It took the entire journey home for it to click that Pepper and Tony had made up hand signals just for when Penny needed help.