Snow
Claim: Character: Penelope 'Penny Coulson
Fandom: Marvel Movie Universe
Prompt: Snow , Table 3
Rating: T/PG13
Disclaimer: If I owned Marvel, would I be writing fanfiction?
Notes: Also posted on fanfiction.net and my liverjournal. Somewhat inspired by a fan art picture of chibi!Steve sledding on his shield. The other part was inspired by my younger cousin getting a replica of the shield...which would be perfect for sledding. In this one, we jump forward in time.
Penny woke up feeling cold. Not that it was anything new for her; New York in the winter was much more frigid than Calcutta, Mississippi. She snuggled deeper into her heap of blankets. Phil had said that the number of blankets on her bed was absolutely ridiculous, but she didn't care because they keep her so warm and toasty. That irritating lock of hair decided now would be a wonderful time to fall into her face. Penny scrunched up, willing the lock to move. In a twist of fate, the air conditioner kicked on, solving the problem of the lock, but inadvertently causing another one: Once again, Penny was cold. Which also meant she was awake. Stupid Phil and his weird masochistic desire to always have the air conditioner on. Pushing her head out of her lovely warm cocoon, Penny cracked an eye open. 10:03. It was a Saturday, which meant that Phil was at the Avengers' Mansion, babysitting. More than enough time for the hot water to recovery from his abuse. Ripping her coves off, Penny leapt out of bed and began her mad dash to the bathroom, only to be stopped by the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life (so far).
Snow.
Pure and crisp little white snowflakes were floating down from the Heavens, coating New York. It was like some one had made a sculpture of New York and dusted it with powdered sugar.
She couldn't help but crack a smile so big it had to hurt. Her first New York snow! Penny smiled and waltzed into her bathroom. Phil wasn't there to complain about her singing, so Penny belted out every holiday song she could think off all through her shower. While making breakfast, she sang music from the holiday specials of her youth. Not once throughout her morning routine did Penny loose her smile. Phil would have laughed and called her the oldest kid he knew. Mother would have frowned and told her that smiling too large created premature wrinkles (Penny would have shot back her usual reply that frowning caused even more wrinkles). Tossing on her winter coat and pulling the hat Aunt Jean had knitted for her, she walked out with a bounce in her step and coffee in her hands -stupid Phil and his caffeine addiction-. She all but danced down to the subway. Tossing her usual quarter to Fred, the subway's residential hobo, Penny took her usual spot next to Eli.
“It's snowing!” she said, her smile radiating happiness. Behind her, Fred snickered.
Eli flipped the page in his newspaper, today it was Wall Street Journal instead of the New York Times, and accepted her offering of coffee. “I didn't notice,” he dryly replied.
Penny rolled her eyes and took a sip of coffee. Eli folded his paper, tucking it under his arm and stood up. She hated standing by him. Eli towered over her. Both stepped closer to the edge, anticipating the train. It was a routine that they had fallen into. On Penny's first day on the train alone, she spilled her morning coffee all over the nice suit of the passenger next to her, who happened to be Eli. Thankfully, he had taken it all in a stride and had even walked her to work. They chit-chat all the way there. During that conversation Penny found out that Eli had recently moved to New York from Norway for his work. She had laughed and said that it was the same for her.
“What's your job?” she asked, absentmindedly tucking an unruly strand of hair behind her ear.
“It's in economics. Really boring.” he replied, giving her a wink.
Penny laughed. “Probably not as boring as mine! I work for the government. And on top of that, my brother's my boss.”
“For your brother? That must be terrible.” he responded.
“It's not that bad,” she said, shrugging, “I just started as his secretary yesterday so Phil hasn't become unbearable...yet.”
He laughed. Penny was fairly certain that she melted on the inside.
“Well, this is my stop,” she said, turning to face him. “Have a good day, Eli Smith.”
“I will, Penelope Coulson,” he said with a glint in his eyes.
“How was your Friday?” Eli inquired.
“I watched the movie marathon on 13, did my nails...oh! Phil finally took me to that one Italian restaurant he raves about because I had a real bad hankering for Italian. I was so afraid we were going to get shot,” she rambled, “but everyone was really nice and it was the best cheese ravioli I have every had.”
Eli cracked a rare grin. “You would have been fine.”
“Oh I know,” Penny took another sip of coffee and sighed in contentment. “How was yours?”
“Stayed at home.”
She snorted and placed a hand on her hip. “You're the one who tells me I should get out more and then pretty much every Friday you stay home.”
“What can I say? I'm quite the homebody,” he replied.
Penny rolled her eyes, nursing her coffee. Trailing behind Eli, she stepped onto the train. As usual, he managed to find a spot with hardly anyone around. Plopping down while he gracefully sat down (how he managed to sit down gracefully was a mystery to her), Penny declared “I think I'm going to make Phil go sledding with me if there's enough- Ouch!” Once again, she had spilt her coffee, this time on her brand new coat.
“Thanks,” she murmured as she accepted his offered handkerchief.
Watching her dab at her coat, Eli couldn't help but ask “Why did you say 'ouch' when the coffee did not even scald your skin?”
“I dunno. Habit I guess,” Penny said, handing him back the soiled handkerchief. He proceeded to fold it neatly and slid it back into place in his breast pocket. Sometimes he really reminded her of her grandpa.
“Now Penny, I have a serious question for you,” Eli said, “What is...sledding?”
Penny nearly chocked on her coffee. “What's sledding?” she repeated incredulously.
Eli nodded.
“Well,” she began, “sledding is...umm....Sledding is when someone...or a group of someones...gets on a sled -that has no meaning to you since you don't know what sledding is-...someone gets on this thing...like a tire or a sheet of plywood and slides down a hill...or a slope. Does that make any sense at all?” she asked, turning to face him.
“It does, it does,” he reassured, “I did not know that was what sledding meant in English. But know I have been enlightened.”
“Did you go sledding in Norway?” Penny asked, genuinely curious. Eli didn't seem to be the type that would go sledding. He seemed like a book, hot chocolate, and a blanket guy.
“Yes, yes I did. My brother and I would sometimes go sledding when we were children. Quite the mischievous pair, the two of us.”
Penny chuckled. The thought of Eli as a mischievous child was one she could easily wrap her mind around. His always had an air of mischief around him and had the wonderful ability to do all sorts of hand tricks. Pulling a muffin out of thin air, most likely one of his tricks, Eli offered Penny half, which she gladly accepted. The pair sat in a comfortable silence, munching on their muffins and watching the cast of characters that were the inhabitants of New York.
“I believe this is my stop,” Eli stood up. “Goodbye Penny.”
“Bye Eli!” she called after him. Sometimes she wondered if he was telling the truth. Eli Smith was such a English name. Really kind of odd for a Norwegian. Then again, she considered, the only Norwegian she knew was Christina. Not a lot to go by.
Loki all but inhaled the rest of the muffin, chasing it down with the delicious coffee Penny provided. The concoction called French Vanilla Coffee was the only saving grace of Midgard.
It took every once of self control that Penny had to not stick her tongue out to catch snowflakes. Even with the joy that was nearly bursting out of her, there was an odd feeling creeping up her belly. It wasn't a good feeling either. She frowned. It was rather like she was being watched. Penny could swear she kept on seeing something out of the corner of her eyes, but every time she looked, there was nothing. Glancing behind her, she quickened her pace. Nothing was there. Still, she couldn't shake that feeling.
As the mansion slowly came into few, the feeling slowly went away, replaced by excitement and joy.
Phil quietly huffed as Penny burst into the rec room. It was hard enough to keep their attention without distractions.
“Guess what Phil?” Penny joyously said as she bounded up to him. Without waiting or a reply she answered her own question. “It's snowing!”
“Yes, yes it is. Now please sit down.”
Penny happily took up residence in one of Tony's numerous wing chairs. Like nearly everyone else in the room, the exceptions being Jane and Bruce, she tuned out Phil and began to examine the room. Penny couldn't help but grin as her eyes fell on a certain object.
“Wanna know what would make an awesome sled?” she asked Tony after the meeting.
Tony, apparently sharing Penny's love of sledding, rapidly began to glance around the room. “What?” he asked after not finding any object that would make an excellent sled.
“The shield,”
Tony grinned.
Steve was immediately worried when both Penny and Tony approached him, obviously up to something. Penny, Darcy, and Tony had become a dream team of mischief makers, hardly ever being caught. So he felt that he had a right to be worried. Following his gut, he began to walk away.
“Steve,” Penny called, “We need to talk to you!”
He groaned. Of course she would be the one to ask, Tony knew full well that he couldn't resist a pretty face.
“Yes?” He said, turning to face them.
“Well, it's snowing,” she said, a smile on her face.
“It is,” he replied.
“And snowing makes me think of sledding. You like sledding, don't you Steve?”
“Yes,” he slowly replied.
“Since you like sledding and, more importantly, us,” Tony said, “You would let us use what could possibly be the greatest sled known to man kind, no ifs ands or buts.”
“Most likely.”
Tony grinned. “Ask him, I'll get a sim ready,” he said, darting off to the lab.
Penny smiled. God, why couldn't he resist a woman's smile?
“This potentially wonderful sled happens to be something of mine, right?”
“Right,” she replied. A single golden brown curl had fallen out of it's place in her bun and was now being twirled around her finger, which was just as bad as her mega watt smile.
“So do I get to know what this item is?” he said, his walls falling.
Her smile grew larger. At that moment, Steve realized he was, well, doomed.
If anyone asked, he was bullied into it. Not that he minded having Penny his lap with her arms around his neck. It felt rather...nice. He did mind the fact that he was sitting in his shield. Of course, it was all his fault since he couldn't say no. It also didn't help that everyone was recording with their respective devices, ready to see stunning wipe outs.
“Are you sure this is such a good idea?” asked Phil.
Penny huffed. “We'll be fine!”
“You ready?” Tony asked.
The fact that Tony was the one that was going to give the push was also a factor. It scared him more than the idea that Fury might find out what they were doing in their free time, with a national treasure no less.
“Ready!” Penny chirped, grinning from ear to ear.
Steve was not, and was totally unprepared for the hearty push that sent them practically flying down the hill. Snow was whipping all around them, Penny was laughing and screaming, his team mates were cheering, and he couldn't help but whoop with joy as they sailed down the hill. As the shield began to spin, he put an arm around her waist, hoping to prevent her from being tossed out. Neither of them noticed the little hill in their snowy path. With shrieks and laughter on both sides, Penny and Steve tumbled out of the shield, momentarily shocking the pair.
Steve slowly sat up and look at Penny. Penny slowly sat up and looked at Steve. She giggled.
“You have snow all in your hair,” she said, swiping at his hair.
“And you have snow all over your face,” he retorted.
Surprisingly, Phil was the first one down the hill, trailed by the rest of the Avengers.
“Are you all right?” he asked as he helped Penny up.
“Of course silly!”
There was a pause.
“Can I do it again?” she asked, her face all aglow.
Steve burst into laughter. He could get used to this.
AN: So it snowed, which motivated me to write this. I can somewhat guarantee that in the next couple of chapters, we will visit Atlantis, Phil and Penny will have family bonding time, and Penny finally gets to 'meet' Loki. Reviews are welcomed, encouraged even :) No, really. Is Penny a sue, is she believable, is everyone out of character? I would love your input.