A.N: This is my first step into the world of Hairspray fic. I saw the musical last week at the theatre, and although I'd seen the 2007 film before, I hadn't really shipped any of the characters. As soon as I saw the play, I adored Penny/Seaweed, and I've since watched the 2007 film and the 1988 one. I'm still trying to get a grip on the characters, and get my facts straight on the politics of the time, as well as the music that would be around. Hopefully this won't be my last fic of these two. Enjoy!

Penny Pingleton isn't stupid, despite the impression she may give off. She knows people look at her, see the pigtails, the distant smile and the sweets constantly in her mouth, and make assumptions. She knows that assumption only seems to be proven when she's seen with Seaweed.

They call her naive and stupid to her face, and a plethora of other things in whispers and snide voices when they think she can't hear. Those are the nicer ones. Others set aside such 'polite' behaviour altogether and call her horrid names, shout accusations as she walks down the hallway at school, or holds Seaweed's hand.

Doesn't she realise, she knows they're thinking, that this...this negro boy only wants one thing? If she doesn't, she's stupid, but if she does...how embarrassing for her poor mother. The audacity of the girl.

Even those who support her worry about her. Worry about the name-calling and the effect it's having on her. Worry that her mother doesn't speak to her anymore, or that she doesn't realise all the difficulties that lie ahead.

But Penny, though she doesn't have smarts, has sense. She knows the gravity of her decisions, knows exactly what she's getting herself into.

She knows she and Seaweed would never be able to marry in Maryland, knows they'd have to go to another state. She knows there's violence and protestations against integration and that struggles – much, much worse than trying to integrate the Corny Collins Show – still lie ahead.

Her mother will probably never speak to her again, she'll gain a reputation, people will always whisper or talk or raise their eyebrows. But she can withstand all that, because she has love.

She knows she would go through being tied up by her mother a thousand times, because Seaweed will always be there to help her escape. She can cope with the name-calling and the taunts as long as his hand is wrapped around hers.

She knows they'll cope with whatever the world has to throw at them, because they'll go through it all together. And that's all that Penny needs.