#solid plan

Tony could tell Happy could barely hold it together. His friend was ready to burst into his thundering belly-laugh and Tony brought the mug to his lips again, knowing he’d need a lot of caffeine to take whatever was coming. His sleep-deprived brain jumped to Spider-Man. Maybe the kid had skipped school to patrol? But then again Peter never skipped school. Maybe the kid found some action before coming here and got injured? But Happy knew Tony would never laugh over an injury. That was Peter’s thing. He didn’t have time to contemplate this any further, as the doors of the lab slid open and Tony watched Peter stepping inside.

He sputtered in his mug and felt his eyes bulging, but Happy cleared his throat, and Tony immediately schooled his expression. Slowly lowering the cup, he wiped droplets of coffee from his face with the back of his hand.

“Hey, kid,” he managed, his eyes taking in Peter head to toe. Jesus Christ. Was this karma? This should definitely be karma. And MJ. This was one hundred percent MJ influenced. Damnit, he might need to have words with that girl.

“Hey, Mr. Stark.”

Happy exhaled loudly through his nose and Tony knew the man would burst out in laughter any second now. Sure enough a second later Happy snickered which he immediately tried to cover with a cough.

Tony slowly turned to glare at him. Oh, so he could laugh? “You okay there, Hap? Need some water or anything?”

“No, nope,” Happy managed after clearing his throat, his tone too mirthful for Tony’s liking. “Just something in my throat. All good now.”

“Right, Hap, thanks for the update. We’ll call you when it’s time to take Peter home,” Tony said trying to sound his usual self, but his mind was still in a daze at what he was seeing. If Happy hadn’t come in to warn him, he’d be entirely sure he was hallucinating.

Happy scurried out of the lab, and Peter walked towards Tony and looked up at him, waiting. Tony stared down at the kid, still trying to process.

Peter smacked his black-tinted lips. “So what are we doing today?”

The question gave Tony something to grab on and he immediately turned his attention to the computer. “I am writing a new code to fix an issue with the new drone. Wanna jump in?”

“Sure Mr. Stark,” Peter bobbed his head and a strand of raven black hair fell on his white-makeup covered forehead.

Tony stepped aside to give Peter the floor and let out a slow breath, finally having the chance to take in the kid’s appearance without Peter knowing. Black dyed hair, full-on goth makeup complete with dark eyeshadow, eyeliner and black lipstick. Black leather jacket, a band t-shirt (who the hell were Bauhaus?), ripped black jeans, weathered black converse shoes. A goddamn piercing on his left ear and another above his right eyebrow.

Tony found himself swerving between worried, amused, and entirely out of his water.

“Keep working on that and I’ll be right, back, kid,” he told Peter, who turned to look at him questioningly. “Coffee refill,” Tony said, raising his mug. “We’re all out down here, so I’ll fetch some from upstairs. I’ll get you some hot chocolate and snacks too.”

“Sounds good, Mr. Stark. Thank you.”

Tony rushed out of the lab and headed to the elevator, letting out an audible huff when the doors closed behind him.

“FRIDAY has my kid turned emo?”

“Peter’s attire and makeup is not emo, but goth, boss.”

“Give me dets and if I have anything to worry about, FRI.”

“Goth is a subculture that emerged in the late 1970s, characterized by dark, mysterious, and often romantic aesthetics. It includes fashion elements like black clothing, dramatic makeup, and accessories, as well as music genres such as goth rock and post-punk. There have been a few studies indicating that teenagers who identified with the goth subculture were more likely to experience depression and engage in self-harm.”

Tony blanched.

“The kid might have depression? Might self-harm?”

“Correlation does not imply causation, boss. A lot of teenagers choose the goth style and subculture as a form of expressing individuality.”

“Ok, you know the drill. Parenting forums, parenting experts, scan and tell me what do I do?”

“The consensus is this is likely a phase, boss. And that you should remain supportive to Peter’s chosen form of self-expression. A lot of parents stress that in their experience if you don’t make a big deal out of it, it will likely pass sooner.”