Irondad and Penny Parker

Spooktober Mark XXIV

✨Mask✨

Masks weren't as a a big part of Penelope Parker's life as you'd expect.

Her being Spider-Man and all, kind of required a mask as a key point to her alter ego. She couldn't risk people finding out her identity. Apart from that, she was very open about her feelings with her friends and family, she never felt as if she had to hide who she was.

For Tony is was the complete opposite.

He was completely open about his alter ego from the start and yet many would argue that masks held a bigger role in his life than what meets the eye.

Iron Man was known to the public for his charisma and superhero-ing ways.

Tony Stark was a man known to his peers as an egotistical jokester, the source of money and shelter for the avengers and all in all, a pain in the ass. No one could ever get him to do things their way. Too wrapped up in his own needs. That's who Tony Stark was to them.

Tony was a quiet soul to his close family. He spent most of his time shut away in his lab and was known for being the centre of many core memories. He was kind and funny whilst plagued with demons from his past. Sure he was still a pain in the ass but he was different when he was around the people who truly cared for him.

Tony had learnt to mask from a very young age.

Growing up around a raging alcoholic with eyes only for the enhanced golden boy of America for a father had required it.

He learnt to stay silent unless spoken to and he had steered his goals and interests to be tailored to Howard's expectations.

He had found that Howard's interest in him peaked when he had first shown a talent for mechanics. That was one of his only memories of praise from the cold and calculating man.

So, overtime, Tony learnt to put all of his time and energy into machinery and mechanics, basking in the attention that he got from his father.

But it wasn't enough.

It was never enough for Howard.

So Tony decided to try and capture his attention another way. 

He began drinking, getting into trouble at school, partying. Doing everything possible to get some sort of recognition out of Howard whether it was positive or negative.

He learnt that by doing that, people actually noticed him.

Hence the egotistical, extreme version of himself that he sold to his peers.

It had just become second nature to act like it, to act "socially acceptable" as his father had taught him to.

In all honesty? Tony didn't really know who he was.

He had spent his entire life, altering the way he talked, walked, acted to fit the expectations of the cruel society he had grown up in.

Maybe that's why Penny never felt like she had to wear a mask.

Tony's years upon years of damaging masking had led him to realise he could never let anyone he cared about go through that.

He always encouraged Penny with her interests, never shutting them down, never complaining about how much she talked about them. He just listened.

Because that was what he wanted more than anything as a child.

He didn't want to be told that "nobody cares." or "you're boring the guests Anthony." whenever he spoke of something he was passionate about.

It broke him every time his father looked down at him with his looming eyes filled to the brim of disappointment.

He swore to never let his kids feel that way.

They would never have to wear a mask.