Work Text:
Peter stared around the store in awe. “This place is massive!” he whisper-shouts to his friends. Ned nodded dumbly and swiveled his head in all different directions as more things caught his attention.
MJ rolled her eyes and smirked. “You two goofballs act like you’ve never seen a makeup store before.”
Peter and Ned looked at her. “We haven’t!” they exclaimed defensively.
“Losers,” MJ chuckled as she grabbed a basket and began walking towards the foundation section.
Peter Parker was on a mission to find an eyeshadow color palette that Aunt May had been coveting for months. He had heard her talking about it with her friends on the phone, and he had been able to piece together enough information to figure out the brand name and why she hadn’t bought it yet.
“I still can’t believe you’re about to drop $54 on eyeshadow, dude,” Ned whistled, shaking his head.
“Aunt May deserves it, though,” Peter replied. “She’s been working so hard, and she’d never buy something that expensive for herself.”
“And how exactly are you going to pay for it?”
Peter grinned and took out a sleek credit card. “Mr. Stark’s actually been paying me for some of the research and development work I’ve been doing at the lab. It all gets loaded this card.”
Ned’s eyes widened at the plastic in front of his face. “That is so epic!”
“Right?” Peter nodded. “I figured it would be a good first purchase.”
“But then LEGOs, right?” Ned asked, wiggling his brows.
Peter shook his head. “Nah. I want to save it just in case. You know, for groceries or rent or stuff.”
“But,” Ned said gently, “May takes care of that stuff. You should be buying stuff for you to enjoy too.”
“Meh,” Peter shrugged. “I want Aunt May to be happy.”
“Hey!” MJ called out, interrupting them. “I found it!”
Peter and Ned found her near the middle of the store, and she passed Peter a long palette of eyeshadow. The bronze tin was cool to the touch, and Peter could just feel why this thing was so expensive.
“Urban Decay,” Ned read aloud. “Man, this looks so fancy.”
Peter was grinning from ear to ear. “She’s going to love this!” he exclaimed.
A woman wearing a black ULTA shirt and jeans walked over to them with a big smile on her face. “Hi there!” she greeted cheerily. “My name is Aurora. Can I help you find anything?”
Peter held up the eyeshadow palette. “I think we’re good, thanks.”
Aurora eyed Peter approvingly. “We just got that one back in stock! It’s super popular.”
“It’s for my aunt,” Peter said. “She really loves it.”
“Aww!” Aurora cooed. “That’s so awesome you’re getting it for her!” She paused and clapped her hands together. “So, listen, we are having a discount on our Everyday MakeUp Application. We just hired a new artist, so the session is half off.” She leaned in close like she was telling them a secret and lowered her voice. “Plus I can give you an extra discount when you check out.” She straightened up and smiled brightly. “Would any of you be interested? It takes about 45 minutes, and there’s absolutely no pressure to buy anything.”
MJ shook her head. “I have to leave soon. I’m on babysitting duty tonight.”
“I have to pass too,” Ned added. “My lola is coming in from out of town, and my dad wants me to be there to pick her up from the airport.”
Aurora looked at Peter hopefully. “How about you?”
“I, uh...yes?” Peter replied, a bit unsure of himself.
“Great!” Aurora practically sighed in relief. “Just meet me in the back when you’re ready.” She gave them a small wave and headed towards the back of the store.
MJ punched Peter’s shoulder. “You better send pics when you’re done!” she demanded. “I want to see what they do with your jawline. I bet it would look epic with some contouring.”
“Ooo!” Ned added. “You should have them show you how to do those wing things on your eyes!”
Peter chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not really sure I’m much of a makeup person…”
“So just do what you feel comfortable with,” MJ suggested. “It’s just to help the new person practice.”
Peter smiled. “Yeah, I can do that.” He waved goodbye to MJ and Ned before taking his palette with him to the back. Aurora hopped off the swivel chair she was sitting in and ushered him over.
“Peter, this is Max,” Aurora said, waving a makeup artist over. Max was tall and slender, with a faux-hawk hairstyle and a pearlescent sheen over his cheeks. Peter tried not to stare at the pop of midnight blue eyeliner framing Max’s brown eyes, but it was so…
“Cool,” Peter breathed. He cleared his throat when he caught Max staring at him. “Your, uh, eyeliner, I mean,” he stuttered. “It looks so cool.”
Max grinned as Peter sat down. “Thanks. I can show you how to do it if you want.”
Peter swallowed, his nerves taking over. This was uncharted territory for him. “Can...um...can w-we see how the r-rest of it goes?”
“Of course!” Max laughed. “Let’s run through the basics first, yeah?”
Peter had never known that there were so many different aspects to skin care. Max did a quick tissue test and determined that he had combination skin, meaning his nose, forehead and chin were oilier than his cheeks. He rubbed an exfoliant over Peter’s skin and gently scrubbed it in small circles. After using a warm towel to rub it off, he dabbed a bit of moisturizer on Peter’s face and then rubbed it in.
“Always start with an exfoliant and moisturizer,” Max ordered. “It’s good for your skin, even if you don’t wear makeup. And if you do, moisturized skin will always hold makeup better.” Peter nodded, transfixed by this new knowledge. His skin already felt cleaner, and he could swear his face sparkled a bit brighter under the mirror lights.
Max picked out a foundation that was meant for combination skin and showed Peter how to apply it to his face. Peter had to hold in the giggles when Max pulled out something akin to a really fat Peep marshmallow and began blending the foundation into his skin. He handed the blender sponge to Peter and let the teen try it on his own.
“Nice job!” Max praised, causing Peter to beam. He could see the difference the foundation made on his face. His skin tone looked way more even, and he noticed that he had been able to cover up some stubborn acne spots on his chin.
“Whoa,” Peter said quietly. “Thank you!”
Max held up a small circular container. “Now, don’t take this the wrong way,” he said gently, “but you’ve got some wicked dark circles. Do you want to learn how to cover them up?”
Peter nodded gratefully. He knew his long nights as Spider-Man took a toll on him, and he was not oblivious to the purple splotches under his eyes from a particularly rough night.
“So this is concealer,” Max explained. “You just use a small brush and-” He rubbed the brush in the concealer and dabbed it under Peter’s eyes before carefully rubbing it in. “See? Just like that.” He handed Peter the brush. “You try the other eye.”
Peter mimicked Max and soon his face was even. “So the foundation always goes first?” he asked, handing the brush back.
“Technically, you could use concealer first,” Max replied. “But you’ll wind up using less if you use foundation first.”
“Huh.” Peter leaned back into the chair and grinned. “This is really neat.”
Max checked his watch. “We still have some time left. You wanna learn how to contour? You’ve got an amazing face for it, and it would definitely enhance your natural features.”
Peter blushed and bit his lip. “Actually...uh...can you maybe...well…” He swallowed took a deep breath. “Can you show me how to do the wing thing? With eyeliner? Yours looks so cool.”
Max broke out into a wide smile. “Who says we don’t have time to do both?”
Thirty minutes and almost $125 later, Peter walked out of ULTA feeling like a million bucks. He wound up buying everything that Max recommended, including an awesome set of makeup brushes, cleaner, and makeup remover. He had balked a bit when the cashier added up the total, but Aurora made good on her promise and gave him a massive discount. Max had also been nice enough to throw in two other eyeliners (black and green) for Peter to try as part of a “free gift” for signing up for a ULTA rewards card. Plus, Ned had said that Peter should spend money on things he enjoys.
And boy, was he enjoying this look.
Max had gone for a royal purple eyeliner to match Peter’s dark brown eyes. It was just enough to give him a pop of color without going too overboard. That, plus his newly contoured and moisturized face, gave Peter more confidence than he had felt in a while. He almost felt like a whole different person. He snapped a selfie of him smiling brightly with his new look and sent if off to Ned and MJ. His phone began buzzing almost immediately as the group chat was bombarded with heart-eyed emojis and fireworks.
May was in the middle of ordering takeout when Peter got home. He felt a tiny bit of apprehension sneak into his stomach, but he chased it away, squared his shoulders and walked around the corner.
“I got you a present!” he announced as soon as he was sure his aunt was off the phone. He quickly held out the eyeshadow palette and watched her jaw drop in disbelief.
“What?!” she yelped. “Oh my gosh...this is the...the thing! They were sold out of this!” She glanced up at him. “How did you find this?!”
Peter shrugged. “I got lucky, I guess.”
May shook her head. “This is too much, sweetie.”
“It’s not!” Peter promised. “I wanted to do this. Please let me spoil you for once.”
May cupped his cheek and finally noticed how different her nephew’s face looked. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “This is amazing.” She hugged Peter, then hugged the eyeshadow to her chest and squealed excitedly. “I’m going to get fancy for the delivery guy because my nephew is the freaking best!”
Peter laughed and followed her into the bathroom. May carefully opened the tin and then ooed and ahhed over the rich colors in the palette. Peter watched eagerly from his seat on the edge of the tub as she hummed thoughtfully before deciding on a shade she liked.
“You know,” she said as she leaned towards the mirror to apply the shadow, “some of these copper colors would look great with your eyeliner.”
Peter snapped his head up. “T-They, uh, they would?”
May nodded and motioned him over. “Want me to show you?” she asked.
“Maybe,” Peter replied softly as he fiddled with his hands.
“Well, then get up here,” May smiled. She made grabby hands at Peter, and he laughed as she pulled him up to the sink. He let her apply a thin layer of copper on his eyelid, and he memorized the stroke pattern she made so he could do it again later if he wanted.
“What do you think?” she finally asked.
Peter blinked as he opened his eyes. The purple had stood out on its own, but now it was even more highlighted with the gorgeous copper. “Yes!” he exclaimed.
May laughed and rested her chin on his shoulder. “Just so you know, eyeshadow should come first, then your liner.”
Peter nodded enthusiastically and mentally planned other combinations he could use. “I got some green and black eyeliner too,” he said.
“Oooo, we can have some fun with that.” May smiled and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “It looks really good,” she said sincerely.
“Really?” Peter asked hopefully.
“Really really,” she promised.
“I, uh, was thinking that I...that I might keep doing it?” Peter’s nervous eyes met May’s in the mirror. “The makeup thing I mean.”
May could have cracked a joke, but one look at Peter’s face told her everything she needed to know. “I think,” she said slowly, “that if you want to keep doing it you should. Because you look fierce.”
Peter rolled his eyes at her cheesiness, but his smile nearly split his face in half.
For a few weeks, Peter only wore the makeup when he was in the safety and comfort of his apartment. He experimented with the different combinations of eyeshadow and eyeliner as he perfected his contouring. May would joke that he was using her palette more than she was, but she was always ready and eager to help him hone his makeup skills. He was even at the point where he could make better eyeliner wings than she could.
He got brave one day and tried wearing some makeup to school. He had been exfoliating and moisturizing, but he added the contouring and black eyeliner on a whim. A few people stared at him, but mostly everyone just left him alone.
Emboldened by the easy transition from apartment to school, he started wearing the brighter color combinations and was shocked when people stopped him in the hallway to ask him for makeup tips. Flash and his friends were jerks, of course, but Peter had too many other positive experiences to let them mess it up for him.
But no matter how confident he felt in his apartment or at school, Peter always made sure he used a makeup wipe to get rid of everything before going to work with Tony. It wasn’t that Peter was afraid of the reaction he’d get, but he couldn’t read his mentor well enough to know how accepting he’d be about Peter’s experimentation.
As Parker luck would have it though, Tony was going to find out eventually.
It was Peter’s boldest day at school yet. He had not only contoured and used a navy blue eyeliner (courtesy of May for his excellent report card), but he even managed to pull off an epic smokey eye using the new Urban Decay palette (courtesy of Ned and MJ as a joint birthday present).
Peter had completely forgotten that he was supposed to get picked up from Decathlon practice and work at the Tower on a new application for his web fluid. It wasn’t until he walked outside and saw the familiar black Audi that he groaned and rushed towards it, an apology already on his tongue.
“You’re late!” Happy barked as the window rolled down.
Peter quickly hopped in the back. “I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed. “I totally forgot!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Happy muttered, not even glancing back. “You’re gonna give me grey hair, you know that?”
Peter smirked. “You mean more than you already have?”
“Whoa!” Happy chastised. “You need to stop hanging around Tony so much. The snark is rubbing off.”
“Thanks for picking me up, Happy,” Peter said sweetly.
Happy smiled and glanced in the rearview mirror. Peter hadn’t noticed his gaze yet, and Happy eyed the makeup carefully. He decided not to say anything since it wasn’t his business, and he really didn’t care if the kid grew an extra head. As long as he got delivered to Tony’s lab safely, that was all that mattered.
Peter was so preoccupied with being late that he forgot he was even wearing makeup. It was so natural at this point and felt like second nature to him that he barely even thought about it anymore.
When they pulled up to the Tower, Peter waved goodbye before Happy drove away. He headed inside and down into the lab, where Tony was already working.
“Hey kid!” Tony greeted when he heard the door open. “Check out this new-” He stopped when he saw Peter’s face.
“Whoa, is that the new formula?!” Peter asked excitedly, not even noticing Tony's pause. “Did you test it yet?”
Tony nodded and handed over some spreadsheets from the lab. “Yeah, uh, right here.”
Peter eagerly grabbed them and began skimming over the results. “This is way better than I thought! Can I try some things?”
Tony nodded again. “Sure, but put on your goggles first.” He pointed to the mirrored cabinet that held all of the safety equipment, and Peter scurried over to get properly dressed. Tony wracked his brain as to whether or not he should say anything about the makeup. He had no problem with it and thought it was actually a cool look for the teen. He knew this couldn’t have been the first time Peter had applied it based on how neat and precise it was. Plus, he had noticed Peter’s confidence growing over the past few months, and he had a sneaking suspicion that his new skincare routine was part of the reason why.
Peter, meanwhile, had pulled his goggles out of the cabinet, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw himself in the mirror. He realized, in horror, that in his flusteredness at being late, he had forgotten to wipe off the makeup. He thought about making up some excuse so he could go to the bathroom and wipe it off, but he knew that Tony had definitely seen it.
“Hey kid, you coming?” Tony asked. “We’ve got tests to run!”
Peter took a deep breath and put his goggles on, determined to act naturally. So, of course, he nearly tripped over his own feet and almost knocked a tube of web fluid off the lab bench by the time he made it back over to Tony.
“Klutz,” Tony joked, ruffling his hair. He handed Peter a sample of web fluid and pushed over a microscope.
Peter gave him a small smile and relaxed a bit. He could do science. He set up a slide and studied the structure of the fluid intently.
Tony smiled at Peter as he worked, and he thought about what he would have wanted someone to say to him at that age if he had experimented with something like makeup. He tapped his pen against the lab bench as he spoke confidently.
“It looks really good,” Tony said with an unmistakable warmth in his voice.
Peter felt his cheeks heat up because he knew Tony wasn’t talking about the web fluid. “Yeah?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the microscope lens.
“Mm hmm,” Tony hummed. “Pepper always has trouble with the smokey eye thing. She’d kill to learn your secret.”
Peter’s head shot up, and he smiled. “I had trouble too! But Aunt May showed me this neat trick where…”
Tony listened and laughed as Peter shared the horrors and triumphs of his makeup experience, and he felt his heart swell with pride over the enthusiastic teen.