Work Text:
Peter never let his looks bother him, at least in his past life he didn’t think about it much. He didn’t think he was ugly, but he knows he’s not handsome.
His looks were average at best. Brown hair, brown eyes, a decent body build from all his Spider-Man shenanigans. MJ used to say he has a cute face. Even though she’s more attracted to the personality of an individual than their level of beauty.
Now, in Peter’s new life, he’s starting to care about his appearance.
He wasn’t Peter Parker from Queens, New York anymore. He was now Peter Grayson from Gotham, New Jersey.
He is the son of Richard “Dick” Grayson and grandson of Bruce Wayne. According to the tabloids, those two are the hottest men of Gotham city.
Dick has been trying his best to keep Peter out of the paparazzi’s eyes. With Bruce being the prince of Gotham, they actually made it a local public offense to take photos of the young Grayson without consent.
But this is Gotham we’re talking about! We all know these scumbags don’t care!
Which has lead to the Wayne’s taking action to protect the boy.
Jason has punched a photographer for taking a picture of his nephew in public.
Tim and Barbara on separate occasions have hacked reporters computers to delete photos.
While as Signal, Duke actually smashed a person’s camera while taking photos of Peter when he was at the park. (Peter and Damien were feeding peas to the ducks.)
Someone was actually ballsy enough to go to Bludhaven and climb up the side of Dick’s and Peter’s apartment building to actually take photos of the teen in his room. Thankfully Nightwing spotted the peeping Tom at the start of his patrol.
Bludhaven’s police were shocked to receive the perpetrator covered in blood with major injuries from an enraged Nightwing.
They moved to a different apartment after that incident. Peter always kept his window locked and never opened the blinds to let in sunlight again.
Still the young Grayson’s photos would get leaked to gossip companies. Articles about his appearance would be posted.
For some reason, the tabloids love to compare the father and son’s features.
The comparisons were mostly positive. They would talk about how they shared the same facial features and smile. How he’ll grow up to look just like his father. Blah blah blah.
There was one article in particular that struck a cord within himself.
“IS RICHIE GRAYSON ASHAMED OF HOW HIS SON LOOKS?”
That headline certainly got Peter’s attention.
“There is a local law that makes it illegal to take pictures of Richie Grayson’s only child. We’ve contacted the mayor of Gotham in regards of the new regulation and have received no comment on the matter. Most argue that the law is just there to protect the boy’s identity. A few photographs of Peter Grayson have been leaked to the public, making it obvious the real reason Richie doesn’t want pictures to be taken of his son. Compared to his father, Peter is not a good looking kid. The boy lacks his father’s strong features. Peter has soft eyes and a round face. His dull brown eyes match his ugly brown hair. The child’s body is skinny, scrawny, and feeble. No wonder Richie doesn’t want his son to make public appearances. He’s too embarrassed to show him off!”
Ouch…
Peter would be lying if he said that article didn’t hurt his feelings.
He sighs loudly as he shuts down his laptop. He glances at his reflection upon the dark void one would call a screen.
Like he thought of before, the boy knew he wasn’t the perfect image of beauty. Surely he wasn’t ugly, right?
Maybe he could change a few aspects of his appearance, see how it affects his surroundings and the people he interacts with.
“Woah!” Jason takes a step back, eyes widen at his nephew. “What is on your face?” The taller man questioned.
Peter gave his uncle a perplexed look. “My face…?”
“Your eyes!” Jason states.
“Oh! The contacts.” Peter smiles up at him. “Do you like them? I thought the blue would look more natural.”
“It’s… it’s different.” The older man sounded unsure of his own answer. Peter looked so different with blue eyes. They made the boys face too intense, not at all matching his nephew’s warm personality.
Jason frowns. “So what made you put on color contacts?”
Peter thinks for a moment. Not wanting to admit the truth of how he was feeling about how he perceived his own image. “I wanted to try something new.” The boy answers. “Some of my friends at school are wearing them. Felt left out.”
Jason blinks. “You’re not really the type to follow trends.”
Peter shrugs. “People change.”
Peter decided to try out weightlifting, he’s gonna need to build up some muscle if he wanted to avoid being scrawny.
That’s how he found himself in the batcave with Duke, Cass, and Steph as they taught him how to properly lift.
“Is it actually okay for a 13-year-old to do something as intense as weight lifting?” Duke asks feeling unsure as he looks at Peter.
“Of course! He’ll be fine as long as we shadow him.” Steph says with confidence.
“But are you sure? I don’t think-“ the worried wort starts but the blonde stops him. “Peter will be fine, Duke.”
“I think I’m all warmed up.” Peter says rolling his shoulders.
Cass walks up to them with 15 pound weights. “Start small. Work your way up.” Cass suggested as she sets up the dumbbell.
Peter wasn’t wearing his contacts today. When his aunts and uncle saw them on for the first time, they shared their thoughts.
Steph: Ooooh! You look so mysterious with them on!
Duke: I’m gonna be honest I don’t know how I feel about them. I feel like you don’t need them. The contacts make you look too different.
Cass: Brown is better.
“So we’ll start with 2 sets with 8 repetitions.” Steph says.
It took Peter a moment to remember what sets and repetitions were.
“Repetition is is an execution of one exercise. One push up equals one rep. Ten push ups equals ten reps. If your goal is to do 20 push ups it’s recommended to break them apart into two sets. A set is a collection of reps. One set equals ten reps. Between sets make sure to take a break for 2-5 minutes to let your muscles recover.” Peter remembers the video of Captain America that was shown in gym class in his past life.
“Let’s get you in position.” Steph says as she demonstrates to the teen how he should stand.
“So why do you want to try lifting weights, Peter?” Duke questions. “I would think you would get enough exercise from your gymnastics class.”
Peter thinks of an answer for a moment. “I do, but I’ve been having trouble lifting my body weight with my upper body.” Peter lies. He can actually lift himself just fine.
He just has trouble gaining muscle is all.
“I thought by doing this it could approve my performance.” He finishes.
Cass frowns at him as she sets the dumbbell in his hands.
“Let’s start!” Steph announces.
“Peter, why are you making that face?” Damian questions his nephew.
“What face?” Peter asks.
“Do not behave foolish with me, Peter.” The older boy crosses his arms. “You are squinting your eyes. Is your vision becoming lousy? Or perhaps your contacts are irritating you?”
“None of the above.” Peter shakes his head. He relaxes his face. “I wanted to look intimidating.” He admits.
“I would recommend you discontinue such behavior. It makes you appear idiotic.” Damien comments.
“I would have to agree with Master Damien.” Alfred states as he pulls muffins out of the oven.
The three of them were in the kitchen. Peter originally came in to get something to drink before his uncle interrupted him.
“It is not in your nature to act intimidating. We already have plenty of individuals who already do that in this manor.” Alfred explains as he sets the muffins to cool. “I also believe forcing yourself to squint like that will cause premature wrinkles.”
“I am not sure what is causing you to alter yourself like this, you are outstanding as is.” Damien assures him.
“Master Damien is speaking the truth.” Alfred agrees. “Your family adores you. Especially your father.”
Peter couldn’t help but smile at his uncle and great-grandfather. “Thank you.”
Not even a minute after leaving the kitchen with a glass of lemonade in hand, Peter was stopped by Tim.
The third Robin looked exhausted with dark circles under his red eyes as he holds a coffee mug in hand, most likely getting a refill of the black bitter liquid.
He blinks at his nephew. “Am I hallucinating or are your eyes a different color?”
“I started wearing contacts.” Peter assures.
“Oh good, thought I needed to go to sleep.”
“You probably should.”
“I’m almost about to crack this case. I can’t sleep now!”
“You said that like three days ago.” Peter crosses his arms.
“Yeah well-wait! I should be the one interrogating you!” Tim shakes his head. “Why are you even wearing contacts? You don’t need them.”
“I wanted to try out something new.” Peter shrugs.
His uncle stares at him intensely. “I don’t think that’s true, but I’m way too busy solving a case to investigate this.” He says pointing pointing at Peter’s eyes and moving his finger in a circular motion.
Peter rolls his eyes as he walks away.
Peter will admit he may of gotten a bit carried away while trying to improve his looks.
He managed to purchase some black hair dye and do his hair.
He was inexperienced with hair dye. He didn’t realize there were different types of black dyes. He got the one that has red in it.
The poor boy had patches of dark brown and red brown hair. No black at all!
“Uh,” Bruce was at a lost for words at seeing his grandson’s hair. “What-I… so-um, so is this also a new trend…?”
Peter just lets out a sigh of defeat. “No.”
His grandfather wasn’t a man of feelings. So seeing the man’s bewildered expression as he fumbled his words did not help with his confidence.
“I know it looks bad.” The boy murmured. “If you need me, I’ll be in my room.” Peter walks away.
As soon as Peter was out of sight Bruce called out to the butler. “Alfred, please make a hair appointment for Peter tomorrow.”
“All ready on it, sir.” Alfred confirms as he dials the Wayne’s personal stylist.
“And I’m gonna call Dick.” Bruce mumbles as he pulls out his own phone to call his eldest son.
Dick had been out on a mission for the past few days and was gonna be away for a bit longer, until Bruce called.
Apparently his son was acting abnormal. Peter appears to be trying to change his appearance? The family is concerned, it’s enough for Dick to drop everything and head straight to the manor.
After four hours he was finally back home. He headed straight to where his son’s room is. But as he walks, some members of the family stopped Dick to put their two cents into Peter’s situation.
Alfred: I think Master Peter is getting self conscious about his appearance. This has been happening gradually, but the changes are apparent.
Bruce: Try not to freak out when you see his hair. He looked like he was gonna cry when I saw him.
Jason: I think he was trying to look like you. Is this part of his separation anxiety? I thought he was over that.
When Peter was a toddler, he would cry for hours on end when Dick had to leave for patrols or work. His baby was so sure he wasn’t going to come back if he went out the door.
Over the years, Peter’s anxiety calmed down, but the worry never went away.
He doesn’t want to think about that right now.
Cass: Peter is anxious. Sad. Worried for him.
Damien: Richard, please discourse some sense into my nephew. It’s upsetting to witness him acting this way.
Finally, Dick was at Peter’s door. He knocks on it. “Pete? I’m coming in.” He announces as he slowly opens the door.
He knew something wasn’t right when he walked into the bedroom. Usually Peter would already be up from whatever he was doing and hug his father, but Peter was cocooned in his blanket. Dick would of thought he was asleep if he didn’t hear a faint “Hey dad.”.
Dick sits on the side of his bed and looks down at the mess of covers that’s hiding his son. “What’s going on, sweetheart? Everyone is saying you’re trying to change yourself?” He made his voice gentle.
Peter slowly sits up, revealing what Bruce meant by “don’t freak out” about his hair. It was a strange burgundy color, patches of light and dark all around. His eyes looked red and puffy from crying. He noticed his eyes were his normal deep honey brown. Must of taken those contacts that Bruce mentioned on the phone.
“Oh baby,” Dick’s heart broke at the sight of his son’s despondent expression. “Please tell me what’s wrong…”
Peter sighs as he glances at the wall. “You’re not ashamed of me… right?” He asks softly.
“Of course not!” Dick gasps out in disbelief. “Why on earth would you even think that?”
“It’s stupid…” the boy murmurs softly. “There was an article about me… I know you say to never listen to them. That it’s all just lies to make money. It was just…” he lets out a shaky breath. “Harsh… I felt ugly… I guess.” Peter finally makes eye contact with his father. “It said I looked nothing like you and you we’re ashamed because of it… I know deep down that it isn’t true, but it did make me look at myself differently.”
“They were right in some aspects. I am skinny as a stick. My hair and eyes aren’t impressive. My face is round, like my eyes and-“ Peter was interrupted from his rambling when his father pulls him in for a hug.
“First of all,” Dick starts. “You’re 13, so of course your face is round due to having baby fat. That’ll will go away by the time you’re in your 20’s. I love your natural brown hair and your big doe eyes. It matches your personality so well. You’re not a twig, you actually have some muscle on your bones, you just were baggy clothes that hide that.”
Peter hugs his father bad, feeling a bit ridiculous for his attempt At self improvement in places that didn’t need it.
“You’re perfect just the way you are.” Dick pulls back to look at his son with a fond smile. “You can’t just fix something that isn’t even broken.”
Peter smiles back and chuckles a bit. “Yeah, your right.”
“Of course I am!” Dick grins at the young boy.
“I’ll stop with the hair and contact stuff, but I’m going to continue to exercise with some weights. I actually enjoyed doing that.” Peter states.
“As long as you’re happy, that’s fine.” He says to his son.
The next day, Peter got his hair fixed and was in a lot better mood.
Meanwhile, a furious Dick Grayson is having some words with the owner of the website that published the article.
Let’s just say both the article and website were taken down.