Stimming - Tony Stark
You wandered out of the elevator, earbuds in your ears. It was lab day. Mr. Stark wasn’t quite there yet; he’d gotten caught up in a meeting but you’d hit a point where the man trusted you to be in the lab alone for brief periods. You got to work on your latest project, already excited to tell him about any progress you might make.
An hour later, the project was coming along swimmingly. Your playlist, however, remained stuck; the same song had been on repeat the entire time you’d been working. Tony happened to walk in right as you were, once again, enthusiastically belting the chorus.
“Hey kid!” Tony yells good naturedly, “Didn’t know I was getting treated to a private concert today.”
You practically jump out of your skin, yanking your headphones out of your ears. “Oh my god, how long have you been standing there?”
“Not long, I promise.” Tony soothes.
Successfully reassured, you tried to get back to work; you didn’t put your earbuds back in, though. That would be rude. What if Tony needed to talk to you? Besides, Tony usually puts on his own music and it’s less than pleasant to have two soundtracks competing with each other in your head. Tony’s playlists are pretty good. They’re sometimes hard to stop yourself from singing along with, but at least they’re something entertaining for your brain. The expected sound never comes. Tony just dives straight into answering emails, so you settle for subtly rocking on your stool in silence, growing increasingly uncomfortable.
Unbeknownst to you, Tony had been sneaking concerned glances at you every few minutes. Finally, he piped up. “You know I don’t care, right?”
“What?” You reply, confused.
“I don’t care what you do when we’re down here. Or ever, quite frankly. You were much happier when I first came in here with all your bouncing, singing, tapping and….what’s the actual word for it?”
“Stimming.” You supply.
“Yeah, stimming. I mean, I would prefer you not tap on any of the more breakable equipment just in case, but beyond that, I couldn't care less. Do whatever makes you comfortable. Stimming is your body trying to give you the support it knows you need.”
You’d never thought of it that way. Therapists always told you it was a regulating tool, but you never associated the word ‘regulation’ with support before. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
“So, do what you need to do. I could even make you some fidgets if you want. It might be a cool experiment to see what works and what doesn’t.” Mr. Stark genuinely sounded excited, which made you feel the same.
“Absolutely! Let’s do it. In the meantime, can we turn on some music? It’s way too quiet in here.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Tony said, voice heavy with teasing. “Friday, shuffle my ‘Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Rockstar’ playlist.”