Happy Wasn’t Happy Anymore

"Mr. Stark, you have a delivery at Stark Tower."

Tony Stark had been flipping through Playboy in his villa, picking out a companion for the night, when the AI Jarvis interrupted his train of thought.

"My delivery? Why didn’t they bring it to my house?"

Stark was quite unhappy that his "concubine selection" had been interrupted, and he immediately started picking faults.

"’This thing is for Happy. Just send it directly to the company.’ Those were your exact words."

Jarvis replied dutifully.

"A gift for Happy?"

Stark thought back, but found no memory of it whatsoever.

"When did I ever buy him a gift? I never give gifts to men!"

Jarvis said nothing. Instead, he projected Kraft’s video in front of Tony Stark, along with Stark’s own comment beneath it.

"Oh! I remember now!"

Stark burst out laughing, tossed the Playboy in his hand aside, and shouted at Jarvis, "Get the car ready. I’m going to the office now! And contact Happy while you’re at it. Tell him his vacation is over and get him to Stark Tower, pronto!"

He drove his sports car to Stark Tower at full speed, breaking traffic laws the whole way. By then, Happy had already been waiting at the entrance.

"Tony, what happened? You actually came to the office on your own!"

Happy tossed Stark’s car keys to the valet, having him deal with the parking and traffic violations, then leaned toward Stark and asked curiously.

"Oh, it’s nothing major."

Stark grinned as he led Happy into his office, which he hardly ever used. Two enormous boxes had already been placed inside.

"Happy, come take a look at the gift I bought you!"

Stark patted one of the boxes and happily addressed his bodyguard.

"Oh, no, Tony, I don’t think I need this…"

Thanks to the media frenzy, Happy already knew exactly what this so-called gift was, and he was deeply resistant to it.

The kid who invented that thing had to be a demon Satan sent into the world!

And Tony had definitely been bewitched by that demon too!

"Are you sure?" Tony Stark stared at his bodyguard’s round belly and mercilessly mocked him. "With your current figure, if I didn’t explain beforehand, people would think you were my chef instead of my bodyguard. If I really ran into danger one day, would you even have the strength to protect me? You look like you need to stop and catch your breath after taking two steps."

"Of course I do!"

His employer questioning his professional ability made Happy extremely agitated.

"My build doesn’t affect my skills!"

"I have my doubts, Happy."

Stark spread his hands and shook his head.

"Think about what you looked like when you first started working for me, then look at yourself now. When you lower your head, you can’t even see your toes!"

"…Maybe I really do need these things…"

Happy lowered his head at that. He could still see his toes, but the situation was indeed becoming dangerous. After giving it some thought, he realized he had truly let himself go over the years.

"Fine, Tony. I’ll accept this gift."

Happy’s shoulders slumped in despair, as if he could already see the miserable life awaiting him.

Farewell, my beloved hot dogs…

And burgers, cola, fried chicken, popcorn, burritos…

"Excellent!"

Stark clapped his hands and dragged the gloomy Happy over to the Shatter the Cauldrons Treadmill.

"Come on, try this one first. Let me see how effective it is!"

"You’ve been possessed by a demon, Tony!"

Kraft naturally had no idea that a certain tycoon’s bodyguard had fallen into dire straits because of his invention. Taking advantage of the weekend, he and Fatty Liao were delivering the Go-for-broke Treadmill Set Martin Lee had ordered to the FEAST Homeless Shelter.

"Kraft, long time no see. You’ve really become famous lately."

The moment he entered the shelter, a middle-aged woman who looked somewhat older than her age walked up and praised him while rubbing his little head.

"Hello, Aunt May."

"Hello, Aunt May."

Kraft and Fatty Liao obediently greeted Aunt May.

May Riley Parker had been a volunteer at the FEAST Homeless Shelter for years. She was one of the few white people Kraft viewed favorably. People as kind-hearted as her deserved respect regardless of skin color.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Aunt May, Fatty Liao directed the delivery workers to place the treadmill set somewhere conspicuous in the shelter. Given how the homeless people here often went hungry one meal and full the next, there was no way they would have any use for Kraft’s treadmill set.

However, Martin Lee said that it could attract people interested in the treadmill set to come visit and try it out. The shelter could charge them a fee and use the opportunity to promote the shelter’s mission, thereby gaining donations.

Kraft had no idea whether what Martin said would actually work. In any case, he had no interest in helping the homeless. Back when he had wandered the streets with Martin, he had never seen anyone come help him.

Still, according to Martin, he apparently hadn’t built this shelter solely out of kindness…

Kraft scratched his head.

Adults’ world was really complicated.

Just then, a bespectacled, dull-looking guy walked out of a room in the corner.

"Aunt May, is there anything else I can help with?"

Then he spotted the workers setting up the Go-for-broke Treadmill Set and Kraft talking to Aunt May, and his expression immediately became excited.

"Kraft!"

Peter Parker rushed over to Kraft in a few quick strides, grabbed his arm, and shook it.

"I heard Mr. Stark took a liking to your invention. That’s so enviable!"

"What’s there to envy? I just sold him something."

Kraft disgustedly shook Peter’s hand off, curled his lip, and looked down on the guy four or five years older than him.

Although Peter Parker was Aunt May’s nephew and often came to help at the shelter, Kraft did not particularly like him. He did not dislike him either. Mainly, he could not stand Peter Parker’s timid, submissive manner.

"But doesn’t that mean you might get to talk to Mr. Stark?"

Peter thought exactly like Fatty Liao had before, but Kraft did not feel like explaining it again. Besides, compared to patiently explaining things, Kraft was more accustomed to dissing Peter.

"Even if I get to talk to him, that’s my business. Why are you so excited? And even if you got to talk to Stark, would you be able to open your mouth? You can barely get a word out when talking to Mary."

"Th-that’s different!"

Peter Parker’s face flushed red as he stammered, wanting to defend himself but unable to think of anything to say.

Kraft dissing Peter was practically a regular show at the shelter. Everyone around them burst into laughter when they heard it, and even Aunt May watched the spectacle with a cheerful smile.

She was not very satisfied with Peter’s timid personality either, so she was happy to see Kraft provoke him. Maybe her nephew would change because of it?

Unfortunately, Peter Parker disappointed her. After stammering out a few excuses, he found a reason to slip away.

"Sigh…"

Aunt May sighed in disappointment. She did not mean to blame Peter. Losing his parents and growing up poor made it perfectly normal for him to feel inferior. But when she looked at little Kraft, Aunt May suddenly understood what he had meant when he once talked about "other people’s children."

Seeing Peter chicken out and run away again, Kraft spread his hands at Aunt May and helplessly shook his head. This was all he could do for her.

No matter how much Kraft disliked people of other skin colors, now that he was fourteen, he would not randomly insult others for no reason—especially considering his relationship with Aunt May. He had noticed Aunt May’s concerns, which was why he occasionally helped provoke that dummy Peter Parker.

Of course, bullying an upperclassman several years older than himself also gave Kraft a great sense of accomplishment.

The others at the shelter were the same. They joined in because they were helping provoke Peter too. Kraft was nowhere near as popular at the shelter as Peter was. Most of the staff here were volunteers who had come to help of their own accord; they would not favor him just because he was Martin Lee’s adopted son.

"Thank you, sweetheart."

Aunt May stepped forward and hugged Kraft. She truly liked this somewhat extreme but very sensible child. Martin Lee had simply acted too quickly in adopting him first; otherwise, she would have wanted to take Kraft home herself.

"You shouldn’t keep playing the villain. Peter’s personality has already taken shape. This level of provocation won’t change him."

Rubbing Kraft’s little head, Aunt May spoke with some relief. After trying several times without effect, she also felt sorry for her nephew and decided to let nature take its course. Being a little timid was not that big a deal, after all.

"Don’t," Kraft said cheerfully. "It’s rare to have such a perfectly legitimate reason to bully Peter. I couldn’t be happier."

"You brat! Do whatever you want…"

Aunt May shot Kraft an annoyed look, then added, "Just don’t bully him too badly. Your brother Peter’s mental resilience isn’t all that great."

"Got~ it~"

Kraft drew out the words as he reluctantly agreed.

After chatting with Aunt May for a while longer, Kraft and Fatty Liao left. The shelter was fairly busy, and Kraft had no desire to help out. Besides, new experiments were waiting for him, so it was better to leave early.

Martin Lee’s prediction had been accurate. Limited by Kraft’s production capacity, the FEAST Homeless Shelter caught the tail end of the craze. The Go-for-broke Treadmill Set did bring quite a bit of traffic, and the shelter received several valuable donations as a result. Financial aid was secondary, though; what truly mattered were the job opportunities offered by several business owners, which were much rarer.

However, the craze itself had no real foundation, so it came quickly and went quickly. Kraft’s ears finally got some peace as a result.

Unfortunately, he had barely enjoyed that peace for two days before Tony Stark started causing trouble for him again.

Emmmm… Happy holidays?

Also, I received a contract offer message. I looked over the new contract, and it felt… pretty much no different from the old one?