Biography | Quentin Beck

Friday, December 16th, 1991

Quentin tapped the steering wheel to the beat of the song he was listening to as he turned the corner to their street. They were running low on groceries so he volunteered to be the one to run the errands while Tony agreed to clean up a little. They made their apartment theirs over the year by hanging posters and other decorations. Even their makeshift lab was pretty cool. Sure their living space life wasn't perfect, but it was alright.

When Quentin had arrived something was already off. He opened the door and to his surprise it was unlocked. This could just be his friend leaving it unlocked for him incase his hands were full and Quentin could be overthinking it. He swung open the door, his keys jingling in his pocket and his hands full of bags.

"Tony I'm back!" He called out. No response. That was odd but maybe he was outside. He decided to brush it off and make his way into the kitchen, setting the bags on the table and putting the groceries away. Now that he was older he'd be able to reach the top cupboards.

Quentin rolled up the plastic bags and set them aside. They saved them for when they would need to clean the cat litter or anything else. He washed his hands and hummed before drying them on his shirt. Trying again, he called out. "Tony?" Still no response.

Now more worried the first place Beck immediately checked was Tony's room. He gently knocked on his door. "Tony are you in there?" He didn't answer but Quentin could hear some noise coming from inside which he was hoping was Tony. A few seconds after his knocking the door slowly opened and thankfully it was Tony, however, he looked terrible. Quentin's smile dropped and concern filled his face.

His hair was a mess, his eyes looked swollen and his face had wet tear stains. Quentin carefully walked past him into the room which Tony didn't seem to stop, he just weakly moved aside to let him in. Beck turned his body to close the door and set his hands on Tony's shoulders before looking at him. "Tones.." He began, turning the light on to see him more clearly. "Have you been crying?" Almost immediately after his words the Stark broke down into tears.

He hugged his Q-Tip tightly and buried his face in his chest and just sobbed. Quentin had seen Tony cry before and there was no shame in doing so but even he was scared and didn't know what to do. He very slowly put one arm around Tony's back in an attempt of a side hug and set his other hand on Tony's head. If there was one thing he wasn't going to do it was move. He stood there, awkwardly, as his best friend bawled into his shirt and chest. He couldn't think of a single thing that would make Tony this upset..

After what seemed like an eternity Stark's crying started to die down, however his hyperventilating slowly began. Quentin took this opportunity to slowly lead Stark over to his bed so that they could sit down and hopefully talk about what happened. Tony was glancing down at the floor. Quentin was trying to help him breath and wipe his face with his sleeve. What the hell happened?

Tony began to calm down. His breathing was still heavily but at least he could breathe now. They sat in silence for awhile before Quentin gained the courage to ask. "I know you probably don't want to talk about this right now, but, what happened?" Tony shot him a glare but it wasn't annoyed or anything, it was still sad. He had such expressive eyes it was heartbreaking seeing them so full of sadness.

"I got a call." Tony said almost below a whisper but Quentin managed to hear him. He sat up and scooted a bit closer to give his friend more attention.

"From who?"

"Police Department."  Quentin raised an eyebrow at that. Why would the police be calling? 

"...About what?" Tony's waterworks seemed to start back up again but he wiped them away.

"Uh," He sniffled before sucking it up and finally spitting it out. "...My parents."

"Your parents?" Then it hit him. "Wait-"

"I'm an orphan, Quentin.." His voice cracked badly as he looked at his friend with those sad puppy dog eyes. 

"Aw Tony.." He hugged him again. Tighter. "Do you know what happened?"

"They said a car accident.." Tony leaned into Quentin, allowing himself to be cradled. "Lost control of the wheel or something they- they said the car was totally totaled." 

"Tony I'm so sorry.."

Stark looked over at him and seeing his friend also crying over this tragedy he couldn't hold it together again. He buried his face back in Quentin's shirt and began to bawl again.

"My mom is dead.." He said between sobs.

Quentin hugged him tighter, patting his back with a free hand and crying with him. Howard had been a dick to Tony and started being a dick to him too but Maria.. she was so good to them. Quentin could even remember a time where she had brought them dinner after a rough night of studying for finals. She was going to be missed dearly.

The two boys stayed like that for hours. Both crying but one crying harder obviously as the other tried to comfort. Such a tragic accident it was. What was he going to do now? Tony may have been an adult but he still wasn't that old. 

It was late at night so there was nothing to do to pass the time and take their minds off of this. Quentin tried to help. Bringing Arya over, making him his favorite meals or trying to tell funny stories from his theater days but it wasn't working. Tony didn't care that his father was dead (maybe a little).. his grieving was about his mom and Quentin couldn't blame him one bit.

Rest easy, Maria and Howard..