Hero [Ironstrange]

03 - "Tony"

Stephen

The rest of the day is the same as always; being bored to death in Ms. Carter's class, blowing up things in Mr. Parker's class, ya know, the usual Friday routine. But it isn't until I get home that I realize.

Oh, right, the foster kid's coming tomorrow.

"Stephen! Did you get your room ready for Anthony?" My mom interrupts my thoughts. OH, right, I'm supposed to share a room with him.

"Uh, no," I reply, receiving a raised eyebrow from my mom. "Buuuuut, I'll start now."

I race upstairs and stare at my organized room, all my stuff spread out throughout the space. All the stuff that I'm going to have to move to take up only half the room. I groan and fall face first onto my bed.

This is going to be a pain.

- - -

I wake up to a room that's now half empty and half full. Anthony better appreciate my hard work, I spent hours on that last night.

I get up, go through my morning routine as always, but when I get to Donna and  Victor's doors, they were already up and getting ready. Weird.

I walk downstairs to see my mom dressed nicely on the phone with someone. I quietly grab my omelet and sit down at the table, careful not to disturb Mom.

Shortly after, when Donna and Victor join us downstairs, Mom finally puts down the phone. Donna looks excited, Victor looks less tired than usual. I guess they can't wait to have a replacement older brother.

"So, Anthony is going to be coming in two hours so everyone has to be ready." Mom points to Victor. "Did Donna tell you how to introduce yourself?"

"My name is Victor, and it's a pleasure to make your ack-kain-tance." He gives a small bow, the fancy type where you put one hand behind your back and one reaching in front of you. My mom and I burst out laughing while Donna looks at us confused.

"Why are you guys laughing? He has to learn to be proper!" This causes us to laugh even more. Victor looked at me and pouted.

"I think, you should just say, 'Hi, I'm Victor'," I say between laughs. The eight-year-old looked at me and then at our sister.

"Donna said that Anthony will like me better if I'm fancy because his name is fancy."

"Anthony will like you just the way you are." Mom proclaims smiling.

"Yeah! And if he doesn't we'll just kick him out."

"Stephen!"

"What? Are we not allowed to do that?"

"We have to be nice to our guest!" She smiles but I can see the glare underneath. Before I can reply, the doorbell rings. Mom looks surprised. "He's here early?"

"Oh no." Donna starts panicking. "What am I going to say? What if he's my soulmate? What if he thinks we're too simple for his fancy lifestyle?"

"Just say, 'Hi, I'm Donna'," Victor recommends, causing me to snicker.

We follow Mom and stand behind her as she opens the door. The first person I notice is a tall blond woman with hazel eyes. She smiles at my mom and shakes her hand.

They start talking and I notice a short kid next to her, with a backpack and a suitcase behind him. He has messy caramel hair and deep brown eyes, which are hard to see while he's looking at the floor. He seems worn out, and definitely not as fancy as Donna put him up to be.

"Awww, he's not cute." Donna tries to keep her voice down to not disrupt Mom talking to the lady.

"What are you talking about? He's plenty cute." I whisper back, defending Anthony.

"Yea!" Victor says, wanting to be a part of something. "What are we talking about?" He's to pure to be apart of this family.

"I'm Beverly!" My mom introduces herself to Anthony. "This is my youngest Victor," Victor waves at him. "The girl is Donna." Donna smiles. "And this is Stephen, my oldest."

He looks up to look at us. I try to smile and make him feel welcome. He shakes my Mom's hand firmly.

"Anthony." He introduces himself before going up to Donna and I and shaking our hands as well. His handshake is firm. I can tell he's practiced handshakes before because his grip feels exactly like the leadership students'.

When he gets to Victor, instead of handshaking, he gives him a fist bump, which of course causing Vic's face to light up. Victor gives Anthony a huge smile which makes Anthony give a small smile for the first time.

"I think we're good to go!" The blond lady exclaims. If she's that excited to get rid of this kid then he must be horrible. "Call me if you need anything, alright Anthony?" Either that or she's just a bitch.

Anthony nods and follows Mom to the living room.

"Anthony, you'll be sharing a room with Stephen." He looks at me his face showing no emotion. "Stephen, take him to the room so he can put his stuff away."

"This way," He follows me up the stairs and to the room. "I kept your half pretty empty in case you want to decorate or something like that." He nods and places his stuff by his bed.

"So....Anthony," He turns to me at the sound of his name. "Fancy name, mean anything?" I cringe at my attempt of conversation.

"Ugh, I hate it. It sounds so formal." I smile, finally getting to see some of his personality. "'Anthony Edward Stark', sound like the name of some kind of Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist." Oddly specific.

"Yeah, my friend Clint would totally be on your back with a name like that." I think for a second before continuing. "What about a nickname?"

"A nickname?"

"Yeah, something like... Tony?" I state, though it sounds like a question.

"Tony.... I like that." He smiles at me.

"Well make yourself at home, Tony." I smile and walk out of the room dramatically.

I hope he isn't a douche.