Hero [Ironstrange]

07 - Pain

TW: mention of self-harm

Tony
"Tony." I look up from my sketchbook to see Stephen lying sleepless on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Hmm?"

"Can't sleep." Welcome to my world.

"Neither can I," I sigh and close my sketchbook, setting it on the bedside table. "What's keeping you up?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Lemme guess you found your soulmate.

"Sure, why not."

"I found my soulmate." He uses a quiet voice, even though we're the only two in the room. "But, I don't know who he is." I raise an eyebrow. Bruh, he's legit across the room from you.

"But you know that they're a he?"

"Well hopefully, I-I'm gay, so..." He fidgets nervously before continuing. "I don't know how to tell my family."

"They're going to find out eventually, so why not just tell them?" I sigh, looking at the ceiling. "I mean, if I could tell my parents about my soulmate I would." We sit in comfortable silence for a little bit before Stephen speaks again.

"My....My parents were soulmates. I-I adored them, I wanted the love they had. When my-" He paused and sighed. "When my Dad died, my Mom would never stop crying. She had panic attacks every night, she was depressed for a few years."

I've heard of stories with soulmates dying, the other experiencing great pain, but Beverly? Did she really have to go through all of that? I sit in silence, waiting for him to continue.

"I guess I was scared that the same would happen to me, that I would have to go through that, as well. A few weeks ago I started having sudden bursts of pain from my soulmate, it felt horrible." Oh. I didn't think that happened until soulmates were connected.

"I bet my soulmate gets that pain, too. I mean... because of me. I never really thought about that." I turn to face Stephen's side of the room.

"Why? I never really got any backstory about you." Stephen asks, curiously.

"Well, I guess you heard my parents died, but that was two years ago, and I think I've dealt with it. Though the foster agency loves shoving that mess into people's faces, probably the traumatic shit Beverly heard before taking me in."

Stephen smiles, letting me continue.

"I've been in some pretty rough foster homes. The last one was the Hammer household. Mr. Hammer and his son Justin, that was the family. They seemed fine at first, progressively getting worse."

"What happened?" Stephen turns to face me, intrigued.

"Um...well, Justin was a little bitch and a rebel. He would blame everything on me and still be seen as the golden child. I think he was actually threatened by me for some reason, but whatever, he was just a jerk." I inhale, for the extra drama, not because I'm emotionally scarred or anything. "Mr. Hammer, he... he used to hurt me."

Stephen gasps and looks at me with sympathy, then continues to listen.

(Self-harm mention starts here)

"I mean, no, not physically, but like, mentally, in a way, I guess? I don't know. But it sucked. I used to cut myself, I never knew my soulmate would have to feel that too." I gulp, waiting for the judgment, waiting for "how could you do that," or "that's so insensitive," but instead I received silence.

"My friend used to cut his wrists." Stephen finally mumbles. "He...he's trans, his dad wasn't supportive at first, so he would come to school with scars on his arms, poorly hidden."

"Did he stop?"

"Yeah, his mom and brother were super accepting, so his dad learned how to accept him too. After that, he stopped, but his brother was absolutely furious when he found out. It was hilarious watching him being fussed over."

(Self-harm mention stops here)

"I'm glad he got a happy ending." My voice accidentally sounds depressed, even though I meant to sound happier.

"You'll get yours too, I mean, you're with us now and we're not that bad. Maybe you're almost at your happy ending."

"That's assuming that everyone actually has a happy ending."

We stay silent for a few minutes before I continue the conversation.

"Do you have any other friends, besides Bruce?" Stephen chuckles before answering.

"Yeah, their great. You'll love them once you come to school." He talks about his lunch table, their nicknames, their soulmates and all the stuff they've done. They sound pretty likable from what he says.

Clint (a.k.a Arrow) is a prankster and a total goofball. He's one of those "seems like he could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll" people.

Loki is the king prankster, even better than Clint. Though he can be emo at times he's the most meme cultured of the group.

Natasha is basically the most badass person at the school. She has a bunch of secret agent skills and could probably chop your head off.

Bucky, Steve, and Sam are basically the holy trinity.

Bucky (a.k.a Winter) is pretty buff for his age and is a star football player. He's pretty salty, but he loves all the tea.

Steve (a.k.a Captain) is a tiny twig, but somehow super persuasive and strong. He's basically the mom of the group, making sure that they don't do anything too stupid.

Lastly, Sam (a.k.a Falcon) is pretty mellow most of the time. But Sam is actually the second most meme cultured of the group, even if he doesn't look like he'd be that type.

We talk basically all night about friends and foster homes and just stupid things. We talk until I finally hear Stephen's small snores coming from his side of the room.

I smile and stare at the ceiling. Poor guy's probably going to fall asleep in first period.
- - -
A/N: Stephen's trans friend is actually someone in his main friend group, try to guess who.