Living My Best Life - Stony

seven

TONY'S POV

I knew I probably had nothing to do with what Steve did, but I still felt guilty. As I was in his room, he cried so much that he couldn't breathe and he needed to sit up and have some water (I was that concerned of dehydration). What had I done wrong? I asked his mother for some material bandage type things and I gently wrapped his arms in them, kissed him on the head, got up and turned to leave.

"Tony, you should stay. Please, have dinner, it's the least I could offer. You're such a great friend to Steve, I don't know how to thank you." I hadn't expected two things from this; 1, his mom offered to let me stay, and 2, Steve hadn't told her we were more than friends. I get it, though - and I wasn't about to tell her. So, instead of tunning her down like I was going to, I lifted my head up and smiled.

"Can I help?"

About an hour and thirty minutes later, we'd made a curry called a Keema - it was minced meat with tomato puree, fresh tomatoes, plenty of powdered spices and chillies, chunks of potato, peas and naan bread. There were obviously things like garlic, onion and seasoning but I don't remember everything - it looked amazing.

Steve's mom was nice. She asked about Steve's sexuality a lot though, and when I asked her why, she confessed to seeing me kiss his head before I was about to leave.

"I'll leave him to tell you about that himself, it's not really my place. I hope you understand." She nodded and got back to cutting the tomatoes.

"Please bring it up at dinner, he needs to know he can talk to me."

"Again, not my place. I'll talk to him about it but I can't make sure of anything."

"Just, if he does have a boyfriend..." She looked at me strangely, "make sure he knows I support him. No matter who he is." I smiled before nodding. "Wake Steve for dinner?"

"sTEVEN ROGERS, YOU'RE NEEDED AT THE DINNER TABLE!" I yelled at him from beside his bed, holding a bemused expression as I watched his arms flap about and freak out before seeing me and relaxing. "Your mom wants to ask you about your sexuality, bring it up. Also, the way she spoke to me about it was weird. Dinner's ready."

"Tony, I-" But by that point, I'd already left.

When he sat at the table, he'd put on a shirt. It was an older looking one and was of Led Zepplin.

"Good choice, I love Led Zepplin." Steve gave a weak smile before seating himself at the table, yawning and stretching his arms out. His mom started dishing out the curry as she began a conversation.

"So, Steve. You know I love you no matter what..."

"Yes, I'm gay and I'm dating Tony, is that what you wanted to ask?"

"No, I was gonna see why you were ditching school but thanks for the heads up!" She smiled brightly and sat down.

"shit..." he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Anyway," said his mom after swallowing her mouthful, "why were you ditching school?"

"Something happened and I couldn't go in."

"Clearly this thing wasn't you lost your legs and couldn't walk because you're here. With legs. Has it started again?"

"No."

"Steve?"

"No, mom it hasn't," he snarled before he snatched up his plate and went to sit in his room.

"Tony, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry. I've been in the middle of worse, so I get his thinking. He's stressed, angry, scared... just let him chill out for a bit and then he'll be fine."

"If you say so," she replied. We ate the rest of our meal in silence.

Once we finished eating, I helped clear up and walked over to Steve's room. I knocked on the door and cracked it open slightly, peeking my head into the room.

"Hey,"

"Please leave."

"I'm not gonna do that." I walked in, quietly shut the door behind me and sat on his bed. He was on his desk chair with his back facing me but I could tell something was bothering him.

"You wanna talk?"

"No."

"Well, I'm not leaving until I get a proper answer."

"Then don't leave. I'm sorry about my mom, she can be a handful."

"It's okay." I waited for him to reply but nothing was said, so I reached forward and span his chair around. He didn't look up but just stared at the floor as if he couldn't see me. He probably wanted me to leave but I didn't want to go home to see my parents, no way. His family was way nicer.

"I'll go..."

"No. Please, stay tonight. I can't be alone, not again." He came and laid down on the bed next to where I was sat, and I fell onto my side so he could face me and I could face him.

"Thank you," he whispered. He moved towards me and I hugged him as he fell into a night of real, deep sleep.