It was one of those days for Stephen. He woke up to the immense pain in his hands. Ever since the accident, some days the pain was almost unbearable, but he wouldn’t mention it. It was Tony’s birthday after all, and he wouldn’t ruin it with his problems.
So, he rolled out of bed as quietly as possible so he didn’t wake Tony and walked into the kitchen. FRIDAY dimmed the lights on slowly and started to cool the eggs. All seemed to be fine until he tried to pick a mug up. His hands shook so badly and he dropped it, and shattered loudly. Stephen cringed and angrily looked at his hands.
Why couldn’t they do the simplest of things?
Tony woke up to a loud shattering and a frustrated groan. He checked the time. 8:37. He pushed off the covers and staggered out of bed into the kitchen. He immediately saw what the issue was. Stephen saw him and quickly started cleaning up.
“Stephen stop! You don’t have shoes or gloves on!” He quickly walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder and quickly moved him away. He could already see his hands bleeding.
“But..But I broke it. Let me clean it up!” He insisted.
“Steph. It’s okay.” Tony tried to assure him, but it wasn’t really working.
“But..I broke it..” He repeated stubbornly.
“And? I’ve broken many things.” Tony said, pulling him away to clean up his cuts.
“I..I need to clean it up..” Stephen still insisted, but Tony could see he was beginning to give up. Tony could see tears pooling up in his eyes as Tony led him into their room and sat him on the bed. He pretended not to see Stephen trying to wipe the tears away and went and got some gauze to wrap his hands. Tony tried to wrap them
as gently as possible, but Stephen still winced in pain every time he touched his hands.
Stephen tried to discreetly wipe his tears away, but with his hands aching the way they did and being extra painful because of the cuts doting his hands, the task proved to be difficult. He could tell Tony was trying to be gentle, but every touch felt like a stab. He finished the gauze and say on the bed next to him and rubbed his back.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Tony asked, sounding welcoming, not pushy. The fact that he wasn’t mad broke Stephen and he just sobbed into Tony, as he held him and ran his fingers through his hair. Stephens sobs grew weaker until it was reduced to shaking. He pulled away slowly.
“I’m..sorry. I didn’t want to..I didn’t want to ruin your birthday..” Stephen said shakily.
“You didn’t. Nothing you do would ruin anything. I just want to know what’s wrong.”
“It’s..my hands. Ever since the accident, sometimes they just hurt and shake really badly and nothing I do can fix it. It just hurts so bad…” Stephen said.
“If I could take it all away, I would.” Tony said.
“I wouldn’t want you to.” Stephen said. “I would never ask you to take my curse.”
“You would be worth it.” Tony said, and Stephen laid his head on Tony’s shoulder.
Eventually, Tony could hear Stephens slow steady breathing which indicated he had fallen asleep. With the help of Stephens Cloak, they laid Stephen back on the bed, and Tony pulled him close. Even though this wasn’t the day Stephen had wanted to give him, it was the best birthday that Tony had ever had.