shaky and delicate
tony wasn’t sure why he hadn’t noticed it before. he had been hanging out with stephen long enough to notice that something was strange (pun SO intended) about him. it was only yesterday when tony noticed their shaking. it was only today when tony asked stephen about it.
they were in english and for some bizarre reason, ever since stephen joined they hadn’t done any written work until today. the teacher had asked the student to write some sort of essay about something that tony wasn’t interested in. he saw that stephen was staring at his pen, as if it was about to jump up at him and bite his face off.
“hey, strange, you alright?” tony asked his friend. stephen broke his gaze with his pen and looked at tony.
“yeah, i’m fine. just trying to think of ideas about what i could write.” tony raised an eyebrow.
“you sure?” stephen nodded, smiling softly at his friend. tony couldn’t help but smile back. “okay, strange.”
it was only twenty minutes left of the lesson when tony knew stephen wasn’t fine.
he glanced over at stephen only to see him with his gloved hands hiding his face. tony looked at his book and saw his messy handwriting followed with a scribble. tony then heard stephen’s whimpers. that’s when it clicked. stephen was crying.
“hey, hey, stephen. strange, look at me.” tony whispered, slowly stroking stephen back.
“useless...” tony heard stephen mutter.
“stephen, you’re not useless.” stephen brought his face to view, fresh tears falling down.
“i can’t even write a simple sentence without fucking it up. how am i NOT useless?” stephen claimed, glaring at his book. tony continued to stare at stephen, trying to think of a way to help him and comfort him.
“let me see your hands.” the words left his mouth too quickly, leaving tony no time to process what he said. stephen furrowed his eyebrows.
“excuse me?” tony sighed, stroking stephen’s cheek. he was suprised the teacher hadn’t noticed the two yet, but also thankful that the teacher didn’t interrupt their moment.
“stephen, please. the only way i’ll be able to know why you’re upset if if i see them.” stephen melted into tony’s touch.
“tony, i-“ he was interrupted by the bell.
“alright, students, that’s the lunch bell. you are all free to go.” the teacher announced, and all the kids exited the room, stephen and tony being among them.
“stephen!” tony called when he saw stephen run off to the bathroom. he followed him.
when tony stepped into the bathroom, he noticed only one stall was locked, instantly knowing stephen was in there. he knocked on the stall door.
“stephen?”
“go away, tony.” stephen muttered.
“stephen, stop being so fucking difficult. i won’t judge whatever you’re hiding, if that’s what your worried about. i get it, okay. though mine are less obvious and more easier to hide. but, it still didn’t stop me from feeling self conscious about it.” tony smiled when the bathroom stall door unlocked and opened, revealing a sad stephen with tears falling down his face. he used the sleeve of his navy blue sweater to wipe them off, which made him look adorable in tony’s eyes. stephen slowly took off his gloved hands and quickly hid his hands behind his back.
“sure you won’t judge? or make fun of me?”
“why would i?” tony asked, frowning slightly when stephen bit his lip nervously. tony didn’t even know stephen could do nervous. stephen slowly revealed his hands and tony gasped out loud. they were covered in scars and shaking unnaturally. before stephen could tug them away, tony took hold of them. “they seem fine to me.”
“but the-“
“yes, stephen, i can see the scars. and, so what? they’re scars. i get it, they can be ugly. i thought that too with what happened to me. but, they show how strong you are. and you, stephen strange...” tony paused, staring at stephen’s hands. he pecked both of them, causing him to blush. he looked up into stephen’s crystal blue eyes, noticing that the other was blushing too. they smiled at each other. “...you’re very strong.”
“i...” stephen was lost for words. but it was now that he started to realise how beautiful tony was. how behind that selfish, loud and arrogant nature, was a selfless, caring and affectionate guy. he loved it, he loved tony. someone walked into the bathroom, causing the two to jump away from each other.
“tony?” it was thor.
“oh, hey point break.”
“hey, tony. ah, hello stephen.” thor smiled at stephen.
“hi, thor.” tony stared between the two before stephen answered. “we have maths and pe together.” thor nodded to confirm.
“say, would any of you know where bruce?” thor asked. “i need to talk to him about something.” stephen furrowed his eyebrows and tony just shook his head.
“no, we haven’t. sorry, thor.” thor frowned.
“very well, see you.” thor left the two. stephen pulled out his gloves out of his pocket but tony stopped him.
“stephen, don’t be afraid.” tony said, staring at him dead on in the eye. stephen hesitated, but slowly put the gloves away. tony smiled softly. his phone buzzed, indicating he got a message. he read the text, before putting his phone away. “my friends are asking where i am. i should go.” tony said.
“yeah, okay.” stephen muttered, playing with the hem of his sweater. they stood awkwardly before tony spoke.
“hey, do you wanna hang out with me and my friends? you can finally be introduced to the people who i make go insane.” stephen chuckled softly.
“uh, sure. as long as they wouldn’t mind.”
“nah, not at all.” tony said, walking towards the bathroom door. he held the door out for stephen, bowing. “after you, sir.” stephen rolled his eyes.
“douchebag.” he commented, passing through the door.
“dork.” tony chuckled, following after him.