Hero [Ironstrange]

05 - Old Town Road

Tony

Day three with the Strange family and they already trust me enough to leave me alone at their house. A horrible decision really.

Stephen, Donna, and Victor were headed to school, and Beverly was at work, leaving me alone at the house on Monday morning. I can't believe I have to wait before starting school, stupid school registration process. I walk around the house, attempting to find some sort of entertainment other than my thoughts.

Thankfully, to get my mind off the whole soulmate thing, which, yes, Stephen still hasn't noticed, thanks for asking, yesterday I found that the Strange family happened to have a bunch of Amazon Echos.

So here I am, lying in the backyard, drawing in my sketchbook, while five different speakers blast Old Town Road on full volume. Don't you just love technology?

I hum along while I sketch one of my characters, a superhero who flies around in a suit made out of metal, called Iron Man. My friend Friday used to tease me about his suit not actually being made out of iron, but does it matter? HE'S A GENIUS BILLIONAIRE PLAYBOY PHILANTHROPIST, FOR GOD SAKE.

"I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road, I'm gonna riiiiiiide 'til I can't no more."

"I'VE GOT THE HORSES IN THE BACK, HORSE TACK IS ATTACHED!" I jump at the sudden voice finishing my lyrics. I turn around to see a guy my age, maybe a year younger, looking over the wooden fence separating houses. He has brown eyes and a small frame, with short curly black hair. "Oh, sorry. I couldn't help but notice that Old Town Road was being blasted from the Strange's backyard when none of them are home." I close my sketchbook and look at him, confused.

"Alexa, stop." All the speakers stopped playing. I get up from the ground still somewhat confused.

"Damn it, that's a good song." He facepalms before continuing. "Wait, you don't know who I am."

"No shit, Sherlock." Mystery guy chuckles at my statement.

"I'm Bruce Banner, I live next door." He confirmed. Bruce. What an outdated name. Well, I guess anything is better than Anthony. "And judging by what Stephen told me, you must be Anthony."

"I prefer Tony," I correct, remembering the nickname Stephen gave me.

"Yeah, that sounds much better." He points behind me, where a worn out rocket shaped thing with burn marks sat. "By the way could you get me that." How did I not notice that?

I pick it up and climb over the fence, underestimating how tall it was, falling face first onto Bruce's backyard. When I turn over I see Bruce with fucking rocket boots, floating five feet above the ground. Oh, that's how he was able to look over a six-foot fence. He floated to the ground, picking up the burnt rocket thing, ignoring my looks of amazement. He is actually a pretty short kid for his age, maybe 5' 3"? Not saying that I'm not short either, cuz he's probably only a few inches shorter than me.

"What the fuck. You're like fucking Iron Man." He rolls his eyes and takes off the boots.

"I spent like four years building these, I should be able to flex them without seeming like some sort of..."

"Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist." I finish his sentence.

"Yeah, sure."

"Is this why you're not at school? You're basically Einstein?"

"I actually never went to school, I was mostly homeschooled by the internet." I follow him into his garage, where there's a mess of projects and tech everywhere.

"Woah."

"Anyway, who's Iron Man? I'm guessing some sort of 'Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist'?"

"Oh, um, yeah basically. One sec." I flip through my sketchbook quickly showing Bruce some of the drawings I've done of Iron Man.

"Woah." He flips through my sketchbook, looking at my various drawings. "Dude, these are amazing."

"Yeah, well, if my drawings are amazing then your tech is incredible."

"Pfft, yeah sure."

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TAKE THE FREAKING COMPLIMENT?" We sit in silence for a few seconds before both bursting into laughter.

"Wait! We could totally be a team!" Bruce exclaims. I tilt my head in confusion, prompting him to explain. "You could draw super detailed diagrams and blueprints and stuff and I could try and build the stuff you draw!"

"Woah. YES!" His face lights up at my excitement.

"And then, along the way, you could teach me how to draw better and I could teach you how to build!" I put out my hand for him to shake.

"Partners?" He excitedly grabbed my hand and shook it. His handshake was surprisingly firm, much stronger than mine.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Tony."

"Same to you, Bruce." Make another friend: Mission Accomplished. I let go of his hand and gasp. "WE NEED A TEAM NAME."

"What about... 'The Avengers'?"

"Nah, sound like we're some kind of superhero team. I mean we're high schoolers, we don't really have much to avenge." Except for my parents. Oh, sorry, I slip to the angsty side sometimes.

"Hmmmm, 'Science Bros'?"

"Yeah, that works."

After figuring out a name we make a sign that Bruce hangs in his garage, proving our serious partnership.

"Bruce." We're now both lying on the grass, playing Old Town Road from the speakers.

"Yeah, Tony?"

"We're friends now right?"

"Totally, dude!"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure?" He replies, confusion in his voice. I raise my wrist in the air so he can see the emerald green square. He raises an eyebrow and pushes his sleeve up, exposing his soul mark, filled with a golden bronze color. "So, you've found your soulmate? So have I, it's not a very big de-"

"Stephen's my soulmate."

"WHAT THE FU-"

- - -

A/N: YAAAAY. BRUCE. I wanted to make Bruce the super genius kid and Tony the art kid cuz why not. Leave your guesses on Bruce's soulmate... I'm pretty sure most of you will get it on the first try lol.

(Also Old Town Road is such a bop, wth.)