Tony Padilla Imagines

Strong all the Time

Prompt: “I wish some told me it was okay not to be strong all the time.”

A/N: Tony is straight in this.

Both you and Tony are still hurting months after Hannah’s death. While you bottle up your feelings, Tony wears his openly on his sleeve in front of a few people, you included. After one small thing sets you off, Tony is there to comfort you.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of cutting, a small fight.

(Y/N) POV

You walked through the halls of Liberty High School, ignoring the looks of your classmates. Everyone knew you had been close to Hannah Baker and that made everyone assume you needed their pity. As you walk you bump into a firm chest, slightly losing your balance you stumble backwards, until a strong pair of arms grabs your arm pulling you back towards them. “Hey, you should really be more careful.”

You look up and see none other than Bryce Walker looking down at you, smirking. You yank your arm out of his grasp and back up a few steps “Don’t fucking touch me Bryce.” you calmly say, glaring at him.

“Come on (Y/N), don’t be like that.”

“Why shouldn’t I be? Hm, Bryce?” You ask trying to seem calm.

“Come on, you really need to loosen up.” Bryce says cocking his eyebrows at you.

That was the last straw for you, you lunged at Bryce, before he could react you had landed a right hook to the side of his head. Bryce gently touches the side of his face with two fingers, and when he pulls them back they are covered in blood. You stood there, eyes wide in shock, you never lost control of your emotions like that before. While you were lost in thought Bryce had taken the opportunity to backhand you. You landed on the ground with a small thud. You lay there, your head spinning from the force of the hit, when you hear a voice coming from down the hallway. “Don’t ever fucking touch her again!”

You see Tony walking down the hall towards you, glaring at Bryce. “Whatever man, she’s a slut just like Hannah, she's not worth it.” Bryce says, venom dripping from his words.

Tony starts you go after him, but you grab his pant leg, bringing him back to reality. Tony looks down at you laying on the floor and his eyes soften. “You okay, Osito?” Tony asks you, bending down to help you up.

You accept the help and stand up with Tony’s help. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks Tony.” you smile at him.

You start to walk down the hallway once again, but you only get a few feet away from Tony when you start to cry. You lean against a locker and slowly slide down to the floor. You pull your knees to your chest and bury your face in your hands. You hear Tony walking towards you slowly. “You want to talk about it, Osito?”

“I just want to be alone right now Tony.” you say never taking your head out from you hands.

“Alright, I’m here if you need me.” Tony says getting up and walking away

You sit there against the locker a little while longer to calm yourself down, then you get up and head to class.

Tony’s POV

As I walk down the hall, I can’t help but be worried about (Y/N). She was always so open about how she felt before Hannah died. I noticed she had been acting differently after Hannah. She had changed so much in the past few months, She had been wearing long sleeves a lot. The last time I saw her wearing a tank top was a month after Hannah died and even then she put on a sweatshirt.

Flashback

I pulled up in front of her house and got out of my car. I walked up to the front door and knocked, I was about to knock again until she answered the door. (Y/N) smiled at me “Hey Tony. What’s up?”

I smiled back at her “I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a drive.”

“Yeah, sure.” she smiled at me and opened the door farther.

“Okay. (Y/N)?”

“Yeah Tony?”

“How have you been? You know since Hannah.”

Her smile faltered but only for a split second. “Fine. I gotta go change, wait here.”

As she took off up the stairs I could have sworn I saw the lines of cuts on her wrists but I ignored it, writing it off as my imagination. She came back down a few minutes later with a long sleeve shirt on. She smiles at me as she walks out the door. “Are you sure you won’t get too hot with that on?” I ask her.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She rubs her wrist and smiles again.

“Okay.” I smile at her and get in the car.

End of Flashback

(Y/N)’s POV

You were walking home from school when you heard a familiar car behind you. You turn around,only to see Tony's Red Mustang. You stop walking and wait for the car to pull up beside you. “Hey (Y/N), get in.” Tony says smiling at you.

“Where are we going?” You ask raising your eyebrow at him

“The park.”

You smile and get in the car. As Tony pulls away from the curb you sneak a glance at him while he is distracted. He was the best friend you had besides Hannah, but with Hannah gone he was all you had left.

You reach the park and get out of the car. Tony leads you to a bench and signals for you to sit down. “(Y/N), what’s going on with you lately?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.” You say, smiling at Tony.

You look at Tony knowing full well he doesn’t believe a word you just said. “Really? You're fine?” Tony asks again.

Tony grabs your arm and pulls up the sleeve of your shirt, revealing the lines of cuts along your arm. “(Y/N), you call this fine?!” Tony asks you slightly raising his voice.

You look down at the cuts on your arm, some are fresh and others are healed and are just scars. “(Y/N), look at me.” Tony says, gently grabbing your chin and moving your head so your eyes meet his. You try to move out of Tony’s grip, when you can't move away from him you break into tears. “It's alright. It's okay to cry.” Tony whispers as he pulls you into a hug.

You move your head to Tony’s shoulder and continue to cry. As you cry he rubs your back and continues to whisper calming words to you. “ I wish someone had told me it was okay not to be strong all the time.” You say into his shirt.

Tony pushes you back gently and looks into your eyes. “ You should have known that already, Osito.”

You look at the ground once again. Tony takes your chin and moves your head so you are looking at him. You smile at him and wipe your eyes, knowing they must be red and puffy because of how much you cried. Tony smiles at you, cupping one side of your face in his hand. You lean into his touch, taking a sigh of relief. Tony moves towards you, slowly. You smile as his lips meet yours. It was a soft, sweet kiss meant to reassure you.

You pull away from Tony still smiling, and rest your forehead on his. “It's funny.” Tony says looking into your eyes.

“What is?”

“Hannah always told me I needed to show you how I feel, but I could never do it, now that she's gone I finally did it.”

You laugh “ Hannah always had a weird way of bringing people together, even when she wasn't around.”

“Yeah she did.” Tony says, giving you a quick peck on the lips before jumping up and running to his car with you following closely behind.