Hole in my Heart - Stony Fanfiction

Inroduction

20th May, 1940

Tony walked down the school halls once again, alone. Sure, he had lots of friends: Bruce, Nat, Rhodey, Wanda, Pietro and even Clint (when the two weren't arguing).

But he didn't have a best friend. The one person that you would usually go to when you felt like utter shit. The one that you can cry in front of and not care about how you look to them.

The one that you can tell your secrets to, and understand what you're going through. And even if they don't understand, they know how to listen and keep your hopes up.

His best friend was his mother. Maria Stark, wife of Howard Stark who owned the company 'Stark Industries'. The only person who helped keep Tony sane on a daily basis was gone.

Maria Stark had died on the 24th of April, 1940. The cause was lung cancer, caught from smoking. She had smoked ever since she was 16, it helped calm her anxiety down and relieve the stress she received from her OCD.

Doctors did not understand what OCD was, it would be a few years before they began looking into mental health as a whole anyway. Society's way of dealing with anxiety in the 1940's was to 'stay relaxed' or to 'calm down.'

When Maria died, Tony's whole life came crashing down. Her hadn't just lost his mother, he had lost his best friend. He hadn't been the same since.

Almost 2 months after her loss, Tony still hadn't really spoken that much to anyone. His attendance had gone down from 100% every week to less than 50%. He hated school now, and all of his dreams of becoming a Psychologist had melted away.

The days when he wasn't in school he would usually spend throwing rocks into the river inside the nearby country park, alone. Or even just hanging out in a diner close by, where the only people who surrounded him were old, hairy bikers. He only really went in there for the milkshakes and the movies.

The loss of Maria, meant that Tony was left in the influence of Howard Stark. He tried his best to cheer Tony up, but very rarely succeeded. He was also struggling with the loss of his wife, and knew that he could never marry again.

Howard tried his best to help Tony come to terms with her death, but struggled. He was also away on business trips an awful lot, which didn't help their relationship. But Tony did deep down appreciate his Dad's help.

Jarvis, their butler, was also close with Tony, and occasionally met up with him in the diner or by the river when he wasn't working, to check he was okay. But Tony was never okay, and it seemed like he never would be.