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Sam and Hero had only been friends for a few weeks before Hero's little secret came out.
She was Schizophrenic.
It's something she kept on the down-low as much as she possibly could, horribly afraid of how people would react if they found out that she had what so many people wrote off as the crazy person disorder. Hell, no one really respected her as it was. She couldn't imagine how much worse it would be if they all knew.
It had caused her plenty of problems growing up. Her hallucinations would leave her petrified and, until her parents learned the truth about where they were coming from, they would always get written off as a desperate cry for attention alongside the delusions.
Yorick had always tried his best to be understanding, which helped, but she grew resentful towards him over time and eventually the closeness they had when they were young vanished.
As an adult, she didn't have her little brother to run to when things got bad. They hardly interacted anymore and, when they did, it was never a particularly positive experience on either end. Maybe that's why she'd fallen to drinking and narcotics- To hide from it all.
Sam found out a few weeks after they'd first met because things were getting bad again and she messaged him a string of unintelligible, paranoid ramblings before the alcohol had kicked in enough to calm her down. Concerned, Sam had immediately driven to her place to find her drunk and inconsolable.
He stayed at her house that night, making sure she was safe, and she explained to him the next morning that she had Schizophrenia and how it was fine and how she wouldn't go crazy and hurt someone like in the movies and how it had just gotten the best of her the previous night but she wasn't dangerous and-
Sam... Stayed.
Sam didn't run at the word "Schizophrenia". He didn't leave her or ask stupid questions or tell her she was faking it or get weird or ridicule her. He just nodded in understanding, thanked her for telling him, and went on with his day.
Huh Hero thought. This is what having a real friend is like...