Who is Tennyson Sternberger from Bruiser and what is their importance?

Tennyson is the sixteen-year-old twin brother of Bronte. Tennyson and Bronte's parents are literature professors at the local university, therefore they have been named after famous writers. Tennyson is fairly popular at school and is a star athlete in lacrosse. When Tennyson learns that his sister is going out with Brewster Rawlins, an antisocial boy from their school who is known as the bruiser, Tennyson is not happy. Tennyson makes an attempt to break them up, but when Bronte convinces him that Brewster is not what Tennyson thought he was, he tries to get to know Brewster. What Tennyson learns is surprising.

Tennyson discovers that Brewster and his brother live with an uncle who is very abusive. Brewster takes on most of the responsibilities of the household because of his uncle's unwillingness or inability to do it himself. This leaves Brewster with very little free time to be a kid. AT the same time, Tennyson begins to suspect that there is something unusual about Brewster. Soon enough Tennyson comes to understand that Brewster has a gift in which he can take the injuries of people he cares about.

At first, Tennyson is an advocate for Brewster, doing his best to keep Brewster from absorbing his hurts and taking responsibility for his own problems. However, when Tennyson comes to realize that Brewster takes away his bad emotions too, he becomes addicted to the carefree sense that Brewster leaves him with. Tennyson allows Brewster to take his entire family's emotional hurts, never thinking about the impact it might be having on Brewster until it is nearly too late.