Steve Rogers was a happy teenager. He did pretty well in school, excelling in sports, following the rules, and being a good leader. His teachers liked him, and he had a great group of friends. The only thing that he needed to work on was his huge infatuation with his neighbour's son, Tony Stark.
From the moment the Starks had bought their son a small town house to live in during his Uni years, Steve had been trying at every opportunity to speak to the genius. It was obvious how intelligent Tony was; from the way he easily charmed the council at their college, (they went to the same college, something Steve was more than pleased about) to the constant stream of robotic contraptions he was out testing in the small back yard his budget house had been equipped with.
Tony, however, was straight as an arrow, according to Steve's friend Know-it-all-Natasha (she knew everything about everyone) and to prove her point even more, Tony was dating queen-bee redhead Pepper. The two appeared to be happy, as when Tony wasn't experimenting or throwing parties, he was being VERY public with the PDA.
And that's what made it so unexpected.
Steve was asleep late at night, his room somewhat neat and clean. He had a habit of sleeping in his regular clothes, and then waking up with crinkled jeans. It saved him on washing pajamas. He hadn't had to wash most of them since his aunt and primary carer, Peggy, had made him buy them.
"Hey," Steve tried to roll over, but whoever was shaking him just wouldn't quit.
"What- Tony?" Steve's voice went incredibly high. The genius was dressed in dark jeans, shoes and a hoodie. He had a finger to his lips.
"I need a favour," Tony started.
"Wh-yeah?" Steve asked, running a few fingers through his ruffled hair.
"I just need a couch to crash on. Someone scratched my car with their keys and my dad's pissed. I promise it's only for a night, no longer. I can catch the bus tomorrow."
"No, it's fine, I can drive," Steve said, sleepily getting up. He grabbed a spare blanket and pillow from his wardrobe and guided Tony downstairs. The smaller boy thanked him to the point of calling Steve the reincarnation of Jesus.
"Okay, the bathroom's there and the kitchen's there, just don't make too much mess, okay?" Steve asked.
"Dude, thanks. A lot. I know we don't know each other all that well, but if you ever need a favour, I've got your back. Seriously. I know some great rivers to hide bodies in." Tony seemed way too awake for this time of night, Steve observed.
"I'm not so sure I'll be needing to hide some bodies soon." Steve replied, still struggling to compute what was really happening. He was so tired, he didn't even stutter around the guy he'd liked for nearly three years.
The next morning was exciting, to say the least. Steve had forgotten his neighbour's late-night antics and come down to see him sleeping on the couch, causing the blonde to shout quite loudly.
After a groggy bowl of cereal, Steve offered Tony a change of clothes, but Tony declined.
"Nah, they'll be way too big! Dad should have left by now, so I can go grab my stuff. Is the ride thing still on?" Tony asked. Steve vaguely remembered offering Tony a ride to their college the night before.
"Yeah, it's fine. I'll meet you outside in ten minutes?" The blonde responded, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. His smaller hopefully-friend then vaulted out of the window and sprinted across his lawn at full speed, heading ninja-style into the house and reappearing, changed, backpack in hand a supernaturally short amount of time later. Tony nearly beat Steve to the car.
"Here," Steve threw the backpacks into the back seats, and started driving.
"Dude, if you ever need help with anything, I have your back," Tony promised, making intense eye contact. "You saved my ass. Thanks, really. Seriously, I will help you hide bodies."
Steve gave him a weird side-eye, one corner of his mouth twisting up. "I'm just being kind."
"Yeah, and you're much more of a Hannibal anyway." Tony muttered to himself.
"So, uh, have a nice day?" Steve asked as he handed Tony his backpack, once they had pulled into the school.
"Jesus, you're my neighbour, not my dad," Tony grunted, lifting his heavy backpack. From the looks of things, he was carrying all his books at once. With the amount of extra classes Tony took, the pack would no doubt weigh 20 or so pounds.
"Not like my dad would want to spend more than the mandatory amount of time with me," Tony muttered under his breath. "You too, I guess? I owe you one. Big time."
"Don't mention it." Steve grinned and waved his friend off, heading towards his art class.
"So, I heard you and Stark rode in the same car to get here," Natasha spoke, not looking up from her lily sketch. "How did that happen?"
"Jeez, you and Clint are definitely stalkers." Steve shuddered, pulling out his pencils and sketch pad. "How did you find out? We only got here twenty minutes ago."
"Well, I didn't know if it was strictly true, but now I do." Natasha pulled out her phone and sent a quick text. "Looks like I owe Peggy one. How did that happen, anyway?"
"He kinda broke into my house and asked for a couch to sleep on. He couldn't stay in his house for whatever reason, so I just gave him the couch and a blanket. He seemed panicked, so we're friends now, I think?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"He lives a few houses from Obie. Why didn't he just go to him?" She retorted.
"I don't know. Maybe he couldn't run that far, or Obie has strict parents or something." Steve's own parents were far too dead to be enforcing house rules. Luckily, Steve had a huge respect for the domestic laws they'd set in place.
"Alright, it's not like he fancies you or anything." Natasha grinned when Steve morphed into a tomato.
