Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers.
Based on a Tumblr ficlet I wrote which just demanded to be expanded.
They start school on the same day.
Tony's mother drops him off at the gate with a light kiss on the cheek. Tony wishes very, very hard that she would come in with him – he can see other kids holding their parents' hands as they walk inside – but he knows that he has to be braver than that. He's always done things on his own.
'Bye Mom,' he says quickly, but she's already pulling the car away, glossy pale pink fingernails curled delicately around the wheel. It's okay. Tony knows she's busy.
He swallows hard and turns back to the school. It's very big, but he's used to big buildings, come on, he's not scared. Room 17, that's what the papers said. Room 17, he has to find Room 17, and his teacher's name is Ms Potts. He sort of likes that. It's like the teapot in Beauty and the Beast, and Tony imagines Ms Potts as being round and comfortable and kind.
He hitches his backpack resolutely on his shoulders, and starts trudging towards the big doors.
There are heaps of children, and they're all bigger than Tony. He nearly gets knocked over once, when a big group of older kids overtake him because his legs aren't very long and he can't go fast enough. He grips the straps of his backpack very tightly and clenches his teeth together and wishes his heart would stop beating so hard it hurts his chest. He feels kind of sick, like heaps of bees are buzzing around in his tummy.
'Steve, honey, are you sure you've got your lunchbox?' Tony hears someone nearby say.
'I got it, Mom,' another voice replies, a kid's voice, firm and sure of itself, and Tony turns round to see who it belongs to.
It's a tiny kid, even smaller than he is, skinny and scrawny and with knobbly elbows and knees. There's a lady with him, a lady who looks nice, sort of gentle and warm and smiling. She's not holding the boy's hand, but her hand is resting lightly on his shoulder so they don't get separated. Tony's tummy twists with an odd longing feeling.
They both have golden hair, the boy and the lady, very beautiful soft silky golden hair. Tony's hair is dark and curly, like his dad's. His mom's hair is fair and silky, but it's paler than this, cool and blonde. The boy and the lady have hair like sunshine, Tony decides.
He kind of wishes the boy would turn round and say hello. That would be nice. But the boy – Steve – is looking left and right with narrow eyes, frowning a bit.
'Where we gotta go f'Room 17, Mom?' he asks the lady, and oh! Tony's stomach flips a bit with relief, because the boy must be in his class, and he's been wondering where Room 17 was as well, because everything's so – big, and he can't see any signs over everyone else's heads.
'This way.' The lady, Steve's mom, points towards a corridor. They start making their way through the crown towards it, and Tony quickly follows them, trying to stick close behind so his doesn't lose sight of them. Their sunshine hair is bright in the crowd, easy to keep sight of.
Room 17 has a picture of a robot of the door, a really cool robot, not just a baby picture. Steve and his mom are already through the door, and no-one's pushing him, so Tony reaches out to touch the robot picture. It's so cool. One day he's going to draw pictures of robots like that, really neat ones, and then actually make them for real, so they can help him clean his room and stuff.
He suddenly remembers that he's only supposed to look, not touch, unless he's given permission, that's what Dad and Mom always tell him. He snatches his finger away from the robot picture and quickly glances round, but luckily no-one's noticed.
There's a tall lady in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by the kids and parents. 'Okay, everyone find a desk,' she's calling. She's got bright red hair and every inch of her skin is covered in freckles, and she looks kind of firm but Tony thinks he likes her anyway. There's a girl standing right next to her, a few years older than Tony, with straight shiny strawberry hair, and Tony hears the tall lady say to the girl, 'Off to your class now, Pepper. Have a nice day, sweetheart.'
'Bye Mom,' the girl says. She passes Tony on her way to the door, and he sees that she's got freckles all over too, but they're paler than her mom's.
He needs to get a desk, he suddenly remembers, and looks round in a bit of panic, because what if there isn't any room left for him? But then he sees Steve and his mom choosing a desk at the side of the room, and there's a spare one pushed up right next to it, and it suddenly feels like Tony has to get that desk, it's the only one he wants.
Steve is unpacking his bag, putting his things on his desk. Tony stands there uncertainly, suddenly feeling a horrible churning feeling in his tummy again. What if – what if Steve doesn't want him there? But then Steve's mom looks up and sees him standing there, shifting his weight from foot to foot, and her expression goes soft and she smiles at him.
'Do you want to sit here, sweetheart?' she asks. 'There's plenty of room, go on. What's your name?'
'TonyStark,' Tony mumbles. It comes out too soft, his dad would frown at him and tell him to open his mouth and speak clearly. But Steve's mom just crinkles her eyes. 'Nice to meet you, Tony,' she says. She doesn't say it in a baby voice, either, Tony hates it when people do that.
He glances shyly at Steve through his eyelashes. Steve's looking at him, too, steady and curious. His eyes are blue, like the sky, and he doesn't look shy at all. 'I'm Steve,' he says. 'You should sit here.' Then he goes back to carefully organising his pencils. He has lots of colours.
That's… okay. Tony lets out a relieved breath and edges into the seat, unzipping his backpack and pulling out his pile of stuff. Mom had given the list of stuff to Dad's PA, because she was busy and couldn't get it herself. But Tony had tipped out the bag she's brought onto his bedroom floor and written his name on everything. He got the S for Stark right every time now. He used to get mixed up about which way the curl went, but that was ages ago, when he was little. Now he knows it's the same as the logo on Stark Industries, of course. He knows all his letters now, and numbers up to 100, and he knows lots of other stuff too.
And if he does anything wrong, he can just watch and see what Steve does. It'll be okay. Everything will be okay.
Tony nudges his backpack under the table and opens his Numbers book to the back page. Then he picks out his sharpest pencil, and starts drawing his own robot.
To be continued! Next chapter will contain the title reference and introduce some of the other kid!Avengers. It's already written and I'll post it soon.
The classroom environment I've written here is heavily influenced by my own experience going to primary school in Australia – and also my experiences with the kids at the school where I now work. Write what you know, yeah. :) I've tried to keep the terminology neutral so it doesn't jar with anyone, but if there's anything that glaringly stands out to you, please let me know!
If you're on Tumblr and want SteveTony ficlets and headcanons on your dash – come check out my blog, because I post new ones regularly! I'm at greymantledlady dot tumblr dot com