I don't not own any of these characters. They are all Marvel's characters, every last one of them. I don't plan on making money off of this either so, yeah okay, I think we're good here...

Anyways, this is for my friend, who tends to proofread my other fic I'll Be Your Levy whenever I need her to. She's also headed off to college soon and I thought, "well, what better way to say good luck in college than write an Avengers AU fic for her?"

So, Heaven; This one's for you! :P

Enjoy,

Cecilia

Steve wasn't sure what to wear. Dress as if you intend to get ahead in life... Or at least laid. He could hear Bucky saying in the back of his head. This wasn't high school anymore, it wasn't "dress to impress" was it?

"Rogers, you're going to school to learn. It isn't a pageant." He said to his reflection as he pulled on an old, blue cardigan over his white Converse All-Star tee shirt.

His skin was freshly tanned from a vacation in Miami that his new roommate, Tony, had talked him into so they could get to know each other better. He was a bit too chummy for Steve's taste, but he didn't want to get off on a bad foot with the heir to the Stark franchise. Getting a full ride scholarship to Harvard was a huge deal for him already, so being roomed with one of the richest people in the country, the world, really, was beyond amazing.

Steve stared in the mirror, looking himself over. He hit puberty much later than all of the other boys which made him very easily disliked and therefore easy to pick on. Even girls had a good laugh at him. That wasn't to say that he never had a girlfriend though. In fact, he had a girlfriend, who was far too pretty to actually like him, he had always thought. Her name was Peggy Carter, she was from England, but had moved to America in the 7th grade. The two of them started going steady in their Junior year and shortly after he began to fill out into a more masculine frame, the one he worked now. They had broken up a month before he moved on campus though. She told him that she was moving back to England to go to Oxford. I do love you, Steven, but you need to be with more women than just me. It'll be better for the both of us. This is college, we're going to have to move on.

He sighed, grabbing his backpack and heading out of the door. It was going to be a long four years. Back at home, he knew Bucky was charming his way into a girl's shirt before he headed to a military training camp. It was hard enough having to say "goodbye" to the love of his life, but knowing his best friend could get killed fighting for their country was unnerving. Noble, but unnerving. Steve wondered if he should have signed himself up as well. He smiled, when they would discuss both signing up in high school, Bucky would shove him a little and threaten to kill him if he wasted his brains instead of putting them to a good use. In a loving a way of course.

The first class on his schedule was Foundations of Writing (English Literature, a 101 level class), the only class he had with Tony. Who, of course, he was surrounded by women and men alike. Steve recognized a few of Tony's buddies. A big, blonde brute of a man, Donald Blake, who they called "Thor" because of his Godly size. A small, dorky looking fellow with curly black hair and a quiet demeanor named Bruce Banner, who was supposedly a technological genius.

"Rogers!" Tony waved him over, "Come take a seat over by me, we have a couple open right here next to Barton."

Steve gave a shy smile and took the seat next to the dirty blonde.

"Hey, I'm Clint." The boy nodded. He had a raspy voice and an angry face, but he seemed nice enough with his muscular arm extended.

"Steve," He shook his hand.

As the group sat around waiting for their class to start, a mess of curly hair and bright red lipstick caught his eye. His head shot over to see her face.

"Peggy?" Steve wheezed.

She wasn't Peggy; her hair was far too red and her hips were much too wide. But she walked- strutted- just as confidently as Peggy had. They wore the same shade of lipstick over similarly plump lips and that's as far as the similarities went.

"Her?" Tony pointed over Steve's shoulder at the girl, "No, that's Natasha Romanoff. She's a looker, isn't she?"

"She's beautiful." He blinked.

"We dated on and off in high school," Clint spoke up, "Well, sort of."

"If you call that dating, than we've all gone out with her." Thor boomed, slapped him on the back.

The group of them laughed. Except Steve, whose cheeks were turning pink. He couldn't take his eyes off of the girl. She began to walk towards them and sat down in the chair between Bruce and Clint.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer, toots." The red-headed girl winked. Her eyes were much prettier up close, "Who's your new friend, boys?"

"This is Steve," Tony put a hand on his shoulder, "Captain of the mathletes, Chess club, and Dead Poets club at his school. Valedictorian, too."

"Nice résumé, Cap'n." She bit her lip, "I'm Natasha."

"It's nice to meet you, m'am."

Like clockwork, their professor walked in and silenced the room. The class was led by a man in an eyepatch called Professor Fury, who was as intimidating as a rattlesnake. He was a great teacher though, keeping the entire class's attention on on him. Except for Steve, who would sneak a peek at her when he knew no one was looking.

"Hey Cap, what's next on your schedule?" Natasha asked as soon Professor Fury released them.

"Intro to Physics with Dr Selvig," He looked up at her, fumbling to get his notepad into his bag, "You?"

She smirked, "Selvig's Intro to Physics."

The whole lot of them stormed out of the building together making an absolute ruckus. They began to branch off to their other classes until it was just Steve and Natasha again. The two of them got along well.

"How'd you end up with the guys?" She threw her thumb over her shoulder as if the other four were tailing behind them.

"I'm rooming with Tony." Steve said.

"Oh, poor you," Natasha laughed, "You're going to have a lot of long nights in the hallway with a sock on the door."

"A sock on the door?" He raised an eyebrow.

She stopped, "You don't know what that means? How did you get accepted into a university?"

His cheeks were red. Off to a great start already, Rogers. He thought.

"Don't take it too serious, Cap'n. You'll figure it out." Natasha walked ahead of him, "Come on, you don't want to be late on your first day do you?"

Class flew by. Dr Selvig was something else to say the least, but Steve liked the class. He also liked that he was able to sneak a couple peeks at Natasha too. She caught him a few times and every time she would just wink or bite her bottom lip. Steve even caught her checking him out at one point.

"God, Cap, if you keep making googly eyes at me, I just might start thinking that you have a thing for me." Natasha said as they walked back to campus after grabbing lunch.

"Well, we couldn't have that could we?" He smiled.

"Unfortunately, no, I'm much too forward." She pulled him aside and whispered in his ear, "Do you like me?"

"Uhm, well, I-I've only known you for a few hours." He looked at his feet.

"And?" Natasha pressed, "What's your conclusion, Captain 1940s America?"

"How am I supposed to know if I like you in a couple of hours?"

"I asked if you liked me, not if you wanted to get married." She teased, "Because I think I'm starting to like you, Rogers."

Her lips touched his before he realized what she was doing. This wasn't something he expected to happen on his first day. It took him two years to work up the nerve to ask Peggy out on a date and another 2 months to kiss her. Not to kiss her, that was easy, but to really kiss her. To kiss her the way he wouldn't kiss family. But Natasha wasn't Peggy, he figured that out seconds after the confusion.

"Yeah," Steve grinned as she pulled away, "I think I do."

"Good," Natasha wiped some lipstick off of his mouth, "Don't get too hung on me though. I don't do love."

He frowned, "Have you ever tried it out?"

"No, but I watched my parents' marriage crumble."

"Then you've never seen it done right."

She grinned, "Well, don't get too butthurt if I don't melt every time you hit me with those big blues of yours."

Natasha started walking away from him, hips swaying and head held high. This wasn't anything he had ever been exposed to in high school. There weren't girls like Natasha in high school. He channeled his inner Bucky.

"Well, don't run away if you do." He yelled after her and thought he heard her chuckle.

Steve grinned his way through his next few classes. He was in Professor Coulson's American History when he checked his phone.

There was a text from Tony that read: Party tonight. You in? Everyones going.

He texted back: Will there be drinking?

Duh Rogers. its a party.

I'm not 21.

it's at a house. no ones gonna card you

Will Natasha be there?

I said everyone. the whole crew.

Steve didn't respond.

Earth to mr rogers, are you going to step out of the sweater and leave the puppet neighborhood?

I didn't understand that at all.

GOD, are you coming or not?

Okay.

Great, Ill meet you in the room tonight.

That night in their room, he changed his mind. Tony rolled his eyes and called him a "buzzkill," but Steve didn't mind. After Tony left, he headed to the men's room to take a quick shower. He finished reading the work that he was already assigned before pulling on a sweatshirt and an old pair of pajama pants. There was no more first day of school "no homework" luxury. It was a long day and Steve was ready to fall back into his gimpy, little twin bed. He shut his eyes and let himself think.

In that moment of quiet darkness, he felt like maybe this year wouldn't be so bad. There was already a group of friends for him here, which is more than he could say about being at home. Sure, he missed Bucky and Peggy, and the guys were a bit crude, but they were friendly. The classes were interesting and there were plenty of things to do around campus. And Natasha, goodness, there was Natasha. She would keep him on his toes, sure, but he knew he'd get her to slow down after awhile. Steve was ready to move on. This was wasn't high school anymore.

This was college.