To say Tony was not okay after his mother passed was an understatement. He fell into a depressive state, which his father called, 'attention-seeking bullshit'. His relationship with his father diminished beyond repair the day his mother was laid to rest. The teen knew his mother would hate to see how him and his father carried on over the three years she's been gone. Most of their disagreements stemmed from the fact that Tony did not want to start college early. Howard saw Tony as a waste of potential, which, quite frankly, Tony didn't give a shit.

Maybe this is why he loved to inconvenience his dad by making him have to show up to these conferences. The ones where the principal and his dad talked about him like he wasn't there. Tony focused on counting the frown lines on the principal's heavily melanated skin. This man was always angry, rightfully so. The teen stared on at him absentmindedly, drowning out the sound of their seemingly casual tones.

"Tony." He vaguely heard his father call out to him. The teen realized the older man was standing. Next thing he knew he was struggling to keep up with his dad as the man spouted angry nonsense at him.

"Howard, it's not that serious." Tony said, rolling his eyes as they finally made it to the car.

"No, Anthony. You don't understand. I'm shipping your ass to military school. I'm done." Howard snarled, "Time and time again you waste my precious time. You let yourself disintegrate into this unmotivated idiot, when you have ample amounts of potential. You won't go to a specialized school, you won't go to college, you sit here in this school full of heathens and make a mockery of the Stark name." Tony felt his father's pointer finger jab into his shoulder at each statement.

The teen clenched his jaw and without thinking he pushed his father backward. The older fell against the car and there was a moment of seemingly long silence between the two before Howard moved toward Tony. Seeing the absolute rage in Howard's eyes scared Tony shitless.

Tony turned and ran. When Howard called after him he ran even faster.

The teen didn't get too far before he went to a local gas station that was usually the hangout of a few younger people in the city. Tony was sure his father wouldn't actively look for him until dark. A big part of him hoped Howard would never come and look for him.

The teen stretched before sitting down on the curb. The December wind was chilly, causing a shudder to run down his spine. It was moments like this that made him miss his mother. The warmth of her hug alone would make him feel better. Anything would be better than the coldness of this weather, and the coldness of his seething father.

"Loki!" A familiar name called him to attention. He spotted a blond haired male with a beer clasped tightly in his hand. When the man threw his arms up in a seeming celebration, Tony realized the other beer that was now being shoved in a raven-haired man's hand. Loki's hand.

Loki was a senior back when Tony was a sophomore. Loki looked...different. Tony always admired Loki from afar. In high school he was slender, and had a certain elegance about him. Now he was different. He was badass. Tony examined the male closer, his jet black hair was longer, falling past his shoulders, a lot less groomed. Then suddenly his eyes made contact with the blonde, who Tony now recognized as Fandral.

"Hey pretty boy! You interested in some goods?" The blonde teased, wiggling his brows as he did a suggestive shimmy.

Loki's eyes slowly shifted to Tony and the teen found himself holding his breath. The older seemed uninterested in Tony or what Fandral were saying. He took a long drag from the cigarette that dangling from his lips before leaning back on the stoop.

How was it that everything Loki did was alluring?

"Oh, you are interested in my friend?" Fandral grinned. "Not into blondes?"

"No, just not into you." Tony retorted back. He now realized that the blonde was drunk, or a least tipsy by the way he slurred his words.

The blond seemed displeased and then he chugged his beer down. "You are breakin' my heart pretty boy." He chuckled before throwing his bottle across the street at Tony. The teen ducked just in time for the bottle to smash on the building behind him.

"What the fuck!" Tony yelled over Fandral's drunken laugh.

Loki didn't even bat an eye. To say he didn't care was an understatement. Fandral's idiocy was never a thing of surprise these days.

Tony clenched his jaw as he saw the blonde start to walk slightly towards him. He then winked before turning his attention to Loki to say his goodbye then he headed down the sidewalk.

Stark watched him for a moment before looking back to Loki, who was in turn looking at him. He wasn't sure what to say. Afterall, he'd never worked up the courage to talk to Loki before. Not many people were out of his league, but Loki somehow was. This was the first time he'd seen Loki in two and a half years. Halfway through his senior year, Loki went MIA. That blew Tony's sophomore fantasy of having the raven-haired male.

Now they were older. Over time Tony only got more handsome and well...Loki changed, but he was even better looking if that was possible.

Did Loki even know who Tony was?

They shared a stare for a long moment, Loki's expression unchanged and Tony tried to match his expression. It was then that Loki stood, Tony mimicked his motion. He wasn't sure why he did, but he felt the need to.

Without a word or second glance, Loki turned his back to Tony and ascended up the stoop and into his house. This left Tony stranded on the street, alone, just how he had started. It would be dark soon. Tony figured it was time for him to head home.

His thoughts of the trouble he was soon to be in were a mere speck in his brain at this point.

All he could think about was Loki on his long, cold walk home.

...

Howard gave Tony the courtesy of letting him have a final two weeks at school before he was sent off. Really it was less of him being nice and more so due to the fact that Howard had paperwork to take care of. Tony took the liberty of slacking off more than usual. He might as well enjoy his time.

"Tony, here."

He was at a party, a party that just so happen to take place about a block away from where Loki stayed. Tony turned to his friend, Clint, who placed a red solo cup in his that hand. The teen grinned and placed the cup to his lips without question.

"Fuck, that's strong, Clint." Tony let out an unintelligible sound before downing it.

"This could potentially be our last party together. We are getting fucked…" Clint trailed off as he saw Natasha walk in through the door. "I'll catch u with you later."

Tony brows furrowed as his friend ditched him for the red head. His eyes soon caught sight of someone of interest. He couldn't help the smile that formed on his face and he openly stared. The brunette's tipsiness got the better of him,because he found that his legs gravitated towards Loki.

"Hey." Tony found himself looking up at Loki.

The raven-haired male looked down uninterested at the younger. His sharp jaw clenched and unclenched. Tony was so close that he could smell the spearmint on the other's breath. "We went to school together." He blurted out. Tony mentally kicked himself in the face when Loki gave him the biggest look of 'who fucking cares'. "Um...yea…"

There was a moment where they looked on at each other. Tony felt warm. A warmth radiated through his body. It was hot. Why was it hot? He was lost in thought that was only broken when Loki finally spoke.

"Stark." Loki said simply, his lips twitched in a slight smirk.

The younger was at a loss for words because the most handsome man in the room, in the world, was standing right in front of him and he actually knew his name.

"Run!"

Suddenly there was a flurry of bodies running towards exits. Police sirens could be heard in the distance and Clint was nowhere to be found. Loki gave a calm, annoyed sigh and shoved his hands in his pockets as he headed toward the door, much too cool to panic. Tony swayed for a moment before he decided to follow Loki.

"Hey, I need a place to hide out for a few hours. Or until I sober up." Tony kept pace with the long legged male.

"Then find one." Loki said simply, heading up his stoop. The brunette waited at the bottom, looking up, "Please?" He begged.

Loki leaned against the doorframe and looked at Tony, crossing his arms. He seemed to leave just enough space for Tony to get by, so the younger took the opportunity to ascend up the stoop.

Loki stopped him in the doorframe,resting a hand on the younger's chest. "No. more than three hours." He said simply.

"Mhmm." Tony half paid attention; Loki was so close to him. He'd never been this close to Loki before. He walked in after Loki, "I'll sober up on the couch and I'll be on my way"

Before he could even make his way over, Loki grabbed him by the collar. He pushed him towards the stairs, "In my room."

Tony's eyes lit up, "Yeah...okay." He didn't wanna seem eager. That might be off putting for Loki. not that he was even going to have an encounter with Loki ever again after this, especially since he was going to be shipped off to hell. Maybe this was his time to make his move actually. What did he have to lose.

"You can lie on my bed," Tony looked around the room. It was small, at least compared to his room. But compared to his, Loki's was also very neat. He made a move to the bed only to once again to be grabbed by his collar. "No outside clothes in my bed." he said annoyed.

Tony looked embarrassed, "Sorry."

Loki looked expectantly and Tony pulled off his shirt. Before long his was just down to his underwear before he climbed into Loki's bed. The raven-haired male didn't pay much attention to Tony as he striped, which was disappointing as hell to Tony. It'd be nice to know if Loki was interested.

As soon as his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.

When he awoke he felt a warm body next to him. He opened his eyes to a creamy pale back. Loki was surprisingly muscular. He reached out and touched the skin lightly. It was even softer than he imagined. It was such a nice contrast to his jet black hair.

Tony jumped slightly when he felt a vibration next to him. Thirty missed calls from his father and an incoherent text message from Clint. Great. He'd better get home before his father had a heart attack. The teen thought against waking Loki. He carefully started moving over Loki. The older rolled on his back , causing Tony to straddle his hips. The younger froze, opening his mouth before closing it again.

Loki gave a grunt of disapproval, but Tony ignored it in favor of looking at how Loki looked. Stunning. This lasted a while before Loki pushed him off and rolled on his other side. Tony sat on the edge of the bed before, looking at the other's sleeping form before he stood to grab his clothes that Loki had neatly folded on the nightstand. The other's hospitality was surprising.

Tony smiled fondly before he left, heading home to get yelled out.