Loki was slammed so hard against the locker that he was forced to laugh. And once he started, he couldn't stop. Perhaps he was going crazy, but this whole situation was just hysterical. Last night he'd gotten yelled at by Odin for punching Clint and today here he was fighting with Fandral, on the first day of school. Odin was going to have a field day.

"Stop laughing!" Fandral hollered, grabbing Loki's collar and slamming him once again against the maroon steel lockers. Loki's head collided painfully, turning his laugh into a gasp.

The world blurred in front of Loki, but as soon as he blinked it clear, Fandral was swinging his arm backward, gearing up for a punch. Loki ducked hard, pulling his shirt out of Fandral's grasp, and Fandral's fist connected with the locker with a thundering crash.

"Shit!" Fandral cried.

"Wow, do kiss your mother with that mouth?" Loki taunted, jumping away from him, laughing again.

A murmur went through the small crowd and someone yelled, "Someone get Thor!"

Loki spun and shot Clint a glare. Of course, it would be Clint, the tattletale. "If you get Thor, I'll give you a black eye to match the other!" he said, shaking a threatening fist at him.

"Loki!" Too late. Thor was marching down the hallway, pushing through the crowd. That's it, Clint was going to get it.

"Thor, control your brother!" Fandral yelled as he shook out his injured hand. There was a bit of blood on knuckles and his eyes were flashing with unrelenting anger.

"No one controls me!" Loki said angrily. Thor was not his keeper!

"Loki, please," Thor said, grabbing Loki's arm to hold him back from Fandral. Thor rounded on Loki, standing between the two. "Why do you always do this?"

With anger overflowing, Loki pushed Thor off of him. "Why is it always my fault?"

Thor gave him the look. The one Loki hated most of all. The look of complete pity.

"Loki, Thor, Fandral!" The three looked up, suddenly faced with the school's principal, Fury. The crowd began to disperse at his sudden appearance. "My office. Now!"

Fandral shot Loki a glare, Thor sighed heavily, and the two walked ahead of him without a second glance. Loki crossed his arms, seething, but reluctantly followed.


"Pepper!" Tony greeted with his arms outstretched to gather the girl into a hug.

"Touch me and you die," she replied but there was a smile on her face. The excitement was apparent. "I can't believe you're here!" She gathered him around the waist just as he was about to drop his arms and he almost suffocated at the force of it.

"Pepper, I need to breathe," he reminded, patting her gingerly on the back.

She hopped backward, grinning. "So how is the house? Did you get everything moved in?"

Tony rolled his eyes, watching the students stream around them to the front entrance of the school. "Hardly. Howard didn't bother to show up so I had to drag all of the boxes inside myself. It has to be some sort of child abuse." He turned to the side to look over his shoulder. "He did give me a car to make up for it though." It was red. That's all Tony had cared to know about it.

"Lucky you," Pepper replied with a wry smile.

Tony clicked one of the buttons on his keys, effectively locking it, before steering Pepper towards the school. He was glad he knew someone at his new school. Pepper's parents were friends with his father. Well, no, maybe that wasn't the right word. Business partners? Whatever. All that mattered was that he has known Pepper far too long.

"What should I expect?" he asked, following the crowd through the doors and into the long hallway lines with maroon lockers.

"Our school is the same as the next," she said with an eye roll.


Loki sat in the middle, between Thor and Fandral, in the seats in front of Fury's desk. He sighed impatiently as Fury sat down across from them.

"Well?" Fury asked. "What it's about this time?"

"He was laughing at me," Fandral said, scowling.

"Laughing?" Fury said, quirking an eyebrow. Slowly, he leaned forward in his chair to rest his elbows onto the desk and clasping his hands. He raised an eyebrow. "So you're telling me that you were fighting because Loki was laughing?"

Fandral shifted uncomfortably and Loki fought to keep down a gleeful smile. "Well, no," Fandral fumbled to say.

"I know that my brother started it," Thor said. Loki whipped his head to glare at Thor. "They were both acting stupid, however, and I apologize on their behalf."

Loki slunk down lower in his chair.

Fury sighed, leaning back again. "You two, out," he said, gesturing to Thor and Fandral. The two left quickly, leaving Loki behind to face Fury himself. "What really happened, Loki?"

Loki looked off to the side, out the window. It was a sunny day. Warm. "You heard, Fandral. I laughed at him. Called him a few names…"

"We can't keep doing this."

"Seeing you every day after class last year wasn't enough. I intend on spending my junior year just the same," Loki said, mustering up a smile.

"Good, you've got it. Detention after school."

Loki nodded. "Fantastic, can I go?"


"Ah, there's my locker!" Tony said approaching locker 327.

Pepper nodded. "Okay, I'll be right back. I'm going to stop at mine and I'll be right back." She walked away, leaving Tony to stare at his locker.

After a brief moment, Tony slipped his phone from his pocket. "Jarvis, what is my locker combo?"

"24, 53-" Jarvis began.

"Not out loud," Tony said just a boy went to the locker next to his own. He was tall and skinny with a brooding scowl on his face. "Strange people may hear you and want to break into my locker."

"My apologies, sir." Jarvis displayed Tony's locker combo across the screen.

"So, we're locker buddies," Tony said with a grin, turning to Loki.

Loki looked over in surprise just as he opened his locker. "We are not, in no shape or form, 'buddies.'"

Tony opened his own. "Oh, look at that," Tony said, looking at the empty space inside. "I forgot to unpack my notebooks."

Loki didn't look up from his locker, gathering his things for his first class.

"Can I borrow a pen?"

Loki slammed his locker shut, holding a notebook, and turned to Tony. "No." Then he turned on his heal and marched away, leaving Tony far behind.

"Oh come on, Loks! No need to get feisty!"

Loki disappeared into the crowd just as Tony was rejoined by Pepper. "I see you've met Loki. He's a head case."

Tony turned to Pepper and tilted his head. "Pep, you wouldn't have an extra pen on you, would you?"


Wow, I am really happy with the good turn out so far! Thanks for reviewing and following! So, I plan to update often, so don't get too mad about chapters of this length.