Loki, being as smart as he was, was in advanced chemistry. And since he lived in such a small town, this meant that he was stuck in Thor's senior class. Loki loved science though, so it was the only class he didn't mind being early for.

Sitting in a seat in the furthest back corner possible, Loki watched as the seniors streamed into the classroom. If it were anything like last year, Loki would be the odd one out. Well, that was like in any class, really, but this was different. Loki was the only one allowed to be accelerated in science and the seniors generally resented him for that.

Loki rested his chin on his arms when Thor entered the room, laughing boisterously with… Fandral. Squeezing his eyes shut, he hoped he wouldn't be noticed.

"Loki!" Well, there goes that idea. Thor stomped his way down the aisle before sitting right across from Loki with Fandral in the seat in front of him. To Thor's left, Jane sat down quietly, looking at Thor, but he was too preoccupied with Loki. Loki felt for the girl, really.

"This year is going to suck," Loki breathed into his arms, slumping down lower than before.

Loki looked up at the front of the room and froze. One Tony Stark had wandered into the senior chemistry class, looking around like he belonged there. No way.

Stark turned and his eyes caught Loki's and the guy brightened. He began to make his way back towards Loki. Quickly, Loki propped his feet up, shoving them onto the seat in front of him. "Hey, Loks."

"Don't call me that."

"Saved me a spot?"

Loki narrowed his eyes. "I think you are in the wrong classroom, Stark."

"This is chemistry right?" He looked down at his schedule he had in one hand and he set a single pen down on the desk.

"Whoa, Loki is going to have competition," Fandral said, casting Loki a smug grin.

God, Loki wanted to strangle him right then but he ignored his comment to glare at Stark. "You might want to find a new seat. I'm saving this one."

"For who?" Thor asked, looking genuinely curious. "You don't have any friends."

Loki looked at his brother in exasperation. Really?

"Ah, so I am in the right place," Tony said, knocking Loki's feet from the chair and plopping down.

"Okay, everyone settle down," Mr. Coulson said, stepping into the room just as the bell rang overhead. Loki let out a sigh of relief when Stark turned his attention away to the front of the room. He didn't need him to get the impression that he and Loki were friends. "Welcome to twelfth grade chemistry! If you think you are in for an easy 'A' then you are sadly mistaken. Being a senior does not entitle you to anything even though it may feel like it." His eyes skimmed the room and stopped in Loki's corner. "In addition, we also have a new student this year."

Tony stiffened in the seat in front of Loki.

"Tony Stark, our newest and brightest junior," Coulson said, gesturing to Tony.

While Loki would normally take offense with what Coulson had just said, he was instead preoccupied with the heavy murmuring that went through the room as the kids turned to look at Tony. They were all turning to look at him.

"Tony, would you like to come to the front and tell a little bit about yourself?"

Loki couldn't see Tony's face but his tense shoulders showed that he did not want to be the center of attention. "I'd rather not," Tony started.

"Is it true that your father is Howard Stark?" someone called from the front of the room.

Well. Loki was clearly missing something. The chatter grew more excited.

"Your father is rich!"

Loki snorted at that one. If that was true, Stark was probably already aware.

"Is it true that-"

And they just kept going on and on about it and it was starting to get on Loki's nerves. Tony still looked tense and people wouldn't stop so he couldn't help when he interrupted, "Is it true that you all can't keep your god damned mouths shut?"

The classroom went silent as Loki's words. Everyone stared at him with the contempt that was a constant in Loki's life. It didn't even hurt that much anymore.

"Brother," Thor hissed under his breath in a quiet scold.

Loki didn't look at Thor or anyone else besides Coulson, waiting on the inevitable. "Loki, I will not tolerate this behavior this year as well," Coulson began.

Just on cue. Loki snapped his chemistry book shut and gathered up his things before Coulson could finish. "Yeah, yeah. Fury's office, I know the drill," Loki said. He took his things and left the room, feeling a little disappointed that he was going to miss the first day of his favorite subject.

Fury was, overall, unsurprised to see Loki in his office for the second time that day. Loki laughed, seeing the way Fury already looked exhausted with Loki's presence. "Usually I would not tolerate this type of behavior a third year in my high school but Odin is one our greatest benefactors to the school district." Fury sighed. "You will have detention after school for the full week."

Loki nodded, expecting as much.

"And I will call your father…"

Also expected.

"And you will sit out the rest of chemistry today writing an essay about what you did wrong and why you will never do it again."

Loki groaned. "An essay, really? Couldn't you just have me clean some graffiti or something?"

Fury pointed to the door of his office. "Hallway. Now."

Hopping out of the uncomfortable chair, Loki headed for the door. He made sure to slam the door extra hard for Fury.

The hallway was empty and eerily quiet but Loki didn't mind. He sat down right outside Fury's door and opened his notebook to a random page. He stared it. What was he even supposed to write? He shrugged and set to work, writing the first thing that came to mind.

I apologize for yelling at the imbeciles in Coulson's chemistry class to keep their goddamned mouths shut. They are all a bunch of idiots and it infuriates me to be forced in their presence. Couldn't they see that Stark was

Loki stopped and stared at his page. Immediately, he ripped it out and crumpled it into a tight ball before throwing it at the nearest trash can.

Lunch. Tony fell into the line at lunch and glanced around, looking for anyone he knew. There was only one lunch period at this tiny school, so perhaps he could sit with Pepper…

"Hey, you're Tony, right?"

Looking to his immediate right, Tony was faced with a tall blonde boy who was smiling at him with genuine kindness. He held his hand out to Tony who shook it awkwardly. "I'm Steve," he said. "And these two are Natasha and Clint." He gestured to the two people standing in front of Steve in the lunch line, but at Steve's words, the two turned to look at Tony.

"Tony Stark," he said back even they obviously knew who he was already. He slipped his hand away from Steve's.

"Oh, you're in my history class!" Natasha exclaimed, pointing at Tony. "And Pepper mentioned on the phone you were moving here."

"Pepper? You guys are friends with her?"

Steve nodded. "You should sit with us at lunch. Pepper usually sits with us too."

Tony was about to reply when he caught a glimpse of Clint's face. "Whoa, dude, what happened to your face?"

Clint's eyes flashed with anger. "It was Loki. The freak just punched me out of nowhere."

"Loki?" Tony repeated. More and more through the day, Tony had heard from multiple sources about Loki's antics and the general dislike for him, but Tony had not witnessed for himself why Loki was so hated. Loki had gotten him out of answering stupid questions in Chemistry and he was kind of grateful for that. In fact…

"Clint lives near Loki," Natasha interrupted Tony's thoughts.

"Had to deal with the asshole all summer," Clint grumbled with his arms crossed.

"I just moved in next door to Thor and Loki, actually," Tony said. "So I guess we live near each other."

"You live next to Loki?" Natasha asked with sudden interest sparkling in her eyes.

"Yeah… why?"

Clint was the first to speak. "Well, there is this rumor going around that Loki poisoned the old lady that lived in that house and now she haunts the place."

"And that's what it is," Steve said, glaring at Clint, "just a rumor."

"Come on," Tony said, looking around at the three of them. "Loki can't be that bad."

Clint laughed. "He is, believe us. You haven't been here very long but you'll find out soon enough that he is bat-shit crazy." They began to inch forward as the line finally decided to move.

"One time, Loki started a fire in one of the bathrooms! He could have burned the whole school down!" Natasha rushed to say.

Clint agreed with a nod. "And there was the time he cut off all of Sif's hair."

"I always see him standing around at the park by my house," Steve said, looking thoughtful. "My mom always says he's up to something bad out there. Probably selling drugs. Not sure if it's true though."

"I'd believe it," Clint said.

Tony didn't know what to think. What he'd seen of Loki didn't match with their version of Loki. What was real and what wasn't?

"Uh oh, guys. Tony's got that look," Natasha said, elbowing Clint.

"What look?" Tony asked.

Natasha smiled as they moved forward with the line. She grabbed a tray from the stack. "The look the new people get when anyone talks about Loki, like they want to be Loki's friend and prove us all wrong that he's not a psycho. Just trust us and save yourself the trouble."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tony said drily.

Suddenly a body pushed past Tony's back, making him stumble a little. Tony whipped his head to see who it was just in time to see Loki leaving the line and heading away from the lunch room. Shit.

"Crap, I didn't know he was standing there, did you guys?" Natasha asked, sounding worried.

"I did," Clint said with a laugh.

Natasha hit him over the head but laughed a little with him.

Tony couldn't believe it. The three of them went on as if nothing had happened; as if Loki had not just heard them bashing him. Steve did look a little guilty though.

What was wrong with this school?

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