AN: Holy Naga am I a bad bad author. God it's been almost two months hasn't it, yeah that's not a good look for me.

I really am sorry about the huge gap between this chapter and the last, and I also have to apologize for the shorter length of this entry compared to this story's average. I'll explain everything in the author note at the end of the chapter.

Anyway hope you all like the next installment of YA:Year One.

October 5th, 2012- Miss Lola's House For Scamps

"You're taking this all in remarkably well."

"Guess I'm just a really good student."

Ever since he had accepted their offer to enroll in The Avengers Initiative-Coulson, Melinda, Clint, and Natasha had spent virtually all of their time teaching Steve everything they knew that would help him be ready for a high school junior level of education.

The operation turned out not to be too much of an undertaking as the young man displayed a knack for mathematics, writing, and a true natural affinity for the arts, specifically drawing and sketching. History was a bit of a rougher of them wanted to be the one to tell him about the horrors of World War 2 and 9/11 but it had be done. Coulson ended up volunteering for the task and after an hour long conversation the group's concerns were proven correct. Steve had become so heartbroken by the news(to him) that they lost a day of preparation to let him grieve in his bedroom. But once he reemerged he became a walking sponge for historical knowledge.

The only obstacle they couldn't seem to hurdle was science since it wasn't exactly any of the agents' field of expertise. They weren't inept in the subject but Steve would benefit more from a better tutor.

Currently Steve and Natasha were sitting on the living room couch reviewing his soon to be U.S History textbook. It was all stuff Steve knew forwards and backwards by now but Natasha knew from work experience that repetition, while dangerous for a spy, was necessary for a soldier of the caliber of the potential Captain America.

Besides, the whole time he was reciting historical events she had a step by step plan designed to help him with science already formulated in her head.

"What do you say we take a break?" She asked with a measured amount of honey in her voice that just wasn't full scale natural.

Steve smiled and closed the textbook. "Sounds good to me."

Natasha stood up off the couch with a feline limberness in her joints as she stretched her arms up above her head. She smirked down at the still seated Steve who was turned away from her as he was placing his book on the end table next to the couch.

"Come on. I want to show you something."

He curiously followed her up the stairs to the second floor, passing Clint's room. As they walked by he caught a quick glance inside and saw Clint sitting at his desk with his feet up as he read a comic book. Natasha went right past Steve's room and stopped to wait for him by the room right after his.

On that floor alone there were 8 rooms, 3 of which for all he knew were completely empty. That's why he was more than a little surprised when she nodded her head towards one of those empty rooms. Though the look on her face that could only be described as apologetic and apathetic(two synonyms most wouldn't associate with Natasha) surprised him more.

"Look...this is is something we should have shown you right away, I admit that ok?" The confidence never left her eyes or voice but there was something about her words that seemed regretful and worried.

Almost like a normal young woman.

"It's just that you had such a limited understanding of the normal world as it was, we had no way to know how you'd react to something different."

Steve arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms slowly. "Different?"

She nodded. "There's a lot in this world that doesn't make sense Steve, so I'm not going to apologize for keeping secrets."

"This is a very weird conversation Natasha."

The scowl on her face was more than enough for him to take this encounter seriously.

Steve leaned his left side against the wall and moved his arms so he could fold his hands together behind his back. "Well I can't say I like the sound of dishonesty being a regular thing… But given the circumstances and how long I've been here, I can see where you're coming from."

Natasha didn't make any effort to thank him or even smile, he knew she didn't need his sympathy. She damn sure didn't need his blessing. "Just knock on this door when you're ready."

"Why not just open it myself?" He asked playfully.

"Because that would be rude."

Steve scrunched his eyebrows into a near unibrow as he watched the redhead walk away and go back down the stairs. Rude? It would be rude opening the door to an empty room? Well, when he really thought about it that was far from the weirdest thing to happen to him that week. Top three maybe, but it still ranked below meeting the leather trench coat wearing eye-patch man and the whole waking up with amnesia thing.

With an easy sigh that just breathed "screw it" Steve knocked on the door three times. One...two...three. He tapped his right foot against the wood floor as he waited, what exactly he was waiting for was well beyond him. When nothing happened he reached down to turn the handle. Of course nothing happened. It's just a do…

To Steve's shock the door opened and he was suddenly staring into the face of a boy with scruffy black hair and bronze skin. He was a little shorter than Steve and much scrawnier in dimensions than the dirty blonde gladiator. It took a cough from the bespectacled boy to make Steve realize he had been gaping at him for a bit too long.

"Uhhh..hi."

"Hi," The surprisingly gravelly voiced young man replied dryly. The way he leaned against the side of his door as he waited...wait he was waiting for Steve to say something. Crap this was awkward. He better say something quick.

"You must be Steve."

Whatever Steve was going to say died down in his throat when the boy spoke first. Well, he still ended up looking like a fool but at least the conversation was rolling now. "Yeah…yeah I'm Steve."

The boy smiled and held out his hand towards Steve. "I'm Bruce. Coulson told me about you."

Steve shook Bruce's hand firmly. The boy had a much stronger grip than what was advertised. "He did huh…"

Bruce smirked as he brought his hand back and stuck it in his pocket. "Let me guess, they didn't tell you anything about me."

"I'm learning not to get too surprised about secrets being kept in this house."

"Smart man. Here, why don't you come in."

Steve followed Bruce into the bedroom, it looked much like his own with a few key differences. The mountains of sheets of paper cluttering the desk was chief among them. Bruce sat down on top of his bed and motioned for Steve to take the office chair.

"Sorry about the clutter. I've been working on this particular project for a long time."

Steve held his hand up to signal that it wasn't a problem and lowered himself onto the seat. "Bruce… I remember now. I saw your name on a Tupperware container in the fridge."

Bruce smiled knowingly. "Ah yes, the tuna casserole."

Steve leaned back and crossed his arms. "So, do they have a good reason for keeping you locked in here?"

He couldn't help the aggravated tone. Up until then he had nothing but good things to say about his hosts. Though there was no excuse for holding somebody captive like this. Of course his living situation wasn't all that different.

Bruce caught on to his tone almost immediately and shook his head quickly.

"They didn't lock me in here, I locked myself away."

What a weird series of events.

"And why exactly would you do something like that? Wait let me guess, it's complicated."

"Bingo."

"Great."

Bruce sighed and gripped the bottom of his bedroom. "Look I'll spare you the sob story, let's just say that I'm dangerous and it's for the best of everyone if I spend most of my time here."

"How dangerous could you be?" Steve asked skeptically.

Bruce eyed him over his lowered glasses. "Trust me, you don't want to find out firsthand."

"I get the feeling I'll have to take your word for it," Steve stated sardonically.

"Hopefully you're right."

Steve shook his head and stared at the mostly barren walls. He was appreciative of Natasha for nudging him towards the discovery of Bruce but he didn't know what this was all supposed to accomplish. He felt like a hamster on a wheel.

"Don't worry I won't be spending all my time in here," Bruce said with some levity in his voice. "I'll be going to school with you all on Monday."

Steve looked back at Bruce. "So...you're part of The Avengers Initiative too?"

Bruce took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with the bottom of his shirt. "Yes and no…"

Steve only raised his eyebrow at the boy.

"I know, I know. Don't worry I'm sure all this keeping secrets business will end…" Bruce mused as he put his glasses back on.

"...Eventually."

October 8, 2012-Unknown

Everything felt black and white...actually it felt more like a time kissed brownish gray. Regardless everything felt different. He felt different, like he actually knew who he was for once. He did feel a tad bumpy though, like he was being transported across a bumpy road. Come to think of it, did kind of look like he was in the back of a truck.

He was sitting with about six other men all dressed in dusty uniforms. Everyone was either looking down or just plain sleeping. He reached for something in his pocket and pulled out a small silver compass. When he snapped it open a black and white picture of a woman with long wavy hair smiled back at him.

"You nervous Stevie?"

He looked up to see the man sitting across from him looking his way with a teasing but warm smirk. The man looked to only be a year or two older than he was, his face was almost sculpted despite the dirt cluttering it. And his brown hair was neatly combed to the side, just the way all the women like it.

"No, you?" He finally replied.

"Course not. Just making sure you're not."

He closed the compass and stuck it back in his pocket.

"Yeah…"

The man's smirk fell into something more solemn for just a second. But before anyone could notice it he closed his eyes and smirked as he leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Way I see it, we'll be back home by Friday and then you'll be 'dancing' till Monday."

He chuckled at his friend's attempt to comfort him.

"Yeah...it'll be a piece of cake."

Steve shot up in a cold sweat, panting heavily. His heart pounded as he swiveled his neck around to see where he even was. A desk, a dresser, tan walls. His breathing slowed back to normal as he brought the palm of his hand up to his clammy forehead.

He was in bed, the familiar landmarks and the sheet wrapped around his bare chest confirmed that. He slid his hand down to rub his face and blinked his eyes a couple of times. He must have been dreaming, that's all it was. Just a nightmare.

Or was it a memory?

Honestly he wasn't sure which truth scared him more. Because while he didn't know whether what happened was a fragment of his past or a horrific manifestation of his subconscious, he knew that whatever it was did not end well. Steve turned to look at the alarm clock that now read 6:23 A.M.

School was in a couple hours.

He probably wouldn't get any more sleep if he tried, even if he could he probably wouldn't want to go back and potentially dream that thing again. It was still too early to get up though so he fell back onto his pillow with a loud thump. Besides, staring at the ceiling was a healthy teenage activity.

Or so he was told.

That morning Steve and Natasha were once again the first one's into the kitchen, though this time Steve was the first one there. She made no mention of that fact minus a cursory eyebrow and for the most part she just sipped her tea and read her magazine. Later on Clint, Coulson, Melinda, and surprisingly Bruce all made they're way down there when it came close to time to leave for school.

"Bruce," Melinda called over her shoulder while she fried some eggs. "So nice of you to join us for once."

Bruce bashfully smiled and sat down next to Clint. "I thought it would be good for me to stretch my legs a little."

"So you won't mind walking to school then?" Clint teased with a fork full of food in his mouth. Steve and Natasha both smiled at Bruce in greeting and not too long after that all four of the teens were packed into Clint's truck.

The two S.H.I.E.L.D agents sat up front while the two misplaced boys sat in the middle row.

"So Steve, what class do you have first period?" A now shades wearing Clint asked as he checked for food in his teeth and drove at the same time. Natasha didn't try to hide the disdain in the action of rolling her eyes. She stayed up all night making sure she knew what classes Steve and Bruce had and vice versa to ensure that everyone knew where the "family" was in case of emergency. Clint was supposed to attend that little group meeting as well but no, he was too busy reading Squirrel Girl Issue 54.

"Trigonometry," Steve answered with a confidence that filled Natasha with a mentor like pride that dispelled her annoyance just a little bit.

"Who's your teacher?" Clint followed up in an older brother kind of deep tone.

"Mister Kirby."

"He's good, you know he's actually an art teacher as well?"

"Really?" Steve bobbed his head back slightly.

"Yeah. I'm sure you'll like him."

About twenty minutes later they were pulling into the parking lot of a wide brown brick building.

"Well Steve," Clint started as shifted the gear into park. "Welcome to Midtown high."

Steve got out of the car and gazed at the sea of people his age flocking towards and orbiting around what would now be known from this day forth as his high school. He had no idea what his education experience prior to that was like so he had no preconceived expectations to draw on. It could neither disappoint nor surprise because this was it. The beginning and probably the end. He didn't have long to marvel at his new environment because Natasha- no Natalie, Natalie. He had to get used to calling her that-made him nearly jump out of his skin by appearing directly in front of his chest. The redhead stared up at him with a stern but not harsh look in her eyes.

Like a mom sending her kid off to his first day of school.

Deep down he had a pretty strong desire to laugh or at least smile at the shamefully cute sight. But in practice and execution he was too terrified of what consequences of an action such as that would bring.

"Where are you going?" She asked him, though her tone implied that she wasn't questioning him out of confusion but rather that she was testing him.

"Trigonometry," he answered confidentially after a quick gulp.

"Classroom number?" She followed up without missing a beat.

"212."

"Wing?" She asked in reference to positioning in the school's four sections.

"West."

Steve flashed Natasha a lazy smile that he hoped bore as much confidence as what Clint displayed when he performed the action. The smile wavered into something more nervous however when Natasha tilted the area of her forehead right above her eyebrow slightly, her eyes drilling into his brain with the potency of a stern teacher.

"Not bad." Steve let out an easy sigh when Natasha decided to stop torturing him and signal her approval with a knowing smirk. Looks like I really am a good student.

"Okay kids, time to start the day," Clint sighed cheekily as he grabbed his backpack out of the trunk.

"Try not to get into too much trouble, but if you do remember to just come back to the car and you know the rest," Clint threw Bruce and Steve their backpacks once he had his own fastened around his shoulders. Natasha only carried around a smaller side bag so she had kept all her stuff in the front of the vehicle with her.

Steve balanced his navy blue bag in his hands for a moment, he still wasn't quite adjusted to the extra weight stuffed beneath all his school books and notepads. The S.H.I.E.L.D had only shown him his gift the other night after he emerged from his introductory chat with Bruce. Apparently all four of them had been eagerly anticipating his reaction, well Melinda at least looked like she wasn't too bored with the whole presentation. Honestly he still didn't see the necessity or practicality of the whole thing but Coulson had worked so hard on the design and he was told the material was as sturdy as they come so he was grateful.

Not that he was looking forward to trying to squeeze into it.

"Everybody ready?" Clint asked, surveying his house mate's faces through his shades. His leather jacket and dark jeans cemented the whole "high school senior" look. Steve and Bruce both nodded their answer while Natasha watched them with her left hip jutted out impatiently.

"Alright. Move out." Natasha shook her head and raised her eyes to the skies mild disgusted with Clint's dorky manner. Without a word to either Steve or Bruce she walked off after their older friend, when they both realized that she was expecting them to follow as well they kicked into gear and nearly had to run to catch up.

The young foundation of the Avengers project walked up front steps of Midtown in three sections; Clint and Natasha in front, Bruce in the middle, and an amazed Steve bringing up the rear. For the amnesiac every step felt like he was walking on the moon. Every step felt like a different accomplishment, the school's large entrance provided both a daunting challenge and the portal to a potentially great journey. It was only when a sharp whistle from Natasha yanked him out of a daze did Steve realize he was standing in the middle of those steps frozen with one foot forward. He looked down from the engraved letters of the school's name to see Natasha waiting for him by the front doors.

Wasting no more time he jogged up the rest of the stairs and entered the building with the enchanting redhead who never said a word to him about his little daydream, all she did was regard for what couldn't be more than a few seconds with a mischievous something swimming in her green eyes.

The first thing he noticed was how narrow the hallways were, and just how many students and teachers were stuffed into them. He had never seen so many people in one place before, they were all dressed in their own unique way, though some groups did seem to prefer to have some solidarity when it came to fashion. Steve also felt increasingly like a bull in a china shop the closer he got to the center of the school. He had always known to an extent that he was a fit individual but he never had much to compare it to since Coulson was older and Clint and were Natasha were both impressively sinewy. Bruce was smaller and unassuming but even he carried this presence about that just made him seem bigger than he was. So far the only people Steve could say were his equals in terms of body decal were a few guys wearing green and white jackets which, according to Clint, meant they were athletes. It was actually a wonder it took Steve this long to ponder the benefits of plunging an amnesiac head first into the deep end of high school life. Plus people were beginning to notice and stare at him, particularly those of the female variety.

I wonder what that's about.

He sneaked a glance at Natasha in front of him with more than a little bit of hope that just knowing that his...friend was there would calm him even if just slightly. Thankfully he found that it did, although seeing her astonished him more than it comforted. She flowed through the throngs of people effortlessly almost like it was dance, a fitting metaphor given the surprisingly personal confession she gave him the day they met. He bet it didn't take any thinking on her part to move past people in her way, or to wave back or nod at somebody who greeted her.

As good as I think I am I'm still just a student standing in the presence of a master.

He barely noticed the four of them making it to the center lobby of the high school, the only reason he actually did take note of it was the fact that he had to turn left to get to his first class. The others probably realized this as well because they stopped in the middle of the walkway and turned towards him.

"See you at lunch Steve," Clint nodded to him simply, already walking away as he said it. Bruce waved at him quietly while Natasha silently gave him a tiny smile that he was very certain was only meant for him to see. He stood there and watched his only friends in the world at the moment walk deeper into the school, adjusting the right strap of his bag he turned towards the West Wing and went to go up the flight of stairs that lead to his first high school class ever.

"Let it go Tony."

"You know I don't know what happened but you used to be a lot more fun to talk Rhodey."

Tony Stark's best friend James "Rhodey" Rhodes rolled his eyes as the 'since birth duo' as Tony has dubbed them walked up the flight of stairs leading to their classroom. Over the years he liked to think to himself that he had gotten used to his "bestie's" rather scatter-brained musings. That the young billionaire wasn't as bad as some teachers and faculty would have people believe. It was the conversations like the one happening currently that led him to believe that he was wrong.

"Come on sour patch just answer the question already."

"No, Tony." Rhodey was ninety percent sure he would regret it but he looked over next to him to look at Tony. One look was all it took to regret it. One look. The heir to the Stark dynasty was dressed in dark jeans and a Black Sabbath shirt with an expensive blazer thrown over it. His eyes were covered in the pink shades he seemed to carry with him wherever he went, and worst of all there was a big honking ugly gold chain hanging around his neck that spelled STARK. Ostentatious didn't even begin to describe it.

"Come on just indulge me for once," He whined as he plucked a blueberry out of the ziplock bag sitting in his palm and threw it into his mouth.

"Tony, a day doesn't go by when somebody doesn't indulge you so don't bitch to me about it," Rhodey argued, holding onto the railing as he scaled the steps leading to the second floor of the West Wing.

"Someone's a bit saucy today. You know since I'm such a good friend I'm willing to ignore that last bit," Tony said through a full mouth as he chewed loudly on a couple blueberries.

"Good, I was so worried about," Rhodey rolled his eyes dryly.

"I know,"

"But seriously though…"

"No Tony! I wasn't at Justin Hammer's birthday party," Rhodey nearly shouted.

"You sure?" Tony further questioned innocently. "Cause I heard from a birdie that not only were you there but you were even doing karaoke."

"I wasn't doing karaoke without you Tony," Rhodey grumbled with an eye roll.

"You sure you weren't there singing It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp?"

"No. You must have me confused with another black guy."

"Ouch you're really gonna go there?"

"Oh I'm going there."

Tony stared at him through the slightly lowered lenses of his shades, his bag of berries now tucked away in his pocket for later.

Now I'm really glad that I didn't take any when he offered them.

"Okay...whatever you say pal," Tony stated with a pat to Rhodey's shoulder. His tone implied that he accepted Rhodey's denial but the smug little grin he always wore stated otherwise.

"Damn right whatever I say…" Rhodey mumbled as they walked to their classroom, not wanting to look a victory in the mouth even though he knew it was hollow.

"And for the record I sang Purple Rain you cretin…" He muttered quietly.

"What was that?" Tony asked as his ears perked up.

"It was nothing Tony. Absolutely nothing."

Steve had opted for a seat in the very back of the classroom around the middle of the room so that he could see the teacher clearly during the day's lesson. With a quick look to the clock he discovered he had about two minutes before class began so he quickly grabbed his notebook and calculator out of his bag and neatly placed them onto his desk. Around him all the other students seemed more interested in checking their phones or talking to the people sitting next to them. Natasha had warned him that this would have been the case.

The room itself was rather homely, the light that leaked over his shoulder through one of the three windows behind him brought a comforting warmth to the small room's four white walls. At the back of the room, which from the student's point of view was the front, was the teacher's desk leaning right next to the large white eraser board. Jack Kirby, a kind looking man of medium height and build with greying hair, stood by a podium with his hands wrung together and a smile on his face.

One minute before the start of class two students walked in and sucked all of the other kids' attention right into their own little vacuum. Most eyes were on them as they sat down in two of the room's leftmost seats. Steve had never seen the more serious of the two before, but he knew exactly who the other was as he had spent the better part of his weekend studying the young man's S.H.I.E.L.D file.

Anthony Edward Stark.

The clock hand ticked three more times, immediately afterwards the beginning of class was christened by 's smooth voice.

"Hello everyone, now before we hop right back into the wonderful world of trigonometry there is an announcement I have to make."

There was a small polite smattering of laughter throughout the class as finished his statement.

"Today we have been graced with a new student, now I'm not going to make him do anything cruel like make him stand up in front of the class but I would like all of you to give a warm welcome to our new friend Steven Rogers."

Steve remained silent but made an effort to put on a small, blank and noncommittal smile as nearly everyone in the room turned to basically stare at him. It wasn't the worse feeling in the world being the center of attention but it certainly far from his favorite.

"We're glad to have you with us Steve. And in honor of your arrival we're going to work on today's lesson in pairs," Mr. Kirby paused to allow the short burst of cheers(some authentic, most sarcastic) from his students. "So everybody partner up with the person sitting next to you. You can begin as soon as you get the worksheet."

Once he concluded his address Mr. Kirby went around the front desk of each row and gave them a stack of papers to hand back behind them. Steve wordlessly accepted his worksheet from the student sitting in front of him a few seconds later, the sound of chairs scraping against the floor filled the room as all the students moved themselves to face their partner and begin. Once he finally looked up from the worksheet Steve found himself partnered with a student around his age with dark cocoa like skin and well defined cheekbones.

"Hey there, I'm Sam Wilson."

"Steve Rogers. Nice to meet you Sam."

"Same here," The two boys reached over their respective desks to shake hands.

"Ready to get this thing started?"

AN: So... yeah.

Where to begin?

Ninety percent of this chapter was done two months ago...then I started playing Fallout 4 and then I finally got a job on campus. So all my time went into that unfortunately. It didn't help that during that time I started to focus on developing my novel and really and I mean REALLY got into Fire Emblem Awakening(Robin and Lucina basically kidnapped me until I agreed to make them my OTP) which caused me to do one of the things I hate doing most and that was putting this story on the back burner(a nasty habit I began with this story's spiritual predecessor). Originally this chapter was going to be three segments longer, of course the first of those segments was the one that stymied me and halted all my progress(another bad habit of mine is writing myself into corners with segments I don't necessarily have passion for, which is what usually causes me to upload slowly and infrequently). So I decided to cut those last three segments this time around because I felt bad not posting for so long and it was time to just move on from that. But that means that I have a lot of promises to make and keep for the next chapter.

Number one it will pick up right up where this chapter leaves off( a particular scene from the Highschool Initiative will be recreated and I'm more than a little excited about that). And number two I'm finally going to introduce a central antagonist character(It's a character I've been planning on for two stories now and I finally found a way to flesh that out).

So to conclude I apologize for the subpar length and quality of this chapter. I'm not proud of it but all there's left to do is move forward and do better. And I wish I could in good faith give you an exact "release date" for the next chapter but I just can't. I need to go back to the drawing board since I haven't written for this fandom in a while and I need to just slightly tweak the formula a bit. And you never know when inspiration for my novel will strike me and that can and has derailed my upload schedule at the speed of thought. Also I've just been writing some Fire Emblem drabbles just for the hell of it, I don't know if I'll ever upload them but they make me feel good and I have fun doing it so I'm not gonna stop writing that.

So I'll see you all when I see you, hopefully it won't take too long but if it does I want you all to know that I appreciate more than words can describe the fact that you all took the time out to read this story and I love every single review that you guys grace me with.

Be good guys, I'll see you soon one way or another.