Tony trotted down the corridors in a fury on his way to his father's office. Not once had Howard even bothered to talk to him all semester long, so why did he want to see Tony now? No doubt to tell him how much of a screw up he is. That's all he ever seemed to talk to Tony about when he ACTUALLY paid attention to him.
He had arrived in front of the office door. Steeling his nerves, Tony knocked on the door. He anxiously waited for what felt like an eternity before he heard a voice from inside.
"Come in, Anthony Edward.".
Steve had been walking briskly towards Tony's dorm, worrying himself along the way. He was trying to think of what all he should say. I mean, he was still a little confused on how he himself felt about the whole subject, but he figure he needed to at least try and talk about it with Tony and just go from there.
He arrived in front of the dorm and rapidly knocked on the door. He was a little surprised to see Bruce at the door, and apparently Bruce was surprised to see Steve as well.
"Oh! Hey Steve."
"Hey Bruce." Steve said, almost hesitantly. He could feel a light blush start to creep onto his face. "Um, is Tony around? I need to talk to him about something.".
"He was called to talk with the dean.". Bruce explained. "You might be able to catch him on his way out, or I could leave a message for you.".
"No, that's okay." Steve replied nervously. "I'll just go find him. Thanks anyway, Bruce.".
And with that, Steve raced towards the dean's office.
Bruce watched as Steve disappeared down the corridor and sighed.
"He and Tony just need to hook up. All the tension between them is getting on my last nerve...".
"Sit there, Anthony.".
Howard pointed to the chair directly in front of his desk.
Tony sat down in a huff. It was eerily quiet in the room, with Howard staring at him with complete seriousness. Tony stared back apathetically. After a few more moments of silence, Tony finally spoke.
"Look, if this is about me switching my major, I just want to say I'm not sorry about it."
"This isn't about that, Tony." Howard said sternly. "Although I was rather upset about that, this is about a different matter.". Tony shot his father a look that told him to explain.
"There have been rumors floating around, that have floated to me." Howard stated. "Rumors about you and another male student. I simply asked you here to confirm or deny any claims that have been passed around.".
Tony swallowed nervously, but kept his steely composure.
"What kind of rumors, exactly?" he asked in all seriousness. Howard's expression stayed constant, or if anything it only got more intense.
"Apparently from what I am told you have been spending a lot of time with this boy, more often than not." Howard's tone started to sound agitated. "People are starting to say things about the two of you. Things that I am not exactly fond of hearing.".
"I am only helping him out with his art project. Yeah, he's a friend now and we hang out a lot, but do people have to make such a big deal about it?". Tony's voice had slight spite hidden behind those words. Howard outwardly groaned and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"People are obviously making an ordeal out of it if they are coming to me saying that my son's been gallivanting with some other guy like a 'love sick school girl'.".
That last statement prodded at Tony's patience, and then he proceeded to rant.
"So what if I happen to like the guy? You wouldn't have bothered or cared either way if it didn't have something to do with your image as Dean. That's the only reason you ever pay attention to me when you do, is when it has something to do with how YOU are seen. Hell, people had to come and TELL you about a situation like this because you sure don't ever bother talking to me, let alone attempt being involved in what's going on in my life!".
Howard became furious.
"Don't tell me I don't pay attention to you. Who do you think payed for you to go to MIT? For you to go here?."
"You only paid for MIT because mom had to persuade you to, and the only reason I am here is because YOU wanted me to come here and learn Business Management!" Tony yelled. "Why do you think I took the chance of hacking in and changing my major?! Because I didn't want to do that! That's what YOU wanted! That falls absolutely NO WHERE in my lines of interest, and you would know that if you ever paid one shred of attention!".
Tony huffed in exhaustion from all the yelling. Howard glared at his son from across the desk. It was deathly silent for a long while until Howard started rummaging through some papers and getting them set up.
"At the end of the semester, you are to pack all of your things and get on the next plane to California, back to your mother." Howard spoke in a grave tone. "You will not be allowed back here at the college or on the campus.".
Tony looked back with a hurt smirk and chuckled.
"You know something? You can mark that in the record books, because that is probably the first time you did something that benefitted someone besides you.".
"Are you sure about that?" Howard muttered. "That would mean you wouldn't get to see your 'friend'.".
The last word came out spitefully.
Tony was headed towards the door, but stopped before leaving and turned back to Howard.
"Oh yeah, you know something? Yeah, I may have a thing for this guy. But you probably had no reason of worrying about this whole situation. I'm pretty confident the guy is as straight as a ramp.". He yanked the door open and made sure to slam it as hard as he possibly could.
He wanted to make sure Howard knew with absolute certainty that he was upset, but refused to show him to what extent. Because as much as he hated to say, Howard was right. With him being basically banished from the campus next semester, he wouldn't get to see Steve anymore. It burned Tony up inside just thinking about it.
As he starting storming back to his dorm room, Tony heard a familiar voice down the hallway.
"Tony! Hey Tony wait up!".
It was Steve. He was not someone Tony wanted to talk to right now. Tony sped up his steps, but Steve kept tailing him.
"Tony, wait. I need to talk to you."
Just stop following me, Tony thought to himself. Stop following before something happens.
"What happened with your dad?". Steve sounded legitimately concerned, but Tony snapped. He turned sharply towards Steve's direction and let it loose.
"I DO NOT WANT TO TALK RIGHT NOW, STEVE!".
Tony could hear his voice breaking as he screamed, tears trying to well up in his eyes. He fought them back as well as he was able.
Steve stared at Tony with utter shock on his face. He never saw Tony like this, never thought he was even capable of such things. Tony looked nearly broken, as if he would shatter at the slightest breeze. It hurt Steve to see him like this.
Tony looked back at Steve and saw the worry and hurt on his face. He turned his eyes away from Steve before talking softly, his voice breaking in the process.
"You still needed one more expression for your project, right? Well there you go...". With that he turned around and went on his way, leaving a hurt Steve in his wake. Tony didn't want to leave him like that, but he felt that it was better to keep things from getting more involved now that he wouldn't be coming back next semester.
He was trying to keep himself from getting too attached, but he knew it was already too late for that.
