A/N: I hope you guys liked the first chapter! This one'll be from Tony's POV, and it's going to flip-flop every chapter. The band is Tony's idea, so maybe it'll be introdued this chapter? I don't know...I guess you'll find out! Enjoy! Please review!

Disclaimer: None of this, and I mean absolutely none of this, except the plot is mine. Everything recognisable is owned by Marvel and the various artists I'm going to be borrowing songs from. Please don't sue me! No copyright infringement intended! I make no money off of this!

Chapter Two: Tony Has An Idea

Tony noticed Thor staring at Loki again and elbowed him. "Hey," he whispered. "Pay attention."

"You never do," Thor retorted.

Tony had to smother a snort of contempt. "That's because I know all of this already. You don't. Pay attention."

Thor glared at him. Tony ignored it and instead went back to watching Steve. Tony had had a crush on Steve for a long time, and he wouldn't hesitate to shamelessly flirt with him, but still Steve seemed oblivious to the way Tony felt. It was times like this, when Steve was completely ignoring him (okay, he had a reason, he was doing his schoolwork), that Tony became somewhat jealous of Clint, Bruce, and Natasha. Bruce and Nat had been dating for a few weeks, and it was common knowledge by now that Clint was dating Phil Coulson. The fact that Thor didn't have a girlfriend or boyfriend yet only put Tony's mind at ease a little bit.

Tony knew Thor was trying - he'd been sweet on Loki Laufeyson, the sorcerer, for quite a while now and it appeared that Loki didn't notice or didn't care. Still, Thor kept subtly trying, and Tony knew it wasn't working based on the way he kept watching Loki in class.

"We have Ability Control next," Tony muttered to Thor. "I heard Headmaster Fury himself is overseeing our next project."

"I wonder what it could be?" Thor replied. "The Headmaster doesn't get involved very often."

"Whatever it is, maybe he'll let us choose partners," Tony said. "I've heard he's pretty lenient with that sort of thing."

The bell rang a few minutes later, signaling the end of class, and Tony waited for the rest of his friends to pack up before leaving the room.

"I wonder what the new project'll be," Clint said. "It's gotta be something big if Headmaster Fury is getting involved."

"Too bad you won't be able to work with your boyfriend," Tasha teased. Clint punched her lightly in the arm.

"Shut up," he said. The others laughed.

Tony noticed Steve falling behind and dropped his pace to match.

"Hey," he said. Steve looked over at him.

"Hey, Tones," Steve said.

"What's up? And don't even think about saying 'nothing', I can tell there's something on your mind." Tony was quite firm in that.

"I don't know...I guess...if Fury lets us work with partners for this project or whatever, there's this guy that I really like who I'd want to work with, but the problem is I don't know how to tell him. I'm afraid he'll reject me...or, you know, just friendzone me, and that would be even worse," Steve admitted.

Tony felt a strong surge of jealousy. Of course Steve liked someone other than him. Of course. Whoever the guy was, he was extremely lucky.

"I doubt he'd friendzone you," Tony said. "Presumably this guy would share your feelings. I mean, come on, you're you. Who hasn't had a crush on you at some point? Besides, you're like the most likable person in the school. You're kind, you're smart, you're funny, you're brave, you're strong...the list goes on." Tony had mentally added, You're gorgeous, but he didn't think Steve would take too kindly to that.

Steve gave him a look, smiling softly.

"Tony, you're a genius, but you are such an idiot sometimes," Steve laughed.

Tony was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Tones," Steve said, "you're the guy I was talking about."

Tony couldn't keep an expression of surprise from his face. "I - I am?"

"Yes," Steve laughed.

"Why have you not responded, then, to every time I've flirted with you?" Tony demanded. "I thought you weren't interested!"

"You must be blind, then, Tones, 'cause yeah, I'm interested," Steve told him. "I'm very much interested."

Tony would've replied except for the fact that they'd reached the arena doors. Tony glaned at Steve.

"Should we go in hand-in-hand or something?" Tony asked.

"Not yet," Steve decided. "I'm not exactly comfortable with this whole thing yet, and we don't need the entire school finding out about it immediately."

"Okay," Tony said. "Come on, the bell's about to ring."

They slipped into the "classroom" and headed straight for the array of comfortable seating where the rest of the Avengers-in-training had grouped. Tony noticed Loki and Valkyrie sitting together and talking; the two were inseperable, so it wasn't a surprise. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were sitting together, and as Tony watched, Wanda's boyfriend Vision walked over to join them. Bucky, Steve's friend, was with his boyfriend Sam Wilson and Tony's friend Rhodey. The three were engaged in conversation with Peter Parker and Wade Wilson (not related to Sam at all). The group of strange kids that had named themselves "the Guardians of the Galaxy" - Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Nebula, Rocket the Raccoon (cybernetically modified), Groot (a tree-creature from a different planet), and Mantis - were all sprawled around in one large semicircle and talking animatedly. Stephen Strange and Carol Danvers were near each other talking, T'Challa walking over to join them after a moment. Scott Lang and his girlfriend Hope van Dyme (nicknamed Ant-Man and the Wasp because of their powers) were talking a little away from the main group.

The rest of the Six had gotten there a few minutes before Tony and Steve did and were clustered farthest from the door. Steve and Tony collapsed right as the bell rang.

The room fell instantly silent when Headmaster Fury walked in a side door closest to the seating area (which was rather small compared to the rest of the room). He had that effect on people, Tony had noticed; whenever he walked in, the room's inhabitants either fell silent or brought the general noise level down far below normal.

"You all know why you were accepted to this school," Fury began. "It is because you have powers that no humans have ever seen before. You are here to learn how to control them and use them to your advantage, and to the advantage of the human race. And, by extension, the advantage of the whole galaxy. There are other worlds out there, and they don't have Avengers like Earth does. Which is why, when some of you leave this place for the final time, you'll be going into space to protect the other worlds that don't have task forces like this one."

They knew all this already; Tony wondered why Fury was telling them this, but knew better than to interrupt, no matter how badly he wanted to. Save the interruptions for when they were actually on the team and saving the world.

"That being said," Fury continued, "I have seen the progress reports from your instructors. You have all come a long way with your skills.

"And I want you to prove it."

Murmurs of excitement rippled through the room at that. Tony shared a look with Steve and then with the other four.

"What'd you think -?" Clint started to whisper, but fell silent as Fury held up a hand to stop the whispers.

"Your assignment will be ongoing for the rest of the year. You will continue to practice your abilities in class, but your projects will be whenever you have time after school to work on them. These projects will be interactive, creative, and most importantly demonstrate how well you've learned to master your abilities. It can be anything; I'm not particular. But we will have a talent show of sorts at the end of the year that presents your projects and shows your control on your powers.

"This is a group project, and yes, I am letting you choose your own groups. However -"

Fury was cut off by the cheers of approval from the class. Tony knew exactly who'd be working with who just based on the way everyone was sitting.

"However!" Fury had to raise his voice to be heard above the cheers, which died down instantly. "However, the limit of people to a group is eight. Any larger and we might as well tell all of you, as a class, to come up with something. Any smaller and there would be a lot of uproar from the larger friend groups. You have today to pick your groups and decide on a project. Then completing the project is on you.

"Go."

Immediately Tony turned to his friends.

"We're a group, obviously," Clint said.

"Yeah, but what do we do for our project?" Steve asked.

"I have an idea," Tony said.

"Uh-oh," Tasha muttered.

"Shut up!" Tony laughed. "You all play instruments, right?"

"Yes" came the chorus from his friends.

"I play the guitar," Tony said. "What about you guys?"

"Guitar," Clint said.

"Bass guitar," Steve shrugged.

"Drums," Thor said.

"Piano and cello," Bruce admitted.

"Violin," Natasha added.

"So, we start a band!" Tony exclaimed. "There are more than enough of us, and we can figure out how to incorporate our powers after we've practiced a bit."

"That's...actually not a bad idea," Clint said.

"I agree," Tasha added. "That's a great idea. We'll have to be a cover band, though. I don't think any of us can actually write a song."

"A band it is, then," Steve said, smiling briefly at Tony. Tony shot him a look that said, Later!

"Probelm: Who's going to sing? If we all play instruments..." Bruce trailed off.

"Loki sings."

Everyone turned to stare at Thor, who blushed. "W-what? I just happened to be passing his house one day and I heard him singing through an open window on the ground floor. He's good, too. I've no idea what he was listening to, but his voice sounded amazing."

"Okay then," Tony said. "But we have another problem: He's probably working with Valkyrie on something. How do we convince him...?"

"Look, Tones," Bruce told him.

Tony turned and looked to where he'd seen Loki sitting. The Trickster was still there, but he was now glaring at Valkyrie, who'd joined the Maximoff twins and Vision.

"Now's our chance," Steve pointed out. "Who should go talk to him?"

"I'll go," Thor volunteered. Tony raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on his eagerness. They all knew the Thunderer had had a crush on Loki for a long time. It wasn't a surprise. Besides, maybe Loki would listen to Thor.

"I will too, since it was my idea," Tony offered. Thor nodded and the pair set off across the room to where Loki sat scowling.

"Loki?"

Loki jumped at the sound of Thor's voice, looking up at him in surprise. "H-hi, Thor," Loki stuttered. Then he noticed Tony and composed himself, though Tony could see a faint blush coloring his otherise pale features. "Stark."

"Laufeyson." Tony decided that if Loki wanted to play the last-name-only game, he would too. Despite being used to being called "Stark" by the other kids in some of his classes, Tony didn't want it coming from someone he was hopefully going to be working on a project with.

"What do you two want?" Loki asked. He sounded indifferent, but Tony noticed that his eyes always gave away his emotions. He was curious.

"Would you like to work with us on our project?" Thor offered.

"Depends on what you're doing."

"We're forming a band and we need a main singer," Tony said.

"And we heard you can sing," Thor added. "Do you want to join us?"

Loki seemed to consider their offer, looking back over at where Valkyrie was obviously flirting with Pietro and scowling.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Loki said eventually. "Val abandoned me, so what do I have to lose?"

"Come on, Loki," Thor said, offering his hand to help Loki up. Loki took it with a slight blush - actually, both of them were blushing, Tony noticed. Oh, gods, they were cute together.

The three of them went back to the others, and Tony announced, "We have a lead singer!"

"I'd like to hear him sing first," Tasha said coolly.

"What would you like me to sing?" Loki asked.

The Six shared a look, then chorused, "Shook by Thousand Foot Krutch."

Loki shrugged and started to sing the main chorus.

"I feel shook
Every time I close my eyes and travel into the place in the back of my mind
It's a place where memories hide and thoughts combine
I see places and thousands of faces all at the same time, now

Look
Everybody close your eyes and travel into the place in the back of your mind
Now run into the place you're afraid to climb
That's where you'll find me,
You'll always be two steps behind me!"

Damn. He was good. Tony was impressed. So were the others, by the looks on their faces.

"I told you he could sing!" Thor exclaimed. Loki blushed.

"I'm not that good," Loki muttered.

"Yeah, you are," Clint said. "Damn, you've got a good voice!"

"Okay, Clint is praising you, this is an accomplishment," Bruce teased. "Now we know you're good."

"Shut up!" Clint laughed. Even Loki smiled.

"Okay! So, do we want to start practicing at my place tonight?" Tony offered brightly.

"Sure," Clint shrugged.

"I'm free," Tasha said.

"Okay," agreed Bruce.

"Yeah, sure," Thor said.

"I've literally got nothing better to do," Loki lamented. "Fine." Was it just Tony, or did he sound a little disappointed? Maybe he'd made plans with Valkyrie or something before she'd abandoned him in favor of the Maximoffs and Vision.

"Of course," Steve said.

"Great!" Tony exclaimed. "Don't forget your instruments."

"I can't bring an entire drumset," Thor said.

"Don't worry, I've got one." Tony waved it off.

The bell rang, then, and the assembled Avengers-in-training dispersed to their next classes.

Steve and Tony shared their next class, and so they fell into step together. Tony took Steve's hand, making the super-soldier smile at him.

"Yes?"

"Just...having a good day," Tony said. "Though that might change when I tell Dad about the band."

"Parent issues?" Steve guessed.

"Yeah. You could say that."

Steve gave Tony's hand a squeeze. "It'll be fine, Tones," Steve assured him.

Tony smiled at him.

"Yes, it will."