Chapter 2

"So you like seriously have no idea who this kid was?"

Tony sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that day. It was the first day back at school, it was a Monday, he had boring classes and Clint would not stop bothering him about what happened on the night of the party. He had told him almost ten times now that he couldn't remember much except that Pepper had broken up with him and he had got totally pissed and had woken up next to some stranger.

"No, I have never seen him before in my life. He definitely wasn't a kid though, he looked our age."

"And he didn't say anything? He didn't leave his number or his underwear?"

"What the hell? No!" Tony cried, staring at his friend incredulously.

They were currently seated in the lunch hall, surrounded by annoyingly loud younger students. Being the oldest in the school didn't always have its perks. It was already the first day and Tony was already counting down the days until he got to go off to university and forget this place. Now he was at the top of the school, everyone else just seemed so young and irritating. Maybe they had just become more annoying over the summer spent with their families and friends, getting drunk or high and lying about how they got to second base with a girl who they had obviously made up seconds before.

"Okay right describe him again. Maybe we can work this out by the process of elimination."

"I've already told you this," Tony said lazily. He wanted to know who the stranger had been but not this much. He was perfectly content with letting the memory slip to the back of his mind along with all the other stupid things he had done. "He had black hair, it was kinda long. Tall, pale, really green eyes. Does that help?"

"It rings a bell," Clint frowned, screwing up his face as he thought.

"I'm sure," Tony replied, thinking that he was joking.

He relaxed back on his plastic chair, trying and failing to find a comfortable position to spend the remaining twenty minutes in while he waited for last lesson. Flipping out his phone, he scrolled through it with a bored expression, finding nothing of interest. He went onto his texts and found his last conversation with Pepper. It had been sweet, they had made plans to meet up. Plans that would obviously not happen now. Mumbling something, he deleted the messages and slammed his phone down onto the table in front of him. His head followed suit, resting it against the cool surface.

"Loki."

"Bless you."

"No dumbass, Loki. You know, the new kid. He started here today and matches your description perfectly. When he spoke, did he have a sort of British accent?"

Tony raked his brains, thinking back when the stranger had said his only few words. "Um, yeah he might have done, I suppose. He didn't say much, just wanted to leave I think."

"Argh hell fucking shit."

"I'm sorry? Was that really necessary?" Tony asked, smiling awkwardly at the people closest to them who had turned to stare because of Clint's outburst.

Clint just stared at him with an expression of mixed horror and pity. Tony glared right back, having no idea what had prompted that bought of language and why Clint was starting at him like he told him something horrific.

"Yeah it was, do you know who Loki is?"

Groaning in frustration, Tony looked at him with a deadened expression.

"Of course I don't considering I've only just found out now that this guy exists. So what's so special about him anyway?"

The reply that would have come was cut off when Clint started hitting his arm before discreetly nodding to one of the entrances of the lunch hall. Tony was about to ask what the hell he was doing until he followed Clint's line of sight and froze as he watched Loki enter through one of the many doors of the lunch hall.

He looked different from how Tony remembered him. Or maybe that was just because he was wearing a lot more now or the fact that he hadn't just woken up or that he had a girl standing extremely close to him, whispering in his ear. Tony recognised her but just couldn't for the life of him put name to face. Still, Loki seemed to know her very well. After she finished speaking he let out a laugh as they carried on walking.

Suddenly the smile faded from his face and he halted in his step, staring at something that Tony couldn't see. Tugging gently on the girls arm, Loki urged her to turn around to which she complied. They had just begun heading in the direction they had come from when there was a shout of Loki's name and Thor, the tallest kid in school who happened to be in Tony's year, hurried over and pulled Loki into a hug that he clearly protested against.

"How is your first day brother?" Thor asked. Though his words were directed solely at Loki, his voice was generally so loud that his words carried over to where Clint and Tony sat.

Tony assumed that Loki replied with something short along the lines of 'it's okay' or 'it's fine' because he was soon dismissing Thor, leaving him alone in the middle of the room while the pair walked away. As soon as their interaction was over and Thor had traipsed back over to his friends, looking rather downcast, Tony rounded on Clint.

"Thor is Loki's brother?!"

"That's what I wanted to tell you."

"I am so dead," Tony groaned.

"Only if Loki tells him, which I doubt considering he seems to not want to talk to his brother," Clint said, patting his back consolingly.

The bell rang overhead and the room was suddenly filled with an increase of sound and movement as everyone got up and headed to their lesson. Tony walked as slowly as he dared, not caring too much for his class, he could do the work in his sleep he found it that easy. He spent his time instead thinking up imaginative ways in which Thor could inflict pain on him if he did find out. Tony wouldn't have been so worried if a) Thor hadn't been in his year or in his classes or b) if he hadn't been one of Tony's close friends.

This year was going to be difficult, Tony thought as he took his seat in the back of his maths class, he could just feel it.


The class turned out to be totally uneventful, probably due to Tony managing to do the work in the space of ten minutes, maybe fifteen. For the rest of the hour he stared down at his book, occasionally twiddling his pencil in his hand before dropping it on his desk and sighing. He stared out the window. Being on the first floor meant he could look out over the school grounds and see the people doing sport running up and down a track or else kicking a football around on the pitch.

As he watched them, there was some sort of disagreement and the next second two players were throwing themselves at the other. Their swears and pushes soon evolved and more players got involved until the two teams were in each other's faces, trying to make the other back off. It was only now that the teacher seemed to notice that no one was playing the game anymore. He ran over, blowing hard on his whistle and screamed for the players to sort themselves out or they would all be sent to the principal's office. After that they all quietened down, having no desire to be suspended for fighting. Soon the game was back in progress and, whatever had stopped it in the first place, was forgotten.

Suddenly, the window that Tony was gazing out of was slammed shut. He blinked upwards and met the eyes of his teacher staring down at him.

"Anything interesting out there Stark?"

"No Sir," Tony replied, quickly picking up his pen, pretending that he had been listening.

"Good. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to carry on with my lesson, this time with the class's full attention. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad to hear it. Just to test that you have been listening at all today, answer the question on the board, giving a detailed explanation of how you got that answer."

He hadn't been listening really but he knew what to do, it was a simple enough process. He quickly ran through how he had gotten the answer of two, knowing that no other in the class had any idea of what he was talking about besides Bruce, who was sat next to him, and that girl he had seen Loki with earlier.

As the register had been taken, Tony learnt that her name was Natasha. Thinking back, that name was very familiar, she had probably been in his classes in the past and he just hadn't paid that much attention. It sounded bad but it was true. He mostly only bothered with people who bothered with him, if someone didn't speak to him then he would most definitely not try to talk to them.

Anyway, she was fairly small, having a slim trimmed figure. If it wasn't for the heeled boots she wore, she would be as tall as most of the younger students in the school. With her shoes on, though, she stood on level with practically everyone in the year but some were still naturally taller. He friend Loki was one of those people. He just so happened to be naturally tall like his brother.

The lesson ended quicker than Tony had expected which he was rather happy about. He was eager to get home and forget this horrible first day. Well it could have been much worse, he could have run into Pepper.

As the bell rang, the class surged forward through the door so Tony decided to hang back, not wanting to get trampled. Unfortunately he was fairly small, well smaller than most others, so this was more likely. The doorway soon cleared and he headed out of the room, intending to pick up some books from his locker.

A hand took hold of his arm, yanking him backwards and around the corner from the classroom, and away from the eyes of the other students crowding the hallway. He let out a yelp of surprise before the air was knocked from his lungs as he was shoved against the wall.

"Okay Stark, we don't know eachother and I personally I think that's a good thing but Loki is my friend and so I need to warn you of this. If you ever tell anyone about it then I will hunt you down a rip you apart piece by piece before hiding each one where no one will ever find them."

Letting out a breath, Tony sagged backwards against the wall. It was just Natasha, Loki's apparent psycho friend, not some crazy murderer. He laughed in apparent relief then looked up at the girl that still had him pinned against the wall.

"Alright honey, you can stop with the macho talk, I get the message but unfortunately I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Quit the bullshit Stark, I know whose bed Loki woke up in the morning after the party and it definitely wasn't his own. So take my warning, tell anyone and your dead."

This was about the moment when Tony sobered, no longer willing to just smile and take whatever threats she sent his way.

"One, I'd appreciate if you didn't shout that around-"

"What? Worried for your reputation?" Natasha interrupted.

"Two," Tony continued, choosing to ignore her comment. "I have no idea what the hell you are talking about." He said it slowly and deliberately just to make sure he got his message across. "Loki didn't tell me anything, in fact we barely even talked. I don't remember what happened and I'm kinda glad to be honest."

"You can keep lying all you want but remember what I said, tell anyone and you die."

Then she was gone and Tony was left leaning against the wall, thoroughly confused. Readjusting his shirt, he walked to his locker which had been his goal in the first place, and picked up the books he needed. All the while, he thought over what Natasha had said. Don't tell anyone about it. What the hell was it? Tony really wasn't lying when he said he had no idea what she was talking about. It was true, him and Loki had barely exchanged two words. They might have exchanged more the night of the party but Tony couldn't remember anything so he was still at a loss. All he did know was that he didn't approve of being thrown against walls and threatened with his life. Especially by girls he had never spoken to in his life.

Right. It was the moment of truth. The time for confrontation. Though he had vowed to himself never to speak to Loki again, he knew that now it was necessary to break that oath. Turning the key in his locker, he refastened his bag and slung it over his shoulder before walking off down the corridor in search of Loki. He truthfully had no idea where he would be, most likely he had already left. But there was a chance that he had stayed behind, either to wait for a friend, pick up some books like Tony had done, gone to a club or just wanted to chill round school instead of going home. Personally Tony hoped that the last one wasn't Loki's reason for staying because that would be pretty lame but who was Tony to judge.

He wandered around and around, up and down corridors for some time, then, admitting defeat, he strolled to the car park in search of his car. As if by magic, just as Tony exited the school building, he caught sight of Loki staring at the ground as he walked beside an animated Thor.

Jogging over to them, Tony tapped Loki lightly on the shoulder, so as not to scare him like Natasha had to Tony. Loki turned round almost instantly and his passive expression transformed into alarm in less than a second. Thor also turned around, noticing that Loki had stopped walking.

"Friend Tony, how nice to see you for the beginning of this new school year. I hope it has begun well for you."

"Yeah it's going okay thanks, yours?" Tony asked casually.

"It is going quite well so far. I am happy that my brother has joined this term." He pointed unnecessarily at Loki, grinning widely.

"Cool," Tony said, continuing this time before Thor could interrupt. "Um, Loki can I talk to you for a minute, uhh, over there." He gestured aimlessly to somewhere to the left of them that was at a fair distance away from Thor.

"Thor keep walking, I'll catch you up," Loki turned and said to the blonde.

Thor smiled and nodded, heading off through the school gates and off down the road. Loki followed Tony off the path and away from prying ears that could be listening in.

"Is there anything particular you wanted?" Loki asked curtly, seemingly annoyed that Tony didn't start speaking straight away.

"Yeah," Tony replied. He paused for a few seconds then started speaking. "Yeah, okay, what the hell is the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry?" Loki asked, obviously shocked by Tony's suddenly hostile tone.

"So you just tell your friend about what happened and then set her on me. She half attacked me in the middle of the corridor before dragging me backwards and threatening to kill me if I didn't keep your secrets."

"What?!" Loki demanded, thoroughly confused.

"Natasha. Your friend. She started shouting at me and threatening me not to tell anyone about something that you apparently told me which I'm pretty sure you didn't. I don't even know you."

Tony looked up at Loki, expecting an immediate response but receiving none. Loki appeared almost frozen, deep in thought, his mouth drawn in a thin and his pale cheeks even paler.

"I'm sorry for what she has done to you, I hope you're not hurt."

"No I'm good. Just some warning next time, or maybe you could say something yourself if there's a problem," Tony said slowly, wondering why Loki was suddenly acting differently. He seemed more hardened and closed off. His expression was impossible to read and his body language even more so.

"I think it best that we don't converse with eachother or make contact in any way in school or outside of it. Luckily we don't share classes or friends so it should be a fairly easy thing to achieve. Good day Tony Stark."

And with that, Loki headed off across the grass and back onto the path.

"Hey wait a second," Tony called after him, running to keep up.

"What now?"

"What the hell was that? We're not five year olds that don't get along, so there's no need to act like one or treat us both like one. We're basically adults."

"Your point?"

"Why do we suddenly have a 'we can't be friends or even look at each other' law? I never said I wanted to be your best friend but it would be nice to have some sort of relationship that isn't total hostility."

"That is not a good idea, Stark, now please stop bothering me so that I can actually go home."

"Well someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning," Tony joked.

In a second Loki was practically pushed up against Tony's chest, his green eyes boring into Tony's brown ones. His height made this whole move quite intimidating, more so than Natasha's threats. Strands of his dark hair fell over his face which made his expression look even more sinister.

"Do not make fun of me or profess to know me," Loki said darkly, his voice dropping in volume. "You are not my friend, or even my acquaintance, we just happen to have had an unfortunate meeting. Now excuse me."

This time when Loki walked away, Tony didn't go after him. Instead he just watched him go. As he ambled his way over to his car, Tony wondered just what Loki had apparently told him that would be serious enough to illicit a reaction like that from him.


I'm not sure when the new chapter will be posted as I haven't had time to write much of it yet, hopefully it will be soon. Thankyou for all the follows and please review?! :)