Everyone be proud, I actually proof read this chapter (although I still apologise for any mistakes).


Chapter 8

"Well that's a real slap in the face," Clint muttered, as they carried on walking past the window and out of sight. "How did I not see that coming?"

Tony grunted in reply, not having an actual answer for his friend. They continued to walk, mostly in silence, though it was occasionally punctured by a sigh or grumble from Clint. It wasn't hard to guess that his best friend had feelings for Natasha even though he had never actually voiced them. But now he finally started to admit just how much he liked the girl that he had just seen kissing someone else. Tony felt really rather sorry for him as he shared some of his previously hidden feelings.

"I just don't get it, they just seemed like really good friends."

"I know man, I feel for you. Though I suppose you dodged a bullet, her moods are very changing and I wouldn't want to be close on her bad days."

"Nah Natasha's alright," Clint replied, shrugging. "She's just picky with who she talks to. I mean, come on, everyone reaches a limit with how much bullshit they can listen to in one day."

"Fair point," Tony nodded.

They didn't speak at all after that short conversation. Neither really knew what to say to the other. Their original plans had been totally forgotten and so they just headed out of the town into the more residential areas. From the path they were subconsciously following, they seemed to be going in a very large circle, heading back in the direction of both of their houses.

To Tony the whole situation just sucked. He was already in a bad mood from the argument with Loki, which led to him feeling upset, frustrated and stupid. All those emotions mixed in together felt terrible but now he had the added weight that had settled in his stomach, pulling him downwards as though to keep him from moving or doing anything. He couldn't describe what that emotion or feeling was but he knew that it wasn't good, especially as it had never happened before. And that it had only come on after he had seen Natasha and Loki kiss.

Unfortunately Tony wasn't an idiot, he was actually very smart. Although at this moment in time he wished to be stupid because as he added up his emotions in time with each event and compared to previous similar situations he worked out by process of elimination that what he was in fact feeling now was jealousy. That was not good. Definitely not good at all.

It was at that moment that he realised that Clint was staring at him curiously.

"I know why I'm sad, but why the hell do you look like you might cry?" He asked.

"I'm not about to cry," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "I just feel bad for you, it must suck."

He knew he was lying to his friend, well bending the truth as he did feel sorry for Clint, but he knew his friend would understand. Clint wasn't stupid either; he knew Tony wasn't telling the truth. But that could also be down to the fact that Tony was an appalling liar. Either way, they both knew and neither commented on it.

Not long later they parted ways, muttering a goodbye to eachother before heading for their respective houses. When Tony finally unlocked the front door and marched upstairs, he walked straight past his bed and directly into his bathroom where he shut the door and fell back against it. He let all of his pent up emotions flow out of him in a long loud sigh. Then he turned on his shower, waited for the water to get slightly too hot to be comfortable, stripped, and stepped in under the heavy torrent of water.

Relishing in the feeling of the water pounding down over his head and shoulders, Tony ran his fingers through his hair and sighed again. He rested his back against the freezing tiled wall and dropped his head back, closing his eyes.

What was going on, he thought, what the hell was going on? Some new kid waltzes in directly into his bed, albeit unintentionally, and suddenly Tony is jealous of seeing him kiss his friend. Jealousy. One of Tony's most hated emotions and the one he had just figured out he was feeling. But why? Why was he jealous? There was definitely no reason to be.

Okay so he may enjoy talking to Loki. And arguing with him. And being near him. But they were not reasons for jealousy were they? Then he thought back over how he had watched Loki lean over the table to kiss Natasha and the darkness came back to him. He remembered how Loki had kissed him only an hour or so before. Though it had been very light, barely a brush of the lips on his skin, it had still raised goose bumps and left Tony feeling slightly weak kneed. Okay so maybe he liked Loki. But he would get over it right? It was just a stupid crush, nothing more.

Maybe this crush would be good for him anyway. Though he had never really had feelings for a man before, he didn't have a problem with it and he was tired of all the shit with Pepper (even though he may have caused most of it). Maybe taking a huge break from girls of any kind would be a good thing. Everyone needed change once in a while otherwise life gets too boring and predictable.

And with that reassuring thought in mind, he managed a smile before finishing his shower and stepping out into the cooler air. He dried off quickly and pulled on some old jogging bottoms and a large t-shirt then snuggled into bed. Even though it was only late afternoon, Tony was exhausted and thought it best to get a few hours sleep because he would probably be up all night down in the garage inventing all kinds of wonderful things. It was the weekend after all and he was sure his huge mountain of homework could definitely wait until tomorrow.

Just before he fell asleep though, he agreed with himself that he needed to find out about the nature of Loki and Natasha's relationship just in case. Just in case there was some hope for him.


It was Monday. It was cold. Everyone around school seemed to have given up on work already and were all doing a sort of slumped shuffle around the building, trying to ignore the clouds getting darker and the drizzle turning into a heavy downpour. It soon made the windows opaque meaning the students couldn't even escape their mundane lessons by staring absently out of the window, instead subjected to gazing at the wall or at the blackboard, not taking in anything their teachers were writing or saying.

Then the bell would ring signalling break or lunch. They would clamber to their feet and leave the room in an orderly fashion, unlike when they first arrived back after summer when they would literally throw themselves at the door in hopes of being the first one out.

It was now lunchtime and Loki was searching through the assortment of books on his English teacher's desk, looking for the specific one he required. Behind him he heard the classroom door close. He thought that to be rather odd. Though the windows were open, only a very light breeze blew through the room that was nowhere near powerful enough to close the solid wood door. The only other options were that the room was haunted or someone had closed it. He chose the latter, knowing that that one was actually plausible compared with the first.

Turning around, looking away from the desk, his eyes settled on the image of Tony leaning against the back wall next to the now closed classroom door.

"So, you and Natasha? Didn't see it myself but I've been proved wrong before. How long have you been together, a week, month? Or were you already together before you even came here?"

"I'm not seeing Natasha, we're just friends. I'm not seeing anyone," Loki added, hoping that that little piece of information would help the situation.

"Just friends?" Tony said, eyebrows raised. "I'm friends with Clint but that doesn't mean I snog his face off at weekends."

"I don't-" Loki tried to say but was cut off by Tony.

"I saw you Loki. What? Is it like a hobby of yours then to go around kissing everyone?" He was being harsh and he knew it. He was using his anger to hide the hurt that lay beneath and he wanted to get a rise out of Loki. He needed answers.

"Tony that is not what I do and you know it."

"Then why did you fucking kiss me then Loki if there wasn't some meaning behind it?" He was moving closer now, standing directly in front of Loki and the other had nowhere to hide with his back pressed firmly against the desk behind him. "Does that mean I can just go around and kiss whoever I want?"

To prove his point, he suddenly leant in close to the other man, making it seem like he was going to steal a kiss when really he was just going to get close then pull away. Loki, however, didn't seem to work that out and pushed Tony hard in the chest, forcing him a few steps back.

"You-you slug!" He cried. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"To prove that you can't just kiss people and act like nothing happened," Tony shouted back. "And if I'm a slug then you're a fucking snail."

At that Loki snorted derisively. Even for Tony, that was a seriously lame comeback. "A snail, really?"

"Yeah because...because you're always hiding in your shell," Tony stuttered, trying to hang onto any thread that he could find that didn't make him sound like a total idiot. "You can be all happy and dandy, making fun of people with your wit and English charm but as soon as things get personal you shut down, hide away. You make out to be so open and honest but you're only honest about others, never yourself. You never let people get close."

"Is that what you want Stark, to get close?" Loki sneered.

"I did."

And it hurt Loki to hear those words spoken so honestly by one of the only people that Loki actually liked. It was that short statement that drained Loki of all his anger and energy. He sagged backwards against the desk and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry Tony," He said finally, after what felt like hours of silence. "I shouldn't have kissed you and I don't know why I did it." It was a lie. He knew exactly why he did it but he wasn't going to admit that. Not when it was so obvious how close Tony was to giving up on him all together. He could live with just being his friend. He would have to. "And I don't trust people. That's why I don't get personal. It's as simple as that."

Tony remained silent for some time, thinking over what Loki had said. "Well thanks I guess...for explaining. I'm sorry too but maybe from here we should start again, this time trying to stop the arguments before they fester because I think we could be good friends if we weren't both stubborn dicks."

Loki actually laughed at that. "Yes, I believe we would."

"Good, now this is getting way too touchy feely for my liking so I'm gunna go to lesson now and see you at the meeting later. Don't miss me too much in the meantime," Tony smiled, turning on his heels and leaving the room.

"I'll try," Loki said after him, letting the smile fall off his face as soon as Tony was out of sight.

Friends. Friends. Well at least he had that.

Shouldering his bag, Loki shuffled out the room and spent the rest of his day in varying degrees of misery with Natasha constantly reminding him that life really wasn't that bad at the moment. 'Wait until the exams,' she said, 'then you can be miserable.'


"Where were you at lunch? I couldn't find you anywhere."

Tony had just taken a seat in maths when Clint strolled over and pulled out the chair next to him.

"I had some stuff to sort out. Why? Did I miss something good?"

"Not really," Clint replied, pulling out his books and a pen from the bottom of his bag. "Although some of the younger kids had this huge argument in the middle of the dining hall which was quite amusing."

He smiled slightly at the memory before turning to face the front as their teacher began to speak. They were revising one of the easier topics that day which meant the whole hour would be a lot easier. Unfortunately the teacher didn't accept any chatter when he was speaking and only allowed whispering during the time they were given to answer the questions. He also had a habit of talking for a very very long time and explaining the processes over and over again that everyone in the room felt drowsy and unwilling to do the work when it finally came around to it.

Tony supposed it was lucky then that he found the topic ridiculously easy and completed all the work within ten minutes of the forty minutes they were given. After first completing he just sat there for a while, staring around him at the other students conversing in low voices about anything and everything that didn't relate to the task in front of them. Then he looked towards the window but it was so fogged up because of the rain that he soon gave up trying to make out anything on the other side of the glass and went back to staring around the classroom.

"Hey Clint," He whispered to his friend. There was no reply. "Clint."

The man next to him continued to ignore him, leaning forward so he was practically lying on the table with his back to Tony.

"Clint, hey, talk to me," Tony whined quietly, jabbing his friend between his shoulder blades with his pen.

"What?" Clint demanded, turning around with a grimace of pain. Even though it was just a pen, the stab had still quite hurt.

"Talk to me man, I'm bored as hell."

"Good for you, I gotta do the work first."

"Kill joy," Tony muttered, slumping back in his chair and huffing.

During their brief conversation, their teacher had glanced over at them and he was now eying Tony with a very disapproving look. Tony sent him back a 'what, whispering's not illegal now is it?' look which caused the other to roll his eyes and look back down to the papers he was in the process of marking.

It took about another ten minutes of total boredom before Clint turned to him and said, "Right I'm done, now what do you wanna talk about?"

"Oh I dunno," Tony replied, moving forward so that his arm covered most of his face so that his teacher couldn't see him talking again.

Clint sent him an unamused look but didn't make a comment, instead shifting so that he too couldn't be seen to be talking either.

"Well you must have something to say otherwise you wouldn't have wanted to talk so much. Come on, I hurried up my work and probably got all the questions wrong now for this so tell me something interesting."

At this point Tony knew he could make up some random stuff to discuss with Clint that seemed like a serious issue or he could actually share the dilemma he was in and hope that his friend would help him. The latter was slightly tempting but the former held a lot more hope that he wouldn't be judged or laughed at. Still, he wasn't one to take the easy option so he sided with the latter. Taking a moment to mentally prepare himself, Tony leant in even closer and began to talk.

"So I like someone," He started then trailed off almost immediately, unsure how to continue.

"I'm assuming it's not Pepper judging by the way you said that. You guys are definitely over then?"

"For me it's over but I think she's still hanging on so no, it's not Pepper."

"Ohh okay," Clint said, getting quite excited. "Do I have to play the guessing game or will you give me some clues? Wait it's not Natasha is it because we may have a problem on our hands?"

"No it's not her," Tony hissed back, smiling at his friend's expression of relief. "In fact it's not actually a girl." He spoke the last words tentatively, watching for Clint's reaction.

To his surprise a wide smile broke out over Clint's face, revealing all his teeth. "It's Loki isn't it?" he asked, still smiling.

"What? No!" Tony said a little too loudly but that was due to the surprise that his friend had got it in one.

He peaked towards the front of the classroom and was relieved to see his teacher still staring resolutely down at the papers, obviously having not heard Tony.

Though he was lying again, he was quite impressed with his reflexes although perhaps he did answer too quickly judging by the way Clint was now staring at him, eyebrows raised.

"Really? Damn I was sure it was him. Fine, I give up, just tell me."

"Okay you were right the first time."

"I knew it," Clint cried, throwing his fist into the air in triumph. Unfortunately their teacher heard that time and Clint lowered his arm back down awkwardly, trying not to pay attention to almost everyone's eyes on him.

"I would appreciate if you kept the noise to a bare minimum," Their teacher snapped. "But if your conversation is really that important then perhaps you should share it with the rest of us."

"No, no, it's fine," Clint replied, staring down at his desk and going ever so slightly pink in the cheeks.

Their teacher nodded and went back to his marking while Clint sighed in relief.

"Still, I knew it," He said, this time a lot quieter. "God Natasha was so right."

It took a moment for those words to sink in for Tony. "What? When did you talk to her? And why did she even mention me, let alone guess this?"

"Oh, we were talking during free period earlier in the library," He replied with a smile at the memory. "And we were just talking and you sort of just cropped up."

"Yeah but that doesn't explain how she suddenly thinks that I like Loki."

"Does it matter?" Clint said, deliberately evading the questions. "So what are you gunna do about your feelings?"

"Nothing. We spoke earlier and basically said we were gunna stop arguing and just be friends so I assume that means that we can't be anything more than that and I doubt Loki would go for me anyway. I don't seem his type."

"Who cares about types? You never know," Clint said, looking hopeful. "Don't give up hope yet."

Tony just grumbled in response. Don't give up hope. Don't give up hope. Well that was difficult to do when Loki had told him earlier that the kiss had meant nothing. From that he felt that giving up would be the easy option. But one thing continued to bug him all through the rest of maths class and the meeting after school. Why had Natasha wanted to know if he liked Loki unless Loki had said something? There must have been something that caused her to ask or assume he liked Loki, but what was it? He could assume that it was that Loki liked him but he doubted it. Still, as Clint had said, don't give up hope yet.


Damn aren't these two frustrating, wouldn't it be easier if they both just admitted their feelings? Still, I'm sure they'll work it out soon but until next time, goodbye. Please review?! (Also a little thankyou to my awesome friend Hannah who suggested that Loki calls Tony a slug)