Tony wanders into the cafeteria the next day surrounded by his friends. He can't help but smile when he sees Steve sitting at a table by himself towards the middle of the room.
"Hey!" He called out to him. Steve looks up and sees him, before smiling and giving him a small wave.
"Who is that?" Clint asks, standing next to him.
"His name is Steve. I met him when I was at my aunt's diner the other day."
"Huh, that's weird."
Tony tilts his head in confusion. "What's weird?"
"Nothing."
"Clint, come on."
"It's just weird to see you, Tony Stark, actually want to talk to him."
Tony can't help but feel hurt by that, even though he wasn't the one Clint made a rude comment about, but he decides to let it go and follow Clint to their usual table. Everyone else immediately starts roping him into the conversation and he finds himself cracking jokes and forgetting about the conversation from only moments ago.
That night, however, he sees Steve again. He was wandering around the diner helping the few people that showed up at this time, when the familiar blond boy entered the store.
"Hi." Steve tells him.
"Hi." Tony tells him, smiling. "You're back!"
"Yep, still can't get to sleep." He shrugs.
"Really?" Tony asks, vaguely concerned.
"Insomnia."
"Got it." He nods in understanding.
Steve looks at Tony laying across the counter, practically asleep. He hesitantly asks, "Can I get some coffee?"
"Oh! Yeah, right." He jumps up and heads to get the coffee grounds.
He starts to make the drink and is pleasantly surprised when Steve begins to talk to him. "So… what's up?"
"Nothing. Aced a calculus test today." He shrugs as if it was no big deal, even though he practically jumped with excitement earlier that day as it was passed back to him.
"Cool."
They chatted for another hour or so, before Steve had to leave. After that, Tony closed up the store and headed home, excited to sleep after a long day.
Steve returns the next night as well, and many nights after that. It had been almost a week at this point, and the two boys slipped into a comfortable, yet still a bit awkward, routine. They'd talk about school, books, movies, pretty much anything that they thought of. Tony found himself looking forward to seeing Steve every night.
On Tuesday, Steve comes in around the same time as usual. The familiar ding of the bell over the door catches Tony's attention and he looks up to see the blond boy coming in the door.
"Hey!" Tony greets him, already placing Steve's usual order onto the counter in front of him. The other boy grins.
"I started another book." Steve tells him, immediately launching them into a casual conversation.
"What is it?"
"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain."
He is pleased to have recognized the title and smiles a bit to himself. "Oh, I've heard of that! Isn't there a movie?"
Steve gives him an incredulous look. "Do you prefer movies over books?"
"It depends."
His mouth drops open in shock. "How could it depend?"
"Why would I waste my time reading a book when I could just get the story by watching the movie?"
"This conversation hurts me."
"I'm not sorry."
"What's next, you're going to tell me you put pineapple on your pizza?"
"Yes!"
"We can't be friends."
"Ouch."
They share a small smile before Tony is pulled away to ring up a middle-aged man, the only other person in the diner. A few minutes later, Steve stands up as well.
"Okay, it's two am. Time for me to leave. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye!"
The next day, when Tony sees Steve sitting in the cafeteria by himself, he doesn't know what to do. On one hand, they had fun last night, and Tony wants to talk to him again. Alternatively, he doesn't want to scare him off with his extroversion. Steve looks perfectly content, doing what appeared to be doodling in a sketch book. He ultimately decides to casually go up and talk to him.
"Hi." He tells him, sitting in a seat near, but not directly next to him.
"Are you… sitting here?" He seems confused and Tony feels a pang of hurt in his chest but presses it down.
"Yeah, why? Do you want me to move?" He asks, already beginning to slide away.
"Well, you have a massive table over there filled with your friends. Why would you come sit next to me, someone you have only spoken a couple of times?"
"Well, for one, you seem pretty cool. Also, yeah, I've only spoken to you a couple of times, but how am I supposed to get to know you better if neither of us takes any initiative?"
"Tony! You coming?" He turns around to see Clint standing up and their regular table waving to him.
"Hold on!" He waves him off, before redirecting his attention back to Steve.
"As I was saying-"
He was cut off by Clint standing next to him asking, "What are you doing, dude?"
Tony had to repress an eyeroll. "Sitting here for a sec?"
"Why aren't you over there?"
"Can I not be here for like two seconds?"
"It's fine, I don't-" Steve cuts in, but is interrupted by Clint putting a hand on his shoulder and steering him towards the table of all of their other friends.
"Seriously, let's go. Do you know how bad it looks if we are over here just chilling by ourselves with some random dude."
Tony doesn't know what to do. He looks at Steve sitting there and reading his book and back to his other friends who are waiting for him impatiently.
"Fine. Bye, Steve."
"Bye." He thinks he sees a small frown, but his expression morphs into one of indifference so fast, he is not even sure if it was anything else to begin with.
"Plus, that guy's such a loser. Who draws during lunch?" Tony is too tired to do anything but laugh along with him.
Tony sits at the diner that night just working on his homework for hours. Steve doesn't stop by.
He slides into the seat next to Steve at lunch the next day, saying "You didn't stop by last night."
"Yeah. I had stuff to do."
"Oh… okay." He can't help but feel a smidge disappointed.
"Besides, what would I have to do there other than talk to you?" That hurts him as much as a smack to the face.
He stands up to leave stuttering, "I guess nothing, but I just thought-"
"Well I just thought if you were serious about actually wanting to talk to me, you and your friends wouldn't treat me like shit." Steve tells him bitterly, not looking up from the book he is reading.
He frowns. "What? When did that happen?"
"You don't remember the time when you moved for the sole purpose of preserving your image?"
"I-"
"How about when Clint Barton made fun of me and you laughed?"
Tony does, in fact, remember that. And as much as he wants to get mad and defensive, he knows Steve is right. "You're right."
Steve's anger fades and is replaced with confusion as if he genuinely expected a fight. "What?"
"You're right. Those were both really shitty things to do. I'll make it up to you."
"Really?" He seems doubtful.
"Yes. Stop by the diner again tonight."
Tony holds his breath hopefully, until Steve finally says "Okay."
Steve comes in later that day, true to his word. Tony already had something made for him, hoping he would come, and he holds it out the second Steve walked in the door.
"Here you go." He says nervously.
"What is this?"
"An apology cake."
"It looks bad." He frowns at the misshapen lava cake.
Tony's chest pangs and he wills himself not to frown. Instead, he jokes, "Do I look like a master chef to you?"
"Okay, sorry." He takes a bite and his eyebrows raise. "This isn't bad."
"Thank you." Tony takes a small bow.
"Why do you want to be friends with me so badly?"
"What?" Tony cocks his head.
"Why are you putting in all this effort to be friends with me?"
Tony chuckles nervously and doesn't know what to say. He can't very well tell him the truth or else he would come off way to strong, so instead he opts for vague. "Sorry, we aren't close enough for an explanation. Maybe stop by again tomorrow."
"Fine. Keep your secrets." His mouth quirks up into a grin. "But I'll cave."
"Really? Me just relentlessly pestering you made you more inclined to forgive me?"
"You presented me with this shockingly mediocre cake, so how could I say no."
"Hey!" He crosses his arms and pouts like a petulant child.
"What's your favorite color?"
"What?"
"I'm trying to be nice and get to know you by asking you personal questions. For example, what is your favorite color?"
"Grey."
"Really?"
"Yep. It is calm and smooth and simple."
"Those are the three words I would use to least describe you, so that shocks me."
"Yes, because I'm sure as an avid reader you couldn't come up with better words than that. What's your favorite color?"
"Dark blue."
"Now that seems fitting. Flavor? I love anything chocolate."
"I like vanilla."
"That's because your boring."
Steve scrunches up his nose. "Don't you have some burgers to flip or something? I didn't come here to be criticized for my preferences."
Tony ignores him. "Favorite movie?"
"The Godfather."
"You're kidding me."
"Let me guess yours – Starwars."
"That happens to be true, thank you very much."
"Of course, it is."
Tony loves Starwars. It's only his favorite movie of all time and they happen to show it frequently at the movies. He looks down and scuffs his toe nervously as he says,
"Speaking of which, Starwars is showing at the drive-in movie by school Saturday night. We should go."
"Alright." Steve shrugs.
"Cool. I have a car; do you want me to pick you up or something?"
"No, that's fine. I have a car too, but I live close to there so I can walk."
"Okay. It's at seven."
"You know this already?" Steve gives him an amused smile.
"I was planning on going with Pepper, but she didn't really want to go anyway so she'll be glad to be let off the hook."
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely."