The next day at school, things were weird. Steve and Tony eat together at lunch, which is weird, but not new. They aren't overly affectionate for obvious reasons, although neither of them are fans of public displays of affectionate anyway. Steve goes to the diner every night still. It is similar to when they were friends, just with kissing and actual feelings. It's weird for Tony. But good.
That Friday, Tony is nervous. He knows Pepper and Steve will like each other, but still. He can tell Steve is nervous by the way he fidgets with the cuff of his jean jacket as they wait for Pepper by the bleachers. When they see her jog towards them, Steve pales considerably.
"Hello." She tells them with a smile.
"Um… hi?" Steve tells her.
She looks at Tony. "He's got a nice ass."
"Pepper!" Both of their faces turn bright red.
"What? It's true!" She defends.
Steve chuckles awkwardly. "Thanks?"
"You're welcome." She narrows her eyes and stares Tony down. "So, what exactly is going on between you two?"
Tony glares at her. "Stop."
"It's an honest question!"
"Are we dating?" Tony asks Steve.
"Do you want to be dating?"
He shrugs. "I don't know."
"Yes, we are." Steve tells Pepper.
"Okay."
"Are you good with that?" He asks Tony.
"Yeah, I'm good with that." He nods, grinning like an idiot.
"I've got to go now. Enjoy the game you two." She gives them a genuine smile, before jogging to the sidelines where the other cheerleaders are waiting.
Tony opens his mouth to begin to talk to Steve but is cut off by another friend of his.
"Hey, Tony." Clint addresses him, but has his attention focused on Steve instead.
"Hey, Clint."
"You've got weird blonde boy with you."
Tony shoves him, but his face is serious. "Stop being an ass."
Clint looks at Tony intently for a moment before sighing and plastering on a grin. "Hi, I'm Clint."
"I'm Steve."
"Nice to meet you." Clint and Steve both look at Tony.
"See? Was that so hard?" Tony asks, shoving Clint again for good measure.
"Whatever." He rolls his eyes, but there is a small smile on his face.
They are saved from their awkward silence by the football coach calling, "Barton! Locker room, now!"
"Duty calls."
"He's a character." Steve says as soon as Clint is out of earshot.
"No kidding."
The football game ends up being really interesting. They are playing against a really good team from their region and it is a close game. Tony isn't shocked. At this point in the season, they are one of the best in the area, if not the state. For sure if they win this game. It was close until the fourth quarter when Hayes High got ahead by twenty-eight points. Because of that, both boys got a little bored. As fun as the football games are, neither of them are sports fans and most people go for the social aspect.
Now that it is clear that their school will win, Tony asks, "Want to go get milkshakes?"
"Sure."
They leave the bustling crowd behind and walk to the restaurant across the street. It is surprisingly busy for being almost ten o'clock, so they get in line to order to go.
Looking at the extensive menu, Tony grins. "I love milkshakes."
The people in front of them pay, so the lady working the register calls to them, "What can I get for you two?"
"Can I get a chocolate cookie shake?" Tony asks.
"I'll have a vanilla, please." Steve chooses.
"Got it."
Tony frowns at Steve, and he rolls his eyes. "What?"
"Vanilla?" Tony asks, as if this flavor has personally offended him.
"We had this conversation already."
"That doesn't make it any less boring."
"It's not boring, it's good! It's a classic!"
"Classic is another name for boring."
"Shut up."
"Here you go." The lady smiles at them, handing them their drinks.
Tony pays, much to Steve's dismay, telling the woman, "Thank you."
They leave and wander back down towards the school where their cars are parked. It is a nice night because of the fact that it's the end of September, so they are a comfortable in just their jeans and t-shirts.
Tony kicks a rock, not meeting Steve's eyes when he says, "So."
"So."
He decides to break the ice "What did you think of my friends?"
"Pepper's great."
A large smile splits across his face. "You think so?"
"Yeah, she's pretty funny. I can see why you like her." Steve rolls his eyes before saying, "Clint on the other hand…"
Tony's smile falls. "What's wrong with him?"
Steve stumbles over his sentence, trying to find the right words. "Nothing! It's just… hard to see how you can be friends with him."
Tony rubs his face tiredly. "Pepper says the same thing. Neither of you get it."
"Get what?"
"Why we're friends."
"Then explain it to me?" Steve asks hopefully, giving Tony his full attention.
"Okay." He rubs his arm nervously and stares into his milkshake as he begins to talk. "We've been friends since ninth grade. We originally became friends because he was well known and popular and I thought it would make my dad happy. It did, because pretty soon everyone at this school knew who I was. Well, they found out I was a Stark. It got me into the good graces with people at school and I got lots of benefits. Clint was thrilled because I paid for things and got him more attention. We always have fun though. We go to parties and sneak into amusement parks and he is really funny, so we actually are really good friends. Pepper only focuses on the 'he uses me for money' part though, and not the actual 'we hang out all the time' aspect."
"You want to be popular that badly?" Steve asks, sounding surprised.
"It's not the popularity, it's the… approval, I guess."
"So, if that's the case, why did you start talking to me in the first place?" Steve asks, not bitterly, but as if he is genuinely curious.
"Well, you didn't seem interested in talking to me at all, as weird as that sounds. I'm surrounded by people all the time who talk to me for selfish reasons, and I saw that day as an opportunity to get to know someone real. God, that was cheesy. I'm sorry. Also, I'm aware of how privileged I sound. 'Poor little rich boy has too many friends.'" He scowls into his drink.
Steve walks in front of Tony, so he has to look at him in the eyes. "I don't think that at all."
Tony quickly cuts him off before it can get any deeper. "Can we not talk about this anymore?"
"Yeah…yeah." They continue to walk back to the school.
"What's your family like?" He asks, changing the subject.
Steve's look morphs from concerned to one of fondness. "My mom is the best. She has to work a lot, so I hardly see her, but she is great. Her name is Sophia Rogers and she works as a nurse at the hospital. She makes the best spaghetti ever, is one of those people that decorates for Christmas right after Halloween, and likes the Rolling Stones."
"I love the Rolling Stones!" He interrupts excitedly.
Steve's eyes flick to the worn t-shirt Tony is wearing. "I can tell."
Tony smiles wistfully. "She sounds amazing."
"What about your family?"
Tony has to resist the urge to flee on the spot. Steve, having only known him for a short period of time, is unaware of what a loaded question that is. The thing is, Tony is unsure how to answer that question. Because he loves his parents, obviously. They are his parents. It's just that it is a little hard to be a Stark sometimes, despite how ignorant that sounds.
"My mom is nice too. She is a lawyer, so she works long hours too, but sometimes she gets up early and makes me breakfast. She does her best but works a hard job as I'm sure you know." He hesitates and chooses his words carefully. "My dad wants what's best for me, which I appreciate. I just wish that he could also consider what I want."
"Makes sense."
They find themselves standing in front of Steve's beat-up olive-green Ford from the sixties in the school parking lot. "We're here."
Steve gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting in the driver's side. "Bye. I'll see you Monday."
Tony's face turns bright red, making Steve laugh. "Bye."
He walks to his car practically in a daze. When he gets there, Pepper is waiting for him.
He swears loudly when he sees her. "I forgot I was supposed to give you a ride home!"
She laughs. "It's been about two minutes. Our coach kept us late to go over some details for our competition tomorrow. Don't worry."
"I'm still sorry though."
They climb in the car and he hasn't even buckled before Pepper gets the biggest grin on her face and asks him, "So, how was your date."
"It wasn't a date."
She rolls her eyes good naturedly at him. "He's your boyfriend now, you don't have to avoid it."
He sighs, "Fine. It went great."
"Nice! What did you do?"
"We left towards the end of the football game, we got milkshakes and just talked."
"That's cute."
He turns red and keeps his eyes on the road. "Shut up."
"What did you talk to him about?"
"Random stuff."
"Like?"
"Friends and family."
Peppers mouth falls open. "Those are your two touchiest subjects!"
He shoots her a glare. "I'm not some heartless monster who's incapable of love, okay?"
"I didn't mean it like that! I just… think he's good for you, that's all."
"Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that, I'm just a little tense. But yeah, it was great."
That next Monday, he drops Pepper off in front of her house like usual before pulling into his driveway. He enters his house, yells out his arrival, grabs a snack, and heads upstairs to work on a history project. He didn't really expect to see his family tonight due to their jobs and his workload, so he is surprised to hear his mom call, "Anthony, come down for dinner!"
He comes down and sees both his parents sitting at their dining room table with a full meal in front of them. "What's going on? Am I missing someone's birthday?"
"No, I just thought it would be nice for us to have a family dinner because we hardly ever do." His mother tells him as she scoops him some food for his plate.
"Yeah, I guess."
"So, how's school?" She asks him, trying to start a conversation.
"Pretty good. I got an A on my chemistry test today."
"That's great!" She tells him, enthusiastically.
He smiles at the praise. "Thank you."
"How's work, Howard?"
"It's going well. We just signed a contract to turn this book series into a movie trilogy, which will be good for business."
"I'm glad."
Tony looks to his mom and asks her, "How's your case going?"
"It should be settled in the next few days, which I'm glad about. This last month has been tough. Maybe after that, we could catch a movie, Anthony?"
"Sounds great, mom." He grins at her.
"Great." She smiles back.
He finishes up his dinner and puts his plate in the dishwasher. "Thank you for dinner, mom. It was really good."
She beams. "I'm glad. It just came from a box though, so no big deal."
"Still. Thank you." He tells her sincerely.
He gives his dad a nod, before heading back upstairs to finish his homework. Dinner was awkward, but he appreciated that they were at least trying. It was times like this that he remembered he likes his family. He and his dad can be civil, and his mom tries her best to support them and work, which is unfair to her.
He gets back to work with a smile on his face.