The night after the Stark Industries dinner, Tony goes into the diner early so he can talk to his aunt in person and resign from his job.
"Hi, Aunt Peggy!" He tells her happily once he sees her.
"Hello, Tony. You seem to be in a good mood."
"Yes, which is actually why I'm came to see you. I made it up to my dad, so he's giving me back my spending money."
"That's great! I assume this means you'll be quitting your job at the diner?" She raises her eyebrows with a knowing smile on her face.
"Unfortunately, yes. I'm sorry, but you were right, and it really is wearing on me."
"It's no problem, honey. When will your last day be?"
"As soon as possible?" He tells her cheekily.
"You're always so eager. Can you work tonight? After that, I'll let you go."
"Of course. Try not to miss me too much." He grins, taking a seat at the barstool across from her. "I'll still make sure to stop by regularly though, because you make the best milkshakes, and I need those at least once a week."
"I'll look forward to it."
He smiles and heads out of her office and into the diner itself. He sighs and decides to head home because he has two hours until his shift. He considered seeing if Pepper wanted to do something, but he honestly just wanted a shower and a nap before starting his last shift.
That night, he is surprised to find himself feeling a strange sense of nostalgia. As excited as he is to not have to be here every night, he is going to miss having his late-night talks with Steve and free food, though he supposes he can do that anyway.
His thoughts are perfectly punctuated by the bell above the door ringing and his favorite customer walking towards him. "Hi."
"Today's my last day." Tony blurts out.
"What?" Steve's brows furrow in confusion.
"Since I'm going to meetings with my dad, I get my spending money back so I can quit this job."
"Sounds great."
"Yeah." Tony notices how his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. "At least I'll have a better sleep schedule."
"Great."
"Hey, just because I don't have this job doesn't mean I won't see you. We still have school and I'm not planning to stop our dates anytime soon."
"Yeah, I know." Steve shakes his head before smiling at him as he launches into another long speech about the most recent movie he's seen.
The next night, he spends his first free night in what feels like years taking Steve on a date. They decide to go roller skating at a rink about thirty minutes away from their school. Steve is surprisingly good at it and can glide with relative ease. Tony, on the other hand, falls over every five minutes. His hands are scraped up and he has bruises all along his legs, but he has a large smile on his face and Steve is laughing at him and that's all that matters.
At around ten o'clock they decide to leave because it's late and their cheeks are red from the effort. Tony thinks Steve looks rather cute and tells him such, making his cheeks flame up even more. It is a pretty amazing day.
When he gets home, however, it all comes crashing down as per usual.
"Where have you been?" His father challenges, not even looking up from where he is mixing himself a drink.
"Out." He shrugs, vaguely.
Howard whips around and narrows his eyes. "Don't you get smart with me, young man."
"I don't understand what the problem is." Tony throws his arms up in frustration.
"The problem is that you don't need to be out until odd hours of the night. You need to be professional and not disgrace our family with your teenage shenanigans."
"I was just hanging out with my friends! I was at Clint's house and then I drove home."
"You should've been studying or helping me with the company. Spending all your time with your friends is not productive at all."
Tony is taken aback. His father had never mentioned this before so why now? He guesses now that he is semi-willing to work at the company for the time being, that needs to be his first priority. It isn't as if that is his long term plan though. For now, if he has to go to meetings, he should at least be able to do what he wants with his free time.
"I don't want to spend every moment of my free time working! I should have time to see my friends. I'm not even an adult yet!"
"Are you ever going to make me proud?"
Tony falters and takes a step back. Howard doesn't look the slightest bit remorseful and instead looks at Tony with raised eyebrows as if he is expecting an answer. Tony doesn't dignify him with a response and instead turns on his heel and heads up the stairs to his room.
The next day, he is barely able to pull himself out of bed to go to school. He considers taking the day off but between the biology project due today and the disappointed look he will inevitably get from his parents, he decides against it. Instead, he gets dressed, makes himself twice the amount of coffee, and drives to school thirty minutes late. Pepper will probably be mad at him for not letting her know she would need a different ride ahead of time, but he can't bring himself to care.
He goes about his day in a tired daze and barely participates. His teachers give him a questioning glance and some space because they know that if he isn't constantly talking during class, it must be a bad day. He is both relieved and frustrated because he doesn't want people seeing him like this.
He doesn't go to lunch. Instead, he sits in the library with a granola bar and gets ahead on his homework.
He almost audibly sighs when he sees Steve sit across from him.
"Hey, what's going on." He asks him, his head tilted in concern.
"Nothing, don't worry." Tony waves him off without looking up from his textbook.
"No, seriously, you've been weird recently."
"It's none of your concern."
He pauses for a minute, not knowing what to say, before admitting, "I talked to Pepper."
Tony rolls his eyes and closes his book. "Of course, you did."
"Your dad is causing you trouble?"
"That could be the title of my biography." He spats bitterly.
"Please Tony, talk to me." Steve is practically begging at this point, so Tony's resolve crumbles.
"He wants me to take over the company. He is pressuring me into that career path so much, Steve, and I don't know what to do." The more he talks, the more emotional he feels, and so by the end, he is practically yelling when he says, "What do I do? I don't want to do that; I don't want to run his fucking company!"
Steve lays a comforting hand on Tony's arm, and tells him with an even voice, "Hey, you don't have to do anything you don't want to."
"Yes, I do! That's the whole point, what am I supposed to do!" Tony lashes out, throwing his hands up in the air. He immediately regrets it and folds his arms into his chest and says, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to dump all of this on you."
"There is no need to be sorry. This is what I am here for. You can talk to me about anything." Steve tells him with a small smile, before walking over to him and wrapping him into a hug.
"I love you." Tony whispers into his chest.
"I love you, too."
That is the first time Tony has ever really opened up to anyone except Pepper, but this time it isn't four in the morning and he isn't drunk off wine stolen from his parents basement. He has to admit, it feels a little bit better not having to handle everything on his own. He doesn't know what he will do when Steve is gone, though.
Four days later, he has another deep conversation with Steve. He doesn't know how or why these keep happening, but he hates feeling so vulnerable. He both misses and despises the times before Steve when almost none of his friends knew his really personality or anything remotely deep about him. Yet here he is, laying on the roof of Steve's house, looking at the stars and talking about the future, like one of the romance movies his father produces.
"So, we just applied to colleges." Tony prompts.
"Yes?" Steve turns to look at him.
"I was wondering what you were thinking of doing?"
He thinks for a moment, before replying, "Well, I hate to leave my mom, so I've applied to some colleges in California, but also various places across the country. My top choice is NYU, so we'll see how that goes. I am planning on majoring in classics because I love literature. Maybe art or film studies though, because I love both of those things too."
"That sounds perfect for you." He tells him with a genuine grin.
"What about you? What are your college plans?"
His smile falters a bit, "Promise you won't laugh?"
"Of course!" Steve sputters, as if the very thought is ridiculous to him.
Tony looks up at the sky and away from Steve. "I want to be an engineer."
"Why would I laugh at that?"
"Well, my dad did. He's less than thrilled."
Steve sighs quietly from next to him at the admission and Tony is grateful when he chooses not to comment on it. "Where do you think you will go?"
"Hopefully MIT. I've been waiting to leave this place forever and now I don't have to stay here with my dad and his constant disappointment. Plus, it obviously has the best engineering program in the country."
He can tell from Steve's tight grip on his hand that he wants to discuss Tony's casual mentioning of his insecurities. Tony knows that he should stop saying stuff like that when he doesn't want to talk about it, but sometimes his mouth moves faster than his brain. "I really hope you get in. How long have you been planning this?"
"Since I was in sixth grade."
"If anyone can do it, it's you."
"Thank you."
The next day after school, Tony goes home with Steve to get a break from his suffocating family drama. They head into his room and begin to work on their respective projects. Tony has tons of homework, so he sits on Steve's floor to work on reading for his American History class.
After about an hour passes, Tony gets a little bored.
"What are you doing?" Tony looks up from his book to where Steve is sitting across from him.
"Drawing."
Tony's face lights up and he immediately directs all his attention to his boyfriend. "Ooh! Draw me!"
"I don't know… I don't usually show people my art."
"I'll make you a deal – you draw me, and I will show you a weird scar I have and give you the story behind it."
Steve thinks for a moment before agreeing. "Deal."
Tony sits in his chair and poses, though he gets distracted halfway through and looks out the large window next to him, causing Steve to screech, "Hold still!"
"Sorry!" He says, laughing and returning to his original position.
"And… done." Steve says, after a good thirty minutes.
He flips around his sketchbook to show Tony and even though it is a rough sketch, it is so clearly Tony that he is dazzled. "Oh my god. That's amazing."
"You think?" He asks sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"No, like actually. You are really, really good."
"Thank you." He sits there patiently, and Tony is confused for a moment, causing Steve to prompt him, "Okay, time for you to hold up your end of the deal."
"See this scar here-" He lifts up his sweatshirt sleeve to show a long, jagged white scar along his arm. "When I was six, I was at Pepper's house. She set up this whole tea party for us and me, being the good friend, I am, played along. But while she was pouring our drinks, I accidentally sat on her stuffed elephant, so she pushed me for being mean, and I hit her bed frame."
"Oh my god." Steve manages to get out through his laughter.
"I know. It was a real bonding experience." Tony says through a massive grin.
"She's crazy."
"You don't have to tell me that."
Steve runs his hands along Tony's scar, smudging ink along his skin from where it had rubbed off onto Steve's hand while he was drawing.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" He gasps, trying to wipe it off with the sleeve of his hoodie.
"What?" Tony asks him, trying to look over to where Steve is sitting.
"I just got ink all over your arm! It must have been on my hands and smudged off."
"Don't worry about it. Does it make me look like an artist, all covered in ink?" He jokes, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Oh, shut up."
The next day at school, they announce the next school dance. The winter formal is another big staple at Hayes High, along with every other stereotypical high school activity, so the whole school is buzzing with excitement. There have already been five big asks with posters and flowers, and at least a dozen other more subdued date arrangements. While Tony usually likes to see everyone get excited about school things, this is just getting gross.
"So, they just announced the school's winter formal." Steve tells him at lunch.
"Yeah?" Tony asks, already knowing where this is going.
"Would you maybe want to go?"
He wants to say yes. He wants to jump up and down and scream with excitement, but the small voice inside of him that warns him of his parents wins, like usual. "I don't know… I don't want people to get the wrong idea."
"Or the right idea." Steve corrects bitterly.
"Yeah." Tony says, looking down at his lunch.
"But I mean, we haven't tipped off anybody yet. We don't even look like a couple. We'll just be two single dudes who hang out together because they don't have dates." Steve pushes with a large grin on his face.
Tony, seeing how excited Steve is and thinking about his own dance expectations, finds himself saying, "Fine! Fine."
"C'mon, get excited. We will both get to wear suits."
"Yeah, that'll be hot." He winks at him, getting a shove from Steve.
"Shut up." He scolds, though they both have massive grins on their faces.
Naturally, he tells Pepper everything on the way home from school.
"You guys are going to the dance together? That's so cute!" She squeals.
"Stop." He rolls his eyes.
"What, did you seriously expect to tell me this and not have me get excited?"
"Yes." That's a lie.
"Well, you're wrong."
He turns the conversation away from him by asking, "Do you have a date?"
"Maybe…"
His mouth falls open and he turns to stare at her. "Pepper Potts! Tell me everything right now!"
"Well, I got asked by this guy in my English class. James Rhodes?"
"Yeah, I know him. Football player?"
"One of the running backs, I'm pretty sure."
He grins at her, before pushing her playfully. "That's super cool. I'm happy for you."
All of a sudden, her eyes widen, "I need to go shopping for a dress!"
"Don't you already have a million dresses?"
"Well, maybe I need a million and one." She frowns at him.
"Of course, my mistake." He laughs.
"I'm going with some of the other cheerleaders, would you want to come?"
His mind drifts to the hypothetical scenario that is dress shopping with the cheerleading squad. Him sitting in a chair in some frilly dress shop and having to give his opinion on all of their outfits and pretend like he cares. Based on the number of Pepper's friends, this is a three-hour ordeal at least. This leads to his clear answer.
"As much as I love hanging out with you, I think I'll pass."
"Boo."
He pulls up in front of her house. "Have fun though! I'll see you Monday!"
She climbs out of the car and blows him a kiss. "Bye!"
He pulls into his driveway and sees the mailbox slightly open. He decides to open it and see if there's anything good in there. He knows colleges are sending out acceptance letters soon, but he doesn't know when MIT sends theirs. His question is answered when he pulls down the lid and sees a thick envelope on top addressed to him. Even though it was just paper, it felt as if it weighed a million pounds.
He drifted over to Pepper's house and knocked on her door, still in shock. She opened the door and her eyebrows raised when she saw him there. "I just saw you, what could you possibly have to say now?" She tells him, jokingly.
He wordlessly held up the envelope and her jaw dropped. "That's your acceptance letter."
"Or rejection letter." He counters.
Pepper steps out of her house and stands next to him on the porch. They both drop down and sit on the steps.
"I don't know if I can do this." He tells her, looking at the envelope in his hands.
"Yes, you can!" She urges him.
He looks up and meets her eyes, suddenly very nervous. "What if I get rejected?"
She places a hand on his arm comfortingly, before telling him, "Then you can pick through the other schools you applied to."
"But I don't want to go anywhere else." He admits, his voice hardly above a whisper.
"Tony. Open the envelope." She tells him forcefully.
"Okay."
He rips open the envelope and scans the page, his eyes quickly scanning every word on the page. He can hardly believe what he's seeing.
"So?" Pepper pushes, after a minute.
"I got accepted." He breathes out, not believing what he is seeing. He jumps up and shouts, "I got accepted!"
Pepper jumps up next to him and yells, "Yes! You're going to college!"
"I'm going to college!" He yells with her, whooping and screaming enough to alert the whole neighborhood.
"I'm so proud of you." She wraps him into a big hug, and he hugs her back just as tight.
"Thank you."
"Now go call Steve." She shoos him away with a big grin on her face.
"Right! Steve! I'll tell Steve."
He leaves Pepper standing there on her porch and he rushes back to his house. He goes up the stairs two at a time, almost tripping. He scrambles to his room and bursts in and towards the phone. He picked up the phone and dials Steve's number.
His mom answers. "Hello?"
"Hi! It's Tony. Is Steve there?" He asks as politely as he can, considering he is trying not to scream with excitement.
"Oh hello! Yes, he is right here, hold on."
There is some scuffling on their end of the phone and a moment later, Steve speaks into the phone. "Hello?"
He just couldn't wait anymore. "I got in!" He shouts. "My letter came and they're letting me in! I get to go to MIT! I've been waiting for this almost my entire life and I can't believe it's finally happening, and I get to be an engineer and go to college and oh my god it's happening."
Steve's voice on the other end was soft and hopeful. "You got in?"
"I got in."