Hi guys! We've only got one more chapter after this to go! I'm so excited for you guys to hear this chapter, it's probably my favorite and I had so much fun writing it. I just wanted to warn you that there is more blatant homophobia in this chapter, so if that's a trigger for you, please be careful 3 anyway, enjoy!

At the end of February, he finds himself getting ready for the school dance. While it is a weird time to have a winter dance, he doesn't mind because of how close it is to his and Steve's six-month anniversary. Not that he keeps track of something like that, because that would be really sappy.

He takes a shower and brushes his hair for the first time in months, so his brown hair lays flat instead of flying everywhere. He throws on his dress pants, a white button down, and a black suit jacket. He stares intently at his shoes trying to decide between his nice shoes and his vans, before ultimately going with his vans. He doesn't want his feet to hurt and besides, footwear doesn't really matter.

He heads downstairs to grab something to eat before heading to pick up Steve. He roots around in his cabinets before pulling out a bowl and some Lucky Charms. When pouring the milk, he splashes some onto his shirt and swears loudly before dabbing at it uselessly. He gives up after a few seconds and decides to start eating, not bothering to go sit down and instead continues to stand at the island.

He hears the front door open and mentally crosses his fingers that it isn't his dad. For once in his life, luck seems to be on his side because moments later his mother enters the kitchen.

"Where are you headed?" She asks, eyeing his outfit.

"The school dance." He tells her through a mouth full of cereal.

"You have a dance?" She asks, surprised.

"Yeah, the Winter Formal."

"I feel like I've barely seen you." She sighs, plopping into the chair.

"Yeah, that's because you've barely been home." He says, trying to keep the bitterness from his voice.

"I know and I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'll be off at college next year, so you won't even have to worry about it." He shrugs and avoids her eyes.

"Oh, Anthony, don't put it like that."

He sighs and admits to her, "It really says something that I've seen dad more than you. You know how much it takes to be a bigger workaholic than him?"

"Has he still been putting pressure on you about the company?" She asks, concerned.

He raises his eyebrows and tells her harshly, "I've had to go to meetings with him, mom."

"I'm sorry, I'll talk to him."

He snorts. "Yeah, a lot of good that will do."

"I'll try to be home more."

"I don't mean to make you feel bad about being busy, I just wish you could make more time to be at home." To be home to see your son was left unsaid, but they both understand the true meaning of his words, nonetheless.

"I'll try harder."

"Okay." He looks at his watch and tells her, "I have to leave for the dance, but I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Have fun."

"Thanks, love you." He gives her a small smile before disappearing out the front door.

He is practically sweating from nerves the entire drive to Steve's house. He knows reasonably he has nothing to be worried about because he and Steve have been on dozens of dates, but this somehow feels significantly more important. Probably because it is. They are not only on a date, in public, which makes Tony nervous, but something about going to a dance together makes everything feel a little more official. Not that they weren't official, because it's been almost six months. He thinks this dance will be really fun.

When Sarah Rogers opens the door, her face lights up when she sees him, and she immediately ushers him inside.

"Hi, Sarah." He greets, shivering slightly.

"Hello, Tony. You look very nice."

"Thank you. Is Steve ready to go?"

"Almost!" Steve answers, calling from his room.

"He's been in there for almost an hour, I don't know what he has to do." Sarah tells him with a smile.

"Done!" He calls out, before emerging in a maroon velvet suit jacket with black pants. His hair is gelled to the side and he looks really nice.

Steve immediately tells him. "Wow… you look great."

"You don't look too bad yourself." Tony teases.

"Sorry, I didn't have any dress shoes, so I'm wearing my Converse." He says, embarrassed.

"It's official. We're soulmates." He tells him as he wiggles his foot to show off his vans.

"Let me get a picture!" Sarah calls, running to grab her polaroid from the living room.

"Please, no." Steve whines as she comes back.

"Okay, don't move." They stand together with matching grins, but Tony trips at the last second over his untied shoelace and falls into Steve, and they both start laughing. "You moved!"

"Sorry!"

Steve rushes over to his mom as the photo prints. "Let's see how it looks!"

"This is super cute." Sarah tells them, holding up the photo.

"Would you mind sending me a copy?" Tony asks, shyly.

"Of course not." She smiles at them fondly. "Now you two better run along so you aren't too late."

"Okay thanks, mom."

"Bye, Sarah!" He waves as they leave.

"Have a great time!" She calls out.

"Are you excited?" Tony asks Steve as they climb into his car.

"Yes. Are you?"

"Surprisingly, yes." He chuckles.

It is eight o'clock when they get there, thirty minutes after the dance has officially started, so they are fashionably late. They find a parking spot luckily, but due to the massive amount of people, they have to park all the way in the back. It takes them about five minutes to get from the car to the building.

When they get into the gym, where the dance is being held, they are immediately overwhelmed by the appearance of it. There are white and blue streamers everywhere along with hand cut paper snowflakes and glitter.

"Wow." Tony says.

"It's definitely a winter dance." Steve agrees.

"It doesn't snow here, so you think they'd have some better decorations. Like palm trees or skyscrapers. Things that can actually be found in southern California."

"No kidding." Pepper says, coming up to them. "Hi guys! You look great."

"Thank you. Your dress looks amazing." Steve says, looking at her long dark blue dress.

"Thank you." She turns and looks at Tony expectantly. "Aren't you going to tell me how nice my dress looks, Tony?"

"You have shown me this three times since you bought it last week." He rolls his eyes, but nevertheless tells her, "You look incredible."

She really did look amazing. Her dress was a royal blue with off the shoulder sleeves. She was wearing black heels that looked way too high to be comfortable. Her red hair was curled in ringlets around her shoulders and she had white flowers tucked into the braids that ran along her head and met in the back. It also didn't help that she was grinning and looked so excited.

"Thank you." She does a quick spin for them, showing how it twirls. "Oh, there's James. I better go." She gives them a small wave before disappearing into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

"They have snacks." Tony whispers to his date urgently before making a beeline towards the table in the back.

"Only you would immediately run towards the food."

Tony immediately starts loading up a plate. "They have frosted cookies, so I'm not even sorry. Have you tried these? They're the best thing ever."

Right as he turns around, he bumps into Clint. "Hey, Tony! What's up?"

"Nothing. I didn't expect to see you here."

"I could say the same for you."

"Do you have a date?" He asks, already knowing that the answer would be yes.

"Natasha, from the cheer squad." He points to a small girl with medium length red hair in a black and white polka dotted dress talking to a few other girls he recognizes from the cheer team.

"She's cute." He says, not knowing what else to say.

"I guess. What about you?"

"I wasn't going to come originally, so I didn't find a date." Tony shrugs, eyeing Steve who is standing a few feet away.

"That's rough." He looks over again at Lori, before saying, "Well, I better go."

"Please use a condom." Tony jokes and Clint winks at him.

Once Clint is gone, Tony takes that as his cue to head over to Steve. "Man, I love casually listening to slow dance songs." Tony says sarcastically.

Steve snorts. "No kidding."

He looks around at everyone at the dance before spotting Pepper and James gazing into each other's eyes. He wrinkles his nose, jokingly. "They're so gross."

"We could go out there." Steve suggests.

Tony freezes. He wants to say yes so badly, and he hates doing this to Steve. He knows he deserves better. He looks towards Steve regrettably. "I'm sorry; I can't."

"I know." He says simply, continuing to look at the other couples on the floor.

"Plus, whether I'm dancing or watching, I will never appreciate jazz music." He jokes to lighten the mood and Steve smiles, which he considers a win.

"See I don't get that. It's a genre of guys just vibing." Steve argues.

"Your old person is coming out." He teases and Steve grins.

They mill around for a while longer, talking to their friends and listening to the music, but eventually everything fizzles out and people start to leave.

"Do you want to go?" Tony asks Steve.

"Sure."

They grab their jackets and begin the walk back to the car.

Steve suggests, "Where do you want to go? We could go back to my place and do something."

Tony jams his hands in his pocket and keeps his eyes ahead of him when he says, "Or, if you want, we could go back to my house and listen to some of my new records. I've got Queen, Elton John, The Who, Pink Floyd. The Rolling Stones, of course. You know, the good stuff."

"That sounds great." Steve gives him a cheesy grin and Tony figures this would be worth the paranoia associated with bringing him to his house.

"Mom! I'm home!" Tony calls out when they walk through the door.

Steve's mouth drops when he sees it. Tony knows his house is at least four times bigger than Steve's, with its formal living room, dining room, massive kitchen, and multiple bedrooms. That is one of the reasons he had delayed bringing Steve home in the first place – he didn't want Steve to feel bad about what he has.

Not only that, but the obvious nerves about introducing Steve to his family. His mom would be fine, probably. He would guess that she would say hi, introduce herself, and leave them alone, which is good. It's his dad he is worried about. His dad definitely wouldn't appreciate him bringing someone home, especially someone of Steve's status, as messed up as that is.

Steve smiles at him and Tony guesses that was Steve's way of attempting to calm his anxiety about the situation. While it comforts him a little, he definitely can still feel his legs shaking beneath him. He takes a deep breath and decides to just go talk to his family.

Tony walks into the kitchen and leaves Steve near the stairs that head up to his room. He sees his mom sitting at the counter filling out some paperwork, and his dad is nowhere in sight. He lets out a breath of relief and walks over to her.

Maria looks up at him surprised and asks, "Oh, wow, already?"

"Yeah, it was boring. Anyway, I brought back a friend, so we'll be upstairs."

"Not a girlfriend, right?" Maria eyes him warily.

"Nope." He points back to by the steps where Steve gives her a small wave.

"Then alright." She waves back to the boy. "Can I meet him? I want to make sure you aren't friends with the wrong crowd." She jokes.

Steve, hearing this, walks into the room and stands by Tony. "Hello, Mrs. Stark. I'm Steve."

"Hello, Steve. It's nice to meet you." She looks at Tony and Steve a bit skeptically, before letting out a small sigh. She turns to Tony and says, "He seems nice enough. Go on."

Tony smiles at her and tugs Steve out of the room, while Maria turns back to her paperwork.

"She was nice." Steve tells Tony as they go up the stairs.

"Yeah, it was whatever. She isn't the most outwardly friendly. Don't get me wrong, she's nice, and I love her, but small talk isn't her thing."

"I understand. Are your parents strict about girls?" Steve asks Tony as they walk upstairs to his room.

"Nah, they just put on a show like that in front of other people to make it seem like they have good parenting skills. But jokes on them, they don't need to worry about me having girls in my room."

Steve laughs and a blush creeps up his face. When they walk into Tony's room, Steve's eyes widen. He looks around at the tidy room with multiple posters and a shelf full of books and records. Tony tosses his jacket on the bed and sits down.

"Wow, you have an extensive record collection." He says in awe as he runs his hands along the sleeves.

"Thanks, I pride myself on it."

"How about this one?" He heads over to see what Steve is holding out.

"Oh, A Night at the Opera by Queen is one of my favorites."

Tony puts it on so that Steve can hear it. He starts with the B side, where all his favorites are, and is pleased to see that so far Steve is liking it.

"I really like this!"

"Well, I don't know if you have a record player, but you can borrow it if you want."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

"What's the best song on here?" Steve asks, looking at the sleeve to the list of songs on the back.

"Well, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is the most popular and well liked, but I'm a sucker for 'Love of My Life.' Although I can relate to 'I'm in Love with my Car' because I, too, love my car."

He laughs. "I know you do. It's a pretty nice car."

Steve places the record on carefully and it begins to play. They leave the record on and sit on his bed. Tony tells him, "You do look really nice by the way."

Steve blushes and leans in and kisses him. At that moment, his door flies open, and Steve and Tony jump apart and whip around to see who it is. There stands Howard Stark.

"What the hell is going on here?" He shouts.

"Nothing!" Tony quickly defends standing up to face his father.

"Really? Because it looked like you were kissing this boy." Howard's voice quivers with anger.

"Nope."

He grabs Tony by his arm. "Anthony, don't you dare lie to me right now."

"Fine. I was kissing him. In fact, we've been dating for almost six months now." Tony stares into his face defiantly, ignoring the throbbing of his bicep under his father's tight grip.

"What?" Howard looks back to where Steve is standing uncomfortably next to the bed. "You should go."

"Tony, I-" Steve starts sympathetically, but Tony waves him off.

"It's okay. Do you need a ride?"

Steve shakes his head before disappearing through the door, leaving Tony alone with his father.

"Are you trying to make a fool of me?" He hisses.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You started to date a boy just to undermine me and ruin everything I stand for!" He accuses.

"Are you so image conscious that you think everything I do impacts you? Have you considered that maybe I actually like him?"

"He's a boy."

"Yes, he is."

"I can't accept this." Howard lets go of him and Tony stumbles a few steps back, pulling at his shirt.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Howard thinks for a moment before challenging, "You won't go to MIT."

"Excuse me?"

"It's either him or being an engineer."

"How could you make me choose? I love him and this is my entire future!"

"You can't possibly love him." He spits, and Tony boils with anger.

"I won't go to college at all. Then what? That would be really shameful, wouldn't it."

"Don't try to trick me, Tony. I'm not an idiot. All you want is to go to college. Would you honestly give that up?" Howard teases cruelly.

Tony knows he is stuck. His father is fully aware that Tony will go to college no matter what, so he is forced to follow his ultimatum. It isn't as if Tony can afford college on his own, much less MIT. So, it all boils down to his relationship or his future. How fucked up is that? He stands there, staring Howard in the eyes, trying not to cry, when he finally breaks.

"I'm leaving." He pushes past his father and into the hallway.

"You can't just storm out!" He calls after him.

"Watch me!"

He sprints down the stairs, almost running into his mom.

"Anthony, what's going on?" She asks, worried.

"Talk to dad about it. I'm sure he'll have plenty to say."

He pushes past her, grabs his car keys from the table by the door, and into the night. Once he is outside, without his jacket, he thinks of places to go. He shivers already and knows he can't just stand there all night. His first thought is obviously next door. He runs across their lawn and up to the Hughes' front porch. He knocks on the door and is surprised when her mom answers it.

"Is Pepper here?" He asks, out of breath.

"No, I'm fairly sure she's still at the dance. Why?"

"Oh no reason. Can you just tell her I need to talk to her when she's not busy?"

"Of course." She smiles kindly and shuts the door.

Tony sighs and slumps on the porch. As he sits there, he thinks of what to do. He should go to Steve's. He should go and explain what happened to him and hope they can figure something out. He puts that as his last option though, because he isn't ready to go there and possibly end things. He subconsciously massages his bruised arm as he thinks of other people. He could go to his aunt's, but he isn't sure what he would even do there other than sit with his thoughts and he didn't feel like explaining the situation to her. Plus, his parents would call there, and he doesn't want to see them. He thinks of Clint but knows that definitely isn't an option. They aren't close friends in that aspect, he definitely doesn't want to explain his situation. Ultimately, he decides to rip of the band-aid and head to Steve's.

When he gets there, Steve opens the door. When he sees Steve's concerned look, he bursts into tears right there.

"Tony, what's going on?" Steve asks him, ushering him inside.

"Steve, what's-" Sarah walks in, but Steve waves her off. She gives them a small, sad smile, before retreating back to her room.

"He's going to ruin my life." Tony tells him when they are both situated on his couch.

"What?"

Tony takes a deep breath and tells Steve, "He said I either have to break up with you or he won't pay for MIT."

"Oh my god." Steve deflates and rests his head in his hands.

"Yeah." Tony whispers, looking down at his lap. "He's such an image-conscious, homophobic, douchebag that he can't even realize how terrible he is to me."

Steve breaks the silence after a few seconds. "Well, I think it's pretty clear what has to happen."

"Really? What?" Tony looks up at him, surprised.

"We have to break up."

"No. Come on." A few stray tears escape from his eyes as he stands up and shakes his head. "What? I can't let him win like this! I love you!"

"Tony. You know I love you too, but this is insane. We've been dating for almost six months and you have been planning for this since you were eleven. It's your dream. And if you don't, you'll have to take over Stark Industries."

Steve takes his hands and gently pulls him back to the couch. His eyes are wet with tears as well. He whispers, "I can't believe this is happening."

"Me neither." Steve puts a comforting hand on Tony's shoulder and begins to rub his back. Tony leans into the touch. "I'm so sorry."

"Me too. You deserved better." His voice shakes as he says the words he's been thinking, even since before they were found out. "God, I'm such a fuck up. I ruin everything."

"No. Don't pin this on yourself, this is all your dad's fault. You were perfect."

He wishes he could believe him. He wishes he could go back in time and correct all his mistakes. He wouldn't be ashamed to call Steve his boyfriend. He would gladly hold his hand in public or let him meet his mom. He would've danced with him at the formal earlier that night. He wishes he could care less about what people think. Not that any of that matters.

"I hate him." Tony practically growls.

"What?"

"He's not my dad anymore, not really. He can't do this to me. I'll be out of the house in three months and if he is going to treat me like this, in addition to how he has treated me my entire life, then I hate him."

"Okay." Steve pauses, before admitting. "I'm sorry I talked you into going the dance. I made you feel guilty for not wanting to share that we are dating. I thought it was because you were ashamed of me or something and you just didn't want to ruin your image. I've always resented that a little. Now, I'm so, so sorry for feeling like that and guilting you about it. I know that you knew this would happen. So, I'm sorry."

"I should've told you." Tony argues. "I should've come clean about my life before dragging you into this whole mess."

"I should've trusted you."

His voice is cracking, and he feels so helpless, curled up on a too-small sofa and wrapped in a handknit blanket with tears streaming down his face uncontrollably. He wants to pull himself together and convince Steve that he's fine and there's no reason to worry, but he can't. All of his built-up resentment towards his family and love for Steve coming pouring out of him and no matter how hard he tries; he can't calm down. He humiliates himself by hiccupping and almost making himself sick, but he can't remember the last time he cried and now he doesn't know how to stop.

So, he sits on Steve's couch, clinging to him like a scared child, eyes red and puffy. As Steve starts to help Tony up, Tony subconsciously tenses.

"Stay with me? Just a little longer?" He says his voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course."

When he returns to his house the next morning, he is less than thrilled to see both of his parents in the kitchen talking about what he assumes to be what occurred last night. When he slams the door behind him, they both look up.

"Well?" Howard asks, raising his eyebrows.

"We broke up." Tony shrugs nonchalantly, trying to hold back his tears.

"Okay."

Tony spins to look at his mom and challenges her, "Did you have nothing to say to him?"

She looks sympathetic but says, "Anthony, I-"

"Of course not." He isn't surprised. His mother always tends to side with her husband, no matter how unreasonable he's being. He looks at Howard again. "So, you'll drop this whole Stark Industries thing?"

"Well, I-" He tries and the last of Tony's willpower snaps.

"No, it's a yes or no question. You said if I break up with Steve I can go to MIT and be an engineer. I did just that. If you are going to continue to force me into a career that I would despise, then I'm going to go back to my boyfriend. And you know what? I hate you so much right now that I don't even care if I don't go to college. It would be better than making you happy. So, drop the Stark Industries thing now."

His mother agrees, "That sounds reasonable."

"Well?" Tony asks looking at his father.

Howard closes his eyes in frustration and seems to have an internal battle before relenting. "Fine. But that doesn't mean I'm happy about it."

"Well, I'm not happy about any of it, so we're even." He snaps, before storming past them and heading to his room.

He flops on his bed and screams into his pillow, hoping the sound will be muffled. He sits up, having worn himself out, and looks around the room. His record player still holds the Queen album from the night before and Tony's dress clothes are scattered around his room. He pushes himself off of his bed and kicks it all into his closet before slamming the door. He debates breaking the record in half, but he ultimately decides to carefully put it back in its sleeve and slide it to the back of his collection. Once all his physical reminders of his relationship are gone, he sits back down on his bed with a sigh, holding his head in his hands.

After a couple minutes, he is ripped out of his spiral by the phone ringing. He picks it up and winces when his voice comes out as more of a croak, "hello?"

"Hey, I heard you needed to talk to me?" Pepper chirps from the other end of the phone.

"Can I come to your house? I desperately need to leave here."

Her tone gets much more serious, "Yeah, sure. What's going on?"

"Can we wait a second?"

"Yeah, of course."

He climbs out of his window and down the side of his house, trying to make as little noise as possible so he doesn't alert his parents. Once he reaches the grass, he bolts across his front lawn to the house next door, moving as fast as possible to avoid the dew seeping into his socks.

When he gets to her porch, he doesn't even have to knock before the door is swinging open and Pepper is ushering him inside.

"So?" She asks once they are properly situated on her couch.

"My dad found out about me and Steve."

She deflates and leans against the back of the couch. "Oh god."

"Yeah."

"So, what happened?" She asks him, hesitant.

"He gave me an ultimatum: I can either commit to studying film and business to take over his company or I break up with Steve."

The more he explains, the more her eyes widen. "What the hell? That's borderline abusive! What did you do?"

"Well, I went to Steve's. He dumped me."

"What?"

"Yeah. He said he didn't want to put me in the position of having to choose, so even though he loves me, he wants me to have a future."

She puts a hand on his leg and looks at him in the eyes. "He's right."

"He's right?" Tony's eyebrows scrunch together, and he pulls away from her.

"Tony, you are being stupid. Steve is great, and he's great for you, but you cannot choose him over the rest of your life. That would be incredibly dumb."

His eyes drop to the floor and he taps his foot nervously. "Yeah, I know. I just wish it didn't have to be like this."

"Me too. Howard's an asshole."

"Yeah."

She moves so she is sitting with her legs crossed on the couch, facing forward, her head on Tony's shoulder. "Do you want to watch some cartoons with me?"

"Yes, please."

As bad as Tony thought his Sunday was, it is nothing compared to Monday when he has to see Steve again. He walks into the cafeteria with Pepper and immediately scans the crowds for his ex-boyfriend. When he sees him, he is at his usual table, but with his sketchbook open and turned directly away from the table where they are headed. His position would be too much of a coincidence if it wasn't intentional, as he is in the spot that would make it least likely that he would have to see him.

"He's not even looking at me." Tony whispers to his friend under his breath.

"Let's go sit next to Clint and James, okay?" She gently guides him to where the others are.

They sit down next to each other across from their other friends. The boys seem shocked that he was sitting with them again, but to their credit they don't mention it and continue on with their conversation as if it hasn't been months since the two last sat there. They were in the middle of a discussion about some new horror film that just got released and Clint's plan to take various girls to see it on a date.

Tony tries to straighten up and plaster a fake grin on his face so that his friends don't notice anything. Fortunately, they seem too wrapped up in their conversation to look too closely at him. His smile quivers and his eyes are slightly puffy, and he wants nothing more than to curl up in a blanket and cry, but he pushes through it.

"I feel like shit, Pepper." He whispers to her through his fake smile.

"I know. It'll be like this for a while, but it'll get better."

"Yeah, I hope so."