Chapter 15: News

Four and a half weeks later,...

Steve smiled to himself. This is how things are supposed to be. he thought. It was a Friday afternoon, and Steve and his friends were sitting at a table eating lunch. The six of them. Their circle. Him. Tony. Clint. Natasha. Bruce. Thor. Sam unfortunately was busy elsewhere. They were all chatting and munching happily on chicken shawarma. Tony was sick of them always going to the coffee shop after school, so he seemed adamant on them all trying something random and new. He noticed the shawarma joint a couple blocks from the school and Steve chuckled, remembering what Tony had said;

"I don't know what it is but I wanna try it."

Steve took another hearty bite and looked at Tony and Clint. They were sitting next to each other, red faced from laughing really hard. Something outrageous Clint had said about cocaine and sweets. Steve smiled. It had been a little over a month since that life changing game of Truth or Dare at Tony's house. The following Tuesday after their fallout on Saturday, Tony and Clint had showed up to school together. Together. They told Steve and the others that they were "sort of going out now", and the only one who seemed surprised was Sam. Steve was happy that Tony and Clint made up and decided to give each other a shot. They worked well together.

Since then Clint and Natasha began hanging out with them all a lot more. Together and separate much to Steve's pleasant surprise. The two of them weren't into sports so they never attended Thor's games, but they did plenty of other stuff with them. Sometimes Natasha would study with Bruce and Betty at his house. Other times Clint would go running with Steve and Sam. Sometimes both of them would hang out at Tony's or like now, come with all of them as a group for after-school lunches and movie nights. Their first movie night as a collective consisted of apple pies and a Three Kicks To The Head movie marathon, which Bruce thoroughly enjoyed. Steve felt so proud of himself. If he hadn't invited Clint and Natasha to Tony's birthday party, he wasn't sure if this ever would've happened. He liked them both a lot, and apparently they liked him back. Clint was trying (emphasis on trying) to swear less around Steve. Natasha put forth effort in holding conversations with the rest of them without help from her partner.

Pepper and Rhodey weren't around that much since Truth or Dare. Apparently Pepper had finally made a clean break with Tony. Sad but neccessary, Steve supposed. Why Rhodey hardly ever hung out with them was anybody's guess. He and Tony just weren't talking to each other that much anymore. Steve had asked why but Tony himself didn't even know. Kinda like me and Bucky I guess. He wished Betty and Jane would come to their hangouts. They were civil and friendly, but the two of them still preferred to keep their distance. They mostly hung out with each other instead, watching little Darcy or going over notes together. Steve remained optimistic, though. If Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff of all people could hang out with Steve and his pals on a regular, surely so would they. Steve sighed. He missed Sharon, but he was hopeful he would find someone more to his liking soon. A red-lipped English beauty who went to an all-girls school across town showed promise. One who he'd bumped into at the library the other day. Steve looked up from his food and giggled when he saw Natasha roll her eyes at Clint and Tony.

"Why are you two so stupid?" she chided playfully.

"Look, all I'm saying is that something that looks like sugar can't be all that bad for you." Clint replied.

"Clyde's right, ya know. I mean, sometimes there is a good reason to do it." said Tony.

Steve raised his eyebrows.

"To do coke? Seriously? Like what, T?"

Steve knew how uptight he seemed to the rest of them, so he made sure to smile and chuckle when he asked that. He found this conversation hilarious, and he wanted to prove he wasn't as much of a boyscout as they thought.

"He can probably think of a few scenarios." said Tony.

"Who?" asked Steve.

"Duh! Me!"

Steve and the others groaned and rolled their eyes. He hated always falling for that. Clint gave Tony a light smack upside the head, and Steve laughed. The two of them may have been going out now, but Steve knew Clint wasn't going to take any of Tony's third-person talk.

"Let me guess, dieting?" Natasha asked sarcastically.

Bruce chuckled.

"I don't think any of us have any trouble on that front." he said.

"You're a smart guy, Brucie Boy. You give us a reason." Tony prompted.

Bruce shrugged.

"Well, say you procrastinated on writing a twenty-page paper that's due in like in an hour. There's one."

The six of them laughed, and Steve decided he wanted in on the action.

"Say all your Tamagotchi pets are dying and you need to stay up all night taking care of them."

Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Tony slapped the table and threw their heads back. Their howling laughter making some of the workers behind the counter jump.

"This fool said Tamagotchi pets! Oh god, I'm gonna pee!" Tony hollered at some point, not making things any better.

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Filled the entire restaurant, and Steve joined in. He was rarely the cause of such laughter so he felt accomplished. The only one not joining in on the hee-hee-hahs was Thor, who was looking down with his arms crossed. In fact, he had said close to nothing ever since they had left school. Steve thought it was maybe because of a rough day in class, but their insanely funny conversations heard not a single add-in from Thor. Whether he got their jokes or not, he was always chatty. Just like Tony, so something had to be up. Steve wiped a tear from his eye when their laughing and coughing finally calmed down.

"Hey, big guy, what's up?" Steve breathed, clutching at his cramping ribcage.

Thor looked up slowly. His face was neutral, something else Steve knew was a rarity. Clint and Natasha did that regularly, but Thor was an open book when it came to what he was thinking or feeling. Everyone else looked at the Asgardian when they heard Steve's question. Thor faced them all and took a deep breath.

"My friends, I have some news." he said.

"What is it, Hammy?" asked Tony.

Steve stifled a snicker. "Hammy" was Tony's new nickname for Thor. Has been ever since Steve told him Clint said Thor's hair smelled like ham.

"Remember when I told you of how my father left last night on an unexpected journey out of the country? How he didn't tell me where or why?"

"Yeah." said Clint, his arm around Tony.

"Well, I was called into Principal Fury's office this afternoon before school was over. He and Son of Coul have assigned me as a mentor of sorts to a new exchange student who will be attending school here soon."

Natasha shrugged.

"And?" she asked.

Thor chewed on his thumbnail and looked to the side.

"My father has gone back to Asgardia to get him." Thor replied quietly.

Steve and Tony's eyes bulged. Wait a minute, then that means,...

"So what you're saying is, it's...it's-" Steve started.

Thor nodded.

"The one coming back with my father in a few days time is my brother. Loki."

***END***

A/N: There you have it! My very first fanfic on this site. I had a lot of fun writing this and I'm glad it's been read by some of you. What are your thoughts on Clony/IronHawk? You like all of the references and running gags I threw in there? Haha! Follow me if you want to see where this goes because Captain, T, Brucie Boy, Hammy, Bonnie and Clyde will be back for a SEQUEL! More backstory, more drama, more humor, more Marvel characters, and of course more *ahem* pineapple. Loki's involved and lets just say, shit gets crazy. Thank you lots for reading! ~Jesse Edwards. PS the next "chapter" is a sneak peek. Check it out!