Hey Everyone! Here is the long awaited Chapter 2. Apologies for the long time between updates, I became very busy in November and December with NaNoWriMo and various awards nights. Good news is that I successfully completed NaNo and that it is now school holidays so i have time to write and update all of my stories. Enjoy the chapter! Warnings for swearing.

Chapter 2

Time ticked by slowly, science class dragging on like it had never done before. Science was a good class, one which he could actually stand. Today though, today he just couldn't concentrate. Peter was coming back, would be waiting right out the front of this very building, at this exact moment. It had been years, endless, dragging years since Tony had seen Peter and he just couldn't wait to see his best friend.

Finally he would have a friend actually in the same city as him again. No one at high school had ever made friends with Tony, his little intricacies and oddities putting many potential friends off. He had one, maybe two people he could call 'not-quite-friends-but-closer-than-an-acquaintance'. These two were Pepper and Rhodey. Still, he wasn't very close with them not compared to how close he had been to Peter. In seconds, just seconds he would be able to make a run for it and see his best friend again.

Tony's foot tapped the floor, just barely reaching it as he sat upon one of the high stools they put in the science labs. There hadn't been any practical component to the lesson today and he was bored. There wasn't even a way to be more bored than he was. It was all theory and equations, things he could practically do in his sleep. Why wasn't there anything more interesting at school?

Most days he would be longing to get out of the door, avoid the numerous jocks and make it home to his lab. Escaping the less-than-watchful eye of his parents was becoming easier and easier, especially considering that they would never bother him when he was in his lab. Whole school holidays could be whiled away in the lab. He would lose track of time, barely eat or sleep and invent the most amazing things. The holidays, they were always the best time. School just managed to get in the way of genius, that was all it did. Who needed English when they could do any mathematical or science equation quicker and better than anyone in the school? He could probably do those equations better than most employed engineers, for fuck's sake.

Finally the bell was ringing; Tony was up and out of his seat before it had even gotten through one full ring. His bag was already packed and he rocketed out of the doorway in seconds. If he ever put this much effort into sports classes he would have been picked for many of the athletics team. Of course, he just didn't need the subject so why put effort into it?

It felt like it took forever to make it to the front doors of the building but in reality Tony was there in less that a tenth of the time it usually took him. He hadn't been accosted by the jocks, he hadn't stayed behind in lab and he hadn't slowly sauntered down the halls to avoid the jocks. This had to be a record, possibly a world record.

He burst out of the front doors of the building and bounded down the steps, his head swinging back and forth in an attempt to spot Peter. His eyes were darting everywhere just hoping for a glimpse of his primary school friend.

Instead of being directly in front of the school where Tony hoped Peter would be, his friend was off to one side underneath one of the few trees that peppered the school grounds. His friend looked different to what he remembered, taller than him now and certainly just as skinny as before. His dark hair was longer now but nicely combed so it didn't look too bad.

Without wasting a moment Tony was engulfing his friend in a hug. He didn't pay any mind to the looks he was getting from the other students or even the glares he was getting from the girls. Tony all but forgot that this was his first hug since Peter had left. His parents never bothered to show any signs of affection now that he was old enough to look out for himself.

"Ooof, Tony, lemme go!"

Tony just ignored the plea and continued hugging his friend, just a little too tightly. This was the first time he had seen Peter in forever, he was allowed to have such a reaction!

Hands came around and pried his fingers from where they were clinging to his friend's coat. He stumbled back a step before looking up at Peter, a grin spread across his lips.

"Much better, I can breathe now," Peter joked, an answering smile on his face.

"Yeah, well I'm allowed such a reaction; you've been gone for forever. You haven't even visited me since you left. I've been all on my lonesome suffering through high school!"

"Tony you have friends, you haven't been completely alone. Plus, we've emailed each other every day since I left, that has to be as good as me visiting you once a year."

The rich high school student just pouted in response before huffing and letting the smile spread across his features again. This afternoon he had no plans to head back home, instead he planned on going to Peter's house for the whole afternoon and just forgetting about his parents for a while. It wasn't like his parents would care, he'd been to parties which had lasted 48 hours and his parents hadn't even noticed that he was missing.

"It still would have been better if you could have visited. Never mind you're here now and we're wasting time. We have things to invent, places to be and food to be eating. Let's go!"

"All this and I'm assuming you're just inviting yourself to my place?"

"Yeah, where else would we be going?"

The two friends laughed before leaving the school grounds. Tony had told Pepper and Rhodey earlier that he was going to be hanging out with Peter so there was no need to say goodbye for the day.

In primary school the two would always walk home with Steve if they were going to Peter's house, now however the High School was further away from the small house and Tony had a car. Peter found himself led over to a sleek Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. The car was a deep red and looked like a plaything of the rich. He couldn't quite accept the fact that his friend now had enough money to throw away on fancy cars and anything that he wanted to have. OF course it could have been a present from Tony's parents but somehow Peter doubted it.

"Hop in, she's a beauty."

That was all the invitation that Peter needed to hop into the car, sliding into the front passenger seat to admire the craftsmanship. The quality of the interior was superb; you would be hard pressed to find another vehicle with such fine finishing.

The engine purred to life and the two friends were soon flying out of the school grounds, Tony gunning the engines in order to show off. Tony was a rather good driver, even if he did say so himself. He could drive at high speeds and not have an issue with the control of the vehicle, which had nothing to do with the fact that the car was made for high speeds.

It seemed to Tony that his friend liked his car, one which he had bought with his own money. The Maserati which sat in the garage at home was a gift from his parents but he rarely drove it. Maserati's were all well and good but it was a gift from his parents who ignored him most of the time and then presented him with expensive gifts.

Admittedly some of the money he used to buy this vehicle was a present but at least it was a present that he could put to better use. The car had been an impulsive buy but Tony absolutely loved the vehicle so he didn't really mind the fact that he had just gone out and purchased something on a whim.

He navigated the streets towards Peter's house with ease, the two friends not talking because with the top down in the vehicle it was hard to hold a conversation. This neighbourhood was familiar, Tony had made sure to walk down this street, or drive down it in more recent years, at least once a week. It helped him to get out of his thoughts and provided an excuse to get out of the oppressive house that was his home. Now that Peter was back though, Tony planned on spending as much time as possible at his house.

At Peter's house he would be fed great food and not expected to eat in a massive dining room on a much too large table. Instead he would get to sit in a cosy kitchen and a small table with Peter and Steve, talking just a little too loudly about his day and the experiments that he and Peter had performed. Tony missed the afternoons spent at the house and was glad that he would finally be able to go back to hanging out there.

The Lamborghini pulled into the driveway of Peter's house and the two boys alighted, picking up their bags and walking straight in the front door. Shoes were slipped off and bags just haphazardly dumped in the hallway.

"Steve, we're home!" Tony yelled out before Peter could. This house was much more his home than his usual house was.

"Hey Tony, hi Peter. It didn't' take you two very long to get back from the school. How was your day Tony?" Steve replied, moving to stand in the doorway of the living room where the boys had made themselves comfortable.

"It was alright, I spent the whole day just waiting until I could finish and see Peter again," Tony responded without looking over to the doorway, his eyes busy studying the room instead.

"Hopefully you weren't too distracted Tony, your lessons are important after all."

"Nah, it's fine. I can practically do this stuff in my sleep."

Tony could feel Steve's gaze on him, the customary frown probably fixed into place. He turned his gaze to the doorway in order to give his friend's foster father a grin only to find a sight that he definitely wasn't expecting. In the doorway was a very bulked up man. Blond hair short and combed perfectly, a chiselled jaw and bright blue eyes accenting the perfect body. This was not the Steve that Tony remembered.

Surely he would have remembered in Steve had been blessed with that kind of body before he had left the city. Tony remembered him as a scrawny man, scrawnier than what Peter was right now. Steve had been asthmatic, with a heart murmur and had been at least a foot shorter. What the hell had happened? Was this Steve or was Steve in the kitchen and this was one of his new buddies from the military?

"I'm Steve, Tony," the man said, practically reading Tony's mind, unless of course he had spoken his mind out loud again. A glance over at Peter told him that he had yet again spoken all of his thoughts out loud.

"Oh, uh right. Of course. Anyways, I really can do that schoolwork in my sleep, it's easy!"

Steve was silent a moment before replying, "Alright, just don't let your grades slip. C'mon there is afternoon tea in the kitchen then you two can get back to your science experiments-just try not to blow up the house."

With that the awkward atmosphere which had settled over the room dissipated and the two boys were rushing through into the kitchen. It was just like it had been when tony and peter had been in primary school, only now they were taller and slightly more muscular. They couldn't claim to be any more mature though.

Afternoon tea turned out to be sandwiches and cookies. Steve left the two of them alone in the kitchen, instead wandering off to his office to get through the paperwork that was waiting for him there. He hadn't expected all the extra paperwork that would come after joining the military, nor the way that the serum would affect his body. It was still odd for him to have a large body, one which was muscular and a thousand times stronger than he used to be.

The paperwork just couldn't keep Steve occupied though, his mind was too busy floating back to Tony and the shocked look which had passed across his face when he had seen Steve. The boy hadn't looked horrified but he certainly hadn't looked pleased at the way his body had changed. Steve put it down to the boy being shocked; however it wasn't a look of shock that had crossed his face.

Whatever it was Tony would sort it out and he didn't seem to be in a bad mood. Everything would work out all right eventually.

That's all for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. R & R please :)