Steve was awoken the next morning by a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Steve wake up, it's time for school," his uncle said lightly.
The blond allowed his eyes to flutter open. His uncle was standing over him. He groaned and rolled onto his side. "School's overrated."
"Did you have a bad day yesterday?" Steve recalled all the things that had happened. He stood up to quickly and got a head rush. He fell back onto the couch. "Watch it, tiger. What's up?" His uncle asked.
"I actually had a fine time at school yesterday. I'm going to go get ready!" He insisted, standing up. He ran up the stairs and into his room. He quickly changed into a pair of clean jeans and a blue tee, grabbing clothes for gym and track practice.
He ran back down the stairs, and quickly shoved the clothes in his bag before swinging it around his shoulder. "Whose wet clothes were on your floor yesterday?" His uncle asked.
Steve spun around on his heels; he could have sworn his Uncle wasn't there a moment ago. "Mine." He said quickly.
"You had two sets of wet clothes?" He was giving Steve a chance to tell the truth. Steve couldn't lie to save his life.
"Oh, the ones on my floor, right. No, those were Tony's. I had him over because he didn't have a ride home. Yeah, I just let him borrow a pair of mine, you know, so he wouldn't catch pneumonia." Steve blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his head.
"So you're friends with Howard's son? Sounds like a pretty good first day." Steve started thinking about the kisses and wondered if 'friends' was the word you would use to describe them.
"Yes, Uncle Phil, it was a pretty good first day. Better than most anyway." He smiled, grabbing his phone off the counter and checking the time. "Oh, I need to get going. I'll be late by the way, I have track practice. I'll see you when I get home." He called, while exiting the house.
"Bye kiddo, have a good day!" Phil called.
"I will!" Steve shouted back, bringing his bike to life and pulling out of the garage.
Steve parked in the same spot he had the previous day, this time receiving half as many stares. That was a good sign, right? He walked straight to his locker, glad to not have to ask for directions this time. He shoved his belongings in the locker, grabbing his physics stuff. Closing it, he saw the red head from yesterday smiling at him.
"Hi, I'm Natasha Romanov. I should have introduced myself yesterday, but I was in a hurry." She held out a hand, which Steve cordially accepted.
"No harm done. I'm Steve, by the way." Steve smiled.
Natasha smiled back. "I know who you are, Steve Rogers. Thor told us all about you."
"Us?" Steve was nervous about what Thor may, or may not have said.
"My friend, Clint, and I. Don't worry, it wasn't anything bad. We were just hanging at his house and Loki mentioned you, at which point Thor took it upon himself to embarrass the hell out of him." She was repressing laughter.
"Loki talked about me?" Steve asked.
The red head nodded. "Just an innocent comment when Thor cracked a joke about his personal life, or lack thereof." apparently everyone had heard that one. "Loosen up, not everyone here is dead set on talking behind your back." Steve nodded, smiling again. "We'll be joining you for lunch today, by the way. Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all."
"Great, see you then." She said, then walked away. Steve smiled again and began walking to his classroom.
He was a few feet from the door when he stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes rested on Tony Stark, his hands on the hips of some girl, their bodies pressed tightly together. She was looking up at him longingly, her arms wrapped around his waist. He didn't know why it hurt so bad, he didn't know why he had expected anything more. He had heard about the kid from his friends, and seen his jerk-y attitude first hand. He had been an idiot to think the cuddly Tony Stark that had made out with was the real thing, it was a trick he had used to make him feel like a fool, and it worked.
Steve flounced into his physics lab, taking his seat next to Loki. He rested his head on the table and sighed. "Um... Is something wrong?" Loki asked, then he felt a little stupid, of course something was wrong.
"I'm an idiot," Steve replied.
"Okay, well what exactly does that have to do with anything?" The bell rang and The teacher informed the students to get to work on their labs.
"Never mind, let's just get to work." He reached for the safety goggles, but Loki rested a hand on his, forcing the blond to look at him
"What's wrong?" He asked.
Steve shook his head, smiling slightly. "I'm alright. We should probably get this lab done."
"I did it yesterday while you were at track. It's all finished." He showed Steve the worksheet, and it was, indeed, finished. Loki pulled his hand back, remembering where it was.
"Oh, sorry." Steve pulled his hand back too, looking away from Loki and blushing a little.
"No, that was my fault." Loki insisted, smiling shyly.
"No, not that, I mean the lab. I should have helped." Steve explained.
"It's fine. I have to admit, it would have been more fun if you had been there looking pretty, though."
Steve locked eyes with the dark haired boy, smiling fondly. "Well I'm here now, and I don't think I look that bad."
"No, you don't." Loki's face flushed when he realized what he had said. He quickly tried to fix it, stuttering things out, digging himself a bigger hole.
"Calm down Loki. Or honestly, it's okay if you don't too, you look pretty adorable all flustered like that," Steve teased. Loki stopped, looking at Steve through wide eyes. "Yup, sucks that I'm not your type. What is, by the way?"
"I... uh..." His face had never been this red before.
"You know what my type is?" Steve asked. Loki shook his head. Steve grabbed Loki's shirt collar, pulling the boy close so he could whisper in his ear. "You."
"Steve!" The blond pulled away from Loki, looking towards his teacher. Loki's face was growing increasingly red and he left his eyes on Steve.
"Yes sir?" The blond asked. He was biting the inside of his cheek, trying not to smile or laugh.
Every pair of eyes in the room was on him, including Tony's inquisitive brown ones. Steve avoided them, though, because honestly all he wanted to do was punch them. "I'd appreciate it if you would... keep your personal endeavors with Loki out of my class room." The entire classroom began whispering to one another.
"I'll try my hardest, sir." Steve replied coolly.
"Good, everyone back to work now." The teacher went back to grading whatever it was he had on his desk.
Steve turned to his lab partner who was still trying to work what had just happened through his head. The blond laughed, unable to hold it in any longer.
"Very funny Steve." Loki finally spat. "You're hilarious."
"Oh, I'm not joking," Steve said seriously. "You're crazy adorable." Loki was pretty sure the blush was becoming permanent.
"Shut up." He hissed.
Steve shrugged. "Anything you say." They sat silently for a few minutes.
"Tall, blond hair, blue eyes. In shape, not necessarily buff, but well, fit, I guess." Loki finally said.
Steve turned to him, confusion plain on his face. "What?" He asked.
"You asked me my type; well that's what it is." Loki replied.
"I thought you said I wasn't your type." Steve smirked.
"You weren't." His blush was mostly gone, but his cheeks were still a light pink hue.
Steve glanced at his teacher, who was completely submersed in grading. He looked back to Loki, before placing a quick, gentle, kiss on his lips. "You... that was my first kiss," Loki mumbled.
"It was my fourth. Was it as bad as you're making it look like?" He asked.
"Oh, sorry, I was kind of caught off guard. No it was... just..."
"Not what you were expecting." Steve finished.
"No." Loki smirked. "It was way better."
Steve walked into his English class, his head held high. He walked directly to his seat, setting his stuff on his desk. As soon as he sat down, Tony was leaning on his desk, quite provocatively. "So what was that about?" He asked.
"I don't know. What about you?" Steve replied.
"What do you mean?" Tony asked, genuinely confused.
"In the hallway, outside physics this morning." He stopped, allowing Tony to think about it. "You were feeling up some girl." Steve explained.
"That girl just happens to be my girlfriend," Tony spat.
Hurt flashed across Steve's face, but it was quickly replaced by an unreadable expression. He looked Tony in the eyes. "Then I guess we have nothing more to talk about."
Tony turned and walked to his desk, doing it in motions that made it seem like he was going to walk out of the room to prove some extremely righteous point. Steve looked away from the brunette, trying not to look like he was hurt.
Class started, they were discussing the character development of one of the characters in the first five chapters, or something like that. Steve was much more interested in what it would feel like to kiss Loki again, because he tasted so innocent (apparently innocence tastes like mint, because that was what Loki had tasted like).
He was so deep in thought it took a stab from the pencil of the kid behind him to make him hear his teacher calling his name. "Steve, you've been awfully quiet this entire time, what's your take on all this?" Ms. Jennings asked for the third time.
"I... Well... Personally, I think the author took too much time describing physical traits that he never went into depth with personality and mentality. I don't know how I'm supposed to connect with the character if I have no idea what they're actually like inside."
"On the contrary, Mr. Rogers, I believe a lot can be expressed through physical appearance and actions." Tony countered.
Steve rolled his eyes. "Actions don't mean a thing unless you put emotion and thought into them. Without emotion, every action is just a motion."
"Without action, emotions are just stupid things that do nothing but pester you."
"Since I feel like we aren't talking about the book anymore, let's move on." Ms. Jennings interrupted.
Steve grumbled. Why couldn't Tony just leave him alone? Why did he have to make everything difficult? Why did he have to be so attractive?
'No, Steve,' the blond thought to himself. 'Tony isn't the least bit attractive. He's a no good jerk and nothing more.'
The bell rang, and Steve was the first person out of the room.
Okay, so this chapter is pretty much on track with word count (all though they're all sort of sporadic)! If that isn't an accomplishment (and it really isn't) I don't know what is! So anyway, THANK YOU TO ALL REVIEWERS, YOU MAKE IT ALL WORTH WHILE! And now I will stop shouting at you. Sorry, I could barely contain my excitement.
Now, in order to save myself from further embarrassment (from those of you laughing and my father who is practically breathing down my neck trying to figure out what I'm doing) , I bid you all a charming adieu