A Romantic Education - Steve/Tony AU [Chapter 2] 

Previous Chapters: Chapter 1

Tony Stark wasn’t your typical new guy at school. He already had his school blazer modified it to have his initials on it, wore fancy tight pants and designer shoes along with a briefcase rather than a bag. He dared to wear sunglasses in the halls of the inside of the school, and had a cheeky grin on his face. A shy red haired girl was following him, clearly not liking the attention that Tony was getting. She covered her flushed face with her hair and tried to hard to follow Tony’s steps while holding quite a few books.
He was looking at everyone, trying to figure out their status in the school. Of course everyone knew who he was. Howard Stark’s only son and heir, a genius and top student of his class. His father figured out that there was no better way for Stark Industries to get more attention and clients than by transferring his son to the school that he funded himself. Tony wasn’t exactly happy about this, but he knew it was pointless to argue with his father.
So there he was now, walking in a corridor full of people staring at him and clearing his path. It didn’t take much for him to realize who was in charge there.
A blond and tall boy was watching him from the corner, with a pretty girl standing next to him. Tony winked at the girl and stopped in front of the boy. He coughed a bit and tried now to show how annoyed he was that he had to look up at the taller male. He offered his hand to shake.
“Tony Stark”, he said in a calm voice. “I’ve been told to look out for you. Rogers I suppose?”
“Y-yeah.” Steve said, though his first impressions of the boy in front of him weren’t the most positive he’s ever had, after all, he was making a move on his girl and he hadn’t even been here for longer than two seconds. Steve’s arm instinctively reached around Peggy’s shoulders, holding her close as she smiled comfortably. She was used to people hitting on her, but Steve wasn’t, especially when he was around, no one was allowed to hit on his girl. He was nothing like he had imagined him to be, in fact, quite the opposite. In some ways he resembled his father; especially with the extremely cool and collected aura he seemed to give off. His eyes scanned the boy up and down, though he tried to not make it obvious that he was trying to examine what he had in store - and if his entrance was anything to judge on, this was going to be a hell of a bumpy ride. “You’re Howard’s son, right?” He asked, though of course he knew the answer, but for some reason, talking to Tony seemed to throw him off his game - he seemed almost overwhelmed by his presence, so much so, that he couldn’t even think straight.
Tony smiled, pleased that he managed to intimidate Steve. “Indeed I am. My father spoke to me about you.” He made a pause, waiting for Steve’s reaction. “Head of the basketball team right? You think you could use another player anytime soon?”, he said and patted him on his shoulders. “By the way, this is Pepper Potts, my personal.. assistant. You know how hard this is for me, right?”.
Pepper blushed and nodded, trying to avoid anyone’s gaze. Once again, Tony’s choice of words could lead people to misunderstand their relationship.
“And Rogers, you didn’t introduce me to this beautiful lady next to you?”, he grinned and nodded at her. “I could also use a tour of the facility, if that’s okay with you.”
The tall blonds eyes narrowed, who does he think he is? He watched as the girl that was by his side made lingering eye-contact with the boy in front of him. “This is Peggy Carter, my girlfriend.” He made sure he added on that last part with extreme emphasis. Maybe he was too oblivious to notice that the two were standing close to each other in an intimate manner. The instant he felt Tony’s hands on his shoulders, he almost flinched back. No one touches him, no one, especially if they’ve just met. “As for basketball…” He looked at his fellow team-mates that were by his side, “Maybe we’ve got a spot on third string…” He muttered, eyeing Tony up and down, clearly the boy didn’t have an athlete’s body, but Steve was too kind to turn someone down instantly.
Tony raised an eyebrow. “Girlfriend huh? Interesting, I guess head cheerleaders and team players always get together. Is this some kind of tradition or something?”, he asked crossing his arms, watching them both with questioning interest.
He doesn’t seem to like her a lot, but he’s so possessive. He shook his shoulders and looked back at Steve.
“I was just trying to break the ice. Basketball isn’t exactly on of my priorities. I tend to focus on much greater and important stuff.”
He noticed that the boy didn’t approve of the sudden touch of his hands. To be fair, he didn’t like people touching him either, so he just ignored that.
“So,are you going to show me around or what?”
Steve’s eyes slightly narrowed in confusion, “Wait, you just asked to be on the team and you’re saying that ‘it’s not important’ to you?” He took offence immediately, he was dedicating his time to basketball and he would push himself on the court beyond his limits to win. “It doesn’t make sense…” His expression seemed to change from somewhat open, to closed. “But I guess I can show you around, though there’s not much to show.” He said, now walking with a far straighter posture as he gave Peggy a light kiss on the head and pulled away from her, walking quite quickly in front of Stark as he began to give him the ‘tour’.
“I don’t care any less about football or was it basketball? I already forgot.”, Tony said and nodded at Pepper. “Let’s go”. He took off his sunglasses and placed them in his blazer’s pocket. His brown eyes met Steve’s and he stared at him for a while. “Not much to show? You mean my father didn’t put his money in good use? I may have to inform him about that.”, he said while made a few quick steps to catch up with Steve.
“I’m just warning you, Stark, you might not want to get on the wrong side of anyone on any of the sports teams.” He said, trying to contain himself. The boy was new and obviously lacked social skills, so he had to try and be patient. “Well yeah, I guess you should inform him…” He added, with an eye roll. He took long strides as he walked, pointing to each room and giving a name. “Chem lab… Physics lab… Workshop…  English room… Library…” Though when it came to the gym he stopped and paused, opening the large doors so that Tony could look inside, “And here’s my home; the Gym.” He said proudly, a smile returning to his face as he flicked on the lights to the large basketball court, that had other sports equipment tucked away in the equipment shed - a small extension to the court, that Steve had called the gym. “Pretty awesome, it’s the best place in this school, don’t you think?”
“On the wrong side?I don’t have to pick a side, I’m staying on mine. I just expressed my lack of interest in sports or any physical activity. Is that so strange?”, Tony said calmly. He knew that some of the things he said could get him into trouble, but on the other hand, he wouldn’t let this guy win.
He looked at all the rooms carefully and nodded with satisfaction when they passed by the workshop. “On the other hand, father did care enough about the rooms that I will actually bother visiting, that’s so nice of him”, he chuckled.
He couldn’t hold back a little laugh when Steve showed him the Gym. “Don’t bother about this, I don’t think I’ll attend the P.E. classes anyway.” He looked around and noticed that Steve was actually being serious when he talked with affection about the big room.
“I guess you need to be good in something to get the pretty girl right? Fair enough, I suppose your skills make up for you lack of good grades.”
“What did you say? My grades are fine, thank you very much.” Steve shook his head, maybe he was wrong, maybe not everyone has the potential to be good mannered especially on their first day. “Fine, you sit around, bunk classes and let your dads butler get everything for you. Ass.” Steve spoke with spite, giving Tony one of the harshest looks that he had given in a long while. The boy clearly had no respect for him, and that was something that he wasn’t used to at all. He stormed past, slinging his bag over his shoulder and walking into his fist lesson - English. That was something he was good at, although the only way that he could pass the year is if he passed his most detested subject; Science. He was good at everything else, everything but the one class he needed to be good at.

Next Chapters: Chapter 3, Chapter 4