Chapter 20
When they finally succeeded in getting a table in the busy diner, the time was 6:13 and everyone was starving. (Mainly Thor, Tony, and Clint, because he's always hungry.)
A young and flustered-looking waiter came to take their order. As Thor was ordering his favorite dish, deluxe nachos, Steve realized that he knew their waiter from somewhere.
"Hey, do you go to Stark High?" Steve asked.
"It's the only high school here." Tony pointed out but the guy looked at Steve, surprised.
"I didn't expect you to know me, and yeah, I do." He said, looking pleased. "Phil Coulson. I'm a freshman."
Steve started to introduce himself. "I'm-"
"Steve Rogers. Yeah, I know lots about you." Phil said proudly, with a look of admiration on his face.
"Uh, okay then." Steve looked back to his menu.
Tony looked at Phil, then at Steve, then at Phil.
"I'll have the bacon cheeseburger with fries." Tony ordered, glaring at the fourteen year old with one of those expressions that would best be described with the "If looks could kill, he/she would've died right there." line.
"Okay..." Phil wrote it down quickly.
"I'll have the same as Thor." Darcy announced. Clint and Natasha looked at her. "What?"
"Well, Thor's the only one who can ever actually eat those. He didn't order lunch today just so he could actually finish those." Clint snickered at the surprised look on Thor's face.
"I'm hungry, and I bet I can finish them too." She said.
Phil glanced at the three who hadn't ordered yet.
Natasha ordered a double cheeseburger and Clint ordered a triple burger with extra cheese.
Steve looked at his boyfriend. "What should I get?"
Tony looked thoughtful. "Don't ask me, Stevie."
"Stevie?" Steve muttered, scanning the menu.
"Yeah, I'm trying out nicknames to see which one I like best, Rogers."
"Last names? Really, Tony? I'll have the same as him." Steve finally decided.
Phil wrote it down and left them alone.
"I don't like him." Tony muttered.
"Who, Phil? Why not?" Steve asked.
"Uh, his first name is 'Waiter.'" Tony said sulkily.
"Why? 'Cause he looked like a twelve year old schoolgirl when he saw Steve?" Darcy wondered.
"He did?" Thor chuckled.
"Aw Tony, don't be jealous if your boyfriend's got a little admirer." Natasha said, teasingly.
"Really guys? He was being nice, come on." Steve scoffed.
"Yeah, right." Clint nodded slowly.
"I think you all need to quit being 'Becky's and 'Mary-Margaret's." Steve rolled his eyes, but Tony just sat there, dejectedly sipping his soda.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Thirty minutes later, Clint, Nat, Steve, and Tony were all watching Thor and Darcy waiting to see who would finish their gigantic plate of nachos first.
Thor had eaten two-thirds, Darcy had eaten half.
"You win. I can't eat anymore." She finally gave up and sunk into the booth with a sigh.
"Victory!" Thor shouted happily as proceeded to dump the rest of her plate on his own.
"Yeah man, good luck eating all that." Clint said. Thor just shrugged and went back to his plate while Darcy drank her soda, very slowly.
"So, I noticed you had my family's old photo book when you got back from, I'm guessing, Brooklyn. Did you look at it?" Steve asked Tony the question he'd been asking himself since Tony had returned two hours ago.
"Yeah. Did you really wear that old military helmet everywhere you went when you were in preschool?" Tony asked.
"Oh no," Steve groaned, a blush appearing on his cheeks. "You saw that?"
"Yes, I did." Tony grinned cheekily.
"What'd I miss in this conversation?" Natasha asked, she was watching Clint try and hold up ice cubes from his empty glass using his straw.
"Well, apparently, Steve's dad was a captain in the army. He had this old helmet that Steve used to walk around in all the time when he was four. I only know this because his mother was an avid amateur photographer." Tony explained.
"Ah." Natasha went back to watching Clint.
"Captain Steve, there's a nickname for you. Wearing the captain's old helmet and all." Tony said thoughtfully.
"That's no nickname, it's too long." Darcy pointed out.
"Good point... How about 'Captain'?" Tony suggested.
"Tony, what's the whole point of this?" Steve said.
"All the couples have to have cute nicknames for each other." Tony declared.
"Okay. Good luck with that." Steve said, although he was amused by it.
"Cap! There we go. I like it. Cap." Tony stared at Steve, waiting for his opinion.
"Huh, I actually like that. It's catchy, or whatever." Steve said fondly.
"Okay, Cap." Tony put special emphasis on the nickname.
Phil came back with the bill and handed it to Thor, who decided all the dinner was on him.
"I'm proud of you, Darcy." Thor randomly announced as he paid in cash.
"Thanks. What'd I do?" She added.
"You attempted to eat the entire plate of nachos, and you accepted defeat graciously."
"Is this how everyone talks in England?" Darcy asked, but she had a proud look on her face.
"No, just me." Thor replied.
"We leaving now?" Clint asked, blowing at Natasha's hair through his straw, just to annoy her.
"Yeah, we should probably head out." Tony said, looking rather depressed with that idea.
"Don't worry, I'm sure if you just ignore your dad, it'll be fine." Steve whispered in a reassuring tone as they left the diner. Clint and Natasha left with Darcy and Thor in his car, but Tony and Steve decided to walk home together.
"I wish." Tony replied.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Steve's house was closer to the diner than Tony's, so Tony walked him home before heading to his house.
He got the spare key from around the back to unlock the house but was surprised when it was already unlocked.
"Oh Mom, you didn't." He groaned when he saw his parents waiting for him at the base of the stairs.
"Yes, I did tell your father, and he has something to tell you." Maria gave an expecting look to her husband.
"I don't want to hear it unless he really means it." Tony grumbled, not looking at his father.
Howard cleared his throat and looked at his son.
"Tony, I am sorry for acting as I did when I discovered the nature of your relationship with Steve. It wasn't right, neither was the way you acted-" Maria shook her head at him. "Both of us were wrong. You're my son, and I am proud of you no matter what, I just have trouble showing it." He looked like he was choking but Maria gestured for him to continue. "I am very pleased with your accomplishments and I love you. Now, can we not fight anymore?" He finished.
"Yeah, whatever." Tony just slid past his parents and went upstairs.
"That went so well." Howard put his face in his hands.
"Perhaps you should invite Steve over as a gesture of goodwill." Maria said, attempting to be helpful.
"I don't want him coming over here when I'm around." Howard said adamantly.
"Howard, how can you expect him to forgive you when you still act this way?" She replied.
"I never asked him to forgive me, I just asked if we could stop fighting." He stalked up the stairs.
Maria sat down on the bottom step and huffed. Why did they have to be so stubborn?
"Maria, dear, don't forget to start planning the Thanksgiving dinner, I really want to be prepared this time, I don't care if it's a month away." Howard said, popping back in quickly. "You can have Tony invite Bruce and Pepper over, then you can invite a friend or two." He reminded before leaving.
"Fine then." Maria strode to the study to begin planning.
"Bruce, Pepper," She mumbled aloud as she wrote them down on the invites list. "Friends of mine? What friend would I actually want to invite to Thanksgiving this year?" She thought back on most of their haughty behavior at the last party she invited them to. A friend or two... Any friend.
Maria smiled and wrote down a name. Howard could suck it up and deal with her choice, he probably wouldn't show up anyway, she thought.
Now to plan the menu...
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Bruce was glad that Tony was finally answering his texts. He was worried he might have actually run away. (He'd done it once before, but it lasted like, two hours.)
Why did no one ever talk to him? He spent most of his time studying and reading, which he enjoyed, but it felt like sometimes he had no friends, even Tony.
Oh well, he'd dealt with it most of his life. He wasn't exactly a likable person to most people, when they saw him get angry they pretty much dropped any connection with him.
Tony always thought it was cool.
He folded his reading glasses and sat at his desk for a few moments before his mother came in and said good night.
He fiddled with his phone before deciding to text Pepper.
"Pepper, what's up?"
"Nothin much. Is Tony alright?"
"Yeah, he came back."
"I was worried."
"You're not the only one, Pepper. Steve was worried too."
"Yah, I guess so. Were u worried?"
Yeah, yeah he was. "No, I knew he'd come back."
"Ur always so sure of stuff. How do u do that?"
Lying, Pepper. Really. "I just know Tony. We've been friends since Rhodey left in 2nd grade."
"Yeah. Ur his best friend."
"Nice to know that someone thinks that." Bruce muttered to himself. "Thanks." was all he texted.
"I GTG. TTY tomorrow, kk?"
"Sure." He typed and put his phone away.
He really didn't have any friends...
"Hey, whatcha doin?"
Bruce was surprised when he actually received a text without sending one first, and this time it was from Tony.
"Not much. You?"
"Wishing my dad wasn't such a 1 !$/&"
"Tony, my phone still has the censor on it."
"Whatever."
Bruce rolled his eyes but he found himself smiling anyway. "So, how're things with Steve?"
"Good, we went on like a triple date. I think Nat isn't with Clint, though, so double date plus two."
"Cool. I sat home and did nothing." Bruce texted back.
"That sucks. Wanna hang out after school tomorrow?"
"Sure." Bruce thought it probably wouldn't last, Tony would want to hang out with his boyfriend, and he'd probably forget that he made any plans with him, but it was nice that he thought of it.
"Cool. I better go do my homework."
"Didn't you do it already?"
"No, I forgot. Bye, Bruce."
"Bye, Tony." Bruce was disappointed he left so quickly. He missed hanging out with Tony as much as they used to. He wondered if it was because of what happened at the party. That was an old crush, but Tony might still be freaked out by it. And was it really still old?
Bruce went to go get ready for bed, pushing whatever thoughts were occupying his mind out of it.
-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Thor, I'm never going to eat those nachos ever again." Darcy decided to Thor, as she was still feeling extremely full. They were both hanging out at his house instead of her going home. Her parents were fine with it, apparently they'd heard so many nice things about Thor and his family from Jane and the rest of her side of the family, that their fifteen year old daughter hanging out with him all the time didn't bother them.
"Aw, but you looked so cute while eating them." Thor said teasingly while surfing through the channels on the TV.
"Cute?" Darcy looked up at him from her position at the end of the couch.
"Um... Hey, it's a full moon tonight!" Thor said, changing the subject because he knew how much Darcy liked the moon.
Darcy looked out the window quickly. "No it's not."
"It was behind a cloud, I thought it was." Thor said simply and continued looking at the TV.
"We should watch "Supernatural" on Netflix." Darcy announced, ignoring Thor's comment, much to his relief.
"Sure... Whatever it is." Thor agreed.
-/-/-/-/-/-/
"His girlfriend is DEAD?" Thor said in a choking voice as they finished the first episode of "Supernatural."
"Yup. Bye-bye, Jess." Darcy replied.
"That poor guy! What kind of show is this?" Thor demanded.
"It's a CW show. Whenever you ask yourself a question about how weird or how nonsensical this show is, just tell yourself, "It's a CW show." It explains it all." Darcy said seriously.
"Alright then..." Thor paused. "Let's watch the next episode!"
"Thor, it's almost ten o'clock. Shouldn't I be getting home?" Darcy asked.
"Nope. Now hurry up and play it or we're watching "Doctor Who!"" Thor grinned.
"I like "Doctor Who."" Darcy replied as she started the next episode.
"Really? I would never know that you're related to Jane." Thor laughed.
"Yeah, why?" Darcy figured she knew what he was going to say, all the family remarked on it. Who cares if they weren't close family? Darcy was sarcastic, Jane was sweet. Darcy often drifted into daydreams, Jane always was imaginative but always kept her feet on the ground. The only thing they ever noticed about Darcy that was 'better' than Jane, was the fact that she noticed things before everyone else. Jane was always humble about it, and she didn't like it any more than Darcy did.
"She *hated* "Doctor Who", she didn't like nachos or really large meals in general, and you two don't look *anything* alike." He listed, eyes glued to the television screen.
"Yeah, everyone says she's prettier than me." Darcy rolled her eyes.
"No, you're just a different kind of pretty." Thor said, looking at her quickly.
"What's-"
"Shh! I'm going to miss something important if I don't watch carefully." He replied quickly.
Darcy sighed, she doubted she was ever going to get a straight answer out of the British teen.
-/-/-/-/
Darcy drifted to sleep during the fourth episode of "Supernatural", and when she woke up, it was 6:30 in the morning and Thor wasn't on the couch anymore. She heard someone in the kitchen and found him there.
"Making breakfast?" Darcy asked.
"You like toast? The last time I made pancakes, it didn't end very well." Thor was remembering the mess he, Natasha, and Clint made at Steve's house.
"Sure. Where are your parents?" She asked.
"Gone at work already." He answered.
"So, how is it possible to look cute while eating messy and cheesy nachos?" She asked casually.
"Oh, yeah. Um, you just looked rather adorable, trying not to make too much of a mess and failing." Thor replied, really wishing he hadn't said anything.
"And 'a different kind of pretty?'" She continued.
"Friendly comment." He smiled.
"Right." Darcy didn't really believe him; Maybe he liked her, more than a friend. But if he did, he was too stubborn to admit it.
Darcy, being the awesome girl she was, began to formulate a plan in her mind.