The beginning is written very weird and rushed... I don't know what I was doing in August when I wrote this, but doesn't seem like I wanted to write it. Try and enjoy anyway because I'm not rewriting a whole chapter :)
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"I gave you my textbooks to put in my locker that's right beside yours. Is that too hard?"
"Well maybe if you asked nicely."
Tony scoffed. It wasn't that big of a deal to put them away? Why are people so difficult to help one another.
"Why are you making it such a big deal? Like chill," he said back with a small shrug. His nonchalant smirk still on his face. Like this was totally normal and he didn't care. That aggravated Steve more.
"If you want your stupid books they're at my house. I'll bring that tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I need them today!"
"Well you should've thought ahead."
"I hate men," Tony whispered and stood up. Nat laughed and agreed before standing up aswell. She said goodbye to the three and followed back with Tony to their table.
Now it was Sam who scoffed.
"He's so annoying."
"Agreed," Bucky and Steve said in sync. Then as if something popped into Buckys head he smirked and sat up more straight.
"What?"
"I have an idea. Do you still have Tonys combo?"
-
The next day was already shit for Tony by the time he got to school. Howard yelled at him this morning for absolutely nothing. Just to pick a fight.
He was totally spaced out as he walked with his friends, Bruce and Natasha chatted away about god knows what. He still had this usual small smirk on this face. No one needed to know there was something wrong. But that didn't stop Bruce.
"Tones, what's wrong?" He asked and stopped talking to the red head once he noticed how Tony was walking. Although he had a smug smirk, he was walking slightly sad, and his eyes held more expressions than anything. They were glassy.
"Huh? Oh nothing," Bruce gave him a look that said he didn't buy it. Now that Natasha looked at him closer he did look kind of off. How did Bruce notice that? Tony sighed in defeat, it wasn't that hard to crack him when it came to his best friends. He mostly trusted them, "I'll tell you later. It's too early for this shit."
"Agreed," Nat said and they stopped at Tonys locker. "Do you want me to open it for you?" She offered trying to lift her friends mood. He shook his head.
"Actually, yesterday I got it. Look," his mood did change slightly. He was confident and held the lock gently in his hands. He turned it right, left, and then right.
And maybe he should've let Natasha open it for him.
Because the second he opened his locker huge amounts of small stuff fell onto Tony. At first he didn't know what it was, but after wiping his eyes and opened them he noticed it was sand.
What the hell!? How did sand get in there? Or more like who put sand in there.
But it didn't matter at the moment because right now he was drenched in sand. It was everywhere.
In his hair, his eyes, down his shirt and pants. It clung to his body. Some of it even seemed to be wet sand to stick to him better. There was a huge pile of sand around him, barely any touched Natasha and Bruce.
People around started laughing. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but nothing came out. He slowly turned around, sand falling into the ground, and that's when he saw Bucky.
The three amigos were far away a little. Sam has his phone up snickering beside Bucky. On the other side of him was Steve who had his lips pursed, as if trying not to laugh but his eyes showed it all. This was so amusing to all three of them.
Tony stomped over to them.
"What the fuck!" People around got quiet for half a second before irrupting in laughter again. Before Tony got a chance to yell again someone interrupted him.
"Sandy! Like from Grease! Guys he's sandy!" A random girl called out before skipping around.
"Look at me, I'm Sandy Dee. Lousy with virginity- well, he's far from a virgin." They all laughed again. Tony wanted to turn around and correct them.
Actually, it's 'look at me I'm Sandra Dee.'
But he knew that would just get more people to laugh at him. He turned back to face Steve, Bucky, and Sam but again, before he could talk he got interrupted. Again.
"Sandy. Kinda works since he's as tall as her." More people started laughing, especially Bucky who couldn't seem to stop.
"That's it." Tony moves forward and pushed Steve back as hard as he could. More sand shook off him.
He knew he couldn't best Steve in a fight but at this moment he didn't care. This day has been shit and he was completely over it.
Steve even stumbled back a little, mostly in shock. But just then the vice principal came in.
"Hey! What is this!?" He demanded loudly and everyone shut up. "Who did this!?"
Most people stayed quiet expect for one guy.
"Sandy- oh I'm sorry. Tony Stark," and pointed straight at Tony. He shot him a death glare but the other guy just ignored it.
"Mr. Stark, come with me."
"What? No! It wasn't me. I'm the one covered in sand doesn't that show that it wasn't me?"
"Mr. Stark please come with me. Mr. Rogers you too."
The vice principal remembered that before he saw all the sand how Tony pushed Steve. Steve could've possibly done this.
The three all walked slowly to his office, Tony leaving behind him a trail of sand. They all sat down.
"Does someone care to explain what that was back there?" Mr. Hill said and picked up a pen, clicking it a few times. Steve stayed quiet.
"Yes. Steve here put a bunch of sand in my locker," Tony said and pointed at Steve with his thing. Almost as an instinct Steve raised his hands in the air.
"And why would he do that?"
"I don't know, because he's annoying and thinks he's so cool!" Steve scoffed.
Yeah, he was the one who thinks he was so cool.
He did feel kind of bad for putting sand in Tonys locker, but he deserved it. Someone needed to fully stand up to him. Well if someone did stand up to him they'd be towering over him. Steve snickered out loud at his own joke. He'd have to save that one for later.
Mr. Hill turned to face Steve who now had his hands lowered back down. He hasn't spoken yet.
"Did you put sand in Mr. Starks locker?"
"Nope," he lied and popped the p at the end. Tony wanted to punch him. He was acting just like Bucky. One was too much, he didn't know how he was going to deal with two.
Just then Tonys anger melted away and turned into sadness. Between his dad, his mom, Bucky, new Bucky, and just everyone else's who teased him was too much.
No. No he's not going to break down right now infront of everyone. Well two people, but still. He held back his tears which he was pretty good at doing by now.
"Mr. Rogers, did you put sand in Tonys locker?" He asked again. Steve sighed as in he was tired of this.
"I already said no," he said back.
"Well then Tony you're going to have to clean it up." Tonys eyes widened.
"What? I have to clean it up!?" He was stunned. Why did this fall on him? He held his tears back more. Maybe he shouldn't have messed with the Vice Principal as he did last year.
As if it wasn't already too much Steve broke into a small laughter. No one spoke and Steve laughed for a while before calming down.
"Okay yeah yeah, I did it." He admitted, amusement still in his eyes which made Tony even more upset.
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry
"Then you can help Mr. Stark clean it up," Tony sighed, knowing that if he talked to object his voice would crack or he'd start crying. He didn't need that. Whatever, he'll just have to also clean it. At least Steve said it was him. "After he takes a shower."
Steve and Mr. Hill talked for a while and he seemed to fall into Steves charm. He got no detention besides cleaning it up. He was to go to first period until Tony got out of the shower and went to get him, and then they'd both clean it up.
Steve did feel bad at the end. Making him clean it up himself was too far.
The two stood up, Tony leaving some sand on the seat which Mr. Hill glanced at. No one said anything though.
But when Tony turned around he faced Steve for a second and that's when he saw it. Tonys eyes were glassy and looked to be watering? Shit. He's crying.
Steve followed after Tony and didn't talk until they both exited the office. Tony walked in front of him quickly to the boys locker room. Steve felt bad and should probably say something.
"Tony," Stark ignored him. He didn't have time to talk to the blond. Especially how his tears started to slowly fall. When Steve noticed Tony wasn't going to stop he walked faster towards him. Tony heard the footsteps and walked faster as while.
"Tony," he called out again and neither stopped walking. Just when Tony reached his arm out to grab onto the locker room handle Steve gripped onto Tonys other wrist first. He pulled him back a little to make him face him.
There was tears going down his cheeks and he looked smaller than normal. It was the first time Steves really saw him without the smirk on his face. With his other hand Tony wiped away his tears quickly. That's when Steven noticed he still had a hard grip on Tonys wrist and let it go.
"Well there you go. You saw it, made me cry and you can run off to your two little buddies and tell them your plan succeeded. Happy?" Now Steve felt really bad. He didn't mean to make him cry at all. That's not what he expected to happen.
"I'm sorry-" Tony opened the locker room and slammed it in front of Steves face. The door had a door stopper at the top so it didn't slam just slowly closed. But Tony was quickly out of view.
Rogers sighed and walked to get the broom and pan from the janitors closet. Instead of going to first period he started to clean up the sand.
Tony got into a shower and the tears didn't stop streaming down his cheeks. It was mostly over his parents but Steve really made him snap. He didn't want to go out there.
But a little over five minutes later he knew the water would turn freezing soon. So he made sure there wasn't any sand (that he could see at least) on him and turned off the water. He grabbed the towel he found and dried himself off and changed back into his clothes.
He cannot believe that Steve saw him cry. Even Bucky has never saw him cry and he's known him for years.
Tony didn't show his vulnerable side to anyone. If they saw it they could use it against him.
He quickly dried and fixed his hair in the mirror before groaning. He's have to go get Steve and then clean up the sand. Sand he just washed off himself.
Maybe he shouldn't get Steve. That'd save himself a lot of embarrassment. Tony may aswhile clean it up himself.
But all hope was lost when he walked around the corner and Steve was already sweeping some into the dust ban. If he's been cleaning the whole time Tony was in the shower there must've been a lot of sand. This looks like it'd take forever to clean up.
Steve looked up and saw Tony walking towards him, his usual bored expression in place. He wanted to sigh because the brunette was back to being a jerk.
"Hey," Steve said and followed the boy with his eyes when he walked right past Steve. "Where are you going?"
"Why do you need to know?" Tony instantly spat back and kept walking down the hallway. Steve rose his eyebrows for a second.
He opened the janitors closet at the end of the hallway and started looking through it. There had to be more than one broom. As if Steve finally understood what he was doing, he spoke up.
"There's only one. I checked," He said loud enough for Tony to hear from across the room. Tony sighed and closed the door, turning in his heels to walk back. "You sweep and I hold the dust ban?" Tony stopped right infront of Steve.
"Why do I have to sweep?"
"Jeez okay fine. You hold the dust ban and I sweep."
"You can't just give me orders and expect me to follow through. You don't own this place."
"Place?"
"The school."
"And you do?" Steve asked in a mocking way making Tony scoff. This guy showed up all new and pretty and basically acted like Mr. Big Shot. Basically having spoons up his nose. The corners of Tonys mouth twitched a little at his own song reference.
"You sweep. I'll hold the dust ban." Tony ordered, totally confident which angered Steve.
"We'll take turns,"
"You're impossible. Just give this to me." Tony snatched the broom out of Steves hand. The dust ban was on the floor. Doing it by himself alone would be much better than with him.
Tony started sweeping some sand into a ban, dumping it into a trash can Steve dragged over a while ago. The blue eyed boy just leaned against the locker, standing there and staring into space.
About five minutes passed of Tony sweeping when Steve broke the silence.
"I'm getting something from the vending machine. You want anything?" He asked and pushed himself off the lockers. Tony didn't look up at him and kept collecting all the sand.
He was going to decline, but Steve owed him that much and more. Plus he didn't have any skittles on him and he was stressing out today. Today is definitely a good day to have skittles on him.
"Skittles, thanks."
Steve didn't reply and just walked off to the vending machine. Tony sighed and kept working. Maybe saying he'd do it himself wasnt the best idea. It was very tricky to get the sand into the dust ban. Aren't dust bans meant for sweeping things into? Isn't that their whole purpose? Why did they suck at it then?
Rogers returned with a pack of share size skittles and peanut m&ms. He held out the skittles for the sweeping guy to take but he was too busy. He knew Steve was there but wanted to give off the vibe that he was 'too busy doing the job Steve was meant to do'. Well it was meant for both of them, but the whole reason this pound (or more) of sand was here was because of Steves doing.
When Tony didn't even make an effort to look up Steve just backed up. He slipped the bag of red packaging into his left pocket.
"Are you sure you don't want help-?"
"No." Tony instantly replied. He was basically waiting for Steve to ask that just to turn him down. "You're free to leave."
Making Tony clean up his own prank he did on him seemed cruel. Passed the line. But Tony did say he would did it, basically pleading. Plus Bucky would get a kick out of this. But still it felt just wrong.
"I'll stay. How would you get your skittles if I left?" He said as a joke trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Woah because I don't have a dollar to buy my own," Tony spat back.
The bell rang and the two sighed. They would get trampled and the sand would go everywhere. No matter what the students wouldn't stop.
Tony got kind of anxious. People would make fun of him no doubt, especially if they saw him cleaning the mess himself.
He quickly dropped the broom and dust ban. The dust ban that had sand in it. The sand flew and specks of it flew everywhere. He cringed at that but just shook it off and turned to face his locker.
He quickly grabbed the lock and tried to open it. 8, 25, 3.... 8, 25, 3..... 8, 25, 3.
"Oh for fucks sak-" the second bell rang and students started to fill the hall. Steve snorted. If the bell rang half a second earlier it would've censored Tonys cuss word like in a movie.
He stepped and faced his locker beside Tony.
"What're you doing there?" He asked amused and opened his locker in the first try. Show off, Tony thought.
"Trying to blend in,"
"You don't need to try at your height." Tony glared at him.
"Yeah well you'd be surprised. My roguish good looks tend to distract people." He said back and gave him a sarcastic smile for a second before turning back to the lock.
"Yeah? What people?"
"Too many for a list," Steve snorted a laugh and they both fell silent. The people behind them walked and talked rather loudly. A few commented on the sand but no one said anything to two.
When Tony finally opened the lock Steve started laughing. Tony thought the laugh was towards him but when he looked at the blond he wasn't looking back at him.
"What?" Tony asked in a rude way but was kind of curious. He wouldn't let Steve know that though.
"Roguish. Who says that?" He asked after he calmed down from his chuckle. Even though Steve was just joking bubbles of anger grew inside Tony.
"Oh I'm sorry is my vocabulary too extreme for you? Want me to dumb it down?"
"I'm pretty sure roguish good looks is a reference to roblox," people filed out of the hallways and they were left in an empty one once again. The late bell rang as if to remind Tony why they were both there. He dropped the lock he never opened and turned back around. He saw how sand was all over the hallway. It would only get worse if they didn't finish by the time next period ended.
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They didn't. The next bell rang singling the end of that hour, and next was lunch. As Tony hid with his head in his locker all the people were shuffling and shoving their way through the halls and into the cafeteria.
And since luck really is on Tonys side today, someone bumped into the trash can. They probably should've moved it out of the way.
The bin fell down and some sand poured out. Not a lot but enough to take an extra ten minutes at least. The person quickly picked it back up and slipped out of the way, almost as if they didn't do it.
Steve watched the whole thing happen and sighed defeated. He was really hoping this would be over by lunch.
He grabbed the trash can and pulled it away towards the two just Incase. Didn't need anyone else coming along and spilling it.
Once everyone was gone Tony turned around and saw all the extra sand that wasn't there before. There goes lunch.
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Word count : 3248 (not including word count, A/N)
I got a little carried away with this chapter. It's always so hard to find a stopping point once I get into it. What did you think of this chapter?
10/13/20- 'once I get into it' you were into this-... this chapter is so rushed how did past me "get into it".
Finished writing: 8/17/20
Edited: 9/8/20
Published: 10/13/20