Red Liquorice and Paintings | Stucky

Chapter 7

Steve sat next to Loki again in science, and had a decent talk with him. Nothing of real importance, just meaningless chat, but it was nice.

Loki seemed like a decent guy, to Steve's surprise.

"Your brother-"

"The oaf." Loki corrects, pointing his pencil at Steve. Steve chuckles, and nods.

"Right, the oaf." Steve hums, writing down another line of notes, before continuing. "Why do you hate him so much?" He asks. It had been a question constantly wafting around.

Loki sighs, and shakes his head.

"Do you have siblings, Steven?" Loki asks, and Steve immediately shakes his head.

"Right, well, sibling rivalry is a thing. Father prefers Thor. Mother prefers me." Loki says with a shrug.

"That doesn't answer my question." Steve points out, and Loki hums.

"I don't hate Thor. I just think he's an oaf." Loki explains.

Steve grins down at his work, and shakes his head slowly.

"Stop smiling like I'm an idiot, Steven." Loki says, slightly irritated.

"No, no I'm not." Steve says.
.

"Steve!" Sam calls out from behind Loki and Steve. Steve pats Loki's shoulder, and tells him that he'll see him tomorrow. Loki nods, and says goodbye.

Steve spins to face Sam, who grins widely at him.

"Let me treat you to lunch. In the A Quad. Food's free, but it's on me." Sam offers, and smiles widely. Steve sighs, and comes up with the same excuse.

"I've got things to do in the library." Steve says, and Sam gives him a look.

"Come on, one lunch won't hurt you. You were out yesterday!" Sam exclaims. Steve sighs.

.

Steve gave in, and let Sam guide him to his friends at the first break at school.

Steve had already had good morning, and decided that spending time with Sam and his friends couldn't be all that bad. Riley seemed nice, really nice, so maybe the others were too.

.

Sam gives Steve a reassuring smile as they stroll through the halls, and towards the A Quad, where the 'popular people' hang out.

Steve's only ever heard of it, much less being invited to it. He's not sure why he's so nervous, but he is.

"Come on, Steve." Sam says, as he rests against the A Quad door. Steve nods, and flashes a smile.

"I'm fine. Let's go see all of the people you won't shut up about." Steve hums, and Sam snorts, before swinging the door open.

Steve sucks in one last breath, before he is hit by the glory that is the A Quad.

It's huge. Bigger than the cafeteria by a long way. Fancier than the cafeteria, too. The floors are marble, Steve notices.

One giant chandelier, which probably costs more than Steve's house, hangs in the centre of the ceiling. The ceiling which has a giant, red 'M' painted on it.

The room looks as though it's split up into groups. Several collections of people sit in couches scattered around the room. The couches are each different colours, too.

There's a food bar, and ping pong tables, and vending machines, and Steve thinks he's in heaven.

"Samuel!" Tony Stark exclaims, just as Steve steps in. He's wearing a suit, like usual, and Steve can feel the pompous ass-ness radiating off of him.

"Stark." Sam says, shaking Tony's hand. "This is Steve Rogers." Sam introduces, and Steve tries a small smile. Tony's eyes rest on him, and he does a quick one-over Steve, before nodding.

"Roger that, Rogers." Tony says stiffly, his nose pointed upwards.

Steve shakes his hand, with furrowed eyebrows, and glances over Tony's shoulder at the large amount of people in the room.

"Stark." Steve replies, trying to make out a familiar face on the other side of the room.

"Yes, Sam's told us all about you." Tony continues.

Steve flicks his eyes back to Tony's, and raises an eyebrow.

"I told Riley about you, Steve, and Stark overheard." Sam explains, guiding Steve away from him, and over to a purple semi-circle sofa, crammed with people.

"Wilson, you've brought company." One says, and Sam takes in a deep breath.

"Friends, this is Steve Rogers." Sam says, which is followed by several 'Hi, Steve's. "Steve, these are friends. Clint, Nat, Thor, Sif, Peter P, Wade, Peter Q, Erik, Charles, Darcy, Gwen, and Jane." Sam says, letting out a breath.

Steve smiles, recognising a few faces from several of his classes, but no one really familiar.

Except for a long haired, leather-jacket-wearing shadow standing in the corner.

.

Steve finds himself comfortable around them all, and instantly takes a liking to almost all of them.

Wade and Peter Q- who goes by Quill- are jokesters, and can be sarcastic and witty. They're hard to talk to, but the other Peter seems to have control over Wade, who then calms down Quill.

Sam also explained 'Stark's crew', who consisted of Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner, and Stephen Strange. All of which are probably the smartest people in the school.

Sam also said that he should stay away from them. For his mental state's sake.

Steve, as much as he likes his newly made friends, can't help but want to leave and walk over to Bucky, who's still standing in the corner.

"Sam," Steve begins, leaning towards Sam, who looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "Who's that over in the corner?" Steve asks, nodding his head in Bucky's direction.

Sam flicks his eyes to said corner, and then back to Steve quickly.

"James Barnes. The one who set his book on fire." Sam explains with the roll of his eyes. "I wouldn't bother with him, Steve."

Steve only smiles, and rises to his feet, before waving off Sam's protests and begins to walk over to the shadow in the corner.