Homework (Stony highschool AU)

Chapter Six

Tony

I have Steve on my mind.

I can't stop thinking about him. About how I probably have to go to his house with him to finish this paper. His room. I bet his his walls are covered in douchey football posters.

I hardly even talk to Bruce and Clint today. I let them go to their own lockers and I push past them to go to mine. Steve comes down the hall the same time I do, so we gather our biology books together. I try my best to dodge eye contact with him, and he doesn't speak to me.

I get all of my books and notes before him, so I dash away towards the class and go through the already open door. I'm the first one in the class, and it seems to surprise Mr. Pym, who is sitting at his desk fiddling with something.

"Mr. Stark! The first one to class? Do my eyes deceive me!?"

I roll my eyes at his sarcasm and take a seat at a high rising desk at the front of the room. I pull out my journal and pretend to be interested in my pointless notes.

I take quick glances at Mr. Pym to see what he is messing with today. It seems to be a small metal disc. He keeps turning it over in his fingers and pays special attention to center that is decorated with blue. He has some sort of new device at that desk everyday, it almost seems sometimes as though he's more interested in those than the actual class. It makes me wonder why he became a biology teacher instead of doing something with technology.

More of the class begins to file in, including Steve. He takes a seat beside of me at my table.

Why why why?

He glances over and shoots me a small smirk. I resist the urge to roll my eyes at his ridiculous, almost flirty, manner. He takes out his own notes that look like they are mostly doodles. He continues to work on the doodles, ignoring the actual notes.

"Is everyone here? Great!" Mr. Pym says while standing from his desk, talking to quick to let anyone answer. He walks to the front of the class.

"Read chapter eight in your text books, pay special attention to how they describe the modern uses of biology. No talking."

Okay, no mentions of an essay yet. Was Clint lying?

I take out my text book and turn to chapter eight, almost groaning at the sight of the small text that goes on through the entire chapter. I begin to read, but I soon find my eyes wandering away from the pages. They first go to Steve, who seems like he is trying his best to keep his eyes glued to the chapter.

I don't worry much about my mind wandering, I know that I'm going to do good on the paper even if I just sit here with my thumb up my ass.

I rest my head on my fist and close my eyes, hoping that this will make the class go faster. I've learned for this to be better than mindlessly staring at the minutes tick on the clock.

"Mr. Stark!"

I jerk my head up and let out a small unnecessary snort at the sudden inquiry.

"Hm? Huh? Wha?" I stutter out, letting it take a moment to sink in that Mr. Pym is the one who spoke out.

"I may be going nuts, but I believe I told everyone to read chapter eight," he sarcastically tells me from his desk.

"Oh, yeah...I just finished," I lie to him.

"Really now? In what year did Lederberg discover plasmids?"

I smirk, ready to let my genius shine through. I know the answer to the question isn't even in this chapter, but that doesn't stop me, "1958. A year after the Isaacs discovered interferon."

He hardens his face, probably angered at the fact that his normal tactic to put kids on the spot doesn't work on the beautiful mind of Tony Stark.

"Alright then. If Mr. Stark is done, then the rest of the class should be." Mr. Pym says while emerging from behind his desk in the right corner of the room.

"Tony! I wasn't finished reading yet!" Steve whispers to me.

I glance over and notice that he's only on the second page of the chapter, which isn't bad for someone average like him. The words do seem to pointlessy drone on from time to time.

"You will all be assigned a partner and you two will have to complete a 3,000 word essay on the importance and uses of modern day biology. And please, don't let there be careless grammatical errors. You are all seniors for god sake. Lookin at you Scott," He says to the class, directing the last part towards Scott Lang who is sitting at the table next to Steve and I.

"It had better be on my desk by Thursday. Your partners are..." Mr. Pym begins.

I pray to the heavens that he will let us pick our own partners, but alas, he goes to his desk and gets a roll book that has all of our names in alphabetical order.

He starts at the top of the list, and I can already hear groans from other classmates as they hear who they have to be partnered with. He begins to near the end of the list, and I consider faking a heart attack to get out of this paper.

"...Rogers and Stark..." He continues on with the list and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Well isn't that a coincidence?" Steve asks very smoothly.

Oh I just had to have the last name Stark.

The bell rings right as Mr. Pym finishes the list and all of us immediately scramble to acquire our belongings.

"You want to stop by my house after school so we can work on it?" Steve asks me as he begins to pile up his books.

"Look, Rogers, I can crack out 3,000 words in one night no problem. I'll just slap your name on it and you'll get an A." I say as I mark the chapter in my book and gather it in my arms.

"Listen, Tony, you probably will be the one to write most of the paper, but I just can't walk away and not at least try to help you," he tells me with his chin slightly hiked up.

I have to admit, I like his integrity. I never thought of him to be the polite gentlemen type.

"Alright, I'll stop by. Only because I want to," I tell him while gathering the rest of my notes and heading out the door. As I walk out, I almost hit Bruce head on. He's coming from his own class from across the hall.

"Sorry." I quickly say as I scour the ground to make sure I haven't dropped any valuable papers.

"I'm fine. So, did you get put into pairs?" He asks me in a sly voice. We begin making our way to the lockers, where I can see Clint amung the throng of several other students.

"Oh, not you too! I thought Clint was going to be the only dick when it came to the Steve thing." I say in a sarcastic manner.

"Ha ha, did you or not?" He asks, sounding very demanding for an answer.

Before I can give him one, Clint trots up to us and asks the same thing,

"So, have you and Steve made out yet?"

Okay maybe not the same thing.

"Jesus Clint. No, we haven't. But we did get put together to do the fucking paper." I tell him while pushing past several restless seniors to get to my locker.

"Sooooo, when are you two gonna work on the paper together?" Clint asks me in a preppy voice.

"Later on after school. I'm going to his house." I say, quietly so no one else can hear.

"Right after school? Tony's gonna have a boyfriend!" Clint taunts, a little louder than I'd prefer.

"Oh, can it Barton. Like I'd ever have a boyfriend like Steve Rogers..."