Not Another Teen Fic...

Chapter Six

a/n: i'd like to apologise in advance for my overuse of semi-colons; my school drilled it into me to include as many in my writing as possible and now i genuinely like them. (cue my own muffled screaming because i just used a semi-colon in my apology about using semi-colons) (now that i think about it, I also overuse brackets too. holy moly, this whole thing is just a big pile of irony, isn't it?)

Steve

Tony and Steve walk into the cafeteria and Tony leaves him to sit at the table his friend group always occupies. Steve grabs a sandwich then sits at the table, which is now hosting not only Tony, but also Bruce and Vision. The others quickly arrive, except Wanda.

The lunchtime is like any other: Tony stealing food from Bruce, who doesn't argue except from occasionally looking up from his revision notes to give him a disapproving look. Steve wonders if they're dating. He hopes not; he can tell that Thor likes Bruce and would be crushed to find that the nerdy boy is dating Tony, who Thor doesn't particularly like.

Natasha and Clint sit together and say sarcastic responses to everything anyone else says. Steve knows for a fact that they're not dating but once had a short fling, which, of anything, only strengthened their friendship. Thor stands away from Bruce and Tony, desperately trying to impress Loki with stories about his day while Loki glares at him (Thor doesn't seem to notice, he's so caught up in distracting himself. Scott and Sam try to involve Steve in their mindless conversations, but he's distracted, observing his rag-tag team of friends and the other students in the cafeteria.

Sam tries to bring up Sharon's 'cheating' again, but Steve tells him to drop it. He is a little worried because Sharon isn't currently with them, but she sometimes spends time with her other friends, so he has no reason to be suspicious of her, he tells himself. He knows he should trust his girlfriend, and he does! Or at least, he tells himself that... To be completely honest, he can't help feeling that, as her boyfriend, he should know more about where she is, but... He just can't bring himself to care. Which is definitely a sign that their relationship is struggling, to be honest.

Tony suddenly nudges Steve, chuckling.
"Look." He instructs, pointing to the corner of the room. The corner is dimly lit by a broken light, but he can make out Bucky and his friends. 'The Outcasts', a lot of his friends call them, though he will never understand how his friend group came to be the apparent popular group. The social groups found in high schools in movies couldn't be more wrong; Steve and his friends don't feel popular (Tony excluded), but they're definitely part of the biggest clique in the school.

For a moment, Steve is confused as to why Tony wants him to look at The Outcasts, then he sees Howard striding towards the table. He sees the people at the table look at Howard in fear, shrinking back slightly. Momentarily, Howard blocks Steve's view of Bucky, then he strides off again. Bucky appears to be looking at something Howard has given him in shock, then Wade takes his hands and looks him in the eyes. Steve can make out the compassion on his face even from across the room. Quickly, he looks away, wondering why he feels so hurt.

"What do you think my dad gave him?" Tony asks.
"I don't know." Steve says.
"He wasn't impressed by that stunt Bucky pulled in tech." Tony observes smugly. "I bet he's given him detention."
"For what? He was just defending himself!" Steve winces as the words involuntarily slip out of his mouth. He knows that he sounds a little too incredulous for his own good.
"He tried to show my dad up!" Tony replies angrily.
"Mm..." is Steve's non-committal response.

He considers asking Bucky what Howard gave him, silently admitting to himself that it might just be an excuse to talk to Bucky. He's not sure why, but since this morning he's suddenly been infatuated with Bucky. Okay, maybe he's been admiring him from afar for a little longer than from just this morning, but when he came to the front of the room in technology, was the first time Steve saw him up close, and damn.