The principals little secret
"Oh I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark, I didn't mean to... I mean... make you upset or angry or annoyed or... something"!
Steve suddenly snapped back and stuttered nervously.
What on earth am I doing, he thought, and he had absolutely no idea where to look.
He urgently, and preferably even earlier, had to find a new job!
Tony had to think he was an idiot!
Completely out of his mind, actually. What would happen now?
Tony Stark had every reason to accuse him, Steve Rogers, of sexual harassment!
That would not look good. Absolutely very bad, actually.
Oh dear! Steve had done less smart things in the past, sure. But this?
He could already imagine the newspaper headlines...
"Newly hired teacher accused of sexual harassment by principal"!
Thoughts raced around in Steve's head.
Suddenly, he heard Tony's voice and looked straight into those beautiful, hazel eyes.
"Excuse me Steve, but do you think I look particularly upset or any of the other things you just mentioned?", Tony asked, unable to hold back a smile.
A relieved, actually quite satisfied smile.
He stroke the distraught Steve on the cheek before putting his hands around his face.
"I can't believe I've actually managed to hide it from you. I'm obviously very good," he laughed.
"I have liked you very much, far too much in fact for your immediate superior to be, from the first day I met you.
I actually think that... Oh... well... I think I've fallen a little bit in love with you, Steve Rogers," he said, looking into the sky blue eyes of the man in front of him.
Steve let Tony's words sink in. What? The most beautiful man in the world, the always friendly and attentive Mr. Stark... Tony... was in love?
With him, Steve? The self-proclaimed idiot?
He looked back at him, the man who stood before him and said these fantastic words.
The words he hadn't even dared to think about hearing.
Slowly but surely, Steve realized what Tony was really saying.
He smiled, first a little, then more and more.
“No, mr Sta... sorry, I mean...uh...Tony. I think you look beautiful...handsome...gorgeous.
All of that!
At once!
And, uh....you`re a nice boss and a good principal too, of course...”, Steve stammered.
Damn! All that he had wanted to say to Tony for these weeks came. At the same time!
And it absolutely not came out as Steve wished it to.
Tony laughed. His laughter was like beautiful music in Steve`s ears.
A laughter filled with warmth.
“Thank you for your compliments, Steve! I would actually like to hear more, but there is another way to tell me this too, you know.”.
“How?”, Steve asked, sounding very serious.
“Like this, you sweet and charming fool”, Tony said clearly and started to kiss a surprised and absolutely blissful Steve Rogers right on his mouth!
Three weeks later.
It had now been three weeks since Steve and Tony's first fumbling steps towards each other.
Well, it was probably Steve who had fumbled the most, he thought himself.
But from there, one had really followed another.
They met whenever they could. Due to long busy days, it was not as often as they would have liked.
But then came a slightly calmer time.
Now it was possible for them to plan something.
Something like a romantic dinner for two.
Tony took one last look in the mirror. The evening had come. Their evening. Soon, Steve would come over for dinner.
Tony was excited, he was expectant. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this way.
Not even with Brock.
Brock! Tony noticed that he shuddered slightly at the thought of that man. Brock was out there somewhere.
Luckily, he had stayed away for the time being. Tony would not let him get in the way of the new life he had now begun.
The life together with the wonderful man named Steve. He loved Steve. Now Tony was fine.
They enjoyed a good dinner together. The conversation went smoothly, as always between them.
Effortless and nice. Still, something was in the air. They both knew it. It was too late for Steve to drive home by now.
In addition, they had drunk some wine with the food. The evening had passed quickly.
It was actually almost midnight.
They helped eachother to clean the dinner table. Flirting and laughing.
When they were done, they each took a glass of red wine and went into the living room.
The lights were dim and Tony put on some quiet music in the background.
It was the beginning of their first night together.