Chapter 2
There was something painstakingly familiar about one of Tony’s college roommates.
Steve Rogers… The name struck a chord. Every time he opened his mouth, Tony became more and more confused.
He said odd things, spoke in a strange way, and had weird mannerisms.
And he’d said that Howard Stark is an engineer.
None of it made any sense.
Just when Tony was starting to think he was figuring the blond out, he’d gone and moaned right in Tony’s ear, nearly his full body pressed up against him.
Probably near two hundred pounds of muscle, totally freezing Tony without trapping him in the least.
What had happened next Tony could say at least as equally affected the blond, judging by the stricken look on his face.
And Tony hadn’t had to even touch him.
Though, the thought wasn’t unappealing.
Aside from Steve’s obvious physical draw, him looking like a GI Joe or something, Steve had something about him, a military kind of air that drew Tony like he couldn’t believe.
As he sat atop his trophy of a bed, Tony could hear only Steve’s even breathing and the ticking of the analogue clock on the wall between the two beds.
He glanced at it, to reveal it was three-thirty, though he had no classes for the remainder of the day.
After a while, he let out a whiny sigh. “I’m bored. Let’s go out to eat.”
When he rolled off his bed, Steve had an incredulous look on his face. “Yeah, you do that.” He turned back to his book, which Tony remembered from it’s close scrape with his head the day before.
“No, it’ll still be boring if I’m alone. Come on, I’m paying.” Tony offered.
Steve narrowed his eyes. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Tony Stark was asking me on a date.”
Tony smirked. “You’d like that, huh?” He smiled. “Well, you can brag to your friends about it later. I’m hungry, let’s go.”
Steve rolled his eyes, but placed his bookmark in his book and began to stand.
“What would you even call this? It’s barely four in the afternoon, hardly dinner hours, but too late to be lunch. Please, explain it to me.” Steve seemed to be in a better mood for the exercise and the sunlight, and the two had made pleasant conversation for most of the walk to the restaurant.
“It’s linner.” Tony said flatly, before addressing the hostess who directed them to a table.
“‘Linner’?” Steve asked, a frown creasing his forehead as Tony pointedly sat beside him instead of across from him.
“It’s like brunch, but instead of breakfast and lunch, it’s lunch and dinner. Linner.” He said, matter-of-factly.
Steve frowned at him. “Where did you even hear that?”
Tony shrugged. “It’s just one of those things people say.”
Steve scoffed. “If you say so.”
The hostess returned, and they ordered.
Tony placed his left hand on Steve’s thigh.
The blond gave him a look, and Tony raised an eyebrow.
A smirk settled on his lips, as the two continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.
Tony thought he’d gotten away clean, when Steve picked up his water as the waiter set it before him, and he thanked him.
He took a drink from the ice water, and left his lips shiny wet as he continued to speak.
Tony couldn’t draw his gaze from it.
So that was how he wanted to play it. Tony had been flirting shamelessly for years, though it usually only earned an eyeroll, and not reciprocation.
Their food arrived, and Steve began to thank him again, when Tony slid his hand over a few inches, so it now rested nearly on his inner thigh.
Steve faltered, and instead just smiled at the waiter, who didn’t seem the least bit fazed.
Once he was gone, the blond cast Tony an angry look, but didn’t take any action to move Tony’s hand.
Instead, he just turned to his food, and once more resumed nonchalant conversation.
Tony was wary now though, uncertain what his roommate might do next.
And sure enough, when the waiter came back to ask if they needed anything else, and Tony declined, they blond brushed his jaw lightly. “Are you sure you don’t want something more?” On the last word, he cupped the back of Tony’s neck , playing with his hair a bit.
The raven’s eyes widened, and he excused the waiter, reassuring him he was good.
Now it was Steve’s turn to look smug, only for a moment though, as Tony then squeezed Steve’s thigh where his hand sat, and the blond caught his breath halfway through whatever he was saying.
Tony thought that served him right.
The two picked up their casual conversation again, and Steve seemed determined not to break the pretense of normalcy this permitted.
They finished eating, and the waiter came to collect their finished dishes and show them a dessert menu, which they accepted gladly.
Tony ordered some fudge-cookie-ice cream topped monstrosity, and Steve just ordered a chocolate shake, and didn’t seem to understand Tony’s snide comment about just how vanilla Steve was, followed by his hand sliding all the way onto his inner thigh.
The blond let out an audible gasp, biting down on his lip hard.
He immediately resumed their conversation despite this.
A bit into it though, Steve pointed out that Tony had gotten some ice cream on his face.
“Here,” He offered, stilling Tony’s hand with his.
Oh boy, Tony figured he was gonna do something cheesy like lick his finger and wipe it.
He placed a hand on Tony’s chin, stilling him, and then he reached his own head up, and licked Tony’s cheek.
The raven felt his heartbeat pick up. The absolute nerve - Tony tensed at the touch, and Steve got his in turn, as his fingers tightened on his roommate’s thigh.
Steve caught his breath as well, and Tony’s gaze snapped to him.
Their eyes met, both full of challenge and a hint of something both would deny if asked.
They finished their dessert without further incident, and the two headed back to the dorm.
When they returned to the dorm, flush from the walk and both obviously thinking very hard, Janet was sitting on the couch writing in a notebook.
She looked up at them and raised her eyebrows when they entered.
Tony wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her, then turned to Steve in time to see him roll his blue eyes.
The raven pulled his mirror shades off of where they sat clipped on his shirt, and moved to set them on the kitchen counter.
He made sure he leaned all the way over to set them on the far side, his back to Steve.
To his surprise, the blond seemed to have lost interest, and moved to settle back onto his bed with his book.
Tony frowned at the sudden switch, but decided to let it go; he was probably just tired.
Tony resigned to his own bed, where he pulled out an old cell phone and began to fiddle with it; he had been trying to rewire it so he could connect to his cellular data on a back channel where it wouldn’t charge.
Not that Tony needed the money; he was still the CEO if a multi-billion dollar company, after all.
If anybody could do it, it’d be the son of Howard Stark, he thought bitterly.
He tried to shake off these thoughts, as he continued to work on the phone into the night.
Tony woke up with a terrible crick in his neck, a very small phillips head screwdriver in one hand, and his project phone in the other.
Janet was asleep in a bunch on her bed, and Natasha slept quietly too. Tony checked the time on his StarkPhone to see it was not even seven in the morning.
He gave a sigh, and hopped down from his bed. The only empty one in the room was Steve’s, which Tony’s gaze lingered on maybe a moment too long.
He’d meant what he’d said about figuring Steve out, and his current situation with him was truly indicative of that.
He made his way to the kitchen to see the blond in there, sipping coffee and reading a newspaper.
Tony scoffed. “You make a trip to the stone age to get that?” He gestured to the paper.
Steve just rolled his eyes, and Tony continued to the coffee pot, promptly filling his own cup with black coffee before realizing he had nothing to sweeten it with.
Not that he minded black coffee; it was alright, the most pure and efficient form, but he preferred sugar and cream with a hint of coffee.
He sipped his drink in silence, while Steve read the paper beside him.
Around seven-thirty, Steve tucked his paper under his arm and left Tony alone once more with his thoughts.
Tony didn’t have class until nine, and didn’t feel like standing around doing nothing for that time.
So, with an exaggerated sigh, he hopped back up on his bed to continue tinkering with his phone.
Around eight, he glanced up to see Natasha had disappeared from her bed - he supposed he'd been to engrossed in his project to notice - and made her way to the restroom.
He heard the shower start up, and returned to his phone.
When the redhead finished her shower, Tony checked the time; nearly eight fifty. He'd better head to class.
As he was getting his things together, Natasha also was.
They left the dorm at about the same time, Natasha slightly ahead of Tony, and he watched as she made all the turns that would take him to his classroom.
She turned to cast him one last knowing look before stepping into the classroom, holding the door for her roommate, who gave her a smirk as he followed her in.
Natasha rolled her eyes.
So he had a class with his roommate - cool. What class had this been - the first week and Tony already couldn't remember his schedule.
He'd thought it was something specific to his field, was it-
“Alright class, welcome to Technical Engineering I. I'm Dr. Vanko and I'll be your professor for this class the rest of the year. Those of you who make it.”
Tony cast Natasha a wary glance - he hadn't expected this from her - and she now sat at rapt attention with her gaze trained on the professor.
Tony might have forgotten her presence entirely, had he anything else to focus on.
It wasn't that the class itself wasn't interesting, he supposed if every word out of Dr. Vanko’s mouth hadn't been things Tony already understood well enough to teach his own class on, it might have held some of his interest.
Unfortunately, that paired with Vanko’s slow, though thickly accented monotonous drawl made Tony want to fall asleep where he sat.
When the professor dismissed them, Tony spared him only a glance, and looked back to find Natasha gone.
He looked to the door in time to see a flash of red hair as she disappeared.
He scrambled to get his stuff together and chase after her.
Tony saw the redhead round a corner ahead of him. “Wait up!” He called, and she slowed her pace with a sigh.
When he'd caught up to her, she didn't spare him a glance. “What?” She almost barked.
Her posture was guarded, and Tony frowned. “Lighten up, Red, can't a guy get a chance to speak his mind?”
Now she shot him a look. It was a glare.
“Okay, to the point; I didn't know you were taking TE! What's your major?”
Natasha readjusted her book bag. “Of course you wouldn't know, not like we're friends or anything.”
Tony blinked. “Ow, right to the old love pump.” He thumped his fist over his heart dramatically, earning a sigh from his roommate.
“Psychology.” She told him. Then, with a wary glance, asked, “You?”
Tony's eyebrows shot up. “Technical Engineering. Psychology, huh? What's your favorite thing about the subject?”
She pursed her lips. “I like knowing things. Being able to read people puts you in control of any situation.” She said it very matter-of-fact.
Tony considered this. “Are you any good at reading people?” He asked.
She hesitated, then stopped.
Tony realized they were at their dorm.
Natasha opened the door then, with an absolutely plain expression and locking those intense green eyes on his, she gave a small nod, and then disappeared into the dorm, leaving the door ajar for him to follow.
Tony blinked, then entered the dorm and closed the door behind himself.
Steve was sitting on his bottom bunk - a personal triumph, at least in Tony's head - and eyed the two as they walked in.
Natasha switched a few notebooks in her bag for some from the suitcase under hers and Janet’s bed, as well as her laptop, and was out the door again without another word.
Tony watched her with a slight frown, and then shook his head and moved to sit on Steve’s bed.
The blond eyed him, but said nothing as he returned to the book he was reading.
Tony leaned against the wall next to his roommate, making himself comfortable, all the while studying Steve’s reactions out of the corner of his eye.
The other man blinked, and turned the page of his book.
Nothing.
So Tony adjusted again, sighing to show how absolutely comfortable he was.
Finally, Steve shut his book, turning his icy gaze on his roommate. “What do you want?”