Chapter Text
Tony grabbed his backpack and swung it over his shoulder as he stepped out of the car. The campus was massive, way bigger than Tony had made it out to be. Even the tour hadn’t prepared him for this.
“Tony! Come on, grab your stuff. We don’t have long to unload.” Steve said as he pulled a suitcase out of the trunk.
Tony jogged over, taking the case from Steve with a trouble-causing grin and standing back.
Steve glared at him playfully, going back to pull out a storage bin. “Steal the easy part why don’t you.”
“I have heart problems, remember.” Tony replied.
“There’s only so many years you can use that, you know.” Buck chuckled as he came around and headed towards the front door, Steve and Tony following.
“Yeah, but I haven’t reached that cusp yet.” Tony shot back, walking up to a table with a sign that read “sign in” in big red letters.
He got his key and walked to the elevator.
“Room 404?” Steve asked, looking back at Bucky. “Sounds like it’s gonna give you a lot of trouble. Nothing’s going to work.”
“Har har har.” Tony mocked, rolling his eyes as he stuck the key into the lock and turned. The room was, by not definition, big. Two beds on wood frames sat in the middle of the room, stripped bare.
“Ooh, homey.” Bucky joked, pushing his way into the room and dropping the bin on the bed.
Tony shrugged. “It’s not like I’ll ever be here, anyway.”
Steve rolled his eyes as he walked back to the door. “Then why are we paying for you to have a dorm room?”
“Gotta have parties somewhere.” Tony said, a little disappointed when he only got a glare from Bucky and nothing else.
Unloading the car didn’t take long and when they were finished, Steve went to move the car as Tony and Bucky started unpacking. Posters were hung on the wall, the bed dressed in new bedding, clothes put into drawers, books unloaded onto the desk, and lights hung around Tony’s side of the room. Tony had argued against the fairy lights at first, but Steve knew that Tony was secretly in love with them.
The fact that Natasha hung lights in her room had nothing to do with his opinion on them.
A knock on the door brought attention to a kid at the door. He was alone, standing with a box in his arms and a slightly-nervous look.
“Hey! You must be Stephan.” Tony greeted. “I’m Tony.”
Stephan gave a small wave. “Yeah, it’s nice to finally meet you.”
The room fell into a simi-awkward silence until Steve clapped his hands lightly.
“I believe it is time for us to leave and let you get to studying.” Steve said, waving at Stephan before they walked out of the room.
Tony chased after them, tackling them both in a hug.
Bucky let out a groan of pain, saying. “You’re getting too big or that.”
“Ah, you’d miss it.” Tony laughed, letting them go.
Steve smiled and nodded. “We will.”
“Tell Brucie I’ll be home soon, okay. And Natasha and Clint to stop being buttheads.” Tony said. He was trying his best to not let the heat he felt behind his eyes turn into tears.
“We will.” Bucky smiled, ruffling Tony’s hair. “Try to behave. We’ll only bail you out once.”
Tony smiled, sniffling as he said, “No promises.”
Tony watched them walk to towards the parking lot, still not breaking contact several minutes after they had dissapeared.
“You close to your parents?” Stephan asked as he pulled things out of boxes and put them away.
“Yeah, we are.” Tony said as he smiled back.
Stephan looked like he was about to say something until his door slammed open and a man stood in the doorway. His blond hair, something he clearly took time to style, was sticking up and his face was beat red as if he’d been running for hours. A feeling of familiarity came across Tony, but he couldn’t place who it was.
“I knew you’d be here.” The man said, eyes like ice that shot straight to Tony’s core.
Then, just as quick as he’d been there, he was gone.
Tony looked over to Stephan, silently asking if he saw that too.
“Who was that?” He asked.
Tony school his head. “I have no idea.”
Stephan looked back at the door once more, shrugging as he placed on last thing on his desk and said, “Freshman events are about to start. We should get going.”
Tony nodded, the cold feeling in his gut sticking with him as he jumped off the window seal and followed after Stephan.
Steve was right. College was going to be full of new things.