Chapter Text
Steve felt himself shaking as he walked into the library to start the meeting. Bucky gave him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder and let the hand linger for half a second longer than he was supposed to. Bucky directed him to the table where Sam and Natasha were sitting and talking quietly while waiting for the meeting to start.
Bucky sat down next to Natasha. “They’re waiting outside, according to Mr. Nelson.” She said in a conversational tone with a cheery smile on her face.
Bucky smiled back. “Good for them.” He said just as conversational.
Steve frowned at the two of them then glanced at Sam. Sam chuckled and shrugged. “They’re waiting.”
“Waiting for what?” Steve asked and turned to Bucky. “I thought…”
Bucky shushed him and nodded to the front. “It’s starting.”
Pierce stepped up to the front and smiled. “Alright this is our last meeting while school is in session, and we have the awards and we wish well to the people who are retiring this year.”
From the back of the room a man coughed and started to strut to the front. “I don’t believe that will be necessary.” He wore a three piece suit and his blond hair was combed into a ponytail. “Mr. Pierce, my name is Agent Warlock.”
“Sorry… why are you here?” Pierce frowned.
“It’d be best if we talk about this in private.” Warlock forced a grin at him. “I’m also looking for a Star-Lord? He’s an old college buddy of mine, but we can save the pleasantries for later.”
A woman banged open the door making several people jump. “Let’s get a move on, Warlock.” She wore a jacket over a soft green blouse. Her dark hair and eyes looked cold to the touch, however there was a warmth to her as she passed by. It reminded Steve of his ma when he was a kid.
Warlock smiled at her. “Mandy, I’m working on it.”
“The ink just dried.” She stated and held up a stack of folded papers.
“Good. Andrew Pierce, you have the right to remain silent…”
“You’re arresting me? On what grounds?” Pierce roared.
Warlock moaned and glanced over to Mandy. “Give me the list, would you?”
“Child pornography, theft of school funds, piracy of movies, incompetency to run a school… but that last one was on a post-it note from Mr. Murdock and Nelson.”
Murdock and Nelson fist bumped while Karen looked so happy she was crying.
“So we can do this the easy way, or we can get Agent Rocket in here, and he’s just modified his taser and he’s dying to test it out.” Warlock grinned.
“If it were my choice, I’d get the taser.” A smallish man standing next to a tall burly man they both were in the back and must’ve come in the same time Agent Mandy did, just no one noticed.
“You can’t arrest me, who’d run the school?”
“I believe…” Fury said standing up. “The council has stated that if you were unable to run the school under any circumstances… your job, which was my job, would be given to me.” Fury shrugged.
A woman sitting in between Coulson and Fury stood up. “I concur this was a decision the council had made.”
“Thank you Ms. May.” Fury nodded once.
She smiled and sat down.
“So… Miranda rights?” Warlock asked holding up the handcuffs with one finger.
It was safe to say that everyone in the library applauded with joy.
After Warlock and Mandy had left with Pierce in custody, the teachers were told by the small man, in so many unnecessary words, that they’d be collecting evidence and taking statements from the teachers for the rest of the day. It might even bleed over to the next few days. “If you just stay out of our way, and don’t hinder the processing and handling of this creep, then we’ll be okay. Capishe?”
All the teachers muttered a ‘yes’ and the burly man who hadn’t said a word and Agent Rocket left the same way Warlock and Mandy had left.
Fury stood. “I know we only have two weeks left of school. Let’s do our best to keep our heads above water. I’ll be doing my best to implement the tardy sweeps, and seeing how the vice principal is also under scrutiny… I’ve been given the permission to hire a new VP. Mr. Coulson, would you please stand?”
A blushing Coulson stood at attention and forced a grin at Fury.
“My new VP.”
Everyone in the library broke out into applause again.
Sixth period, Steve’s art class, Mary, the girl that had teased Steve for drawing Bucky so many months ago, was quiet. Unusual for her, and especially today because the rumors for what happened to Pierce were through the roof. Mary loved to talk, and Steve had her for English and Art, so knew her pretty well. The fact that she wasn’t coming up with the crazy rumors was unusual to Steve. There was rumors that Fury had killed him. One that made Steve laugh extra hard was that the scrawny engineer, Fitz had electrocuted him and Stark. Fitz, who came in later to fix Steve’s projector, had a good laugh at that one too. But no rumors came from Mary’s mouth.
Steve pulled up a chair. “Hey, Mary.”
She smiled at him. “Hey.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
She shrugged.
“What are you drawin’?” he asked resting his chin on his hands.
She shifted the paper to show him a heart that was blackened and she had made the effect it was crumbling.
“Whoa, now you can’t be getting better than me, that’s just not fair.” Steve teased hoping to elicit a smile from her.
She shrugged again. “Mr. Rogers, what’s it like to be in love?”
He frowned at her question. “What do you mean?”
“You and Mr. Barnes, you’re in love… right?”
Steve sighed and almost told her a lie but then remembered he didn’t have to worry any more. “I’d like to think so. Are you in love with someone?”
Mary shrugged again. “I just want to make sure.”
“Well… hmm… it feels different for everyone, I guess. I was in love with this one girl, she was so pretty. But I don’t think she loved me back at the right time. You understand?”
Mary nodded. “What happened to her?”
Steve sighed and tossed his head from shoulder to shoulder. “She died. It was painful. We knew each other since we were your age. Then I thought I loved this other guy, but things went wrong.”
“Then you and Mr. Barnes?”
Steve smiled. “Then there’s me and Mr. Barnes.”
“What does it feel like?”
Steve felt tears well up in his eyes. “Like I’m home after a long day. Like I’m ready for an adventure. Like…”
“You’d die without him?” she asked trying to feign innocence.
“Well… I know now that I don’t want to live without him. But I can. It’ll hurt so bad that he’s not with me, but I don’t think I’d die without him. Not yet, anyways.”
She nodded and turned back to her heart.
“Who are you in love with, honey?” Steve asked
“I don’t think I’m in love with him.” She whispered.
Steve was about to press further when he heard a tentative knock at his door. He glanced up to see Dr. Banner. “Hey, what’s up?” Steve asked and noted Dr. Banner’s less than cheery face.
“Is Mary Kane here?” he whispered to Steve.
“Yeah, she’s the girl I was just talking to.” Steve nodded.
Dr. Banner nodded and ran a hand over his mouth. His hands were shaking. “May I speak with her?”
Bewildered, Steve nodded and stepped aside.
Dr. Banner squatted down next to Mary. “Hey, is it okay if you come with me for a little bit?”
Mary buried her head and sniffed.
“You’re not in trouble, Mary. You haven’t done anything wrong.” Banner whispered to her soothingly.
“Don’t call my mom.” Mary muttered.
Banner looked very uncomfortable and sighed. “It’ll be a lot better if we go to my office, Mary.”
“My mom… she’d… she’d be so pissed at me.”
“It is okay, no one will be mad at you.” Banner soothed.
Mary started to sniffle loudly. “I’m sorry. He… said… he said…” she retched.
“Hey, let’s get out of here.” Banner insisted.
Mary nodded once and stood. Steve helped her collect her things and put them in her backpack. He followed Banner out. Banner put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
“What’s going on?” Steve whispered as Mary walked with her head down towards the doors that would eventually lead to Dr. Banner’s office.
Banner sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Just be… just be glad Peirce is gone.”
Steve felt his heart stop. “Oh my God. She was just asking me about love and… crap.”
“You should also know that they found photos of you on his computer, too.” Banner swallowed and tried to shove his hands deeper into his pockets. “They’re going to want to talk to you.” He squinted at him.
Steve nodded and felt shame bubble up to his cheeks. “Of course.”
Banner freed his right hand and patted Steve’s shoulder. “Just be glad he’s gone.”
Bucky stuck his head in at the end of the day. “Yo, Imma gonna go say bye to Nat, and I’ll meet you in the parking lot? I heard you had some excitement.”
Steve nodded and put away his drawings into his portfolio. “Yeah.”
“You okay?”
“Can we order pizza?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, yes, I’ll be okay.” Steve smiled at Bucky.
Bucky blew him a kiss and walked out.
Shaking he sat down and put his head into his hands, trying to make sense of all of it. Agent Warlock had dropped by and asked Steve to come in for an interview during his conference period the next day. He agreed, and asked about Mary. Warlock couldn’t give him any information, just as Steve had figured.
A tentative knock came from his door. Steve looked up expecting Bucky to be standing there, but instead it was Brock. He stood suddenly and backed away. “What are you doing here?” Steve demanded trying to come up with a way out.
Brock held out his open palms. “Can we talk?”
Steve gritted his teeth. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“I have something I need to say to you.” Brock sighed and looked down. He pointed to a desk and asked. “Can I sit?”
Steve felt the urge to correct his grammar but decided against it. “Sure.”
Brock sat down on the desk and leaned forward. “I’ve… I ah… Last time I was here… I knew…” he looked down and took a big breath in. “Last time I was here, I didn’t realized I had fucked up with you until I got into my car.”
“Took you that long?” Steve scoffed.
Brock blushed. “I know, it’s… that’s bad. I felt… I wanted to change, but… I didn’t know how to or even if I’d want to. I went down a long road of idiocy. I’m sorry to say it cost me my job, but it also cost me the one good thing I had going for me. Which was you… I know… you’re with that history teacher guy, and I don’t ever expect you to come running my way. But, I ah… I’m going through the twelve steps, and for addiction to sex and porn, and I just got to the make amends.”
Steve looked at him. “So I’m on your checklist?”
He winced. “Okay, I’m still tryin’ to learn how to phrase things too, but that’s gonna be another battle for another day. I’m trying to tell you, that I’m so sorry that I hurt you. I’m sorry that I made you do uncomfortable things. I’m even sorrier that it took me this long to tell you this. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I haven’t forgiven myself, yet. Just… know that I’m sorry, and I’m trying to be a better person.”
Steve nodded and smiled.
“And, ah… those photos. I was at a bar and… Pierce came up to me and nicked my phone. He gave it back, and said something like ‘thanks for sharing.’ I didn’t even… I didn’t realize that he had gotten the photos off of my phone. I don’t… I didn’t remember having those photos. I should’ve asked for your permission, I should’ve deleted them. I’m sorry.”
Steve swallowed a lump in his throat.
“I’ve also talked to the agents about the photos, so they know the story behind the photos.” Brock stood up and wiped his palms on his jeans. “I guess… I’ll go now.”
“How many months?” Steve asked as he turned to leave.
Brock turned to him and looked embarrassed. “It’s been a few days since I’ve slipped. My sponsor is asking me to just push through it. So it’s been a week.”
Steve looked down and wanted to press further, but didn’t.
“Okay… goodbye.”
“Bye.”
Bucky appeared in the doorway just as Brock left. He pointed to Brock. “The hell? He give you trouble?”
“No, nah…” Steve shook his head and stood. “Let’s go.”
THREE MONTHS LATER:
“How the hell is your boyfriend late?” Nat hissed.
“I’d ask, but he never gives me a straight answer.” Steve shrugged and pulled out his phone to call Bucky.
“Hello?”
“You’re late.”
“Fashionably on time.”
“An hour and a half is not nearly close to fashionably on time.”
Bucky laughed.
“C’mon, it’s the first day of school, my first real day of school, since last time I started half way through the year. I don’t want to be late.”
“I’m like two blocks away.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, two blocks away, totally.”
“Fury is going to have our heads.”
“Fine, I’m like four blocks away.”
“He’s going to kill us.”
“Fury is an awesome principal, Stevie, he would understand if we’re a little late.”
“Tell him if he thinks Fury would understand if we’re late, that he’s sadly mistaken.” Natasha told Steve.
Steve laughed. “Your best friend told me that you’re mistaken.”
“Of course she did.” He laughed. “What landmarks am I looking for?”
“A pissed off redhead and a handsome blond.”
“Oo, tell me more about this handsome blond. Is he single?”
“Not gonna happen.”
“What?” Bucky drove up and rolled down the window. “We’re gonna have to do something about that, I mean look at you.” He called out the window simultaneously hanging up on Steve.
Steve smiled and leapt in kissing Bucky on the mouth.
“We’re already late you idiots.” Natasha groaned.
“Fine, grumpy gills.” Bucky sighed and waited for Steve and Natasha to buckle in. “We’re not that late.” He tapped the clock and drove off.
The three of them arrived at the school with about ten minutes to spare. Steve felt horrible about it, but found it very hard to care when the bell rang for Advisory. Advisory was a class that was for the first few days of school and last few days of school. It was to get the kids adjusted to the school schedule, to pick up their schedules, and get the kids ready for the day. Originally, this class was supposed to be an hour long, but Fury and Coulson had made it only twenty minutes. Head Office probably didn’t know about this decision, but Steve didn’t find enough heart to care.
“Alright kids, settle down, I have your schedules here.” Steve sighed and waved the twenty some odd schedules in the air.
A tentative knock sounded from Steve’s door.
He blinked over and gasped. “Mary!”
She beamed and hugged him.
“You’re gonna be late!” Steve hugged her back.
“I know, but it’s the first day, so it doesn’t count.”
Steve rolled his eyes and walked to his desk. “I’m glad you’re okay, but let me write you a pass.”
“Okay.” She beamed and tugged on her strap. “Mr. Rogers, thank you. For last year.”
Steve blinked up at her. “What do you mean?”
“Your art class helped me through a lot, and I loved coming into your English and Art classes. So thank you for being a teacher.”
Steve beamed. “Thank you for being my student.” He handed her the pass and directed her out the door. And for the first time since he had started working there, the tears in his eyes were happy tears.