"I'll come back for the tab later, just go, I'll—"
"Meet me there, yeah, see you—"
Tony pressed a quick kiss to his lips, then opened the trunk and pulled out the suitcase suit, yanking it open and suiting up. He took off into the sky, and Steve was quick to follow in the car. Traffic just got worse the closer he got the school, so eventually he gave up, parked the car, changed in the backseat—making out there earlier turned out to be good practice for having to fumble his way into a patriotic jumpsuit now—and sprinted the rest of the way.
Doctor Doom.
"What part of my territory," Tony grunted, blasting Doctor Doom square in the chest, "Did you not understand the first time?"
"Ah, but you switched sides!" Doctor Doom just rose back up, sending another twenty doombots Tony's way. "Your claim is invalid now!"
The two continued bickering while Steve quickly analyzed the scene. Natasha and Clint must've snuck off to change at some point, since they were now in costume and helping protect a group of early-arriving students and staff from the doombots. Steve jumped into the fray, deciding he'd be best off helping Tony take out the problem at its source. He let his shield fly, and the fight was on.
It didn't take very long, all things considered, and ended rather abruptly when SHIELD arrived and dropped Bruce out of a helicopter.
While the mangled Doctor Doom was taken into custody, Tony talked science to the Hulk until Bruce reappeared and Steve spoke to Clint and Natasha.
"This is how we're doing things now?" Steve chuckled. "Drop a Hulk on any potential problems?"
"It's got a certain crude effectiveness to it." Natasha pointed out.
Now that the football field had a Hulk-sized crater Tony swore up and down he'd pay for, graduation was moved to the soccer fields out back. Tony showing off the suit to his students gave Steve, Clint and Natasha time to sneak off and change, and by the time they got back, everyone had started moving chairs. Some of the bleachers were portable as well, too heavy to be carried by civilians but manageable for Tony in the suit. It looked like slow going though, so Steve, stupidly, thought he ought to help.
It was only after he'd picked one up that he realized the mistake he'd just made.
"Holy fuck—"
"How did he—"
"No one could—"
"Dude, Captain America could—"
"No fucking way—"
"Ohmigod, I threw water balloons at Captain America—"
There was an explosion of voices, and the students surged forward, abandoning their moving efforts to talk to him all at once. Steve carefully put the bleacher down and debated running, but he was lifted into the air before he could.
"Hey, c'mon now, personal space," Tony chastised the students, then to Steve, "Really? Lifting a bleacher? That's how you want to give away your secret identity?"
"I didn't mean to—"
"I'm just saying, it's a lot cooler if you incorporate a life or death situation, some aliens, maybe a wormhole…"
"Yes, Tony, your reveal was much more dramatic, are you happy?"
"Very. You know what this means, right?"
"More reporters prying into our lives?" Steve sighed unhappily.
"I was thinking post-battle kisses. Man, you're such a downer sometimes."
There was no hope of convincing the kids to keep it quiet. According to Tony, it hit something called the "twittersphere" before Steve's feet even touched the ground again. They had to call in Tony's entire security team and a squad of SHIELD agents for the graduation alone. The security, though necessary, slowed everything down, and by the time everyone was seated and settled down, it was almost an hour after they were supposed to begin.
Tony fell asleep on Steve's shoulder during the speeches, and Steve smiled at the familiarity of it. They really should try and fit in a movie sometime. Maybe this weekend? Steve let his thoughts wander as the procession began, equally uninteresting. He was proud of his students, of course, but there were an awful lot of them and they didn't seem to be particularly fast walkers.
Robert, of course, couldn't do anything the easy way.
Soon as he had a diploma in his hand, he dodged and weaved the superintendent's attempt to stop him, grabbing the mic and pointing at someone in the audience with a cheeky grin.
"Hey, you, I like your face a lot. Wanna go out sometime?"
"Who, me?" A brunette with scruffy hair blinked wildly.
"Not you, Andrew, you don't even go here." Robert rolled his eyes, returning his attention to the blonde male next to Andrew. Steve recognized the boy as a sophomore from his fourth period. "What d'ya say, Evans?"
It was at that point he was tackled by an over-eager Happy and tumbled off the stage, but Steve figured everything worked out for the best, since he caught the boys making out behind the bleachers an hour later.
"That may have been my fault," Tony admitted later, when Steve told him what Robert did, "I did advise a more eloquent speech though. But then, I'm not exactly surprised he didn't listen. When I told him mine, he thought that to say anything like it I'd have to be getting married or something."
"Married?" Steve raised an eyebrow. "These kids are startlingly invested in our relationship."
"You think that's bad, and you want to see tumblr?" Tony laughed, pulling Steve in for a kiss. "Darling, I love you, never change."
"I get the feeling you're being condescending again," Steve shot him a look when they parted, "But I'm going to let that slide in lieu of the fact that I know you mean it anyway."
"You were right, you know." Tony fidgeted, just a bit. "There's going to be a hell of a lot of reporters really interested in us now."
"Is this the part where you stupidly offer me an out long after the fact?" Steve rolled his eyes.
"Well." Tony cleared his throat. "I guess I should've offered you one before you were found out, but I mean, if it's all too much, there's no obligation—"
"Don't be ridiculous," Steve told him affectionately, looping his arms around Tony's waist and kissing his neck, lingering by his ear, "It's far too late."
"That's…your words are contradicting your actions here." Tony sounded confused, but more than eager to consent to Steve's contradictions.
"Not at all." Steve nipped at a particular spot on Tony's neck, curious if it was still sensitive from the night before. The utterly obscene noise Tony made was answer enough.
"What does that even—"
"It means I'm in love with you, sweetheart." Steve pulled away from Tony's neck to make eye contact with him, brush a hand over his cheek in reassurance. "It means I'm in love with you, means I've been in love with you, and I'm not going anywhere, come hell or high water. Reporters fall into the category of the former."
"God, I love you so much," Tony murmured reverently, the words soft as the kiss he pulled Steve into.
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