fandomhigh | American Inventions, Tuesday

When students arrived, they'd find Steve deep in conversation with a black cat perched up on the desk and looking extremely bored.

"I know you're not doing this on purpose," he was muttering, "but it's starting to feel a little like you're trying to get out of talking to me."

Which was when, of course, their other teacher showed up with dark sunglasses on and a very large coffee in hand. He cleared his throat to get Steve's attention away from the cat that wasn't him this time.

Steve turned an absolutely charming shade of crimson. "Um."

"Welcome back to class," Tony said, letting Steve linger in that embarrassment. "Today we'll be covering one of the greats, Nikola Tesla. Not to be confused with the terrible car company."

"Or the terrible non-Tesla person running it," Steve added, still a little too pink.

"Now, there is a lot about him, so we'll allow you to decide what you personally find the most fascinating about his life and work," Tony said. "He never electrocuted a poor animal to demonstrate his product, so I think that means he automatically wins over Thomas Edison there."

"He also wasn't based out of New Jersey," Steve said.

"That too." Even when the teachers were being weird, on that, they could agree.

Steve's involuntarily smile turned a little awkward and sickly as he glanced at Tony, then took a step away. Behind them, the black cat yawned loudly, completely over the drama.