The Bet (Avenger's High School AU)

♡ Chapter Ten ♡

Tony blinks blearily as he awakens, wincing at the flare of pain in his nose and eyes, immediately overcome by a wide yawn. He stretches his back to the best of his ability, slowly peeling his eyes fully open and licking his dry lips.

He's laying down on Peter's mattress, his blankets loosely covering his legs and stomach. Peter is sprawled lazily half on top of him and half across the rest of the mattress. Peter's arm is over his stomach, other arm dangling off the mattress and onto the floor. His head is tucked against Tony's chest, their limbs tangled together. Peter's cold feet are against his calves where his sweatpants have rolled up a little. One of Tony's arms are around Peter's waist, the other resting in Peter's loose curls.

It must be somewhere in the mid-morning, the sun shining hazily through the small window on the opposite wall, casting the room in a bright glow. It lights Peter's face up and rids him of the bruises and the deep bags under his eyes, leaving only the little freckles that pop on his cheekbones and the light blush over his pale skin.

Tony can't help the small smile that touches his face, drawing Peter closer to his body and basking in the early morning warmth.

Peter stirs a little at the movement, hiding his face in Tony's t-shirt with a small whine of protest.

"Too early," he slurs through the veil of sleep. "Tired."

"We were up till like three, of course you're tired," Tony replies with a gentle laugh. He wishes he could stay here forever, ignoring the little bit of pain from his bruises in favour of Peter's huff of warm laughter that fans across his neck. He wishes this little bubble of simplicity could be forever. "We're already late for school."

"Too bad," Peter mumbles, his voice muffled by Tony's shirt. He wraps his arm tighter around Tony's stomach and smiles dopily as he slowly tries to bring himself to the land of the living. "Wanna stay."

"Me too," Tony agrees, shifting so he can rest his nose in Peter's curls, breathing in his addictive scent to calm his racing heart. Peter breathes out slowly, tucking his head closer against Tony's collarbone, warm exhales blanketing over his skin. "We can skip today... I'll get Nat to catch us up after school."

Peter nods slowly, curls tickling the other boy's neck and face. He yawns, fingers curling into Tony's t-shirt and when it passes, Peter curls tighter against his best friend's side with a quiet hum of content.

"Could stay here forever," Peter murmurs, rubbing his cold feet against Tony's ankle. "Warm and sleepy and happy... How's your face?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Tony says, gently cupping Peter's face and tilting it up so he can examine the still prominent bruises on Peter's face from the night in the bar. They're finally fading, but they still look pretty painful. "You somehow still look like a god, you know that?"

A blush rises on Peter's cheeks and he rolls his eyes fondly, biting his lip to hide the smile that tries to escape.

"If I were a god, why would I be spending it here?" he asks, gesturing vaguely to the room around him with the peeling paint and rotting wood, the creaky floorboards and cracked windows, the lack of furniture and the single lightbulb that doesn't work.

Tony doesn't know how to respond to that, tipping his head back to look out the window at the glorious New York skyline.

"Kinda hungry," Peter admits. "Didn't eat much... For a while."

"I told you to tell me if you needed food."

"Have food," he says, lifting his head a little to look at Tony properly. "I have food, can't eat it. It's for emergencies."