Rest Up
After Peter changed into a science pun T-shirt and jeans, he made his way down to the lab where Tony was waiting for him. He was running a bit late today, having to deal with three muggings and then had to carefully lead seniors back to their senior centre. Then he had to save a dog before it got run over.
The door to the lab already opened before Peter had to punch in his entry code. Tony was standing over his work table, welding something together. He didn't turn around when he said,
"Hey, Underoos! How was school today?"
Peter made his way over and Tony stopped welding when he was close. He took off his safety goggles.
"It was fine. Sorry I'm late."
Now that the safety goggles were off and Peter was close enough to see his eyes, he noticed that Tony had circles under his eyes. More than usual. Either he got no sleep the other night or he overworked himself. Again.
Peter hesitated, but in the end asked, "Do you want to rest up before we start working?"
Tony scoffed and waved him off. "No, I'm good to go. I've had enough coffee to keep going for hours."
Peter frowned and looked at him skeptically. "If you're sure…"
"Of course I'm sure. Now, let's work, huh?"
They did.
XXX
Peter put his tools down and stretched his arms. He was done working on his project for today. He didn't notice how much time had passed down in the lab and he was beginning to get hungry. Peter began to look over his shoulder to talk to his mentor.
"Mister-"
He cut himself off.
The upper half of Tony's body was on the work table and his head was resting in his crossed arms. That explained why things had been so quiet and why Tony hadn't checked on him. This was the first time Peter had seen Tony fall asleep during their lab time. Tired or not, Tony somehow always managed to stay awake.
Peter stood and walked over, not sure what he should do. He wasn't sure if he could pick up Tony, not because he wasn't strong enough, he definitely was, but there was a chance that would wake him up. It took Tony a lot to fall asleep like this and if Peter woke him up, there was a chance Tony wouldn't fall asleep again.
He looked over when he heard some whirring. DUM-E strolled up to him with a blanket in his claw. DUM-E dropped it unceremoniously on top of Peter's head. Peter had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing.
Peter crept over to Tony again and, with as much gentleness as possible, draped the blanket over his mentor's shoulders. He stepped back and waited. Thankfully, Tony didn't wake. He didn't even stir.
Peter turned and gave DUM-E a pat on the head.
Although he wanted to stay and keep an eye on Tony, Peter's stomach growled and made him want to go upstairs and get something to eat. He trusted DUM-E to watch over Tony for him and so he went upstairs and ordered two large pizzas.
XXX
"Whoa, what happened?"
Peter whipped around when Tony spoke. He still sounded half asleep as he sat up, the blanket falling off his shoulders. He rubbed his back and Peter internally winced. He should've taken into account that Tony's back would be sore after sleeping in such a position for so long. Maybe he should've carried him upstairs, or at least to the couch in the lab.
"I bought you some pizza but it's probably cold," Peter said, walking over to him. "We can reheat it though."
Tony stared at Peter with squinted eyes. It was as if Peter was not there, or Tony's vision hadn't cleared just yet. Peter didn't move. Suddenly, life came to Tony's eyes as they widened.
"Oh, shit!" he cursed. Peter suppressed a chuckle. "I'm sorry, kiddo! I didn't mean to fall asleep. I didn't even realize-"
Peter waved his hand, dismissing him. "It's alright, Mister Stark. I noticed that you were really tired before we began. We probably shouldn't have worked down here today."
"That's still no excuse for me to fall asleep," Tony sighed. "Tomorrow I'll make it up to you."
"Geeze, you make it sound like you committed a crime!" Peter laughed.
"It's always a crime to leave my favourite Spiderling hanging," Tony said, though his tone was a bit lighter now.
"It's the weekend anyway," Peter said. He smirked. "I know old men need to nap."
Tony placed a hand over his heart, dramatically. "Peter Parker! How dare you call me old?!"
"Because it's true," Peter teased. He dodged the screwdriver Tony threw in his direction. "So, about that pizza?"
"Right." Tony stood and stretched his limbs. His back cracked and Peter looked at him with a raised brow. Tony didn't comment on that. "What about you? You hungry?"
Peter shook his head, smiling. "I ate already."
Tony wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulders as they headed upstairs.
"Thank you for the blanket, by the way."
"You felt that?!"
"No," Tony said, stretching the word. "It fell off when I sat up. Thanks for confirming it was you and not DUM-E."
"I was tricked!"
Tony laughed.
Author's Note: Whoa, it has been a long time since I've written anything. I've had ideas and whatnot but I just couldn't write for some reason. In the end, I wrote this short to kind of get out of my slump.
...This is also kinda self indulgent because I wanted to write a story where Tony fell asleep during lab time and have Peter put a blanket on him instead of the other way around. xD
I hope I'll be able to write more soon.
That's all for now. I'll see ya'll in the next one.
Thanks for reading!
~Kurosaki