Peachy

Taking Out the Trash

Narrator's POV

"Tony." Stephen said, looking up from his book to his roommate that was working at his desk across from him. "Tony?" He asked when he got no response. Tony's head was slowly falling forward. "Tony!" Stephen gasped and raced over to Tony before the young inventor's head hit the desk, catching him. "Tony. Tony. Hey, Anthony." He shook Tony's limp body carefully.

"Hm? Huh?" Tony's picked up his head, looking around.

"Wow, Tony." Stephen said. "How long have you not slept?" Stephen asked, reading the energy levels in Tony's body.

"Uh... I can't remember. Um, like seventy two hours?" Tony said, rubbing his head.

"What?" Stephen looked at him.

"No, wait. That's wrong." Tony put a hand under his chin. "It' been two and a half weeks. Yeah, that's about right." Tony formed a crooked smile and looked up at Stephen. He looked terrible.

"Jeez, Tony." Stephen said.

"I know. I know. I look like a swamp creature." Tony said, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"No, no." Stephen said. "I just can't believe you've been up for two and a half weeks. You need sleep."

"No, I need to finish this." Tony said, opening his arms to his desk full of parts and tools. "I'm so behind." He said, taking a wrench in his hand.

"No." Stephen pulled Tony's chair out from his desk. "You need to get some sleep." Stephen said, taking the wrench out of Tony's hand. He rolled Tony's chair to the bed.

Tony groaned. "No." He gripped onto the armrests of his chair.

"Tony, come on." Stephen said, tilting the chair forward; trying to get Tony to fall into the bed. "You need this."

"No. No." Tony said, sinking further into his chair. "Stephen. StEpHeN." He said as Stephen was tilting the chair and shaking it, trying to get him to fall into the bed.

Stephen laughed. "Come on, Tony." He shook the chair more. "Tony, come on." He continued to shake it. "Tonyyyyyyyyy." Stephen laughed.

"Okay. Okay. Stop, and I'll get off." Tony said.

"Deal." Stephen said, putting the two back legs of the chair back on the ground.

"Ha ha!" Tony pushed himself away and back to his desk.

Stephen shook his head, smiling. "Oh, Tony."

"What?" Tony asked.

Suddenly red cloth wrapped around him, lifting him off the chair. "Ah!" Tony gasped. The Cloak of Levitation floated over above the bed still wrapping Tony in him. "Whoa. WhOa." Tony felt a little unsteady. The red cloak set him down gently.

"Now you stay in bed while I go make you some tea." Stephen said. The cloak returned to his shoulders.

"No. No." Tony sat up. "It's too late for tea. Just let me sleep." He said.

"Are you sure?" Stephen asked him.

"Yes. I'm already in bed, might as well take a nap." Tony said, falling back on the bed.

"Well, okay. If you need anything, just ring this little bell." Stephen stretched his hand out in front of Tony and opened it. A little bronze bell sat on his palm.

Tony looked at him. "I'm not a three year old."

"Just in case." Stephen said. "I'll leave it right here." He placed it on the nightstand. "Now I'll let you rest. Have a good nap." He said.

"Thanks. You too." Tony said, snuggling in the covers.

Stephen smiled at him, and left the room closing the door.

///0///0

Stephen sat in Bruce's room, quietly playing with a rubiks cube, sitting on a beanbag. He had already figured it out and was shuffling it again. Bruce was heating up a chemical in a glass test tube, holding it with tongues above a blue flame that came out of a Bunsen burner. He turned the burner off and lifted his goggles off his eyes and took the hot boiling liquid to the sink, pouring it out. "Hey Stephen..." He said.

"Yes?" Stephen asked, messing around with the rubiks cube.

Bruce turned the water on and began to rinse the test tube. "How've you been? We haven't caught up in a while." Bruce said.

"I'm good, thank you." Stephen said. "And you?"

"Good. Good." Bruce said, putting the test tube on a test tube wrack after washing it. He took a towel that was on the counter and dried his hands. He turned to Stephen. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask: do you still like Tony?"

Stephen looked up from the colorful cube. "Why?" He asked, looking at Bruce.

"Oh, I'm just wondering." Bruce said, looking around.

"Hmm." Stephen laid back in the beanbag he was sitting on, he went back to working on the cube.

"Because you knooooowww...." Bruce rubbed the back of his head. "I heard from a little bird that Tony might have a bit of a crush on you too."

Stephen stopped and looked up from the cube. "What?"

"Yeah." Bruce looked at Stephen.

Stephen sat up. "Really?" Bruce nodded. "Who said? What did they say?"

"I'm not really suppose to say anything, buuuut..." Bruce grabbed a chair and pulled in front of Stephen. "So. Lately I've been talking to Tony about how..." Bruce trailed off with his story. He told Stephen everything Tony and him talked about. He told him about how Tony just couldn't focus on anything because all his mind could think of was Stephen.

A smile formed on Stephen's lips as he listened to Bruce. His little heart pumped with happiness, and his cheeks were tainted a little red.

"And I think maybe he just needs a little push." Bruce said.

That bursted Stephen's thinking bubble. "Huh?"

"Yeah. What if you...you know." Bruce said.

"M-Me?" Stephen's cheeks turned red. Bruce nodded. "I can't. I could never." Stephen hid his face in his hands.

"It's okay. All you have to do is ask him to go on a date."

Stephen looked up at Bruce. "I-I don't know Bruce. I don't think I'm quite ready." He sighed.

"It's okay. I understand." Bruce smiled at him. "Take your time."

Stephen looked at him. "Thanks."

///0///0

"Gosh." Tony said, arching his back. All his vertebrate cracked.

"Tony. I think we should take a break. We've been working all day." Bruce said, taking a seat on the only bed in the room. Stephen floated by, reading a book.

"Bruce, we can't stop." He sighed looking down at a helmet he was working on. "At this rate I'll never get this done." He tossed his head back. "I'm trash." He said, moping.

Stephen stopped, looking up from his book and turned to Tony. "As a person who cares deeply about our environment, I am obligated to pick you up.... Is seven okay?" Stephen blushed, smiling at Tony nervously.

"Ooooo, smooth." Bruce whispered behind him. He wanted to see how this turned out.

Tony stood just there. He didn't know what to say. His cheeks began to turn red.

"Tony? Are you-" Stephen was cut off as Tony ran out of the room.

Tony raced for away from the room and stopped when he thought that was far enough. He panted, gasping for air. He leaned against a wall in the hall, with a hand to his forehead, panting.

Had Stephen just asked him out on a date?

His knees felt weak, and he felt his cheeks get hot. He slid down the wall, sitting on the floor now. He placed a hand on his chest as he felt his heart pounding hard. It pounded so hard he felt like it was going to pop out of his chest.

A huge goofy smile settled on his lips.