The Bet (Avenger's High School AU)

♡ Chapter Thirteen ♡

(Quick A/N about my updating schedule. I know I haven't been keeping to it very well so I'm super duper sorry about that, school's been crazy, and it will be for the next month. I'm literally so stressed it's insane. I will continue updating as frequently as I can, but it will no longer be following the updating schedule I set out at the beginning of this.)

(Also apologies in advance, this is really jumpy and feels very all over the place but a lot needed to happen)

"How are you feeling about the bet?" Natasha asks. She's sprawled across his bed like she always seems to be, flicking through channels with one hand and pretending to be doing her Algebra homework with the other.

"Why? You don't think I'm doing good?" Tony asks with a frown. It's not that he forgot about the bet, it's just that he's really enjoying what he has now with Peter.

"You're up against some pretty hefty competition here. Thor is an obvious candidate. Steve has pulled some pretty sick romance moves like the picnic. Bucky did that dinner thing with him that was super sweet from what I heard. Wade's done some pretty amazing thing too. Peter wouldn't stop gushing about it in the car the other day," Natasha explains.

She's not in the bet, but she is doing some crazy betting with other students in the grade who know about it. Plus, she's good friends with most of the people involved, so she's been enjoying watching the chaos unfold.

"At least I'm friends with Peter, though," Tony says, rolling his eyes as he continues working through his chemistry homework with ease. "At least I'm trying to do more than get in his pants."

Natasha rolls her eyes right back. "The others aren't just trying to get in his pants, Tony. They're trying to befriend him too... Well, most of them. Bucky's dropping out of the competition, though he's betting on you, so I count that as a win."

Tony's lying on his stomach on the hardwood floor, but he rolls onto his back to look up at Nat properly. "You really think he's dropping out?"

"They only went out once, so it's not really a big deal. Plus, I heard from someone that he's got a thing for someone else anyways," she explains. She skims through a few more channels before settling on a baking show. "And if I heard right, Thor's been thinking about dropping out too... That doesn't mean you don't have tough competition though. Steve and Wade are going to be hard to beat."

"I could beat Steve in my sleep," Tony retorts with a quirked eyebrow. "I'm way closer to Peter than Steve is."

"You've still got time... You said prom, right? It's only December. You've still got months for someone to take the lead on this one," Nat says. "All I'm saying is that I've got a lot of money riding on you, so either tell me that you're going to fail now or make sure you know what you're doing."

*

The next day at lunch, Natasha's prediction comes true.

"You can't keep doing this to me, Thor!" Bruce says. It's probably meant to come out angry, but it's more heartbroken than anything.

Peter immediately looks up from his lunch, turning towards where the nerdy teenager is angrily facing the football player in the center of the room.

"I'm sorry-"

"Sorry doesn't cut it this time!" Bruce shouts, hands flailing pathetically with his strong emotions.

Everyone's eyes are on them now with Thor reaching his hands out in what's meant to be a comforting gesture, but Bruce dodges the hands, glaring at the taller boy.

"I just- I need this to be something more to you," Bruce continues. He waves a hand between the two of them, somehow not yet recognizing the amount of attention he has. "I can't just be- be friends-with-benefits, or whatever you're calling this, forever. I can't. I can't keep pretending that this isn't important to me... Because it is. It's important to me and I need to be something more to you than a fling if this is going to continue."