Tony stepped foot into the motel room, blocking Peter’s way just so he could survey the room before letting the kid inside.
It was by far the worst motel he’s ever been to. Well, Tony has never actually been to a motel before. He’s more of a five star hotel type person.
In this case though, Tony was desperate for somewhere to spend the night because his car ran out of gas about a ten minute walk from this place and they were in the middle of nowhere.
Tony wasn’t about to send a fifteen year old boy out in the streets to go find a gas station while he stays with the car and he wasn’t about to leave the kid alone with the car while he goes to find a gas station that, by the looks of the map on his phone that is about to die, isn’t anywhere within walking distance.
The motel is the only place that is at least somewhat decent for them to stay at but either way… it was a disgusting and unsafe place. It was only for one night though so they would have to make due.
Tony and Peter had been on their way back to the tower after spending the weekend together looking at science museums. They still had a long drive ahead of them but they weren’t gonna be going anywhere anytime soon. so now here they were in the most disgusting motel that Tony has ever been in. Possibly Peter’s most disgusting motel as well.
The carpet was a dark red and Tony couldn’t help but think that it was to hide all the blood stains from possible murders or suicides… or other stuff.
There was also only one bed which sucked because Tony and Peter were close but they weren’t that close.
In the hotel room they stayed at while they were looking at science museums, it was a five star hotel and it had two beds so Tony got one and Peter got one.
Now however, there was one bed.
Peter noticed this as well and voiced his concerns “There’s only one bed. I’ll sleep on the couch”
Tony looked around the room but there was no couch. Even if there was, he wasn’t gonna let the kid sleep on that thing. The car wasn’t looking so bad now. “Even if there was a couch, you’re not sleeping on it”
“But-“
“It’s a big bed. We’ll both sleep on it and then wake up tomorrow and leave” Tony pushed Peter more into the room so he could shut and lock the door. When he turned around Peter was looking at him weird. “What?”
“Nothing… it just smells in here” Peter plugged his nose and over exaggerated his facial expressions.
Tony thought it smelled too but it didn’t surprise him in a place like this. “That’s what you get when you come to places like this, kid. Go get ready for bed”
Peter hesitated for a few seconds then he grabbed his pyjamas and toothbrush and went into the bathroom.
The bathroom looked like something out of the 1900’s. It was ugly, Peter thought. The bathtub was yellow, same with the sink and the bathroom tile was this nasty green colour.
Peter had to hold back a gag but he decided to take a bath anyways since he was cold and tired and he wanted to take one but he didn’t know how to turn the tap on for the bath. Peter poked his head out the door “Mr. Stark? Can you help me?”
Tony walked into the bathroom a few seconds later and made a face at it. His eyes then landed on Peter sitting on the edge of the bath “What are you doing? Get off of that filth”
Peter was pulled up by Tony but he pulled away “No. I’m trying to take a bath but I can’t turn it on”
“You don’t want to turn that on, kid” Tony kept pulling Peter more towards the door “If you take a bath in there you’ll be more dirty getting out than when you got in”
Peter eyed the crusted up bathtub and agreed. Maybe Tony was right. That thing did look disgusting. “I’ll just take a shower then”
“Are you sure?” Tony asked him again. He didn’t understand why Peter wanted to even step foot in that bathtub.
“I need to shower. I’m all gross”
“Alright then. Be careful of that thing down there then” Tony pointed teasingly to a random corner of the bathtub but it didn’t matter what corner he pointed in because it was all nasty. Peter rolled his eyes so Tony ruffled his hair and left.
Once Tony was gone, Peter turned the shower on to let it run for a bit then he took off all his clothes and jumped into the shower. The soap bottles were these really tiny looking things and the bathtub felt all crusty on his feet so Peter quickly washed his body and jumped out of the tub onto the floor. He shut the shower off but quickly realized his problem.
He had no towel.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter called out not really knowing how to handle this situation. He had no towel!
“Did the shower eat you up in there?” Tony joked. Although he was a bit confused as to why Peter was calling him and sounding so scared.
“Um, no, but it ate my towel” Peter laughed weakly “I don’t have a towel”
Oh, shit. Tony thought. That was a problem. They used the towels that the hotel provided at the other place so this kinda sucked.
“Are you sure there’s none in there?” Tony asked as he looked around the room for something to give Peter to dry off with but there was nothing.
Peter looked around once more but found nothing. “No”
Tony leaned against the bathroom door as he thought about what to do. “Can you just… shake off?”
Tony could picture the face Peter was making behind the door. “No. I’m not a dog. Plus I’m cold”
“I know but- never mind” Tony cut himself off. He went into his suitcase and pulled out one of his shirts so he could give to Peter to dry off with. It was weird but they had no other options here. “Open the door, bud. You can use my shirt to dry off with”
Peter opened the door but made sure to cover the part of his body that needed covering. He saw the shirt in Tony’s hand and grabbed it from him reluctantly “Your shirt?”
“We don’t have many options here, kid. The only other option is to air dry” Tony could already see the kid shivering so he tossed that idea off the table.
Peter looked at Tony’s shirt in his hand. He really didn’t want to use Tony Stark’s shirt to dry himself off with but he also didn’t want to air dry so this will make due. “Okay. Thanks”
Peter shut the door and quickly dried himself off, feeling a little bit uncomfortable to be using Tony’s shirt, he then put his pyjama pants on and his top before brushing his teeth and meeting Tony in the bedroom who was sitting on the edge of the bed on his phone.
“All done?” Tony asked not even looking up.
Peter handed the now wet shirt over to Tony “Uh, thanks”
Tony took his shirt back from the boy and tossed it in his suitcase. He could tell Peter was embarrassed or uncomfortable by having to use his shirt to dry himself off so Tony patted him on the back and gently pushed him towards the bed.
“What kind of hotel doesn’t even have towels anyways” Tony joked to try and make Peter feel better. Peter only laughed weakly and crawled onto the bed.
“My phones dead, can I play on your phone?” Peter rolled onto his back and asked Tony. His phone had died hours ago and Tony has a lot of fun games on his phone that Peter downloaded a few weeks ago when he got bored in the car.
Tony tossed his phone onto the bed and Peter happily rolled onto his stomach, picked it up and went onto it. Peter felt really special because he had his own fingerprint on Tony’s phone so he was allowed onto it whenever he wanted, although he still asked.
“I’ll be back” Tony told Peter as he went into the washroom even though he knew the kid wasn’t listening to him at all. He wasn’t gonna be showering but he still had to brush his teeth and get ready for bed.
After Tony was finished up in the washroom he went back to the room and hesitated before he got into the bed. It wasn’t because Peter was there, it was because the bed looked nasty.
A bunch of scenarios were coming up in Tony’s mind on which couples came to the room to… do the dirty. Or maybe some other stuff went on in this room on this bed. Either way Tony was gonna be taking a nice long and hot shower when he gets home.
“Alright, kid. Bed time” Tony got into the bed and got under the blankets. Peter ignored him and continued to play on the phone so Tony reached over and was about to grab his phone from Peter but he saw that the kid was just about to beat a level on temple run. He watched until Peter finished and held his hand out “You’re done. Go to sleep”
Peter moved away from Tony so he could continue playing on his phone “Not yet. One more level”
Tony sighed. He wanted to go to bed now so that they could wake up early tomorrow and get the hell out of here. “Peter, I’m tired and you’re tired so give me the phone and sleep”
Peter groaned like the way he does when he’s mad and annoyed at something. Tony was used to his groaning by now since he spent all weekend with the kid but even before that. Whenever Tony would have to send Peter to bed early or tell him to do his homework or even the times he had to make Peter sit at the dinner table until he finished his greens as per May’s request.
Despite all the groaning, Peter handed Tony his phone. Tony was about to go on it himself but he knew better than to do that because he had to set an example. If Peter saw him on his phone he would ask for it after and they both needed to sleep.
Tony was about to shut the lamp off but he turned towards Peter first because he felt the kid staring at him. He turned around and Peter was in fact staring “What?”
“Nothing, I Uh,” Peter paused and looked at Tony again so Tony raised his eyebrows at him. “What?”
“You’re looking at me. I asked what first” Tony stated. It was always something with this kid.
“I’m just not that tired” Peter whispered while looking down at his hands. Tony barely heard but when he did, he could not believe what he was hearing.
The same kid who was whining because he was exhausted and didn’t want to walk anymore on their ten minute walk to this motel now had the audacity to say he wasn’t tired. “What did you just say? You take that back”
Peter looked at Tony with wide eyes “w-what? Mr. Stark, I’m just not-not that tired”
“You’re not allowed to be not that tired, Peter. Sleep. Or I’m making you walk home tomorrow” Tony was only joking, he would never do that to Peter. Mainly because he didn’t want to face the kids Aunt after she found out he made her nephew walk home in the cold by himself.
“Okay. I’ll try, Mr. Stark” Peter crawled under the covers which were cold so he moved closer to Tony’s side but he accidentally touched the man's legs.
“Wha-Peter. Stay on your own side” Tony said once he realized the kid was about to practically roll on top of him. Peter moved away quickly mumbling apologizes. Tony then shut the lamp off and shut his eyes.
He didn’t realize how exhausted he really was until now. Just as he felt himself drifting off Peter moved violently. “Good night, Mr. Stark”
“Uh, Peter. Yes” Tony opened his eyes and even though it was really dark and he couldn’t see anything he was still able to make out the lump sleeping next to him that just woke him up.
“I said good night” Peter repeated as if Tony didn’t hear him the first time.
“I know, buddy, I heard you” Tony shut his eyes again and felt himself relaxing but Peter kept moving around.
It was no surprise to Tony that Peter was a restless sleeper. Every single morning or every time Tony got up in the hotel room he would look at Peter and see the kid in a new position every time. Peter would have his arms and legs bent in every angle or have his butt sticking up in the air. His sheets were always tangled around his body and he would push off the blankets so Tony would wake up in the middle of the night to put them back over him again so he wouldn’t be cold.
Tony may or may not have taken a few pictures of some of Peter’s weird sleeping positions. He hoped it wasn’t too weird he was taking pictures of the kid sleeping, he planned on showing his Aunt later so it shouldn’t be too weird. He shared a hotel room with the kid for three nights so he hopes he would have the right to take blackmailing pictures of Peter in funny sleeping positions.
Tony rolled over so that he was facing Peter but regretted that decision right after because he got a foot to the face. “Ow, Pete”
“What?” Peter asked confused.
“You just kicked me in the face. Why is your foot even on this side of the bed?” Tony asked. He didn’t understand how that was possible.
Tony leaned over to turn the light on because he had to see what Peter was doing. When the lights came on Peter was in fact upside down on the bed. His feet were right next to Tony’s head and Peter’s head was all the way in the corner of the bed.
Tony gave him a confused look “Get back up here”
Peter did as he was told, getting back under the covers and sighing. Tony eyed him one last time before turning the lamp off. Again.
“This place scares me” Peter admitted. He didn’t like being in this motel at all. He wished they were at the tower.
“You’re safe, buddy. There’s nothing to be afraid of so just go to sleep” Tony didn’t say this but he would protect Peter no matter what so the kid was in safe hands.
Peter hesitated a bit before moving a bit closer to Tony.
Tony felt Peter move closer to him but he didn’t say anything. He let Peter continue to try and fall asleep but that wasn’t happening because every minute Peter was moving around in a new position. He would toss and turn every few seconds and Tony knew that he wasn’t gonna sleep unless Peter did.
“What can I do to make you sleep?” Tony asked out of pure exhaustion and frustration. If he had to he was willing to rock the kid to sleep while singing a lullaby.
Peter moved again so he could lift himself up with his arms and look over at Tony. There was nothing Tony could do that would put Peter to sleep. Well, there was a lot he could do but Peter would never ask him to do any of those things like the way he would ask May.
Peter sighed and tossed his body on the bed again.
“Tell me, Pete. That way we can both go to sleep” Tony was desperate for a way that would put Peter to sleep but he was being stubborn and wasn’t telling Tony.
“Um, well, no there’s n-nothing” Peter lied.
“I’m tired and I can’t sleep if you’re not sleeping and I know you can’t fall asleep because you’re moving around so much so just tell me what I can do”
Peter couldn’t really see Tony’s face in the dark but he could still tell that Tony was looking at him so Peter brought the blankets up to his face so Tony couldn’t look at him anymore.
Tony sighed. He didn’t think it would come to this but he knew Peter liked cuddles and when someone played with his hair so he would give it a shot.
“Come here” Tony held his arm out for Peter but Peter didn’t move “come here”
“Why?” Asked Peter concerned. He didn’t know why Tony was telling him to go over to him. Was he gonna hit him? No, Tony would never do that to him.
“Just come over here, Pete” Tony sighed. This kid was too much. Peter rolled over so that he was lying next to Tony. Tony didn’t know what he was doing so he decided to just take his chance and put his hand in Peter’s hair so he could put him to sleep.
Peter immediately felt his body relax once Tony started to play with his hair. He didn’t know how Tony knew to do that but he was glad that the man was doing it.
“Close your eyes and go to sleep” Tony whispered softly. He actually found it really comforting to himself as well.
After a few minutes, Tony felt Peter fully relax against his side so he knew that Peter was asleep. Thank goodness. Although even though Peter was asleep, Tony still kept playing with Peter’s soft hair until he drifted off to sleep himself because it was really relaxing.
.
.
.
The next morning Tony woke up first. He felt a warmth weight against his side and when he opened his eyes he saw that it was Peter pressed up against him with his arms thrown over Tony’s stomach. Tony smiled at the sight because Peter did look really adorable whenever he slept.
But just because the kid looked adorable when he slept does not mean that he is adorable.
Throughout the night he must have kicked Tony or slapped him in the face unintentionally about 100 times. Peter would roll over into a new position and drag all the blankets with him, kicking Tony while he’s at it. Then he would kick all the blankets off the bed, get cold and roll over so that he was pressed into Tony’s side for some warmth.
This went on the whole night but Tony wouldn’t have changed it for the world. He thought of Peter like a son and even if the kid basically attacked him in his sleep, Tony still loved him like a son.