Work Text:
Scott had some regrets. He'd been up all night experimenting with rituals. He'd had so many ideas, and he knew he wouldn't have time today. He should have just written his ideas down and waited until tomorrow, being this tired sucked.
Despite how tired he was, Scott still tried to pay attention. Everyone was showing their powers off and it was interesting to watch and it was good information. He'd opted to sit down, though. It would be good to conserve the little energy he had.
While he watched, someone else sat down on the bench. Pyro. Scott scooted a little closer to the edge in an attempt to get away from him.
Luck wasn't on his side today, it seemed. Pyro started talking, on and on about powers and dragons and things he'd read. Scott really couldn't force himself to care. He made the decision to just ignore Pyro. Scott rested his head in his hand as he watched everyone. He shouldn't have stayed up.
Pyro was getting annoyed. He'd asked Scott three separate questions, and he's just ignored him. He'd been ignoring him the whole time. Scott wouldn't even look at him. Pyro scooched closer to Scott and looked him in the face. He didn't even have his eyes open. This bench was at risk of being accidentally scorched. Pyro also had a migraine now.
Pyro shook Scott. “Scott! Why are you just ignoring me? Grow up, really. The silent treatment is so childish.”
Instead of fighting back or yelling, Scott just fell on top of him. It only just occurred to Pyro that 𝘖𝘩, 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱.
Now Pyro had Scott on top of him. And, while you couldn't pay him to admit it, it felt nice. Scott felt like solid ice. It soothed his head and cooled him down, and it's the coldest he's managed to get since his powers awakened.
As nice as it felt, everyone who had looked in their direction since it happened had laughed. It was getting quite embarrassing. Pyro hoped Scott felt the same when he woke up, he wanted him to experience everything he made Pyro go through.
Why did Scott fall asleep anyway? He could have just randomly passed out, that for some reason happened a lot in the academy, but it just didn't seem right. There was no reason for him to fall asleep otherwise, though. There wasn't anything much going on today. No fighting a corrupt bear, flying a dragon, or watching people get killed. He must have just passed out, there was no other explanation.
Scott felt 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨. He was warm and comfortable. Warmer than he had been in ages, and it's seemed impossible to warm up at all after he got his powers, even when he was in more layers than most people would deem acceptable. What was he even doing? He couldn't remember.
Scott opened his eyes and saw… Pyro? Scott shot up, wide awake now. “What happened?”
“Well, you must have passed out again, and I'm getting used to it now but it's still so weird that we all do that now, but anyway that would have been fine, however you decided to fall directly on top of me.” A small lie on Pyro's part. He shook Scott and accidentally knocked him over, but Scott didn't need to know that.
Scott, for once, was glad that people passing out had become such a common occurrence. “Yeah, I must've passed out, sorry. I didn't mean to fall on top of you.”
“It's fine, but everyone is done with the power thing.”
Oh no. Scott must have been out for a while. That was embarrassing. “I'm going to go back to my dorm.” Scott stood up and Aurora jumped into his backpack. She'd been laying on the other side of the bench with Cindy. He started to make his way in the direction of his dorm.
“I'm going back to mine too.” Pyro stood up, Cindy right behind him.
Well, this was not what Scott wanted. First he falls asleep on Pyro, then he has to walk back with him? Scott should have just slept all day and told everyone he was sick.
The two made the trip back in silence. Scott got to his room and grabbed his book and the bag he had his ritual materials in. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸, even after that long night, he still wasn't done with experimenting.
Scott had now been in the classroom for a little over an hour. He felt like he was falling asleep again so he went to get a drink of water to wake himself up a bit.
He ran into Shelby when he was there. “Hi Shelby.”
“Hi Scott!” Shelby responded as Scott got his water. “What are you up to?”
Scott took a sip. “I was experimenting with the rituals a bit more, I was up all night doing it too but I've made some progress.”
Shelby giggled. “You'll have to tell me about it later.”
“What are you laughing at?”
Shelby started laughing once again. “Was being up all night the reason you fell asleep on Pyro earlier?”
Scott looked away, afraid to be seen blushing. “Yeah, don't tell him though. He’ll get mad at me.”
“Why would he be mad?”
“Well, if I passed out that's one thing. But if I fell asleep because of a stupid decision I made, he'd be mad.”
Shelby looked like she finally understood “Oh, okay.”
Scott heard a shuffling noise behind him, so he turned around. Nothing was there. Weird.
Scott finished his water and made his way back to the classroom, where he spent a few more hours. Scott had honestly lost track.
He turned the corner into the Hall where his room was when he ran into Pyro, who was also going back to his room.
Scott tried to avoid eye contact and just get inside with Aurora, but luck wasn't on his side today.
“Go to sleep tonight, dumbass. If you stay up all night again just to work on some dumb ritual I'm not letting you sleep on me.”
Scott didn't even look over. “Yeah, yeah. You're one to talk.”
Scott and Pyro both went to their respective bedrooms.
Scott sat by his fireplace and stared into it, missing the warmth he'd likely never get again. Pyro would never allow it. It was childish to even think about sleeping on him again. There was no reason he should want it so bad, Pyro obviously hated it. It would be fine if they were still kids, they used to share beds all the time at sleepovers and such.
Pyro was in his bed, tossing and turning and drenched in such a large amount of sweat you'd think he was doing work outside on a hot summer's day. His head hurt. Pyro craved the cold he'd experienced earlier. Yearned for the way it helped the pain in his head and the way it cooled his body to a temperature that felt so 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 after being hot since his awakening. It reminded Pyro of Scott falling asleep on him when they were young, when they used to get underneath blankets with hot drinks and listen to stories. He shouldn't care so much that Scott didn't like it.
Both missed the relief the other brought, and each other in general. They missed the friend that had been gone for eight years. Maybe they could get that friend, or more, back during their time at the academy.