strangetrip | [EP] Frustration of a Caged Animal

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[EP] Frustration of a Caged Animal - OTA

It was Max's fault, really. She had shown him what freedom looked like back home in Seattle and he had gotten used to not having to follow orders or be stuck within the confines of a complex like this. Had she just left well enough alone, he might have at least been okay with the routine here.

Deciding he needed a snack, he walked over to the vending machine filled with chocolate bars and chips and inserted a coin. Nothing happened. He pressed the retrieve button and still, nothing. He gently shook the machine and still nothing. Frustrated, Alec turned to drive his elbow into the glass to break it. Extreme? Maybe. But he was sure it would be satisfying too.

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Peter looks at him, totally perplexed, though Alec's explanation does sort of clear up why he acts like this though.

"But aren't things --" Peter has to stop himself from saying normal "-- not like that anymore? You don't have to do the things you used to do."

"Sure." Except this was easier since it wasn't like there seemed to be any real consequences for breaking the machine. Still, the kid seemed pained. "Alright. Alright. I promise next time I'll just come find you so you can stick your hand back in there to get me something."

Peter looks pleased with this turn of events.

"Yeah!" he says, and he gestures down the hallway. "My room's 215. I'm not there all the time, but if you're going to look for me anywhere, it's gonna be there."

Negotiations complete, Peter goes back to trying to put the machine back together. This was going to be a much bigger pain than taking it apart.

Alec watched him for a minute. He couldn't quite believe the kid agreed to doing such an inane task for him in the future (and of course Alec was going to have to see if he would actually do it now).

"Remind me to buy you a drink sometime. You need to totally loosen up."

"Thanks," Peter says, popping pieces back into place. "But I think I'm okay. I don't really drink."

Really drink meaning he doesn't drink at all.

"Everyone drinks, they just haven't found their drink yet." Alec was a big fan of drinking and it solved a lot of problems, too.

"Somehow I doubt that," Peter says, continuing to tinker with things. Dammit, how did this get back on again?

"Did you enjoy your candy bar, at least?"

"Chocolate would have been better." Alec was perfectly happy to just watch him put it all back. "Hey kid -" Alec threw a punch at Peter's chest. It was faster than what should be normal, but he was holding back the intensity. He was testing out a theory.

In one supernaturally swift movement, Peter catches Alec's hand in his palm. Peter's frown deepens.

"What was that for?" he demands. "Did you hate the candy bar that much?"

Alec smirked a little and withdrew his hand. "Just seeing if what I thought was true. You're a lot stronger than you look, kid."

"Yeah, so?" Peter's frown only grows as he releases Alec's fist. He hates being called a kid. He's not a kid, and it really makes him mad that Alec thinks so.

This was the first time Alec saw the kid actually look like he was upset. So it seemed he had some backbone to him, too.

He offered a shrug. "Just an observation. I guess here it doesn't matter, but if you're hiding it back home I'd at least add some huffing and puffing."

Peter feels a surge of frustration rise up in him. First, calling him a kid, now telling him what to do? He knows what to do.

"I don't need to be told how to use my powers," Peter counters, his shoulders held back. "I've had them for over a year now, and I know what I'm doing."

Alec saw the change in his posture. huh. Something was pent up there and Alec was bringing it out - he seemed to do that, Logan would probably point out.

He gave a single nod as if agreeing, but in almost a blur of speed Alec round-house kicked out at Peter's chest from what had been a very casual stance.

-- and the attack lands roundly in Peter's chest, sending him stumbling back a few feet. It's at that point that the frustration manifests in real anger. He could deal with him throwing a punch at him before, but between telling him how to use his own powers and this, Peter's done being totally above this.

Because he's not. Even he has limits.

Peter swings a fist at Alec's face.

Alec was expecting the kid to retaliate because that's what you did when you were pissed off. He took a step back to avoid it and a shit-eating grin formed on his lips.

"Dude, you are so angry right now."

He spun clockwise to send his right elbow towards Peter, focused at his chest again.

Alec's grin doesn't inspire calm in Peter; if anything, it just makes him angrier. What kind of person acted like this?!

"What is wrong with you?!" Peter demands, a half-second before Alec can spin his elbow towards his chest.

With one swift motion, Peter somersaults onto the ceiling, narrowly avoiding the attack. Like his namesake, he quickly crawls across the ceiling, before landing solidly behind Alec.

Peter flings another fist towards Alec. "Do you -- do you just enjoy pissing people off?"

Alec had not seen 'crawling on the ceiling' coming.

The punch made contact. His body pushed forward from the impact, but instead of stepping forward, Alec kicked back with his left foot right behind him like a horse, then followed it up by twisting his body to bring his right hand onto Peter's right shoulder. Regardless if either made contact, he jumped back, hands up in a defensive position.

"If you're good at something you might as well learn to enoy it, right?"

Alec's kick very nearly sends Peter spiraling to the ground -- but somehow, he manages to stay on his feet. His body is aching a little now, but the adrenaline is running through him now, the same way it did whenever he was in engaged in combat.

He manages to spin out of the way just before Alec chops at him.

"You enjoy this?" Peter spits out. He's sure that if anyone's in the nearby rooms, they'll attract them soon enough; neither one of them is exactly being quiet. And somehow, that knowledge makes Peter all the more ready to end this as quickly as possible.

But if there's anything Peter's aware of now, it's that Alec isn't a pushover, and this fight isn't close to being over.

Alec's got his arms up in defense, so he's not going to get anywhere with another punch to the face or to the torso. So Peter does the first thing that comes to mind and swings a leg out, hoping to knock Alec's legs out from underneath him.

He was definitely expecting some sort of top level attack, considering Peter seemed to be angry, but was impressed when he felt his legs get kicked out from under him. As he fell, Alec jerked his body backwards and did a flip instead of landing on his ass. As he popped back up on his feet, he was smiling, though not quite a smirk (but still pretty condescending to most people). "Okay, okay. So you've got some brains even when you're angry. Impressive."

Peter takes a breath.

"I always have brains, and I always use them," he retorts. He's clearly on the defensive, though he doesn't go far enough to actually hold his arms up in front of him.

"It's why I don't go around picking fights with people -- why I don't go around destroying public property."

"To be fair, you started this. All I did was test your reflexes and then you got pissed off at me." Which, Alec was kind of used to so it didn't hurt his feelings or anything. As Cindy sometimes said, Alec was an acquired taste.

"I didn't start anything," Peter insists, with all the same anger he directed at Tony Stark that day at the ferry. "You threw a punch at me, and when that wasn't good enough for you, you kicked me. That's not testing my reflexes. That's being a bully."

Peter's aware he sounds whiny and fifteen, but right now, he doesn't care about what he sounds like. What he cares about is being right.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Alec decided not to argue and his voice was definitely like an adult talking to a teenager as he stared at Peter with a over-confident 'now what?' smirk.

"You said you wanted to test my reflexes," Peter says, his head raised in challenge. "Why don't you test them now?"

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