Peter Parker (
st_arkintern) wrote in
strangetrip2018-02-22 05:44 pm
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Entry tags:
[For River Song] In Need of Tudoring
Peter Parker adjusts the strap of his backpack over his left shoulder as he stands outside the doors of the business center. It's weird for him to be all worked up about this. It was just a history lesson. Probably something like -- like the War of the Roses, right? And if his teacher here were anything like his teacher back at Midtown, he really didn't have anything to worry about.
Peter takes a breath, then pushes the door open. There's already someone there, though from here he can only see the back of her head.
"Ms. -- Ms. Song?" Peter asks tentatively, closing the door behind him. "I didn't really know what we'd be studying, so I just kinda brought a few history books I found in the library and a notebook."
Peter tugs the notebook out of his bag and holds it up, as if to demonstrate his preparedness.
Peter takes a breath, then pushes the door open. There's already someone there, though from here he can only see the back of her head.
"Ms. -- Ms. Song?" Peter asks tentatively, closing the door behind him. "I didn't really know what we'd be studying, so I just kinda brought a few history books I found in the library and a notebook."
Peter tugs the notebook out of his bag and holds it up, as if to demonstrate his preparedness.
no subject
"Right now, I'm just -- I'm just a Neighborhood Friendly Spider-Man. I'm still trying to figure everything out with my powers, because I know that if I don't practice, I'm just gonna cause problems for everyone else."
He swallows, thinking of the fight against half of the Avengers; he'd gotten beaten down to the point where he couldn't do anything except lay sprawled out on the tarmac. And yeah, the other half of the Avengers left him alone after that happened, but that was because at heart, even if they really were wrong like Mr. Stark said, they were still good people. And he's sure that Mr. Stark and the others knew that too.
Peter couldn't always count on the people he fought to be good people. If he got laid out like that in any other combat, he'd probably be dead. And if he wasn't dead, whatever enemy he was combating would probably use him against his allies -- like a hostage.
And Peter didn't want that. If he were dead, he couldn't be of use to anyone. And he didn't want to be used against his allies, either.
"But eventually, I got to think about what I want to do with my powers. After I graduate from high school." A beat. "Or college. And I think about these kind of things a lot, because when you can do the things that I can, but you don't, when bad things happen, they happen because of you."
That's something Peter knows from experience.
"And," he says, taking a breath. "I don't know what bad things I should be stopping, because there's so many bad things happening to so many people every day."
no subject
"Bad thing happen regardless of what good men do or don't do every day, you can't take responsibility for all the bad things, just because you might be able to stop them."
She considered how to tell the story she thought he might need to hear, but struggled since it wasn't a story she told.
"I was taken from my parents when I was very young, because some people wanted the perfect weapon against one particular man. He was like you, special, wanting to right the wrongs in the universe. But he learned eventually that you can't save everyone, not even from themselves. And that isn't your fault even if it feels like it is."
no subject
"Were you that weapon?" Peter asks quietly, unsure if he should be prying. "And -- how did the man figure this out for himself? I mean, I'm not sure I'd be able to without anyone helping me."
no subject
"He's lived longer than most of us can dream of living, my murderous history not withstanding, and it took many years, and many battles for him to figure it out. And even then, sometimes there's someone who he just can't let die, for whatever reason." Because he might understand that he couldn't save everyone, but he still wanted to, deep down.
no subject
He doesn't ask if she misses him, because Peter can't imagine not missing his wife (if he had one), and there's so many people he misses right now that he's not married to. So instead, he asks another question:
"How do you deal with him not being here?"
no subject
For some of it she'd been in prison for killing him, which was even odder than how they'd met.
"I miss him, but until just before I came here I wasn't used to having him there every day. Not even most days. I have his picture and I have my memories." Her hand flattened on the diary and when she smiled it went all the way to her eyes so he would know she wasn't lying.
"Most of the time it's enough. And on those rare occasions when it isn't, I usually do something outrageous to take my mind off the missing."
no subject
Peter runs a hand along the back of her neck. "Like, what kind of outrageous things?" he asks.
no subject
no subject
It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but it seems that it's something that everyone can relate to, here. And somehow, after this conversation, it feels like something he can talk to Professor River about.
"This is the longest I've ever been away from home," Peter admits. "I'd never even been on a plane until last year. The furthest I've really been away from New York before I went to Germany was Jersey."
This was way farther, though.
"And... well, I miss my Aunt May. A lot. And my best friend Ned, too. And not just because I could talk to them about anything."
Because he could. Even Aunt May knew basically everything about him now that she new about him being Spider-Man.
"I also worry about Aunt May, too. Because my parents are gone, and so is Uncle Ben, so I'm basically all she has left. Or... all she had left."
no subject
"Your Aunt May sounds like a strong woman. She probably misses you like you miss her, but you're not all alone and she isn't either. Your friend Ned probably doesn't let that happen. Or Mr. Stark." If time even moved at home the same way it did here. She isn't so sure about that.
no subject
"Yeah, she's tough. And I'm sure Ned's looking out for her, just like you said." And he hopes Mr. Stark's looking out for her too, but he really can't be sure. He was pretty busy. Maybe sometimes, though.
"It's weird, though. I think sometimes about what would happen if I did actually get back there," he says. "And I think I'd miss everyone here, too. Especially Liz. Even if somehow we were from the same Earth and both ended up going home, she'd be much older than me if we ever met up again."
no subject
"But I understand that too," she hadn't really gotten close enough to anyone here to miss them except maybe Kitty. And it was startling to realize that she probably would miss her friend.
But then the only real friends she'd had in her life had been her parents.
"It's hard. Wanting to go home, but also trying to make a home."
no subject
"Yeah," Peter says. "It is. Um. So, history. We should probably decide what we're going to start with." He glances at the blue book before returning his gaze back to the professor's face. "Did you have something in mind?"
no subject
"How about we look at how civilizations rise and how do they change, or fall as the case may be? We can start with various early agrarian and hunter gatherer societies and work forward in time until we think we can define what it means to be civilized."
She has all sorts of things to say about what civilized might mean, and it would force Peter to think about how middle class white America viewed other cultures.
no subject
no subject
"There's not too much by way of texts but I can come up with some reading from what we do have... though most of it will probably have to be lectures of projects. And I suppose if you insist on a test..." She shuddered in mock horror.
no subject
"And yeah," Peter says. "It does sound like fun."
Peter swallows and then looks over at Professor River.
"Professor," he starts, uncertainly. "I just --" He presses his lips together. "I just thought I should thank you for listening to me today. I really didn't expect to come in here and talk about, about my aunt and all, especially with someone I just met, but it just kinda came out."
no subject
"And people are always confiding in me, it's the hair, it looks like it can hold all sorts of secrets."
no subject
Peter looks over at Professor River. It wasn't weird talking to the teachers he had here. And he was pretty thankful for that.
[ooc: Wrap up here? I can't wait to do another scene with these two. Peter really, really likes her.]