strangetrip | Let's measure our.... Egos (closed to Peter)

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Let's measure our.... Egos (closed to Peter)

Peter was the one who wanted this fight. Alec would totally use this as his excuse even though, yes, he was technically the adult and sure, he could say no to the whole thing. But the kid needed to learn he didn't know everything and that there were plenty of people here who could help him get better. The kid needed to learn to stop hiding behind the 'I'm a superhero so therefore I can do everything' and learn help is... Helpful.

And, okay, yes. Alec wanted to win, too.

So Alec stood in the parking lot at the allotted time demanded by the 15 year-old Spiderman and waited casually with his hands in his pockets, though he was keenly aware of his surroundings in case the kid wanted to start off with a big surprise.

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"I don't know," Peter admits. "I mean, I want to be an Avenger, but I don't know if it's because I want to work on a team, or I just want people to take me seriously. Like I'm not just this kid running around in spandex just stopping bicycle thieves."

There, it's out. And somehow, Peter didn't realize what he was saying until he said it. And maybe that's precisely why he was able to do it.

He caught that last part and leaned causally against the counter. He understood this sentiment a little. Alec had to work pretty hard to convince people he wasn't like his psycho twin Ben.

"Alright. But let me ask you this, then. Do you stop bad guys because you want to or because it impresses people and will make you famous?"

Peter looks at Alec with a perplexed expression.

"I stop bad guys because it's the right thing to do," he says.

"Then fuck everyone else." He shrugged. Alec had been expected that answer. "If you can do what you do and you're helping people, then screw what other people think. If you're not doing it for them, then don't worry about them."

Lots of people thought Alec was incapable of many things and Alec didn't let their views bother him.

"It's not that easy," Peter protests, because Alec makes it sound like it's just as simple as turning a lightswitch on or off. "I mean, all I really want is for Mr. Stark to think I'm good enough. I just--"

Peter just sighs. There's no explaining it. Even Peter wasn't sure why what Mr. Stark thought was so important to him.

Most kids in Manticore went through a time early on where they just really wanted to please their commander. It got old quickly though because affection was never shown.

"I don't know Mr. Stark at all, but from my experience, he'll only start to realize it when you back off. Stop telling him you're good enough and just do you thing. You can kick some pretty good ass."

"If I don't tell him I'm good enough, he's never gonna know that," Peter counters. "It's not like he's always watching me, or something. The only time he has any idea what I'm doing is if I make the news or something happens to activate something on my suit. And the last time that happened, he just ended up chewing me out, telling me I couldn't handle it."

Peter lets out a frustrated sigh.

"I started to think right before I came here that maybe he was starting to respect me, but... I just." Another sigh. "I don't know. I mean, I guess he was glad that I set everything right, but that's it."

"Ki- Peter." Alec corrected himself, just this once. "If I respect you, then he definitely does. Because I think you look like a super dork in that outfit and he's the one who made it for you."

Subtle, Alec is not.

"It's not dorky!" Peter protests, but then the rest of Alec's words finally register in Peter's head:

"You respect me?" There's real, tangible awe in Peter's voice as he says it.

Damn.

"Don't let it get to your head or I'll have to throw you into the dumpster next time." He took a long sip of his whiskey and pretended like he didn't just say the thing he had said.

Peter suddenly can't stop smiling, as much as he tries to hide it. The ice in his baggie is starting to get melty, so he sets it down on the bar and takes another sip of his drink.

"I respect you, too," Peter says, still smiling. "Even though you're a jerk sometimes."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Alex knew he was a bit of an asshole.

He finished his drink, downing a lot at one time. "You good?" He didn't want to leave if Peter had a concussion or something

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Well, mostly fine.

But there's one last thing that Peter wants to ask, even though he's 100% sure it's going to sound dorky.

"Hey, do you mind if we come up with a secret handshake sometime?" Peter asks. "Ned and I used to have one, but I have had no one to do it with for eight months now."

Alec stared at Peter with a deadpanned expression. Yep, super dork.

"Tell you what. You figure out my barcode and I'll even let you decide what it looks like."

"Challenge accepted."

Peter fishes his cell phone out of his suit, runs his finger along the screen to unlock it.

"Can I try something?" he asks, swiping a few times until his barcode app appears on screen. He taps it. "Think you can turn around so I can get a better look at it?"

Alec tried to hide the amusement from his expression and mostly succeeded in the neutral expression again. "Nope. Use that brain of yours and your spider powers."

His lips quirked into a slight wry smile before he pushed off the counter where he was leaning and headed for the lobby. He held up a hand. "See you around kid."

"Hey, not even a picture?" Peter protests. "I only got to see it for a few seconds."

Alec paused, then turned around. Okay, so not everyone had an Eidetic memory like he did.

"I'll let you draw it. But," He looked seriously over at Peter. "You show this to people, I will use my infiltration skills and find you when you're sleeping."

It wasn't anything against him specifically, but if the wrong person saw his barcode, he could be in a lot of trouble.

"I don't have any paper on me," Peter says. He didn't usually carry a lot with him when he's in the Spidey suit. Just the cell phone, which he kept in his pocket out of habit. The costume didn't exactly have huge pockets.

"Why don't you want anyone else to see it?" he asks. "Are you worried I'm going to cheat or something?"

He sighed. "Alright. One picture." Alec looked more uncomfortable than he normally did, but he was still hiding most of how he felt.

"If the wrong person sees that, maybe a new arrival or something, you'd be dead and then so would I, so I'm more worried about breathing than you cheating."

"I won't show anyone," Peter assures him, snapping a picture of it. "And as soon as I figure things out, I promise I'll delete it."

Peter seems pretty confident that he will. Both figure it out and delete it, though the deleting was a definite either way.

"I wouldn't do anything that'd put you in danger." A beat. "At least not danger we didn't agree to beforehand."

Like punching each other in the parking lot. Even though Peter was sure Alec didn't see him as a danger.

Alec paused for just another split second - it was hard not to feel a little anxious, even with Peter, after spending such a long time hiding it from everyone.

"One photo." Which was his affirmative on the subject.

"Got it," Peter says, taking a step back to scan over the barcode. He's still not entirely sure how he's supposed to figure this out -- but it'd at least be something else to do for the next couple of days.

Aside from figure out a new handshake.

It felt dangerously wrong to let Peter take a photo and Max was in his head scolding him, reminding him if he's the reason this kid gets killed he's going to have a hard time living that down.

"We good?"

"Yeah," Peter says. "We good."

Peter offers Alec a hand to shake normally.

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st_x5_494 - 2018-03-16 12:28 (UTC) - Expand

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