strangetrip | [Backdated April 28th] Frustrations

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[Backdated April 28th] Frustrations - OTA

Alec found himself walking down the hall tense and unable to really form a coherent thought except a lot of swearing directed toward Peter. He hadn't expected to punch the kid - to really punch the kid. Even when they fought in the parking lot, Alec had held back. That punch - he had meant to hurt Peter. And then after, when he had he was pissed off that Peter hadn't defended himself.

In his walking as he dwelled on the events that just transpired, Alec saw the vending machine. That damn vending machine.

He closed the distance between him and it and then Alec began to punch it. Not the glass - that would be too easy - Alec punched the metal. The metal dented with each hit, his knuckles getting raw and bloody quickly from it.

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"More like I thought you'd give me the riot act for destroying public property." Though Alec knew it would be fixed by the morning. "But that sounds miserable." Being unable to punch a wall. "You ever were like, eating a sandwich, and couldn't pick the thing up?"

"Not as often as me falling through my bed multiple floors to the kitchen," came Kitty's even, decisive response.

Since they didn't seem to be going anywhere, she looked around and decided on the floor for sitting. When she'd slid down to it and sat with her arms around her knees like a fourteen year-old ballet dancer, she said, "I only care about public property when you're destroying it where there are humans for collateral damage. It's the people I care about. In this case, you."

Alec paused. He never really knew what to do when someone expressed fondness for him, especially when he didn't think he earned it in any way. "I'm fine. Just having to put up with living with an annoying teenage boy."

"I should've guessed." Although she loved Peter (and Liz) dearly, she was under no illusions as to how easy he was to get along with for someone like Alec on a regular or even irregular basis. "What did he do this time?"

Alec leaned against the nearest wall. For a moment he was quiet because part of him wasn't sure why he had gotten that angry. And saying them back now almost felt ridiculous and silly.

"He keeps telling everyone he's a fighter, but then gives up so easily when it's shit that should matter."

"Okay." It was filler, letting Alec know she'd heard him but not expressing an opinion about it. She didn't know enough. "What kind of shit are we talking about?"

He looked out across the hall absently.

"He said he'd give Liz up if that other guy from her world show up." He knew the name. He couldn't forget things so it wasn't hard to remember Max. He also knew how it sounded. "Without so much as a fight." And then he had punched him

Max. And Peter. And Liz.

Again.

Kitty sighed and pinched her brow. Not really at Alec, but at the discussion of love by hypothetical. "And you think he should fight for her if he loves her." Obviously. "Did you two even discuss what Liz would want?" It wasn't angry, or even aggro-feminist at this point. Just reflexive. She still had no idea what the context of the argument was.

He rolled his eyes. "It's not even about her. I mean, sure, yeah, about her. She can make whatever damn choice she wants." And currently, maybe, Alec wouldn't blame her for not choosing Peter, but that was him being petty. "It's about Peter saying he's willing to fight who-the-fuck knows and be a superhero, but then to people that matter to him, he'll just sit on his hands and accept fate like he can't at least express interest?" Alec wasn't even sure he was making sense at the moment. "He needs to try harder." And that may, or may not, have sounded more personal than it sounded like it could be directed to a teenager.

Kitty started to get pissy about it not being about Liz, but she listened long enough to realize that this hadn't involved Liz and had been something between the boys. While she wasn't a fan of 'whatever damn choice she wants', Kitty understood unhappy-male well enough to know the difference between that being about Liz and it being about Peter.

Alec obviously had a lot wrapped up in this that didn't have to do with Max and Liz, so she tread carefully in saying, "There's a big difference, though, isn't there, between tying super-assholes up in web-fluid and the kind of fighting you're talking about. Punching bad guys is easy. But who do you punch when the girl you love loves you and someone else?"

The thing was, he wasn't wrong and she met his gaze and told him so. "I'm not saying you're wrong. Because love is always worth fighting for. I'm just saying, he's a kid, and he thinks making the choice simple for her is kindness. You and I know it's being too scared to lose."

It was nice to feel like someone understood, even if it didn't fix the problem he was having with Peter. He felt the regret he had for Rachel seep into his body again. "If he's not careful, he's going to have regrets he can never get back."

Kitty patted the ground next to her. She didn't mind looking up to talk to people, since it happened all the time. But experience told her that if she could get Alec to sit, it would help him ground himself a little and calm down.

"Yeah, he is, for dozens of things," Kitty agreed evenly as she scooted a little to give him some more space. "But no amount of telling him is going to change that. We can try, but he's going to make those mistakes the same as everyone else. You can't protect him from life, Alec. It's just going to happen to him."

Alec paused, then moved to sit on the ground. He didn't often sit on the ground, it left you at a tactical disadvantage.

He didn't like Kitty's explanation, even if he knew she was telling the truth. "I hate teenagers." Was his grumpy response instead.

When Alec sat, Kitty took advantage of the situation to press her shoulder against Alec's. Soothing warmth, for one thing, but for another, he was hyper-vigilant like a lot of recently discharged soldiers. Since he knew she could phase them through a wall if she was touching him, she hoped the body contact would let him relax a little.

"Babe, you don't know the half of it." It occurred to her, though, maybe he did. She gave him a lopsided half-smile. "Unless you've been giving sex and anatomy lessons to Liz too."

Alec stared at her for a moment. That was way more information that he expected. At least it meant Peter was probably way more likely to get lucky than not. "No. I wouldn't say I'm a teenage girl's first stop in the sex ed tour." And he was okay with that. As much as Alec liked women and sex, he didn't do underage - gross and no thank you.

"Peter sometimes brings something up, but he pretty much thinks I'm going to mess with him when I answer." He shrugged. Alec often gave off that vibe.

"And of course, you haven't given him reason. No alien strip clubs, no embarrassing discussions about what he should or shouldn't do with Liz," Kitty said, mouth twitching at the corners with a smile.

Alec was little better than a teenager himself a lot of the time, but she got it. He hadn't ever had a chance to be anything but a soldier. For as little of a childhood as he'd probably had, he really wasn't that bad. Honestly, she expected more from Peter and Liz--

Which was probably why she kept being disappointed.

Okay, he'd have to give her that one. "Nothing wrong with an alien strip club or two - those girls are artists and under-valued." He smirked a little.

"I think the words you're looking for are 'underpaid' and 'exploited'." Kitty rolled her eyes and her tongue, because if she didn't she was going to get into it with him over something that happened in a place neither of them was ever going to be again.

"Listen, I know you're trying to help Peter. And he needs guy friends. Just... try to remember that he's a kid in a pretty safe bubble. If he leaves here, it's even odds whether he even remembers being here, so maybe let him be innocent while he still has a chance?"

"Alright, fine. No more strip clubs and other things normal guys like to do." Alec was actually saying he'd be more careful, but it was hard to say that when you had male bravado you had to maintain. "But I still maintain he's not using his web stuff to its full potential."

Kitty stared at him, incredulous, and a little disgusted. "You did not just say that." It wasn't that she was mad or anything, but ugh. "Seriously, you did not just say that. I do not want to think about the two of them... no. Just no. That's just..."

She shook her head. It had been bad enough trying to explain what a penis felt like to Liz knowing it was Peter's penis she was asking about. This? This was like...

"Really? They can barely manage a date without hysteria, and you want him to learn about bondage play?"

Alec did not want to picture them having sex, either. He was fairly certain there'd be a lot of commentary and awkwardness and - nope.

"I didn't say it had to be them who used it for that." He smirked a little. And really that wasn't the worst thing he said to Peter. The webbing was so close to another white liquid that came shooting out of a man that the jokes just came so easily.

"What, you want him to offer it to other people for that?" It was as awful to think about as it was ludicrous. "Peter wouldn't get the first word out without blushing."

Besides, she was pretty sure it couldn't hold her. Almost nothing could, without specific energetic components.

Peter could hardly think about it without blushing. Sometimes Alec brought it up just to mess with him - it was fun, Kitty should try it sometime. Plus if Alec were psychic he'd have told her she didn't have to phase, did she?

"It's a good thing to bring up with he insists I should be a superhero." Because it was something Alec would do with that sort of 'power', just like he took full advantage of his ability to hold his breath for long periods in bed.

It didn't take telepathy to know Alec had turned that whole situation into something more...erotic. And she really didn't want to know if it happened to be starring her.

Fortunately, what Alec said offered a good deflection. "Why does he think you should be a superhero?"

He did a palms-up. "Who knows?" Alec didn't think he exemplified 'do-gooder'. "I don't think he understands I'm a soldier, not a hero." And to Alec those were two different things.

[Backdated April 28th] Frustrations - OTA

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