strangetrip | "No One Told Me Why I'm In Berlin"

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"No One Told Me Why I'm In Berlin" - Tag Peter and Alec

When Liz found out that the new world was actually Earth and Europe, she couldn't quite hold back her excitement. The fact that the year was, according to the people at the desk, 2018 meant she was going to be closer to Peter's time than her own. She would finally be able to experience what his world was like, even just a little bit, and learn more about the internet and scientific advancement and maybe watch a few of Peter's favourite films they couldn't get at the inn.

"I still don't know why I'm here." Alec sat across from the two teenagers on the train heading to Berlin looking appropriately put-out despite not actually feeling that way. The truth was, he had never been to Europe and he had seen that semi-embarrassing video that Peter had of his trip to Germany and maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see it. Though he told himself he was actually just chaperoning because the world could be dangerous and both Liz and Peter were naive and believed the best in people, even when they shouldn't.

Liz was dialing another phone number on the smartphone she had been given. Thankfully she had enough practice with Peter's to be able to use the one she had and not look entirely inept. So far there had been no answer with Maria's house and the number for the Crashdown was out of service. Her home got a busy signal. She also knew it was a possibility everyone had moved or something. Then suddenly her face lit up - the Roswell police department was on the other end.

"Hi, um. Yes. I was wondering if I could speak to Sheriff Valenti please?" A pause. "Sheriff Valenti. Valenti." Another pause as her excitement lessened. "Okay, well, um. Can you at least tell me if there was a record of a Sheriff Valenti on the force?... How can you not know that." She caught herself as the words came out more tense and annoyed. Liz took a breath. "Yes, I'll hold." And hold she did. The more she waited, the more her expression dampened. Finally, there was a voice again. "Oh.. okay. Yes. Thank you. Goodbye."

She hung up. "They, um. They have no record of him working there. So I guess.. this isn't my world."

Alec shrugged, still looking out the window. "This isn't mine either. We can be twinsies, if you want."

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"You still contributed. What's that saying about bullying? If you stand there and do nothing, you're just as bad?"

Liz shot Alec a look this time. "That's not really a fair comparison."

Alec shrugged. He thought it was.

"I wasn't bullying anyone," Peter says. "They're all superheroes, and some of them were fugitives of the law."

Or so Mr. Stark told him.

"I was just helping apprehend them."

"Uh, huh. All I'm hearing is justification for vandalism" Alec was mostly screwing with Peter, but maybe it was because he was so eager to potentially get his ass kicked.

Liz looked between them and was grateful when she saw a distraction. She pointed at the goat logo. "Look, the hostel. Let's go in and get rooms or whatever and then we can figure out where to go from there."

Peter glares daggers at Alec, but his intense staring is broken off by the sound of Liz's voice.

"Yeah."

--

They're able to get two rooms at the hostel; they're small, but clean, and Peter figures that it's okay that they're small because they don't plan on spending much time there anyway. He felt that he spent too much time inside at the inn, anyway.

"There's a train that goes right to the airport not far from here," he says, looking down at his phone. "Is everybody okay going there first?"

Alec watched Liz nod and he was pretty sure she'd say yes to anything Peter suggested. Like 'hey, did you want to go watch paint dry?' and she'd smile and enthusiastically agree. Now he kind of wanted to see how far Peter could push it. Then he realized Peter would probably agree if the roles were reversed. Alec wasn't sure if he should find it cute or vomit. Maybe both.

The train ride was smooth - Europe seemed to have the train system down pat - and soon they were at the airport. Alec had three numbers of girls and, according to him, that 'wasn't his fault', but he had definitely been flirting with anyone who seemed to be interested.

When they got off, the airport looked impressive. The airport in Roswell was pretty standard, and small, but this was a whole different story. And Liz could see how would be a lot of breaking of stuff - there was so much glass.

As Alec got preoccupied with some South Korea flight attendants who were giggling at something he said, Liz pressed closed to Peter. "Is it weird being back here?" Her eyes drifted to Alec for a moment, then back to Peter. "He's, um.. he cares about you a lot." It had been a little obvious at the inn, but seeing the way they interacted in public outside of it was even more obvious. Plus Liz was picking up on some of the small things Alec did and now Liz couldn't stop seeing it.

"I never really got to see the inside of it before the fight started," he says. Mr. Stark had him ready and in position. Without Karen there to replay the video, he probably wouldn't have even remembered most of the inside. He was so caught up in the fight that the environment didn't even register. It was easier for him to remember these things when he could just re-watch a recording. "So yeah, it's a little weird."

Peter's gaze turns to Alec when Liz's does.

"Yeah," Peter says. "I know." He's known for a long time. "We take care of each other."

Peter wonders if Alec knows how much he cares about him, too.

It was a lot like how Michael was with everyone. Gruff and hard around the edges, but if you looked close enough he was trying to look out for everyone. It almost reminded Liz of home.

"Well, now you get to see it without worrying about someone punching you." Probably.

Alec pocketed a paper, looking pleased with himself as he approached the two teenagers. "Are we going inside or what?" As if he was waiting for them and not the other way around.

Liz smiled, holding back a giggle.

"Are you done trying to pick up women?"

"The word 'trying' would imply that I'm not being successful." He winked. Alec was used to sleeping with women without the threat of attachment. At the inn that was a much more precarious situation than in an other world of Europe where he'd probably, most definitely, never see these women again.

He needed to stretch his legs, Peter.

"Settle down you two or we won't get ice cream later." Liz teased, holding back another giggle, before she reached for Peter's hand and tugged him forward.

"Can we really get ice cream?"

Sure, there's nothing stopping them, but Peter is not sure that anyone would actually be interested in getting some.

--

"I fixed one of these," Peter says, pointing to one of the old computers on display at Computerspielemuseum. "I found it in a dumpster."

Yes, he was a dumpster diver. He even found some stuff back on the space station that he took back to the inn.

"That's incredible. I don't think I'd even know where to start." Of course, Liz tried not to mention how the computer looked a lot more like the ones she was used to. It was like going through a time machine to Alex's room, or Alex's dream room anyways. "This place would be like Heaven to Alex. I wonder if he went here - he's in Sweden right now on a trip. He could easily stop by Berlin."

This time Alec hadn't actually tried to pick up the staff here, but a middle-aged woman who was definitely not his 'type' had taken a liking to him and had been giving him his own personal tour. She had inserted her arm around his and was leading him around, speaking German, giggling and touching his body when she talked animatedly. He occasionally shot the two of them a 'please for the love of God help me' looks.

"Should we... do something?" But Liz was having a hard time not laughing again.

Peter really shouldn't be doing this. He should just let Alec deal with it on his own.

But he can't. Even if it's a little funny.

Peter gives Liz's hand a squeeze, then pulls her after him as he storms over to Alec.

Or tries to storm.

"Alec!" he snaps, hoping he sounded angry enough. "Dad's been looking for you for 20 minutes. Didn't you see his texts?""

Peter might not have a lot of experience with pretending to feel something you don't, but Liz survived with four aliens pretty much thinking on her feet. By the time they crossed the room to Alec, Liz had tears in her eyes. She nodded and gave a convincing, "He's really mad."

Alec turned and even if Peter hadn't looked vaguely angry, he would have rolled with it. "Right, right, sorry." He turned to the woman who looked confused because of the language barrier, but also concerned. He explained there was a family emergency and she reluctantly let him out of her grasp, though she definitely got one last big pinch on his ass before he pushed the two teenagers away from grabby-hands. "I think my ass might actually bruise."

Liz is a phenomenally good actress, Peter decides. He lifts the back of her hand up to his lips and gives it a kiss, then looks over at Alec, vaguely perturbed.

"If you stick with us, you might not get accosted by random women," Peter says.

Alec practically pouted. "That was not my fault that time. She clocked me the moment we came inside."

Liz looked between the two again. This time Peter looked pretty annoyed. "Look" she pointed with her free hand. "Why done you two try that?" There were two virtual reality units for some game called 'Night of the living dead'.

"If you would have stuck with us, they would have thought we were a family and left you alone. When you go off solo, you make yourself a target."

Peter could argue more, but then Liz points out the game and Peter sees his opportunity. He turns, eyes narrowed on Alec.

"If I kill more zombies than you, you have to do whatever I say for the rest of the day."

Why Peter wanted to be related to him, he didn't know - his family was pretty messed up. His eyes moved to the game console.

"You know I'm trained to kill people right?" It seemed a little unfair, really. "Fine. But only until dinner. And same goes for me if I win."

He walked over to the game thing. The guy maning the attraction moved to prepare both of them for battle.

"Video games are totally different from real life," he tells Alec.

Peter reaches for the AIM controller and puts on his VR Helmet.

And once they're both ready, the game begins.

Liz watched and kind of wondered if this was what a mom of two would feel like. The two of them were clearly being competitive. She, of course, was hoping Peter would win.

Alec didn't think it was going to be that hard. He could kill scarier things than zombies back home. Of course, the moment the game started, he realized he didn't know how to move. Moving his feet didn't move himself and it was after a moment he realized he was supposed to use the controller to move around. By the time that happens though, he's already lost a life. When he re-spawned, he was ready and started shooting, though the gun didn't act like a real gun. Again, it look Alec time to adjust to the way the gun shot.

Liz could see on the scoreboard behind both of them how each of them were doing. Peter seemed to be in the lead.

By the time the timer ran out, Alec had only started to get his momentum. He pulled off his helmet and looked over at the scoreboard. Immediately he frowned. "Oh, that's just not right."

Peter strips off his helmet and looks at Alec defiantly and, taking advantage of his newfound powers, issues his first order:

"Stick close to Liz and I," he says, and before Alec can adopt a liberal definition of close, Peter continues: "Or I'll make you hold my hand until we get back to the hotel."

In the interim, though, Peter holds Liz's hand instead.

Liz gave his hand a congratulatory squeeze, leaning in to kiss his cheek and whispered a 'nice one' quietly as to not rub it in Alec's face, but she wanted to praise Peter.

Alec looked like a kid being told he had to go to church after just buying a new videogame or something. He rolled his eyes as he got 'close' to them. "What if I wanted to hold Liz's hand instead?" Yeah, that was just a jab because he was annoyed he lost.

He exhaled. "Fine." He didn't quite pout, but maybe it looked like Alec wanted to. He was, though, true to his word, and stayed with 'the group'. He even, occasionally, asked questions. Occasionally.

Peter beams at the compliment.

Their excursion through the rest of the museum was considerably less eventful. Once they'd played and watched their way through the museum, Peter stopped in the lobby to do a search on his phone. He really missed this sort of tech back at the inn.

"Karl-Marx-Allee is nearby," he says. "We can go there and find somewhere to eat a late lunch."

Late lunch, he's quick to specify. Not dinner.

Even though there was grumbling, they found themselves on the streets of Karl-Marx-Allee looking for a place to eat. Alec had asked who was Karl Marx and Liz had answered, giving an explanation that was succinct, but thorough somehow at the same time - she basically gave the same sort of answer she'd give to Michael who would stop listening after a minute or two.

"... Marx is typically cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science." She smiled as she finished.

Alec would never forget that now, but he didn't know how useful knowing about some guy and his way of thinking would help him stay alive back home.

"Why are you two so into all this history stuff anyways? What's the point of a museum? The only time I go to them back home is when I need some cash and there's something expensive on display."

"Because it's interesting," Peter says simply, his lips quirked up into a smile. "And if you study the past, you know how we got where we are now, and can avoid making the same mistakes people made back then without making them yourself."

"The past is done for a reason. I'd rather live in the present and have fun." Plus the past carried with it memories better off forgotten. "From my experience, past or not, people always make the same mistakes."

Liz frowned a little. "I think if people try to learn from the past, there can be change. Berlin is a pretty good example of that, actually." There seemed to be a nice cafe up ahead. Liz glanced at Peter, then to Alec and tentatively asked a question she was sure Peter didn't want to ask. "If you could do anything here in Berlin, what would you like to do?"

Alec glanced to Liz and then to Peter, then paused and then shrugged. "I don't know. I've never been here." And Alec wasn't used to having fun.

Liz rephrased the question for him, like she would with Michael. "What do you do for fun back home?"

"Drink." That much was easy. "Play pool sometimes. Meet women." He winked at Liz who blushed a little.

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