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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"I have a better idea. How about we go shopping? On me. You can pick up Lego or something." Anything to get him out of more museums right now.

"Are you sure?" Peter asks, trying to reign in his excitement. He presses his lips together. "LEGOs are expensive. They don't look it, but they really are."

"Yes, fine, whatever you want. Just please no more learning today. I beg you. I already know way more about the history of computers than I ever actually need to know." And unlike either of them, it would all remain up in his head forever.

Liz giggled softly, then leaned a bit into Peter. "Maybe you can help me choose some new cds of bands you like." Because CDs were still a thing, right?

There's no masking the excitement on his face. He wonders if there's any really good new LEGO sets that have come out since last June and now. He wonders if he can find them in any stores here.

"Yeah," he says. "But we should find some CDs of bands you like, too."

There's a decade and a half of music that Liz hasn't gotten to experience yet. There's probably a lot she'll like that hasn't Peter yet listened to.

Alec had a feeling he was going to regret his decision and he did when they found a place that sold Lego - Alec didn't realize one person could take so long to pick out a toy before, but man did it happen. The music store was slightly better. Alec was reminded after thirty minutes into the whole thing - he was not a big shopper.

---

After dinner, they found their way back to the hostel where, true to their words, there were two big packages waiting for Peter and Liz. Alec waited in the lobby while the teens went to open the package and try whatever was on inside. Liz didn't think her outfit looked too bad, though. She turned to look at Peter. "This looks okay, right?"

"Yeah, you look really nice."

More than really nice. She looked really pretty. Peter feels he should say more, so...

"I like the little bead things," he says, gesturing to them on the shirt. Why do I have to be so awkward?

She ducked her head, smiling. "Thanks." It was funny because she didn't have much more of her skin exposed that usual, but it felt different somehow - maybe because it wasn't an outfit she picked out.

"Are you okay with your stuff?"

"Yeah," Peter says, looking down at himself. He's wearing a white t-shirt, some jeans, and a blue blazer. Around his neck dangles a necklace with a ring and a dove on it. Not exactly what he would have chosen for himself, but it wasn't totally out there, either. "It was better than I expected."

He'd never been to a late-night DJ club party before. He wasn't quite sure what to expect. Glowsticks? Now, he's not even sure.

"I wonder what Alec is wearing." Probably the same stuff as usual since they didn't seem to remark upon his clothing choices.

"I think you look good." More than good, but good felt safe right now. They had to leave soon, after all, and she had a feeling Alec would be annoyed with them. He might actually be excited about something.

When they came out, Alec was in a black v-neck shirt and jeans and his hair was styled like it normally was. "See? No big deal. You might actually look like your over eighteen." Maybe.

The group from before was waiting outside a factory for them. They were dressed to impress. They ushered them through some doors, passing what looked like a set of keys to the bouncer. The sound of booming bass sounded as they descended into a factory through metal grated walkways and doors.

When they finally got to the last door, it opened to a big room filled with people. There were Laser lights, fog, and 5 bars around the space. There were, in fact, some people with glowsticks too.

Alec looked like he was suddenly in his element. His eyes bright and his smile wide, he might actually look like he was relaxed.

Alec may have been in his element, but Peter was completely out of it. Liz's house party was about as close as he came to ever being at a party like this, and by comparison, it was really tame.

"IT'S REALLY LOUD IN HERE," Peter practically shouts over the music.

"That's the point!" Alec shouted back to him. "No room for thinking. You're supposed NOT THINK AND HAVE FUN." And then Alec was immediately pulled away by several excited women.

Liz reached for Peter's hand and gave him a squeeze. She leaned on to kiss him on the cheek and spoke against his ear. "I love you." Then she tugged him lightly and found a space where they had a little room - there wasn't a lot of space to begin with - and kept his hand in her own, leading him in a fast dance, but smiling reassuringly at him the entire time. It would probably be hard to miss, though, that Liz enjoyed dancing.

Peter tries to fast dance with her, but he's not very good at it. His body can't seem to go with the flow; every movement is rigid. Still, he keeps at it because he knows Liz enjoys it and he enjoys that she enjoys it, so he's going to try and enjoy it, too.

"REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME WE DANCED?" he shout-asks.

Even though it's lost in the music, Liz giggled. She nodded, too, remembering how nervous she had been, but now nice it had been, too, to be so close to him.

For Liz, it didn't matter that he didn't necessarily have 'moves'. She thought he was doing just fine. In fact, she thought he looked incredibly cute, but some would say she was biased there.

She leaned in, raising her voice to be heard. "You're still my favourite dance partner!"

Eventually they found themselves at the side of one of the bars with drinks. Liz had a bottle of water. Being behind the speakers gave a little relief to the loud music, but only insofar as you didn't have to shout at the top of your lungs - just shout moderately.

"You're a good friend!" Because she knew this wasn't his sort of thing and it wasn't his sort of outfit and it was late, but Alec had asked.

Alec, who could occasionally be seen in the crowd of bodies, clearly having fun - an expression he didn't seem to have at the inn a lot.

Peter smiles at Liz's compliment. Liz was his favorite dance partner, too. He just feels so comfortable around her, even when he might not feel all that comfortable himself.

Like when he's out of his element. Like right now.

"If you wanted me to, I'd do the same thing!" he replies. "Friendship's all about give and take, you know?!"

Peter takes a sip of his soda. There's no alcohol in it, just plain soda and ice.

"I think he probably wants us to have fun!" Peter looks out at Alec.
"But I have fun just doing science homework!"

That's probably where Alec and he differ with regards to "fun".

She had to agree with Peter. This was more of Kyle's sort of fun. He had dragged her to parties on a much smaller scale then this and there were many times when she had sat there and tried to figure out biology homework while people talked about whatever sport move Kyle had been successful in doing that day.

Liz leaned over to reply. She wanted to say how she thought it was nice he was trying - like when Michael tried to do nice things for Maria in his own way. But then suddenly there were the people from this afternoon. The guy and one of the girls reached out for Liz's hand, said something in German, and tugged her toward the dancefloor. She glanced back to Peter with a slight 'what do I do?' and 'help?' but she was slowly engulfed in the crowd.

Just as Liz disappeared into the mass of people, the other girl appeared next to Peter. Shouted the word 'dance!' to him in English and pulled him in the opposite direction of where Liz had gone.

"No, no," Peter says, as she tugs him by the arm. "No dance -- no dance."

"One dance," she insists. "One."

"Sorry, sorry." Peter pulls away from her grip easily. "I'm really sorry."

And with that, Peter pushes through the crowd and into the direction Liz had gone, his eyes skimming the crowd for some sign of her. He feels completely overstimulated; there was a reason why he designed those "eyes" for his mask -- it had been to keep his visual senses from going out of control.

There was just so much all at once and when he had just Liz to focus on, it wasn't so bad, but now it was overwhelming.

"LIZ?" Peter's sure he can't be heard of the din of the music, but he has to try anyway. "LIZ?"

Liz was trying to be polite and sort of dance with the people who she gleamed were named Ben and Emilia. Ben, in particular, kept trying to put his hands on her hips and Liz kept re-directing as mine as she could, but with ever re-direct, he would take a step closer and she'd take a step back and it was getting harder to do that with the amount of people in the club. Her eyes, too, kept scanning for Peter.

Then suddenly the sound cut off. Someone shouted 'Polizei!' and the word ran through the crowd like a wave int eh ocean, some even saying the word 'police' and then there was utterly chaos.

People began to run, scream. Liz shouted "Peter!" and then got knocked to the ground by the crowd.

Alec could see Peter but not Liz. He tried to get to him, but unless he was about to fight a hoard of German club goers, it was going to be hard. "Peter! Surrounded. Hide." Alec knew the police would be all around the building and would soon come in, but they would first have to deal with everyone trying to escape.

Logically, he knows he should just do what Alec says and hope that Liz has the sense to hide too.

Emotionally, he doesn't want to because --

"I can't find Liz!" he shouts back.

To his credit, Alec didn't look annoyed. Maybe it was because of who Liz was to Peter rather than someone else from the inn.

He did a quick calculation. "Find her! 5 minutes!" He would distract the police if he needed to and lead them through the building.

The crowd was starting thin out a little. Liz had found her way to one of the walls, a little bruised, but nothing else, and slid up against it. "Peter?!"

Peter hears his name being called and spins around --

-- and then finally, he sees her. Peter is overwhelmed with relief. He races towards her and offers her a hand up.

"We need to hide," he says.

She tried not to let the panic show in her expression, but it was probably failing. Liz reached out for him almost desperately.

She nodded a few times and took a breath, looking around. Hiding behind the bar wouldn't work. Her eyes fell on some sort of door. She pointed. "There, maybe?"

Peter nods, then races towards the door, pulling Liz along with him. As he does, he looks around, his eyes scanning for some sign of Alec, but sees nothing.

He really hopes that he's okay. He knows that Alec can manage on his own, but...

Liz gave a little prayer to have the door be open. The realization that this was probably an abandoned building meant it was likely, at least. She also realized this was the second time she went to a party that wasn't legal.

When they got to the door, it was open. A storage room that was empty except with some cases of beer and empty wooden crates. The locking mechanism on the door seemed to be working.

For Alec's part, he found himself in another part of the building in a similar small room. He pulled out his phone and texted Peter. 'You okay?'

Liz locked the door once they were inside and closed her eyes, finally taking a moment to rub her arm which had been stepped on by accident.

Peter shifts himself in front of Liz inside the storage room. He wants to be sure that if something happens, he's up in front to protect her.

When his phone vibrates in his pocket, he pulls it out and furiously types back.

Liz was trying to take stock of the room when Alec replied:

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