Morning Run (Closed to Peter

[st_x5_494]

Alec believed Peter when he said he'd be up. He knew Peter would take the challenge seriously, too, because the kid had this wish to show people he could do things. He just hoped Peter was actually ready for the amount of running today - almost 50 miles - and that he could keep up.

He padded out of his room in jogging pants and a t-shirt and eyed the room. "Ready or not, time to get your ass kicked."

Comments

[st_x5_494]

He paused. "... Would you die for her?"

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah," Peter says, clearly on the defensive. "Yeah, I would."

And he would. If something happened to Karen, he would be devastated.

[st_x5_494]

His fingers went to his face like he suddenly had a headache. He clearly did not like that answer. It was probably the stupidest answer he had ever heard - and he knew Sketchy.

"Fine, You do that." It came out much like a petulant child. "Good priorities, Peter."

[st_arkintern]

Annoyance rises up inside of Peter.

"You just don't understand," Peter says. "Karen's my friend. If something happened to her..."

Peter didn't want to think about that.

[st_x5_494]

He put up his hand, palm facing Peter. "You do you, Peter." If only Corbie were here to see his personal growth. "But for the record if it came to saving you or the mask, I'm saving you."

He almost asked what Peter would do, but he suspected Peter would say he'd save both.

Alec started for the bedroom. "I'm going to take a nap. I'll heal faster that way." And he won't get into a screaming match with a teenager.

[st_arkintern]

Peter knew he wouldn't get it. And while some part of Peter is annoyed for him not understanding, when Alec says he'd save him, it does make him happy. Not because Alec would save him, but because Alec insisted a few months ago that he'd just save himself.

Now, maybe, that wasn't the case.

"Tracker," Peter says, tapping the little place on his back where the spider-tracer had latched onto Alec's shirt.

[st_x5_494]

He twisted a bit, then pulled from his back and removed the little spider tracker. He tossed it to Peter. "You know where I'll be." He wasn't going to disappear out the window. He kept that for days when Liz came over and it would be awkward to leave through the front door.

[st_arkintern]

Peter catches it in his good arm.

"Thanks, Alec."

He's probably said it a half-dozen times since this morning, but it's worth saying again. Peter watches as Alec disappears into his room and shuts the door, then looks down at the tracer in his hand.

He closes his fingers around it, then yawns, stretching out his still-not-great legs.

Alec might have not been right about AI, but maybe he was right about taking a nap.