Sock on the Door (For Peter)

[st_x5_494]

It was sometime in the afternoon when Alec returned to the room. He hadn't been back since he came upon a sock on the door and so he spent the night with someone else. He had to give Peter props for the amount of times the kid was using the sock, but he was slightly surprised every time he'd come in, take one look at Peter, and just know nothing happened. Alec often wondered what the hell was wrong with Peter since it seemed like they were both willing to get busy with one another, but at least he was having sex and at the end of the day, that was wall that mattered.

When he pushed through the door, he called out a 'hey! I'm back." In case Peter cared, which Alec knew he would.

Comments

[st_arkintern]

"Well, yeah!" Peter gestures in the general direction of the phone. "You saw Liz! You know what she looks like! She's a senior and I'm a sophomore, and -- and look at her!"

He gestures again.

"She's gorgeous and smart and funny and --"

Peter stops. He's still stunned by this whole realization. He'd thought her I know had been an I know of acknowledgement. Not a Han Solo I know of I like you, too.

[st_x5_494]

Alec wasn't sure to be embarrassed for Peter's revelation or happy or what. For a kid who was so smart in some things, he was so dumb in others. "Maybe when you go back, you can find her again and ask her out and not fuck it up this time." He said the comment before really considering it.

[st_arkintern]

Peter looks at Alec.

"I ditched her at Homecoming and I got her dad arrested and she moved cross-country to Oregon," he says. "I don't think it's going to work out."

[st_x5_494]

"You didn't get her dad arrested. Spider-Man did." Alec figured the girl back home had no idea who Peter was. "Besides, her dad was a tool and you can move if you really like her."

[st_arkintern]

"It's not happening," Peter says, shaking his head. "I don't think that I should date anyone while I'm still Spider-Man." When he was back home, anyway.

Peter had been flaky and unreliable because of his responsibilities as Spider-Man. Even if it weren't malicious, he still hurt the people around him. Especially those that didn't know he was Spider-Man. And it was better that not a lot of people knew. Ned and May and Mr. Stark and Happy were enough.

[st_x5_494]

"Wait." Alec looked at Peter. He didn't really care about who Peter dated, but. "Please tell me you're not planning on being celibate for your whole superhero life."

[st_arkintern]

"Maybe," Peter says down at his hands. "I don't know."

[st_x5_494]

"Dude, you can't live your life like that. You can have fun and still save the damn world. Or are all your other superhero friends equally as alone and depressing?" Alec could not phathom it.

[st_arkintern]

"No, but they're all out about who they are," Peter says. "Everyone knows Iron Man is Tony Stark. Everyone knows that Steve Rogers is Captain America. Everyone knows James Rhodes is War Machine. It's not really the same when your identity is a secret."

[st_x5_494]

"You're really good at limiting your own personal enjoyment, you know that?" Alec looked at him as if he was considering rolling his eyes again.

"Trust me. After you've had sex for the first time, spending the next twenty years without it will be out of the question. Besides, you need a life."

[st_arkintern]

"I don't think I'm the sort of person who can have sex with somebody without us being in a committed relationship," Peter says. "And I don't think -- after everything with other-Liz that that's going to happen unless my girlfriend knows. And since my girlfriend can't know..."

Peter lets Alec draw his own conclusions.

[st_x5_494]

"Then find yourself a superhero girlfriend. There has to be some around - there's like five hundred in the inn." Alec was perhaps hyperbolizing the amount. "Then you wouldn't have to hide, right?"

[st_arkintern]

"They're all like, 33," Peter says. "I'm kinda the youngest superhero."

Peter can't imagine Natasha would ever be interested in him, and even if she was, that'd be weird.

[st_x5_494]

"Right, because somewhere else in the whole world there's probably not some mutant or other kid running around close to your age." He rolled his eyes. He got the sense that there were more superheroes around than most places.

[st_arkintern]

"If there are, they're probably not out about it yet," Peter says. "That doesn't really help my situation."

He wishes there was, though.

[st_x5_494]

"You know, you're really stubborn with the whole negative thing." Hello pot, this is the kettle.

[st_arkintern]

"I'm not negative. Just realistic."

[st_x5_494]

"Sounds like a lonely life." Especially since they had already established Peter wasn't going to remember anything and Liz wasn't in his reality. So basically Peter was planning on being alone for a long time or, more likely, until he did something stupid and died.

[st_arkintern]

"It's not lonely if you have friends," Peter points out. "You don't have a girlfriend, and you're fine."

[st_x5_494]

"I don't want a girlfriend. There's a difference." At least that's what Alec thought he felt about the whole thing.

[st_arkintern]

"There's a difference between want and need. I don't need one," Peter says. "I want another Tron sequel, but I don't think I'm going to get it and that's OK."

Maybe not OK, but Peter was going to leave with it.

[st_x5_494]

He frowned. "Did you just compare women to a movie?" Alec wondered just how nerdy Peter could really be.

"Alright, fine. You'll be alone all your life. Have it your way." He shrugged, maybe a little too much.

[st_arkintern]

"I'm not going to be alone," Peter argues. "I just told you I'd have friends. And maybe when I was older, yeah, there'd be another superhero woman I'd go out with."

Peter thinks about Black Widow again.

"Do you wanna see Black Widow?" he asks suddenly.

[st_x5_494]

Alec perked up a bit. "If she's hot, then, yeah." Maybe a little bit of him wished he could show off Max, but that was about it. He didn't need a picture of Logan or Joshua. He saw all of them clearly in his mind.

[st_arkintern]

Peter doesn't have any photos of Natasha on his phone, but he has one better.

Peter heads over his dresser and rummages through one his drawers. Before long, he fishes out his Spider-Man mask and pulls it on.

"Hey, Karen!"

"Hey, Peter. How are you doing today?"

"Fine -- I'll have to tell you about it later. Can you bring up the footage of Germany? Specifically whatever you have of Black Widow? And put it on pause, okay?"

"Certainly."

An image of Black Widow populated on the mask's internal monitor.

"I'm going to hand the mask over to Alec now. When he says 'play', just play the video."

"I'm looking forward to meeting him."

Peter doesn't know if Karen should look forward to this. "If he says anything weird, just ignore him."

Peter pulls off the mask and hands it over to Alec. "Karen'll show you the video."