Follow the Tracks - Peter

[st_x5_494]

It was 4:30 A.M. in the morning and Alec was already up and dressed. He glanced out of his room to the horizon that wasn't quite yet hinting at the sunrise, but it would be soon. He walked into the other room where Peter slept and crossed his arms over his chest while he watched the teenage boy sleep - it must be nice to sleep so easily sometimes.

He shifted, moving about the room silently as he gathered the needed material and then he suddenly through a set of clothing at Peter's face. "Rise and shine, sunshine. We need to get moving."

Comments

[st_x5_494]

"I could always let it bite me." Alec, to his credit, refrained from saying anything about feeling too much for a creature like this. "Could also just be an asshole predator. Those do exist too, you know."

[st_arkintern]

"Don't let it bite you." He's pretty sure Alec's just being smart again, but Peter still feels the need to say it anyway. "I never really had to deal with animals until I came out here. There's not a lot I know about any of them."

[st_x5_494]

"I thought New York had like, dog-sized rats and alligators in sewers." He paused to pause. "Which, by the way, I have first hand experience with. Things in sewers is generally never fun, fyi."

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah," Peter says, lugging the creature behind him. "We had rats, but that was about it. The only place I really got to see more exotic animals was at the Bronx Zoo."

And they didn't go very often.

[st_x5_494]

"Never been to a zoo." Alec was pretty sure he wouldn't like it. "Don't see the point of keeping animals locked up in cages." Of course, he had been pretty much that for a long time so he was probably biased.

[st_arkintern]

"I probably wouldn't be able to see them otherwise." Not in the flesh, anyway. "I never really left the East Coast until Berlin." His first time flying.

[st_x5_494]

Alec still didn't see the point, but his shrug was hidden behind the big rear-end of a weird animal. "You should travel more, I guess." Alec tried not to think about how Peter would be travelling in space at some point because he knew whatever happened with Thanos was bad.

[st_arkintern]

"Well, I'm going to," Peter says. "Up in space and everything. It's gonna be a lot further than Berlin."

[st_x5_494]

Alec was thankful the eye-roll was hidden too. "You'll be able to see all the space animals and report back like... whoever's famous for space travel." He had no idea. Logan would, but that was Logan. Despite his best effort, a hint of the eye-roll was probably felt in the tone of his voice.

[st_arkintern]

"Thor told me that there's all sorts of planets out there with all kinds of alien life," he says. "I don't know if there's just one person responsible for space travel. I'm not even sure if they knew who was the first."

[st_x5_494]

"I doubt you're going to have a lot of time to look at animals." Alec was regretting not just killing this thing as he continued to push - this thing was heavy.

[st_arkintern]

"Maybe," he says. "There might be all kinds of wildlife on Titan, though." He has no idea what the planet looks like. He never bothered asking Quill, either.

Maybe he should, but Quill was pretty cagey lately.

"I wonder if Thor'll take me to Asgard when we get back now that we're friends," he says. "I'd really like to see it."

Or any planet.

[st_x5_494]

"What happens if you went home and you didn't travel to Titan or into space? Would that ruin your day?" Alec wanted to ask something else. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he held back for now.

[st_arkintern]

"Well, I'd be disappointed, yeah," Peter answers. He glances over his shoulder to look at Alec, brows furrowed, lips pulled into a frown.

[st_x5_494]

"Why? You didn't think you were going to space up until a couple of months ago. You're not happy with what you have in New York or something?" Or maybe this was one of those 'Alec doesn't dream big' things - he didn't quite know.

[st_arkintern]

"No, but humans going into space -- really going into space? It's not something they really do." Sure, there were exceptions to the rule like Quill, but most people never left the planet. Even fewer went anywhere other than Earth's orbit. And no one really traversed further than Earth's moon.

"There's something exciting about it."

[st_x5_494]

"I don't see the appeal." Maybe, partially, because he hoped he could convince Peter it was no big thing and the kid wouldn't go face Thanos - though Alec knew that hope was a far-reaching one.

[st_arkintern]

Peter shoots Alec a bewildered look. "You wouldn't ever want to leave Earth? You wouldn't want to see what the other worlds out there are like?"

[st_x5_494]

He thought about it as he pushed. Did he? Not really, even without wanting to sway Peter's opinion. There was a faint shrug - the sort of shrug you can manage when you're using most of your muscles to push.

"Pretty sure the same crap I deal with at home would be in any other world. The only difference is at least at home I know where I stand."

[st_arkintern]

"I don't know, it's exciting, you know? Not knowing where I stand really isn't that important to me. I really just want to experience as much as I can while I'm still around to do it."

That much was true. "There's still plenty of places on Earth I haven't been to, either. I want to see those places, too."

[st_x5_494]

"While I'm still around to do it" sat heavy on Alec's shoulders, though he didn't indicate as such outwardly. "Why don't you start with Earth first? See all those places. Good experience before you go interstellar."

[st_arkintern]

"Even if I didn't want to, I'd still go," he says. "I'd need to fight Thanos with everybody else."

[st_x5_494]

He shouldn't have been surprised that the kid called him out so quickly. He exhaled a little. "Yes, I know. Superhero stuff. Saving the world. yadda yadda."

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah. I'm glad you get it."

Peter takes a breath and keeps on pulling. "If there's anything I can do to help, I'm going to do it."

[st_x5_494]

"If you get yourself killed I'll find my way to your world and slap you over the head." It came out before Alec could stop himself, but he surprised himself with how tempered it was.