Peter and Bradley

[st_randedinwinter]

Bradley was avoiding Liz and Peter and he found it hard to do sometimes in a small inn. Some days he held up in his room almost entirely, but he got bored. Today Brad needed to re-stock some food and drink. He decided to take the elevator down with the plan to sneak various baked goods that would have a fairly long shelf-life.

He leaned against the back of the elevator with his hands in his pockets. His hoodie was up over his head and he had his earbuds in as he listened to music from his phone with them.

Comments

[st_randedinwinter]

Every time Peter said Liz's name, Bradley felt guilty. He felt guilty for what he did, but also guilty because he still sometimes thought about what it would feel like if Liz actually kissed him back. She reminds me of Melissa and she's just so normal compared to everyone else here.

Brad seemed more hesitant to talk about this than kissing Liz. He looked to Peter, then moved to try and press the buttons. The buttons didn't respond. He sighed and leaned his forehead against the cool, metal panel.

"I left my brother in a car in the middle of nowhere on his own," He said with his eyes closed.

[st_arkintern]

"Mr. Stark's from a time after me," he says. "I'm still there where he came from. So... I think things might pause for us until we go back, but continue for everyone else."

That's what Peter thinks, anyway.

[st_randedinwinter]

"I know," He replied. "That's what other people said too, but, it's not it."

His finger pressed the 'open door' button a few more times, but it didn't want to budge. He softly kicked the panel with his foot. Brad backed away and shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets.

"I almost died before I came here, you know." He said. "Probably a few times."

He leaned back against the wall of the elevator.

"I fell through the ice in a lake. It was bad." He said. "Even when I showed up here, I was still shaking and coughing for a while."

He looked down at his sneakers.

"But that's not even the worst of it," he continued. "My dad..."

Bradley paused. He couldn't seem to get passed the word 'dad'.

"My dad..." He repeated as his voice cracked.

He swallowed hard.

"He, uh.. he did a lot of bad things all at once over this trip and Caleb... he was always really close to... him." He said still staring at his shoes. "I could't protect him from all the stuff that happened, but I was getting us away. He needs me and I'm here and... even if I go back to that time, I haven't felt like I completed my duty to him. I don't know if he'll be okay."

[st_arkintern]

Peter's not sure what to say or do, so he does the first thing that comes to mind:

He drops the books to the ground, steps over the haphazard tower, then hugs Brad. Maybe a little too tightly, but it seems like maybe it's what he needs.

Peter swallows, mind frantically trying to figure out what to say. He can't just hug him without saying something, but...

What can he say?

He just doesn't know.

[st_randedinwinter]

Brad was caught off-guard. He stiffened with confusion. Why is Peter being nice to me? He should hate me...

"Are you... okay?" He asks quietly.

[st_arkintern]

Peter almost immediately starts to relinquish his hold on Brad, but then just stops short of pulling his hands away from his shoulder.

"Yeah," he says. "I'm okay."

A beat.

"Are you okay? I mean... everything you said..."

Peter's words drift off for a second before he somehow manages to find them again.

"...it seems like it's a lot."

[st_randedinwinter]

It's not even all of it

"Yeah, I guess it is..." He said. "But... I can't change what happened, right? So I'm trying to move on anyways."

[st_arkintern]

"Are you, though?"

There's definite concern in the question -- not challenge.

"I know it's not the same," Peter says, releasing Brad. "But when my parents die, I thought I was just moving on, too. It took awhile before I got there."

Peter starts placing the two books that fell from the pile back on top and then straightens the stack up, but he doesn't pick them up yet.

"Have you actually talked to anyone about it?" he asks, looking up from where he's crouched over. "Things didn't start getting better until I talked to someone about it."

[st_randedinwinter]

He watch Peter and thought about his words.

"I've been writing it down," He answered. "Was going to give it to someone when I was done, but... I don't know... I mean, everyone has their own problems, right?"

He shoved his hands back in his hoodie.

"I don't want to burden people," he said.

[st_arkintern]

Peter stands upright and wipes the palms of his hands on the front of his jeans.

"Yeah, everybody has their own problems," Peter agrees. "But if people don't share with others because others have problems too, well... no one would share anything with anybody."

Peter shoves one of his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, too.

"You'd want your brother to go to you if he had problems, right? Don't you think there's people out there who'd want the same for you?"

[st_randedinwinter]

Bradley knew that Peter was right about everything he was saying. His expression of agreement came in a slight nod and lack of frown. He was worried people would look at him differently after telling the whole story. He looked at himself differently already.

"Can I just ask... Why are you being so nice to me?" He asked. "I mean, after... what I did? Most kids back home would have punched me, not hugged me, and definitely not cared about anything else."

[st_arkintern]

"I try not to hit people unless they deserve it," Peter answers. "I don't think you deserved it."

[st_randedinwinter]

That doesn't really answer my question... Or maybe that means he wants to hit me, but wont.

Brad leaned against the wall of the elevator. He watched Peter.

"You're a good guy, Peter." He said. "Better than probably most people here. Better than me, that's for sure."

[st_arkintern]

Peter rubs the side of his nose, embarrassed. He doesn't feel like a good guy, but it doesn't feel like something worth arguing over.

"Do you want me to get us out of here?" he asks. "Back home I had to rescue a bunch of people from a stuck elevator once." Sure, it would be different from the inside, but... he could handle it, right?

[st_randedinwinter]

"You... Can do that?" He asked.

He couldn't picture how that would work, but he was interested in seeing it.

[st_arkintern]

"Well, we can try forcing open the doors here, for starters The floors aren't too far separated, so there's a chance that we might be able to squeeze into a floor from the top of the bottom."

Peter looks up. "And if that doesn't work, there's a panel up there I can push open and we can climb up a floor and force open a door there."

Peter turns his gaze back towards the elevator doors and takes a step towards them. Then once he's ready, he digs his fingers into the little gap in the center and pulls in an attempt to force them open.

[st_randedinwinter]

Brad hesitated to help. He saw Peter was making some headway with the doors and he didn't want to intrude. After a moment, he moved to help. The doors were heavy and Brad wasn't convinced he was being any help at all.

[st_arkintern]

Brad's effort doesn't go unnoticed; Peter turns to look over at Brad as the other teen's hands join his own to help pry the door open.

"Thanks!"

Soon enough, a loud, dull crack permeates the air, and Peter is able to slide the doors (now loose on the track) aside. True to his suspicions, he can see the very top of the next floor's doors at their feet. Peter scrambles down to the ground and proceeds to do the same with the other doors and sure enough --

Crack!

He looks over at Brad. "Think that's enough space for us to squeeze through?"

[st_randedinwinter]

He eyed the small space. Immediately he thought of the elevator scene from the movie Resident Evil.

"Yeah," He said. "..As long as it doesn't turn on and I get decapitated, I'm fine."

Brad smiled as his attempt at a joke.

[st_arkintern]

Peter smiles back. "I'll hold it open just in case. Think I can pass the books through to you so I don't leave them in here until tomorrow?"

Tomorrow, presumably, when the inn would fix the elevator itself.

[st_randedinwinter]

"Yeah, okay." He said.

Brad didn't want to look like a wuss in front of Peter who he knew was a superhero. He crouched and slowly pulled himself through the elevator with less grace than he would like. Once on the ground, he rolled his shoulders and reached for the books.

[st_arkintern]

Peter passes them down. The stack is considerable.

"Sorry, was trying to get all of them returned before Ms. Rasputin showed up." Somehow, Peter'd (mostly) managed to avoid her for months now, and he didn't want to keep these books any longer than he had; he'd already procrastinated on bringing them back for a few days now.

[st_randedinwinter]

"She's the one that looks like she's always angry, right?" He asked as he braced himself for more books.

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, with the platinum blonde hair."

Peter hands off the last book, and then slides through the opening and easily lands on the floor. "She doesn't like me," he says, holding out his hand for the stack Bradley's acquired.

[st_randedinwinter]

"Why not?" He asked as he watch Peter.

It was easy to see how much more skilled Peter was physically compared to Brad. Bradley was suddenly distinctly aware of how things might have been different back home if he was more like Peter.

[st_arkintern]

"I don't know," he admits. "I'm just too excitable, I guess and she said she wanted me to leave her alone."

And so he had for the last half-year or so.

[st_randedinwinter]

Brad's arms start to feel the strain against the amount of books Peter had been carrying. He won't admit it.

"Sounds like she's being a little unreasonable." He said. "But people can be strange."

[st_arkintern]

If Peter notices Bradley's struggle, he doesn't acknowledge it.

"Yeah," Peter says, and he takes the stack of books from Bradley. "I know she's been through a lot, so some of it might be that. I guess some things just get harder when you've lived through a lot."

[st_randedinwinter]

He felt instant relief when the books were taken away. Brad wanted to rub his arms, but he didn't.

"Yeah... I guess that makes sense." He said. I wonder if I've changed too

Brad looked at Peter. I've never really met anyone as nice as him before that's my age. Bradley felt guilt again.

"Peter?" He started. "I'm... going to stay away from Liz, okay? At least until I figure things out. A part of it is she reminds me of my girlfriend back home, Melissa, and I guess her being one of the only, like, normal people here kind of makes her feel safe to me."

Plus she's cute as hell

"Just so you don't have to worry, if you are." He added.

[st_arkintern]

Peter can understand needing space extremely well.

"I'm not worried. When you decide you're ready to hang out with Liz, you don't have to worry about that, either."

[st_randedinwinter]

He nodded to the boy. He thought Peter was definitely a better guy than he was.

"Okay..." He said. "I guess... I'll see you around."

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah," Peter says. "But if you want to watch Jumanji sometime, send me a message. It just showed up in the library last week."

And with that said, Peter gives Bradley a friendly wave, then heads in the direction of the library.