Chapter Five
Peter's heart raced in his chest, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Joseph was at the door, his gaze slowly raking across the patrons in the bar. From this distance, his brown eyes looked black.
"Quill?" Thor asked again, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him, Peter's frantic eyes met his own and Thor actually seemed concerned.
"Come on!" Peter urged, grabbing Thor's hand and pulling him away from the bar and back towards the bathroom where the lights were dimmer and maybe he wouldn't be seen. He used Thor's body as a shield to hide from the prying gaze of his once friend.
"Quill! What is happening? Are you in danger?" Thor's head swiveled around and Peter had to squeeze his hand to get him to look back at him.
"Dude! Don't look, it draws attention, come on!" Peter hissed to him, they disappeared around the corner of the bar. Peter looked over his shoulder to see that Joseph hadn't noticed anything amiss. He was relieved when he turned down a side hallway, the lights here were dimmed. Darker than any other part of the bar, Peter could see the exit sign up ahead, but he didn't get that far.
Peter found himself pressed against a wall, his breath left him when his back met the cool plaster, he forced himself to look up at the grim faced Thor.
"You will explain to me right now why you are like this. Or we will stay right here."
Peter's heart thundered in his chest and he felt panic and fear clawing at his mind. "Thor, we can't! We have to go! Now!" Thor was unmoving, holding him in place against the wall with his own body. Peter thrashed and shoved, trying desperately to get to safety, why was everything so hazy? Oh god, was he hyperventilating?
"Quill! Quill! Peter!" Peter's head snapped to Thor's voice as the panic subsided in him just a little bit, at least enough to focus on the voice in front of him. Concerned blue eyes looked down into his, and Thor repeated himself, "Peter, what is going on? Why are you panicking?"
Peter took a deep breath, looking over Thor's shoulder to see if Joseph was anywhere near them. Swallowing thickly he looked back to Thor, "I used to run with a really bad group of people dude."
"Why are you running with bad people? Why were you running?"
"Dude! Really!? Now is not the time to be arguing over schematics! I worked with some bad people ok!? I was young, I was stupid and did horrible things. Can we run now?"
"What kind of things did you do?" Thor growled, looking at him with disdain. His grip was loosening but it was too late, Peter could see a shadow approaching from just around the corner.
"No! No time, look like you're kissing me."
"I shall do no such thing!"
"Now!" Peter wrapped his arms around Thor's neck, pressing himself firmly against the other, his lips hovering just over Thor's. For a brief blissful moment, all Peter could feel was Thor's hands on his waist and their chests pressed together. A sense of security and safety washed over him, if only for a short time. Peter could feel Thor's eyes on him, but he ignored it, subtly looking over Thor's shoulder instead.
To an outsider this position looked intimate, hell, maybe it was. Peter caught between a Thor and a hard place. Their faces so close together that they were sharing the same air, Peter could feel every exhale that came from Thor, much like the other would probably feel the same from him. So, when Joseph rounded the corner and saw two strangers in this position, his eyes quickly looked away.
Peter held firm like this, letting his eyes close as his heart tried to beat out of his ribcage, he waited for the familiar timbre of Joseph's voice to call to him. He could imagine the beating he'd receive, they wouldn't be kind enough to shoot him or stab him. No, they would beat him for hours if they could, wrack him with so much pain until eventually he would die. He started to hyperventilate again before, once more, Thor's voice broke through the scared fog in his mind.
"He's gone Peter."
Blinking his eyes open Peter looked at Thor, he could only imagine the confused expression on his own features. "What?" He whispered, his heart still in his throat.
"He turned away and left, you are safe now."
Peter slumped against Thor, letting his head rest on the man's chest and just let himself breathe for a moment. It had been years since he had last seen anyone from his old gang. He'd been on the run for so long that he never once thought that they would ever be close enough to find him. He looked up at Thor, to find them still so close. He was about to pull away, thank him and then promptly flee the state when a voice rang out. A voice he really, really had hoped wouldn't catch them like this.
"Well damn, I didn't think you rolled that way Peter. I may have called dibs but you look mighty fine with Thor." Looking to the side, there stood Darcy. Her eyes were bright with mischief, her grin was that of pure, insurmountable evil. If only it had ended there, no, just behind her Erik and Jane were looking at them with a disbelieving and incredulous stares. Both of their jaws on the ground. "Ya' know, when I said not to kill each other this was not what I had in mind." Darcy continued a moment later after they all stared at each other in absolute silence.
Thor quickly shoved away from him, leaving Peter slumped against the wall and Peter to stare in abject horror as Darcy just kept smirking at them.
"It's not what it looks like!" Peter shouted, he could feel his cheeks flushing red.
"Uh huh! I'm sure it is! Did you guys know that Peter could turn this shade of red?" She asked the still silently stunned Erik and Jane behind her. When Peter looked at Thor, instead of finding the other growing angry, or embarrassed, he was staring at Peter. The look in his eyes was not comforting.
"I left you alone with him for a few hours Peter! And you're trying to make out with him?" Jane's voice finally shrieked out, she looked beyond herself. "I just, I don't even know where to begin!"
"We weren't trying to make out!"
"Yeah, you were about to!" Darcy chimed right in.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Peter hissed back to Darcy who looked on the verge of absolute, gut wrenching laughter.
"Let's… just get a drink and start talking about something that really matters." Erik finally spoke up, running a hand over his face. He looked absolutely exhausted as he turned back to the bar. Jane stared at them for a moment, she was still so confused and it was easy to see on her face.
Darcy, on the other hand, just smiled at them. So big and bright, full of mischief and glee. "I am going to have so much fun with this." She said, turning back and following the others, leaving Peter and Thor alone again.
"We will discuss this later." Thor said to him, walking away too. Leaving Peter with a headache and residual panic from the earlier encounter. He turned and faced the wall, thumping his forehead against it for a spell or two before he took a deep breath. He didn't strut back out into the main bar area, instead, peaking around the corner just to be sure that Joseph had truly left.
He was glad to confirm that Thor was right, the man seemed to be gone. The others had gathered around a table off to the side of the bar, Peter's drink had already been deposited in front of an empty seat next to Thor. He looked between the door and the table for a minute, wondering if he could slip by and leave before being noticed.
It might've worked, if Thor wasn't already watching him. That warm, obnoxious smile was once again on his face again. His eyes however promised something darker if he tried to run away. Whining, loudly, Peter slumped his way into the seat beside Thor, the table having fallen silent in that time.
Now that Peter had joined the group, Erik looked back to Thor and continued on with the conversation. "We've done the math, there's just no way that we can power such a device, there's no amount of energy on Earth that can make such a device functional."
"That's just opening it, that's not including things like distance, or to stabilize it, or literally anything else. We don't have the power for step one, and the steps beyond it." Jane finished, she looked just as tired as Erik, and Peter was left to wonder if they slept after they dropped him off at his trailer. Darcy looked pretty perky, but that could be because she found something fun to tease Thor and him over.
"We must try again then, I will help you both."
"Help us? Are you going to find us some anti-matter?" Jane spoke, her tone and face incredulous as Thor just smiled at her.
"Surely it can not be that hard."
"That hard, that hard!?" Jane looked a little unhinged, Peter leaned back in his seat, scared for Thor's life. "You have to understand Thor that Earth is not where you came from, we don't have anti-matter just laying around outside to be picked up whenever we need it! We don't have something that could feasibly power a device to travel across the cosmos in a moment! That is what you are here for, I have done the math, I have worked the numbers and what you're asking is impossible!" Jane was flushed in the face by the time she was done yelling at Thor.
Thor, to all of his credit, didn't look the slightest bit perturbed. "I will help you." He repeated, "I will gather the more difficult materials for your purview and after you've had your fun with them we will build the device and I will return home. After answering your questions of course."
Jane threw her hands up in the air, it was like talking to a brick wall.
"I'm sorry Thor, but even if you were to gather the necessary materials, we wouldn't have a way to keep them, or to use them. Our technology is not advanced enough for it." When Erik spoke, both Jane and him agreeing with one another, Thor seemed to pause for a moment.
His face became strained and his eyes hardened, looking grim and forcibly composed he spoke to both of them. "Then our deal will be voided, especially if you both will not even try." Thor's voice was deep, and thunderous, like a storm rolling over desert mesas. "I am offering to shoulder the hardest burdens, but you all must try, or I will offer you nothing in return."
"We will try!" Jane said quickly, Erik looked at her incredulously and she shook her head, "I can see about having materials gathered. We can look for a grant, we have friends that could spare us money for this cutting edge research."
"Jane, you can't be serious! We'd never be able to receive a grant for a scientific excursion like this! This is skirting the edge of science fiction, not testable and functional science!"
"Erik! All we're going to do is try, we have him to do all the hard work, we can build something functional. Try Stark Industries, they throw money away almost as quick as they make it." Erik floundered like a fish for a moment, he looked unconvinced but Jane moved on, looking back at Thor. "We're going to try and build this, but you're going to start sharing some things now."
Thor was quiet for a moment, bringing his beer to his lips while Peter just watched all of this with a disinterested separation. Peter didn't want to be here anymore, and all of this talk was making his head hurt, literally.
"What do you wish to know?"
"What powers the Bifrost?" Jane immediately asked.
"The Heart of Asgard, it powers everything. It is a large golden orb located in the depths of the Royal Palace. It glitters like a star but releases no heat. It powers our ships, our lights, everything." Thor answered, and with every word Peter had to watch Jane's eyes grow wider and wider.
"Erik, a singular power source with enough energy to power everything!"
"Yes, it all sounds too good to be true." Erik responded to Jane, his tone was cold and dry.
"What would you like to know Erik?" Thor asked him, staring at him with an icy gaze.
"Why are you here?"
No one missed the look that passed over Thor's face, his features twisted in pain and he looked seriously upset for a moment. Peter didn't believe Thor's story for a second, but that look was incredibly genuine. It had Peter's heart aching for the other, no one should have to look like that.
"I would rather not divulge the personal matters that led to my being here. If you have another question regarding the technologies of Asgard I will be happy to share with you." The table grew quiet, and they all looked at Erik, to see if he would even accept this answer.
Eventually he nodded, "I won't ask again. I'm sorry." He looked away and Peter released a breath that he didn't realize he was holding. Thor, Jane and Erik started to resume their conversation and Peter tuned them out. He didn't want to talk about Asgard or the technologies that seemed just too far from reality. He looked at Darcy instead, finding her staring right at him with a rakish smile.
"So, what was it like?"
"I'm not talking about this with you Darcy."
"Come on! I don't ask a lot Peter, I just want to know what he felt like."
"Jesus Darcy! Stop drooling over it!" Peter's face screwed up and Darcy threw her head back in laughter. The three others behind them were briefly distracted before returning to their conversation. Peter's face was bright with a blush again, he looked at his drink, swirling it around before bringing it to his lips and throwing it all back.
"Come on, give a gal a little bit of details! I want to live vicariously through you."
"That's a big word for you Darcy."
"Stop deflecting! What was it like being pushed against a wall like that, it looked hot!"
Peter didn't respond, his face grew grim though and he looked at his regretfully empty drink. He paled, the events leading up to him being pressed against a wall were not thrilling. They were terrifying. "I don't want to talk about it." He murmured, a far cry different than his normal bravado.
"Wait, did he force you? Did we save you? I will fucking cut a bitch." Darcy immediately grew hostile, Peter quickly moved to stop her.
"No, please! It's not like that either! I just don't want to talk about it, please Darcy."
Darcy stared at him, watching him carefully for several moments. "I'm here for you Peter, if you'll let me be." She said after a moment, reaching out and taking his hand in her own smaller one. "Let me be your friend."
Peter watched her in turn, and his heart swelled with affection for the crass, slightly eccentric woman in front of him. He squeezed her hand back and nodded his head, "I'll tell you about it later, just not right now." With every word that came from his lips he felt sick with himself. If they were here, he wouldn't be, but what Darcy didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
"I look forward to it." She responded, and he was about to speak again but was interrupted by a large hand on his shoulder.
"Come Quill, we depart." Thor yanked him up and with all of the emotions that were swirling in his chest Peter didn't bother to fight with him.
He was sickened with himself, lying to Darcy like that. He would need to foist off Thor onto someone else before he left though, or Jane would hunt him down. He was a little sad, he'd only been here for little under a year, one of his longest stops. He'd actually built relationships with the people here. He wouldn't be caught though, he wouldn't let them get him. Not after… not after everything that had happened.
"Quill?"
Peter jerked at Thor's voice, looking around they were outside by his truck again and Thor was expectantly waiting for him. "Sorry, lets go." He said, unlocking the doors and starting the engine up. They pulled out of the bar and were well on their way home, silence permeating the cab of the truck until Thor decided to speak.
"So Quill, you're going to tell me exactly what happened back there. Now."
Instead of responding, Peter contemplated crashing the truck into the nearest stone. He could survive, right?
Author's Note: I return with another chapter my loves! I really enjoyed writing this one for multiple reasons, I loved the self-indulgence. Who doesn't want to just be in Thor's arms for a moment or two right? I also enjoy this because now we're getting into Peter's story, there's going to be a lot of things coming up about Peter's life on Earth and why he's on the run. I hope you all enjoyed this Chapter and I'll see you all again very soon!
-Rezzo