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Well...

[He rubs the back of his neck, legs crossing. He has to fight the urge to blush at that compliment. She thinks Spider-Man's cool...? Man.]

Spider-Man's a cool dude. I think superheroes in general are amazing, but he doesn't have any merch like Iron Man or Captain America, s-so...

[Ah—]

And — I'm not sick, I promise. That would be just bad news on top of more bad news, right? It's... I dunno how it works. Same with organ donors here... If I need permission from a guardian, or if anything I've had before would stop me from giving any...

I heard this one girl, Cindy, she had mono once, so they didn't let her do the blood drive.

... I think in was mono, anyway...

[Alex just studied him for a moment, because her gut (which she always trusts because even when it ends up badly, it's normally right and she is pretty good at knowing when someone is hiding something from her) is telling her that there's more to it than all of that. So, her brow is going towards her hairline with a question that she doesn't ask. At least not yet. If there's one good thing about her constant contact with Strand is that he's wearing on her, so she wants tangible data on whatever the hell this is.

She just doesn't know yet. But she knows it's something.

That said, there's more than a little relief in her voice that he's not sick on top of everything.]

Well, I bet I can help with some of those. And for the record, pot's definitely safe. My sleep therapist prescribed it for me when I was having such a hard time sleeping.

[Among other things that Alex didn't mention to him. Including having enthusiastic sex with someone you trust. Yeah, Dr. Bernier was weird like that.]

[Oh my god. If there's any way to make this miserable conversation goofy—

He covers his face with his hands.]

R-right. I've always just avoided it since it's illegal in New York, you know? And I don't have any medical issues, and I don't wanna lose any scholarships, and — like, pretty sure May would kill me. [Or not. He's kind of split 50-50 on whether May would kill him or tell him to smoke with her next time. May had always been kind of wild in her youth, so he's not even remotely surprised if she liked pot. B-but.] But since home ends up sucking so bad...

[Why not live a little.]

It's perfectly natural to experiment with it a little. And I know that they have places for it here, if it's what you want. Hell, it'd be fine if you wanted to experiment with it back home. That's what kids do, ya know? It's what I did when I was your age.

[Alex knows where she can get it, but she doesn't think that Jeff would just hand it over to Peter like that. He was a kid and Peter was a teacher, and yeah. Alex Reagan made bad decisions like someone was paying her to do it, but she wasn't going to do it with this. But there are other things that she can help with.]

Other stuff I can help with though. I've been thinking about a game night since you talked about not having played Clue. Given how many of us there are here from different places or whatever, it makes sense that we just have an open game night. Then maybe all of us can play five games we've never played before.

Edited (My cat thought the tag was done before I did.) 2018-09-08 01:12 (UTC)

[He brightens immediately at that.]

I'd love to have a game night. Me and my aunt, we always had at least one every other weekend — nothing too fancy, but you know, we'd really get into it. [After a moment, he breathes out, relieved that the heavy feeling in his shoulders have abated. It hurts to think about home when he knows home is... screwed up later, but it's always good to think of May. Always.] I'd just like that a lot.

Awesome!

[Honestly, Alex is more than a little bit relieved that he's brightened a bit, because the poor kid needs it.]

Then I'll work on getting it done, and invite everyone so that we can see who has different sorts of games. But I'll find somewhere to host it other than the house, because Richard might dump me if I invite that many people over.

[Her voice is light and amused at that, she's only probably forty percent serious.]

Karaoke is easily done too. I bet an adult could rent out a room for your friends somewhere if you wanted us too.

[But not come, because come on, let the kids be kids and all of that.]

[He rubs his face at the mention of karaoke. Even the thought of doing that in front of other people is enough to make him wanna turn into a turtle and hide in a shell. Forever. But hey, game night! That'll be fun, right? He can work his way up to confidence in singing just to be stupid and have fun.

He laughs a little, though.]

My friends here are kinda rowdy.

[His smile softens into something sadder, because certain friends aren't doing so well.

Certain friends who also had to learn about their deaths — but firsthand.

He shakes his head, though, trying to jar those thoughts loose and away.]

M—maybe I can do a game night at the school! Like how I did bad movie night?

[When that sad smile comes up again, Alex just leans over and hugs him once more, shaking her head as she did it. Alex couldn't help it, because the kid needs one. Or a hundred, or a thousand. Either way, the last thing he needed was to put together something that she was doing.]

I've got it, Peter. I'll deal with the school if need be, I promise. You don't need to be adding any other stressors onto your plate, okay? Besides, despite what Richard may say, I actually can do the whole planning bit. Really.

[He nods quickly against her shoulder.]

If you're sure... If you need any help though, I should probably return the favor.

I mean, you've been doing me a favor, listening to all this. Is all.

Trust me. I got this. And it's okay, Peter, if there's one thing that I am good at it is listening. It's all part of the job description.

[Alex just gave him a reassuring smile as she let go of him slowly, and then for some ungodly reason that she would hate later (old! When did she get so old?! She blamed Richard.) she just fluffed the hair on his head.]

When was the last time you ate.

[Yeah, that didn't help with the whole not being old feeling.]

[God, hair ruffling. His weakness. And it completely disarms him for the question, too.

He glances away guiltily and knows there's really no room for lying at this rate.]

... It's been a while. I haven't really had much of an appetite.

Well, it's understandable, I think, given everything that you're dealing with. Both it and the not sleeping. Hopefully talking about it will help.

[A beat and Alex just opened up the desk to her office, pulling out some pastries that she'd grabbed this morning. They're the ones that she normally takes home to her people, but man, sometimes you just need sugar.]

Here. Pick which one or ones you want.

[Heh. Spill your guts about being dead, and you get a free pastry. He's not one to complain, it sounds awesome to him. He takes one with mild hesitation only. As much as he doesn't have an appetite, it helps when other people give him food; then he feels obligated to put more effort into it.]

Thanks. I'm sure my stomach'll get back to top shape in no time.

I eat like crazy, most of the time.

[... He's genuinely surprised he didn't totally screw up and reveal he's a superhero, tbh.]

I think most teenage boys do, if Simon and Stan are anything to go by.

[Well, technically Simon is not actually a teenager but Alex can't help but think of him as one, considering how he spent his formative years and all of the things that he needs to learn. In some ways even with all of his awkwardness, Stan was more mature than he was. It was... a thing anyway.]

And I know the not sleeping goes hand in hand with not eating, so that's probably it. But we should keep an eye on that. You know there's always a plate at our house for you, Peter. We just want you to be safe and happy while you're here. Enjoy yourself and don't blame yourself, okay?

[Oh sister, if you only knew.

He smiles down at his lap at that, relieved, even if he's not sure the blame is easy to scrub out.]

I know. Thanks for all the help.

... Maybe I'll learn how to cook something, so I can return the favor at some point.

Peter, you don't need to learn to cook to return the favor at some point. I promise.

[Then there's a grin and a bump of his shoulder with her own. Thank goodness for other short people sometimes.]

You've got enough on your plate. And I hope this helped, but I know it doesn't make things go away on its own. Trust me, I talked about things a lot and sometimes they still bother me. [Or pretty much all the time but she's not going to say that.] But I know that when it does bother me, I can bring it up again and look at things another way or whatever.

Oh, and there's nothing wrong with not knowing how to cook. God knows I can't even make anything that's not coffee or easy mac. And honestly, I've screwed up the last one.

Oh. Good.

[He smiles a little more openly, the tension easing.]

'Cus I can burn just about anything if I put my mind to it.

Probably water included.

[That makes her laugh, and she offers a fist for a fist bump.]

Oh, same here. I can make coffee and I can make ezmac. Richard forbid me from the kitchen the third time I burnt toast and almost set the damned thing on fire. There's a reason that I know all the best takeout in the city, Pete.

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