[Closed to Quill] The physics is theoretical, but the fun is real.

[st_arkintern]

Peter Parker is sitting in the cafe, a textbook sprawled out on one side of the table, a graphing notebook filled with complicated-looking equations and the corresponding math on the other. Today's self-chosen subject of study? Lagrangian mechanics.

Peter idly taps his pencil near the bottom of the page and lets his chin sink into the palm of his free hand. If he keeps looking at this, he thinks he's going to lose his mind. He's been trying to figure out this answer for fifteen minutes now, and he's pretty sure that he's made a mistake somewhere, but he can't find where.

Peter folds his arms against the table then lays his forehead against them with an audible groan. Truly, it is a groan of despair.

Comments

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, something like that," Peter says nodding vigorously. It's hard for him to reign in the excitement. Minus Quill's questionable taste in films, the two of them seem to be (mostly) on the same wavelength. It's a little like meeting a cooler, older version of himself that actually likes Footloose.

"I mean, it's possible they might," he says. "You can ask around?"

Peter's quiet for a second when he asks about the other-Peters.

"No, they haven't," Peter says, and he's kind of thankful for that. "The ones I've heard about are older than me and a little different from me." He laughs lightly. "I'm actually kinda relieved they're not here, because I'd just end up comparing myself to them."

[st_arlord]

"Dude, you can't go comparing yourself to someone else." Quill said, disregarding any irony in this proclamation. "You're you, right? And from what I see, you're pretty bad-ass. I mean, you dated a chick whose had was bad enough to have a name. Only supervillans have names. You fought a supervillan."

Quill's expression was serious. He believed what he was saying.

"So what if there are other Spider-Mans out there in alternate realities." He continued. "You know what they don't have, that you do? For starters, none of them are probably friends with the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Even other mes would be super choosey about that kind of thing. And none of them are in this cool Inn right now with a cute girl friend and fireworks from scratch and conquering math."

[st_arkintern]

Peter just looks at Quill as he says all this. It's strange because usually he processes things faster than other people because of all his enhanced senses, but right now, everything Quill says feels like it's hitting him a half-second after he says it.

When Quill finally finishes, Peter's still stunned; it takes him a moment to react, just like it took him a moment to really understanding what Quill was saying. Peter dampens his lips and smiles goofily, then looks down at his notebook, embarrassed at precisely how happy he is right now, and then tries to hide it.

He isn't successful.

He needs to say something before things get weird, so he says the first thing that comes to mind.

"Thanks." For what? his mind urges. "People don't -- you know, people don't usually tell me that kind of stuff."

[st_arlord]

Quill grinned at Peter's response. I wish Gamora were here to see this. I can do nice things! He is also glad Rocket was not around at that moment.

"That's because most people suck," he said, still smiling. "Listen, I don't let just anyone be apprentice, on-probation Guardians."

[st_arkintern]

"On-probation Guardian?"

This time, Peter makes no attempt to hide how happy he is.

"What do I have to do to get off-probation?" he asks. "Besides get Rocket to like me?" Obviously, that was one of the requirements.

[st_arlord]

Uhh...

"That's sort of an as-we-go thing," he said confidently. "Some things I'll tell you off the bat, but others is sort of an observation thing, you know? Like, we're Guardians all the time, even when we're not kicking butt."

[st_arkintern]

"Okay," Peter says, nodding. What traits should he be demonstrating? He's not really sure, but it's not exactly a test if you ask for all the answers.

"I should really get back to my homework," Peter says, though it's not really homework when it's work he assigned himself. Maybe demonstrating responsibility was one of those traits that he was going to be graded on and showing that he was responsible enough to get his work done would be another notch in his favor.

"Would it be okay if you told me more about the Guardians later? And about Celestials." He'd met a lot of different people here, but none of them could claim to be Celestials. "And your powers." One of his favorite things to talk about.

[st_arlord]

"Yeah, of course. You can come find me any time, dude." He said with a grin. "It's nice to have someone from home, even if you haven't actually met me yet."

Quill also liked talking about himself. This was win-win.

He stood up and turned the chair back around so he could tuck it into the table.

"See you around, Spider-Man." Quill said with a wink and a small salute.

Then Quill walked away to try and defeat his video game nemesis.