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EASTERN ALPS, AUSTRIA — 2024
ON THE WAY TO PRAGUE, Noah had decided to sit all by himself, right at the back of the bus.
He was still feeling furious about the entire situation. He was completely stressed out of his mind, the thought of going to Prague in order to defeat this elemental overwhelming. He wasn't even prepared in the slightest.
He had been trying multiple things to ease his mind. He had attempted to fall asleep for a while, watch a movie on his phone, the list went on. Nothing was working.
And now, he was just staring at nothingness, his head aching with stress at this point. But, something interesting, other than irritation, actually happened.
The bus suddenly came to a firm stop. They seemed to be stopping in a small village for a bathroom break, which they had to do every once in a while as the drive to Prague was a few hours long.
Slowly but surely, everybody exited the bus one by one, each of them eager to get outside in order to finally feel some fresh air against their skin.
"Petrol and toilets!" Dimitri told. "Ten minutes!"
Noah was the last to step out. He halted within his tracks in order to glance around the area, the chilly air nipping at his pale skin.
"Hey, Noah!"
A familiar yet breath voice was heard close by, causing Noah to whip his head around, only to see Peter standing right behind him.
He pressed his lips into a thin line, smiling once he had fully turned around. He was attempting to hide his stress from Peter, but it was still quite obvious.
"Hi, Peter." He gritted his teeth.
Peter seemed to have noticed that something was off with Noah almost right away. He pursed his lips, slightly tilting his head to the side.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing." Noah muttered. "I'm just really pissed off that Fury decided to send us out here, even though we told him not to."
Peter was slightly taken aback by that response. He wasn't as mad as Noah was, obviously. He didn't even think that Noah would feel this annoyed about the entire situation.
"I, uh, didn't think you'd be that upset." He stuttered. "You wanna talk about it?"
Noah placed his hands into his pockets, his shoulders and features looking slightly tense. He eventually sighed underneath his breath.
"All I wanna say is that I am going to kick his ass into next week once I see him again."
Peter raised his eyebrows upwards, his lips now separated in slight shock. He slowly nodded his head in response, unsure on what to even say next.
"I- Anything else?"
Even though Noah wanted to just complain even more, he decided to quickly change the subject.
"No." He said. "But, did you try out those glasses that Tony wanted to give you?"
"Yeah, yeah." Peter replied. "I did."
Before Noah could even respond to that, Dimitri had decided to step in between the duo. He pointed at what looked like to be a small bar, as if he was asking them to go in there.
"You want us to go in there?" Noah asked.
"No." Dimitri firmly told. "Only him."
Noah figured that Dimitri was referring to Peter. He had to double-check, though. He glanced between Peter and Dimitri, his teeth slightly showing as he smiled awkwardly.
"Only spinne?"
Dimitri slightly nodded his head in response, making it obvious that he only wanted Peter to go into the quiet bar.
Noah slowly but surely nodded his head, his gaze now fixating upon Peter once again. He tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, his smile slightly growing.
"Okay then." He spoke. "I'll see you in a minute."
Peter smiled back, slightly lowering his head as he looked down for a few moments. He pressed his lips into a thin line, nodding his head.
"Yeah. See you."
And with those words, Noah began to slowly walk away, his steps gradually becoming more swifter the further he got away from Peter.
He eventually caught up with his classmates, who were either lining up at the restrooms or sitting down by some picnic benches, awaiting for the ten minutes to pass on by.
He had quickly decided to join Brad at one of the picnic tables, seeing that both Michelle and Ned seemed to be nowhere in sight.
