Just A Dream || Richard (rchardriders) & Peter (spacegallivanter)

spacegallivanter:

Peter watched his face carefully as he spoke. He didn’t know why, despite the earnest cluelessness that Richard was displaying, that he was dreading somehow that it was all a sick joke. That all of this was just a dream—maybe even a premonition that he would actually find the real Richard soon and that Richard would be his Richard—Richie Rich, blue blazes, bucket helmet and all.

But no, this felt real enough. And this was no doubt him.

“They… thought the same thing about me, actually,” he admitted in a low voice. Das’t it all—he had to tell him, as terrible as the truth was. “We were there together, at the end of all things.” He looked up, meeting his eye. “Well, at the end of our lives, anyway. We were trying to stop Thanos and in order to do that, we locked ourselves in the Cancerverse. With him.”

Peter glanced to the side, a finger playing idly with a random piece of machinery that he didn’t recognize. “We were declared dead in this universe, Richie.” He finally looked up at him again. “For all intents and purposes, we were dead. Dead heroes, anyway—but dead all the same.”

His throat suddenly went dry. “I—we—” He gulped. “We were partners. You… you were my best friend.” He smiled tautly. If Richard only knew how much he’d meant to him—however, he figured that this was a bad time to tell him. After all, this was already too much to take in as it is.

End of their lives? So they died but somehow were both still alive, albeit without his memory. “Thanos? That scary motherfucker? I heard a lot about him.” Bad, bad stories, really really bad stories actually. “We fought him? And we died? You know this is sounding really really unbelievable right?” It seemed so farfetched, so far from the realm of possibilities, that he felt like laughing. He didn’t though, the man seemed so genuine, so happy that he was alive, so heartbroken that he didn’t remember him. Was he just refusing to believe this because he didn’t want to leave this ordinary life, didn’t want some crazy life that sounded like something that were just stories, legends written down on paper and as data on a machine, passed ear to ear, generation to generation?

Peter was fidgeting and Richard (it was still weird thinking he was a Richard, the only name he’d ever known was Gage) could sense that the man was nervous. He had every reason to, of course. “Partners? Were we… intimate?” Richard hedged, there was some wounds there he didn’t want to tear open, because he didn’t know the details. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what Peter must be feeling now, oh he had an idea, but nothing would compare to what the man was feeling.

Was he glad that someone from his past life had finally found him, after two years? Or would he rather have just lived in ignorance? He hadn’t thought much about it before, hadn’t needed to. Sure, Richard had wondered time and again how he’d crashed into this planet, alone without a suit or ship, without anyone. Those were questions he had never thought would be answered, had nearly given up hope, resigned to his fate of not knowing who he was, but now that it was here…

Now that it was within reach… Did he still want it as badly as he did?