(no subject)
Title: Dichotomy
Characters: Gabriel/Eden. (or it could be Syden)
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 2, 185
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summery: Eden helps Virginia.
Note: Set in the months after 6MA. So he’s known as Gabriel Sylar to Eden. Possibly :x
“Oh shoot!”
The woman’s voice is high and thick, that nasally accent that Eden now finds herself encountering almost everyday since she moved to New York. She turns and sees a woman bent over, hurriedly scooping up piles of magazines that seems to have fallen through a split seam in her trolley basket.
“Here, I’ll help.” Eden gets on her hunches and beings to shuffle the messy pile towards her as the woman stops.
“Oh you’re an angel, thank you. I didn‘t even notice until I was half way down the street, no wonder it was lighter to pull.” She gives a high pitched giggle and goes about collecting the rest. Eden stands up, hefting them up and shifting them in her arms. She peers into the basket and frowns.
“Do you have any bags? We can’t put them in there again.” The lady comes back, huge pile of magazines hugged to her chest. Eden looks at her and tries not to smile. She’s reminded of a mouse, or some other fidgety small mammal that can’t stop moving. Her heart probably beats faster then hers.
“I have but they have my shopping in them.” She points to the full bags hanging off the handle bar. She looks up and looks down the street. “Lucky that I’m almost home, I can go get my son to help.” She doesn’t move but stands undecided, hands tightening on the magazines. Her eyes switch from the shopping to Eden and back again.
She thinks I’m going to steal her shopping. Eden pushes the affront away, she wouldn’t trust her anything to a stranger either. She gives the woman a smile which she returns very quickly, widely. She’s younger then Eden first thought, this grey woman before her. Like someone had painted her in watercolours and left her out in the rain.
“Well you could go and I’ll stay here or I could go get him?” Eden sees that this is the right thing to say as other woman relaxes visibly.
“That’s a good plan, I’ll stay here and you go get my son. I live on the building at the end of the block, number 16. Thank you sweetie, very kind of you, very Christian of you.” She smiles, beaming at her and Eden feels a stab of quilt. But that overshadowed by pride. She smiles back and leaves , embarrassingly pleased with her good-Samaritan-self.
She reaches the building and presses the button, counting the bleeps until there’s a crackle and a soft voice answer on the other end. “Hello?”
Eden bends down to the mouth piece. “Hi, um your mother’s trolley split and she - we- need your help bringing her stuff back here. Could you help?”
She thinks she hears a weary sigh on the other end before he answers. “Sure, I’ll be right there. Where is she?”
“Just outside the laundrette, I’m not sure what it’s called.”
“Ok, tell her I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Oh, ok. I’ll go back then?” Eden waits for his reply for a few seconds but line clicks dead and Eden stands back, looking at the intercom with a light reproach before she walks back, looking behind her now and then.
His mother has put down the magazines into a neat pile by the wall and she stands alone, arms crossing over her chest nervously. When she sees Eden she smiles but it falls with a frown as Eden stops next to her.
“Where is he?”
“He said that he’d be here in a minute.” She smiles and they wait in silence, the greying woman’s head jerking to look down the street every few minutes. Eden watches her get increasingly agitated the longer they stand so she decides to break the silence.
“That’s a lot of magazines you’ve got there.”
The woman’s blue eyes swivel to hers and she hums. “Oh yeah I collect them, the coupons. Thousands of people throw them away without cutting them out. It’s a nice little investment.”
Eden’s eyebrows raise. “That’s a good idea, I never do that.”
The woman nods with thin lips, looking Eden regretfully. She tries not to laugh. “I’m Eden.” She watches the woman’s face light up like a bulb with happyness.
“Ohh that’s beautiful. Not like mine, just plain old Virginia. My son has a pretty name like yours, both of you are like two peas in a pod, the bible has - ahh here he is. Gabriel!”
Eden turns around and sees a tall man coming towards them, wearing glasses. Eden doesn’t give him a second glance until he’s right in front of her.
“Oh my god.” Her mouth hangs open. There’s no way he’s the same person, there’s no way.
“Eden?” His eyes narrow behind his glasses and when he recognises her his face pales. His hand makes a move towards his face, to his glasses maybe, before he lowers it into a fist. “What are you doing here?” His whole body looks like it’s getting rigid, like he’s winding it up like a top that’s about to go whirling.
“You know each other?” His mother’s voice cuts through the air happily and Eden doesn’t even have to see her face to know that she’s looking hopefully between them. Eden opens her mouth to answer but Gabriel cuts in before she can.
“Yes, Eden works in a book shop. I’ve seen her a handful of times there.”
“But you know her name Gabriel. You never told me.” His mother looks a him reproachfully and Eden feels herself getting increasingly uncomfortable. He’s lying to his mom, they never met in a book shop. She narrows her eyes at him.
“There isn’t anything to tell.” The words are quiet and sulky to her ears and she raises an eyebrow.
“Thanks.”
He tilts his head, looking sorry as his mother admonishes him.
“Gabriel that’s not very nice. She helped me out of the goodness of her heart. She’s worth talking about. You never talk about your friends.” Her face softens and Gabriel looks at the ground, embarrassed.
Eden doesn’t know what to think. Last week he looked and acted like someone completely different but here he was looking like cookie cutter dork, right down to the creases in his pants. And he’s lying to his mom.
Virginia looks at Eden brightly. “Hay why don’t you come over? I have plenty of food, I couldn‘t turn away a friend of Gabriel‘s who is so nice.”
They both start to protest, Gabriel louder. “No mom, I’m sure Eden has more important thing to do.”
Eden shrugs, smiling at Virginia. “Thank you very much Mrs Gray but I do have to go to work. But I appreciate the thought.” Eden feels bad as the other woman smiles but looks hurt.
“She’s busy mom, don’t get on her case.”
“She’s not, really.” Eden looks at him before smiling politely at his mother.
“See Gabriel?” Virginia’s face becomes pleased, eyes always switching between them in excitement.
He smiles at his mother before reaching into his pockets and extracting rolled up plastic bags. His mother‘s eyes widen. “I was looking for these.” He bends down and begins to shove the magazines into the bags and Eden gets on her knees to help, crouching next to him. She speaks quietly.
“Well this is awkward…”
“Is it?” He speaks low like her, not looking around.
“Well I don’t know what to think -”
“Then don’t.” He looks at her in the eye and Eden sees the man she knows in them for a moment. She stares at him.
“You don’t have to be such an asshole to me every time we meet.”
His mouth thins as he begins to fill another bag.
“Well?”
“I’m not.”
“What?!” The word is louder then she intended and he glares at her after looking up at his unknowing mother who‘s filling her own bag, talking out load to herself.
“I’m not an asshole to you. If anything it’s you that’s rude to me.”
She scoffs. “Yeah right. Chandra’s my neighbour, you’re just going to have to deal with me being there. Papa doesn’t seem to mind.” She smiles at him, warm and sickeningly friendly.
He looks like he wants to pounce for a moment before a rush of air blows from his nose and his muscles uncoil. Eden breathes out a pent up breath, the rush of excitement fading. They work in silence, the air thickening around them.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re just being nice to Chandra.” She looks at him and sees that his gaze has softened. She’s always liked his eyes, when he’s being friendly. She smiles at him. A real one.
“What are you two love birds smiling about?” Virginia’s pleased voice issues above their heads and they look at each other with wide eyes before moving apart and standing. Both are clearly embarrassed.
“Mom why don’t you take what you can carry and I’ll bring the rest?”
“I’ll help” Eden chips in quickly. Virginia smiles and Gabriel looks at her quickly, nodding.
“Pretty name and an even prettier temperament. See Gabriel? They are out there, you just gotta fish them out.” She stands on tiptoe and pats his checks, moves to Eden and shakes her hand before taking a bag from her son and walks away.
Gabriel and Eden stand in silence, not looking at each other.
“Your mom’s nice.”
He scoffs derisively. “She’s alright when she wants to be.” He takes a look at her before picking up the rest of the bags. He places a hand on her arm as she bends down to help. “It’s ok, I’ve got it.”
Eden stands with half a handle in her hand, fingers curled next to his. She gazes at him closely. “Why did you lie to her? Your mom doesn’t know does she? About what you do with Chandra?”
He licks his lips, face stilling as his eyes penetrate deep into hers before he answers. “She doesn’t and I want it to remain that way, she wouldn’t understand. Any of it.” He looks at her significantly.
Eden nods. “I understand.” She tugs the bag. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you.” He lets go of the bag and they begin to head down the street.
“I hardly recognised you, you know.” She looks at him in his cardigan and grins.
He looks very uncomfortable. “I know. I know what I look like.”
“I think it’s cute.” She wishes that she could swallow the words back down but he looks at her sharply, lips quirking before he looks down.
“Thanks.”
“You’re not Sylar now right?”
“What?” His head springs up, eyes wide.
“I mean to your mother, wearing that. Or maybe she does know about the name, I don’t mean to pry.”
He clears his throat, recovering. “No, I’m just Gabriel to her.”
“You’re Gabriel to me.” She gives him a smile and her heart beats at the coyness that must be shinning out of it. He’s much easier to talk to like this.
His eyes narrow but not hostilely. “I know. I would prefer it if you did, if you don’t mind?”
“When you not all gee-” She pauses and he smiles at her, fully.
“Geeky, you can say it.”
“In the nicest way possible.” They’re grinning as they reach his mother’s building. She lowers the bags, flexing her fingers.
“I mean I don’t think Eden is your real name is it? I want to have a fresh start, so I want a new name. You understand?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Yes, absolutely. But you can go back to what you were before.” She flourishes her hand over his body and expects him to agree but he suddenly goes through a shift, his face flashing with so much sadness that Eden feels the need to move closer. But then he’s nodding, smiling lightly.
“I’ve got it from here, thanks. I guess I’ll see you at Chandra’s on Monday? We’re going away again.”
She smiles, pulling out a small paper bag from her pocket. “I know, I had to re-stock on crickets.” A silence stretches between them and Eden shrugs her shoulders. “I better go…”
“Yeah…” He presses the intercom and his mother answers quickly. He stands in the open doorway.
“Do you live with your mom?” She didn’t even think it about saying it, it just came out.
He gets red but smiles. “No, I have my own apartment…You can - you can come over one day if you like?” He blushes furiously and Eden again is hit with the surreal sight of such a dichotomy in one person.
“Sure, just tell me when. Ok, I better shoot.”
“Ok, see you later.” He smiles and nods, picking up her bag and she opens the door to let him pass. His carefully layered body passes her swiftly.
“I like you better like this.” But she’s out of ear shot as he turns the corner and is gone.
Characters: Gabriel/Eden. (or it could be Syden)
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 2, 185
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summery: Eden helps Virginia.
Note: Set in the months after 6MA. So he’s known as Gabriel Sylar to Eden. Possibly :x
“Oh shoot!”
The woman’s voice is high and thick, that nasally accent that Eden now finds herself encountering almost everyday since she moved to New York. She turns and sees a woman bent over, hurriedly scooping up piles of magazines that seems to have fallen through a split seam in her trolley basket.
“Here, I’ll help.” Eden gets on her hunches and beings to shuffle the messy pile towards her as the woman stops.
“Oh you’re an angel, thank you. I didn‘t even notice until I was half way down the street, no wonder it was lighter to pull.” She gives a high pitched giggle and goes about collecting the rest. Eden stands up, hefting them up and shifting them in her arms. She peers into the basket and frowns.
“Do you have any bags? We can’t put them in there again.” The lady comes back, huge pile of magazines hugged to her chest. Eden looks at her and tries not to smile. She’s reminded of a mouse, or some other fidgety small mammal that can’t stop moving. Her heart probably beats faster then hers.
“I have but they have my shopping in them.” She points to the full bags hanging off the handle bar. She looks up and looks down the street. “Lucky that I’m almost home, I can go get my son to help.” She doesn’t move but stands undecided, hands tightening on the magazines. Her eyes switch from the shopping to Eden and back again.
She thinks I’m going to steal her shopping. Eden pushes the affront away, she wouldn’t trust her anything to a stranger either. She gives the woman a smile which she returns very quickly, widely. She’s younger then Eden first thought, this grey woman before her. Like someone had painted her in watercolours and left her out in the rain.
“Well you could go and I’ll stay here or I could go get him?” Eden sees that this is the right thing to say as other woman relaxes visibly.
“That’s a good plan, I’ll stay here and you go get my son. I live on the building at the end of the block, number 16. Thank you sweetie, very kind of you, very Christian of you.” She smiles, beaming at her and Eden feels a stab of quilt. But that overshadowed by pride. She smiles back and leaves , embarrassingly pleased with her good-Samaritan-self.
She reaches the building and presses the button, counting the bleeps until there’s a crackle and a soft voice answer on the other end. “Hello?”
Eden bends down to the mouth piece. “Hi, um your mother’s trolley split and she - we- need your help bringing her stuff back here. Could you help?”
She thinks she hears a weary sigh on the other end before he answers. “Sure, I’ll be right there. Where is she?”
“Just outside the laundrette, I’m not sure what it’s called.”
“Ok, tell her I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Oh, ok. I’ll go back then?” Eden waits for his reply for a few seconds but line clicks dead and Eden stands back, looking at the intercom with a light reproach before she walks back, looking behind her now and then.
His mother has put down the magazines into a neat pile by the wall and she stands alone, arms crossing over her chest nervously. When she sees Eden she smiles but it falls with a frown as Eden stops next to her.
“Where is he?”
“He said that he’d be here in a minute.” She smiles and they wait in silence, the greying woman’s head jerking to look down the street every few minutes. Eden watches her get increasingly agitated the longer they stand so she decides to break the silence.
“That’s a lot of magazines you’ve got there.”
The woman’s blue eyes swivel to hers and she hums. “Oh yeah I collect them, the coupons. Thousands of people throw them away without cutting them out. It’s a nice little investment.”
Eden’s eyebrows raise. “That’s a good idea, I never do that.”
The woman nods with thin lips, looking Eden regretfully. She tries not to laugh. “I’m Eden.” She watches the woman’s face light up like a bulb with happyness.
“Ohh that’s beautiful. Not like mine, just plain old Virginia. My son has a pretty name like yours, both of you are like two peas in a pod, the bible has - ahh here he is. Gabriel!”
Eden turns around and sees a tall man coming towards them, wearing glasses. Eden doesn’t give him a second glance until he’s right in front of her.
“Oh my god.” Her mouth hangs open. There’s no way he’s the same person, there’s no way.
“Eden?” His eyes narrow behind his glasses and when he recognises her his face pales. His hand makes a move towards his face, to his glasses maybe, before he lowers it into a fist. “What are you doing here?” His whole body looks like it’s getting rigid, like he’s winding it up like a top that’s about to go whirling.
“You know each other?” His mother’s voice cuts through the air happily and Eden doesn’t even have to see her face to know that she’s looking hopefully between them. Eden opens her mouth to answer but Gabriel cuts in before she can.
“Yes, Eden works in a book shop. I’ve seen her a handful of times there.”
“But you know her name Gabriel. You never told me.” His mother looks a him reproachfully and Eden feels herself getting increasingly uncomfortable. He’s lying to his mom, they never met in a book shop. She narrows her eyes at him.
“There isn’t anything to tell.” The words are quiet and sulky to her ears and she raises an eyebrow.
“Thanks.”
He tilts his head, looking sorry as his mother admonishes him.
“Gabriel that’s not very nice. She helped me out of the goodness of her heart. She’s worth talking about. You never talk about your friends.” Her face softens and Gabriel looks at the ground, embarrassed.
Eden doesn’t know what to think. Last week he looked and acted like someone completely different but here he was looking like cookie cutter dork, right down to the creases in his pants. And he’s lying to his mom.
Virginia looks at Eden brightly. “Hay why don’t you come over? I have plenty of food, I couldn‘t turn away a friend of Gabriel‘s who is so nice.”
They both start to protest, Gabriel louder. “No mom, I’m sure Eden has more important thing to do.”
Eden shrugs, smiling at Virginia. “Thank you very much Mrs Gray but I do have to go to work. But I appreciate the thought.” Eden feels bad as the other woman smiles but looks hurt.
“She’s busy mom, don’t get on her case.”
“She’s not, really.” Eden looks at him before smiling politely at his mother.
“See Gabriel?” Virginia’s face becomes pleased, eyes always switching between them in excitement.
He smiles at his mother before reaching into his pockets and extracting rolled up plastic bags. His mother‘s eyes widen. “I was looking for these.” He bends down and begins to shove the magazines into the bags and Eden gets on her knees to help, crouching next to him. She speaks quietly.
“Well this is awkward…”
“Is it?” He speaks low like her, not looking around.
“Well I don’t know what to think -”
“Then don’t.” He looks at her in the eye and Eden sees the man she knows in them for a moment. She stares at him.
“You don’t have to be such an asshole to me every time we meet.”
His mouth thins as he begins to fill another bag.
“Well?”
“I’m not.”
“What?!” The word is louder then she intended and he glares at her after looking up at his unknowing mother who‘s filling her own bag, talking out load to herself.
“I’m not an asshole to you. If anything it’s you that’s rude to me.”
She scoffs. “Yeah right. Chandra’s my neighbour, you’re just going to have to deal with me being there. Papa doesn’t seem to mind.” She smiles at him, warm and sickeningly friendly.
He looks like he wants to pounce for a moment before a rush of air blows from his nose and his muscles uncoil. Eden breathes out a pent up breath, the rush of excitement fading. They work in silence, the air thickening around them.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re just being nice to Chandra.” She looks at him and sees that his gaze has softened. She’s always liked his eyes, when he’s being friendly. She smiles at him. A real one.
“What are you two love birds smiling about?” Virginia’s pleased voice issues above their heads and they look at each other with wide eyes before moving apart and standing. Both are clearly embarrassed.
“Mom why don’t you take what you can carry and I’ll bring the rest?”
“I’ll help” Eden chips in quickly. Virginia smiles and Gabriel looks at her quickly, nodding.
“Pretty name and an even prettier temperament. See Gabriel? They are out there, you just gotta fish them out.” She stands on tiptoe and pats his checks, moves to Eden and shakes her hand before taking a bag from her son and walks away.
Gabriel and Eden stand in silence, not looking at each other.
“Your mom’s nice.”
He scoffs derisively. “She’s alright when she wants to be.” He takes a look at her before picking up the rest of the bags. He places a hand on her arm as she bends down to help. “It’s ok, I’ve got it.”
Eden stands with half a handle in her hand, fingers curled next to his. She gazes at him closely. “Why did you lie to her? Your mom doesn’t know does she? About what you do with Chandra?”
He licks his lips, face stilling as his eyes penetrate deep into hers before he answers. “She doesn’t and I want it to remain that way, she wouldn’t understand. Any of it.” He looks at her significantly.
Eden nods. “I understand.” She tugs the bag. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you.” He lets go of the bag and they begin to head down the street.
“I hardly recognised you, you know.” She looks at him in his cardigan and grins.
He looks very uncomfortable. “I know. I know what I look like.”
“I think it’s cute.” She wishes that she could swallow the words back down but he looks at her sharply, lips quirking before he looks down.
“Thanks.”
“You’re not Sylar now right?”
“What?” His head springs up, eyes wide.
“I mean to your mother, wearing that. Or maybe she does know about the name, I don’t mean to pry.”
He clears his throat, recovering. “No, I’m just Gabriel to her.”
“You’re Gabriel to me.” She gives him a smile and her heart beats at the coyness that must be shinning out of it. He’s much easier to talk to like this.
His eyes narrow but not hostilely. “I know. I would prefer it if you did, if you don’t mind?”
“When you not all gee-” She pauses and he smiles at her, fully.
“Geeky, you can say it.”
“In the nicest way possible.” They’re grinning as they reach his mother’s building. She lowers the bags, flexing her fingers.
“I mean I don’t think Eden is your real name is it? I want to have a fresh start, so I want a new name. You understand?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Yes, absolutely. But you can go back to what you were before.” She flourishes her hand over his body and expects him to agree but he suddenly goes through a shift, his face flashing with so much sadness that Eden feels the need to move closer. But then he’s nodding, smiling lightly.
“I’ve got it from here, thanks. I guess I’ll see you at Chandra’s on Monday? We’re going away again.”
She smiles, pulling out a small paper bag from her pocket. “I know, I had to re-stock on crickets.” A silence stretches between them and Eden shrugs her shoulders. “I better go…”
“Yeah…” He presses the intercom and his mother answers quickly. He stands in the open doorway.
“Do you live with your mom?” She didn’t even think it about saying it, it just came out.
He gets red but smiles. “No, I have my own apartment…You can - you can come over one day if you like?” He blushes furiously and Eden again is hit with the surreal sight of such a dichotomy in one person.
“Sure, just tell me when. Ok, I better shoot.”
“Ok, see you later.” He smiles and nods, picking up her bag and she opens the door to let him pass. His carefully layered body passes her swiftly.
“I like you better like this.” But she’s out of ear shot as he turns the corner and is gone.