The Man Out Of Time - (1/13)
Fandom: Heroes
Title: The Man Out Of Time
Rating: Up to PG-13. This chapter: PG-13.
Characters/Pairings: Platonic and romantic Paire. Ensemble.
Warnings/Spoilers: Set in an AU S1 timeline. Possible references to the future episodes from S3. No spoilers for S4. And Paire are not related in this one, folks!
Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes. And every illusion to the Time Traveler's Wife is Audery Niffenenegger's, not mine. If it wasn't for her book and Kring's show, this story wouldn't exist.
Summary: Peter meets Claire for the first time when he's 24 years old and she is 15. She meets him when she is 6 and he is 25, which would be impossible...if Peter hadn't acquired the ability to time travel. Unable to control his powers, he travels to her past and his future - but can he still save the cheerleader and save the world?
A.N: Mmkay, this fic is it. It's my baby. I've been working on it since last summer, changed it a hell of a lot and, yeah. It's based on The Time Traveler's Wife mixed in with canon Heroes verse, aside from the fact that Peter and Claire are not related, just because if they were related on top of everything else, it would be hella confusing xD. If anyone has read the book, you'll realise the format is similar. I hope you guys enjoy it, like I said, it's my baby. Updates will be a little slow to start, 'cause my exams are starting this week, but I don't think they'll be too long to wait :) Betaed by the wonderful wuhdemah! =)
“Long ago, men went to sea, and women waited for them, standing on the edge of the water, scanning the horizon for the tiny ship. Now I wait for Henry. He vanishes unwillingly, without warning. I wait for him. Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each moment I can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. Why has he gone where I cannot follow?” - Clare, The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Sunday November 15th, 2009. (Peter is 25 and 29, Claire is 19.)
Peter
When I came to, I could hear the distinct tones of Edith Piaf floating throughout the house…whatever house I’d managed to end up in. That was the problem with trying to keep control of my powers; I’d never know where I’d end up, or when I’d end up. It was all a game of chance, and it was remarkably unfortunate that I was just about to jump in the shower when Hiro’s teleportation had hit.
Yep, I, Peter Petrelli had been teleported, stark naked, into someone’s house…though I had a good idea who’s.
As if on cue, I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the room I’d wound up in - a kitchen, I’d suddenly noted, a kitchen with the distinct smell of cakes and pine, cluttered and yet cosy. Well, at least this time we had a working kitchen.
“Peter, Jesus! Put some clothes on, I’m hypothetically blushing standing here.”
I felt her smirk as I turned around, “I was about to get in the shower, sue me.”
Claire Bennet continued to grin, raising one eyebrow, her emerald eyes glittering with mirth as she surveyed my body and, though I didn’t mind, I suddenly felt like I was being studied like a piece of meat.
“Quit it,” I muttered, only pretending to be irked, subconsciously moving my hands over certain areas so they were blocking the view.
“Make me,” She retorted, then, “Where’re you from this time?”
“April, 06. Last time I saw you, you were 10, so ‘scuse me if this feels more than a little creepy.”
Claire relented, letting a soft blush cloud across her cheeks as she looked down. “I’ll fetch you some clothes from upstairs. You never mentioned you’d be around today.”
I didn’t bother telling her it was probably because I couldn’t remember where I’d wound up from one day to the next, as she was already halfway up the stairs. I found myself humming to the Frenchwoman’s lyrics as I waited for Claire to return, the only embarrassment I feared was someone unexpected bursting through the door at any second and finding me naked in Claire’s kitchen, which would involve a lot of explaining that I didn’t really have the energy, or patience, to go into.
Thankfully, Claire returned rather quickly, probably sensing my discomfort, and I gave her a smile as I slipped the clothes over my head. They were slightly baggy; a sign they were her father’s clothes, and I registered the fact that this wasn’t our house after all, and that the family had moved, yet again, in my brain.
The thought of bumping into Noah Bennet naked in his family home sent unpleasant thoughts through my mind, the man didn’t like me on a good day - I suppose it comes from being ten to twenty years older than his daughter at any given time - and he knew how to use a gun. This made me appreciate Claire’s hastiness even more.
“What year is it?” I asked as I was tying my shoelaces. I’d tried to distinguish the date while I was waiting, but nothing in the homely kitchen gave anything away and, well, Claire hadn’t aged a day since she was nearing seventeen, so that didn’t help, either. Her hair was blonde this time though, so that meant she was younger than the last time I’d ended up in the future.
“It’s November 23rd, 2009,” She answered, placing a soft kiss on my cheek as soon as I stood upright. “You look worn out.”
“Tell me about it,” I grumbled, deciding this was the perfect time to pull her close and breathe in her scent. “Nathan’s being a pain about the whole election thing - he won’t listen to me.”
“He will,” She soothed, wrapping her arms around my neck a little tighter than she usually did. I guessed things must be going on in our lives right now; she seemed to crave as much physical contact as I did, which wasn’t always the case. Claire sometimes seemed to be under the impression that she was cheating on me, which was ridiculous, as I was me. I wondered where Future!Me was right now; there was a subtle sadness in Claire’s body language that almost made me ask, but I relented.
“He’s still an asshole though,” I concurred, and Claire giggled into my neck, the vibrations spreading pleasantly down my chest and collarbone. “Wherever or whenever I am, he’s an asshole.”
“An asshole that loves you,” She pulled back from me, pecking me quickly on the lips before sashaying over to the oven, just as an egg-timer rang out, “I’ve been cooking, you hungry?”
As a matter of fact, I was. I’d been up the night before studying for my nursing exam - something Nathan still liked to call a ‘girly’ course to take - and ended up flitting in and out of sleep, eventually waking up on my couch with an incorrigible pain in my back. (It had disappeared as soon as I’d woken up properly, thanks to Claire’s power, but that’s beside the point.) That’s when I’d decided to clean up and get a shower, which had then resulted in me being here. It probably served me right; I was thinking about Claire and usually thinking about Claire consequentially makes me end up wherever Claire is, though she’s not always this, well, grown up.
“Starving,” I replied, taking a seat on one of the wooden chairs nearby. “You can cook now, right?”
She shot me a look and I put my hands up in defence. “I was just asking; you tried to make me cupcakes the other day - they were, how should I say this…very un-cupcake like and tasted like I’d just stuck my head up a fireplace.”
Claire snorted, “My cupcake days are over, thanks to you. Don’t think I didn’t notice the uneaten ones you left in the bin. I gave up my dream to become a famous chef that day.”
“Nice to know I destroyed your dreams.” I grinned as she stuck her tongue out at me. “I think I did the world a favour, we’d all be dying of food poisoning if you’d pursued that.”
She bent over to pull a casserole from inside the oven. “No one complains of my cooking nowadays,” she stated, “Though now I suppose I’ll be more mindful when Lyle doesn’t clear his plate.”
I laughed and opened my mouth to speak, but I could feel that now familiar whirling inside my stomach, and Claire’s form was beginning to get fuzzy.
“I’ll have to skip food, I’m afraid,” I rushed to say, as she turned around to meet my eyes. “You’ll see me again sooner or later.”
“I lov -”
My powers were decidedly rude in bringing me back to the present at that moment. Nevertheless, I knew what she was going to say.
The scenery changed around me, the future melding into the present and I found myself back in my small, tiled bathroom; exactly where I’d been before I left.
I sighed, walking through the door and eyed the mounds of notes still strewn across my coffee table and the living room floor ominously. If anyone wanted to know, my life was one big, complicated mess.