Title: Loyalty in the Face of Change
Chapter: Nine: Ten Years Later
Author: chasepoke
Characters: Characters in Heroes, but mostly Luke and Gabriel/Sylar
Spoilers: Season 1 and beyond
Rating: R - NC-17
Warnings: Apron cameo of doom
Summary: AU-ish. Luke and Gabriel attend the same High School back in the early 90's (which I'm guessing is when canon!Gabriel went to High School). The story follows their relationship throughout the years. I suppose the story will end when the series does. Wow, this summary sucks. Oh well, just read it.
Author's Note: Sorry this is a bit late. Been busy. Also, I took some artist's liberty on the whole eclipse thing. So yeah.
The day Dan and the others had mugged Gabriel and Luke had been ten years ago, yet Luke still thought about it from time to time. Usually at the worst moments. Like now, when he was supposed to be focusing on the drug raid. He felt a light smack over his head, “Ow!” he said. He glared at his partner, Mitchell.
“Well, pay the fuck attention. Jesus Luke, do ya have ADD or somethin’?”
“Yes,” he mumbled, too quiet for Mitchell to hear.
“C’mon, before we lose the element of surprise,” Mitchell hissed.
“Too late,” a rough voice behind them said. They spun around, only to come face to face with the perp, Ricky.
“I guess it’s gonna be one of those days,” Luke grumbled, preparing for the fight ahead.
Luke collapsed against the wall of Ricky’s home, panting, as Ricky himself was led away in handcuffs. “Damn that was close. We could’ve been killed.” Mitchell rolled his eyes,
“Thanks, Captain Obvious.” Mitchell pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket, “Swiped this from the perp. It’s about six hundred. Wanna split it?” Luke grinned,
“You bet.” He didn’t really feel guilty about stealing money from criminals. It’s not like they earned it honestly, anyways.
“Whatcha usin’ yer spare cash fer, anyways?” Luke smiled,
“Gabe. He deserves more than what he gets.” Mitchell shook his head,
“Ya spoil that boy, yanno.”
“I just want to keep ‘im happy.”
“Yanno, he’d be pissed if he found out just where ya get the funding for all the stuff ya get ‘im.”
“I know.”
Luke opened the door to the small house he shared with Gabriel, “I’m home!” he called.
“In the kitchen!” came the response. Luke hung his jacket on the coat rack and kicked off his shoes before heading into the kitchen to properly greet his lover. He sighed when he spotted Gabriel bustling around the kitchen in a bright blue apron with the words “Hail to the chef” and a modified version of the President’s Seal printed on it.
“I hate that apron,” Luke grumbled. Gabriel smiled and pulled Luke into a tight hug,
“No you don’t,” Gabriel breathed into his ear. Luke grinned,
“You’re right.” Gabriel pulled away to continue fixing dinner.
“You’ve had a long day. I bet you’re hungry. I made your favorite: pot roast!” Luke smiled softly,
“You’re a doll, Gabe. Why don’t you take a break from cooking dinner, tomorrow? I just got another bonus. We could go to Tavern on the Green or somethin’”
Gabriel bit his lip, “Aw, hun. You don’t have to spend all that money on me.”
“On us.” Gabriel smiled before chuckling a bit,
“You better be careful. I might let it slip to Mitch just how sappy you really are.”
“Rough day?” Gabriel asked, looking up from his newspaper as Luke flopped into the armchair in their living room.
“Yes.” Luke groaned and loosened his tie. “Donnie was released today. No jail sentence.”
“Donnie? That was the guy your team thought was responsible for murdering that teenage girl, right?”
“We knew it was him. Hell, we still know it was him. The jury didn’t agree with us, though.”
“What now?” Luke shrugged.
“We’ll continue investigating; see if we can dig up some more evidence on Don. If not, the case’ll go cold.”
“If it does go cold, that will be fourth one this year.” Luke sighed,
“Such is the life of a detective, I suppose.” Gabriel smirked at Luke and set down his newspaper,
“Well, I think I know how to cheer you up. C’mere.” He patted his lap. Luke grinned, slid off the chair, and stalked toward Gabriel.
Luke sighed contentedly and rested his head on Gabriel’s chest. “Better?” Gabriel asked. Luke leaned up briefly to kiss Gabriel on the cheek before settling back down onto his chest,
“Yes.” Luke said, “So how was your day?”
“Oh… slow. I had one customer. Brought in a Russian-made watch. Simple enough to fix. Went out to watch the solar eclipse for a bit, but that’s all.”
“Plenty of time to work on your watch, then?” Luke said, tapping the watch fastened around Gabriel’s wrist. Gabriel nodded,
“Yep. I think I almost got it, to.” Luke grinned,
“That’s good.”
“Your watch is off by nine seconds, by the way.” Luke turned to look at Gabriel quizzically,
“What?”
“Your watch. It’s off by nine seconds.”
“How do you know that?” Gabriel looked down at Luke,
“I don’t… I don’t know.”
Luke could barely concentrate on his work. Gabriel was worrying him. He was acting strangely. He read a lot more than usual and was always spouting out these random facts. Also, he had this… glint in his eyes. It was difficult to describe. It was a hungry glint and it made Luke uneasy. He hoped his lover was okay.
“Hey Luke! Pay the fuck attention!” Luke whipped around to face his partner, Mitchell,
“Sorry, Mitch. Got my mind on other things.”
“Boy troubles, sweet’eart?” Mitch asked, leaning against Luke’s desk.
“…Yeah,” Luke answered hesitantly, not sure he wanted to talk about it,
“What’s up wit Gabe, ‘eh?”
“I don’t know. He’s been acting strange. Talkin’ weird and readin’ all the time.” Mitch nodded,
“Yea, my girl’s been actin’ strange, too. She’s never been particularly inta plants before, but now she’s a regular green thumb, ya know? Ever since the eclipse…”
“That’s when Gabriel started acting weird.” Mitch scratched his head,
“Strange. Yanno, some people say eclipses have strange powers…” he said, with an air of mystery, before laughing. “Just an odd coincidence, I guess.”
“Yeah, I suppose.” Luke said, shrugging it off.
“Jus’ talk to yer boy, Luke. Maybe he’s depressed or somethin’.”
“I hope not… Thanks for the advice Mitch.”
“No problem. Now, can I get that fucking fingerprint analysis or not?”
“Gabe! You still here?!” Luke said as he entered the watch shop.
“I’m in the back!” Luke heard Gabriel call back. Luke went to the backroom.
“You’re off work early.” Gabriel said, looking up from a box of clockwork he had been rifling through.
“Yeah, I took the rest of the day off so I could talk to you.” Gabriel looked confused,
“About what?” Luke sighed and ran his fingers through his hair,
“You’ve been acting really weird.” Gabriel bit his lip,
“Really?” Luke nodded, “‘Cus, I’ve been feeling really weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, it’s like… I have this unbelievable need to… understand everything, lately. And I mean everything. From math to biology to mechanics to psychology. I don’t know why. And for another thing, it’s been way too easy. I mean, once, I scanned over the steps to performing a heart bypass, and I could immediately picture the entire procedure in my head. I’m scared, Luke. I don’t know what’s going on.” Gabriel shuddered and sat down in a chair.
“Jesus, Gabe, why didn’t you tell me?” Luke asked, going over to Gabriel and putting a hand on his shoulder,
“I thought you would think I was crazy.” Luke kissed Gabriel on the cheek,
“Hun, I would never think that.” Gabriel didn’t look very consoled,
“What’s going on with me?”
“I don’t-” Just then, the shop’s bell rang out, cutting off Luke’s sentence. Gabriel and Luke went back to the main room and spotted an older man standing in the doorway. He smiled when he saw Gabriel and Luke,
“Hello, my name is Dr. Chandra Suresh. I’m looking for Gabriel Gray.”