Closed RP: The Morgan-Petrelli Tent

[likeabadpenny]

Damn, he had gotten dressed up for this? Surprise marriageStill, Peter Petrelli was hardly a man to fight fate - he tended to run face first into it - so he just calmly collected himself and headed down to the tent village. At least, by the looks of the rather large crowd, he wasn't the only person roped into this

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[likeabadpenny]

Seriously, what was happening? Peter was just saying the same sorts of reassuring things he'd say to everyone, but Rachel was acting like those same words were the best words she'd ever heard in her life.

But, despite his confusion, he started stroking Rachel's hair as she cried, hoping that it helped. Yes, the demon had said some disgustingly cruel things, and yes, he might not have shown up if Rachel wasn't there. But Peter still didn't mind.

"Well, that's your choice to not care about me, if you think it'd be better," he smiled wanly, brushing the back of his hand over Rachel's cheek to wipe the tear tracks away. "But Rachel, I want you to make a choice that will most benefit you, not me. Just take my safety out of the equation. I can't die, so it's not even worth worrying over."

Besides, Al was just another person to add to the list of people that wanted him dead. Admittedly, the list was short, and Sylar had been the sole name, but Peter was used to it anyway.

"Plus, I gotta say, I'll be pretty upset if you leave," Peter continued earnestly. "Don't worry about me, worry about yourself. Would it benefit you personally if you left me alone? If it does, then I won't stop you. But don't run away out of concern for me."

[racheltherunner]

"Yeah, right," I snorted, shaking my head. "Look, Petrelli, I..."

Swallowing hard - damn it, I hated stuff like this. I wasn't good at it, it scared me, take your pick of cliche reasons, but they all were true. I just wasn't equipped for emotional closeness. But after what Peter had just witnessed, after what I'd opened him up to, he deserved something.

"I can't take your safety out of things. Because..." Oh, freaking hell. "Because I do care about you. It's stupid and it'll probably get you hurt - it'll definitely end badly - but whatever. It's true. So I can't look at this in any other way but... Al, he..."

Okay, Rachel. Use your words. "I dated this guy. Named Nick. I was...we were happy. I thought. He's the reason I have the first mark," I held up my wrist. "But he kept...selling my secrets to Al. Stupid things about me, but demons deal in knowledge. Knowing things - like your name - that gives them power. Nick sold me out to Al. He didn't even realize it. Al's tricky. He's old and he's powerful and he's a real bitch when you get him mad."

I paused, worrying my lip. "So, what I'm saying is, I know this demon. Too well. So yeah, Pete, I'm going to worry about you. A lot. Because this thing has almost killed me on more than one occasion." Again my fingers brushed the demon scar on my neck. My eyes studied Peter's for a minute. "But if you want me to stay... I...well, if I..."

Words suck.

Leaning forward, I kissed him. Softly, briefly, just the gentle press of lips. Then I stood, walking back towards the table where Al had appeared. My mind was a thousand thoughts jumbling through and I wasn't sure how to separate them. I only really knew that he wanted me to stay. So I would. Probably the wrong decision.

[likeabadpenny]

Peter briefly considered if it would be a stupid idea to try and find Nick, in order to give him a stern talking to. Not to beat him up, because Peter didn't really work like that, but at least to let him know exactly how much he'd hurt Rachel. ...Yeah, it probably wouldn't work. But the thought was there.

The kiss surprised him, but Peter didn't jerk away - he let Rachel do what she needed to. If she needed comfort, and this was how she needed to take it, then he'd let her take whatever she wanted. He wasn't going to let it go further; that would feel too much like taking advantage.

He watched her walk over to the table, and reached up to grab the edge of the counter, hauling himself upwards. "Yeah, I want you to stay," he repeated quietly. If Rachel stayed, then he could protect her.

"Besides, if you hang around long enough, eventually you'll meet the guy that's trying to kill me," Peter continued ruefully. God, he hoped Sylar and Rachel were never in the same room together. Well, he hoped Sylar was never in the same room as anybody, really.

[racheltherunner]

If I'd known the reasons he let me kiss him, I'd have left right then. Right after shouting at him that he was damn lucky to be kissed by me and I hoped his balls fell off with rot. Lucky for Peter, I was not possessed with the power of reading minds.

Then again, if I'd known that, maybe my stupid hopes wouldn't have gotten raised. He should know better, really. Especially with what I'd told him. I had been hurt. Deeply. If a guy was going to treat me the way Peter did, I was, despite my best efforts, going to start getting involved. Better to know, straight off, that I wasn't wanted than to let me build up these ideas in my head. Like what had happened with Dean. I'd just been a warm body, but I had been too stupid to realize it. Until it was too late.

"What?" I asked, looking over at him as I stacked up plates. "Since when do nurses get death threats?"

[likeabadpenny]

Slumping against the counter as if it were holding him up, Peter considered his options as he watched Rachel stacking dishes. He could be straight with her, and tell her all about Sylar. He could warn her about what Sylar did, and tell her to run if she ever saw him. But honestly, Sylar seemed to going after the people that had flashier powers nowadays - Susan, for instance - and Rachel would probably just be left alone.

If he didn't tell her, she wouldn't worry. Rachel didn't need to know that every single fight with Sylar had ended in his own death. She didn't need to know what he did. Not if she wasn't a prime target.

"Right about the time I started throwing myself off buildings," Peter replied dryly, pushing himself off the counter and heading towards the bathroom. He needed a shower. And an excuse to evade this topic.

[racheltherunner]

Hell no.

My fingers reached out to grasp his shoulder, my eyes going hard. I'd opened up to him. Like I didn't do with fucking anyone. He was going to be straight with me.

"Why are you afraid of steel poles?"

Oh, no, I wasn't going to back down. Relentless, I stared him in the face, eyes searching for answers. "How did you almost kill your brother? What does .07% mean?"

I needed to know. If I had just trusted Peter with huge parts of myself I needed to know.

[likeabadpenny]

Though he didn't make a move to pull away when Rachel grabbed him, Peter didn't look at her in favor of looking at the floor, a frown tugging at his lips.

God, she went right for the hard questions, didn't she? She might not know that they were hard questions, but was asking them anyway. What had happened to when they agreed about the 'hand signals'? Peter had never pushed her, she'd volunteered everything on her own. And if she was felt she was obligated to get answers from him, she was probably going to be disappointed.

"It doesn't matter," he mumbled, taking Rachel's hand off his shoulder and changing direction, this time heading for the entrance of the tent. Screw showering, he was going to take a walk. Possibly go for a fly.

[racheltherunner]

Fucking...

Fine. Concentrating, I tapped the ley-line. I'd already gotten a visit from Al; I could probably do this without worrying. For now. My hair moved in that other-worldly wind and I hissed as I pulled in way more power than I should have. But I set up a circle just as Peter moved away, it snapping into place with an audible twang.

"I wouldn't cross it, if I were you," I said, casually. "It'll hurt like hell."

Crossing my arms across my chest, I glowered at him. "Look. I'm not exactly Miss Touchy-Feely. And right now, I'm kind of regretting telling you most of what I have. But if we're going to live together, we have to be straight with each other. You know my demons. Literally. So how about you tell me what I need to know? It does matter."

I moved forward, eyes snapping. "And don't you dare stand there and think about protecting me. I handed you your ass yesterday, abilities or no. I've faced way worse than you could imagine, cookie. So spill. Or we'll just hang out in my circle all day."

The uncomfortable press of the ever after was saying different, of course. But Peter didn't know that. I just hoped he didn't call my bluff.

[likeabadpenny]

Peter had stopped about an inch away from the edge of the circle, and from what Rachel said about what would happen if he crossed, he was fairly thankful that he did. Not that he wouldn't heal, but he didn't really like pain that he could avoid.

Rachel seemed pretty intent on him sharing. Yes, he knew her demons now, so to speak. And yes, by not telling her he was trying to protect her. And, admittedly, she had handed his ass to him, so it wasn't logical to think that he could protect her when she couldn't protect herself.

But screw logic.

Heaving a sigh, Peter sat down on the floor, more intent on staring at his knees than thinking about answering Rachel. She didn't need to know.

So, silence was clearly the better option. With a lot of sulky staring.

[racheltherunner]

Oh, for the love of... Fine.

Huffing out an irritated breath, I sank to the floor in front of him. For a while, there was just silence in which I numbered the ways I was so going to make his life miserable for this. He obviously didn't know who he was dealing with. I wrote the freaking book on stubborn.

After a while, though, I remembered my long time hatred of stupid, pointless silence. Big mouth, small fuse, it's a problem.

"Why?" I asked, looking annoyed. "Why are you so intent on not telling me? What gives you the right to treat me like an idiot?"

[likeabadpenny]

Ah, silence. Whoever coined that specific term that described it as golden had gotten it right. It was nice, peaceful in the knowledge that Peter didn't have to answer any questions righ now.

Until Rachel broke it with more questions. God damn it.

For a while, Peter just continued staring at his knee, picking at a loose thread in his jeans. His reply to Rachel was largely formed in his - he didn't think she was an idiot, he wasn't treating her like one, he just... didn't want to tell her. Because Rachel was so intent on him leaving, he didn't want to say that he was going to have to. Whether it was because of unstable powers, or something so simple as the Hat deciding to annul the marriages (which was a faint possibility, maybe).

Or maybe it was because the way she'd looked at him - with excitement over his powers, fondly over his teasing, thankful over his willingness to stay - made him feel better about himself. And telling her about everything... would change that.

"I don't think I know how to let people help me," Peter confessed finally. "It just doesn't happen. I'm a listener, a helper, not a talker." Except when it came to Nathan, really. But sometimes Peter wasn't so sure that actually counted as being helped.

[racheltherunner]

"Tough." Wow, I was good at this. "Look, I know this is temporary." A given when it came to me anyway, even more so in our current situation. "But I'm a runner, Pete. I need to know what's in front of me. And I'm not asking for all the private details of your life. I'm asking what Al meant by having a pole shoved through your head, or you killing your brother. These are relevant things to someone living with you."

Pausing, I took a small breath. "You show me yours, I'll show you mine."

What I was about to do took more trust than I thought I had in me. And Peter had yet to return anything I'd given out. But I was going to try. This one step more, I was going to try. And if he rebuffed me again, I was leaving.

Pulling my hair back, I tipped my neck to the side to display my scar. "How much do you know about vampires?"

[likeabadpenny]

Okay, good point, those probably were relevant things to mention to somebody that you were living with. Peter just had no idea how to say them. Oh yeah, I have this habit of exploding with enough force to wipe out millions of people? Or how about Say, I bet you didn't know that there's a serial killer after my brain, and he'd kill you just to get to me?

Hell no.

Instead of looking happy that Rachel was willing to talk about something personal, or even asking, Peter just looked depressed at the question. He knew where this went. Rachel told him something personal, and he'd feel obligated to say something in return. God, he hated obligation.

"Okay, okay," Peter didn't ask Rachel to continue about her scar. Instead, he rested his elbows on his knees, pressed his forehead into his hands. "There's a serial killer after me. He absorbs abilities by removing peoples brains and studying them, or something. He's... already tried it once on me. When I showed up here, he was here, too." Peter paused, and laughed quietly, sounding almost hysterical. This was so stupid. "I tried to stop him. Tried to be a hero. He ended up overpowering me, TK'd a steel pole at my head. I stopped time before it happened, but then I... just let it happen. I even moved so that it would get me exactly where it needed to go through to kill me."

And then his poor brother had had to remove said steel pole. Peter would never forgive himself for that. Peter chuckled darkly again. "I just wanted a break, I swear. Everything's... too much, and I couldn't deal. All I wanted was some time off."

[racheltherunner]

Oh.

Well, now I felt like an ass.

My circle went down with a quick moment of concentration. God, too much power, hurt a lot, damn it. Taking a few deep breaths, I managed to shove that aside and focus on Peter again.

Moving to sit beside him, I hesitated for a second before putting my arm around him. "Hey," I said, quietly. I wasn't going to apologize for pushing him. I needed to know. It would be foolish to be around people like us and not ask the questions.

"I would have done the same thing." It was true. If there was some bastard going around, ripping the tops of peoples' heads off, I'd go after them. Whatever the risk. "That's not trying to be a hero, Peter. That's just doing what needs to be done."

My fingers combed lightly through his hair. Almost like I was comforting him. Taking a breath, I shrugged. "And I get the 'time off' thing. Trust me." One corner of my mouth tipped up in a rueful smile. "I know exactly that feeling."

Absently pressing a kiss to the top of Peter's head, I continued, "So, this can be your break. There's nothing you can do that I can't handle, Peter. I wish you'd believe me. And you can just...relax." I offered him a grin. "I'll even make you breakfast every morning. But this can be what you need, Pete, if you want it to be."

God, I was not this person normally. What the hell in Peter brought it out of me?

All I knew was that if this serial killer came looking for Peter, he was going to find out what a Witch could do.

[likeabadpenny]

None of that really made Peter feel any better, but let Rachel hug him nonetheless. He'd never been able to take comfort in people saying they understood; it all seemed a bit pithy when they hadn't done the exact same things. Maybe that was harsh, but he'd decided long ago that he could never empathize, he could only sympathize.

Besides, taking time off and relaxing around the tent... it sounded good. Not specifically the kind of way he'd meant - but there was some people he didn't think would take too kindly to Peter getting the idea of... he didn't know, spending a month in the desert, or something. Somewhere away from people.

He loved people, he did. But recently, he just couldn't be around them. It felt too cruel to connect with them, knowing he'd have to up and leave for whatever reasons. People leaving him, Peter was used to - girlfriends, his brother, his terminal patients. He hated when it had to happen the other away around, though.

"Yeah, maybe," Peter eventually spoke up hesitantly. If nothing else, he'd give it a try. Maybe co-habiting with someone would be good for him. "Though I wouldn't ask you to make breakfast every day. I don't really want to get fat and old."