It's a double fill!
Fic: Ignorance is Your New Best Friend
Rating: Like, PG-13.
Characters: Peter/Sylar, Emma, Hesam, Luke
Summary: A double fill! One is for the prompt that Peter is an oblivious idiot and hasn't noticed his new roomie is in love with him, prompting people to point it out to him. The other involves this lovely piece of art that Blue~Fire~Fly drew for me on DA, and it just inspired fic. Huzzah.
Warnings: Guy love, some swearing, unbeta'd. All that usual stuff.
HEY! Now with a companion piece by a_little_push, which can be found Here!
Living with Peter Petrelli is torture.
At least for Gabriel Gray, anyway.
Ever since the carnival drama, and Peter offering up his apartment to Sylar to stay in ("Since I'm never home anyway," he said), Sylar was finding it harder and harder to sit there with his hands to his self while his roommate paraded himself around half naked.
Or the fact that Peter is just so damn touchy feely all the time. He can't keep his hands off of Sylar. But Sylar's pretty positive the other doesn't mean it in a sexual or romantic way. Not even a brotherly way. No, if Sylar had to pinpoint it, he'd say he means it in a friendly way.
Which, of course, sucks.
Mostly because over the past metaphorical five years, Sylar has found himself hopelessly and pathetically in love with his so-called savior.
Peter, for the most part, is completely oblivious. He considers himself to be good friends with Sylar. In point of fact, he's Sylar's only friend, basically.
Not that he minds. He spends most his time working, but when he comes home he finds his sheets freshly laundered and some leftovers heated up for him. And God bless him, he thinks it's cause the other man feels like he owes Peter something.
So it's a surprise when one day he's getting lunch with Emma and Hesam (they started inviting him along, for reasons no one can quite remember) and the topic of his roommate comes up. Offhandedly, Hesam asks,
"So how long have you and him been together?"
Peter almost chokes on his water.
"What?"
Emma pats him on the back and shoots a glare in Hesam's direction.
"This Gabriel guy, isn't he your boyfriend?" the other paramedic is quick to defend his assertion.
"Where did you get that idea?!"
Peter is looking quite panicked, drawing some stares from around the restaurant, and Emma smiles nervously and waves in an attempt to bring some reassurance.
Frowning, Hesam fiddles with his fork and avoids his partner's gaze.
"I just...you know, cause you live together? And the way you talk about him? And the way he looks at you?"
"You've met him once."
"Once is enough, trust me on this."
Peter sighs and thunks his head down.
It was going to be a long day.
So time goes on, like it always does, and Sylar's still pining and Peter's still ignorant and no progress is being made.
So then one day Sylar is waiting at the hospital for Peter to get off his shift so they can get groceries after, and he stops by to say hello to Emma (who, by now, is used to Sylar's "public face" he wears when he's out and about to avoid suspicion).
MIdway through their conversation, Emma smiles up at the other man.
"Are you going to tell Peter, ever?"
Sylar frowns.
"What do you mean?"
She gives him a knowing look.
"You know exactly what I mean."
He looks away to avoid meeting her gaze and tries to formulate some excuse. Unfortunately, it's just then he spots Peter waltzing in with Hesam and some other hospital workers.
He's laughing and drinking from a water bottle.
Whatever he was about to say dies on his lips and Emma actually laughs.
"He has no idea, you know. He's literally completely oblivious. It's kind of funny."
Peter goes into the locker room and Sylar turns back to Emma.
"Yeah, well...just don't say anything to him. I will."
She puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles encouragingly.
Instead of pouring his heart out to his roommate later that night, he makes a mental note to talk to someone the next day. It's actually a long shot that he'll be able to find the person he wants to find, but while Peter's working the next day he hails a cab and catches a ride into New Jersey.
It's just his luck when he finds the house he's looking for, a tall, skinny teenager is just coming out of the house, texting on his phone.
"Luke?" he calls, and the kid looks up.
"Do I know you?" Luke asks, and Sylar just smiles.
"Maybe not like this," he shrugs, and motions towards the house. "Can I come in?"
Luke looks back and forth between the mysterious guy standing in his driveway and his front door before nodding and letting himself back into the house.
As soon as the door shuts behind him, he whirls around and finds himself face to face with Sylar.
"SHIT!" he shrieks, trying to back away and Sylar holds up both hands.
"I"m not here to kill you, Luke. Calm down."
Luke balls his hands into fists, but when he notices that Sylar hasn't cut his head open yet or any other horrible serial killer type activity, he relaxes.
"What do you want?" he asks, finally. The other man motions towards the couch. They sit, and talk, and catch up on pretty much everything that has happened since they've last seen each other. Luke talks about how his mom was actually a little worried when he left, and how he's been trying to go back to school.
Sylar talks about how he's changed his ways. He can hear slight disapproval echo in Luke's mind at his former idol having "turned soft", but he ignores it and instead tells Luke about his current dilemma.
Several minutes of awkward explanations later, Luke sits in silence, staring in disbelief.
"So let me get this straight," he says, brow furrowed. "You think you're in love with your roommate, who you once thought was your brother, and before that was your mortal enemy?"
Sylar frowns.
"You don't have to put it like that."
"Whatever, the point I'm trying to make is, why are you coming to talk to me about it? What about that Emma girl? Or even Peter himself?"
There's a long pause as Sylar tries to formulate an answer.
"To be honest, I thought maybe you could help me, since we're so much alike. Well, sort of." He frowns. "I don't know."
Luke settles back on the couch.
"Fair enough." He taps his finger to his chin. "Okay, so in chick flicks, the best way to let someone know you're into them is to like, do something nice for them. And then when they ask them about it, you say," Here he pauses to assume a manly pose and adopt a deep voice, "'Isn't it obvious?' And then you jump them."
"Luke, those are movies."
The teen scoffs.
"Chicks dig that kind of thing, man. Don't you know anything?"
"Yeah, but Peter is not a woman. He's a guy. Which is one of the big reasons I haven't said anything, and hence why I can't just take notes from When Harry Met Sally."
Luke rolls his eyes.
"Okay, then, how about...I don't know. Crank."
"The movie with Jason Statham?"
"Yeah, that one. Just go up to him and be like WE HAVE TO HAVE SEX RIGHT NOW OR I WILL DIE and he'll totally fall for it."
They trade looks.
"You know that is the most ridiculous thing you ever said." He stands up. "I think maybe coming here was a bad idea."
Luke follows him to the door.
"Wait!"
The older man turns back around.
"Look, just...tell him honestly how you feel. You don't have to buy him nice presents or redecorate his apartment or whatever the movies tell people to do. Just be yourself, and tell him all the reasons you love him. That should work." He smiles a crooked smile and Sylar returns the gesture.
Then, unexpectedly, Sylar pulls Luke into a hug.
"Thanks, Luke. You take care of yourself, okay?"
Before Luke can even mumble a response, Sylar has walked out the front door and disappeared.
A few hours later, Sylar lands on the fire escape outside their apartment. Since it was night when he left Luke's house, he just flew back home and made it just in time for him to catch Peter as he got home.
"Hey," Peter greets, tossing his bag on to the floor by the front door, "Where have you been?"
Sylar shrugs.
"Just out, you know. Getting some air."
Peter nods and disappears into the bedroom. He reemerges a few minutes later in blue jeans and a white v neck tshirt. He opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water, which he opens and drinks.
Sylar tries not to stare too much at the lines of Peter's collarbone and throat and instead focuses on the sticky notes they've stuck to some of the kitchen cabinets. One is a to do list, one is a quick note of stuff to pick up at the grocery, and another says, mysteriously, Pick up socks.
Peter puts the bottle down, picks up a pen from the counter, and scribbles a note onto a scrap of paper. He starts digging around for tape, and Sylar decides it's now or never.
Taking a deep breath, he says, "I need to talk to you about something."
Peter turns and looks at him with concerned eyes and Sylar's quick to add, "It's nothing bad. I don't think."
The medic gives up his quest for tape and takes a seat on top of his kitchen table.
"Yeah?" he asks.
"Well..." Sylar tries. Remembering what Luke had told him, he squares his shoulders, looks Peter straight in the eyes, and begins, "I want to thank you for letting me stay here."
Peter nods.
"It's no big deal."
Sylar nods back and they stare at each other for a moment. After a few expectant seconds, Sylar shrugs, "Aw, what the hell," and then plants his hands on the table on either side of Peter's hips and starts kissing the sitting man.
Surprisingly (or maybe not so much, if Sylar cares to look back), Peter reaches one hand up to tangle in thick, dark hair as he lifts his legs up to hook around the standing man's hips.
The kiss deepens and Sylar leans forward and insinuates one leg forward, between Peter's legs, earning muffled moan.
Pulling away, Sylar breathes, "How did you...?"
Peter slides his other hand up and runs a thumb across his roommate's cheek.
"I just did." He plants a quick kiss on the other's lips before adding, "You know everyone thinks we're fucking, right?"
Sylar laughs and leans in to Peter's ear.
"Well, we're not fucking yet," he purrs, and is quite pleased to cause a shiver down Peter's spine.
"We should probably remedy that, you know, so not everyone is completely wrong," he whispers back, and without another word, Sylar grabs Peter's hand and tugs him towards the bedroom.
Later, when they officially tell everyone they're together, only Emma has the decency to act surprised.
Rating: Like, PG-13.
Characters: Peter/Sylar, Emma, Hesam, Luke
Summary: A double fill! One is for the prompt that Peter is an oblivious idiot and hasn't noticed his new roomie is in love with him, prompting people to point it out to him. The other involves this lovely piece of art that Blue~Fire~Fly drew for me on DA, and it just inspired fic. Huzzah.
Warnings: Guy love, some swearing, unbeta'd. All that usual stuff.
HEY! Now with a companion piece by a_little_push, which can be found Here!
Living with Peter Petrelli is torture.
At least for Gabriel Gray, anyway.
Ever since the carnival drama, and Peter offering up his apartment to Sylar to stay in ("Since I'm never home anyway," he said), Sylar was finding it harder and harder to sit there with his hands to his self while his roommate paraded himself around half naked.
Or the fact that Peter is just so damn touchy feely all the time. He can't keep his hands off of Sylar. But Sylar's pretty positive the other doesn't mean it in a sexual or romantic way. Not even a brotherly way. No, if Sylar had to pinpoint it, he'd say he means it in a friendly way.
Which, of course, sucks.
Mostly because over the past metaphorical five years, Sylar has found himself hopelessly and pathetically in love with his so-called savior.
Peter, for the most part, is completely oblivious. He considers himself to be good friends with Sylar. In point of fact, he's Sylar's only friend, basically.
Not that he minds. He spends most his time working, but when he comes home he finds his sheets freshly laundered and some leftovers heated up for him. And God bless him, he thinks it's cause the other man feels like he owes Peter something.
So it's a surprise when one day he's getting lunch with Emma and Hesam (they started inviting him along, for reasons no one can quite remember) and the topic of his roommate comes up. Offhandedly, Hesam asks,
"So how long have you and him been together?"
Peter almost chokes on his water.
"What?"
Emma pats him on the back and shoots a glare in Hesam's direction.
"This Gabriel guy, isn't he your boyfriend?" the other paramedic is quick to defend his assertion.
"Where did you get that idea?!"
Peter is looking quite panicked, drawing some stares from around the restaurant, and Emma smiles nervously and waves in an attempt to bring some reassurance.
Frowning, Hesam fiddles with his fork and avoids his partner's gaze.
"I just...you know, cause you live together? And the way you talk about him? And the way he looks at you?"
"You've met him once."
"Once is enough, trust me on this."
Peter sighs and thunks his head down.
It was going to be a long day.
So time goes on, like it always does, and Sylar's still pining and Peter's still ignorant and no progress is being made.
So then one day Sylar is waiting at the hospital for Peter to get off his shift so they can get groceries after, and he stops by to say hello to Emma (who, by now, is used to Sylar's "public face" he wears when he's out and about to avoid suspicion).
MIdway through their conversation, Emma smiles up at the other man.
"Are you going to tell Peter, ever?"
Sylar frowns.
"What do you mean?"
She gives him a knowing look.
"You know exactly what I mean."
He looks away to avoid meeting her gaze and tries to formulate some excuse. Unfortunately, it's just then he spots Peter waltzing in with Hesam and some other hospital workers.
He's laughing and drinking from a water bottle.
Whatever he was about to say dies on his lips and Emma actually laughs.
"He has no idea, you know. He's literally completely oblivious. It's kind of funny."
Peter goes into the locker room and Sylar turns back to Emma.
"Yeah, well...just don't say anything to him. I will."
She puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles encouragingly.
Instead of pouring his heart out to his roommate later that night, he makes a mental note to talk to someone the next day. It's actually a long shot that he'll be able to find the person he wants to find, but while Peter's working the next day he hails a cab and catches a ride into New Jersey.
It's just his luck when he finds the house he's looking for, a tall, skinny teenager is just coming out of the house, texting on his phone.
"Luke?" he calls, and the kid looks up.
"Do I know you?" Luke asks, and Sylar just smiles.
"Maybe not like this," he shrugs, and motions towards the house. "Can I come in?"
Luke looks back and forth between the mysterious guy standing in his driveway and his front door before nodding and letting himself back into the house.
As soon as the door shuts behind him, he whirls around and finds himself face to face with Sylar.
"SHIT!" he shrieks, trying to back away and Sylar holds up both hands.
"I"m not here to kill you, Luke. Calm down."
Luke balls his hands into fists, but when he notices that Sylar hasn't cut his head open yet or any other horrible serial killer type activity, he relaxes.
"What do you want?" he asks, finally. The other man motions towards the couch. They sit, and talk, and catch up on pretty much everything that has happened since they've last seen each other. Luke talks about how his mom was actually a little worried when he left, and how he's been trying to go back to school.
Sylar talks about how he's changed his ways. He can hear slight disapproval echo in Luke's mind at his former idol having "turned soft", but he ignores it and instead tells Luke about his current dilemma.
Several minutes of awkward explanations later, Luke sits in silence, staring in disbelief.
"So let me get this straight," he says, brow furrowed. "You think you're in love with your roommate, who you once thought was your brother, and before that was your mortal enemy?"
Sylar frowns.
"You don't have to put it like that."
"Whatever, the point I'm trying to make is, why are you coming to talk to me about it? What about that Emma girl? Or even Peter himself?"
There's a long pause as Sylar tries to formulate an answer.
"To be honest, I thought maybe you could help me, since we're so much alike. Well, sort of." He frowns. "I don't know."
Luke settles back on the couch.
"Fair enough." He taps his finger to his chin. "Okay, so in chick flicks, the best way to let someone know you're into them is to like, do something nice for them. And then when they ask them about it, you say," Here he pauses to assume a manly pose and adopt a deep voice, "'Isn't it obvious?' And then you jump them."
"Luke, those are movies."
The teen scoffs.
"Chicks dig that kind of thing, man. Don't you know anything?"
"Yeah, but Peter is not a woman. He's a guy. Which is one of the big reasons I haven't said anything, and hence why I can't just take notes from When Harry Met Sally."
Luke rolls his eyes.
"Okay, then, how about...I don't know. Crank."
"The movie with Jason Statham?"
"Yeah, that one. Just go up to him and be like WE HAVE TO HAVE SEX RIGHT NOW OR I WILL DIE and he'll totally fall for it."
They trade looks.
"You know that is the most ridiculous thing you ever said." He stands up. "I think maybe coming here was a bad idea."
Luke follows him to the door.
"Wait!"
The older man turns back around.
"Look, just...tell him honestly how you feel. You don't have to buy him nice presents or redecorate his apartment or whatever the movies tell people to do. Just be yourself, and tell him all the reasons you love him. That should work." He smiles a crooked smile and Sylar returns the gesture.
Then, unexpectedly, Sylar pulls Luke into a hug.
"Thanks, Luke. You take care of yourself, okay?"
Before Luke can even mumble a response, Sylar has walked out the front door and disappeared.
A few hours later, Sylar lands on the fire escape outside their apartment. Since it was night when he left Luke's house, he just flew back home and made it just in time for him to catch Peter as he got home.
"Hey," Peter greets, tossing his bag on to the floor by the front door, "Where have you been?"
Sylar shrugs.
"Just out, you know. Getting some air."
Peter nods and disappears into the bedroom. He reemerges a few minutes later in blue jeans and a white v neck tshirt. He opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water, which he opens and drinks.
Sylar tries not to stare too much at the lines of Peter's collarbone and throat and instead focuses on the sticky notes they've stuck to some of the kitchen cabinets. One is a to do list, one is a quick note of stuff to pick up at the grocery, and another says, mysteriously, Pick up socks.
Peter puts the bottle down, picks up a pen from the counter, and scribbles a note onto a scrap of paper. He starts digging around for tape, and Sylar decides it's now or never.
Taking a deep breath, he says, "I need to talk to you about something."
Peter turns and looks at him with concerned eyes and Sylar's quick to add, "It's nothing bad. I don't think."
The medic gives up his quest for tape and takes a seat on top of his kitchen table.
"Yeah?" he asks.
"Well..." Sylar tries. Remembering what Luke had told him, he squares his shoulders, looks Peter straight in the eyes, and begins, "I want to thank you for letting me stay here."
Peter nods.
"It's no big deal."
Sylar nods back and they stare at each other for a moment. After a few expectant seconds, Sylar shrugs, "Aw, what the hell," and then plants his hands on the table on either side of Peter's hips and starts kissing the sitting man.
Surprisingly (or maybe not so much, if Sylar cares to look back), Peter reaches one hand up to tangle in thick, dark hair as he lifts his legs up to hook around the standing man's hips.
The kiss deepens and Sylar leans forward and insinuates one leg forward, between Peter's legs, earning muffled moan.
Pulling away, Sylar breathes, "How did you...?"
Peter slides his other hand up and runs a thumb across his roommate's cheek.
"I just did." He plants a quick kiss on the other's lips before adding, "You know everyone thinks we're fucking, right?"
Sylar laughs and leans in to Peter's ear.
"Well, we're not fucking yet," he purrs, and is quite pleased to cause a shiver down Peter's spine.
"We should probably remedy that, you know, so not everyone is completely wrong," he whispers back, and without another word, Sylar grabs Peter's hand and tugs him towards the bedroom.
Later, when they officially tell everyone they're together, only Emma has the decency to act surprised.