Fic: Baby, You Should Let Me Love You
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Peter Petrelli, Sylar/Gabriel, Nathan Petrelli (gasp!), mentions of others
Summary: Based on this prompt: In I am Sylar we can see how Sylar is very jealous of Nathan for have Peter in his life. Something related with that please.
Warnings: Unbeta'd, spoilers through season 4, eventual gayness and maybe some OOC. I really have no idea.
Notes: I had to rewatch the episode to see what happened in it but it can definitely have slashy undertones. So here's this. Let's pretend Peter forgave Sylar and is very nice now.
(Also, can you tell I hate Nathan? Cause uh...yeah. I do.)
PS For the record, no Petrellicest is implied. Cause um, no. Never.
Something is eating away at Gabriel Gray. It's not the guilt, since that is constantly on his mind. He wonders, briefly, if it's worry about the coming future, but he quickly dismisses that thought. He's been hiding out, laying low, since Claire revealed herself and her ability to the public, and he's felt okay. But recently, something has been niggling at his mind.
He thinks about it for a long time until one afternoon, as he listens the wind howling away outside, he remembers.
He remembers a night a year and a half ago, when he stood in Senator Petrelli's office and told him what a lucky bastard he was. How he was wasting his life, ruining all the good things he had, that he's been given.
Nathan didn't deserve what he had.
He remembers looking at the photo of Peter and Nathan, wearing matching tuxes and smiling, and fuming, "You don't deserve Peter."
Nathan, to his credit, looks at Sylar for a moment before asking, "What do you mean?"
Sylar tried not to, he really did, but he ended up growling, "You've been treating your own brother so badly, and even though he loves you, you push it right back in his face. You're losing him and there's nothing you can do about it. He deserves better."
He's about to reach up and cut open that son of a bitch's head when he falls forward suddenly, and Danko walks in.
Gabriel's memory seems to end there and he frowns when he realizes what he was saying. Did he really just confess to Nathan Petrelli, of all people, that he cared about Peter?
Sure, he went around, telling anyone who would listen how much he hated Peter, called him weak, but in the end, he really did respect him.
If he had to pinpoint when that happened, Gabriel thinks it must have been when a powerless Peter came to save him at Pinehearst. It really meant a lot to him; So much so, that it was almost impossible for him to end up throwing the other man out the window. Maybe that's what prompted him to slow down his fall and save his life?
Gabriel still feels bad for taking Peter's beloved brother away, even after all that time, so he decides to take a chance. He's done being jealous, he's done wondering what could have been. Now, after so much history with Peter, he's ready to go see what can happen. He'll take whatever he'll give him, any kind of attention because it's from Peter and he, he is what matters.
He ends up coming to Peter's apartment one early evening during a sudden downpour, and Peter, of course, lets him inside.
After being offered some towels, he dries off as best he can and waits until they're both settled down with some hot tea before speaking his piece.
"I decided something the other day," he begins.
Peter watches him with those incredibly expressive eyes and smiles.
"Yeah? What did you decide?"
"Well..." Gabriel hesitates, but when the man sitting across from him smiles encouragingly, he continues. "I've noticed that you are not getting the love you deserve from the people around you. They ignore you, they take advantage of you, they assume you'll be there. I don't think that's right."
Peter's expression slowly changes to a more somber one, but his eyes...there's something there. Gabriel can tell. So he takes a deep breath and finishes his thought.
"I would like to propose that you let me love you like you deserve to be loved."
For a long time, neither of them speak as Peter processes what Gabriel has just told him, looking equal parts lost and hopeful. Finally, he looks up and says, slowly, "Are you saying that you...that you're in love with me?"
Gabriel shakes his head yes, watching Peter carefully, but he doesn't do anything right away.
"How?"
"I realized how jealous I am of the people who get to be close to you, are allowed to hold you and laugh with you. People who get to be your friends, among other things."
Vaguely, Gabriel remembers Emma and tries to decide if maybe he's barking up the wrong tree, here. Lucky for him, Peter's face softens as the words sink in and he pushes his chair away from the table and stands up. Gabriel stands up, too, and waits for the rejection.
It doesn't come.
Instead, Peter walks around the table and wraps his arms around the other man's middle, burying his face against Gabriel's chest.
Slowly, carefully, Gabriel reaches his arms up and wraps them tightly around Peter, only then realizing his hands are shaking.
"Your heart is beating really fast," Peter mumbles into the fabric underneath his chin, and Gabriel nods stupidly.
"It's because I'm nervous."
Peter chuckles, a gorgeous sound, and mumbles, "Don't be."
Gabriel relaxes a little, letting his head droop to rest against the top of the other man's head, and they stand like that, frozen, for a while.
After wondering if that was a cricket he just heard chirp, Gabriel pipes up, "Is this okay?"
Peter shifts so he can move his head, making Gabriel move, too, and then Peter is standing on tip toe and planting a kiss on the taller man's jaw.
"No, I like to hug all the people I hate."
Maybe it's just the sudden onslaught of emotion, but Gabriel shoves Peter playfully, then ends up tugging him back and kissing him, just briefly, on the lips. It's apparently a signal, because soon he has an armful of Peter, kissing him very, very thoroughly until they're both short of breath.
"Does this mean you accept?"
Peter just looks up at him front under long eyelashes and smirks.
"Come on," he says, lacing his fingers with Gabriel's. "Let's get you out of those wet clothes."
Gabriel takes that to mean yes.