[fic] heroes: old wounds [1/?]
Title: Old Wounds
Author: motorbabyx
Rating: PG-13/R (?)
Characters: Luke Campbell, Mary Campbell, Jeremy Greer, mentions of Sylar
Pairings: Jeremy/Luke
Spoilers: Trust and Blood/Building 26/Exposed (s3), Tabula Rasa/Strange Attractors (s4)
Warnings: Slight AU, swearing, mentions of: violent thoughts, child abuse, bullying, and general mischief. Nothing too explicit.
Disclaimer: If Heroes was mine, it would still be on TV. So, clearly, it is not.
Summary: Once he's returned, Luke's home life leaves much to be desired; the thought that a new friend could fix this sounds downright stupid to him, but he can't know until he tries.
Author's Note: Not entirely sure if I'll continue this what with NaNoWriMo looming, but I'd quite like to. Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing more, and I'll see if I can't cook up a continuation. <3
Also, I'm terribly sorry to anyone I've spammed with all my cross-posting!
Luke gripped the bed beneath him, muscles tight and trembling. The sick heat that slid toward his palms aroused a shout, and in a moment he'd flung himself across his room, all previous thoughts of control forgotten.
He could not fucking take this shit. Another awful school day, another awkward dinner, another put-down from his Mother.
"You're such a fucking freak," she'd finally spat after Luke had rattled off a lie about his day. Lie though it was, it wasn't flattering - no, that wouldn't be his style.
She rightly called him on his bullshit, but went more than a little over the edge when she started yelling about how mentally fucked he must be if he couldn't honestly answer a question so simple as 'how was your day?'
They traded insults and shouts for a while, until she finally stepped a little too close to him. Deciding he wasn't about to willingly take what he knew was coming, he shoved her by the shoulders - maybe a bit rougher than he'd meant. Before he could so much as blink, the stinging throb of something colliding with his face found him, and he scrambled from the room before he could lose control of something far worse than his temper.
So now he was in his room, alone, trying to figure a way out of this fucking hellhole that didn't involve a shadowy man with dark intentions whisking him away from this torment.
Some of them involved running away. Stealing Mom's car (...again), driving nowhere in particular (definitely not to that diner) with no money to speak of. Yeah. Sounded like a solid plan.
Some weren't so ride-off-into-the-sunset, and more along the lines of one of those school shootings. Y'know, the kind where the shooter always dies?
He knew that shit was just fantasy, though - as much as he'd like to be free, and out, and away...he had no real plan. And until he did, well. He was more than a little fucked.
------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning in class, as he chewed on his pencil and stared toward the teacher with mock attentiveness - brain buzzing with ideas of what mischief he could get up to while skipping the rest of the day's classes - he caught sight of a guy stood awkwardly in the doorway. The girls up front seemed to already have taken notice, and were mumbling amongst themselves. He couldn't exactly blame them - he'd never seen this guy before, and fresh faces weren't all that common.
...it didn't hurt that he wasn't exactly bad to look at.
Luke's eyes flicked to the teacher as he saw her beckon in the new guy. He moved towards her with such awkwardness that Luke had to let out a snort of laughter.
"Alright, kids - we've got a new student who's just transferred in," the teacher stepped towards him, patting a hand to his shoulder. The kid looked so on edge Luke thought he might faint - then again, anyone who had to be in such close proximity to Mrs. Dowley usually had the same reaction.
"His name is Jeremy Greer. I expect you all to play nice with him," a pointed look was directed around the room. "Luke!"
Luke's pencil dropped from his mouth onto his desk, deer-caught-in-headlights look fully in place.
She never called on him - fuck, he was surprised she even knew his name with how much he ditched.
"Uh, yeah?" Luke mumbled, suddenly feeling the new kid's awkwardness catching as the weight of others' gazes settled onto his mind.
"Be his buddy for now, wouldja?" with that, she gave the new guy - Jeremy - a little push down the aisle. Luke nodded dumbly as he pulled all his shit off of the chair next to him. He was pretty sure no one had so much as sat next to him before.
Jeremy offered Luke an awkward smile as he sat himself and his bag down, immediately directing his attention back to Mrs. Dowley once she started speaking again.
Luke gave the other boy a sidelong glance while he was distracted, trying to pick him apart despite not so much as having heard him speak yet. He decided to change that.
"Don't worry, you're not gonna miss anything," Luke said lowly, eyes flicking to Mrs. Dowley briefly once he'd caught Jeremy's attention.
"She just babbles about nothing for the first few minutes," he explained, leaning forward as he folded his arms on his desk. His hands decided to start fiddling with his previously discarded pencil - he was never good at holding still.
Jeremy smiled slightly at that, eyes fixed on Luke's for all of a second. Luke had no idea where that light, squirmy feeling in his stomach came from, or why he suddenly felt like he needed to dunk his head in a bucket of ice water. He just knew he wanted that smile directed at him again.
"Good to know," Jeremy finally replied. Luke smirked briefly at having coaxed words from the other teen, but it did not escape his notice that Jeremy had eyed Luke's busted lip, black eye, and bruised cheek more than a few times while keeping a healthy distance between the two of them.
Luke snorted, sparing a hand to gesture to his injuries. "We have some real assholes around here," he addressed bluntly. He conveniently left out that he was one of them.
"Oh," Jeremy muttered, eyes soft as he pretended not to have noticed, "I didn't mean to-"
"Don't worry about it," Luke cut in automatically. He silently scolded himself while taking to nibbling at his pencil again; why would he suddenly be able to make an actual friend, after all these years? It was fucking stupid to even hope, let alone try.
"I was sorta the punching bag back home too," Jeremy said suddenly, tugging up his sleeve to reveal an angry looking scar along the top of his left arm. Luke stopped nibbling long enough to hunch over and peek at the other teen's injury.
"Whoa, how'd you get that one?"
"Got hit with a tree branch," Jeremy pulled a face for a moment, "tree didn't do it."
Luke smiled at the explanation, vague enough to paint several different scenarios in his mind. The other teen's slight southern twang filled in the blank spots.
"Where're you from?" Luke asked in a hushed tone, noting that Mrs. Dowley had started going after other students for talking.
"Georgia," Jeremy nodded briefly, casting a quick glance toward the teacher as he took note as well. "You always lived around here?"
"Nah, moved here a few months ago. I'm from Jersey," Luke could only smirk at the way Jeremy's eyes widened for a moment.
"Whoa, guess we're both pretty far from home."
Luke huffed in agreement, and made a mental note to ask about that some time.
"So..." Jeremy started suddenly, eyes sitting on Luke in (what he would consider) a very strange way, "they go for the face around here?"
Luke had to laugh at that. "Yeah."
"I'll keep that in mind," Jeremy smiled and offered a hand. "Jeremy Greer."
Luke could feel his face contort slightly in confusion, but he took the proffered hand none the less - the other teen seemed to ooze manners and politeness...but there was definitely a mischief about him. "Luke, Luke Campbell."
Jeremy gave Luke's hand a firm squeeze, holding on just long enough to make things ever-so-slightly awkward (were his eyes closed?). A strange tingling energy snaked its way up from their joined hands, all the way to Luke's cheeks. There it lingered, odd but not uncomfortable. Jeremy drew in a breath and finally let go, giving Luke a quick smile before turning back to Mrs. Dowley. Just in time, too, because her eyes had just flicked over to them. She exchanged awkward smiles with Jeremy, and Luke found himself incapable of moving.
He also found himself with that fucking weird squirmy feeling again - not to mention his still-tingling face.
Fuck. Is this what blushing feels like?
Once his senses decided to come back to visit, he immediately curled forward over his desk, pencil in hand and tapping against his notebook. Mrs. Dowley rattled on, and Luke's brain drifted off - no longer to ditching, or causing trouble.
Maybe...just maybe he could make some plans that involved Jeremy.
Author: motorbabyx
Rating: PG-13/R (?)
Characters: Luke Campbell, Mary Campbell, Jeremy Greer, mentions of Sylar
Pairings: Jeremy/Luke
Spoilers: Trust and Blood/Building 26/Exposed (s3), Tabula Rasa/Strange Attractors (s4)
Warnings: Slight AU, swearing, mentions of: violent thoughts, child abuse, bullying, and general mischief. Nothing too explicit.
Disclaimer: If Heroes was mine, it would still be on TV. So, clearly, it is not.
Summary: Once he's returned, Luke's home life leaves much to be desired; the thought that a new friend could fix this sounds downright stupid to him, but he can't know until he tries.
Author's Note: Not entirely sure if I'll continue this what with NaNoWriMo looming, but I'd quite like to. Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing more, and I'll see if I can't cook up a continuation. <3
Also, I'm terribly sorry to anyone I've spammed with all my cross-posting!
Luke gripped the bed beneath him, muscles tight and trembling. The sick heat that slid toward his palms aroused a shout, and in a moment he'd flung himself across his room, all previous thoughts of control forgotten.
He could not fucking take this shit. Another awful school day, another awkward dinner, another put-down from his Mother.
"You're such a fucking freak," she'd finally spat after Luke had rattled off a lie about his day. Lie though it was, it wasn't flattering - no, that wouldn't be his style.
She rightly called him on his bullshit, but went more than a little over the edge when she started yelling about how mentally fucked he must be if he couldn't honestly answer a question so simple as 'how was your day?'
They traded insults and shouts for a while, until she finally stepped a little too close to him. Deciding he wasn't about to willingly take what he knew was coming, he shoved her by the shoulders - maybe a bit rougher than he'd meant. Before he could so much as blink, the stinging throb of something colliding with his face found him, and he scrambled from the room before he could lose control of something far worse than his temper.
So now he was in his room, alone, trying to figure a way out of this fucking hellhole that didn't involve a shadowy man with dark intentions whisking him away from this torment.
Some of them involved running away. Stealing Mom's car (...again), driving nowhere in particular (definitely not to that diner) with no money to speak of. Yeah. Sounded like a solid plan.
Some weren't so ride-off-into-the-sunset, and more along the lines of one of those school shootings. Y'know, the kind where the shooter always dies?
He knew that shit was just fantasy, though - as much as he'd like to be free, and out, and away...he had no real plan. And until he did, well. He was more than a little fucked.
------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning in class, as he chewed on his pencil and stared toward the teacher with mock attentiveness - brain buzzing with ideas of what mischief he could get up to while skipping the rest of the day's classes - he caught sight of a guy stood awkwardly in the doorway. The girls up front seemed to already have taken notice, and were mumbling amongst themselves. He couldn't exactly blame them - he'd never seen this guy before, and fresh faces weren't all that common.
...it didn't hurt that he wasn't exactly bad to look at.
Luke's eyes flicked to the teacher as he saw her beckon in the new guy. He moved towards her with such awkwardness that Luke had to let out a snort of laughter.
"Alright, kids - we've got a new student who's just transferred in," the teacher stepped towards him, patting a hand to his shoulder. The kid looked so on edge Luke thought he might faint - then again, anyone who had to be in such close proximity to Mrs. Dowley usually had the same reaction.
"His name is Jeremy Greer. I expect you all to play nice with him," a pointed look was directed around the room. "Luke!"
Luke's pencil dropped from his mouth onto his desk, deer-caught-in-headlights look fully in place.
She never called on him - fuck, he was surprised she even knew his name with how much he ditched.
"Uh, yeah?" Luke mumbled, suddenly feeling the new kid's awkwardness catching as the weight of others' gazes settled onto his mind.
"Be his buddy for now, wouldja?" with that, she gave the new guy - Jeremy - a little push down the aisle. Luke nodded dumbly as he pulled all his shit off of the chair next to him. He was pretty sure no one had so much as sat next to him before.
Jeremy offered Luke an awkward smile as he sat himself and his bag down, immediately directing his attention back to Mrs. Dowley once she started speaking again.
Luke gave the other boy a sidelong glance while he was distracted, trying to pick him apart despite not so much as having heard him speak yet. He decided to change that.
"Don't worry, you're not gonna miss anything," Luke said lowly, eyes flicking to Mrs. Dowley briefly once he'd caught Jeremy's attention.
"She just babbles about nothing for the first few minutes," he explained, leaning forward as he folded his arms on his desk. His hands decided to start fiddling with his previously discarded pencil - he was never good at holding still.
Jeremy smiled slightly at that, eyes fixed on Luke's for all of a second. Luke had no idea where that light, squirmy feeling in his stomach came from, or why he suddenly felt like he needed to dunk his head in a bucket of ice water. He just knew he wanted that smile directed at him again.
"Good to know," Jeremy finally replied. Luke smirked briefly at having coaxed words from the other teen, but it did not escape his notice that Jeremy had eyed Luke's busted lip, black eye, and bruised cheek more than a few times while keeping a healthy distance between the two of them.
Luke snorted, sparing a hand to gesture to his injuries. "We have some real assholes around here," he addressed bluntly. He conveniently left out that he was one of them.
"Oh," Jeremy muttered, eyes soft as he pretended not to have noticed, "I didn't mean to-"
"Don't worry about it," Luke cut in automatically. He silently scolded himself while taking to nibbling at his pencil again; why would he suddenly be able to make an actual friend, after all these years? It was fucking stupid to even hope, let alone try.
"I was sorta the punching bag back home too," Jeremy said suddenly, tugging up his sleeve to reveal an angry looking scar along the top of his left arm. Luke stopped nibbling long enough to hunch over and peek at the other teen's injury.
"Whoa, how'd you get that one?"
"Got hit with a tree branch," Jeremy pulled a face for a moment, "tree didn't do it."
Luke smiled at the explanation, vague enough to paint several different scenarios in his mind. The other teen's slight southern twang filled in the blank spots.
"Where're you from?" Luke asked in a hushed tone, noting that Mrs. Dowley had started going after other students for talking.
"Georgia," Jeremy nodded briefly, casting a quick glance toward the teacher as he took note as well. "You always lived around here?"
"Nah, moved here a few months ago. I'm from Jersey," Luke could only smirk at the way Jeremy's eyes widened for a moment.
"Whoa, guess we're both pretty far from home."
Luke huffed in agreement, and made a mental note to ask about that some time.
"So..." Jeremy started suddenly, eyes sitting on Luke in (what he would consider) a very strange way, "they go for the face around here?"
Luke had to laugh at that. "Yeah."
"I'll keep that in mind," Jeremy smiled and offered a hand. "Jeremy Greer."
Luke could feel his face contort slightly in confusion, but he took the proffered hand none the less - the other teen seemed to ooze manners and politeness...but there was definitely a mischief about him. "Luke, Luke Campbell."
Jeremy gave Luke's hand a firm squeeze, holding on just long enough to make things ever-so-slightly awkward (were his eyes closed?). A strange tingling energy snaked its way up from their joined hands, all the way to Luke's cheeks. There it lingered, odd but not uncomfortable. Jeremy drew in a breath and finally let go, giving Luke a quick smile before turning back to Mrs. Dowley. Just in time, too, because her eyes had just flicked over to them. She exchanged awkward smiles with Jeremy, and Luke found himself incapable of moving.
He also found himself with that fucking weird squirmy feeling again - not to mention his still-tingling face.
Fuck. Is this what blushing feels like?
Once his senses decided to come back to visit, he immediately curled forward over his desk, pencil in hand and tapping against his notebook. Mrs. Dowley rattled on, and Luke's brain drifted off - no longer to ditching, or causing trouble.
Maybe...just maybe he could make some plans that involved Jeremy.