Heroes, "No More Fears" Claire Bennet, Peter Petrelli
Fandom: Heroes
Title: No More Fears
Author: Paynesgrey
Rating: PG
Characters: Peter Petrelli, Claire Bennet (platonic)
Genre: Drama/Friendship
Word Count: 686
Notes: Written for the "Treasure" theme at pairechallenge; also used for my Claire Bennet claim at 13_fears - #12, Autophobia; Fear of Being Alone.
Spoilers: Season 4, "Strange Attractors"
Summary: Claire realizes she will always be alone, and she runs to the one person who can help her.
Claire has never been afraid of much, and she’s feared even less since she’s been violated, died, and has come back to life again. She’s not afraid of blood, of knives, and horror movies are a joke to her.
Without so many fears, Claire sees her life as simpler yet dull. She’s rarely surprised by anything, not by vindictive people, not stupidity, and certainly not greed and hate. She floats above that, an extraordinary girl who cannot walk upon an ordinary world.
When she sees this, Claire is afraid - she doesn’t want to be alone. She doesn’t want to lose the feelings by being with people. She doesn’t want the connections to fade, to be even more alienated than she already is.
The harassment and stalking starts to break her, and Claire gives up. She drops everything. She leaves a note to her new friend. She says she’s sorry and wonders if Gretchen will understand. Claire feels a pang in her chest, and she knows she’s screwed this up too.
But she can’t wrestle the fear anymore. She can’t keep it at bay, and she certainly won’t ignore it.
So she gets on a bus and goes to the one person like her who knows loneliness. She knows Peter can help her because he embraces it.
Claire wants to learn this too.
She hesitates before she knocks on the door. When Peter answers, he’s surprised. His eyes notice the bag over her shoulder.
“Claire…” He scrutinizes her, and she can feel the tension in her shoulders soften away. It’s always like this; she relaxes just by being near him. She wonders how she can even stand being away from his presence this long.
“Can I stay here…for the night?” She wonders if he sees the fear in her eyes, and maybe it’ll sway him.
She knows his answer as he opens the door and gestures for her to come inside. She looks around his barren apartment and starts to have doubts. It’s lonely here, and she can’t figure out how he can live with it.
She doesn’t know if she can, but she’ll learn as long as Peter’s here.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, and he watches her as she lightly sits in one of the few chairs in the dining room. She sets her bag down and realizes its baby blue color already brings so much more life to his place.
“I realized something,” she says, looking at him hard. Yet, her voice is already choking. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t live in secret. I can’t even interact with people my own age without slipping up and revealing my powers. I’m a burden to them.”
“Claire…”
“No, I’m always alone… I’ll live a long time and be even more alone.”
She can hear her own heart beating as they pause in silence. Finally, Peter sighs and says, “I don’t know what you want me to do about it.”
Claire looks away, feeling almost offended. “I just need you to be here. For now.” Her voice gets low, exasperated. “I’ll figure something out.”
Then, her hand feels warm as he takes it into his. She looks down and sees him kneeling in front of her. “Claire, it’s going to be alright.”
She smiles, and it’s a little forced. She’s heard that line before, yet coming from Peter it never sounds fake.
The air feels different, and Peter draws away and turns on a lamp. Its warm yellow light changes the mood of the room. She looks up to Peter’s smile and revels in the silence just to treasure it - a smile only for her, a smile of rebirth and rejuvenation.
“Hungry? I was going to order some Thai.” Claire nods, and as he goes to find the phone Claire hugs herself and relaxes against the back of the chair.
As she watches Peter and gets comfortable in his place for the night, she realizes her fears are beginning to subside. Then, she feels it.
Something inside her heart tells her that she’s making the right choice, that this is the place where she truly belongs.
Title: No More Fears
Author: Paynesgrey
Rating: PG
Characters: Peter Petrelli, Claire Bennet (platonic)
Genre: Drama/Friendship
Word Count: 686
Notes: Written for the "Treasure" theme at pairechallenge; also used for my Claire Bennet claim at 13_fears - #12, Autophobia; Fear of Being Alone.
Spoilers: Season 4, "Strange Attractors"
Summary: Claire realizes she will always be alone, and she runs to the one person who can help her.
Claire has never been afraid of much, and she’s feared even less since she’s been violated, died, and has come back to life again. She’s not afraid of blood, of knives, and horror movies are a joke to her.
Without so many fears, Claire sees her life as simpler yet dull. She’s rarely surprised by anything, not by vindictive people, not stupidity, and certainly not greed and hate. She floats above that, an extraordinary girl who cannot walk upon an ordinary world.
When she sees this, Claire is afraid - she doesn’t want to be alone. She doesn’t want to lose the feelings by being with people. She doesn’t want the connections to fade, to be even more alienated than she already is.
The harassment and stalking starts to break her, and Claire gives up. She drops everything. She leaves a note to her new friend. She says she’s sorry and wonders if Gretchen will understand. Claire feels a pang in her chest, and she knows she’s screwed this up too.
But she can’t wrestle the fear anymore. She can’t keep it at bay, and she certainly won’t ignore it.
So she gets on a bus and goes to the one person like her who knows loneliness. She knows Peter can help her because he embraces it.
Claire wants to learn this too.
She hesitates before she knocks on the door. When Peter answers, he’s surprised. His eyes notice the bag over her shoulder.
“Claire…” He scrutinizes her, and she can feel the tension in her shoulders soften away. It’s always like this; she relaxes just by being near him. She wonders how she can even stand being away from his presence this long.
“Can I stay here…for the night?” She wonders if he sees the fear in her eyes, and maybe it’ll sway him.
She knows his answer as he opens the door and gestures for her to come inside. She looks around his barren apartment and starts to have doubts. It’s lonely here, and she can’t figure out how he can live with it.
She doesn’t know if she can, but she’ll learn as long as Peter’s here.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, and he watches her as she lightly sits in one of the few chairs in the dining room. She sets her bag down and realizes its baby blue color already brings so much more life to his place.
“I realized something,” she says, looking at him hard. Yet, her voice is already choking. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t live in secret. I can’t even interact with people my own age without slipping up and revealing my powers. I’m a burden to them.”
“Claire…”
“No, I’m always alone… I’ll live a long time and be even more alone.”
She can hear her own heart beating as they pause in silence. Finally, Peter sighs and says, “I don’t know what you want me to do about it.”
Claire looks away, feeling almost offended. “I just need you to be here. For now.” Her voice gets low, exasperated. “I’ll figure something out.”
Then, her hand feels warm as he takes it into his. She looks down and sees him kneeling in front of her. “Claire, it’s going to be alright.”
She smiles, and it’s a little forced. She’s heard that line before, yet coming from Peter it never sounds fake.
The air feels different, and Peter draws away and turns on a lamp. Its warm yellow light changes the mood of the room. She looks up to Peter’s smile and revels in the silence just to treasure it - a smile only for her, a smile of rebirth and rejuvenation.
“Hungry? I was going to order some Thai.” Claire nods, and as he goes to find the phone Claire hugs herself and relaxes against the back of the chair.
As she watches Peter and gets comfortable in his place for the night, she realizes her fears are beginning to subside. Then, she feels it.
Something inside her heart tells her that she’s making the right choice, that this is the place where she truly belongs.