Title: Lyle's Thanksgiving
Author:
themaskedmckayRating: Gen
Fandom: Heroes
Pairing: None
Words: 787
Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me.
Warning: None
Spoilers: Spoilers up to episode 4x10 Thanksgiving
Summary: Lyle Bennet stayed home alone this Thanksgiving. He's sort of okay with that.
Author's Notes: I'd imagine Lyle gets pretty put out with all the attention Claire receives. His feelings towards Claire are, of course, magnified through the lens of hyperbole that is being a teen and a younger sibling.
"That's twenty-six fifty."
Lyle flipped through the envelope of cash his mom had left him and picked out a ten and a twenty. He passed them to the guy at the door. "Here. Keep the change."
"Thanks, man! Happy Thanksgiving!"
Lyle shut the door with a foot, his hands full balancing a paper bag filled with wings and soda pop on top of a large, flat pizza box. "Yeah, happy freaking thanksgiving," he muttered.
Usually Mr. Muggles would have been dancing around his feet begging for a bite of the pizza. He only did that for Lyle because Lyle was the only Bennet to slip him people food. His mom was pretty strict about keeping her champion show dog on diet. There was no dancing Mr. Muggles this time, his Mom had taken Mr. Muggles to Washington, DC for the holiday.
Lyle set the boxes down on the counter and rustled around in the paper bag for the pop. It was warm. It was the story of his freaking life. He popped the six-pack of Coca Cola cans into the freezer to chill and made a mental note not to forget about them like last time. Pop cans exploded when they froze.
The wings were hot, however, and they had even included extra hot sauce packets. The pizza, he flipped open the box and inspected the extra-large pie he'd ordered, looked like it had enough pineapple. He hated when they short-changed him on the pineapple.
He slipped two slices of pizza onto a plate and tipped the box of chicken wings so a sprawling mound joined the pizza. Technically he was in training for a taekwondo tournament next month but everyone else in the dojo would be pigging out on turkey and pie so wings and pizza wasn't really that bad.
Thanksgiving alone wasn't really that bad, either.
"Don't you want to see Claire?" his mom had asked him when he'd refused to join her on her trip to Washington, DC. Claire. Not, did he want to see his dad. Not, did he want to keep his mom company or because his dad wanted to see him. But did he want to see Claire. He'd muttered an excuse about schoolwork and thankfully she hadn’t pushed too hard. He hadn’t really expected her to.
Given what huge Claire freaks his parents were he really didn't think his mom would appreciate his point of view on the matter of his spoiled sister. Claire could die in a fire. Or not really die in a fire because she was freaking indestructible.
Lyle grabbed the biggest glass they had, topped it with ice, then grabbed a warm pop from the freezer and carefully poured pop over the ice. There was more ice than pop but at least the pop would get really cold fast.
If he had cryogenesis he could make the pop cold with a touch. He knew way too much about freaky powers thanks to his dad and sister. Not that he actually wanted to be special or anything. Most people got along just fine being normal.
He plopped down on the sofa and flipped on the television.
Claire could have all the attention. Being unnoticed was going to be his ‘special ability’. He'd graduate high school then skip college altogether; not that his parents could afford to send him after plunking down forty grand for a semester at some fancy school for Claire.
He was going to apply straight out of high school for a job like his dad's. He was going to wear a suit, pack a gun, and be a bad ass.
Well, maybe not a bad ass. He glanced down at the coffee table where he'd carefully placed his pop can on a coaster and he'd already laid out a place mat for his plate. Maybe he could work his way up to bad ass.
He just wanted to keep normal people safe from freaks like Sylar, Elle, Ted, and even Claire. People with abilities didn't seem very stable and it wasn’t like you needed a license or training to use an ability; any freak with a messed up life could take it out on normal people and unless people like dad were around they’d get away with it.
He flicked through the channels until he found a basketball game. He wriggled around on the sofa cushions until he settled deep into his favourite position with his plate in his lap.
Being alone on Thanksgiving wasn’t so bad and it was something he’d probably have to get used to. Being a bad ass, freak-hunting, secret agent was probably going to get him disowned; because the first freak he’d put away would be Claire.