for muses_inthesack: distraction

He's been drumming on the desk for nearly five minutes now, only half paying attention to the mountain of paperwork under his fingers or Elle behind him, too set on the cadence he's tapping out on his ink blotter. Tap. Tap. Tap. Each beat perfectly uniform, each pause between sound the same length, never faltering as he tattoos the ticking in his head on his desk, his breathing somehow even despite his state of unease. And just when he starts to think it's helping, Elle rounds the desk sharply, catching his hands with hers.

"You want to cut that out?"

He frowns up at her for an instant before his expression seems to one-eighty, shifting into a smile that never reaches his eyes. "I'm sorry." He's not and they both know it. "Am a bothering you?"

"Just a little," she chirps brightly, her tone as near-mocking as his smile, and then she's sighing, letting his hands go. He doesn't go back to drumming, however, instead fixing his attentions on watching her as she moves around the room, seemingly as restless as he is. "Look, I get it, okay? You being Nathan Petrelli? Not a big turn on for me, either, trust me. But the whole I think I'm a drummer in DC's newest emo kid band thing?"

She shakes her head, shooting him a glance over her shoulder before turning in full, fixing him with a sour look as she sinks back against the wall. "Not exactly working out well for either of us, Sylar."

He sighs, reaching up to press his fingers to the bridge of his nose before dropping his hand back to the desk. "It's getting to me," he tells her, grudgingly. She's known him for years now, but he still hates talking about what goes on in his head half the time, and this is no exception. "I've been fine since the Petrellis decided it was a good idea to screw with me. The hunger? It's ... " He shakes his head. "But the last few days it's been ... "

"Bad. Yeah, I know." She shifts a bit, one foot and then the other, uncomfortably -- she knows what it is to be on the wrong side of him, and he can tell the idea that he's even near that breaking point frightens her -- and then reaches up to brush a bit of her hair out of her face. A deep breath, which she exhales shortly, and then, "We'll go find something for you to do tomorrow night after the speech. And in the meantime ... "

"In the meantime?" he echoes, prompting her to finish.

( She manages a smirk, something in her expression nothing short of wicked. "In the meantime, I can think of a few other things you could do." )

Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 2584
Note: Elle is not_myfirstday and is used with love and permission. Credit for the idea also goes to her, since I was drawing a blank for my final prompt of the month. ♥

monthly writing requirements (august)

For my own state of mind, just so I remember what I've done and still need to do. Yes, my memory is that crummy.

( Monthly Writing Requirements )