heroslayer | for muses_gonewild: evacuate the dance floor lyrics (Reply)

Still the night -- kill the lights
Feel it under your skin
Time is right, keep it tight
'Cause it's pulling you in

It starts with a lie.

It's something small and inconsequential -- something about his mother -- but the words shudder up your spine nevertheless and you just know he's not being straight with you. You don't call him on it, since it's not that big a deal and you're not sure you can explain even if you wanted to, but he still looks like a deer caught in headlights for a minute. He knows he's caught; you know that much, too, somehow. It doesn't occur to you that you heard his breathing hitch when you shivered, despite the distance between you.

You offer him a wan smile. "Sorry. I guess someone just -- just walked over my grave."

Despite the fact that he accepts the apology and crosses the distance to meet you, fingers immediately finding your hair, the expression he's wearing is almost sick, his eyes haunted. This hasn't been the first time he's looked at you like that and it probably won't be the last, but you can't bring yourself to ask about it. You both have your ghosts, both have things you don't want to discuss, and you're half certain that if you question him now, you'll be met with more cold dishonesty. So you don't bother, instead tipping your head into his hand with a sigh.

He combs his fingers through your hair for a few minutes, then tells you quietly he's going to bed. It's late and you should probably follow after him, but you're not tired. The dreams of places you've never been and things you've never done, so vivid you're sure they belong to someone, have stopped and with it has come boundless energy. Not that you actually do much with it -- you're on vacation, and your afraid of taxing yourself to the point of more lost time -- but it's kept you from sleeping the last few nights. You just lie awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to him breathe, and you're more than a little bored with it. You tell him you'll be in in a few minutes, that in mind.

He nods, watching you with an uncertain expression, and then leans down to brush a kiss over your forehead. You summon up another thin smile for him as he disappears back into the house.

You're not sure how long you sit there in the garden before the lights switch off abruptly. For once, though, you don't jump at the sudden dark or whatever might be looming in the shadows. Your rational mind knows that Mohinder's mother turns the lights off at the same time every night, assuming there's no one out here, and the dark is almost comforting, somehow. You don't bother to examine that fact too closely, though. Instead, you just take a deep breath, hold it for a moment, and then sigh, letting all the stresses that have plagued you the last few weeks out on the sound. And when you finally feel like you're at peace for the first time in a long time, you get up, ready to join Mohinder in bed.

A dozen steps away from where you were sitting and you realize that if you move right -- and it's so easy to move right -- you don't make a sound as you shuffle towards the door. It would strike you as odd if it didn't feel so right. A smirk turns your lips and you don't bother to fight it as you make your way to the door.

You reach out for the handle of the sliding glass, and there's an instant where something feels wrong -- just a shudder of something in your blood and a low hum in your ears, killing the wolfish grin on your lips. A second later a line of jagged blue light is connecting your fingers to the knob.

You recoil sharply, hissing out a swear as stinging pain lances up your arm in such a way you'd almost swear you knew what it felt like to be electrocuted for a moment, and stuff your fingers in your mouth on reflex. You almost jump when you go to shoot the glass a dirty look only to find Mohinder standing there behind it, watching you.

He pulls the door open a second time and cants his head to one side, frowning. "Nathan?"

"I'm fine," you assure him, dropping your hand away from your mouth so that you can stare down at your hands, feeling suddenly as if this is the first time you've really seen them "I went to open the door and got zapped by -- static electricity, I guess."

It's a lie, you know that much even if you can't explain what that was, but it feels damn good. Especially when you remember that Mohinder was the one that started it.

Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 806
Note: Mohinder is