Sylar

To say that things were currently awkward between Sylar and Claire was putting things rather mildly. It was more of a question of who was more awkward at the moment. They had gotten to a point of having conversations, particularly in the morning, over a cup of coffee, while waiting for the rest of the Carnival to wake up so that they could start their day. They had even taken to talking at night before falling asleep.

In other words, they had fallen into an almost-easy companionship till the night of the eclipse.

With the fact that they had come very close to going further than cuddling and sleeping beside each other, there was new tension in their tiny trailer and between them. Claire had thought about pursuing the idea of her own trailer once more but the question never came up whenever she saw Samuel. Strangely enough, she found ways to conveniently forget till she was faced with Sylar and the silence again.

Tonight was such the case as they sat manning the Ferris Wheel. Sitting on a box by the controls, she leaned back against the fence while glancing sideways at her counterpart again. Sometimes she wished that he would say something -- even if it was something just to piss her off -- because she hadn't figured out anything as of yet.

He didn't, however -- or at least not immediately. Instead, he busied himself with the control panel under his fingers, picking at a silver of old, peeling masking tape that had stubbornly refused to part with the metal when whoever it was had peeled the rest of it off, pointedly ignoring her. Where his refusal to look at her had had something to do with awkwardness at first, in those days that had followed their near tumble into bed, his reasoning had taken a slow slide to something more familiar in the weeks that followed.

( Awkwardness had turned to rage and he was furious. )


Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 2045

i.

"I have something for you."

Mohinder looks up, smiling. "What?"

His fingers curl around the box in his pocket. It's not a ring, that part of their relationship almost two weeks behind them, but it's just as good and he's just as nervous. So much so that he finds he can't find the words, no matter how much he wants this.

Somewhere in the distance, bells toll the start of the new year, giving him an out, and he darts around the table to crush his lips against Mohinder's, wordlessly. He has all the time in the world to ask later.



ii.

The new year comes with a raucous cry and an explosion of color, and despite the fact that he was damn sure he wouldn't be awake to see it, the sound is more than enough to rouse him from dozing. He shifts a bit, straying just far enough away from Claire to glance at the clock, and then he curls up around her again.

He waits, counting the minutes until the fireworks stop making the shadows shudder, and leans to brush a kiss over her lips. She smiles against his mouth, never really asleep either, and kisses him back, softly.



iii.

( "It's midnight on the East Coast." )



Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 1000
Note: Each of these ficlets are 100 words exactly. May I never, ever decide I want to do something like this again.

Claire didn’t know if it was from being tired or not, but had taken her hours to come up with some sort of plan or idea on how to lure Matt to meet her. Nothing she thought up seemed like a legitimate reason to drag him in and put him danger because it would certainly be there. Even if Samuel had promised not to interfere, there was still Sylar. She could only hope he would be too disorientated to attack Matt after getting his mental capacity back and that it would give the cop enough time to run away. After that, maybe she could convince Sylar to leave Matt alone. She could only hope.

Sitting on the bench near the Ferris wheel, she looked at her phone quietly as she studied the number Matt had given her a long time ago. Pressing the call button, she held the phone to her ear and waited with her heart in her throat. As soon as he answered, she swallowed thickly before responding. “Matt? It’s Claire. Claire Bennet.”

"Claire?"

There was an almost amused note in Matt's tone at the mention of her name -- probably because it wasn't really Matt talking. Sylar had become aware that he was sharing headspace with the cop some time ago, and just recently, he'd figured out how to snatch control away from him. How to use his body to his own ends. And while the killer didn't relish the idea of wearing Matt's fatsuit, it was better than being without his body, and this? This phone call made it all worth it, somehow.

Grinning wolfishly, he shot the phantom of the cop that was still hanging around -- and shouting futilely at Claire to hang up -- a look and cleared his throat, before trying to imitate his headmate as best he could. "Yeah, hey. Sorry, I didn't recognize the phone number." A beat. "What's up?"

The almost amused tone caused her to pause for a moment because that was a reaction she hadn't been expecting. Rushed, worried or maybe disapproving? Yes. But not almost amused. Maybe he didn't know about what had happened? Maybe her father had never called him to let him know that she somehow knew about Nathan and that she had disappeared. She could only hope that was the case because then it would make it easier to convince him to come and see her.

( "I ... I need your help with something." It wasn't a lie, she did. "Would you be able to come and see me?" )


Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 2025

He wasn't sure where the flower had come from, the only living thing in the woods beyond the half-grown Evergreen trees they had come for, but he had the sneaking suspicion that Samuel had something to do with it. He couldn't say how exactly, aware of what the barker could do and knowing keeping something so fragile alive didn't exactly fall under terrakinesis, but how else could it have survived? The ground was frozen, a thin layer of frost blanketing what remained of the grass and the trees, and yet there it was, bright red petals reaching up towards the dark sky like a woman in prayer.

Regardless of the hows and whys, though, he moved over to it mutely, shooting a glance over his shoulder. Claire hadn't noticed it or him, too busy trying to find a tree that would work for them, for Christmas, and he smiled slyly, turning back to the flower with a plan in mind.

He murmured an apology to the flower -- silly, maybe, but he felt like a vandal, somehow -- and pulled it out of the ground. He looked down at it in his hands, thumb brushing lightly over the petals and mindful of the thorns, pushing dirt away, and then he was tucking it carefully into the flannel folds of his overshirt. He patted the space where it rested over his heart, making sure it wouldn't fall out while he walked, and turned back to Claire.

"Find anything?"

"Yeah," she called back, pointing to a tiny tree that would, hopefully, fit somewhere in the trailer. "What do you think of this one?"

"It's good," he said, moving to join her. And after a moment of the two of them studying it in silence, he knelt down next to it, pulling it free of the ground with grunt.

( She nibbled at her lower lip briefly. "I guess we should have brought a shovel, huh?" )


Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 831
Note: Claire is its_notluck and is used with love and permission. ♥

Samuel had made her promise that she would stay for one night and one night only. Soon, he promised, soon he would bring her home and she would be able to stay. She didn’t know what to make of that promise or what would happen afterward. She wasn’t sure if it made her feel better or if it only scared her a little more than the fear she was feeling at the moment.

He didn’t know exactly how they were going to bring Sylar out, or so he said. She was sure he had some kind of plan, he didn’t seem to be the type to ever be without one, but she had a feeling it was more that she wasn’t supposed to know yet. He was worried about her dad, she could tell and that’s why he was sending her home to her dorm with the promise Edgar would get her soon.

When she got back, she was relieved to find Gretchen gone but of course there was a little note on her pillow asking where she had been all night. Crumpling the paper into a tight ball, she tossed it into the garbage before dropping onto her bed with a sigh. She hadn’t slept at all, it had been impossible in a bed that wasn’t her own. Groaning as she rubbed her hands over her face, she tried not to worry about what was coming next or about how she was going to lie to her dad when he came to get her for lunch. Maybe she should carry a taser just in case he had the Haitian with him.

Or maybe she'd need the taser more immediately, knowing what she did now, as just a second later the door was creaking in protest as Nathan pushed it open. He didn't bother to knock -- hadn't really thought about it, only half with the rest of the world at the moment. He just let himself in, closed the door behind him, and leaned back against it, starting at her blankly, frowning though distractedly so.

( Claire heard the door open and she sighed, thinking it was Gretchen but when a bunch of questions weren't being thrown at her, she lifted her head sharply. )


Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 2392

He doesn't understand why his mother doesn't come with them into the diner; what the money passed between his father and his uncle means; why his father turns to leave without trying to manhandle him back into the car like he did when they set out. All of it makes so very little sense to a six-year-old, and so he calls out to him, feet pounding gravel as he bolts away from his aunt and uncle and after his father.

Samson Gray ignores him, gets in the car, and turns to his mother. An argument explodes between them and Gabriel can't say he's surprised even if he doesn't understand it, as it's all they've done in the last few weeks, so he just keeps running. Pretends it isn't happening, just like they pretend it hasn't happened -- they don't fight and he didn't watch his father hit his mother last night -- every time they catch him listening in or spying on them from the top of the stairs.

( His mother raises a hand in anger but his father is faster. )


Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 793