Ficlet: Couple of Guys [1/1] Heroes [Peter/Matt]

[perpetual_motion]

Title:  Couple of Guys
Author:  Perpetual Motion
Fandom: Heroes
Pairing: Peter/Matt
Rating: R [Lots of fun words]
Summary:  Matt, Peter, and a night of hanging out.

Disclaimer:  Not mine.  Lied.

Author’s Notes:  I’m fairly certain the boy s are in some sort of safe house environment.  No, I don’t know why, but I feel it’s important to note, considering some of the details in the furniture in the story.

Couple of Guys
By Perpetual Motion

He’s taken to writing down everything he remembers people thinking at the end of the day.  He pictures his head emptying out like a water pitcher, and it makes the ache behind his eyes fade away a little as the sun goes down.

“Anything good?”  This from Peter, said aloud but at a level just above a whisper. 

“People were angry today.”  Matt scribbles cocksucking whore and grimaces as his headache spikes.  “Mondays are never good.”

“Everyone’s going back to work.”

“Yeah.  Sure.” 

Cunt.  Fucker.  Spreads his goddamn legs.

“People sure curse a lot in their heads.”

That makes Matt grin, just a little.  “You really have no idea.” 

Oh, I think I have a fucking idea.

Matt laughs, and the pen in his hand scratches off the page, leaving a wobbly line where he was writing stupid shi-.  He puts the pen down and keeps laughing, head in his hands, and when he’s done, gasping for air with tears in his eyes, his headache’s completely gone.  He wipes his eyes and throws Peter a sideways glance.  “Thanks.”

“Happy to help.” Peter snags the pad and flips through it.  “Why do you do this?”

I’m a cop, Matt thinks and watches the way Peter cocks his head, knows it’s the way he cocks his own.  “I’m just used to taking notes.  That’s all you do in patrol; drive around and take notes.”

“There really is a lot of swearing here,” Peter says with amusement.  “Don’t you ever run into church-going people?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Never heard anyone praying?”

Matt thinks about it.  “I don’t know.  I don’t know if I would recognize what it sounds like.”

How very sad of you.

“Shut up,” he says, but he’s smiling.

Peter tosses the pad on the table and stands up.  “You want to grab dinner or something?  We’ve still got a couple of hours before everyone’s going to be back.”

No more people.

“We could order in.  Freak out the delivery boy.”

“How?”

“Whatever he’s thinking about, we’ll be talking about when he shows up. “

“That’s kind of cruel.”

Peter raises his eyebrows.  “Come on, man.  You spent all day getting verbally assaulted.  You deserve to get a little back.”

Aren’t we the good guys?

“We can be dicks for five minutes.  No one’s around.”  Our secret. 

“Pizza or Chinese?” Matt cocks his head at Peter’s grin.  “Not with mushrooms we’re not.”

Goddamnit.

*

They order the pizza [no mushrooms, extra cheese] and freak out the delivery boy [who was thinking about sex and music and weed] and they settle onto the battered couch that Mohinder had scrounged up one day that smells faintly of dust and old lady.  Matt gets a couple of beers and paper towels, and they put their feet on the third-hand coffee table and fight over the remote.

“Cheating!”  Matt declares when Peter uses telekinesis.

Too bad.

Prick.

Peter just grins and flips around, purposefully skipping the news, stopping to mock a nighttime drama, and finally settling on a minor league baseball game.  He raises his eyebrows at Matt.  “Good?”

“Fine,” Matt says around a mouthful of pizza.

They watch the game, yelling advice when the pitcher throws too wide and belittling the umpire when he calls an out as a man slides home.  Matt is strongly reminded of the date nights he used to have with Janice, before the madness of what he does now sent her to her mother’s temporarily and then for good, little Matt tucked away in the ‘burbs with Mommy and Grandma and Daddy when he can find time to come and see him.

How is he?

Matt jerks at the question, beer nearly spilling down his front.  He looks at Peter, who has his head cocked again, and he reminds himself, yet again, that just because he’s not making an attempt to have someone hear him doesn’t mean someone can’t.

Sorry.  It just kind of filtered in.

“No, it’s fine.  It’s-you have a lot of powers. “

Peter grins, “yeah.”

“And I forget that you can hang out in my head, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“And he’s fine, thanks.  Janice sent me new pictures.  He’s going to be three next month.”

You miss him.

“All the damned time.”

And her?

Matt narrows his eyes.  There’s something in Peter’s – he can’t quite call it a tone –that sets off the bells in his head.  Something about the hesitance in the question.  “I miss her, sure, but we…” he trails off, cocks his head and concentrates on Peter.  He expects an attempt to block him, but Peter just looks at him, and Matt picks up bits and pieces.  There’s a comment about the short stop on the television, a want for another beer, and then, fleetingly, something about kissing.  Matt hones in on it, eyes squinting, and tries to follow it around Peter’s head.  He closes his eyes and pictures a street, Peter’s thought in front of him, and he tracks it, the barest whisper sending him in a new direction.  It’s a chase, but he finally manages to reach out and grab the tail end of it.

…kiss you.

Matt can only open his eyes and stare.  Peter just watches him, face mostly blank save for the crease between his eyebrows that always forms when he’s concentrating.  “I don’t know what to say to that,” he finally states.

It’s okay.

“Yeah?”

It’s been there awhile.  I wouldn’t have-

I know.  Matt puts his beer on the table and takes a breath in though his nose and out through his mouth.  He looks at the pizza, at the table, at the faded flowers on the couch, and finally at Peter.  You really want to?

Yeah.

Why?

I dunno, really.  And Peter breaks into a smile that’s mostly self-conscious and completely genuine.  Just do.

Huh. 

And that’s as far as Matt gets before Peter leans in and kisses him on the mouth.  It’s brief and chaste and Peter’s lips are slightly greasy.  Matt just sits and stares at him when he pulls away.

You okay?  Peter asks after a minute.

I…  Matt shakes his head and clears his throat.  “Didn’t think you’d just go for it like that.”

“My impulse control lacks, well, control,” Peter says with a grin.

Matt feels himself grinning back, feels a warm buzz in his head that are pleasant not-quite-thoughts from Peter’s head.  He feels like he should say something.  “You never give me a headache.” 

Peter blinks.  “What?” 

For just a moment, Matt is completely mortified.  He remembers the first few times he tried to pay Janice a compliment, how horribly she’d reacted because he’d phrased it all wrong.  He’s ready to backtrack, to take it back, and then Peter smiles and laughs a little.  Heard all that, huh?

Yeah.  You can say it out loud if you want.

I’ll pass.

Peter snickers again and turns back to the game, his shoulder pressed against Matt’s until he’s leaning forward to yell something at the third base coach.  When he flops back against the couch, his whole left side is pressed against Matt.  Matt grins, sips his beer, and settles in.  He’s got cold beer, greasy pizza, and the low-grade buzz of Peter’s thoughts in the back of his head.  It’s a good night.

Sap.

Shut up.

 

 

Comments

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

Awww! How sweet -- a completely lovely first kiss. (First of many? Please?) ♥

[perpet-fic.livejournal.com]

We'll see. Right now there's MASH slash to be perfected.

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

!!!