Hey, all. Random idea that popped into my head; Peter and Emma got married (w00t!) and Peter and Gabriel meet for coffee once a week. I own nothing.
"Peter. You alive, buddy?"
"Unh."
"I went ahead and ordered your coffe. Extra shot of espresso in it. Thought you might need it."
"Mhuh?"
"Yeah, you need it. Drink up."
"Nhh..."
"I will pour this down your throat if you don't drink it. You're a pretty sad coffee buddy, you know."
Peter finally managed to open his eyes, yawning widely as he wrapped his fingers clumsily around the cup and took a gulp, scalding his tongue. "Thanks, Gabe" he mumbled, laying his head back down on the table.
"Baby keep you up all night?" the man across from him asked, and Peter nodded, groaning.
"I love Emma and everything, but I swear I'm going to... to..." He yawned. "I'm gonna inject her with Claire's blood." He looked up at Gabriel pathetically, not taking his chin off the table, his eyes bloodshot. "I know she can't he... he..." Another yawn. "Help it... but she sleeps through it every night."
"This is why I never had kids," Gabriel said, taking a sip of his own drink and watching Peter in amusement.
"You did once," Peter said, looking miffed as he took another gulp of his drink, finally sitting up. "You know..." Yawn. "In the..." Yaaawwwn. "Future."
"I don't know why you keep bringing that up," Gabriel said, shaking his head. "That was a completely different me."
"You didn't go by Sylar then, either," Peter muttered, practically tipping his drink upside down in order to finish it. "Still good old Gabe."
"Good old Gabe" seemed to tense. "Yeah, well, that's one thing we have in common. Sylar's dead."
"Right. Sorry. Get me another one of these?" He was practically begging, but he'd literally been up all night and felt he deserved a bit more sympathy - and caffeine - than he was getting.
"Get it yourself," Gabriel said complacently, taking another sip of his coffee.
"I don't wanna."
"Why not?"
"'M tired."
"So?"
"Gabe, I was staggering so much when I..."Yawn."came in here that the manager thought I was drunk and threatened to kick me out." Gabriel let out a snort of laughter.
"What'd you do?"
"Showed her pictures of Nate. Told her he's two months old."
"What did she do?"
"Sat me down at a table, gave me a free pretzel, and told me to take a nap until 'my friend' got here."
Gabriel laughed again, but then paused, frowning. "How'd she know I was coming? Didn't she just get the job two or three weeks ago?"
Peter rolled his eyes, biting back another yawn. "You're really stupid. We're famous, remember? I'm sure the first thing Jacob and Tansy told her was that you and I meet here every week."
"Speaking of meetings..." Gabe leaned back in his seat, taking a sip of his drink. "Guess who I ran into yesterday?"
"Do I have to?" Peter asked, still trying without success to get another drop of coffee out of his cup.
"Yes."
"I'm tiiiireed," Peter whined, looking remarkably like a six-year-old boy. "I don't wanna."
"I won't tell you, so you'll have to guess."
"Just tell me it wasn't my mother."
Gabriel twisted his mouth into something between a grimace and a grin. "I'd be too busy trying to forget the encounter to tell you about it."
"Right. Claire? Noah? Matt? Um... Hiro?"
"Bingo."
Peter felt dimly that he should be surprised, but at that moment he was yawning and trying to keep his eyes open. "Yeah? What'd he want?"
"Oh, he was just buying a few comic books. Apparently it's easier to get them here than in Tokyo." Peter chuckled.
"Good old Hiro."
"You wanted another coffee?"
"Yes.
"I'll be right back."
"Triple shot."
"Gotcha."
Peter laid his head back on the table while he waited for Gabriel to return, breathing deeply. Hereallywanted to go back home and crawl into bed right now.
"Here."
"Unh."
"Why'd you come today? You look half-dead."
"Anything to get out of the house for an hour," Peter said, yawning.
"Tell the truth."
Peter wouldn't meet his eyes as he said in a low voice, "I feel sick whenever I leave you alone for two weeks."
Gabriel didn't respond immediately, then said softly, "You don't trust me. It's been a year and a half and you still don't trust me?"
"I'm sorry."
"No." He said the word forcefully, and Peter winced. "No, you're right. I'm still not completely cured. It's not safe for me to be own my own for too long. I wanted Hiro's power."
"But you didn't take it."
"No," he said softly. "But I was tempted. Very, very tempted."
Normally, at this point, Peter would have some word of encouragement - the triumph of the human spirit! - or perhaps he'd clap him on the shoulder. However, sleep deprived as he was, he simply nodded and began to chug his coffee. Gabriel rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for the sympathy."
"I could say the same thing. Here I get an hour and a half of sleep last night and... and..." Yet another large yawn. "Too tired to think straight. I'm so glad I have the day off."
"I'm sure you are," Gabriel said, letting himself be amused. He checked his watch. "Oh, and sorry I got here so late; got caught in traffic."
"You got caught in traffic."
"Yes."
"Can't you fly?"
"I felt like driving," he said indignantly. "I need the practice. I never drive anywh-"
"Can I have your autographs?"
They turned to see a shy-looking girl staring up at them. "You're real superheroes, right?"
"Yeah," Peter mumbled, pulling out his a and giving Gabriel a look that said he was sick of autographs. The girl - she couldn't be older than six - missed it. "What do you want me to sign?" Peter asked solemnly, and Gabriel hid his laughter in his coffee.
"My teddy bear!" She held up a stuffed bear with a handkerchief tied around its neck and a few signatures over its painfully bright yellow body. "Every superhero I meet I ask to sign it. And can you sign it with your superhero name?" she asked, relinquishing the bear.
"My superhero name?" Peter asked, confused. Looking at it, Gabriel could see he'd already written "Pe" on the back of the stuffed animal's head.
"Yeah. Like Superman or Miss America. Your superhero name!"
"Right."
Peter gave Gabriel a droll look, and this time he had a sudden coughing fit. "Are you okay?" the girl asked, and he nodded.
"Fine."
"Here's the bear, Gabe. You can sign right beneath mine." Gabriel turned the bear around to find that his coffee buddy had written on the back of the stuffed animal's head, "Peter-Man to the rescue!" and he added beneath it, chortling all the while, "With his trusty sidekick, Gabe-Guy!"
"Here, kiddo. You can tell all your friends you met Peter-Man and Gabe-Guy now." As the child ran back to her mother, squealing, Gabriel sighed and turned back to him. "We're going to have to find a new Starbucks soon. People are starting to recognize us."
"They're going to recognize us wherever we go," Peter said with a shrug. The extra caffeine finally seemed to be doing it's job. He was speaking more or less coherently, though now his hands were shaking. "And besides, I like this place. It's out of the way, and they always remember what I order."
"Took them a long time to remember it exactly, though," Gabriel said. "It takes you ten minutes to say it."
"And yet you ordered it so fast."
"'Hey, gimme a coffee for Pete.' It was fairly simple." Peter laughed, then checked his watch.
"Right... I've got five minutes. Anything you need to tell me?"
"Not really. Except that I did actually take Hiro's power."
"Empathy."
"Yes."
"Right. I gotta go."
"Wait! I swear I didn't read your mind, Peter, but you're excited about something. I can feel it."
"Oh, Emma's pregnant," Peter said offhandedly. "That's why I let her sleep all night."
"She's... Wait, what?"
Peter grinned. "Pregnant, you idiot. I thought you have super hearing?"
"She just had Nate two months ago!"
"And got pregnant six weeks later."
"You guys are insane."
Peter smiled. "You trying living with someone as amazing as Emma for one year and not have s-" He noticed the girl looking at them again, and muttered, "and not try to have babies." Gabriel laughed.
"Well, congratulations. Now you go home and sleep."
"Right. Can I take teleportation? I want to go straight to bed."
"Help yourself." He held out his hand, and Peter took, rifling through his powers for a few moments.
"Right. See you later. You can throw away my coffee cups," he said, grinning before he disappeared. Gabriel laughed.