Laws of the Playground
Pairing(s): Peter/ClaireRating: PGWarnings: Spoilers up to 1x23Words: 1048 Status: Complete
Summary:We never really grow up and out of playing the games we used to play in the playground at school. The Petrelli family know about this more than anyone else.
Disclaimer: I own nothing … for now … …
When greeted with the sight of their children standing in the doorway, scabs on their elbows, scrapes on their knees, unidentifiable stains on their clothes, and big, goofy grins on their faces, parents all over the world automatically take in a deep, calming breath and silently tell themselves that it's just a phase, that someday soon their kids will grow out of and loose interest in the games they play, perhaps choosing instead to take up something more mature or valuable, such as the cello or cross-stitch.
If these parents' thoughts weren't occupied with the ever-present, ever-growing loads of washing that sit and taunt them, they'd be able to take a step back and see that we never really grow up and out of playing the games we used to play in the playground at school.
The rules of Simon Says are burnt into our brains from an early age, warning us to do what everyone else does or we'll be sent out from the game, forced to watch, unnoticed, whilst everyone else continues with their lives.
As teenagers, we are renowned for playing an elaborate game of tag when a member of the opposite sex catches our eye. We spend hours planning and plotting strategies to get noticed, before sending a carefully choreographed text message and waiting, an excruciating weight hanging in our chests, for the object of our desires to tag us back with a text so we can start the cycle all over again.
The Petrelli family are well-versed on these games, these omnipresent rules of etiquette that everyone must follow, from cradle to grave. Society dictates that, when a family appears to have it all - beauty, intelligence, power, money – even if it comes with the burden of unwanted responsibility, they must play pretend and continue to play the character that society has chosen for them.
Maintain the character, maintain the status quo.
Heidi Petrelli knows that playing pretend is a necessary evil that spawns from marrying a rich, charismatic politician. She knows that to keep up appearances she must fix a fake smile to her face, just as she would a layer of make-up. She knows that she must chat and compliment and smile, smile, smile. Even when she knows that all her acquaintances, her peers, her friends, try their hardest to avert their eyes from the chair she's confined to, always telling her how very brave she's being.
Nathan Petrelli knows that playing pretends is part of his responsibility as a politician, as a person in a position of power. He knows he must walk the walk, talk the talk and most importantly, play the games to ensure that he keeps that power. He knows he must play dumb when people comment on his last minute, landslide victory over the other candidates, and just laugh it off as if it's just a normal, everyday occurrence. He also knows that, given the chance, he wouldn't give it all up for the life he had before because Nathan Petrelli has long since accepted that he has a natural aptitude for playing games.
Peter Petrelli knows that playing pretend isn't part of who he is, but he knows that he loves his brother, and everyone should make a few sacrifices for the people they love. He knows he should keep quiet about the gifts he, his brother, his niece and his friends have been given, even if it feels like he's being made to deny what he is. He knows that whilst his brother's career is important to him, it relies heavily on image, meaning that certain relationships Peter's involved in have to be kept quiet, have to be kept private, so as to protect not only Senator Nathan Petrelli, but his family, the people he loves.
Claire Bennett knows that playing pretend is going to be as much a part of her life as attending some prestigious private school in the city or trying to limit her daredevil activities, if not to protect her secret then to stop causing her father and uncle to worry so much. She knows that New York will never feel like home to her, not in the way Odessa does. She knows she'll never forget her mom, her dad or even her little brother, but at the same time she knows that she has to make an effort to fit in with the Petrelli family, because they're part of her future, even if the relationships between them all are tangibly strained. She makes a conscious effort to call Nathan 'dad' because, whilst it feels as if she's betraying the man she called daddy for sixteen years, she knows that it hurts Nathan that she tenses up when he hugs her, or that she avoids being alone with him in a room. She knows she has to pretend that she's okay with the situation because she has hopes that, one day, she might not have to pretend. She also knows that the whole experience is being made easier by the presence of Peter, which in itself makes everything more difficult, more painful, because she knows that eventually somebody's going to comment on how unhealthy it must be for a niece to be so attached to her uncle.
Angela Petrelli knows that playing pretend has helped her family survive and overcome a great deal of issues and problems in the past, and it will no doubt help the Petrelli family for many generations to come. She knows her sons like to think that they don't need Mom's protection anymore, and she'll gladly pretend she agrees with it, but that doesn't mean she won't sacrifice things in her own life in order to keep her children safe and happy, even if it's from each other. Angela also knows that to do this, she must turn a blind eye to the events going on between her youngest son and her granddaughter. Events that she first passed off as harmless games.
And each of the games continue, and will continue until the day one of the Petrellis tire of the games they have been forced to play, but until then they stick to the one omnipresent rule that saves the game-playing from morphing into something more serious.
Maintain the character, maintain the status quo.