A/N: Following the events of the latest ep, Six Months, I think it's called, so...it's not particularly spoilery, but, just so you know. And I couldn't find/remember the name of Nathan's wife. This is a Petrelli Bros. episode tag, vignettey-type thing. Yeah. And it might be OOC, so be warned.
Petrelli. It sounds like a superhero name, fit to be set in a comic book, written in some sort of standout script. POW, the next frame would read. He could see it in his head. Boring person in a suit in one frame, and a spandex-covered superhero in the other. It made the part of him that was still five-years-old tingle. And then there was reality, and reality was not a nice thing to have to face.
He remembers when they were little. The Petrelli brothers, armed with some bath towels and cans of hair spray, and they were off to save the world. Like all the other five- and four-year-old kids in the world, they played superheroes. Pretended. Nathan and Peter Petrelli, defenders of the Earth and the Solar System and Everything Else. As if it could be that simple. He remembers always being Lex Luthor.
"I'm Superman and you're Lex, Peter," Nathan had said to him. "It makes sense. You're littler. And everyone knows the littler kids have to be the bad guys." Peter had nodded, and simply played his role. Even then, Nathan had the charisma to be able to talk him into doing anything he wanted. And now, the way the pieces were truly falling into place, it was definitely going to be different than Peter's Lex to Nathan's Clark. It was going to be Nathan vs. Peter, and right now, he didn't know on which side of the tennis court he stood. He just hoped it was the good side, the right side…maybe even the triumphant side.
Nathan had been practical about it. Unbelievable. Like everybody else, he had been quick to dismiss it, and Peter didn't understand why. What was so bad about being special? About being different? It hurts your chances to be a politician, Peter. That's why. Nobody wants someone who's different. Everyone wants someone they can identify with, Peter, images they can identify with. Apple pie, checkered picnic tablecloths, the homey look of the landscape of Kansas. So there they were.
But something like this…something like that could break a man. And Peter knew his brother was no exception. His powers had saved him, had pulled him out of the car. He saw it, clearer than anything in his dream—he'd reached out. And Nathan had survived. Because of it. And that's not something that gives a man hope. In fact, if Peter's comic book knowledge had survived, that's something to incite vengeance. Incite villainous intent.
So he ties his necktie a little straighter, and opens the door.
Being a superhero started with a single step as a regular hero. He turns to Nathan. "Ready for the deposition?"
Feedback is quel pretty.
