Disclaimer: First, I'd like to say that this is Man On Man(aka: slash), so if you don't like it, please do not send in a flame about it, because I did warn you. And second, I do not own any part of Heroes.

Ink.

It had its uses.

Lydia could show him anyone he wanted, if he injected her with but a little of the ink he made from the earth. Now, it was being used to finalize the initiation of the family's newest member.

Samuel lowered the ink needle to let it soak in the bottle of ink. He looked over at Sylar—or rather, Nathan—who was waiting patiently. His shirt was off, revealing the creamy, muscled skin he usually hid beneath one of Samuel's old shirts.

When the needle was ready, Samuel lifted it and poised it just above the skin of Sylar's shoulder. "Try not to tense up." He suggested before he pressed the tip of the needle into Sylar's skin.

The other man winced and flexed his arm as he felt the ink move through his body. Almost like magic, the ink took off over Sylar's skin and settled on the skin of his left forearm. It twisted and swirled until it conformed into an elaborate compass. The pinpoints were intelligible, and each of the letters was large and magnificent. The compass's frame even had rust stains and detailed signs of wear. The needle spun wildly, as if searching for North.

"The compass will always guide you here." Samuel explained. "It is the true mark of being one of us."

Sylar's eyes studied the piece, and Samuel could see the wheels turning in his head like the gears of a clock. "It looks like a timepiece I once worked on."

A smile twitched at one corner of Samuel's mouth. "You're remembering." He said, and it was not a question.

Sylar's eyebrows knitted together, and he looked up at Samuel with his brown eyes—so empty, so impressionable, so…vulnerable. "I guess so… But it…" he looked back at the tattoo and shook his head. "It's different from the memories Damien showed me. Those were so…violent, so full of rage. If they had a color, they would be red, like…like blood."

Samuel could see that Sylar's memories were disturbing him, but he couldn't help but feel that there was something else at work…or someone. A different side of this man. "And the watch memory?" he asked. "What color would it be?"

"I don't know." The man said to him. "Something neutral, probably, or something boring and normal." He blinked, as if coming to some revelation. "Gray, maybe."

Samuel nodded, his fingers resting on his chin in thought. "Have you ever considered that this 'Nathan' person you believe yourself to be, and the memories that are returning…have you ever thought that they might be his?"

"But the 'real me' isn't in here, remember? I don't know who those memories belong to!" He let out an exasperated sigh, running his hands over his face. "The only one that seems to be mine is the watch one."

That made Samuel think again, but this time, he thought out loud. "You mentioned that the police told you your name was 'Gabriel Gray'. Did they say anything else?"

Sylar's eyes narrowed a bit as he thought back. "They just said I was Gabriel Gray, a wa—" Samuel looked up when Sylar broke off. His brown eyes were wide, and he blinked up to lock gazes with the other man. "A watchmaker from Queens." He finished, letting out a surprised laugh. "Maybe you were wrong. Maybe I'm not this 'Sylar' person. Maybe I'm just boring, neutral Gabriel Gray."

"Or you started off that way." Samuel interjected. "Maybe you were boring, neutral Gabriel Gray, but then something happened…something that turned you into Sylar."

Sylar was just staring into space, his face growing more and more troubled by the second. "Murder." He murmured, running his hands over his face. "I killed someone. Brian…Brian Davies." Sylar stood and started pacing the small space available in Samuel's trailer. "I killed him and took his power. I remember it—" He let out a short gasp as sparks of blue electricity crackled at his fingertips. "But why don't I remember anything after it?" he asked, as if demanding it of himself. The electricity started to build, travelling up his arms in small sparks. "Damien showed me what I should remember, but I don't remember any of it!"

Samuel could see that the electricity would reach a critical mass soon, and it would burst, and probably take the trailer with it. He dipped a finger into the bottle of ink and withdrew it, taking every drop in the bottle with him. It divided between his two hands until they were both black with ink. Samuel then took a step toward the other man and grabbed his shoulders.

As expected, the electricity burst upon contact with Samuel's hands, acknowledging him as the only available outlet. But the crackling energy slammed into the earthy ink of Samuel's hands and was immediately absorbed. But it kept coming. Sylar's eyes were wide and frightened, something Sylar's eyes should not have been.

They're not Sylar's eyes. He realized. The electricity kept surging against Samuel's earthy barrier, trying to push him away and fight him for control, but Samuel stood firm. He was stronger than his opponent in this state, so it took no effort to stand his ground. He sighed and took a step forward, the thumbs of his fingers stroking over the skin of the other man's biceps. "Gabriel." He murmured, his eyes looking up at the other man's face. "Gabriel, stop."

Gabriel's eyes snapped open, and he was staring down at the older man. He knew that name now. No other memories fogged his mind. He was just…Gabriel.

The crackling of the electricity lessened and receded into Gabriel's body. "That's me…" he breathed out, his eyes wild and worried. "I…I'm sorry about that."

Samuel gave a small shake of his head. "I'm not hurt. There's nothing to apologize for—"

But Gabriel grabbed one of Samuel's hands anyway and gingerly inspected it. "The black…" he muttered, frowning down at Samuel. The entirety of his palm was an ebony-black color. It looked as if the electricity had burned his skin, but there was no smell of burnt flesh, nor was the palm hard and rough with dead skin. It was as smooth as Samuel's calloused hands could be.

"Ink." He answered. When Gabriel looked confused, he elaborated. "I mix the earth with my ink. It's how I control it on skin. Lydia's, for instance, and now yours." Samuel nodded to the compass on Gabriel's forearm, which by now had started to spin.

Gabriel watched the tattoo as it came to life on his arm, spinning furiously. Watching it move so freely pulled a smile to his lips. As quickly as it started spinning, it stopped, the arrow pointing directly at Samuel. Both men stared at the compass for awhile and then looked up, their eyes meeting.

Their faces were so close, their breaths hot on each other's faces… Gabriel's body reacted on instinct. He closed the distance between their bodies, pressing his lips against Samuel's in a soft but resound kiss.

Needless to say, Samuel hadn't been expecting that, but he definitely wasn't against it. But as he started to open his mouth to coax more out of the other man, Gabriel pulled away abruptly, his cheeks flushed.

"I'm sorry." He immediately blurted out, backing away from Samuel. "I'm…I'm sorry. I don't know what…" He swallowed a lump in his throat, shaking his head. "I'm sorry."

Samuel just frowned at him and cocked an eyebrow. "Are you done?" he asked, though it was a rhetorical question. He took a few strides forward and pulled Gabriel down for another kiss, though this one was much stronger than the first.

Gabriel made a sound against the other man's lips, but he couldn't bring himself to move away. Samuel's tongue pushed into his mouth, exploring the hot cavern, their bodies pressed together hotly.

The ink from Samuel's hands flowed like water onto Gabriel's skin and started to travel up his arms. It was a strange sensation, not quite painful, but not quite pleasurable, either. He could feel the ink take shape, and when he opened his eyes, Gabriel could see that it had formed into two strong, detailed hands, complete with black fingernail polish. Samuel's hands… he thought, his eyes falling closed again.

Samuel pushed Gabriel backwards until his back was pressed against the trailer wall behind him. His 'ink hands' traveled up Gabriel's arms and over his body. One moved behind his neck and stroked up and down his spine. Gabriel shivered under the touch, his hands moving to calmly press against Samuel's chest. He, in turn, got the message and pulled back from the kiss. They both needed the air.

As they caught their breath, Gabriel's brown eyes shifted to the side, acknowledging the ink-hand still stroking his spine, and then down to its twin on his chest. Samuel could tell that those half-lidded eyes were filled with curiosity.

"Wondering what I'm going to do with them?" he asked with a smirk that met the glint in his eyes. Instead of explaining, Samuel let his hands do the talking, so to speak.

The ink hand on Gabriel's bare chest traveled down, eliciting a small gasp from the younger man. Samuel applied a bit of pressure to the fingertip that traveled to the base of Gabriel's spine, and he smirked as Gabriel's back arched into a small but lovely arc. His eyes raked down the man's body, drinking in the sight. He took a step toward Gabriel and slipped a knee between his legs. It made Samuel smile to feel the apparent need of the other man as it pressed against his thigh.

Gabriel looked down at him then, jaw agape and chest rising and falling with every breath. His skin was flushed, and his eyes were confused, as if wondering where things would go from here.

Samuel watched as his ink hand brushed over one of Gabriel's nipples, and his eyes closed when his actions elicited a sound from the other man. He rocked his hips against Gabriel's, groaning softly as their erections met.

Gabriel moaned, letting his head fall back against the wall behind him. His mind was fogged and misted over with hazy pleasure, but he still managed to do what he intended. Samuel was too engrossed in his own ministrations that he barely noticed when the button to his jeans popped open and the zipper slid down of its own accord—or rather, of Gabriel's accord.

When he finally noticed, Samuel's eyes opened, and he blinked up at Gabriel. "You're comfortable with this?"

His answer was in the form of Gabriel's hand delving into his pants to grip his shaft directly. Samuel's breath hitched, and he gripped Gabriel's shoulder to steady himself.

Their height difference was beginning to try his patience, so Samuel used his other hand to grip Gabriel's hair and yank him down for a rough and passionate kiss. The ink-hand at the tip of Gabriel's spine played with the spot before running up the entire length of the column, making the younger man moan into the kiss. Its twin made circles around Gabriel's left nipple and brushed over the nub, twisting it lightly until it became hard and erect.

As the ink moved through his skin, Gabriel gave out little pants of breath, and a thin sheen of sweat started to cover his body. The repeated and almost torturous movements over his nipples made his jaw fall open every so-often, and he almost forgot about his own hand on Samuel's erection. He cleared his mind enough to start moving his hand up and down on the heated flesh.

Gabriel was so caught up in the pleasure of it all that he almost cried out when the ink-hand stopped its ministrations altogether. But when he opened his eyes, the smirk on Samuel's face had appeared again. Gabriel didn't even have to look to know where the ink-hand was traveling next.

Samuel's material hands were working to push down Gabriel's pants. He wanted to see his handiwork in action. The ink-hand slunk lower and lower down Gabriel's body, and Samuel enjoyed watching the skin ripple and quiver under its touch. He played with the skin, stroking it as he moved to his eventual target.

Gabriel's eyes widened and then fluttered when the ink-hand took hold of his erection. He glanced down and almost lost control then and there. The hand was almost an exact copy of Samuel's own hand, but it was wrapped around him in a way that would have been impossible for a material hand. Gabriel bit his lip, wrenching his eyes closed as the hand began to move up and down his shaft, the ink poking and prodding at his most intimate places.

The thumb traced the vein on the underside of his shaft from base to tip, making Gabriel shiver and pant. He hissed as the thumb ran over the tip of him, and some of the ink dropped into his sensitive slit, only to pull back just before Gabriel could come. Samuel's ink-hand receded, but only to surprise Gabriel with the real thing. The younger man arched into the touch with a gasp and bucked his hips against Samuel's hand. After a few toe-curling strokes, the ink-hand joined Samuel's real one, doubling the pleasure that made Gabriel want to scream.

It was difficult, but Gabriel managed to keep his hand moving on Samuel's own shaft. His fingers played with the tip and stroked the tender flesh of the base. They were both panting, rocking into each other's touches, each trying to bring the other to climax.

Finally, the tension building between them reached a peak, and both of their resolves shattered like broken glass. Gabriel was the first to come, followed closely by Samuel. They rode out their orgasms together, each using the other for stability, but ultimately, it was the trailer wall that kept them from tumbling to the ground.

Both men were out of breath and energy, but it was Samuel who stepped away from the wall and went to his bathroom to fetch them towels to clean up. He threw a wet one to Gabriel, who barely caught it and slowly began to clean himself. He'd never been in so much pleasure before. Just the thought of it made him blush. The fact that Samuel made his way back to him didn't help much, either.

Before Gabriel could say anything, Samuel pulled him down for a final kiss, soft but firm. Then, Gabriel felt a tingle on his now-flaccid shaft and started to pull away from the kiss to look down, but then had to brace himself against the wall as the ink traveled back up his body. Both ink hands lost their shape and snaked up Gabriel's neck, to his mouth, and finally pass through his lips and onto Samuel's.

The older man broke the kiss then, leaving Gabriel breathless and exhausted. He watched in amazement as the ink stained Samuel's lips for a few moments before trickling down his neck to fortify the tattoos that decorated his neck and shoulders. "You look tired." Samuel eventually said.

Gabriel blinked, as if coming back to himself, and he nodded with a small smile. "Yeah…Guess I am." Samuel reached down and fixed Gabriel's pants before doing the same to his own.

"You can sleep here, if you want." He suggested in a murmur, his eyes meeting Gabriel's only once.

The other man nodded and started to the back of the trailer as Samuel shut the blinds and locked the door, even though he should have done that earlier. Gabriel practically collapsed onto the bed, and Samuel right along with him. He pressed a kiss to Gabriel's cheek as the younger man drifted off.

Just before his eyes closed, Samuel caught sight of the compass tattoo on Gabriel's arm.

Ink.

It had its uses.

A/N: So I have a second part of this story that starts with Sylar coming back to the Carnival. Now I just have to finish it. xD Also, I thought this was kinda stale. Tell me if I'm making a mistake by continuing it. :/ Thanks for reading!

~Shade