Chapter 2

Change And Notice

As Peter got home to his apartment, the first thing he did after closing the door behind him was sinking down in the sofa. He sat there for over a minute, without moving a limb. The sofa was new; he had bought it with well-earned money. It had quickly become his favourite spot in the home, and was a great place for mental recollection.

He glanced at the television in the big bookshelf on the opposite wall. That, on the other hand, he wasn't sure he had earned. He had bought it right after he discovered he had a new ability not seen before… But he never used it, since he felt guilty.

One day, he had woken up feeling unusually drowsy and as he had been about to pour milk down into his bowl of cereals, the discovery of suddenly holding a bowl made of gold had suddenly shocked him. Since he had never owned a bowl of gold before, and since his toothbrush also turned to gold some minutes later, he just came to the conclusion he must have met someone with this ability on the street or something and accidentally absorbed it. Which was rather strange, as most often he at least had to remember a person in order to use their ability. Maybe someone he had met and remembered, had this ability without him knowing it?

The TV glared back at him with its blank black screen, and he soon had enough of it and got up.

A knock on the door startled him. He never had many visitors, save from his mother and brother once in a while just because they felt obligated to visit him. He didn't have time to spend with friends, since he was working so much overtime. Saving people's lives had become his new purpose in life, even though Nathan called it Peter's sport.

Peter strode over to the door and peered out through the peeking hole, expecting to see Nathan standing there looking stressed and annoyed. But what he saw there made him flinch, and he quickly opened the door, jaw dropped.

"Hello there, chump," the blonde man said, smiling. "Mind if I come in?"

"Adam!" Peter exclaimed. "How did you… didn't Hiro-"

"Oh, yes he did," Adam Monroe said darkly and stepped right past Peter into the apartment. "You've made this place really cosy, by the way," he then said and lightened up again. "New ability?"

"How did you get out? And… what new ability, no I didn't… hey," Peter said, having a bit of a hard time gathering his thoughts.

"Alright, sit down," Adam said. "Want some tea?"

Peter fell back down into the sofa for a moment, until he realized the strangeness of him being served tea in his own home by a person who had recently betrayed his trust and been buried alive. He got up, starting to get a bit mad.

Adam was rummaging the kitchen, when Peter grabbed his wrist and made Adam face him.

"Answer my questions, before you make yourself at home here, villain," he said sharply.

"Villain, now that was a bit harsh, wasn't it? It was all for the greater good,"

"How did you get out of the coffin?" Peter said without caring about Adam's words.

Adam pulled his arm out of the grip, looking straight at Peter. "I've been screaming regularly, twice a week perhaps. Not easy when you haven't got any air to scream with, but finally somebody heard me and dug up the grave. The warden of the cemetery. He wasn't a little surprised."

"So what, you killed him?"

"Oh Peter, come on. I don't kill random people unnecessarily."

"No, you murder billions."

"I didn't… oh, well. I didn't kill him, I paid him to shut up. Maybe he wont, but it's not like I really care."

"And why did you come here?"

"I fancy you?" Adam said brightly and took his cup of tea from the shelf.

Peter snatched it from him, nearly spilling some onto the floor. Adam sighed. "Right... I'll go, then," he said and left the kitchen.

Peter could hear the door to the apartment slam, but didn't really believe the blonde man was gone until he came out into the living room and saw it empty. He stood there, swaying on his toes with the cup in his hand, for a couple of seconds. Then he swore, put the cup down and ran out into the corridor.

"Stop," he demanded Adam, who was just skipping down the stairs.

Adam turned around with a rather hurt expression on his face, bordering puppy eyes. It was Peter's turn to sigh, and roll his eyes.

"I don't understand what you're doing, but fine. We'll have tea," he said.

...

Claire walked through the park in the university area, in an effort to clear her mind a bit. The sun was shining brightly, making her sweat and wish she had brought a bottle of water with her for her promenade. As if he heard her wish a guy suddenly appeared, walking in the opposite direction holding a big bottle of water. His reddish hair was cut very short and he had the air of a bright person about him. Claire smiled politely when she saw him, and he smiled back.

"Hi Nick," she said when they were close.

"Hi there, Claire," he said, and seemed to notice her stealing glances at his bottle. "Thirsty?"

"Oh yes, god thank you," Claire said and thankfully took it.

"Have you seen Cassie?" Nick asked her while she was drinking.

She wiped her mouth dry and happily handed the bottle back. "Nope, I thought you guys always knew where the other were?"

"Well, almost," Nick confessed, smiling tenderly. "But sometimes she just gets away without telling me. I reckoned she was spending time with you then, but I guess she doesn't."

"Maybe she's found another friend?" Claire teased him. They both knew very well that Cassie was overall well liked, among both girls and guys. Especially among guys maybe, but Nick didn't seem too worried and Claire didn't suspect Cassie would ever do something to hurt him.

"Yeah… she's found many, alright," Nick said, looking into the distance, almost pensively.

"Something's bothering you?" Claire asked and made them start strolling on in her direction, glad to spot a chance to talk about someone else's problems for a while instead of her own. Cassie was actually the only real friend Claire had bothered to make here, and that girl didn't seem to have any problems at all.

"Nah, not really, I guess," Nick said, maybe feeling a bit awkward about speaking of such things with his girlfriend's friend. "It's just… I like knowing where she is, what she's doing."

"And you hate not knowing," Claire finished for him. "Yeah, a typical boyfriend. Congratulations, Nick. You're normal!"

Nick chuckled lightly, looking down on his feet. "Maybe. It's just… I hope she's not getting into trouble."

Claire wrinkled her eyebrow. "Why would she? She's one of the sweetest people I ever knew."

"Now, yeah. But never mind," Nick said in a way that made Claire too interested to let the subject fall.

"What do you mean?" she said, stopping again. "Was she different before?"

Nick didn't look at her, but rather looked around as if he didn't really want anybody to hear. "A bit, yeah," he said. "She was much more… emotional."

"Nothing wrong with showing your feelings."

"I mean, really emotional. You could almost feel the emotions flooding out of her, whether she was happy, angry or sad. Especially when angry. That was what she was like when I first met her, last winter. But when she's with me, she seems to feel better and keep calmer. Have you ever seen her angry, Claire?"

"No, I don't think so," she said, pondering what he had said.

"And she grew to like me pretty fast. I… I grew to like her too, and eventually we never wanted to be apart. Literally, we spent almost every hour of every day together. Lucky thing we were taking the same classes."

"Sounds like you were in love," Claire said, smiling softly.

"Mhm," Nick said, finally looking up into Claire's eyes. "But this semester, I think she's changed. Ever since… since you came."

Claire's eyebrows shot into the sky. "You blame me for changing her? I haven't done anything on purpose-"

"Relax, I didn't mean to be rude," Nick said calmly. "It's just like, she spends a lot of time with you, and sure I'm happy for that. She isn't as dependent on me anymore."

"You sure you're not jealous or something?" Claire said cautiously.

"No," Nick said, chuckling again. "But it's got me noticing something."

Claire's smile got a little stiff as she felt a strange prickling sensation on her neck. When people talked about change and noticing things when she was around, she always couldn't help fearing the worst… had Cassie somehow found out about her ability and told him?

"She's turning back into her own self, slowly," he said, and Claire let out an invisible breath as she realized he was still talking about his girlfriend. "Of course I want to let her be whoever she is, but… since she's getting different when she isn't with me, I've been… It's like there's something with me… like I'm the one changing her, and not just because we're in love, I mean…"

Claire got another thought, when she heard him speak like this. It wasn't impossible… after all, this wasn't the first time she had met another person with abilities in school. She briefly thought of West Rosen.

Nick's cheeks suddenly turned very red. "I'm sorry, Claire, I shouldn't be speaking like this, I don't know what I was… Oh, never mind, forget that, will you?"

He laughed a little, but Claire didn't. She was just looking curiously at him, which seemed to make him feel even uneasier.

"Maybe," she said. "Anyway, thanks for the water. I should be going."

And then she flashed him a smile and started walking away. He stood looking after her for a moment, before walking away too.

So, yeah... please tell me if anything's unclear :p

And of course, Peter got that ability from Bob Bishop. I don't think Bob ever displayed it to Peter, but he should be able to use it anyway, since he remember Bob pretty well. After all, he could use Sylar's telekinesis when training with Claude, before even knowing it belonged to Sylar.

Review please :3