30 First Kisses
Thirty different ways Matt and Mohinder might share their first kiss
By Jennifer Rubio (nee Wand)
Kiss #7
Superstar
Author's note: There's a brief "bonus fic" at the end of this chapter…
"How come you can't see the stars from home?" Molly asked. The mosquitoes were making Swiss cheese out of her, Matt noted, but right now she didn't seem to mind, stretched out with her feet dipping off the picnic blanket into the cool, tall grass.
"There's too much light," Mohinder explained, coating a cracker with the last of the cheese and looking at it ravenously. "You know how, when you see a bright light after being in the dark, you can't see anything else for a moment? Well, with all the lights in the city, you can't see anything but those bright lights."
"But you can see buildings and stuff." Molly tilted her head backwards so she was an upside-down girl, chin on top, gazing at an inverted Mohinder popping an inverted cracker into his mouth.
"Yes, but you can't see things that are as far away as stars." He swallowed and sucked the salt from his fingers. "But here, there's no such light, so we can see many of them." He tweaked her nose, and she squeaked and faced upward again.
Matt knew nothing whatsoever about the stars, but he did know that he was glad they'd taken this trip. When the train stopped in this tiny Connecticut town, a sense of peace had settled over the three of them.
At first, he'd thought he would take Molly to Coney Island, someplace loud and lively like that, while Mohinder went on his Company errand. But she was sick of him constantly leaving them alone, and Matt had to admit he agreed. So they tagged along, for Molly's sake, he told himself, and not because he thrilled to the idea of a family holiday. Or a romantic setting with this man, whom he'd slowly come to realize he had a massive crush on. It had taken him a while to admit it to himself, but the feelings were unmistakable. It was getting hard to breathe around him.
"Hey, Matt!" This time Molly had angled her head toward him. The girl liked being upside down. "I can see you in the stars!" She pointed up at the sky, the sleeve of her sweater dangling from that chicken bone of an arm. They were all tightly wrapped in layers tonight-- even with the unseasonably warm November days, the nights still carried a chill.
Mohinder laughed. "That's Orion," he said. "The Hunter."
"No, it's not." The girl shook her upside-down head emphatically. "It's Matt, the Policeman. Look, there's his police belt. One, two, three." She jabbed the little finger as if poking each of the stars from afar.
"Hm," Matt muttered under his breath, "if THAT's my belt, then what's that smudge down there?"
Mohinder heard, and he whapped him on the arm gently. "That's a nebula," he whispered, trying to suppress a smile.
"Oh, is that what the kids are calling it these days?" At that, Mohinder did laugh.
"What's so funny?" Molly asked.
"Nothing, nothing." Matt tousled her hair and turned to grin at Mohinder. But he was gazing at the heavens, and his profile under the stars was so breathtaking that Matt quickly returned his attention to his little girl. "So, does that make me a star, then?"
"It makes you a constellation." Now in full-blown teacher mode, Mohinder had switched subjects from astronomy to vocabulary.
"No." Molly would have none of this learning stuff. "It makes you a SUPERstar."
Matt was fairly sure he was glowing bright pink, even in the darkness.
"Ah--"
Mohinder had made a quiet, breathy noise in his throat. His face had lit up.
"What?" Molly sat up, looking over her shoulder at him.
"A shooting star." His voice was small, but the wonder in it was unmistakable.
"Really? Where?"
"Just there--" He pointed. "Just now."
If the sudden appearance of star-struck Mohinder weren't so fascinating, Matt might have chuckled at it. He had a feeling he was watching a young boy looking up at the darkening sky above an Indian plain, seeing a firebolt streak through the blue for the very first time.
Eventually, Mohinder noticed him looking. "I'm partial to meteors," he explained demurely, his eyes cast downward at the remains of their picnic. "I know there are billions of them every night, but they're so elusive. I can't help feeling fortunate when I see one. It's not that I believe in destiny, but... they make me think I must be in the right place at the right time."
"Maybe it fell over there," said Molly suddenly, jumping to her feet. "I'll go find it for you, Mohinder!" And off she ran, laughing, to the edge of the field, looking down the slope to where the waves were crashing against jagged jetties in a roaring rhythm.
"Don't go down there!" Matt called after her, then turned back to Mohinder. "Are there billions every night? Really?" Mohinder nodded. "I had no idea."
"Most of them are invisible to the human eye," said Mohinder. His smile was dazzling even in the dark. "But to be looking up at just that right moment, at just the right part of a sky this vast-- it seems so unlikely." There was more than just a trace of yearning in his voice. "And yet here we are."
"That was pretty unlikely, too," Matt said. Mohinder's eyes flew to his, and he had to look away. "I mean, would either of us have thought, six months ago, that we'd be here taking care of her?"
"And who would have thought that I'd ever meet any of the people my father was so eager to find? Yes, I suppose." He sighed wistfully. "I suppose that, all things considered, I really am quite fortunate."
"Yeah," said Matt, "me too." They sat in silence for a time-- listening only to the waves and to Molly's shrieks as she did cartwheels in the dark grass-- staring at the heavens together.
Then it happened. A streak of light, almost too quick to see, sliding across the dark canopy of the night like a glittering blade drawing a tight seam against taut fabric. It hung in the air for a spinning second and then faded out.
For a moment, they both stared, not breathing, and the space where it had been. Mohinder's hand had flown to Matt's at the first sight of it and was still there, squeezing tight. Matt's heart was doing jumping jacks.
Then Mohinder turned to face him, grinning ear to ear.
Matt did the only thing he could do. He raised a hand to touch Mohinder's beaming face and leaned in toward him. The last he saw before his eyes slitted closed was Mohinder's grin fading, his mouth becoming a round "O" of confusion and wonder. The instant their lips met, Matt thought he saw a bright star shining through his eyelids, whiting out the world.
Tasting the tenderness of the young man's lips, Matt felt his mental eye slip back into focus, and it was as if he could see the two of them, a pair of silhouettes against an even darker sky, their chins and necks making a heart shape that curved down and met its end where their hands were joined. The tentative sweetness of Mohinder's kiss was telling him volumes more than a simple scan of his mind ever could. Mohinder cared. He had been dreaming of this, too. He felt the same way. The knowledge of it was hesitant at first, and as it grew more solid, Matt smiled against the kiss and gathered the man in his arms, pressing that heart shape into oblivion, making them a single silhouette instead of a pair.
Molly had ceased playing and was now standing at the edge of the field, watching them. Matt didn't care. He was delirious with sheer joy. His feelings were answered. Of all the billions of stars out there, he'd managed to reach out his hand and catch the most precious one of all. It was enough to make a guy believe in destiny.
And when they parted, there were twin stars in Mohinder's eyes.
"I wasn't expecting that," he whispered, his voice trembling with something like awe.
"I--" Matt felt his voice catch. "I was just-- I had to--"
"Matt--"
"HERE I COME!"
The call sounded from far away, but by the time they turned, Molly was already halfway to them, charging at full speed across the meadow. She slammed into them both, arms widespread, bowling all three over into a rolling group hug on the picnic blanket. Mohinder burst out laughing, and Matt could only give a dumb "Whoa-oh-OH!" as he was tackled.
"I love you guys," Molly whispered into the hug. It wasn't just the two of them both hugging her this time-- it was a real group hug, each of them embracing both of the others. Matt's hand met Mohinder's on the small of Molly's back. Their eyes locked above her head, and they smiled two large, genuine, giddy smiles. Poised on the edge of a wonderful unknown something, hand in hand, like a pair of falling stars, they laughed into the night.
:end:
BONUS FIC:
(This is the first thing I thought of when I saw the prompt "Superstar"...)
"Everybody was... kung-fu fighting..."
Matt felt like an idiot. How had he managed to down enough beer that he thought this was a good idea? Still, all eyes in the club were on him, and it seemed infinitely less cool to bolt (as he desperately wanted to) than to stick it out and keep screeching.
Abruptly, a thought cut through the clatter. A fellow (who looked distinctly greenish in the light, and were those horns?) was staring at him intensely, practically shouting into his mind:
Oh, for crap's sake, honey. Come out of the closet, already! He wants you too!
Suddenly, Matt felt for all the world like a superstar.
:end:
yes, it's an Angel crossover... I need to be put down, I think. Oh dear.
