Title: Deep Water
Characters: Sylar, Peter
Words: 850
Rating: R
Warnings: None.
Setting: The Wall
Summary: They swim. They talk.
"I remember," Sylar shot Peter a cautious look as the two of them waded into the deeper water of the pool at the deserted YMCA, "him pulling you under time after time once. You must have been ten or twelve or something like that."
Peter glanced at him, then shrugged. Time and exposure had defused the anger at the mention of Sylar's knowledge of Nathan's memories. "Could have been any time."
"True." Sylar nodded. "He did things like that a lot."
Peter gave him another glance, this one with more of a warning in it. "He was probably trying to teach me to swim underwater – hold my breath, that kind of thing."
The warning irritated Sylar. "No. It was a game to him, to see how much he could do it before you were drowning or gave up."
Peter's look hardened and he stopped where he was, water up to his neck. "The point was to learn not to give up."
"I have the memory, Peter. I know what he was doing. He was dunking you because it was funny to him. You rationalized it then; you're rationalizing it now."
Peter glowered at him, then shook his head and pushed off, sending himself into the deeper water at the other end of the pool. After a beat, Sylar followed. When they drew up to the far edge, Sylar shook the water out of his face and persisted with, "Why is it okay for him to treat you like that? Why do you still idolize him, even after his death?"
"You're on thin ice, Sylar."
Sylar hung in the water, supported by the tenuous grasp of one hand on the edge. He sighed. "I'd like to know the answer."
"Why?"
"Because it doesn't make sense, Peter."
"Because I loved him, alright? He loved me." Peter pushed away from the wall, treading water.
"How do you know that?"
"What?" Peter gave him an offended look. "He's my brother!"
"What makes him different from your father – who also didn't treat you well?"
That seemed to break through Peter's self-righteousness and send him back to think things through. But he didn't take long to answer. "Nathan was there for me when I needed him. He helped me when I asked for it. He hugged me, was supportive. I was an annoying kid. He put up with me. My father … didn't." Peter shot him an incisive look. "You have the memories. You know how it was different."
Grudgingly, Sylar ceded the point. "There are still things Nathan did to you that he shouldn't have."
"You don't get to sit in judgment over my brother, Sylar." He swam closer to where Sylar still hung out at the edge. The swirling currents around Peter rolled over Sylar's skin. "Judge, jury, executioner? Fuck that. It sounds like you're looking for justification for what you did." Peter's teeth were bared for the last part of that.
Sylar shook his head, but held his tongue until Peter backed off and took up a spot against the rim of the pool, out of arm's reach from Sylar. Then Sylar spoke. "You forgave him for trying to lock you up specifically and criminalize our entire sub-species! Something you know, from personal experience at your father's hands, as an inmate of the Company, and from the bodies at Coyote Sands, is a recipe for death, torture, and worse. You make excuses for the times when he abused your trust. You think he was trying to impart life lessons when all he was doing is-"
Peter lunged at him, intent on violence. Fighting in the water turned out to be ridiculous, but very frightening. Neither of them tried to hold the other under water, but both were paranoid about it happening and clung to the lip of the pool as though their life depended on it. Peter couldn't swing his one free arm effectively in the water, but he still hit Sylar, who couldn't dodge properly and spent his effort splashing water in Peter's face and pushing Peter away from him like Peter was an angry child.
Peter backed off, coughing. "What, are you fucking jealous?!"
"Yes, Peter! I am fucking jealous! Why does he get all these breaks and I don't?"
"He's my brother!"
"I was your brother once!"
"And I gave you a fucking break then, didn't I?" Peter coughed again. Sylar frowned at him. Peter went on, "'That's what brothers do', right?" He wasn't mocking – just reminding.
Sylar's frown was intensified by a glare, but then he shook his head and looked away. He muttered, "Okay, fine."
"What did you say?"
"I said, 'Fine'. You win. You're Peter Petrelli, the rock of the house of rocks, and you're stupidly loyal. Immovable object. Fine."
Peter was silent for a long time, watching Sylar sulk. Finally, he said, "It's not family I'm loyal to, Sylar." Sylar looked over. "It's love."
"But-" But Peter had already pushed away from the wall, head under water as he shot away through the water, leaving Sylar confused and alone.