A/N: Hi there! Sorry again for the lateness in updates. I can only apologise. I think the only way I will get this updated more often is if I keep adding short chapters. So here's a short scene here I hope you'll all enjoy!

And in case you missed it last time, don't forget to check out this Alex Petrelli character study (there are only a few spoilers that are more like teasers to be honest!:

http:/youtu(dot)be/GcLSkrrYkxc

Alex didn't need any second guesses in figuring out that Peter was pissed. He could see it in his face when he burst in to the Principal's office, his frown deep, his brows furrowed. And it was all accompanied with this short little sigh that suggested he was deeply disappointed.

Well, thought Alex, it wouldn't be the first time someone was disappointed in him.

The ride home was horribly awkward. Peter had hardly said a word to him and the silence was next to unbearable. Alex sunk in to the passenger's seat, as if trying to hide himself from the world outside. His face had fresh marks from the scrape he had with Ryan and, whilst he felt bad for disappointing Peter, he wasn't prepared to apologise for it.

"I'm not sorry for what I did, just so you know. The jerk had it coming," he uttered, pressing his face to the window. The people outside were mere blurs on a canvas of grey. He propped himself up on his arm. He hated everything about this city.

"Put your feet down. This is a rental," Peter murmured, glancing over at Alex's trainers currently resting on the dashboard.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Where'd you get this piece of crap from anyway?"

Peter sighed and Alex retreated back to his spot by the window. He couldn't see his older brother squirm slightly in his seat, opening his mouth every now and again to try and speak, but then give up and try and think of something better to say.

"I don't know how to talk to you," he admitted finally, gripping the wheel tightly. "I don't know how to do this. What I'm supposed to say."

Alex looked over at him. "You don't have to say anything."

"But I do. There's got to be something I should say to make this better."

"There's nothing you could possibly say that'd make this better," the boy scorned.

"My mom always used to say violence was never the answer."

"Well I wasn't asking a question," Alex said sarcastically. "Look, he was saying some messed up shit, so I hit him. He hit me back. It happens."

"But it shouldn't happen. And that's another thing: no swearing."

"No swearing? Seriously? That's bullshit."

Peter raised an eyebrow at him. Alex sighed, surrendering.

"No swearing, no fighting, no…hostility. I'm trying to help you out here, man."

"There you go, you're sounding more like a pompous-ass father already. Not that I would know…"

"Alright. But I am your guardian now so -"

"'What I say goes', yeah I know."

"And you need to control your anger. One more outburst like that and you'll get thrown out of school permanently."

"Is that such a bad thing?" questioned Alex. "That place is a Hell hole. I could get a job; I could work with you."

"As a paramedic?" Peter scoffed. "That's kind of the problem, Alex. To get a job like that, you'll need an education."

Defeated, Alex sunk back in his seat again, grinding his teeth together. Silence overcame them once again. Peter glanced at him again curiously.

"You ever put any thought in to the kind of career you want?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not really good at anything…non-superpower related."

"That can't be true."

Alex nodded. "Oh yeah, it is. I'm pretty useless. My mom knew it, my teachers knew. Heck, even my dad knew it and I wasn't even born yet."

"Don't say stuff like that," Peter frowned. "You know it isn't true. And you know dad didn't leave you because of that."

"No, he just left because my mom and I weren't good enough," Alex muttered, rubbing his sore knuckles across his cheek aimlessly.

Another sigh escaped Peter's lips. He couldn't win with this kid. Alex hadn't even seen the man that their father had become, the evil he was capable of, and yet Peter still felt the need to defend him. Perhaps it stemmed from that overwhelming need to protect his family, the very thing that had led him right here, right now to Alex. And which made him want to help him.

"I discovered something earlier," he said after a while, turning to Alex briefly before focusing on the road again. "I figured out how to control your ability."

"Control it?" repeated Alex, confused.

"You can control it using an emotional connection. If you're feeling similar emotions to a person you're coming in to physical contact with, it can trigger their memories."

He sat back, pondering on it for a moment. "I guess I…never realised that before. Sometimes it worked and other times it didn't. I just figured it was random. If I happened to be touching a person at the time it happened, I'd see their memories."

"Well, think about it. What were you and Ryan talking about that time you found out his parents were…well…you know."

He sucked in a breath, his nose wrinkling as he thought. "We were arguing about my family, why I was in foster care, that kinda thing. He said some stuff about my parents so I asked him some stuff about his and then as he walked away I grabbed his arm and just…saw it."

"He must have been in the same state of mind as you."

"Yeah, both thinking about how we had shitty parents." Peter gave him a warning look at his choice of words. "Sorry."

Forgiving him, Peter smiled. "I'll tell you what, once you're settled in we can do some training."

"Training?"

"Yeah. It's what I went through when I was first starting to get to grips with this. We'll explore your power, figure out exactly how to use it."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay," Alex said quietly. "That sounds like it'd be good."

Peter smiled at him, glad to have made a suggestion that actually made him happy. It wasn't going to be all fun and games though. As Peter had learnt in his time with Claude, there was a little pain involved in this kind of thing. He only hoped it wouldn't be too much for Alex to cope with.