Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes.
13 December, 2009
Pushing up against the pillow top mattress, Claire twisted in the direction of a shrill beeping. Her phone, it had been abandoned the previous night on the nightstand after a full afternoon of classic movies and sweet treats. Sliding across the bed, Claire strained to reach her phone. The device slipped through her fingers, twisting on the smooth wood of the tabletop, it rang again and Claire grunted as she lunged a little further, dragging it into her reach.
Rolling onto her back Claire sighed as she looked at the name on the screen. Hitting the answer button, Claire set the phone against her ear, "Hello."
"Claire," the always questioning voice of Noah rang. "Where are you? I came by your dorm to pick you up, you weren't there."
Of course he would cut to the chase. Noah rarely had time for subterfuge when he believed in the guilt of his quarry. "I left already."
Noah's sigh crept down the line, "That doesn't answer my question. You aren't spending the holidays with your mother, she thought you were spending it with me, I called Peter and Angela, and you aren't there, so where are you?"
"Imagine that," Claire's eyes fluttered closed in exasperation, "I don't want to spend time with you people, you lie and you hurt me, I want to be alone."
The silence of patented parental disapproval built, "Claire…promise me you aren't going back to the Carnival, promise me."
Pushing herself into a sitting position against the headboard, Claire smiled weakly as she spotted Sylar leaning against the doorway, sipping deeply from a mug. "I promise," she locked eyes with the shirtless man, "I won't go to the Carnival."
"Tell me where you are," Noah pressed. "I just want to know you are safe."
"I am," Claire answered honestly, "I just need to be away, from everything right now. Can you just…respect that?"
It was a plea that Claire hardly believed Noah could or would follow. He had spent her entire life lying to her face. Claire knew that much. She knew it wouldn't change; he was too stuck in his ways to change so easily or so quickly.
"I guess I can do that," came the lie, "just don't shut me out, Claire. I love you, you know that."
"Yeah," Claire swallowed, the lies tickling her ear making her throat clench. "I'll talk to you later, bye."
She hung up, ignoring the protests on the other end of the line. Setting the phone aside, Claire rose from the bed, advanced towards Sylar and looked up at him. "Is that for me," she asked with all the cheek of a woman determined to avoid any unpleasantness or serious talk.
Sylar allowed the sleep mussed woman to sidle up to him and pull the warm mug of coffee from his hands, sipping deeply from it. She settled down onto her heels as the warm liquid bled through her body.
"Problems," Sylar asked, tilting his head towards the phone.
Claire shook her head, "Nope. So what are we going to do today?"
Sylar stepped back, catching Claire's free hand and pulling her out into the sitting room, "Anything you like."
"Rob a bank," she drew out the words, a smile curling her lips with glee.
He laughed, body shaking, "Maybe something a little less exciting would be better."
"You pick," Claire dropped down onto the couch, pulling Sylar down beside her.
"Museum," Sylar suggested, "we are in a city full of culture, or there is the aquarium, the zoo, anything you want."
"Aquarium," Claire asked, holding back her excitement, "do they have cute otters?"
It wasn't the question he was expecting, but Sylar nodded, "They do."
"Yay," Claire took another sip of the coffee. "Can I pet them?"
"No," he shook his head, "I think that might be a terrible idea."
"Why," she pouted, "they are so cute."
Pulling the coffee mug away from Claire, Sylar set it on the coffee table and pulled Claire into his arms. "Somehow I'm against you having something cuddly and cute to hold," Sylar gave her a squeeze, "I'm the only one you get to hold that is cuddly and cute."
She snorted, "Excuse me, did you just call yourself cuddly and cute?"
"Yes," Sylar told her seriously.
"And who says I'm going to hold you," Claire teased, frowning playfully.
"I'm not saying it, I'm just really hoping you'll want to, besides, I'm irresistible," Sylar stroked Claire's arm. She giggled, squirming slightly as he leaned down, his lips placing a soft kiss against the pulse of her neck.
He pulled back after a few seconds, peering at her face, waiting for the reaction that would come. As opposed to the spark of anger he feared would appear, she blushed, a pink flush filling her cheeks. The blonde pulled herself from his arms, sitting up and launching herself from the couch.
"Let's go," she grinned, spinning off to the bathroom, leaving Sylar staring after her.
Bundled up in coats, the pair stepped out of the cab, Claire staring in eagerness at the steps that stretched before her. Happily, Claire reached out and twined her hand with Sylar's hand. She could feel him looking down at her, he wasn't used to this level of comfortableness with anyone. Each day with Claire tested his limits. He wasn't playing at being her boyfriend, or her savior. He was being true to himself.
Claire found the mundane act of standing in line to get tickets rather novel. Sylar stood next to her, hands still clasped, whispering things about the building, the signs, even the people they were surrounded by.
The whole day was rather novel for Claire. They had taken a cab, Sylar had made small talk with the driver and no one had died, literally or of shock. With each experience, each small snippet of normality that teased the future she could have, Claire became more and more convinced of her decision to run away with Sylar. This, of course, was a sentiment that Claire was vehement in believing she would never espouse. She had in fact been quite prolific in threatening Sylar's existence. Except, Sylar wasn't just Sylar anymore, he was so much more, he was Gabriel, the man who was as lonely as she was.
They held hands as they walked through the Shedd Aquarium, both fascinated by the fish and other deep sea creatures. Neither part of the couple could remember enjoying visiting an aquarium quite so much. They were both rather curious creatures, wanting to learn and finding the smallest things fascinating. Claire had stared in wonder at the Jellyfish exhibit, watching them float lazily through the water, lit up by small colored lights that made the spineless creatures seem electric.
"They're beautiful," she murmured, resting her head against Sylar's shoulder. "Do you ever wonder what life would be like if we didn't have powers?"
Her companion was slightly startled by the twist in her train of thought, "No. I know exactly where I would be right now."
"Where," Claire asked, eyes watching the lazy path of the jellies.
Sylar sighed, shifting so he stood behind Claire, arms wrapped around her, dipping down to rest his chin on her shoulder. "I," he breathed in her ear, "would be working my shop, living alone, going about life with no expectations for the future."
"Do you think we would ever have met," Claire asked, relaxing back into Sylar's arms.
Claire watched Sylar's face darken in the reflection of the glass, "I doubt it. Why would our paths ever cross, a cheerleader and a timepiece repairman, it sounds ridiculous."
Heart thudding, Claire pulled away, tugging Sylar towards the next exhibit, an underwater tunnel. "Don't you believe in fate," she asked him, eyes tracking the various fish that swam around them.
"I don't know," Sylar watched her. "What about you, Claire?"
Turning to face him, Claire looked up at him, "I'd like to think there is. It makes everything a little less…futile, I guess."
"So you think that even if we didn't have powers, somehow we would be here, now," he felt vulnerable asking her that.
"I think so," the words were like helium, bubbling up of their own free will. They erupted like a hiccup, they left her throat and stomach feeling empty, shaken. It was an admission that stunned her. "You understand me better than anyone I've ever known," she breathed.
Claire swallowed. Her whole body felt weak, cold. She took another step forward, watching Gabriel tilt his head, eyebrows furrowing slightly at her words. Reaching up, Claire framed his face with her hands, rising up on her toes. Claire pressed her lips to his. Her whole body relaxed into him, his arms coming around her, Claire's eyes fluttered shut as they shared their first kiss.
It was soft and sweet, the gentle press of his lips against hers making her breathing erratic, her hands slid to his shoulders for better purchase to pull herself closer. They held close to each other, lips and bodies pressed together in satisfaction beneath the blue glow of the aquarium tunnel. Sylar smiled into the kiss, their contact breaking as their mingled breaths became small laughs.
Running a hand through Claire's hair Sylar smiled down at her, "If this is fate, I think I might come around to it."
A/N: 13/25. I think one of the most important aspects of Sylaire is that they are both seeking the same thing through different means. They both want to be normal, misunderstanding what normal is. Thank you for all of the lovely reviews, Happy Holidays!