Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes.

21 December, 2009

"This is ridiculous," Sylar breathed in amazement, "How did we even end up here?"

Eyes firmly shut, Claire leaned back against Sylar's chest and yawned heavily. "I have no idea," she forced out, "It has been hours."

It had been hours since the duo had left the hotel in order to do a little shopping and found themselves circling the aisles of a grocery store looking for junk food. The whole adventure had started off because it was a Monday and they had nothing to do. Claire had used the "B-word" which had led to Sylar challenging her to a board-game-off, which led to the realization that they didn't actually have any games to play.

The toy store had been a clear manifestation of Hell. Children screaming, obnoxiously loud music, oblivious shoppers, and aisle upon aisle of nonsensical toys that children might play with once before discarding. In a word it was hell. Sylar's patience had quite visibly dried up as they were jostled about. To prevent any tragic accidents for the toys, Claire had pulled out her phone and found a game store that was a little off the beaten path. That store had been much quieter and offered a wealth of games for the pair to pick from.

Of course, Sylar being Sylar and Claire being Claire meant that their trip couldn't end there. They would need copious amounts of junk food and snacks while they played. The ducked into a little hole-in-the-wall convenience store and picked up a half dozen random snacks and drinks only to realize as they drove away they had forgotten popcorn. It had only gotten worse from there.

"We suck at shopping," was Sylar's conclusion upon review of the day's events. "This should be impossible, how can we have been to six stores, and I'm sure we still haven't gotten everything we need."

Claire leaned forward, looking into the cart, mentally cataloguing what they had bought, "Maybe we should give up?"

"I don't give up, Claire," he said pointedly. "It's just not in my encyclopedia."

Claire groaned, head dropping onto the plastic cover of the cart handle. "This is torture. Seriously, I bet we could give the Company a few primo tips about torture after this little adventure."

"Don't be dramatic," Sylar scolded her lightly, moving the cart towards the checkout line. As much as he didn't give up, he was not going to put Claire through any more 'torture'. He was evil, not cruel.

"That's the thing, I'm not being dramatic," Claire whimpered, voice wavering. "We have been here for hours, I might die here!"

"Well if you weren't being dramatic before, you are now," Sylar kissed her shoulder, "besides, aren't girls supposed to like shopping?"

"Yeah well, outlier," Claire snapped.

"You sunk my battleship," Sylar told Claire, his voice flat.

"Sweet," Claire muttered, pink tongue tucked between her lips as she furrowed her brow in thought. "B…five?"

"Nothing," Sylar told her, "A-three?"

"Hit," Claire grumbled, "E-nine."

"Hit," Sylar scowled, "how are doing this?"

"Magic," Claire drew out the word as she surveyed her board, "Oh, I have you pinned."

"D-three," Sylar gritted out. Claire was kicking his backside from Chicago to Toronto and back and she wasn't lying or cheating, he had triple checked.

Tongue sliding along her lower lip, Claire glanced up at Sylar demurely, a sexy little smirk curling her mouth, "D-Four."

"I quit," Sylar flicked the top of his game board closed.

"You can't quit if you were just beaten," Claire corrected.

"Whatever, let's just play something else," Sylar glared over his cup of hot chocolate.

Claire shrugged, "Fine, you can pick."

"Okay," Sylar surveyed the stack of games they had amassed on their shopping trip. "Twister."

"Seriously," Claire's eyebrows rose sharply at his choice, "Okay, whatever you want."

Standing, Claire lifted her arms over her head and twisted her torso to either side. Sylar was fully focused on unfurling the plastic tarp for the game, their game of Battleship forgotten about. Leaning down, Claire touched her toes, before letting her body relax into the splits. Claire was fairly sure that Sylar had forgotten that she had been a cheerleader, and whatever strength advantage he believed he would have in this game would be far less advantageous than he did we How did we enven

"Ready," Claire asked as she pulled herself onto her knees, "No holding back?"

"It is on," Sylar told her firmly as he handed her the spinner. "Ladies first." Claire smiled sweetly and flicked the plastic hand. Sylar leaned across the spinner and kissed Claire, "Good luck, you'll need it."

The spinner landed on left hand yellow, Sylar obligingly settled his hand on the big dot, took the spinner, and waited for Claire to position herself on the correct dot.

Twister, as its name described, was more than sufficient at twisting people into veritable knots. After half a dozen turns of the spinner, Claire and Sylar were settled into arm-breakingly uncomfortable positions. Claire was braced half on-top of Sylar, while he had one leg twisted around her leg.

He grunted as he leaned on one arm so he could tap the spinner, "Green, right hand."

Arching her back, Claire glanced over her shoulder before lifting her right hand and pushing herself back. Her hand landed on the correct dot with a little squeak. Claire had successfully twisted her body, into a bridge, her legs twisted, trapping Sylar's leg between hers. Inhaling, Sylar slowly raised his arm, rotating his body, following Claire's path.

Sylar's body pressed down against Claire's, he smirked, "How are you doing, Claire?"

"Fine," she told him easily before pausing, "well, actually, could you do me a favor?"

"What," Sylar asked.

Claire wiggled slightly, "I have an itch."

"Okay?"

Her eyes flicked down, "It's kind of awkward."

"Claire," Sylar exhaled, "just ask."

"My boob," she gave him a helpless, apologetic smile.

Sylar's face went slack at her words, "Okay."

Claire sighed in relief and wiggled a little more, arching her back a little further, presenting her chest to Sylar. He didn't move, so Claire whimpered, pressing up into his body. When Sylar did move at last, it was to set his teeth on the small buttons that kept her shirt closed. He tugged each button free, his breath making Claire's sensitive skin pucker. She moved a little more, writhing beneath Sylar, moaning, head falling back at the sensation. Sylar groaned as his lips came into contact with the warm swell of her breasts, his task quickly forgotten as he kissed the bounty of flesh. Teeth scraped roughly across Claire's skin only for Sylar's tongue to sooth the velvet soft skin.

A voracious growl ripped from Sylar's throat, he surged forward, his focus breaking his balance. They sprawled onto the ground, Sylar pinning Claire to the ground. Sylar's hands found her waist, tugging at the offending shirt, pulling it up and over her head, before he refocused on the half-naked woman beneath him. With his lips on Claire's chest, hands slipping beneath her to slide the clasp of her bra open, the last things Sylar expected to hear was Claire laughing. Moaning in ecstasy, hopefully, laughing, no.

"What," Sylar growled his face darkening at the noise bubbling up from Claire.

"You just lost," Claire smirked before she yanked him down for a kiss. Unsurprisingly Sylar didn't much care that he had just lost another game to Claire, at least not while he was devouring her.

A/N: 21/25. So shopping trip was inspired by my afternoon, show of hands, who else has been spending way too much time forgetting things at the store this holiday? Anyhow, four chapters left!