A/N: More Sex! Oh, and yes, I managed to sneak a briding in there. It seemed like the sort of reference Hiro would know.
Ando had sulked, but he honored his end of the bargain. Right before he extended his hand, he made a last ditch effort to claim that hurting one's self still counting as hurting people. The expression on Peter and Hiro's faces dissuaded him from pursuing it. Peter inhaled deeply, feeling the shift and flow of the power. He'd never held Ando's ability before. It was one of the most multi-faceted he'd ever had. He rolled it over in his mind, getting a feel for it, but he suspected that even after long study it would still hold surprises for him. It didn't matter though - he needed it for a single purpose only.
He turned to leave. Hiro caught his arm. He stopped, surprised. Hiro asked, "How long has it been since you last heard from this man you call Gabriel now?"
Peter blinked. He'd been busy, very busy. He'd left two messages, but Gabriel had to get them and return them from the shop, when Martin wasn't around. He didn't have a phone in his apartment. "Almost four days. Why?"
"Gabriel Gray died the night you left."
"What?" Peter felt like he's been stabbed in the heart with a rusty pipe. In the background, Ando chortled. Under other circumstances, Peter would have wanted to kill him for that disrespectful noise, but right now he could think of nothing but what Hiro had just said to him.
"Be at peace, Peter Petrelli. I looked forward along the thread of his life to see what his future would hold without Ando's help."
Tears began to fall from his eyes. His throat constricted, but he forced out the words, "You knew he was dead all this time and-"
"Peter! Be at peace!" Hiro's voice grew suddenly stern and commanding, shutting Peter up and getting his attention even in the depths of despair. Hiro drew himself up. "I am the master of time and space. Death cannot stop true love." He smiled a little, seeing the hope stealing across Peter's face as he began to realize what Hiro was implying. "All it can do is delay it for a little while."
Peter put down the case on the table in Gabriel's apartment, next to the note he'd left telling the man where he'd went. He'd left … in this timeline, only a few minutes ago. He turned and nodded to Hiro, who smiled and patted him on the shoulder. Peter sniffed and wiped at his eyes. The shock of that statement was still fresh. His heart was still beating too fast. He didn't have much time - not nearly as much as he'd thought.
Hiro did not leave immediately though. Instead he said, "I also looked forward along the thread to see what his future would be if Ando did help." He had Peter's attention. "Ando's power is very, very special, Peter. With great power, comes great responsibility, and I know that you know that. I know, also, that you will make sure that power is used wisely this time." With that cryptic message, Hiro gave a curt nod and vanished.
Peter considered Hiro's words for a moment, then opened the case he'd put on the table. He took out a syringe and a single dose. When it was prepared, he focused Ando's supercharging ability on the implement. His hand, and the syringe, glowed with a red energy. As it faded, the contents of the syringe, which had been a pale, straw yellow, were now red and gold, scintillating in the light with a vaguely metallic sheen. Looks weird.
He walked to the bedroom and pushed the door open. Gabriel was lying exactly where he'd last seen him. It seemed surreal to see him unchanged after days had passed for Peter. He swallowed and walked forward timidly, watching his new lover, reassured to see that he was still breathing. He climbed on the bed, then worried when that movement didn't stir the other man.
Peter now gave in to the urge he'd had before he'd left - the urge to touch, to pet and to stroke the frail, hollowed person before him. Gabriel's eyes opened sluggishly, tracking to him with difficulty. When they lit on Peter, they brightened like he was looking on the most wonderful thing in the world. He smiled warmly, putting on a false air Peter now saw right through. He was happy - yes, that was true, but the way he stretched and pretended that he was merely a little drowsy rather than struggling to stay awake - that was false.
Gabriel looked Peter up and down, then suddenly sucked in breath as he saw the needle. Fear went across his features, followed by betrayal and anger, then fear again, and finally … trust. But even then, he didn't ask.
"It's a cure," Peter offered.
Gabriel looked bewildered. "How long have you been gone?" He looked over at the clock.
Peter leaned in and kissed Gabriel's forehead. "Long enough." He began to prep his arm for the injection.
Gabriel watched him pensively, brows knitted in concern. "I don't like needles," he said quietly. His eyes went steadily between the syringe and Peter's face. He trusted, but he was still frightened.
"If there was any other way, I'd use it, but I don't have much time." Peter poised the needle over the vein, thankful that Gabriel had shot up between his toes and never collapsed the veins in his arms. He wondered how he'd managed to shoot himself up if he was phobic about needles, but Peter supposed it was different when the instrument was in your own hand.
"Okay?" Peter asked, looking for permission. Gabriel nodded. He slid the needle in, waited for flashback to confirm he was in the vein, and removed the tie on Gabriel's bicep. He held the needle as steady as possible, depressing the plunger slowly. It was a stubborn mix, thick and difficult to inject, but it went.
When done, Peter pulled out the needle and reached to cover the wound. It sealed instantly and disappeared. His lips curled up in a slow-growing smile. Gabriel made a stifled groan and flexed, his body abruptly bulking up, regaining mass and muscle, his skin becoming less pale and taking on a healthy glow. He took a deep breath and a true light came back to his eyes as he filled with life.
"It worked!"
"Not only did it work, you regenerated," Peter said, amazed. He set the syringe aside. He hadn't expected that - he'd only expected to halt the progress of the disease and hopefully end it. He hadn't thought it would restore his powers.
"I didn't just regenerate." Gabriel pulled Peter down and kissed him, hard and needy, a bruising crush of lips, giving Peter no time or opportunity to respond. He tried, but they just ended up at cross-purposes. Peter relaxed finally and let Gabriel lead. That acquiescence stopped the tense grappling and near-blind attempt to claim.
Gabriel hesitated. What he wanted so badly was here in his hands. There was no reason to be rough. He looked in Peter's light brown eyes from just inches apart. He turned his head slightly and opened his mouth against Peter's. Peter matched him slowly, the breath from his nose flaring across his cheek. Their tongues touched gently and slid past each other carefully. Gabriel groaned deep in his throat and pulled Peter down on the bed. He climbed over him.
They were both still dressed - Gabriel had lain down fully so after dinner and never had the energy to disrobe. He had the energy now. He set to stripping Peter's clothes with speedy efficiency. He spoke as he worked, "You know, if this is another dream, Peter, like one of Matt Parkman's mind traps, because you couldn't find a cure and wanted to give me forever before the end-"
"This is real," Peter interrupted.
Gabriel laughed and leaned in to kiss the Italian, spreading his shirt to either side. When he rose, pulling off his own singlet while Peter shimmied out of his top, Gabriel said, "All I was going to say is - don't wake me up."
Peter smiled, unfastening Gabriel's pants and sliding them down his hips. The other man put his legs together and scooted upwards, so Peter's hands kept pushing down the trousers as Gabriel moved his body up parallel to Peter's. When the pants were around his calves, his cock was dangling in Peter's face. Peter laughed and swiped at it with his tongue, forgetting about the pants. Gabriel shuffled his feet to get them free, making himself bob erratically as Peter tried to capture him with his mouth.
He succeeded a moment later and Gabriel stopped doing anything that would shift him away. Instead, he sank in slowly, working out where to put his arms and knees so Peter could continue softly sucking at him, pulling him inside his mouth and working him with tongue and lips. Gabriel whimpered, but felt obligated to point out, "You should probably be using a condom, Peter."
Peter pulled off briefly. "Get me one." Oral sex was one of the least risky things they could do, but Peter no longer had the option of trading for Claire's power. Well, actually he did, and if Gabriel could regenerate then he didn't even need to go to her. But if he wanted to keep Ando's ability - and he did - then he couldn't swap. Gabriel handed him one without ever having moved, making Peter suspect he'd used telekinesis to get it. Peter had been watching the pendulous swaying of Gabriel's organ, entranced by it, really. Now he sheathed it carefully and resumed.
He took him deep - a trick Peter had mastered early in his sex life. Gabriel had not given him head at all and Peter had not pushed it. He got plenty of other things from him. Right now Peter reveled in the noises Gabriel was making, moaning and squirming, bucking himself very lightly into Peter's mouth. He clearly wanted to do more, but Peter's hands on his hips kept him slow. Peter was having to use more and more pressure to hold him where he needed him to be. Gabriel finally pulled out abruptly and slid down his body.
"Get out of your pants, Peter." He looked up at Peter's face, making sure that was received well. Peter was thrilled, so Gabriel added jokingly, "Because I need to get in them!"
Peter chuckled and lost the last of his clothes.
"Watch this!" Gabriel stuck out his hand and the lube flew to it. So yes, he had telekinesis. He squirted lube on the first three fingers of his hand. "And this!" A gentle light flared from that hand. Peter's brows drew together. Sylar tossed the bottle aside and leaned in, smoothing the slick material onto Peter. It was warm.
"You …" Peter was trying to think. While yes, Gabriel had had Ted's power back in the day and with careful modulation it could emit radiation in a harmless, warming infrared frequency, he'd lost that power a long time ago. He didn't have any other that duplicated it. "You have all your powers back?"
Gabriel leaned over him, mouth slack as his fingers probed into Peter's body. "Every. Single. One of them." He kissed him deep and passionate. Peter pulled up his knees, body arching to meet him. Gabriel had found his prostate and taken up a steady, gentle rubbing at it. Peter crooned in bliss. It was the perfect pressure, the perfect frequency. "Erotic touch," Gabriel whispered, but Peter wasn't listening. "I see it," he added, "that makes sense," but he was ignored. Nothing was getting through to Peter at that moment except the maelstrom of sensation burning through his body.
He did notice, faintly, that the fingers were gone but the rubbing was still happening. He laughed. Gabriel hesitated, then fathomed the meaning of the chuckle. Gabriel said, "Look Ma, no hands." Peter laughed harder, but it was choked off as he succumbed to the ecstasy again. Gabriel lined himself up and pushed inside, eliciting a deep groan. Peter clung to him tightly, his organ throbbing, his body dancing along the bright edge of release. Gabriel's cock shifted, thrusting inside him in a fantastic counterpoint to the continuing, oscillating pressure against his prostate. Distantly, Peter admired the hell out of Gabriel's concentration and focus.
Even though he'd been riding infinitely high for a while now, somehow going over the edge still came as a surprise, his come bursting across his stomach in a hot gush as Gabriel continued to plow into him, harder and faster, giving it to him with more power and control than he'd ever been able to manage before. He bent to take Peter's mouth, kissing him passionately as he kept thrusting, jogging Peter's whole body, slamming into him forcefully before finally releasing deep within. He held for a long, breathless moment, before relaxing a little, shivering with an aftershock, then relaxing more.
He moved cheek to cheek, breathing hard, panting into Peter's ear.
"I love you," Peter said, voice tremulous, still trying to recover. Good God, he'd never realized Gabriel was this good in the sack. Hell, he hadn't known anyone was this good in the sack. He reached up and nipped at Gabriel's ear, which oddly caused him to spasmodically thrust into him again, and grunt disconcertingly. Peter grinned. Gabriel got the side of his head away and slipped out. He reached up and touched his ear, confused. He smiled and shook his head, then kissed his grinning, mischievous lover.
"I love you too," Gabriel said when they parted. He got rid of the condom, watching it sail in a perfect arc to the wastebasket. Then he turned back and put his hand on the middle of Peter's chest. A golden light and odd sensation surrounded it. Peter blinked, trying to clear his head of the wash of endorphins and figure out what the hell Gabriel had just done - because he'd just done something. He struggled up. "It's okay," Gabriel murmured. "Trust me, Peter. You saved my life. I love you. I'm giving you something back."
Peter kept blinking uncertainly, but he stayed where he was, propped up on his elbows. Gabriel leaned in and kissed him again. Peter tilted his head to meet him. A crimson glow surrounded the edges of his vision and Peter sucked in breath, but kept kissing him. Whatever Gabriel was doing, he was going to trust him. He felt something pick at the part of his brain that was connected to his ability. He tensed, but he didn't pull away, feeling Gabriel's tongue touching his lips distractingly. A moment later, something ran down his spine as intense as the orgasm he'd just felt. He couldn't help it this time. He faltered and fell back on the bed wholly involuntarily, his eyes glazed for a moment with the sheer, unadulterated pleasure of that feeling.
He pulled in a huge gasp of air and it was gone. No, not gone. It was … he was different. Gabriel pulled back a little, crouching over him on all fours, watching. Peter was feeling … something. There was a straining and something else. He reached up almost instinctively towards Gabriel, who immediately bent his face to that hand, putting his cheek into Peter's palm and still watching - watching. Peter felt it as every ability Gabriel had slowly replicated itself in his mind. He could tell from Gabriel's expression that he knew, too, that it was happening.
"Everything," Peter said when it was done. "Everything." That wasn't strictly true - he only had Gabriel's abilities, and Ando's. "What happened?"
Gabriel gave him a brief kiss and then flopped bonelessly on his back, grinning at the ceiling. "I got all of mine back, including how to gain abilities through empathy, which is even easier with you combine it with Lydia's ability. So then I gained your ability. And supercharging. And then I supercharged your ability - permanently, I think - and then you gained all of my abilities." He grinned lazily at Peter. "So now we're just the wonder twins, you and I." He started laughing, a deep belly laugh that rocked his whole body.
When he was done, Peter crawled under his arm and put his head on the other man's chest. He used telekinesis - his own! - to pull up the blankets over their cooling bodies. Gabriel cinched him close and seemed in accord with Peter's intention of going to sleep for the night. "We have a beautiful future ahead of us, babe," Peter murmured. There were other people to save and injustices to fight, but right now they needed rest.
"Yes, we do," Gabriel answered, using his own ability to click off the light switch without moving from the bed.