Spoilers: All of Season 2.
Summary: Peter looks for comfort while Hiro and Ando look for a way to save the world.
Pairing: Adam/Peter.
Warnings: Implied sex, non-graphic torture, Adam being cosy, paradox-talk, language.

Back to Part 3



When He Was Good, Part 4

“Go to him.”

Peter scrunched his eyes shut tightly and pressed his head deeper into the pillow. “No. Go away.”

“Just go to him. His room is next door. He won’t be asleep.”

It was extremely difficult to ignore a voice in your head. “I don’t care. I’m trying to sleep.”

“But you can’t.” Said in a smug, knowing tone.

“Because you keep talking!”

“It’s nothing to do with me. Your mind’s running a mile a minute. You’re scared and confused. Why do you think I told you to come here?”

“I don’t know,” Peter said, without really considering the question. The last voicemail message from Nathan still weighed heavily on his mind and he was wondering whether he would be better off going back and confessing everything to his big brother.

“Adam can make all the bad stuff go away. Come on, you remember those nights with him. Just when we thought we were going insane from it all, Adam would chase our demons away.”

“And what does that say about him?” Peter asked cynically. “That he scares even demons away? We can’t trust him. He’s evil.”

“He’s been surprisingly hospitable to you this evening. For an evil guy.”

Peter sat upright in the bed, covers falling down to his waist. He looked around, but there was no mirror to shout at. He was arguing with a disembodied voice. “Why are you so obsessed with this?” He asked. “Don’t you get enough play when you’re in control? God knows you fucked a week away using crafty time-travel. Now that I’m in charge of the body, I don’t want to be doing that. I’m leaving the whoring entirely up to you.” He was surprised to realise he was shaking, the events of the past few days catching up to him and taking their toll on his stress levels.

“I’m not telling you to fuck him,” the voice replied patiently, “I’m telling you to go to him. Let him help.”

“Help? How?”

“I don’t know. But I’m sure he’d know what to do. Come on, Adam’s the only person who ever made us feel invincible. That’s gotta mean something.”

Peter shuddered and lay back down. “I’m doing fine on my own. Let me sleep. Please.”

His other self was silent and Peter let himself drift, his mind floating among anxieties and uncomfortable memories. Whenever he closed his eyes he could see himself debased in an alleyway or standing over a corpse.

Eventually he sat up and swung his feet out onto the carpet. He wrapped the blanket around himself and shuffled out of the room. The voice in his head didn’t even say ‘I told you so’ when Peter knocked tentatively on Adam’s bedroom door.

There were sounds of movement inside the room, then the door swung open. It was dimly lit in there by a lamp, and Adam blinked at the sudden harsh light of the corridor before focusing on Peter. “Is everything alright?”

Peter shook his head. “No,” he said quietly. “Nothing’s alright and I don’t know what to do.”

Adam pulled him into a strong hug, blanket and all. “Come on,” he whispered softly. “You’re sharing the bed with me tonight. No arguments.” As if Peter would dream of arguing now.

He allowed himself to be led over to the bed. They put his blanket over the one Adam already had, making the bed twice as cosy. Both men were only in their boxers, so when Adam wrapped his arms around Peter the Empath was treated to the feel of Adam’s bare chest, warm and soft, against his bare back. Adam’s fingertips were like silk as they traced patterns along Peter’s forearms and the nurse felt better than he had in a long time. He felt safe and cared for; Adam’s gentle stroking lulling him into relaxation. As sleep beckoned him nearer, Peter turned in Adam’s embrace, shuffling down so that he could press his face against the man’s chest and breathe in a scent that he had missed for too long. A kiss was bestowed on his hair and Adam began to run his fingers lightly up and down Peter’s back. Their legs intertwined and as he drifted off to sleep, Peter silently swore not to doubt his mirror self again.

*

The future was not going at all how Hiro had expected. He had known there would be obstacles and hardships to overcome, as in all a hero’s quests, but this was more painful than any of his trials so far. He had been tortured once before, when he travelled into his own future and was mistaken for his terrorist self, but that was for information. He had known then that the pain would stop when they had their answers or when someone rescued him. But there was nobody here to rescue him and Kensei tortured him out of bitterness. There was no end to that malice, so all that Hiro could do was suffer bravely, hoping that Ando was not disheartened or frightened as he was forced to watch.

A particularly powerful smack knocked Hiro’s face to the side and made his mouth taste of blood. Kensei chuckled. “Don’t tell me you’re tiring already Carp, I still have much more planned and I would hate to have to inflict it on your friend instead.”

Hiro was about to protest, but Ando shouted out first. “Leave Hiro alone! What has he done to you?”

The blond ex-samurai stared speechless at Ando for a moment as if insulted. “What has he done?” he echoed, “What has he done?! He took everything from me. Built me up to tear me down. Talked about heroics but taught me villainy.” He put his arms out dramatically. “This wretched monster was made by Hiro Nakamura.”

“But…” it was hard to speak through his swollen lip, but Hiro persevered. “…you own…an Empire.”

Kensei shrugged. “Only through sacrificing that which I should have kept.” His gaze grew faraway for a moment as he remembered whatever it was he had lost. “I should have known better, learned to be content. But after what you did,” his blue eyes burned into Hiro once more, “I couldn’t be happy. Four-hundred years and I couldn’t be happy. I should have been. I had everything. But you left me full of venom and I just had to spit it, burning away all that was good around me. Leaving me with…this…meaningless Empire.”

“What about Peter Petrelli?” Ando called from his restrained position in the corner of the room. “He is with you. Aren’t you happy with him?”

Kensei sighed and shook his head. “You don’t understand. Peter hasn’t been Peter in a long time.”

It seemed as though their torturer would continue to explain, but then the Empath appeared in the room. Peter threw his arms around Adam and leaned against him as he spoke. “They said they’ll need tonight to prepare the cells to repress Hiro’s teleportation and time-travel.” Dark eyes glanced over at the Hiro, taking in his bloodied appearance. “He will still be alive tomorrow, right? I wouldn’t want them to waste their time.”

Kensei grinned and put his arms around Peter Petrelli. “Of course I won’t kill him sweetheart. You asked me not to. Besides, he is a valuable addition to the Herd.” He kissed Peter deeply, making the Empath moan and making the two Japanese prisoners slightly uncomfortable. “I was just toying with them.”

“Like a big cat with a little mouse,” Peter said, smiling in a playful, slightly manic way. Hiro wondered if he and Ando had arrived too late to save Peter Petrelli from evil. It seemed he had gone a little insane.

“Exactly. Now watch them for me while I go see to some business.”

Peter nodded, but when Kensei made to pull away, he let out a whine. The blond man chuckled and kissed him again passionately, hands groping all over Peter Petrelli’s body. Peter sighed happily when they drew apart and Kensei left with a smirk on his lips.

Peter soon turned to face Hiro and Ando with a smile on his face. “So, how are you finding the future? It’s fun, isn’t it?”

Now was the time to act. Hiro spluttered through the blood that had pooled in his mouth, then relayed his message. “Peter Petrelli, we are here to turn you from evil.”

The Empath cocked his head to the side, like a puppy, looking confused. “Why?”

“The good guys need you,” Ando answered, taking over from his exhausted friend. “You have a great power. It is your duty to be a hero!”

“You must leave Adam Monroe,” Hiro continued. “He is a very bad man. He has led you to the dark side.”

Peter contemplated them and their words for a moment, a very serious look on his face. “You don’t know anything about what’s led me here. Adam is the only good thing left in my life.”

“What about your brother?” Ando asked innocently.

Hiro could do nothing but watch in fear and horror as Peter Petrelli smashed Ando into the wall with his telekinetic power.

“How dare you mention Nathan!” the Empath yelled, throwing Ando across into the opposite room of the wall then shooting a lightning bolt at him.

“Please stop,” Hiro begged. “Ando is not special, he will die!” He should never have brought his friend on this dangerous mission. He could never have imagined that Peter Petrelli would be capable of this.

Salvation came, surprisingly, in the form of Takezo Kensei. The blond man grabbed Peter’s arms and held him tightly until he stopped struggling and Ando had fallen to the floor. “Peter, what on Earth happened?”

The Empath was shaking like a leaf, though Hiro’s attention was more on the shaking Ando who was groaning quietly on the floor. “He said…he…said…” Peter struggled to explain, his breath coming in short gasps. “Nathan. He asked about Nathan.”

“Oh love,” Kensei murmured gently, “let’s go to our room for a bit.” He looked over at Hiro and Ando. “I doubt these two are in any condition to escape.”

Peter shot a glare at Ando, as though considering hurting him more, but allowed himself to be led from the room. Once the evil men had gone, Hiro shuffled across the floor to Ando. “Ando?” He whispered urgently. “Ando?”

His friend groaned in pain and turned onto his back so that he could look up at the ceiling. “Hiro.” He didn’t look like he was terribly hurt, but Hiro could not know for sure. “I do not understand. Why did he attack me for mentioning his brother?”

Hiro shrugged. The movement sent a sharp pain through his shoulder-blades as he had been forced to sit in one position for hours. “I do not know either. Perhaps something terrible has happened to Flying Man.”

Ando pushed himself into a sitting position, hissing as the motion aggravated his injured body. “We must escape now while they are gone!”

“How?” Hiro asked. “I cannot use my power and the door is locked very tight!”

The heavy door smashed open with such force that both men winced. An attractive blonde woman walked in, followed by a young man. Ando stared at the lady. “Niki?” he said, disbelievingly.

“No time for twenty questions,” the woman replied as she knelt down beside Hiro and snapped his handcuffs. “They’ll have heard the noise.” She nodded towards the young man accompanying her. “West got me in but he can’t carry all three of us. Hiro, you have to get us out of here.”

Now that the cuffs had been pulled from his wrists, Hiro could feel his power returning, like a tingling down his spine. “I can do it,” he said confidently, though he had never taken three passengers on a teleportation before. “Where should I take us?”

“New Orleans,” Niki said quickly. “We can get back to base from there.”

“Hold on!” Hiro cried out. Ando grabbed his right shoulder, Nikki and West put their hands firmly on his left.

They disappeared just as Peter Petrelli arrived in the doorway.

*

Peter woke to warmth and comfort, snuggled against Adam’s body as the Immortal read a book. The arm that wasn’t holding up his book was holding Peter close, occasionally rubbing his back distractedly. It felt so cosy in fact, that Peter closed his eyes to savour the atmosphere a little longer. Eventually though, curiosity prodded him into officially waking up.

“What are you reading?” he asked.

Adam looked away from his book to bestow a warm smile on Peter. “Good morning sunshine. Sleep alright?”

“Mmm. Very well. Thank you. But you didn’t answer my question.” He reached out for the book and Adam turned it around so that he could see the front cover. ‘A Comprehensive Guide to Personality Disorder Studies’. He frowned – not what he’d expected as Adam’s bedtime reading. “Is that what’s wrong with me?” he asked. “A personality disorder?”

“I’m not sure,” Adam confessed. “But this other version of you does seem to be a response to stressful circumstances. Someone who can do the things you’ve been taught are unacceptable. Seems to fit with some of the theories in here,” he waved the book slightly, thumb still keeping it open at the point he was reading.

“Does it say how to fix it?” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to or not, but surely, if there was something wrong with him, if he was sick, then he should take steps to remedy it.

Adam sighed. “Unfortunately it seems that the only advancement psychology has made in the past thirty years is to admit they don’t really know much about anything. I blame the invention of ethics. Psychologists just can’t experiment like they used to. Damn shame if you ask me.” He put the open book down on the bedside table. “Now. Enough of that. What do you want for breakfast?”

Peter made a decision. He ran his hand down Adam’s chest and met the man’s blue eyes. Tried to make his desire clear.

“You.”

*

The rebel headquarters was not an underground base or a secret chamber in the sewers, but a small house in New Orleans. Ando was surprised, to say the least. But when Niki unlocked the door and led them inside, the momentary fear on the occupants’ faces said it all. Once they realised it was Niki and West though, they relaxed with relieved smiles. Ando did not recognise many of them, but one face was familiar enough to shock him.

He pointed at the man and cried out, “You are me!”

Older-Ando chuckled. “Yes, I am.” Then his older-self gaze travelled over to his companion and his face grew sombre immediately. “Hiro.” Hiro met young-Ando’s gaze with bewilderment as he was pulled into a warm, lasting hug by older-Ando. “I have missed you, old friend,” said the older Japanese man softly. “The quest has been less fun without you.” He stepped back then, resuming the air of a professional. Even without a sword, Ando thought his future self looked pretty badass. His stern look reminded him a little of Hiro’s father. “There were no problems?” he asked Niki.

“Nope,” the woman replied easily, brushing her long blonde hair back over one shoulder. “West flew us up to the floor they were on and Molly was right on the money.”

A little girl eating cereal at the table smiled brightly. “You’re welcome,” she replied, so Ando assumed she was Molly.

Further explanation came from the Indian man who sat near her. “Molly can track people,” he informed them. “Her power has been growing exponentially. She can see anywhere in the world and these days she uses her ability to peer in on Peter Petrelli and Adam Monroe to see if we can save anyone from them. This time she saw you.”

“This is a brilliant opportunity,” Ando said with eagerness in his eyes. “Our Hiro is…long gone, but you can travel back and stop this from happening! You can prevent Peter Petrelli from falling to the dark side and building Adam’s Empire!”

“I do not understand,” Hiro said, looking rather confused. “We thought that it was your Peter Petrelli who had travelled back in time and attacked us. When is it that he becomes a villain?”

A young black woman spoke up in a southern accent. “I think if it’s the past y’all wanna be knowing about, you’d best talk to Black Box. It’s kinda her thing.”

Ando and Hiro nodded at each other. “We should find out exactly when we need to go back,” Ando said, “and what event we need to stop.”

“Where can we find this Black Box?” Hiro asked older-Ando.

“She should be in the other room,” replied Ando’s older self.

They bowed to him respectfully and went out to look for the room that he meant. As they left, the other blonde woman in the room, who looked younger than Niki, began to speak. “Does anyone else think we’re wasting a brilliant opportunity here? With Hiro’s power we could jump right in, slap the power-restrainers on Peter’s wrists before he can blink then that’s it! A plan we’ve had for months executed in under a minute. Why try changing the past without even knowing it’ll work, when we can change the here and now for sure?”

Ando and Hiro were silent as they carried on down the hallway, listening to the conversation that grew quieter the further they walked. “Because Claire,” replied future-Ando, “stopping Adam and Peter now will not bring back those we have lost.”

“I know you miss Hiro,” replied the woman, “but there are more lives at stake here.”

“Yes,” agreed Ando’s older self, barely audible to Hiro and Ando now. “Nathan Petrelli, the Haitian, Micah Sanders, Matt Parkman, Noah Bennet...”

There was no more talking.

The other room turned out to be a small bedroom with mattresses and blankets crammed in so as not to leave an inch of the floor visible. Clearly many people slept in here. There was a young woman in dark jeans and a faded t-shirt sitting on one of two real beds. She was looking out of the window. It was getting dark and the moon was already visible.

“Excuse me,” Ando called, trying to be respectful. “We are looking for a Black Box?”

“That would be me,” she replied, turning her head to look at her visitors. Both Hiro and Ando gulped nervously. The girl’s eyes were completely black, like onyx orbs stuck in her eye-sockets. The corner of her mouth flickered up in a smirk at their reactions. “Don’t mind the eyes.”

“Your powers did this to you?” Hiro asked with horror. Ando knew why it was shocking – all the heroes looked startled when a power had a bad effect on the person who had it. All of them worried that one day their powers might turn on them too, no matter how fun and harmless they had once been.

Black Box shrugged in response to Hiro’s question. “No one to blame but myself. Looking at the past too much, it’s bad for you. Like watching too much tv or staring at the sun.” She sighed heavily. “What was it you wanted?”

“We must know the past,” Ando said, gaining confidence. The woman’s eyes may have seemed threatening, but she did not speak in an intimidating way. “My friend Hiro can travel back in time and stop this awful Empire from ever being here!”

The girl raised an eyebrow then nodded slowly. “That would be cool.” She stretched her arms up above her head with a yawn then settled into a cross-legged position. “Okay, sit down.” Both men did as they were told, perching awkwardly on their knees on the end of the bed. “How exactly do you plan on stopping the Empire from being created?”

Hiro raised a finger in a wise and sage manner. “We save Peter Petrelli from evil influence. Keep him on the side of good. Then he will never find Takezo Kensei, who you know as Adam Monroe, and help him take over America.”

“And half the European countries,” Black Box added, educating them further on the geographical details of this Empire. “Your theory’s sound, except for one thing.”

“What is that?” Ando asked.

She leaned forward, pale elbows on her knees. “Your time-travel has made the past a little harder to read but I can see where you dropped out of the timeline. And I can tell you that Peter Petrelli has already found Adam Monroe by that point.” She stared away from them for a few moments, looking at something they couldn’t see. “And he’s begun his descent. By the time you travelled here you were already too late.”

“But that cannot be!” Hiro wailed.

“It doesn’t matter,” Ando said in an attempt to reassure his friend. “You can travel back to before we travelled here and stop whatever it was that turned Peter Petrelli evil.”

Both Hiro and Black Box shook their heads. “Paradox,” they said in unison.

“I do not understand,” Ando confessed.

Black Box huffed. “Well it’s not easy to explain. Suffice to say if Hiro travels back to stop something that is supposed to send him forward to learn he has to travel back, it’s liable to make things messy.”

“But we cannot leave this future the way it is!” Hiro cried out, his jaw set in heroic determination.

“I didn’t say you had to,” Black Box said. “There is another way. Peter Petrelli, your Peter, is not past the point of no return. Not yet. There’s not a huge window of opportunity, but if you can focus and get yourself back to around the time you left, you’ll have time to fix things.”

“What is it we have to do to fix things?” Ando asked, tense with anticipation at finally having their quest set out for them.

Black Box smiled, which startled them both. “It’s simple enough. Nathan Petrelli. Save the politician, save the world.”

*

Time seemed to lose all meaning for Peter. A week went flying by and all he had to show for it was a few hours of quaint domesticity and hours upon hours of love-making. The black-outs probably had something to do with that. Though he hadn’t thought to keep a record of time spent controlling his own body, Peter had a feeling it wasn’t much. Whenever he expressed concern about what his other half might be doing however, Adam would say, “Trust me, I’m keeping him busy.” Which explained why sometimes Peter woke feeling faintly sore to find Adam gently cleaning blood off of him with a damp cloth.

He wasn’t too worried though. After all, he had his own fun. He and Adam cooked in the evenings when the original Peter had control, eating and drinking and flirting until one of them snapped under the tension and pounced. Peter hadn’t had a lover since Adam, hadn’t wanted one, so he could offer little resistance against the man’s seductive charm. Not that he wanted to resist. He needed this distraction from the world’s woes. His mirror self said they deserved it and Peter hadn’t felt so happy in a long time.

The only rain on his parade was Nathan. His brother kept leaving messages on the phone, each more concerned than the last. But Peter knew the only way to alleviate Nathan’s worry would be to explain everything down to the last detail. That was hardly an option for Peter, who couldn’t explain a lot of what was happening and didn’t want to explain the rest. Much better to tell Nathan nothing than to give him fuel for the fear. He ignored his mirror self’s suggestion of sending their brother some more depraved photographs.

One evening, sat in Adam’s bed alone for the minute, he asked his reflection how a part of him could be so bitter towards Nathan.

“How many times have you hated him?” His other self asked, lounging on the reflection of Adam’s bed like a model posing for a male underwear catalogue.

“Hated him?” Peter repeated with shock. “Never. He’s my brother and I love him.”

“But how many times have you wished you didn’t so that you wouldn’t have to forgive him for all the times he’s hurt you?”

“Nathan loves us,” Peter reminded his reflection. “He never means to hurt us.”

“But he did, which just goes to show he can’t be trusted.”

Peter leant forward to snap defensively at the mirror, “So did Adam, in case you’d forgotten. Yet here we are trusting him.”

“Adam was taken from us. Nathan just left. He always leaves. The armed forces, dad’s work, his own work, Heidi, the kids, politics, mom’s fucking schemes. Face it, everything in the world is more important to Nathan than us. The connection that we share as brothers… it’s only ever gone one way. Nathan’s way.”

Peter shook his head, the words echoing along with his mother’s from a long time ago. “No.”

“Yes. But it’s okay,” his other self’s voice took on a soothing tone. “It’s alright now that we have Adam. We don’t have to bug Nathan anymore. Adam doesn’t care about anything the way he cares about us. And he won’t leave, not even for death. We just need to make sure nobody else takes him away from us.”

“That’s really rather heart-warming,” said the blond Immortal as he wandered into the room towel-drying his hair. “But you needn’t worry, I’m not easily distracted.”

Peter was about to say something equally as reassuring about his own attention span when he realised something. “You heard him.”

“Hmm?” Adam doesn’t seem to comprehend for a moment. So many times he got that look on his face, like he wanted to understand but Peter was a child who didn’t speak well enough. It should have been insulting, but Peter could never bring himself to get worked up over it. He knew he could never shape his words with the same elegance as Adam did. Just a few murmured syllables in Peter’s ear from that gorgeous voice could make him hard as a rock. It was probably something left over from their days in Company cells.

“Wonder if we’d pick up an English accent if we carried on spending so much time with him,” his mirror self pondered.

“I imagine we’ll find out,” grinned Adam. “Though I must say I find it hard to picture you speaking in anything other than your American drawl. I don’t mind it,” he added hurriedly, “in fact it’s rather cute.”

“You did it again,” Peter pointed out. “You heard him. You responded to him.”

Adam frowned. “What, him?” He jerked a thumb over at the mirror, where Peter’s other self was unashamedly licking his lips at Adam’s semi-naked, damp body. “Of course I heard him.”

“But… but…” Peter stammered, “I thought it was all psychological.”

The towel dropped from Adam’s hand into the corner of the room. His hair was tousled and damp on his head, the occasional remaining drop of water running down the side of his face to drip onto his bare chest. But Peter wouldn’t be distracted, unlike his other self who was practically licking the mirror from the inside. “Yes, I’m sure it is psychological. Something happened to your pretty little head and shook you up enough to create a reckless and wanton alter ego.”

Peter struggled to keep his voice calm. “But if it’s all in my head, how can you see him?”

A patronizing smile from the handsome man did nothing to ease Peter’s confused anxiety. Then Adam closed the distance between them, leant down to the bed and cupped Peter’s chin as though he would kiss him. “Because darling, you’re a telepath. Or had you forgotten?” A quick kiss then Adam climbed over him, slipping under the covers gracefully.

“What has that got to do with anything?” Peter asked, no less confused now that he had an answer from Adam.

The man yawned then stretched out his right arm. Peter took the bait and snuggled under it. Adam was warm from the shower and sweet-smelling from the shampoo. “Right,” the English samurai said firmly, “you are a telepath. That power lets you control how other people see the world. With me so far?”

“Uh-huh.” He wrapped his arm around Adam’s middle and gazed up at the Immortal while he spoke.

“If you honestly believe that you see and hear something, chances are that image or sound, in this case both, will end up projected to the minds of people around you, causing them to see or hear the same thing. An unconscious decision to be a little less alone in your madness,” Adam finished with a small squeeze to Peter’s shoulders.

“My madness?” Peter repeated quietly. He had known his life was getting increasingly crazy, but he hadn’t seriously considered himself in possession of a mental problem until now. Which was ridiculous really, considering all the warning signs. He had been in denial, most likely.

“Don’t let it get you down,” Adam soothed as he reached out and turned off the lamp. “Sanity is a man-made concept anyway.” His hands roamed Peter’s body in the dark, affirming the reassurances in his words.

“Besides,” he murmured between kisses to the Empath’s throat, “I like them a little bit broken.”



Part 5

x-posted to heroes_slash, peter_otp, puppet_master12