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cait read the thing
FIRST HEROES FIC YAY
“Hey- hey. I’m glad you made it.”
He meant that. Nathan Petrelli was a lot of things but indestructible wasn’t one of them, so when Matt had seen him go down … yeah, he’d been scared for him. Two bullets to the chest and one that close to the heart would take months to recover from and this was something Matt knew from personal experience – when he’d first woken up feeling weak and disoriented after Kirby Plaza they’d been telling him that he was lucky while thinking that he should be dead.
But those dimming, unfocused eyes he remembered from the last time he’d seen Nathan now had the sharper understanding he better recognized from just a week ago.
It made no sense. That didn’t mean it wasn’t a relief.
Nathan gave Matt a look he couldn’t quite decipher but the touch to his shoulder was a familiar gesture and one that was easily understood. It turned into a slight pull when Nathan withdrew his hand but that was a deliberate thing, a silent beckoning for Matt to follow when he started walking further down the corridor. Away from the room where Angela still lay.
He did, of course.
“What happened to you, Parkman?”
Voice measured, giving away little. Matt pressed his lips together for a moment, by contrast not bothering to hide his exasperation. Or frustration, for that matter. “Your brother- your ah, future brother. He wanted me out of the way.”
“Peter”, Nathan said, glancing at Matt over his shoulder.
Matt nodded even though he could tell it hadn’t been a question. It hadn’t even been a statement. The name was just a sound that had apparently taken on a different meaning. “Yeah. He’s the one who shot you. But I take it you knew that already, right?”
Nathan came to a stop and turned more fully towards Matt at the question and a confirmation really wasn’t necessary – it was clear both in his face and in his thoughts, but he offered it anyway. “He told me, yeah. I haven’t seen him since.”
His tone was entirely too even. Matt raised his eyebrows and breathed out of his nose in a way that resembled a snort but wasn’t really. Nothing about this was actually funny but there was still something ironic in knowing he’d slammed Peter up against a wall the moment he’d seen him and realizing that Nathan hadn’t done anything like that and didn’t intend to. “You don’t seem nearly angry enough about that. If it was me -”
“It isn’t you, Parkman. He did what he thought was needed. That’s what we all do.”
It sounded like a warning. Hell, it even looked like one when you took in the sudden edge in Nathan’s expression, so Matt let himself be interrupted. Fair enough, he thought; you don’t get to tell people how to feel about their family. He wasn’t a Petrelli so his vote didn’t count. He wouldn’t change his opinion on the attempted murder, but if Nathan had made peace with it (which he didn’t quite believe; there was still something conflicted in the other man’s surface thoughts) then he couldn’t exactly tell Nathan he’d be better off bitter.
He remembered Nathan bitter. Neither of them wanted him to go back there.
“Right”, he said, and a beat passed like a peace offering when he leaned against the closest wall. “Sorry.”
That edge softened when Nathan shifted, too. “I hear you’re the one who got my mother out of her head.”
Matt breathed out slowly. “Not really. I mean, I tried, but uh … it’s more that she managed to convince your father to let her go. I couldn’t figure out where to begin”, he said, running his fingers through his hair. “It was a lot bigger somehow, than with – with my dad. It was like a maze.”
“– Matt”, Nathan said and relaxed his stance with one shoulder against the opposite wall, making sure to catch Matt’s gaze in the space between them. “You helped. Ma is too proud to thank you for that, so I will.”
That created a short pause between them. Matt looked back at Nathan for a moment and then looked over his shoulder back to what little he could see of the one room in the entire facility that seemed occupied at all. Plans were being made, they all knew that because they needed them; needed some kind of idea on how to deal with Pinehearst, how to handle Petrelli Senior. Matt couldn’t see Daphne and hoped that was because she was telling Angela anything about the other company that they might need to know. He cared deeply about her but knew that she was a runner.
Peter wasn’t. He was loyal to a fault, and maybe that’s how he’d turn into the kind of person who would kill his family. Allegiances shifted. Priorities changed. Matt had gotten a taste of how to deal with that with his own dad and now that scenario was playing out again with another name attached. That's really all that changed in the end, wasn't it? The name and the stakes.
“Okay.” Matt dropped his voice when he turned back to Nathan, biting the inside of his cheek. “Look, I’m just saying that your father’s managed some pretty bad stuff. That makes him the threat right now.”
“I’m aware of that.” Nathan’s mind shifted gears; slowed down, became focused, and felt very much like Angela’s had in the moment before Matt had pried it open. “And I’m going to handle it. You don’t have to worry.”
Matt had to feel faintly amused despite the topic. That wasn’t only Nathan speaking – it was just as much the politician. Vote Petrelli now and right past wrongs. The difference was that Matt could believe Nathan on that point more than he felt he could quite a few others. “Please. Like I’m going to worry if you’re going to make a habit of coming back from the dead. Are you gonna tell me how you survived without a scratch?”
The answering hesitation was brief but unmistakable and that's when it really became clear – how something had changed in Nathan despite looking exactly the same on the surface. Getting shot would do that to you and getting shot by your own brother would mess you up even more, future version or not … but it wasn’t just that. There was something else that Matt couldn’t put his finger on and on principle wouldn’t dig around the other man’s head for.
“I thought it was a miracle”, Nathan answered after a second, picking his words carefully and with surprising softness, his eyes drifting up towards the ceiling. Maybe he was searching for the god who was supposed to hand out those miracles to begin with. “Turns out those aren't real.”
Matt was tempted to ask again but the sudden distance between them dissuaded him. “Yeah no, probably not”, he agreed and held out a hand to the other man to bridge that gap. “To be honest I gave up on them too a while ago. Hey, just - give me a call if you need anything, okay?”
Nathan looked back at him. There was a moment, a nod, and two words that answered both the spoken and unspoken question along with the shared, firm grip. “I will.”
“Hey- hey. I’m glad you made it.”
He meant that. Nathan Petrelli was a lot of things but indestructible wasn’t one of them, so when Matt had seen him go down … yeah, he’d been scared for him. Two bullets to the chest and one that close to the heart would take months to recover from and this was something Matt knew from personal experience – when he’d first woken up feeling weak and disoriented after Kirby Plaza they’d been telling him that he was lucky while thinking that he should be dead.
But those dimming, unfocused eyes he remembered from the last time he’d seen Nathan now had the sharper understanding he better recognized from just a week ago.
It made no sense. That didn’t mean it wasn’t a relief.
Nathan gave Matt a look he couldn’t quite decipher but the touch to his shoulder was a familiar gesture and one that was easily understood. It turned into a slight pull when Nathan withdrew his hand but that was a deliberate thing, a silent beckoning for Matt to follow when he started walking further down the corridor. Away from the room where Angela still lay.
He did, of course.
“What happened to you, Parkman?”
Voice measured, giving away little. Matt pressed his lips together for a moment, by contrast not bothering to hide his exasperation. Or frustration, for that matter. “Your brother- your ah, future brother. He wanted me out of the way.”
“Peter”, Nathan said, glancing at Matt over his shoulder.
Matt nodded even though he could tell it hadn’t been a question. It hadn’t even been a statement. The name was just a sound that had apparently taken on a different meaning. “Yeah. He’s the one who shot you. But I take it you knew that already, right?”
Nathan came to a stop and turned more fully towards Matt at the question and a confirmation really wasn’t necessary – it was clear both in his face and in his thoughts, but he offered it anyway. “He told me, yeah. I haven’t seen him since.”
His tone was entirely too even. Matt raised his eyebrows and breathed out of his nose in a way that resembled a snort but wasn’t really. Nothing about this was actually funny but there was still something ironic in knowing he’d slammed Peter up against a wall the moment he’d seen him and realizing that Nathan hadn’t done anything like that and didn’t intend to. “You don’t seem nearly angry enough about that. If it was me -”
“It isn’t you, Parkman. He did what he thought was needed. That’s what we all do.”
It sounded like a warning. Hell, it even looked like one when you took in the sudden edge in Nathan’s expression, so Matt let himself be interrupted. Fair enough, he thought; you don’t get to tell people how to feel about their family. He wasn’t a Petrelli so his vote didn’t count. He wouldn’t change his opinion on the attempted murder, but if Nathan had made peace with it (which he didn’t quite believe; there was still something conflicted in the other man’s surface thoughts) then he couldn’t exactly tell Nathan he’d be better off bitter.
He remembered Nathan bitter. Neither of them wanted him to go back there.
“Right”, he said, and a beat passed like a peace offering when he leaned against the closest wall. “Sorry.”
That edge softened when Nathan shifted, too. “I hear you’re the one who got my mother out of her head.”
Matt breathed out slowly. “Not really. I mean, I tried, but uh … it’s more that she managed to convince your father to let her go. I couldn’t figure out where to begin”, he said, running his fingers through his hair. “It was a lot bigger somehow, than with – with my dad. It was like a maze.”
“– Matt”, Nathan said and relaxed his stance with one shoulder against the opposite wall, making sure to catch Matt’s gaze in the space between them. “You helped. Ma is too proud to thank you for that, so I will.”
That created a short pause between them. Matt looked back at Nathan for a moment and then looked over his shoulder back to what little he could see of the one room in the entire facility that seemed occupied at all. Plans were being made, they all knew that because they needed them; needed some kind of idea on how to deal with Pinehearst, how to handle Petrelli Senior. Matt couldn’t see Daphne and hoped that was because she was telling Angela anything about the other company that they might need to know. He cared deeply about her but knew that she was a runner.
Peter wasn’t. He was loyal to a fault, and maybe that’s how he’d turn into the kind of person who would kill his family. Allegiances shifted. Priorities changed. Matt had gotten a taste of how to deal with that with his own dad and now that scenario was playing out again with another name attached. That's really all that changed in the end, wasn't it? The name and the stakes.
“Okay.” Matt dropped his voice when he turned back to Nathan, biting the inside of his cheek. “Look, I’m just saying that your father’s managed some pretty bad stuff. That makes him the threat right now.”
“I’m aware of that.” Nathan’s mind shifted gears; slowed down, became focused, and felt very much like Angela’s had in the moment before Matt had pried it open. “And I’m going to handle it. You don’t have to worry.”
Matt had to feel faintly amused despite the topic. That wasn’t only Nathan speaking – it was just as much the politician. Vote Petrelli now and right past wrongs. The difference was that Matt could believe Nathan on that point more than he felt he could quite a few others. “Please. Like I’m going to worry if you’re going to make a habit of coming back from the dead. Are you gonna tell me how you survived without a scratch?”
The answering hesitation was brief but unmistakable and that's when it really became clear – how something had changed in Nathan despite looking exactly the same on the surface. Getting shot would do that to you and getting shot by your own brother would mess you up even more, future version or not … but it wasn’t just that. There was something else that Matt couldn’t put his finger on and on principle wouldn’t dig around the other man’s head for.
“I thought it was a miracle”, Nathan answered after a second, picking his words carefully and with surprising softness, his eyes drifting up towards the ceiling. Maybe he was searching for the god who was supposed to hand out those miracles to begin with. “Turns out those aren't real.”
Matt was tempted to ask again but the sudden distance between them dissuaded him. “Yeah no, probably not”, he agreed and held out a hand to the other man to bridge that gap. “To be honest I gave up on them too a while ago. Hey, just - give me a call if you need anything, okay?”
Nathan looked back at him. There was a moment, a nod, and two words that answered both the spoken and unspoken question along with the shared, firm grip. “I will.”