Never Kid a Killer
Jul. 5th, 2009 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
black_hatPairing: Luke/Elle
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2, 066
Warning: Unbetaed
A/N: I have no idea. ;-)
“You know, this is so weird,” Elle said, stirring the straw in her plastic cup.
Luke hadn’t been paying attention to present time to notice and make a call on general weirdness. He got the term ‘weird’ stamped on everything he did whether he wanted it or not. Luke had been lost in thought of blonde hair between his still young fingers and her kisses that burnt.
The light through the fingerprinted window of the diner made her seem so angelic in her blue tank top. Wow, uh, covers and books and etcetera. Their first time together he had made the mistake of trying to be Sylar. Emulate a touch of the man’s dominance and control.
It went over as well as expected.
Things were better now. There was a balance of some kind. She seemed—seemed—to like his style.
“Uh, I know. I was hoping you wouldn’t think about that, but I guess the secret is out.”
Elle laughed, capturing a bit of the whip cream out of the top of the milkshake with her finger and licking it clean.
“No, I mean, I’ve been out on my own for a few weeks. Last time, I had some wiring issues, so I couldn’t have any fun at all. Now, I haven’t been shot or had my head cut open or anything. It’s weird, being normal.”
“Well, technically, you’re not on your own-own,” Luke said before he could stop himself. Elle gave him a brief look before glancing away.
He thought, deep down, that she needed him. She just didn’t really see him all the time like some people didn’t see air. It was still vital and fucking necessary.
“What’s up, Luke? I sense some tension. The non-fun-for-fucking kind.”
He blushed, ducking his head and looking around the diner. No one would ever suspect that they’d be together in the biblical sense.
“You’re going to kill Sylar.”
“Uh, duh. Old meme.”
“What?”
“I did have internet access once upon a time. Briefly.”
“Were you in chat rooms?” This is suddenly an important piece of information.
“In certain websites, mostly. Doing research.”
“What were the web-?”
“Does me killing your good….friend Sylar bother you? Do you have some objection? Please, do tell me your opinion. Sharing is caring.”
“You’d just share your opinion in uh, reaction to my opinion, and I’ve been there, done that.”
“Ohhh, I was there too, and I’ve got to tell you, you seemed to enjoy yourself.”
“When we kill him, then what? What’s…you know, the plan?”
Elle was quiet, her face oddly solemn across the table. He looked away again.
“I’m done with plans. Plans jinx things,” she said softly.
She spoke with a hint of reproach, as if Luke should know these things. They were silent from then on, with Luke trying to figure out what he wanted to do. The killing Sylar mantra was like being converted to a new religion. In a way, it got them and this relationship through the day, and it greeted them every morning.
But it was also like watching a movie: it wasn’t supposed to be real. Luke wasn’t sure if he…wanted to kill Sylar. Maybe more for having this end than anything else. It would be like an important fact in the world had changed.
For a girl who had no plans, Elle’s revenge was pretty detailed, and he got the idea that she wasn’t quite present either in this time. She was with Sylar in her head, killing him, bringing him back with a vial of this magical whateverthehell blood she had stolen—and doing it again.
When she had confided her plan in girlish excitement between the bed sheets, Luke had asked if he’d have a turn.
‘Okay, after I’m good and done killing him…maybe you can have a turn.’
This wasn’t fair. He was used to physical pain, and he was used to mental pain. What he did not like—and what seemed to keep happening to him—was emotional pain. He hated emotional pain, a bruise you couldn’t be proud of. Something that never healed or faded. Hell, you couldn’t even have control over emotional pain.
Okay, if anything, Sylar had been right about the emotions making him stupid and weak.
But she was his…first. There’s a certain sense of mine that goes hand in hand. The only thing is that she wasn’t quite his.
They got up, not paying, and ditched the place. Elle wanted to walk a little ways in the park by some shopping center, and he let her. As if he could stop her.
He didn’t know if he should renew speaking because inside, right where his hot microwave powers were, he was dying to say a lot of things.
She walked ahead of him, brushing and pushing past random people. He watched her hips sway, thinking how above him she was.
If Sylar died, this would die.
That made him finally and truly mad at his ‘good friend’ Sylar.
“Aw, look at that,” Elle said, pointing to a squirrel on a tree. “Wouldn’t that be fun to own?”
“Uh.”
“Go get it for me?” she asked, batting her lashes.
“What, no. It’s too fast for me.”
“Not for me.” With that, she drew closer to the tree and sent some sparks at the bark. “I’m going to smoke him out.”
The squirrel was lucky in that it could jump to the other tree. The people having a picnic on the other side of the tree weren’t as quick.
He pulled her away, feeling like the boss for once while she was laughing.
Luke felt like he was the boss for once, the grown up. He didn’t know how that made him feel, but he’d guess not so great.
***
Then something impossible happened.
Random for even his new and unimproved life. They had wandered the park for a few more minutes, Elle seemingly as suddenly unsure as he was in terms of embarking on their quest.
She looked this way and that like an excited child as they walked the path, and she stopped him with her hand on his shoulder.
“What’s that?” Elle asked, genuinely curious.
There was a box set up in the middle of the grass. Kids and families were playing all around this thing, this overly large cardboard box. It was like something someone would use for a puppet show, only without the puppets.
What it did have was a large circle in the middle of it. All around the circle were the words, ‘Don’t look in this box.’
They stared at it together, and before he could blink, Elle was in front of it, studying it.
“Hey!” Luke called out and ran up behind her. “Don’t stick your face in random holes.”
She turned to him with her eyebrows raised. She looked utterly bemused.
“What if I stick your face in the random hole?”
“Then, then—no—you know---tonight.”
Elle laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh wow. From your other requests, that one is a c-c-combo breaker!”
“Come on. Let’s just leave the stupid thing alone.”
“Afraid?”
“Sure.”
“I’m not! I bet…”
He knew what she had been going to say and it pissed him off. “No. Sylar would not stick his face in that fucking thing either!”
Elle licked her lips. “You’re right. He wouldn’t. So how about you do it?”
“I shouldn't have to.” It went against his very nature, not to do things when challenged or asked by someone he did respect, but with her, this should be different.
She tilted her head, her hair catching the light again. Her eyes were narrowed, studying him, and he didn’t dare look at the scar on her forehead.
“Fine. I’ll do it myself, big man.”
It happened in slow motion. Elle stood on her tiptoes and peered inside the black hole—
To get a pie in the face.
To get a pie in the face.
…To get a….Luke stared as bits of cream and crumbs went everywhere on impact, and Elle stumbled backwards in shock, not even bothering to wipe her face.
“You’ve been CREAMED!” a voice yelled out from within, and two idiots dressed up with yellow hats looked out from the box. “This is on TV! HAHAHAHAHA. Well, how do you feel?”
There was a moment of silence. Of…stillness. Luke knew what was coming, as the hair on his arms started to stand up. The moment went on too long. It was like she was experiencing impotent rage—her shoulders were shaking, her hands clenching and unclenching.
Then he realized what she was almost doing. She was almost crying. Almost crying…his mind went on autopilot in shock.
That’s when Luke lost it.
“You son of a bitch!” he yelled and fired up his hands, sending a wave at the box. The whole thing went up in sparks and red flames, and the fuckers ran out, screaming and on fire.
Elle looked at him for a moment, and even though—yeah—he couldn’t find it in him to laugh.
“Let’s go. Okay, let’s just go.”
She nodded and followed him to the car. She didn’t move very fast at all, but he didn’t have to cover them.
The dudes in the fountain really took a lot of the heat off of them.
***
“Are you okay?” Luke asked cautiously, giving her a sideways look.
They had driven in silence, and still Elle didn’t answer. He felt sick inside, scared inside.
“You’re not going to let something so stupid upset you, right? I took care of it.”
He expected a dirty look, but he didn’t receive one. That scared him.
“I’m going to pull over and get some napkins,” he offered, and did just that at the nearest drive-thru. He sat with them offered to her, his hand extended.
“Just…give me a minute,” she whispered, looking at her hands twisting in her lap. “Sorry about that.”
“Oh man, no. No, not your fault. That was complete bullshit. I would have killed them. I know he would have.”
“…Don’t. I—let’s not go after him.”
Luke felt like he had been knocked out of the car—no, knocked out of the world. He blinked a few times, leaning his head forward to hear her better. “What?”
“Let’s let it go.”
‘Let’s?’he thought in disbelief. She put her hand to her lips, twisting them a bit in anxiety.
“I’m sorry I cried in front of you.”
He was quiet for a minute then shrugged. “It’s cool.”
“I really shouldn’t cry in front of people. It always ends…well, it gives me a headache.”
“…Is that what happened?”
She gave him a sad half-smile. “I had a reaction. A momentary reaction. It was wrong of me. I know better.”
Luke didn’t know what he was doing, but he couldn’t stand it anymore. He reached out and started to clean her face with the napkin. She was still and let him do it.
“You know—I kinda have the same thing,” he said quietly. “I probably did that too. Uh, a lot.”
“I think it was the fact that it was pie.” She seemed like she would have shook her head in disgust if it wasn’t for his hands on her face.
“I don’t like pie that much either.”
Elle laughed, and laughed, making him pull away and look at her. Then he started to laugh and the whole thing—the entirety of it—was strangely and almost unbearably hilarious.
“You know, you seem okay with it. The crying thing.”
He stopped for a minute, smiling. “Yeah. I’m okay with it. You’ve got to get that stuff out of your system somehow.”
Because it hurt worse than anything else in the world…and yet there was an unspoken agreement here. He wouldn't use it against her, her real bruises. He could see them in the unglamorized dashboard lights and was...as he said, okay with it.
She wiped her face with the napkin, looking over at him like she was seeing him for the first time.
“I think I’m okay with it too,” she said, sounding strangely surprised. “Huh.”
“You want to get into a motel and then decide what we are going to do now?”
Elle nodded, and Luke started the car again, pulling out onto the road. This time their silence was companionable.
He realized he was okay with this too.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2, 066
Warning: Unbetaed
A/N: I have no idea. ;-)
“You know, this is so weird,” Elle said, stirring the straw in her plastic cup.
Luke hadn’t been paying attention to present time to notice and make a call on general weirdness. He got the term ‘weird’ stamped on everything he did whether he wanted it or not. Luke had been lost in thought of blonde hair between his still young fingers and her kisses that burnt.
The light through the fingerprinted window of the diner made her seem so angelic in her blue tank top. Wow, uh, covers and books and etcetera. Their first time together he had made the mistake of trying to be Sylar. Emulate a touch of the man’s dominance and control.
It went over as well as expected.
Things were better now. There was a balance of some kind. She seemed—seemed—to like his style.
“Uh, I know. I was hoping you wouldn’t think about that, but I guess the secret is out.”
Elle laughed, capturing a bit of the whip cream out of the top of the milkshake with her finger and licking it clean.
“No, I mean, I’ve been out on my own for a few weeks. Last time, I had some wiring issues, so I couldn’t have any fun at all. Now, I haven’t been shot or had my head cut open or anything. It’s weird, being normal.”
“Well, technically, you’re not on your own-own,” Luke said before he could stop himself. Elle gave him a brief look before glancing away.
He thought, deep down, that she needed him. She just didn’t really see him all the time like some people didn’t see air. It was still vital and fucking necessary.
“What’s up, Luke? I sense some tension. The non-fun-for-fucking kind.”
He blushed, ducking his head and looking around the diner. No one would ever suspect that they’d be together in the biblical sense.
“You’re going to kill Sylar.”
“Uh, duh. Old meme.”
“What?”
“I did have internet access once upon a time. Briefly.”
“Were you in chat rooms?” This is suddenly an important piece of information.
“In certain websites, mostly. Doing research.”
“What were the web-?”
“Does me killing your good….friend Sylar bother you? Do you have some objection? Please, do tell me your opinion. Sharing is caring.”
“You’d just share your opinion in uh, reaction to my opinion, and I’ve been there, done that.”
“Ohhh, I was there too, and I’ve got to tell you, you seemed to enjoy yourself.”
“When we kill him, then what? What’s…you know, the plan?”
Elle was quiet, her face oddly solemn across the table. He looked away again.
“I’m done with plans. Plans jinx things,” she said softly.
She spoke with a hint of reproach, as if Luke should know these things. They were silent from then on, with Luke trying to figure out what he wanted to do. The killing Sylar mantra was like being converted to a new religion. In a way, it got them and this relationship through the day, and it greeted them every morning.
But it was also like watching a movie: it wasn’t supposed to be real. Luke wasn’t sure if he…wanted to kill Sylar. Maybe more for having this end than anything else. It would be like an important fact in the world had changed.
For a girl who had no plans, Elle’s revenge was pretty detailed, and he got the idea that she wasn’t quite present either in this time. She was with Sylar in her head, killing him, bringing him back with a vial of this magical whateverthehell blood she had stolen—and doing it again.
When she had confided her plan in girlish excitement between the bed sheets, Luke had asked if he’d have a turn.
‘Okay, after I’m good and done killing him…maybe you can have a turn.’
This wasn’t fair. He was used to physical pain, and he was used to mental pain. What he did not like—and what seemed to keep happening to him—was emotional pain. He hated emotional pain, a bruise you couldn’t be proud of. Something that never healed or faded. Hell, you couldn’t even have control over emotional pain.
Okay, if anything, Sylar had been right about the emotions making him stupid and weak.
But she was his…first. There’s a certain sense of mine that goes hand in hand. The only thing is that she wasn’t quite his.
They got up, not paying, and ditched the place. Elle wanted to walk a little ways in the park by some shopping center, and he let her. As if he could stop her.
He didn’t know if he should renew speaking because inside, right where his hot microwave powers were, he was dying to say a lot of things.
She walked ahead of him, brushing and pushing past random people. He watched her hips sway, thinking how above him she was.
If Sylar died, this would die.
That made him finally and truly mad at his ‘good friend’ Sylar.
“Aw, look at that,” Elle said, pointing to a squirrel on a tree. “Wouldn’t that be fun to own?”
“Uh.”
“Go get it for me?” she asked, batting her lashes.
“What, no. It’s too fast for me.”
“Not for me.” With that, she drew closer to the tree and sent some sparks at the bark. “I’m going to smoke him out.”
The squirrel was lucky in that it could jump to the other tree. The people having a picnic on the other side of the tree weren’t as quick.
He pulled her away, feeling like the boss for once while she was laughing.
Luke felt like he was the boss for once, the grown up. He didn’t know how that made him feel, but he’d guess not so great.
***
Then something impossible happened.
Random for even his new and unimproved life. They had wandered the park for a few more minutes, Elle seemingly as suddenly unsure as he was in terms of embarking on their quest.
She looked this way and that like an excited child as they walked the path, and she stopped him with her hand on his shoulder.
“What’s that?” Elle asked, genuinely curious.
There was a box set up in the middle of the grass. Kids and families were playing all around this thing, this overly large cardboard box. It was like something someone would use for a puppet show, only without the puppets.
What it did have was a large circle in the middle of it. All around the circle were the words, ‘Don’t look in this box.’
They stared at it together, and before he could blink, Elle was in front of it, studying it.
“Hey!” Luke called out and ran up behind her. “Don’t stick your face in random holes.”
She turned to him with her eyebrows raised. She looked utterly bemused.
“What if I stick your face in the random hole?”
“Then, then—no—you know---tonight.”
Elle laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh wow. From your other requests, that one is a c-c-combo breaker!”
“Come on. Let’s just leave the stupid thing alone.”
“Afraid?”
“Sure.”
“I’m not! I bet…”
He knew what she had been going to say and it pissed him off. “No. Sylar would not stick his face in that fucking thing either!”
Elle licked her lips. “You’re right. He wouldn’t. So how about you do it?”
“I shouldn't have to.” It went against his very nature, not to do things when challenged or asked by someone he did respect, but with her, this should be different.
She tilted her head, her hair catching the light again. Her eyes were narrowed, studying him, and he didn’t dare look at the scar on her forehead.
“Fine. I’ll do it myself, big man.”
It happened in slow motion. Elle stood on her tiptoes and peered inside the black hole—
To get a pie in the face.
To get a pie in the face.
…To get a….Luke stared as bits of cream and crumbs went everywhere on impact, and Elle stumbled backwards in shock, not even bothering to wipe her face.
“You’ve been CREAMED!” a voice yelled out from within, and two idiots dressed up with yellow hats looked out from the box. “This is on TV! HAHAHAHAHA. Well, how do you feel?”
There was a moment of silence. Of…stillness. Luke knew what was coming, as the hair on his arms started to stand up. The moment went on too long. It was like she was experiencing impotent rage—her shoulders were shaking, her hands clenching and unclenching.
Then he realized what she was almost doing. She was almost crying. Almost crying…his mind went on autopilot in shock.
That’s when Luke lost it.
“You son of a bitch!” he yelled and fired up his hands, sending a wave at the box. The whole thing went up in sparks and red flames, and the fuckers ran out, screaming and on fire.
Elle looked at him for a moment, and even though—yeah—he couldn’t find it in him to laugh.
“Let’s go. Okay, let’s just go.”
She nodded and followed him to the car. She didn’t move very fast at all, but he didn’t have to cover them.
The dudes in the fountain really took a lot of the heat off of them.
***
“Are you okay?” Luke asked cautiously, giving her a sideways look.
They had driven in silence, and still Elle didn’t answer. He felt sick inside, scared inside.
“You’re not going to let something so stupid upset you, right? I took care of it.”
He expected a dirty look, but he didn’t receive one. That scared him.
“I’m going to pull over and get some napkins,” he offered, and did just that at the nearest drive-thru. He sat with them offered to her, his hand extended.
“Just…give me a minute,” she whispered, looking at her hands twisting in her lap. “Sorry about that.”
“Oh man, no. No, not your fault. That was complete bullshit. I would have killed them. I know he would have.”
“…Don’t. I—let’s not go after him.”
Luke felt like he had been knocked out of the car—no, knocked out of the world. He blinked a few times, leaning his head forward to hear her better. “What?”
“Let’s let it go.”
‘Let’s?’he thought in disbelief. She put her hand to her lips, twisting them a bit in anxiety.
“I’m sorry I cried in front of you.”
He was quiet for a minute then shrugged. “It’s cool.”
“I really shouldn’t cry in front of people. It always ends…well, it gives me a headache.”
“…Is that what happened?”
She gave him a sad half-smile. “I had a reaction. A momentary reaction. It was wrong of me. I know better.”
Luke didn’t know what he was doing, but he couldn’t stand it anymore. He reached out and started to clean her face with the napkin. She was still and let him do it.
“You know—I kinda have the same thing,” he said quietly. “I probably did that too. Uh, a lot.”
“I think it was the fact that it was pie.” She seemed like she would have shook her head in disgust if it wasn’t for his hands on her face.
“I don’t like pie that much either.”
Elle laughed, and laughed, making him pull away and look at her. Then he started to laugh and the whole thing—the entirety of it—was strangely and almost unbearably hilarious.
“You know, you seem okay with it. The crying thing.”
He stopped for a minute, smiling. “Yeah. I’m okay with it. You’ve got to get that stuff out of your system somehow.”
Because it hurt worse than anything else in the world…and yet there was an unspoken agreement here. He wouldn't use it against her, her real bruises. He could see them in the unglamorized dashboard lights and was...as he said, okay with it.
She wiped her face with the napkin, looking over at him like she was seeing him for the first time.
“I think I’m okay with it too,” she said, sounding strangely surprised. “Huh.”
“You want to get into a motel and then decide what we are going to do now?”
Elle nodded, and Luke started the car again, pulling out onto the road. This time their silence was companionable.
He realized he was okay with this too.
