Getting Around
Title: Getting Around
Characters: Peter Petrelli, Gabriel
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word count: ~400
Summary: Peter reads the next article in the series. This is a follow up after "You Are What You Eat".
“Wait, wait,” Peter said, looking past him at the laptop screen. “What’s that next article about?”
Gabriel looked. “Uh, STDs or something.” He looked away in disinterest. He was exclusive to Peter and Heidi, who were each exclusive in their own way. Considering regeneration, the odds of him needing to be worried about STDs were very low.
“No, no. Let me see that,” Peter insisted, reaching across for the computer.
With a demonstrative sigh and a roll of his eyes, Gabriel handed it over. He wondered if it would help to imagine Peter’s interest was merely professional, but it probably wasn’t. Sex - a topic Peter was far more interested in than Gabriel. Not that Gabriel was at all disinterested in the act, but reading about it was pointless and probably shameful (a trait that both Nathan and Gabriel Gray agreed on). Nevertheless, when Peter’s eyes didn’t immediately glaze over, curiosity overcame him and Gabriel scooted around to read over Peter’s shoulder. As a faster reader, he caught up quickly.
Peter’s expression steadily got more frustrated until the last paragraph, which he stared at blankly for an inordinate amount of time as far as Gabriel was concerned. He shifted back to the side on the couch, waiting for Peter to stop re-reading or over-thinking or whatever he was doing. Finally, Peter looked up. “So, sex is what made us smart!”
“Most animals have sex, Peter. They’re not all that smart.”
“Yeah, but we are - humans, you know.”
“Yes, but if sex as a transmission vector was what resulted in larger brains, then all creatures that reproduce using sexual means would have larger brains.”
“How do you know they don’t? And besides, that only applies to things that have promiscuous sex. Monogamous stuff wouldn’t count.”
Gabriel opened his mouth and then shut it. Those were both … rather good points. He thought about the creatures well known for monogamy - certain varieties of rodents and a lot of birds, none of which were known for being brainiacs within their genus. “So you’re saying … it requires promiscuity to be intelligent?” He’d heard similar theories that larger brains developed as a means of tracking the complicated social dynamics in proto-human groups.
“No, I’m saying your brain-eating ancestors would have never gotten any powers out of doing that if their ancestors hadn’t gotten around a lot and shared a lot of brain-enhancing viruses with each other.”
“Hm. Point.”