Fandom: Heroes
Title: Losers Never Really Lose
Characters/Pairings: Peter/Tracy, Nathan, Nathan/Tracy hints
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 1982
Genre: Humor/Romance
Spoilers: 3x19, "Shades of Gray"
Notes: Written for the "Jealousy" theme at
heroes_contest.
Summary: Peter and Tracy fall into a relationship, and Nathan has his own way of showing his displeasure.
Peter saves Tracy from the Hunter, and she directs him to a place where she can hide. She jingles the keys in the lock of her non-descript apartment, and she turns around with a wily smile and thanks him again.
“Do you want to come up for a drink?” she asks.
Peter raises a single eyebrow and smiles at her invitation.
“I think I’ll pass,” he says, though under different circumstances he would have taken her up on the offer. Tracy is confident and easy on the eyes, and she has great legs. Peter inwardly groans. It’s been so long since he’s been with a woman.
“Oh? Are you sure?” she asks coyly. He hopes she’s not a mind reader too. He plays it off and refuses again.
“Sorry, I don’t exactly go for Nathan’s exes,” Peter says. Tracy’s bright smile dulls, and she tries to play off the insult.
“Your loss,” she says, going inside.
She shuts the door and Peter stands there a minute more. “Yeah,” he says. “Always a loss.”
He takes off into the night sky to cool himself down.
--
Tracy is not only beautiful, she’s persistent. For some reason, Peter can’t figure her out. All he knows is she can’t seem to get enough of him.
She thanks him for saving her again. “I mean it. If you need anything at all, call me.” Her light eyes glitter, and her pretty mouth tugs into a mysterious smile. “Anything. I have connections.”
Peter tries not laugh. She’s so like Nathan in this way. It’s sort of creepy.
“It’s okay,” he says. “I’ll be fine.”
“Peter…” She holds him off before he leaves again. Peter wants to get away, but she’s the one who stalked him all the way to this coffee shop. He looks into her eyes and reluctantly listens. “My last offer still stands.”
“You mean that drink?” Peter asks with amusement.
She brightens from his response and gives him a coy look. Women’s games never change.
“Yes, are you free tonight? We can meet here if you like,” she suggests.
Okay, Peter admits he’s intrigued. Nathan’s women are never this interested in him. None of them are ever this persistent.
“You are really grateful I saved you, aren’t you?” Peter teases.
“I think that’s obvious. I feel bad for almost selling you out too,” she confesses. Her guard falls just a little. Peter realizes she’s not totally manipulative. Maybe there’s some humanity under that dressed-up exterior. “So, how about coffee?”
Peter leans closer on his side of the table and whispers. “If we go out together, I think I’m going to need something much stronger than coffee.”
Her smile has never appeared so wicked before.
--
He pushes all the clutter and dishes from the table, and slams her roughly onto her stomach. She moans as he takes her from behind, and he watches her knuckles turn white as she grips the table.
He’s drunk and she looks like a goddess, but Peter can’t face his shame yet. He’s made promises to himself not to get involved with Nathan’s leftovers, but this one is different, and maybe she actually wants him and it’s not some game to get back at Nathan.
Maybe.
But the Jameson in his system tells him not to care.
He grinds into her quicker, harder, and Tracy is hollering at him and God and whining for more. He gives into her, and he secures his hand around her waist and pushes in deeper. She growls, and his hands snake up her front squeezing her breasts under her blouse.
She kicks wildly with a scream, and she turns around and pulls him closer. She forces him to look in her eyes, and Peter doesn’t feel so bad anymore. He breaks the buttons from her shirt and releases her soft breasts. She pulls him closer, and she draws him in for a lengthy kiss.
The table creeks eerily so he pulls her away to the couch. He takes her again. More and more, and until she tells him to stop.
That night she doesn’t. They fuck until the room spins and begins to bleed into a mesh of colors. They come down and watch the sunrise, and he holds her against him while they recover. He’s a sweaty mess, and her hair is unkempt and her makeup is smeared. They look at each other and smile. He knows she’s thinking something different than he is.
He’s thinking maybe there’s something more to Tracy than sex.
She’s probably thinking that she knew he’d be this easy.
--
“So… you’re seeing Tracy,” Nathan says to him. Peter has dreaded this conversation, but Nathan has dropped by enough to see Tracy there, comfortable and homey in Peter’s apartment.
“I rescued her,” he says simply.
Nathan nods but it’s obvious he’s not happy. Peter can’t believe he’s like this. He’s the one that gave up Tracy. Peter frowns at his brother.
Nathan gives him a toothy smile. “I rescued her once too.” He says it so nonchalantly that Peter wants to punch him.
“Jealous?” Peter challenges.
Nathan pours himself a drink and offers one to Peter. He refuses, awaiting the answer.
“Maybe,” Nathan says with a languid sigh. “But I just want my brother to be happy.” He smiles and raises his glass. “Cheers. To you and Tracy.”
Nathan takes a very long gulp.
--
Tracy reclines over his lap comfortably, and she watches Dancing with the Stars on TV. Peter can’t shake the conversation he had with Nathan from his thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, looking up at his face with concern.
“I talked to Nathan about us,” he says unhappily.
“So?” she says. “I could care less about Nathan. You know that.” She snuggles closer against him.
“He’s bothered by it, and nothing ever good comes from Nathan when he feels like he’s lost something.”
“But he hasn’t lost anything. He’s the one that betrayed me.” She takes his face into her hands. “Look, just forget about Nathan.” She plants a light kiss on his lips, but Peter still appears distracted. Tracy leans her body against him and whispers sensually, “I can make you forget.”
Peter caresses her face and brings her in for another, longer and deeper kiss.
“Okay,” he whispers, and she takes his hands and leads him to the bedroom.
--
Peter and Tracy are sitting at the table eating a candlelight dinner. The bottle of wine is almost gone, and Peter admits that he has a backup. They celebrate Tracy moving in.
Tracy rises from her seat to clean up the table when Peter gets a phone call.
He answers and does not look happy. “Now? But we just finished dinner.” Tracy comes back from the kitchen and watches Peter’s face as he talks on the phone. He gets more irritated by the other caller’s request.
“Fine, we’ll meet you there,” Peter says. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Peter looked at Tracy. “Okay. I’ll ask her.”
He hangs up and Tracy waits impatiently for him to speak. “Nathan, uh, wants to see you.”
“What? Screw him! I’m not going back to him. I don’t want to see his face,” she says angrily.
“Calm down, alright? It’s not like that.” He sighs heavily, apparently having a hard time on what to say to her. “He’s found your twin sister.”
“Barbara?” she asks. Her face goes pale, and Peter comes closer.
“Yeah, and she wants to meet you.” Peter pauses. “Right now.”
Tracy doesn’t say anything for a moment. She looks away and bites her lip. “Okay. Sure.”
Peter takes her hand. “Let’s go. This is what you want, right? Maybe she can give you some answers.”
“Yeah,” Tracy says, swallowing hard, and she doesn’t seem too confident.
They look back mournfully at their dirty dishes and the wine bottle that will have to wait until the next time. Peter sighs, and Tracy follows him out the door.
--
Peter flops onto the couch and Tracy slides next to him. “Well, that was interesting.”
“She’s nothing at all like me. She’s so…” Tracy has had the same stunned expression on her face since they came back from Nathan’s.
“Yeah… she’s a real pistol,” Peter scoffs, yet there is still no reaction from Tracy.
“How did you say he found her?” Tracy asks. Come to think of it, Peter’s never told her that tidbit.
“He met her at a bar,” Peter says, and he turns to her with a perplexed expression. “He thought it was you.”
“Weird. The first time he met me, he thought I was someone else too,” she says. Peter shakes his head. “My other sister Niki, who I didn’t know about either.” She rolls her eyes. “They had something too.”
“Figures,” Peter says. He closes his eyes and rubs his temple.
Tracy shrugs her shoulders. “Well, at least she wants to get to know me. I don’t have much family left.”
Peter nods, but he can’t help but feel dread pool in his belly. Peter knows Nathan is up to something. There’s no way he just found Tracy’s twin sister by accident.
--
A couple weeks go by and Tracy and Peter fall into some sort of normalcy. Tracy gets a job at the county clerk’s office, and Peter continues his job as an EMT. She comes home and they make dinner together. Once in awhile, Peter has dinner with his brother and mother, and Tracy goes out with girls from the office.
Things seem to calm down since meeting Barbara, but Peter doesn’t forget how random it was that Nathan had found her.
It isn’t until Nathan invites them over for a dinner that he starts to clue in.
Reluctantly, Tracy agrees, but she doesn’t promise to be nice to the other brother. When they arrive, Nathan behaves around them, and Peter notices that his brother’s happiness involves something else.
He doesn’t even really look at Tracy, and he doesn’t seem anxious when Peter and Tracy talk about their life together. And Tracy talks about it a lot. She lays it on thick, and Peter knows she’s testing him.
Nathan passes the test, and he genuinely seems happy for them.
“So what’s this about? Why are you so happy?” Peter asks bluntly. There’s some sort of machination going on here, and he’s tired of delaying the event with superficial talk.
“I have an announcement to make,” Nathan says, and Peter sees he can barely hold back his joy, which often comes out slimy and unreal. Nathan is too conflicted a person to act so comfortable with everything about his life.
But tonight he’s proving Peter wrong.
“Are you moving away? Getting a new job?” Tracy guesses. Her words contain far too much poison, but Nathan doesn’t appear bothered.
“Something better,” he says with a toothy smile. His confidence unnerves Tracy, and she straightens in her chair and takes another sip of wine.
The doorbell chimes and Nathan practically flies from his seat. Peter and Tracy are dumbfounded while Nathan walks briskly to the door. Tracy takes Peter’s hand for comfort, and he’s glad for it.
“You guys, I have good news,” Nathan says. Tracy and Peter shoot up from their seats when they see the woman Nathan brings in from the front. Tracy’s hand is shaking. She almost breaks the glass.
Barbara flings her hand in front of their surprised faces, humungous rock and all. She cries happily, “We’re engaged!”
Peter and Tracy look at each other horrified. Tracy leans against Peter before she faints, and Barbara titters away happily. Peter glowers at his brother in exasperation.
Nathan meets Peter’s glare with a smile, and winks.
Peter should have known something like this would happen. Nathan doesn’t ever lose, at least, not really - and most certainly not to him.
END