arionrhod | Ficlet - Faith - Heroes

Title: Faith
Fandom: Heroes
Characters/Pairing: Peter/Claude, pre-slash
Rating: PG for profanity
Word Count: 508
Summary: Peter has something to believe in
Note: Not to make a note longer than the ficlet, but I just couldn't resist. So much potential... SPOILERS for "Distractions", so don't read if you haven't seen the episode. For McKay - she knows why. ;)

People suck. All of them.

Somehow, even with everything that had happened to him in the last few weeks, even with that crazy son of a bitch who had tried to kill Claire running around, Peter couldn't quite bring himself to believe it. Maybe it was just that he was still an idealist, or a fucked up optimist like Nathan seemed to believe. Yeah, Nathan should talk about people being fucked up, given how his life had been going lately; Peter loved his brother, but there were times when he seemed to think that his role in Peter's life had moved from fraternal to paternal. Or maybe it was just the politics.

Yes, even with all that, and even with Simone and Isaac and whatever in the hell that was, somehow Peter managed to hold on to hope. Unlike Claude, who was as cynical and bitter as they came and had pushed him off a building and couldn't find a good word to say about anyone or anything.

Maybe that little thirty story drop had been when it started. Yes, that had definitely been it. At first Peter had thought that Claude was completely psychotic for doing something like that, then slugging him when it had all started getting out of control. But then, little by little, as Claude began to teach him all the things he wanted and needed to know, as Peter saw the depth of the cynicism in the older man's soul, he came to realize one thing, one startling and unbelievable thing that had turned his whole life on its head and struck him even harder than the realization about his powers, back when he first began to dream he could fly.

Claude, who believed in nothing, believed in him. And thereby disproved his own mantra about the worthlessness of humanity.

Oh, sure, the contrary bastard would never admit to it, but in pushing Peter off that building he had done something that no one - NO ONE - in Peter's life had done before... shown faith in him. As stupid and fucked up as that sounded, it was the truth. Claude was many things, some of them frustrating, most of them totally screwed up, but he was not a killer. When he had pushed Peter, he had totally and completely believed that Peter wouldn't disappoint him. And Peter hadn't, although the method of his success had been something which had rather surprised them both. Still it had worked, after a fashion. It had been a start, in more ways than one.

Knowing that the world's biggest skeptic actually looked at Peter and saw a man who could, rather than a messed up little boy who couldn't, rocked Peter's world. His belief in himself had been weakening, but that little piece of faith was like a flame within him, something to hold on to when things seemed hopeless.

Simone might believe in Isaac, but Claude believed in him. When the time came and things got out of control, that might make all the difference.