Heroes fic: established sort of?

[triedunture]

It’s nearly three in the morning when Mohinder’s cell phone rings, bright and cheery, in the dark apartment. Matt groans at the interruption and rolls over with his pillow jammed over his head. Next to him in bed, Mohinder is fumbling for the phone on the floor and cursing in Tamil.



The ringer is silenced and there’s a pause. Matt peeks out from beneath his pillow-barrier and sees Mohinder’s scowling face by the glow of the cell phone’s display. Mohinder catches his eye.



“Sorry,” he says. “My mother. She refuses to negotiate the time difference.” He finally flips the phone open and murmurs a sleepy greeting into it. Then he’s wriggling out from under the covers, muttering “yes yes yes” and padding into the kitchen; Matt supposes he’s trying to be polite, taking the conversation elsewhere. But the walls are so thin, it doesn’t take a mind reader to know what’s being said.



Matt wonders how Mohinder has thus far explained things to his mom. Hey mom, I’ve sort of adopted a kid here in America. Not legally, of course. I had to get a roommate to do that, whom I’ve started allowing in my bed to comfort me when I have nightmares about serial killers. Oh, not physical comfort; he has mind powers. (The roommate, not the nightmarish serial killer. Although…)



But everything’s cool, mom. Really. Matt shakes his head and sighs.



“Not right now,” Mohinder whispers on the other side of the wall. “There’s too much for me to do here.” A frustrated sigh. “I’m sorry. I can’t. Molly—” An abrupt stop, before a cold, “It’s my decision, mother.”



Matt flips over on his back and stares at the ceiling. He tries to think of the last time he spoke to his mother. Did he call her for Thanksgiving? Yeah, he suddenly remembers, they couldn’t talk long. She had been getting ready for the big to-do at the shelter. Matt’s mom had always been like that, chugging along, coordinating everything that had to be done, making sure everyone else was taken care of. It was a good way to forget, Matt thought.



She never had remarried.



“There’s no need for you to worry, I’m— No!” Mohinder continues to hiss softly into his phone. Matt can hear him pacing, bare feet slapping quietly against the wood floor. “He’s fine. We’re all fine.”



Matt’s brow furrows and just for a moment he reads Mohinder’s thoughts. Bloody family, is all he gets.



After a long pause, Mohinder says, “Mira understands. She’s e-mailed me several times this past month. There’s no reason to get so upset about…” Another sigh. “No, mother. It’s very late. I have to go.” A moment of silence. “I love you too.” Then the beep of the phone’s sign-off button.



Mohinder reenters the room and slips back under the quilts silently. “I apologize for that,” he says.



Matt blinks at the ceiling and folds his heads under his head. “You haven’t told her?”



Mohinder squints at him in the dark. “Told her what?”



“About being gay.” Matt turns his head on the pillow to meet Mohinder’s eyes. “She doesn’t know?”



There’s a snort of laughter muffled by Mohinder’s pillow, and he stares at Matt for a beat longer before realization dawns on him. “Me?” he hisses. “I’m not gay.”



“Dude, I kind of already know.” Matt taps the side of his head in explanation. “It’s all right. I’m cool with it.”



“There is nothing to be cool with. I like women. I was engaged, for the love of god!”



“Yeah. I saw her picture on your desk.” Matt purses his lips. “You don’t break off an engagement with a woman that attractive unless there is something fundamentally wrong with the whole relationship.”



“There was!” Mohinder sputters. “We both had our careers to think about and—”



“So did me and Janice,” Matt says. “She was in law school and I was in the academy, but if you want it bad enough, you make it work.”



“And it turned out so well for you.” Mohinder sucks in a breath. “I…” He stutters. Matt can hear him think I am so sorry; that was unforgivable.



“Don’t worry. I sort of deserve that,” Matt says with a rueful grin. “I’m not trying to make you mad, Mohinder. But you do realize that I hear things sometimes, from your head, without meaning to?”



“What things?” So confident that nothing is amiss in his thoughts.



“Like the other day in the grocery store, that incredibly hot woman walked by and every guy in the building was thinking the same thing.” Matt peers at Mohinder pointedly. “Except you were thinking about brands of orange juice.”



A roll of the eyes. “This is ludicrous. I don’t even remember seeing this woman.”



“Exactly.” Matt scratches his temple. “Though later, you did have an interesting thought about a guy in the frozen food aisle.”



Mohinder bristles as expected. “So thinking a man is attractive makes me a homosexual? Really, Matthew, I can’t believe you could be so—”



“Fine.” Matt holds up his hands in surrender. “Maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe you just don’t realize it yet, because the things I hear you thinking…”



“Like?” Mohinder challenges.



Matt licks his dry lips. “In the morning, when I’m just waking up, sometimes I listen to you and Molly. I hear her thinking about the nutritional info on the cereal box or whatever. And when I hear you, it can be…” He scrubs a hand over his eyes. “Sometimes I catch you in the shower, is all I’m saying.”



Mohinder is silent, and Matt can’t tell if it’s angry-silent or mortified-silent. But then Mohinder slips out of bed again, and Matt catches a brief how will I ever look him in the eye again?



“Hey.” He reaches out and grabs Mohinder’s elbow, but the other man keeps his eyes on the floor. “I told you, it doesn’t bother me. I grew up in southern California. I don’t care if you like guys.”



“My mother thinks I need to get married soon,” Mohinder says quietly. “Before it’s too late.”



Matt laughs but doesn’t let go of Mohinder’s arm. “A mother’s default state is disappointment in her son. Take it from me. She’ll get over it.”



Mohinder looks up, and his eyes are reflecting the little bit of light from the street lamps outside the window. Wet eyes. “It would kill her if she found out.”