Closed RP: Finally Getting a Clue

[likeabadpenny.livejournal.com]

One of the bad things about Hogwarts was that it came with an astounding lack of things to do. Classes were held infrequently, Peter wasn't a professor, and sometimes it just became all too easy to sit in his room for days on end and do nothing but think too much. He couldn't deny that he'd been beginning to doubt there was a good reason for even coming here. If he were to list all the things that he'd done since he arrived (dealt with a demon, fought and lost to Sylar twice, to speak of a few), it wasn't encouraging for trying to stay.

It was something of a dangerous cycle; Peter had already been convinced that he was too dangerous to stay around people. His opinion of his abilities had changed from viewing them as something amazing, to something that was intrinsically dangerous and unstable. He'd come here, brought said danger down on other peoples heads, and felt like he hadn't actually helped any of them. And if it was something that Peter needed to do to stay sane, it was help people.

So he'd sat around in his room (or the tent, before) and felt sorry for himself, felt like everybody was leaving and that they probably should, because it was better for them. But yesterday he'd taken a job in Hogsmeade, going back to his old job as a hospice nurse.

It was amazing what the simple act of helping somebody could do for his outlook on life.

Peter had never been the kind of person to hold onto negative emotions for long; and sitting by the bedside of an elderly wizard, discussing his favorite books at length, he'd come to realize a few things.

One; that he'd been alarmingly stupid in the last few weeks. The radioactive power was gone (thanks to a certain demon with yellow eyes), and even though the promised favor still hung over his head, he wasn't actually dangerous anymore. It had just felt that way because it was very hard to let go of the mindset.

Two; that he shouldn't really feel like everyone had left him. Not when Nathan had a job to get back to, not when Claude felt like he had other people to watch over and protect, and not when he'd been too cooped up in his own mind to notice that Rachel was drifting away. Which led him to his third realization.

That there was an amazing woman who was just waiting for him to get a clue.

Most of these realizations occurred a few hours after he'd finished his shift with the elderly wizard, and during a three-hour marathon of painting the future. Peter had been desperate to search and try and find some purpose to his being here, some greater good that he would be doing to justify all the danger. In the end, he ended up staring at a painting of himself and Rachel, and realizing that he wouldn't get that if he lived inside his head too much longer.

Now, Peter had a plan. This plan was so immediate that he wasn't going to bother changing out of his paint-spattered clothes, or washing his colorful arms (hey, painting could be messy!). Said plan involved walking straight out of his room and right up to Rachel's room, feeling determined in a way that he hadn't felt in what seemed like a long time.

Said plan? Marching straight into Rachel's room and kissing her. It couldn't fail... he hoped. Peter just hoped he wasn't too late.

(Shield your eyes, kiddies; thar be smut in here, yaar.)