seekevolution | Quarantine

Quarantine

News had a way of spreading a little too quickly. The moment Nathan had fallen at the press conference, media began having it's field day. Mohinder paid little attention.

He arrived at Odessa fourteen hours after the incident, severely jet-lagged and with a computer pre-loaded with all of the information that the Company thought he'd need. Mohinder had been down this road before, though never with such dire circumstances. The Shanti Virus was a subject near and dear to his heart, though it was far less stressful when all he needed to cure it was a bit of blood. Even though it was his own blood, at least he felt as if he was doing something.

Knowing from experience that not everything was black and white anymore, Mohinder kept his laptop and medical kit close at hand and made his way to the quarantine line with a grim look in his redrimmed black eyes. "Mohinder Suresh," he said, forgetting his title again for just a moment. "Doctor. You need to let me through."

The National Guard service man looked wary before radioing it in through the barricade. It was tense. Mohinder's shoulder bag slipped twice and he nearly dropped his sample kit. "All right, cleared to go in. Good luck, doctor."

Mohinder nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. He'd gone from New York to India and back again in two days, bringing Molly to stay with his mother. After what Sylar did to her, again, he could not risk leaving her in anyone else's care. Not with Matt gone.

Seeing the man, however, after he'd just gone off on this quest to find his father at the expense of helping him with a child they both sort of promised to look out for, did not make Mohinder smile. If anything, it only made the lines on his face etch in more deeply. He stood in front of him, looking as tired as Mohinder felt, ill fitting clothing a bit more rumpled than usual. Never mind, of course, that Mohinder had done his fair share of leaving too on his attempts to bait the Company through lectures across the globe. "Do I have a lab yet?" Mohinder asked. No greetings. No necessities. That's what happens when you abandon people, Matt.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A little, maybe, but Matt was used to Mohinder in many ways. He often tried for precision and efficiency. They weren't that different in that respect, just they often had different angles for tackling problems or situations, not to mention different priorities half the time. Mohinder was, frequently, rather blunt. But right now it was likely to work in his favor what with Matt still skirting the situation a little.

Matt could take a hint, though. No problem. He ate quickly enough but didn't finish all of his coffee, instead left it on the table when he went to Mohinder's room only a minute or two later.

"We really should get beds", he declared after briefly knocking on the door frame to announce his presence. As if that was really needed. He knew Mohinder was paying attention to where he was.

The reason for that remark was the sight of the room - still bare, and the mattress seeming rather lonely on the floor. But Mohinder was on it, so there was that. He felt a bit like he was back in high school when he sat down, leant back on his arms and looked over at the other man.

"Mattresses on the floor are rather chic," Mohinder replied with a laugh. "Brooklyn has an influx of... Wait, I know the term." He moved to kneel beside Matt, actually his height and no longer having to look up to smile into his eyes. "Hipsters! Seems a bit their style."

His fingers found the curve of one shoulder and almost like an octopus, Mohinder slipped just a little closer to Matt. Initiating intimacy had never been one of Mohinder's problems and the addition of his nose against Matt's ear likely confirmed that.

"At least it's comfortable," he purred. Yes, purred. To call that breathy whisper anything else would do it a disservice. "And better than a sofa."

"Hm", Matt agreed, distracted; he was shivering slightly at the whisper, both because of its tone but also the proximity, Mohinder's breath close to his ear. He started to lean his head into his shoulder to sort of get away from that, all rather instinctively, but seemed to regret part of that movement halfway through and when his eyes landed on Mohinder's mouth, he followed the motion in such a way that he pressed his lips to the other man's, instead.

It was easy with him so close. It was even easier since he'd left no room for misinterpretation, what with his sidling close and the suggestive tone. So Matt kissed him and brought a hand up to his cheek, fingertips close to his ear and thumb touching his jaw, angling his head and opening his mouth. Different from the night before that had been more about establishing the new ground, this was more about exploring it.

Definitely felt like high school.

It wasn't a bad thing.

Using the weight of his body for a counterbalance, Mohinder drew Matt down against him, a bent knee pressing against the outer part of the detective's thigh. It wasn't his intention to get him hot and bothered before work, he just wanted to be comfortable. He wanted to feel the larger man against him, to be reminded that they're together on this one. Dark fingers stroked around one pale ear before getting lost in Matt's uncombed (but still fantastically thick and lovely) hair.

This wasn't like any school experience that Mohinder remembered, but he liked it just the same, sharing smiles and kisses as the minutes worked against them. He wasn't too pushy for more, doing his very best to remind himself that, for Matt, this sort of thing was new in two very important ways.

Not only had he never been with a man, but he'd not been with anyone since high school. That's over a decade. Nearing two.

Learning someone else was just part of the process, gender aside!

That didn't mean that Mohinder didn't thoroughly enjoy himself and, perhaps, teach Matt a thing or two with his tongue that he might have never known about. India, after all, did write the official book of love, didn't it?

That was the thing - learning someone else hadn't been a frequent occurence in Matt's life. He'd been married to Janice for eleven years and knew her like the back of his hand, or at least he thought he had, at one point. Mohinder was all new, all angles and brilliance and dazzling smile and dark skin.

But Matt was a fast learner. Keeping his mind in tune to Mohinder's he was happy to comply to whatever wish or command or urge that touched his thoughts and when Mohinder responded favorably, Matt grew more confident and with that more decisive. Calling it a dominant side wouldn't be at all right in this situation, but Matt would always have a possessive streak to go along with his protective instincts and that reflected in the way he moved and touched the other man. There was an underlying boldness there.

And Mohinder's own behavior, his little tricks, they surprised him even though he'd figure later on that he should have expected them. It wasn't that Mohinder knew them to begin with - look at the man, honestly - but the fact that Matt had never quite been kissed like that. Janice was a different story altogether and prior to that there'd been one or two timid girlfriends who'd known about as little as he had at the time.

He liked it, he decided, and pulled Mohinder closer. Embraced the differences now when they were surrounding him almost literally when he found that somewhere down the line he'd moved his hands to Mohinder's hips. He moved his mouth down his jaw, practically nuzzling at his neck, the soft murmur ghosting across his skin, "what time is it?"

Time-- Why did time matter? They were having a lovely time here, all mostly over clothing touching and exploring and breaking in the new mattress without a frame to support it. In all honesty, Mohinder had very little recognition that time had passed at all. His mind, along with everything else, was just a little preoccupied in the most pleasant of ways. Though they'd not even made it past first base, not that Mohinder used Baseball euphemisms to describe parts of his sex life, this had been so extremely intimate.

Being with Matt, with a telepath, was a unique experience. One that left him buzzing now that the voice that sounded gravelly even in his head once more touched his ears.

Time. Turning his head, and trying not to dislodge the detective, Mohinder scowled at the solid red light that denoted that Matt had about twenty minutes to get to the precinct. Which meant--

"You probably ought to have left five minutes ago," he said, blinking, and pushed Matt off of him to shoo the larger man along.

Matt groaned and rolled his eyes, but braced himself on his arms, stood and more or less immediately disappeared into his own room. He'd neglected to actually get dressed for work, which might have been a good thing if there'd been more clothes-rumpling going on than there had been, but now mostly meant he had to rush.

He was pretty damn good at that though and made short work of stepping out of his jeans and into his suit, quickly double-checking his gun and badge before he stepped back into the kitchen again, shooting Mohinder a look. "Next time, I'm setting an alarm", he announced. Teasing, judging from the way he smiled and his gaze hit the floor momentarily as he considered that.

Cause yeah. They were likely to keep doing that kind of thing, weren't they?

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and went up to quickly kiss Mohinder goodbye before he went into the hall.

"Tell Molly goodnight for me, okay? If we get this wrapped up tonight we're mostly looking at paperwork for the next few days. I could take some of that home."

After Matt had left, and he'd gotten immediately cold with the lack of heat against him, Mohinder tousled his hair and went to stand in the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway leading to their front door. He'd said nothing at all to the slight teasing, not because he'd been offended by it, but because he'd been smiling too hard to. His dimples almost popped right out of his cheeks by that point.

The last few days had been one incredible milestone after another. Becoming an actual professor again, having Matt's affection, making this a real family-- All they needed now was some more furniture and to raise their mattresses off of the floor.

He accepted the kiss without question, wanting to linger but knowing he couldn't.

"Good luck with your case then. If you have a moment around nine or so, give us a ring and you can say good night yourself." Mohinder would try to nap after that. He'd very much like a round three later.

"Thanks", Matt said, and was out the door.

He made it to the precinct maybe two minutes late and entered the station to Fuller giving him a sour look but Matt deflected his annoyance with a calm smile that only made the older man grumpier. Oh well; Matt felt warm in that content way. He didn't think anything could take that away from him, not even the set-up for the watch and the raid.

They had a bit of a gang war on their hands. Or would have, except these were more kids than anything else and were likely scared shitless of what Matt had concluded to in fact be an accidental murder. But the kids from the other block needed revenge, so they were anticipating a whole lot of fighting going down later that night. The plan was to round them up before anything happened, question them all the next day, and sentence them accordingly.

It was clear pretty quickly that Matt wouldn't have a moment around nine, so he instead excused himself around seven thirty to give Molly and Mohinder a call. It was mostly for Molly, to let her know that he was still there and that that wouldn't change. Mohinder had gotten to see him a bit more than she had lately, after all. Just a few hours prior.

"I'll be real late", he said, gently chiding. "Listen to Mohinder, okay? Did you finish your homework?"

"Matt! Mohinder already asked me that", she answered in that way that had Matt picture her wrinkling her nose, and Matt grinned.

"Alright kiddo, I'll let him worry about that then. I'll try to see you tomorrow."

And to Mohinder, once the phone was handed over, "Yeah, still looks like it'll be a late one. I'll- see you when I get home?"

Home had gotten such a different but nice connotation too now, when it was all of their home and not a place they'd inherited from Mohinder's father.

Mohinder couldn't erase the glow from his cheeks or change the way he cradled the phone when Matt spoke with him. Molly had already gone off to play with the promise of another hair braiding session in an hour or so and Mohinder complied before his attention returned completely to the voice coming through the receiver.

"You will. I'd hate for you to eat alone. I know you'd just grab a poptart." A tease, just a light one, but still a tease. Mohinder couldn't shake the giddy feeling. He didn't exactly want to, though. "I made chicken samosas for Molly. They heat up well enough. And there's quite a lot of rice left over."

Mohinder paused, not sure if there were other things to so or if it was right to keep Matt from his job any longer than he had to.

"Just... Be safe." He hung up the phone without getting too mushy or emotional and finished his evening off with ice cream and hair braiding and a bedtime story about elephants. Molly got two kisses, one from Mohinder and one from Matt by proxy. "I love you, sweetheart," he said, mimicking what Matt often called the little girl and after her night light was on, he went to take a nap on the sofa.

Waking just after midnight when he heard the key in the door, Mohinder jumped up (as if he could hide his thoughts from a telepath) and rushed into the bathroom to clean himself up a bit. He couldn't do much about his hair, but he did swish some mouthwash and made it out just as Matt was taking off his suit jacket.

"Did you nail him?" Was that the proper term?

Matt shot Mohinder a faintly amused look, but he was smiling, however tiredly as he loosened his tie and toed off his shoes. "All of them", he confirmed, leaning against the wall. Aware of his heartbeat. "Seven kids. Interrogation's gonna be a nightmare."

But it was for tomorrow. It had all gone fairly smoothly and although shots had been fired they'd been few and no one had been hurt. All in all, the stunt had been successful. Matt felt good about that.

Felt good about being home, too. He almost felt Mohinder's gaze on him like a physical thing. He took off his gun, holster and badge, lingering over the latter for a moment before he went to put them away in his room.

"Feels good to get to do something", he said in a low tone over his shoulder. "To help people."

Mohinder loved watching Matt. He was larger than him, a little overweight, sure. But he held himself so well. He had grown more comfortable with himself since Mohinder had met him. Now, as he navigated the kitchen, as he settled himself for the dinner Mohinder had already moved to prepare, he was so confident. And it was wonderful to watch. He kept his thoughts more or less to himself, but he didn't try to hide them.

"Kids?" Mohinder turned and glanced over his shoulder as a much more dressed down man settled himself at the kitchen table with their fantastically mismatched chairs. The microwave dinged but the samosas were still heating on the stove. He leaned back against the nook where the refrigerator met the counter. "You're serious? That's horrible."

He was interested in Matt's work. In Matt's day. He very carefully plated the food when it was ready and settled down to chat. He curled a hand against his cheek and stifled a yawn. A four hour nap had been pleasant but it would be a little while until he was completely awake again.

"It must be difficult for you to deal with."

He'd gotten a glass for himself as well as some water before he sat down and was watching Mohinder just as much as Mohinder watched him. He was pretty when he was tired, all recently woken up, and Matt felt flattered that he'd gotten up to sit down with him to even begin with. "More or less", he replied, rubbing a hand to his temple briefly. "Youngest is seventeen, I think. Only two of them are over twenty."

He thanked Mohinder softly when he was given the food and poked around it lightly with a fork as he kept talking.

"I don't know if it matters so much how difficult it is for me to deal with. I mean, it's difficult for everyone. My job is to try to set them straight. That's it. Hopefully they'll think twice before pulling this kind of stuff again. It sucks to see, but ..."

He trailed off with a small shrug and watched the way Mohinder was leaning into his own hand, tired yet focused eyes. He smiled, shook his head.

"I know you didn't wait up but you look really tired."

He'd tried to wait up. Well. He'd tried to nap a bit so he'd be fresher for Matt but-- "Slept right through my alarm," he confessed sheepishly. "But I wanted to be sure you ate something warm and I wanted to see how your day went. I'll brew some tea."

He had no intention of falling asleep right now. He could sleep in an hour or two, when Matt wound down again. When they were too tired to stay awake together. For Mohinder, this sort of quality time was important. Far more so than sleep.

He was up in a flash, electric kettle boiling the water faster than the stove, and caffeine flickered through his blood before Matt could even finish his dinner. Mohinder wasn't expecting another make out session. He'd be fine with watching late night news or catching up on television shows with Matt on the sofa.

He'd be fine just talking about the case.

Did Matt realise just how important he was to Mohinder? It went so far beyond attraction.

Matt was watching him with a soft expression as he ate. He offered a few more details about it - the gang setup, the surprisingly good rapport between the people working on the bust - but there was a natural lull to the discussion right then that worked out well given the late hour.

Molly, despite being slightly fidgety in a way that likely wouldn't go away for years, wasn't having any nightmares. Matt checked fleetingly when he went to do the dishes but wasn't consciously touching any of Mohinder's thoughts. He caught the vague indication of the sofa, though, and remained standing for that reason when he wiped his hands on a towel.

"You know what I think we should do?" he said, an earnest quality to his voice. "Just ... talk, for a bit. What do you think?"

Mohinder looked a little tired still but less drowsy, and Matt was headed that way too now when the adrenaline of the bust had really faded away. But they were both awake and none of them aiming for sleep for a while yet.

They'd spent some time starting to get to know each other physically, so it might be a good idea to actually get to know each other as people. Without yelling, misunderstandings or a sole focus on their ward.

Talk? The way Mohinder's eyes glow away the remainder of sleep should have given Matt every indication that talking was probably the best thing he could have mentioned for the evening's entertainment. They'd talked, surely, but Mohinder still knew so very little about Matt that it might well fill a shoe box.

"Better idea," he countered just the same, standing up to stretch long legs. "I'll put on some cookies--" Molly had forced him to buy a tube of dough with her annoyingly blue eyes and horribly adorable smile. "You put on something more comfortable, and we'll talk over sweets and milk."

As much as he liked Matt in a dress shirt and slacks, tie loose and sleeves rolled up, he still preferred him in a tee shirt and sleeping trousers. It made him look...

Cuddly.

Perhaps he ought to keep that to himself.

After shooing Matt away and setting the oven for ten minutes, Mohinder straightened up the couch and poured two glasses of milk before he took his spot, turned to look towards where Matt would sit.

"Where do we start?" he asked when everything was settled and a plate of still too hot to eat cookies took up the space on the sofa between them. "Us? Molly...?" You?

Well, there was no way he would object to that. There was something slightly fluttery in him at the ease that had seemed to find itself between the two of them - something had changed and definitely for the better. In part because finally they were allowed to feel at least mostly safe, but maybe part of it had to do with the development of their ... well, their relationship. What if all that fighting hadn't strictly been about fighting? It was something to think about.

Not that Matt would, though, not at the moment. He settled into the couch, one leg crossed over the other, facing Mohinder and watching him as the thought hit him.

He made a yeah, well kind of face, momentarily looking out the window before he looked back.

"Yeah, I guess I should throw you a bone, huh?" he said in a light tone. He wasn't all that good at sharing on this level (something that likely had to do with a somewhat low self-esteem on his part) and there was a sense of avoidance there, if only because Mohinder had a way of asking quite piercing questions when he wanted.

That said - he didn't mind the idea too much. If they were going to do this they should do it right and getting to know each other on a more personal level was an appealing notion.

"Go ahead, shoot."

He'd actually meant it during their last yelling match, that Mohinder was free to ask. It had just come out wrong at the time. This was a far better context.

Really? He didn't need to project the question, not when his eyes had grown so very wide at the thought of being given free reign over his questioning. He paused to dip a cookie in his milk. right to the point that it would be left to crumble while he thought of all of the things he didn't know about Matt.

How he took his coffee, what sort of cereals he liked, even his favourite colour, those were all things he knew all ready. Living together long enough have provided typical first date question answers. And yet, this wasn't exactly a date. Perhaps they were beyond the need for that. Perhaps Mohinder would ask him out officially in a few days, once they could get away for dinner. Just the two of them...even if they'd certainly had their fair share of 'friend dates.'

He decided instead to investigate young Matt. He wanted to know about his childhood, about what he liked best about high school, about what made him desire to be a cop. He wanted insight into the man he was sharing parental duties with, one he was so very sure he could fall in love with if he just let himself.

If he hadn't done so already.

Matt paused to eat a cookie as well, mulling over the questions as they came and buying some time. He'd never particularly liked talking about his childhood but he wasn't going to dodge out of it. It was just a question about where to begin.

"You know about my dad", was how he chose to eventually start. There was no hiding the bitterness in his voice even if he tried to conceal it as he talked about his father. Frequent disappearances, unexplained visitors, moving around and a certain cruelty in the man that had always been there - he'd never hit or beat either of them up, Matt or his mother. But he'd been good at putting them down. Had been impatient and disinterested with them but had given them money and the occasional affection that meant Matt had been upset when he left before that too had turned into bitter resignation.

He shrugged as he relayed this, not quite looking at Mohinder, slowly eating another cookie.

"I didn't want to be like him", he said after that. "Still don't. I guess that's when I figured, you know ... he's a criminal. Cops go after criminals, make sure they don't hurt anyone else. My dad - I don't think they ever got to him. Makes sense now, since he can do what I can do, but ... other people. I wanted to help put them away."

He'd figured it out when he was fairly young. In a subconscious way it was probably the furthest he could get from being his father, and that's why he clung to it, but mixed with that was a genuine desire to help people out.

Mohinder might have been a professor, but he could do more than lecture. He was actually a fantastic listener, never once interrupting Matt even when he stuttered or fell silent to find the right words. Mohinder's patience, when it came to things like these, seemed endless. Putting a better picture of Matt together in his mind wasn't just of utmost importance to their relationship, if it ever became one formally, but because he was honestly curious.

They'd already discussed all sorts of aspects of his ability, from a scientific stand point to a social one. Mohinder didn't bother to question any of it, though recently learning that Matt could manipulate thoughts and return them was still a little disconcerting. He liked to think of himself as being more or less accepting of those sorts of things, however.

Mohinder polished off five cookies himself before his milk was finished and he set his glass aside, watching Matt as he did so with dark eyelashes only momentarily obscuring his gaze.

"What about for relaxation? You have to take a holiday once in awhile. Are you a beach man?"

Matt was grateful for that. He appreciated the silence because he could tell it was attentive rather than judgmental and it allowed him the space to properly tell the story.

He was momentarily confused at the drastic change of subject, but he caught on quickly enough, shooting Mohinder a look that quickly morphed into a grin.

"Dude, I grew up in California. Do you even have to ask?"

There'd absolutely been a lot of beaches in Matt's life and the sound of waves and laughter mixed together was one of his favorites. It was something he hadn't realized he'd missed while in New York.

"What about you, what do you like to do when you're not bending over microscopes or playing house?"

"Bending over microscopes and playing house," Mohinder replied easily enough. "My social life hasn't exactly been all that social since I was a child. And even then, you heard my mother." He changed his tone to effect an Indian accent. "Mohinder was a good boy, always smiling, but his best friends were books rather than other children his age," he quoted his mother as saying to Matt at dinner one night.

He wasn't putting himself down, he simply didn't have time for a lot of people. All of his romantic interests, of which there had been several, were colleagues or roommates. People that lived or worked closely with him.

Matt, in that way at least, fit Mohinder's type.

"Costa Verde was the first time I've ever seen a beach by an ocean without flying over head. Even when I was sent to the Dominican Republic, I'd never stepped foot out of the city." All work and no play made Mohinder a very dull person. Luckily, New York's changed all of that.

Matt stared at him for a second, then gave him a somewhat disbelieving smile over his shoulder when he too leaned to set away his glass. "Alright, we're so taking Molly to the beach when it gets warm enough. And by that I mean me and Molly are taking you. You clearly need to learn how to live a little."

They'd established partial roles early on - Matt had usually been the one to goof around more with the other two and that probably showed now in the teasing light in his eyes. Settling his shoulder back against the back of the sofa and catching the beginning of Mohinder's answering smile, Matt thought unbidden that Mohinder at the beach would be one hell of a sight.

"So ... what? Loner by choice, not by nature?" he asked after another moment, searching Mohinder's face.

"I wouldn't exactly say that I'm a loner," Mohinder said, pushing the empty cookie plate aside and to the table with their empty milk glasses. He might not look like it, and he certainly might not sound like the sort, but tactile touch was extremely important to him and... They could talk and touch at the same time. Quite forward, certainly more forward than Janice had ever been, Mohinder leaned back against Matt and pulled one large arm around his waist. Because he could. Because he wanted to. Because Matt's shoulder made an excellent pillow.

If he ended up shocking Matt a bit by that somewhat catlike need for physical affection, he didn't notice.

"I'm a bit singled minded you might say. Monorailic." A one track mind never sounded so scientific until it was put that way. "But you know that. We had a few dozen arguments about putting my pursuit of the Company before Molly's well being." He wasn't accusing Matt at all.

The thought actually made him smile.

"You're the only person in my life that's ever tried to snap me back to the real world." His fingers lightly cradled Matt's elbow. "I can't begin to express my gratitude for that. It takes companionship and caring to realise just how lonely my life had been."

"I, er - really?"

If the sudden way Mohinder curled up with him was surprising, his words were decidedly moreso. Matt looked down at him, feeling stunned, and for that reason accepted the proximity with some uncertainty. But he still wound up with his chin somewhere on top of Mohinder's head. It felt natural.

"I didn't think you did", he said after a moment's of silence, voice close to the other man's hair. "Appreciate that, I mean. You always seemed happier with your numbers. Well, and Molly. You light up with her."

He lifted his free hand to rub over his eyes.

"Sorry I kept giving you such a hard time about that, by the way."

The whole Company thing. His criticism had been justified in the end but Matt wouldn't pull an 'I told you so' even if he'd get paid for it. In hindsight, it just seemed unnecessary, the few dozen fights, hushed voices if Molly was close by or all-out yelling if she wasn't. That, if anything, had been one hell of a strain on them. They could've handled that better. Done away with all that hostility.

Quarantine

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<3 Missed you!!!

missed you more! welcome back <3

It's so good to be back.

I imagine, it sounded like such a hassle. /pets

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