microwavelength | (no subject)

"If you wanna tease with fire, that's usually supposed to be something like temperature play or wax play and neither are first date material." Maybe Axel should forward him some helpful youtube videos. He wondered if anyone ever did a tutorial on how to act like a person. Maybe some friendship and first date ones to begin with. "Not many people define burns are romantic."

He pause for a second before relenting and pulling a face. "Okay, some people do. I know like three people but usually no."

"You haven't been on many dates? Shocking." He hasn't either, he has no idea why he's mocking. He's had a lot of one night stands but never a date. Not that he minds, he doesn't expect it much. He looks down at his burn and gently stoked it with his finger. Still stung a little but not enough that he was freaking out. "That's gonna leave a mark." He huffed in amusement. "Pretty."

"I don't do dates." Or anything, it seemed, but maim people. That was something that Luke could get behind. Could understand. Being friendly had never worked. Well, it sort of did. He got to hang out with a guy that cut open people's heads, played around in their brains, and was super powerful. He'd never really seen him do any of the head cutting but the super powerful? He felt that first hand. And then there was a second guy, who found him at the diner, and he was bad ass too. Like a weird, old punk rocker with the chipping nails and stuff. And he could literally tear the world apart. He didn't, but he could have if they didn't kill him.

The point was, he'd had absolutely no one that really cared for him. He tried to learn from the dangerous guys he'd met but had mostly got stuck with really bad and hard to live by life lessons. Nothing practical at all. So he learned for himself. He'd been on the street now for a year and a half, since leaving Samuel's sideshow act a few days after his nineteenth birthday.

Axel might be the only guy since then that he'd spoken to without trying to steal something from them or kill them. Maybe that was a big deal. Luke didn't think so.

He did, however, fish a phone from his pocket to turn on the flashlight and leaned across the table to have a look at the mark he'd made.

"See, that's fucking romantic, dude. Left you something to remember me by."

"Really? You were the one that asked me to taco bell and you don't do friends so I gotta figure this is either a date or a business meeting. And I doubt you want to do business, you think I'm boring. Right?" Which didn't make for a great date either but Axel was pretty amused by all of this. He had to laugh, grinning at the other as straightened up a little, angling himself towards the light and looking down at the angry red mark. Just making it easier for the other to see, he even pulled his fly down a little more. Almost proud of it.

He can't help but smirk at the sentiment, feeling a strange wave of arousal inside of him. Oh yeah, of course that turned him on. He was a fucking mess. He picked up the vodka and drank a little more, trying to focus on that instead of the fact he was apparently turned on by someone who most definitely unnerved him in equal measure.

He probably should have run as soon as he got burned and found out the fucker was the one that blew a can up into the guard's face but there was a morbid fascination here. As horrifying as it was, he found himself compelled to find out more, to see more. It was a mess.

"Look at that, you're a romantic deep down. Aww, Sylar, you know the way to my heart. Though next time warn a guy, dickwad."

"The way to your heart? You don't want me there."

It felt amazing to be called Sylar. It felt more than amazing to have this guy actually like being burned like that. He was hard under the table, something that would have to go the fuck away befor he got up. Luck slipped the phone back into his pocket as his dinner finally arrived.

It took a lot out of him to use his abilities and he housed the burger without thinking too much about what could be in it. The people here were'n't stupid. They just wanted this young man to move through and not make too much trouble. Smart of them.

"If I warned you, would you have run? Don't try it. I can find you."

"I dunno if you could ever get that, handsome."

He didn't know how handsome Luke was in general, what would be classically considered so but he thought he had a certain look about him. He stood out in his almost normalises and his personally added to a sort of uniqueness, that look in his eyes? It was not a look Axel would forget. Not that he could ever forget a guy like this. He set his drink aside for a moment and rubbed at his eyes, just trying to keep his mind less fuzzy.

"A guy died in front of me horribly and you barely flinched, you caused it and offered to go get a drink and food with me. And I said yes. Like a dumbass. Do I sound like I make good decisions? I should have run about half an hour ago. Definitely should have tried when you fucking burnt me." But here he was, knowing tonight was beginning to sound like the kind of night someone had with a serial killer before they died but he like he said, he could find him. And upsetting him could lead to whatever the hell this kid could do being unleashed on him.

He didn't have anywhere to go. Why not stay here? "I wouldn't have run. If I haven't run this far, I never would have." He paused and squinted a little. "Did you track me down today?"

There was the briefest of flinches on Luke's face. He wasn't handsome. He was average, maybe. He was the guy that blended into the crowd. He had a baby face but a deep voice. He looked younger than twenty. When he was forty, if he lived that long, he would still look young. Sixty? Yep. In that agelessness, he was someone no one looked at.

So handsome? No. Axel was jerking his chain.

Luke used a napkin on his hands because he was not an animal and sat back from the plate. There were a few fries left but he wasn't going to eat them all. When he was full, he was full. Yes he had just killed a guy (he was probably dead by now at least) and burned another guy but that didn't mean he could have some food, right?

Luke watched Axel for a moment, face back to a blank impassivity. "I don't follow you. I just know where you are when I want to see you. How about Saturday? I'll come by again and we can have some fun. It's not a fucking date."

"It sounds like a date." Axel pointed out as he took a swig of what remained of his vodka and decided to leave it at that. It was too much. He'd hit up a bar on his way home, maybe get something to follow this shit up with that was a bit nicer and have himself some fun, maybe try to score with someone who wasn't an uneasy psycho. He liked picking up guys, they were always so easy and eager, it didn't make much work really.

He was about to decline when he realised that probably wasn't entirely possible and pissing this guy off? Bad move. Maybe if he just turned off everything he owned for the day, he wouldn't be found. "Sure, sounds like a plan. Saturday. Not a date. Gotcha."

With a smirk, he winked playfully. "Bring protection though. Just in case."

Though he thought that Axel was talking about a weapon, Luke didn't say that he didn't need protection. He could protect them both. Easily. He didn't pay the bill so much as leave a wad of cash behind and scooted out of the booth. He didn't understand that Axel was talking about condoms until he was outside.

It made him roll his eyes at no one.

Axel might realize that Luke hadn't given him a time or a place for their not a date eventually too. It wouldn't matter. The next three days around be otherwise uneventful. Maybe Axel even forgot about the weird guy that periodically showed up.

Especially when one of his not quite friends invited him in on a small heist of sorts for that Saturday. It was just s little jewelry store. Nothing major. Small pay out. The usual.

It slipped his mind it was even Saturday, most days blurred into one and he was sure his not-date with Luke had been a weird fever dream or something. What the hell even was that? He was only sure it was real when he saw the angry red mark the next day. It hadn't faded, it had stayed, a reminder that it really happened.

The heist was supposed to be easy but this one? It wasn't run by the rogues, just a small time gang and he forgot he wasn't working with professionals. They made a terrible job of breaking in and out, they attacked everyone still inside causing a major scene, they almost left half the stash behind because they forgot to check the vaults and they tripped the silent alarm on the way out.

The cops would be here any minute and there was Axel, holding a bag full of cash. The others were getting into the car and when he tried to get in, he was stopped. The big guy running this thing held up his hand before gesturing at Axel's share.

"You want in, you gotta pay for it."

Fuck. This was so the last time he pulled a heist with amateurs.

Luke always found that the more fat content in a person, the better they smelled when they were cooking. It took them longer to go, though. The screaming was always so much longer and more perverse. He watched from the corner in just a pair of jeans and a tee shirt with a utility jacket thrown on, hands in his pockets, as the guy barring the way into the car started to convulse. He took a step forward, as if Axel could offer him any help, and spit a gob of boiling blood just in front of his boot. He had a good old time writhing around before the men in the car freaked out and finally stepped on the gas.

They didn't get far. A little melting of their fuel tubes stopped their car dead. They slammed into a brick wall at about ten miles an hour. It was enough to hurt them, but not kill them.

Luke strolled up the alley to nod a little at Axel, still holding his bag of money.

"Ready?" Most of the guy at his feet was split open, like he had been stuck in an oven for awhile. "Taco Bell for dinner?"

The moment the guy started convulsing, he knew. It was a Saturday, after all. He should have seen this coming, he should have expected Luke. He convulsed, shook and his skin started to melt. It reminded him of the old horror movies he used to watch on VHS like Street Trash, where people just sort of melted. Only less colourful. He supposed being into the body horror genre made this a tiny bit less horrifying but it was still hard not to get squeamish.

There was a long trail of blood just at his shoes and behind him, the car was smoking violently, this place was a fucking mess and the cops were on their way. If they didn't leave soon, they were so done for but Axel couldn't seem to get his legs to move or his brain to catch up.

When it finally did, he blinked a few times and took some steps away from the mush of a man with his steaming organs at his feet. The corpse finally fell with an unpleasant wet sound and Axel flinched.

"Fuck." He finally said as he looked at Luke, his eyes somewhat wide. "You just -- fuck, he was like melting!"

"Melted-- Dude. Have you ever tried cooking in your life? Put a fucking roast in the oven and watch what happens. When the liquids are hot enough to boil, the steam just bursts through the skin." Luke wasn't even looking at his victim. He was frowning up at Axel who did not, again, seem to want to go to Taco Bell.

Luke loved Taco Bell. They have five dollar dinner boxes right now and you got just so much damned food. It was great. He'd need like three boxes to fill up after this, but so, so worth it.

He made sure he stopped just short of where the dead man's juices were slipping into the gutter, loose jeans hiding that he was rock hard again. There was just something about cooked flesh-- He'd never eat anyone, that was gross, but it really did get him off.

Or get him hard at least.

"Are you done freaking out? Can we go?"

"Could you not compare this to food? God, you're going to ruin meat for me. I don't want to become vegetarian, you can never get the good gummy sweets." Axel whined as he pulled a face at the body. No, he wasn't hungry and he didn't particularly want to go to Taco Bell but he sort of figured the sooner they got this trip to Taco Bell out of the way, maybe it'd be over? Maybe Luke would make new friends.

Or not-friends because apparently they weren't friends, didn't hang or have dates but it all still kept happening. Funny, that.

"I'm allowed to freak out over a cooked body." Axel ripped up his bag on cash and sighed, feeling like he wanted to puke so much but fortunately, he was empty stomached and he wasn't looking directly at it any more. "Can't you just watch horror films and jack off like a normal psycho? Trust me, it's fun. I do sometimes too. This whole melting your problems away thing is a little much. Can't you just hold back a little?"

All questions he was sure he knew the answer too. Still, he shrugged and gestured ahead. "Taco Bell?"

"Taco Bell."

Luke...well it wasn't like he was a guy of few words, he just figured that Axel liked to complain so he let him. He wasn't going to touch the watching horror films and Jack off thing-- Luke didn't do that. The body was gross. The stuff that came out of the body was gross. He just let whatever desires he felt slip away from him. His erection was already softening, and it would be better after they left the street. The cops would take care of the rest when they showed up.

The Taco Bell Luke picked wasn't much cleaner than the bar from the other night but it was a lot brighter. The bright lights didn't really make him any more handsome or do him any favors on that front. He still had dark circles under his eyes. He looked somewhat malnourished under his clothing.

He ended up ordering half the menu and dropped it down in front of Axel after he paid for it, making the kids in the back rush away from the counter to chat about how scary he had been ordering a bunch of cheesy gordita crunches.

He tore right into one of the meals, only glancing up when he realized Axel wasn't joining him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I feel a little nauseous. I know. Weird, right?" The smell of cooking meat turned his stomach and he just couldn't associate now. He really hoped that connection didn't stay with him. He pulled out his phone and checked the news, just to see if anyone had reported the robbery yet. Nothing yet but apparently the road outside the jewellery store had been shut off. No shock there.

Axel sent out a few messages online, just because, and then looked over his phone at the food again, as if debating if he could handle it or not. Maybe in a few. He looked back at his phone and idly continued typing.

"I'll jump right in when I stop picturing that guys organs on the floor, steaming away." Which could take a few. Maybe he could learn to blank this shit out. "Maybe next time kill someone after I have food, it puts me off less."

Microwaves were funny things. You could cook with them, sure, but you could also use them to have your cell ping a tower or a communication satellite to transmit data for you when you weren't on WiFi. It's what CCTV ran off of. It's what radar used. All of those little tweets that Axel decided to send out, therefore, could be redirected and scanned and understood.

That's what happened when you figured out you had a power at sixteen and spent the last five years or so getting very, very good with that power.

Luke sucked up some soda and settled back against the plastic backed booth.

"What should I have done? That dude was threatening you."

"People threaten me all the time. It's part of the job. Besides, I'm smaller, weaker and annoying. I get them back. Slowly. I'm less messy with my revenge." But still just as cruel. Little tricks and traps to hold people down, to hurt them, to make them sick. The last guy who hurt him, he lost his finger in a particularly vicious finger trap. The guy before that had a bomb strapped to him... but Leonard made him disable that before it properly blew anyone up.

He shrugged his shoulder as he set his phone down and looked over at Luke, shooting him a confused look. It was all so strange.

"Why do you care anyway?" Axel leaned forward a little, a playful smile coming to his lips. "Are you starting to like me? Aww, I thought I was boring."

It was a good question, even coming from a jackass. Luke leaned back, staring at Axel over the plane of his cheeks for a moment as if sizing him up. Or maybe trying to figure out if he should just kill him and blow the place up. It was hard to tell with Luke.

But he'd found a place to shower. He'd tried to do something with his hair (just with handheld clippers, but he made an effort). The truth was that he was lonely. And most people just ran.

Axel didn't.

"So when I was ten, my dad use to play this game with me. He'd hold a piece of candy in one hand and he'd have me try to guess which hand it was in. If I was right, I'd get the candy. If I wasn't, he'd give me these." He pulled up his jacket. The cigarette burns were numerous. Impressive. "I don't like bullies."

"Behind every psycho seems to be a fucked up dad, huh? It's like psycho 101 or something." Axel hmmed a little and took in the burn marks, head tilted to the side. He'd got his own share of scars, that sort of shit happened when you got passed from foster home to foster home, never really getting attached to anyone, always getting dropped and the discipline always ranged from person to person. Some got pretty physical. Still, as he got older, he got his one silver lining to cling to. The Trickster. "Well, not all psychos. My shrink says I'm a psycho but I have the best dad. He's the greatest man alive."

He picked up his phone again and swiftly googled his dad, turning the phone around so Luke could see the pictures and the wiki article. A terrorist and a murderer, not the kind of person who could, by any measure, be a good dad. Axel was, to a degree, a very massive degree, deluded when it came to his father. Brainwashed. Groomed. He had been writing to him in prison since he was thirteen and even then, he had no idea it was his father.

He'd never had anyone and now he had a father. And his father was his hero. "He's a legend. The original Trickster. Look at that body count! He let me use the name. He's cool like that. We usually work together. We're not right now. He sort of, you know, threw me out of a moving car." Axel smiled like it was nothing and shrugged his shoulders. "He had to get away, he needed a distraction. The cops went after me instead. Pretty smart."

Taking his phone back, he looked at the article with pride. "Barely hurt. I rolled on dirt, no tarmac."

"Never heard of em," Luke said honestly, unwrapping a burrito this time. Shredded chicken. He wasn't really paying attention what he was eating. It was good. It was filling. He needed the energy. "You don't gotta show me what's on your phone, dude."

He tapped his own, and then rolled his eyes and grabbed it from where it rested on his knee under the table. It was currently processing everything that Axel was doing. All he had to do was run an app and he could split the signal to and from Axell's phone himself.

It didn't always work, they had to be close for it, but it was just one of those neat little tricks he'd learned about when being alone.

"Where's your dad at now? I'd like to meet him."

"Yeah, well, you live in a hick town, of course you haven't." Axel muttered bitterly because he had no idea how anyone could not know the Trickster. He hated this stupid town, he couldn't wait to get back to Central. Though he didn't love the idea of seeing the rogues again, knowing he'd been part of a murder. They had a lot of rules about that and Luke was crushing all of them.

He looked at the app and slowly, he raised an eyebrow. Huh. "That's... creepy. Dude, stay out of my phone."

It was private. Ish. He didn't really have much outside his public social media and all of his texting was either for hook ups or trying to co-ordinate heists. Nothing personal. Axel looked down and frowned a little, trying to not let that question bother him. "Dunno. He said he'd come back but ... look, he's busy. And even if he wasn't, I don't trust you near him. You'd melt my dad!"

"I'm less in your phone and more in your signal," Luke gloated. He couldn't help it. This guy wasn't praising his abilities, he wasn't awestruck by them but it was probably close enough. It was absolutely close enough. Luke was warming up to this guy. That might be the tacos talking, of course, but here he was, relaxing and having a normal conversation.

Would his mom be proud of him? Not that he'd ever know. After he stole the car, which she did not report missing, she moved. New life. No crazy son. He didn't miss her.

His emotions were broken. Samuel said that often enough.

"And uh...yeah. I'm gonna melt your dad. Well no. Melt? Stop it. It's not fucking melting people."

"Still in my phone no matter how you reason it. The nice thing to do is not to do it." Axel rolled his eyes, just glad there was nothing he was really ashamed of on his phone. He didn't have much shame in all honesty, he wasn't even ashamed of his dick pics from last week. He quick liked them, good lighting and everything.

Axel leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, levelling Luke a judgemental look.

"Why are you so offended by melting? They do melt. Boil first them melt. It's like that scene in Robo Cop, you know? Where that guy gets acid on him and melts. Only there's more heat and red and blood." Axel shrugged a little. It was traumatic to watch, sure, but afterwards it was a lot easier to talk about it like it's just some dumb film and nothing more. It helped him keep that detached distance he probably needed.

"And no, you're never going near my dad. No melting anyone I like."

Trying to explain the difference between melting and cooking was probably inconsequential. Soft solids melted. Harder solids cooked. Wet solids steamed.

"If I melted people, there would just be puddles left. And there aren't." He took Axel's soda in hand and concentrated on it until it started to bubble. "Think microwave, dude. So if you want to be accurate, I'm probably still gonna microwave your dad one day. He deserves it."

And maybe whoever Axel sent those pics to. Luke didn't like competition.

"But fine. Whatever. How about I just say that if he ever pisses me off, he gets nuked?" Axel might be thinking that was fair. That 'Sylar' would never come across his dad. But Luke has latched on. Axel was sort of doomed.

"You owe me a new drink." Was all Axel took away from that demonstration as he frowned at his bubbling soda. Horrendously hot pepsi bubbling away like some kind of tar like thing? No thank you. Pulling a face, he leaned over and stole Luke's drink instead, taking a long sip from it as the other spoke about human puddles and his dad. Sharing was what friends did and he just assumed, given everything, that was where this was going. Whether or not Luke knew that. He set the drink back down and slid into his seat again.

"Not my dad. Never my dad. If he pisses you off, use your fists. Don't melt-- or whatever, burn and boil, my dad. He's important." Axel wasn't going to relent on this one. He didn't want to lose what he only just got, especially not when he was his childhood hero.

Shaking his head, he finally took some food, trying to put the idea of nuked people from his mind.

"He doesn't deserve it anyway." He looked at Luke and cocked his head to the side, clearly amused. "Careful, Sylar. You're starting to sound like you're endeared."