microwavelength | (no subject)

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Luke Campbell did not do friends. He did not do family. He did not do people. He'd learned some very hard lessons when he was seventeen and then nineteen years old that you couldn't trust anyone but yourself. He hated himself too but at least he had a good reason for that. And between bouts of loathing, he also had enough fun to ride him through depressions.

He'd met Axel not too long ago. It had been an accidental run in during a robbery gone south for each of them. Luke shut off the CCTV right before Axel finished with his whole I'm An Awesome And Scary Bomber guy and unfortunately for them both, that made the whole array go off.

Microwave manipulation wasn't perfect. That much was obvious when he found himself in the basement with part of s building covering him. He didn't know why he didn't just boil Axel's blood then and there.

Or why he started following him around. Or why he showed up at his next gig. Luke cleared his throat, slipping his cell phone into his back pocket. Having control of every security camera in the city had its perks and make stalking so much easier. His smile was not kind. "We have to stop meeting like this."

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It was unsettling to a degree but Axel was pretty used to that kind of crazy so instead of finding it too weird, he found himself laughing himself. When people weren't graphically dying in front of him, it was a lot more fun. Bouncing a little, he leaned forward and watched the way it kind of spread out slowly around the table. It was kind of cool.

"We should melt and/or nuke more things I hate."

He liked that. Romantic. He snorted in amusement and sat back, taking a slice of pizza and taking a bit out of it. "So how lightly can you use your powers? Like how gentle can you burn or is it all like full force face melty horror?"

"Still got that burn?" Because that should tell Axel how precise he could be. "I can do individual popcorn kernels too," he replied. He never got to talk about what he could do these days. People were always out looking for him, he was in too many lists. It was why he lived like a transient in the homes of other people. Why he didn't bother with a job. Why he was so lonely really.

He didn't want to get cut open. That would ruin his day.

"I use to kinda do this act at a carnival. Like kids would buy magic bags of kernels and i would say some magic words and make them shake the bag." He might have been a better person if he stayed there longer. He might have gotten over his love of killing if he had fell in love with making kids happy.

He didn't now though.

"But fuck yeah. What else do you hate?"

"Oh yeah." He pulled his shirt up to show his burn, still very much there. "I like it, it works for me. Even if it was a dick move, I don't know. Kinda hot." He winked and dropped the shirt, leaning forward again as he ate his pizza. He was considering what he hated that much that he could burn it. Sometimes it took thought when you had such a broad spectrum. It was complicated. "Give me time to think about it."

If all this guy needed was to nuke stuff and have a little company then Axel could do that. Maybe he could reign in this crazy a little. Worth a shot, right?

"You used to work at the carnival? Badass! I did a summer job at the one in Central for ages, I did the pyrotechnics with another guy. Fireworks and everything. I fucking love fireworks." Of course he did, they just big explosions. And anything that blew up was pretty to Axel. "I'm also a balloon artist."

He paused, frowning a little. "What happens if you nuke a balloon?"

Maybe someone else without carnival or circus experience would look down on a little balloon art, and maybe, normally, Luke would too, but this was all for trying to be less of a murderous asshole and more accommodating. He finally had a slice of pizza, sort of lamenting the red pepper flakes for a moment before he just doubled the parm cheese and had at his snowy winter pizza. Anchovies and all. Not that you could tell what was on there.

"Never nuked a balloon. If it's like a marshmallow, maybe it expands and then bursts? Dunno." He sort of liked that they had a little bit of the same background though. It made him feel more together. Like there was a connection.

It was important to him to do this right. Any more time alone and he'd start talking to himself. Or starting a blog.

Or just sit on a roof and murder everyone that passed by.

"We'll find some cool things to nuke. That way you won't have to make boring small talk with me. Or kill my sure things."

He took a drink from his pepsi and pulled back, looking at Luke curiously because he had so many questions and while he didn't usually like to provoke, he kind of felt like he had to. Given this kept happening and he needed to understand it. "So the guy you killed yesterday? The one I planned to hook up with? Were you watching me the whole time... why didn't you just let me get rid of him?"

He wasn't getting angry or anything, he was trying to keep it easy. He was naturally wondering.

"I just want to prevent future incidents. Cause you know I do that a lot, right? I hook up with dudes. It's not like I'm going to call them again or fall in love. I don't do that. I just like to fuck."

"I wasn't aiming to kill anyone." There. Luke Campbell just told the truth. The guy was pretty much guaranteed to never tell the truth unless it was about his abilities and that was way more like bragging anyway. Actual truth, first about his name and then about this, was sort of one of those really amazing things. "If I was, I would have done it my way. I like my way. I was just trying to keep him from going home with you."

Luke finished his pizza as if that was a normal thing to say. As if he could get away with jealousy murder any night of the week. Was that still endearing, Axel?

"I don't want you having sex with the dirty ones. You can do better."

"... Dude, no, that's not cool! I can go home with whoever I want to. You can't come along like some jealous asshole and kill my flings. That's a dick move." Axel tried to clarify because jealous murdering of his fuck buddies? That's going to be a problem. Axel was a horny little fucker and he liked sex. A lot. He wasn't about t cut back or stop. He ran his fingers through his hair and groaned a little. No, it wasn't overly endearing.

"He wasn't dirty, I'm pretty sure he's a closet case, probably his first time with a guy. Seems all strong and powerful. I like that. He said some beautifully dirty things in my ear, that could have gone so well." He smirked to himself a little, getting kind of derailed in his moment of appreciation.

Still, he refocused. "I can do better. And I will. A lot. So don't play the jealous act again or we're over."

"We aren't a we. If we were a we, you wouldn't want to fuck every single damned guy you see!" Despite all of his crazy, Luke had been raised Catholic by a mother that had put up with all sorts of terribly things from his father. Was Luke monogamous? Probably. He'd never actually had sex with anyone so he wouldn't know. He came close to it once after getting really drunk, but it turned out that the girl didn't really like being burned. She'd sctuslly been screaming-- That was no good.

It still really annoyed him, to even think about Axel splitting time with someone else. Bulky, meatheaded idiots shouldn't get to touch him. Pansy ass shot boys shouldn't get to touch him either.

But he was compromising. Or trying to. Luke was still a selfish prick.

"Just-- Dude. Whatever. Just don't talk about it."

"I mean we as friends. Relax, I'm not implying anything. I'm not hitting on you." Axel clarified because honestly, he had no idea what was going on with Luke. Was he gay? No idea. Maybe. He seemed a little too into him sometimes. It was unique. Axel didn't want to push too much on anything though so it was best to be clear there. "I'm just saying, I don't really date but I do like to sleep around. It's not like I'm going to run away with one of those guys and ditch you. I don't do that. Dating. I'm really bad at it."

Which was an understatement. Axel had once burnt his own name in a boyfriends carpet as a romantic gesture. He was always up and down mood wise and whenever he hit manic peaks, he did some really dumb stuff.

"I get obsessive. And weird. And try to plant bombs in their new best friends apartments because suddenly they're all about them and they fucking forgot about me like I'm fucking nothing or somethig." Axel ranted, clearly talking about someone else as his fist slammed down into the table in a sudden burst of anger. He caught himself though, easing up a little.

Compared to Luke, he handled himself better but among normals? He was just as fucked. "Yeah, sorry. We won't talk about it. Just -- don't kill people I'm around any more."

"So this isn't a date." He had gone blank and emotionless again. That smile he'd had talking about himself seemed to have passed away into the wind of nothingness.

He half chewed, half pushed down another slice of pizza before he drained his drink and poured himself another from the plastic pitcher on the end of the table.

He'd told Axel he didn't do dates. And he didn't do friends. And now he was getting one of those things confirmed and it was just ruining his night.

"I don't have a carpet for you to burn your name into," Luke offered, as if suddenly that made him boyfriend material.

"I thought you didn't want to date?"

Axel looked confused as he looked up, unsure what to say. So Luke was into him? Not a shock but potentially, this could end so badly. He wasn't sure how to take it. He almost seemed upset but how could Axel date someone so hard to read? It was a good way to end up dying.

"You're already better material than most the guys I know." Depressingly not entirely a lie. Axel shrugged his shoulders and looked at Luke, tilting his head to the side. "Well, you're handsome, you're good company and you got me pizza."

All working in his favour. Still, he didn't think he could commit to that. "It's a lot of pressure to date. I fuck up a lot too. I'm bad at it, like I said. I don't want to piss you off and end up liquidised."

"I got you tacos too," Luke said, even if it was petty. "And I don't know how many times I've got to say that I'm not going to kill you-- I'm not. I only kill people that are worthless. And yeah, most of them are worthless, all of these people absolutely are, but--"

Okay. They were being stared at. He was talking too loudly. Thst happened way too often sometimes, so he made sure to interfere with everyone's phone signals. No Facebook. No Twitter. No 911 calls.

"Christ. Okay, what if I promise only to kill people if I have to?" Like if he had to take a shower. Or if he needed a place to crash.

"... Wait, you seriously want to date me?"

Woah, he was really putting a lot of effort into trying. Axel awkwardly rubbed his neck and looked around the room, a lot of people frowning at them. An amused part of him did wonder if it was the gay thing or the murder thing because honestly, in this area, it could go either way more often than not.

He couldn't commit to this, he knew it. No matter how nice he was now, when Axel fucked up and cheated or did something chaotic, it was very possible that he'd get nuked. So he opted for an escape cause. "I'll date you if it's not exclusive. Ease me in. I don't do monogamy." He could maybe try it? He wasn't sure. He'd never really had a proper relationship. Mostly dicks. They didn't love him how he wanted them too and it made him act weird. All he wanted was someone who just plain wanted him, maybe held him and kept him company. Someone who stayed more than a night and didn't expect too much. "I could try b-but I warned you. I suck at this."

It wasn't often that Luke could muster a sad look. Actually, he wasn't really sure if it was him making his eyebrows lift or if he was mimicking the way he thought he was supposed to react.

He didn't want to date someone that fucked around. He didn't want to be friends with someone that had other people come first. He knew that was bad of him. He knew it was really wrong, because if he said that out loud, Axel was gone.

He dropped his crust into the dish and sat back.

"Saturday nights. I'll take you out. And you can do whatever you want for the rest of the time but Saturday nights are mine. We'll get something better than this shit. Real Italian. And you can think of something you hate that I'll melt."

"Deal. If you're gonna fuck me, like I said the first time, you gotta have protection. I don't mind getting kinky either, that's kind of my jam but if you're going to burn me? One, I need a safe word and two, nothing like third degree. Or high second." Axel clarified, nice and loud because people were looking but hell, whatever, he wanted to clarify sex things. If they wanted. He held up his hands though, smiling with amusement. "No obligations. We can just hang."

With a grin, he bounced up a little and eyed Luke's phone. "I'm gonna need your number, I got to get a new phone. We should stay in touch. Communication prevents misunderstandings."

He could memorise the numbers, he was good with that stuff. He sat up onto his knees on the chair, practically sprawled over half the table. Axel didn't seem to care.

"I'll look forward to this Saturday. Melting stuff I hate and good Italian. Awesome!"

He didn't say anything about the sex. He didn't want the sex. He didn't think he wanted the sex at least. He wanted someone to be with. He wanted someone that didn't judge him and wasn't scared of him and could maybe appreciate his gifts. He liked the ego stroking.

Luke gave Axel his number. "It might change. It depends on when the line gets switched off." He didn't pay for anything. He just tended to steal what he could. Old people were the best. They had expensive gifts from loved ones that gave them in order to facilitate communication that they were usually too busy or too tired for. And it saved them from having to visit.

"But I'll let you know when it changes, soon as it does-- And lets just, you know. Whatever. No safe words. I'm not going to mark you up dude. You already got a Luke Campbdll special and loved. That's good enough." For now. Luke was feeling pretty mellow about the whole thing actually so he said good night and he waited for Axel to text him with his new phone before he went into planning mode.

He needed a lot of money for nice restaurants. And better clothes. At least he had the old lady's apartment to stay in for a few days. She wouldn't get stinky until Thursday or Friday.

Axel, as always, debated his sanity and just how smart it was to keep in touch with Luke or even to fucking date him because honestly, what was even wrong with him? But in the end, he relented, as he always did. He didn't know what it was, maybe it was all the years of brainwashing from his dad, maybe it was his own pathetic desire to not be alone, to be loved. He had no idea. He just knew he'd cave. And he did.

Hence why Saturday morning, when sprawled his mattress, half asleep and pretty hung over, he just decided to send the text and find out what the plans were. Apparently his life was his own. Dating a psychopath. And actual, real psychopath.

He really judged himself right now.

What's the plan for today, handsome? ;) Yep. Definitely hated himself.

Getting money was pointlessly easy when you didn't have a real conscience. Luke had amassed about a thousand dollars, give or take and some nice clothes too from a guy he let solicit him for sex. The guy was dead now. No sex. Did not pass go. Did not collect $200. He had a really nice wallet though. Luke planned to give the expensive Italian leather to Axel as a gift.

He'd just gotten out of the shower when he got the text and Luke sat down at the old woman's computer.

Reservations at the Trattoria for 7. OpenTable says its four stars and has a good wine list?

It didn't have a suit jacket requirement. Most of the nice places seemed to have them and he didn't think Axel was the suit jacket wearing type.

He needed to get a new apartment now. It was getting smelly and if Axel saw this place he would freak.

Fancy, cool, see you there xox

Axel hoped it wasn't dressing up because all he owned what was he usually wore and most of it was just overly colourful punk nightmare clothes. He got up lazily and pulled on his yellow tartan jeans and his shirt, half lidded and stumbling around the apartment. He was not always on top of his game and he really missed the days he did more drugs, it really helped to motivate him on lower mood days. He was always so up and down and some days he bounced around the place like a freaking bunny on ritalin. It was just today, his brain was a little sluggish and he felt oddly apprehensive, uneasy. Understandably so.

It was like he had to do this all so perfectly because if he fucked up, he'd probably be mangled and melted. It was a lot of pressure and he really sucked at pressure. It was why he'd never lasted at college.

Regardless, he managed to find some old meds in his bag, knocked them back with some alcohol and showed kind of early for once. He'd done his hair up, whacked on a little eye liner because why the hell not and waited outsider for Luke.

Luke looked sharp. It wasn't his style, just the guy he stole from, but the gray suit and the violet shirt beneath made him look more grown up, more like he was trying. Axel might not have bothered with any of that, but Luke had more on the line here, emotionally at least, because any emotion immediately became overwhelming. He didn't want a repeat of his last tantrum.

He didn't really look over what Axel wore anyway. That didn't matter to him. He was attracted to his violent tendencies and personality, not to what he looked like. Luke nodded to his date and held the door since YouTube told him he should and told the lady at the podium his name. Sylar. Reservation for two.

She gave Axel a glance but said nothing and smiled as she sat them down and offered bread and oil. It was fancy all right. There were herbs in that oil.

"Wasn't sure you'd come let alone get here first. Hungry?"

Axel didn't care if people gave him a funny look, he was pretty under dressed but there was no official rules on dresscode and if he wanted to show up like some strange punk rent boy then that was his decision. He winked at the woman anyway, smiling playfully at her and ignoring the look she gave him. He wasn't at all into her, girls did nothing for him but it was always funny to flirt with the disapproving assholes.

"I said I'd come so I came. I always keep my word." Axel shrugged off his jacket and eyed the candle in the middle of the table, reaching out to idly hold his hand over it, feeling the feet brush against his hand. It tingled.

He looked at Luke and took in the way he had dressed and presented himself, it was kind of impressive how quickly he'd sharpened himself up. He seemed to be really taking this pretty seriously. Maybe he did mean it when he said he wasn't going to hurt him, even if this fell apart. Maybe.

"You look good, I like it. Very smart." He looked down at himself and laughed a little. "I don't own anything fancier, all my shit is back in Central."

"Why don't you just go back there?" Luke asked as he tore into the bread, hearing it lightly to make it softer and fluffier. "What's keeping you here? It's a shit hole. This is probably the nicest place in town too and it's pretty shitty." He didn't bother to control his voice, but he did pluck a dinner roll for Alex, warning it in gently for Alex.

He didn't exactly mention that he would go with Alex if he wanted a road trip, but Luke really liked road trips. He was good at them. He made a good navigator. Sort of. He'd never learned to drive.

That didn't mean he didn't try though.

"Cause I'm waiting for my dad." Axel explained with a shrug. When he pushed him out of the moving car, he'd said he'd come back for him and to stay put here. And Axel had. Despite him having no way to find Axel, he had faith he'd find him because honestly, he was that brainwashed. He kept his twitter updated with locations in the hopes he'd check and he hadn't moved too far from the road he'd been tossed in.

He knew he was going to have to give up and go eventually but he just -- he didn't even know. He knew it was pathetic, he just couldn't seem to help it.

"Besides, it's not so bad here. Like it's a dump, sure, but I like the company." Yeah, surprisingly, he did mean Luke. And it's not like he could take Luke back to Central City. It'd end badly. For everyone.

"So why don't we go and come back in a day or two. You know it's easy for me to find people. I'll just keep in touch with the security cameras around your place and if your dad comes by we'll know." Luke was pretty aware by now of the lengths he was going to to keep Axel interested. And he was also aware of the fact that Axel wasn't as interested in him.

In a way, that was a comfort. That was like Sylar and Samuel too. Older men that didn't give s crap about him but he was drawn to anyway.

The waitress came around for their orders and poured then each done wine. Luke had her leave the bottle and smartly, she didn't ask for ID. Luke didn't want to have to be angry and ruin his date. He ordered a bunch of stuff from the menu without asking Axel for input but he figured the man could order someone else if he didn't like the choices. None of it would go to waste.

Luke was a bottomless pit.

"I don't know. Maybe? It's working now, I like it here, it's all cool." His dad would probably come back eventually and until then, he had pretty good company. Luke was questionable at best, he really didn't trust him near his dad or people he actually liked but he was pretty good. Even if he had creepy serial killer vibes, he was trying. So that meant something, right?

He looked at the food that had been ordered for him and he made a vaguely impressed noise. The food here was fancy, he wasn't used to that.

"See, where I usually go for food, it's fast, cheap and gross." And Axel hadn't had a good dinner in ages, it was mostly whatever was cheap and nearest to his craphole apartment. "Do you ever really eat out like this or are you making a special effort?"

He was curious, Luke didn't often talk about things, he didn't like small talk and he only liked to talk powers more often than not. He was wondering if he ever really tried this much before.