“Perspective”

by rtwofan

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Peter never got to see his niece as much as he liked.

Not to say that he was obsessed with her, or anything. But everyone needed a bubbly friend that brought a smile to their face every time, and Claire was that to him. It’s not like Peter was gonna get the same effect off any of his other family members. The Petrelli clan was cold and heartless on the whole, and it still shocked him that the blonde cheerleader was of the same blood. Even if Peter was much more introverted and generally nice then his brother and mother, he still looked like a Petrelli.

They were more like friends, really. Friends that played and laughed, teased and riddled, tickled and nitpicked. Usually, the tickling was Peter. The riddler, on the other hand, was Claire.

He pushed his way through Petrelli Mansion’s front door, suitcases still in hand. The scent of expensive perfume, from his mother most assuredly, greeted him after two months of absence. Peter took the summer off to travel the world. He breezily explained that he needed to get to know it better if he ever wanted to save it. Nathan gave him the “if-you-say-so” eyes, and Angela promptly rolled hers, but other then that, everyone was pretty supportive.

Right now, everyone was not home.

Well, except for the person Peter most desired to see. 

Claire looked out of place on Angela’s antique chase lounge, reading one of those primpy magazines that all of the girls were reading nowadays. Peter beamed, set down his luggage, and headed into the den.   

“So, what’s my favorite niece been up to?” Peter grinned, approaching her.

“I’m not your niece,” Claire replied, not looking up from her copy of Seventeen.

Peter’s smile drooped. What a lovely “Welcome Back” gift. He’d definitely left her alone with his side of the family for far too long.

“N-not my niece?” Peter sat down across from her, absorbing her words. He didn’t even bother to pester her for a hug or greeting. “The results of the paternity test said that? Nathan isn’t your dad?”

Right before Peter went away for the summer, Angela and Heidi insisted that Nathan get a paternity test to confirm that he was Claire’s father before the girl got too attached. Grudgingly, Nathan submitted, and Peter had yet to hear the results from it.

Claire shook her head casually. “No, the test proved he’s my father.”

Peter scratched his head, trying to find another explanation. “Okay…so what; me or Nathan were adopted or something?” 

Again, a shake of the head. “Oh, nope. You’re still brothers.”

Gaping like a fish out of water, Peter rubbed absently waved his palms around his head, trying to find a way, some way, to understand what Claire was referring to.

“If you’re my brother’s daughter-,”

“Uh-uh,” Claire interrupted, holding up a finger matter-of-factly. “Illegitimate daughter,” she corrected.

Peter shushed the word away. “Yeah, whatever. But if Nathan is your father, and I’m-.”

“It’s not whatever,” Claire insisted, interjecting her opinion once again. “It’s the most important part!”

Peter was so confused by now that he didn’t even attempt to figure it out. He simply sat, staring at her with bewildered brown eyes.

“I looked up ‘illegitimate’ in the dictionary,” Claire expounded, pointing to the reference section in their family library as if to prove her point. “It means ‘something that doesn’t count,’ ‘false,’ and ‘fake.’ So, that means that if I’m illegitimate, I don’t count as Nathan’s daughter. I’m his false daughter, so that’s a lie. So the truth would be that I’m not his daughter. And if I’m not his daughter, then you’re not my uncle either.”

“………Er. Huh?” Peter blinked.

“You heard me. Illegitimate means-”

“Well, yeah, but that’s dumb. I’m still your uncle. If us getting together would be incest, then I’m still your uncle!”

Claire wrinkled her nose. “Um, ew much? What about incest? I didn’t say anything like that.”

Peter’s brow furrowed. “Then why are you so determined to prove that we’re not related?!”

Claire shrugged, not fazed at all by the topic and his deep frown. In fact…she could have some fun with this. Getting under Peter’s sensitive skin was incredibly easy, and much more entertaining than her two month old magazine.

“I dunno. Just saying. If we ever wanted to go that route we probably could, legally, if I don’t count as Nathan’s daughter in the law’s point of view. And in the eyes of God too, if you’re Catholic.”

“I am, actually,” Peter replied plainly. Then he shook himself and ran a frustrated hand through his black hair. “But that’s still sick! And just…j-just…wrong! And Catholicism doesn’t approve of incest, so what are you talking about?!” He was stammering now, brain starting to shut down at all of the crap that was coming out of Claire’s mouth.

“Well, if I’m illegitimate then I really don’t count in the eyes of the church, right?” Claire innocently stated.

Peter surprised himself by actually thinking back to his Sunday School classes. He wasn’t really sure if what Claire stated was true. It sounded vaguely like a fact, but he was still certain that “Thou shall not bang thou’s own niece” rules most definitely superseded any guidelines about children born out of wedlock.

“Who cares about perspective!” Peter exploded, still not able to believe that he was actually having this conversation. After all, it’s not even like he had feelings for her in the first place, and Claire never hinted that she did. This whole situation just popped out of the blue, almost as instantaneously as their abilities. “It’s wrong scientifically! Children born of incest have all kinds of genetic disorders and stuff!”

“Yeah, but we’re immortal,” Claire shrugged again. “It’s not like we’d have kids anyway. Would you want them grow up, get older than us, and die? No.”

Peter simply stood, quivering as ten different emotions surged through his bones, most of which were fury at Claire for taking such a sensitive subject and treating it like it was nothing. Claire, meanwhile, finally lowered her ‘zine as a dreamy expression crossed her face.

“Oh, Peter. But still…if we did have kids-,”

Peter would have stopped her right there if he had control of any of his motor skills.

“-they’d be so pretty! Your dark hair and my green eyes? That would be so cute!”

That was the last straw. As soon as thoughts swam through Peter’s head of the ebony-locked, bright-eyed, adorable babies that he and Claire could produce, he could no longer be in her company. Babbling incomprehensibly, Peter covered his eyes with a slender hand and strode away as fast as his feet would take him. Claire smirked wickedly as she watched him leave the room with those delicious mental images still burned in his mind.

She picked up her magazine and began reading again. Unfortunately for Peter, the article that Claire was currently engrossed in was titled “How to get what you want from him!”

Nope. No matter the perspective that anybody looked at this…

....Peter Petrelli was totally screwed.