Title: Thirty First Kisses, Kiss #5
Author: tiptoe39
Rated: G
Warnings: Spoilers for 2x05, "Fight or Flight"

This is the fifth of thirty possible first kisses for Matt and Mohinder. It is set after 2x05 and will probably become AU as of 2x06.

Previous kisses: One | Two | Three | Four



Mohinder was waiting at the precinct when Matt returned. He looked anxious, like he had something to say. Matt brought him into a spare conference room and shut the door. Mohinder's first words sounded over the click of the latch.

"Did you find him?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"And... he got away."

"How the hell? How could you do that? How could you let him?"

"He... caught me by surprise. He did something to my mind. By the time I got out of it, he was gone."

Matt slumped into a chair, sighing heavily. Mohinder seemed to know enough not to press him. He paced, biting his lip.

It was Matt who broke the silence. "Hey, you know...?"

"What?"

"I didn't go alone."

"No?" Some surprise in his voice.

"No." Matt got up again with a groan - he was still sore from the tumbles and punches he took. "Did you ever meet Nathan Petrelli?"

To Matt's surprise, Mohinder flushed with anger. "You went with that guy? What the hell did he have to do with it?"

"He has skin in the game. His mother's in jail for what this killer has done."

"He was very rude to me the first time i met him," Mohinder sniffed defensively.

"Oh, and that's a cardinal sin." Matt rolled his eyes.

"Why are you defending him?"

"Why are you attacking him?"

Mohinder wasn't entirely sure. "I'm not att-- I just said he was rude to me!"

"Right. Whatever." This bored Matt. Mohinder was acting like a jealous wife.

"Hey, you know..." This time it was Mohinder's turn to speak.

"What?"

"Molly's... at the Company."

Matt flew across the room, grabbing Mohinder by the shoulders. "What!? What the hell were you thinking?"

"They're the only people who are equipped to deal with what's happening to her." Still, he looked guilty as hell for saying it.

"Yeah, except for the fact that they kept her hostage for a year after her parents were killed."

"They were protecting her," Mohinder hissed. "Sylar was still out there, remember?"

"Riiight." Matt was beside himself. Which one of them was trying to bring these people down, anyway? "In exchange for using her to find the rest of us."

"As if you're any better."

"What?" The accusation hit Matt right between the eyes and like one who'd been slapped, he stumbled.

"You claim to be her protector," hissed Mohinder. "And yet you used her just as shamelessly as the Company did."

This stung. "Only so I could find the man who's been tormenting her!"

"You knew he would find out. You're a police officer. You could have used all the resources of the police department to find your father. But no, you had to make a little girl face her worst fears for you. And you won't even face the truth about what you've done. That's really brave, detective."

That stopped Matt cold. He remembered Janice excoriating him in the depths of his subconscious. Running from the truth seemed to be his specialty. It was all he could think to do since it had started leaking directly into his brain. Things he shouldn't know, he knew. And he wasn't even brave enough to face them.

But Mohinder had no special powers. Even surrounded by those who did, he was never afraid. How could Matt ever be half the man Mohinder was if he kept acting this way? Shame singed his heart.

"Hey, you know..."

"What?" Mohinder turned at the softness of Matt's voice.

"I wish you had been there." He wasn't looking at him.

"What? Why?" Mohinder took a step forward, confused.

"Maybe you could have... explained to him..." Matt shook his head. "I don't really have a reason. I just wish you could have been there. I feel like.. I might have been stronger if you were."

"You didn't ask," The words slipped out before Mohinder knew he was saying them.

Matt's eyebrows lifted. "You were so angry at me. You told me I had to go and you had to stay."

"I did," Mohinder corrected himself. "I couldn't think about leaving Molly alone."

"Neither could I."

"Then what did you mean, you wish I could have been there?"

"I don't know." Matt paced, "I was just thinking out loud, that's all."

"How considerate of you," Mohinder snapped, "considering that around you, I can't think any other way."

It was too much, Mohinder realized as Matt's face fell. He had spent so long burning up with anger that it hadn't occurred to him until just now, but he and Matt were in this together. This was a problem they were both facing, and instead of working together, they were playing a ridiculous game of one-upsmanship, of who could be the better parent. When Molly needed them both equally. He sighed.

"Hey, you know..." This time they both spoke at once.

Mohinder was faster to reply. "What?"

Matt hesitated, then went on. "I know why Molly's so scared of my father now."

"I'd think that'd be obvious." How easily the sarcasm slipped back into the conversation!

But Matt didn't pick up on it. "No, I didn't tell you, but... I know what it must be like for her now." He paced briefly, then came to where Mohinder was standing, leaning in toward him. "He's done something awful to her. He's trapped her inside her worst fears. He did the same to us."

Mohinder's brow furrowed. "But you got out."

It was almost surprising to hear. "Yeah. I did."

"How?"

A good question. "I don't know. I thought my way out, I think. I started looking at everything really hard, and then I realized it was Nathan I was hitting, not the guard... and then..."

"Guard?"

His gaze faltered and his voice slowed, as though he were re-entering that dream world. "I was in prison. I was in prison and Janice was there, and she said--"

Mohinder grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Matt. Enough. We need to figure out how you got out."

"Right." Matt focused, thought hard. "I was able to talk to Nathan. In my mind."

This was a stunning development. "You were able to transmit a thought?"

"I think so. I kept yelling, but it didn't work. But then I yelled at him in my mind... and it was over."

Mohinder went rigid.

"What?"

"You got him out of it, too?" he asked insistently.

"Yeah."

His eyes were full of light. "We've got to get you to Molly."

"You think--"

"--you can bring her back? Yes, I do." He grabbed Matt's hand and tried to pull him toward the door.

Matt resisted. "But wait. I don't even know... Maybe I have to be inside, too... I've never tried..."

Mohinder sighed, turned, walked right up to him. "Snap out of it. We have a chance of getting our daughter back; we have to take it."

"You're right," sighed Matt. Then he twitched. "...Our daughter?" he asked incredulously.

Despite himself, Mohinder blushed. "Isn't she?"

He turned again toward the door, but again Matt stopped him. "What does that make us, then?"

In response, for the first time in the conversation, Mohinder smiled. And then, emboldened by something he couldn't explain, he faced Matt, touched his face, and kissed him tenderly. "We'll worry about that later," he said.

Matt's hand flew to his lips, his face red. "Y-yeah," he whispered. "Let's go."

They moved in silence through the office and out to the parking lot. It wasn't until they were outside, in the bitter October air, that Mohinder spoke again. "Thank you," he said. "You've given me a little hope for the first time."

"That's it," Matt said suddenly. "That's why I wished you were there." He grinned.

"What do you mean?" Mohinder unlocked the car and slipped inside.

Swinging into the car, Matt looked straight at him. "I mean, you give me hope," he said.

Mohinder smiled slightly. "Then we're even." He shifted the car into reverse and pulled out of the parking space, craning his neck to see behind him. As he shifted into drive, Matt's hand came to rest atop his. They shared a smile and drove away.