Warning: This is SLASH. If you don't know what Slash is, or if Slash is not your cup of tea, please do not read. Thanks! Also, this is AU and based loosely on Season 1.

Chapter 1

"Ding!"

The sound of door opening alerted Gabriel from his current task of fixing a watch. He looked up and saw a customer walking into his shop. It was a man in his early twenties. He had dark hair, and long bangs that covered up half of his face. With one hand he flipped back the band a little bit, revealing his face fully. He was a very attractive looking young man. He had a backpack swung across his shoulder, and Gabriel could tell he was a college student.

"Hello." Gabriel smiled while putting down the watch he had been working on. "How can I help you?"

"Hi." The young man returned his smile, "My friends told me about this place. They said you're the best in town and you can fix any watches."

"Your watch needs fixing?" Gabriel asked, eyeing the young man's wrist. As far as he could tell, the young man was wearing a cheap digital watch with plastic bands that maybe cost around 20 bucks.

" Yeah." The young man followed Gabriel's line of sight and smiled, "No, not the one that I'm wearing. This piece of junk on my wrist can go to the dustbin for all I care." He stopped in front of Gabriel and pulled out a watch from his backpack. "Here's the watch that's broken."

"Ah, I see." Lying on the desk was a piece of Vacheron Constantin watch from the Patrimony Classic Series. This particular one cost around 35,000 dollars. Gabriel had to admit he was surprised to see this coming out of the young man's back pack.

"I swear, it's not stolen!" As if sensing Gabriel's thoughts, the young man exclaimed in exasperation. "It… was a gift."

"It's in pretty bad shape." Gabriel turned the watch around a bit. It seemed like somebody had stomped on this watch or at least stepped on it a couple of times. "Maybe you should take it to the authorized dealer shop…" He suggested.

The young man's face fell. "I don't have that kind of money." He blurted out. "I can't afford to have it fix there. My friends in school said that you may be able to fix it without having to replace any parts and you're nice enough to give them a good discount. Please?"

Gabriel looked at the pleading young man in front of him. "I… I could try…"

"Thank you so much!" The young man beamed up, "By the way, my name is Peter. Peter Petrelli."

"I am Gabriel Gray." Gabriel returned the smile. "Look, I'm not sure how long it will take to fix this though… "

"That's not a problem at all." Peter waved his hand, "I'm not in a hurry." Then his face fell a bit, "Do you mean there's going to be a lot of labor hours involved?"

"Most likely…" Gabriel nodded.

"Can you… give me an estimate maybe?" Peter asked.

"Hm…" Gabriel took another look at the watch, replacing the parts would be the easiest but most costly way to fix it. Without replacing the parts, he anticipated at least 20-30 hours or so to fix this watch. He was going to say 700, but seeing the anxious looking face of Peter, he automatically lowered the amount, "500 dollars maybe?"

Peter's face crumpled. This was the best price quote he had received, but still, he just didn't have that kind of money right now. Not unless he wanted to starve for a month.

"Hey Gabriel…" Peter was reaching out with his hand towards the watch, and Gabriel knew what he was going to say.

"How about this? Do you want to work at my watch shop to pay for it?" Gabriel didn't even know how or why he decided to make this suggestion.

"Huh?"

"Hm, you know, you can stop by for like 2 hours after school or something. Just helping out in the store. If there's no customer, you can do your homework or work on your stuff. You just need to work as many hours as I needed to fix your watch."

"… Sure!" Peter answered, "Your watch shop is just 5 minutes away from the college, and I can swing by around 2p.m. everyday and stay until 4p.m.!"

"That sounds good." Gabriel smiled.

"See you tomorrow then." Peter waved his hand and smiled happily.

Gabriel let out a breath after Peter left the shop. He didn't know what prompted him to make that offer. It's not like his watch shop need an assistant or any help. It was usually so quiet that if there was 1 or 2 customer coming in a day, that would be considered a busy day. He had to admit, he liked this Peter. He would enjoy just having Peter around.

XXX

Peter soon realized he really didn't have to do much in the watch shop. Gabriel was usually working on fixing some century old watches, and the few days that he was there, he had only seen 2 customers so far. As Gabriel suggested, he was free to use this time to work on whatever school work that needed to be done. Peter could really use this time to work on his study since he had to work in the evening for 2 part time jobs to earn enough to pay his rent and school fees and food. However, instead of studying, Peter soon found himself engaging in conversation with the mild manner watch shop owner. He would never imagine they had so much to talk about. He was starting to like this Gabriel Gray a lot.

Three weeks passed. When Peter entered the shop today, he saw Gabriel looking at him with a sense of achievement.

"Here's your watch, all fixed."

Peter gave a small cry of happiness. The watch looked as good as new.

"You are the best watchmaker in the world!" When Peter saw Gabriel merely shrugged at the comment, he added, "Really. I don't know how you do it!"

"Yeah, I guess I kind of know how things work…" Gabriel said, "No big deal though. I wish I am more special."

"You are special." Peter beamed, and suddenly reached over and gave Gabriel a quick kiss on the lips.

"Peter?" Gabriel seemed shock.

"What? You don't like it?" Peter smiled mischievously. "That's me saying thanks." His face fell a little when he saw Gabriel still in shock. "Did I really misread the way you have been looking at me?"

Gabriel seemed to finally shake himself out of a trance.

"Ah, no. I just … didn't think…" Gabriel stammered.

"I enjoy being in your company," Peter said, "I'm really glad to get to know you these past few weeks. I'm thinking maybe we can hang out sometimes… like go to a movie or have dinner together sometimes… "

"Like… dates?" Gabriel blinked a few times.

"Yeah, " Peter couldn't help but smile. He knew his new friend doesn't get out a lot, but his reaction was just too cute.

"I would love that." Gabriel seemed to finally settle down and he grinned at Peter.

"How about this Friday? Or do you already have plans?"

"No, Friday sounds good."

XXX

One month later, Peter and Gabriel were officially in a relationship. Gabriel still couldn't believe his good luck that a great guy like Peter would want to be with him. Peter was not only handsome, but was also well liked and had a lot of friends. He cared about the people around him and made friends easily. Gabriel, on the other hand, was always a little socially awkward. He was not the type that opened up easily and sometimes people around him didn't want to stick around to find out what he had to say. The simply brushed him off as an insignificant nobody. Gabriel could only thank whatever gods that brought Peter to his doorstep. He hoped things would just continue this way.

Things changed eventually. The day where it all began was really no different than any other day.

Gabriel was working on fixing a watch that he had worked on for 7 years when a man walked into his store.

"Your watch is 2 seconds slow." Gabriel informed him, and proceeded to fix the watch for him while the man stared at him in awe.

"How did you know that?"

"I guess it's just my gift." Gabriel smiled. Then he looked at the man more carefully, and he could sense the man didn't come here to fix his watch. "You didn't come here for fixing the watch, did you?"

"No. My name is Dr. Chandra Surresh, and I'm here because you are special."

XXX

That night, lying in bed with Peter after having some very satisfying sex, Gabriel debated whether to tell Peter about this strange man that visited him today with wild theories on human genetics.

"Peter…"

"Hm…?" Peter answered sleepily. He nudged closer to Gabriel and started nibbling on his lover's ears. "You want another round? I don't have class tomorrow morning and I could sleep in…" Peter grinned.

"You bet!" All thought of Chandra Surresh and his theories forgotten, Gabriel launched himself at Peter.

Peter laughed as he was pinned beneath Gabriel. They were kissing and laughing away. Just as things were getting interesting, the door bell rang. Peter stopped what he was doing, and pressed his face at the crook of Gabriel's shoulder, muttering, "Go away." The buzzing continued insistently.

With a sigh, Peter jumped down from the bed and grabbed some pants from the floor. He went to the door while Gabriel waited on the bed with a hard on.

Whoever it was at the door, Peter didn't invite the person into his apartment. They were talking in hush voices and Gabriel couldn't make out any of it. Several minutes later, Peter slammed the door and came back to bed. He lied down next to Gabriel and judging from his dark expression, Gabriel could tell they would not be picking up from where they left off just a few minutes ago.

"Who was that?" Gabriel couldn't resist asking.

"Nobody." Peter was sulking, and turned his back against Gabriel.

Putting a hand gently on Peter, Gabriel rubbed the other's back and could feel the tension slowly slipping away, but Peter never turned back.

A sudden fear gripped Gabriel's heart. What if that was Peter's ex boyfriend just now, wanting to get back? Peter was the best thing that happened to his pathetic, ordinary life, and he didn't know what he would do if he lost Peter. He would do anything to keep Peter with him.

End Part 1.

TBC