Title: To Err Is Bear
Author: Jack Velvet
Characters: Peter, Nathan, Arthur (Young!Petrelli)
Spoilers: None, pre-series.
Rating: K+ / PG
Warning: One dark description of a Lego building.
Summary: Nathan helps Peter make a cake for Angela's birthday. Arthur is distant.
Disclaimer: Heroes (c) Tim Kring/NBC. Lego is a brand of building blocks I love, but I am not in any way, affiliated with Lego nor commissioned by Lego to do product placement.

Because sakura_no_mi made me want to write Young!Petrelli. :)

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To Err Is Bear
by Jack Velvet

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A car with four tiny wheels, a red hood, three steering wheels, and one door raced across the rug, dodging bits of plastic masonry. Behind one of the wheels was a miniature brown bear.

"Who's driving the car?"

"Bear's driving."

"How can that be?"

"He can fit. He's just a baby bear."

"Is it safe for a baby bear to drive a car?"

"No, but he was mad at his daddy so he took his car out to teach him a lesson."

One of Nathan's electives in school this year was psychology. Peter's statement put him on edge.

"Well, maybe baby bear can take the car to the car wash, and show his dad that he forgives him."

Peter's young, innocent eyes blinked at him. "Why does he want to do that?"

"Because," Nathan explained, changing the house he was building into a haphazard car-wash, "Daddy Bear didn't mean it, and Baby Bear is really smart and kind, and understands that sometimes bears make mistakes." His converted car-wash was starting to look more like the scene of a clown massacre.

"His name isn't Baby Bear," Peter said, moving the small Lego car with the tiny bear figurine about the carpet.

"What's his name?"

"Ummm, I don't know yet."

"Give him your favorite name." Nathan looked at his brother's car and then back at his monstrosity of a car-wash. The car would fit.

"Nathan is his big brother's name," Peter replied. "Zoom!" The boy mimicked the sound of screeching brakes as he muscled in on his brother's space, parking Baby Bear's ride right next to the rainbow structure. "Car wash, please!"

Nathan grabbed a nearby figurine, and made it dance in front of the bear's car. "Sure thing, sir. Pull her up!"

Peter shoved his car in too quickly, nicking Nathan's knuckle with one of the pointed edges of his car. "Get it squeaky clean please! Here's one hundred dollars."

"Gentle, Pete," Nathan reminded him.

"Sorry Nathan."

"This car wash is free today, sir."

"Thank you!" The car pulled out of the sudsy, wet garage, and the bear hopped out to shake hands with the attendant. "My name is John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, what's yours?"

"Umm..." Nathan tried not to laugh as he thought of a name. "Bruce Wayne."

Peter giggled. "Nathan, that's Batman!"

Nathan raised his brow to verify the truth of his statement. "Yeah, and he has to have a job too. He...watches for any bad guys who need their car washed."

"Okay, Batman! Your secret is safe with me! Pinky promise! Let's be friends!"

"Nathan!"

"Cake's done, Pete. Batman and John can become friends after dinner, okay?"

Peter set down the bear. "Okay!"

Arthur gave Nathan a glare as Peter bounded after him down the stairs. "Now you're teaching him how to bake?" his father asked.

"Show me a famous female chef, Dad."

"I can buy your mother a cake." Arthur grabbed his suitcase. "Besides, being a baker and a chef are two different things."

"I'll tell Ma that tonight as her birthday present."

"Watch your mouth, kid. Smart-ass comments like that won't get you through the military."

"It'll get me through law school."

"You haven't graduated yet. I'll see you later; I have a meeting with a client." Arthur patted Nathan on the back and left.

"Nathan!" Peter called from the kitchen. "Come on! It's burning!"

The older Petrelli headed to the kitchen and found the oven mitts. "First things first, Pete, is we always use these when we deal with the oven, okay?"

"Because you don't get burned, right?"

Nathan opened the oven door. "Right." Gently, he gripped the sides of the cake pan and pulled out the cake, setting it on an empty burner above. He closed the oven, and said, "I put that on the burner because it's not on. It's not gonna melt either."

"You think Mommy's place mats would melt?"

"Well, Ma's wouldn't. They're fabric. But when you grow up, you might have plastic ones. Whatever you set hot food on needs to be able to take the heat."

"Oh, I see." Peter looked between the refrigerator and the counter. "I can't find my step-stool."

Nathan couldn't get over how ridiculously cute his little brother was. He pulled off the mitts and lifted Peter up to the sink. "Okay, wash real good, okay?"

"I saw Dad chop some green lemons the other night without washing his hands." Peter turned on the water to the warm setting. "I remembered what you told me about germs, and he yelled at me."

"You told him to wash his hands?"

"Yeah, because I didn't want him to get his friends sick. He gave one to Mr. Lender Man."

Nathan laughed. Lender Man. Yeah, sounds about right. "Well, maybe Dad was in a bad mood. You know how he gets when his friends are over."

"I only like when Missy makes my food. Oh, and you too." Peter pulled his hands from the water. "All done."

Nathan set him down and shut the water off for him. "You could be a really good doctor, Pete."

"I know," Peter smiled, drying his hands. "But I wanna be a superhero."

"A lot of doctors are superheroes." Nathan retrieved a cooling rack, put the mitts back on, and tipped the cake pan over the rack. Taking off the mitts again, he washed his hands; Peter noticed.

"Is that because inside the mitts have germs?"

"Yes, and we don't want Ma to get sick, do we?"

"Dad said I was obbessive."

"Obsessive?" Nathan corrected.

"Yeah. What does that mean?"

"Well, there are people who are obsessive who wash their hands a lot, sometimes for what seems like no reason."

"Can doctors help them?"

Nathan smiled, gathering items to decorate with. "Yeah, Pete."

"Am I obbess...obsessive?"

"No, Pete. It's very important to keep clean when helping other people. That's what doctors and nurses do."

"And chefs?"

"Yeah, chefs too."

So Nathan helped Peter frost their mother's cake, using two cans of vanilla frosting. Peter poked fun of his big brother for forgetting that frosting melts too, but the cake wasn't overly trashed.

At least it wasn't until Peter got creative.

"I want a banana."

Nathan tilted his head, curious. "Okay." He retrieved a piece of the fruit from the banana hook, and set it down before going into the drawer for a knife to slice it up.

But Peter already had it peeled and set in the middle of the rectangular cake. "It's a rainbow," Peter explained.

"Ah, really good, Pete." The cake is smiling at me...

"Can I have some candy?"

"Sure." Nathan stood on his toes as he looked through the cupboards, anticipating the awful, yet adorable result. He found a mixture of candy-coated chocolates. "Here, Pete," he offered, opening it up carefully.

Peter grabbed a handful and sprinkled them over the banana, hoping they would stick. After all, the fruit always stuck to his hands, so why wouldn't the candy? Much to his dismay, his theory was not correct; the candy rolled off the sides of the banana and sat in the copious amounts of frosting said fruit had displaced with its weight. "Uh oh. The rainbow exploded."

Nathan burst out in laughter then. "You're so funny, Pete."

"Do you think Mommy will like it?"

"Ma loves rainbows."

"Okay! Let's put the candles in."

His older brother handed him the box of wax sticks. "What side do you want to take?"

"Ummm...." Peter pointed to the one closest to himself. "This one." He opened the box of candles, and started counting them out. "How old is Mommy? Twenty-two?"

Nathan's eyes went wide; stifling laughter was not an easy task with his little brother. It was one of the many reasons he loved hanging out with him. "Yeah, I think so," Nathan answered, knowing his mother would be flattered. "You want to put twenty-two candles on there?"

"Yup!"

"Ma is gonna love this cake," Nathan smiled, rubbing Peter's shoulder.

When Peter put the last candle in, he hugged his brother. "Daddy's not home yet, wanna go play Legos again?"

"Sure Pete," Nathan said, kissing the top of the youngster's head. "Let's go."

The End.