Title: Don't Kill Kenny
Author: Jack Velvet
Rating: T/ PG-13 to be safe
Characters: Gabriel Gray!Sylar, Noah Jr.
Spoilers: S3 future-flash
Warnings: Gabriel swears (in his mind!)
Summary: Gabriel works his hardest when Noah is upset. (AU from the future-that-never-was)
Disclaimer: Heroes (c) Tim Kring/NBC. No infringement is intended.

Don't Kill Kenny
by Jack Velvet

Gabriel Gray found it easy to quell the Hunger on good days. These were the days when no one from his past showed up (either via time-travel across various, fractured, collapsing realities or just people he knew from his days as Sylar). They were the days when he and Noah could just hang out, play video games, build Legos, or go to the playground. He never burned waffles on a good day.

Then there were days like this.

Noah's tears tested his patience with his condition.

"What's wrong, Noah?"

"Kenny copied my picture!" the boy wept. "And then Misses Li saw his first, and she hung it up in front of the class!"

This Kenny will die. "Misses Li did? Your art teacher?" Gabriel squatted next to his son and held his tiny shoulders.

"Yeah," he sniffled.

Misses Li will die. "What was your picture of?" He caressed Noah's quivering shoulders with his thumbs.

Noah smacked his face with his hand, trying to smudge away the tears in front of his father. "It was you and me going through a portal."

Gabriel tugged at the hem of his sleeve and gingerly used it to wipe away those saline streaks. "A portal?"

"Yeah, we were gonna go through time and see Mommy."

"And what was this..." Easy. Easy. "Kenny's picture of?"

"Him and his dog going through a portal."

The stifled sobs were made that much more audible as Gabriel roped his son into an embrace. "Shh, it's okay, Noah."

"I hate him."

"No you don't. Maybe he had the same idea too."

"But his portal was green and mine was green!"

"I think a portal would be green too," Gabriel lied.

"And his portal was on the left of his paper and mine was on the left of mine!"

Little shit. "Sometimes people think the same things."

"Nuh uh, Daddy. He copied me."

Probably not on purpose. "Was Kenny and his dog going to go through a portal to see someone?"

"Yeah," Noah pouted, head heavy on Gabriel's shoulder. "His Aunt Ellen."

Noah couldn't see it, but his father's eyes narrowed in anger. It's just a coincidence. "Was Kenny sitting near you?"

"No, but he heard me tell Jamie!"

"Sometimes people forget where they get their ideas from. Maybe he forgot he heard you tell Jamie." Because if that's true, I don't have to pay a visit to Kenny's dad.

"I think he's a jerk."

"Did you tell Misses Li?"

"Misses Li said I copied him, but I handed mine in first, and he didn't even get there until later because he had to go to the nurses office to take his medicine after lunch, and I had mine done first!"

"I don't know what to say, Noah, but I know your drawing was better."

"You think so Daddy?"

"I know it. I can't wait to see it."

"I can draw it for you again."

"That sounds like fun, buddy!" Gabriel enthused, patting his son on the back and standing. "How about this? You wait at the table, and I'll go get your crayons. Daddy's a bit cold and just needs to put on a hoodie first, okay?"

"Okay."

Sylar walked to his bedroom and closed the door. He looked at a glass of water he'd left on his nightstand this morning.

This'll do. Sylar held out his hand, and the cup burst, sending water and bits of glass everywhere. He let out the angry, heavy sigh that his lungs had been holding in, and smoothed back his hair. Quickly, Gabriel found a hoodie and pulled it over his head, then retrieved Noah's crayons from the boy's room.

"Daddy accidentally spilled the water in his room," he explained to Noah, setting the crayons down on the table. Noah already found the paper. "I have to clean it up; can I come back in a few minutes, Noah?"

The boy giggled. "Daddy! You're not supposed to leave dishes in your room overnight!"

Gabriel ruffled the boy's hair. He loved it when Noah reiterated the house rules to him; he was the cutest little pretend grown-up. "Yeah, I know buddy. I'll be right back, but you get to coloring, okay?"

"Okay Daddy!"

The End.