tampered | {complete}

Claire only has to put Dinosaur in her sock drawer - as Mr. Muggles has taken to chasing him around now and then when she isn't there to tell him to knock it off - and leave a note for her father before grabbing her jacket (habit) and pulling the door open. She's in the process of pulling said jacket on, opening the door with her foot and with a smile.

"Hi," she says, and she's cheerful as always, thankfully not awkward for once in their strange little relationship. "Sorry," she goes on, apologizing for however long it took her to answer the door. "I had to make sure Mr. Muggles wasn't going to eat Dinosaur before I got back. Ready?"

Regulus just smiles though, shrugging. "Making sure Dinosaur doesn't get eaten by Mr. Muggles is very important, though. I wouldn't want you to return to a missing puff."

It's good, because he's not awkward about that either - funny, how easy it is to get used to being a... somewhat normal person.

Either way, he extends a hand. "Ready."

"Or a guilty dog," she agrees, shutting and locking the door behind her. Claire slips her keys into her coat pocket and ties it closed about her waist before reaching out and taking his hand. This part, at least, is familiar enough to not be awkward. Although she still thinks that it's strange - she thinks it's strange when Hiro does it, too - she's done it enough times now not to think much of anything about it. Though she'd never admit to closing her eyes each time he pops them back and forth, just like she'd never admit to wishing that she knew how to get to his apartment without teleporting there, should something ever happen.

She's a practical girl: these things cross her mind.

"Me too."

He laughs a little, nodding - drawing her closer once her hand finds his so that he can take them both back with more ease. "Good." They're back in the flat soon enough - Noah is actually perched on the back of a chair for once instead of being in his cage, so he can flutter about if he so chooses.

Noah is a very polite, clean owl.

Letting go of her hand is kind of a reluctant thing - though he simply makes his way into the kitchen to start up the water, at least. "Noah's been a little restless, but he seems better now that he's been out of the cage for a bit."

If it were possible, Regulus would love for Claire to be able to get into the flat without having to have one of them bring her. Because if anything were to happen, he'd want her there first where no one could get at her, ever.

Sometimes Claire still finds it odd to see something like an owl hanging around like it's no big deal, but she's becoming so increasingly used to it these days that it's only a brief moment of pause and then she moves on with her life. Which involves getting tea, right now, or at least observing Regulus getting tea.

"Does that have anything with Dinosaur being gone?" she asks, coming to stand nearer, taking her jacket off and throwing it on the counter. Claire is pretty sure that owls eat things like rodents, and although she thinks Dinosaur might be a little too big for something as small as Noah, she's not putting it past him. Severus does have a death wish out for all little balls of puff, after all.

The kettle's on and he settles a bit, nodding with a sheepish smile. "A bit. Noah's small, but he's still a predator. With Dinosaur hopping about the flat after escaping his cage, I didn't really think it a good idea to let the owl loose too." Never mind that Severus would probably have encouraged it.

He's at ease, here - one leg crossed over the other as he leans back against the counter top. Why they always seem to drink their tea standing up, he'll never know.

He doesn't care much, to be honest.

Claire, thank you, plans on eventually sitting down. She's just waiting for the water to do its water thing. Actually, she already knows where the cups are now, so she occupies herself with getting them out of the cupboard and setting them on the counter. The actual tea part he can handle, but Claire is fine with the idea of water and cups and... things.

"If Noah ate Dinosaur, that'd end up being really awkward," she says, standing near the stove. "Because I'd have to kill him."

"It would be distressing, at the very least." He smiles as he watches her getting things out of the cupboard - but hides it after a moment as he pops over to get out the actual tea so he can make it up. "Then I'd be out all pets and it would be horrid."

When the kettle whistles, he moves over to the stove to get it.

"You could always borrow Mr. Muggles," she says, her back to him. Claire hears him messing with the kettle and grins. "Then again, he likes to hump things a lot so I don't know how much you'd really want him around and here I want to do that." Sometimes she can be demanding, and sometimes she can do things without thinking them through or looking - she remembers distinctly the time she stuck her hand in a garbage disposal, burning her hands on a hot tray, doing a number of countless other stupid things that would never have happened had she just thought about what she was doing and not been so careless. Now is not one of those times, and she doesn't bother looking or even turning all the way whenever she reaches out for the kettle. So when her hand comes up on the underside and she immediately feels a biting sting and a flare of heat across the expanse of her palm and the spread of her fingers, it hurts and she's she surprised enough that she actually curses loud enough for it to echo a little.

And then she realizes that she's standing there, doing nothing, staring at her palm and waiting for the damage to heal itself, before she remembers that she took the kettle from someone else. Then she panics internally and makes a dash for the sink for a flood of cold water.

He's willing enough to let her take the kettle - "All ri—" but then he sees how she takes it and where her hand hits the thing and he inhales sharply in surprise - there's burn paste somewhere but he can't think of where at the moment and she's just standing there and his chest kind of clenches, which is funny because his chest does so little lately but he can't think of it now.

Instead he drops the kettle as soon as she starts moving - not really caring where it lands or that water goes everywhere because he can fix it later, Claire is what matters now and he's lucky he didn't burn himself anyway as he moves over to her side, a tiny flick of the wand and a muttered 'accio, burn paste' - the jar of it landing safely in his hand as he leans over the sink a little.

He doesn't really know what to say so he sets the jar down for a moment, holding out his hand - "Let me see it, this will help." His voice is a little bit taut.

Claire winces when the water hits the burn. Regardless of the fact that any and all traces of what just happened are going to be gone within seconds, it still always hurts, she still always feels it. It's just a matter of being able to get over it faster than most people. There's a deep ache that settles for a moment, while the water rinses over her palm and fingers, and Claire just... continues to stand there with her hand under the tap. It's a ridiculous notion, the idea that keeping it under cold water will at all convince anyone that a burn could just settle down that quickly, and she knows that she can't keep standing there forever.

Part of her wants to snatch her hand away and just leave, because she knew that this was bound to happen but honestly, plainly, simply didn't want it to. She had her little bubble of normalcy, and as soon as she moves it's going to pop. Her hand still under the faucet, she turns to look at him, and Claire feels like the moment stretches out longer than possible. Sirius calling her a liar comes back to her, and she doesn't want to lie to Regulus in any capacity.

Flipping the tap off, she flips her hand in his direction, though, whatever it is that he has, she's not going to need it.

Loud swearing and crashes will get anyone's attention - Severus had previously been shuttered away in his bedroom, ignoring the outside world. He'd known when Regulus and Claire had arrived, but as usual, ignored them in the interests of privacy and disinterest. Now as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, he wonders for a moment if they'd even realize he was about.

He's there long enough to get the gist of what just happened, and ... finds it registers less of a shock in him than it might a week ago. Instead of speaking he simply steps into the kitchen and takes Claire's hand for inspection - firm but gentle. Finding it acceptable he flicks his bare hand at the mess of hot water and kitchen apparatus and it cleans up in an instant.

"Keep it down," he murmurs on his way out.

Regulus is about to take Claire's hand to inspect it when Severus does instead and he sort of just stares a moment because he hadn't really seen it before it had been taken out of his line of sight so he kind of just follows the elder with his eyes as he leaves - a blank sort of nod leaving him before he moves to grasp her hand by the wrist to inspect it himself—

He just pauses though, quiet - thumb brushing once over her palm, skin that should be burned - but he's glad it's not, nonetheless. "... Ah."

Claire stands ramrod straight the entire time Severus is in the room. Even when he's inspecting her hand, her eyes feel like saucers in her head and her entire body has never been more tense. It's not until the older man leaves and Regulus has her wrist that Claire remembers she still has to breathe. After realizing this, she grips the edge of the counter with her free hand and sort of... doesn't experience any vertigo whatsoever.

Her throat feels a little dry, and she kind of wants to follow Severus and try to explain, but she just stays where she is, rooted. Finally, she looks at Regulus and offers lamely, "Oops."

He still doesn't quite know what to think - he thinks he knows what happened, in theory - but it doesn't quite make sense in context with everything else; with everything he's known thus far. He does notice her gripping the counter and what can only really be called distress - he's right there, just in case, ready to steady her where she stands.

He sort of mumbles when he speaks - awkward, but more because he was worried than anything else. "I'm just glad you're all right." He hasn't let go, no - but his hold is loose enough so she can pull away if she wants to.

He really is just glad she's all right.

She does pull away, but she doesn't stop just staring at him. Claire doesn't know what she expected, but blind acceptance from both Regulus and Severus - and she thinks oh my god - wasn't exactly first and foremost on her mind. Even Caspian had asked what are you? Even Zach had freaked out the first twenty times he taped her jumping off of something or whatever their flavor of the day was.

"Please don't say anything," she finally stresses, looking at the kettle where it sits on the counter, the entire mess cleaned up, the only evidence of anything gone awry the burn salve sitting next to the sink. Claire feels like she falls back on this plea too often and part of her wishes that she could have the same faith in people that Peter or Hiro have. It's not that she wants to hide, only that she wants to be normal.

It's funny, that she'd expect something more than that from a pair of wizards, but panic can do that. He looks back at her - expression a little cautious, a little drawn - but only because he doesn't want to do something wrong.

As it is, he doesn't say anything - instead, he just takes out his wand and very carefully uses it to float the jar back to its rightful place. He also gives Claire a silent Very Meaningful Look as though to say, without really saying anything, 'I'm special too. It's okay.'

Because it really is okay, isn't it?

She knows that she's in a place that's full of people who are different, people who can do things that the rest of the known universe - or at least her universe - would find strange and likely terrifying, but sometimes she still has issues adjusting to it. Not to mention the fact that she always has Sylar lurking around in the back of her brain.

"I just want to be normal," she says, even though he hasn't even said anything at all, and even though she understands exactly what that look he's given her means. Claire knows she doesn't have to justify herself to Regulus of all people, but it's such a rehearsed speech at this point that she can't stop it from coming out anymore than she can stop herself from having her own private freak show.

It might be okay, and she thinks it will be okay once she just takes a breath, which she does, letting it quickly. "Sorry about the tea."

He's quiet now not because she asked, but because he's a good listener and he just nods when she talks - his fingers run through his hair and he notices as always that it ends too quickly; short and straight instead of falling into some curly disarray as it would have not long ago.

He doesn't know why he thinks about it now, it's not important. At the mention of tea though he sort of just laughs, breathless and quiet, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. There are always more chances for tea." It's soft, easy.

Laughter is a good indication, and she feels better and lighter for it. It's not a big deal. None of this is a big deal and although she might have to explain herself in some other capacity at some other point in time, she's actually glad now, she realizes, to have this off of her chest, in the open between them. It's one secret she doesn't have to keep, and with admitting it to someone comes the weight of knowing she's found someone else she can trust, and she's grateful for that.

"Thanks," she eventually says, giving him a smile.

He won't demand explanations because she never really demanded any of him - but knowing would be nice, the capacity of it - either way he doesn't mind and he just smiles a little back, shrugging.

"I didn't do much of anything."

"You didn't freak out for one," she says, crossing her arms and leaning back against the counter. Claire thinks of Zach and his immediate reaction to everything involving her and what she does, calling her Miss Miracle Grow. It's not that she minds things like that anymore - not as much as she used to anyway, especially from Zach - but Regulus' reaction is just a new one.

This just makes him grin a little. "The only thing I saw to freak out over was when you grabbed the kettle from the wrong side." He pauses a moment, thinking. "I will say, though..."

"You're not allowed to make tea anymore."

Claire tries to look offended, but she's still almost too relieved for that, so it just comes out as some odd mix between offense and laughter and her still feeling like a moron somehow. "Hey! It could've been a lot worse," she replies, matter-of-fact. And it's true: it really could have.

He laughs a little himself; moving to actually put the kettle back where it belongs. He's a little quiet when he speaks, thoughtful. "I will readily admit that I would rather it not have to be a lot worse."

They've both seen too many people hurt and - healing or not - it's still better to not have to get hurt to begin with. He shifts a little, once the kettle's away, to lean against the counter next to her.

sob the summary

i'm a terrible person i apologize

good, you should.

it's not like i lied though.

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