Room 328, Early Afternoon

[likethegun]

Sam was taking the time while Dawn was handwavily out of the room to finish wrapping all of his Christmas presents. He'd been a little too occupied during the week to do it, and he wanted to make sure all of her presents were a surprise. If wrapping kept him from thinking too hard about the radio broadcast from the night before, well, that was just a bonus.

[For the BFF.]

Comments

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

It might not be the library, but darn it tradition had to be maintained. Besides, Peter wanted to say goodbye to Sam before he went home for the holidays. So at what would've been fourth period if classes were still in session, Peter came knocking at Sam's door with coffee and donuts.

[likethegun]

Sam was up to his wrists in wrapping paper and tape, so he just glanced towards the door and called, "It's open!"

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter opened the door and peered in. He looked curiously at the wrapping paper. "Ooo - which one's mine?"

[likethegun]

"None of these. Yours is already wrapped," Sam said, smiling softly. "Come on in."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter did so, holding up the coffee he'd brought for Sam. "Figured we could do one for the road since I'm leaving tonight."

[likethegun]

Sam's smile got wider as he took the coffee. "You'd better keep coming to visit me next semester. I've gotten used to having company."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Depends on how good my present is," Peter teased.

[likethegun]

Sam set his coffee aside for a moment, and went into his closet, pulling Peter's presents out from the top before offering them to him. "Merry Christmas."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter's face lit up when he saw what they were. "These are great, Sam. Thank you."

[likethegun]

"You're welcome," Sam replied. "I figured the journal might come in handy for keeping track of stuff about your abilities, especially if you start practicing more with them."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Not a bad idea," Peter said. "Maybe it'll help me figure out why I can copy some but not others."

[likethegun]

"That would be very useful information," Sam agreed. "And it might help you understand some of the limits of what you can do."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"So far it seems that anything someone else can do, I can do," Peter said. "Though I'll admit some I could do without copying."

[likethegun]

"I think there are some I could do without you copying either," Sam said, giving Peter a serious look.

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I think I'm starting to get a hold on fire," Peter said, as though to reassure Sam.

[likethegun]

"That's good, really," Sam said. "But I'm a little more worried about what I heard on the radio last night."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"What'd it say?" Peter asked. "I ended up going to bed early."

[likethegun]

"That you helped with the resouling somehow, for Angel."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah," Peter said. He looked proud of himself. "Turns out I could do the spell."

[likethegun]

"You did the spell?" Sam asked. He'd mentally prepared himself for that possible answer, and yet he wasn't any less freaked out. "But...how?"

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Turns out I can copy that kind of power," Peter said. He grimaced. "I could do without it though. Gotta admit I didn't like how it felt."

[likethegun]

"You think that's maybe 'cause you know nothing about magic or doing spells?" Sam asked, a little sharply. "Why didn't you call me?"

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Because Xander said it wasn't the kind of spell you could do," Peter replied, taken aback by the tone. "It needs power and I happened to have it."

[likethegun]

"And you guys thought that just having the power would be enough?"

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I thought it would be worth trying," Peter said. "If there was anything dangerous to Willow's power I'd already copied it. Why not try to use it for some good then?"

[likethegun]

"Because you don't know anything about magic!" Sam said. "Do you have any idea what could have happened if you'd screwed the spell up, even a little? You could have gotten yourself killed! Or you could have hurt someone else, or you could have destroyed Angel's soul, and God only knows what would happen then."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I went to the beach," Peter said, defensively. Because worrying about hurting others with his power was always high on his mind. "And none of that other stuff happened! He got souled, nobody died, and all I got was a nosebleed!"

[likethegun]

"For the record, magic doesn't usually involve making yourself bleed," Sam said. "You were messing with something way beyond what you should have been, and the fact that nothing bad happened doesn't change the fact that something could have happened. All that means is you got seriously lucky."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"The hell do you want from me?" Peter asked. "I'm supposed to sit back and do nothing when I could be doing something to help? Are you kidding?"

[likethegun]

"What I want is to know how you can spend so much time worrying about hurting people, and not even have considered the possibility that using Willow's power might have been reckless and stupid," Sam said.

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I did!" Peter snapped. "I figured the benefits outweighed the risks. Isn't that what helping people is about?"

[likethegun]

"Yes - when you know what the risks are, which you didn't," Sam snapped back. "Doing magic isn't like invisibility, Peter. You can't just try it out without there being consequences."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Thanks for pointing that out," Peter said. "What with me being stupid and all. It would never occur to me that my power could sometimes be dangerous if you hadn't told me just now."

[likethegun]

"I didn't say you were stupid, I said what you did was stupid. There's a difference."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I am so not seeing one."

[likethegun]

"The difference is that you don't have enough experience with this sort of stuff to know what the risks are. If you'd known, and gone through with it anyway, that would make you stupid. But you just completely underestimated what could have gone wrong, and you didn't bother asking for help."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I had the only non-coma expert in the spell standing right next to me," Peter said. Because he hadn't bothered to ask Xander if anyone else on the island might have advice on the subject. "Excuse me for thinking that might be more useful than grabbing someone who'd never seen it before!"

[likethegun]

"Oh, right, because it's not like I could have given you additional, general help or anything," Sam said. "Of course you were fine using Willow's powers, because we both know how much perfect control you have over everything you can do."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter felt Sam's words like a punch to the gut. "Fuck you, Sam. Seriously."

[likethegun]

Sam was aware that he'd crossed a line with that last bit, but he was too pissed off to have any desire to apologize. "You shouldn't have done that spell," he said sharply. "You put yourself and everyone else at risk to do it, whether you want to admit that or not."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"The danger was there if I did the spell or not!" Peter snapped, not wanting to admit how much Sam's words were echoing Peter's fears. "I'd been exposed to her before! Hell, I guess I'm dangerous right now. Better not come too near me. You could be risking death!"

[likethegun]

"Only if you're going to do another spell without bothering to research what the hell you're doing," Sam said.

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"No no no no," Peter said, angrily flicking his hair out of his eyes. "I don't have control over anything, remember? That is what you said. Magic, healing, TK - hell, any second now I could set this whole room on fire!"

Not that Peter was having angry thoughts about making his new presents burst into flames or anything.

[likethegun]

Sam sighed, starting to feel like his stomach was in knots. "Peter, that's not what I meant."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I guess I wouldn't know that, since I can't control my mind reading either," Peter replied. It was a retort that lost a tiny bit of its power given that, well, Peter couldn't control his mind reading. But Peter was never one to worry about such details. "Boy, it's a real shame I'm so useless with all of my abilities. Oh, wait - there's one that works just fine."

And with that Peter vanished - literally - and left the room.

[likethegun]

"Peter," Sam snapped, growing even angrier when he stepped into the space where Peter had been and realized he wasn't there anymore.

"Fine! Just go then, and fuck you too!" he yelled, before slamming the door shut and storming back over to his bed, sitting down and burying his head in his hands. It was some Christmas this was already turning out to be.