Title: Journey
Author: Chash
Fandom: Heroes
Pairing: Hiro+Ando
Rating: G
Summary: Ando used to lie to himself much more.
Spoilers: Through the season finale.


I.

Hiro's sister is very pretty. She has curly black hair and a nice smile, and Ando heard her singing karaoke once and her voice was nice, even when she was a little drunk. She's also very smart, and very capable, and Ando knows she would be a good match for him. For anybody.

But she isn't Kimiko to him. She isn't just a beautiful girl with a good head on her shoulders and a pretty decent rack for a Japanese chick. She's Hiro's sister. All of it, everything is filtered through Hiro.


II.

Ando's used to being decently attractive guy. He's not that popular with the women, but he thinks that's more attitude than anything else. He knows he's not charming or endearing--that's Hiro. And Hiro's not even really charming, he's like a giant puppy. You feel bad not loving Hiro.


III.

Hiro and Ando met in college, when they both were flunking out of a modern Japanese literature course. The professor had called them in to chastize them, and Ando had rolled his eyes at Hiro, who had snickered and made them get in even more trouble.

"The problem is," Hiro had told him afterward, "that the modern stories aren't as good as the old ones. At least not in Japan. Mishima is fine, but he doesn't have heroes like Kensei. Or Superman."

"Superman? Isn't he the American in tights?"

"He's much more than that! He's special. He saves people."

When Hiro talks about people like Kensei, he has this awe in his voice, like they're above the rest of the world, a better breed of people.

Ando's never been a better breed of anything. He's just been Japanese, like everyone else.


IV.

Hiro's an otaku. He's pudgy and his glasses aren't the cool models some people have. He talks too quickly when he's excited, and his haircuts never quite suit him. Ando knows that girls passing them don't give a second glance, and if they do, it's for him, not for Hiro. Which is stupid, because Hiro is the one who's desirable. The girls have no idea what they're missing.


V.

Ando liked Charlie okay. She was a nice girl, and she was pretty, and she made Hiro happy, which was more important than anything else. And Hiro talked about her like she hung the moon, like she was a real hero. Ando thought when she died, it was going to make Hiro hard and embittered, like in the movies. He had hated Charlie in that moment, when he thought she would change Hiro. Hiro didn't need to be changed, he was fine the way he was.


VI.

It made Ando feel like a better person that he was friends with Hiro. If someone had asked him why, before the powers and the adventure, he would have dismissed it by saying that hanging out with a loser like that made him look better. But that was never true.

To be someone Hiro cares about, Ando thinks, you must be a good person. You must be someone extraordinary. Ando isn't, and Hiro likes him anyway. And Ando thinks that someday, he could be the kind of person Hiro admires.

He's going to be.


VII.

Hiro has never been Hiro-kun, or Hiro-san, or even Nakamura. The first time they met, Hiro said to just call him by name, and Ando did. He tells that to everyone, so Ando can't feel special.

But the first time Hiro calls him Ando, he can tell it's because Hiro has changed, when he wants it to be because they've gotten closer.

He's worried Hiro is just going away. But the sword is there.


VIII.

Ando knows what to do with girls. He likes girls, likes the look of them, the feel of them. He knows that one day, he'll get married to a girl who can stand him, and they'll have children, and he'll continue the Masahashi name. It will all be very exciting.

But Ando knows there isn't a girl in the world who can matter to him as much as Hiro does.


IX.

Ando thought about just bringing up how close Batman and Superman are, or Kirk and Spock, or those three guys in Final Fantasy X. He thought that would be a way to tell Hiro so that he understood, without having to get into real feelings. Ando's never been good at confessions.

But he's the one who changes Hiro. The lack of him makes Hiro into a different person. Maybe they don't need confessions.

Maybe they're already all they need to be.


X.

Ando doesn't count the seconds this time when Hiro leaves, because he doesn't think there's any chance he won't come back. Hiro is strong, and Instead, he thinks about how Hiro looked, and how proud he was, and the way Hiro's voice finally had the admiration he'd always envied when it was for other people.

Ando doesn't need to be told he's the most important person in Hiro's life, because he can see that all on his own. He doesn't need a girl, he doesn't need Kimiko.

He has a future. He was saved. Someday soon, Hiro will teleport in, and Ando will just say "Welcome home."

He doesn't need anything else yet.