One More Time

Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes. This is written strictly for entertainment. No copyright infringement intended, nor is any profit made.

Paring: 5YGFuture!Hiro/Ando, Hiro/Ando

Genre: Romance/Angst

Rating: T

Summary: 5YG!Verse. Hiro never got a chance to tell Ando how he felt. Now, five years after Ando's death, Ando is standing in front of him. Hiro isn't going to let it pass him by. Future!Hiro/Ando. Slash

Author's Note: I was rewatching Season 1 and simply couldn't help it. Set right after F!Hiro is tased and Peter saves Hiro and Ando.

Hiro Nakamura's chest ached. It wasn't the small burns the taser had left that pained him, though. It was his heart, his lungs, his throat, and his soul that screamed in agony. One of them clenched, then two of them strangled, and the third curled into a fetal position in a dark corner and sobbed itself into a restless slumber.

Hiro, five years older than he was when it all went to hell, felt broken. Yet, for the first time in forever, he felt whole again. Shattered and glued back together, aware of the lines shouting his tale but on enough pain pills to ignore it all. The cracks were just another form of scars.

Hiro stared at his friend. Ando looked at him with the same eyes he always had. He hadn't looked into them in a long time. Ando's face contorted to let Hiro know he was upset. He dropped his eyes, playing with the blade glinting back at him. He refused to meet Hiro's eyes for a few moments.

"It wasn't nearly as much fun without you." Hiro told him quietly.

The small smile, which held the reason for every action Hiro had every committed, appeared on Ando's face. It was just a tiny hint, a teasing reminder, before slipping away. Hiro swallowed hard, feeling lost. The dark room, the warmth leaking away because the blanket was heaped to the side and the smell of sweat and booze made him feel detached.

The cool air wrapped around them. The lights were dim in quiet dreaming. They didn't encourage romance, but peace. They lied, pretending that everything outside was perfect. Hiro would have preferred the harsh overhead lights that forced reality down his throat.

His best friend sat across from him, but he couldn't do anything about it. Every promise he had made was pushed to the fore front of his mind. His tongue lulled uselessly, unable to bend and twist to create the words needed to be said.

The part of him that had always belonged to Ando had died with him, but suddenly there it was, right back where it was meant to be. All of his hopes, his dreams, his optimism, and his love were bundled neatly in front of him. They highlighted every difference, every sharp point that had been made. They tried to fit back in, but it was an odd match, drive and determination having taken their place. Those things didn't have a place in him anymore.

He didn't want the seeds that were being planted, didn't want what he had lost to take root again. In the end it would just be ripped out again and laid at his feet, a horrible trophy of what had been killed. He didn't need that. Wasn't the grief he felt, the only emotion that rivaled his love for Ando and his need to save him, enough of a dagger to cut out the person he had been? Couldn't he just be left alone to wallow in self-loathing?

It wasn't the way things worked, and he knew it. He had to get the words out so that he would be free. His old self would never have been able to tell Ando. Future Hiro had lived without the chance to do so too long to pass it by when it finally presented itself.

"Ando," Hiro said, drawing his friend's attention.

Ando looked up at him. Their eyes didn't clash, didn't lock, they looked at each other. Ando had been the grounded one. Hiro had always had his head in the clouds. Ando hadn't held him down, but had provided the support he needed to reach the sky. He had missed his friend so fucking much.

"I love you." Hiro said.

The words had always been true. The feeling had existed forever, through time, space, and death. Hiro had felt the same no matter when or where he had been at the moment. He just wished it hadn't taken him so long to figure things out. He wished he hadn't been so late, to nearly miss his chance all together.

"Hiro," Ando started, smiling slightly. Hiro could see it in his face, in the tilt of his words that he didn't get it. Maybe didn't want to but Hiro needed him to.

Stepping forward, Hiro stepped in front of his chair. His leaned down at the same time his hands came up to cup Ando's face. Ando's eyes widened at the same time Hiro sealed their mouths together. The sword clattered to the ground, where it lay forgotten and unimportant.

Hiro's lips were chapped against Ando's moist ones. The kiss wasn't gentle, wasn't even sweet. Hiro wasn't that person anymore, as much as he sometimes wanted to be. The kiss was abrupt and warm, brining about a startled jump from Hiro's counterpart.

Then Hiro's hands weren't cupping his face, but his head, hands in digging into his hair and pulling his face close. Hiro tilted his face, deeping the kiss, wanting so much more but afraid to go on. He pulled away, placing another kiss on the stunned lips and stepping away.

Ando looked at him, eyes huge on his face. He lifted his hand from his lap only a few inches before letting it fall back down.

"Hiro…" He trailed away, clearing his voice as it cracked.

Hiro ducked, picking up the fallen blade before turning away. He didn't glance back as he gripped the sword in order to steady his shaking hands.

"I'm sorry. For everything. For letting you die, for letting the world become what it is today. But I'm going to change all that. When I do, I won't exist anymore, not the way I am now. It's selfish, but I needed you to know, before I go, that I never stopped missing you."

Behind him, Hiro heard Ando shift. He knew that he was about to get up, lay his hands on his shoulders, and break him all over again. Instead, Peter stormed into the room, shattering all the possibilities. They ended up scattered like glass on the floor. The three of them went to change the measly clump of dirt that was all that was left of their world.

It wasn't pain that drove Hiro to his knees in front of his friend and his younger self. It was the overwhelming numbness that burst from his back into his chest and rapidly spread through his body. His blood seeped into his clothes, darking the fabric and tainting it red. He hit the ground hard, body yielding to the pressure. He rolled to his back, no longer feeling anything at all. His senses were fading.

He couldn't even smell the metallic tang filling the room. He choked as blood started to fill up his lungs.

Ando was suddenly beside him, kneeling next to him. His hands were held up and away from him, unsure what to do and scared of making things worse. Hiro's mind was growing dim and fuzzy. A thought buzzed pass and Hiro clung to it. His deadened hands fumbled for the thing in his pocket. He found it and with the last of his strength pushed it into Ando's trembling hands.

Dying wasn't half as hard as loosing Ando had been. It came easy, slipping behind him, around him, and then creeping into his body. The world disappeared and only Ando remained. Then he too was only an afterimage, lingering behind unseeing eyes.

New York. Beautiful, ugly, hateful, loving, dying, surviving, failing, thriving New York City was all around them. The city was still breathing. It wasn't the desolate wasteland the future had shown, but the oblivious city of the past. They were home in their own time.

They had made it back.

Ando watched as Hiro-his Hiro, the one he had known for years-ran to the edge of the building and climbed atop the brick wall. The dark Hiro of the future was dead. Ando felt his stomach twist, heart collapse, and his throat tightened. Then his friend lifted his arms and shouted his promise to the unsuspecting city.

Ando, once again, felt his collapse. Hiro was okay, and he would do everything it took to save him. Ando wouldn't let Hiro turn into someone else. Neither of them would forget. No matter what, the future wouldn't be the same. One way or another, they would stop it from happening.

Ando knew one part that he could change at that moment.

"Hiro," Ando called.

Hiro turned, smiling happily. He hoped down from the wall awkwardly, tripping over his shoes for a second before walking to him. He shined with hope, something that was lacking in the older one. Ando smiled back, before leaning in and kissing him. He walked away, listening to his friend's surprise sputters.

It would take Hiro a little bit, but he would figure it out. When he did, they would share their first mutual kiss. It would change the future, at least a little bit, and later they would change everything. They would save the world. And neither of them would forget that they loved each other.