Hardly Cheating for akire_yta

Title: Hardly Cheating
Recipient: akire_yta
Rating: G
Pairing/Characters: Hiro + Ando


"I get the feeling we're being watched, lately. We should be careful."

"You actually sounded wise for a moment there. How rare!" Hiro patted Ando on the back in congratulations, but Ando shrugged it off.

"I'm serious, Hiro." The car doors slammed one after the other, and they grappled for their seatbelts.
"People's heads are being cut open." Ando immediately regretted that, and glanced at the other man apologetically- Charlie's death was still a heavy weight on both of their minds. But, to his surprise, Hiro only seemed more focused than before.

"I know, I feel it too. Let's go eat lunch."


It's a big burden, knowing what you're going to become. I tell myself, "One little choice I make could change that future me. Choose everything with care." But is that really the case? Is the fact that the future me exists proof that I will become it? Could there be an irrevocable destiny, like a tidal wave, and I'm just the driftwood it's carrying along? I couldn't save Charlie because it was destiny for her to die. The people I have saved were rescued because destiny ordained it.

It feels a bit like cheating. Up up, down down, left right left right, B A. Games are always less fun when you use a walkthrough. What's the point in trying to win, when you know how everything is going to turn out?



"Your waffles are getting cold. I went through a lot of trouble convincing that waitress to make you those at this time of day, you know."

"You aren't eating yours, either," Hiro accused, pointing the fork at his friend's plate. Ando let out a sigh of defeat. Closing his eyes in an effort to compose himself, he clasped his hands together and leaned them on the table.

"Are you okay? You seem out of it," he remarked. Hiro hesitated for a moment.

"I'm just…losing sight of my goal. What is the point of me being here if I couldn't save the cheerleader?"

"Maybe you were never supposed to be the one to save her. Peter Petrelli was who Future-You told it to."

"Maybe. Um, Excuse me, miss? Can you get a bag for our food, prease?"


The roar of the city met their ears as soon as the diner door closed behind them.

"It's no use getting all depressed. If you really think we failed, we should just go back to Japan and-"

"No way."

"Well, why not? If New York is really going to explode, the sensible choice would be to not be in it when it happens!" Ando flung his arms upward in frustration.

The "walk" sign lit up, and, almost subconsciously, they stepped off the curb with the crowd around them.

"We have to stay here, Ando. We have to tell everybody else what's going to happen."

"And how do you plan on doing that? There's more than a just a couple of people in New York. Do you remember how long it took you to convince me this was all real? How are you going to convince all of them?"

"We can think of a way. We just need to- oof!" A person who had been crossing in the opposite direction rammed into Hiro's side, which caused him to lose his balance. Ando put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"Oi!" Ando shouted in the direction the stranger had gone. "Watch where you're going! Especially with something dangerous like a sword on your back."

They turned around and continued walking on their way until, seconds later, the significance of Ando's objection caught up to them. Wide-eyed, they grabbed each other's shoulders, mouthed "SWORD?", and dashed back.

The second they reached the crosswalk, the sign switched back to red. Hiro pressed the button repeatedly and without pause.

"Dammit, Hiro! You bend time and space! Missing the light should be the least of your worries! Just do your thing, I'll catch up later!" Hiro nodded, focused his energy, and everything went still. He raced across the street and down the sidewalk, chasing after the only thing still moving.


The entire world is frozen, except for me and that other person. Me and that other me, and however many other versions of me are currently running around, somewhere, in this time space. It's so strange to recognize you own back, fleeing from you. Maybe there's another Hiro behind me, thinking the same thing about mine. I want to grab this Hiro from the future and ask him, "Did I do it right? What mistakes did I make?" I want to ask him, "Why are you here, what were you doing?" Instead of any of that, I yell, "Stop!" He keeps running, and I'm getting tired. "Wait for me! How can you leave yourself behind like this?!" When he finally comes to a halt, all I can do is pant.


When Ando caught up to Hiro, the shorter man grinned and clapped his hands together.

"Finally! Guess what he- I mean, I- gave me!" He pressed a small piece of paper into Ando's open hand.

"…It's an address." The world had caught up again, and, presently, there was a slight drizzle. A couple drops fell on the paper and Ando's skin.

"Not just any address." Hiro was absolutely beaming. "I said that I would find the sword there." He handed back the paper. Hiro frowned at the water spots, then tucked it back into his jacket with care.

"Just a little bit ago you were feeling pretty down, and now this? You sure are carefree for a hero."

"Well, he told me not to worry about it. I told me, I mean. I said that destiny is everywhere and the less you worry about it, the more you enjoy it. Less like driftwood in a tidal wave, more like a log in a flume ride."

"Whatever you just said made my head hurt. Let's go get this sword of yours, but I'm not carrying these anymore," Ando said, shoving the plastic bags containing what remained of their lunch into Hiro's hand. "I've had them this whole time, and now my arm aches."


"Really," Hiro mused to himself as he watched the two argue over who would carry the bags, "It's hardly cheating when the game was made with cheating in mind."