The familiar, cheerful-sounding whistle that meant he'd just received a text broke through Hiro's haze of sleep as his phone lit up on his bedside table. Not this again, he thought as he fumbled around for his glasses, not wanting to turn the lamp on for fear of waking the person sleeping beside him.

Once he had his glasses on, he propped himself up with a pillow and punched in the passcode for his phone: 1-1-4-4-1-5. Ando had been delighted that Hiro had selected a stronger password than the ones he usually used… until he'd realized that the numbers were 1, 14, 4, 15—which corresponded to the letters in his name. "Hiro, you can't just have my name as all your passwords," Ando had sighed. "You're going to get hacked one of these days, you know!" Hiro had simply shrugged; he was terrible with coming up with passwords, and Ando was always on his mind, so why not?

Having friends (some closer to acquaintances or friends of friends, but they'd built up stronger connections over the past few years) on the other side of the globe meant a lot of calls and texts in the middle of the night. Hiro was more than accustomed by now to being jolted awake at 2:00 am by his phone buzzing. Usually it was something like Matt asking if they could babysit for him and Janet while they were out someplace, or Peter asking if Hiro had ever tried a waffle pop (he hadn't until then, which was now one of his biggest regrets. Waffle pops were amazing). Once, Claire had called asking for help writing a paper on Japan.

Occasionally it was something more serious, like a warning that the world was in danger again accompanied by an explanation of how they could help. These calls could come at any time of day or night, and they were the ones Hiro dreaded the most. He loved being a hero, but he hated the danger that came with it. Naturally, Hiro was always willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, but he was far less comfortable putting Ando in danger along with him. Leaving Ando behind was out of the question—Hiro had done it in the past, and he still felt a pang of guilt every time he thought of Ando waiting alone for him day after day while Hiro was in the past. One way or another, Hiro couldn't stand to make his boyfriend suffer.

On the other hand, saving the world had been how Hiro and Ando had realized their feelings for each other—as a matter of fact, Ando had nearly married the wrong Nakamura sibling. It was much like the relationship of Marty's parents in Back to the Future; if it wasn't for Samuel Sullivan, they never would have fallen in love.

Ever since that day at the carnival, Hiro had regretted never having held Ando's hand before. It had felt warm and steady yet gentle, and the red sparks of his then-only-a-friend's super-charging ability weren't the only sparks Hiro had felt between them. They didn't speak of it for a long time, but Hiro knew Ando had felt it too. Not long after, Ando had broken off his engagement to Kimiko, who later admitted to being glad they hadn't stayed together. Kimiko had a girlfriend now, and although it had at first been a little odd realizing he was in love with the man who'd been his best friend since childhood, Hiro couldn't have been happier with anyone but Ando.

Hiro reflected on this now as he read the text he'd just received from Noah Bennet—a photo of Hiro as a young boy, standing next to his father. "Found this picture on my old computer and had to transfer it to my phone to show you," the text bubble beneath the picture read. Hiro smiled and texted back, "thank you! I'll have to show this to Ando when he gets up :)". Then he turned his phone off and tried to fall back asleep.

Next to him, Ando was still asleep, unwoken by the buzz of Hiro's phone. Hiro watched the slow but steady rise and fall of his sleeping boyfriend's chest, imagining how Ando would react to the photo. Hiro had never seen that picture of himself and Kaito before, and he didn't remember when it had been taken, so it was like finding a little piece of his childhood that he hadn't known was there. It gave Hiro a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest that counteracted the dry chill of winter which still hung heavy in the outside world.

In the morning, the first thing Hiro did was show the photo to Ando. "Super cute," Ando said in response to being shown the picture; he gave Hiro a nod of approval which meant it was time to put the phone away and stop waving it in his face.

Hiro was more satisfied than most might have been to have won a compliment from Ando, who showered him with compliments from day to day even if all Hiro did was exist. Hiro had an equally infinite supply of praise and adoration for his boyfriend of several years (he couldn't remember exactly how many, but he knew it was climbing higher every day). Obviously at this point they both already knew the other loved them, but every single affirmation of the fact was still positively enthralling. It served as a reminder that, yes, they were dating and in love! Maybe it was childish and silly (things that Hiro had been accused of being many times, and couldn't deny the accuracy of) to get so excited whenever the man he shared an apartment and a bed with and kissed on a day-to-day basis still loved him, but it never failed to brighten Hiro's day.

Although he had never met Kimiko's girlfriend in person, he hoped that she was making his sister as happy as Ando made him. Hopefully Hiro would get to meet this woman someday, but until then, he could only imagine that she was nice. He'd hoped they could meet up over the holidays, but it had fallen through.

Oh, well, Hiro thought as he held hands with Ando on the bus ride to work. Maybe someday…