Hiro struggled with it a lot now.
He and Ando were the best of friends.
They were friends, just friends and Hiro was completely happy with it that way.
Well… most of the time he was.
But then sometimes, he wanted to kiss him.
It was strange to think this about his best friend. At first Hiro had told himself that he just wanted to see how it felt. There's nothing romantic about it! It's just curiosity! But those thoughts disappeared soon after they first occurred to him. They weren't true, not at all.
After that realization, Hiro had to deal with the fact that sometimes he wanted him and Ando to be something more than they were. How long had he pretended these feelings weren't there? He figured it had to be quite some time.
As to why he felt that way… Ando was his best friend. He had always been there when Hiro needed him. He constantly picked him up when he was feeling down. He tried to be interested in whatever Hiro liked. He would never do anything to hurt him. He seemed to be the only person in his life that was permanently there.
Sometimes Hiro didn't think there could be anyone else in the world that he would rather spend his life with.
Hiro wondered if he entered a relationship with a girl and it became very serious, if it would start to drive him and Ando away from each other. Would Hiro think that girl was more important than his friend? Would he spend so much time with her that he would see Ando less and less until they were no longer friends? Would they run into each other one day and talk awkwardly for a few minutes because remember that we used to be best friends? The scenario seemed so wrong that he couldn't help but feel a little nauseous imagining it.
At some point, Hiro started to act differently around Ando. He was seeing him in a new light. He started to notice that he loved the sound of his laugh and that his irritatingly great smile was contagious. Not to mention that when their arms were brushing against each other or one of them touched the other's shoulder, Hiro's heart rate would increase. He had to put a lot of effort into stopping himself from blushing.
Because sometimes Hiro was sure that he was in love with Ando.
Instead of confessing this right away, Hiro started to avoid him. He was scared of facing those feelings and felt there was no way he could tell his friend. Ando loved girls anyway, and Hiro would surely be rejected. He hoped that if he stopped seeing him for long enough that maybe the feelings would disappear. It's better this way, he told himself constantly.
Hiro avoided him for days, but Ando was continually calling him and leaving voicemails. He wanted to know why Hiro was avoiding him. He sounded angry, upset and even a little desperate.
Sometimes Hiro realized that by pushing Ando away, he was bringing on that undesirable future where the two of them were distant. He was being dumb, and should stop. These thoughts changed from occurring sometimes to all the time.
So when Ando came banging on his door one afternoon he opened it. His friend demanded to know what he had done wrong and Hiro took a deep breath before answering.
That was the time Hiro confessed everything; all the thoughts that swam in his head sometimes. These thoughts that were now occurring most of the time rather than just on occasion. The thoughts that told him he was trying to ignore the fact he was in love.
That time, Ando was speechless for at least thirty seconds and when he finally spoke he told Hiro that avoiding him had been totally ridiculous.
Because that time Ando had told him that he loved him too and pulled him into a kiss.
