Hiro perked up as he saw a soccer ball fly above his head, bouncing away in the green grass. Blinking, he jumped when a kid around his age ran past, turning the ball back into the field with the other kids. Sitting down on a park bench, Hiro watched curiously as the boys kicked the soccer ball around, trying to get it in the opposite goal than their own. He felt a tug of longingness to join them; soccer was his favorite sport, and he didn't have very many- - scratch that, he had no friends around his age. Probably because he was a fourteen year old nerd in college.

He continued to watch the scene before him as one of the boys shot the ball into a goal, letting out a victorious cheer and throwing his arms in the air, running around and high-fiving his teammates. The opposite team snorted in disgust, trying to come up with an excuse. "You cheated,"

The kid who scored looked at them like that was the stupidest statement in the world. "That makes no sense whatsoever. I kicked the ball in and scored; you're just jealous of my skills,"

"Am not!" The boy shouted, standing up straight.

Hiro frowned as he saw the group get into an argument. It didn't take long for the push and shove to come along, closely following after the threats becoming promises. He gulped as he saw how close they were to killing each other, and decided it would be a good time to step in.

"Hey."

The boys stopped and turned to look at him, blank expressions on their faces as they stared at him.

Hiro froze, scolding himself for not thinking ahead of time of what the heck he was going to do. "Uh… hi," He tried, smiling. When no one responded he continued. "My name's Hiro… I noticed you guys playing soccer, and… would you like another… team member?"

"Aren't you that kid who I see going to SFIT every day?" A kid asked, looking thoughtful.

"SFIT? No way, that's a college," Another snorted.

Hiro sheepishly grinned. "Uh, yeah, that would be me,"

The boys turned away from him, giving him glares and icy stares. "Get lost, nerd,"

Frowning, Hiro watched them go, feeling a pang of loneliness. What made him so different? Apparently being intelligent was a bad thing. Slowly spinning around, he trudged away, trying to ignore the jibes he got as he went.

That's okay. I got my own friends. He brightened at this; Gogo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred never pointed out his flaws. They were true friends, not like a bunch of bullish boys. They always had his back.

Then again, they were all five to six years older than him; they didn't always understand him. Also, even though it was summer, they were in college throughout the whole year, which meant they were busy all the time now; because Hiro took summer off, he couldn't hang around them during those few months as often as usual. They also didn't exactly have the same likeness as a regular fourteen year old boy usually would; him compared to them were totally different.

Am I being selfish? Hiro couldn't tell. He sometimes couldn't even understand himself. Along with the fact that he didn't have any friends his age, his mind also crossed the thought and questioned him of being a superhero. Why did he have to be the hero? At those rare dark times he hated being the one to have to jump in and keep San Fransokyo safe. But those dark times weren't so rare anymore; he thought of it more and more often as the days flew by. Why was he the superhero? Why couldn't he be a regular teenage boy who did nothing more dangerous than try impressing a girl? Why did he have to be responsible for keeping an entire city safe? Why? Why? Why?! It was overwhelming. He was afraid he couldn't take it anymore. Keeping the secret of being a superhero from his Aunt was even more stressful. Hiro knew she'd find out eventually, but he couldn't offer the risk of sharing her in on it. What if she made him not be one anymore because it might be too dangerous? Would he accept that or fight for it? He didn't know which way was better.

Hiro swore if he thought over this anymore his head would explode. Pushing away those thoughts, he looked up to realize it was close to dusk. I'd better go home before I stay out past Curfew again…Sighing, he made his way back to the café, his mind full of questions that would never be answered.

Why can't I be normal?

A/N: Sequel?