A/N: hey here's another Heroes thing. Is anybody really surprised? Anyway, to spice things up for this fic, I'm going to preface every chapter with a relevant Griffin McElroy quote (if you don't know who that is, feel free to look him up). Ok, let's get started!

"Play with me in this space!"

-Griffin McElroy

Experimenting with powers, from what Hiro understood, was rarely a good thing. When the Company had done it, it was bad, but that was mainly because they didn't give people a choice. On the other hand, Claire experimented with her power all the time. Still, even then her dad didn't approve (ironic considering his background with the Company). However, she was pretty confident in it being fine to test her limits.

"Honestly, it's like everybody in my life wants to protect me-like they still see me as a little girl," she was complaining as she sat on her bed amidst a pile of stuffed animals. One of said stuffies was a teddy bear wearing a bright red ribbon around its neck, which Claire was currently in the process of untying. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it and all, but I just wish Mom and Dad and Peter could see that I'm practically an adult now. I can take care of myself."

"Mm-hmm?" Hiro looked up from his position on the floor, where he was examining one of Claire's plushies. "Maybe you should try talking to them."

"Right, like I haven't tried that," she sighed. "Peter says he understands, but he also swooped in to catch me when I tried jumping off a building yesterday, so I don't really think he gets it."

"People who care about you don't like to see you get hurt, even if it's temporary," he said. "I know I wouldn't want to see Ando hurt himself like you do."

"Yeah, well, Ando doesn't have healing powers." Having untied the ribbon from her teddy bear's neck, she lifted up her hair and tied it around her own neck. "Honestly, I don't think they'd mind if they didn't see me as a kid."

As somebody who was often seen as childish despite being a grown man, Hiro understood Claire's plight. "I know you wish people would take you seriously, but being treated like a kid has its upsides," he said. "Adults can be pretty boring."

He shot her a playful grin, which she returned even as she prepared to tighten the ribbon around her neck. "Thanks, Hiro," she said. "You're a great friend."

Hiro was glad to be of help. He winced despite himself as she choked herself with the ribbon, the fibres of her throat scrambling to repair themselves even as she drew the ribbon even tighter. She began to go blue in the face, and eventually slumped over, going limp. A couple seconds later, she sat back up, rubbing her neck.

"Okay, cool," she muttered. "Gotta say, not a big fan of not being able to breath. It's about the closest to pain I can get."

Hiro nodded, making a mental note to prevent her from being suffocated if the threat should arise (outside the context of her tests on herself, that is). One of the main reason he encouraged Claire's experiments-and indeed, her whole motivation for doing them-was to know what to look out for in combat. Nobody else knew that Claire was still testing the limits of her power-not even Claire's college roommate and girlfriend, Gretchen.

Currently, Claire was home for spring break. Business had been a bit slow for Dial-a-Hero lately, so Hiro and Ando had the time to help out a friend. In order to keep Noah and Sandra from catching on to their daughter's activities, Ando was keeping them busy out in the living room.

"You know, you should try doing this kind of thing with your power," Claire suggested as she tied the ribbon back around the bear. She fumbled a bit retying the bow; it didn't look quite as nice as it had originally. "Pushing it to its limits. Seeing what your limits are."

It wasn't an idea Hiro had considered in a long time, but he perked up a bit as soon as she said it. "That could be fun!"

"I know, right?" she said. "Instead of coming up with new ways to maul yourself, you could go to alien planets or something!"

Hiro laughed somewhat nervously at how flippantly she referenced what was essentially self-harm. Were it not for the potential usefulness of knowing her limits, he'd be just as worried as her family was about her experiments. Still, what she said was true: travelling through time and space was objectively way more fun than super healing. He wondered if, when combined with Ando's supercharging ability, he really might be able to teleport to another planet. Or what if he went centuries into the future? His mind spun thinking of the possibilities, and for a moment he felt just like he had when he was first discovering his powers. Sure, such feats would certainly be quite draining on him, but maybe he could take it.

"You're right, Claire," Hiro said with a grin. "I'll have to start doing that."

"Hiro, are you sure about this?"

Hiro nodded vigorously. "My power has improved a lot since it first developed," he said excitedly, bouncing on his heels as he spoke. "Who knows what I could do now if I set my mind to it?"

Ando could tell his friend's mind was already set, which was regrettable, since Ando was far from confident in the idea. "But what if you take us way out into space and then can't get us back?"

"That won't happen," Hiro said confidently. Adjusting his glasses, he puffed out his chest self-importantly. "I know what I'm doing."

"I know you know what you're doing," Ando said earnestly. "I just can't help worrying about you."

Hiro wrinkled his nose. "You worry about me too much," he said.

"I know, I know."

"No, really," Hiro insisted. Ando detected the beginnings of a pout on his lips and figured he'd best change the subject lest Hiro start crying. "I can take care of myself."

"Hey, do you want to go out for dinner tonight?" Ando suggested to get Hiro's mind off the topic at hand. "We could make it a double date."

Hiro's eyebrows shot up. "You've got a date?"

"Well, you don't need to look so surprised!" Blushing, Ando gave Hiro a playful shove. "...But, yeah, I got back together with Kimiko again."

"Hmm." Hiro frowned, drumming his fingers on the desk. Next to his hand sat the phone, still not ringing. "I know I broke the laws of time and space to get you two together, but I'm starting to think you're not so good for each other after all."

"What?" Ando said. "Like I said, we're back together now."

"After breaking up for the twelfth time!" Hiro sighed and sat back in his office chair, letting it swivel idly from side to side, and looked at Ando through narrowed eyes over the rims of his glasses. Ando felt judged by his gaze, which he figured was probably Hiro's intention. "Anyway, we can't have a double date, because I don't have a date."

That was a pretty fair point. Hiro wasn't the kind of guy who went on many dates. If Ando had anything to do with it, Hiro would have been adored by the ladies-he certainly deserved it. However, not everybody could see all the things in Hiro that Ando could. People would look at his short stature, his glasses, his goofy grin, and they'd pass him by. They'd see him as a childish nerd and never get to know the courageous, noble man who Hiro was-the hero inside the superhero enthusiast. Then again, maybe Hiro's lack of dates wasn't entirely other people's fault. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Hiro was still hung up on Charlie. Ando was sure that Hiro could find someone if he tried, but Hiro's heart still belonged to his lost love.

"You know what, forget going out," Ando sighed. "Let's try your idea-"

"Claire's idea," Hiro corrected him.

"...Right. But, if anything goes wrong," he said, "I want you to promise me you won't do anything dumb."

Hiro's face lit up, and he jumped up from his chair to give Ando a hug. "I'll be fine," he promised. Then, in an excited time under his breath, "This is going to be so fun!"

The rest of the work day couldn't have gone by fast enough. When it was finally evening, Hiro didn't even bother heading home. Instead, he took Ando out to a park where they could run their tests in peace without disrupting anyone. There, Hiro prepared to see just how far through space and time he could travel.

"Okay, let's start without you supercharging me at all," he said, resting one hand on Ando's shoulder so his friend would be taken along with him to wherever he went. "I'm going to start by seeing how far away from earth I can get us."

He screwed up his face and focused as hard as he could on an image very familiar to him from all the science fiction he watched: the vastness of outer space. Sure enough, he felt the environment around him shift to something cold and weightless. He also instantly felt very tired by the transition, but it was more than worth it when he opened his eyes and looked around. There was nothing around him but emptiness. Hiro tried to draw in a breath only to remember that he couldn't. He was in space. He was in space!

Throwing back his arms, he opened his mouth in a triumphant cry that was lost in the vacuum, unheard. Looking down, he could see Earth not far below-well, "far" being a relative term-and was a bit disappointed he hadn't been able to get farther out, but still! HE WAS IN SPACE! The fact was mind-boggling in the best way, and Hiro wondered how he could never have thought to try this before.

Then his inability to breath caught up to him and his lungs started aching, and he remembered why Ando had been so concerned about this experiment. Placing his hand back on his friend's shoulder, he took them back to the park where they had been a few seconds before.

Immediately upon reappearing in the park, Ando dropped to his knees, breathing hard. Hiro was content to stay on his feet, but his legs felt a little wobbly, so he leaned up against a tree to steady himself. His mind was buzzing with excitement over his accomplishment.

"I did it!" he exclaimed once he'd caught his breath.

"You did it," Ando agreed, his eyes wide with awe. "I have to admit, that was awesome."

Hiro nodded, bouncing up and down on his heels. "I know!" Unable to find the words to express himself, he flapped his hands in the air, grinning from ear to ear. "We should do it again!"