Perpetuate

Thud.

The first thing Hiro's brain registered was the sound of a glass connecting with the wooden surface of the side table beside his bed. He ignored the sound burrowing deeper into the comforting warmth of his blankets. That wasn't enough to really pull him from his slumber. The second thing it registered was the scent of food… crispy, fried, oily goodness permeating the air with the most wonderful god given aroma he'd ever encountered. Now that was how you were supposed to wake someone.

His eyes snapped open to find Tadashi, sitting at his desk, holding a plate piled high with crispy bacon, friend eggs and toast. "Fooood!" Hiro was ravenous. He wanted it, all of it, in his hands, in his mouth and in his stomach. There was nothing he wanted more in that instant. "Gimme, Gimme!" He demanded, sitting up and reaching for the plate, his mouth already watering in anticipation.

Tadashi blinked at him in surprise before obediently handing him the plate. Good brother. Looked like he didn't need as much retraining as Hiro feared. Hiro snatched said plate the moment it connected with his hand and began to devour its contents, not even bothering to use the cutlery lined up neatly on the side.

"You might want to breathe between bites, there." Tadashi cautioned him. It was meant to be a reprimand but the accompanying amusement that colored the words ruined any impact it might have otherwise had.

"'m 'ungry." Hiro retorted between bites, not even bothering to chew his food properly before shoving more into his mouth. Who had time to chew when raging hunger called?

"I can see that." Tadashi leaned back in his chair before picking up a bowl of soup. "Not eating for three days can do that to you."

Wait… He hadn't eaten for three days?

Hiro blinked momentarily pausing his mission to wipe everything off the plate in the shortest time possible, in favor of processing that new tidbit of information. "Thwee dayz?" The exclamation was muffled by the food still in his mouth. Just how out of it had he been that he'd managed to miss three days? Wait… did time still apply when one was dead?

Tadashi leaned forward and used a finger to close Hiro's mouth that had dropped open in surprise. "Chew, swallow and then speak." He instructed before leaning back to resume eating his own food.

Hiro frowned, but complied, chewing and swallowing the food in his mouth to resume eating at a more controlled pace. With the worst of his hunger abated, he now had time to address the strange puzzle his mind had been struggling to comprehend. "You know…" Hiro paused, taking a moment to swallow the last of the food in his mouth before continuing. "Being dead isn't all that different to being alive."

Tadashi scowled, dropping the spoon he'd been using back into the bowl, concern and frustration reflected in his eyes. "You're not dead, Hiro. I'll admit, it was touch and go there for a while but we finally managed to break your fever last night."

"But I died." Hiro declared, taking a huge bite out of the bacon in his hand before waving it about in illustration. "Stupidly. In a burning building. Just like you. Turns out I was more like you than I thought." Hiro couldn't quite control the mild thread of bitterness that entered his tone at the realization. Tadashi had always been his idol. He was calm, kind and always knew what to say and do to make things better. Except for that one time. Hiro had always wished he could be more like him. Dying in a burning building because of his own idiocy, however, had not been what he had in mind.

"You're not dead." Tadashi repeated, leaning forward to rest a hand on Hiro's forehead. The gesture was clearly meant to check if Hiro's fever had returned, even though it quickly changed to Tadashi ruffling his hair. "That must have been some nightmare you had, knucklehead. Probably brought on by your fever."

"It wasn't a nightmare." Hiro snapped, pushing Tadashi's hand away all while aiming a fierce scowl at his brother. Tadashi's refusal to believe anything he said had been rather entertaining at first but it was starting to get really old, really fast. How was he supposed to enjoy this reunion when Tadashi refused to acknowledge they had been separated in the first place? "I was there! I lived it! I watched you run into a burning building to save someone that didn't even need to be saved to begin with! I was thrown back by the explosion that followed! I attended your funeral and watched everyone grieve all while trying to pretend my world hadn't ended with you and then I picked up the pieces!" Hiro paused to take deep panting breaths in a bid to regain just the tiniest sliver of control.

Why?

Why did it still hurt so much?

The blood was pounding in his head, beating a rapid rhythm in tune with the elevated beat of his heart. His hands were clenched, tendons showing in reaction to the force he was exerting on the plate he was still holding… a plate which surprisingly enough did not break. His breathing was shallow, labored and harsh and his head spun in reaction to the sudden onslaught of emotion that appeared to rise up from seemingly nowhere: desperation, grief and the echoes of remembered pain, both emotional and physical seeming to merge the grief he'd experienced when he lost Tadashi with the agony he'd endured in his own burning hell, two and a half years later.

"Hi… pant…. Pant… gasp… ro… pant… pant… Hiro."

Hiro's name filtered clearly once more into his conscience, pulling him away from the nightmares conjured by his mind and back into a reality that could only be the very antithesis of real. "Don't you Hiro me." Hiro snarled, picking up where he'd left off. "You're the one that left me and now you're trying to tell me it never happened? I did what you wanted. I went to nerd school, got a degree, okay, technically I'm only two and a half years in and was going to get the degree in six months but close enough, created a super hero team and dedicated myself to saving people all because it's what you would have wanted and now you're telling me it was all just a dream? That I've somehow managed to conjure up two and a half years of my life all in the span of three fever ravaged days? How do you explain that? It's just not physically or scientifically possible!" Hiro challenged, glaring at Tadashi.

Tadashi blinked at him, mildly terrified by Hiro's outburst. It was more than apparent that he was feeling a little out of his depth but in typical Tadashi fashion, he simply changed gears and tried his best to deal with the situation anyway. "Hiro." He repeated in a calm tone that was clearly meant to soothe Hiro's agitation. "I can't explain how you came up with such a detailed story in three days. Nor can I explain your adamant conviction that it happened but I can tell you it couldn't have happened. You just graduated high school a year ago. You haven't enrolled into college yet, let alone spent two and a half years on a degree but there's nothing that says you couldn't do it now if you wanted to?"

"Don't tell me it couldn't have happened when…" Hiro swallowed the rest of his sentence when his brain finally caught up with his mouth and actually processed the rest of Tadashi's statement. "Wait… I just graduated high school a year ago?"

Tadashi smiled and reached over to ruffle Hiro's hair again. "We all know you could have finished it sooner if not for all the other drama but graduating at thirteen is still quite the solid achievement you know."

"Thirteen? I graduated a year ago when I was thirteen?" The question slipped out before Hiro could even think to try and stop it. His mind to mouth filter was completely malfunctioning, shattered by this new revelation. How was it possible that he'd only graduated high school a year ago when he'd graduated at thirteen and was currently only a few months short of turning seventeen? "Then that would mean I'm…" He paused, his mind rapidly doing the math, repeating it and repeating it again in utter disbelief at the only conclusion it could reach. "That would mean I'm currently fourteen years old."

"Would you look at that?" Tadashi teased, using a forefinger to flick Hiro on the forehead. "The genius can perform basic arithmetic. Seriously Hiro, of course you're fourteen. How old did you think you were?"

Sixteen…He thought he was sixteen.

Hiro did not give voice to the stray thought that filtered through his mind in response to Tadashi's question too shell shocked to access his vocal chords let alone use them to clearly communicate something that made no sense at all. How was it even possible?

Hiro pulled back his bedding and leaped out of bed and rushed towards the bathroom before Tadashi even had a chance to protest, let alone react.

It couldn't be true. It wasn't possible. Tadashi had to be mistaken.

Slamming the palms of his hands down onto the washbasin he took a deep breath, hanging his head for a few seconds in fear before slowly raising it to meet his own reflection in the mirror. His breath escaped him in a hiss, his earlier shock a mere shadow in comparison to the force of the new blow that struck him when his gaze met the wide eyed stare of his fourteen year old self.

Look at things from a different angle.

Suddenly the pieces began to fall into place, forcing Hiro to draw a conclusion every bit as fantastical as Tadashi's theory that he'd dreamed up two and a half years of his own life in a mere three days. His first conclusion had been a mistake. Hiro had not died as he originally believed… he had traveled back in time, instead!

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 -

A/N: Not sure if anyone made the connection but Hiro is devouring what was meant to be Tadashi's breakfast in this chapter, leaving Tadashi to eat the soup that was meant for Hiro. XD XD XD

CrazyBlueOwl: I'm glad you are enjoying this and it's really nice to have you back. You are one of a very few returning readers/reviewers that I know about and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You are 100 percent correct, Hiro has gone back in time to fix something and is entering the situation with knowledge of what happened the last time he lived that portion of his life.

Dente: I'm also enjoying Hiro's perspective though to be honest it is difficult to write.

SaiyanPrincess: Yeah, Tadashi and Hiro really do have a special relationship. It's so very fluffy but at the same time mischievous.