Kissing Ando put Hiro in such a good mood (as it always did) that he completely forgot about Anzu's old fanart of him until he was at home that evening. Looking at the picture again, he noticed that the Star Trek T-shirt he was wearing in the drawing was a shirt he owned in real life. Tilting his head, Hiro tried to remember if that shirt had ever appeared in a Ninth Wonders comic. He didn't think so, but it had all been so long ago, and obviously he'd had other things on his mind… Maybe he could dig out those old comic books soon and look through them again, both for reference and for nostalgia's sake.

Powering off his phone, Hiro thought to himself that the T-shirt was probably a fairly common print—maybe Anzu even owned a shirt like that herself. It was a rather odd coincidence, but it didn't mean there was anything out of the ordinary going on.

Besides, just like how twelve years ago saving the world had been more important than what shirt Hiro was wearing, right now there was something more important than… well, what shirt Hiro had been wearing twelve years ago. Over the next few days, Hiro noticed that Ando was simultaneously being unusually lovey-dovey for that time of year, and spending more time away from Hiro. Hiro had absolutely no idea what was going on, and no matter how much he grilled Ando on the issue, his boyfriend refused to offer any believable explanation.

"Come on, Ando," Hiro nagged his boyfriend while they were washing dishes one evening. "Why can't I get a straight answer out of you?"

Playfully flicking soap suds at Hiro, Ando quipped, "How do expect to get anything straight out of me?"

Hiro wasn't really in the mood for joking around, but he humoured Ando nonetheless. "Fine, fine, how about… can you run something bi me?" In case his emphasis wasn't enough, he added a wink, which got a laugh but still not an answer out of Ando. Sighing, Hiro turned off the faucet and turned to look Ando in the eye. "Baby, please… just tell me what's wrong!" he said.

"Nothing's wrong," Ando assured him. Fidgeting with his dish towel, he added more quietly, "I've just been thinking about things."

That could have meant almost anything, but Hiro's mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario. "Are you…" Hiro gulped. "Are you going to break up with me?"

"What? No, Hiro, of course not!" Wide-eyed, Ando grabbed Hiro's hand and held it firmly. "Darling, you know I love you!"

"I love you, too!" Hiro said. "That's why I need you to be honest with me!"

Unfortunately, just when it looked like Ando might have been about to open about, his phone rang and he went out into the living room to answer it, holding up his hand for Hiro not to follow him. Disappointed and frustrated, Hiro made a mental note to bring the topic up again later. He didn't like having circular conversations, but some information was too important to withhold like this!

As much as part of him wanted to, Hiro respected Ando's wishes and didn't listen in on the phone call. However, he overheard something about items being in stock and affordability range. It's probably about something boring, then, Hiro thought, relieved to know that at least the phone call wasn't anything suspect. While he was drying up the dishes and putting them away, Ando came back in with a huge grin on his face. Before Hiro could ask what the call had been, Ando hoisted him up a couple centimetres off the ground, eliciting a little yelp of surprise from Hiro, and twirled him around before setting him lightly back down.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Hiro asked—flirtatiously, but also with genuine curiosity. "Does it have something to do with that phone call, by any chance?"

"Oh, that?" Suddenly Ando's face grew bright red. "It was nothing—just that something I ordered online a while back is ready to be picked up."

The worst-case-scenario part of Hiro began to wonder if Ando was having an affair with someone. That didn't seem like Ando, but Hiro was quite familiar with his boyfriend's love of the ladies. Maybe Hiro really wasn't being the best boyfriend he could be. But the phone conversation, from what little Hiro had heard of it, did sound like it had been about what Ando claimed. Hiro just wondered what it was his boyfriend had ordered.

"Speaking of which, I have to head down to buy that thing I ordered," Ando went on, glancing up at the kitchen clock. "They're closing soon, and if I don't pick it up soon—"

"Say no more," said Hiro, even though he absolutely did want Ando to say more—such as what exactly this mystery item was, but it didn't seem like he'd be getting that information anytime soon. "I'll teleport you over there just as soon as I've got these dishes put away."

Ando's eyes went wide, and he shook his head vehemently. "No teleportation necessary," he said. "I can take the bus. Thanks for the offer, though," he added as he grabbed his phone and keys and ran out of the kitchen.

"Love you," Hiro called after him before turning his attention back to the dishes. Once he'd got the last one put away, he googled why is my boyfriend acting strangely? He wasn't too happy with the results he got. For one thing, a lot of the sites assumed he was a woman—heteronormativity strikes again. He swapped out the word "boyfriend" for "significant other" and hit search again, but the results weren't much better.

Discouraged and generally downhearted, Hiro tried to cheer himself up by flipping on the TV and rewatching an original series Star Trek episode. By the end of it, he felt a bit better, but it wasn't enough to get his mind off his boyfriend's strange behaviour. Sighing, Hiro turned the TV off and sank deeper into the sofa. What was he going to do about all this?

Just then, the door rattled, followed by muffled cursing from the other side. Hiro jumped off the sofa and ran over to the door, which he had locked without thinking when Ando left. "Sorry about that," he said when he opened the door. Then he tilted his head inquisitively at Ando, who was hiding a shopping bag behind his back. "…But I thought you brought your keys?"

"I guess I forgot," Ando muttered. His cheeks were rosy, which might have been from the cold, or from being flustered; Hiro couldn't tell.

"So, what did you buy?" Hiro asked, even though he was fairly certain he wouldn't get an answer. He was proven right when Ando slunk back a bit and muttered something incomprehensible before ducking around the corner and running into the bedroom.

Hiro could have followed him, but he figured there was no point. He needed to respect his boyfriend's privacy, for now at least. Besides, there was no way Ando would keep a secret from him forever. For better or for worse, Hiro would find out what was going on eventually.