Title: The Time Traveler's Wife
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Pairing: Hiro x OC
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: "Yes, that's right. You're going. You've been gone for ages. You're already gone. You're still here. You've just arrived. I haven't even met you yet. It all depends on who you are and how you look at it. Strange business, time."
Word Count: 1,181
Warnings: N/A
Disclaimer: Not mine. Summary belongs to Doctor Who.
A/N: I am pretending Heroes: Reborn doesn't exist.
He is terrified when he appears and it is not the fireworks where he had thought he would be. But the skyline is Los Angeles. The street in front of him the same he had gotten his clothing for Valentine's Day. With hardly a thought about the integrity of such an action, he darts into the same store, hoping they do not remember him. The clerk at the desk is someone different, and only gives Hiro a disaffected look as he grabs a pair of jeans and an over-priced designer shirt. He feels less bad this time, leaving the expensive suit in place of the more street-worthy clothing.
It is as easy as breathing to leave the dressing room and appear in the Comics Straight to You ally. But he is stumbling and frantic when he yanks open the front door, bells rankling harshly, and rushes in.
The noise startles Jamie so much in the dead quiet of the comic book store that she teeters on her stepstool and, with a topple of comics, starts to fall. Hiro, in a brief display of athleticism, is across the room before he can even form the thought, catching her in his arms like Superman catching Lois Lane.
"Hiro?" Her tone is incredulously, then angry. "You scared me half to death! What is wrong with you-" Her tirade is cut off when he crushes her close, burying his face in the curve of her neck and pressing his eyes tightly closed, trying to stave off the hot, rush of tears. "Hiro?" Her tone changes to worried, and she is struggling to remove herself from his grasp so she can wrap her arms around him. "What's the matter?" Her hands and brushing at his cheeks, to where wet tracks have made trails.
He shakes his head. "Nothing." He smiles at her. "Nothing." She seems unbelieving, but he keeps talking. "I'm sorry – about our date."
She frowns and stands, starting to pick up the comics that had fallen to the floor in her tumble. "Are you canceling on me, Hiro?" Her tone is playful.
It is his turn to frown and he glances around, hoping to find – yes! The digital clock has a date display. February 23, 2019. His eyes widen. February. Los Angeles. 2019. Jamie. He is here, (almost) exactly where he wants to be, but he has more questions than answers now. She isn't mad at him about disappearing at the fireworks? Has he told her what happened? About his powers? Where are they going on their date?
"Uh, ano, no." He scratches the back of his head sheepishly and smiles. "I forgot where we're going." He's still smiling when she whacks him with a comic book.
After that, his life is a blur for several blissful months. As if his old life never existed, that year he jumped forward didn't matter, was a dream.
He got a job at the comic store. He got an apartment. Ando called often. Peter visited and his sister. He built a life that centered around one thing: making that wedding he had seen in his future come true. He and Jamie dated, as happy and as playful as teenagers in love for the first time.
… the museum, listening to Jamie talk about the different styles of artwork – and did Hiro know she had a Fine Arts Degree and that's one of the reasons why she adored comic books? …
… the beach, where Hiro burned lobster red in ten minutes flat and Jamie laughed until she cried even as she helped him rub aloe on his burns …
… the circus, when it came to town, where it was Hiro's turn to laugh when he learned that the Jamie was terrified of clowns …
… the movies, sharing popcorn or buying tickets to see a movie neither one of them cared about, so they could sit in the top row and kiss lazily for hours …
… Hiro teaching Jamie how to dance only because he saw her family dance at their wedding years in the future, and making sure the first slow song they dance to is the one that will be their first dance then, as well …
It is surreal and crazy and perfect and Hiro wants it to never end. He wants to forget about everything else but this, even though he knows he must remember those days in the future, must make sure he does not overlap. But his wedding years from now, though it is hard to forget how beautiful Jamie will look that day, he tries to live each moment in the now, and not in the then. He hardly gives a thought to his powers, barely uses them at all. There is no need, not when his life is this perfect bliss. He has no curiosities about his future.
Until one evening, while watching the remake of The Parent Trap, Jamie unexpectedly blurts out, "Do you think if we had kids they would be cute?"
Hiro looks down at her head in his lap in shock, and, when she sees his expression, she giggles. "It's just a question, Hiro, don't have a heart attack." She can probably hear her heart racing from where she's contently sitting, but it's not for the reason she probably imagines.
Everything he does is to marry her. He knows they will have children, the orderly thought he was one of them, so he imagined at least one of them took after him. What sent his heart racing was the thought that Jamie thought about children with him without even knowing their future. To her it was an idle daydream, a wish. To him it was the end game. And, he was still a man, no matter how innocent his face. The thought of how to make those children had crossed him mind many, many times. Like now.
He shifted in his seat as she continued speaking. "I hope they have your nose. And I hope the girl has my eyes." She is smiling up at him in happiness, eyes far away and joyful and Hiro thinks if his heart beat any faster it would probably come flying out of his chest.
"Hai, me, too."
Later that night, after tucking Jamie in where she had fallen asleep on his couch, his curiosity begins to churn. And he begins to wonder, too.
It will only take a moment, he tells himself, brushing a hair away from Jamie's sleeping face. I don't have to stay long.
He leans down to kiss her forehead. "I'll be right back."