Fic: Truthful Friends (Adam, Hiro, Ando)
Wow. My first posted fic in two months. Been a while.
Title: Truthful Friends
Pairings: Adam/Hiro, Ando/Hiro if you squint
Summary: Basically, I couldn't wait until next week for the rest of that Adam scene. I just couldn't. So I wrote a continuation to it. Adam probes the new wounds arising in Hiro and Ando's friendship.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words.
Air. Cold. Above ground. Hiro.
“Hiro, you son of a bitch.”
Adam grabs him by the throat, yanking him forward, wanting to squeeze, to throttle, to scream, How dare you lock me up six feet underground, you bastard? Blackness suffocating, choking, air too thin, too fucking thin, eating through his body like flesh strained through a grater, but he gulps it anyway even as it poisons him again, world dying into numb pinpricks of memory and he can’t even cry. Too many times. Too many damn times dying and dying and he of all people had been the one to put him in there.
Pain erupts in his head. He gasps, but won’t let his hand weaken, turning to the right as a furious voice rings in his injured ear.
“Let go of him.”
Now who’s this holding a shovel so menacingly over his head?
“No,” he growls, tightening his grip so that Hiro gags, scrabbling at his hand, desperate fingers prying at his own but Adam’s well practiced at this.
Another jab lands hard into his right eye, vicious enough to render him unconscious for a second, and his hand loosens, allowing Hiro to scramble back half an inch, but almost instantly Adam manages to tighten his grip again even as his crushed, bleeding eye heals.
“Kensei.”
Tiny, piteous squeak, hardly loud enough to startle a mouse, breath thready on his skin. Adam lets go.
“What the hell are you doing here?” His voice stings in his throat. “Hadn’t you intended to leave me there forever? Buried under soil and brick and anything else civilization planted on this land until I was as surely dead as these corpses around me?”
Hiro’s face pinches, sad, puppy eyes welling with such tender emotion, but none of it is for him, no. Guilt for the action, for sweet little Hiro could never be so ruthless without beating himself over it endlessly, but not for him.
“I had to do it.”
“Did you? Is that how you console yourself so you can sleep at night?”
“You wanted to kill everyone in the world.”
“Ah. Right. So why not just kill me outright? Nullify the threat once and for all.”
“I c-“
Appalled denial twitches on Hiro’s face, ever the noble innocent and how much Adam had once loved him for that.
“Hiro’s not a killer. Not like you.”
Well, well. The sidekick speaks. And a loyal one he is, too. Such righteous anger brims in his voice, hardening his honest face, just the kind of buddy Hiro would pal around with. He seemed to have appointed himself Hiro’s bodyguard, standing just a tad before him, shovel held menacingly in his hands lest Adam dare attack him again. He wouldn’t last a second if Adam decided to get out from this box and come for him.
“Well, now. Ando, am I right?”
Flicker of surprise on both their faces. Now, really. Do they think him stupid?
“How did-“
“Oh, Hiro told me all about you. The faithful friend who waited for him in the future. He was so devoted to writing those letters he put in my sword. I read them, by the way. My apologies.”
Flustered indignation sparks in their faces, as if this is the worst thing he’s done.
“Tell me, is he truly as good a friend to you as he purported to be? Because he didn’t seem all that fussed about coming back.”
A shadow pinches in Ando’s eyes, acknowledged Hiro’s downcast, supplicant eyes, guilt so raw and tender and palpable that Hiro can never, ever conceal, even when he’s romancing the woman he thinks you love or burying you alive to rot in the bowels of the earth forever.
“What’s this now? Could it be that he’s betrayed you already?”
“He didn’t,” Ando claims, voice sharper than the shovel he holds, but it’s too late. Adam’s already seen it.
“Oh, but he did. It’s all over his face.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Hiro cuts in, old pain bleeding in his voice, but his eyes are firm.
“If you didn’t you wouldn’t have done it.”
Small flinch, but his eyes hardened.
“That didn’t give you the right to betray me and Yaeko to White Beard. You almost destroyed history.”
“You and your sacred history. I can’t stand hearing one more word of it!”
“You never understood that.”
“No, I didn’t. And I don’t care to when it was all a lie.”
Adams pushes himself off that damn coffin and Hiro and Ando scramble back, Ando raising the shovel, but Adam’s attention is on Hiro, little, beaten looking Hiro, always the victim as if he had no responsibility over the shit he left at Adam’s door.
“It wasn-“
“You were always the hero. Not me. Don’t act so shocked now that I’ve learned my lesson.”
“This is pointless!” Ando cut in, interposing himself between Adam and Hiro. “Nothing Hiro did can ever compare to what you did, so don’t even try to justify yourself.”
Adam considers him carefully, tracing the firmness of his jaw, the resolution in his eyes. Such admirable loyalty still. Why? He’d seen the hurt in there, the taste of betrayal he knew so well, acid in his soul.
“What did he do to you?” Adam asked.
“What?”
“He did something. Else he wouldn’t have looked so guilty when I posed the question.”
“He didn’t do anything.”
“I’ve spent four centuries parsing lies from truth. Don’t think you can deceive me.”
Ando’s jaw tightened, his hands flexing on the shovel handle.
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“I considered him my best friend. Look what he did to me.”
Ando’s eyes flinched towards the casket behind Adam, his prison for the past... What? He didn’t even know for how long he’d been locked down there, blind even to his own mind. Even if they weren’t equal circumstances, even if this man didn’t react the same way Adam did, for he smelled the upright heroism in him, so like Hiro’s single minded desire to save the world, the seed was there. Something had happened. Now wasn’t that completely unsurprising?
“Hiro.” Ando’s voice was harder than the casket.
“Ando.” Small, fearful voice. Now Adam was really curious.
“Freeze time.”
Not good. But he couldn’t flee. Hiro would stop him before-
Harsh cloth clutched his torso, digging into his ribs, arms forcefully crisscrossed over his chest, bound in... A straitjacket? The hell?
“Carp, you shock me. I didn’t think you were the type.”
Hiro shot him a dirty look, though it was too conflicted to have its intended effect, but Ando’s did, venomous glare defending Hiro’s honor, as if he had any left.
“We’re leaving now,” Hiro said.
“Where are we going then? The top of Kilimanjaro? Mt Etna, perhaps?”
“We’re taking you to the Company.”
“The Company? Oh, wonderful. I’d rather you’d left me down there.”
“We need to ask you some questions.”
“That’s always how it starts.”
“Hiro, just take us there.”
Hiro grabbed his and Ando’s shoulders, sending the most irritating shudders down his spine, making him want to shake it off and lean into it at once, and the cemetery vanished.
Title: Truthful Friends
Pairings: Adam/Hiro, Ando/Hiro if you squint
Summary: Basically, I couldn't wait until next week for the rest of that Adam scene. I just couldn't. So I wrote a continuation to it. Adam probes the new wounds arising in Hiro and Ando's friendship.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words.
Air. Cold. Above ground. Hiro.
“Hiro, you son of a bitch.”
Adam grabs him by the throat, yanking him forward, wanting to squeeze, to throttle, to scream, How dare you lock me up six feet underground, you bastard? Blackness suffocating, choking, air too thin, too fucking thin, eating through his body like flesh strained through a grater, but he gulps it anyway even as it poisons him again, world dying into numb pinpricks of memory and he can’t even cry. Too many times. Too many damn times dying and dying and he of all people had been the one to put him in there.
Pain erupts in his head. He gasps, but won’t let his hand weaken, turning to the right as a furious voice rings in his injured ear.
“Let go of him.”
Now who’s this holding a shovel so menacingly over his head?
“No,” he growls, tightening his grip so that Hiro gags, scrabbling at his hand, desperate fingers prying at his own but Adam’s well practiced at this.
Another jab lands hard into his right eye, vicious enough to render him unconscious for a second, and his hand loosens, allowing Hiro to scramble back half an inch, but almost instantly Adam manages to tighten his grip again even as his crushed, bleeding eye heals.
“Kensei.”
Tiny, piteous squeak, hardly loud enough to startle a mouse, breath thready on his skin. Adam lets go.
“What the hell are you doing here?” His voice stings in his throat. “Hadn’t you intended to leave me there forever? Buried under soil and brick and anything else civilization planted on this land until I was as surely dead as these corpses around me?”
Hiro’s face pinches, sad, puppy eyes welling with such tender emotion, but none of it is for him, no. Guilt for the action, for sweet little Hiro could never be so ruthless without beating himself over it endlessly, but not for him.
“I had to do it.”
“Did you? Is that how you console yourself so you can sleep at night?”
“You wanted to kill everyone in the world.”
“Ah. Right. So why not just kill me outright? Nullify the threat once and for all.”
“I c-“
Appalled denial twitches on Hiro’s face, ever the noble innocent and how much Adam had once loved him for that.
“Hiro’s not a killer. Not like you.”
Well, well. The sidekick speaks. And a loyal one he is, too. Such righteous anger brims in his voice, hardening his honest face, just the kind of buddy Hiro would pal around with. He seemed to have appointed himself Hiro’s bodyguard, standing just a tad before him, shovel held menacingly in his hands lest Adam dare attack him again. He wouldn’t last a second if Adam decided to get out from this box and come for him.
“Well, now. Ando, am I right?”
Flicker of surprise on both their faces. Now, really. Do they think him stupid?
“How did-“
“Oh, Hiro told me all about you. The faithful friend who waited for him in the future. He was so devoted to writing those letters he put in my sword. I read them, by the way. My apologies.”
Flustered indignation sparks in their faces, as if this is the worst thing he’s done.
“Tell me, is he truly as good a friend to you as he purported to be? Because he didn’t seem all that fussed about coming back.”
A shadow pinches in Ando’s eyes, acknowledged Hiro’s downcast, supplicant eyes, guilt so raw and tender and palpable that Hiro can never, ever conceal, even when he’s romancing the woman he thinks you love or burying you alive to rot in the bowels of the earth forever.
“What’s this now? Could it be that he’s betrayed you already?”
“He didn’t,” Ando claims, voice sharper than the shovel he holds, but it’s too late. Adam’s already seen it.
“Oh, but he did. It’s all over his face.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Hiro cuts in, old pain bleeding in his voice, but his eyes are firm.
“If you didn’t you wouldn’t have done it.”
Small flinch, but his eyes hardened.
“That didn’t give you the right to betray me and Yaeko to White Beard. You almost destroyed history.”
“You and your sacred history. I can’t stand hearing one more word of it!”
“You never understood that.”
“No, I didn’t. And I don’t care to when it was all a lie.”
Adams pushes himself off that damn coffin and Hiro and Ando scramble back, Ando raising the shovel, but Adam’s attention is on Hiro, little, beaten looking Hiro, always the victim as if he had no responsibility over the shit he left at Adam’s door.
“It wasn-“
“You were always the hero. Not me. Don’t act so shocked now that I’ve learned my lesson.”
“This is pointless!” Ando cut in, interposing himself between Adam and Hiro. “Nothing Hiro did can ever compare to what you did, so don’t even try to justify yourself.”
Adam considers him carefully, tracing the firmness of his jaw, the resolution in his eyes. Such admirable loyalty still. Why? He’d seen the hurt in there, the taste of betrayal he knew so well, acid in his soul.
“What did he do to you?” Adam asked.
“What?”
“He did something. Else he wouldn’t have looked so guilty when I posed the question.”
“He didn’t do anything.”
“I’ve spent four centuries parsing lies from truth. Don’t think you can deceive me.”
Ando’s jaw tightened, his hands flexing on the shovel handle.
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“I considered him my best friend. Look what he did to me.”
Ando’s eyes flinched towards the casket behind Adam, his prison for the past... What? He didn’t even know for how long he’d been locked down there, blind even to his own mind. Even if they weren’t equal circumstances, even if this man didn’t react the same way Adam did, for he smelled the upright heroism in him, so like Hiro’s single minded desire to save the world, the seed was there. Something had happened. Now wasn’t that completely unsurprising?
“Hiro.” Ando’s voice was harder than the casket.
“Ando.” Small, fearful voice. Now Adam was really curious.
“Freeze time.”
Not good. But he couldn’t flee. Hiro would stop him before-
Harsh cloth clutched his torso, digging into his ribs, arms forcefully crisscrossed over his chest, bound in... A straitjacket? The hell?
“Carp, you shock me. I didn’t think you were the type.”
Hiro shot him a dirty look, though it was too conflicted to have its intended effect, but Ando’s did, venomous glare defending Hiro’s honor, as if he had any left.
“We’re leaving now,” Hiro said.
“Where are we going then? The top of Kilimanjaro? Mt Etna, perhaps?”
“We’re taking you to the Company.”
“The Company? Oh, wonderful. I’d rather you’d left me down there.”
“We need to ask you some questions.”
“That’s always how it starts.”
“Hiro, just take us there.”
Hiro grabbed his and Ando’s shoulders, sending the most irritating shudders down his spine, making him want to shake it off and lean into it at once, and the cemetery vanished.