ways_infirmary | (no subject)

(no subject)

You get a lot of time to think in the infirmary.

Like, Damn that was stupid and I was so close and I made Kaylee cry.

Hiro's thinking any number of those things and beyond. Maybe more. Maybe he's thinking, How can I do better next time?

He thinks with his eyes closed.

Nobody will think to ask questions of the man then, right? Then he can plot behind his eyelids, and never answer anybody about his -- shall we say, worrisome actions...

Well, until today when he risks opening them a sliver and peers about. Thirst and hunger override plotting for a change.

"Hey?"

Anybody there?

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"Hey."

Somebody's there.

Kaylee is unfolding herself from the chair, sitting up, not quite reaching out -- not quite.

"You -- should I get somebody?"

He considers, and then gives a minimal shake of his head.

"No," he replies. "No. I feel-- okay." Ish.

"Considerin' how many bones you broke?" She's leaning forward, her hands resting on the railing of the bed. "You sure about that?"

His dark eyes are guileless.

"I'm sure."

"Okay."

Her gaze drops for a moment, and then lifts again. "If you're hurtin' bad -- you'll tell me, right?"

No.

No he won't.

"Alright."

His answer's good enough for her, though; she relaxes, mouth curling loosely into something that isn't quite a smile.

"You're an idiot," she says gently. "You know that."

A brow lifts; take one to know one? he doesn't ask.

"I almost had him."

"He almost had you," she corrects. "He was the one able to walk away from it, considerin' we didn't see him."

"Holding his guts in," Hiro says with a remarkable amount of relish about it. "So I didn't do too badly."

He is absolutely unrepentant.

Kaylee, on the other hand, is wrinkling her nose.

"...whatever," she says, dubiously.

"Name one other person who has managed to hurt him."

You're not on that list, Kaylee.

"If I'd been able to do this before--"

"I don't know the name."

Kaylee's interrupting. But --

"But he was -- "

Silence.

"Simon treated him." Kaylee is sitting back in her chair now. "In here. So somebody hurt him."

Hiro's brows arches.

"Well, then. The list gets larger by one," he says thoughtfully.

Something to check out.

"I guess," she says, quiet. "But -- whoever could take out Sylar? That's somebody worth bein' wary of."

Or admiring.

"We'll see," Hiro replies.

You should never have told him, Kaylee.

And if anybody finds out it's Kaylee who told --

"Guess so." She's looking at him with wariness.

Hiro is quiet for a moment, under her gaze.

Finally, he says, "It's what we're going to do. Some day, one of me is going to run him through. In the ideal time line, that's what happens."

And ideally, he croaks. Ratings demand he return in second season, though, so don't count on it.

"But here?"

"Not likely. Doesn't mean I shouldn't try," he replies.

Besides, he can't trust Captain Otaku to get it done, can he?

"And the more you try, the madder he's gonna get." Her hands are folded in her lap. "And what happens if he comes after you, and you're in here laid up like this?"

"He won't."

He doesn't say, He's going to go for the other one.

That'd be worrying, wouldn't it?

Kaylee is shaking her head. "You can't know that." Soft.

"I can."

Because he said so.

Her eyes are wide -- and doubtful. "How?"