This is a new fandom I've never written before: Heroes (non-anime, WTF?) Hiro has decided to be my newest muse and of course new muses insist I drop everything I previously started and immediately work on something with THEM. If the concept seems familiar it's because Chui originally came up with it, and I'm using it with her permission.

Of course the disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I just like to play with them for my own amusement.

And, I'll make a title later. Please put up with this first part, it's setting the scene. So it might have less than optimal amounts of sneezing. But this fic incorporates a LOT of things I've never tried before so give it a chance...

And, I envision this as taking place somewhere between episodes 4 and 8. Because I say so. AND, I am sure I got some details wrong or whatever, don't shoot me...just call it artistic licence. And if I don't introduce the characters or the situation very well, do let me know...

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Chapter 1

As Hiro walked the nearly deserted, artificially lit streets of the small desert town, he pulled the sides of his jumper closed with a visible shiver, earning him a bewildered glance from Ando, his travelling companion. Although night had fallen, the air could not by any stretch of the imagination be called "chilly". Yet Hiro walked as if they were wandering around in the middle of a particularly snowy winter. It wasn't the first time that Hiro's behaviour had seemed slightly "off" tonight. They had stopped here for the sole purpose of having a nice large hot dinner to sustain them on their long drive, and Hiro had hardly eaten anything. Usually he attacked the menu with bubbly excitement-waxing poetic about all the different things he wanted to try and taking an infuriatingly long time to narrow his choices down to one dish. Tonight he only seemed to want to stare disinterestedly at a bowl of tomato soup.

"Don't tell me you're cold," Ando said with a raised eyebrow, but Hiro didn't seem to notice that he'd even spoken. He looked ahead at the ground, with a rather faraway expression as if deep in thought about something, which knowing him would have been a pretty fair guess.

"Hey, Hiro!" Ando said, louder this time, ensuring he got his friend's attention by rapping his arm with the back of his hand. "I asked you if you were cold?"

"Huh?" he said, looking up with a bleary expression.

Ando gave a slight laugh. "What has you so deep in thought, anyway?"

Hiro looked vaguely bewildered. He simply blinked behind his glasses for a moment before uttering the slightly less than helpful "Huh? What would I be thinking..." as a reply.

"Are you feeling all right?" Ando asked his friend with genuine concern, although it was a redundant question. Even from the few words Hiro had spoken, the heavy congestion and slight hoarseness in his voice was plainly evident-and even if it wasn't, the pathetically thick sniff that followed was a clue.

"Eh? I'm fine," Hiro mumbled thickly, then added the ultimate joke to his words by snuffling loudly and, if that wasn't enough, raised his hand to his mouth to politely and delicately cover a cough.

Ando stopped walking. "You don't sound very 'fine' to me."

"Don't worry about it," Hiro said with an attempt at breezy dismissiveness. "We have far more important things to worry about."

"Oh yes, like saving the world?" Ando grinned with a hint of a teasing laugh in his voice. "Tell me, how are you going to think about saving the world when you can't even pay attention to a simple conversation?"

Hiro huffed angrily, causing Ando to hesitate for a moment. Knowingly or unknowingly he had pressed a button. It was more than likely more on the side of "knowingly" because he always playfully teased Hiro, that was their "thing". But Ando couldn't help but wonder if he'd pushed him a little too far or perhaps chosen the wrong moment. Hiro turned around, his face twisted into a childish pout, stomping his foot for effect.

"Ooh," he grunted. "You always...ehhhght'TSSH...you always behave as if this is some sort of a joke. And stop smiling like that, it's not funny. No really, Ando, stop it...Ando?"

A look of faint alarm descended upon Hiro's face like a gathering storm cloud. It wasn't just the smile that refused to leave Ando's face, Ando wasn't moving at all. Hiro's heart began to race. That wasn't supposed to have happened...he certainly hadn't done it. Sniffling from the after-effects of the sneeze, he looked around nervously. Did that mean that there was someone else around with the same power that he had-the power to stop time?

He thought of calling out to whoever may have done it, but his voice caught in his throat-either through fear, or that lingering scratchiness. He wasn't sure whoever it was would be friendly and he didn't like the prospect of someone with less than noble motives being able to do this.

Then, he stopped for a moment. If someone else had stopped time, wouldn't he himself be frozen too? So that would mean that he had done it...he knew his powers could be a bit hit and miss sometimes, but he'd never done anything without trying to before. He whimpered in apprehension and then snuffled...as soon as he figured out how to sort out this mess, the next important order of business would be to find himself some tissues.

Well, however it had happened, he needed to put things right, that was for sure. He screwed up his face in a look of intense concentration, focussing all of his energy into the effort of activating his powers. Or rather, he tried to. He could tell it wasn't working…the congestion in his head was filling him with an uncomfortable, headachy feeling that he couldn't help but be distracted by and which blocked the concentration he normally required. Not to mention that it hurt.

This renewed Hiro's panic and he whimpered again. He couldn't fix it. He couldn't start time again. He paced frantically and then, in the absence of a better idea, waved his hands in front of his frozen friends face, of course to no avail. Wringing his hands, he thought about the seriousness of the situation. How long would time stay stuck like this? Frowning in consternation, he poked Ando in the back of the head although he had to admit that he wasn't entirely sure what he expected that to accomplish, except that he rather hoped that Ando would suddenly spring back to life and shout "Just kidding! Fooled you good, didn't I?"

But of course that didn't happen.

Hiro sighed. "This is going to be a p...heh'KSSHHU...a problem."

The world around him suddenly sprang back into life. Hiro uttered a little squeal of joy.

Ando swung around in confusion. "How did you get there all of the sudden? Did you stop time without telling me."

Hiro rubbed his nose with the knuckle of his index finger and sniffed deeply. "I didn't mean to," he protested in a pathetically congested voice. "I think..I think it may have happened when I sneezed."

"Well don't do that anymore."

"It's not like I can h...heh...heh'KCHU!...help it you know!" Hiro retorted, and immediately his face crumpled as he saw that everything around him had once again become frozen. He tried again to activate his powers via the usual method and once again the pervasive congestion blocked his concentration.

"Oh, no..." he whined to himself to break the strange, lonely silence that came from being the only moving breathing anything in the entire world. "This is going to be a problem."

Well, if he couldn't activate his powers normally, the only answer would be to start time the exact same way that he'd stopped it, but waiting until he had to sneeze again was too unpredictable a solution. Still, it would be a solution. He crinkled up his nose and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to persuade that annoying, ever present burning tickle in the back of his nose to grow into something more productive. When it didn't work, he gave a worried sniff that was nearly on the verge of a sob and sat down on a nearby planter.

He began to mentally run through a list of all the things that he knew could make him sneeze. His seasonal allergies immediately sprang to mind, it was hard not to think of them as they were always a reliable source, but there was a big problem with that idea-it simply wasn't the right time of the year. And he needed something a bit more easily available, but what?

Perhaps it was pure luck or perhaps simply thinking about his allergies brought about some sort of mental effect, but at that exact moment, his nose began to prickle and tingle.

"Oh thank g...thank goo....ehhhght'TSSH!" He sighed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Thank goodness."

Now unfrozen, Ando swung around from side to side, startled at Hiro's "sudden disappearance"

"Now you're over there. Did you do it again?"

"I'm sorry," Hiro mumbled.

"At least warn me before you sneeze from now on. I don't want to keep getting frozen too."

Although Hiro was still getting used to what he could do with his powers and how exactly to do it, he'd managed to figure out some things about how they worked, including the very useful fact that he could bring someone along during his trips though time, or stop them from getting frozen when he stopped time, simply by touching them as he activated his powers.

"I'll try, but I don't always know until it happens..."

"Well try your best. I don't want to end up frozen forever or something like that."

Hiro didn't answer immediately, instead just looking thoughtful as he wiped his nose with his finger. Finally, after a pause he said: "Well, we've stopped here long enough. Isn't it time we get back on the road and…uh-oh, wait…" He stopped and scrunched up his face in an almost amusing picture of desperation, but after a small moment he simply shook his head and said "Never mind."

Ando shook his head. This was going to be a long night. Turning to Hiro he said "Maybe it would be better to find someplace to stop for the night. It would make more sense for you to get some rest, I think."

Hiro shook his head firmly. "There's no time, we must keep to our mission. It's very important."

"Oh yes, the mission," Ando said with a hint of a sigh. There was that word again. Ando didn't doubt that Hiro had special powers, he'd seen them in action and they'd come in very handy in Las Vegas until Hiro had decided to be a wet blanket and stop playing along. But, all this grandiose proclaiming about a "superhero's responsibilities" and notions about "saving the world"...well, Ando suspected Hiro had read one too many comic books. This was reality and in reality bad guys didn't try to take over the world so why Hiro couldn't just have a bit of fun with his powers was beyond him. But he knew that saying any of that to Hiro's face was liable to sent him into a sulk. So Ando had to approach it from another angle.

"What happens if you sneeze while I'm driving?" he pointed out. "You've never stopped time in a moving vehicle before...do you even know what will happen? Will the car freeze too or will it keep moving because you're in it? I don't know about you but I don't want to find out the hard way. And if you don't rest now, your cold might get worse...and if it's causing this much trouble now, imagine what happens if you get worse. You might accidentally sneeze yourself into the time of the dinosaurs and get stepped on. Or worse, you might bring me there with you."

Hiro pondered that for a moment. It was a very valid point, and they still had a decent amount of time to get to New York for their mission-one night wouldn't throw the schedule off all that much. And if he was perfectly honest, he really did feel lousy and even a bed in a cheap motel would be a considerably more comfortable place to rest than the passenger seat of a moving car. So he nodded his agreement. "Okay, if we find someplace, we can st..st…heh'KNNXXGHT!"

His hand flew up and he pinched his nose firmly in an attempt to stop the sneeze from escaping. However, in hindsight as the resulting sharp blinding pain flashed through his sinuses, he realised it had been a very, very bad idea. Further evidence that it was a very, very bad idea was the fact that his hand now felt distinctly...damp, and he felt compelled to wipe it clean on his trousers.

Yes, it had been a bad idea indeed and it hadn't even produced the desired result because he could tell from the pervading silence that he'd managed to stop time again. His face throbbing, Hiro looked over at Ando, who had reacted quickly enough to grab Hiro's arm and thus avoid getting frozen.

"I thought I told you to warn me," Ando scolded.

"Sorry. I did say that sometimes I don't know until it happens."

They loitered there for a moment, the eerie silence broken only by Ando absentmindedly humming and Hiro's wet sniffling, which eventually gave way to bored small talk.

"So..." Ando said, kicking some imaginary pebbles with his foot. "To start time again we have to wait until you need to sneeze?"

Hiro shrugged. "Seems that way."

"It's very inconvenient."

Hiro coughed, then frowned at his friend. "Thanks for at least caring about my health." He sniffled and drew his long suffering sleeve under his nose again. "I don't suppose you have any tissues?" he asked.

"No, there might be some in the car though."

They seemed to come to the realisation simultaneously that there really was no reason for them to stay in the same spot to await the restarting of time and that it actually might make sense to start making their way to where the car was parked. There was no harm, hardly anyone was on the streets and if time suddenly restarted there wouldn't be a huge crowd of people to witness them suddenly "appear out of nowhere".

Hiro shivered as he walked, wondering what it would take to feel warm again. He wiped his nose on his sleeve yet again, realising that he was going to have to come up with a better solution than that fairly quickly.

"Hey, Hiro," Ando said, hitting Hiro on the arm playfully "As long as time is stopped, wanna-"

"No," Hiro groaned.

"You didn't even hear what I was going to say!"

"Did it involve anything dishonest?"

Ando looked at his feet. "Not exactly...well..."

Hiro gave him a pointed glare from over the top of his glasses. Any lecture that he'd been thinking about giving was lost as his attention was diverted to the important task of pressing his knuckle to the underside of his nose. His breath hitched for a moment and then he lowered his hand with a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing?" Ando exclaimed in horror. "You're not supposed to be trying to stop yourself this time! Do you want everything to stay frozen forever?"

"Oh, I forgot," Hiro sighed. "Damn it!" He bit his lip. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too long for the next one to happen...
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To be continued...

Chapter 2

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"Well, we're at the car," Ando said, although there was no reason to except as a way to start a conversation again. Every time they managed to find something to talk about, Hiro's attention trailed off and they ended up in silence once again. In truth, Hiro barely had the energy for a conversation much less to walk and he was looking forward to being able to sit down in the car.

"Anything yet?" Ando asked as he unlocked the doors to the car, but Hiro merely shook his head glumly, slid into the passenger seat, and immediately opened the glove compartment like a man on a mission. It yielded plenty of what he was looking for…an abundance of napkins that had come with various McDonalds meals. At the time, he had thought it so wasteful that they were always given far more napkins than anyone could humanly use, but now as he clutched them as if they were a precious treasure he'd given up his life to search for, he was very grateful for their sheer number.

Leaving the rest in his lap for easy access, Hiro turned his head away from Ando's direction to try and be as discreet as possible, pressed the half unfolded napkin to his nose and blew as productively as he could while still being relatively quiet about it. The napkin paper felt rough and harsh against the skin of his nose but he didn't mind. The relief it brought was worth it. It was a short lived relief however and he was forced to fold the now-dampened napkin and repeat the performance.

He sighed and rested his head against the car window. Only a few moments ago he'd been shivering uncontrollably and now he suddenly felt strangely warm. Ando saw the discomfort in his friend's face and hesitated-he'd wanted to repeat the question "Anything yet?" but he couldn't think of any way to say it that didn't sound pushy.

Hiro groaned and slowly raised his hand to his face before tiredly coughing a few times. He thought if he closed his eyes right now, he would easily be able to go to sleep. If he did that however, he'd never sneeze time back unfrozen and the world would be forced to stay stopped until he woke up. They wouldn't mind after all, they'd be frozen and would never know…but he couldn't do that. It would be far too irresponsible.

So, instead of closing his eyes, he rubbed his nose vigorously with the palm of his hand, hoping to stimulate his nasal passages into action. Why was it that when he didn't want to sneeze, he couldn't help but do it…but when he did want to, they simply refused to come?

He coughed again a few more times. His throat was really starting to feel raw and painful and he didn't even have any water or anything to try and soothe it. He wiped his nose with the wadded up, by now well-used napkin. For some reason, his nose was coming dangerously close to dripping embarrassingly right now.

"Hiro…" Ando began.

Hiro turned wearily towards him. "No, not yet."

"I was actually going to ask you if you were okay."

"Do I look like I'm okay?" Hiro groaned, then immediately added. "Sorry, I didn't mean that. I really didn't. I don't think I'm in a very good mood."

He raised the napkin to his nose once more, then decided that on second thought that particular one had long since had it's day, and consigned it to his pocket, replacing it with one of it's companions from the pile on his lap. He pressed it to his nose and blew as quietly and discreetly as possible and yet the sound was glaringly obvious as it cut through the otherwise perfect silence. This time the harsh paper felt even more like sandpaper on his increasingly tender nose and he winced slightly as he wiped the end of his nose to make sure it was as clean and dry as possible.

Beside him in the drivers seat, Ando idly turned the keys in the ignition, which of course produced absolutely no result. Hiro rolled his head to the side to look at him.

"I could have told you that wouldn't work," he pointed out.

"Well, trying won't hurt anything, will it?"

"Mmm," Hiro muttered. "I..I th-ehhhght'TSSH! Oh finally! Uh oh…hehh…hehh…heh'KCHU! Oh, damn…wait…hahkt'CCHTT!" He sighed. "Well that worked out okay in the end," he said with relief to a slightly bewildered Ando. Ando shrugged at that, and turned the key in the ignition, making the car shudder into life. Then, he paused and switched it back on again.

Turning to Hiro, he said. "Do you think you can hold out until we find a place to stop? Sneezing, I mean. This seems like it could be dangerous."

"I'll be fine," Hiro replied in a voice so thick with congestion that it was almost difficult to make out his words. "I think I will just sleep until we get there." Then, deciding that it was in fact, unbearably cold after all he reached over and turned on the car's heater.

"Oh come on!" Ando protested. "Isn't it hot enough al…you know what, never mind. If you need the heater, you can have the heater." Yes, he thought to himself, this was going to be a VERY long night. He started the car again and slowly eased it out of the parking space.

He knew it shouldn't be too difficult to find some place to stay, the highways around here were dotted with plenty of motels and in their experience it wasn't hard at all to find one with vacant rooms. And quite frankly, he wasn't going to be picky-he was willing to stay in the very first place they found no matter what it was like. He really did feel nervous driving around with Hiro likely to uncontrollably stop time at any moment.

He stole a glance in Hiro's direction as he rounded a corner. Although Hiro had vowed to sleep during the journey, he didn't seem inclined to stick to that very closely. Hiro sat nestled into his seat, gazing blearily off into the distance, every once in a while reaching up to dab at his nose with a crumpled napkin.

It was fortunate that there was not many other cars on the road, because Ando found it difficult to give 100% of his attention to his driving. He found it impossible not to steal furtive glances in Hiro's direction every few moments. Hiro didn't seem very reliable in letting him know when he was about to sneeze, so Ando nervously checked him for signs. If he was going to freeze everything again, Ando wanted to stop the car beforehand just to be absolutely safe.

Ando never thought he'd ever pay so much attention to the subtle nuances of Hiro's nose in his life. Nothing escaped his attention-very twitch, every quiver, every sniffle made him grip the steering wheel in preparation to pull off the road and stop the car. Hiro, perceptive even in his otherwise sluggish state, turned his head slowly to face Ando.

"Relax," he croaked. "I'll tell you if I'm going to."

"Didn't you already say that you don't always know until it happens?"

Hiro didn't answer, and Ando wasn't sure if his silence was a confirmation or a denial. As they drove through the heavily black night, Ando continued to steal sidelong glances at Hiro, looking for any changes to his countenance that might herald an oncoming sneeze.

After moments of silence, Hiro slowly raised a cupped hand to his mouth and inhaled sharply. Ando's eye's widened in alarm as he looked towards the side of the road for a suitable place to pull over. But after inhaling fully, the only thing Hiro did was indulge in a series of heartfelt coughs. Ando breathed a sigh of relief and returned his attention to driving.

Hiro looked over at his friend, arching an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Not much time had passed before Hiro suddenly straightened up in his seat, curled his finger under his nose and with his face screwed up into a mask of desperation, began to inhale urgently

"Oh Hiro don't…not while the car is moving…please wait!" Ando panicked.

Hiro lowered his hand from his face to reveal his mouth twisted into a weak attempt at a cheeky grin.

"Fooled you!" he exclaimed hoarsely yet gleefully. "I really tricked you good, didn't I?"

Ando visibly melted in a mixture of relief and mild unamusedness. "That wasn't funny, Hiro. Don't DO that!"

"It WAS funny," Hiro said, closing his eyes and savouring the moment. "You were so scared." He attempted to chuckle to himself but it just irritated his throat and he only ended up coughing a few times instead.

"Serves you right," Ando huffed.

In the distance o the vast expanse of blackness of the desert highway, the bright welcoming beacon of a roadside sign became visible. As they got closer it became clear that it as a sign bearing the magic word: "Motel".

Ando had never before felt so relieved. He'd had enough of worrying to last him a lifetime, and his hands had been gripping the steering wheel so tightly that he feared they may never unstiffen ever again.

"Look at that," he said to Hiro in an attempt at being caring and reassuring. "You'll be able to rest soon."

Hiro smiled his acknowledgement and gratefully imagined how nice a bed with blanket and a pillow would be, as Ando guided their car along the off ramp of the highway.

I have described an American motel without ever having seen one, so forgive me if it's completely inaccurate. I am sure most of my setting (and probably alot of my facts from the show) is inaccurate but it works with the scene, so I've decided to call it "artistic license".

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Chapter 3

They were relieved to find that the motel's big yellow "vacancies" sign was lit up like a warm ray of sunshine cutting through the dark night. They were also slightly surprised to find that the motel itself did not look entirely unpleasant. Hiro stretched stiffly as he got out of the car, even though they had not been on the road for that long, and then stuffed as many fresh napkins as he possibly could into the pocket that didn't contain the used ones.

Then, he stopped and frowned at Ando who had already started making his way through the car park, towards the entrance.

"What are you doing?" Hiro demanded.

Ando looked quizzical. "I'm…going inside? Isn't that what we meant to do?"

Hiro pointed to the wheeled, small silver suitcase that trailed from Ando's left hand. "That's my suitcase."

"Oh, I thought I'd carry it for you. You need to take it easy after all."

Hiro cocked his head and pouted. "It's a cold, I'm not dying. I can carry it myself."

Ando shrugged. "Whatever you want. Suit yourself. I'm not going to argue with you."

Trotting briskly to catch up to Ando, Hiro huffed as he gained precious control over the handle of his suitcase. His nose twitched, and he contorted his face, with his lips slightly parted while his breath began to hitch softly, and he paused with his napkin-clutching hand hovering near his face in preparation.

Ando rolled his eyes. "C'mon, do you think I'm going to fall for that again? I already told you, that's not funny."

"N..no…I…I really…EHHGGKH'tcchu!…hehhh…hekkSSH!" He sighed and blinked his eyes which were now watering from the force of the sneeze. "Ehh…hehkk'TCHHU!"

"Please tell me you're finished," Ando said with a note of faint alarm in his voice.

Hiro sniffed deeply. "Finished," he said with a sigh that betrayed his immense relief. He blew his nose on yet another napkin and consigned it to meet it's fallen comrades in his now near-burgeoning side pocket.

Neither man said anything but they were both thinking the same thing. Hiro always started sneezing in multiples once a cold got really underway, but it was never consistent and it was impossible to predict just how many he'd manage in a single fit. It could be two, it could be five. Once, he'd even accomplished seven. Of course with the effects that his sneezing was having on his powers now, this was a very worrying development.

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The "reception area", if it could even be called that, was simply a sad looking desk in a sad looking room. Ringing the sad looking bell on the desk produced not a sad-looking woman to complete the picture, but a rather annoyed looking one on the wrong side of middle age. She glared at each of them in turn, giving particular attention to Hiro-she seemed to find the sight of him clutching a napkin to his face and snuffling dolefully into it from time to time rather distasteful.

"I kin giv' ya two rooms, but they ain't on the same floor," she said tersely.

"Oh no," said Ando, the designated spokesman of the two men, being the only one who spoke passable English. "We only need one room." He wanted to be able to keep as close an eye on Hiro's time stopping shenanigans as possible.

"Ando…" Hiro suddenly interrupted, his voice muffled by the napkin. "I…I…"

Ando reached over and put his hand on Hiro's arm just a split second before Hiro unleashed a "Hehh'ECCKKTTCCH!" from the very bottom of his lungs, so powerful that it left him doubled over at the waist, one hand on his knees to brace himself and one hand firmly clamping the napkin over his nose and mouth. Sighing, he straightened up and followed that up with a much less forceful "ehhhght'TSSH!"

The woman at the desk arched an eyebrow at the sight of Ando, to her eyes, suddenly stroking Hiro's arm tenderly.

"So I take it you want a double bed?" she said dryly.

Ando thought about that for a moment. "Yes," he said, holding up two fingers. "One room, double beds."

The woman leaned over the desk. "Look, it's a simple question." She said slowly, as if talking to a child. "You want two beds, or you gonna share one?"

Ando's eyes widened. "Two beds, two beds!"

"What is she saying?" Hiro whispered, only to be brushed off by Ando.

Hiro refused to give up. "What did she say?" he continued to pester on the way to the room. Finally, Ando stopped walking and turned to him.

"You really want to know? She said she thought you were handsome and wanted to know if you were single."

Hiro's eyes widened. "Eh?! What did you tell her?"

"Well, you are single aren't you? I told her the truth. She wants to have a drink with you later…and she said 'maybe more'."

"B..but…I can't! I thought I was supposed to rest! My cold, remember?"

A took one look at Hiro's shocked, pleading expression and couldn't keep a straight face any longer and he broke into delighted laughter. Hiro finally realised that he was the butt of a prank, and his face fell into a sulk.

"That's not funny!" Hiro protested.

"Now we're even, aren't we?" Ando grinned cheekily. "You should have seen your face!"

Hiro snuffled and rubbed at his nose with his finger. Doing that made him realise that he really needed the use of a tissue again…or one of the hateful napkins. He clutched a napkin and dabbed at the end of his nose as gingerly as he could. Already the skin on his nose was becoming pink and sore from the irritation of the unforgiving harshness of the napkins. He felt as if he probably needed to blow his nose again but rather than submit his poor suffering nose to that punishment, he opted for trying to keep his nose in control by repeated sniffing.

Every single door along the outdoor corridor looked exactly the same. They searched each numbered door for the number that matched the one printed on the once red, but now dulled by the grime of many years worth of fingerprints, keychain Ando held in his hands.

The key stuck in the door at first and it took more than a little effort to get it open. Hiro would have been glad to see the interior of the room no matter what it looked like, which was a very good thing indeed. Really, the only criteria he was looking for was a bed, and it fulfilled that criteria at least. It was a very basic room, two beds separated by a bedside cabinet, and across from that a small television on a shelf. No facilities for cooking, although there was a kettle that looked as if it were at least a decade old.

Hiro made a beeline for the bed, and pulled back the dark blue blanket, stopping only to remove his shoes but otherwise remaining fully clothed.

"It's not that late," Ando pointed out. "Are you sure you wil manage to sleep through the night if you go to bed now? Maybe you want me to order dinner?"

"Not that hungry," Hiro grunted.

"You can sit in bed and watch TV for a while."

Hiro made a face. His limited knowledge of English meant that most of anything on the television made little sense to him and consequently held no interest. He simply occupied himself with the very important task of crawling under the blanket, lying down, and then arranging the blanket so as to retain the maximum amount of heat. Ando shrugged and tried to pick up the remote control from the bedside table but found it firmly attached, probably some sort of anti-theft measure. So he resorted to lazing on the bed, reaching over to press buttons to change channel occaisionally.

As Hiro drifted off to sleep, he was brought back by the air suddenly being filled with a noise that he had often heard coming from Ando's television and sometimes computer. The arrival of this sound was swiftly followed by Ando's delighted voice exclaiming "Hiro! Wake up! You'll never GUESS what channel this thing gets!"

"Unff…" Hiro muttered into his pillow, rolling over onto his other side to chide Ando. He never got the chance, as his breath suddenly began to catch. Ando leapt from the bed and grabbed onto Hiro's arm just in time before Hiro uttered a squeaky "Heekk'tcchi!"…a small sneeze, but it was enough. Time was frozen, again.

"Don't suppose you have any more coming?" Ando asked, slumping on the floor beside Hiro's bed.

Hiro sat up. "Doesn't feel like it. Guess we just have to wait." He caught sight of the television, and rolled his eyes. It had happened to freeze on a particularly revealing shot of a very flexible looking woman, who also happened to be nude. Hiro groaned. "Oh Ando, look what you've done. Now we're stuck looking at THAT."

Ando grinned impishly at Hiro. "Maybe you need to look at that for a while. You're so obsessed with being a 'superhero', you forgot how to be a man. Don't you like girls?"

"I like girls, I just don't want to see them like that. It just seems…not right."

"You know you want to look. Be a man and live a little."

"I don't want to!"

Ando jumped on the bed, grinning wickedly at his friend "Just have a look. You know you really want to!" He grabbed Hiro's head, intending to force him to turn his head in the direction of the television. But once he put his hands onto Hiro's head, he stopped in shock.

"Oh wow," he said with slight awe. "You…you're really burning up!" His eyes fixed on Hiro in an expression of astonishment, Ando slowly reached over and pressed a surprisingly tender hand to Hiro's forehead.

"So hot…" he said. "Hiro, why didn't you tell me you were THAT sick? I had no idea."

Hiro shrugged.

"You need medicine for that fever. And I don't even think we have any…I'm going to check, but I think it's going to be a problem if we don't."

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I'm bad at cliffhangers, I know! To be continued!

I've never seen that show (always seem to miss it...) but it sounds pretty interesting to me!
Did I mention that I love your fic? Well I just did.

that made me laugh.
You are doing a great job so far! I really like it, keep up the good work

WOW the extreme greatness of this fic is getting to me! I LOVE Heroes (the first series has just finished in the UK), and Hiro is blatantly my favourite, with the cute glasses and little-kid-ness and...yeah...I'm really loving this. And the whole Ando/Hiro banter and caring thing is so CUTE! Great thing to come back from 4 days of interviews at Oxford and find...I should go write something about that now...

lalaland: THAT is a fantastic compliment. For some reason I like to add a bit of humour into my sneezefics and I'm always overjoyed when people enjoy it.

kastrel: Yes! It's Wednesday right now and I think I had withdrawals because I'm so used to watching it on the BBC on this day. Good thing I live in Ireland and the station that is showing it here is still working it's way through Season 1 so I get to watch everything twice. Hiro is SUCH a cutie-pie, he's very much my favourite too!

Anyhow, I should have posted this AGES ago but sort of forgot. So, Chapter 4...

This bit's really, really short. Because the scene after this is long so I opted to go for a couple shorter bits instead of lumping it in with the next scene and having this insanely long monster of a chapter. I hope it ends up being the right choice, because this one is REALLY short.

Warnings for things that can possibly gross people out. There's sneezing ON people in this chapter and will be in the next one as well. And there's a tiny bit of talk of messy sneezing. I don't think it's that graphic but just in case some people find that distasteful.
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Chapter 4

While Ando rummaged around the bags for any sort of medicine at all, Hiro decided to take the opportunity to burrow back underneath the blankets again, covering himself completely, even his head.

"Don't go to sleep," Ando called over. "Don't forget you can't leave time frozen like this…"

"I won't," came the muffled reply.

Just as Ando thought, there was no cold medicine or aspirin or…anything. There was an unusual surplus of indigestion tablets but that was it. Ando rolled his eyes. Hiro usually insisted on being freakishly overprepared for any eventuality-wasn't it just their luck that this was the one time he wasn't prepared?

"Looks like we have nothing," Ando observed.

No reply came from the blanket-lump formerly known as Hiro.

"Hey, Hiro! I told you not to go to sleep!"

"I'm not," the Blanket Lump mumbled.

Ando sat down on the bed. "We're going to have to go out to buy you some medicine."

Hiro's face emerged from the corner of the blanket. "Make sure you hurry back," he replied.

"No, WE. I'm not leaving you out of my sight to stop time all over the place. I'm keeping my eyes on you."

Hiro coughed and sat up carefully, retrieving his glasses from the nightstand as he did. "It's okay, I don't need any medicine. I'd rather rest. I'll be fine." He smiled warmly at his friend. "Thanks for caring about me, though."

"Oh, it's not you I'm worried about. I want to buy some of that stuff that knocks you out all night. I want to make sure you're good and asleep so I don't have to stay up all night worrying about if you're going to sneeze."

Hiro narrowed his eyes. "Well, thanks. Anyway, didn't you think it was dangerous to drive with me? Weren't you worried about what would happen if I stopped time in a moving vehicle?"

"I'm not thrilled about it, either but out of all the choices, this is the best way."

Hiro folded his arms and pouted.

Ando smiled cheekily. "And don't worry," he said, jokingly patting Hiro's head like a small child or puppy. "I do care about you too!"

Hiro tried to roll his eyes but his attention was diverted by a sudden fierce burning sensation in his nose. It came on so suddenly that it took him by surprise and a wet "heh'KCHU...hehh…hekkSSH! Heekk'tcchi!" exploded from his lips before he had a chance to cover his mouth or warn his friend to get out of the way.

Staring Hiro directly in the eyes, Ando very slowly and deliberately reached up and wiped the damp mist from his cheek and then dried his hand on the blanket. Then, as Hiro looked on with an expression of contriteness and deep embarrassment, Ando inspected the patch of his shirt that was now decorated with an array of wet droplets.

"Sorry," mumbled Hiro, inspecting the buttons on his shirt with furious intensity.

Recovering from his shock, Ando gained enough presence of mind to slug Hiro angrily on the arm.

"That's so disgusting! Don't you have any manners at all?"

Hiro sniffed deeply and ran his hand under his nose. "I said sorry. They took me by surprise." He sniffed again and fished a napkin from his pocket to blow his nose. The rough texture of the napkin scraped his irritated skin, almost bringing tears to his weary eyes. Throwing the blanket back, he got out of bed and slowly padded over to the bathroom in the hopes that he'd find some nice soft toilet paper to use in place of the evil napkins.

His hopes were unanswered. The toilet paper was a stiff, rough paper that couldn't reasonably be called "soft" in any interpretation and seemed as if the only time it should ever be used by human beings was as a punishment for very, very bad people.

It occurred to Hiro that would be a very large benefit of going to the shop-he could buy a nice big box of fluffy, soft, smooth, soothing tissues. The very thought filled him with a sense of warm anticipation as if he were a starving person dreaming of a big juicy steak. That was enough to make him agree to go. He could tell that he was going to need to blow his nose a lot tonight, and if he had to stick to using the napkins or toilet paper for the entire duration, he'd end up in tears.

"Okay," Hiro sniffed. "We ca…we…hehhk'TCHU!…let's…EHHP'tchh…heh'kTCHI!" He caught the last one with the back of his hand, which didn't turn out to be the best place for it and he dried his hand on the side of his trousers. "Ugh…ehhhght'TSSH!" He stopped, sighed, and sniffed deeply-waiting for any more to show themselves.

He blew his painful nose again. "Okay, I'm done."

Ando looked at Hiro and bit back the urge to make a playful jibe about Hiro's unfortunate nose. Normally, he'd never hesitate at an opportunity to tease Hiro, but Ando did get the feeling that his friend was feeling more sensitive than usual right now. But, it was very hard not to make a joke about it. Hiro's poor nose was red and tender from the irritation of repeated blowing and wiping and it stood out like a beacon on his otherwise fever-paled face. The entire picture gave him an appearance of half ridiculous, half pathetic.

Instead, Ando simply asked "Sure you're done?" as he opened the door and motioned for Hiro to go ahead of him. Hiro cupped his hand over his mouth and coughed a few times-a harsh, dry cough that sounded more than a little painful. Shivering, he zipped up the front of his jumper as extra protection against the night air that was only chilly to him.

Of course, neither man being familiar with the area, they had to find out exactly where they should be going. And the most logical way to find out was to go ask at the front desk which meant facing the sour-faces scary woman that worked behind it. Still, it was a means to an end.

"You two again?" she muttered. "If ya don't like the room, 's too bad. No refunds."

Ando shook his head and explained to her their predicament. Hiro snuffled to himself while he paid close attention to their conversation and tried in vain to decipher it. He still didn't trust that Ando was joking when he said that scary woman fancied him…even though the woman seemed to look at him with a mixture of annoyance and contempt. For all Hiro knew that was just her face, and not a special expression just for him.

"Come on now," Ando said to Hiro, gesturing him to follow. "We're in luck. She says it's only five minutes away by car. You can keep from sneezing for five minutes, right?"

"I hope so," Hiro answered glumly, his voice muffled by a napkin clutched to his face, and blew his nose yet again. "I really hope so."
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To be continued...soon. It's coming up to my favourite parts (hows THAT for conceited?)