Who We Are (Hiro x Reader)

epilogue

one month later

The feeling of the warm water against your skin is the most amazing feeling you've felt in months. In one of the many bathrooms, Honey Lemon prepared you your first bath. After a month of nothing but rags and hair washing in the sink, you finally have the chance to take an actual bath. She and Hiro boiled enough water to fill it to the brim. You sigh and run your fingers through the thick, matted knots of your hair.

The sweet scent of the strawberry and cream shampoo fills your nostrils. Baths like these were luxuries that you had always taken for granted back then. Now, it made you feel so clean, fresh, and new.

You lay in the tub for hours, probably. No one questions it, Hiro only stops by to knock and ask if you're okay. While you're floating in the water, you grab the handheld mirror off of the sink. You angle it to look at the wound below your chest. Your skin looked pink, irritated, and ruined. It stays now as a reminder of what you nearly lost, and who you are.

There's another knock at the door. "Princess?"

"I'm okay," you call out, putting the mirror back.

He chuckles. "I understand that you've been looking forward to this for a long time, but it's dark now. You've literally been in there all day."

You smile. "Sorry. It's just so nice. I'll get out in just a second."

"No, take your time. You deserve it. I just don't want you to strain yourself," he replies.

"I won't." You reach over and pull out the drain. The dark, soapy water starts going down. You grab the fluffy white towel and shakily stand up. You wrap yourself in the towel and grab the hair brush Honey Lemon had given you. You start at the roots, dragging the brush through your hair, until all of the knots gather up at the bottom. You try to get as many out as you can, then you grab the scissors.

The knots left in your hair fall to the floor as you snip them away. You're hair is still very long, but it looks healthy. You clean up your mess and get dressed, taking extra care to be mindful of your wound.

When you open the door and slowly make your way to the bedroom. Hiro is staring out of the window.

"Hey," you say.

He turns around. "Hi, princess." He crosses the room and wraps his arms around you. "Feel better?"

"Much, much better."

He smirks. "Gotta say - you look a lot better." You gasp and smack his arm. He laughs at you as you push your way out of his hold and go to the bed. His arms snake around you and he pulls you gently onto the bed.

"Ah - Hiro!" you cry. He pins you to the bed, being mindful of how fragile you are right now.

"I was kidding," he says, leaning over you. "You're just as beautiful now as you were the day I first met you." His left hand strokes your cheek and he dips his head and captures your lips into a kiss. You smile against his lips, lifting your hands to play with his hair. He sighs, pulling back to look at you. Your eyelids open lazily. "As much as I'd love to kiss you all day, I've got a job to do now."

Your grab at the end of his hair, bringing him closer to your face. You slowly kiss him across his jaw and cheek. "As much as I'd love for you to save the world," you say mockingly, "I just wanna kiss you all day." You continue covering his face in kisses.

He laughs and puts his hands around your wrists, pulling you away. "You are impossible, princess." His grin grows, making his eyes almost disappear. You cup his face, admiring his features.

When this whole thing started, you thought that you had already known who you were. You were a sixteen year old girl, scared but not weak, hiding in the attic of a funeral home. You were stupid. You waited for a family that wasn't ever coming to get you. Your mom, your dad, your baby sister... they were all gone, but they would never be forgotten.

After that, finding the Hamada family, a home, a life, then losing Cass and Tadashi... it just added to it. But everyday, you fell deeper for Hiro Hamada. He never stopped loving you, not when he lost Tadashi, not when you killed the man that held you both hostage, not when he risked everything just so you could breathe one more time every second.

You've created a bond with him that you couldn't imagine losing. Nothing will ever break you two apart. During this entire thing, you've subconsciously been searching for who you are. Now, as you gaze into his big brown eyes, you know who you are.

You're you, and you are Hiro's. You're his anchor, his happiness, and the one and only thing in this world that drives him to do what he does. You know that everyday, when he goes down to the basement and works on that antidote for hours at a time, that he loves you. He's doing it all for you and your future.

Now, your future will forever and always include him.

You take a deep breath. "I'm really in love with you, Hiro Hamada."

"That's good," he says softly. "Because I'm really in love with you, too." He tilts his head to the left, pressing his face against your hand. His lips brush against your wrist.

"I want to spend every single day of the rest of my life with you, no matter how short that may be."

"I won't let your life be short, ___," he whispers. "You're going to live a long, happy life. I'm going to fix this world and we're going to be as normal as two kids who spent six months beating dead people's butts can be."

You giggle and roll your eyes. "And we'll be together?"

"Forever," he promises. "That's the only way I'd be able to do this. You're everything to me. I love you so, so much."

You wrap your arms around his neck and pull to you. His face rests against the crook of your neck. And for the rest of the night, you held closely onto who you are. You held onto your hope, your life, and your future.

And you never planned on letting him go.