[ Ha. Well. Tadashi's free and clear; Hiro still has a few more nasty ones stowed away ... but he's not going to dredge them up any time soon. He ducks his head a bit at that, smiling faintly. ]
Me too, okay? Don't forget to let me return the favor. I wanna -
[ Speaking of subconscious programming. There's a familiar pause as he loses track of his thoughts for a moment. A dark little thought bubbles to the surface instead of the hopeful statement he was planning on saying. ]
[He listens and -- okay, that is officially a Problem. He's not sure what's causing that or if Hiro even notices it, but it's a pattern now. Every time it sounds like Hiro's going to say something related to Tadashi and ... something specific, Hiro loses the words somewhere. That just isn't like him.
But he sits up right when Hiro speaks again, looking at him confused.]
I-- Yeah. Yeah, of course I wanna go home. How else am I gonna see Aunt Cass again? Or try to fix things?
[ That at least dims the fog a bit, seeing his actual flesh-and-blood brother and not some dream shadow confirming that for him. He still seems weirdly uneasy about a subject he's usually 100% about. ]
I - I don't know. There's a lot of things that could go wrong.
Well... Maybe? But that's why we've got people who have a better idea of what they're doing helping us and why we're going to test it safely until we know for sure it works.
[ He opens his mouth to shrug it off ... and pauses. This pause is a natural one, from him actually thinking differently and not just glitching over the topic. There's noticeable contrast between the two. Tadashi just got done laying out all his secrets, right? And Hiro ... he still can't tell Tadashi all of them, but this one he can offer up, at least. Fair is fair. ]
no subject
Me too, okay? Don't forget to let me return the favor. I wanna -
[ Speaking of subconscious programming. There's a familiar pause as he loses track of his thoughts for a moment. A dark little thought bubbles to the surface instead of the hopeful statement he was planning on saying. ]
You want to go home, right?
no subject
But he sits up right when Hiro speaks again, looking at him confused.]
I-- Yeah. Yeah, of course I wanna go home. How else am I gonna see Aunt Cass again? Or try to fix things?
no subject
I - I don't know. There's a lot of things that could go wrong.
no subject
no subject
Right. We'll make it as safe as possible.
no subject
[And then he leans his head a little, tries to get a better look at his face.]
... You okay? Look a little lost...
no subject
I'm okay. I'm doing better, actually.
[ Deep breath. ]
... I've kind of been seeing a therapist.