Tadashi sat on his bed, reading his Civics textbook for the third time while he waited for his little brother to get home.
It was now officially one in the morning and Hiro still wasn't in his bed.
Tadashi planned to catch his sibling red-handed.
Finally, at one o' seven, the bedroom door opened slowly, giving off an eerie, horror movie sounding noise.
Tadashi smirked and raised an eyebrow as he watched his brother creep into their shared room.
When Hiro turned around, his eyes locked with Tadashi's and he knew he had been caught.
"Tadashi!" Hiro gasped, "What are you doing up?" He asked.
"Waiting for you" Tadashi said as he looked down to see Hiro trying to hid a bot behind his back. Tadashi sighed.
"I thought I told you to stay away from bot fighting, you're gonna get yourself killed" He said
"Yeah, yeah. I know" Hiro groaned. It was then when Tadashi realized Hiro's hood was up.
Hiro quickly noticed the confused look on Tadashi's face and realized he was being watched. "Well, then. Good night." Hiro said, heading to his bed.
"Oh, no you don't" Tadashi said, grabbing Hiro's hoodie. Pulling the hood down, Tadashi gasped.
Hiro's face was multiple shades of black an blue with a cut above his eyebrow and one on his chin.
"Hiro, what happened? Tadashi asked, kneeling down to meet his brothers eyes.
"Well, when I got to the bot fight, there was this guy who claimed he couldn't be beat" Hiro started, "So I stepped up and challenged him, but when I beat him, like I knew I would," Hiro boasted, "He got mad and used me for a punching bag" Hiro explained
"Why didn't you call me?" Tadashi scolded.
"Cause I wanted to avoid getting yelled at. Like I am now" Hiro mumbled
Tadashi's shoulders dropped as he realized scolding Hiro wouldn't do any good. He would just sneak out again.
Making up his mind, Tadashi gently took his baby brothers hand and lead him to their bathroom.
"Stay right there" Tadashi said as he left to find some medical supplies.
Hiro decided to stay instead of getting a lecture, which he was bound to get anyways. After about a minute, Tadashi came back with a washcloth, Neosporin and some bandages.
Tadashi didn't say anything as he wet the washcloth with warm water and carefully swiped it across Hiro's face.
Hiro lightly hissed as the cloth brushed over a particularly tender bruise
"Sorry" Tadashi apologized, "I shouldn't need to do this" Tadashi said, hinting that Hiro would be in major trouble later.
"I'm sorry I'm so talented" Hiro said sarcastically.
"Hiro" Tadashi warned.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry I snuck out" Hiro mumbled.
"You're just lucky you weren't hurt too badly. Imagine what might have happened if you couldn't make it back" Tadashi said, putting his cloth down and picking up the Neosporin and bandages
"That's why I like bot fighting." Hiro said. "You like getting hurt?" Tadashi asked, squeezing the medicine onto his finger.
"No, I like not knowing what's going to happen next." Hiro answered.
Seeing Tadashi's confused face, Hiro started to elaborate. "I always know all the answers in school and I can answer my homework questions faster than the teachers. It's just...boring." Hiro confessed.
"There are a lot of other options other than bot fighting" Tadashi said as he finished rubbing the Neosporin on Hiros cuts.
"Whatever" Hiro muttered, telling Tadashi that he was done talking.
After placing the band aids on each of the cuts, Tadashi brought his attention back on Hiro's hoodie. Without saying a word, Tadashi reached out to unzip the jacket.
"Hey! A little warning would be nice" Hiro exclaimed.
"Sorry, but it's gotta come off" Tadashi smirked.
"I can do that on my own" Hiro said as he stood up to leave. Suddenly his leg gave out and he plummeted to the ground. Before his head could connect with the floor, a pair of strong hands caught him by his shoulder and chest.
"Hiro! Hey, Hiro. You okay?' Tadashi asked as he slowly lowered them both down to the ground.
"Yeah-yeah, I'm fine" Hiro answered, grimacing.
"Tell me what hurts" Tadashi said
"Everything" Hiro answered "My hip hurts" Hiro said.
"Oh, no. Should we get life alert?" Tadashi joked.
"With you in this house we might" Hiro retorted.
"Oh, that was cruel" Tadashi smiled, happy that Hiro was still joking. "Now, lets take a look at that hip" Tadashi said, moving out from under his brother.
"How do you plan to do that?" Hiro asked warily. Tadashi didn't answer, but only smirked before he ambushed his brother. "Hey! What the-" Hiro yelled, surprised by the jump scare. Tadashi drove his hands down to Hiro's waistband but a pair of smaller hands stopped him. So instead, Tadashi decided to attack Hiro a different way. His hands traveled up to Hiro's stomach and he dug his fingers into his brothers sides.
"Tadashi, stop!" Hiro giggled, trying to hold his laughter in.
"Not until you surrender and say you can't live without me" Tadashi laughed
"Never" Hiro yelled.
"Have it your way" Tadashi warned as he started tickling his sibling again.
"Stop it! Tadashi I mean it!" Hiro said as he brought his leg up and lightly shoved Tadashi off of him. But before he could escape, a jolt of shocking pain ran up his side.
Hiro gasped and held his side. Tadashi stopped laughing, afraid he had caused his little brother pain. "Hiro, you gotta let me help you" Tadashi said as he subtly slid his hands down his brothers body.
"Fine" Hiro agreed after a while. No longer wanting to see his brother in pain, Tadashi carefully pulled Hiro's khakis down, along with his underwear. Stopping just below the hip to save any dignity Hiro had left. The hip itself was a dark shade of blue, but didn't look dislocated.
"What happened?" Tadashi asked carefully examining it.
"Well, after I totally obliterated the big guy and his lame robot, he and his friends got mad at me and took my robot. But when they weren't looking I ran past them and got my robot back. I was running back home when all of the sudden this big, muscular guy tackled me!" Hiro started, using his hands for exaggeration.
"Then what?" Tadashi asked as he grabbed the wash cloth again.
"We fell on the ground and I landed on my side, which I guess is how you explain this" Hiro gestured towards his hip.
"After I kicked the guy in the face I ran into the road because I knew they wouldn't follow me into the open. When they heard the police sirens they ran off and then I headed home. And I guess you know what happened after that" Hiro finished.
"Well, it doesn't look dislocated, but you won't be walking for a little bit" Tadashi concluded.
"How long?" Hiro asked, lifting his pants back up.
"Hard to say..." Tadashi's voice faded out. "Did you hurt anything else?" Tadashi asked suspiciously.
"Nope" Hiro answered quickly, "Just my hip and my face" Hiro smiled.
"You sure?" Tadashi asked
"Yep" Hiro answered.
Tadashi studied Hiro's face before smirking confidently. "Oh yeah, wise guy? Would you please look up into the light" Tadashi ordered.
"What? Tadashi-" Hiro started.
"If you can't handle it, then I guess I'll just have to tell Aunt Cass about how you snuck out and-"
"You wouldn't dare!" Hiro gasped.
"Try me, baby brother. I've been at this game much longer than you" Tadashi warned. Hiro didn't say anything as he slowly looked up into the double light bulbs on the ceiling. He winced and quickly looked back down. Tadashi's hunch was confirmed.
Hiro had a concussion.
"You hit your head" Tadashi whispered.
"When the guy tackled me" Hiro answered without a fight.
"You'll be bedridden for the entire weekend for sure. You're lucky it's Friday." Tadashi said, standing up. Hiro groaned in frustration while Tadashi chuckled.
"Don't be such a baby, baby brother"
"You know I hate it when you call me that. I'm not a baby" Hiro said as he let Tadashi lift him up to sit on the toilet.
"But you are to me" Tadashi argued. The room was drowned in silence as the older Hamada slipped his brother's shirt off. Tadashi could tell that Hiro was uncomfortable with being so exposed, so he tried to be quick. After he was done cleaning up any blood he could find, Tadashi glanced up at Hiro's face and smiled gently as he watched his brother struggle to hold onto consciousness.
He didn't know how long it had been since Hiro hit his head but he could guess it had been at least an hour. Tadashi would just have to wake Hiro up during the night to check on him, but he decided he could let Hiro sleep.
Slipping his arms under Hiro's shoulder and knees, being careful of Hiro's hip, Tadashi gently hefted his baby brother in his arms.
"I'm too big to be carried" Hiro mumbled sleepily. Tadashi lightly chuckled.
"Just focus on getting better" He whispered. Hiro mumbled a few more incoherent words before Tadashi set him on a bed. He was about to drift off to sleep when a lump of heat dropped next to him.
"What are you doing?" Hiro asked.
"You think I'd let you sleep alone with a concussion like that?" Tadashi answered.
"I have a concussion?" Hiro whispered. Tadashi wanted to laugh, but he was too focused on the long night ahead of him.
"Sleep. Hiro" Tadashi whispered back, smiling. The eldest watched his brother's eyes slip close and his breath slowly even out.
Reaching behind himself, Tadashi pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened his clock. He set an alarm to go off at two thirty, about an hour later, then shut it off and put it on the floor next to the bed. He shuffled around to face his brother and sighed as he too closed his eyes.