Full Summary:
It was only supposed to be a temporary thing. A few fights here and there and the electric company wouldn't have to turn off the lights. And maybe he could get new shoes. That's what Hiro Hamada told himself when he started bot-fighting alongside a notorious trouble maker from his high school, but when the young prodigy finds himself in the middle of an offer he literarily can't refuse, it's up to him to try and pull himself out of it. All while keeping his family in the dark.
This chapter was originally going to be over 6,00 words. But that was too much effort, so here's the first 4,000.
The bus ride over to Matsumoto High was uneventful, and Hiro was thankful for that. He had made himself comfortable in his usual seat in the very back of the bus, where he often remained unnoticed throughout the entire route to school. Mr. Landon had often questioned the young prodigy about his decision to sit in the way back when every other seat was open, but Hiro would reassure his favorite driver that he was fine, he would get bus sick if he rode closer to the font. He expertly flowed that lie through his gapped teeth every time, and the old man would hum in understatement and practically inhale another handful of cashews.
Hiro spread himself out on the row of seats, using his backpack as a somewhat decent pillow. He would try lying down every time he and Tadashi would ride the bus to school together, and the older brother would retaliate by pinning him against the window of the bus with his back, spreading his grasshopper legs out across the seats.
"Ahhh... I can see why you'd want to do this. This is nice." Tadashi had said one day, feeling the buzz of activity from Hiro behind him, who was trying to escape from the heavy weight that his brother had placed on him. Using his feet as leverage, he pushed against the bus' window, unsuccessfully budging Tadashi from his relaxed position. He leaned heavier on his little brother, ignoring his threats for revenge as he placed his hands behind his head, letting out a fake yawn.
"Get off of me... you no good... rotten brother!" Hiro focused on every muscle of his legs, surprising both brothers when he managed to push Tadashi backwards a smidge. The older brother began to push back, gripping the vinyl seat for support, evening out the force that Hiro had placed on him. "What the...!"
"Newton's Third Law of Motion, bonehead!" Tadashi began as he felt Hiro's shoulder muscles quivering behind him, refusing to give up. "'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'!"
"Why can't we go back to the First Law?!" Hiro cried out, feeling the tread of his sneakers sliding against the window. "'An object continues to move at a consistent velocity-'"
"'Unless acted upon by an external force'!" Tadashi corrected him, successfully earning an exhausted groan from his younger brother.
Hiro was suddenly ripped from his happy memory when the sound of a shriek resonated throughout the bus. He shot up, seeing that the bus was filled with teenagers, many of which Hiro had recognized as his classmates. He pulled himself to a sitting position, scrambling to yank his hoodie over his head in an attempt of camouflage. He had never had to worry about being bullied on the bus when he rode with Tadashi. A simple glare from the eldest Hamada could send anyone running with their nonexistent tail between their legs, even the high school quarterback. That was a sight to see. But with Tadashi at college, Hiro had to defend himself from bullies. Sitting in the very back of the bus and hiding his face helped, but his self defense mechanisms didn't always work, he would still get bombed with food and school supplies every once in a while, and his backpack had been the unfortunate victim of keep away too many times.
The bus suddenly jolted to a stop, dangerously rocking Hiro's body back and forth. The students began to collect their things as the driver called out,
"A'ight! Ya'll have a good day at school now, ya'hear me? I'll see ya this afternoon!"
He received a chorus of "thank you"'s and "have a nice morning" from the teenagers as they began to disembark from the bus. Hiro was the last one to exit, hopping away from the safety that was Mr. Landon's bus, and throwing himself into the hellish environment that was Matsumoto High.
If there was something that Hiro hated more than stupid students, it was stupid teachers. Especially those who had to physically look down at him and publicly humiliate him in front of his entire Honors Chemistry class. They were all assigned a lab, a mediocre one by Hiro's standards, but the teacher absolutely insisted that Hiro sit out this one
"Your shoes are a complete violation of the lab rules. I'm sorry, Mr. Hamada, but I can't allow you to participate in todays lab."
He looked down at his worn out trainers, suddenly embarrassed at the condition that his shoes were in. The permanently browned exterior of the once red Converse wasn't that bad; he was still a kid, and Tadashi had encouraged him to play in the dirt on multiple occasions. The frayed shoe laces that Aunt Cass fixed with duct tape had gotten him a lot of weird stares on occasion, but the real reason why Mrs. Yamamoto forbade Hiro from entering the laboratory was that the toe cap was beginning to peel. When he wiggled his toes, he could see his blue covered digits waving at him from the sides of his shoes. It never really bothered him up until that point, and Aunt Cass had promised Hiro that they would get him some new shoes soon. But after the new information that he had heard that morning, "soon" was starting to look like "in a really long time".
"Unless you can find another pair, then you'll lose today's attendance credit, and have to make up the lab some other time for a late grade. I'm sorry, but those are my rules."
He was just about to beg his teacher for a roll of duct tape so he could fix it himself, when a shriek of laughter shot across the room, and a girl stuck up a pair of pink, glittery Toms.
"Will these work for you, Hiro?"
The whole class exploded into laughter. More girls offered their shoes for the youngest student in the junior class to wear, from high heels to Hello Kitty printed sneakers. He wanted to take all of their offered shoes, sprinkle sodium chlorate on them, and douse all of them with sulfuric acid. No, not again. He had been banned from his "independent study" last year when he nearly set the laboratory on fire. When Mrs. Yamamoto tried to calm down her suddenly immature class, Hiro took that as an opportunity to slip away from the excitement.
He didn't even realize he had drug himself outside until he felt goosebumps prickle on the back of his neck. He clapped an equally cold hand on his neck, then began to rub aimlessly in a futile attempt to repress the bumps. He had somehow managed to slip out of the school completely unnoticed; one of the perks of being eleven years old, he had told himself, anyone could suspect him as a visitor. Finding himself at the picnic tables by the parking lot, Hiro decided to treat himself to an early lunch, not quite ready to face his teacher. Lunch was after Chem, so he wasn't wasting any time by getting a head start on eating. He swung his backpack off his shoulders as he plopped down, slightly grimacing at the sudden temperature change on his butt. Pulling out the brown paper bag, he glanced over at its contents.
Ham sandwich on whole grain, an orange, some celery sticks and oh my god is that an éclair?! He practically tore the bag open at the sight of his favorite dessert, then pulled it out gingerly like it was made out of glass. Eying the oblong pastry eagerly, already deciding to eat it first, he hoped it had been filled with her homemade chocolate custard. Aunt Cass knew that his favorite filling, he practically ate chocolate with, or on, everything. Humming gleefully, he set to unwrapping the éclair from its saran wrap prison, mouth salivating at the very thought of sinking his teeth into the dough. As he did, he noticed a pink square of paper at the bottom of the bag. Recognizing his aunt's handwriting from a mile away, he plucked the note from between his sandwich and orange.
"Things will get better. – Aunt Cass".
It hadn't been her intention, not by a long shot, but Hiro suddenly felt guilty by eating something from her stock. She had placed it in his lunch for him to enjoy, a simple act to try and brighten his day. It did, for a while, until the thought of the éclair going unpaid plagued the preteen's thoughts. Aunt Cass' éclairs sold for $3.50 a piece, and the financial loss was spiraling down into Hiro's stomach. He threw the half-eaten pastry back into his bag, guilt weighing down his desire for sugar.
After eating the rest of his meal in silence, he made his way over to the dumpsters to throw his trash away. Then that's when he heard the sickening collision of metal on metal. He had assumed that it was somehow his fault, then he heard loud cheers. Curiosity taking over him, he peered around the corner, taking extra care to breathe through his mouth. There, he made out five students: two freshman boys, and three super-seniors.
He recognized the girl, Alana, from his Economics class. It was hard to ignore her when her blue ombré hair was practically a spotlight, along with her multitude of facial piercings. The two boys, he hadn't seen before. She was gripping a controller in her fair hands, grinning as she expertly moved the levers underneath her thumbs, controlling what looked like to be a robotic snake. The younger opponent, struggling to keep up with the snake's movements, franticly pushed buttons on his own controller, forced his robotic kiwi bird to move forwards on it's set of toy wheels, attempting to spear the snake's head with its beak. Alana slyly grinned,
"Fatal mistake."
The snake's head snapped away at the last possible second, sending the kiwi bot crashing onto the cement. With it's beak crushed and with no way of getting up, the fight seemed to be over. At least that's what Hiro assumed. His eyes widened when Alana snapped down on a button on her controller, and a set of titanium fangs popped out of the snake's mouth. The boys behind her whooped, while the freshmen began to visibly pale. Without warning, the snake struck the kiwi bird, sinking it's metal teeth into the bird's aluminum flesh, then drug its body around, slicing the robot to resemble a slinky. To top it off, it slid its body around the bird's head, successfully popping it off with a slight squeeze. The owner of the now dead bot looked about ready to cry as Alana grabbed a pile of cash that had been set aside.
"That wasn't worth my time," she muttered, thumbing through the meek pile of bills. "You wouldn't even last a minute in the Underground." She shot the kids a harsh stare. "Beat it!"
They didn't need to be told twice. Leaving the carcass of the robot behind, the boys ran away from the seniors, the loser shedding full on alligator tears. Hiro tensed up as they ran past him, but he went completely unnoticed, choosing to focus in on the voices that had started up again.
"How much did y'get?" One of the boys asked.
A ruffle of bills. "Not even enough," Alana reported, "barely fifty dollars. I swear, these freshies don't even know the first thing about robotics."
"They wanna fight," a deep voice popped in, "but they're too stupid. But the ones who can build decent bots are too goody-goody."
Alana snorted. "So true, Dallas. Like those stupid bot dorks from that stupid club."
The trio let out a hoot of laughter. Hiro would've defended his brother's friends, but that meant giving himself away. And the last thing he needed to go home with was another black eye. He then attempted to shuffle away from the bot fighters, not wanting to put Aunt Cass through any more stress if she found he was caught in the middle of illegal activity. One of the boys let out a shriek, instantly sending Hiro's heart fluttering with palpitations.
"NEVE!"
The name of the head robotics coach was enough to perk Hiro's curiosity again, but when he turned his head to get a glimpse of Tadashi's old mentor, he was immediately shoved backwards with the force of Alana's body. He fell along with a group of trash cans, the sound of metal resonating throughout Hiro's eardrums. He cupped both ears in an attempt to stop them from ringing, when he caught a sympathetic glance from Alana. She quickly mouthed an apology and darted after the others, a lone controller in her hand. He heard Dr. Neve yelling after the seniors, threatening them with suspension if they didn't get back here right this moment. When they were long gone, he huffed, and began to clean up the scene.
Hiro picked himself off the ground, seeing that Alana and her friends had ditched their bots when they had been discovered. He watched they graying man scoop up the remnants of the kiwi bot. He sadly shook his head.
"Such a waste of intellect and creativity," he lamented. He set to picking up the neglected bots, throwing the snake over his shoulder. "So sad."
Hiro tensed, his cover blown when his ratty shoe had accidentally kicked a lone soda can. The teacher glanced up from picking up a metal porcupine, noticing the preteen trying to sneak away. "Hiro?" A pleased expression took on his face, then suddenly formed to an inquisitive look. "I hope that you weren't bot fighting." The last two words seemed to drip out of the teacher's mouth like venom, as if even saying the word was illegal. Hiro winced at the tone, suddenly thankful that he wasn't. There's no telling what kind of lecture he would receive from the Robotics Club's mentor.
"N-No. I don't have a bot. I was just watching."
Pleased with his answer, Dr. Neve continued cleaning up. "It's a horrible thing, bot fighting. If you have the ability to build a robot, then you have so many doors for you that are wide open. You can do so much with robotics, your brother is a prime example of this."
Hiro rolled his eyes. Tadashi was without a doubt, Dr. Neve's favorite student. Tadashi had done so much for the club when he joined as a freshman, staying late every day to learn more about the subject, going over electrical motors and the strength limits of different types of wire. He had passed his knowledge along to Hiro, who in return poured himself into learning everything he could about the subject. He didn't have access to the materials that Matsumoto did, and that had halted him multiple times during his progress. Tadashi had done everything he could to persuade his brother to join the team, Hiro had really wanted too, he still did in fact. But once he finished his first week of high school last year, it became his primary goal to go unnoticed until he had to graduate. Joining the robotics club would just up his chances of getting beat up or shoved into a locker. Tadashi accepted his brother's decision, and brought Hiro back a failed project or two, and had given him full access to his lab in the garage. It wasn't the perfect ending that the brothers had wanted, but in the end, Hiro could still tinker and create, which ultimately was their goal in the first place.
He had completely tuned out of Dr. Neve's words, more interested in the fate of the robots.
"Oh, these?" Dr. Neve just chuckled when Hiro had asked. "We take them apart, use them for scrap metal and whatnot. Turn something negative into something positive."
"Does this happen a lot?" Hiro questioned as the two left the trash area.
"Oh, yes," he admitted sadly. "With the Underground becoming more and more mainstream, so many students are turning their talents into a profit. You can get so much at those fights, thousands upon thousands."
The preteen's eyes widened. Thousands upon thousands? No wonder so many kids had a sudden interest in bot fights, the payoff definitely outweighed the risk. If Hiro could get his hands on that kind of cash, why he'd-
"Well, it appears we part ways here, Mr. Hamada."
Hiro glanced up, seeing that they had arrived back at the main building. The warning bell echoed throughout campus, and the preteen could make out the two thousand something students making their way back inside. He inwardly groaned, not looking forward to Economics. Dr. Neve's warm hand clapped his shoulder, silently reassuring Hiro.
"You have a good rest of your day. Tell Tadashi that I say hello?"
Hiro gripped the straps of his backpack, giving the old man a quick grin. "Yeah. See you, Dr. Neve."
He got one last look at the robots, then ran as fast as his little legs could take him to the other side of the building.
Alana was pissed. If her expression didn't give it away enough, the steadily growing pile of shredded on her corner of the desk would probably give you some sort of answer. Hiro honestly couldn't blame her. If something that he had worked hard on had gotten taken away from him for scrap metal, he would most likely be in the same state as the blue haired girl. From the safety of his peripheral vision, he watched Alana wrestle with the pages in her notebook. She would squeeze her thumb and pointer finger between a small selection of paper, then pull back with a good amount of force. She continued her actions until she had created a good sized pile, one that Hiro could easily see becoming a snowball if it weren't paper. Every time she looked up, Hiro would dart his eyes back to the board, where he pretended to take notes.
The bell rang moments later, sending the students on a frenzy to leave the classroom that smelled way too much like garlic. Hiro shuffled carefully around the hoard, using his height to an advantage in finding the right gaps to squeeze through. He popped into the hallway, and was just about to veer right to his next class, when a hand clapped around his wrist, pulling him in the other direction.
"Hey! What the-?!"
He had no choice but to follow the pull of the hand, though he kept looking at the earliest moment to escape. Other students hardly listened to the pleas of the youngest student, begging for help as he barely dodged elbows and backpacks. When his kidnapper began to drag him down the main staircase, Hiro somehow managed to get a face full of blue... hair?
"Alana?"
She thundered down the staircase, forcing the boy genius to keep up with her as she ignored his questions.
"Where are you taking me?! What's going on?"
"Just shut up. I'll explain later."
He tried to pull away from her clutches, but her vice grip remained as she dragged him over to the East Wing, where she waved down a familiar looking boy, loitering outside a boys bathroom.
"Yo, Jacob! I got the kid!"
He grinned a metal smile, adjusting the beanie on his head before he moseyed over to his friend, who was refusing to let go of Hiro's wiggling arm. Jacob briefly glanced at the kid before whistling,
"Wow, he is tiny. Y'sure this is him?"
"How many other eleven-year-old kids named Hiro go to this school? Of course I got the right kid!"
"Can someone tell me what's going on?!"
Two different hands shot over Hiro's mouth, shushing him. They briefly glanced around their surroundings, then they dragged him into the bathroom. Alana braced the door with a trashcan while Hiro was held in a two armed grip by Jacob. He stomped his feet, hoping that someone would eventually come to his rescue.
"Keep tryin, kid," Jacob chuckled, "No one's used this bathroom in months. It's been 'closed for repairs' by yours truly."
"Let me go!"
He began thrashing, successfully landed a clear kick to Jacob's shin, who in return howled, releasing Hiro from his grip. He was inches away from the door handle when another pair of arms snaked around his frame, squeezing him tight for good measure. Hiro let out a yell, leaving Alana to shush in his ear.
"Hiro! It's okay! We're not gonna hurt you!"
"I don't believe you! Let me go!"
"We just need you to do something for us, then you can go!" Hiro tensed, then slowly craned his head, facing Alana's unusually gentle expression.
"What?"
"Y'heard her," a familiar voice echoed through the bathroom. "Y'just do somethin' for us, an' you're free to go."
Hiro had recognized that voice from the dumpsters. Alana carried Hiro to an open stall, then placed him in front of the entrance. Inside, cooly leaning against the wall, was a stout teen, sporting a small stub 'stash. He flashed a grin at the boy, revealing gold plated canines. He raised a hand.
"Dallas."
Hiro wasn't sure weather or not to accept the gesture, after all, he was the one who probably ordered Alana and Jacob to kidnap him on his way to American History. He just glared, fists crabbed into the front pocket of his hoodie. Dallas clicked his tongue in amusement.
"A lil' shy, bro? Don' worry, that's fine." He lowered his hand to his hip. "Like Alana said, we need a favor from you."
Hiro cocked an eyebrow. "Like what?" He spat out.
"Nothin' too bad," he dug around in his back pocket, choosing to let Hiro's bad attitude slide, "we just need yuh t'go get our bots back for us. Big match in the Underground tonight, and, well, our bots got snatched."
Hiro knitted his brows together, trying his hardest not to let his expression falter. But on the inside, he was one step away from breaking out into full-on panic. Breaking into Dr. Neve's office and retrieving illegal bots, all while remaining unnoticed was about as easy as solving a Rubik's cube with both hands behind your back. He would know, he and Tadashi had tried one summer when the power shorted out and there was nothing to do. He could get into Dr. Neve's office no problem, but convincing them man to leave was a whole other ballpark.
"We know you and Neve are tight," Jacob interjected, "Well, at least he was with Tadumbass."
Hiro tired to shoot the most fatal of looks to him, how dare he speak about his brother that way, but he probably looked just ridiculous, because Jacob and Alana broke out into laughter. Hiro felt his ears flush in embarrassment.
"Anyway," Dallas shouted out, silencing the two. "You go in, get the bots, get out, and these," he whipped out two crisp twenties from behind him, "are all yours, my friend."
Hiro hungrily eyed the bills. Oh, what things he buy with forty dollars. It may have been pocket change for a bot fighter, but for an eleven-year-old, it was a whole two months of allowance just a mere feet away. Every fiber in his being screamed to accept the deal, he could figure out a plan in no time, but his earlier conversation with the teacher came rolling over him. How Dr. Neve hated that students with potential wasted their time on something so pointless. It didn't seem right for Hiro to go and stab him in the back like that. The angel of good morals sat on one shoulder, and the devil of greed and personal gain sat on the other.
"So?" Dallas waved the money in front of Hiro's face in temptation. "We got a deal?"