My apologies this is so late. I haven't been in the best frame of mind to write, I probably would have made it really angsty and tragic… though that might have worked with this story.. Anyway an old friend of mine passed away this week. I hadn't talked to him since I left my high school a number of years ago.

So my apologies this wasn't done sooner.

And oh my word. English Grammar is so weird; 'high school' is two words, but apparently 'schoolwork' is one word…. I'm almost 21. You'd think I'd know this. BUT I DON'T!

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I'm Okay

Chapter Three

Tadashi didn't really sleep that night, not that he really could even if he tried. He was chained to the pipe on the wall again, and sleeping against a wall really isn't comfortable. And there was also the pain he was in. He really didn't think yesterday through at all. His entire left side was burning, it got so bad at points during the night, or day he still wasn't quiet sure, that it hurt to even breathe to hard. Every time he'd start dosing off, he'd slouch a bit and he'd lean to one side, that movement alone would make him jerk awake from the pulsating pain. Then the jerking would make him even more awake and alert.

He finally gave up on sleeping after a while.

How could I have been so stupid? That thought was on a repeated loop in his mind. Tadashi liked to think of himself as a good guy. He was nice, friendly, tried to assist anyone who needed a hand for a moment. His schoolwork was never, ever late reaching the professors' hands; he always cleaned up after himself when he used the labs- never leaving parts or papers anywhere that wasn't his designated lab space.

And this is how fate repays him? By attempting to help his professor, a long term mentor to not just Tadashi but a whole slew of robotics enthusiasts and inventors, out of a fire and winding up getting himself kidnapped by said professor and some other person Tadashi has yet to put a face and name to the voice.

Maybe I should stop being so damn nice. Tadashi continued thinking to himself.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there; alone with his thoughts, until he heard someone approaching the area he was in. The only thing of the layout he got of the building he was in was that there was a hallway outside the room his was tethered in. And by the sounds of it, either there was two people approaching, or someone decided to have four feet.

He didn't have to wait too long before he could make out Callaghan's voice, like he was talking to someone.

"We'll get it up and running soon." Tadashi heard the former professor say.

"We can't wait too long." The same familiar voice replied. "We can get caught at any moment."

The two people came into view of Tadashi, but somehow Callaghan managed to always be in between Tadashi's line of sight and who ever was with the robotics legend, concealing the other's face and identity from the young adult.

"Won't be too long." Callaghan told the other male before looking toward Tadashi." Will it?"

The twenty-one year old just glared at the older man.

"You know how to make those Microbots, yes?" The man asked, leaning against the frame of the entryway, the other person walked away, continuing on the same way they were going.

He hesitated, but Tadashi shook his head. "Not exactly."

The former professor looked at him for a moment.

For a heartbeat's time, Tadashi thought he'd said the wrong thing. And even though Tadashi 'agreed' to help with whatever this was, a frantic thought popped up and he was afraid that Callaghan would bring Hiro in since it was obvious, now, that Tadashi didn't know how to actually recreate the bots.

"Interesting." Was the only thing the professor said before he turned to walk back out. "I'll be right back." He told Tadashi.

The older man didn't come back for a good hour or so. And by that time, Tadashi was on the verge of an actual heart attack.

"Didn't mean for that to take that long." He told the young man on the floor. "Here." He tossed a little container to his former student.

While it landed in his lap, Tadashi didn't move to touch it. Instead, he looked at it then to his professor.

Callaghan rolled his eyes, something Tadashi never saw him do; this was beginning to show just how short of a fuse the older male had, he deserves an Oscar for how patient he acted at the school. "It's a soothing, anti-biotic cream." He bluntly stated. "For your burns."

Tadashi knew he should put it on, he didn't want the burns to get infected or anything, but the last thing he wanted to do was use something this man in front of him gave him. He gave Callaghan a look before kicking the jar off his lap.

"Fine. Don't use it." The former professor shook his head. "Come on."

It took the two a while for Callaghan to unhook Tadashi from that blasted pipe the young adult was growing more and more to hate, and the two to walk down a maze of hallways to what seemed like the other side of whatever kind of building they were in. The elder of the two having to practically drag the younger most of the way, the poor young adult burnt leg couldn't support his weight and walk for more than a few feet at a time. Tadashi was partially surprised his former role model didn't just pick him up and toss him over his shoulder since Callaghan seemed so impatient.

Eventually they made it to wherever their destination was when Callaghan pushed Tadashi into a room, smaller than the one he was in, but this one had a door, and it looked pretty intimidating. The elder led the younger adult to a table in the corner, right underneath the only light that was in the room.

"Sit." Callaghan commanded.

And since he wasn't in a place to disobey, Tadashi did as he was told.

He watched as Callaghan dumped a few things on the table in front of him. A few of Hiro's Microbots tumbled out of the small box as well as a few tools.

The twenty-one year old raised an eyebrow, questioning what the professor was doing.

"You're going to make more of these." Callaghan stated, picking up one of the tiny project pieces and dropping it in Tadashi's hand. "Reverse engineer it; since you don't know how to make them, apparently." He sounded as if he didn't actually believe that Tadashi didn't know exactly what went into his little brother's creation.

Tadashi looked like he was going to reply to that, but he instantly shut his mouth when he actually started to think of the consequences of telling Callaghan that he also didn't know how to reverse engineer anything, let alone a complex piece of tech. He'll just have to figure it out on his own, he knew the basics of it, had read about, hell Callaghan even taught about it.

"What?" The professor snapped when he saw Tadashi wanted to say something.

Tadashi shook his head. "Never mind." He ran his thumb over the Microbot in his hand. "I don't have much practice with that." He worded carefully. "It might take a bit."

Callaghan nodded, not verbally answering. He pulled out a small notebook and pen and shoved it into Tadashi's chest. "Write it all down. I don't quiet trust you with too many tools at the moment." He huffed before walking out, slamming the door behind him with almost a sense of finality.

Tadashi sighed and only hesitated a moment before he got to work prying the covering off the little robot.

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Took me so long to write so little…