I'm Okay

Chapter Four

Tadashi's back ached. Just exactly how long had he been bent over that little table, disfiguring his brother's invention so he could figure out everything that needed to be in it to reverse engineer the little machine? It had to have been days if the cramp in his upper back when he was curved over the notebook and small screwdriver, and the aching in his lower back when he was laying down said anything.

Okay, that wire has to be placed there, or it won't work. He thought to himself as he made a note of it on the paper, drawing a little diagram so whoever, be it he or Callaghan or whoever that other guy is, was rebuilding the Microbots would know exactly what Tadashi meant. That's the last thing to go in. He noted again before he laid the pencil on the desk, the notebook right beside it.

"Done." He sighed to himself and sat back in the little chair. He never realized hos reliant he was on computers and softwares to map out everything he needed until right then. Had he just been at SFIT, he would have put the Microbot into the 3D scanner, got everything he'd need to know – information, wires, metals, specific locations things had to be placed and in what order – everything would have been typed out in plain English for him.

Now it's written down in that chicken scratch he called his handwriting on a ripped notebook paper.

Oh goodness, what if they can't read his writing? He suddenly questioned himself. He sat back up and gently ripped the pages out of the notebook and began the tedious process of rewriting everything so it would be legible for whomever; even Tadashi himself would admit that a few times, sometimes, okay most of the time, he couldn't read his own writing. If he can't read his writing, it was a sure fire thing that no one else could read his writing.

Rewriting didn't normally take him very long though, so he wasn't going to complain.

He had just put the pen down for the second time that day, when Callaghan walked in.

"Did you finish it yet?" The older man practically spat the word out, punctuating the sentence with a forceful lean against the doorway, daggers being shot at the younger male from blue eyes.

Tadashi nodded and pushed the neatly written pages toward his former professor. He wasn't going to say it, nor was he going to show it, but he was actually pretty proud of himself. He'd never really pulled something apart so he could learn how to put it back together and copy it; whenever he ripped something up, it was for a part he needed. He didn't think it took him as long as he thought it would.

Callaghan leaned over to skim through the paper. "It's about damned time."

Okay, a little less proud now.

"It only took you a week." The robotics professor continued.

That's still not that bad. First time reversing something. Tadashi mentally tried to pat himself on the back while in front of him Callaghan was tearing it apart.

Callaghan didn't stay in the room very long, just grabbed the notebook and little pieces of Microbot and left, pulling the door closed behind him with a little more force than was necessary and leaving Tadashi to his own devices.

At least he could get up and walk around in this room, he hasn't been chained to a pipe, but his entire left side still burned whenever he moved so he wanted to keep from moving as much as possible.

But at least he had the option to move around.

There was a little cot in the far corner of the little room that he'd used to sleep on for, evidently, the past week while he worked on the Microbot. He had to motivate himself to get up from the chair he was in and make his way over to the cot, clenching his teeth to the point where he felt his jaw pop while he tried to ignore the pain that seemed to radiate and pulsate sharper and sharper the more he moved.

Well, duh! His mind mentally scolded. This isn't arthritis; it's not going to get better the more you move! You were burned in a fire. A. Fire. He rolled his eyes at himself when he finally made it to the cot.

He lay there gasping for breath as he tried to compose himself, even just a little bit, as profanities were mentally cursed and mumbled under his breath. When the pain subsided a bit, he reached under the flimsy piece of camping furniture to grab the little canister of cream his teacher had tossed to him days and days ago. The second day of working on the Microbot, Tadashi had broken down and used the soothing cream on his shoulder when it hadn't stopped burning. And even though he didn't want to admit it, especially to Callaghan, the cream did help. A lot.

It didn't take him very long to put some of the cream where it hurt him the most, or where it looked more serious and prone to some kind of infection. He wasn't sure of Callaghan would give him another jar if he ran out. So sparingly, he would use. He sat it back down on the ground just under the cot and leaned back to stare at the ceiling.

I want to go home. He thought to himself as he stared into the darkness of the corner above him. I want to go home and argue with Hiro about botfighting. He would honestly rather walk the dim and dark alleyways of the lower west side of San Fransokyo; the same place where botfights were a normal nightly activity, the same place where Tadashi would drag his brother away from on the back of his moped, than be stuck… where ever he was.

He better not be bot fighting! Was Tadashi's last conscious thought as he drifted off to sleep for the night.

(-)

Not the longest, I know, I'm sorry. Next one should have more action and a little bit of drama and Tadashi being… well, Tadashi.