Hey, everybody! How are you today?

So let's get back to this. Has it really been a month since I updated this? Surely doesn't feel that long! Well, I got a little tired of writing for Big Hero 6 so I wrote some other stuff. I really need to update all my other fics, but why don't I feel inspired when I actually have free time? Ugh!

Sorry, I feel a little jumpy today XD Well, here you go: chapter 10!

Tadashi was starting to get used with the routine of looking to his side whenever he woke up to make sure his brother was alright. It was the first thing he did when he woke up and the last thing he did before going to sleep; but he did it almost instinctively, without thinking at all. After lazily rubbing his eyes, he waited as his vision adjusted and he was finally able to see a toddler with messy hair sleeping by his side.

He smiled and kissed Hiro on the forehead, being careful not to wake him up. Sitting up on his elbows, Tadashi glanced at the little clock on the nightstand and saw that it was almost nine in the afternoon. Feeling his legs warm, he looked forward and sighed in relief when he saw the sunlight that came from the window hit he blanket that covered him and his brother. That meant the rain was officially gone.

Stretching, Tadashi left his bed and looked from side to side, trying to find his shoes. He spotted them under the table he used to keep his books, but when he bent down to grab them he heard a soft noise coming from behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, the older Hamada saw a semiconscious Hiro groping the empty space on which Tadashi was laying a few minutes before. He was amused when the young boy frowned on his sleep because he couldn't seem to find his brother. A lazy yawn later, Hiro cleaned his throat and blinked his eyes open.

"Dashi?" He called, not even bothering to sit up or look around.

"Here". The older one waved and sat down on the corner of the bed, bending over to reach his socks. As he put them on, he smiled at his brother and poked Hiro's leg. "Come on, wake up. I think we overslept."

Hiro responded by rolling his eyes and reaching out for his pillow, pressing said object against his head to cover the light and the noises around him as he groaned. Tadashi chuckled and shook his head, standing up and pulling the partition open to leave the room. Hiro didn't seem to notice his brother was gone as Tadashi looked around the room to look for his phone.

Just like looking to his side to check on Hiro, checking his phone for any messages or missed calls from GoGo was becoming part of his routine. To his surprise, all he saw when he pressed the main button was his phone's wallpaper. But just when he was going to put his phone on his pocket, it started to vibrate as a message popped up on the main screen.

Tadashi couldn't help but look up innocently when he saw it was from GoGo, quickly swiping right to reply her. However, he didn't know how to feel when he finished reading the message.

"Tadashi, are you up already? I think we finished working on the gun! The guys and I met earlier today after breakfast. We thought about calling you but decided to let you sleep since you seemed to be tired because of Hiro last night. Just a final test and we're done! When can we meet up today?"

Tadashi's left hand fluttered around the empty space behind him until he finally found the armrest and sat down on the chair, never breaking eye contact with his phone. He actually touched the screen to activate the keyboard, but quickly moved it away and used it to pinch the bridge of his nose, letting out a heavy sigh. His brain couldn't seem to comprehend the words he saw on the screen, for he just couldn't process an answer. Before he could figure out why, Tadashi felt something tugging his shirt. When he looked down to his right, he saw a smiling Hiro asking to be held.

"Hey there, buddy." Tadashi said as he locked his phone and left it on the desk to free his hands in order to hold his brother. "How are you today?"

Tadashi chuckled when Hiro reached out for Tadashi's cap, which was on the table near his phone, and put it on the top of his brother's head. The brim of the cap covered Tadashi's vision, so he knocked it up to be able to see.

"Better now, huh?"

Hiro tilted his head as if saying he liked it better his way, but nodded afterwards. Tadashi laughed and then noticed that not only Hiro was already wearing his shoes, but he also seemed to have brushed his hair. Well, that didn't mean it wasn't messy, but it sure looked better than the way it did every day when Hiro woke up. Tadashi could never wake up and not wonder where his brother had gotten that hair from.

"Dashi?"

Tadashi snapped out of it and shook his head. Hiro was looking at him with wondering eyes. It took a moment for him to realize Hiro had his arms wrapped around Tadashi's neck. The older one smiled and completed the hug, wrapping his arms around Hiro and pulling him closer. Once they were apart again, Hiro rubbed his eyes and yawned one more time.

"No rain?" Hiro said, looking over Tadashi's shoulder.

"Hum?" The older Hamada said. He looked to where Hiro was looking and saw the window. The sunlight found its way through the glass and illuminated the whole room. "Oh, yeah. The rain is gone and you don't have to be afraid anymore".

Tadashi smiled when memories of the previous night flashed on his mind. He turned to Hiro one more time before putting the toddler on the floor and walking up to the window, opening it.

The few remnants of the cold air of the night before were gone when a warm breeze invaded the room. Hiro attempted to walk toward Tadashi, but before he could give more than three steps, his brother was back to his side.

Tadashi took Hiro on his lap and was about to say something when a noise came from in between them. Hiro took one hand off his brother's neck and clutched his belly, giving a shy smile.

"You're hungry there, buddy?"

"A little." Hiro said, almost as if he was ashamed for that.

"Hey." Tadashi said, using his hand to lift Hiro's head to make him look at him in the eye. "It's ok, Hiro." He glanced at the sunlight coming from the window again. "In fact, why don't we go out and eat something?"

The baby smiled as Tadashi put him on the floor again. "But someone's got to brush their teeth first." Hiro snorted as the older one crossed his arms and nodded towards the bathroom. After rolling his eyes, Hiro obeyed his brother.

Tadashi chuckled as he reached for his keys and put them inside his pocket. He got his phone and couldn't help but think there was something he was forgetting to do, but Hiro was back before he could spend too much time thinking about what it was.

The older Hamada bent down and kissed the younger one on the forehead. Hiro chuckled and smiled at his brother's touch as Tadashi reached out, taking Hiro's hand in his. He threw his jacked over his shoulder, just in case, and then they both went downstairs and left the cafe.

Even though it was Sunday, the park was relatively empty. It wasn't even ten in the afternoon yet, but Tadashi expected it to be more crowded. Well, the last time he had been there it had been years before, when Hiro was around ten. Before he had started to bot fight.

Tadashi and Hiro were sitting on a bench as they both finished eating their Japanese meals. Even if he was five, Hiro was quite able to eat using the sticks. Tadashi wondered if he remembered that they both learnt how to use those with their parents, years before.

"How are those called?" Hiro asked, putting his little box of food aside and holding the sticks.

"Oh, they're called hashi." Tadashi said. "By the way, you should say 'How are these called. Not 'those'."

"Why?"

"Because…" Tadashi tapped his fingers on his knee as he thought. "You see, 'those' is when the things you're talking about are far from you. And you use 'these' when they're near you. Like…" He looked around before nodding toward some people. "If you're talking about them, you say 'those people'. It's a little complicated, but…"

"No, it's ok. I think I got what you mean." Hiro said as he smiled.

Tadashi smiled as well, but then blinked and looked at Hiro. "Hey… You're not stuttering anymore! Congratulations! I knew you could do it." Tadashi said, showing his fist to his younger brother.

Hiro seemed to be thoughtful for a while, but then he smiled and showed his fist as well, softly hitting Tadashi's with his as they both threw their fingers in the air. "I guess I'm not… Thank you."

Tadashi nodded and ruffled Hiro's hair. "It's great to see you improving, but it's ok if you stutter sometimes. Just remember to always try your best, and never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game. Ok?"

"Ok." Hiro softly said as he took a deep breath. Hiro started to swing his legs back and forth nonchalantly, but when his legs were stretched, Tadashi's eyes fell upon the bandage his little brother had on his leg. Suddenly, his smile faded and he felt a pain on his chest.

"Does it hurt?"

"Hum?"

"Your heel. Does it hurt?"

"Oh, that? No, not really. I can… I can barely feel the pain anymore."

"Did it hurt yesterday?"

Hiro blinked and gulped, scratching his arm as if he was trying to dismiss the topic. Tadashi crossed his arms and looked at Hiro.

"Did it hurt yesterday?" Tadashi repeated.

"Yeah, it did, a little." Hiro shrugged.

Tadashi felt his chest heavy again; mainly when the images of Hiro's blood on the floor appeared on his mind again.

"I'm sorry, Hiro. I didn't mean to hurt you, I just…"

Tadashi trailed off when Hiro wrapped his arms around him.

"It's ok, Dashi. I know you didn't mean it. And even if you did, I forgive you. Because I love you."

Tadashi bit his lower lip as he smiled and wrapped his arms around Hiro as well. Hiro looked up at him and smiled as well, but stopped when he shivered a little, which made Tadashi look up to the sky. There was no sign of rain, but a cold draft had started to blow.

"What about we go home now?" Tadashi said as he took his jacket and put it around Hiro's shoulders. He younger one nodded as he gladly held the jacket to keep it in place. Tadashi smiled and took his brother's hand as they both stood up and started to walk home.

Mochi was sleeping on a table when Tadashi opened the door of the cafe and entered with Hiro. The cat let out an angry meow when the noise woke him up, leaving the kitchen and running upstairs in the blink of an eye.

Hiro took Tadashi's jacket off and returned it to his brother before running to the living room, getting out of his brother's sight. Tadashi was about to follow him when his phone rang. Nonchalantly, he reached for it on his pocket and expected to see that GoGo was calling him, but his jaw dropped when he saw it was Aunt Cass.

"Gosh! Does she have to call us so often?" Tadashi groaned as he scratched the back of his head and tapped his foot like he always did when he got nervous. He didn't have much time to think of an excuse to use if she asked to talk to Hiro. However, his heart started to beat faster in the blink of an eye when realization hit him.

What if she's coming home earlier?

Tadashi took quick and short breaths as his ringtone got louder and louder. Closing his eyes, he swiped right and the ringtone stopped as he put his phone to his ear. After opening his eyes and quietly taking a deep breath, he forced a smile.

"Hello, Tadashi Hamada here."

"Hey, Tadashi! It's Aunt Cass here."

"Aunt Cass, what a surprise." He let out a forced chuckle. "H-How's everything going? Are you coming home earlier?"

Please say no.

"Oh, everything's fine here. It's been raining a lot, but other than that we're good. And no, I'm not coming home till tomorrow."

"Thanks heaven!"

Tadashi's eyes widened as he processed what he had just said. The silence at the other end let him know that Aunt Cass was probably just as confused.

"Thanks heaven… That everything's alright with you! And aw, you're coming home tomorrow? Dang, I was expecting to see you earlier! I miss you!" Tadashi said, clumsily forcing a smile and trying to sound happy as he said his words through his clenched teeth in a lazy excuse for a smile.

Now I know why the teacher always asked me to be part of the production team rather than being an actor whenever we had a play.

"Okay, then…" Cass said as she processed what he had said. "I miss you two as well. Don't worry; I'll be home soon to hug my favorite boys! Hum, can I talk to Hiro now? It has been a while. I feel like whenever I call he can't answer me."

"Really? Why do you feel that?" Tadashi said among lazy forced laughs.

"Because ever since I traveled he hasn't spoken to me once." She said as if she expected him to know. "Hum, can I talk to him now?"

"Hum…" Tadashi faked a cough to gain time. "Sorry, what did you say? I didn't hear you."

"I asked if I could talk to Hiro."

"Sure, sure, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to talk to him, right? It's not like anything that would keep him from talking to you happened, right? I mean, what in the world could have happened?"

Tadashi could literally see his friends face palming if they had seen his answer. He bit his lip when there was only silence at the other end before a small cough from Aunt Cass.

"Tadashi… Are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I'm just a little stressed because, you know, finals and stuff."

"Tadashi, you know you shouldn't study that much. I don't want you to…"

"I know, I know. Don't worry, I'll be fine. By the way, I checked on Hiro and he's still asleep. He went to bed really late yesterday because he was up until the sunrise working on his new robot."

"I feel like I should be expecting that." Aunt Cass said. "Ok, I'll call you tomorrow after I leave. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, Hiro and I couldn't be better." That wasn't exactly a lie, after all.

"I have to go now. Tell Hiro I said hi when he wakes up, ok?"

"Ok, I will. Bye, Aunt Cass!"

"Bye, Tadashi. See you!"

A click was heard, and then only silence. Tadashi almost let his phone fall when he sighed and sat down on one of the cafe's chairs.

"That was close, Hiro. Hiro?"

He looked around the room and then remembered the toddler had run away when they entered the house.

"Hiro?"

As if on cue, he heard a noise coming from the living room. Tadashi shook his head as he stood up, starting to walk.

Tadashi was ready to start running and help his brother if the noise revealed to be anything broken or serious. After all, Hiro had almost killed himself eating that peanut when Tadashi turned his back on his for mere seconds. The thought made him walk faster, but when he got to the living room, there didn't seem to be any trouble.

Hiro was in front of the TV, holding a DVD cover in his hands and looking at it like it was the most interesting thing on the world. Tadashi approached and put his hand on Hiro's shoulder, startling the young boy for a moment.

"Hey, Hiro. I heard a noise a few time ago, what was it?"

Hiro blinked a few times then pointed to Mochi, who slept with his belly up a few feet away from them. "Mochi ran into the wall when he was running away from us." He looked back at Mochi and shook his head. "Silly cat."

Tadashi chuckled and looked at Hiro's hand. "Hey, what do you have there?"

Hiro looked at his hands and then looked up at his brother, handing him the DVD cover. Tadashi nearly shivered when he saw how dusty it was. After blowing the dust away, he recognized it as the DVD he used to watch with Hiro when they were younger.

Well, when they were both younger.

Tadashi was about to open his mouth to speak when Hiro did it first.

"Can we watch it?"

That took the older one by surprise. He couldn't remember what had been the last time he had watched that movie with Hiro. Well, they did use to watch that at night, and Hiro had started to use his nights to go bot fight on the streets.

"You really want to?"

Hiro smiled and nodded happily. Tadashi's frown slowly became a smile as he was taken by a feeling of being warm inside. He shyly shook his head as he pressed the button on the DVD player to turn it on. Hiro went to the couch in little jumps and made himself comfortable. Tadashi smiled as he ran upstairs to get a blanket, being right back.

He threw the blanket at Hiro, who caught it and lay down on the couch. Tadashi smiled and sat down on the chair by the side of the couch. He was amazed when he noticed that Hiro had set the movie himself. He was ready to watch the movie, but was confused when the screen froze because Hiro had paused the video.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Tadashi asked as he turned to look at his brother.

Hiro nodded toward the empty space beside him, tapping it. Tadashi tilted his head in surprise, but shrugged and stood up to walk toward the couch and sat down by Hiro's side. As soon as he was settled, Hiro lay down again and rested his head on his brother's lap, using Tadashi's legs as a pillow.

Satisfied, Hiro pressed play again as a happy Tadashi started to caress his brother's hair.

Ok, so, I think this is my least favourite chapter so far. It's a transition chapter and they're a little boring to write and to read. It's kind of short and I did consider making it longer, but there would be no good moment to split chapters anytime soon after this.

But I already started writing chapter 11, so it won't take as long to be published. Well, I hope you liked this!

See you soon :)