{A/N: I keep forgetting to mention this, and I hate that I'm not recognizing it like it deserves! Thank you to everyone who's followed or favorited this story ( or both :D), because it truly means so much to me! And even more so for the Reviewers; thank you for all your kind words! I hope that my new stories give you just as much appeal, and thanks again!
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Disney Animation Studios.}
"Tadashi's upstairs." The 20 year old who was laying on bed sighed inwardly, staring at his ceiling. His aunt was no questionably going to call up the staircase any second now, summoning for the young adult to say hi to an old friend of hers. Then the friend would gush over how tall and strong he was, how they grow so fast and how time flies. Aunt Cass would bring up his newest college grant; how he was one in eight students in the college who was deemed a personal lab. Then he'd get to explain why that was supposedly special.
But no way did he want to peel himself from bed. Tadashi squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the dreaded words from his aunt's mouth. But they didn't come.
Instead, little feet stampeded up the stairs. Tadashi's lips curled up as he rolled over, facing the wall away for his shared bedroom door.
"Ta-" The young man heard his brother start to say his name excitedly. And Tadashi was almost regretful that he seemed asleep. Almost.
"Oh. I'll tell you later." Hiro smiled, despite the fact his big brother couldn't see. From the sounds that radiated through the now silent room, it was pretty clear Hiro had flopped into his rotating chair, and was now browsing the internet. Tadashi took a deep breath in, which tickled his dry throat, and caused him to cough. The elder of the two sat up, trying to get air in. Meanwhile, his diaphragm had the great idea of trying to force it all out in a shuttered fit, making him nearly hack out a lung while pressing a palm to his chest.
"Ew." Tadashi muttered to himself, at himself. That sounded and felt gross. And as he looked up, he saw his little brother staring at him with a horrified face. "Hiro! What is it you wanted to tell me?" He smiled, which visibly made his brother more at ease. Tadashi was just glad his nose wasn't as stuffy as it was this morning, when he practically woke up from the dead. Or at least that's what it felt like.
"Erm…" The teenager squirmed a bit, hugging one knee up against his chest. His voice became quieter, more mouse-like and almost sheepish. "Today I was tinkering with your stuff again- I know I'm not supposed to, but! And… And I think I figured out a way to strengthen those exoskeleton designs of yours. I even built a mini version of my own sketch! And… I know you won't tell me what you're working on yet, so my design can't be applied in that way. Heck, it might not work at all. But based on what I saw in your notes-" the boy covered his mouth when he said that, like it had spilled out of his mouth unauthorized. The kid was rushing through this all, and rather than scolding him for peeking around in his secret stuff, Tadashi's interest was peaked. He was having infrastructure problems on his semester's quota on his invention. The skeleton was too top heavy at the moment, and he'd been in a rut. Had the kid genius really figured it out for him? "... I-I think it'll help you." Hiro concluded, after he noticed the look of interest on his older brother's face. "We- I mean You would only have to pick some parts up on campus, go to that hardware store... I need some tools for a new thing I've been working on too! We could go together..." Hiro trailed off, his thumb playing with the spring on his desk lamp as he stared at it. Tadashi was thinking; of course he wanted to go get the parts! And he loved spending time with his brother! But… He felt like a lump. And didn't want to get up. Nor did he have the desire to do anything but swallow a few cold pills and go to sleep.
But going to sleep meant surrendering the rest of the night. Surely it wasn't that many hours to lose… it was almost 9, around closing time, right? Tadashi was sure of it. The sky was dark and murky, with all the clouds circling the moon as a gang might around a kid who hustled them in the back streets. The still of late evening was setting in Tadashi's bones. The local hardware store probably wasn't even still open.
The 20 year old glanced at the blue figures shining at him from his desk. 5:04.
Boy, was he out of it.
"Tadashi?" Hearing his name in an almost unrecognizable voice snapped him back to reality. Hiro was into his teens now, which meant his voice wasn't really as cute and squirrley anymore. And he was sitting at the foot of his bed now, with his legs crossed like a pretzel. When did he get over here, exactly?
"Tadashi? Are you feeling okay?" Hiro stared at his big brother with large eyes, his head tilted to the side a bit. "You look pale. And you keep coughing… Hey, do you not feel up to going? Because that's okay… I'd rather stay and you feel better, than go get some robots... Dashi..." Hiro's hand scratched behind his ear, the boy also looking down a bit. He hadn't used the childhood nickname for his brother in a while now, and all the nervousness in his body language made it clear to Tadashi that his little brother was genuinely concerned.
"I'm okay, Hiro. Really." Tadashi smiled, propping himself up further so he seemed not tired at all, which wasn't true. The older brother took a deep breath, quietly rubbing his eyes to wake himself up. "I'd be up for going."
Hiro feigned a grin, standing up and making his way over to his own side of the room again. "I brought up one of the sketches," he began to explain, fumbling through disorganized notes. "You can look at it while I go get something. I forgot it downstairs. I'll be back." The teenager found the partially crumpled page he was looking for, smoothing it out and bringing it over to Tadashi. "Here," he mentioned, presenting the sloppy notes before heading downstairs again. Tadashi stared at the paper- the bottom half of the skeleton was clearly worked on much harder than the top. The top half was just minimalist, light pencil sketch of what Tadashi's last prototype looked like. But the bottom was smudged with eraser and redrawn in dark pencil, with intricate details included and explained, as well as a few physics equations scrawled in sideways and in small handwriting. Tadashi found the page was paper clipped to an explanation of the 4 kinds of bone movements in the human body, something Hiro definitely used as a reference. Tadashi was so wrapped up in the details, he'd forgotten everything else. Hiro surely made a few mistakes, but there was definitely easy fixes to them all. Little rewirings of things, different joints and pressure sensors. The young adult glanced at his clock again. 5:28.
Where the heck was Hiro? Did he really try to sneak in a bot fight before they left? Tadashi grumbled to himself the elated feeling from the new design gone as he snatched up a small device he usually kept in his pocket. It was the first thing he'd ever built; a small, simple GPS tracker, with the receiving piece in Hiro's unknowing hoodie tag. Just as he pressed the one and only button on it to power it on, the kid came back into the room with a mug in his hands. Tadashi quickly closed his fist over the device, stuffing it under his blankets casually, like he'd just been fixing the comforter. "Hiro? What took you so long…?" The older brother questioned, as the teen made his way over.
"I…" The kid beamed as he handed over the mug, sitting next to his big brother. "I went out and got you a mint and lemon tea. Your favorite." Hiro looked over, offering a gap-toothed grin.
"From One Nine-tea One?" Tadashi asked, as that was the only place in the world probably who made such a concoction.
"One and a half sugar cubes. Brought your mug and asked if they wouldn't mind making it in that. I hope it's still warm..." Hiro rattled off his brother's favorite order. Tadashi felt a surge of pride and appreciation towards his brother; even though the small café was a few blocks away, Hiro had ditched his own plans and gone on his own will just on a whim. The college student raised the cup to his lips, drinking the warm tea before smiling at his brother.
"Hiro." Tadashi set the cup down, grateful for the chill he felt as his nose cleared a bit from the strength of the drink. "These designs are very beneficial. I was in a bit of a rut, too." Tadashi chuckled, which led to a small coughing fit. "Ahem… Hiro, you continue to amaze me. With everything you manage to do." Tadashi hugged his brother tight, his fingers catching Hiro's hair and working their way through a few knots. The younger brother smiled contently and closed his eyes, before yawning quietly.
"H-Hey now." Hiro said, pushing his brother away and scrunching his nose. "No touching the hair. Against the rules." Tadashi laughed at that, picking up his cup.
"Oh, Hiro." He stopped, sipping again as he stared out the window. "You know, I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world."
Well, time may beg to differ, when Tadashi is forced to choose between him or Professor Callaghan.