Chapter Twelve: This sucks.

(Just posting an extra chapter this week, early on, since it's my birthday and I can.)

Morning came fair more quickly than Hiro was ready for it. In light of his injuries, Tadashi had insisted he sleep, not in his own bed, but on the giant bean bag chair closer to his side of the room. The boy had had to have some help getting down, but, after a pseudo-night's sleep, he supposed he could see the logic. Unfortunately, it meant he also couldn't get back up without help. He'd probably have the same problem with his own bed but decided to not dwell on it.

It had taken three very strong painkillers to take the edge off last night, enough that he could at least doze off. And Hiro rather thought Tadashi had watched him for at least another hour after he'd drifted off, just to be safe. His brother looked more than a little tired when he finally came around the screen that separated his part of the room from Hiro's.

"Morning," Tadashi greeted with a yawn as he ran a hand through his hair. His flannel pajamas made a soft shushing sound as he moved. He came around to where his brother was and crouched to be at eye level. "How did you sleep?"

Hiro pouted. There wasn't any other way to describe the look on his face, if he was being honest. The truth was he hadn't slept well at all. He'd dozed off and on most of the night. Every time he tried to turn, a sharp stab of pain punctuated through his entire body. And once the painkillers had worn off, well, it had made sleeping even more difficult. But he wasn't going to complain. He was not going to complain. "I should ask you the same question," he said instead, hoping to avoid the inevitable.

Tadashi gave a slight chuckle as he pulled over Hiro's swivel chair and sat down. "I suppose you should," he agreed. He'd probably had just as hard a time sleeping as his brother had, waking at all hours of the night, debating on whether or not to check on his younger brother or just let matters lie. "Just look at us," he sighed. "We make quite the pair."

In the small hours of the night, when the pain had been the most bearable, before the painkillers had worn off, Hiro had managed to do some thinking. It was inevitable that Aunt Cass would eventually find out about his late night activities. It would be neigh on impossible that she wouldn't find out, especially since she was rather fond of giving her nephews hugs. Hiro didn't even want to contemplate how much that would hurt.

"I guess we should tell Aunt Cass, huh," Hiro said rather despondently as he idly walked his fingers over the raised lip of the bean bag chair. He already knew what his aunt would say to that, at least he fancied he did. The outlook wasn't promising.

Tadashi contemplated him over the back of the chair, his legs wrapped around the frame so he was sitting on the thing backwards. "I suppose it would be the best course of action," he agreed. "After all, Aunt Cass is pretty good about finding out things, especially when it comes to injuries. She'll find out one way or another."

"Yeah," Hiro said, his face falling even further as he contemplated it. Of course, Aunt Cass finding out about his little injuries was the least of his worries. For the present, Tadashi was alive. That might change in the foreseeable and unforeseeable future. He had to figure out a way to change that. But how?

"Come on," Tadashi said as he got up from the chair, making it spin. "It's probably better to get this over with than to keep waiting for it to happen." He reached out a hand for Hiro to take.

Wincing, Hiro took the offered hand. He let out a sound like a drowning elephant as his brother pulled him to his feet. His entire body felt like it had molded itself to the bean bag and decidedly didn't want to move. His muscles pinged and creaked as he got to his feet. "This sucks," he complained once he was finally upright once more.

Tadashi nodded. "Oh, I agree. It definitely sucks, but it will suck even more if we don't get this over with before Aunt Cass opens the café."

Hiro knew his brother was right so he followed him towards the stairs, suddenly remembering something from the night before. "Hold on a sec," he called out and made his way stiffly towards his computer. "I gotta do something."

Standing in front of the keyboard, Hiro bit his lip. He didn't want to do it, but he knew he had to. He could always rebuild Megabot, but the idea of killing off one of his creations, simply because it had fallen into the wrong hands, wrenched him in ways he'd never thought possible.

"Hiro?" Tadashi walked over to see what he was doing, recognizing the pensive set of his shoulders and knowing it wasn't from physical pain.

The boy pulled up the remote access program for his fighter bot and typed in the one code that would kill it deader than dead. It would fry the internal circuitry to a crisp, making it impossible for anyone else to copy his design. With a heavy sigh, he hit the enter key, sending out the signal.

Somewhere, he imagined a pop and hiss as the insides of Megabot incinerated. He hoped Yama had been holding it at the time, and that he got a nice jolt for his troubles. It would serve the thug right.

"What was that all about?" Tadashi asked as Hiro turned away from the computer, turning off the monitor as he went.

It hurt Hiro to admit it, but his brother deserved an answer. "I lost Megabot," he confessed. "I didn't want him to fall into the wrong hands so I fried his circuits with a kill switch I built in."

"Ah," Tadashi nodded in understanding. It probably cut his brother up, knowing he'd had to destroy one of his prized creations. And on top of everything else too. But, it was just as well. It meant Hiro couldn't participate in any bot fights for at least a good while, if ever. And that, though saddening in some ways, was probably for the best in the long run. "Come on. We've delayed the inevitable long enough."

Arms hanging in total dejection, Hiro followed his brother back to the stairs and down to the next level.

Aunt Cass had been as livid as Hiro'd expected. Maybe more so. She'd gone on about how she couldn't understand how such a thing had happened. Maybe she should have gotten a book on parenting or something. Anything that could have helped prevent this from happening. All the while, she'd stuffed a muffin or two with the excuse of stress eating, scolding the boy with every bite.

But, she'd decided his current punishment was just, especially when she found out he'd been beaten to a pulp, more or less. They didn't give her all of the details. Grounding was unnecessary, especially since she knew Hiro wouldn't be going much of anywhere regardless. More than anything, she felt relieved that her nephew had probably finally learned his lesson.

Hiro sat at the table, stirring his eggs around his plate. Things weren't supposed to be this hard. Why did they seem to keep getting harder with each incarnation? Breathing was hard. Moving was hard. Thinking was hard. But at least Aunt Cass didn't know about the broken ribs, just the bruises and scrapes. They didn't tell her about the cracked ribs. That could wait until later. Knowing about the bruises were enough.

"Try to stay out of trouble," his aunt admonished as she breezed past him with a hurried kiss as she moved towards the stairs. It was time to open the café, which would keep her mind busy on other things. At least for a while.

Tadashi moved from his chair to take his dishes to the sink. "Hey," he said, cuffing his brother lightly on the shoulder, momentarily forgetting the bruises there. "It could be worse."

Hiro winced at his brother's touch. "Ow," he uttered as he let his fork drop from his fingers. The tape around his chest constricted against his ribs as he tried to suck in a deep breath. If nothing else, Tadashi and Baymax had done a really good job with that.

"Sorry," Tadashi apologized as he rinsed off his plate and put it aside for later washing. "I forgot."

Hiro let out a snort of disbelief. Then he sighed. Okay, maybe his brother had forgotten. Then again, maybe not. "Today's going to suck," he commented as he picked up his fork once more. "Sure she didn't ground me, but it basically comes down to the same thing."

Coming back around the counter, Tadashi ruffled Hiro's hair. "Hey, it could have been worse," he admonished. "But if it would make you feel better, you can come with me back to the lab. Besides, I'd like you to meet my friends. I'm sure Aunt Cass won't mind, so long as you're with me."

Something in Hiro's heart tore. My friends. That's right. They weren't Hiro's yet. He hadn't technically met them this go around. And even if he did, things wouldn't be the same. They were Tadashi's friends, not his. And that idea made his chest squeeze painfully.

"Hey," Tadashi said again, looking more than a little concerned. "You okay? You look a little pale."

Hiro had to swallow a lump in his throat. "Yeah," he rasped, willing the tears to stay from his eyes. "I'm just in a lot of pain."

Hearing that, Tadashi went to their aunt's medicine cabinet to get him some more painkillers. "Here. Take these and then we'll head out. The gang's anxious to meet you. Besides, it would probably do you good to meet some new people."

Dutifully, Hiro swallowed the pills, finishing his eggs so they wouldn't upset his stomach. Finished with that, he had to have Tadashi help him up before they headed out once more.