He's coming down the stairs when he catches Tadashi's voice, from the kitchen. "I don't know," his brother is saying, and it's a little muffled, like he has food in his mouth or something. "Is it too much? Is it none of my business, and I'm just being the annoying older brother?"
"I don't think so." That's definitely Aunt Cass, and Hiro's previous blank mood goes sour in an instant, because if there's one thing he can't stand, it's people talking about him behind his back. "But… I'll leave this one to you. It was your idea, after all."
Rounding the corner, he takes a little bit of satisfaction in seeing Aunt Cass flinch in surprise; Tadashi, however, simply looks his way with half a slice of pizza in his hand. "Hey, knucklehead," he says cheerfully, still chewing. "So, you're gonna take piano lessons."
"Um. What."
Frowning, Aunt Cass shakes her head in mock disappointment. "That wasn't really how I thought you'd go about it, but alright."
"What?" Tadashi shrugs. "Why dance around it? This way-"
"Excuse me."
"-we don't waste time. And it's more important to-"
"HELLO." Glaring, Hiro waves at them both. "Can someone please explain what you're talking about?"
"Simple." Tadashi stretches, then makes his way across the kitchen until he's standing in the entry of the café proper. "Basically, that keyboard we brought in? I was thinking you could try it out, maybe see what you can learn."
Hiro almost blurts out his reaction, something along the lines of What, no, that's stupid, why, but something makes him hold back. Music… isn't really his thing. Tadashi knows that, and Cass knows that, so why would-
"You know, if you're up to it." Tadashi says it like an afterthought. As if it's not that big of a deal.
Hiro's head swings around like a pivot. He narrows his eyes. "…Wait a minute."
"Hm?"
"No." He points at Tadashi. "No, no, don't you dare. Don't- don't do that thing."
"I don't know what you're talking about," his brother says mildly.
"That thing! That taunting thing where I suddenly agree to do something just because you make it sound like a challenge."
Tadashi puts up his hands in mock surrender. "I'm not doing anything like that."
"Well, good." Scowling, Hiro moves past him towards the pizza.
The café is silent for a moment.
"…I'm only saying that if you can't handle it, then-"
"MMGRMPH!" He spins with his mouth full and nearly falls over. "There!" he shouts after swallowing. "That right there! God, you- you suck so much!"
"Language," Aunt Cass says, but there's humor in her voice, and she doesn't even look up from collecting dishes off the tables.
And Tadashi's laughing, too. Both of them are laughing, and- damn it, he can't deal with this right now. He can feel his face going red, and it only makes him angrier, and suddenly some part of his brain makes the connection: they were talking about him before, discussing how to deal with him, trying to make decisions for him again.
That's all this is. It's just another way for Tadashi to stick his nose in Hiro's life, and try to help.
"Stop it," he says loudly, and maybe his brother hears him and maybe he doesn't, but Hiro doesn't care, he shoves past him and starts his way back up the stairs. A freaking keyboard? That's next in their neverending crusade to mess with him, to tell him what he has to do? What he can't do? It's stupid. It's stupid, and it's making his blood boil.
The chuckling has stopped. "Look, Hiro-"
"Leave me alone," he snaps. He doesn't even look back.
"Hey!" But he does when Cass's sharp yell echoes off the walls. Turning slightly, he sees over his shoulder that she's staring up at him, hands on her hips, disapproving frown perfectly in place.
…Great. Now she's mad at him again. That's perfect.
"You need to watch your attitude, young man," she says, and God, is that even a real thing that people say? He's only ever heard it in bad movies, but somehow it's exactly what he can't stand in this instant, and he can't even say anything so he just scowls and turns back.
"Hiro, don't walk away when Aunt Cass is talking to you!"
No. No, no, no, there's no way he's putting up with this tonight. Normally, he might be able to bite back his irritation and apologize, but hell, he hasn't even done anything this time. And they're both all over him for no reason, and Cass is doing the disappointed-parent look he despises, and Tadashi's proving yet again how he's the perfect stupid nephew and Hiro's the screwup, the delinquent, the kid who talks back and gets in trouble and who needs everyone else to look after him and tell him what to do and make him play the goddamn piano.
He loses it.
"I said leave me the hell alone, alright?!"
He thought there'd be more, honestly. For an instant, he had the whole thing pictured in his head: he'd explode, spewing everything he's angry about, too caught up in the yelling to stop, and there would be a lot more curses, and Cass and Tadashi would fire right back, until they were all screaming and slamming doors and playing the whole dysfunctional-family shtick.
But they're all silent. Tadashi's looking at him with the same expression last time they argued, and Aunt Cass- he doesn't look at Aunt Cass, doesn't want to see her face, doesn't want to know if she's shocked or angry or hurt.
There's a whisper of a thought that he can't go back on this.
"Hiro Hamada." Cass's voice is low and unsteady. She's holding something back. Hiro doesn't look at her. "Don't use that language. Especially not with your brother."
"Why not?" he fires back, and why is he saying this, why is he so angry, but at the same time it's good and it's right. He stares Tadashi in the eye. "Because he'll make me use the stupid swear jar?"
"Listen, Hiro." Tadashi has his best stern disapproval face. "You know this isn't okay, don't you? You're out of control. You're mouthing off to customers, you think you know better than everyone else-"
"Well, I do!" He throws his hands up. "I really do! Because you know what? I'm starting to think most people are kind of idiots. So I'm really freaking sorry if I don't spend my whole life listening to what everyone else thinks I should do!"
"Are you serious?" Tadashi's voice, almost never raised like this, makes Hiro flinch back for an instant. "Is that really what you think? That the people who love you, the people who want to keep you safe- we're just too stupid to realize that everything's perfect?!"
"It IS perfect!" Hiro yells before he can stop himself. "Except for you! If it wasn't for you always trying to mess with-"
"YOU'RE GETTING HURT!"
That stops him. He has nothing. He racks his brain, but there isn't a single idea that he can shoot back. And the echo fades off the rafters, and Tadashi's red in the face, and Cass- Cass is-
"…Hurt?"
Oh, God, she doesn't know.
"Hiro, what's- what's he talking about?"
Hiro pales. She doesn't know about the fights- she didn't believe Tadashi the last time he tried to rat his brother out, but- but she will, now. She will if she thinks Hiro's already being disrespectful and all that crap. And he finally lets himself look at her, and she looks so scared, her whole face is almost trembling, and she's just staring at him like he's supposed to have some kind of answer.
"Hiro." Tadashi's staring, too, worried and angry. He's starting to get really freaking sick of that look. "I think you better tell her."
Damn it. This isn't about keyboards. Not really. It's not about attitude problems, or anything else- it's botfighting, all over again. Because everything comes back to botfighting. Because Tadashi can't just let it go.
He can picture it, and it's suddenly all he can think of. More arguments. More lectures. More Tadashi interfering in his life, more Cass trying to get him to be nicer to people, more impromptu lessons about 'not being a dick'. More bullshit. He'll be grounded in a heartbeat.
And in an instant, with anger and helplessness and frustration flying through his head, he makes his decision.
"Screw you." He's gone, he's stomping up the stairs before Tadashi can work through his shock, and by the time his older brother follows him up to the attic, Hiro already has one of his newest fighting bots mashed in the pocket of his hoodie. He roughly shoulders him away before descending again.
Let them worry. Let Tadashi tell Cass everything like a tattletale. It doesn't matter- he's not thinking clearly, he knows he's not, but he doesn't care. He's gone.
He shoots a mutinous glare in his aunt's direction when he's making his way to the front door. He'll freaking take off running, if he has to. They're not stopping him this time.
And even as he's thinking it, he almost halts completely, because she has this look, and she barely gets out the words "Hiro, why would-" But she can't finish, and she puts her hand to her mouth instead like she's about to burst into tears.
This is bullshit.
"Hiro!" Tadashi's right behind him, and he spins him around by the upper arm. His eyes are wide. "Look, Hiro, you can't go out tonight. You hear me? You can't."
THIS IS BULLSHIT THIS IS BULLSHIT THIS IS BULLSHIT-
"Watch me," he snarls, and throws his hand off.
Lower staircase, to the door. He's taking the steps two at a time. Tadashi's yelling something, following him, Hiro elbows him in the stomach, unthinking, sprinting, bursts through the door, either one of them probably could have caught him except he knows they're stunned, and he's running, now, out the front door and across the front of the property and towards the road.
The fight tonight's gonna be crazy. Some of the most notorious players in the whole city will be there. And he'll win, he'll destroy, because then he'll know that- he'll finally prove- he can- they'll-
Hiro can't remember why he wants to go to this fight so badly.
Arms shaking, he takes off down the side of the street. There's a late-night tram stop not far ahead, and he's pretty sure Tadashi isn't still following him.
He's doing what he wants. Nobody else.
And it's gonna be perfect.