Different Angles
I Miss Him
Tadashi had always been there for them, and they came to realize that they never truly returned the favor.
"Looks like I won't be getting much sleep tonight…" Aunt Cass said, covering her mouth to let out a tired yawn. It was around twelve thirty in the morning, and she couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. Whenever this happened, she would go down to the kitchen and eat the leftover donuts and slices of cake behind the glass display cases in the café.
Cass took feather-light steps as she walked down the stairs in order not to wake her youngest nephew up. Hiro had been under a lot of stress these past few days trying to balance school and superhero duties; he deserved his rest.
Once she finally reached the first floor of the little house, she turned the corner to head over to the kitchen, when she saw a little sliver of light coming from the dining room. Assuming Hiro had forgotten to turn off the lights before heading upstairs, she walked towards it, stopping when she heard the sound of shifting and papers being flipped. She poked her head into the room, to find Hiro's back facing her.
"What's he doing up so late?" Aunt Cass asked herself. She noticed that a pile of old photo albums rested on the table before him, and this was enough to make her understand that he was taking a little walk down memory lane.
But right when she was about to call out to him and tell him to go back to sleep, she heard him say to himself after stopping on a particular page, "I was an awful brother."
"Guess I'll just sleep in class later today," Hiro said to himself. It was eleven in the evening, and he couldn't bring himself to fall asleep. Maybe it was because he had too many things on his mind. Maybe it was because he still couldn't get over his brother's death. Maybe it was because he called out to Tadashi earlier, only to realize that he was gone.
He wasn't quite sure.
In his hands were five photo albums he took from the library in the living room. It became a habit of his to look through them whenever he couldn't sleep because the pictures reminded him of the good old days, and the memories brought him happiness, if only just a little.
Hiro took the smallest one from the pile and flipped it open. The first page was a picture of Aunt Cass leaning against the wall, looking of into the distance with a smile on her face. He remembered his aunt telling him that this particular picture was taken when she first opened up the Lucky Cat Café. It was a nice start to the album, he thought. The next ones were pictures of her with his parents, and the following ones were of Aunt Cass with awards for running the best café in San Fransokyo and for having the best foods. He loved looking over these kinds of pictures; it made him feel a lot closer to his aunt.
He picked up the largest album next and flipped over the hard cover. The first picture was one of four-year-old him, eight-year-old Tadashi and their beloved Aunt Cass who didn't look a day over thirty. Hiro was sitting on Aunt Cass' shoulders, whose arms were wrapped around his older brother. Tadashi himself had a smile on his face, his eyes looking over at their aunt's. Hiro smiled at the memory, and flipped over to the next page.
While going through the rest of the pile, Hiro always found himself smiling sadly at the pictures of him and Tadashi. There was one where five-year-old him was struggling to put a robot together, and nine-year-old Tadashi sat across from him, offering to lend a hand.
"Here; want me to show you how to put that piece in?" Tadashi asked, laughing.
Hiro shook his head, "I can do it!" He smashed the two pieces together as an attempt to lock the robot's head to its body, but it didn't do a thing and only knocked off the toy's right arm. He gave up after a while slumping his shoulders and pouting, "Okay, you can show me how."
Hiro laughed at the memory and flipped over to a page with more pictures of them. One was of him crying while holding up his bruised knee with Tadashi kneeling in front of him with a worried look on his face. The one beside it was of Hiro with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes, and Tadashi holding up a band-aid with gummy bear print on it with a smile on his face. The one underneath was one with him wiping away his tears while Tadashi's back was facing the frame, seemingly reaching out for something in the first aid kit. The final shot was of Tadashi holding out a red lollipop for him.
"How much does it hurt on a scale of one to ten?" Tadashi asked Hiro, who was sitting on the floor of their bedroom holding his leg close. On his knee was a big scratch he got when the little hovercraft they made crashed. Tadashi felt completely responsible for the whole thing, and so decided to be the one to cure him.
"One million!" little Hiro cried with tears in his eyes. Tadashi laughed, then took out the first aid kit from underneath the bed. "It's not funny, Tadashi!"
"Hiro, it isn't even bleeding," he said. "And come on, men don't cry."
"Tadashi, if you were hit by a car, how would you like it if I said men don't cry?!"
The older Hamada just laughed even more, "Fine, fine." He took out a band-aid from the kit and hid it behind him. "I think have something that'll make you feel better."
"Oh yeah, what is it?" Hiro asked as he wiped away his tears with his sleeve.
"This!" Tadashi revealed the band-aid and held it out before his brother. Hiro's eyes immediately brightened. The band-aid had drawings of gummy bears of all sorts of colors on it.
"Gummy bears!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah… Sorry we're out of robot band-aids," Tadashi apologized as he ripped it open.
"It's okay! I love gummy bears!" Hiro grinned.
Tadashi then took out a red lollipop from the kit and presented it to his brother, "And for being good, you get a lollipop!"
"Yay! Thank you, Tadashi!" Hiro exclaimed, taking the lollipop.
Hiro smiled fondly at the story behind the stolen shots, and continued looking through the photos. He went through each album, reminiscing about past memories he had with his brother.
His eyes landed on a picture of him wrapping Tadashi's bleeding arm with a band-aid. His older brother's left cheek was black and blue, and black pants had a rip on it, revealing a wide scratch on his knee. He himself had on crying face filled with guilt, while Tadashi seemed to be laughing despite all the physical injuries he had. Hiro could remember it all too clearly.
"What were you thinking?!" Hiro yelled at his older brother, guilty tears rolling down his face.
Hiro got himself into big trouble during a bot fight by making a comment that angered his opponent greatly. The large man had his accomplices hold him in place so that he couldn't escape, frightening the thirteen-year-old.
He watched the man's fist rushing towards his face and closed his eyes, waiting for a punch that never came. When he opened up his eyes, he saw his older brother lying on the ground with blood leaking from his nose. Tadashi yelled for him to run, and Hiro obeyed and immediately went to search for help. The police eventually came to the rescue and managed to capture the thugs and arrest the whole crowd of bot fighters. Tadashi managed to fight them off quite well, thanks to all those years of karate, but he didn't leave the fight without a good set of injuries.
"I had to protect you," Tadashi simply said, trying not to wince when the alcohol touched his bruise.
"But look how many bruises you have!" Hiro cried, furiously wiping away his tears. "You're bleeding! You even took that punch to the face head-on!"
Tadashi laughed, "I'm all right, Hiro. It doesn't even hurt that much."
"Are you sure?" Hiro asked, guilt still evident on his face.
Tadashi smiled, "Positive."
Despite what he said, Hiro knew for a fact that Tadashi was lying just to stop him from worrying. He was smiling to hide the fact that he was in so much pain. He was laughing to trick him into thinking that he was all right when he really wasn't. He always did that.
Hiro realized that it was the final picture of the book and closed it shut to get to the next one. However, the moment he closed it, he came to realize that most of the pictures in the albums were of him getting into trouble with Tadashi coming to rescue.
He took the last album on the table and opened it, hoping to see a funny picture that would help lift his mood. But he found himself stared solemnly at the first picture, feeling the tears forming in his eyes. It was a picture of Tadashi smiling brightly, with pink cherry blossoms in full bloom in the background. Hiro ran a hand over it, blinking away the tears that dared to escape.
Tadashi was the one who raised him and cared for him when their parents died. He was always getting him out of trouble and sacrificing his own happiness for his. Hiro never realized until now that Tadashi had to give up his childhood just for him. He stole his brother's happiness, and now it was too late to say sorry.
Hiro looked down.
No, it was too late to say thank you. It was too late to thank him for everything he's done for him. For putting up with him, protecting him, loving him.
"I was an awful brother."
And once he finished his sentence, he sobbed. He cried as much as he did the night of the fire, not daring to hold back his emotions. He suddenly felt two arms wrap around him, and he turned his head to see who it was, only to find a blurry figure sitting next to him.
"No, you weren't," a soft voice told him.
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and choked, "A-Aunt Cass? What're you doing up so late?"
"I could ask you the same thing," she said, and although she was smiling, he saw hurt in her eyes. She and Tadashi were both so alike in that aspect; smiling through their pain. She looked at the picture he was on, "So, this is what you were doing…"
"I thought looking through these would make me smile again," he sighed. "But all they did was make me feel worse. These pictures made me realize how ungrateful I am. Tadashi gave up so much for me. And what did I do? I returned the favor by getting him into trouble and doing the opposite of everything he said. I continued to go to bot fights even after he almost went to the hospital for me. I never thought of anyone else but myself. I gave him nothing when he gave me everything."
"I feel the same way," Cass sniffled. She turned to Hiro, eyes filled with tears and for once, she wasn't smiling. She was displaying her true feelings, her true self.
And her true self was broken.
"I tried, Hiro. I really tried. But I've failed you both," she said, and Hiro didn't know how to react or what to say because he had never seen her like this before. "I promised my sister that I'd never let anything happen to you or Tadashi. I promised her that I'd keep you both safe and happy, that I'd take care of both of you, but Tadashi was the one who fulfilled my promise in my place."
"What are you talking about, Aunt Cass? You…" he trailed off when she shook her head.
"Do you remember when you two moved in here for the first time? I was a wreck. Losing both my sister and brother-in-law in the same day was too much for me to handle. She was all the family I had left. And Tadashi… he made that little toy to cheer me up. He made me smile again."
Cass Hamada walked into the kitchen to find a round little toy sitting on top of the counters. Next to it was a little note that read, "To Aunt Cass. Please roll it! – Tadashi".
She did as she was told and rolled the little bot. It went in circles a couple of times before stopping, and cute, little origami flower popped out of the top of its head.
She rolled it one more time, and this time, a little message popped out.
I love you, Aunt Cass!
Upon reading those words, she started crying of happiness. Tadashi and Hiro both ran out of their hiding spots, the former with a disappointed look on his face and the latter with a confused one.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Cass! I thought you'd like it…" Tadashi said, frowning.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, turning around. She had on a smile on her face, while tears raced down her cheeks.
She threw her arms around both of her nephews, thanking them over and over. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so happy.
"It was my fault that he had to grow up so fast. He deserved so much more than what I made him go through. I was an awful aunt," she laughed bitterly. After a long hug from Hiro and staining his shirt with her tears, Cass apologized, "I'm sorry. I can't keep holding it in forever, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "It feels nice having someone to talk to about these things."
Hiro then looked down at the picture sadly, staring into his big brother's warm, brown eyes. His heart broke at the thought of knowing that the only way he could look into those eyes was by looking at pictures.
"I just wish I'd told him how thankful I am…" Hiro said, his voice wavering. "And how much I love him…"
"Me too, kiddo," Aunt Cass said, looking down at the picture as well. "Me too."
A/N: And I broke my own heart. Hiro and Aunt Cass would blame themselves, I just know it, and that just makes me want to curl up and cry forever. Thank you for making me sob- uh, I mean, thank you for the request, snowflake1814! ;A;
The part where Tadashi gave Aunt Cass that little toy robot is from the manga, by the way! Originally, the message says, "Excellent Luck!", but in this situation, I found "I love you, Aunt Cass!" a lot more fitting. :) Also, the flashback about the band-aid sounds familiar? It's Oneshot 18: Band-Aid!
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE SWEETS REVIEWS AND PM'S, GUYS! NO WORDS CAN EVER BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE JUST HOW THANKFUL I AM. I LOVE YOU ALL, AND DON'T YOU EVER FORGET THAT. ;w; AND A WARM HELLO TO MY NEW READERS! I HOPE YOU LIKED MY ONESHOTS. ;w;