Mischief and Madness
"Oi, Hamada. I hear the doctors have finally given up on trying to keep you away from Tadashi." Gogo's voice filtered through the doorway of the hospital room Hiro now officially shared with Tadashi, giving Hiro just enough time to compose himself. He quickly picked up a screwdriver and pretended to scrutinize the bot pieces he had scattered on the hospital bed tray before him aiming to give the impression that he was too engrossed in his work to notice the gang's arrival.
Gogo marched into the room, waving about a bouquet of flowers only to stumble to a halt the moment she spotted the older Hamada sibling.
Hiro dipped his head and smirked, hiding the expression behind stray strands of hair.
And in three… two... one…
"What on earth happened to you?" She demanded, so surprised by the sight that met her gaze that she remained completely oblivious to the fact that Honey Lemon nearly walked right into her.
Fortunately for Gogo, Honey Lemon was naturally graceful and managed to deftly slip past her before she too encountered the sight that had shocked Gogo into a standstill. "Oh my." Honey Lemon breathed also coming to a stop. She raised her hands and covered her mouth, her eyes wide behind her large spectacles, flickers of amusement dancing in them.
Hiro understood her amusement and had to fight really hard to keep his innocent façade in place, the game only half way complete. He picked up a random bot part and bit his lip struggling to bite back the laughter that was bubbling up within. The fact that his expression could be interpreted as intense concentration granted him a momentary reprieve before completely giving everything away.
Two down…Two to go.
Wasabi and Fred entered the room together, engrossed in a conversation that was rather abruptly cut short the moment they realized Honey Lemon and Gogo were still lingering in the doorway. Wasabi, blinked, his eyes large and owlish and Fred… well Fred's reaction was every bit as priceless and Hiro has suspected it would be. He took one look at Tadashi and then burst out into raucous laughter, hunching over to cradle his abdomen as he did so. "Dude, your face!" Fred raised an arm to point at Tadashi's face, "what happened to you face?" And with those words he eliminated at least a fraction of the confusion that currently filled the room.
Or so he probably thought.
Tadashi blinked and reached up to run a hand down over his face the movement doing nothing to eliminate his ignorance. "What's wrong with my face?" He asked far to innocently for someone who really should know better. I mean, Tadashi lived with Hiro, right? He should at least be a little suspicious? But then again, this was Tadashi they were talking about and his brother was nothing if not a little naive. It was only natural that his reaction would be a little innocent at first, and that innocence was nearly Hiro's undoing. Nearly being the key operative term…
Hiro bit down harder on his lip, and ignoring the taste of blood that filtered into his mouth. He couldn't afford to give the game away… not yet anyway and even though it was an enormous feat of will power he somehow managed to contain his own laughter.
"It's… it's… it's..." Fred continued to laugh, fighting to breathe between words. "You need to look… ha, ha, ha… look in a... ha, ha, ha, mirror."
The moment Fred mentioned a mirror it was Game Over. Tadashi shot Hiro a glare and then turned to face Honey Lemon. The silent request in his eyes was clear. Interpreting it correctly, Honey Lemon stepped forward and handed him her cell phone, turning the camera onto selfie mode so he could see his own face on the screen. "What the…." Tadashi's jaw dropped in shock, leaving him speechless for but a moment before his brain finally made the connection. "HIRO!" Tadashi's outcry echoed throughout the room wiping the last of Hiro's control clean away.
Abandoning all pretense, Hiro burst out into full blown laughter and the sound of his amusement mingled with Fred's. Priceless. Tadashi's reaction was absolutely priceless and well worth the effort Hiro had put into the prank. Remaining awake longer than Tadashi was not an easy task. Neither was appropriating a permanent marker. He'd had to dodge more than one nurse in his bid to liberate the required tool from the nurse's station but the reward more than outweighed risk. Thankfully Tadashi was still fast asleep when he returned giving Hiro ample time to scrawl the *Henohenomoheji onto his face, leaving trails of black ink all over Tadashi's usually pristine features.
"How long has it been there?" Tadashi demanded, dropping Honey Lemon's cell phone onto his bed with a scowl, her giggle nearly lost in the rumbustious laughter that now filled the room.
"Since last night." Hiro admitted, clutching his sides as he fought for breath.
"You mean to tell me it's been here all day!" Tadashi's exclamation was filled with dismay.
"Yup." Hiro confirmed, still laughing. "You should have seen…." He gulped in a big breath, the need to oxygen suddenly rather dire. "You should have seen the nurses face when he walked in right after… ha, ha, ha, right after I was done! It was priceless!"
And it really had been. The nurse had reacted much like Honey Lemon had only his surprise had been followed by a silent questioning eyebrow directed at the culprit. Hiro had lifted his finger to his lips, silently asking the nurse to keep his secret. The nurse then proceeded to redeem all the points he had lost when he carried Hiro away from Tadashi's room following the buzzer incident, shaking his head before silently leaving the room.
Tadashi narrowed his eyes, threw off his sheets, slipped out of bed and then proceeded to march over to Hiro's side. Okay so it was more of a shuffle than a march but that was only a technicality. Hiro knew Tadashi was probably aiming for a march and also knew his brain probably shouldn't be preoccupied with evaluating Tadashi's gait when he should be focused on escaping Tadashi's inevitable wrath instead. But then again Hiro's brain never really worked the way it was supposed to and his preoccupation with his amusement lost him the opportunity to slip out of his own bed before Tadashi managed to slip in beside him.
"You little shit." Tadashi reached over and pulled Hiro into his arms in order to give him a noogie. "So this is why you have been snapping cell phone pictures of me all day!" He continued to ruffle Hiro's hair, his touch careful in order to accommodate both their injuries and it was sheer bliss.
Hiro giggled, the sound pure and free as it danced in the air and even though the sound of his own unrestrained laughter was foreign to him he didn't care. He wanted this. He wanted this moment of pure happiness to wash away all the grief he still harbored in his heart and even though he knew it wasn't possible, for one brief moment in time, it did not matter, because he was happy. Tadashi was here and his deep love and affection was working like a soothing balm on the still broken shards of Hiro's heart.
"Let me guess." Tadashi stopped giving the noogie and switched to running his fingers soothingly through Hiro's hair instead, his soft touch calming Hiro's laughter. "You're also the reason I can't find my cell phone?"
Hiro leaned into the touch, carefully resting his back against Tadashi's bandaged chest before peering up at his brother, a mischievous smirk still etched onto his features. "Maybe."
Tadashi shook his head, an affectionate gracing his lips. "Hand it over then." He held out his right hand, his left still tangled in Hiro's hair.
Hiro reached under his blankets and pulled out Tadashi's cell phone, moving to silently hand it over only to be rather rudely interrupted by a falling bouquet. "Okay, now that we've managed to solve the mystery of what happened to Tadashi's face, can we get to the actual visitation part of our visit?" Gogo asked dropping down into one of the chairs that was located between Tadashi's and Hiro's beds. "I hear you guys are finally getting released."
Hiro blinked down at the brightly colored flowers that now occupied his lap and was just about to direct a glare at Gogo who had dropped them there when Tadashi smoothly removed them. He lifted them up and placed them on the stand besides Hiro's bed before resuming the task of running his fingers through Hiro's hair thus calming the raging beast before it had a chance to rear its ugly head. The knowing glint that was present in his eyes when Hiro chose to look up instead clearly communicated Tadashi knew exactly what he was doing. "Doctor Pollock has told us that if all goes well, we can leave tomorrow morning." Tadashi confirmed. "But I won't be able to attend classes for another month or so. They want my burns to heal a bit more before I put any more strain on them."
"It's a good thing medical technology has come such a long way." Wasabi said, walking over to stand behind Gogo. "If you look after them properly you'll probably be able to get away with barely any scars."
"I don't mind the scars." Tadashi said, trailing his fingers over Hiro's ear. "They're a small price to pay for Hiro's life."
A small price to pay for Hiro's life.
Tadashi's words stirred the ache that lingering deep in Hiro's heart, waking a surge of conflicted emotions that Hiro couldn't even begin to express. The shadows of his secrets reared their heads throwing his mind into turmoil once more because Tadashi couldn't be more mistaken even if he tried.
Tadashi had not saved Hiro's life. Not initially anyway. He had endangered it. Hiro wouldn't have been trapped in that building in the first place if not for the fact that he'd rushed back in to save his brother's life but he couldn't tell Tadashi that. He couldn't drop the burden of that knowledge onto his brother's shoulders and so it would remain his own cross to bear. To make things even worse, his interference had led to Callaghan's escape. The gang had been too focused on saving their own to fulfil the original mission objective and even though they had managed to save both Hiro and Tadashi it meant that Callaghan was still out there and he had Hiro's microbots to boot.
If he wanted to be entirely honest he would have to admit that their mission had actually ended in failure but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that this time round Tadashi had rushed into the fire to save Hiro and not Callaghan and somehow, by some strange twist of fate they had both survived to tell the tale.
"We're just glad you were both able to get out." Honey Lemon hedged, exchanging a pointed glance with Hiro. Her thoughts had clearly taken a similar route to his own.
"Me too." Tadashi agreed, his features once more marred by a puzzled frown. "Though I really don't know how that happened. I was convinced we were going to die. There really didn't look like there was any way out and then the wall came tumbling down. For one moment there, I thought I had completely lost my mind. I thought I saw a giant flying lizard."
Fred gulped and exchanged a pointed glace with Wasabi before turning to face Tadashi once more, an exaggerated smile plastered on his face. "A giant flying lizard? Your mind must have been playing tricks on you." Fred casually sauntered over towards the bed, the movement a touch too exaggerated to seem natural. "Lizards can't fly. This isn't one of my comic books you know. You guys are always telling me you can't turn me into one because its 'not science'," Fred inserted the usual air quotes that came with the phrase, "Though if you've changed your mind…"
Tadashi groaned and ran a hand over his own face, shaking his head in disbelief. "We can't turn you into a giant fire breathing lizard, Fred. Seriously. What kind of quack science do you think we practice?" He glanced up, his brown eyes locking with Fred's blue. "It was probably just some strange hallucination likely brought on by too much smoke inhalation."
Fred's face fell, the expression every bit as overdone and exaggerated as his previous one but thankfully Tadashi did not appear to notice. "You're right, man. It's a crazy idea but it would be soo awesome if it was possible, don't you think?" He danced around on the spot, raising his hands up to his chest. "Just imagine it, the sheer bliss of defying gravity as you leap up into the air," Fred jumped up. "followed by the rush of tumbling down. You could twist," He twirled around on one leg. "and turn and when the moment is right breath fire, creating a blazing tornado around you as you land, your skin impervious to the flames! You'd be invinci…"
"Fred, stop!" Hiro's cry echoed throughout the room, "Just stop it." abruptly cutting Fred's excited rant short and the silence that followed was more than a touch uncomfortable.
Tadashi was pale, his hands lying still and forgotten in Hiro's hair and it was all Fred's fault. Tadashi had flinched the moment he mentioned the flames and his body had stiffened against Hiro's, his heartbeat beating a rapid rhythm in his chest. He was lost, his breath was shallow and his eyes… his eyes bore the shadows of nightmares both real and imagined.
"Tadashi…" Hiro whispered, reaching up to cup one of his brother's cheeks. "Tadashi, just breathe." He trailed his fingers down Tadashi's face, over his chin, along the curve of his neck and down over his collar bone before resting his hand lightly on Tadashi's chest, tracking the rhythm of his still rapidly beating heart. "It's over…You're okay… We're okay."
Tadashi blinked, the shadows in his eyes shifted and his breathe escaped him in a rush as he came back to himself, shaking off the memories Fred's words had inadvertently triggered. "Oi, bonehead," He ruffled Hiro's hair. "You can stop giving me that look now. I'm okay." He said reassuringly, but Hiro knew better. He could feel it. He could feel the slight tremble in Tadashi's hands and could still see the flickers of darkness in Tadashi's eyes.
"You better be." Hiro retorted, easily going along with the lie his brother was trying to create. Some things were, after all, better left alone. "I didn't go to all the effort to scribble all over your face only to have you conk out on me. Permanent ink is expensive, you know. And not that easy to come by in a hospital."
Tadashi's jaw dropped, his eyes wide and the shadows in them were momentarily wiped clean by the realization that suddenly dawned upon him. "You used a permanent marker?!" Flickers of horror and disbelief danced in his brother's dark brown gaze and even though Hiro knew it meant he was in all kinds of trouble, he didn't really care because Tadashi was here and for one brief moment, he wasn't haunted by fire.
Now all he had to do, was make sure the moment lasted just a little bit longer. Drawing on all the acting skills he had acquired during the course of his life time, he pulled out a cocky smirk and aimed for the performance of a lifetime. "Nothing but the best for my big brother you know." He retorted, ignoring his own lingering pain in favor of focusing on the mischief he wanted to cause in order to lighten the mood.
That's it, Hiro. Just pretend. "It wouldn't be any fun if you could just wash it off." Just pretend everything is okay. "I had to go to a lot of effort to get hold of that marker you know." Maybe if you pretend long enough… "I had to stay up way past my bedtime." If you lie long enough… "I also had to dodge all the night staff." If you manage to get everyone to believe…"Not an easy task, let me tell you but I managed it." Perhaps… "I managed it because I can do anything." Perhaps one day… "Anything for you…" You'll believe it too.
Only that day… is not today.
He failed. Hiro failed to convince anyone in the room, least of all Tadashi or himself. He failed to instigate the outraged reaction he had been aiming for and instead found himself wrapped up in Tadashi's arms, his brothers face buried in the crook of his neck. He was crying, silent tears pouring down his face and for once in his life he was not alone. Tadashi was crying too, the warm liquid of his tears soaking into Hiro's hospital gown. "It's okay, Hiro." He whispered. "It's okay to break just a little. We'll be okay. We still have each other. As long as we still have each other we can face anything the world throws at us. Together. I'll protect you. I promise." And with those words he shattered what little remained of Hiro's self-control.
It bubbled, it boiled and suddenly all of his pain simply overflowed, breaking past the fragile walls he'd desperately put up in order to contain it. He opened his lips, fighting for breath, fighting for reason only to continue to lose, the anguish in his voice tearing the silence that had filled the room moments after his brother's promise apart and that was the last thing he remembered, his brain shutting down in order to give his body space to grieve.
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A/N: This is so not where I intended this chapter to go. Hiro's attempt at lightening the mood was supposed to be successful. Tadashi was supposed to lock Hiro in a headlock and ruffle his hair as punishment for using permanent ink. Apparently Tadashi and Hiro both had other ideas.
I apologize for the delay… I've been in a really bad head space recently and just didn't have the heart to face this for a while. My heart still very much belongs to this piece and I have no intention of abandoning it. I'd like to thank everyone for your continual support and hope you guys will remain patient with me for a little while longer while I attempt to work my way through everything that has currently left me feeling unsettled. I hope you enjoyed this update 3 3 3
*Henohenomoheji: he (へ), no (の), he (へ), no (の), mo (も), he (へ), and ji (じ) is a face drawn by Japanese schoolchildren using hiragana characters. The first two he are the eyebrows, the two no are the eyes, the mo is a nose, and the last he is the mouth. The outline of the face is made by the character ji, its two short strokes forming the ear or cheek. [Wikipedia]
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SweetWritingIsMyLife: Thank you love. All my reviewers make me smile as well. I really enjoy everyone's reactions. Especially when my readers fall in love with my characters as much as I have.
WriterGreenReads: The key operative term here is 'yet' XD. This story is not over yet you know.
SharKohen: I don't think peace will be that easy now. Hiro has gone through too much. He's carrying too much hurt around. But at least he has Tadashi at his side. For the moment. As for Hiro's regrets... puberty is the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.
14fox: You probably need more than 4 hours of sleep... lack of sleep is one of the reasons I have been in such a bad head space recently. Fortunately I have finally gotten some time to do that. This was supposed to be a lighter chapter, I promise, but apparently Hiro had other ideas... What am I going to do with this child?!
Lacila: Don't worry love, I understand. I'm glad you dropped me a note for this one XD. Your vibes are not far off at the moment... Hiro is really unstable at the moment. He's just overwhelmed and struggling to keep himself together after being put under such hectic pressure for so long. I kind of understand how he feels. P.S: Sad ending to the chapter aside... did you like his prank?
Cringey Claire: No this is not the end yet though the story does need to move towards an end soon. They still need to catch Callaghan and I still have two key scenes I want to get to and write.
Morgan: Thanks. I'm relieved that it worked... Makes me feel a lot better about that chapter.
Kiki Anderson: Yeah, I loved the jacket thing too. I wanted to give Hiro a reason to be that attached to the darned thing.
Taurus: Barely... It's still a bit broken. I know you said I can take my time but I really need to apologize for the last massive delay. I'm in a funny place emotionally and that is impacting my ability to deal with the emotions in this story as I write it.
P.S: I really like Yuri on ice but my biggest attraction to that anime is its animation. I seriously thing the skating sequences are beautiful. I am also enjoying the relationship between Yuuri and Victor but would really like it if they brought the little shit Yuri back. He was fun. I like bishounen but I find the idol ones a bit predictable and shallow. I am also not a fan of the animation when they dance. It is very stilted so even though I do sometimes watch it I do not obsess over it so you can have Rui and Aoi. I want Yuri, Yuuri and Victor. XD XD XD
justsomeone: Yup. Tadashi's famous brother complex combined with the nightmares he's been having. They did survive the fire but this story is not over yet and still has a few key scenes to play out. As you rightly identified, they still need to catch Callaghan. There are also a lot of unresolved emotionns floating about.
Jathagarth: More or less but not quite. There have to be a few differences seeing as a key factor in the story was changed. Also I don't believe Tadashi would have necessarily made a better Hero. (Even though Hiro believes that.) It is Hiro's flaws that inherently make him the Hero that he is. Tadashi would have made a 'different' kind of Hero, not necessarily better or worse.
Kitty Cheshire: Welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed part of my story. I hope you reach the end!
