"How did he find me already?" Tadashi cries, and Fred could tell that he was panicking.

"Hey, it's okay!" Fred tries to reassure him. "Hiro probably just guessed where you'd be likely to head-he might have already called all of our other friends thinking you'd go somewhere familiar."

"A-Are you going to pick up?"

"...I'd say no but if I don't pick up Hiro might try coming here in person," Fred sighs. "I'll answer it-but I swear, I will keep you safe, no matter what, okay?"

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"O-Okay…"

Fred noticed that Tadashi wormed one of his hands into his free hand, as if for comfort, but he didn't have time to try to figure out what that might mean as he finally picks up the phone.

"Hello?" he says, trying to sound casual as possible.

"Fred?" He hears Hiro's voice on the other end, sounding slightly frantic. "Thank god you picked up!"

"Is everything okay?" Fred asks, trying to act like he had no idea what was going on.

"This is going to sound like a really crazy question, but by any chance… H-Have you seen Takashi?" Hiro stammers out.

"Takashi? How could I have seen Takashi, he's dead, isn't he?" Fred answers, but somehow his voice betrayed him and wavered slightly, and Hiro instantly picked up on it.

"You've seen him, haven't you?" Hiro demands. "I've called everyone else, I can't think of anywhere else he would go! Look, I know that he looks like Takashi, but he's not, he's a rob-"

"I know."

"...Wait, what?"

"Hiro, I know everything," Fred answers, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "Or at least everything that Tadashi knew and was able to tell me."

"Tadashi? Who the hell is Tadashi?"

"That's the name we chose for him because he doesn't deserve to have to try to force himself to be a copy of Takashi!"

"That's what I made him to be!"

"Yeah, and how many promises did you break to the rest of us to do that?" Fred spits-usually he was pretty good at keeping his emotions under control, but it had already been a very emotionally stressful evening and everything was coming flowing out of him. "Hiro, what the hell were you thinking? Did you even think of the consequences, not just for yourself but for everyone who knew and loved Takashi?"

"I-I know," Hiro whispers, and it sounded like he was starting to cry. "I-I just wanted a chance to have Takashi back, even if it wasn't really him. B-But he's nothing like Takashi, and I know I made a mistake. That's why I need your help. I-I need to shut him off and put him away so everything can at least go back to how it was."

"Hiro, you don't get to fucking do that!" Fred cries, feeling angrier than he'd probably felt in his entire life. "You could have stopped this at any time-you could have never started making him to begin with, you could have stopped any time while you were building him, you could have never turned him on! But you didn't, and he's alive now and so it's his decision what he wants to do with his life, not yours! You don't get to take that away from him just because you made a really stupid decision-a lot of stupid decisions-and decided to carry through with them!"

"Fred, you have no idea what you're talking about!" Hiro protests. "H-He's just a robot!"

"He's not just a robot, and you know that!" Fred snaps. "I've barely been with him an hour and I know how alive he is. He's got thoughts and emotions and a personality, and as far as I can tell all he's wanted the entire time he's been alive was to be close to you and be the best older brother he could be! But you freaking abandoned him, and then you essentially tried to kill him? In what fucked up world is that okay?"

He waits for Hiro's answer, breathing hard, his shoulders shaking-he was pretty sure he'd never done that much yelling in his life.

"I-I was just so scared that if I brought him around anyone else, they'd see that he wasn't like the real Takashi and they'd make me get rid of him," Hiro quietly answers.

"Oh, and so you decided that instead you'd go ahead and just get rid of him before even giving him a chance to try to have a life? That's a bull crap excuse and you know it," Fred snaps.

"I-It just hurts too much to be around him," Hiro finally whispers brokenly. "I-I look at him, and it feels like I have Takashi back, but then he does something that's nothing at all like Takashi and it reminds me that Takashi's gone, and I'm never going to see him again."

"I know how much that hurts-it's like a wound that feels like it's never going to close," Fred answers after taking a moment to try to get his emotions back under control. "If anyone gets that, it's me. But that doesn't change the fact that you can't just take Tadashi's life away from him just because it hurts to be around him."

"...C-Could he stay with you?" Hiro asks, so softly that Fred can barely hear him. "I-I promise I'll stop asking you to turn him off, I-I just can't be near him right now."

"I think that's fair," Fred replies evenly. "It's the best solution we've got for the time being, at least. But Hiro-please, promise me that you'll at least think about this. Tadashi-he's a really great guy, and I think he wants to be a part of your life if you'll let him. He's not Takashi, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't still be your brother."

"...I-I'll see you at school," was all that Hiro replies before ending the call.

"Well that could have gone better," Fred groans, letting his phone drop to the soft couch cushions and leaning his head back.

"It could have gone a lot worse too," Tadashi says softly, startling Fred who had almost forgotten that he was there.

"O-Oh, could you hear all of that?" Fred stammers out.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop," Tadashi apologizes, looking ashamed. "I-I couldn't help it, apparently my hearing is a lot better now than a normal human's…"

Well that was something to bear in mind, Fred thinks. Out loud he says, "I-I'm really sorry that things didn't go so well with Hiro. I did everything I could, but…"

"I know." Tadashi gives his hand a grateful squeeze. "The fact that you tried so hard means a lot to me-more than I could possibly tell you."

"Of course." Fred squeezes back. "I promise, I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure that you stay safe."

"Thank you." Tadashi gives him a small smile. "I-I don't know how much use I can be, but I promise that I'll try to find a way to be useful and repay you!"

"Dashi, you don't have to do that!" Fred cries. "Seriously, I am more than happy to help out in any way that I can! You're in a really fucked up situation, and I'm glad that I can help in any way."

"I can see why Takashi thought so much of you," Tadashi says quietly after a moment. "You're truly amazing, Fred."

"Takashi was the amazing one," Fred answers softly before quickly adding, "N-Not that you're not too! You're amazing in a different way, but still amazing!"

"Thanks…" Tadashi lets out a small laugh, and something about that squeezed Fred's heart so tightly in his chest that it almost hurt. God, he had the cutest laugh…

"Um… C-Can I ask you something?" Tadashi asks after a minute, fidgeting slightly in his seat.

"Sure, fire away!" Fred reassures him. "I'm an open book!"

"Okay." Tadashi takes a deep breath before asking, "W-Were you and Takashi… Were you dating?"

"What? Oh, no! No, no no!" Fred shakes his head, feeling himself blushing, wondering where on Earth that question had come from. "Takashi-he wasn't really interested in romance at all! I mean, did I have a bit of a crush on him? Sure! But we never dated or anything, and that's all in the past!"

"You're sure that he didn't have a crush on you? Like at all?" Tadashi presses.

"He definitely did not-believe me, if he'd had even the slightest interest in me I would have jumped all over that," Fred says with an embarrassed laugh, not quite sure why Tadashi was pushing this.

"But if he didn't, then why do I-" Tadashi starts to say, only to cut himself off short, his cheeks turning bright red. "N-Nevermind, forget I said anything!"

"Wait, what?" Fred feels a small spark of shock in his chest. Wait, there was no way that Tadashi was trying to say-!

"Like I said, forget it!" Tadashi cries, quickly standing up. "I-I think we said we were supposed to get you some food before Hiro interrupted?"

"Dashi, hold on!" Fred jumps up, grabbing Tadashi's wrist to keep him from being able to run away. "A-Are you trying to say that you feel that way-? About me?"

"I-I don't know what I'm feeling!" Tadashi stammers, looking like a cornered rabbit. "I-I don't know what things are my emotions and what are just things I think I'm supposed to be feeling!"

"Well we already made it clear that Takashi didn't have romantic feelings for me, so that's definitely not coming from him," Fred answers, head whirling. Hold on, did Tadashi actually have a crush on him?

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Tadashi whispers, shaking his head. "I-I just know that you've been so nice to me, and you've taken care of me when no one else would, and maybe that's not the best place to start a relationship from, especially since we've technically just barely met each other but-"

Fred didn't even realize he was doing it until he was already doing it. His brain was on emotional overload, and suddenly he found that he had a hand around Tadashi's waist, and then their faces were so close that he could feel Tadashi's breath ghosting across his skin.

"D-Do you want to try this?" Fred manages to get out, his voice sounding slightly thick to his own ears. "Just to see what it feels like?"

After a moment of just staring wide-eyed at Fred's lips, Tadashi meets his eyes. "I-I think I would?"

"You can pull away right away if you don't want to do this," Fred whispers reassuringly.

"I-I know," Tadashi answers, blushing, which made Fred think for a moment about what he was doing. Should he really be doing this? Kissing a guy who looked exactly like his deceased crush, and who was a robot on top of all of that?

But then he looked into Tadashi's eyes and all of that immediately ceased to be important. Tadashi was here, and he was amazing, and in the grand scheme of things being a robot wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever found out about a guy he'd had a crush on. Still, he pauses again, realizing that this was all moving a little fast.

"Dashi, you are so, so incredible," Fred finally says softly, pulling back. "But maybe… Maybe you were right."

"Right? Right about what?" Tadashi asks, looking slightly panicked. "D-Do you not want this?"

"Oh I want this-I really, really want this," Fred reassures him. "But so much is going on right now, and I know we both have a lot to figure out. So let's not put this on hold, but maybe try to take it slow while everything's still settling?"

"I think I'd like that," Tadashi tells him, a note of relief in his voice. "As much as I like the idea of kissing you, you have a really good point-it would probably be a good idea for us to get to know each other before going any further with this."

"Glad that you agree!" Fred grins at him, feeling slightly giddy in spite of himself. He had no idea what the future might hold, but he hoped that this was just the start of something that could turn out to be really freaking incredible.

"So, I think that it's time that we stopped dawdling in here and get you some food," Tadashi says with a smile, playfully poking Fred's stomach, and Fred couldn't help but laugh at that, even though the spot Tadashi had touched felt unusually warm-just about as warm as his cheeks were.

"Sure," Fred agrees. "Sounds good."

Somehow by the time that Fred and Tadashi had found and heated up the pizza and then eaten it, Fred had almost forgotten about all the bad things that had happened. He and Tadashi were already making plans for spending time taking Tadashi out into the city to get to relearn places and to start making some memories of his own. For the moment, at least, they'd decided that Tadashi would stay in Fred's room. Possibly they'd be able to get him his own room soon, but Fred wanted to talk with his dad before promising one of the guest rooms to him (wow, that was going to be a weird conversation to have), and until then Tadashi said he actually felt more comfortable being able to be close to someone familiar instead of being left in another room alone by himself. Unfortunately Fred didn't see any way for Tadashi to go back to taking the robotics classes that he so loved at SFIT at the moment-not only was it partway through the semester, SFIT wasn't exactly a safe place for him to be at right now, and Fred wasn't sure if there was a way for a robot to enroll for classes. But fortunately Fred's bedroom was better stocked on comics, books, movies, and shows than the San Fransokyo public library so that would give Tadashi something to do while Fred was at classes, at least until they had more time to sort things out.

The two men were just about finished cleaning up in the kitchen and debating the possibility of a Harry Potter marathon when Heathcliff suddenly appeared in the kitchen door.

"Master Fred, you have another visitor waiting for you in the foyer," he announces before disappearing back into the hallway.

"A visitor?" Fred repeats, not sure that he liked the sound of that after everything that had happened.

"W-Who do you think it could be?" Tadashi asks in a small voice, and it was clear from the look in his eyes that he feared the worst.

"I'm not sure." Fred shakes his head before squaring his shoulders. "But whoever it is, I promise, I'll keep you safe. Why don't you go back to my room, and I'll be there as soon as I take care of this, okay?"

"Okay," Tadashi agrees with a small smile, squeezing his hand (a bit tightly, Fred noticed) before heading off in the direction of Fred's room. Fred, for his part, took a deep breath for courage before heading to the foyer.

"Hiro?" Fred blinks in surprise, and maybe just a hint of suspicion, when he sees the teenager standing in the foyer, holding a large paper bag in his hands. From the red, puffy appearance of his face, it looked like he'd been crying a lot.

"What are you doing here?" Fred asks, folding his arms over his chest.

"I-I'm only here for a minute," Hiro answers quietly. "Aunt Cass is waiting outside in the truck. I-I told her what I did, and I'm grounded. Like, for life. Which I totally deserve at this point. But she wanted me to bring these things over for Taka-no, sorry T-Tadashi… She said if he's staying here she wants him to be comfortable…"

Fred accepts the bag from Hiro, finding that the bag was full of Takashi's old clothes and a few small personal items. The thing that confused him the most were the slippers which had what looked like an extension cord attached to them, and he lifts them out of the bag, raising an eyebrow in question.

"O-Oh, yeah, those are important," Hiro stammers out. "T-That's Tadashi's charger… You just plug them into the wall to charge them up, and as long as he wears them for, like, three hours once they're charged up, that should be enough to keep him running for a day."

Fred nods in understanding, putting the slippers back in the bag. "Well… Thanks," he says, not quite sure what else to say. "I'll make sure that Tadashi gets these."
Hiro nods, staring down at his feet and awkwardly shuffling them before finally saying, "I-I guess I'll be going, then…"

Fred almost lets him go, but at the last second he finally calls out, "Hiro, wait!"

"Yeah?" Hiro turns back around, and Fred could see that there were unshed tears sparkling in his eyes. "W-What is it?"

"Hiro… Are you sure that this is what you want?" Fred asks. He could hardly believe he was doing this, giving up the chance to have Tadashi living here with him. But fixing things between the two brothers came first.

"I know that he's not Takashi," Fred says when Hiro fails to answer. "And maybe it's a good thing he's not. It's better to let Takashi's memory finally rest in peace. But Tadashi is still an incredible person, and I think he could be an amazing brother to you. Or at least a friend if you're not comfortable with him being a brother. He really, really cares about you Hiro. I think if you just gave him a chance to be who he is, instead of trying to force him to be Takashi, he might surprise you, and you might just surprise yourself too."

He knew he'd said a lot of this on the phone earlier, but they were both calmer and had had time to process things since then, and he was making a last ditch effort to try to make things right between Tadashi and Hiro.

"Y-You're right," Hiro finally whispers, a lone tear leaking out and trailing down his cheek. "The more I thought about it, the more I realized… Tadashi is a great older brother. Like, a really, really great one. He was only ever nice to me, and he always cared about what I wanted to do and what I had to say. I-In a lot of ways I think he was even a better brother than Takaski. I will always love Takashi, but if I'm being honest it had been a while since I'd really felt like we'd been close, no matter how hard I tried. T-Tadashi was the exact opposite of that. If anything, I think he may have cared a little too much. And maybe if I hadn't been so focused on what I'd lost, maybe I could have seen the amazing brother I had right in front of me. B-But it's too late for that now. I completely shattered his trust, and I don't think he'll ever be able to forgive me…"

"He might," Fred says softly. "If you'd just ask him."

"H-How am I supposed to do that when I doubt he'll ever want to even see my face again?" Hiro asks, more tears starting to flow.

"Maybe you already did."

Fred's head jerks up in surprise at the sound of Tadashi's voice. He hadn't even realized that Tadashi was standing in the hallway, just off the foyer, listening to everything that they'd been saying.

"T-Tadashi?" Hiro whispers, quickly swiping at the tears on his face with the sleeves of his hoodie, looking slightly afraid at the sight of the other man.

"Hiro, did you mean all of that?" Tadashi asks softly, taking slow, halting steps forward, as if wanting to get closer to Hiro but also afraid of what might happen if he did.

"I-I did," Hiro answers, his voice small and scared. "B-But I understand if you completely hate me and wish I didn't even exist at this point…"

"What? No, I don't wish that!" Tadashi cries. "Hiro, I only ever wanted to make you happy and be close to you! I-I thought that you hated me…"

"I-I don't hate you… At least not anymore," Hiro whispers, shaking his head. "But I really, really fucked up and I don't blame you if you don't trust me anymore…"

"...Okay, so I am still mad about what happened," Tadashi admits. "It was kind of a traumatic way to find out that I'm not human, Hiro."

"I know, and I am so, so sorry I did that to you!"

"I know." Tadashi gives him a small smile. "I-I think that we both have a lot to work through to be okay again. But maybe… maybe if I stay here with Fred, at least for now, so we can both have the space we need, then we can find a way to start being okay?"

"I-I'd really like that," Hiro admits with a watery smile of his own.

"I would too." Tadashi hesitates before reaching out and tentatively pulling Hiro into a hug. Hiro stiffens momentarily before melting into it.

"I'm really, really sorry about what happened to Takashi," Tadashi says softly. "I know I'll never be able to take his place, and I'd never want to. But I'd still love to be your nii-chan, if you'd give me the chance."

Hiro doesn't answer with words, but he nods into Tadashi's chest, his grip on him tightening until the moment is abruptly shattered by the sound of a honking horn outside.

"T-That's probably Aunt Cass. I have to go," Hiro says, pulling away before asking, "I know she won't let me out of the house since I'm grounded and all, but do you think… Do you think maybe you could come over to the house tomorrow and we could… I don't know, talk, and start to get to know each other?"

"Can I bring Fred?" Tadashi asks after thinking over his offer.

"What? Oh, yeah, of course!" Hiro hurriedly answers. "Y-You can bring anyone that you want!"

"Okay then." Tadashi gently squeezes his shoulder. "In that case, if I can, I'll try to come over tomorrow."

"Thank you." Hiro gives him a grateful smile before flinching as he hears another long horn blast. "I-I really need to go if I don't want my grounding to go from for life to for eternity."

"Right! Yes, go!" Tadashi reassures him. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay-see you, Dashi," Hiro says, squeezing his hand one last time before heading back out the front door.

"Hey," Fred says softly, coming over to Tadashi once Hiro was gone. "Are you doing okay?"

"You know… I actually am. I really, really am," Tadashi answers, leaning against him and a small smile forming on his face.

And, for the first time since he'd woken up a month ago, Tadashi meant it. He knew that he and Hiro (he wasn't even going to think about the others yet) had a long road ahead of them. But he was finally free to just be himself without having to worry about living up to Takashi's legacy, he had a safe place to stay and a really great friend (possibly even a future boyfriend?) who cared about him and was willing to do whatever it took to protect him, and he and Hiro were finally on the way to being real brothers. He didn't know what more he could ask for than that.