This took a little longer than I expected... And it turned out a little different too. You're probably going to hate me for this chapter, but hey, I told you Tadashi is not perfect. At least not in my fics.
I hope you enjoy!
Tadashi lazily moved his hand over to his eyes and rubbed them, trying to wake himself up. He sat up on his elbows and the first thing he did was to look down to the right and make sure Hiro was alright. The small boy still slept peacefully by his brother's side and didn't show any signs of waking up anytime soon.
Tadashi smiled and pulled Hiro's blanket up, until his little brother was warm enough. Then he got out of the bed, moving as slowly as he could to keep Hiro from waking up, and started to walk to his part of the room. After stepping on a squeaky floorboard, he froze in place and slowly turned around, sighing in relief when he saw that Hiro was still sleeping.
The older Hamada felt refreshed. He hadn't had a full night of rest ever since the accident with Hiro, and that nap was exactly what he needed. Stretching, he looked to the window and saw that the streets were still wet from the storm earlier; the weather was still cold and a heavy fog surrounded the trees outside as a few lonely drops still fell from the sky.
Tapping his pockets, he looked for his phone. He frowned when he didn't feel anything, but before he could think about where he had left it he heard it ringing somewhere. He looked around, trying to identify the source of the ringtone before it got loud enough to wake Hiro up.
Tadashi rushed to the desk after he saw his phone out of the corner of his eyes. He held his breath when he saw Hiro roll over on the bed, but sighed in relief when the boy didn't open his eyes. He finally pressed the answer button without even checking who it was and put the phone near his ear.
"Hello, Tadashi Hamada here."
"FINALLY!" GoGo's voice said in an eruption of fury on the other end. Tadashi cringed and moved the phone away from his ear, but the girl was talking so loudly that he could hear her regardless. "I've called you like, ten times already! Where were you during the last hours?! I was almost invading your house!"
Tadashi put his phone to his ear again and sighed. "Hey, nice to talk to you too, GoGo." He said with a little sarcasm in his voice. "I'm sorry, it's... It's a long story. Hiro was sick and I had to take him to college, then we came back and fell asleep... Never mind. I'm sorry. What is it you want?"
"Oh, he was sick? Sorry." She sighed and said in a regretful tone, still not quite apologizing yet. GoGo wouldn't apologize. "Anyway... I called to tell you I went to see that Andy with Fred. And we got some information that could be useful." She looked down at her notebook with the annotations she had taken.
"Really? So he actually helped you?"
"Well... It wasn't really easy."
"He refused to tell you at first or something?"
"What? No; it's because he's an idiot. It's no surprise he was friends with Fred. Can you believe he said he didn't remember he had stolen my project a few years ago? He couldn't even remember how he built that thing! It took him about two hours to remember a few details and formulas... I don't really know, it's not my major. And dear lord, I wanted to die when he and Fred started to catch up." She let out an annoyed sigh. "But I called Honey Lemon and she said that the information I have now may allow us to fix the gun."
"GoGo, that's great! I don't even know how to thank you for your help. I know it must have been hard for you to listen to Andy."
"Dear lord, it was!" She groaned. "But hey, no problem. But we have to start working on it as soon as possible if we want to finish it before your aunt Cass comes back home. When does she come back?"
"I'm not sure, most likely after tomorrow, on Monday." He bit his lower lip. "Do you think it's enough time to bring him back?"
"If we start working as soon as possible like I said, sure. Do you think we could meet in your garage and work on it there? We may need your help."
"Of course. I'll be waiting for you. Who's coming?"
"Everyone. I'll just go to college to get the gun and then we'll all go to your house. We'll be there as soon as possible, ok?"
"Ok." He smiled. "Thank you very, very much, GoGo. Oh, since you're going to college, do you think you can go to my lab and bring Baymax to me? I have to work a little more on him."
"Ok, I will. By the way, how's Hiro?"
"Oh, he's fine now. He's been asleep for a while." Tadashi turned his head to look at Hiro's bed behind him and saw the boy who slept peacefully. "And I don't think he'll be waking up anytime soon."
"Good, I'm glad he's fine." GoGo smiled as she looked to her wristwatch. "Well, I have to hurry now if I want to get to college before it closes. We'll be there soon, ok?"
"Ok. Please, bring Baymax with you."
"I will. See you!"
"See you." Tadashi tossed his phone aside and it fell on his bed. He walked up to Hiro's bed and caressed his brother's hair; smiling when the boy smiled in his sleep. He was so small, so innocent and so defenseless. Tadashi sat down on the chair and kept watching Hiro; trying to organize the thoughts inside his head. Hiro was five years old again; he said he loved Tadashi, he was scared of losing Tadashi, he wanted Tadashi to hold him all the time and he talked to Tadashi. It was a little hard to believe that boy was his brother, Hiro.
In those few days, Hiro and Tadashi were having more interaction than they had in fourteen years. The older brother sighed and glanced at the desk. He saw Hiro's megabot lying there, beside its control remote. Something inside Tadashi told him to throw that away, hug Hiro and never let him go. But he knew he couldn't. First off, it would be wrong. Even if he didn't approve the bot fights, he couldn't just get rid of that robot. It belonged to Hiro. Secondly, he couldn't hold Hiro forever. Hiro was going to grow up; they would go live in separated houses and barely see each other.
That was the reason Tadashi knew they should enjoy it while they still lived together, but how could he do it when Hiro didn't allow him to get close? How could he do it when Hiro was always out in those bot-fights?
After sighing, Tadashi reached out and caressed Hiro's cheek. The young boy took a small breath and shifted a little, which made Tadashi let out a giggle. He slowly got out of his chair and knelt down by Hiro's side, kissing him on the cheek. Hiro opened his eyes a crack and looked to his brother. The older one blinked in surprise; but Hiro just smiled and closed his eyes once more, falling asleep again in less than three seconds.
"I love you, Hiro." He whispered, caressing Hiro's hair again.
Tadashi looked up and shook his head, smiling. He stood up, turned the lampshade off and walked out of the room, but made sure to leave the door open. If Hiro woke up and needed him, he could just walk and get to Tadashi. In fact, if Hiro woke up and called for Tadashi the older one would be there before Hiro could even think of standing up and walking.
Because Tadashi was always going to be there for his younger brother; even when Hiro didn't want him to.
A few minutes after he left his room, the bell rang and Tadashi rushed downstairs to go open the door. His four friends were waiting for him on the outside; they all wore jackets because of the cold. GoGo held a notebook and a tablet, Honey Lemon held a tube with a pink substance that Tadashi couldn't identify, Wasabi held a box of tools and Fred carried Baymax's luggage.
"Hey, Tadashi." They said at the same time, almost as if they had rehearsed it.
"Hey, guys!" The Hamada greeted. "Thank you for coming so fast! Come on in, it's still cold outside." He said as got out of the doorway so his friends could go through it.
"No problem at all!" Honey Lemon said as she entered the house in little jumps and looked around. "Where is our favorite toddler?"
"Sleeping upstairs. You wouldn't believe the day I had today because of him. I don't like the fact that he's sleeping because of a drug, but maybe it'll be better this way. It'll be easier for us to work if he's not around." He shrugged and sighed.
"Drug? You mean like a pill or something?" Wasabi asked with a worried look on his face. "Why? What happened?"
"Let's go to the garage and get things ready so we can work. I'll tell you in the meantime."
Everyone nodded as Tadashi opened the door that would lead them to the garage.
"And then I brought him home." Tadashi said between grunts as he pushed a couch out of the way to make room for them and Wasabi pulled a table to the middle of the room.
"Wow." GoGo said as she flipped through her notebook. "You mean you really drove with one hand only while carrying Hiro? I mean, come on, you used to argue with me because I liked to run after school and used to bump into people."
"The poor little thing!" Honey Lemon said as she put her hand on her chest and sighed. "I can't imagine how scared he was when he couldn't breathe and had no idea of what was happening!"
"I'm glad you two are alright. But you should have called me, Tadashi. I could have given you a ride." Wasabi said, putting his tool box on the table and opening it as Tadashi approached his friends.
"Dude, you ride so slowly that by the time you got to college Hiro would be fourteen again." GoGo said, causing everyone to giggle and nod shyly.
"Haha, very funny." The black boy replied, not amused at all.
"Let's get this thing done! As much as I think Hiro is adorable as a kid, I don't want Cass to kill Tadashi." Honey laughed as she looked to Tadashi and the boy shook his head, looking up and holding out his hands.
"Same here. I don't even want to imagine what she would do if she saw him like that!" He then bit his lip and nodded toward the door behind him. "I'll just... Is it ok if I go see if he's alright one last time before we start working? I mean..." He said as he looked down and rubbed his hands together.
All his friends exchanged looks and smiled. "We know it. You're afraid that something bad will happen to Hiro if you don't check on him as much as you can." GoGo softly shook her head when Tadashi nodded. "We don't mind at all. Go see how he's doing, even if I'm sure he's fine. Just try not to be a paranoid, ok?"
"I guess it's just a big brother's thing." He shrugged as he put his hands on his pockets. "I'll be right back, ok?" He said and walked out of the garage. Fred put Baymax's luggage on the floor and jogged to follow Tadashi. He managed to reach the Hamada right when he was in the kitchen and held his arm.
"Hey, Tadashi."
"Hum?" Tadashi said, gasping a little at the sudden touch, but he calmed down and smiled when he realized it was just Fred. "Oh, hey, Fred. What do you want?"
The blond boy put his hands together and nervously started to swing his body back and forth as he looked down. "I just wanted to say that I realized that I never really apologized for causing all of this... You know, for turning Hiro into a five year old boy and losing him that day on the college, so... Do you think you can forgive me?" He said, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, about that? Don't worry about it, Fred. I won't lie to you, I'm still a little mad at this situation. But Hiro is fine and that's all that matters to me. Also, I never thought I would say this, but having him as a kid again is being interesting. Exhausting, but interesting. So... Don't worry about it. I know you never meant any of this. We're friends and we'll always be friends. Right?" He said, showing his fist to Fred. The blond boy smiled and showed his fist as well, softly hitting Tadashi's with his.
"Right! Thank you very much, Tadashi. Now go check on the boy, we have some work to do!" Fred said, turning around and jumping over the flight of stairs to go back to the garage. Tadashi smiled and shook his head before opening the door of his room and looking at Hiro's bed. He was still sleeping and seemed to be fine. The older one sighed in relief and stepped inside the room, but shook his head and stepped back outside. Hiro was ok; Tadashi didn't need to go inside check on him. He was being paranoid over Hiro again.
It's just a big brother's thing; he thought to himself as he went back to the garage.
"I think we should stop working for today." Tadashi said as he slumped down into the chair on the garage and pinched the bridge of his nose; his eyelids getting heavier by the minute. "It's past midnight; your parents must be worried about you guys."
"Hum? Oh, right, yeah, our parents..." Honey said as yawned and rubbed her eyes, trying to stretch her body. "I think I could work more, but... I'm getting sort of tired."
"Same here." Wasabi let out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his eyes as well. "I'll go to the bathroom to wash my face so I can take us home." He said and stood up, walking away. Tadashi looked down to the table and saw everything they had done, from annotations to prototypes and formulas. They had been working for hours straight, but at least they were going somewhere.
"I still had some hope we could have this finished by the end of the day, but I guess we can finish it tomorrow." GoGo said as she folded her arms and popped her gum, closing her notebook. "Hey, Fred, time to go home." She said as she slapped him on the forehead. He was sleeping on the couch and quickly bolted upright after GoGo's touch. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" Fred said, with his eyes still closed.
"Thank you for everything, guys. I don't even know what I would do without you. Sorry if this kept you awake until now." Tadashi said as he stood up and picked the keys to open the garage door. "Do you want me to go with you to the car?"
"No, we should be fine." GoGo said as Wasabi returned, looking a little more refreshed and less sleepy.
"Thank you again. So we see each other again tomorrow?"
"Hey, no problem." Honey smiled. "And sure, we're really close to finishing this!"
"Yeah, but now come on, I need to give everyone a ride and I still need to shower before I go to bed." Wasabi called. Everyone stood up from their places; Tadashi watched them walking away and waved goodbye before closing the garage door.
After rubbing his eyes, Tadashi walked to the corner of the room and picked Baymax's luggage up, placing it on another table next to the computer desk. Even if he was tired, he thought he could start working on the robot right away. Alone in the garage, he turned some more lights on and opened the luggage.
Tadashi took a deep breath and looked at the watch on the wall. It was almost 1am and because of that he dropped the tool he was holding and relaxed his body onto the chair, rubbing his eyes. He was wondering whether he should stop working or not when his thoughts were interrupted by a tiny voice coming from behind him.
"Dashi?"
Tadashi's eyes shot open as he gasped and swiveled the chair around, startled at the sudden voice in that silence. When he was calm enough, he saw Hiro standing on the doorway, a little startled because of his brother's reaction. The older sighed and put his hand on his chest.
"Hey, buddy. You startled me!" He smiled and opened his arms, inviting Hiro for a hug. The little boy seemed to hesitate before giving a single step toward Tadashi. He had his hands on his back and looked down, as if he was embarrassed. Tadashi cocked his head, confused to why Hiro wasn't approaching him, until he noticed his brother's hands.
"What do you have there, Hiro?" Tadashi asked, raising his eyebrow and smiling. "Did you steal some candy or anything like that?"
Hiro shook his head but expression remained the same, filled with sadness mixed with some guilty and maybe curiosity. He looked up at Tadashi; his big brown eyes were almost teary. The older one frowned a little, but then smiled again.
"Come on, what do you have there, buddy? You can show me, I promise I won't be mad." He said, already expecting Hiro to show him something he had broken or anything like that, but Hiro sighed and revealed a picture frame.
"A frame? Why did you..." Tadashi said as he reached out and took the object from his brother's hands, turning it over, but he froze in place when he did so.
Tadashi's expression changed to a frown when he laid his eyes on the picture that was on the frame. It depicted the image of a younger Tadashi wearing a suit standing in front of a well-dressed couple, and the man had his hand on Tadashi's shoulder while the woman held a toddler with messy hair. They all had smiles in their faces and looked as natural as can be; like if everything about them was perfect.
"Hiro." Tadashi said, no emotion in his voice, as he looked at the picture. He sounded somehow angry, but restrained. "Where did you find this?"
"I-In our room..." Hiro said, looking down. He had never seen his brother like that, so he gave a small step back. "Inside your drawer. I was looking for you and s-saw it."
"You shouldn't have picked it up. It was inside my drawer for a reason. I don't want to see this."
"But isn't it m-mom and dad?"
Tadashi put the frame on the table with the picture faced down and stood up; looking down at Hiro with such a serious look in his face that Hiro shrank in fear.
"Yeah, it's them. But it doesn't matter now. Let's get you back in bed, ok?" Tadashi dodged Hiro and went through the door, entering the house and leaving the garage. He expected Hiro to follow him inside, but the young boy approached the table, tip-toed and grabbed the frame on the table again before going after his brother.
"Dashi, I want-ted to ask about mom and d..."
"They're gone, Hiro." Tadashi sounded angrier than he wanted to, but talking about his parents wasn't something he enjoyed doing. That was the last picture they ever took as a family before they passed away, and looking at it hurt him. "Nothing about them really matters now."
"When will they c-come back?" Hiro asked, forcing a smile as he looked down at the picture he held in his hands. Tadashi took a deep breath and finally turned around, looking at the boy in front of him.
"They will never come back." He said in way that made it sound like he was done with that conversation and hoped Hiro would take a hint.
"Why not?" He asked, his smile fading away.
"They're dead, Hiro. Forget it." Tadashi said, again sounding like he was done with that as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"But... I don't want to forget mom and..." Hiro said, lifting the frame to show it to Tadashi.
"Hiro, they're gone. It's no use." He said, pushing Hiro's hands down with his.
"But..." Hiro said as he lifted them again.
"They're gone!" Tadashi yelled at last, abruptly lowering his hand to pull Hiro's hand and the frame down again; but when he did so he accidentally knocked the frame on Hiro's hands. It fell on the floor and broke; pieces of glass flew in several directions. The noise was high and loud enough to hurt their ears a bit, causing Tadashi to hiss a little.
Startled, Hiro tripped over his feet and fell to the floor, his heart beating fast as he let out a shriek. His little body hit the ground with a thud as he backed away and breathed fast. He mouthed "Ow!" and rubbed his leg.
Tadashi shook his head and his eyes widened when realization came to him and he looked around, noticing what he had done. He put his hand to his forehead and started to pant, biting his lip.
"I... I..." He said as he twisted around, looking at the floor. His eyes wandered around the room and fell on his little brother. Hiro was still sitting down on the floor; his legs were stretched out as his eyes got watery. "Hiro!" He exclaimed in despair. He gave a fast step toward his little brother, but when he did, Hiro backed away from Tadashi.
The boy didn't stop moving until he hit his back against the wall, yet he still tried to back away more from his brother. Tadashi felt like he had been kicked in the gut and his heart had been ripped of his chest as his jaw dropped and his hands started to shake.
He could see in his brother's eyes, Hiro was scared. He was afraid of Tadashi. The older one wished he could go back in time and keep himself from breaking the frame. The image of Hiro backing away from him wouldn't leave his mind as soon as he would like. Hiro, the younger brother he loved, the brother he had sworn to help and protect; was afraid of him.
Hiro hugged his knees and sobbed, looking down to avoid his brother's eyes. Tadashi tried to keep the tears he felt on the corner of his eyes, but one or two rolled down his face despite his effort.
"Hiro... I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to..." He gave a small step toward his brother, but he froze in place for the second time when Hiro interrupted him.
"I'm sorry, Dashi. I shouldn't ha... I shouldn't have annoyed y-you. Don't... I'm sorry..." He said between his tears as he shook his head. "Don't hurt me, please... I didn't mean to..." His tiny voice disappeared as he buried his face in his knees.
Not even being stabbed in the heart would make Tadashi feel the way he felt when he heard Hiro pleading him not to hurt him. More tears came down from Tadashi's eyes as he gave small steps toward Hiro; he skipped a heartbeat every time Hiro looked at him with fear in his eyes.
"Hiro, you have nothing to be sorry about, it was my fault! And I would never hurt you! It was an accident, please believe me!" He tried to keep his voice normal, but it came out louder than he wanted and as shaky as it can be. He wanted to approach Hiro, but when he stepped forward he saw something on the ground.
At first, he didn't know what that was. Tadashi frowned for a second, but soon his eyes widened as he gasped. A few red dots were splattered across the floor, forming a trail that was leading to Hiro. Tadashi gulped before eyeing his brother one more time. Only then he realized the cut Hiro had in his leg; and he assumed it had been caused by one of the pieces of glass. It wasn't deep, but there was blood coming down from it, hence the trail on the floor.
"Oh, my God." Tadashi said as he shook his head. "Hiro, I... I don't... Are you ok?" The older one said as he started to walk toward Hiro.
The younger one didn't answer; he just buried his face between his knees again as the tears started to come down.
"I'm so, so sorry..." Tadashi knelt down to be on Hiro's eye level, being careful enough not to hurt himself on any of the pieces of glass, and started to walk toward his brother with his knees. "Please, let me help you."
Hiro lifted his head and looked to Tadashi; causing the older one to bit his lip and stop moving. He reached out for Hiro, but they weren't close enough to touch. "Hiro, I'm really, really sorry. I... I never meant to do anything to scare or hurt you." He glanced at the dots on the floor before looking at Hiro's leg and saw that the blood kept sliding down and it was soaking Hiro's shoe. The fact that he had caused it made him want to throw up. "Please. It's your big brother, Tadashi. You have to believe me when I say I didn't mean it. I'm sorry." He reached out further. "Come here, please. Let me help you."
Hiro sniffed once more and stood up, wiping his tears with the sleeve of his hoodie. He looked ahead and into his brother's eyes. Tadashi's eyes were watery, but he wore a comforting smile and he was still reaching out, inviting Hiro to get closer. Tadashi's sudden outburst earlier was still echoing in Hiro's mind and it made his heart beat faster.
"It was never your fault, Hiro." Tadashi said when the younger didn't show any reaction. "I shouldn't have yelled at you." He looked behind him for a second and looked at what was left of the frame, including the picture. He sighed before looking back at Hiro. "And I shouldn't have been so insensible about... That topic you wanted to talk about. I promise I'll answer anything you ask about them and I will never yell at you again. Ever. But now we have to take care of that." He nodded toward Hiro's leg.
Tadashi mentally begged all the gods he could think of that Hiro was going to forgive him. The younger boy stood still for a moment, but slowly started to walk toward Tadashi. The older one smiled and sighed in relief when Hiro reached out as well. But when he was about to take Tadashi's hand, he held his hand in midair and looked into Tadashi's eyes. He let his hand fall by the side of his body; but before Tadashi could even wonder why he did that Hiro took a deep breath and jumped into Tadashi, wrapping his arms around his brother's neck.
Tadashi stood still for a moment, shocked, but closed his eyes and sighed; returning the hug as they both started to cry. Tadashi could feel Hiro's tears falling on his shoulders as he started to hum the lullaby he had sung Hiro the night before to calm him down.
"I'm... I'm sorry, D-Dashi..." Hiro muttered among his tears.
"Shh, Hiro, you don't have to be sorry. I'm the one who needs to apologize. I'm the one who's wrong. I'm really, really sorry. I'm supposed to protect you, but look at what I did instead. I hope you can forgive me someday, but now we have to take care of your leg. Do you trust me to do that?"
Hiro pulled away from the hug, but still had his arms wrapped around Tadashi's neck. He looked down at his leg and sniffed before looking back at his brother's eyes. He gave a soft smile and nodded. Tadashi smiled back and softly took Hiro into his arms, taking him to the kitchen. He put his brother on a stool and walked up to the closet, grabbing the first aid suitcase.
Hiro was still sniffing and didn't seem to be very well. "Don't look at your leg. You better not see blood if it makes you feel uncomfortable." Tadashi said as he approached Hiro, kneeling down and putting the suitcase on the floor, opening it. "Ok, this will burn just a little bit, but I promise you'll be ok." He held Hiro's foot with one hand while he held a piece of cotton on the other. As soon as he touched the cut with it, Hiro hissed and clutched the stool, instinctively trying to pull his foot away from Tadashi's hand.
"It's ok, it's ok. I know it hurts a little, but we have to clean this." He smiled to comfort his brother as he kept on cleaning the cut with the medicine. The blood was still coming from it, but not enough to drop on the floor anymore. After Tadashi made sure it was clean enough, he took out a bandage roll from the suitcase and wrapped it around the cut.
"There, this should make you feel better." Tadashi smiled again as he stood up and put the suitcase back on the closet. Hiro looked down at his leg and shrugged, but smiled when he saw there was no blood coming from it anymore.
"Thank you, Dashi."
"You're welcome. All I did was fix my own mistake." Tadashi said as he looked aside. The picture was still on the floor, in the middle of debris and glass. He sighed and walked to it, bending down and grabbing the picture before going back to Hiro. The little boy's eyes widened when Tadashi gave him the picture; probably still scared that Tadashi was angry at him. "You said you wanted to ask me something about our parents?"
Hiro looked down at the picture and nodded, a little scared.
"What is it?"
The younger didn't say anything; he just looked down at the picture and shrugged.
"I promise I won't be mad at you. Just ask it."
Hiro took a deep breath and bit his lip.
"Dashi..."
"Yes, Hiro?" Tadashi said, putting his hand on his brother's knee.
"D-Did mom and d-dad love me?"
Tadashi's eyes widened. Hiro finally lifted his eyes to look at Tadashi, and the older one saw that Hiro was in fact scared, as if he feared the answer he was about to get. At the same time, there was a little hope in his eyes. Tadashi shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
"Hiro, of course they loved you! They loved you more than anything!" Tadashi said, a little more desperate than he would have liked, as he put his hands on either side of Hiro's face. "I remember when I saw you for the very first time, I held you when you were a baby; and mom and dad were so happy to have you in the family! They loved you as much as I love you!"
Hiro took a deep breath and looked down at the picture. "Really?"
Tadashi didn't realize he had tears in his eyes until he nodded and spoke up, feeling the words lock up in his throat. "Really. Why would you even question that?"
The younger shrugged. "I... I d-don't know. I don't remember anything ab-bout them. I don't remember if they loved me or not. I... I just wanted to know."
Tadashi sighed as he felt more tears form in his eyes. He then noticed Hiro was crying too. Not able to control himself, he softly wrapped his arms around Hiro's neck. He had never thought about it before, but Hiro was right. Their parents died when he was three; even if they told Hiro many times how much they loved him, it was very unlikely that Hiro could remember any of them. He had no memories, nothing.
"I'm really sorry, Hiro. I wish you could remember them. But believe me when I say they loved you. They loved you with all of their will."
They softly pulled away. Hiro wiped his tears away as he looked down at the picture one more time. He reached out to give it back to Tadashi, but the older one held Hiro's wrist and shook his head. "I want you to keep it."
"B-But it's yours."
"No. I have my memories, I don't need a picture. I want you to keep it so you'll always remember what mom and dad looked like. And more, I used to keep it inside my drawer, alone and abandoned. I'm sure you'll take better care of it than I used to."
Hiro sighed and smiled softly. "Thank you, D-Dashi." He said before yawning.
"No problem, Hiro. And remember, mom and dad always loved you. Now, are you ready to go back to bed?"
Hiro nodded and opened his arms. Tadashi took the infant in his arms and carried him upstairs. Hiro didn't kept looking at the picture all the way to their room, sometimes with a soft smile and sometimes with a curious face. Tadashi put him on the ground when they got to their room and took Hiro's hand, leading him to his bed.
"Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" Tadashi asked as Hiro sat down on his own bed and shook his head.
"No, I'm fine. But…" He said as he knocked his knuckles together. "Can you leave the partition open? Just in c-case I need you or anything?"
Tadashi ruffled Hiro's hair and nodded, walking up to his part of the room and opening the partition as further as it could go before approaching Hiro again. "There. Now if you need something, anything during the night you can just come to me, ok?"
Hiro nodded and smiled. He looked down at the picture one more time and sighed, frowning. Tadashi shook his head and sat down by his brother's side, looking down at the picture as well.
"They were really beautiful, weren't they? You look so much like our mother." He said, smiling.
"Dashi…" Hiro started to say, still looking down at the picture in his hands. "Why did they have to leave?"
"Wow." Tadashi bit his lip as Hiro lifted his head to look at his brother. "I… I don't know how to answer that, Hiro. I really don't know. Sometimes life isn't fair at all. Things just happen, and there isn't a why. But they're not really gone, as long as we remember them. And as long as we keep them in our hearts."
Hiro sighed again. "I wish I could remember."
Tadashi wrapped his arms around Hiro and brought him closer. "Me too, Hiro. I really wish you could remember them. But keep in mind, they loved you. And you still have me here with you."
Hiro returned the hug. "And we'll always be together, right?"
"Right." Tadashi said, kissing the top of Hiro's head. "Now you should go to sleep. Lay down, I'll tuck you in."
Hiro did as he was told, putting the picture under his pillow in the process. Tadashi covered him and made sure he was comfortable in his bed.
"Night, Dashi."
"Night, Hiro." Tadashi said, standing up and walking to his part of the room. Before he could lay down on his bed, he looked at Hiro one more time to make sure his brother was indeed sleeping and ok.
It's just a big brother's thing. He thought and smiled as he finally closed his eyes.
I'm sorry.
I know this can be considered a little OOC. But it annoyed me how they never really talked about Hiro and Tadashi's parents on the movie except for two lines, so I decided to bring it up here. There was going to be more dialog at the end but not only this was already kind of long, I really don't think it was necessary. Maybe they can talk more about it later.
And Hiro will be brought back to his normal age soon... I'm a little sad because little Hiro is adorable to write.
Well, thank you for reading! I'll try to update sooner next time.
