Hey, guys!
Before we start, I'll let you know I made it into college! I'm now on my way to becoming a vet. Out of 30 places, I was in the 12nd. Thanks to everyone who wished me good luck, I really appreciate it!
I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm warning you, it may not give you the answers you want, but I promise we'll get to that soon.
PS: FelixTheTurtle, I really liked the way you worded your review, so I used your sentence in this. I hope it's ok, thanks for the inspiration!
After what felt like hours but in reality were just a few minutes, Tadashi was still sitting on the floor with Hiro in his arms. Hiro had his face against Tadashi's chest and Tadashi held him with all strength he could possibly use without hurting Hiro. The rain outside had finally decided to stop, and so the only sound to be heard now was the low and raspy, yet steady breath of both brothers.
"Hiro?" Tadashi called, softly shaking Hiro; but the only answer he got was a little noise from his brother. Tadashi looked down at Hiro and saw that he seemed to be sleeping, but even like that he refused to let go of his older brother.
Tadashi took a deep breath and adjusted Hiro on his lap in a way that he could see his brother's face, and saw that the younger was indeed sleeping. With a smile in his face, Tadashi softly caressed Hiro's hair, and he could swear that he saw him smile in his sleep. He looked all over Hiro to make sure he was alright, and Tadashi was relieved to see that aside from the scratch on his knee, Hiro didn't have any kind of injuries.
Afraid that standing up so soon would wake Hiro up, Tadashi decided to stay there and wait until he was in a deeper sleep. As he waited, he wondered how Hiro had gotten hurt, and where he had been after their fight. He also wondered how Hiro had managed to enter the house if Tadashi had the only key and he had taken it with him, but when he saw the window of their room open, he rolled his eyes in understanding. Of course, Hiro must have had climbed up on the porch, jumped and grabbed the windowsill. He had done that before, several times, to come back from bot fights without letting anyone know he had left.
Tadashi always told him that if he fell from there he could get seriously injured, but Hiro never listened to him. On the other hand, Hiro had never ever fallen from there, not even once. He couldn't clean his part of the room without making a mess even bigger than the one he was trying to organize, but his abilities to sneak out were beyond comprehension. Tadashi shook his head and looked up, distracted, thinking about all the times Hiro had escaped. What would their parents say about him?
"Dashi...?"
Tadashi bolted upright as he looked down to the sleeping boy in his arms. He examined his brother, as if to make sure Hiro was indeed fourteen years old; which he was. The older one frowned and shook his head, thinking that he should have been hearing things. After a sigh, his frown became a sad face. He knew it was silly to be upset over Hiro being fourteen again, after all, he knew they would have to bring him back to normal in the moment he first saw Hiro as a kid. But still, it felt so good to have his brother needing him again, telling him how much he meant to him and just letting Tadashi in...
"Don't... Go..."
That time, Tadashi saw that Hiro had indeed said something. Upon paying more attention, he realized that Hiro wasn't having a peaceful slumber. In fact, he was rather uneasy in his sleep. He was clinging onto Tadashi, his eyebrows were moving as he frowned and soft noises left his mouth. Tadashi wondered if he was having a nightmare. He knew that little Hiro did have them, and most of them concerned losing Tadashi, like the one where he ran into a burning building that exploded. But what about the normal, teenager Hiro? Did he also dream with that?
Tadashi shook his head. He knew the answer was a probably a negative one. He was just letting his feelings take over, hoping that teenager Hiro was going to be as needy as little Hiro. Hiro didn't really need or care for Tadashi as much as he cared for Hiro, but that was a right of his. It hurt, but there was nothing Tadashi could do to change him. And it wasn't like he didn't love his brother with all of his heart.
Hiro then let out a small gasp. Tadashi started to get worried, but he didn't want to wake his brother up if it was just a nightmare. After all, those didn't mean real danger. Feeling like there was only one thing he could do, Tadashi adjusted Hiro in his lap and tightened the grip he was giving on him, using one of his hands to stroke Hiro's hair as he slowly rocked their bodies together and hummed the lullaby.
To his surprise, Hiro relaxed. In fact, once more he seemed to be smiling in his sleep.
Always works. Tadashi thought as he giggled.
Being as careful as he could be so that he wouldn't wake his brother up, Tadashi stood up - which was a little hard to do due to the fact that he couldn't use his hands because they were both holding Hiro - and went to Hiro's bed. He carefully laid his brother there, as if he was carrying the most precious crystal in the world and it would break if he made one wrong move. He had to manually take Hiro's hands off his neck, as if he was refusing to let his older brother go. After making sure Hiro was comfortable and alright, Tadashi reached for the blanket and covered his brother so that he would be warm.
After one last check, Tadashi nodded and turned around. However, he didn't get to give three steps before he stopped and sighed; looking over his shoulder at his sleeping brother. He looked from side to side and then turned around again, approaching Hiro's bed again. He kneeled down by the side of it and caressed Hiro's hair before leaning forward and pressing a quick kiss to Hiro's forehead.
"Goodnight, knucklehead." Tadashi whispered before getting up and walking away, this time with a smile on his face.
Tadashi closed the window that Hiro had left open and then went to his part of the room, slouching down on his bed with his back pressed against the headboard. He let his head fall back and it hit the wall behind him with a thud as he bit his lip and looked to the side; more precisely to the clock on his nightstand. It was now past 1am, and he felt tired like never before. He knew that if he closed his eyes it would be a matter of seconds before he fell asleep. However, he didn't feel like sleeping; not with such soggy clothes.
With a yawn, Tadashi stood up and went to the bathroom. He closed the door behind him with his foot and switched on the faucet; scooping up the running water in his hands and splashing it on his face. He took deep breaths and tried to calm himself down as he braced himself against the sink. He looked up into the mirror and stared at his face's reflection. Aside from the cut on his eyebrow, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with his face.
Tadashi then straightened himself up and took off his shirt. Only then he noticed the scratch he had on his elbow, but thankfully that one wasn't aching at all, even if it stung a little when Tadashi touched it. Maybe it was because the adrenaline was wearing off or because he was now fully concentrated on his body, but it felt like all of his injuries had decided to make themselves known at once. Tadashi felt a sharp pain on his back and turned around, looking over his shoulder to look at the reflection of his back, his eyes widening at what he saw.
There was a huge purple line that went from the back of his neck to the middle of his back, almost exactly following the outline of where his spine was. Tadashi bit his lip and sighed in both relief and shock. He knew that a bruise meant internal bleeding, and that he should consider himself lucky he didn't snap or break anything in that area. The pain he felt was awful, but it didn't keep him from walking or moving. It just made those activities very unpleasant.
After checking his back, he looked down at his leg. Leaning it on the border of the toilet, he freed it from the bandage he had wrapped around it. Luckily his leg wasn't bleeding anymore, but that cut wasn't going to scar anytime soon.
Tadashi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he threw the bandage soaked in blood and water in the trash bin. If Aunt Cass saw him like that, she would shove him inside her car and take him to the hospital; even if those were just some slight abrasions.
The thought of taking a shower made Tadashi hiss. He knew that as soon as the hot water hit him, all of his body was going to sting and burn. Still, it seemed to be the best thing he could do at the moment. After all, he was still kind of wet and cold because of the rain, not to mention all dirty because of all the times he had fallen. Making his best not to worsen any of his injuries, he got rid of the rest of his clothing and got under the shower, hoping the noise of running water wouldn't wake up Hiro.
Tadashi pushed the bathroom door open a crack and peeked out to make sure Hiro was still sleeping, sighing in relief when he saw that he was. With a towel around his waist, he slowly opened the door as far as it would go and left the bathroom in slow, quiet steps; especially when he walked past Hiro's bed.
It took a while, but he finally got to the partition that separated the room in two parts. He slowly pulled it open until he created a space just large enough for him to walk through and entered his part of the room, closing the partition again once he was in.
The first thing Tadashi did was turn on his lampshade so that he would be able to see well. After that, he opened his closet, grabbing his pajamas and throwing them on his bed as he sat down. He made sure his legs were dry before reaching for his shorts and putting them on. So he stood up and grabbed the towel again to dry his hair before putting on his shirt.
"Tadashi?" called a voice from behind him.
Tadashi was rubbing his head with the towel, but the sudden call startled him and he dropped it. The towel fell on the floor as Tadashi turned around, giving a small smile when he saw Hiro standing next to the partition, which he had opened. He had his mouth slightly open and seemed confused.
"Hey, Hiro." Tadashi said, bending down to grab the towel. "Sorry if I woke you up. It's late; you should go back to bed."
"What's that on your back?" Hiro asked, walking past the partition and entering his brother's part of the room, but still not approaching Tadashi.
Tadashi frowned, but his eyes widened when realization hit him. He sat down on his bed and looked over his shoulder, trying to take a good look on the bruise. He didn't notice Hiro was approaching him until he had sat beside Tadashi.
"It's just a bruise." Tadashi shrugged. "Now you really should go back to bed, it's late. We have to go get Aunt Cass tomorrow and-"
"It's not just a bruise." Hiro muttered under his breath, interrupting Tadashi.
Tadashi looked at Hiro with a confused face as he hadn't understood what his brother had said. Hiro was looking down and had sad eyes; and he also rubbed his feet on one another as if he was nervous.
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Did you even see that thing on your back?" Hiro said with an angry voice, yet he seemed to be calm. "It's not 'just a bruise'. It's a really large bruise, and it's on your back. It's right over your spine, to be more specific. You could have die- I mean, you could have gotten seriously injured."
Before Tadashi could say anything, Hiro looked down when something red caught his eye.
"And you hurt your leg too? What did you do, jump out a window or something like that?" Hiro said, scoffing in disbelief. Tadashi was always known for being the safest kid there was. Seeing him hurt almost felt unnatural.
Tadashi rolled his eyes.
"It's just a cut. It's going to scar very soon. And I didn't jump out a window or anything like that. I got hurt when I went outside to look for you, mister." Tadashi giggled as he stood up, patting Hiro's head. Hiro, however, didn't laugh. Instead, he blinked in surprised and shook his head.
"So… You got hurt because of me?" He gulped, looking down at himself and laying his hands on his chest.
Tadashi's eyes widened as he reached out for his shirt and put it on, quickly sitting back by Hiro's side and wrapping one arm around his shoulder.
"Come on, I didn't mean it like that. I, I just explained to you how I got hurt. And you have a scratch on your knee too; I think we're both-"
"That's different." Hiro interrupted, still looking down and never making eye contact with his brother. "I have a little scratch on my knee. It doesn't even hurt. You have a deep cut on your leg and a freaking bruise over your spine. Like, don't you get it? You could have gotten seriously injured if you had broken a bone there, or even snapped your neck, or…"
"Hey, calm down." Tadashi interrupted when he noticed that Hiro was getting more apprehensive with each word he said. He smiled at his younger brother and finally got Hiro to look at him. "I'm fine. It's just a bruise. It doesn't even hurt that much."
Tadashi expected Hiro to smile back at him, but instead he rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Tadashi, can you please just stop?" He asked through his clenched teeth.
Tadashi cocked his head and blinked in confusion.
"Stop… What?"
"Stop thinking you're immortal." Hiro rushed out, rolling his eyes again when he saw Tadashi's confused face. "Every single time you get hurt or do something dangerous, you say it was nothing. You say it like bad things couldn't happen to you. You say it like you didn't matter. And you have to stop it, because it's not true!"
By the end of his sentence, Hiro was panting lightly and had tears forming on the corner of his eyes. Tadashi gulped and shook his head, unsure of what to do.
"Hiro, I…"
"Hurting your back is no laughing matter!" Hiro yelled as he jumped out of bed and stood in front of Tadashi, looking down at him. "If you had died under that storm, it would have been my fault! Can you please stop acting like you were never going to die? Because you almost did today! And you always say you'll be ok, you'll be fine; well, I bet that's what our parents thought eleven years ago and look at where we are now! So can you please just stop? It was bad enough growing up as an orphan and now you want to leave me alone too?!"
They stood still for a while, Hiro panting and with tears rolling down his eyes from his explosion while Tadashi just stared at him with wide eyes, taking some time to wrap his brain around Hiro's words. Hiro then shook his head and wiped his eyes, sighing.
"I'm sorry. I, I'll go back to sleep now…"
He attempted to walk toward the partition, but before he could even give the first step Tadashi stood up and wrapped his arms around Hiro, who gasped at the sudden touch but slowly melted into it as he returned the hug. He hated it when people saw him crying, but he found himself releasing all of the tears he had been holding back onto his brother's shirt.
"I know I'm not immortal." Tadashi began to say, whispering. "But I wouldn't mind giving my life to save you. What happened with me out there was not your fault. It was my fault for letting you go."
"It was my fault for running away." Hiro whispered back into Tadashi's shirt, his words coming out muffled.
"You ran away because you were mad, and I understand you; what happened last week was not something easy to understand. And I shouldn't have let you go." Tadashi started to stroke Hiro's hair and sighed. "Parents… They should never leave their children, but we can't always choose our fate. But I'm not leaving you. And I promise I'll be more careful… If you can promise me you'll do the same."
Hiro pulled away and looked up at Tadashi, who looked down at him with eyes full of hope and concern. Hiro bit his lip and then shrugged, wiping the remaining of his tears away.
"Ok." It was all he said.
Tadashi nodded with a smile and patted Hiro's back.
"It's late. We should really go to bed." He said, rubbing his eyes. "Is there anything you need?"
"No, not at all, I guess…" Hiro said, walking to the partition and leaving Tadashi's part of the room. "Goodnight, Tadashi."
"Goodnight, Hiro." Tadashi said as he lay down on his bed and made himself comfortable. However, just before he could turn his lampshade off Hiro returned to the partition, peeping his head in. "What's wrong, buddy?"
Hiro entered Tadashi's part of the room again, cleaning his throat. He scratched the back of his neck as if he was embarrassed, looking down at his feet the whole time. Tadashi sat up on his elbows, worried.
"C-Can I sleep with you tonight?" Hiro whispered, folding his arms over his chest as he still looked down, but moved his eyes to look at Tadashi.
Tadashi's eyes widened a little in surprise and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. For a moment, he wondered if the gun had failed and Hiro was still a kid, but then he saw that the boy standing there was the normal Hiro. Tadashi's heart started to beat fast as he smiled.
His brother needed him.
"Of course." He moved to the side to make room for Hiro and patted the empty space by his side on the mattress. Hiro gave a shy smile as he approached and lay down by Tadashi's side, still not touching his brother. Tadashi reached for the blanket to cover them and made sure they were both tucked in.
"Goodnight." Hiro whispered.
"Goodnight. Don't let the bugs bite you." Tadashi giggled as he turned the lampshade off. He then lay down and closed his eyes; his face in front that of Hiro's.
Hiro lay there awake for a while, blinking his tired eyes as he looked at his sleeping brother.
"Tadashi?" He called after a few minutes.
The lack of reply let Hiro know Tadashi was sleeping. Making his best not to wake him up, Hiro moved as close as he could and tried to snuggle up against his brother's chest; bracing himself against Tadashi. He held his breath for a while, trying to hear his brother's heartbeat. It was low and hard to hear, but it was there.
Tadashi was there.
Hiro sighed and rubbed his eyes, backing away from his brother even if he wanted to stay as close to him as possible. He didn't want Tadashi to wake up and see that Hiro had tried to hug him during the night. He even rolled over so that he his back would be on Tadashi; but he felt guilty doing it.
"Night, Dashi." He whispered to himself.
And after that, he finally fell asleep.
This would have been released much sooner had I not lost the last half because my internet went down right when I went to save it. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I know not much was revealed here, but the pacing has to be just right. I promise you'll get answers soon!
See yah next chapter!
