The day of his parents' funeral came far sooner than Tadashi would have liked, but thankfully Mr. Lee was very understanding and did not even question Tadashi's request for the day off. The sun was brightly shining as if it where mocking Tadashi's pain. True to his word Fred planned everything out and even attended the funeral with him, but Tadashi couldn't recall most of it. He spent most of the funeral feeling numb, barely registering what was happening. He was pretty sure his friends where there and maybe even Bubbles, but what he said to him he couldn't recall. The only thing he could really remember was meeting his Aunt Cass at the reception. Before the funeral, he hadn't even known he had an aunt, but somehow Fred had found out about her, tracked her down and invited her to the funeral.
"Tadashi?" A woman asked, cautiously approaching Tadashi who was holding Hiro. The poor little guy had spent most of the funeral silently crying and had been clinging onto Tadashi for the entire reception, not that Tadashi was complaining.
"Yes…where you a friend of my parents?" Tadashi asked, wishing he could go back to Fred's house and hide from anyone.
"No…well…I'm your Aunt. Aunt Cass…" She nervously introduced.
"A-aunt?" Tadashi stammered.
"Yea….I'm your mom's sister…" She explained. "W-we….we got into a bad fight just after you were born and…w-we hadn't spoken since and….and I-I just…I wish we could have…" She mumbled, whipping tears out of her eyes. "I'm sorry…"
"It's okay…" Tadashi assured.
"Well….I just wanted to say hi and that…well if you need anything….I really want to help you….I-If you'd like that…." Tadashi had heard that statement a thousand times today. But somehow hearing it come from someone he was related to made him believe that she meant it.
"Yea I…thank you," Tadashi said and for the first time that day he actually meant it. "Oh um….did…did they tell you they had another son?" Tadashi asked, gesturing to Hiro. "This is Hiro…say hi Hiro…"
Hiro reluctantly lifted his head and gave a halfhearted wave before burying his face in Tadashi's shoulder again. Thankfully, their aunt didn't seem offended by this and said,
"N-no I hadn't….it's nice to meet you both officially…and here…" Aunt Cass said, digging into her purse and handing Tadashi a card. "That has my home phone number and the address for my home and café….well they're one in the same really…"
"You own a café?" Tadashi asked, carefully pocketing the card.
"Yes, the Lucky Cat Café…." She said with a sad smile. "I-I hope you two will stop by sometime."
"We will," Tadashi promised, meaning it.
Despite being please to have met his aunt, when Tadashi got back to Fred's house he simply dragged himself up to his and Hiro's room and stayed curled up in his bed for the rest of the day, cradling Hiro in his arms.
The next couple of weeks passed by in a blur for Tadashi with Tadashi diligently working on projects on the house while Fred or Heathcliff watched Hiro for him during the day and at night Tadashi would spend some time with Hiro. Tadashi had been surprised to find that Heathcliff was not only willing to watch Hiro, but seemed to really want to watch him. Every morning when Heathcliff told Tadashi what needed to be done for the day he'd ask if Tadashi needed him to watch Hiro.
Much to Tadashi's dismay, he still hadn't finished repairing the car, but Heathcliff regularly assured him that work around the house was priority for Mr. Lee and that Tadashi could work on it on days that there was nothing left for him to work on, something that only happened twice so far. Mr. Lee had not been kidding when he said the house regularly needed work. One of the bathrooms pipes burst or one of the rooms could use a repainting or even stranger was when the house got egged and Tadashi was requested to clean it up.
Tadashi asked Heathcliff if they were going to call the police or something but Heathcliff smiled and said,
"We know who it is and it will be taken care of." A few days later however the house had been covered in toilet paper and all Heathcliff would say was that it was the same person. Tadashi wasn't sure he wanted to know how Heathcliff knew this.
Tadashi had so much work to do; he almost forgot that Bubbles was coming back. Exactly two weeks after nearly having Hiro taken away, Bubbles returned. Tadashi was once again in the garage working on the car when Heathcliff came in saying,
"Mr. Hamada Mr. Bubbles is here and would like to speak to you." Making Tadashi freeze, he was covered in sweat and oil and was wearing and old pair of jeans and shirt covered in holes. He probably didn't have time to try and clean up at all and sighed. He was hoping he'd look half decent when Bubbles came. Oh well, nothing he could do about it now.
Tadashi stood and made his way to the living room where Heathcliff took Bubbles. He only hoped Fred hadn't started playing hide and go seek with Hiro today. Bubbles stood when Tadashi walked into the room and said,
"I've spoken with Mr. Lee already about your…work accommodations and for now at least it all seems to be in order."
"That's great!" Tadashi exclaimed.
"But I still need to look around and see if this is a safe environment for Hiro."
"You want to look through the entire mansion?" Tadashi asked, horrified.
"Yes, is that a problem?" Bubbles asked with a raised eyebrow. Ignoring the fact that Tadashi hadn't exactly been checking to make sure everything was child proof, this mansion was huge and it would take a while to walk the entire mansion.
"No….but it will probably take a while…" Tadashi informed him.
"I've got time," Bubbles said in an impatient tone.
"Alright…umm right this way then…" Tadashi awkwardly said.
Not long after Bubbles arrived, Heathcliff found Fred and Hiro and asked Fred to keep Hiro occupied and 'out of the way' so they wouldn't be disturbed. Fred had initially assumed this would be easy with how big the mansion was, so he took Hiro upstairs into the gaming room to play.
"What do you want to do little man?" Fred asked.
Hiro curiously looked around the room, eyes lighting up when he spotted a box of Lego's. "Can we play with those?" Hiro asked, running over to the large bin.
"Sure," Fred said, carefully tipping to bin over, scattering the Lego's across the floor.
"This is awesome!" Hiro exclaimed, immediately grabbing some Lego's to build something.
"What are you working on?" Fred curiously asked, watching as Hiro started to construct a tall building.
"Hamada Bro's Inc!" Hiro proudly declared.
"What's that?" Fred curiously asked.
"It's the robotics company me and Dashi will make when I'm old enough!" Hiro exclaimed.
"That's awesome!" Fred said. "But won't you and Dashi need a place to live?"
"Oh yea…" Hiro agreed. "Can you build an awesome house!"
"Just a house?" Fred asked. "No, no if this is going to be a multi-million dollar company you guys need a mansion!"
"You think we can get a mansion?" Hiro excitedly asked.
"I know it!" Fred assured, getting to work building their 'mansion'.
"How do you know?" Hiro asked.
"I've seen Tadashi's inventions and if you're even half the inventor he is you'll make some amazing things as well," Fred assured. Hiro flashed Fred as wide grin before getting back to work on the building. Not long after they start working though, Tadashi and Mr. Bubbles come into the room they're in.
"Hey guys I was wondering where you were," Tadashi said when he noticed them playing on the floor.
"Sorry we can leave if you want," Fred said.
"No need. I wanted to ask Hiro a few questions," Mr. Bubbles said, kneeling down beside Hiro.
"Okay!" Hiro exclaimed.
"Have you ever been left home alone?" Bubbles asked.
"Nope. Theirs's always someone in the house!" Hiro exclaimed. "Dashi doesn't leave very much but when he does Mr. Heathcliff watches me! He even watches me when Dashi is working around the house so I don't get lonely, well him or Fred."
"I see," Bubbles said.
"Are you happy here?"
"I love it here!" Hiro exclaimed. "Can I stay with Dashi?"
Bubbles flashed Hiro a half smile before standing and saying, "If you wish to pursue becoming Hiro's legal guardian you will need to go to court and the process can take a couple of months and I will of course continue to periodically check on things."
"Wait…you're saying I can keep Hiro?" Tadashi asked, suddenly feeling light headed.
"I'm saying, I will vouch that as of right now, you seem to be in a good position to become his guardian. A judge will have to officially grant that to you though." Bubbles clarified.
"I-oh of course!" Tadashi said; face breaking out into a large grin. Bubbles nodded and said,
"Have a good day." Heathcliff came in saying,
"May I show you to the door?"
"Yes thank you," Bubbles said, following Heathcliff out of the room. Once they were gone Tadashi burst into excited laughter, and yanked Fred to his feet to kiss him.
"Thank you!" Tadashi exclaimed when he broke away for air.
"What do yo-oh!" Fred exclaimed as Tadashi pulled him in for another kiss.
Hiro covered his eyes and made a face saying, "What's going on Dashi?"
"I get to keep you!" Tadashi exclaimed, scooping Hiro into his arms and kissing Hiro's cheek. "Well…I most likely can!"
"Really?" Hiro asked, still grinning, Tadashi excitedly nodded his head as Hiro cheered and threw his arms around Tadashi's neck. Tadashi just hugged Fred and Hiro as best he could, feeling like he was floating.
Tadashi wanted to stay with them for the rest of the day, but he couldn't. He did unfortunately did have to get back to work. "Sorry guys but I have to get back to working. I'll come back in for some dinner tho-" Tadashi began, reluctantly releasing Fred.
"No!" Fred exclaimed. "No way! You cannot work after news like this!"
"I need to work though," Tadashi argued, setting Hiro down.
"You were working on the car when Bubbles came!" Fred countered. "And that can wait! Come on stay and build with us!"
"What where you two building?" Tadashi asked.
"I was building Hamada Bro's Inc. and Fred was making our mansion!"
"Oh um….that looks like fun buddy but I really ca-" Tadashi began before being cut off by Fred,
"Wait! Hiro I just realized something! We might have a house, but all the other Lego people working at Hamada Bros Inc. will be homeless! Not to mention they'd all starve without supermarkets to buy food from!"
"You're right!" Hiro gasped, horrified. "What should we do?"
"We need to build a city for our Lego people!" Fred declared. "But we can't do it on our own! The poor Lego people will starve before we build everything!" Tadashi glanced at Fred, eyebrows raised as Hiro ran over to Tadashi begging,
"Dashi can you help us build a city for our Lego people!" Fred collapsed to the ground next to Hiro and hugged him tightly, pouting. So maybe using a double pout was cheating, but Fred firmly told himself it was for the Lego people.
"All right all right!" Tadashi sighed. "I'll help save the Lego people."
"Yay!" Hiro exclaimed, taking Tadashi's hand and bringing him over to their tiny Lego city. "Can you start making more houses? And make them big!"
"Hiro all the Lego people won't have a lot of money for a big house…and they all won't need a big house." Tadashi patiently explained.
"Oh…" Hiro said. "Okay then make lots of different sized houses!"
"Good idea." Tadashi said, grinning.
"Should I make some stores and stuff?" Fred asked.
"Yea definitely!" Hiro exclaimed. The three of them soon start building up a large city with houses, stores and a few skyscrapers.
"So what do you think? Did we manage to save the Lego citizens?" Fred triumphantly asked.
"No!" Hiro exclaimed. "We need a superhero base!"
"Superhero base?" Tadashi asked.
"Yea to protect the Lego people from….the giant monster!" Hiro exclaimed, running over to grab one of Fred's action figures and started 'attacking' the city.
"Oh no whatever shall we do!" Fred shouted as he reached for one of the Lego construction workers and continuing in a deep voice, "Never fear! I'll save you innocent Lego people!"
"Fred that's a construction worker," Tadashi said, trying to contain his laughter.
"Didn't you see the Lego Movie?" Fred asked. "He's a master builder and will save the day!"
"Of course how could I forget?" Tadashi said, laughing. "So what will this master builder make that will save the day?"
"An awesome super ship!" Fred declared, diving into the bin of Lego's to quickly build a 'spaceship'. It wasn't the most impressive ship he'd ever built but he was pressed for time. The Lego people needed him! Once the ship was built, Fred started 'attacking' the monster.
"Oh no!" Hiro said in a deep voice, shaking the dinosaur toy. "I'm doomed!"
"Pew pew! Die monster!" Fred said.
"Oh no!" Hiro shouted, the monster falling to the ground.
"But wait! The monsters brother is here seeking revenge!" Tadashi exclaimed, grabbing another dinosaur toy to attack.
"Ah! Run for your lives!" Fred shouted.
"The monsters brother revives baby monster!" Tadashi declared before biting the ship with the dinosaur, laughing maniacally. Before Fred could do anything else, Heathcliff appeared saying,
"I'm sorry to interrupt but the sink in the bathroom is flooding and needs your attention." Tadashi reluctantly set down the toy and said,
"No, no I should have been working….umm I'll see you guys for dinner okay?"
"Okay." Fred sighed, jumping up to peck Tadashi's cheek. Tadashi sighed and started towards the bathroom, suddenly sad to leave Hiro and Fred. He was actually starting to enjoy himself and it had been so long since he goofed off with Hiro like that. As he passed the kitchen he noticed Mary and Amelia in the kitchen and was going to continue on his way until he heard something that made him freeze.
"Tadashi is such a bum!" Mary hissed. Tadashi had no idea why they suddenly hated him so much; he'd thought they liked him before…
"I know!" Amelia groaned.
"Apparently to get into a good job around here you just need to sleep with Fred!" Mary snapped, making Tadashi's heart freeze in his chest. They thought he was sleeping with Fred to get the job?
"And he just flaunts it around and hardly does any work like the rest of us!" Amelia agreed.
"I saw him goofing off not too long ago, playing with Lego's like a child!" Mary groaned. "It's pathetic! He could at least admit he's getting paid for sex." Tadashi knew he should move and get back to work, but their words left him frozen in his spot. I shouldn't be surprised…Tadashi bitterly thought it's not like this is anything new. Students claimed Tadashi slept with Callaghan to get the scholarship or was sleeping with a hard professor to get an A. Everyone always seemed to think he was using sex to get things from people. Why? Why was he only seen as a walking sex machine…?
"Is something wrong Mr. Hamada?" Heathcliff softly asked, startling Tadashi.
"N-no…" Tadashi stammered. Did Heathcliff think he was sleeping with Fred to get the job too? Did he despise Tadashi as much as Mary and Amelia? Had he heard what they were saying? Tadashi didn't want to know. "I-I should go…" Tadashi added, hurrying off before Heathcliff could say anything, missing the glare he sent into the kitchen at Amelia and Mary before determinedly walking off towards where Fred and Hiro where.