When Tadashi agreed to become Hiro's guardian, he hadn't realized how many forms he had to fill out to do this. The forms seemed endless, but as far as Tadashi was concerned it was worth it. He would do anything to keep Hiro, and it very quickly paid off. Three weeks after the funeral he got a ninety day notice for his court hearing. If everything went well, in three months he would officially be Hiro's guardian.
Fred was just as ecstatic as Tadashi was, when Tadashi told him he finally got a court date he tackled Tadashi to the ground. Though Hiro didn't understand everything, he knew enough to realize this was a very good thing for them and was just as happy. Fred tentatively pointed out that now might be a good time to start looking into getting a car, him driving a moped might get some frowns and Tadashi reluctantly agreed.
Thankfully he had the insurance money for the car to help him and a decent knowledge of cars. After visiting countless dealerships Tadashi was finally able to find a used car that was in pretty good condition for a price Tadashi could afford. He finally had a car so he could drive Hiro places without having to borrow a car.
Over the next several weeks, Tadashi or Fred would take Hiro to the park to play with Ezra, something Hiro looked forward to immensely. The two of them where quickly becoming inseparable and Tadashi was both extremely happy for Hiro and slightly worried for him. Hiro having a friend was a really good thing, but Hiro seemed almost clingy with him and Tadashi wasn't sure if that was healthy. Hera didn't seem too worried about it, though. She usually was the one to bring Ezra and they talked most of the time while the boys played.
One Saturday, Tadashi had been surprised to see a man bringing Ezra to the park and assumed that he was Hera's husband Kanan. The moment Ezra spotted Hiro he raced away from his father and excitedly threw his arms around Hiro before running off to play. As Tadashi sat down in the shade, he noticed Kanan staring at the two boys as they played a look of deep concentration on his face.
"You're Tadashi right?" Kanan asked, startling Tadashi.
"Yes," Tadashi said, "You're Kanan right?"
Kanan nodded and asked, "Hamada?" Tadashi stared at him in confusion before saying,
"Um yes…" Had he told Hera his last name? He honestly couldn't remember. Kanan heavily sat down next to Tadashi and said,
"Officer Jarrus ring a bell?"
"Jarrus…" Tadashi muttered. The name sounded familiar. Where had it heard….the night of the crash. "The officer who called…was that…you?"
"Yes," Kanan admitted, not looking Tadashi in the eye. "I'm sorry I couldn't save them."
"I know they died before anyone got their…" Tadashi mumbled.
"That doesn't make it any easier…" Kanan said, frowning.
"No, it doesn't," Tadashi agreed. A dark part of Tadashi wanted to hate Kanan for not saving his parents, but another wanted to thank him over and over for saving Hiro's life. "You saved Hiro…"
"I pulled him out of the car," Kanan agreed.
"Thank you," Tadashi said. "I…I lost the will to live when I thought I lost my entire family…having Hiro….it gives me something to hold onto. A reason to keep going."
"I'm…glad to hear that," Kanan said after a few minutes of silence. "I mean not the loss of will but…Hiro helping you…" Tadashi smiled at just as a fuzzy voice started talking. Kanan frowned and pulled out a device and listened to the voice for a minute before standing up and calling
"Ezra come on time to go!"
"But dad we just got here!" Ezra whined.
"Somethings come up we need to go!" Kanan snapped. Erza sighed but said,
"Okay dad. Bye Hiro!" And hugged Hiro who excitedly hugged him back. "See you later!"
"See you!" Hiro said, waving at Ezra as he raced back over to his father.
"Sorry it's some sort of emergency I gotta run." Kanan explained.
"It's all right, I completely understand." Tadashi assured. Kanan nodded and hurried off, Ezra hurrying behind him.
Hiro ran back over to where Tadashi was and asked, "Can we stay here and play?"
"If you'd like," Tadashi said with a grin. Hiro cheered and ran over to the swing saying,
"Push me!" Grinning, Tadashi stood and started pushing him. This was nice, just him and Hiro goofing around and enjoying themselves. He loved Fred to death, but having some alone time with Hiro was really good too. Tadashi was determined to do this more with Hiro because he deserved some time with his brother.
The summer passed by in a blur for Tadashi, he was either working, with Hiro or Fred, or sleeping. Fred somewhat reluctantly agreed to go to church with Tadashi occasionally. It wasn't every week but Tadashi was grateful he was giving it a chance. Unfortunately as the summer progressed, Mary and Amelia's opinion of Tadashi only seemed to worsen. As far as they were concerned Tadashi never worked as hard as they did and was only here for sex. Tadashi wanted to say something, but he was afraid that he would only make it worse. So Tadashi simply avoided them whenever possible and forced himself to try and work even harder. They would eventually see reason…right?
Before he knew it, summer was over and he was registering Hiro to go to school. Hiro was ecstatic to be going to school, but Tadashi was worried Hiro would soon hate it. Tadashi had been massively bullied as a kid, and he was worried Hiro would suffer the same fate. Fred kept telling him though that even if he did get bullies it might actually work out for the best. Fred did have a point, if it weren't for bullies they would have never met.
Sooner than Tadashi would have liked, the first day of school for both of them rolls around. Thankfully his first class doesn't start until 10 so he has time to drop Hiro off before heading over. Hiro had spent the morning talking nonstop about how excited he was for school, as they pull up to the building though he Hiro stopped talking and stared at the building nervously.
"You okay buddy?" Tadashi asked.
"…I'm scared…" Hiro admitted.
"Hey you'll be fine," Tadashi assured unbuckling Hiro and setting him down.
"You sure…" Hiro asked, hiding behind Tadashi's leg as they walked.
"I met Fred in school," Tadashi said, smiling.
"You did?" Hiro asked.
"Yea, besides, you already have a friend so you're way better off than I was," Tadashi continued.
"You didn't have a friend when you started school?" Hiro curiously asked.
"No," Tadashi admitted, leading Hiro through the building towards Hiro's classroom. "I didn't make a friend for a few years actually…" Tadashi frowned slightly think to his first few years of school. "Fred was my first friend…" He shook the thought out of his head and asked, "Ready to go in?"
"Yea," Hiro agreed, smiling up at Tadashi as he opened the door for Hiro. Immediately Tadashi heard a shout of,
"Hiro!" Hiro excitedly looked around the room, grinning when he saw Ezra in his class.
"See?" Tadashi laughed, kneeling down. "Now have fun okay?"
"Okay! See you later Dashi!" Hiro exclaimed, hugging Tadashi tightly before running to join Ezra. Tadashi smiled at Hiro and walked back out to his car to head to school.
When Tadashi got to school he found he had some extra time so he made his way to his lab to get settled in again. His project had been moved back into his lab for him, waiting to be worked on once more.
"Sneak attack!" Fred shouted, tackle hugging Tadashi from behind.
"Fred!" Tadashi exclaimed, laughing. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
"No class today silly," Fred said, burying his face in Tadashi's back.
"That's nice but I do have class soon," Tadashi said, smiling.
"Not anymore!" Fred declared, tightly hugging Tadashi.
"Mr. Lee, why does Mr. Hamada not have class anymore?" Professor Callaghan asked, slipping into Tadashi's lab.
"Uh…." Fred awkwardly said, letting go of Tadashi. "No reason…I'll just umm….yea see you Tadashi." Fred said before slipping out of the lab.
"Thanks professor," Tadashi said.
"No problem Mr. Hamada. But I only came in here to see how you were doing." Professor Callaghan admitted.
"Oh…" Tadashi said. "Well…I-It hasn't been easy but I have a court hearing next month to see if I can become Hiro's legal guardian!"
"Oh….you're trying to be his guardian…" Professor Callaghan said, looking surprised.
"Is there a problem?" Tadashi asked, concerned by the look on his professor's face.
"Tadashi you're one of the best students I've ever had. You are brilliant, I'm just wondering if you're ready to raise a child." He admitted, surprising Tadashi.
"I-I don't understand," Tadashi said. "Hiro's my brother. I can't lose him!"
"Family is very important," Professor Callaghan agreed. "But raising a child demands a lot of time and I'm wondering if you can balance school, work, and raising your brother…"
"I will find a way to make it work!" Tadashi declared. "And if I just can't then I'll drop out of school."
"You'd abandon your dream?" Professor Callaghan asked, looking horrified.
"Hiro's more important," Tadashi said, shrugging.
"More important than finishing school?" He asked.
"Yes," Tadashi said with conviction. He loved the school and loved robotics. In a perfect world he'd get his degree, finish Baymax and continue his work in revolutionizing the medical field. But this wasn't a perfect world and Hiro came first. Always.
"Well I'm disappointed." Professor Callaghan sighed. "I'd hate to see one of my brightest students throw away his future."
"I hate that it's come to this, but I'll do whatever it takes to keep my brother," Tadashi declared.
Professor Callaghan looked at Tadashi sadly before sighing, "I'm sorry to hear that…" before started to leave.
"I'm not leaving yet!" Tadashi exclaimed, making Professor Callaghan freeze. "I mean either way I'll finish out this semester. I'll decide if I'm staying or not over the winter break."
"Well then. I guess I'll just have to do everything I can to convince you to stay," Professor Callaghan declared before exiting the lab, leaving Tadashi with an uneasy feeling in his chest.