Oops to clarify (because yesterday's Author's note might have been a little confusing but this is why I shouldn't write notes when I'm half asleep... yet here I am doing that again) cause I think I might have confused some of you. Updates aren't stopping. Daily updates might stop because I'm not writing fast enough. I will finish this story through. I might not just end on December 25th like planned... which is silly because of the 4 times I've done this, I have never failed to finish by December 25th. I can't fail now! I hope this makes sense. I'm very tired at the moment haha. OTL

December 18th: Thursday

Theme: 24. Ice Skating

Hiro wandered downstairs into the dark and empty cafe of Lucky Cat Cafe. The brightly colored Christmas lights lit his path down. Cass had insisted he stay and rest, refusing to listen to reason that Hiro lived only two blocks away. Eventually Hiro gave up. He was selfish enough that the idea of having someone to take care of him appealed to him. Somewhere along the way Hiro had fallen asleep again before Tadashi had returned home.

That led him to his current predicament. The clock read 3:00am and Hiro was wide awake and unable to return to sleep.

Hiro peered down at the snowglobe that sat near the cash register. It held a couple within it, a man with a blue coat and a woman in a red coat, ice skating. The red and blue Christmas lights illuminated the wide smiles on their faces and the shared scarf flying behind them.

"Can't sleep?"

Hiro jumped. Peering into the darkness, he saw Tadashi standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Don't do that," Hiro said, scowling. "I'm starting to think that smile of yours hides a mischievous streak a mile wide!" The duct tape on the arm, being tricked into sledding, not to mention standing on the side looking smug while Cass unleashed her brand of mother-henning. Hiro amended his previous statement about Tadashi being an angel. Kitsune might be a better description.

Tadashi merely grinned.

Kitsune. Definitely Kitsune.

"That belonged to my parents," Tadashi said, shifting the subject. He picked up the snowglobe and gave it a shake, letting the white flakes swirl around in the water. "Aunt Cass told me that the first date my dad took my mom on was ice skating. This was a memento of that date." Tadashi placed it back on the counter.

Hiro was silent as the snow settled on the bottom of the globe once more. A brief flash of envy shot through Hiro. He had no stories like that of his parents. His father refused to speak of his mother and Hiro had been much too young to ask and remember those types of stories.

"My parents died when I was eight," Tadashi said. "Aunt Cass took me in after that and while I love her more than anything in the world, it's…"

"It's not the same," Hiro finished. Nothing was ever the same.

"Yeah," Tadashi said. "People say it gets better with time, but it doesn't. The loss is still there. Just patched up a bit, but still bleeding. I don't think the guilt ever goes away either, you just get better at hiding it."

Hiro tilted his head, asking the silent question.

"The car crash that killed my parents was them going out to pick up something I wanted for my birthday," Tadashi clarified with a shaky voice. "Spent most of my childhood wondering if I never asked for that silly book, if they would still be alive today. To this day, I still can't read that book. I have it, it survived the car cash and serves as a reminder but…"

Silence fell. Hiro's eyes fell to the ground, tracing the patterns of the tile.

"He doesn't blame you, you know?"

Hiro looked up surprised. "Who?"

"Professor Callaghan," Tadashi said. He pulled a chair off the table, turning it upright before gesturing to Hiro to do the same. Hiro followed suit, taking a seat at the table.

"I went to talk to him yesterday and to do some more research while I let everything you told me sink in," Tadashi said.

Hiro nodded in understanding. Tadashi had left for his exam shortly before lunch. Even factoring in travel to and from to campus and the excitement and celebration after the exam was complete, Tadashi should have been home before the sun had set. Considering Hiro had knocked out around 6pm and Tadashi was not home yet, Hiro had wondered where Tadashi had gone.

"I've been taught that there are two sides to every story. More versions of the same event can either muddle the waters or make them clearer once you remove the bias," Tadashi explained, deep in thought. "So I asked Professor Callaghan for his stance. He went over every piece of your work, even did the stress test of outside influence that you said you didn't do. Nothing he did could replicate the explosion and believe me he tried. I briefly skimmed over all the evidence I could find. It was truly and honestly a string of bad events. Professor Callaghan said it was a good thing that you didn't apologize sooner. This past year tempered his rage and grief and allowed him to come to terms with Abigail's death. Honestly the person who laid the concrete floor, or the person who screwed the portal frame at that particular joint probably had more to blame than you."

That was more comforting than Hiro would admit. He had not gone back to check himself, choosing to hand over every prototype, journal, even his disjointed thought process notes to the courts. He had gotten them all back, but they were locked in a safe back in New Yosaka since then.

Tadashi looked Hiro squarely in the eyes. "So Professor Callaghan told me to tell you that he doesn't blame you and that you're always welcome to stop by to talk to him. I don't blame you either. And I don't think you should blame yourself too."

Hiro slumped in his chair, speechless. Part of him was not surprised. Tadashi had been wordlessly accepting everything about Hiro since the first they met, from the lack of reaction to Hiro's name to his non-questioning stance about Hiro's smarts. Why should it be any different now? "Just like that?" Hiro said weakly.

Tadashi smiled. "Yeah, just like that."

Okay. Hiro could probably live with that. If Tadashi believed in him, then it was at least worth a try.

So admittedly I'm not happy with this ending. I wasn't exactly sure how to end this. I rewrote this ending three times before I settled on this one. Hopefully you guys like it? :O