Eleanor Rose woke up confused until she remembered the events of the night before. she was going to get up, really she was but she was just so wasn't awake yet, but he had his arms tightly around her and she could here is snoring which she struggled not to giggle about. She was sleeping on the right side of the bed so she looked around the room to find a clock. What time was it? She could see Hiro's tiny feet falling off the edge of his bed. Finally, using her eyes, she found a clock near Hiro's bed. Glasses, she needed her glasses. Luckily they were on the night stand right next to her side of the bed. Pulling on the bright red frames, she read eleven thirty. Eleven thirty?! Jeez, these boys could sleep in!
She rolled back over.
"Tadashi." she whispered.
"Tadashi." this time she said it a little louder until she got a response. The snoring stopped.
"Hmm?" a groggy response filled the air.
"I need to get up it's almost noon." And with that, Tadashi reluctantly removed his arms from her waist, groaning in the process.
She got up and grabbed some clothes she always kept at the Hamada's place. Looking out the window and placing her pale fingertips to the glass, she could tell it was a chilly morning so she also grabbed one of Tadashi's sweatshirts that read, "I Love SFIT." He wouldn't mind. A little bit sleepy, she made her way downstairs almost tripping on the fat cat at her feet.
Aunt Cass was flopped on the couch, mouth open, snoring. A soap opera of some sort,maybe it was a sitcom, was still playing on the tv. Leo guessed she had fallen asleep last night to it. Her snoring was light and almost feathery. One arm was falling off the couch and it was in these moments you could see the child inside Aunt Cass. It was kind of adorable and it seemed everyone in the Hamada family had that trait. She went over, turned off the tv, and pulled a blanket over Cass. Then she decided she needed the rest so she decided to go and get the cafe ready so Aunt Cass could take a break. It was a sunday so business would be slow, easy to handle. While she was the only one up and slowly handling the store as a few stragglers came in on the sunday morning she saw two little boys. They were arguing over who got the window seat. It was kind of loud and obnoxious, but she didn't mind too much. They were cute and young. It's good for siblings to fight sometimes.
It was pretty rare for Tadashi and Hiro to really fight. Every once in a while they would argue about which battery would work better or bot fighting, but Leo could only recall one time they had really fought and it ended badly.
It had been a very stressful day for tadashi, she recalled. His latest project wasn't up to par. He couldn't get it right and he was pressed for time. He had stayed extra late trying to get it to work and was just really really frustrated. It happens to the best of us. It was a normal thing. This also happened to be the night an eleven year old Hiro decided to be as annoying as possible. It was probably the extra gummy bears and even the gummy worms Leo had brought over that helped make him this way. Bad thinking on her part. Hiro was jumping in front of tv, arguing over the remote, you know, the usually sibling annoyance stuff. Normally, Tadashi could handle it pretty well, he knew how to get Hiro to settle down. However, today Hiro just pushed Tadashi over the edge. It was so unexpected for Tadashi to be so cruel but the words flew from his mouth faster than he could think about them. "I wish you'd never been born." Immediately, Tadashi had regretted his words. He loved his brother so much and he didn't mean that at all. Hiro's face fell into a tears eyed scowl at his brothers words as he quickly got up and left, running to his room and slamming the door.
"Tadashi." Eleanor had scolded.
"I-I didn't" he tried to explain but Leo got up and ran to follow Hiro. She knew Tadashi hadn't meant it. She also knew Hiro wouldn't want to see Tadashi for a while so he decided to play therapist.
"Hiro." She said, lightly knocking on the door.
"Go away." She could tell he'd been crying due to the wavering of his voice. She opened the door anyway and say down on the bed next to Hiro. He say up to look at her, sniffling and wiping his eyes and nose.
"You know he didn't mean that Hiro. He just had a rough day. Thats all." She said trying to comfort him.
"He's-he's not allowed to be mad or angry Leo. He's the big brother he's supposed to be strong and nice." Hiro was frustrated with his feelings. Deep down he knew his brother didn't mean it. They had an excellent sibling bond that could never be broken. Everyone could see that, but Hiro was young. It takes an older soul to understand fully.
"Hiro," she said pulling the small kid into her lap, wiping his tears with her shirt sleeve. "The strongest people break sometimes. He couldn't be strong forever, you know. By tomorrow he'll be back to his old self, I bet my life on it." She smiled at him as he seemed to understand. In that same moment, Tadashi burst through the door.
"Hiro, i'm so sor-" he was interrupted by his little brother crashing into him, giving him a huge hug, smiling all the while. Hiro understood now and it was okay for Tadashi to be mad sometimes. He hugged his brother back, lifting the short kid off the ground. He mouthed a thank you to Eleanor who was sitting on the bed, grinning at the couple in the doorway.
That was day she knew she wouldn't forget because it was the day she had first seen Tadashi angry. He was unlike himself that day and it was a reminder that even the most kind and wonderful people had their limits.
She smiled at the memory and served a young couple their two glasses of coffee, one straight up black, nothing else and one just the same except for the mound of sugar at the bottom. Turning around to go back to the cash register, she saw a grin on the face of Aunt Cass.
"Thanks Eleanor."
"No problem Aunt Cass."
"Take a break and go wake up those two lazy bums upstairs for me, will you?" she smiled.
"Sure thing." and with that, Leo skipped upstairs, electric blue hair, falling in waves, swinging behind her.
Tadashi and Hiro were still asleep, snoring away. It was nearly one o'clock now! Oh no this simply will not do! She ran down the stairs and grabbed two ice cubes, juggling them in her hands so she wouldn't freeze. She approached Hiro who was, lucky for her, laying on his back. She slowly pulled his shirt up just a tiny bit and placed the ice cube on his stomach. She ran to Tadashi's side of the room and did the same. it was only a matter of seconds before both boys shot up rubbing their tummy's. She was giggling in the middle of the room. Both boys shook their head and sighed.
"Unbelievable!" They both said at the same time. This made her smile so wide she thought her face might split in half. Things were good. Too good.
There are two days left before the SFIT convention and Hiro has no idea what he's gonna do.
"Ugh. i'm an idiot. .Stupid." he kept repeating over and over banging his head on his desk. Tadashi responded by throwing him over his shoulder, head hanging towards the floor.
"You just need a different angle." A few seconds of hiro complaining and then his face lit up.
"I've got it!" Tadashi set him down.
"Yes! You know what this means guys?" Leo interrupted and both boys through her questioning glances.
"Musical Montage!" and with that they got to work, Leo blasting Fall Out Boy.
~SHE WANTS TO DANCE LIKE UMA THURMAN BURY ME TILL I CONFESS
SHE WANTS TO DANCE LIKE UMA THURMAN AND I CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD~
For those two days, Tadashi, Hiro, Leo and the gang from SFIT worked their butts off to help Hiro in every way they could. They were all rooting for him. Eleanor hadn't been much help; she didn't have a genius brain, but she could bring him what he asked for. In all honesty, she had never felt so stupid in her life. It was like everyone around her was speaking a different language or something. She almost left, thinking she wasn't that much of a help, but decided to stay and support Hiro even if she didn't understand what he was saying sometimes. WHile everyone was working she made a quick trip outside to drag in all of their recycling bins for Hiro which made her worry slightly. Who needs six recycling bins?
"Finally!" came from Hiro's lips several hours later. They hadn't had a break in hours but it had payed off because in only an hour, they would have to be at the science center. Eleanor walked up behind Hiro in his chair and hugged him.
"I'm so proud of you Hiro! This is gonna be great! You're gonna knock their expensive, stuck- up socks off!" There were several agreements from the group of people as they grabbed the bins full of the microbots and headed out.