Brothers
17
Ages
Hiro: 2
Tadashi: 7
Tadashi's POV
C'mon little guy, try again. Say Ta-Da-Shi." I say, sounding out each syllable carefully. My baby brother Hiro keeps his thumb in his mouth and attempts to say my name again.
"Tashi." He says, getting frustrated that he can't say it right. I smile at his try. "C'mon buddy, try once more time." I urge. "Tadashi." I say.
"Dashi!" Hiro exclaims victoriously. He seems so darn happy that he said 'Dashi' he yanks his thumb out of his mouth and starts a mini victory dance. I laugh at him. I guess he's dubbed me 'Dashi' for now.
"Close enough little Hiro." I say, dancing along with him. Apparently, I'm not dancing right because of Hiro's comment. "No Dashi! Like me!" He cries, gesturing me to dance identical to him. I try to copy him, but Hiro gets upset and sits on the floor.
Sometimes, it's a pain to have to do things Hiro's way ALL the time, but I have to remind myself that he's only two and doesn't understand fairness yet, so I try to be patient.
"Hey Hiro, why don't we dance together?" I suggest. Hiro looks up at me from his crouched position on the floor. Fortunately for me, he looks happy at my recommendation and his eyes light up. Eagerly, he gets up and grabs my hands and begins spinning around.
"Wow Hiro, slow down. I'm gonna puke!" I cry in mock fear. In actuality, he's going at a rate that could maybe rival a snail. Maybe.
He laughs none the less. Eventually he gets dizzy and we collapse to the floor. "Dashi. Nap. Now." Hiro announces, beginning to doze off. I chuckle at him. "Night you crazy demon child." I say playfully, patting his hair. He lightly squirms at the touch, but relaxes after a while.
"Awwww, look at you two!" I hear mom say behind me, camera in hand. I blush a bright crimson and give her a look of pleading. "Moooooom. That's so embarrassing. Delete that. Please?!" I beg on my knees. Mom shakes her head and doesn't lose the cheesy grin from her face.
I start chasing mom around the house, but she's surprisingly faster than me. "Honey, catch!" Mom cried, tossing the camera to dad. I groan in frustration. "Guysssss." I whine childishly. "Oh hush Tadashi. There's nothing to be ashamed about loving your brother. Now go pick him up and take him to his room while I record it all." Mom urged. I cross my arms. "No way." I say firmly. Mom gives me the look and I gulp, eyes widening.
"I-I mean, I'll go do that right now." I say, hiding my face beneath my hat. "That's what I thought you said." She says, hands on hips. "I have yet to figure out how you do that." Dad said to mom as I left.
I head back to the living room to see Hiro completely knocked out on the rug. That little spinning dance must've really worn the poor sucker out. I scoop him into my arms gently (gosh he weighs like 0 pounds).
I can practically feel the camera on me as mom films this and I roll my eyes. None the less, I carry Hiro to his room and lay him in his bed softly, careful not to wake him up. He shifts a bit around in his bed, but thankfully doesn't wake up. I'm about to leave when I hear his half-asleep voice ask "Mommy, will you stay with me?"
I blushed again. He thinks I'm mom?! I'm so offended. She looks nothing like me. I got my looks from Dad. I want to give Hiro a piece of my mind, but decided against it. For one thing, he's half asleep. Another thing, he's only two. Gosh that excuse comes up a lot.
Just then, mom pops her head into the room and smiles like a maniac. "Oh this is great Tadashi. Go on, lay down with him. This is beyond adorable." She gushes. I look at her in disbelief. "You can't possibly be serious can you?" I ask. She gives me a dead serious look and I bury my face in my hands. "Mom please. This is degrading. There is no way I'll sleep in Hiro's bed with him. I'm seven years old. You said yourself I'm a big boy." I say, puffing out my chest in an attempt to look older.
"Tadashi, part of being older means being an older brother. You need to be there for Hiro when he needs you." Mom explains. I sigh, mulling it over. "Okay, that makes sense, but he said Mom, not Tadashi." I reason. Mom sighs and looks less than pleased with my response. "Please do this Tadashi? Please? For mommy? I mean, there may be times when I'm busy and he'll have no one to turn to but you. This is good practice." Mom pressed.
I give in and tell her I'll do it on one condition; she CANNOT film it. She reluctantly complies and leaves the room. I look at Hiro in mild distaste. Don't get me wrong, I love my baby bro. I just hate getting all sentimental with him. Most siblings don't get along well and the fact that me and Hiro do make me an easy target for being made fun of in public by other kids. If people find out I do this kind of stuff for my brother, I'd never hear the end of it.
I mock glare at him. "Why can't you sleep by yourself?" I ask him in a whisper. Hiro gurgles out a sloppy and almost inaudible response that sounded like "Nightmares. Gummy bears. Gone." I shook my head and lay down next to him gently.
Hoping he'll ignore my presence, I stay. No such luck. Hiro fidgets way too much in his sleep and feels my hand. He pulls it close to him and uses it as a makeshift stuffed toy. I don't mind it, so I don't react.
A few minutes later, Hiro moves around again. This time, his head winds up on my stomach and his legs dangling off of the bed. I silently laugh at his odd position. Then, before I can get used to his posture this way, he changes positions. This time, his entire body is laying on top of me. For some reason, it starts tickling me so I laugh.
He's so small and cute sometimes. Too much for his own good really. He nuzzles into my chest and it tickles like crazy and I can't help but burst out laughing. I accidently woke up Hiro in the process and I guess I must've scared the poor guy because he begins wailing uncontrollably. I panic, but hold Hiro close to me in an attempt to call him down.
"Shh, Otuoto, you're okay. You're fine. It's me. I'm sorry. I didn't meant to startle you. Shhh. Calm down." I say soothingly. He wipes his tears away and blinks. "D-Dashi?" He asks in confusion. I nod, glad he stopped crying.
"You not mommy." He points out. "Yeah, she's busy so I'm here." I tell him. Hiro shrugs, sticks his thumb into his mouth and crashes his head onto my chest; resuming slumber. I try my hardest not to laugh at his mess of hair poking at me, causing it to tickle me. I smile, getting a little tired myself.
"Mom, can you help me with my homework? This is kind of hard." I say nervously. I hate admitting that I don't understand something and mom knows it. I'm in the gifted and talented program for crying out loud. I shouldn't need help, but this is impossible.
"I'd love to Tadashi, but I'm a bit caught up in the kitchen, do you mind asking your father? I'm sorry." She says. "Yeah, no problem." I respond, getting my stuff and heading into the office room.
"Hey dad I- Wait Hiro?" I ask, confused. My two year old baby brother looks up at me wide eyed and backs up from whatever it is he's doing in here.
"What are you doing in here?" I ask. He sticks his thumb in his mouth, something he did quite frequently. Shifting his doe eyes from left to right, he lets out a "Looking for daddy." And starts waddling away adorably. I'm not convinced. His cuteness might be swallowed up by mom and dad, but I'm a little tougher to crack than this.
I pick him up and he immediately begin squirming. "Dashi! DOWN!" He whines loudly, fidgeting like a madman. I'm shocked to say the least.
"Hiro, I'm not mad. I just want to know what you're doing in here. He stops fidgeting to cross him arms in a pout. "Not tellin." He says stubbornly. I can tell he's trying to look mad, but honestly it comes out as pretty cute.
"Alright. I'm going to put you down now. When I do, don't run away okay?" I ask cautiously. Hiro nods, but doesn't face me. I place him down and no more than a second after I do, he bolts out of the office like it's on fire. "Unbelievable." I say, shaking my head. "Whatever, I guess I should find dad." I say to myself.
I'm about to leave, when something catches my eye. Something shiny poking out of the closet. Curious, I walk toward it. I open the door and almost faint from it all. Metal. Lots of it. Anywhere and everywhere. Right in the middle of the spare parts an unfinished robot. It's pretty odd looking, but I pick it up and observe. "Why would dad be making a tiny robot thing?" I muse.
'Guess that's his guilty pleasure or something.' I think to myself.
Finally, I find dad in the family room. "Hey dad, can you help me?" I ask. He looks tired and I feel kind of bad for asking him. He was probably busy. "Son, I'd honestly love to, but Hiro just came out of nowhere saying he had to go to the store so I'm a bit tied up here." He replied.
Well that's just great. NOT.
"Whatever, it's cool dad." I reply, being slightly okay with it. What on earth was that child up to anyway?
Dad looks apologetic, but pats my head in an attempt to make me feel better. "Hey, since you're being so cool about it, I'll bring you back a little something, huh?" He asks. I smile. Classic dad. Bribing the child. "Yeah sure dad. Thanks." I say.
I head up to my room and see none other than Hiro there, reading one of my books. I quickly close the door and he jumps in alarm. He widens his eyes, startled by my presence in my room. "Alright that's it little guy, what are you doing?" I demand. He panics and starts sobbing, something he ALWAYS did to get out of trouble.
"Not gonna work this time Hiro. I know you're fake crying. You can't fool me. I practically invented that trick. Hiro's tears fade and he wipes his eyes and gives me a bored expression. "Fine, but I still not tellin." Hiro says firmly.
"Hiro c'mon. You're in my room. I have a right to know. Besides, shouldn't you be going to the store with dad?" I question. "No, he bring it to me." He says. "Brings what?" I ask. He shrugs and heads to the door. This time I grab him and throw him onto my bed. He lands with a thump.
"Dashi NO!" He whines, trying to get down with no avail. My bed's too high for him to climb off of and it's frustrating him. I ignore his whining and reach for the book he was reading.
"Robotics Basics? Hiro why are you reading this? I never even read it. Mom and dad it was boring adult stuff." I ask, puzzled. Hiro refused to meet my gaze. I can tell he's less than pleased.
"Wait a second. Hiro, back in the office, were you building something?" I ask him. No response. A thought strikes me at lightning speed. "OH my gosh. That thing in the closet. Don't tell me YOU did that?!" I ask in wonder. That would make more sense. I mean, what would dad be doing with a robot in the first place?
"Dashi no." He simply says quietly. "Don't tell mommy and daddy." He begs, sitting on the very edge of the bed. I sit on the bed next to him. "Why not Hiro? This is amazing." I say. He shakes his head furiously. "They gonna make me do more stuff. Nerd stuff. Like you." Hiro says.
"What's wrong with that? It pushes you. Makes you smarter. Don't you want that?" I ask.
"What if I not smart nuff? I no even talk right." Hiro says frustratingly. "I no even say your name. Dashi. No Tashi. No, I can't." Hiro says in frustration.
"Hiro, you're only TWO. What you can do is beyond impressive. You can READ. You can hold a conversation. Sure, you can't form proper sentences, but you can communicate and I always understand what you're saying. That's pretty smart to me." I assure him. He looks at me nervously. "Really?" He asks uncertainly. "Definitely." I respond. He noticeable perks up. "Then I read more of your books?" He asks eagerly. I chuckle. "Knock yourself out genius." I say, gently lifting him to the ground.
He rushes to my bookshelf and shoves two books from the bottom shelf. He's trying to get one from the one above it, but he's too short and he's getting aggravated. I walk to him and reach for it, but he stops me. "No Dashi. I do it myself." He states, going on his tippy toes. I amusingly watch him grab for it to no avail. "Hiro, you sure you don't want help?" I ask. He has a look of sheer determination on his face, which answered my question.
Then, he leaved my room. I look at his retreating form in amusement. Giving up in 30 seconds. Washed up at two years old. So sad. Or maybe not. He comes back with a stepladder and more determination. He steps on the stepladder, but is still too short. Refusing to give in to asking for help, he jumps up as high as he can. Now, he did get the book he was aiming for, but he managed to knock five other books down with him.
He went tumbling to the floor in a jumbled mess, all five books smacking into him before I could stop them. I gasp in horror at how much pain Hiro must be in and hurriedly pull the books off of him.
He's covered his face with his hands and is on his knees. "Hiro?" I ask cautiously. He slowly looks up at me with an embarrassed expression. "Is bad?" He asks, pointing at his forehead. A nasty bump has formed and is swelling badly. "Uh, No. you're gonna be just fine little guy. Stay here, I'm going to go get an ice pack." I say, rushing out of the room.
I grab some ice from the freezer and shove them into a zip lock bag. "Tadashi, what happened? I heard a bang." Mom asked. I chuckle nervously. "Psh, nothing. Just rearranging books and some got knocked over." I respond, running back to my room.
Hiro's touching his bump softly. Poking it here and there to see how bad it is. "Don't do that." I advise him, pressing the ice pack to his face. "You okay?" I ask. "Yeah, I fine." He says, leaning into the ice pack more. "That feel good?" I ask. He nods contently. "Thanks." He says.
"Is it still hurting?" I ask. "A bit. But not nuff to make me cry. I stronger than a book." He says defensively. I laugh because it looked and sounded adorable. He gets self-cautious and punches me in the shoulder. "Relax Hiro. Five heavy books crashed into you. I wouldn't judge. Besides, I'm impressed that you aren't crying." I say innocently.
"Yeah. I hate being short. When Imma be tall like you?" He asks. "You'll grow at your own rate sport." I say knowingly. He pouts and crosses his arms.
"Gosh Hiro, for a little boy, you've got a BIG attitude." I joke. He cracks a smile against his own will, causing me to feel really happy. I'm good at getting Hiro out of sour moods.
"Dashi, you hate me." Hiro suddenly says out of nowhere. "I think you meant that as a question didn't you? I just heard wrong right?" I ask. "No. you hate me." Hiro states, pulling away from the ice pack slowly. I feel a bit hurt at his words. Was I that bad a brother?
"Hiro, why would you say that? Did I do something?" I ask. Hiro looks away. "I hear you ask mommy and daddy for help. I was gonna tell daddy my thing could wait, but it was too late; he left for store. I swear dashi! I'm sorry!" He claimed, looking away from me. "Whoa calm down Hiro. It's okay. I'm not mad at you. That's not your fault. I'm not mad. See." I say, smiling obnoxiously big on purpose. Hiro giggles at my face.
"Dashi, you're really silly." He says. "Yeah yeah, how's your head?" I ask with a laugh. He touches it, but I guess he pressed too hard because he winced and I saw a tear poke out of his left eye. "Careful." I say, leaning toward him. He's hesitant, but he lets me observe the bump. It's turned a clammy color. Like a mix of purple and gray, but there's no bleeding so I don't get too worried.
Carefully and ever so gently, I lightly brush my finger past it and check to see Hiro's reaction. Not even a blink. That's good. I was worried that he was badly injured for a second.
"Alright buddy. You seem fine, so let's NOT tell mom and dad about this okay?" I ask. Hiro cocks his head to the side in confusion. "Why not? They say to always tell them if we get hurt." Hiro says.
I smile at the fact that his sentence was grammatically correct.
"Well, you like secrets don't you?" I ask him slyly. He nods eagerly. "Well, this can be our little secret. Something that only you and I know. Mom and dad never have to find out." I say convincingly. "Okay, I no tell." He says in a voice that I guess he assumed was sneaky. "Good, now here's your book." I say, giving him the one he was reaching for from before. Then I grab the other five and place them back on the top shelf. "Sorry for knocking books down your shelf Dashi." Hiro says innocently. "No problem. Sorry your head had to pay the price." I say.
I walk to my bed and try to make heads or tails out of my homework while Hiro reads his book on my floor. A few minutes later, I hear scratching on my bedframe. I look down to see Hiro trying to climb up. His smallish fingers and legs mock his tries. I hold back a laugh and put a hand to my chin. "Alright there Hiro?" I ask. He blushes and pouts.
"Dashi. Up." He commands, stretching his arms up. I hoist him up and place him in the middle of my bed. "Can I help you?" I ask teasingly. He holds his book up in response. "What this word is?" He asks, pointing to a page. "Crania." I read. "What means?" he asks. "It's like the head or crown of someone. It has to do with the brain I think." I explain. His eyes light up in realization and he continues to zoom through the pages.
I still can't figure out this stupid homework so I groan and lay down on my bed, careful to avoid Hiro. The little munchkin puts his head on my stomach and relaxes, continuing his book. I doze off unknowingly.
When I wake up again, Hiro's gone along with my book. "Guess he got bored." I muse. I see my homework and whine like a baby. I'm getting so sick of the stupid pre-algebraic equations and my brain can't handle it right now. Then, I see it. There's something written on my paper. I lean in closer and almost fall off of my bed from what I see.
All of it's done. The entire homework assignment is finished. The equations are solved with work shown everywhere. I blink and look at it again, not able to believe what I'm seeing. "Did Hiro do this?" I wonder. I hop off my bed and race to Hiro's room. He's almost done with the book.
"Hiro, did you do my homework for me?" I ask. He looks up, closing his book. "Yeah. It was easy." He responds, a bored expression playing on his face.
Unbelievable. The two year old was a flipping genius. Solving equations even I couldn't solve. TWO. Only 24 months into his life and he was way smarter than me. Ridiculous.
"Do you think you could explain it to me?" I ask sheepishly. Hiro shrugs. "I don't see why not. Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but I read a few other books on your shelf too. Just so my talking wouldn't be so babyish. Do I sound older?" Hiro asked, hope filling his big brown eyes. I marvel at him.
He's going to do great things. Such a bright little kid.
"Hiro, I honestly don't think I could be more proud than I am right now." I say in complete and utter honesty. Hiro beams at my answer and flashes me a toothless smile.
He actually has a few teeth in already, but the top two he's got left a gap in his mouth. Dad thinks we ought to get it fixed, but mom insists it's adorable. I shockingly agreed with her on that one. It made him look more adorable.
"Well, let's teach you pre-algebra." Hiro says, dragging me into my room. I chuckle at him. My brother. Hopefully, he'll be a legend someday. With his kind of brain, he better be.
I'm so sorry that my stories are getting crappier by the chapter. I don't know what to do, but this is what I got. Sorry if you hated it, but hey, I tried. We can't all be geniuses like Hiro. Anyways, review this or whatever.