Brothers
38
Ages
Hiro: 13
Tadashi: 18
Okay, first off, I don't know if some of y'all were confused or something, but that last chapter was the end of that two-part thing. If you were lost about that Callaghan part, I just put it there for fun. It wasn't hinting toward another chapter or anything, sorry about that confusion.
Second, I would just like to take a moment to thank all of y'all so much! As Fred once said, if I could have one superpower, it'd be the ability to give you a big hug! All the support and loving words I get from y'all is ridiculously awesome! I never thought this story would be so loved by people and it's such a pleasant surprise. Also, I can't believe I get so many requests. I get so many, I have to put my own ideas on hold XD (Not that I mind. You all have brilliant and beautiful brains filled with amazing ideas!).
So this is a request from toothlessbravetangled. This was one where Hiro acts dumb on purpose to avoid being bullied, but of course, me being me, took a bit of a spin on that idea. Hope you like it
Normal POV
"Alright class. Who can tell me what the answer to number three is?" Mrs. Pierce asked. No one in the room rose their hand to her dismay. Then, as she was about to call on an unsuspecting student, one boy rose their hand with slight hesitance. The teacher's face lit up in joy that someone was actually willing to partake in classroom activities.
"Yes. Hiro?" She asked with a friendly smile. Before he could answer, he hears several mutters from kids behind him and even a few in front of him.
"Teacher's pet."
"Suck up."
"What a kiss up."
Hiro gulped, doing his best to ignore the words of discouragement. "Um, the answer's C, right?" He asked, biting his lip in nervousness. He knew it was the right answer, no doubt there. What he was worried about was how the kids would react.
"That's correct Hiro! Excellent job as always." Mrs. Pierce said, circling that answer on her projector and smiling.
"Suck up."
"Nerd."
"Know it all much?"
More murmurs and more reasons for Hiro to frown.
"Alright. Does anyone have number four?" She asked the class. No one made a move so she looked to Hiro expectantly. The boy wanted nothing more than to sink in his chair and disappear, but that wasn't going to happen.
"B." Hiro said so quietly, the teacher would've missed it if the class was talking.
"Correct!" She said with a beam. The rest of class went along like that; Hiro answering all the questions and the kids muttering words that made Hiro feel stupid despite how contradictory the situation was.
"Salvador, since you find the class so funny, why don't you answer the next question?" Mrs. Pierce asked, annoyance filling her eyes at the young man's laughter.
"Uh…Haven't picked C in a while, so I'm gonna go with that." He said, and everyone in the class erupted in giggles.
"I'm glad you're having so much fun in my class Salvador. If that's the case, you won't mind staying after school for detention." Mrs. Pierce said, handing him a pink slip. "You could learn a thing or two from your neighbor, Hiro." She said briskly, before returning to her desk and going over the review.
Hiro bit his lip and closed his eyes. He didn't like all the attention on him. His teacher was pretty much setting him up to be bullied. Thankfully since they were in class, Salvador couldn't do much but give him a dirty look.
*Page Break*
"Hey, how was school?" Tadashi asked cheerfully.
"Same old. You?" Hiro asked with a shrug.
"I'm on spring break, remember bonehead?" he said with a chuckle.
"Right. How's that going for ya?" Hiro asked.
"Honestly, it's kind of boring being home alone where the only thing to do is help Aunt Cass in the café. Besides, the highlight of my day is talking to you." Tadashi admitted.
"Cheeseball." Hiro accused with a smirk before retrieving his homework from his bag.
"Call me what you want, but you know you love me." Tadashi said, snatching the homework away from Hiro.
"Hey! That's mine. I know you're a nerd, but stooping so low as to do my homework? That's just crossing the line a bit, isn't it?" Hiro teased.
"Ha ha hilarious. I just want to see what you're learning in math since I know you won't tell me if I just ask." Tadashi explained, observing the papers. "Oh, this was a hard lesson for me when I was your age. Then again, you're a lot smarter than me, so it shouldn't be a problem for you." he says, handing them back to Hiro.
"Hey, uh, can I ask you a question?" Hiro asked.
"Just did." Tadashi said with a smirk. Hiro gave him a glare in response and Tadashi chuckled. "Go for it." The elder said.
"W-were you ever teased or bullied for being so smart?" Hiro asked hesitantly.
"Aside from you?" Tadashi asked jokingly.
"I'm being serious!" Hiro wailed with waving hand motions.
"Whoa there, okay. Uh, maybe once or twice, but nothing serious. Why, is something happening at school that I should know about?" he asked, concern taking over his tone.
"Nothing you need to worry about yet. It's just light teasing for now. But what do I do to stop it?" Hiro asked, hoping he didn't sound like a wimp.
"Hmm. Why don't you just lay low and not answer too many questions in class? That might help." Tadashi suggested.
"What if the teacher calls on me anyways?" Hiro asked.
"Act like you don't know the answer." Tadashi said with a goofy grin.
"That actually might work. Thanks Tadashi! You're the best." Hiro said, giving his brother a quick fist bump.
"I am the best aren't I?" Tadashi asked in cockiness.
"Wow Tadashi, if I didn't know any better, I'd say my attitude was rubbing off on you." Hiro said with a lazy smile.
"Psh Whatever. Wanna play some video games?" Tadashi asked, grabbing a controller.
"Ordinarily, I'd love to, but I should really do my homework. I've got like four tests tomorrow." Hiro says apologetically.
"Wow, what a nerd." Tadashi said lightheartedly, and though Hiro knew it wasn't intended the way he was used to, it still stung a little bit. He brushed it off and went on to do his homework.
"I'll play after I'm done." Hiro promised.
"Deal." Tadashi said, collapsing to his bed and opening a book.
About a half hour later, Tadashi went over to Hiro's desk to see what he was up to and how far he had gotten. The elder was surprised to see that Hiro was all finished and had gotten started on next week lesson plan already.
"Wow there Hiro. Calm down before you graduate over here." Tadashi joked, pulling Hiro out of his chair.
"Tadashi! I needed to finish that!" Hiro cried, trying to get back to his work, but to no avail. Tadashi's grip was too strong on him.
"Let me go." Hiro whined, fidgeting around in Tadashi's hold.
"Not a chance. You're overworking yourself. Relax for a bit." Tadashi commanded, pinning his brother down to the bed and throwing the covers over him before he could protest.
"Tadashi! You let go of the covers right now!" Hiro cried, though amusement laced his voice. The younger tugged and yanked at the covers, attempting to push them off of himself, but Tadashi had tucked them in so firmly, it was nearly impossible, especially with Hiro's noodle arms.
"Shh! Relax you big baby. You're going to wear yourself out if you keep working at this rate. I'm doing you a favor." Tadashi huffed as he backed up.
"Hiro?" Tadashi questioned.
"ZZZzzz."
"What a bonehead. At least he's getting sleep. It is pretty late." Tadashi mused, going to his own bed and getting some sleep.
*Page Break*
The lesson for the day was displayed up in Mrs. Pierce's room and she was waiting for someone to give the answer when Hiro shot his hand up. The second he did, he regretted it.
'Darn it! I wasn't supposed to answer questions!' Hiro thought to himself.
"Yes Hiro?" Mrs. Pierce asked with a smile.
Hiro was panicking, unsure of what to do. He didn't want to get teased again. Then it hit him. 'Act like you don't know the answer.'
"Uh…69?" Hiro said with a stifled laugh. He hadn't meant to pick that number, it had just come out. The rest of the class burst into laughter and instead of dread, Hiro was filled with a new feeling; pride. Instead of laughing at him, they were laughing with him. All was good until he caught Mrs. Pierce's disapproving look.
"I don't know where that came from Hiro, but I'm going to let it slide considering your past record in this class." She said dismissively, but Hiro could tell she was disappointed.
After class, Hiro was stopped in the hallway by Salvador and five others. "Hey, what you did in Pierce's class today was gold!" Salvador praised, slapping Hiro on the back playfully. The prodigy blinked in surprise.
"R-really?" He asked uncertainly.
"Oh definitely. That was hilarious. Already got nine retweets on it." one of the girls said. Hiro cracked a smile against his will. This was the first time people his age were talking to him for something other than name calling.
"Yeah, I thought you were just a nerd, but I guess you got some cool in you after all." One of Salvador's friends said passively.
"Yo, you wanna eat lunch with us geek?" Salvador asked. It took Hiro a moment to realize that Salvador was referring to him. Normally, the word 'geek' toward him would be offensive, but Salvador said it as a term of endearment, so Hiro wasn't insulted.
"Uh, sure. Let me just get my lunch from my locker." Hiro said.
"Great. Lacey here will go with you and then show you where we sit." Salvador said before walking off.
I looked as the rest followed him, leaving a brunette in their wake.
"You're Lacey?" I question.
"Yup. That's me. Now let's go. I'm starving." She said with a smile as we walked to my locker.
*Page Break*
"And then geek goes, '69?' it was the funniest shit I ever heard!" Salvador cried with laughter as the rest of the table laughed along with him, nudging Hiro in praise. The prodigy was greatly enjoying this attention. It was a new type of feeling to be accepted like this and Hiro wanted to soak in every minute of it.
"Bro you got off easy! Pierce would've totally given me a three hour detention for a slipup like that." Salvador said, the others looking at Hiro with an impressed expression.
Before any more words could be said, the bell rang and kids went rocketing off to their next class. Well, all except Hiro's table. Hiro grabbed his backpack and put it on before giving the rest of the table a confused look.
"Aren't you guys gonna get to class?" Hiro asked.
"Oh yeah, because everyone wants to be the first person in a class." Lacey snorted.
"Nice one geek. No wonder Salvador thought you were okay." Another kid said.
Hiro looked down. He wasn't joking when he said to get to class. He like being the first one there because it made a good impression; that was what Tadashi had taught him anyways.
"Well my brother says-
"Oh no. not the sibling card. You can't possibly still listen to you brother can you? That's beyond lame." Salvador said with an eye roll.
"Uh, no! Are you crazy? He's such a nerd. Practically has his nose in a book all the time!" Hiro blurted before he could stop himself. All the kids laughed at Hiro's revelation.
"Does he also wear dorky glasses and wear cardigans?" Lacey asked between giggles.
"Well…the glasses only when reads, but he does like to wear cardigans. It's a pretty nerdy move." Hiro says with a shrug.
"Ha! What a dork." Lacey spat.
"Nerd alert." Another chanted.
"How can someone so nerdy be related to someone so…you?" Salvador said, slapping Hiro's back again. The prodigy felt something unsettling bubble inside him. When he said these things to Tadashi, it was just lighthearted and playful banter. These kids were actually poking fun at Tadashi and making him seem lame. Hiro decided not to say more in fear of more jabs being pointed at his older brother.
"We only have a minute left to get to class." Hiro suddenly pointed out.
"True. We should probably get going. C'mon geek." Salvador said, gesturing the prodigy to follow.
Hiro did as he was told and followed them out of the cafeteria, still getting used to being popular.
Hiro's POV
As Salvador and I got to the door of our next class, the bell rang. Salvador was already inside, but I was just about to enter when Mr. Jones stood his ground in front of me.
"Uh, sir, I was only a second or two late. May I please come in?" I ask carefully.
"You know the rules Hiro. Go get a tardy." Mr. Jones said in a strict voice. I was about to obey and go to the office, but a look from Salvador changed my mind. It was an unamused look. He seemed to mentally say 'you're just gonna take that? DO something.'
I cleared my throat and Mr. Jones faced me. "Yes?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
"Mr. Jones? Isn't it funny how you say the bell doesn't decide when class ends?" I ask, referring to the few times kids tried to leave as soon as the bell rang, but he had stopped them because he wasn't done talking.
"Yes, what does that have to do with anything?" He asks, getting irritated.
"Well then who's to say it decided when I arrive to class as well?" I ask with a smug smile. Salvador's jaw dropped and everyone in the entore class went "Oooooooohhhhh!"
"Enough!" Mr. Jones yelled. "Hiro, you get a one hour detention for disrupting my class on top of being late. I expect to see you in my room right after school." He snapped, slamming the door in my face. Despite the seriousness in his tone, I knew I had won. The whole class helped me shame him successfully. That was a definite victory and I accepted my tardy and detention slip with a smile.
The last class was English with Mrs. Kelly. As I got in, I sighed in relief that I wasn't the first one in there. That would've been beyond embarrassing. I took my seat and waited for Mrs. Kelly to give her boring speech.
Halfway through it, I was beyond bored and had to use the bathroom and so I raised my hand.
"Yes Hiro?" Mrs. Kelly asked.
"Can I go use the bathroom?" I ask. She smiles at me, but that's never good on a teacher's face so I let my guard up.
"I don't know, can you?" She asks mockingly. I shrug and then notice Lacey trying to catch my eye. She's giving me a look that says 'outwit he geek!' I smile to myself. Challenge accepted.
"Actually Mrs. Kelly, when I was using the word 'can', I was using its secondary model form as a verbal modifier asking for permission as opposed to expressing an ability. I thought since you were an English teacher, you'd know that. My mistake. May I go to the bathroom?" I say with a satisfied smirk.
Mrs. Kelly gasped and stared at me, slack jawed along with the rest of the class. Then everyone was laughing and Mrs. Kelly's face burned in embarrassment.
"You can march yourself over to my class after school to serve an hour of detention." She said through her sanguine cheeks.
"Can I come after I finish up at Mr. Jones's detention? I kind of have to serve that one first." I say.
"Of course." She says with clenched teeth.
Eventually, the bell rang and I had to go to detention so I called Tadashi from my phone.
"Hey Hiro, where are you?" Tadashi asked from the other line.
"Oh, uh, could I stay after for about two hours?" I ask nervously.
"Sure, I can come back later. That's the beauty of being on break. What are you staying after for though? You seem to know all your material pretty well." Tadashi said.
"Oh! I'm actually tutoring someone. Yeah, I'm tutoring one of my friend's in physics. And then another for English." I lie.
"Aww. My little bro is all grown up, helping people succeed in life. Oh if mom and dad could see you know." He said in an overly proud tone.
"Yeah yeah. Just be back in two hours. And thanks." I say.
"No problem. See you in two then. Bye." He says, hanging up.
Phew, glad that's out of the way.
"Yo geek! The way you one-upped Mrs. Kelly was dope!" I heard someone say behind me. I turned around to face a kid with brown spiky hair.
"Uh thanks…"
"Marvin." He fills in with a smile.
"Thanks Marvin." I say. "Well I'd love to stay and talk, but I've got detention." I say, waving my pink slip around.
"Bro you too? Wanna ditch together? Lacey and Robin got a senior friend with a car. They'd totally hook us up."
"I don't know…I'm already in a lot of trouble." I say uncertainly.
"Well then it doesn't matter. You're already in trouble." Marvin says persuasively. I bite my lip before shooting him a small smile.
"Can't argue with that logic. Let's go." I say, not knowing what compelled me to follow him on this ludicrous idea.
"Hiro Hamada! Why aren't you coming to my class for detention?" I hear Mr. Jones yell.
"I was only going to put my things away in my locker Mr. Jones, not that it's any of your business in all honesty." I lie.
He just gives me a glare and says to hurry up.
"Sorry Marvin. You're gonna have to go without me. Maybe some other time." I promise, rushing to my locker to pretend and put something away.
"Okay. See ya later geek." He says before leaving.
*Page Break*
Detention was finally over and I rushed outside of the school to see Tadashi. I smiled big and ran over to him.
"Wow Hiro. You're practically glowing. What happened?" Tadashi asked.
"Good day at school." I reply. Technically that isn't a lie. I did enjoy my day.
"Really? How was the tutoring?" He asks. I wrinkle my nose.
"Tutoring?" I ask. I mentally face palm myself. Duh! I told him I was tutoring. Great, now he's gonna know I'm lying.
"Yeah, you said you were staying after to-wait. You lied to me, didn't you?" he asked with crossed arms and furrowed eyebrows. I meekly chuckle and wave at him innocently.
"What were you really doing?" He asks with a frown.
"Can I say 'nothing illegal' and just leave it at that?" I ask with a smirk.
"This is serious Hiro." He warns.
"Is it now? Because I think it's just a scenario with a brother who's too nosy for his own good. I was just hanging out in the library a while is all. I helped my friend in calculous for a while so I just didn't call it 'tutoring'." I explain nonchalantly, hoping he'll buy it.
He doesn't look convinced. His eyebrows are still furrowed, frown still in place, and arms still crossed. "Hiro. You said you were tutoring someone for physics and English." He points out, clearly displeased with my lies.
"Since when do such trivial details even matter? What are you, my mother?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. Tadashi looks taken aback and steps away from me.
"Sorry. You're right. It's none of my business. You're old enough, I trust you." He says, but I can tell it's slightly forced.
"Thanks. Now let's go home." I say, getting on the back of his moped. I notice him tense up before shaking it off and getting on the moped.
*Page Break*
School was awesome the next day. Salvador, Lacey, Marvin and so many others talked to me even more than ever and all it cost me was a few detentions and bad grades. All was well until one day Mrs. Pierce called to stay after class.
"Uh, you wanted to see me?" I begin nervously.
"Yes Hiro. Your behavior is unacceptable lately. At first, I let it slide because I assumed you were just having a bad day, but this has been going on for more than just a few days now." She says with tight lips.
"That's not really any of your business." I say snarkily.
"Your personal matters may not be, but you academics are. I'm here to make sure you succeed." She says straight to point.
"Well then, do you job. Why are you talking to me about this? It's your problem, fix it." I say with a shrug.
"Hiro. What happened to you? You used to be such a model student. It's as if overnight you just transformed into a delinquent." She said sadly, looking like she genuinely wanted to help.
"That's sweet and all, but like I said, it's really none of your business." I say with a shrug.
"Maybe not. But it is theirs." She says, opening the door.
"What are you- Aunt Cass?! Tadashi?! What are you guys doing here?" I ask in alarm, not at all expecting this.
Tadashi's POV
As soon as Aunt Cass and I entered, I knew something was wrong. The way Hiro looked at us and addressed us was anything but reassuring. He looked like he wanted to be anyone else but us in here and that thought scared me. Why did Mrs. Pierce call us here? I hoped Hiro didn't do anything too bad.
"Mrs. Pierce. Is everything alright with Hiro? What's going on?" Aunt Cass asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.
"Mrs. Hamada, are you aware that Hiro has been staying after school for the past few days?" Mrs. Pierce asked.
Aunt Cass blinked as if she had missed something. "Yes. My other son, Tadashi picks him up every day and told me that he was always staying after school to tutor a few of his friends." She said innocently. I noticed Hiro looking extremely worried from the corner of my eye. He was inching toward the door, but I wasn't having any of it.
"Hold on there bud. You've either been in a lot of trouble or you're going to be. Maybe even both." I say firmly, not letting go of his arm despite his fidgeting.
"Let me go Tadashi! I don't deserve this. I've done nothing wrong." He claims angrily. I know he's lying now. I really wish he was a worse liar and I was less gullible. "Hiro, just stop." I say in a warning tone. He still glares at me, but ceases fidgeting.
"Mrs. Hamada. Hiro has been lying to you. While he has been staying after school, I can assure you that it isn't for tutoring. Hiro, would you like to tell your Aunt and older brother why you've really been staying after school?" Mrs. Pierce asked with narrowed eyes.
"No, but I can say that you're doing a damn good job at poking your nose where it isn't needed." Hiro says snottily. I gasp in horror and glare harshly at my little brother.
"Hiro! Apologize right now." I say through clenched teeth.
"What for? I lie and everyone gets mad. I tell the truth and everyone just gets angrier. If you ask me, life just doesn't make sense." He says, easing out of my grip to slump in a chair.
"Mrs. Pierce, what happened? He wasn't like this a week or two ago. Something must've happened at school." I say, getting a bit pissed. Whatever compelled my baby bro to act like this was NOT going down without a fight.
"I was hoping you knew the cause." Mrs. Pierce said, sounding deflated.
"Well if he wasn't tutoring anyone, what was he doing here after school?" Aunt Cass asked.
"He was serving his various detentions." Mrs. Pierce explained.
"What?! What on earth did Hiro get detention for?" I ask in shock.
"Disrupting class. Giving completely irrelevant and inappropriate answers to questions during class. Disrespecting teachers. The list goes on and on." She said.
"I don't believe this. It doesn't sound like something Hiro would do." Aunt Cass said, sounding outraged that someone would even suggest such a thing.
"Aunt Cass, maybe you should wait outside?" I suggest lightly. She shoots me a hurt look.
"Love you Aunt Cass, but you tend to get really defensive when it comes to me and Hiro and right now, we need to get the facts straight. I actually believe Mrs. Pierce." I explain. Aunt Cass sighed.
"Alright. You're probably right. I'll wait in the car." She said with a huff, leaving the room.
"Sorry about that. Now, what do we do? I didn't even realize this was going on. It's certainly nothing at home, and he doesn't go anywhere extracurricular other than school, so…" I say, hinting that it's the school's fault.
"I do have an idea on what it is. Salvador. He's a boy in Hiro's class. He often used to bully Hiro with a few others about him being excessively smart. Then, one day he gave the wrong answer in class and I guess he felt accepted because the next thing I knew, he was awfully disrespectful in class." Mrs. Pierce suggested.
"Hey news flash, I'm still in here." Hiro grumbled.
"Hiro, why'd you do that in class?" I ask in confusion.
"You told me to." He says as if it were obvious.
"What?!" I ask.
"Remember when we talked about…you know what? Well you said if a teacher called on me, I should give the wrong answer." Hiro said, eyes looking glassy.
I rushed over to his desk. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I sighed. "Hiro, I'm sorry for not giving you the best advice. Wait, Why do you look so sad?" I ask.
"B-because it wasn't fun! All the teachers HATE me now and they always just expect me to do bad things. It's like they won't even give me a chance to be good again. They just assume I'll always be a delinquent. They were all so disappointed! They gave me detentions when I didn't even mean to say something bad. The only thing that made me feel better was having people like me to talk to. Friends that understood, like Salvador." He rambled, eyes still glassy, but not a single tear escaping.
I gave him a sad smile. "So now you know why they bullied you all the time, right?" I ask him. He looks up at me in confusion. "Why?" He asks with a choked swallow.
"Because they were jealous of you." I tell him soothingly.
"Yeah yeah. They're jealous because I'm smarter and I'll-
"No." I cut him off.
"No?" He questions.
"They're jealous because the teacher's loved you. You could do anything and not get in trouble because you were liked and that's why they envied you. Smartness only played a small role in all this." I explain. He blinked and look right at me, all traces on sassiness gone.
"They're upset every day because they've carried a bad image with them everywhere and no one will give them a chance anymore." Hiro muses.
"Exactly bud." I say with a proud smile.
"I messed up big time, didn't I?" He asks with a sigh.
"Yeah bonehead. Yes you did." I say, not bothering to sugarcoat it.
"Mrs. Pierce, I'm so sorry. I had no idea what the other kids were going through. I hope you can forgive me for being such an obnoxious kid, even though I know it's gonna take some time." Hiro said to his teacher solemnly.
"You're very lucky to have Tadashi in your life Hiro. I forgive you and I hope you'll do well to try and reason with Salvador on this topic as well. I'm proud of you for finding your faults." She said with a smile.
"Yeah. Tadashi's pretty okay, isn't he." Hiro says, flashing me a toothy grin. He gives me a fist bump and we head out of Mrs. Pierce's room.
"Now I want you to know something important Hiro." I start.
He rolls his eyes. "I know, I know. Don't disrespect teachers. Don't worry about what the other kids will say, and don't worry about them not forgiving me immediately. It's going to take some time and not all of them will be as understanding as Mrs. Pierce." Hiro said knowingly.
"No actually." I begin. Hiro cocks his head to the side and I smirk.
"Lie to me again, and you'll wish you didn't have the ability to speak." I say, walking ahead, but noticing Hiro stopped in his tracks.
"Is that a threat?" He asks with a smile to his voice.
"Nope. That's a promise. Don't be such a knucklehead all the time. You can always talk to me." I tell him.
"You're right, and I'm sorry." He says sheepishly.
"Yeah, you should be. Bonehead." I say, ruffling his hair. He nudges away from me and mock glares. Sighing, he walks alongside with me.
"Thanks Nii-san."
*Page Break*
So I got some of those 'smartass' moments from rage comics that I can't remember the author. Some are from things I've said to my own teachers. Just going to put that out there in case someone says "Oh, you stole that from so and so." Anyways, hope you liked it
-Girl you wouldn't expect