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Hiro Hamada was ready to go home.
Hiro's brother had been dragging him around ever since he picked him up. Normally, Hiro would love to spend so much time in the lab with all of his friends, but this time he was feeling run down and ready to get out of there and sleep for a couple of centuries. Was he getting sick? Hiro was too frustrated with Tadashi to think about that. Now he was sitting restlessly on a sofa in a corner of the "Nerd Lab".
Tadashi had wandered off to wherever and left his little brother with the others. He usually took Hiro with him to show him his latest projects or just to hang out while he worked. Hiro wasn't used to just being left alone. He guessed it had something to do with the argument they had had earlier in the day.
Tadashi had accused Hiro of being selfish for going to things like bot fights instead of tapping into his full potential. Hiro was confident in his side of the argument until his brother brought their parents into it. "What would mom and dad say if they found out you were just wasting your time like this, huh?" That was when Hiro got silent. He only huffed and walked away from his brother in silent rage. They hadn't really spoken more than one-word sentences to each other since.
Hiro coughed. It wasn’t until then that he realized: Wow his throat was sore. He was definitely sick. When Tadashi got back he was definitely going to get an earful about child negligence or something along those lines.
He coughed again.
The others in the lab glanced at him at the same time before returning to their work when the little Hamada sighed grumpily. Each cough seemed to cause a bigger headache. He just closed his eyes and leaned back against the outdated sofa, hoping that maybe he could fall asleep and forget about how horrible he felt.
Apparently he did, because next thing Hiro knew he was being shaken awake, but not by his brother. "Hiro?" And then a "You guys, he's really warm." when he opened his eyes. Honey Lemon pressed the back of her hand to his cheeks and forehead - accidentally smacking him in the process - while he eased into consciousness.
"Told you he didn't look good!" Wasabi said, presumably to Go Go.
There's a crowd of nerds around him by the time Hiro is fully awake and aware of what's happening. Waking up wasn’t a good idea. Not that he had a choice. Everything hurt.
"Whoa, little buddy." Wasabi observed, "He looks worse."
Go Go sighed, "So Tadashi just left him here. Wow."
"I'm sure he didn't know Hiro wasn't well!" Honey Lemon continued to look at him with worried eyes like the others.
Hiro curled in on himself and shielded his eyes from the harsh overhead lights. He sat up and blinked heavily a couple of times . . . And then broke out in the most painful coughing fit of all time. It had him hunching over, tears building up in his already red rimmed eyes.
Wasabi winced, "And that definitely doesn't sound good. I have some medicine that should help." he walked off to get it. On the right divider in the second drawer, Hiro remembered from last time Wasabi showed off his organized workspace.
Whatever medicine that was, it was disgusting. He could hear Honey Lemon giggling at the face he made, and even Go Go cracked a smirk. Wasabi just offered a "Yeah, gross right?"
The medicine seemed to keep him from coughing so much, and Hiro wasn't sure if it was made to help with headaches too, but his head was beginning to stop pounding. It was more like a drumbeat now.
"Is Tadashi done yet?" Hiro asked miserably. He wasn’t sure if he was talking to the group or himself. All he knew was that he was ready to go home.
They all looked at each other. Go Go rolled her eyes and already headed for Tadashi's lab "I'll get him."
"Ohh Go Go, he could be busy." The tall girl reasoned.
"Yeah, yeah."
While Go Go was gone, Honey Lemon just shook her head and said, "He's been grumpy lately."
Hiro nodded in agreement.
She returned minutes later with a confused Tadashi following behind.
"What's happening?" Tadashi himself looked overly tired. Hiro hoped that he had been on edge because of his recent project and not because his little brother was just making him that angry.
"Hiro's sick!"
The news immediately brought a frown to the older Hamada's face as he approached his brother and took Honey Lemon's spot on the couch next to him.
"You okay?" Again, Hiro's forehead was felt, but this time he pulled away from the hand. Tadashi couldn’t suddenly try to care about him. That’s not how the silent treatment worked. Pulling his hand back, Tadashi sighed in understanding of Hiro's feelings.
"You don't have to talk to me, but I'm taking you home."
Go Go gave him a judgmental eyebrow raise and exchanged a look with Honey Lemon and Wasabi.
"Man, he's been waiting for you for two hours." Wasabi said.
Tadashi ran a hand down his face, "God, you're right." he sounded apologetic, but it wasn't quite an apology. And not-quite-an-apology wasn’t good enough for Hiro to just forget about the way his brother had been treating him. Nevertheless, he was letting Tadashi take him home despite still being angry. Go home, go to bed, don't have to talk to Tadashi at all.
As soon as they arrived home, their aunt spotted Hiro and, yeah, felt his forehead. He was too done with everything to do anything about it. She shook her head and pushed Hiro toward the stairs, instructing him to go to bed and stay there 'or else'.
"Oh, but wait for your brother." She had Tadashi by the arm and looked at him aggressively, "I thought you were coming right home. You told me that three hours ago." Hiro backed away. Tadashi might get that 'earful about child negligence' but it wasn't going to be from Hiro.
"I know, but I had something at the lab that I wanted to- ow!" Tadashi was obviously not expecting to get his arm slapped.
"I need you two to pay attention to each other sometimes, okay? I can't do this all myself." she gestured toward Hiro who had settled himself on the stairs, "And you decided to drag your brother around when he looks like he's going to keel over?"
Tadashi exhaled in defeat, "I'm sorry."
"Oh, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."
Tadashi was the second one to be pushed toward the stairs, only much harder.
Speaking of stairs, Hiro decided that they were his enemy. He had to stop and get himself together every few steps. His vision was swimming and he was swaying dangerously. He could hear Tadashi behind him, huffing impatiently. Hiro expected to be pushed out of the way but he was instead scooped up in thrown onto his big brother's shoulder.
"Why." Was all Hiro had to say.
"If you faint on the stairs I'm just going to get lectured all over again, knucklehead." there was a sense of fondness that seemed to be returning to Tadashi's voice.
They had just gotten to the top of the stairs when Hiro couldn't help but let out a throat-ripping cough onto his brothers back.
Tadashi shook his head. "That sounds bad."
"That's what Wasabi said when he gave me the medicine."
The older brother stopped. "Wasabi let you take his stuff? Did he let you use the little measuring cup?"
Hiro nodded and furrowed his brow while Tadashi scoffed in amusement.
"I don't think I've ever seen him go within five feet of a sick person. He must've been really worried." Tadashi said the last part thoughtfully, more to himself than to Hiro.
Tadashi put his brother on his feet once they reached their bedroom. "You heard Aunt Cass. Bed." Hiro didn't have to be told twice.
The younger Hamada climbed into bed and snuggled under the covers, closing his eyes, only to open them again when he felt his mattress dip. Tadashi was looking down at him.
"I'm sorry, all right? Will you forgive me?"
"Mhm."
"Good. Now get to sleep."