Chapter Text
We’re Okay
Chapter One
“HIRO!”
The fourteen year old was fast asleep prior to his name being shouted, he jerked awake and fell off the bed, tangled in blankets and sheets. “Aunt Cass?!” He called downstairs as he stumbled out of the imprisonment of the bedding and raced down the stairs. “Aunt Cass?” He repeated, voice full of worry and concern. He tripped down the last few steps after the landing, his three-fourths mind still not working with his balance at the moment. He skidded to a stop in the living room where his aunt was bouncing in place, phone in hand, and tears streaming down her face. “What? What’s wrong?” He asked.
It threw him off when he was grabbed into a hug, a hug he couldn’t weasel out of.
“Aunt Cass, you’re scaring me. What happened?” He was shaking no; her actions were both confusing and frightening.
She practically squealed something into his hair that he couldn’t understand as she held him tight. He didn’t try to pull away after that, nor try to get her to repeat just what she was saying. It must be something good if she was laughing and jumping around while she dragged him with her.
It took a few minutes for her to calm down enough to stop the mouse squeak pitched voice and let him go. She took a step back, eyes still tearing up and spilling down her cheeks. “He-” She interrupted herself with a happy sob escaping her lips instead of words, her hand pushed her bangs back out of her eyes so she could see the younger Hamada.
“What?” Hiro looked at her, “I couldn’t understand a word you said.” He led her over to the couch and sat down.
She took a breath, smile on her face. “An officer just called.” She repeated her story again, but this time, more calmly.
His heart wanted to drop, but it wasn’t quite sure. Half of his mind flipped at the fact that the only reason he could think of, for an officer to call in the middle of the night, was because Callaghan escaped and his aunt and him needed to be put into the witness protection program. But then again, his aunt seemed happy, over the moon, giddy. She wouldn't be acting that way if she was just told a murder her nephew helped put away escaped and they needed to move.
“Callaghan,” Cass continued, taking a side note at the fact the young Hamada beside her tensed up at the name. “Callaghan confessed to the whole thing.”
Hiro tilted his head to the side, hair moving in front of his eyes. “I thought that was kind of obvious that he did all of that.” He waved his arms around to emphasize. “He was the one controlling the Microbots, and police arrested him on location.”
She shook her head. “No, he confessed to starting the fire, and,” She paused for a moment, looking at her youngest nephew in the eyes to show she was completely serious about what she was going to say. “That Tadashi’s alive.”
He froze. Too many thoughts flashed in his mind, trying to fight their way to the forefront and be the first thing asked.
Tadashi was alive? As in alive? Unhurt? In one piece? Alive? Alivealivealive?
Tadashi couldn’t be alive. He watched his selfless bastard of an older brother run into the burning building. Hiro stood on the sidewalk and watched the showcase hall crumble into nothing but ash and smoking debris. Tadashi couldn’t have survived that.
But Callaghan survived. His mind reminded him. He had your Microbots. And he did avoid your statement about him letting Tadashi die. Your brother could still be alive.
He was so confused. His thoughts were contradicting each other. But he also didn’t deny that he let Tadashi die.
“W-what?” Was all he managed to ask, in complete disbelief. “That’s not something to joke about!” He snapped angrily and stood up from his seat.
Cass nodded. “Hiro, I’m not lying, I’m not joking.” She reached out for him, but he moved from her reach. “He’s alive.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe you, Aunt Cass.” He mumbled. “I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
“The officer had called me earlier this evening to let me know they had word that Tadashi was alive, but I didn’t want to tell you until we knew for sure.” She told him despite him frantically shaking his head.
Tears began to stream down his face.
The world could be cruel, that had been established in Hiro’s mind when his brother, his brother who had never done anything to warrant that kind of an ending, ran into that fire. And the world showed it could be much colder when Callaghan was unmasked as the person who caused the fire and everything that followed. But now it was crossing the extreme line.
“He’s at the hospital.” Cass continued, unknowing of her youngest nephew’s inner argument. “He’s awake and responding-”
“Let’s go!” Hiro suddenly jumped up and ran around the room, the more positive side of his thoughts won over the negative. “I’ll get my shoes!” He flew up the stairs before she could say anything. He grabbed his phone and his shoes, completely ignoring the fact that we was going to go run around in a public place in his robot pajama pants and a white tank top. And it was only thanks to his aunt for grabbing him a jacket from the laundry room; otherwise he would have gotten cold.
“Oh my gosh, I can't breathe.” He mumbled as they climbed into their truck’s cab. He zipped up his jacket as Cass started the truck and began to pull out of the parking space.
“Buckle up.” She instructed.
“Oops.” He muttered and did as he was told. “Is he okay?”
Cass shrugged. “I’m not sure, hun.” She glanced over at him before looking back to the road. “I didn’t really pay attention after I heard he was alive and responding to them.”
Hiro sat back and watched the city go by as they rode the rest of the trip in silence.
“Now wait until I stop the car!” She half scolded the boy, already knowing what the fourteen year old was planning on doing, as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.
He crossed his arms and huffed a breath. “Fine.” He half-heartedly grumped.
To be fair, he did wait until she stopped before he jumped out, but he never promised he wouldn't unbuckle and already be opening the door as she pulled into the parking spot. But, Cass wasn’t that far behind him, if she were being honest with herself, if she hadn’t been driving, she would have done the same thing.
They both raced to the receptionist desk, scaring the attendant sitting there.
“Hello.” The young lady greeted once she got over the initial shock of them suddenly appearing.
“Hi, I received a call a little while ago about Tadashi Hamada.” Cass began to talk to the receptionist.
The barely out of college girl nodded and typed something into the computer. “The doctor will be out in a bit to talk to you.” She smiled.
Cass let out a relieved breath, part of her was afraid that they hadn’t actually found her oldest nephew, and that this was all a very cruel joke that she would never laugh at, nor understand. “Thank you.” She ushered the fourteen-year-old over to some chairs by the door the lady had pointed towards.
(---)
They didn’t have all that long of a wait, just a handful or two of minutes before the doctor walked out.
“Cass Hamada?” The almost elderly male asked as he walked through the doors.
“Yes?” She stood up and held out her hand to shake his, Hiro standing right behind her.
“I’m Dr. Stevens, I’ve been taking care of your nephew since he was brought in.” He introduced. “I’m sure you’ve got questions, if you follow me, we’ll talk in my office.” He led them back through the doors he just came in, and down a long hallway to his office.
“How is he?” Cass asked once they entered the room, her and Hiro taking a seat in the chairs in front of a desk.
He didn’t answer for a few seconds, instead closing the door and making his way to his desk. “He’s actually doing a lot well than we had expected.” He began to explain as he opened up a folder. “I don’t know everything about the situation he was in, I’m sure an officer will explain that to you later, but from what I understand, he should have been worse off than he is.”
“What do you mean?” Hiro questioned before his aunt had been able to voice it.
“Well, from my understanding, he was in the building that caught fire and explosion.” He stated more of a questioned.
The young Hamada nodded slowly.
The doctor hummed in thought. “But he’s only got a few second degree deep partial burns on his left arm and chest. And they’ve been very well taken care of before he even got here.” He read over the notes in the folder he had on his patient. “They should be completely healed in another few weeks, with minimal scaring, but we’ll have to keep an eye on how much mobility he has of that arm.”
Cass gave him a look. “Why mobility?”
“Some second degree burns can cause scaring over joints, contractures, which can shorten and harden muscles and make the joints rigid and lose mobility.” Dr. Stevens clarified. “To be honest, we’re more concerned on his mental well-being.” He continued. “He seems to be very sensitive to touch and loud noise and bright lights.” He read off the paper. “It seems like he was sensory deprived from whatever he went through.”
Cass’s hand went over her mouth as the doctor was talking. She couldn’t fathom why Callaghan, or anyone really, would be so horrible as to do this to anyone, let alone her nephew.
Hiro couldn’t think of anything aside from two thoughts; one, he hopes Tadashi is going to be okay after all of this; and two, Callaghan better go to jail for a very long time.
“We want to keep him here for a few days, so we can get some IVs in him and keep an eye on how he’s doing with everything. After that he can go home, we think it’d be a good idea to let him see a therapist, post-traumatic stress disorder is common with victims who’ve been in fires and kidnapping scenarios.” The doctor handed Cass a few pamphlets. “We’ll start him on physical therapy in a couple of days or so, before he can go home.”
Cass nodded as she glanced at the brochures in her hand.
“But, his vitals are fine, he was responding and talking with the paramedics and nurses when they brought him in; I have no doubt that he will make a full recovery.” He offered a small smile to the family sitting before him.
“May we see him?” She asked, tears sitting in her green eyes.
Dr. Stevens nodded and stood up. “Soft voices, and the lights are dimmed very low in his room, please keep them that way. And don’t open the curtain later on when the sun comes up. We gotta introduce these things gently.” He held the door open for the two Hamadas. “He’s in room 276. He was awake a little while ago before I came to talk to you two, so he may still be up.” He told them.
“Thank you Doctor.” Cass shook his hand once more before they headed straight for Tadashi’s room.
The two were quiet as they walked up the stairs to the third floor, Hiro walking a little slower behind his aunt.
“He’s going to be fine.” She stopped short of the stairwell door and faced Hiro.
He sighed. “I know.”
She smiled. “We’ll help him through this.” She gave him a hug.
He hugged her back. “I’m glad he’s alive.” He mumbled happily into her shoulder.
“Me too.” She pulled away and ruffled his hair. “Now, let’s go see him.”
(---)
Tadashi glanced over to the door when there was a soft knock on it before it opened. His aunt and brother walked in, much to his relief. The nurses were getting on his nerves with how much they came around to check on him.
“Hey.” His voice cracked a little when he spoke still. He sat up a little more on the bed, pushing himself up with his slightly burnt arm – he couldn’t bend the other one, IVs were in his elbow, he didn’t feel like having them being pulled out and put back in.
“Hey, baby.” Cass left Hiro’s side in favor of giving Tadashi a kiss on his forehead and a shoulder squeeze.
The elder male could plainly see that she was trying not to touch him. He didn’t want other people touching him, but he wanted his family to at least give him a hug, touch him, remind him that he indeed is safe and not locked in that room anymore.
“How you feeling?” She spoke gently.
He chuckled. “I’ve been better. You know, you can hug me. I’m not going to break.”
She smiled. “Are you sure?”
He rolled his eyes and reached over for her. If she wasn’t going to hug, then he would. He didn’t let go for almost a full minute, and then he looked at Hiro. “I can’t get up at the moment, so you better get over here, knucklehead.”
He didn’t have to tell Hiro twice, who practically flew over to his older brother and hugged him. While the younger did refrain from squeezing too hard, he refused to let go when Tadashi tried to pull away, but ultimately unwrapped his arms form the elder’s neck.
Cass smiled as she looked at the two, a sight she thought she’d never get to see again.
Their family may be small, their family may be broken and chipped, but they could get through anything.
This was no exception.