Work Text:
“Ahhhhh Tadashi!!”
A shaky voice floated over from another side of the room. Tadashi stiffed, sat up, hands rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes. Fine Hiro, he thought to himself, you just can’t waste any chance to ruin your brother’s sleep, can you.
“Emmmm, whachup, little bro.” Tadashi asked. Though still a little jerky about been woke up -- emm, at 2 o’clock in the morning? What the heck, -- in between the middle of nowhere, his voice was full of concern. “You had a nightmare?”
For a little while there wasn’t any noise floating over the partition that separates their rooms, and somehow Tadashi felt his little brother might be trembling. Fine again, he thought to himself, and put one foot on the floor, starting to walk over to Hiro’s side.
The old wooden floor yik-yaked under the sudden pressure, and released a sting of coldness to Tadashi’s feet. With care not to hit anything, which, of course, Hiro had been very good at, he made it to the other side of the room. There he saw his little bro curled on the bed, like a tiny shrimp covering its stomach -- Does shrimps have stomach? He questioned himself and soon eliminated that weird thought out of his head -- and slightly stroke back and forth like following some beat. “Hiro, what happened? Are you OK?” Tadashi asked hurriedly.
“I... I... I’m having a stomachache and... and I want to puke...” Hiro burst into tears before he could finish the sentence, knowing his big bro was finally there around him. Tadashi sat on the bed beside Hiro, holding him up in his broad arms, gently patting on his fluffy head. He looked down, his little brother’s ever bright brown eyes filled with tears, like crystals reflecting the tender moonlight shedding in from the outside sky. Hiro pouted and sobbed, like having been treated unfairly by something, and breathed weakly but quickly to Tadashi’s chest.
How could Tadashi blame him for anything now.
Tadashi gently rubbed his back, something their mother would do when Tadashi was sick way back when they were young. “Do you want to use the bathroom?” He asked Hiro, who lightly nodded.
Getting this as a confirmation, Tadashi wrapped his arm around Hiro’s back and thighs and lifted him up. He walked steadily to their bathroom on the side of the stairway, careful not to hit or step on anything as he did. However, this was much harder at Hiro’s side, as his little brother always had the gift of creating a total mess within his “crib”. Fine fine, Tadashi thought to himself again, this is Hiro anyway. If Hiro could ever get things well organized, like he did, Baymax would be able to work out a perfect ripped body. Impossible. IMPOSSIBLE!
Hah, but Baymax would be so helpful here if he hadn’t left him on campus. He was busy working on some updates for the big guy recently -- and probably that was the reason he put less surveillance on Hiro so he ate something bad? Anyway, this lovely knucklehead just can’t stop that for even one day! Unbelievable.
“Tadashi...” With the voice of Hiro they made it to the bathroom. “What’s up, Hiro?” Tadashi asked.
“I can help myself... You can go back to sleep... I know you’re tired.” Hiro said, a little guiltily. “No, big baby. Relax. I’m here with you.” Tadashi replied, looking softly into Hiro’s watery puppy eyes.
And all of a sudden, Hiro gasped heavily and started vomiting. Not even before Tadashi could put him down by the toilet, Hiro puked all over Tadashi’s arms.
Holding himself by the rim of the toilet and looking at all the terrible mess he’d just generated, Hiro froke out and started apologizing, “Sorry, sorry, sorry, Tadashi, I didn’t mean it. I just can’t control it...” Tears coming down as streams in his pale face. Tadashi quickly washed his hand and arms, removing the fluids on his body, and dried them. “It’s ok, it’s ok, it’ ok...” He hurried to comfort Hiro, wiping his tears away with his newly washed hands. “You’re gonna be ok, Hiro... I’m always here for you.”
As if granted the reassurance, Hiro started puking again. He threw up violently into the toilet. Tadashi watched him, rubbing his spine from top to bottom carefully, concerns rising in his heart. “You can go back... I can help myself, really.” Hiro cut his thoughts.
“No, Hiro, I’m here with you.” Tadashi reasserted. “We’re brothers, right? We do anything together.”
“But... But... Fine.” Hiro finally conceded, looking away to the wall.
“But what?”
“Nothing.” Hiro shaked a little bit.
“Ok, I’m gonna get you some water, ok?” Tadashi pat Hiro’s head and stood up, turning to the door. Hiro nodded at him quietly, still pouting slightly, looking stressed. Tadashi sighed a little, went flashing down the stairs to the kitchen.
While Tadashi was figuring out if he should heat up the water using the kettle to make it less stimulating in the kitchen, Hiro started crying again in the bathroom. Stupid! He thought to himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How stupid was I! Eating tons of ice creams and gummy bears and marshmallows and cheesecakes and cherries and other stuff, and here getting himself food poisoned. Well done, genius, you got yourself into such a trouble and above all, you let Tadashi see you like this. Great. Just can’t be better. Among all the people on earth he let the person he least wanted see his sick vomiting appearance, and oh, letting alone the puke on Tadashi’s arms.
He let the tears drop into toilet in front him, having flushed it several times after Tadashi’s gone getting him water. He didn’t want Tadashi to see this. Really. He knew Tadashi cared about him, but he cared about Tadashi too. And beyond that, he cared about how Tadashi thought of him. He really did.
“Ok, I got you some warm water... It would soothe your stomach a little.” Tadashi stormed back, holding a glass in his hand. “Try drinking a little bit.” He handed the glass to Hiro, “Is it too hot?”
Hiro quietly took a sip. “It’s great. Thanks.” Hiro looked down at the water, holding it with both hands in front of his chest now. “Thank you, really, Tadashi.”
Tadashi smiled at him, stretching out an arm to palm Hiro’s back. If Hiro’s face wasn’t that pale before, he would think he’s having a blush right now. “I love you, Hiro, no matter what happens, more than anyone, anything in the world.”
Hiro looked up, directly into his big brother’s comforting, heady, endearing smile. His puppy eyes seemed poised to cry at any time. “I love you, too, nissan.”
Tadashi paused. For many years, Hiro hadn’t called him nissan. It meant a lot. He felt something’s melting in the depth of his heart. He loved Hiro. When he said that, he meant it. “And I love you, too, ototo.”
Feeling Hiro might have felt better, Tadashi asked, “do you wanna go back to sleep?”
“Yea... Yea. I guess so.”
Before Hiro could react, Tadashi lifted him up again just like he carry him to the bathroom before, one arm under Hiro’s back and one under his thighs. Hiro was feeling much well now, but he was still weak. Tadashi turned off the lights, strided back to their room. Hiro was about to get off Tadashi’s hands when he walked by Hiro’s bed. But instead, Tadashi didn’t stop. He directly crossed Hiro’s area and went on to another side of the room, to his own bed. He gently put Hiro down on his bed, who looked surprised and amazed when finally landed on his big brother’s bed. Blood had finally come back to his face, making it look like the marvelous sunset of San Fransokyo. Tadashi gently kissed his forehead. This time, he was sure that it was a blush.
Hiro placed his face against his big brother’s chest, who was curling around his shape to make him warm. “I love you, nissan.”
“I love you, too, ototo.”