Chapter Text
Tadashi smiled down at Hiro, that little proud almost-smirk that shone through when Hiro was melting his heart from the inside.
And then the alarms rang.
And then they ran.
The fire raged from within, smoke streaming from the windows. The screeching of the klaxons mingled with the screams of the fleeing people, mixing to form a cacophony of sound that practically dripped with anxiety. Tadashi pushed the impressions down, rushing forward to catch one of the stumbling people.
“Are you okay?” He grabbed her by the elbows, steadying her as she coughed.
“Yeah, I’m okay. But Professor Callaghan is still in there!” She pointed towards the exhibition hall before rushing past them. Tadashi ran closer.
A small hand caught his elbow, pulling him back. “Tadashi, no!”
He turned to see Hiro looking at him with wide, pleading eyes. He was radiating the same panic that everyone else was. Tadashi watched him for a moment, at war with himself about what to do. Hiro’s face changed. ‘Please,’ it begged, desperate.
Tadashi turned back towards the building, breathing hard. He peered through the glass, trying to spot Professor Callaghan. The glass had been opaque to begin with, and the smoke did it no favors. He spun back to Hiro with a new urgency.
“Callaghan’s in there,” he said, begging his little brother to understand. “Someone has to help.” He pulled his arm from Hiro’s grip and charged up the stairs.
Tadashi pulled free and Hiro started panting, hyperventilating. His brother wasn’t halfway up the stairs before his hat flew off, landing at Hiro’s feet. ‘No, no, no, no, no no no! Tadashi, NO!’
Hiro screamed, throwing his hands out and desperately yanking back. ‘No, no, no I will NOT LOSE YOU TOO!’
Hiro gasped in pain as Tadashi was thrown back. He soared over the stairs and landed hard a few feet away from him. Tadashi yelped in surprise and pain, but Hiro didn’t hear him. His head felt like it was splitting. Everything hurt. He groaned, putting his head in his hands, trying desperately to numb the pain. He felt his knees buckle, but he didn’t feel himself hit the ground. He curled up into a ball, begging the world to please, make it stop. He was vaguely aware of Tadashi’s voice, but he couldn’t really hear it. He felt the building explode, the force of it rattling every bone in his body. All it did was make the pain worse . Every second was an eternity of pain.
After a few more eternities the pain began to ease. He started to be able to feel again: slow circles on his back and wetness on his face. The pain lessened in favor of peace, and he slowly started to slip away.
Tadashi was just over halfway up the stairs when suddenly he wasn’t. His forward momentum turned into backwards momentum, and his feet left the ground. He let out a startled yelp as he flew over the stairs, landing hard on his back on the bricks, almost where he started. He glanced around, trying to see what had pulled him back. He caught sight of Hiro and froze. His head was in his hands, his face scrunched up in extreme pain. He was whimpering and whining, trying to keep his balance through the pain.
Tadashi surged forward from the brick, catching his little brother as he fell. He lowered him quickly into his arms, panicking and calling his name. Hiro was in so much pain, why, why, why?
Before he had much of a chance to figure it out, the building exploded. Tadashi flinched, trying to cover Hiro’s small body with his own. When no shrapnel came he blinked in surprise, unwrapping himself from his brother. The air rippled between them and the exhibition hall. Tadashi blinked to clear his vision. The air still rippled. He glanced around frantically, but it was only the air between them and the building that looked strange. There were spiderweb cracks in it, lines that littered the surface like it had been impacted.
Tadashi blinked, looking down at the ground in front of them. It was littered with broken glass, pieces of metal, and chunks of stone. But there was no debris between the rippling air and the Hamada brothers.
Hiro whimpered and the strange ripple faded away. Tadashi turned back to his little brother, holding him tighter. He could feel Hiro’s pain, worse than before. “Hiro, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” He started rubbing Hiro’s back in slow circles. It always worked when Hiro had nightmares, and Tadashi prayed it’d help now. “I’m here, little brother, I got you. It’s okay.”
Hiro began to relax a little, his body slowly unwinding whatever tight coil that he’d put himself in. As Hiro relaxed, Tadashi heard a bunch of debris start to hit the ground. Snapping his head up, he realized that they were floating . Stone, glass, metal, they were all hovering and shaking. They fell one by one as Hiro relaxed, Tadashi’s hat hitting the bricks by his side. He took a shuddering breath, looking down at his little brother in fear. Hiro was the one that made the debris float. He pulled Tadashi away from the building. And he was in pain . Whatever he had done was hurting him, he realized. And Tadashi didn’t feel too hot either. His body ached all over from his trip to the bricks and he had a small headache coming on.
His mind came to a hard stop. He had a headache. They both did. He shoved the thought away. He’d have time to deal with it later. Hiro came first.
A small group of people rounded the corner and Tadashi instinctively drew Hiro closer. The air between the brothers and the paramedics shimmered for a moment before Tadashi realized what was happening. The rippling effect disappeared instantly. If Tadashi was lucky, they’d think it was a trick of the light. Tadashi quickly brought his hand into the sleeve of his blazer, sweeping it behind him to disturb the perfect line of shrapnel.
“Are you two alright?” The first medic asked, getting down on her knees in front of them. Firefighters rushed past, already hefting their hoses to put the fire down. She reached carefully for Hiro, and Tadashi hesitated before letting her examine him.
“I- I think so, but when the building blew…” Tadashi trailed off. He wasn’t good at lying, but what could he say? The explosion seemed to hurt Hiro, but how could he just explain that he’d collapsed because he’d… No. They were not having that conversation.
She tutted absentmindedly to herself. She scanned him for obvious injuries before looking back up at Tadashi. “Let’s get you two to an ambulance, we need to check you out.”
Tadashi pulled Hiro back into his arms, his body spiking with pain as he got up. He felt Hiro tense again and quickly started to hum quietly. Another paramedic noticed his grimace and moved closer. “Whoah, steady. Do you need me to take him?”
“No,” Tadashi said, gritting it out harder than he’d meant to. He took a small breath and tried again. “No, I’m okay. I just… I fell when the building blew, shielding him. I’ve got him.”
The paramedics exchanged a glance, but Tadashi ignored it, going back to humming softly. He was pretty sure that they couldn’t hear it, but he knew that Hiro could feel it. They made it quickly to the ambulance. Tadashi sat down carefully, cradling his brother protectively in his arms. Seeing that he wasn’t ready to let his brother go yet, the paramedics started with him.
“What’s your name?”
“Tadashi Hamada.”
“Alright, Tadashi, can you tell us what happened?”
Tadashi hesitated. “We were just outside of the building when it blew, at the bottom of the steps. We fell. I tried to take the most of it, but I had to choose between the blast and the ground,” he said quietly. “I don’t know that I did enough.”
The woman put her hands on his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. “Tadashi, you did the best that you could, alright? This isn’t your fault.”
‘But it is,’ he thought bitterly. ‘He’s in pain because I almost got myself killed.’
Hiro stirred in his arms. ‘’Dashi.’
Tadashi jerked like he’d been shocked. The other paramedic took the opportunity to scoop Hiro up and set him beside Tadashi in the truck. Tadashi barely noticed, too caught up in the fact that he’d just heard his brother’s voice in his head.
“Alright, Tadashi,” the first paramedic began, shining a penlight in his eyes. “What’s your brother’s name?”
Tadashi blinked against the light before remembering what she was doing. “Hiro Hamada.”
“Okay. How old are the two of you?”
“20 and 14.”
“Can you tell me where we are?”
“The SFIT Showcase. The, um, drive in front of the Exhibition Hall.”
She nodded, pocketing the penlight. “We need to check you for more injuries. Can you tell me where you’re hurt?”
Tadashi was quiet for a moment, trying to mentally take stock. “I fell on my back,” he said finally. “I’ve got a little headache and the rest of my body aches, but not much more than that.”
She pursed her lips in thought and nodded. Tadashi glanced over at his brother, feeling a change. Hiro’s eyebrows were furrowed but nothing else seemed to be wrong. Tadashi noticed the zipper on his jacket wasn’t quite following the rules of gravity and he quickly put his hand on Hiro’s head.
“Hey,” he said softly, aware of the paramedics’ attention. “It’s okay, Hiro. We’re okay. We’re safe.” The contact calmed Hiro, and Tadashi could feel how afraid he’d been. ‘I’m here, otouto. It’s okay. I’m here.’
‘Don’t leave me, Tadashi.’ Hiro whimpered quietly and Tadashi felt the worry spike from the paramedics. ‘I can’t lose you.’ Tadashi let out a ragged sigh, burying his fingers in Hiro’s hair.
‘I’m never leaving you again, Hiro. So please,’ he begged silently. ‘Please wake up.’
Hiro stirred a little more. “Tadashi?” His voice was soft, but the fear and uncertainty in it broke Tadashi’s heart.
“Right here, Hiro.”
Hiro’s head snapped up to look at Tadashi before immediately closing his eyes and bracing his head with a hiss.
The paramedics moved forward in a hurry. “Be careful,” the man began. “You’re hurt. Take it easy.”
Hiro opened his eyes again, watching Tadashi like he was a butterfly about to fly away. Tadashi smiled at him, brushing some of his fluffy hair away from his eyes. ‘How’s your head?’
Hiro blinked at him. “It hurts.”
“What hurts, Hiro?” The other paramedic was at his side in an instant, her eyes skimming for any injuries they might have missed.
He glanced at Tadashi in confusion. “My head.”
“Okay, Hiro, I’m going to ask you a few questions. What’s your name?”
Hiro looked at her strangely but answered anyway. “Hiro Hamada.”
“And how old are you?”
“14.”
“Do you know where you are?”
Hiro glanced around. “Um, an ambulance?”
“Do you remember how you got here?”
“There was, um, there was a fire,” he started slowly, his face pinched in thought. “And Tadashi… I didn’t want him to get hurt. And then my head hurt.”
The paramedic watched him patiently. “Anything else?”
Tadashi watched Hiro carefully, but he just looked back up at her. “No.”
“Okay, Hiro, do you hurt anywhere else?”
Hiro went to shake his head but winced at the motion. “Just my head.”
“Okay. We’re going to make sure that you and your brother are alright. We may need to take you to the hospital, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, okay?”
Hiro nodded, letting her shine the light in his eyes. After she was done, he just watched Tadashi. The other paramedic checked Tadashi carefully for any injuries, but he quickly decided that the worst he had were some nasty bruises. As they finished, Tadashi’s phone rang. He fumbled for it, fishing it out of his pocket as quickly as he could.
“Hello?”
“Tadashi? Oh, thank god. Are you and Hiro okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay, Aunt Cass.” Tadashi glanced at Hiro, who was still watching him carefully. “We’re a little… banged up, but we’re okay.”
“What happened? We heard there was a fire…” Aunt Cass took a shuddering breath and Tadashi took the chance to jump in.
“Yeah, there was. We got caught outside. We’re okay. We’re alright, Aunt Cass. I’ll have to call you back. The paramedics are still checking us out and they may not want me to drive home tonight. I’ll keep you posted, okay?”
Cass sniffled from the other end of the call. “Alright. Be safe, you two. Take care of each other.”
Tadashi’s eyes darted to Hiro. “We will, Aunt Cass. Love you.”
“I love you too,” she said with one final sniffle. The call ended and Tadashi slowly returned the phone to his pocket. He looked up to see Hiro still watching him. He smiled and ruffled Hiro’s hair, but his brother didn’t really react. He just kept watching his face like he was afraid he’d never see it again.
Tadashi’s heart filled with guilt and grief. If Hiro hadn’t stopped him, Tadashi would have died. He knew that without a doubt. ‘I’m sorry, Hiro. I shouldn’t have tried to go in. It was stupid.’
Hiro blinked, his eyes getting a little wider.
‘If you hadn’t…’ Tadashi took a shuddering breath. ‘I’m so sorry, Hiro.’
Hiro blinked at him again. ‘How are you doing that?’
‘Same way you are, knucklehead.’ Tadashi smiled a little before letting his face fall again. ‘Probably the same way that you pulled me away from the building. Do you remember, Hiro?’
Hiro’s face pinched. ‘You were going to go in there. You were going to die, and… and I didn’t want to lose you too.’
Tadashi’s eyes stung and he brought Hiro in for a hug, holding him tight against his chest.
‘I pulled you back and then my head hurt. It hurt so bad, Tadashi. Why? How did I do that? How is this possible? It shouldn’t be possible.’ Hiro’s silent voice started to grow frantic until Tadashi started rubbing slow circles on his back again.
‘I don’t know, Hiro. But whatever this is, it saved our lives tonight.’
Hiro sniffed. ‘Our?’
‘You pulled me back, and I… I think I shielded us when the building exploded. If I hadn’t, you and I would be a lot worse off right now.’ Tadashi pulled out of the hug, holding Hiro at his shoulders to look into his eyes. ‘I don’t know what’s happening, and I don’t know how we’re doing this, but we’re going to figure it out, okay? But we should probably keep it a secret for now.’
Hiro blinked at him again. ‘Even from Aunt Cass?’
Tadashi winced. ‘Especially from Aunt Cass. She’ll worry. I don’t want her to worry until we figure out what exactly this is, okay?’
Hiro tried to nod, wincing halfway through. ‘Okay.’
Tadashi carefully ruffled his hair, this time getting a small smile in return. He turned to the paramedics and cleared his throat. Now with their full attention, he glanced back down at his brother before looking back up at them. “Are we clear to go, or do you recommend observation?”
The two paramedics conversed quietly for a moment before one turned to them. “You two are free to go. Just be careful, alright? You both may have minor concussions, so take it easy. If either of you see any signs of other injuries or symptoms of a more serious concussion, come to the hospital right away, alright?”
Tadashi squeezed Hiro’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” the other said lightly. Her smile slipped for a moment, and she regarded the brothers seriously. “You two got lucky tonight. Take care, okay?”
“We will,” Hiro said quietly, showing off a small smile of his own.
Tadashi stood up slowly, stretching his limbs to make sure he didn’t hurt them more than he had already. “Come on, Hiro. Let’s go grab the moped and wait for Aunt Cass to come pick us up.” He helped Hiro out of the ambulance and they waved goodbye to the paramedics. They made their way slowly to the moped and Tadashi sent a text to Aunt Cass to tell her where to meet them.
Alone in the parking lot, Tadashi sat heavily on his ride. Hiro watched him before moving to sit next to him, careful not to aggravate his brother’s new bruises.
“Sorry,” he said quietly.
Tadashi blinked in surprise, looking down at his brother in confusion. “Sorry? For what?”
Hiro was looking at his hands. “I hurt you.”
“Hiro,” Tadashi said, shifting in his seat. “If you hadn’t done what you did, I’d have been in that building when it exploded. I’ll take a few bruises if it’s the price I’m paying for being alive.” He threw his arms around his little brother’s shoulders, hugging him tight. “Don’t be sorry for that, Hiro. I’m the one who put myself in that situation. If I had anything to say about it at the time, I’d have died in there, Hiro. All you did was take care of me, just like Aunt Cass wanted you to. Besides,” he said with a smile. “Rule 2: Hamada brothers always look out for each other.”
Hiro sniffed again. “You said… you said you shielded us? How?”
Tadashi recognized the misdirection but accepted it anyway. “I… think I did it twice. The first time, when the exhibition hall exploded, all I wanted was to protect you. I tried to put myself between you and the blast. When I realized that we were okay, I looked up to see this big space in the air where it seemed to ripple, somehow. It had cracks in it, like a windshield when a rock hits it. I looked down and there was a bunch of shrapnel and stone on the other side. There wasn’t anything between us and the ripples. It shattered when you made a noise; I guess my concentration broke. When the paramedics and firefighters arrived, I automatically threw one up between us. I realized then that I was doing that and I made it go away before anyone noticed it.”
Tadashi hesitated. “Hiro, when you were in pain… what were you thinking?”
Hiro scrunched up his face in faint distaste. “Just that I wanted it to stop. And then…” he trailed off, looking almost like he wasn’t sure he believed himself. “I heard you. You were blaming yourself for something.” Hiro looked up at his brother, his eyes inquisitive.
“The paramedic said it wasn’t my fault that you got hurt,” Tadashi said quietly. “But she was wrong.” He tapped Hiro’s forehead gently. “Your head hurt because you pulled me back. You wouldn’t have had to if I hadn’t tried to run in there anyway.”
Hiro blinked at him. “I heard you, and I could feel you, and then you were gone. It started to hurt again, and I didn’t know where you were. But then you spoke again, and you asked me to wake up.”
Tadashi watched his brother carefully. “Hiro, when you were in pain before the medics arrived, you were making things around you float.”
“I… what?” Hiro stared at him, confusion setting in.
“Little pieces of glass, metal, stone… even my hat. You didn’t put them down until you calmed down. In the ambulance too, before you woke up. I spoke to you because your jacket zipper started defying the laws of gravity.” Tadashi nudged Hiro’s arm, smiling at him gently. “No one noticed,” he assured him quickly. “No one was around the first time, and I stopped you the second time.”
Hiro frowned. “Why did it hurt so badly?”
“I don’t know, Hiro. We’ll figure it out. Together,” Tadashi promised.
Before they could talk any further, they were interrupted by two strong headlights. Aunt Cass parked the truck and came rushing out, immediately wrapping her nephews in a tight hug.
“Oh thank god you’re both alright,” she sighed, hugging them tighter. She pulled away, searching both of their faces long and hard. Suddenly her fingers were crushing their ears. “Don’t you two ever scare me like that again, do you understand me? You could have been seriously hurt!” She hugged them again, the true meaning of her sentence hanging heavily over the trio. Hiro and Tadashi exchanged a glance behind her back.
Aunt Cass pulled away again, this time cradling a cheek in each hand. “Now let’s get you two home.”
They loaded the moped into the back of the truck, and Tadashi and Hiro sat in the back seat, falling asleep together until they got home. Cass was sure to get a picture or two before waking them. She sent them up to bed, thankful that everything had turned out alright.