A dive into how both Hiro and Tadashi deal with hiccups. Oh lord, this is gonna be a train wreck.
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The brothers and Aunt Cass were in the middle of eating dinner - the boys favorite; hot wings and rice. While Aunt Cass and Tadashi were enjoying the meal and talking about their days in between bites, Hiro was quick to finish his plate, taking bites before finishing what was in his mouth. Tadashi saw this out of the corner of his eye, along with Aunt Cass who found it disgusting.
"Hiro, what's the rush?" Aunt Cass asked as Hiro went for another bite. "I'm glad you like my cooking, but could you at least enjoy it?"
Hiro swallowed what was left in his mouth. "Sorry, Aunt Cass, I just really want to go back upstairs and work on my latest project."
"And what is this genius project now?"
"Don't bother asking, he said it was a secret. He won't even tell me," Tadashi explained. Tadashi didn't mind that Hiro was working on a project without his help, but he was curious to at least know what it was.
"That's correct," Hiro proudly stated finishing the last bites of his dinner. Despite wanting to rush back into working, Hiro was good enough to take his plate to the sink and complement Aunt Cass's cooking before marching back upstairs.
Tadashi finished dinner a few minutes after Hiro did, following the same routine as his brother. Once he got back into his and his brother's room, he glanced at Hiro working hard on his secret project. It made him happy to know his brother was working on something that he felt passionate enough to not want to stop, so he simply ignored Hiro and went to his side of the room so he could work in peace.
Hiro was on his computer working out the technical stuff. He was typing down codes and making notes as he went along, feeling a rush of inspiration run through his veins. He felt like he had never worked on something so hard in his life.
"Hic."
Hiro's eyes went wide and he stared blankly at his computer screen. He felt stiff as a board. "Oh no," Hiro thought to himself. "Please not now."
"Hic."
"Oh man," Hiro thought. "Why now?"
In the past, Hiro had always been known to get hiccups from eating to fast or laughing to hard for too long, but it never got the better of him. It was easy for him to laugh it off and hold his breath, then everything would be fine. This time, he was actually in the middle of something important and the sound, not to mention the slight pain it caused on his throat and abdomen, was ruining his concentration.
There was no hiding this from Tadashi either. After the first one, Tadashi peered over at Hiro thinking maybe he gasped or something, but after the second one, Tadashi knew what it was. And he was going to take every opportunity to make a joke out of it.
"You know this is because you ate too fast, right?" Tadashi asked Hiro humorously.
Hiro himself knew Tadashi would have to say something eventually. "Not n-hic-ow, Tadashi," Hiro said mid-hiccup. He forgot how embarrassing it was to talk to someone when he had hiccups. It's probably been over a year since the last time he had them.
Tadashi stood up from his bed and started to walk over to Hiro. "Relax, I'm only teasing," he said as he sat on Hiro's bed. "I forgot how funny they sound."
"Go away, Tadashi, I'm tr-hic-trying to work!"
Hiro slammed his head on his desk. Between his hiccups and his brother teasing him about them, there was no way he was going to get any work done at the moment. Tadashi laughed watching Hiro get frustrated. He normally would feel bad for him, but this was too funny to not laugh about.
"Here, lets see if I can help," Tadashi suggested. To Hiro's surprised, Tadashi picked him up by his legs, hanging him upside down and started moving him sideways.
"TADASHI, WHAT ARE Y-HIC-YOU DOING IT?" Hiro asked starting to get dizzy.
"I helping you out! Lets shake those hiccups outta ya!"
"PUT ME D-hic-DOWN! IT'S NOT WORKING!"
Tadashi listened to Hiro's request and calmly set him back down on his bed. "I'm just messing with you. Just hold your breath, that has seemed to work for you before."
Hiro took his brother's advice on this one inhaled a big breath of air. He held it for about twenty seconds before exhaling and sat there waiting.
Nothing. He was cured.
"Hey, they're gone," Hiro said with a half-smile.
"Good, now you can get back to work, but if they come back, I will shake you again."
"Please don't."
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About a month after this short-lived adventure, the brothers were in their bedroom as usual, getting ready for bed. Hiro was preparing to turn off his computer while Tadashi was attempting to tire his eyes by reading a comic. The room was completely silent, but in a peaceful way.
"Hic."
Tadashi's eyes widened and he became unable to focus on reading. "Was that a hiccup?" Tadashi thought to himself. That was of course a rhetorical question; he knew what it was. He just didn't want to believe it. It must have been years since the last time he got a case of them. "Maybe it's only the one," Tadashi thought feeling hopeful.
"Hic."
"Oh no," Tadashi thought. Whether he wanted to believe it or not, he had hiccups and he wouldn't be going to sleep anytime soon. It's been a long time since he last had hiccups, but he remembered how hard it was for him to get rid of them. He has never understood his hiccups before. They come out of nowhere for no reason and they take forever to go away. And to add insult to injury, the longer they stay, the more they start to hurt.
Hiro started walking over to Tadashi's side of the room, and leaned on the edge of the wall that separates their individual sides. Hiro let out a small laugh, "You alright?" he asked.
Hiro knew that Tadashi was and he knew that Tadashi had hiccups. He just wanted to get back at him a little for messing with a month back when he had them.
Tadashi picked up on this right away, but he knew he deserved it. The most he could do was just let Hiro have his fun. "I'm fine," he answered before another hiccup escaped. "Just hiccups is all."
"Yeah, I could hear them from across the room," Hiro teased. Tadashi's also been known to not have the quietest hiccups.
Tadashi hiccuped again, causing Hiro to laugh. Watching Hiro laugh made Tadashi start laughing a little himself.
"Alright, so are we gonna get rid of these the Hamada way or what?" Hiro asked after a minute of laughing.
Tadashi playfully rolled his eyes. "I don't know if you remem-hic-member, but my hiccups are like yours. You can't j-hic-just use some home remedy on them to make them go a-hic-way. They stick around as long as t-hic-they want."
Tadashi's throat started to hurt already. It had only been a few minutes and his hiccups were making the lower parts of his throat ache.
"Oh come on, its been awhile since you've had hiccups. Maybe if you try to get rid of them, it'll actually work this time. Try something simple and hold your breath; works for me."
Tadashi shrugged and did as Hiro asked. More than anything, he wanted Hiro to be right; the hiccups were hurting his abdomen too. It was worth a try at the very least.
Tadashi exhaled after about 30 seconds. All seemed well for a few seco–
"Hic."
Tadashi groaned tossing his head back. He had a feeling it wouldn't work, but for a split second, he had hope that it did.
Hiro laughed again. "Okay, how about you get a drink of water then? That should do it."
"I suppose there's no h-hic-harm in that," Tadashi admitted. Tadashi got up and walked over to the bathroom that was next to their room. He grabbed a cup and filled it most of the way with water, chugging it down all while Hiro was watching. Hiro wasn't going to say it, but he was getting a kick out of Tadashi suffer with getting rid of his hiccups.
Towards the last swallow of water, Tadashi hiccuped again, causing him to choke. Tadashi started coughing, but that only made it worse for him because water started to come out his nose. Hiro, who was still witnessing this, began laughing so hard he had to hold onto his stomach to avoid falling over.
Tadashi glared at Hiro, making him stand up tall. "So..uh..did that work."
"Hic! Does that answer you question?" Tadashi asked raising his eyebrow.
"Great, they're getting louder," Tadashi thought. "I'm only irritating them more by trying to force them away, but maybe if I try more cures, it'll work."
"Okay, no more playing around. What other id-hic!-eas do you have?"
Hiro stood still. "I don't know. Usually if holding my breath doesn't work, I drink water and everything is fine. I've never had to do anything else to make my hiccups go away. What else have you tried in the past?"
Tadashi thought for a second. "I just let them p-hic!-pass. Like I said before, forcing them away never works."
"That's because you're not trying hard enough! I bet if we look up some cures online, we'll find one that'll work for you."
Hiro turned his computer back on and was quick to search for hiccup cures. Hiro clicked on the first link that popped up.
"Okay...so...we could try a teaspoon of sugar," Hiro suggested.
"Pass."
"Why not!"
"Because Aunt Cass n-hic!-needs that sugar for her cafe. What else is there?"
"Stick your fingers in your ears? That seems kinda weird, but whatever, it says that doctors recommend this and doctors aren't usually wrong."
Tadashi gave it a shot...
"Hic!"
"Not only did I have a feeling that wouldn't work, but you looked ridiculous doing it," Hiro pointed out.
"Okay, next one."
"Pull on your tongue. What kind of stupid cures are these?"
"Hey, if it gets rid of my hiccups, it wo-hic!-n't be so stupid then, now would it?"
Tadashi waited for another hiccup to happen before he stuck his tongue out and started pulling on it.
"Hic!" Tadashi almost bit his tongue that time.
"Well what do you know. It's stupid," Hiro said scrolling down. "Ooo, we could try....breathing on your thumb? Do these actually work for people?"
Without saying anything, Tadashi started doing what Hiro repeated, but it only led to him hiccuping again. "None of these are working. I think I'm ju-hic!-just gonna have to let them pass like I alw-hic!-ways do."
"We can't quit now! And listen to yourself, they're starting to get worse! We have to keep trying. How 'bout holding your head back while stroking your throat?"
Tadashi raised his eyebrow, but decided to give it a whirl.
"HIC! Ow!" Tadashi yelped holding onto his throat. "That one hurt!"
"Guess we're gonna have to keep trying un–"
"No, I got an idea," Tadashi said before getting up and starting to walk downstairs.
Tadashi knew that the cures they were trying weren't enough to make them go away. But maybe if he got a little creative, there would be a better chance. As he walked into the cafe (with Hiro trailing behind) he walked over to the kitchen sink and grabbed the nozzle. He leaned his head over the sink, opened his mouth and without hesitation began to spray himself in the face with water. Hiro couldn't contain his laughter watching Tadashi go to such desperate measures. "Oh man, this is definitely the highlight of my day," Hiro commented.
Suddenly, Hiro heard footsteps coming from downstairs, and watched as Aunt Cass came rushing into the kitchen.
"Tadashi Hamada, what in the world do you think you're doing!" she yelled, startling him.
"Don't worry, Aunt Cass, he's just trying to get rid of his hiccups," Hiro explained.
"Well why didn't you say something?" Aunt Cass asked as she walked over and grabbed a container filled with sugar. "All you need to do is swallow a teaspoon of this stuff and you should be fine," she explained getting out a teaspoon.
Aunt Cass scooped up enough sugar to fill the teaspoon with. "Okay, open wide," she instructed. Tadashi listened, and Aunt Cass dumped the sugar on his tongue. He swallowed the sugar, and stood there hoping for good results.
"HIC!" Tadashi quickly covered his mouth, feeling his cheeks get red with embarrassment.
"Awww man, I thought that actually worked," Hiro said. "And we've tried just about everything else too."
"Well sweetie, I hate to say this, but it sounds like you're just gonna have to wait for them to go away on their own. If they stay through the night, I'll take you to the doctor tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," he said followed by another hiccup.
The brothers walked back upstairs silently. "Well it's a shame the sugar didn't work. Wanna see if we can try something else?"
"I'm fine. I'll just do what I always do which is wait for them to go away."
"Okay, but you better not keep me up all night with them."
"I'll try my best."
Tadashi undid his bed and climbed in. While turning off his light, he came to a sudden realization. "Hey," he thought. "I think they're gone."
"Hey Hiro," Tadashi said in a sudden burst of delight. "I think they stopped!"
Hiro became happy to hear this as well. "Seriously! What do you think made them go away?"
"Who knows. Maybe the sugar needed an extra minute to settle or something."
"Who cares. They're gone and we can celebrate by getting some sleep."
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Well there you have it! I knew I'd have a field day writing it and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it!