Tadashi's sleep wasn't quite fitful, but it wasn't the best he'd ever had either. He'd fallen asleep alright, but it wasn't long before he was woken up by a strong feeling of fear. He'd shot up in bed, trying to place the source of the emotion, when he saw Hiro's side of the room. Hiro was curled in a ball under his covers, shaking lightly. The air around him was filled with levitating objects. Pencils, pens, cups, tools, wrappers, the stuff on Hiro's shelves: anything lighter than a shoe was floating in the air around him. Tadashi sprang from his bed, batting away objects between him and Hiro. It took a minute or so to calm Hiro enough to wake him. Tadashi didn't exactly want to know what would happen when you startled a kid with telekinesis while he was making stuff fly in his sleep.
After convincing Hiro to scoot over, Tadashi settled in beside him, and the two slept better. Tadashi's dreams though, they were something else.
He dreamed of driving. He was small again, sitting in the back seat with his brother. Hiro was tiny, sitting happily in a car seat. It was dark; night-time, he knew. He looked out the windshield idly, seeing two bright headlights in front of them. He heard his parents gasp. He knew. He threw himself on top of Hiro. He had to protect Hiro. He was his little brother, his otouto, and he had to keep him safe.
The crash was loud. He was thrown forward a little, crashing against the soft-yet-firm back of the seat in front of him. Hiro was crying, but he was okay. They were both okay. Tadashi's head hurt, but he was okay. He curled back around Hiro, calming him down and falling asleep.
"Tadashi?"
His eyes snapped open, trying to find the source of the voice. Hiro was watching him with wide eyes. "Hmm? Hiro?" He muttered groggily, not sure why he was awake. "What's up?"
Hiro reached up a hand and tapped it on air above him. Tadashi blinked up at him, confused. "What are you..." Tadashi looked again, realizing that Hiro had his hand pressed against rippling air. His eyes widened and he looked around, realizing that they were under a dome of the strange barrier. "Oh."
"What were you dreaming about?" Hiro watched him carefully. He reached out and poked his head. "Did it hurt?"
Tadashi frowned. "No, it didn't hurt," he said quietly. Hiro frowned a little, but Tadashi didn't notice. "I dreamt about the night mom and dad died."
Hiro lowered his head, speaking softly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
Tadashi shook his head, putting a hand on Hiro's shoulder. "No, it's fine. Hiro... I think I know why my head didn't hurt as bad as yours did."
"What?" Hiro's head snapped back up, his eyes searching Tadashi's. "Why?"
Tadashi took a shuddering breath. "Because I'd done it before, Hiro. The shield didn't hurt me as much as your... powers... did you because I'd used mine before."
"What do you mean, you've used them before?"
Tadashi laid back down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. "The night of the crash, when I saw the drunk driver coming, I threw myself over you to protect you." He looked over at Hiro. "Sound familiar? When the police and the ambulance arrived, you and I were fine. They said it was a miracle. You and I were untouched in the destroyed car we'd been riding in, the only injury to speak of was that my head hurt. They just assumed it was from hitting the seat on impact. I don't think it was, Hiro. I think I hurt myself when I shielded us."
Hiro flopped back down on the bed with a groan. 'And the whole speaking-in-each-other's-heads thing?' he asked silently.
Tadashi chuckled. 'Haven't figured that one out yet.'
"Alright boys, breakfast is ready!"
Tadashi and Hiro both flinched at the sound Aunt Cass's voice. They hadn't heard her coming up the stairs during their silent conversation. A small pen went flying in her direction at the same time a shield went up, the pen stopping silently at the wall of rippling air. The boys immediately dropped their powers, glancing at each other in surprise. They'd used them reflexively.
Aunt Cass just blinked for a second before looking over to where she heard the pen drop. "What was that?" she mused quietly.
"Mochi!" Tadashi answered quickly.
Hiro nodded vigorously before slowing down on account of his headache. "That darn cat!" he said, mustering a smile through the grimace of pain.
Aunt Cass just shrugged. She couldn't see the spot on the desk that Mochi allegedly occupied anyway. "Anyway, I made pancakes and waffles! Come down and have some while the bacon is still hot, okay?"
She smiled warmly at them before walking back down the stairs. Once they were sure she was out of earshot they flopped back down on the bed with twin groans.
"That was close, Hiro."
"Thanks for the shield. I might have actually hit her with it."
"The shield was because she startled me. We just got lucky, otouto."
The two brothers rolled out of bed and headed down to join their aunt for breakfast, resolving to practice their abilities when they got the chance. They were lucky that Tadashi's shield was gone before it could look like anything more than a trick of the light and that she hadn't actually seen the pen flying right at her. Keeping this a secret was going to take a little more practice.
The Nerd Crew stopped by before lunch. They told them a carefully edited version of what happened. They heard the alarm, went to check it out, waited for Callaghan, BOOM, ambulance, home. No powers, no running in, nothing out of the ordinary. Part of Tadashi felt guilty. Not just for keeping the truth from them, but for not telling them about his recklessness. If anyone should know, it would be them. They'd collectively tear him a new one for being an idiot, and he'd have deserved it. Hiro felt it was safer to keep that detail from them. Less dangerous questions, he said. Less opportunities to slip up.
They spent the next few hours talking about random things when Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Go Go, and Tadashi got a text alert from SFIT.
Professor Robert Callaghan died in the Showcase Fire.
The cheery mood popped like a balloon. Hiro looked over at Tadashi, still staring at his phone in shock.
'It's not your fault, Tadashi.'
'If I'd gotten there sooner, maybe-'
"No!"
The room startled at Hiro's outburst. Tadashi and Hiro just flinched. Hiro hadn't meant for the rest of the room to be included, but there wasn't any going back now.
"There wasn't anything you could have done. You know that, Tadashi." Hiro stared hard at his brother, his face a jumble of emotions that were probably incomprehensible to everyone but Tadashi.
"Tadashi," Honey Lemon cooed softly, suddenly understanding what Hiro meant. The rest realized it a fraction of a second later.
Go Go and Honey Lemon reached him first, wrapping the Hamada in a hug. Fred and Wasabi weren't far behind. Hiro hung back. Go Go noticed from inside the pile and snatched his hoodie, yanking him in.
"If you went in to get him, you wouldn't have gotten out in time," Fred said quietly. "We would have lost you."
There wasn't an ounce of life in Fred's tone. It was so very un-Fred that it caught everyone off guard. Tadashi's eyes burned. What would they have sounded like if Callaghan hadn't been the only one lost to the fire? Would they all have been like Fred? Tadashi was hit with the weight of his mistake in full force.
'I'm so sorry.'
"You're here, and that's all that matters," Honey Lemon said quietly. Tadashi and Hiro stiffened, both knowing that Tadashi hadn't actually said it out loud.
"Don't be sorry for something you couldn't do anything about," Wasabi added, "It'll just drive you crazy."
"Woman up." Go Go popped a bubble, and never before had it been so comforting. Of course, it was less effective due to the panic coursing through the Hamadas' veins.
Fred just hugged them all tighter. Tadashi and Hiro found each other's eyes through the tangle of arms and heads, staring at each other with wide eyes and pale faces. Neither of them dared to say something silently again. They'd gotten lucky this time, none of them seemed to realize that Tadashi hadn't actually said anything.
"Thanks, guys. I'm sorry-"
"Nope," Go Go said, popping another bubble. "No apologizing."
Tadashi sighed. "Thanks," he amended.
"Better." She almost sounded smug, but there was still too much grief in the air for it to really be smug.
One by one, they peeled out of the hug. "I'm... I'm gonna go tell Aunt Cass." Tadashi slipped out the door, leaving the rest of them in the garage. Go Go looked pointedly down at Hiro.
"Um?"
She rolled her eyes. "Stay with him for now, okay?"
Hiro nodded quickly, well, as quickly as he comfortably could, and followed after his brother.
He found Tadashi in the kitchen. Aunt Cass' eyes were somber. Hiro tugged at Tadashi's sleeve, bringing his attention back to him. He jabbed a thumb at the stairs to their room, pulling his brother along.
Safely in their room, Hiro let go of his brother. "What was that?" he hissed.
"I don't know!" Tadashi rubbed his face with his hands. "I thought only you could hear me when I did that!"
Hiro groaned. He paused with a hand in his hair, thinking. "Wait, who did you think about when you said it?"
Tadashi just blinked at him for a moment before his brain caught up. His eyes widened. "Oh my god. I only meant for you to hear it, but I had still been thinking that I should be saying it to them too. They heard me because I subconsciously wanted them to."
Hiro put his face in his hands. "We're gonna have to be more careful. We're both just lucky that they didn't notice the difference." He groaned again.
"We'll have to test the limits of this... telepathy, or whatever it is." Tadashi sighed. "Just... probably not today. I don't want to mess with them today."
Hiro nodded before darting in for a hug. "It's not your fault, Tadashi," he said quietly. "Even if we stayed in the building instead of going on the bridge, there's no guarantee we'd have been able to do anything."
Tadashi hugged him back. "I'm sorry, Hiro. They might not have understood what I meant, but I'm sorry."
Hiro just hugged him tighter.
Classes that week were cancelled to give the students room to grieve. A memorial shrine was set up on the steps outside of the university, surrounded by candles and flowers. The funeral was a large gathering; students, alumni, friends, distant relatives, and colleagues all showed up to pay their respects. The Nerd Crew took to hanging out quietly in the Hamada Garage for a few hours every few days. They were all grieving, but being together helped. Tadashi and Hiro agreed not to test the limits of their telepathy with them for the time being. Instead, they messed with their powers when they were alone.
Tadashi was slowly learning how to make a variety of shields: ones that moved, ones that were shaped differently, ones that were farther away or in front of someone else entirely. Before, he'd only made the shields in ways that protected him too. Now he had started to try and make shields that didn't need to originate near him at all.
Hiro had to take it easier. Unlike Tadashi, he'd damn-near concussed himself using his powers the first time. Tadashi reminded him that he probably had, but Hiro ignored him. He started small, moving light objects like paper or pencils. He'd quickly moved on to pens and then to heavier tools before Tadashi caught him trying to lift the toolbox. In his defense, he was doing great. But it did hurt a little, so Hiro let him have it. Instead, he spent the next few days working on his precision by folding origami. You'd think it'd be easier with your mind than with your hands, but you'd be wrong. It was a frustrating few days. Tadashi found it incredibly amusing and Aunt Cass was just confused by all the little origami figures that kept cropping up in near-impossible places.
When classes started back up again, Tadashi brought Hiro along. They'd become nearly inseparable after the showcase, neither wanting to leave the other alone for too long. Their reasons were slightly different, but the end result was the same. Tadashi was worried about Hiro accidentally losing control of his powers without Tadashi there to calm him down, and Hiro was worried that Tadashi would get hurt again. The rest of the Nerd Lab had no problem with the young Hamada hanging around. They'd grown close to him during the time leading up to the showcase, and Hiro would be joining them for the new term anyway. Why not start early?
Hiro had found the last microbot in his pocket. He'd thought long and hard about what to do with it before finally attaching it to a small chain. He debated for a while whether he wanted to keep it on his wrist or around his neck until Tadashi suggested he keep it as a necklace. It was less likely to get caught on something that way, he'd reasoned. The microbot was a token, a reminder of that night. Not just for Hiro, either, but for Tadashi too. Seeing it around Hiro's neck was a constant reminder of what had changed and what had stayed the same. It was a symbol of 'what-if' that kept them sober. Their powers were fun and useful, but it kept them from getting too carried away.
Tadashi continued working on Baymax, upgrading some of his hardware with Hiro's help. He now boasted a longer battery life thanks to his new supercapacitors.
They took him home one night for 'tinkering', fully intending to get him to monitor them while they used their powers. Tadashi was worried about why using them too much made their heads hurt. Baymax confirmed that their brain activity spiked when they used their abilities and hypothesized that too much stimulation simply increased the blood flow. When they used their powers too much and too fast, the brain swelled too quickly. Normally it was harmless if they stopped at the warning signs, but Baymax advised caution. The brothers took it to heart. Neither of them wanted a repeat of Hiro's first time. They figured that with practice, it became easier and less stressful for their bodies to call up the same amount of power. After a week of dutiful scanning, Baymax agreed.
It wasn't much longer until the Hamada brothers decided they'd waited long enough to test out their telepathy. They'd practiced a little bit together, discovering that they could send each other impressions and pictures if they concentrated hard enough. They decided to go through with it in the garage the next time the Nerd Crew hung out there.
They'd agreed beforehand only to send stuff that they could actually say. They didn't exactly want to explain how they'd sent someone an impression or a memory by mistake. So they decided to keep it to words.
Go Go and Fred were playing a racing game on a monitor while everyone else watched and waited their turn. Tadashi was sitting on the floor in front of the couch and Hiro was standing a little bit behind everyone. They had to be careful not to let anyone see their faces while they were 'speaking'.
'Ten bucks says Go Go's gonna lose.' Hiro almost breathed a sigh of relief when no one reacted. If Go Go had heard him say it, he'd have gotten a fist to the shoulder. Tadashi, on the other hand, was not thrilled. They'd decided that if someone didn't hear them, they'd try and change the intended audience and say it again.
'Ten bucks says Go Go's gonna lose,' Tadashi said silently.
Go Go snorted. "Wanna run that by me again, Hamada?"
The rest of the room snickered, but no one as hard as Hiro. He waited until the last lap and started to press the buttons on her controller.
"What the-"
Everyone watched slack-jawed as Go Go's character spun off the road, allowing Fred to pass her on the home stretch. Fred crossed the finish line with a loud cheer.
"Tadashi, did you rig the controller?" Go Go shook the controller in his face, eyes wide in disbelief. Tadashi was almost laughing too hard to respond. She raised the controller threateningly.
"Ack! No! I didn't do anything, Go Go, I swear!" He threw his hands up in the air, trying to simultaneously surrender and look as small as possible.
Go Go scowled at him, still not entirely convinced.
"Look," Tadashi started with a chuckle. "If you want me to prove it we can take it apart and see. I didn't tamper with the controller, I swear."
Go Go narrowed her eyes, sensing a loophole. She whirled on Hiro. "What about you, Hiro?"
Hiro gulped, glancing over at Tadashi. Seeing no help, he decided to just start talking. "I promise I am not responsible for any hardware or software changes to any controller." He threw his hands up in surrender, grinning at her as innocently as he could.
Crisis averted, they fell back into a less dangerous hangout. Hiro and Tadashi took turns testing the telepathy, asking simple questions or making idle statements that fit into the conversation or started new ones. After a while they had it figured out enough to feel comfortable talking privately with each other again. The next few weeks went on like that: happy and peaceful. They had almost considered telling Aunt Cass, but Tadashi decided that there were a few things that he wanted to figure out before dropping the bomb.