Oxymoronic

Hiro hums as he works. He's built the bot just below his standards on purpose. Even he knows it's ugly but Tadashi doesn't need to know that. Tadashi will see his cute younger brother struggling and jump at the chance to help. Tadashi is wonderful like that. He's swapping the gear ratio around to take away torque and further mess his creation when the garage door creaks open.

"I'm checking on him right now, Aunt Cass! No need to worry!" Tadashi calls back to answer something the boy doesn't quite catch. It's easy to assume it was something about how he skipped lunch today. His aunt worries to much about food. He was busy working, of course he wasn't hungry. Luckily Tadashi understands, he usually does, or maybe he just doesn't feel like pressing it right at this moment. Tadashi isn't stupid either.

Hiro leans back in his chair to watch his brother's upside-down form approach him. "Yo," he smiles, "How was your nerd school today?" Pretending to care usually earns him brownie points. He may need those.

Tadashi sets his bag in the corner next to the door, same every day. Years ago, Hiro even wrote 'Nii-chan's corner' in red crayon. Aunt Cass thought it was so cute she never scrubbed it off. That was a mistake of course, little Hiro took that as incentive to draw all over. His robot depictions were all removed but pictures float around and Hiro sees one every once in awhile. Tadashi swore they'd make each of Hiro's drawings for real one day, when they're older. Hiro wonders if they're older yet.

"My nerd school?" Tadashi laughs, already used to Hiro's affectionate but snide comments. "It was fantastic, thank you for asking. I got some serious studying done." He ruffles his younger brother's hair and peers at the hunk of... Well, he's not really sure. "What's that you're working on?" He tries to ask as kindly as possible.

"MuscleBot!" Hiro answers enthusiastically. "He's for senior showcase." He hurriedly explains to his brother all about how he tried to give the boy a six motor design where five are slaves to the one master to improve efficiency. Oh, and because he only wants to program one. It's a system that promotes laziness too. He's having technical difficulties at the moment though. "He'll never be done in time for tomorrow night!" Hiro giggles as if this is hilarious.

If it is, Tadashi doesn't see the humor. He examines MuscleBot with his eyes, dissecting each aspect. Not a single part has a bit of Hiro spark in it. What's wrong with his brother? Hiro's projects are always full of inspired doohickeys and ingenuity. Hiro can do so much better. So, what's going on?

"You are finishing," is all Tadashi says as he grabs Hiro's wrist and drags him out of the house. He doesn't fish for the reason behind all of this. The clear message that Hiro needs him is all it takes for him to dedicate his afternoon to fixing MuscleBot with Hiro. Just like how they used to spend their afternoons, fiddling with spare parts. Maybe that's exactly what Hiro was asking for.

This wasn't just a devious plan to get Tadashi to build Hiro's bot for him. No, that's simply horrid. It was a devious plan so Hiro could finally spend quality time with his brother. Recently, Tadashi has been so caught up in end of the year projects that Hiro isn't even sure his brother knows he's graduating this year. At the age of 14. Maybe that's exaggerating at tad. He knows his brother loves him and all that sappy stuff but... He misses his brother, okay? Is that allowed.

Well, Hiro's pride doesn't allow him to admit it. Instead, he found a way around talking and made Tadashi the one who instigated everything. Technically.

MuscleBot ends up being a bot to actually be proud of, much to Hiro's amazement. Looking at each piece, he can remember either buying it at the shop or fixing it in place. All with his brother's steady hands and voice coaching him.

"Think it can lift you?" Tadashi asks randomly, looking over the tiny bit one more time. That was part of the wonder factor. A robot barely up to the knee lifts a ton (not literally).

"What? Why?" Hiro answers, perplexed but only with half his brain. The other part is focused on the creation in his brother's hands. Last minute perfections and paint jobs are in order.

Tadashi carefully hands MuscleBot over to Hiro, as if the metal and wires were their child instead of the reality of it. "You don't remember?" He walks to the other side of the garage, the neater side where all his things are, and indicates the cork board next to his calendar. The one with all his important test days highlighted with exclamation points around them. Hiro can't help but notice the night of the senior showcase is also marked, but with his name in big block letters instead.

"Remember what?" He tries not to smile but he can't help but stare at the calendar. His brother knew. His brother remembered. His brother loves him.

"These!" Tadashi exclaims, drawing Hiro's attention back to the cork board. It's covered with the old pictures of his crayon drawings, each with a different robot doing something stupid or silly. One is actually lifting up a little boy with overly spiky hair. Another hands out lollipops with a smile. "My inspiration everyday," he laughs, but not in a way that implies he's joking. He's serious.

"Huh." Hiro doesn't know what else to say. He reaches to hold his brother's wrist instead of talking and rests his forehead on Tadashi's forearm. It's a thank you almost but not quite. He can't explain what he wants to say. It doesn't make sense yet.

Tonight, when the lights go out and they're in the dark, he'll know exactly what to say. When the time to tell his secret comes, he'll climb into Tadashi's bed so he only has to whisper it into his brother's ear. He'll explain how desperate he was to spend time with Tadashi and how he decided to be a cute, irresistible, and cheerful pessimist to get his brother's attention. He might even try to put into words how he felt afterwards when Tadashi showed him the pictures. It's definitely a challenge and Hiro Hamada doesn't turn down away from a challenge.

Tadashi will probably laugh at his confession. Then reassure him that Tadashi is always paying attention to him, that nothing's more important. At least that's true in the dark. Dark-Tadashi doesn't have to study after all. Light-Hiro understands though. At least, when he's thinking clearly.

Hiro adores the dark. Really.