Lullaby (Hiro Hamada Love Story)

Lullaby (Chp. 1)

Graduating was supposed to make everything easier. No high school meant no kids older than me shoving me against lockers,no stress of trying to make it through the day, no pointless classes, and certainly no having to wake up so damn early in the morning.

"Manami! It's nearly 9am, don't you think you should be up and oh, I don't know-- Working on the project for your exhibition next week?" My mother's voice rings from the door to my room, and I struggle to open my eyes enough to send a glare her way.

"It's almost finished. Let me sleep." I curl up tighter in my down comforter, only to have it ripped from me, earning my mother her second glare of the morning.

"Your entire future rides on this exehibition, you may have the luxury of sleeping in once your project is complete, now get. up." She drops my blankets on the floor and strides out the door. I weigh the consequences of simply grabbing the blankets and heading back to dream land, but decide her temper isn't a force to reckon with. I roll over and stare at my nightstand, my new diploma simply sitting there. Did these even mean anything nowadays? I guess it's just an obnoxiously big paperweight now.

With tired eyes, pained legs, and about 8 groans, I find my way into my bathroom and strip myself of my pajamas. The shower is freezing when I first step in, which is enough to kick me out of my sleepy haze, and I quietly curse myself and ram the knob to the opposite side, a peaceful sigh escaping my lips as the hot water runs through my dark purple hair.

My exehibition was indeed, next week. I had one week to perfect my headphones project before Hiro and I would be presenting to the board of directors at San Fransokyo Intitute of Technology. The thought was a bit nerve wracking, but only because I feared what path I might go down if I didn't make it into the school's early acceptance program. Sure, there were other guys in the world-- but let's face it; I've been with Hiro since pre-k, I can't fuck it up now. There's no doubt to me that he'll make it, Hiro's brilliant-- He's the only reason I was ever even able to keep up. If I lose this opportunity, I might lose him all together.

No way I'd let that happen.

I can hear my phone buzzing against the porceline sink outside the shower, but I already know who's calling and I know he can wait. Whilst I can be convinced to wake up on time, no matter how hard Tadashi Hamada tried, he could not wake up his little brother before noon without my help. After towelling off and pulling my long hair into braids, I slip on my galaxy patterned dress and makeup, retrieve my project and utility tool, and head over to The Lucky Cat Cafe. The door jingles upon my entrance, and Cass greets me with her usual peppy smile.

"Hey Manami, how are you this morning?" I want to respond in a positive manner, but this morning would honestly just go the same way it did every morning, and we both should know better by now.

"... I'm tired." She rolls her eyes.

"I figured." She gives me a nod and I head up the stairs, where Tadashi is just sneaking past to start his day. He gives me a wide smile and pats me on the head as he heads downstairs.

"Hey Manami, make sure he works hard today, alright?"

"As always, Tadashi." He shakes his head at me with a smile as he parts, and I step inside his shared room with Hiro and kick off my boots, throwing my project onto his desk. Hiro groans and rolls over in his bed.

"Don't make me get up." He mumbles quietly, and I stumble over to his bed.

"Do I ever?" I pull back the blankets only for a moment before slipping into the warm bed with him and nestling us back up. "Morning." I sigh softly, my tired eyes meeting his soft brown ones as he peeks them open to see me.

"Morning." I shut my eyes and push myself just the slightest bit closer, letting Hiro's arm wrap around me as per usual. Don't let this illusion fool you, Hiro and I are close. That's the only reason I get these moments. I don't think Hiro's emotionally capable of liking girls yet, or at least as far as I can tell-- unfortunately, I hit puberty young. It wasn't very long before I started seeing Hiro's kindness towards me as special, and let this awful crush develop. To add even more shame? I've always thought his older brother was fine as hell. Talk about a pipe dream.

But mornings like these? I'd get up at the break of dawn every day for mornings like these. Even if it was nothing, even if I didn't have any feelings for Hiro-- He was warm. His bed was so comfortable, and I'd never be able to rest this peacefully in a house where my mom can catch me slacking off. Hiro Hamada was my peaceful lullaby, and I don't know who I'd be without him.