Control Alt Delete (A BH6 crossover)

Chapter Twelve: This sucks.

(In honor of my birthday, which is today, I'm posting a bonus chapter. Tadah!)

Morning came fair more quickly than Hiro was ready for it. In light of his injuries, Tadashi had insisted he sleep, not in his own bed, but on the giant bean bag chair closer to his side of the room. The boy had had to have some help getting down, but, after a pseudo-night's sleep, he supposed he could see the logic. Unfortunately, it meant he also couldn't get back up without help. He'd probably have the same problem with his own bed but decided to not dwell on it.

It had taken three very strong painkillers to take the edge off last night, enough that he could at least doze off. And Hiro rather thought Tadashi had watched him for at least another hour after he'd drifted off, just to be safe. His brother looked more than a little tired when he finally came around the screen that separated his part of the room from Hiro's.

"Morning," Tadashi greeted with a yawn as he ran a hand through his hair. His flannel pajamas made a soft shushing sound as he moved. He came around to where his brother was and crouched to be at eye level. "How did you sleep?"

Hiro pouted. There wasn't any other way to describe the look on his face, if he was being honest. The truth was he hadn't slept well at all. He'd dozed off and on most of the night. Every time he tried to turn, a sharp stab of pain punctuated through his entire body. And once the painkillers had worn off, well, it had made sleeping even more difficult. But he wasn't going to complain. He was not going to complain. "I should ask you the same question," he said instead, hoping to avoid the inevitable.

Tadashi gave a slight chuckle as he pulled over Hiro's swivel chair and sat down. "I suppose you should," he agreed. He'd probably had just as hard a time sleeping as his brother had, waking at all hours of the night, debating on whether or not to check on his younger brother or just let matters lie. "Just look at us," he sighed. "We make quite the pair."

In the small hours of the night, when the pain had been the most bearable, before the painkillers had worn off, Hiro had managed to do some thinking. It was inevitable that Aunt Cass would eventually find out about his late night activities. It would be neigh on impossible that she wouldn't find out, especially since she was rather fond of giving her nephews hugs. Hiro didn't even want to contemplate how much that would hurt.

"I guess we should tell Aunt Cass, huh," Hiro said rather despondently as he idly walked his fingers over the raised lip of the bean bag chair. He already knew what his aunt would say to that, at least he fancied he did. The outlook wasn't promising.

Tadashi contemplated him over the back of the chair, his legs wrapped around the frame so he was sitting on the thing backwards. "I suppose it would be the best course of action," he agreed. "After all, Aunt Cass is pretty good about finding out things, especially when it comes to injuries. She'll find out one way or another."

"Yeah," Hiro said, his face falling even further as he contemplated it. Of course, Aunt Cass finding out about his little injuries was the least of his worries. For the present, Tadashi was alive. That might change in the foreseeable and unforeseeable future. He had to figure out a way to change that. But how?

"Come on," Tadashi said as he got up from the chair, making it spin. "It's probably better to get this over with than to keep waiting for it to happen." He reached out a hand for Hiro to take.

Wincing, Hiro took the offered hand. He let out a sound like a drowning elephant as his brother pulled him to his feet. His entire body felt like it had molded itself to the bean bag and decidedly didn't want to move. His muscles pinged and creaked as he got to his feet. "This sucks," he complained once he was finally upright once more.