Your Letter Have Become My Heartbeat

3.

Army boots quietly made their way up three flights of stairs before coming to a stop in front of a door. The soft clinking sounds of keys were barely heard in the hallway before they were inserted into a lock and turned, allowing the door to open and the boots to continue on their way. The door was shut and locked up again as noiselessly as possible.

Tadashi Hamada sat his bag down by the door, unlaced his boots and slowly made his way through his house.

He had told his aunt and brother that he was coming home the next day but his flight got bumped up so he was able to get home earlier and he hadn't been able to tell them that. So he settled to be a surprise.

Tadashi peeked into his aunt's room, an old habit of hers was to keep her door open as she slept, Hiro used to have nightmare and the doorknobs in the apartment were abnormally high and the little four year old couldn't reach. He silently stepped into her room and fixed her blanket that was falling off her bed.

She's looks older, more tired, than before I left. Tadashi thought as he tucked the blanket around his aunt. Worrying does that to a person. He gave a soft smile and kissed her forehead before carefully tiptoeing out of her room.

Now to look in on Hiro. Tadashi told himself as he tried to remember all the squeaky parts of the stairs leading to Hiro and his' shared bedroom. He let out an inaudible relieved sigh when he reached the top and remembered where not to step, until he stepped on a lose board he didn't know was there. The board creaked let out a very loud and sharp noise of protest when he stepped on it, causing Tadashi to freeze up and listen to make sure no one woke up.

When he didn't hear the sounds of someone getting up, he gently shuffled off the board and continued into his and Hiro's room. Tadashi was honestly surprised when he didn't see Hiro in his bed and for a brief moment, his heart stopped beating, thinking something had happened to the thirteen year old. He visibly sagged when he heard Hiro mumble something from Tadashi's side of the room.

The young serviceman gently moved the rice paper divider that he had bought when he was younger, to give the brothers a little more privacy and space between the two of them, and peeked in to his side of the room. And sure enough, Hiro was snuggled into his blankets, completely claiming the bed as his own.

"Oh, Hiro." Tadashi let out a breathless chuckle as he walked over to the bed, softly trying to nudge his brother over a few inches so he could climb into his own bed, a bed Tadashi had not slept in in the better part of four years. "Move over a bit, will ya?" He whispered to the sleeping teen.

Hiro shifted a bit. "Sorry." Came a mumbled response. When he settled down again, Tadashi climbed in to the extra two inches of space his brother had given him.

When he got situated, not even bothering changing out of his uniform, he took a look at his brother's face. Some of the child-like softness was gone, and he seemed to take on a worried look that should only be reserved for someone who had big things to be concerned about, not a young teenager. And his hair had gotten longer, their aunt must have been letting Hiro make his own decision when it came to haircuts now; as a child Hiro always preferred slightly longer hair than the shorter look that always seemed to be the trend for kids his age.

Tadashi couldn't resist and reached over to gently ruffle the mop of hair. He smirked when Hiro tried to swipe at his hand in sleep, completely missing his older brother by a mile. The young adult let out a quiet laugh but quickly sobered up.

"You've grown up, kid." He muttered out loud to himself. "You can't do that when I'm not here."

Hiro must have sensed Tadashi's presence; he shifted closer to his older brother and cuddled into him instead of the pillows.

"No more growing up." The older brother mumbled as sleep started to grab at him. "Not allowed."

(-)

Tadashi woke up a few hours later, surprisingly before Hiro had and before their aunt did. He'd gotten into the habit of only sleeping a few hours at a time, half because the unit had worked out shifts to sleep and be on guard, and half because honestly, who could actually sleep comfortably and peacefully through the night while they were in a war zone?

He pulled himself up and out of bed, careful not to wake his brother, and tiptoed downstairs, this time, knowing about the loose board at the top of the stairwell as well. When he got down into the kitchen and living room area, he quietly closed his aunt's bedroom door before he started cooking breakfast.

He had tried to be as quiet as he could, but he knew at some point, Cass would hear something and come and investigate. Cass was an odd sleeper, either she could sleep through an earthquake or she would wake up if you blinked sideways. This morning it was Tadashi closing a cabinet door.

"Hiro? What are you doing up so-" Cass poked her head out of her room to peer into the kitchen, but instead of seeing her youngest nephew, she came face to face with her oldest.

"Morning." He said as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and went back to whisking eggs in a pan.

"What are you- when did you get in?" She asked as she rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Careful of the arm." He tugged his left arm out of her rib-cracking hug, his shoulder still sore and stiff from being shot months ago.

"Sorry." She mumbled as she continued to hug him. "When did you get here? I thought you weren't supposed to be in until tonight." She questioned when she finally let go, letting him continue whisking the eggs for whatever he was making.

He smiled. "Flight got bumped up. Surprise!" He said quietly, still conscious about Hiro being asleep right above them. "Got in early this morning."

Cass tapped his forearm, not remembering exactly what shoulder he was shot in. "Why didn't you wake us, silly?" She half scolded. "What are you making?" She changed subjects wanting to help him out.

He shrugged. "Just scrambled eggs."

She snapped her fingers in realization. "Forgot, you can't cook."

Tadashi dramatically sighed. "I burnt a pretzel one time!" He huffed.

Cass laughed. "I'll make some bacon." She sidestepped him to get another skillet out.

The stairs squeaked, alerting the two Hamadas in the kitchen that the youngest in their little clan was up.

"Aunt Cass, who are you talking to?" Hiro's voice reached them before they saw the thirteen year old. He trudged slowly down the stairs, rubbing his eyes as he did.

Tadashi shook his head to his aunt who was about to answer, and gave Hiro a reply for her. "No one." He turned back to stirring the eggs in the mixing bowl. A small smile broke on his face when he heard his brother gasp when the thirteen year old finally looked up.

"Tadashi!" Hiro practically flew across the room and attacked his brother; Tadashi barely managed to pass his aunt the bowl before he had his arms full of little brother.

"You grew an inch!" Tadashi jokingly commented when he noticed Hiro almost reached his shoulders.

Hiro steamed for a moment, pulling away from Tadashi just long enough to make sure the young adult saw the annoyed look before diving back in for a hug. The younger brother missed Tadashi's small grunt of pain when Hiro knocked his shoulder.

But Cass didn't.

She let the two brothers hug it out as she finished breakfast and afterwards promptly sent Hiro up to get ready for one of his last days of school.

"Do I have to go?" Hiro whined all throughout breakfast.

His aunt nodded. "You have exams and two days left of classes. Yes. You have to go."

Tadashi snickered into his glass of orange juice. Yeah, Hiro didn't change at all, grew an inch and hasn't cut his hair in the past few months, but nothing else is different.

Hiro shot a glare toward his older brother sitting across from him. "But Tadashi's back!"

Cass nodded. "And he'll still be back when you get home."

"I'll probably be asleep all day anyway." Tadashi commented before Hiro had a chance to say anything else. "Since somebody has seemed to have claimed my bed as their own." He raised an eyebrow to his little brother.

"You weren't using it!" Hiro rebuttaled, shrugging.

Tadashi rolled his brown eyes. "Well I will be now."

Cass shook her head. "Alright you two. Hiro, hurry up and get dressed." She motioned with her fork. "And you," She pointed the eating utensil at Tadashi, "eat." She commanded her nephews.

"Yes ma'am." Tadashi gave a mock salute, fitting since he was still in uniform.

His aunt laughed.

(-)

Tadashi finally went up to change shortly after Hiro disappeared to start getting ready for school. The young adult stood in front of his dresser and closet. "Ah, real clothes!" He laughed as he unbuttoned his uniform dress shirt to show the undershirt he had on.

"You're weird." Hiro stated as he got himself ready for school. He watched his brother out of the corner of his eyes, taking note that the young adult seemed to favor his right arm more so than his left, which Hiro found a little odd since Tadashi was left handed. "Does it still hurt?" He asked without meaning to.

Tadashi looked over from the closet and shook his head. "Not anymore." He was about to pull a shirt out of the closet when he remembered something. "Where is it?" He asked aloud to himself as he started patting the pockets of his uniform. "Ah ha." He said when he found what he was looking for in his left side pocket. "Come here." He pulled the objects out.

"What?" Hiro asked as he hustled over to his brother, curiosity overwriting the knowledge that he needed to hurry up if he wanted to make his exam on time.

"One of your letters," He handed the letter to Hiro who noticed the large hole through it. "The pocket watch," He sat the pocket watch in Hiro's hand.

"Whoa." The thirteen year old was looking at the mark a bullet made when it hit the metal. He ran his finger over it a few times.

"Still works, too." Tadashi commented and flipped the little latch to open the surprisingly still ticking watch.

"That's bizarre." Hiro watched as the second hand continued to tick. He sat on Tadashi's bed, his older brother following.

"And," The young adult began. "This." He held up a little bullet.

"That little thing made that big of a dent in this?" Hiro stuttered, shocked. "Wait, you kept it?"

Tadashi nodded. "I don't know why."

"That's quite morbid of you." His little brother told him. "That thing could have killed you, so you kept it." He let out a small chuckle as he handed the things back to get ready for school.

"Says the kid that repeatedly eats peanuts." Tadashi argued back.

He heard Hiro scoff from his side of the room. "That's completely different."

"Yeah?" Tadashi questioned. "How so?" He pulled his dress shirt completely off and grabbed a shirt from his closet. "Are some of my shirts missing?" He took note of the empty space.

"They're in the washer." Hiro told him, voice sort of muffled, as he poked his head around the corner from inside the bathroom, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. He was about to answer his brother, whose back was towards him, when he saw the bullet scar on Tadashi's shoulder.

And it hit Hiro again just how close his brother came to dying over there.

Forgetting his toothbrush was in his mouth, he rushed over to Tadashi for the umpteenth time that morning, wrapping his big brother into a hug, practically face planting into his brother's back. "I'm glad you're home." Is what Hiro attempted to tell his brother, but it just came out as a muffled mess of toothpaste and shirt.

Tadashi turned to his right a bit to look at his brother and he ruffled his hair again. "Couldn't understand a word of that."

The thirteen year old pulled his face away from his brother slightly, and got the toothbrush out of his mouth and repeated, "I'm glad you're home."

(-)

I was going to add the word 'nerd' in here at some point for Hiro to call Tadashi, and remember when I said I look everything up? Well I do. The word 'nerd' was first used in 1950 in a Dr. Seuss book: 'If I Ran the Zoo', it was one of the odd creatures.

And since this was a story based in WW2, I couldn't put it in.

And I originally had 'Knucklehead' in here, but since that was only invented into a word in 1942, ironically by the US Army to show new recruits what to do and what not to do, I didn't' really think it'd be fitting for Tadashi to call Hiro that.

Well, that's the end of that.

I'll work on my historical fiction writing. That really was not the best.

But, you gotta start somewhere, huh?