#hiroings

            ❛ ...hey, you okay ?  ❜

he can tell the youngster's nervous ; hell, he had been  terrified on his first day, and still was years later.

             ❛ ------- 'cmere . ❜

a steady hand places itself on his brother's shoulder, gently drawing him closer to his side in silent reassurance. dark  brows furrow and digits absentmindedly comb through messy  hair as tadashi takes in his surroundings ; the newly-set stage, anxious crowds of tearful families clinging to each other for  support, armed soldiers standing around the perimeter to stop runaways, cameras and tvs maliciously glinting in the sunlight...

it's the day all loathe -- the r e a p i n g.

& it's a day that tadashi especially fears, for it's the only thing that  could hinder the promise he had made to his parents and  brother years ago . . .

              'i'll always be there. i won't let anything happen. '

but if he was c h o s e n--he couldn't do that, could he? there was no way he'd be able to protect hiro m i l e s away, forced into a bloodbath where only one out of twenty four emerged as a victor... 

a glance down at hiro softens his suddenly hardened features, and an elbow gently nudges his side in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

      ❛  it'll be over before you know it. promise.           just don't think about it too much. do what          you do best - let that brain of yours wander          for a bit. don't pay them any attention. ❜

fingers teasingly tap the top of his head, and tadashi offers him a  small smile, 

   ❛ that's the one thing they can't take from you.      remember that, b o n e h e a d. those're the      last ( words of wisdom ) that you're getting out      of me for the rest of the year.

                            "hey, hiro."

                        she sits down on the floor in front of him, frees the strap                          of her backpack from her shoulder and sets it down. with                         a momentary sly grin up at him, she unzips it, reaching                         in to withdraw a small, scuffed yellow-painted robot.

"Hiro-chan, what do you think? If we were partners for the fair, we could make something awesome, something so awesome it would just blow everyone's minds!"