Carter woke up to a bright sunny morning. Birds were chirping outside the window on a ledge, making Carter smile at the chipper song. He murmured to himself quietly, "I'm going home today." A stay of any length was boring to say the least. Until Tadashi had come. Tadashi made Carter laugh so much that he forgot about where and why they were there for a few sparse moments each day. Carter had lost confidence in himself after his parents had begun to lock down his life. After he had met Tadashi though, Carter felt like he was able to do anything as long as people had the confidence in him that Tadashi did.

He looked over at the sleeping Tadashi. They had left the curtain parted overnight and Carter studied the scars the fire had left behind. Now he had the chance to look at his roommate and meditate on what life had dished out to Tadashi Hamada. The jagged burn scar on his face was inflamed with irritation. The skin was slightly raised around the edges, signaling that healing was still taking place. The damage was partly covered by a bandage but enough was revealed so that you couldn't ignore the destruction of flames. Fire licked, touched, and devoured anything in its path. An animal which is fed on metal, wood, and sometimes lives. Everything fueled it but only water extinguished it. The trauma of coming in contact with those disastrous elements wouldn't wear off, an everyday reminder fresh in the surviving prey's mind.

The nurses woke Tadashi up in order to finish some tests and they collected some blood samples from Carter for the doctor. They closed the curtain between the two boys when they started their work. The breakfast trays came in just as the nurses were finishing. Only after Tadashi and Carter were positive that the nurses were gone did Tadashi yank the curtain back open again, "Good morning, Carter."

"Morning, Tadashi." Carter had an extra chipperness in his voice that made Tadashi smile in return, "Are you excited to be going home?"

"Let me think about that." Carter made a dramatic thinking face, "Yeah!" Carter was all smiles this morning and Tadashi grinned larger with him, "I am happy for you, Carter. I never asked you how long you'd been here before I came in." Carter looked to the far corner of the room in thought, "I think two days? I didn't have to stay very long this time."

"You've stayed longer?"

"Mhm. Once or twice I've stayed about a week. When we first discovered my problem, I was here for over a week."

"Carter, what are you actually in the hospital for?" Tadashi questioned. Carter knew it would have to be answered sooner or later, but if it were up to him then this subject would never be breached. Ever. Carter took in a deep breath, "I have sickle cell anemia. I've had it most of my life." Carter continued to explain, "It means that my blood cells are crescent shaped and I tend to have weaker blood. That in turn makes me weak, tired, and easy to bruise too. I get pain attacks when my blood isn't circulating correctly." Tadashi nodded along and made a mental note to do more research on the condition after he went home himself. Carter smiled a little bit in order to ease any kind of tension, "I ended up here during a pain attack and they decided to keep me here a few more days since my next monitoring appointment is only a few weeks away." Tadashi did have other questions but didn't want to overwhelm Carter, "Is sickle cell painful?"

"Mhm. I've had it for over ten years so I am fairly used to the pain." Carter shrugged noncommittally and looked back at Tadashi, "It's become just a way of life to me." A few moments of silence settled over the two. The silence let Carter think. What kind of life did this leave for Carter? He should be living and having no health problems whatsoever outside of a sprain or a small break, and yet he couldn't have that life. Even if Carter decided to try and risk something, it was more likely he would have been discouraged because of the fragility of his body.

Seeing someone so young be handed such a dreadful set of circumstances made Tadashi very sad. He looked around and saw a pad of paper on the table next to him. He tore off a sheet and took the pen that was beside it, "You know, if we're gonna stay in touch after this, I'm going to need your phone number." He wrote it down then smiled, "Now you have to promise me that you'll stop and see me soon. I'd love for you to meet Hiro and Aunt Cass more formally." Carter agreed, "I'd like that. What if you're not out of bed when I come to visit?" He alluded to the fact that Tadashi's legs would have to relearn how to walk again. Tadashi thought about being bound to his bed for a while. He would need to relearn how to live and move. How debilitating. Someone who once was an active, athletic, and brilliant 21 year old now would have to move at the pace of a 21 month old baby. He glanced back at the notepad and saw unorganized squiggles taking up the lines. Tadashi looked over at Carter, "You don't value your abilities until you lose them. I can't even read the number I wrote down on the paper." He said dejectedly, "I used to be able to hold a microscopic part in tweezers and solder it to a motherboard so easily. Now I can hardly hold a fork to feed myself."

Carter saw the disappointment in his roommate's face but he could hardly console his friend. Carter didn't live a life of any kind. He was done with high school but his mother was hesitant to let him go to college or get a job. Carter's lack of activity was partly his own fault because he didn't fight for any privileges or negotiate new terms with his parents. Carter had no words for Tadashi. His words would be empty since he didn't follow his own advice.

They spent most of the afternoon watching a tv show about robots. Miriam Stimson popped in and smiled at her son when she arrived to take him home. After a brief hello to Tadashi she directed the conversation towards Carter, "I brought you a change of clothes and as soon as Doctor Ito says you're okay to go, we'll be on our way." The two of them talked mainly to each other leaving Tadashi to think to himself. His good mood had fallen away because of the many inadequacies that he had been mentally naming off: writing, walking, feeding himself, doing robotics, etcetera. With each one he ticked off, his smile faltered more. Doctor Ito came in soon to go over his notes with the Stimsons, "You're all set to go home, Carter. Your prescription is ready at your pharmacy and everything checks out. Your follow up appointment is next month."
"Thank you, Doctor." Carter smiled a little and Doctor Ito headed out to visit another patient. The curtain was closed so Carter could quickly change. He soon came to the other side of the curtain all dressed in his simple black t-shirt, blue jeans, and high tops to say goodbye. Carter grinned at Tadashi, "You made my stay really enjoyable, Tadashi. Thank you." Tadashi smiled in return, "Back at you man. Keep in touch."

Carter walked out of the room towards the elevator to take him downstairs and out of the hospital for a while. Carter was ready to be as far away from the hospital as possible, but he hoped Tadashi would be out soon too. Let them both enjoy their freedom. Freedom from being confined from the building's four walls, though neither could be free from sickness or injury. Carter felt like a puppet in the hands of the cruel master of illness. If the unseen puppeteer wished to keep Carter home and away from real life he'd only need to pull an invisible string attached to Carter's chest and Carter would be laid up in bed. Carter would drink water until he felt ready to drown in the consumption and take pain pills which were always readily available by his bedside. The twenty year old felt hostage, captive in the cold clutches of an invisible jailer.

Tadashi settled on taking a nap but was interrupted by his body sensing someone watching him. His deep brown eyes opened lazily, chuckled seeing Hiro standing there, and closed his eyes again, "It's awfully hard to sleep comfortably when someone is staring at you, watching you sleep." Hiro laughed quietly and pulled up a chair, "Maybe that's why I've never truly slept well when we shared a room."

"What do you mean? I've never watched you sleep." Tadashi reopened his eyes, completely awake. "Whatever you say, Dashi. I even have a picture of your reaction when you woke up to the hover boots I made for Mochi." the expression on Tadashi's face made Hiro double over with a full laugh. A smile tugged at Tadashi's lips at the laugh, "Alright, now you have to tell me where you hid that camera. It'd better be destroyed or moved by now."
"I disconnected it and it's just laying on the shelf." Hiro straightened up, "I do have news though. We're putting your bed downstairs in the ground level garage space. It'll be easier for you to move around once you do come home."

"Thank you, Hiro." Tadashi smiled more, "I am sure I will be happy down there." Hiro went on to promise how he'd spend time down there with Tadashi, "It gets lonely down there, but you already knew that. We can add a TV or some kind of entertainment center and I can invent some sort of controllable table and arm to grab things for you. You can even invent stuff-" But Tadashi interrupted, "I can't even hold a fork, Hiro. How do you expect me to do anything close to the robotics I did before the fire?" Hiro stopped and looked at him sadly, "I guess I spoke without thinking. I'm just really looking forward to when you're completely better."

"I am too, Hiro. It's going to be a while before I am back to normal. I hope I can count on you to help me through the rough patches."

"Of course, Tadashi!" Hiro immediately answered and Tadashi let out a light laugh, "I knew you'd say that. I promise that we'll get back to the things we did together once I am all done healing. Okay?" Hiro shrugged, "I mean it'd be nice to go back to the way things were, but I realize that I am just your younger brother. You have your own friends and I should have my own." Tadashi raised an eyebrow, "Did they not watch over you?"

"They did. I had fun with them."

"Then that means you're as good as accepted into the nerd squad, whether you wanted it or not." Tadashi laughed and added, "In all honesty it was my goal all along." When Hiro gave him a slightly confused look, Tadashi expounded, "I know it's been rough without Mom and Dad so to lose me for a while too, I guess I wanted you to have a family to rely on besides Aunt Cass." Hiro shrugged again. Losing Tadashi had been the worst thing to happen to the Hamada family in the ten years since the accident, and the four friends had rallied behind Hiro from the start. They were family. Tadashi was alive and somewhat healthy which was all that mattered now. Why did people want to focus on the past when a blessing had been outstretched to them? Usually the first question out of the hero band always had something to do with Tadashi's health. Automatically they would ask "how is Tadashi?", "when is he coming home?", or "is he still taking visits?" Hiro knew it was wrong but some part of him wondered why people couldn't care about him first. Tadashi wasn't the only one who suffered. He had been alive and hurting this whole time. 'I guess people care more about the people in the crisis and those supporting them simply fade the background.' Hiro decided to himself. He was brought out of his thoughts when he was touched on the arm. "You hear me, Hiro?" Hiro shook his head making Tadashi repeat, "Tell Aunt Cass I want her to come tomorrow in case I can come home. But you should go. It's dinner time and she'll be wondering where you are." An easy smile crossed his lips and Hiro nodded obediently. After waving goodbye to his brother Hiro walked downstairs and found a bus stop to wait at.