Welcome to my dumping ground of drabbles focusing on the Hamada Family. None of the chapters are connected, unless otherwise stated. This will cover everything from AUs, post-canon, pre-canon, Divergent Timelines, crossovers, fusions, etc. If it feels short and unfinished, I assure it was probably meant to be that way (the more fully fleshed ideas will probably be posted as stand alone oneshots and not here.)

Important! Treat every chapter like it's the last chapter. Because this is a dumping ground, this means it will be updated sporadically and there will come a day where I won't have the inspiration to post another update. (Probably whenever I leave the fandom will this be marked as complete).

In These Small Hours

Summary: This family was little and broken, but still good. Snapshots of life in the Hamada Household.

Grief was beginning to become an old coat, one Cass was unsure if she would be able to shed. She cupped the cooling coffee mug in one hand as she rubbed her face. Her reflection in the coffee showed how haggard she was. Dark circles under her eyes, her hair a tangled mess and a tight tension in her shoulders.

Cass felt tired, weary. She felt like she had aged ten years over the last couple weeks. It had been years since she had felt this exhausted. The last time had been finals in college and that didn't even compare; a physical exhaustion had nothing on this mental and emotional one.

Her eyes squeezed shut, trying to calm herself as hysteria bubbled just under the surface. There was so much to do, funerals to plan, bills to be paid, police reports and paperwork to file, and Tadashi and Hiro…!

Cass choked back the tears that welled up. She glanced at the stairs, expecting Tadashi to be standing there in the corner as he had been for far too many nights after this nightmare had begun. Surprisingly, it was empty, which with any luck, meant Tadashi would sleep through the night for once. Hiro was bound to wake up from a nightmare any hour now though.

A few tears slipped down her face before Cass scrubbed her face to wipe them away. Her precious nephews, whom Cass now had full custody of. Her hands trembled at the thought of being a parent, a mother. Where should she even begin? Children had always been a long and distant dream, one Cass didn't actively pursued, too wrapped up in her dreams of owning a cafe, of being successful in a way that wasn't reliant on brains and IQ points (a way that was so different from the long shadow of her genius brother).

Cass would give it all up to have her brother and sister-in-law back.

She had to be strong for Tadashi and Hiro. She had to. Tadashi and Hiro were suffering already. Hiro didn't understand that his parents weren't coming back; nightmares kept her youngest nephew up through the night. Tadashi had spent half the time in shock, the other half moody and snappish, a rare sight for such a normally sweet boy. They were both trying to cope the best they could, the only way they knew how and Cass couldn't fall apart on them.

Cass stood up and poured her cold coffee down the sink. Caffeine wasn't going to help her. She would check on the boys and try to head off to bed. Life would continue with or without them and Cass had already pushed off as much work as she could.

Climbing the stairs up to the attic set off another fresh wave of guilt in Cass' heart. She hadn't planned on a family when she had bought this three story house. The only place she could have kept the boys, the only room she had that could fit them was the attic. Nothing could be done, though. There wasn't enough money to buy a bigger house and the attic was big enough that they should be comfortable in it for a few years.

She peered into the dark room to see Hiro curled up next to Tadashi. Both quietly slumbering with the gentle rise of their chests. Breathe in. Breathe out. Cass wandered over to take a seat at the edge of Tadashi's bed. She pulled the blanket over her two sleeping nephews and tucked them in. Hiro crawling into Tadashi's bed was probably the only reason why Tadashi hadn't woken up tonight. Maybe tonight would be nightmare free?

Cass threaded her fingers through Hiro's messy dark hair, watching her two nephews. Grief simmered just below her skin.

"Oh boys," she whispered softly. "What am I gonna do?"