Better than a Baby Grand
There is a grand piano sitting in the communal lab space when Hiro arrives early that morning, and his first thought is the irrational one that his dead brother has progressed from haunting his thoughts to haunting his life.
"A… piano?"
He only manages to make it a few steps forward before Honey Lemon practically pounces on him in excitement. Normally he would grin at her exuberance but the instrument has thrown him off-kilter. If Honey Lemon notices she doesn’t mention it, and Hiro is thankful.
"Monika’s project on sound waves has been approved! Isn’t it beautiful? It makes me wish I didn’t give up on my lessons when I was a kid…”
That makes Hiro smile, knowing Honey’s penchant for aesthetically pleasing things. He even goes so far as to let out a small snort of laughter when she muses over how the piano would look in a shade of pink.
"I don’t think the school would be happy if you turned their Steinway grand piano pink,” Hiro tells her, nudging her playfully with his elbow. “If it was a Yamaha then it might be a different story.”
When Honey Lemon falls into contemplative silence, Hiro tilts his head to look at her, only to promptly avert his gaze when he finds that it is him she is eying thoughtfully. “W-What?”
"Nothing!" She quips cheerfully, and the heavy atmosphere dissipates almost immediately. "I just didn’t know you were interested in pianos, Hiro! Does that mean you play?"
"I- No. Why would I play piano? That’s so boring! Now, an electric guitar? That would be cool. I’d totally rock a guitar.”
He’s gotten better at lying in the time since Tadashi’s death, though he hasn’t often felt the need to lie about anything unrelated to Big Hero 6. If Honey Lemon suspects anything she keeps it to herself.
-
When Hiro had been much younger his aunt and brother pushed him towards music as an outlet, but Hiro had no interest in it. He wanted to play sports like all of the other kids, not mess around with some stuffy old piano.
It took three months of gentle pressure from both of them, combined with Hiro’s increasing understanding that he was too young to be allowed to play sports with everyone else, before he finally relented. A week later Mrs. Yokohama came over to teach him piano.
Two weeks later he fired her. She agreed without a fuss.
Aunt Cass fussed enough for the both of them - at least until Hiro silently made her sit in the piano room and played a medley of Grade 12 piano songs with the only flaws being that his fingers were too short to quite reach the full octaves.
"Can I join a soccer team now?"
Three months later finds Hiro kicked off of three soccer teams for his age-group because he found his teammates too stupid to deal with.
-
However stubborn he was about it when he was younger, it didn’t mean he didn’t actually like playing piano - he did. He used musical notes and rhythms to come up with his own coded language so he could get away with insulting his brother, and…
Tadashi could always tell when he was getting too anxious - would ever-so-casually lead him to the piano in these instances so Hiro could focus on something other than his own thoughts. He stopped needing music once he finally started real school and never touched the thing again.
But Hiro is mature enough now to know he has been getting overwhelmed. Between school, personal projects, helping at the cafe, and superhero work he’s had very little time to relax. If he really thinks about it, he hasn’t been truly relaxed since before his brother’s death and it’s starting to impact his life.
Generalized anxiety, Baymax had told him. Hiro hadn’t been surprised.
It takes three days of the piano’s presence boring holes into the back of Hiro’s neck for him to finally cave in.
He waits until the lab is deserted and begins to play.
Muscle memory is a powerful thing; his fingers remember how to play before his brain can even tell them what to do, it seems. His hands are large enough now that he can play his old repertoire without strain and it reminds him of how long it’s been since he last let his fingers dance over ebony and ivory keys.
Hiro plays old classics. Plays songs from his and Tadashi’s favourite video games. He plays the coded language he made up
I’m trying to be strong without you
Nerd Bonehead Knucklehead
Big brother
I miss you
He plays until his wrists ache and the world around him is blurred by his tears. He plays and plays and plays until even his genius mind can’t remember any more songs and all that’s left is a calm sort of emptiness inside.
His friends are there but leave him be, for which he’s more grateful than he could ever express in words.
Hiro thinks that maybe - just maybe - he’ll start playing the piano again.