Recovery

The days felt a little bit better after that. Obviously, his problems didn’t just magically disappear, but he was able to talk about his bad days and problems to Tadashi and Aunt Cass with less worry. He felt like his relationship with his aunt and brother was getting better too, they started talking to each other more, especially about more personal things that he would have never done if Tadashi never found him in the bathroom. It kind of felt like a relief, not having to hide his feelings to his brother.

Hiro was in the middle of fixing Megabot, before Tadashi storms into their room with a joyful smile and ecstatic movement.

“Hiro! I need to show you something!” Tadashi says in excitement, grabbing his hand quickly without a pause.

“W-what? Tadashi!” Hiro whines, lazily following him as they rush down the stairs to the cafe entrance.

-

They arrive at the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab, the letters illuminating on the brown tile. The fluorescent blue of the building shined through the sunlight, all the different tubes and structures impressing Hiro with the architecture.

“Why did you take me to your nerd school?” Hiro asks, faking an annoyed expression, making Tadashi laugh.

“I wanna show you something cool that I finished making, and I want to show you my friends. Maybe you’ll like this school- stop looking at me like that. You’re being a big baby.” Tadashi scolds, Hiro huffing in response.

“Why do you and Aunt Cass want me to go to school, I’ve finished high school already” Hiro mumbles, unbuckling his helmet off.

“Because! It will be good for that brain of yours, you could be doing so much more than bot fighting!” They both start walking to the entrance of the school, Tadashi leading the way as Hiro trails him, looking at all the cool gadgets displayed in the main offices.

-

“So, what have you been working on?” Hiro asks, sitting comfortably in a bean bag chair, playing with a cool fidget left on Tadashi’s desk.

“I’ll show ya’.” Tadashi replies, fumbling through a box as Hiro rolls his eyes. After a few seconds, Tadashi finds his roll of grey duct tape, pulling a piece off as he approaches Hiro.

“Duck tape? Hate to break it to you bro, but it’s already been invented,” Tadashi slaps the tape onto Hiro’s arm, ripping it off immediately.

“O-ow! Dude! Ow!” Hiro screams, rubbing his arm back and forth to soothe the pain. He notices a white big blob expanding in his peripheral view, his focus changing.

“This is what I’ve been working on.” Tadashi announces, the big and white figure walking towards him in slow steps, even bumping into a small stool.

“Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said, “ow.”” The white blob says, waving as he introduces himself.

“A.. robotic nurse?”

“On a scale of one-to-ten, how would you rate your pain?” Baymax says, showing an image of a range of faces, yellow to red.

“Physical? Or emotional” Hiro glares, Tadashi showing an overly-expressed sad face.

“I will scan you now,” Baymax’s head moving up and down, “scan complete. You have a slight epidermal abrasion on your forearm. I suggest an antibacterial spray.” Baymax concludes, pointing his finger at Hiro’s arm. Before Baymax was going to spray his arm, Hiro retreats back.

“Woah, woah, woah. What’s in the spray specifically?” Hiro asks, smirking with a grin.

“The primary ingredient is bacitracin.” Baymax states, showing a model of a bacitracin molecule. Hiro snaps his fingers.

“That’s a bummer, I’m actually allergic to that.”

“You are not allergic to bacitracin. You do have a mild allergy to peanuts.”

“Hm, not bad, you’ve done some serious coding on this thing, huh?” Hiro says, the spray instantly cooling his arm.

“Uh-huh. Programmed him with over 10,000 medical procedures.” Tadashi responds, watching Baymax with excitement in his eyes. They talk more about Baymax’s structure; what it’s made out of, what it’s made to do, etc.

-

“Oh yeah! I also want you to meet my friends.” Tadashi says, opening a door while Hiro runs a little to catch up. He scouts the room, looking at all the people in it; some testing their projects, some building, some talking.

Tadashi walked past Hiro to talk to a group of people, unknown to Hiro. But he stands around, taking in the environment of the laboratory before Tadashi signals him to come.

“Guys! I want you to meet Hiro, my younger brother.” Tadashi introduces a group of people who were all looking at him.

“Hi, Hiro! I’m Honey Lemon! And this is Wasabi, and this is Fred, and this is Go Go!” A blond girl introduces energetically, her silky hair flowing nicely with her talking. All the others say a mix of introductions, Wasabi giving Hiro a handshake, Fred jumping around in his dragon suit. Go Go mumbles a small hello, clearly uninterested.

“Um, hi.” Hiro awkwardly says, fiddling with his hands. Everyone looked at Hiro in awe, finding how cute he was as a young teenager.

“So, I was thinking we could go out later? All of us?” Tadashi says, everyone looking up to him. They all made sounds of agreement, suddenly a few having their own fights and conversations. Fred was having a fight with Wasabi about fire-breathing dragons, while Honey Lemon and Go Go were following up with Tadashi. Hiro trailed behind his brother quietly, still looking around at all the cool gadgets.

“Ooh! I found this new small cat cafe that opened up a few weeks ago, why don’t we all go there? It’s super cute! We can take lots of pictures and hang out with cats!” Honey Lemon asks, all nodding to the idea. Hiro smiled at the idea of cats since they were his favourite animal. He loved when cats would purr quietly, and just how calm they were. Instead of dogs, who needed loads of attention and walking. That’s why he enjoyed Mochi so much, Aunt Cass’s cat that would hang out at the cafe or in the kitchen.

Tadashi noticed how quiet Hiro was, but he knew that he was quiet around other people. He wished that Hiro was a bit more open, he didn’t want to drag his younger brother into doing things that he didn’t have any particular interest in.

“Hiro? You alright?” Tadashi asks, Hiro looking up with a tired smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

“We can go back if you want, they’ll understand.”

“Nah, I’m good, we can stay-wait, did you tell them about me? Like, the eating thing?” Hiro asks, suddenly sitting more upwards and with a panicked look on his face.

“No! Never, I wouldn’t tell them anything serious about you. Trust me, I wouldn’t do that to anyone. That’s something you have to tell, not me.” Tadashi reassures Hiro, slowly calming him down. They sit together on the couch next to Go Go’s bike, watching people work peacefully.