Central Limit Theorem
"It says right here, Aunt Cass! If there's a big enough sample, it'll be distributed normally. We don't have a lot of numbers, but if we try hard enough, we can give Hiro a big enough sample of happiness to be normal!" Aunt Cass blinked at him, "You have a bigger heart than brain, Tadashi Hamada." Hiro was Tadashi's to protect, but every once in a while it was the other way around.
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6 or any of its characters.
A/N: This is my first Big Hero 6 fanfic! I haven't decided yet if it's going to be a bunch of random little drabbles that make kind of a story, or if I want there to be consistent chapters about the brothers growing up, and any problem that I think to arise!
You guys should let me know what you think!
1.
"Isn't that kind of a funny name?" he stared up at the two adults, his deep chocolate eyes wide and suspicious.
"You're hardly in the position to make decisions, don't you think Little Man?" she laughed, reaching down to ruffle his hair.
He shook from her grasp, harrumphing and crossing his arms, lip jutted out in a pout. "Why not? It's not like it's that big of a deal, and you and dad made a funny choice."
"I think Hiro is lovely," Aunt Cass cooed, and Tadashi's jaw dropped.
"You're sticking up for them?!"
"Hush, Tadashi," his father chuckled, peering over the bundle in his arms. "Don't you want to meet your little brother?"
The eight-year-old stared up at him like he was clearly delusional.
Cass gripped her sister-in-law's arm as she leaned in. "Your genius son is a little socially awkward, don't you think?"
The woman laughed, turning towards the woman. "We're hoping it's something he grows out of," she winked.
Tadashi wasn't socially awkward. In truth, it was an honest amount of child-jealousy shining through. The Hamadas' eight-year-old son had gotten used to the idea of being an only child. With the workings of genius already showing in his personality, he loved the thought of his parents showering him in praise, his father bringing him to work like he'd done in the past to the lab, and them watching Tadashi surpass him in scientific skill.
Life was good.
And then there came Hiro.
He didn't really understand when his mother and father had sat him down and told him he was going to be a big brother. And he still didn't understand as his mother's stomach expanded and she constantly was urging him to speak with his brother, separated still from the real world, in her belly.
"Did you eat him?" Tadashi had asked one day a few months ago. He was eating his cereal for breakfast before school, his father guzzling his hot coffee and his mother making freshly squeezed orange juice.
She let out a small laugh. "No silly boy, I'm helping him grow."
He stuck his nose up at the idea, but his curiosity got the best of him. "Like dad builds robots?"
Both of his parents laughed then, "Something like that," she told him.
But now that his brother was here, in the flesh, Tadashi just didn't know how to feel about it. He was so interested in the capacities of his own mind – why would he be interested in someone else's.
"Here, let me, Sam," Cass mumbled to her brother. He passed the infant over to his brunette sibling, doubt in his eyes.
"Cass, if we couldn't –"
"Tadashi!" she almost sang, and he flinched away from her suddenly loud voice. Before he could move too far though, she dropped to her knees, ignoring the way the boys' parents jerked instinctively forward, arms outstretched. "Come look at baby Hiro for your Auntie Cass!"
He rolled his eyes, trying to act more major than he was. "You're being silly, Aunt Cass!"
She held the baby outstretched, her eyes shining like they only did when she was trying out new flavors of donuts for her budding shop. "Please!"
He huffed again and shuffled a little closer, examining over the blanket wearily. She nodded her head in encouragement – the two other adults staring in shock.
That's when everything changed.
As soon as Tadashi got close enough, his dark hazelnut eyes peeking over the soft edge of fabric that coddled Hiro's face, he blinked in surprise, clearly taken aback. There was no small monster that was going to steal away his spotlight, or make his life hard. There was no foreign features or concepts to this tiny human in his aunt's arms.
Hiro had awoken after Cass' loud voice had chimed through the air, nut he didn't cry. His eyes matched his older brother's, and as though with recognition, Hiro blinked up at Tadashi in wonder.
The older of the two Hamada boys glanced at his parents with uncertainty, but they could only nod at him, slack jawed and shocked, despite their intelligence.
"C-can I hold him?" he whispered.
The brunette giggled, "Watch his head, kiddo," she murmured softly as she passed on the infant to his older brother.
Tadashi made sure to be gentle, staring down at the littler version of himself.
That's when everything changed.
"You're not so scary," he whispered, just to his brother. "You're like me."
A smile broke out on his lips. "And I'm going to take care of you, just like Mom and Dad said a good older brother does…"
"What are you drawing, Hiro?" he smiled, collapsing next to his little brother.
His schoolbag and shoes had been abandoned as soon as he walked in the door, in favor of sitting with the toddler to play.
"My superhero!" he beamed, showing off the small gap between his two front teeth – a couple of his only teeth.
"Oh yeah?" Tadashi tried to confirm, grabbing his own piece of paper and some markers, flopping down on the floor next to his brother. "What does he do?"
"Flies!" the boy yelled.
"Flies!" Tadashi rolled over on his back, marker still gripped in his hand. "How does he do that?"
"Wings! H-he retracts them in his armor and flies when he needs to go fast!"
"Are the streets too slow for him?" he humored his brother as he nodded ecstatically.
"Way too slow!"
"What else does he do? Does he save people? What other superpowers does he have?!"
"He's nice," Hiro decided, sitting on his knees. "He helps people, like you…" he trailed off, suddenly very shy.
Tadashi chuckled, gently taking the paper from his brother, uncrinkling the corner. "Boymaz?"
"Baymax!" he corrected, still timid.
"Your handwriting is awful," Tadashi teased.
"Nu-uh!" he argued, shaking his head and crawling on top of his brother.
He started tickling Tadashi, earning a fun ride as the eleven-year-old curled this way and that underneath his little brother, trying to stop the tickling without pushing Hiro away. They stayed like this for several minutes, both of them unable to stop their laughter.
"Tadashi! Bring Hiro – it's time to eat!" his mother called.
The boy rolled into a sitting position and swooped his brother up in his arms as they raced to the kitchen, the superhero drawing covered with various other play and drawing things already forgotten.
"Here you go, kiddo," Aunt Cass mumbled, handing him his favorite mug. There was a purple cat on the mug, complete with ears – a Christmas present from one of his friends at school. "Hot chocolate just like you like!"
But he didn't take the cup.
She glanced down curiously at the paper strewn out everywhere. Science terms and numbers were scattered on every sheet she laid her eyes on, before her almond eyes landed on her nephew.
"Tadashi…" she said carefully, hoping to get his attention. "Tadashi! Yoo-hoo, Aunt Cass here, reporting for duty!"
He looked up at her, his eyes tired. "Is Hiro sleeping?"
She jerked her thumb to the hallway, "Just got him down, took forever though…"
"I've done it, Aunt Cass."
"What do you mean?" She sat down next to him on the floor, abandoning the two cups of hot cocoa on the coffee table. Crossing her legs underneath her, she leaned close to the scribbles.
"It's the central limit theorem! It says right here, Aunt Cass! If there's a big enough sample, it'll be distributed normally. We don't have a lot of numbers, but if we try hard enough, we can give Hiro a big enough sample of happiness to be normal!"
"Honey, what are you saying?"
"Aren't you following?" the eleven-year-old asked, exasperated. "This proves that we can still make Hiro happy." He sighed, "Look, I know the last couple of weeks have been bad –"
"You have a bigger heart than brain, Tadashi Hamada. I don't think that's how it works -"
"- and he hasn't been himself at all…" he ignored her as his eyes fell to the floor, sweeping over his notes. "But this proves that he can still be happy," then he looked up at his guardian, "that all of this hurt will go away for him."
She recognized what he was doing. She remembered when she was little and her cat died – this was exactly how her brother helped her… Though he was hurting because he loved that cat too, he channeled his hurt into making her feel better.
"Is that what all of this is about?" she asked gently, gesturing to his paper mess on the floor. She leaned close to him, taking his hand. "Tadashi, it's okay to be sad…"
"But –"
"It's okay," she pulled him close. "Everything will be okay for you, and everything will be okay for Hiro." Aunt Cass pressed her cheek against his neatly combed hair. "Want to know why?"
"Why?"
"Because he has you."
"And he always will," he told her, hugging her close and clinging to her shirt, letting himself show this vulnerability just once before he would be rise to be strong, all for Hiro."
A/N: So I'm not sure how that one went! I hope you all liked it though! Like I said, I'm debating if I want to make a full-blown plot for this story, or if I want to do little drabbles – what do you guys think?
Thanks for reading!
-zesty-