"Here's what the café looks like from the outside," Hiro said, passing his phone to Miguel as they sat on the bed in his room. He swiped his finger across the screen to show the inside. "And that's my aunt there behind the counter."

Miguel frowned. "Is that your cat or one of those furry cats that move their paws up and down?" He motioned with his own left arm that wasn't holding the phone, clawing it and moving it up and down.

Hiro snorted. "Yeah, that's Mochi. Not a lucky cat. Did I ever tell you about the time he brought a litter of kittens from the streets?"

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah." He took the phone back and opened his messages app.

He scrolled down to almost the bottom, where his last conversation with Tadashi occurred the morning of the day of the fire two years earlier. Then he scrolled up the conversation bubbles until he came to one a few weeks prior to the event.

H– Dude, did Mochi ever have kittens?

T– What? No.

T– He was neutered when we got him, remember

T–Wait why are you asking?

[Image received.]

T– OH MY GOD

H– THEY WONT STOP NIBBLING MY SHIRT

Translating the conversation and the events that happened afterwards into the proper language, he began a riveting tale about how Mochi somehow got a dozen kittens to follow him from the street and into the house. When Hiro went up to their room after working on the microbots for the day, he very nearly screamed his head off at seeing the cats mauling his and Tadashi's sheets and a distinct smell of urine emanating from one of their pillows. Or both, he couldn't remember.

Miguel laughed his head off, Dante and Pepita rousing from their sleep by the bed. Disgruntled, they left the room from the slightly-opened door.

Once finally relaxed, he let his finger enter wine with Hiro's. "America sounds fun."

"It's full of disappointment and conservatives," Hiro deadpanned as Miguel leaned his head on his shoulder to get a better look at his phone. "But yeah, I guess it has its moments. And look, here's Honey Lemon earning her Nobel Prize for her theories and experiments on chemical embrittlement."

The next photo showed a sharply dressed Honey Lemon and he rest of the gang as well, with her wearing the medal that honored her so.

"Good for you. Her family must be proud."

Hiro smiled. "You know, we owe Honey Lemon our relationship."

Miguel frowned. "What do you mean?"

"We would never have met if it wasn't for her. Some of her own family lives here in Santa Cecilia, remember?" He recalled that day almost a year and a half ago, how one week he and Gogo accompanied Honey Lemon on a trip to the town to see her family.

During their stay, Hiro was walking through the square with the other people on a tour about a famous musician. He was never really one for music, but the history he heard about this particular impostor was very infamous. Apparently, the man had killed his friend and stolen his songs to gain credit for them. And even more surprising, both men came from this town, and the dead man's family still lived in it.

That's when he met Miguel.

Miguel was playing in the streets with his guitar case open for tips. Despite being thirteen years old, he was eager to earn money for his performances and help his family expand the business. Hiro listened for a minute before tossing a few peso coins into the case.

They saw each other again when Honey Lemon, who apparently saw Miguel's grandmother as her own as well when she was young, was invited to have dinner at the Rivera household that first night. Gogo and Hiro were also invited.

Hiro, still learning Spanish, made it a clear point to not speak too much less he embarrass himself. Unfortunately for him, Miguel and his cousin, Rosa, were all too curious about America.

Miguel sighed dreamily and half-nodded. "Yeah. I remember. We spent a lot of that week just talking to each other."

"And then we started talking long distance through the phone," Hiro added. They kept regular contact when Hiro returned to San Fransokyo; during spring break the next semester, Hiro actually got himself a ticket and went back to visit on his own. Though he stayed with Honey Lemon's family like he did last time, he spent a majority of his time with Miguel and his own family.

Miguel yawned. "A ver, quítate, Chino, I want to sleep." He pulled Hiro to lay down on the bed. It was no wonder he was exhausted despite it beating early in the night; he spent a majority of the day with the workshop helping. He tired himself out.

Hiro wasn't sleepy yet, but still got under the covers and let Miguel spoon him. He remembered the first time they slept in a bed together, how red they were the next morning when they cuddled.

The nickname Chino started off almost blatantly. Miguel started to call him that during his second stay. By the time Hiro found out that it meant Chinese and Miguel called him that based solely on his eye structure, the nickname had stuck. He didn't mind it too much, it was a sign of endearment from him.

The next morning was Hiro's last stay this time around. He was awake before Miguel, going through the schematics on his phone over a new project he'd been working on when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered quietly in English, turning his body the opposite way Miguel was facing to prevent him from waking up.

"Hey, college boy!" Aunt Cass said gleefully on the other line. "How's culture shock going?"

Hiro pulled his ear away to look at the time on the phone. "Aunt Cass, it's only six back home. The café doesn't open until eight, you never get up this early."

"I know, I was just worried about you. I know you can handle yourself well and all, but I just worry after what happened with Tadashi. Why are we whispering?"

Hiro turned quickly to make sure his boyfriend was still asleep. "I don't want to wake Miguel up, he's still asleep. He worked hard yesterday for his family, he deserves to sleep in every now and then."

"That's very sweet of you to do, Hiro," Aunt Cass said, an note of... something in her tone of voice. "You're a really good friend to him, aren't you?"

Hoping Aunt Cass couldn't hear him swallow nervously, he nodded despite not being visible. "Yeah. B-best friend."

Being in the closest was painful when he knew Aunt Cass strongly suspected.

"Uh-huh." If he could see her, he was sure that she'd give him on of her "I know better but wait for you to tell me" smirks. "Let me know if there's anything you need when you get back, sweetie."

I need an aunt that doesn't enjoy torturing me like this, he thought to himself. Out loud, he said, "Sure thing, Aunt Cass. See you tonight. Love you."

"Love you, too, Hiro." The call ended.

Hiro ended the call on his end and sighed heavily.

"You haven't told her?" Miguel said, startling Hiro from the quietness of the morning.

"Unbelievable, I thought you were asleep. And damn me for teaching you English."

"I just wanted to sleep a little more when your phone rang." Hiro didn't look back, but Miguel brought his arm over him to hug him, burying his head on his nape. "It must be hard for you."

"Please," Hiro scoffed. "I'm pretty sure my aunt knows without me having to tell her. I've visited you seven times since we met, and I pretty much embarrassed myself when I kissed you on your birthday."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Miguel's breath tickled the hairs on his neck. God, Hiro should not be this turned on over a fourteen year old, even if he was just two years older.

"Nothing. Just thinking out loud. God, I don't know how I can handle keeping this secret anymore. I think I'm gonna tell her when we get home."

"Mm. Good for you. Then she and my Tía can talk about on the phone nonstop."

Miguel laughed when Hiro groaned and pathetically fell limp onto the bed, letting his arms lose their support on him. When Rosa walked in on them kissing the day before Día de Los Muertos the previous year, pandemonium erupted and they would not stop coddling the both of them after. He heard from Miguel that he had it even worse when Hiro left that trip.

"God, can't I just keep it a secret?" he pleaded to no one.

Still hugging him from behind and more-or-less laying on top of him now, Miguel shrugged. "I dunno. I managed to keep my music a secret for twelve years, so that might count for something."

Yes, Hiro remembered the stories about how music was basically feminism and the Rivera family were extreme Republicans. He really ought to look through that pros and cons list over the Third Party again, but that was beside the point.

He knew that Miguel managed to bring the music back when her great-grandmother Coco sang and basically spoke sense for the first time in years before she passed away. And this was also how it was revealed that Ernesto de la Cruz was exposed as a fraud with her diary. He never got an exact answer as to how Miguel came to the conclusion that Ernesto was a fake, and whenever he asked, the answer would always be vague. He was hiding something, but then again, so was he. Miguel didn't know about his "alter-ego," so to say.

He voiced his question to Miguel again, wondering what he'd say this time.

"It's... a long story," he said after a few minutes of silence. He seemed to really contemplate his answer before voicing it. "Too long. And complicated."

This was the most truthful thing regarding the question that Hiro accepted it. He could live the rest of his life and he would be fine with this response.

"I'll tell you next time you visit."

Hiro turned his head. "What?"

"It's too long and too complicated. I'll tell you next time you visit," he said again.

"But... I don't understand, you sound pretty averse of even talking about."

Miguel kissed him lightly on his cheek, resting against it. "I just want to tell someone. Anyone. It's this really big secret and i just just anyone, they'll think I'm crazy. But... you won't think that. Maybe you won't believe me, but you won't think I'm crazy. I think..." He whispered the last part, but given how close he already was to Hiro's head, he still heard.

Hiro finally turned back around so that they both lay on their sides, facing each other. Their foreheads touched and he let his hand hold Miguel's face delicately. He traced his face lightly with his fingers and tilted his head to let a kiss linger on his lips, closing his eyes. Miguel got into the movement too, a sigh from his nose relaxing him.

"I love you," Hiro said in English.

Miguel stiffened before he relaxed. "Te amo también, Chino."

They stayed in his same position, fingers lazily dancing around each other before Miguel brightened up.

"Oh! I just remembered." He moved to reach over Hiro and under bed, affectively pushing his weight onto the older teen.

"Miguel!" Hiro scolded playfully, pushing weakly while not really trying to pull him off.

"Just a minute! God!" Miguel rolled his eyes as he pulled back. "Here. Mi Papá got them when he and mi tío went to the city for materials the other day."

Hiro remembered that day México City was one of the largest cities in the world, right up there with New York City, Shanghai, and London. There were several other large cities, he knew, around the planet. And the only reason he knew was because he liked facts. Even useless ones.

Did you know that in a Viking household, the woman had rights to castrate the man if he was unfaithful to her?

Ah, good times.

As Miguel passed something to Hiro and snapped him out of his thoughts, he continued to speak. "They're a real tasty piece of candy. I had them in their bag and just remembered about them."

Hiro looked at the thing in his hands. It was about an inch in diameter, chapped as a circle. It left crumbs easily and the smell was distinct, and something about it told Hiro that it was off. But not wanting to disappoint or offend his boyfriend, he took a bite.

"But can you guess what the main ingredient is?" Miguel asked as he reached for a second one.

"Peanuts?" Hiro asked, but his hand to his throat.

Miguel brightened. "Yeah! Can you taste them?"

Whatever it was that Miguel expected, it certainly wasn't for Hiro's skin to turn red and blotchy and for him to dart out of the bed like he'd been shot out of a cannon.

Miguel sang quietly to himself as he strummed the guitar. "El Latido de Mi Corazón" was one of his favorite songs back when he idolized Ernesto. It was probably the only song he liked that Héctor didn't write. It was also the song he sang the year before.

He met a Hiro before he got his family cursed and almost died. He was serious when he told Hiro he'd explain why he knew of Héctor when he did, but as it was his last day in Mexico that week, it may be too much for him to take. And he needed to tell someone, it was driving him insane everyone else not knowing he truth.

His family believed that their ancestors visited them. Miguel didn't just believe, he knew. He saw his family himself that night almost two years ago. He didn't see them last year, when he and Hiro started dating, but he knew they were there.

"Una melodía bella que el alma tocó
Con el ritmo que vibra en nuestro interior
Amor verdadero nos une por siempre, en el latido de mi corazón
Amor verdadero nos une por siempre, en el latido de mi corazón"

He had barely gotten through the second verse when a knock interrupted him. He tensed for a moment before relaxing. It was hard to forget that he no longer needed to hide his music from his family. He set the guitar on the bed and opened the door to reveal his grandmother.

"¿Abuelita?"

"Tu novio te espere en el teléfono," Elena said, smiling lightly at him.

Despite himself, Miguel reddened a little. He would never get used to how his family would easily refer to Hiro as his boyfriend, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Maybe because it was.

Miguel left his room and over to his parents'. It was the only room in the house to have a phone sense they didn't really use it except for business until recently. The phone lay on the table next to the receiver. Taking it and putting it buy his head, he fiddled with the cord with his free hand. "Hello?"

"Miguel," Hiro said, perking at the sound of his voice.

"You barely left yesterday, you don't usually call so soon," Miguel pointed out.

"What, I need an excuse to talk to my boyfriend? Even if he did try to kill me?"

Miguel reddened even more at that. "I didn't know you were allergic to peanuts!"

"Don't worry, it wasn't serious."

"Not serious? Your face bloated up!"

"Relax, Miguel, I'm fine," Hiro said. "I went to the doctor as soon as I got back. It would've been a lot worse if I didn't have my Epipen in my backpack."

Neither of them knew the exact translation for Epipen in Spanish, but a brief explanation of what it was once it was used made Miguel apologize endlessly until he left to the airport.

"But you're okay?" Miguel asked.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine."

He frowned. "You don't sound fine."

"No, I am, really," Hiro insisted. "It's just... I told Aunt Cass."

Miguel sat on the edge of the bed to keep his legs from giving out. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Did something happen?"

"No," Hiro said. "She said she suspected as much and supported me, but..."

"But...?"

"She also told my friends."

At first, Miguel didn't see what was wrong with that. He said this to him and heard his breath shudder.

"It's just... coming out of the closet isn't just something you can scream from the rooftops. I knew Aunt Cass would support me, but I was freaking out. I felt like my heart was going to rip out of my chest!"

"So what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is... I wasn't ready to one out to my friends yet." Hiro's voice lowered and he sounded vulnerable. "It's like if Aunt Cass had a boyfriend and I just decided to tell everyone we know even if they weren't ready to tell everyone else yet."

"It feels like a breach of privacy," Miguel noted.

"...yeah. Exactly."

Miguel knew exactly how he felt. Out of all his family, Rosa was the one to ignore all personal boundaries. She was the one who told the other teenagers at school that he was into boys. Some of them didn't mind or care, but others thought he was gross or broken. That the Devil was in him. It got so bad that he actually stopped going to classes that year and had to restart it again. Because Rosa didn't understand personal boundaries, and even if she had no ill intentions, she still directly ruined his chances of an education.

"How are you now?" Miguel asked.

"Hiding out in my room for a while," Hiro said. There was a shuffle of movement before a sigh. "I think Baymax is looking up the solution to the invasion of personal boundaries online now."

Yes, Hiro brought up his late brother's medical robot a lot. He was sure there was more to it based on how excited Hiro spoke of him sometimes, but he never really bother to ask about it.

Miguel frowned when he heard Hiro yawn. He suddenly remembered the time in Santa Cecilia was ahead than in San Fransokyo. And if it was pretty late now, than that meant...

"You should go to sleep," he said.

He bet Hiro was nodding despite not being able to be seen. He did that a lot when he was here and talking to his aunt or friends.

"Oh! I remembered the other reason I called you."

"Hm?"

"Yeah! I called to ask you when you'd be free from school."

Miguel frowned at the question, but answered nonetheless. "I think I have a break during Christmas and the New Year."

"How do you feel spending Christmas with me in America?" Hiro rushed out, as if if he prolonged it any longer he would resist asking.

"What?"

"You don't have to answer now!" Hiro put in, responding just as fast as he had just a second earlier. "I was wondering, since you've never been and I'm always going to see you. I could show you around where I live and stuff, and meet the rest of my friends and Baymax. I was... just curious. Okay. I love you. Bye." As quickly as he had spoken in a tired voice, he quickly hung up.

Miguel placed the phone on its receiver and couldn't help but smile. Christmas in America with the boy he loved? That didn't sound too bad.

Just no peanuts next time, he reminded himself. Absolutely none. Bad, bad peanuts.

Author's Note:

It's been a few months since I uploaded a story, but here's a one shot of a ship that I took an instant liking to when I found out about it. I originally planned on doing a full story, but I decided to forego it and compose to this. Who knows, I might come back to that story in the future.

I'm also proud of my culture that Coco exquisitely represents to the public, and Día de los Muertos is my favorite holiday of all time. I've lost family of my own, and I love the concept of the flower bridge in the movie.

The song Miguel sings is also from the movie, "Proud Corazón" in English; its the last song on the movie before the credits role.

~CoronaCrown~