Gogo Tomago tossed one of her wheels up and down, absent-mindedly, sending it into an arcing rotation at its highest peak. She looked casually disinterested, blowing a big pink bubble now and then, just sitting on the edge of a table. She was by far the most quiet of the group. This wasn't bizarrely out of the ordinary, Gogo was more inclined to silence than chatter, but her indifference seemed a little strange, since it was her friends arguing.
It had been two months since they had discovered the newly-awakened Tadashi in a hospital. Apparently Professor Callaghan hadn't been absolutely evil. He had saved the unconscious Tadashi, but then left him in a small town just fifty miles outside of San Fransokyo, when he couldn't revive him.
Fortunately, a Good Samaritan had discovered the badly burned comatose boy, and rushed him to a hospital.
With no form of identification, Tadashi's name, family, everything, wasn't discovered until he had woken up.
There had been a lot of tears, hugs, and exultation when they had all heard the news.
But once all the partying was over and Tadashi was allowed to go home, then there was the small matter of telling him everything that had happened. This they did...to an extent. They waited until he was fully recuperated to tell him about their crime-fighting ways.
Finding out that your adolescent little brother is regularly going out into dangerous situations, doing dangerous things, and fighting dangerous people, is quite the shock. According to Tadashi, it was also unacceptable and would no longer be allowed. The heated words were between just him and Hiro at first, but when Fred,Wasabi, and Honey Lemon had stepped in to defend Hiro, it escalated to Tadashi getting furious with his friends too, and feeling betrayed by them. That was where the arguing climaxed.
"...And you all agreed to this!" Tadashi yelled, his arm waving in his outrage and disbelief, "You? My best friends! Why would you give in to his..his schemes!? You're adults! You're supposed to know better!"
"If we hadn't, he would have gone by him-" Wasabi tried
"No!" Tadashi refused furiously, "No! That is not an excuse! You could have found a way to stop him! I-I can't believe you guys!"
And with that parting sentiment, Tadashi ran out of the room, as if no longer able to control himself. Everyone was left frozen, and undecided. Never before had they seen a furious Tadashi. It was a terrifying, cringing experience.
Gogo, the only one not at a loss, slipped out of the nerd lab quietly. She knew where Tadashi would be.
Tadashi sank his head onto his hand, and stared morosely down into the koi pond. He had retreated to the pond, just on the outskirts of campus, without thinking. He had often gone there to think before...the fire. Now he was indignant, angry, and glaring down into the pond, kicking his feet, as they dangled over the side. Not too many people knew there was ledge under the bridge. As a matter of fact, only one other person knew about it, and she had been the one to show it to him in the first place.
Makes sense that she knew where he'd go.
Tadashi didn't move or speak, as he heard Gogo quietly slip onto the ledge next to him. He was probably the most upset with her, but she was also the only one who hadn't sided with anybody during the argument. Maybe she knew he was right.
"You know I'm right. Right?" Tadashi finally turned to the small half-Korean next to him, after ten minutes.
Gogo shrugged.
"Out of all my friends." Tadashi's expression was painful, "I would have counted on you the most to stop him. I'd trust you to have that sense, to keep him out of trouble."
"I was one of the first ones to back him up actually." Gogo told him calmly.
"What?!" Tadashi exploded.
Gogo cringed, and Tadashi felt bad for a moment, because he knew Gogo didn't like angry shouting. But he collected himself and was about to berate her, when Gogo clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Alright, Hamada." Gogo said warningly, "Number one: I told you loud speech wasn't allowed down here when I first showed you it.
"Number two: You're going to let me talk and explain things to you. Got it?"
Tadashi gave a glare that could have given one of Gogo's a run for its money, but eventually he gave in and nodded. Gogo slowly removed her hand.
"When you died," Gogo paused for a minute as if collecting herself, but recovered and started again, "When you died, we were all shaken and distressed. You were like the center cog in our group, and we didn't really know what to do without you. But it was even worse for Hiro, because you were his support. That little nerd was lost without you. He spent months holed up in your room, and no matter how hard we tried to get to him, nothing worked."
Tadashi's face began to soften, and Gogo took that a good sign.
"Hunting down, Callaghan, creating suits for us, working with Baymax, that was the first time I saw him show any sign of healing. He was so eager with his designs; so, I didn't try to stop him. I admit that was partly because I wanted to see the guy who killed you pay for it, just as much as Hiro did. Honestly, I didn't realize how moved by revenge he was, and after he left us on the island, I was going to insist he stop, but when we got to your garage, he had changed. He never really said exactly what happened, but Baymax was able to get to him, and he knew you would have hated what he had tried to do. He grew then, he almost reminded me of you, and when we went up against Callaghan, beat him, and saved Abigal to boot, he matured so much."
Tadashi listened, absorbed.
"Remember the little kid you used to rant about to me under here?" Gogo asked, "Remember how you groaned that he had so much potential and should be doing more with his life? Remember?"
Tadashi nodded his head. It was tiny, barely any movement, but Gogo caught it.
"He's using that potential now." Gogo informed him, "He's getting good grades, he rebuilt Baymax, he improved Baymax, and he's using his abilities to help people. That last part kinda reminded me of someone else I know."
Gogo nudged Tadashi's shoulder before continuing.
"When we started out I swore to your memory that I would be there for Hiro and protect him like you did, but Tadashi you and I are extremely different people. I'm rough, I don't have your golden sense of purpose or softness. I did my best, but found I could protect your brother best by trying to be there through whatever decisions he made. I know the others had the same idea. We've done our best, and I like to think Hiro has been the better for it. But, you've seen how he is now, is he honestly that helpless little troublemaker you used to know?"
Tadashi didn't reply, he was pondering her words. At first he didn't want to admit it even to himself, but Gogo's reasoning was too earnest, it almost sounded as if she wanted his approval.
Hiro was more mature, he had noticed it. He did chores around the cafe without complaining and sometimes even without having been asked. His grades were the highest they could be, and he even skipped a few courses. He was still kind of snarky, but that was just his nature.
"You guys are really watching out for him when he goes out...you know.." Tadashi asked hesitantly.
"Like a hawk." Gogo assured him, "But he doesn't really need it. He's careful. He's even saved my skin once or twice."
"I-I guess I won't interfere." Tadashi decided reluctantly, "But one bad incident, if something goes wrong just once, he stops. Got it?"
Gogo had a bemused expression.
"Got it." She confirmed.
Tadashi studied her face carefully for a moment, as if wanting to be sure she got how serious he was. Gogo studied the tall Asian back. But there was no pity in her face. That was something Tadashi appreciated about Gogo, and why he felt more relaxed in her company, she didn't seem to care that his left eye was so scarred from burns that he could barely see out it, or that his left arm was gone from the elbow down. He was regular old Tadashi. This was a big factor in Tadashi knowing he could trust her.
Tadashi leaned forward and hugged the small girl. Frozen from surprise at first, Gogo soon recovered and hugged back. She would have denied that her face was flushed, even though it was unmistakably red.
"Thanks, Gogo." Tadashi said gratefully, "Thanks for everything. Thanks for helping Hiro."
Gogo pulled away, and just shrugged nonchalantly.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." She mumbled a bit embarrassed.
"I suppose I should apologize." Tadashi sighed, standing up, "And tell Hiro he can keep suiting up."
Gogo followed his lead, and trailed behind Tadashi as he clambered back onto the bridge, and began to walk back to the lab.
Gogo soon began to walk in step with him, inspite of his longer strides. In fact, Tadashi's long legs were probably the only reason he was able to keep up with her.
"Hey, just out of curiosity..." Tadashi spoke up after a moment's silence. Gogo looked up at him and raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"How long did you plan that speech?" Tadashi asked, "You knew I'd lose it, didn't you?"
Gogo shrugged, and Tadashi narrowed his eyes.
"Since I heard you were alive." She admitted reluctantly. Tadashi stopped in his tracks.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, well, I knew how big an idiot you are." Gogo grumbled and crossed her arms.
"Unbelievable." Tadashi shook his head, but he was starting to grin.
"Shut up." Gogo shoved him.