"Clearing out your office for the summer, Mr. Hamada?"

Tadashi jumps momentarily in surprise before turning to the door and smiling when he sees the familiar figure standing there.

"Hai, sensei!" he agrees with a warm smile. It was still hard for him to believe sometimes that Robert Callaghan, the man who had been his hero for as long as he could remember, was now his mentor and even someone he could almost consider a father figure (something he'd never really experienced before as his own father had died when he was very young and hadn't been particularly warm or close to him during the time that he was alive.)

"Well, you deserve a nice, long break after all the hard work you've put in," the professor says, coming into the office and leaning against the desk. "Any plans?"

"Not a whole lot set in stone," Tadashi admits. "Probably working on some inventions that I've been tinkering around with but haven't actually been able to work on as much as I'd like to with classes and everything."

"As much as I appreciate your dedication, make sure that you do get some rest in-even the greatest inventors need time to relax, and sometimes they get their best ideas while they're doing nothing at all," Callaghan gently reminds him.

"Oh, trust me, Fred's making sure I do get in some r&r," Tadashi chuckles. "He's taking the whole group down to his family's beach house for a week-kind of a forced vacation!"

"Well, that location does seem appropriate for you," Callaghan says softly.

"S-Sir?" Tadashi instantly feels a bit of panic in his chest, wondering what exactly the other man meant by that.

"With your research-yours and your brother's," Callaghan answers calmly. "Being around the ocean might give you some ideas for both your projects."

"O-Oh, yes, of course!" Tadashi replies, trying not to seem too relieved. The truth was that Callaghan's words, even if they had actually been meant innocently, were completely true. Visiting the ocean was a completely fitting trip for the elder Hamada because of his very important secret-namely, that he was actually a merman. Whether due to some mer in his ancestry, a family curse, or something else entirely, Tadashi had been born with a silver fish tail instead of legs like his human parents had been. The first eighteen years of his life had been spent in a swimming pool in his family's ancestral mansion where he'd been hidden away from the rest of the world to prevent him from getting taken away to be studied in some scientist's laboratory or put on display in a zoo as a freak. But all of that had changed the day the recently hired houseboy, Fred Lee, had stumbled into his private sanctuary. There had been an instant spark between them when they'd met, and, despite his family's initial reluctance, Tadashi and Fred had started dating and fallen in love over the course of the summer, culminating in a true love's kiss-the fanboy had managed to take Tadashi on a tour of his dream school, the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, by pushing him in a wheelchair and hiding the mer's tail under a special moisturizer, and something about helping him fulfill that dream had been enough to create necessary magic for it. The initial kiss had finally given Tadashi the freedom he'd been missing out on all those years by turning his tail into a pair of human legs, but it soon became apparent that, depending on his emotions, his body would erratically switch back and forth from mer to human. With practice, he'd learned to control the transformation and could now hold either state with ease. Unfortunately, there had been an incident during his learning period that had almost ruined everything that he and his family had been working for for his entire life.

Tadashi could still remember the Expo like it was only yesterday. In order to get into SFIT, incoming students had to participate in a school sponsored exposition where they showed off some project or technology that they'd been working on. Students who impressed the judges gained acceptance into their program of choice, and professors sometimes chose students who really impressed them to come study directly under them. Both Hiro and Tadashi were determined to get into the lab run by their hero, Professor Callaghan (whom they had met once on their tour of SFIT), and so they had worked tirelessly to make their projects as good as they could get them before the Expo. Their other friends that they had met on the campus tour, GoGo, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi (all nicknamed by Fred and who actually knew about Tadashi's secret due to an incident on the tour where they had accidentally seen the mer's tail), all came over on most days to work on their own projects and critique each other's work. It was honestly a lot of fun, and by the night of the Expo, they were all confident that they were all going to ace their presentations. Little did they know of the near accident that was about to occur.

GoGo's, Honey Lemon's, and Wasabi's projects all went off without a hitch, and Hiro's microbots absolutely blew the judges away. Tadashi couldn't have been more excited for his friends, and he'd almost squished his brother to death in the tight bear hug he'd pulled him into after he'd gotten off the stage. Then it was time for his own presentation.

Due to the nature of his project, he'd requested and received special permission to use the university's pool to demonstrate his robot's unique abilities.

"Showtime," he whispers to the red suitcase next to him as he watches his little brother, who had volunteered to be his assistant for the presentation (being part mer, even without a tail, if something went wrong he had less a chance of getting into any water-related troubles than the others), swim out to the middle of the pool and then give him a thumbs up to let him know that he was ready to begin.

"This is Baymax," Tadashi says to the judges, trying not to appear too nervous as he gestures to the red case. "My water rescue bot. Thousands of lives are lost every year in water related accidents, often because the victim is not noticed by others until it is too late or because they are in a situation where is too dangerous for another human to try to reach them. Baymax, being a robot, eliminates the risk of losing human lives while trying to save another person in danger. Beyond that, I am currently working to make Baymax sensitive enough to be able to detect sounds of human distress and automatically activate upon hearing them to begin rescue protocols. This function will cut down the amount of time it takes for the endangered swimmer to receive help-precious seconds that could very well save lives. My brother, Hiro, is here tonight to help demonstrate Baymax's unique abilities. Hiro, are your ready?"

"Ready!" Hiro agrees with a grin and a wave before beginning to splash in the water and shouting, "Help! Help!"

Tadashi steps back and watches nervously as the power button on Baymax's case lights up and then the case unfolds, the robot within beginning to inflate. The truth was that half of the young man's brain was stuck on fighting the instinct to jump into the water and rescue Hiro himself-despite legends about sirens luring sailors to their deaths, the truth was that mermaids and mermen, at least in the Hamada family, were duty bound to protect and rescue anyone, human or otherwise, who came into danger in their watery domain. Maybe it was meant to make up for the sins of their siren cousins. Maybe it was just that they came from a special branch of mers that were related dolphins, creatures who often helped humans who were in danger. Whatever it was, the instinct was tightly bound into Tadashi's very DNA, and that made it very difficult to fight. Still, the mer forces himself to remain calm, reminding himself that Hiro wasn't actually in danger and that, even if he was, Baymax was already on the task of rescuing him. That's why he'd invented the robot in the first place, right? To help save others! And he had to give the robot a chance to do his job.

"As you can see, Baymax is an inflatable robot, which makes him both compact and easy for storage when he's not in use," Tadashi says, working hard to focus on his prepared speech. "This quality also gives him buoyancy in the water, making it possible for him to be used a flotation device." His words were made evident as the robot neatly dives into the water and starts propelling itself across the pool's surface towards Hiro. "Not to say that he can't function underwater-should a victim go beneath the surface, he can release enough air to allow himself to sink to the proper depth while his solid skeleton allows him to keep functioning properly." Baymax does just that as Hiro helpfully dives below the surface, the robot quickly sinking to his level. "And, as soon as he has his rescue-ee safely in hand, he re-inflates to quickly bring them back to the surface and back to dry land." He grins as Baymax perfectly executes his functions, bringing Hiro back to the side of the pool within seconds.

"If I'm allowed to come here to SFIT, I hope to continue working on Baymax to give him added functions, such being able to provide respiration to swimmers while still in the water and performing basic CPR, maybe even executing other basic medical functions once they're back on dry land that could contribute to saving lives. This is my project, and I thank you for your consideration." He gives a quick bow before glancing over at Hiro, who was grinning over at him, telling him what he already knew-that the presentation had gone amazingly.

"Very impressive, Mr. Hamada," Professor Callaghan, the head of the judging panel reviewing his project, says, giving him a pleased nod. "And how does one deactivate Baymax?"

"Oh, right!" Tadashi blushes, realizing that in his excitement he'd forgotten that very important factor. "Baymax, would you like to show them?"

The robot nods briefly before turning to Hiro and saying in its chirpy recorded voice, "I cannot deactivate until you tell me that you are satisfied with your care."

"In that case, I am extremely satisfied with my care!" Hiro tells him with a grin.

Baymax nods, apparently convinced that his work was done, before returning to his case and deflating.

"Well, as long as no one else has any further comments, I think I can safely speak for all of us by saying that we would be honored to have both you and Baymax here at SFIT," Callaghan tells Tadashi with a warm smile.

"O-Oh my gosh… Arigatou gozaimasu-I mean, thank you!" Tadashi cries, excitement flooding his chest-he'd done it! He'd actually done it! He'd gotten in! This was a lifetime of dreams all coming true in one night!

"And may I also say that, with the kind of work I've seen the two of you putting on display tonight, I would be very happy to have both of you working directly under me in my lab this fall," Callaghan adds, handing both Hiro and Tadashi official-looking letters, sealed with the SFIT logo.

"No. Way," Hiro breathes, his eyes going wide as he stares down at the letter in awe.

"T-Thank you so much, sir," Tadashi manages to get out, trying not to hyperventilate.

"Don't thank me-you've more than earned this," Callaghan answers warmly. "Keep up the great work, and I see wonderful things in your futures."

"Maybe even positions someday at my company," a man dressed in a well-tailored suit adds, coming over to them and smiling.

"A-Alistair Krei!" Hiro squeaks, and Tadashi could completely understand his excitement-this man was one of the most successful students that SFIT had ever had and had gone on to create a flourishing company that specialized in military grade weapons, as well as many other more benign forms of technology which had actually gone on to help thousands of people (perhaps in an attempt to balance out their less humanitarian efforts?)

"We'd certainly love to have you!" agrees the petite woman who was playfully holding onto his arm. Tadashi instantly recognizing her as Abigail, the girl who had led his and Hiro's tour of SFIT only a month earlier and also Professor Callaghan's daughter. "I work in the aeronautics division, and we're always looking for fresh minds to help us 'shape the future', as Alistair likes to put it!"

"Thank you for the offer," Tadashi says with a smile as he finally starts coming down from his fanboy high. "But actually, Hiro and I are planning to open our own company someday."

"Yeah, you'd better watch out for us, we're going to be your biggest competition!" Hiro adds with a cocky grin.

"I'll keep that in mind," Krei chuckles. "Still, if you ever change your minds, my offer still stands!"

"We'll keep that in mind," Tadashi promises, although he was confident that he and Hiro would soon make the name Hamada even bigger than Krei Tech.

"Well, it is getting late, and, even if you are our last presentation for the night, we won't keep you," Callaghan tells the two brothers, gently cutting in. "I can see your friends are all eagerly waiting for you by the door," he adds, gesturing to where the rest of the group was not-so-subtly peeking into the gymnasium, obviously trying to see how things had gone.

"Right!" Tadashi agrees, excited to go tell his friends the good news and head home for the celebration Aunt Cass had undoubtedly prepared for them.

He and Hiro were about halfway to the door when he realized that he had accidentally left Baymax by the pool.

"I'll be right back!" he tells his younger sibling.

"Want me to come with you?" Hiro asks.

"Nah, keep going, I'll meet you at the door," Tadashi promises, turning back around and heading for the pool.

If he hadn't turned around, maybe things wouldn't have happened like they did. If he'd thought to bring Baymax with him, he could have just headed home, his life and perfect little world still intact. But life doesn't always go the way one plans.

Callaghan and Krei were a little ways away from the pool, their backs turned to it and talking about something Tadashi couldn't hear-probably the most promising students they'd seen that night. Abigail, however, seemed to have noticed Baymax still sitting by the pool and had headed over to retrieve the robot. Unfortunately, her footwear choice for the night-high-heeled sandals which fastened around her ankles by only the thinnest of straps-was not ideal for being in a setting with water, and due to the amount of splashing that had happened in the general area, there were tons of puddles around, making the already slick tile even more slippery. Tadashi almost sensed it before it happened-her foot came down in a particularly tricky patch of water and, instead of making purchase with the floor, she slipped, and within moments she was falling into the pool.

There were so many logical reasons that Tadashi shouldn't have gone after her. For one thing, it was likely that she could swim, even though she was weighed down by regular clothes, and she probably could have made it to the surface on her own. For another, Baymax was right there and would have activated the moment he heard any sounds of distress. But unfortunately the man's mind still had not fully recovered from resisting going in to rescue Hiro earlier and so his mer instincts were already piqued. When he saw Abigail fall in, his brain completely shut down and he didn't even think twice about diving in after her. It didn't come back online until he had her safely back to the surface and onto dry land. He didn't even realize until he was having difficulty getting himself back out of the pool that he'd done something extremely stupid and dangerous. In his heightened emotional state, his body had switched forms and his tail was very much evident. He needed to change back now, before anyone saw-

But it was too late. Abigail, still dripping and slightly in shock from her fall, was gaping down at him with a look of utter disbelief on her face. Within moments, the mer's fate was sealed as both her father and Krei hurry over to check on the young woman and, within moments of looking over to thank her "savior", discover his true nature.

"What on Earth-?" Krei gasps as he sees Tadashi's silver tail flashing in the water. "T-The boy's half fish!"

Tadashi instantly starts to backpedal-maybe if he could get across the pool, he could climb out on the other side and make a run for it! But in his panicked state, he could tell that he wasn't going to be getting rid of his tail anytime soon. Already he could see the expression on Krei's face, could tell exactly the type of calculations he was making-Tadashi would probably be the greatest scientific finding of the century, if not the millenia. Professor Callaghan's face was a completely blank slate-the elder Hamada had no idea what might be going on in his head, but he could only guess that it would not end well for him.

"Tadashi!" The merman's head jerks up as he hears a voice calling his name-Hiro! For a moment he feels a spark of hope in his chest, but it's quickly doused by fear-no, if they knew the truth about him, it would only be a short leap to his little brother, and even without a tail he'd probably be taken as well! He wanted to try to call out to him, to tell him to make a run for it, but his voice didn't seem to want to work and he could only watch helplessly as his younger sibling runs closer and closer to his doom.

When Hiro skids to a stop at the pool's edge, he quickly takes in the situation, and although there is panic in his eyes, he manages to keep his expression as neutral as Callaghan's was. Everyone seemed frozen, unsure of what to say or do next. And then suddenly the younger boy does the last thing that Tadashi expects-he lets out an annoyed sounding groan before drawling, "Wow, really, Tadashi? You couldn't resist showing off our last piece of tech, could you? And without me even being here to take part of the credit!"

"E-Excuse me?" Krei sputters, and Tadashi honestly wanted to ask much the same thing although he was doing his best to just keep quiet and go along with whatever plan his otouto was apparently hatching in that little genius mind of his.

"All right, so we had this project cooked up in case we needed a little extra 'wow' factor, although we were pretty sure we couldn't submit a joint entry which is why we didn't show you guys this upfront, even though it's way cooler than our individual projects," Hiro answers, his tone communicating nothing but authenticity-even Tadashi was starting to believe him. "You see, I have my microbots, and Tadashi has his water rescue robot. But when you put them together-you get this!" He gestures to Tadashi's tail. "Interactive, telepathically controlled technology that will allow human lifeguards to become even more effective! As Tadashi has demonstrated here, when the wearer comes into contact with the water, the microbots stored in the cleverly hidden compartment beneath the wearer's swimsuit-or clothes, in Tadashi's case, since he apparently decided to do this while fully dressed, although I can understand why given he felt it was an emergency-release and form a structure resembling a fish's tail around their legs, giving them stronger, more streamlined and thus faster swimming abilities. Something like this could improve the chance of rescuing a swimmer in danger by almost 50%! It's pretty cool, right? I still don't think Dashi needed to give away our little secret this early on-we could have saved it for next year's Expo-but he's ever the heroic type and I guess he couldn't resist showing off for the young lady in the room, even though he's supposed to have a steady boyfriend!" He shoots Tadashi a playful glare, and despite the fact that what he was implying was extremely embarrassing, given he was quite literally saving his tail, the older boy couldn't do anything but meekly nod in agreement.

"Y-You're microbots really did this?" Krei stammers, staring down into the water and obviously trying to get a better look. "It looks so lifelike…"

"Of course! The Hamada bros wouldn't create a project without giving it some extra flair!" Hiro answers, puffing his chest out with pretend pride. "We created each bot to be a separate scale to add to the illusion that it really is a fish's tail."

"Fascinating…" Krei starts to reach out towards the water, and Tadashi momentarily panics at what might happen if he actually touched his tail and could feel how very real it was, but before the older man can even come close, Hiro playfully but firmly bats his hands away.

"Hey, we can't let you in on all the secrets of our tech-we're supposed to be your competition, remember?" he reminds him in a bantering tone.

"I can respect that," Krei chuckles, to Tadashi's great relief retracting his hand. "Still, color me extremely impressed, gentlemen. I can see where you just might be giving me a run for my money in a few years."

"I don't care how you did it-you save me back there, and I am extremely grateful," Abigail says, giving Tadashi a warm smile and then to his great embarrassment, kissing him on the cheek. After that she finally makes her way to her feet, wincing slightly in pain as she does so. "I think I twisted my ankle with this stupid heel… Dear, do you think you can help me out to the car so I can get home and get my ankle up and maybe change out of these wet things?"

"Oh, of course!" Instantly Krei's attention is fully on Abigail and, after tossing a hasty goodbye to the two brothers, the couple heads for the door.

Tadashi was about to relax when suddenly he felt a penetrating gaze on him and realizes that, while they might have fooled Krei and Abigail, they still had to get past Professor Callaghan. He timidly lifts his eyes up to meet those of his idol's, not at all sure that the older man had actually believed Hiro's story. Still, after a few moments which were probably the longest in Tadashi's life, Callaghan finally says in a low voice, "Interesting. Very interesting." Then, in a more normal voice, he adds, "Well, you gentlemen have yet again proved your talents worthy of SFIT. I look forward to seeing you this fall."

And then, just like that, he turns and walks out of the gymnasium without even a glance backwards.

"O-Oh my gosh…" Tadashi gasps as soon as he's gone. "I… I can't believe we actually made it out of tha-OUCH!" He rubs his head on the spot where his brother had just very soundly whacked him. "What the hell?!"

"You IDIOT!" Hiro glares down at him, doing his best to appear enraged even though it was obvious that he was just barely managing to keep from crying. "How could you DO that?! Do you have any idea what they could have DONE to you if they didn't believe my story?!"

"I-I know," Tadashi admits, hanging his head in shame. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't think-"

"That's RIGHT. You DIDN'T think! You NEVER think about the consequences to your actions! They could have taken you AWAY from me! And you were willing to throw it away just to play HERO?! Do I really mean that little to you?!" Hiro shouts at him.

"Hiro…" Tadashi whispers. "I-I know… I-I swear, I didn't do it on purpose, my instincts just kicked in and…"

"In that case, you definitely need to get your instincts under control," GoGo says firmly as the rest of their friends, who had been silently and panickedly watching the whole debacle from the door, join them by the side of the pool. "Also your transformations. You can't pull the 'microbots' card every time your tail decides to show up in class! Either you need to figure out how to get your legs to stay on semi-permanently, or else you're going to have another 'accident' and go back in that wheelchair for good whenever you're in public."
"Guys, enough!" Fred butts in when he sees how upset his boyfriend was looking. "C'mon, give him a break. Yeah, he needs to work on control, but he's been working hard on it."

"Not hard enough, apparently," Hiro mumbles under his breath.

"And I KNOW he's going to keep working on it to get this under control before school starts!" Fred states firmly. "But right now he's just been through an extremely traumatic experience, and we should be focusing on getting him safely home instead of beating him over the head for something he obviously already feels terrible about!"

"Fred's right-he's been through enough tonight!" Honey Lemon quietly agrees.

"Fine, fine," GoGo sighs. "As long as he got the message."

"I-I have, believe me," Tadashi answers quietly, still feeling shaken both by his near escape and the other's reactions to it.

"C'mon." Fred reaches a gentle hand out to the mer, who finally finds it in him to relax long enough to let his tail form back into legs as his boyfriend pulls him out of the pool.

"Here." Wasabi, who hadn't wanted to get in the middle of the argument but was always prepared for any emergency nonetheless, pulls a clean white t-shirt out of his bag which Tadashi gratefully changes into it. It was too big for him, but at least it wasn't wet.

"Let's go get Tadashi home," Fred says once the mer is finished changing, leading the group towards the door. The elder Hamada, though, notices his younger sibling hanging back from the others and heads over to check on him.

"H-Hiro, I really am sorry about what happened tonight," he begins guiltily. "I swear that I'll do my best to never let this happen agai-"

He's cut off yet again as the teen suddenly wraps his arms tightly around his waist, and after a moment of surprise, Tadashi gratefully returns the hug.

"I love you, you stupid nerd," Hiro whispers. "I-I just want to keep you safe, no matter what…"

"I know that." Tadashi leans down to gently peck the top of his head. "And I appreciate everything you've done to take care of me all these years."

"You're welcome." Hiro gives him a crooked, gap-toothed smile at that.

"Now c'mon, let's get both of us home before Aunt Cass really starts worrying about us, okay?"

"Okay," Hiro agrees, gently nuzzling against his side as they make their way to the door.

Even though for months after the Expo both of the brothers kept their guard up, jumping at the smallest noise for fear that Krei or Callaghan had stopped believing their story and was coming after Tadashi, nothing ever happened. Apparently Hiro's words (which Tadashi had begun to think were strengthened by the "powers of persuasion" that they got from the sirens that were mixed with their regular mer blood) had done the trick, and eventually they were able to comfortably settle into life at SFIT. There were times, like today, when Tadashi had to wonder if Callaghan suspected more than he was letting on. But if almost two years had passed without him doing anything or trying to expose his secret, the elder Hamada was pretty sure that either the professor had chosen to refuse to believe something which to him could not be explained by science or, for reasons unknown to the young man, was willing to keep his secret.

And, if it was the latter, Tadashi thinks as he finishes packing his bag and locks the door to the office behind him, he would always be eternally grateful to him.