Well, I watched Big Hero 6 some weeks ago and I still think a certain character death was unwarranted. So, I wrote this in response, because I refuse to accept fictional deaths.

Some spoilers if you haven't watched the movie yet.

(This is also part of a larger fic, in which events change accordingly to the survival of this particular character, but it involves an OC in a major role and I feel that this was the only part of the story that was really cathartic for me).

I might post the rest of the story for anyone that asks. Its not done yet, though, and like I said before, features an OC, and I guess that might be a turn-off for some. It would still follow the Yokai storyline, since Tadashi's survival hasn't stopped anything. I think Hiro would still use Baymax & Co. to stop him, but keep their superhero moonlighting a secret. Hilarity and drama ensues.

Tadashi would be the narrator for the whole thing, probably.

EDIT 11/5/16: changed the circumstances of Tadashi's survival. No one saves him this time around.

Chapter One

FWOOOM !

The building exploded.

He went flying backwards.

Tadashi felt weightless. Kind of like a dream, one of the nice ones where he floated gently, safe and in control. A part of him didn't want it to end, this sort of peaceful air, but the sight before him – the building expanding, bursting apart, flames surging out in a devilish cloud – reminded Tadashi that that could've been him, in there, inside, had he been a little faster.

The flight came to an abrupt end with Tadashi landing on his back. The wind was knocked straight out of him and Tadashi just lied there on the ground, in a breathless daze. He looked up at the sky, admiring the pretty red sparks in the clouds, unable to grasp that he had failed (survived), that he was too late (safe), that Professor Callaghan was…

The word escaped him.

Help. He had to get help. Tadashi shook his head, regained his senses and was about to get up, search for his phone, but another face filled his vision, one all too familiar.

The boy was shouting right into his face. At first, Tadashi couldn't hear because his ears were ringing, but slowly the voice came into focus. "…Tadashi! Tadashi ! Are you all right?"

"I'm okay, little bro," He sat himself up, rubbed his aching shoulder. It had taken the brunt of his fall. All things considering, it could've been a lot worse. Tadashi took a deep breath, trying to fully comprehend his utter luck. "I-I'm okay."

"Then what were you thinking, knucklehead ?!" Hiro's face switched from concern to rage in an instant. Tadashi didn't know what to expect when his little brother raised his arms and started hitting Tadashi, his head, his chest, punctuating his own words with each blow. They weren't so much punches as glancing slaps. "You know you're not supposed to go into a burning building if you're already outside! It's, like, a law or something!"

"Ow, ow, okay, okay, Hiro! I get the message!" Tadashi relented, bringing up his arms to defend against the slaps. Truthfully, Hiro didn't hurt him, hadn't intended to. In fact, it helped wake Tadashi up a bit, got him to focus. "Look, I was just trying to do a good thing!"

"So? You're not a firefighter, Tadashi! You're my brother!" Hiro snapped back, but his previous ire was starting to ebb. His voice grew high and wavering, cracking near the end. "What was I supposed to do if you were – if you were gone? Who's supposed to make fun of me, who's supposed to sure I don't – I-I don't…I c-can't…"

There was a painful yank in Tadashi's gut as he watched the tears well up in Hiro's eyes. The boy covered his face to hide them, but Tadashi didn't care. Without a word, he enveloped his younger brother in the tightest hug his arms could allow. Had he been in that building, to save Professor Callaghan like he wanted to, he wouldn't be here right now with Hiro. He held on, horrified by the irrational thought that Hiro might be ripped away from him by the cruel hands of Fate, who still wanted her tragedy.

The thought of leaving Hiro terrified him. Only now Tadashi realized how foolish he was, to go diving into the fire without a second thought. What would his parents think? Unlike Hiro, Tadashi had been old enough to remember the both of them, and they knew all too well of their oldest son's penchant for trying to do the right thing, no matter how much trouble it put himself in.

Tadashi could still hear his father's voice, chastising him: Brave, yet stupid.

After they died, Tadashi had promised Hiro he would always be there for him.

He closed his eyes, squeezed tighter, and rubbed the back of Hiro's head, touching his soft hair. Today, he had broken that promise.

"I'm sorry, Hiro," Tadashi whispered and a long silence stretched out, filled only by the sound of crackling fire and the soft sobs of the boy. He didn't know how he was going to make it up to Hiro (besides not trying to die). "I promise, I'll never do that again."

"You better not," Hiro sniffed, drawing back and scowling at his older brother. Tadashi couldn't help but smile - even though Hiro was angry at him, Tadashi couldn't help but appreciate the fact that he was still here to see it. "Do you know how upset Aunt Cass would be when she found you jumped into a burning building? You know what that would do to her? To me?"

"Yeah, I know," he muttered, getting a little annoyed with the prolonged guilt trip, but knowing better than to complain. It was his fault this happened, and now he had to face the consequences. "I just got lucky."

"Which doesn't make any sense," Hiro said, getting off of Tadashi to pick up his baseball hat that had fallen to the ground some feet away. "Because you weren't wearing your lucky hat." He came back over and stuck it on Tadashi's had, made sure it fit snug. "You can't lose it again."

"Oh, right," Tadashi smiled weakly, raising a hand to rest on his hat. The San Fransokyo Dragons were the best baseball team in the entire state — every game Tadashi went to wearing that hat with SFIT's logo, they won. He didn't even remember it falling off. "How could I forget?"

"Clearly not one of your best moments," Hiro said, falling back into his usual self-assured demeanor. Tadashi took this as cue that Hiro had forgiven him.

"All right, all right, I get it. Let's go before Aunt Cass starts to worry."

Tadashi muttered; the teasing was getting a little old now. There were sirens in the distance; help was finally coming.

Unfortunately, the only way Aunt Cass wouldn't have worried is if they had both stayed home that night.

Since that was impossible, Aunt Cass was freaking out.

When they found her, Cass was pacing back and forth, wringing her hands together and muttering to herself. She was with the rest of crowd, around the path and up the hill where the first police cars arrived. Cass didn't notice them at first, when the two brothers had made their way back. Most were people here had been attending the science fair, and were easy to get lost amongst the chaos. Some were being treated by paramedics and loaded into ambulances, but no one seemed particularly injured. The two had to look around a bit, trying to sift through the numerous faces and voices, until they saw their aunt and called out to her. Aunt Cass picked her head up with a gasp, then tackled both Tadashi and Hiro in a mighty bear hug.

"Oh, my god, you're all right!" Aunt Cass cried, looking to be near tears, dark red hair frazzled. All this crying around, Tadashi wasn't sure he could keep it in himself. She backed up, grabbed both of their faces to examine them, saying, "Are either of you hurt? Were you inside the building?"

"No, we showed up when we saw what happened," Tadashi said, trying to pull out of his aunt's iron grip. But Cass was not to be defeated. She fixed him with a shocked look.

"You didn't go inside, did you?" she demanded, jaw dropping and green eyes going wide. Tadashi almost cursed. He had underestimated how well she knew him. Aunt Cass took his non-answer thusly. "Tadashi! I can't believe you! Don't you know how dangerous that is?"

"Yeah, I know, I-I just wanted to save Professor Callaghan," Tadashi looked down, finally pulling out of Cass's hand. She looked up at him, frowning, but he couldn't meet her eyes. "He was still inside when it…when the building just…"

"It blew up," Hiro finished baldly, earning a frustrated look from his older brother. But Hiro ignored him, seemed to be pleased with humbling Tadashi further. Upon retrospect, Tadashi would understand Hiro's lack of respect for Professor Callaghan's life as one for his own; a respect that manifested into teasing, because of course it did.

He smacked Hiro's shoulder, about to say something before Aunt Cass cut them off. "That's enough, you two. Tadashi, don't ever do something like that again, you understand? I really don't want to have to ground a full-grown man, even if you are my boy." She heaved a deep sigh, hands on her hips as she led them away. "It's been a long night, and it seems like everyone wants me to get fat by stressing me out. I'm going to eat so many donuts when I get home…"

The two boys were checked by the paramedics before they could leave. Hiro was fine, and Tadashi had only managed to earn a couple bruises – he didn't even get burned, unless you counted having all the hair on his arms getting singed off. The word 'luck' was thrown around again.

He had to tell the police about Professor Callaghan, who was yet to be found. The officer writing down his statement did not seem surprised by this information, so Tadashi assumed they already knew. He wondered if they even believed there was a chance Callaghan was still alive. Was it still a rescue mission? Or was it just a search-and-recover now? He tried to urge them to do something, to work faster, anything that could help — but the police just sent him away, telling him to calm down, that they were doing the best they could. To him, Tadashi thought he was being perfectly reasonable, acting rationally. But that was apparently not the impression the police had; Tadashi head heard a couple cops whispering amongst themselves about 'shock' and 'trauma'.

It made Tadashi angry — he knew what he saw, but he had no proof and couldn't remember enough to say otherwise.

The cops eventually let the Hamada's go home, all still in one piece. Tadashi, already exhausted, couldn't believe he had to climb three stories just to get to his bed. But it would be soft and safe, so he decided it would be worth it…even if he had to carry a sleeping Hiro, whom he decided not to wake up.

Aunt Cass gave each of them a last kiss goodnight before ushering them to bed. The room was dark when he got up there, but something big and furry brushed past Tadashi's leg as he entered – Mochi, their Calico cat, welcomed him home by rubbing against his legs. Tadashi would have pet him if his arms weren't full of teenage angst.

He set Hiro on his bed — the boy curled up into the sheets almost instinctively, mumbling something that Tadashi couldn't quite understand. Before he fell asleep, Hiro had been berating Tadashi and making fun of him. It was quite a turnaround in behavior after their conversation in the direct aftermath of the explosion. But Tadashi took this to mean that Hiro was back to his old self and was merely trying to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.

It made him smile a little. Nothing could faze Hiro.

He flopped down onto his own bed, so glad to meet the pillow that he didn't bother with the sheets. After the fire, Tadashi felt too warm all over, like somehow he was still reliving the experience. He remembered to kick off his shoes before falling asleep, however, and felt Mochi jump onto his bed. The cat kneaded the blankets and curled up against the back of his knees, purring like a lawnmower. The sound soothed his thoughts of the fire and he closed his eyes.

And Tadashi drifted off, glad to be home.

(●—●)

He awoke later that night — 2:32 AM, if his clock was telling the truth - to movement on his bed. Tadashi thought it was Mochi moving around, but the cat wasn't that heavy, or that big. He was almost too tired to look around, but did so anyways, wondering what could have woken him up at this time of night (better not be serial killers).

It was Hiro. Eyes half-lidded and hair even messier than usual, Tadashi's younger brother crawled onto the bed. He fell into the unoccupied space on Tadashi's side, huddled right up next to him. His hair got into Tadashi's nose and he almost sneezed — it still smelt like smoke, and it reminded him once again of what might have happened.

But he didn't try to push Hiro off or tell him to go away, you have your own bed or you're taking up too much space. Tadashi didn't speak or laugh at him or make him feel embarrassed for being scared at night — just pretended he was still sleeping as Hiro wrapped his skinny arms around his older brother, like a baby koala, burying his head into Tadashi's side and sighing with contentment.

The two brothers went back to sleep.

idk if you guys know this, but I've done some fanart for BH6, and this fanfic in particular. I'm not sure if the link works, but I'd like you guys to see it, since I like to think it complements my writing :)

Just copy-paste into toolbar and delete extra spaces and brackets

the-solar-surfer . devia ntart . c [om]/art/You-Promised-505848507