Stark Expo

VIP Invite

Dear Mister Hamada, your work has been viewed at the SFIT as a wonderful asset to the Stark Expo and SI would like to invite you to present at the Expo this year. All expenses will be paid for at the necessary time. You will be expected to stay a month before the Expo is due to begin and any inventions brought must be your own creation.

We look forward to your response,

Tony Stark

Hiro stared in stunned silence at the deceitful paper in his hands that had looked like nothing until this moment. The Stark Expo was something Tadashi and he dreamed about going to together for as long as he could remember, and now it was coming true. Except he couldn't stop thinking how unfair this moment was, it should be Tadashi not he that received this letter, yet Tadashi wasn't here it was just Hiro now. Aching pain shot through him at the thought even after a year had finally passed and Tadashi's memorial had gone and went. He was a year older, maybe not wiser, but hey he was a genius in robotics and engineering not emotional and psychological.

"Hiro!" Aunt Cass's voice broke through his musing as she stood in front of him with an excited look on her face. She broke out into a grin as her eyes scanned the paper again, her teeth crushing down into her lips with barely contained excitement. "Oh, I'm so proud of you! This is something you and Tadashi dreamed about every year when you sat down just to watch this, and now you get to go!" Her enthusiastic remark was met with a dry look from Hiro. Teenagers. She looked back even drier than him before they both broke out into grins at the notion of him going across the country to the famous Stark Expo. "I can't wait until tonight," she exclaimed while rushing Hiro out the door mindful of the fact that he still had school this morning, "invite the gang because it's gonna be a feast tonight!"

The door slammed shut not even concealing the joyous squeal of delight that she was feeling, and Hiro laughed outright even as he sped along the streets towards SFIT ready for the day and its promises.

GoGo's gum snapped in the silence that followed Hiro's declaration of the VIP invite to the Expo as Hiro's proclamation rung out in the silence. The silence continued for several more seconds before Honey Lemon let out a squeak of excitement before hugging Hiro to her chest, which caused a chain reaction in everyone to join in with some form of encouragement. "We're so proud of you." Honey Lemon declared for the rest of them kissing both of his cheeks as confirmation. They all crowded around him to get more details of when, where, and how he was going. This was going to be awesome, not many students from SFIT ever got the invite to go the last one being Robert Callaghan. He being in no way the example of how all professors or students acted here, which is what they said to Hiro just to remind him and themselves that, that was all over with. Well, not all that, Hiro and the group still did the vigilante stuff on the side and were now called Big Hero Six, which made no sense whatsoever to them but they couldn't agree on a name so it stuck. Fred's ideas were out of the pool before he could even finish them. Fred's Angels. Or Fred and his Fist of Five.

Two months was a short time for Hiro to get ready, and before he knew it plane tickets were bought all his bags were packed because tomorrow was the day and now he couldn't sleep. He lay awake tossing and turning before in a tantrum throwing himself around, only he misjudged the edge and landed on the floor with a thud. "Ow." He mumbled to himself as a automated beep resounded in his bedroom causing him to groan. He waited patiently as the squeaking approached him from across the room before a large vinyl hand appeared in his face. "Hiro, I heard you say 'ow'. On a scale of one to ten what is your pain level?" Baymax inquired already scanning for injuries on the young fifteen year old. "It's fine Baymax, I just fell." Hiro assured Baymax already expecting a diagnosis despite the verbal assurance. "I detect no concussion though your posterior and back impacted the floor, however, elevated endorphins in the brain plus stress concludes that something is the matter and it is preventing you from sleeping." He paused to blink for a moment already studying the boy. "My suggestion would be to speak of what is bothering you to someone you trust." Hiro glanced at Baymax who looked at him innocently enough before slouching back onto the edge of the bed. At least it's not the puberty talk. "I'm leaving for New York tomorrow, and its really exciting to go. But, I still can't stop thinking it should be Tadashi here instead of me. This was his dream before I was ever born, and now I'm living it." Hiro sighed into his hands as he covered his face.

"Hiro," Baymax started sitting on the bed with him. "It is not your fault that Tadashi is not here now, nor do I believe he would want you to feel guilt about doing something that is new for you. He is still here with you, though not in a form you can see or touch and he'd want you to go." A sigh left Hiro again as the same old tune began, true Baymax was an AI and wasn't human giving false sympathy to a boy that had lost everything but his Aunt Cass, and he couldn't receive pitying looks from him, it still irked Hiro to no end that people say this to him. Seriously, he's a genius and he's gone through the math and probabilities of that night and come to the conclusion that anything he'd done would have ended with him dead and Aunt Cass alone. It still didn't stop the fact that he blamed himself, and it ached. Baymax had sat quietly for a moment before moving across the room towards Tadashi's space before silently coming back. A soft thump and something landed on Hiro's chest. His eyes welled slightly at the hat that sat innocently on him before turning his gaze to Baymax with a question hidden in their pained depths. "As I have said, Tadashi is still here. Are you satisfied with your care?" Baymax inquired before the command that places him back in sleep mode is issued. Hiro curled up around the hat drifting off to sleep with the lingering smell of Tadashi.