AN: Back with the next chapter because all of your fav's follows and kind words made me want to write more! I'll prolly update on a weekly-two week basis, I am a very busy person so bear with me if it's late. This chapters still kind of short but I wanted to cut it off here for reasons. Upon a little more research, Tadashi is not in the ICU of a burn unit, and although it doesn't usually happen, Aunt Cass somehow managed to convince the patient care manager to allow her and Hiro to stay in Tadashi's room at night. Please enjoy!

Hiro scribbled in the notebook rapidly, handwriting sloppy and unintelligible to anyone who would have looked at it due to the fact that his thoughts were moving at a pace that his hand could not keep up with, piecing together the technology he'd need bit by bit. The draft had taken Hiro much longer than a project usually would because he wanted to make sure everything was precise and perfect, and that there were no errors in his calculations. He'd yet to contact the others and ask for their help in gathering material, mostly because he was stumped on one particular part of the project. Scribbling out another design furiously, he groaned in frustration, dropping the pad on a nearby table and standing to stretch. As a nurse came in declaring it was time to replace Tadashi's bandages, and Hiro decided to make good on his promise to Aunt Cass (who was forced to return to work at the café to start getting ready to pay for future medical bills) to head to the cafeteria and eat, bidding his brother a quiet farewell with the promise of returning quickly. He left the room, only to be met by Fred, Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon.

"Hiro!" Honey Lemon calls, smiling a hello as the group makes their way over to him. Classes had yet to start back, so the group had taken to visiting often, although today's was poorly timed.

"Hey guys." He says, and Honey Lemon gives him a hug.

"How's Tadashi?" Wasabi asks, and Hiro shrugs.

"Pretty much the same. They took him off the ventilator after the last skin graft but decided to keep him under for a little while longer until they made sure he was healing up alright. They're changing his bandages right now so you can't go in though." The group frowns at that, and Gogo mutters,

"I told you we should have called first." Hiro shrugs again at the comment.

"I was gonna go get some food." Hastily Hiro adds, "You could come if you want." Honey Lemon and Wasabi smile, and Fred says,

"Sure thing dude, I haven't eaten yet and I'm totally starved." Gogo pops her gum and gives a small nod in agreement, and they make their way down to the cafeteria, each ordering some variety of lunch before taking a seat at one of the tables. Changing Tadashi's bandages could take anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half, so the group ate slowly, chatting about nothing in particular.

"Hey, guys?" Hiro says eventually, staring down at the chicken sandwich he'd been eating, before looking up at the group. The conversation they'd been having with Fred about how, no, mind reading was not science is paused, and all heads turn to him.

"Yeah, Hiro?" Honey Lemon asks softly, and Hiro pauses, debating with himself momentarily.

"Do you have the code for Tadashi's lab?" The group passes confused glances at each other, before Wasabi speaks.

"Well, yeah, but what do you need it for little man?" He scowls slightly at the nickname, but his face clears as he tries come up with a reasonable explanation. He didn't want to tell anyone just yet…

"I-uh-," Wracking his brain for an excuse, a certain white marshmallow of a robot comes to mind. "I wanted to get Baymax! Yeah, my brothers nurse bot, y'know, for when he gets home." Understanding alights in the others' eyes, but Gogo eyes him suspiciously.

"Sure thing dude, when school gets back in we'll let you in!" Fred offers, and Hiro frowns. He'd need more time than that to develop it properly. Besides, he only needed a few pieces of tech…

"I was hoping I could get in sooner, I need to, um, make sure Baymax's programming on burn protocol is up to date."

"I'm going in tomorrow to pick up some papers I left, I could pick you up on the way there." Hiro smiles gleefully at Wasabi's offer. 'Perfect.' He thinks, and nods.

"That'd be great, thanks!"

"Alright, now that's done, what about a device that shows peoples thoughts like a movie…"

By the time everyone finished lunch, the nurse had finished changing Tadashi's bandages, and they were allowed in the room once more. Only two could visit at a time, so Gogo and Honey Lemon went first, followed shortly by Fred and Wasabi. After the group had finished, they headed out, and Hiro was left alone with his brother for a few hours, finalizing the concept and starting a new design for the microbots' neurocranial transmitter, trying to improve the coding and get rid of the delay between thought and motion.

Aunt Cass came by after closing up the shop early, bringing a few sweets along with her, and talked with nephew for a little while over donuts, before the doctor called her out of the room. Hiro's pencil paused on the notebook as he listened.

"…taking him off the anesthesia… seems to be doing well… legs… physical therapy might help but… infection… still possible… unlikely…" Aunt Cass nodded along, listening attentively, and Hiro's mood skyrocketed. They were taking Tadashi off the anesthetic! He'd be waking up! Almost as quickly as it improved, it fell again at the thought of his brother finding out about his legs, and Hiro shook his head viciously at the thought. That was why he'd come up with his invention, everything would be fine. Despite this thought his mood was still dampened as he realized he couldn't tell Tadashi about it until he was positive it would work, wary of providing false hope. He stared at his older brother for a moment, before Aunt Cass turned to come back in, and Hiro returned his gaze to his notebook, moving his pencil once more. Aunt Cass pulled a chair next to him, and he looked up at her as she sat. She smiled back, but it was unsure, and Hiro immediately knew what was coming.

"How's my little college man?" She says, grin widening slightly at the nickname. Hiro scrunches his nose at the word "little", but decides to let it go for today and shrugs in response, remaining silent. He did not want to have this conversation. "What are you working on?" She tries again, stalling, and it becomes apparent to Hiro that she wanted to talk about it about as much as he did, and he carefully hides the notebook from prying eyes in response.

"Nothing much. What's up Aunt Cass?" 'Better to get it over with,' Hiro thinks with a grimace, and Aunt Cass's face falls a bit, before she smiles sadly at him.

"You're just too smart for me. You already know, don't you? About his legs?" Hiro pauses for a bit, before nodding, refusing to look his aunt in the eyes. She scoots closer, and pulls the younger boy into her arms. "Oh sweetheart, it'll be okay. Nothing's going to change, I promise. He'll just need a little bit of help sometimes."

"Yeah." Hiro mumbles in response, heart dropping to his stomach. It seemed more surreal before, but now his aunt had just confirmed it, and reality was harsh, so harsh. His throat tightened, and Hiro willed the tears away fiercely, upset with himself for getting worked up over something he already knew. Aunt Cass cards fingers through his hair, and he brings his arms up to give her a tentative hug in response. Aunt Cass gives a final squeeze, before pulling back, one hand on his shoulder and the other reaching up to swipe tears off her own face.

"Besides, if I've learned anything raising you two knuckleheads it's that in a month or two you'll have something invented to walk for him!" She says with a laugh, and Hiro's eyes widen.

"Hahaha…yeah… wouldn't that be something." He laughs nervously, and Aunt Cass claps her hands together.

"Alright, enough of the bad stuff." Her tone lifts, and she smiles as she speaks. "They're taking him out of the coma," Hiro flinches internally at the wording, it'd always seemed so much more… permanent to him, "so he'll be awake soon!" Hiro grins at her, feigning surprise.

"Really? That's great!" Well it wasn't a lie, he was excited to have his brother finally awake. Aunt Cass stares at him for a moment, before sighing in defeat.

"You knew that too, huh?" Hiro gives his aunt a nervous grin, and she starts laughing in response, and it's not long before her laughter infects him, and they spend the rest of the night talking and smiling.

Wasabi came early in the morning, eight o'clock sharp, and after having the doctors confirm that Tadashi would still be experiencing the effect of the anesthesia until at least late afternoon, he slipped his notebook into his backpack (the clothes that had been in there emptied onto the couch in a rumpled mess) and jumped into the car. The trip was quiet except for the murmur of the radio and occasional comment on bad driving from Wasabi, and they arrived quickly at their destination.

"Alright, I'll be at my station when you're done, I want to adjust the lasers really quick and then grab those papers I needed." He says, tapping the code in quickly. "The code's 0611, in case you get locked out or something." Hiro pauses, swallowing against an almost instantly tight throat. Wasabi glances at him after Hiro pauses on the threshold.

"You alright little man?" Hiro shakes his head to clear it.

"Yeah, just… the code, it's my birthday." He says absent mindedly as he walks in. Wasabi gives him a smile.

"Well yeah, people usually use dates important to them as passwords because it's easy to remember."

"Yeah…" Hiro gives a small smile at the thought, before glancing back at Wasabi. "I should only be a few minutes." Wasabi nods, and leaves the room, the door swinging shut softly behind him. Hiro wanders around, glancing at the not-so-organized space. He walks over to the left side, deeming the right less likely to have what he was looking for. He thumbs through materials on the desk, none of them quite fitting, although he borrows a few tools he hoped Tadashi wouldn't mind him taking, and kneeled down to thumb through some boxes.

'Com'on I know there has to be some spare parts around here somewhere!' He thinks, groaning when all he finds in the first box are some programing chips. He pushes it back under and pulls out another, grinning in triumph when he checks inside. 'Perfect…' He pulls out some pieces that looked like they were spare parts from Baymax's skeleton, and dropped a few in his bag. 'I should have enough material in the garage for the printer…' He thinks, leaving the carbon-fiber in the box and pushing it back, standing and walking over to the desk with Baymax's schematics and programing on the glass screen. He gives it a quick once over, nodding in approval as he walks over to the tool box and pull open a few drawers, taking a few fine tuning tools that were more precise than the ones he owned, and a few sensor chips and high powered processors. 'Sorry Bro, gonna have to borrow these.' He's about to walk out the door again, backpack straps biting into his shoulders with the weight of it, when he remembers the reason Wasabi thinks he's here. He turns around and walks over to the red box in the back, pulling up the handle on the back and leaning it on the wheels before walking out and heading across the empty lab over to Wasabi's section.

The laser induced plasma had just been flicked off when Hiro arrived, and Wasabi was placing his tools back in their places, a stack of paper sitting next to him. He looks up at the sound of wheels on tiled floor, and gives Hiro a smile.

"Ready to go?"

"Yup."

There wasn't much Hiro could do at the hospital with what he'd gathered. Wasabi had offered to take him back to his aunt's café, but he'd declined in favor of waiting for his brother to wake up, which resulted in a heavy backpack filled with material being hidden behind Baymax's charging station in the corner of the room. Hiro supposed the design could use a little more work, so he grabbed his blue notebook and flipped open to the pages he'd dedicated for his project, noting a few things in the margins and getting to work to figure out what he'd have to machine at home.

There was a few moments of lucid consciousness, but before his muddled brain could form a coherent thought it was gone again, swept away in murky waters.

Muttering. A frustrated groan. It sounded familiar. Tadashi wanted to see who it was, but fell back into the depths of unconsciousness before he could even think about opening his eyes.

He felt far away, like he was flying, but surely that couldn't be possible, people couldn't fly. Could they? He tries to shift, and something burns through his body, but it's less pain and more of an irritating pulse, and he's too detached from feeling to realize that it hurt, so he does it again. The pain returns slightly more fierce, and he realizes that, oh, yeah, that is his own pain he's feeling, maybe he shouldn't do that.

"Tada-nii?" The voice is quiet, hopeful, and excited. And very familiar. Why couldn't he place a name? Surely he knew his own brother's- oh, that's right, Hiro! He tries to open his eyes, and is surprised to find out that, wow, that took a lot of effort, at least a few minutes of willing them to open. It's so blurry he can't make out a thing, and he wonders why he bothered for a moment, before he blinks and he realizes that with every short close of his eyes, the world got clearer! There's laughter besides him.

"Bro you're flying higher than a kite right now." So he was flying! When did they manage that, he was sure people didn't have wings yet…

"No, not actually flying," a fit of giggles, "I meant you're drugged up." Oh. Well that sucked, flying would have been pretty cool. Wait, why was he drugged up? The laughter stops, and Tadashi manages to put in enough energy to tip his head to the side and eye his younger brother. And wait, when could his little brother read minds? Another laugh, although it's quieter, and his brother's face doesn't look happy.

"I can't read minds, you're saying everything out loud." Oh. Oops. He laughs at the revelation, and suddenly everything is just so funny, he can't stop.

"You alright Tada-nii?" Hiro sounds worried. Tadashi is already losing the battle against sleep.

"I'm fiiiiiiiineeeeeee, although I can't feeeeeeel my leeeeeeegs!" He says with a dopey grin and a laugh, forgetting to mention he couldn't feel much of anything so high off of morphine for that matter, and falls back asleep, missing the look of pain that takes over his brother's features.

The next time he wakes up its late, and although that strange detached feeling still remains everything is a lot clearer. He opens his eyes to a white ceiling, with a strange beeping in his ear and something blowing in his nose. He crinkles it at the feeling but can't bring himself to raise a hand and do anything about it. He turns his head in the low light of the room, and finds a head of scruffy black hair drooling on his mattress. No it wasn't his- where was he? He turns his head again, and a heart monitor answers his question. The hospital, but why was he- oh. SFIT. The fire. Running in after Professor Callaghan.

"Tadashi, don't!" He grimaces at the memory, reprimanding himself internally. He hadn't gotten twenty feet inside when he realized what a grave mistake he'd made, heard a loud noise -explosion, maybe?- before his memory blanked out and switched to the hospital.

His mouth was dry and his body felt numb while his mind was still clouded, something he attributed to morphine, more likely than not. He looks at his younger brother once more, and his heart drops.

Hiro has dark bags under his eyes, like he hasn't been sleeping well, his hair is even more ruffled and tangled than usual, and his face is red, like he'd been crying recently. Guilt fills his heart, and Tadashi realizes Hiro had almost became the last Hamada. It takes a minute, but he manages to lift his hand and set it on his younger brother's head.

"I'm so sorry, Otouto." The name from their Japanese heritage falls from his mouth without him really intending it, Hiro had asked Tadashi long ago to stop calling him that, but he doesn't bother correcting it. The boy twitches under his hand, before opening groggy eyes as Tadashi pulls his hand away and smiles at his younger brother as Hiro wipes drool off the side of his face.

"Hey, Hiro." He says softly, and Hiro's head whips up to stare at his brothers face before his own lights up like Christmas.

"Tada-nii!" Tadashi's eyes widen at the address and he's thrown back a few years for a moment, before small arms wrap around him, and boy does he feel that. A groan of pain slips from his mouth and Hiro releases him at once, panic in his eyes. "Oh, crap, they told me not to do that, are you-" Hiro's cut off by a laugh and a raised eyebrow.

"What was that?" Of course all Tadashi would pick up out of that was one word in particular.

"Uhhh, Crud…?" He says with a nervous smile, and Tadashi nods.

"I thought so." Tadashi smiles back, and Hiro whacks his arm, glaring at his older brother.

"Don't ever do that again you idiot!" He says, a pout on his face that's breaking into a grin, and the guilt slams into him even harder than before, twisting his heart at the thought of leaving his baby brother, the unsaid "you scared me!" stabbing through him.

"I'm so sorry Otouto." He repeats his comment from earlier, the name just sounding right, "I didn't mean to scare you." His brother mumbles something, and Tadashi just barely catches the, "Yeah, well you did," before his little brother turns.

"Aunt Cass!" The sleeping figure on the couch startles. "Tadashi's awake!" Aunt Cass gets up in a rush and hurries over, and Tadashi smiles at her in return.

"Oh, baby, you're awake!" She says gleefully, gripping his arm tightly, wary of the minor bandages on his forearm, and placing a hand on his face while Tadashi laughs lightly. "How do you feel?" Aunt Cass would later regret asking, because it caused Tadashi to stop and really evaluate, and she watched as her older nephew, her adopted boy, paled in panic as he realized something was very, very wrong.

The detached feeling morphine gave was similar to numbness, but not at the same time, so it's no wonder he didn't realize it at first. As the older boy took stock of his injuries, he felt the odd disconnect when he moved, maybe a twinge of pain far away, more of a sense of pressure than actual hurt, but was pleased to realize his arms hadn't sustained serious injury. However, the feeling in his legs was completely different. There wasn't that odd feeling that morphine gave, no, much to his horror, there was nothing. As in, he didn't even know if they were there or not. A quick flick of his eyes assured him that yes, they were there, but he couldn't feel them.

"I-I can't feel them. I can't feel my legs." He states, mouth dry, and he watches as Hiro looks at his feet, and Aunt Cass gave him a pained look, before glancing over at Hiro. His younger brother seemed to read the look well, and gave his brothers hand a squeeze, looking Tadashi firmly in the eye, and for all his panic and anxiety, Tadashi paused for a moment in pride because his little brother, the boy he'd helped raise alongside their aunt, had never looked more like a determined adult in his life than when he spoke in that moment, and Tadashi was struck with a realization that his baby brother was growing up.

"It'll be alright Tada-nii." Hiro looked at his aunt. "I'm gonna go get the doctor." His aunt nodded in response, and Tadashi had the terrible feeling he'd been left out of the loop of something major. Aunt Cass swallows, and gives Tadashi a pained smile before speaking.

"I-" she swallows against the lump in her throat, "I wanted to tell you myself before they came in and explained all the medical jargon I missed." A pained laugh, and Tadashi knew this wasn't going anywhere good. Aunt Cass sat down beside him, gripping his hand, and Tadashi gave a slight squeeze back. "When they found you, in the building, you were-uhm, you were pinned under some wreckage. Your legs got burned pretty badly." Tadashi had spent months programing Baymax with medical data, he knew what third degree burns could do to nerves. His aunt wiped some tears away, before looking him straight in the eyes.

"Tadashi, honey, the doctors- they don't think- they couldn't fix them. They don't think you'll be able to use them anymore." Shock filled him, and Tadashi couldn't think. Surely this wasn't happening right? Not ever being to walk again… He just couldn't see it. Part of him accepted the possibility, but the rest simply couldn't comprehend. He stared at Aunt Cass, trying to process her words. When she stood up, walked over, and gave him a kiss on the forehead, hugging him lightly, the words started to sink in, and a sense of loss fills him.

"I promise honey, it doesn't change anything, okay? We'll still love you all the same, it doesn't matter." She says resting her head on his, and Tadashi forces a hand to move and settle against one of the arms wrapped around him.

"Thanks Aunt Cass." His voice is choked, and honestly he doesn't know how he's going to move forward, but somehow he gets the feeling it'll be alright. She releases him, and Tadashi drops his hand back on to the mattress. She's crying when she takes his face in her hands, but smiles all the same.

"My strong boy." Her tone is prideful and loving, and she hugs him a final time, before the doctor comes in, tailed by a hesitant Hiro.

The doctor explains everything in a much more scientific manner, and Tadashi understood what had happened, and his heart sunk in his chest as the diagnosis was solidified. After checking his vitals and asking questions, he told Tadashi to get some rest before leaving, and the room sat in tense silence no one was willing to break. After a few moments of thought, Tadashi looked up at his family in the room, and smiled. They gave him confused looks in return and he laughed.

"I'm just happy to be alive." He says finally, and Aunt Cass smiles widely at him, a laugh falling out of her mouth, and stood and walked over to him, hugging him once more, while Hiro stood by the bed, and Tadashi reached up to ruffle his younger brothers hair, although it was more of a light pat.

"My very strong boy." It's a whisper, a murmur into his hair, but Tadashi smiles all the same, before he gives a yawn. "Get some sleep." She says, smiling at him. "We'll be here in the morning." He gives a small nod in response, and it isn't long until he slips into a fitful slumber, and Aunt Cass runs her fingers through his hair once more before heading back to the couch. "Hiro, you should get some sleep too."

"Yeah, in a minute." He mumbles, going over the final design one more time. Everything was ready to go, he had all the parts he needed, all he had to do was get some information and go home and get to work, but… He glanced over at his brother. Hiro didn't want to leave. He hadn't left really, except to go home and pick up clothes and shower over the course of the week Tadashi had been in the hospital, and then with Wasabi to get the materials he needed. But part of him knew if he wanted to help he'd have to eventually, so he was firm in his decision. Tomorrow he'd get Aunt Cass to drop him off at the house later, and he'd get to work. Hiro snapped his notebook shut and walked over to the armchair with a yawn, curling up and falling asleep rapidly now that he knew his brother would be alright.