A/N: I'm feeling lousy myself, and I fear I'm in the throes of a cold and it could not have picked better timing...So, I'm motivated to update this. Hope you enjoy reading. Warnings for mentions of vomit, for the faint hearted or just the extremely squeamish.
...
Hiro's eyes burn with tears of shame. From the stairwell where the smell of his promptly rejected stomach contents vilifies the air, and the three friends promptly huddle as close to the wall as possible.
"Fred, could you run ahead and get the nurse? Hiro can't stand," Honey Lemon notes in concern. Fred nods, but then frowns as he regards the blonde.
"What about you, Honey?" he asks.
"I'll stay with Hiro until you return, my friend." She assures their friend with a brave smile. "Please, do not worry about me. The smell is just bile acids."
Her friend nods in response, and then runs up the stairs as fast as his feet can carry him- leaving Hiro and Honey Lemon to continue to seek refuge from the smell.
Hiro realises with a sinking dismay that this is the first time he has been sick since his brother's death, and he groans quietly, burying his throbbing head between his knees, ignoring how awful his breath smelled. Frankly, he's too exhausted to care.
"Hiro, my friend, how are you doing?" Honey Lemon asks, prompting Hiro to edge his head slowly from its hiding place- where he finds himself staring into kindly and concerned green eyes staring at him through purple rimmed glasses.
"Ugh, I feel awful..." the 14 year old tells her honestly, clutching his head. "My head feels like it's going to split open."
Honey Lemon bites her lip on hearing this grim verdict on her young friend's condition. Indeed, she notes in alarm that his face is even more pallid and ashen than earlier.
Gently placing her hands on his shoulders, she lays his head in her lap. She strokes his black hair soothingly as he blinks up at her in surprise. "Shh, Hiro, please rest. Fred will be back soon with help," Honey Lemon urges gently, continuing to massage his scalp.
Although still with an awful headache and lacking in energy to even sit up, let alone stand, the robotics prodigy feels all tension seep away from his shoulders. He rests his pale, flushed cheeks on his friend's knees, allowing her soothing voice and her gentle ministrations to lull him into sleep.
...
When he next awakens, he finds himself in an unfamiliar room with 3 mint green leathery seats across one wall, white walls with posters about mental health, having safe sex, and the importance of being up to date with flu jabs.
He himself is lying across another three chairs, and he almost laughs at how much the nurse's office of San Fransokyo Institute of Technology- the most prestigious education institution for science- looks like a secondary school's one.
Except he fears he'll throw up if he dares emit as much as a silent chuckle, so he remains still, willing his sickness to go away and let him carry on with his work.
Just then, a rotund, sharp eyed, black and grey bedecked woman enters the sick bay, sending chills down the genius's spine. She peers down her aquiline nose, over her steel rimmed glasses at Hiro, and he attempts to edge towards the back of the seats as much as he can.
"Hiro Hamada?" She rasps, before giving him a look that made Hiro think she was scanning him...almost like a robot- almost like Baymax, even. But her unfriendly demeanour and appearance prevent him from comparing her to his kindly robot companion.
"Y...yes, Miss?" He asks politely.
"That'd be Mrs. Abstract to you!" She snaps, glaring at him. "I have phoned your guardian, Cass Hamada to let her know you're due to go home."
"...thank you, Mrs. Abstract," Whispers Hiro weakly, feeling his head spin. Satisfied with his answer, she leaves the same way she had come, leaving Hiro alone again.
He wishes his friends are here to comfort him and keep him company, or Aunt Cass, to take him home and make chicken soup.
Most of all, though, he really wants Tadashi back- he was the brother who would tell him silly stories and make him laugh, he was the brother who calmed him after being sick, and would clean up the mess without complaint. He was the brother who would provide cuddles when he was feeling particularly tired or lousy.
Most of all, though, he was the brother who never left his side, no matter how perilously sick Hiro himself was- and that did result in Tadashi getting colds and the flu from time to time, but he never complained or made Hiro feel bad about it.
Now, Hiro realises with a pang of misery, he'll never get those times again. Professor Callaghan had put paid to that when he thought he had lost someone dear to him, too.
"Tadashi..." Hiro mumbled, feeling tears prick at his eyes. Before he can stop himself, he starts to sob quietly as the memories of Tadashi spring afresh into his mind.
As much as he loves his marshmallow- like, robot best friend, Baymax wouldn't be the same as Tadashi.
And he never would be.