"Why did I ever invent this stupid machine?"
Hiro gazed at the blueprints before him. Of course he knew why he'd invented the machine. Fred had given him the idea when they'd first met, although the science enthusiast didn't know it.
"I've been trying to get Honey to develop a formula that can turn me into a fire-breathing lizard at will, but she says that's 'not science.'"
It would have been near impossible to achieve what Fred had actually wanted (since fire-breathing lizards didn't exist) but Hiro had come up with the next best thing: why not a machine that could switch bodies?
The young prodigy had never had any intention of actually putting the idea to use until the Big Hero 6 came about, figuring that it would be a good, harmless side project to try and prove Honey Lemon wrong.
Well, he thought it would be harmless at the time.
The gang had dropped off the blueprints soon after school ended, as promised. Hiro advised them not to go anywhere near Baymax unless they wanted to catch his cold, but they insisted and wanted to see him anyway.
Fred made a random and (slim) but possibly plausible point that maybe since Baymax was originally a robot, he wouldn't be contagious to normal humans.
Hiro turned his gaze to the group, watching as they interacted with Baymax. The human-bot seemed okay with such a big crowd looming over him, but Hiro could tell he was still nervous.
"Give him some space, guys. He's not a science experiment."
"Sorry," Honey Lemon apologized, taking a step back from Hiro's bed, "we just have so many questions!"
"It's alright, Hiro," Baymax said, holding a scratchy throat, "perfectly understandable."
"Don't blame me if you guys get sick."
"Hey, maybe my theory will turn out to be correct," Fred responded wistfully, attempting to poke Baymax in the arm once again. "Did that hurt?" he asked Baymax curiously. The robot had to resist the urge to swat his hand away.
"If only we knew why the machine broke in the first place. Then I'd know what not to do again and make it better."
"You instructed me to record the project's completion," Baymax suddenly mentioned when the thought occurred to him.
"I did?" Hiro faintly recalled doing so, wanting to record a pivotal moment in his invention history.
It was like second nature as he accessed the video files. Was this what it was like for Baymax when he'd shown him the videos of Tadashi?
The team waited anxiously as the video started to see the reason behind why the machine had failed. Baymax sat on the bed in a sort of stupor as he looked on, every once in awhile swatting Fred's hand away.
"...This is Hiro Hamada, and this is the 73rd test of my SWAP project. It's not ready yet, Baymax. I just need to tweak a few things first."
Hiro held a subtle look of tiredness. It was almost midnight, after all. He was just happy that the team had left so he could finish faster.
A few add-ons here, a few tweaks there. It was almost done. If only he could just...
"Hiro!" The cry of Baymax sounded.
Noise. An explosion.
"...Woah," was all Fred managed to get out.
"Remind me not to rebuild the case with glass," Hiro muttered plainly, glancing at the blueprints.
"How did you get out of that without a scratch?" Honey Lemon gasped. Even GoGo was shocked that the machine had caused that big of an accident.
Wasabi was even more amazed at the fact that Hiro and Baymax survived.
Hiro knew why he'd lived through such an ordeal. He turned to Baymax, forever grateful for the robot's constant watchfulness.
"You saved my life."
Baymax snapped out of his contemplation. "It was in my programming to help and not allow harm to come to my patient. Your health is my only concern."
Hiro shook his head. He didn't like the fact that Baymax saw him as only a patient and nothing more, even as a human. It hurt him more than the bot had realized back in the portal.
But it didn't make any sense...he hadn't even realized that there had been something wrong with the machine before it exploded on him.
"At least we know how you two got swapped now," Wasabi commented, glancing at Baymax in amazement. If the robot hadn't been there...
"Uh, guys?" GoGo interrupted, "It's great that they survived and all, but Hiro said that it took...what, 73 tries for him to get that far with the machine. Which took you how long, Hiro?"
Hiro paused, reality punching him in the face. "Uhhh...three months."
Fred's eyes widened.
"...Woah."
Baymax cradled his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth. Hiro was reminded of how he couldn't breathe soon after turning human.
"No, no, no, buddy...calm down," Hiro said quickly, immediately going over to help the startled bot when his sensors picked up a panic attack approaching. "It won't take that long this time. We have everyone here to help us."
Baymax looked up at him with a hopeful expression, managing to calm himself down. Breathing still hurt. It burned and with his sore throat, the air hurt even worse.
"We'll do whatever we can to help," Honey Lemon promised. She wanted to give Baymax a physical form of comfort, but refrained. He'd been through enough already.
"I second that," Fred agreed. GoGo nodded in confirmation that she was in, too.
"...Thank you," Baymax said softly, covering his mouth when a cough escaped.
"Hiro?" Wasabi asked when the teen didn't answer.
Hiro blinked, snapping out of an unsuspecting daze.
"You spaced for a minute there, man," Fred told him with a bit of worry in his voice.
"...I'm fine. Just lost in thought."
GoGo eyed the genius warily, not believing it.
"We need to get this thing started."