Hiro wasn't sure how much later it was when he woke up again. It was still light outside, so hopefully he hadn't slept for too long. He felt kind of bad about just passing out, but in his defense this bed was so comfortable that anyone would immediately fall asleep if they lay down on it!
He was still pretty out of it, so it took him almost a full minute to realize that he'd somehow ended up under the covers. How was that possible? He was pretty sure he'd fallen asleep on top of them-had he done this in his sleep? That's when he noticed that his hoodie, which had been tossed on the floor, was neatly folded and placed on the computer chair at his desk, and a bottle of juice had been left on the bedside table with a little note attached that said, "Just in case you're thirsty when you wake up! I'm in the garage if you need me :) -Tadashi"
Wow. So apparently Tadashi had come to check on him and when he'd seen him sleeping on top of the covers he'd tucked him in and then picked up his hoodie and left him something to drink when he woke up. It was equally sweet and embarrassing. He appreciated that Tadashi was looking out for him, but he was a bit worried too. The last time that Tadashi had seen Hiro before the show at the bar, Hiro had only been three. Did Tadashi still view him as that little kid? Did he think he was getting back his baby brother when Hiro was almost a full grown adult? (Well, not full grown-Hiro was seriously hoping that he still had a lot of growing to do, at least in the height department-but the point still stood.) It looked like this was a conversation that they were going to have to have, even though Hiro was worried about how well Tadashi would take it. He really didn't want to jeopardize his place here, but he also wasn't comfortable with being treated like a baby.
As it turned out, Hiro was pretty thirsty, so he ended up downing the juice (had Tadashi known that his favorite was grape? Or was that just what he'd had lying around the house?) before going to track Tadashi down. It took a few wrong turns, but he finally found the garage, the inside of which momentarily distracts him from his mission to talk to Tadashi. This workshop was sick! He was pretty sure there was more tech in here than they had at the labs at SFIT, and the computer setup Tadashi had was absolutely to die for! Plus over in one of the corners was a small recording booth which was where Hiro was pretty sure Tadashi recorded his music videos as Sunfire. Just how much fanboying was he allowed to do in here without it being creepy?
"Hiro!" Tadashi, who had been working at the computer, turns around and smiles when he sees him. "Hey! You sleep okay? You were pretty passed out when I went to check on you!"
"Y-Yeah, I slept okay," Hiro answers, suddenly brought back to the reason that he was here in the first place.
"Is everything okay?" Tadashi asks, seeming to notice that something was up.
"Kinda," Hiro admits a bit nervously.
"Hiro, if something's up, you know you can tell me, right?" Tadashi says with a concerned frown.
"I-I don't want you to be mad…" Hiro mumbles.
"I would never be mad at you!" Tadashi promises. "Just tell me what's on your mind!"
"I… I really appreciate you wanting to look after me," Hiro finally says, not quite able to meet his eyes. "But tucking me in, picking up after me, leaving me a juice bottle… It's really nice of you, but it feels like something you'd do for a kid. And I'm a little bit worried that maybe who you're wanting is your three-year-old brother, not me…"
"What? Oh, Hiro, no!" Tadashi cries, eyes going wide. "That's absolutely not what I was trying to do, and I'm so sorry if I made you feel that way! You can ask Fred, I'm a little bit of a hardcore caregiver, I seriously do that even with all of my adult friends, trying to make them more comfortable and look after them, so I'm all the time putting blankets over them and tucking them in when they fall asleep in weird places! And as for the juice, I sort of remembered that you usually wanted something to drink after taking a nap so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to leave you something just in case, but I swear that I wasn't doing it because I see you as a kid!"
"Really?" Hiro asks hopefully.
"Really," Tadashi answers firmly. "Trust me, I get that you're a teenager now, and while I'm sad that I missed your growing up years, I'm not going to be trying to treat you like a child! And if you ever feel like I am, even unintentionally, please let me know, I never want to do anything to make you feel uncomfortable!"
"Thanks, Dashi." Hiro gives him a relieved smile. "That means a lot to me."
"Of course!" Tadashi stands up and reaches out to him as if about to hug him before pulling back. "Um… Are hugs still okay?"
"Of course hugs are okay!" Hiro answers.
"Okay, awesome!" Tadashi grins and pulls Hiro into a hug, which Hiro gratefully sinks into.
"So, um, your workshop is pretty amazing," Hiro says when Tadashi finally lets him go, trying to move on from their slightly awkward conversation.
"Thanks!" Tadashi beams at him. "You're totally welcome to use it any time you want."
"Seriously? You'd let me use all this stuff?" Hiro asks, not quite able to believe it.
"Of course!" Tadashi beams at him. "We'll clear out a space for you to use in here if you want!"
"That would be incredible!" Hiro breathes.
"Awesome." Tadashi smiles and ruffles his hair before turning to gesture to a red case that sat on the ground next to his desk. "We'll get to that soon, but for now I think I have a promise to keep to you about meeting a certain robot."
"Baymax?" Hiro asks eagerly.
"Yes, Baymax," Tadashi laughs, seeming pleased by his enthusiasm. "You ready to meet him?"
"Totally!"
"All right then! Usually he only activates when someone's in pain, but he does have a manual start button so let's go with that since neither of us are injured." Tadashi goes over to press a button on the case, and moments later a puffy white robot starts inflating out of it.
"Hello, I am Baymax!" the robot cheerfully announces once it was fully inflated.
"Whoa… Sick," Hiro breathes-he couldn't believe that he was getting to meet the original Baymax!
"Hey, Baymax," Tadashi says with a warm smile, patting the robot's arm. "Good to see you, buddy. I actually have someone important to introduce you too-this is my little brother, Hiro!"
"Hello, Hiro!" Baymax turns and waves to Hiro, who silently waves back, too excited to speak.
"Baymax, can you do a scan on him?" Tadashi asks. "Just to make sure that everything's okay?"
"Of course!" Baymax quickly does what Hiro could only assume was a scan (to him it looked like Baymax was just looking him over slowly) before a medical chart pops up on the robot's vinyl chest. "Hiro is overall healthy, but a bit malnourished and underweight. I recommend a balanced diet high in calories combined with physical exercise to help him gain the nutrients he needs and achieve a healthy weight," Baymax chirps out.
"We'll keep that in mind, thanks Baymax," Tadashi tells him with a warm smile. Seeing the clearly panicked expression on Hiro's face regarding the whole exercise thing, he quickly adds, "Don't worry, I'm not a huge fan of exercise either and I don't expect you to go to a gym or pick up a sport if you hate that as much as I do. But I do practice karate sometimes just for fun and to keep in form if you ever wanted to try that with me. No pressure! Just giving you that as an option if you ever want to try it."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Hiro says with a sheepish smile-he still wasn't sure about the whole exercise thing, but karate sounded like the lesser of a lot of evils. And it might be fun if he was doing it with Tadashi.
"Now that we've gotten that part out of the way," Tadashi continues, "did you want to check Baymax out?"
"Yes please!"
"Then go right ahead!"
"Awesome!" Hiro races over to the robot, eagerly pressing his face up against the vinyl to get a better view of his inner-workings.
"If you ever want to look at his blueprints I'm happy to give you a copy," Tadashi tells him, looking pleased by his enthusiasm.
"That would be totally sick!" Hiro answers eagerly.
"I'll make sure to get on that!" Tadashi laughs before asking curiously, "So, what sort of robots do you build?"
"I, um… Well, I haven't had much of a chance to build any robots for a while with the whole not having access to parts thing," Hiro admits. "I've got one robot, Megabot, but I don't know if you'd like him because he… Well, he's my bot fighting robot…" After all, he was talking to Tadashi frigging Hamada, world-renowned roboticist and an outspoken opponent of the bot fights! Would he be mad that Hiro had even brought Megabot with him? Hiro had been tempted to leave Megabot behind to avoid this, but he couldn't stomach the thought of abandoning him after everything that they'd been through together.
"Hey, just because I don't like how dangerous the fights are doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into the bots," Tadashi says with an encouraging smile. "And if you wouldn't mind showing your bot to me, I'd love to see him."
"Really?" Hiro asks, not quite sure he could believe that.
"Absotutely!" Tadashi answers firmly.
"Well… Okay then." Hiro finally gives in. "I'll be right back!"
"Take all the time you need," Tadashi reassures him.
Hiro hurries back into the main house, grabbing Megabot and his controller out of his backpack before racing back to Tadashi.
"This is him," Hiro says once he's returned, handing the bot to Tadashi. "W-What do you think?"
"I think he looks like a very skillfully put together robot!" Tadashi answers with a smile. "Very clever use of the magnetic bearing servos!"
"Thanks, I put them together myself!" Hiro beams proudly at that. "Do you want to see him in action?"
"Sure, I'd love to!"
"Okay then!" Hiro grins and puts Megabot on the ground, sitting down cross legged in front of him and extending the controller out to its full capabilities before starting to put him through his paces.
"Wow," Tadashi says softly once Hiro finishes the demonstration.
"What do you think? Do you like him?" Hiro asks a bit nervously.
"Hiro, he's amazing!" Tadashi answers with a huge grin that looked-proud? Was that the right word for it? Could Tadashi actually be proud of him for something like this?
"You think so?" Hiro looks hopefully up at him.
"Of course!" Tadashi crouches down next to him and ruffles his hair. "If you can make something like that for the fights, imagine all the good that you could do with a talent like that at SFIT! One of my friends, Abigail, used to be a bot fighter, but she went to SFIT and now she works for Krei Tech!"
"Seriously?" Hiro asks, slightly blown away-there was someone else who used to be in the fights and went on to do that?
"Yep," Tadashi answers with a grin. "I know you're going to do great things, Hiro-I can't wait to see what that genius brain of yours is going to come up with."
"T-Thanks…" Hiro feels himself blushing-he'd never had someone in his life being this supportive of him, especially someone he'd technically just met, so he wasn't quite sure what to do with the praise. As he was trying to process that, a question comes to him.
"Is that what you want to do when you graduate? Work for Krei Tech, or start your own company?" he asks curiously.
"I've thought about starting my own business, and maybe someday," Tadashi answers. "But the truth is right now I'm getting my doctorate so that I can be a professor like Professor Callaghan. That way I can still do research and development, but I'll also get to teach new pioneers in the field and help them achieve their dreams! I've already done some student teaching and I've loved every moment of it. Well, maybe not every moment… But the good way outweighs the bad. It's always so rewarding getting to help someone on a project, especially when it finally all comes together and you get to see their hard work pay off!"
"Wow… It sounds like you're going to be a great professor, bro," Hiro says with a grin-it was clear that Tadashi loved what he was doing, and he knew that any student would be lucky to learn under him.
"Thanks." Tadashi beams at him just as the garage door opens and Fred walks in.
"Hey guys!" he says. "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but Aunt Cass was just calling to see when we were planning to head over?"
"Oh, right! I guess it is about time for that!" Tadashi looks over at Hiro. "Do you think you're about ready to go meet her?"
"Sure, works for me!" Hiro agrees, trying to sound confident-he was a bit nervous over meeting yet another new family member, but he was hoping that she'd turn out to be as nice as Tadashi and Fred were.
"Okay, I'll call her to let her know that we'll head over soon," Fred says, heading back into the main house.
"You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you wanted to shower and change before we go we still have a few minutes" Tadashi tells Hiro.
"I, um… I-I don't really have a lot of better clothes," Hiro answers, feeling embarrassed. He knew that his clothes weren't in great shape (most of them had been second hand when they'd first been given to him, and they were now either too small from growing out of them or else they were bought far too big for him to begin with and he still hadn't grown into them.)
"Did you check your closet?" Tadashi asks with a smile.
"My… W-Wait, did you guys get me new clothes?" Hiro gasps.
"I tried to guess your size as best I could-if they don't fit or you don't like them we can exchange them! I just knew that one of the things I never had in foster homes was clothes that fit me or that were in good condition, and one of the best things that Fred's family gave me when I moved in with them was clothes, so I wanted to make sure that you had those too," Tadashi tells him with a warm smile.
Of all of the things that Tadashi had done for him, somehow this was the one that struck closest to home. Tadashi knew what it was like being a foster kid, and the fact that he had acted on that shared experience to try to give Hiro the best homecoming possible-had taken away Hiro's anxiety about how he was going to look at SFIT that fall wearing clothes that were falling apart-was what finally pushed him emotionally over the edge.
"Thank you." Hiro wraps his arms tightly around Tadashi, burying his face into his shoulder to try to hide the tears that were leaking out. "Thank you, so much… For everything."
"Of course," Tadashi answers as he hugs Hiro back, his voice sounding a bit thick with emotion as well.
Hiro wanted to enjoy the luxury of a real, warm shower for as long as he could, but he knew that he couldn't take too long. Still, it was the first time in over a year that he'd been able to take a shower with hot water (his ex-foster parents yelled at him if he used it on the rare occasions that they actually let him shower because they said he would use it all up), and he couldn't remember ever using soap or shampoo this nice. He never thought that he'd like using soap that smelled of orange blossoms, but to hell with having to smell "masculine" it made him feel cleaner than he'd felt in a long, long time.
Once he finally managed to tear himself away from the shower, he dried off with a towel that felt as soft as a blanket, and then he got to try on the first of the new clothes that Tadashi had gotten him. By some miracle they actually fit right (they were maybe a bit too large, but hey, considering he hopefully had another growth spurt coming in soon that was a good thing), and there was something so confidence building about getting to actually wear new clothes that looked sharp and right off the rack new. He especially loved the soft blue hoodie with the SFIT logo on the front of it that he'd found in the midst of a small collection of hoodies. And his shoes-he actually had shoes that didn't have holes in them! And they were freaking Chuck Taylors! He'd seen Tadashi wearing a mint green pair, but he'd never dreamed he'd get to ever own a pair himself! Tadashi was officially the best older brother in the entire world.
"Hey, looking good!" Fred says with a smile when Hiro joins the others in the living room a few minutes later.
"Everything fitting okay?" Tadashi asks hopefully.
"Everything fits great!" Hiro reassures him. "Thank you so, so much… This means the world to me."
"Of course!" Tadashi gets up and pulls him into another hug. "I've got ten years's worth of spoiling to make up for, after all!"
"I'm not quite sure that's how it works…"
"Oh hush and let me enjoy spoiling you," Tadashi laughs, pecking the top of Hiro's head, and Hiro decides to just let it go-there was no way he wanted to ruin this by arguing.
A few minutes later, Hiro found himself in the back of Tadashi's car, watching downtown San Fransokyo pass by outside. It was close to sunset so everything was bathed in a warm, almost dreamlike orangey-gold color. It was beautiful, and somehow the city felt almost entirely brand new seeing it from here-a city full of possibilities and a future for him, not just the place where he was being held prisoner until he was forced out onto the streets to fend for himself when he was eighteen.
"Aunt Cass's place is just up ahead here on the corner," Tadashi tells him front the front seat, turning down the stereo so he could hear him (the fact that he had a Fall Out Boy album in had pretty much eliminated of any lingering doubts that Hiro might have had about them not actually being related.)
Hiro eagerly looks out the window, curious to see what his aunt's place might look like. He was a bit confused when they pull up to the curb next to an old blue truck and sees the windows of a cafe in front of them. It takes him a moment to remember that Tadahi had mentioned that Aunt Cass owned a cafe-maybe they were picking her up from work?
"This is the Lucky Cat Cafe," Tadashi says as he opens the driver's side door, and Hiro takes that as his cue to get out as well.
"Is it a cat cafe?" Hiro asks curiously.
"No, it's not, but there is one cat that likes to sneak downstairs even though he's supposed to stay upstairs in the house," Tadashi laughs. "His name is Mochi, he's Aunt Cass's pet and probably also her best friend."
"He's the fluffiest, chubbiest cat you've ever seen, and he's totally adorable, but you've got to be careful-he can also be a little shit, just like any cat, and you definitely don't want to get on his bad side," Fred adds.
"No, he's a total sweetheart!" Tadashi protests.
"You say that because all cats instantly love you," Fred answers with a playful eye roll.
"Well we'll let Hiro meet him and decide for himself!" Tadashi states firmly.
"That works-but if he's anything like you and your aunt he's probably got the magic touch with cats too," Fred laughs.
"I wouldn't know, I've never really been around cats," Hiro admits with a nervous shrug-wait, what if Mochi hated him? Would that mean he wasn't a part of the family?
"Then it's time you met him, and Aunt Cass," Tadashi says, putting a supportive hand on Hiro's shoulder before guiding him towards the door.
"Aunt Cass, we're here!" Tadashi calls once they're inside-the cafe looked fairly deserted, probably due to the "Closed" sign on the door, but apparently the door had been left unlocked for them.
"Oh, you're here!" Hiro hears a voice calling from somewhere in the curtained room behind the counter. "I'm sorry, I'm running a bit behind, I have one customer still coming to pick up an order! I promise I'll be right out!"
"It's fine, Aunt Cass, take your time!" Tadashi reassures him, taking a seat at an empty table, and, seeing Fred do the same, Hiro follows their example, deciding to take advantage of the moment to take in the cafe's decor. The walls were a calming green color, and there were little lucky cat motifs everywhere-overall, it seemed like a really nice place, and the fact that it smelled of vanilla and fresh bread made it just that much nicer.
He was so caught up in admiring his surroundings that he was slightly caught off guard by the sound of the chimes over the door ringing behind him.
"Sorry we're late, Cass-thank you for staying open late for us tonight to finish the order!" an oddly familiar voice calls. Hiro turns around to face the speaker, trying to place where he knew it from…
"Oh my gosh, hey!"
Hiro was slightly startled to see Miguel and his uncle, of all people, standing in the doorway, and Miguel apparently recognized him as well because he was smiling and waving.
"Miguel, Hector, good to see you!" Tadashi was standing up and making his way over to them, and it took Hiro a second to remember that of course Tadashi knew them-Hiro never would have never met Tadashi if Miguel hadn't told him about his music in the first place.
"Whoa!" Miguel looks back and forth between the two brothers in confusion. "You two know each other?"
"Sure do-guys, this is my little brother, Hiro!" Tadashi answers with a proud smile before asking curiously, "Wait, you've met before?"
"Miguel's sort of the reason that I met you," Hiro explains with a sheepish smile. "He gave me your demo CD after I accidentally crashed into their shop sign because he said we looked a lot alike, and that's why I ended up going to your show…"
"And I was totally right about you guys looking like each other since you're apparently brothers!" Miguel says with a grin. "Although it was more the fact that you sounded like each other that helped me make the connection."
"He's got a great ear for voices," Hector says with a proud smile.
"Wait, what's all this I'm hearing? Miguel helped my nephew come home?" A petite, brown haired lady exits the back room of the cafe, holding a large cake in a carrying container.
"Apparently he did!" Tadashi agrees with a grin.
"In that case, this cake is in the house!" the woman says, beaming as she holds the cake out to Hector.
"What? No, we couldn't accept something like that!" Hector cries.
"Please! It's the least I can do when you helped bring my family back to me!" the woman answers, and it was clear from her fierce expression that she wasn't going to no for an answer.
"Well, in that case, thank you very much," Hector says with a grateful smile.
"No, thank you!" Aunt Cass answers, pulling Miguel into a hug. "Especially you, mister!"
"Of course, Tía Cass!" Miguel answers with a smile, hugging her back before he and Hector make their way back out of the cafe.
"And you! You must be Hiro!" the woman, who Hiro could only guess at this point was Aunt Cass, says, turning to Hiro with a slightly misty eyed expression. "Oh, let me get a look at you!"
Hiro holds still, not sure what exactly he was supposed to be doing, only to find himself being pulled into a bone-crushing hug.
"Oh, you're just as handsome as your big brother!" Aunt Cass cries as Hiro struggles for air. "I still can't believe that we finally have you home after all of this time! Oh, I was afraid we'd never see this day!"
"I-It's really nice to meet you too," Hiro says with a shy smile when she releases him from the hug, still holding onto his arms as if, like Tadashi, afraid to let go of him.
"I'm so glad that Tadashi was able to get you away from that awful foster home you were in," Aunt Cass tells him. "I can't imagine those horrible people sending you to the bot fights… And they were absolutely not feeding you properly either!" she adds with a concerned frown, glancing down at Hiro's torso and making him feel slightly embarrassed about just how skinny he was. "Don't worry, we'll fix that in a jiffy! Let me just lock the door and then I've got dinner waiting for us upstairs! I hope you like hot wings!"
"I do!" Hiro answers with a grateful smile as she goes to lock the door. "They're one of my favorite foods-the spicier the better!"
"See? I told you he's definitely a Hamada!" Tadashi says with a laugh, beaming down at Hiro.
"Just to warn you, you're going to be feeling them tomorrow so be careful how many you eat," Fred warns Hiro.
"I haven't met a spicy wing that I haven't been able to handle yet!" Hiro boasts.
"You're definitely my nephew in that case!" Aunt Cass tells him with a smile as she returns to them.
"And my little brother," Tadashi adds.
"And my adopted little bro, even if I think all of you are crazy about the spiciness thing!" Fred chuckles.
Hiro couldn't keep a grin off of his face as he allows himself to be led up the stairs from the cafe into what was apparently the main house, everyone chattering around him, Aunt Cass talking about all of her dishes he was going to have to try and Tadashi telling her about the private tour of SFIT he was planning to give Hiro the next day. So this was what having a family-a real family-was like. It was slightly overwhelming, and it was definitely going to take some getting used to. But that was okay. That was more than okay.