Author's Note: I'm back. And now to the lab again. Also, sorry for the long absence. Just having a hard time writing in general...
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"Shut up." A brown-haired man growled.
"Come on, admit it. You couldn't keep your hands off each other.'' A stout, but muscular man of similar hair color was smirking.
"Shut. Up."
"I'm sure if you take Jack aside, you two can work something out."
"For the last time, our hands were literally glued to each other by SFAI last night and we're just lucky the cafeteria's still untouched."
"That's because I was there to scare 'em off." The stout man struck his thumb to his chest proudly.
"Dude, you were screaming like a chicken and running around in circles when we found you. Astrid was the one who did the scaring."
Wasabi couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the two from a distance quarrel. Several feet away, a young woman with blonde hair bundled in a ponytail was facepalming while the man next to her was trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.
He caught Honey Lemon's eye, but she seemed to be preoccupied with something, her eyes darting left and right as she forced a fake laugh. Go Go was munching on some popcorn while the argument grew louder and more ridiculous. Hiro was nowhere to be found.
"For the last time. Jack. And I. Are not. DATING!
"There's nothing wrong with having a side-rooster, Hiccup. It's perfectly natural for a man of great need to –"
"WHAT'S A SIDE-ROOSTER?!" Hiccup shrilled.
"Male version of a side-chick," the stout man said simply, his smirk growing wider, "Typically big, loud and loves nice big c – "
"DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE!"
The man named Jack held up his hand nervously, "Could I say something –?"
"NO!" Hiccup and the stout man spoke simultaneously.
"Would you two knock it off?!" Astrid snapped, "Everyone knows that Jack and Hiccup aren't gay."
"Astrid," the stout man said appealingly, "I never said that they were gay. They're clearly bisexual and don't know how to break it to –"
He was cut off mid-sentence by a flying disc striking him in the solar apex. Hiccup looked back at Go Go with an apologetic smile that quickly withered under her glare. He awkwardly picked up the disc from where it landed and placed it back in the bin with the rest.
"Hello fellow SFIT nerds!" Fred swaggered into the room with a look of satisfaction on his face. Hiro followed him from behind with Baymax coming right after him, "How's everyone this morning?"
"Tired, grumpy and possible going to get charged with assault," Hiccup grumbled, gesturing to the stout man groaning on the floor.
"Grumpy? You, Hiccup? Why?"
"Who do you think got the short straw on guard duty last night?" Hiccup glowered at Fred, as if he was angry that someone got to be happy in the morning.
"I was with him," Jack added as he greeted Fred more cheerfully than his friend.
Go Go smirked, "I'm sure you were –"
"Aw, shut up," Jack said drily, but a small smile was on his face.
"Hiccup?" Hiro echoed, before saying a moment later with finality, "It was Fred, wasn't it?"
Hiccup sighed, "You have a bad fit of them for an entire day and no one lets you live it down."
"Does Fred have nicknames for everyone in this school?"
"Nope," Fred smiled at Hiro, "But not for lack of trying."
"Well, it could be a lot worse," Wasabi said reassuringly to Hiccup.
Hiccup looked at him with a funny expression, "How?"
"At least you didn't spill wasabi on your shirt once."
"That's because you had the best reaction to it, though," Jack grinned, showing his pearly-white teeth. Then to prove his point even further, he started flailing his arms in exaggerated horror, hopping on one foot to the next screaming "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" Wasabi noted with relief that Fred was the only one not laughing. Unless he were to count Baymax. Hiro weakly chuckled, but that was because he looked just as distracted as Honey Lemon was a few moments ago.
Wasabi glowered at him, "Not now, Jack. Not ever."
"That's the fresh meat, isn't it?" Astrid pointed to Hiro. Hiro suddenly wilted, not wanting to be put on the spot.
Fred wrapped his arm protectively around Hiro, "The one and only Hiro Hamada. Fourteen, sweet-toothed and great guy all around."
"Hamada?" Hiccup raised his eyebrow, "You wouldn't be related to Tadashi Hamada, would you?"
"My…brother…?" Hiro grinned shyly. It was clear he had forgotten how his brother was considered a legend on campus with being a superhero and…recent developments.
"You mean Tadieshi."
If looks could kill, then Hiro would have committed murder right then and there with the stout man as his victim. Other students looked a bit uncomfortable the joke, Hiccup's glare was more furious than annoyed now. Go Go looked like she wanted to throw something at the stout man as he got up.
"It was..." he tried, "just…just a joke. Come on, guys…"
"Ignore my stupid cousin," Hiccup gave another glare at the stout man, "He likes to speak before he thinks."
"Tadieshi?" Hiro moved past Hiccup and glowered at the stout man as he made his way towards him.
"Hiro…" Go Go made a move to intervene, but Hiro held up a hand, his face rigid with fury. The stout man appeared to regain some of his swagger at the challenge and stood up, towering over Hiro by a few inches.
"You heard me," the stout man said, "What else would you want me to call him? Tadumbshi?"
"My brother. Isn't. DUMB!"
"What would call someone who runs into a burning building everyone was just getting out of?"
Hiro's fist flew right at the stout man, knocking him off balance and onto the floor. The man rubbed his nose and found blood staining his hand. With a growl, he stood and was about to pounce Hiro –
"Snotlout!" Hiccup stepped forward, grabbing his cousin and swerving him in the opposite direction. Astrid and Jack came over a moment later and helped restrain the man. Hiro's vision started turning red, ready to lunge forward when Fred pulled him by his hoodie and dragged him away. Wasabi came to his aid when Hiro began breaking free from Fred's hold.
"Hey, hey, let me go! Let me at him!"
Snotlout looked like he was going to continue, but Hiccup proceeded to drag him out of the lab by his ear, ignoring his cries "Ow! Ow! Okay, I'll shut up! Ow!"
"Hiro, don't listen to him," Wasabi said as he helped Fred pull Hiro away into the hallway. Honey Lemon and Go Go came out moments after with worried expressions, "He says dumb stuff like that a lot."
"No one insults my brother!" Hiro snapped as he fought in Fred's grasp, snarling and spitting, almost kicking Wasabi in the nose.
"Just ignore him," Fred added, doing his best to ignore the elbow jabs to his chest.
Baymax waddled over and placed his arms around Hiro. He patted the boy on the head, "There, there."
The effect was almost immediate. Hiro stopped struggled and sighed. He let Baymax rub his head for a few moments and returned the hug. Reassured that Hiro was calmed, Fred and Wasabi slowly let him go. Hiro hugged Baymax tighter now that he was free, pressing his face against the vinyl tightly.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, sounding more fourteen than he intended. Baymax said nothing and pressed his forehead against Hiro's. There was nothing but slow, steady breathing for a few moments before they seperated and Hiro looked at Fred and Wasabi solemnly, "I'm sorry."
Both of them said nothing and simply pulled Hiro in for a hug. Go Go and Honey Lemon joined a moment later, and Baymax followed them in half a beat.
Another minute of this and the group hug ended. Hiro demanded an explanation for Snoutlout's remark.
It wasn't a good one.
"Tadashi's a legend around here," Honey Lemon started, her hands writhing together in her worry, "But…more than a few people have...even if it was cruel…they thought the way Tadashi 'left' us could have been avoided."
"Meaning?" Hiro tried to keep his breathing even, he refused to let his emotions get the better of him again.
"Snotlout's not the only person talking about your bro behind your back, Hiro," Wasabi rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace, "I think I'm losing track of how many times I heard someone mutter how stupid Tadashi was that night whenever his name was brought up."
Hiro was about to open his mouth to protest when he remembered that conversation he had with Mr. Rogers a while ago and the talk he and Tadashi had shortly afterwards. He knew that what his brother did was stupid, but it sounded worse hearing it from other people.
"He's not stupid," Hiro cursed himself for sounding so childish now. He was going through puberty for crying out loud. He shouldn't be…this.
"We know he's not, Hiro," Honey Lemon agreed, "And so do a lot of people."
"I remember kicking someone in the balls for saying that," a new voice added. Hiro yelped and spun around, blinking in shock when he saw it was Karmi. He never would have expected to see her look so bitter.
"You kicked someone?" Hiro asked slowly, "Was it…Snotlout?"
Karmi smirked, "Nope, just someone his IQ level."
"He's going for an engineer degree, though…" Fred mumbled.
"Still an idiot in my book," Karmi waved off the correction with her hand, moving past the group quickly, "Did they do the drawing today? Did I miss it?"
"D-drawing?" Honey Lemon stammered, "What drawing? I didn't see any drawing!"
"The drawing of straws for who gets to be on guard duty?" Karmi looked at Honey Lemon suspiciously.
"Oh," Honey Lemon laughed loudly, "Of course, that's what I meant!"
Jack stuck his head out of the lab door at that moment, "We're doing the drawing soon and –"
He caught sight of Hiro and cleared his throat, "You okay, kid?"
Hiro nodded quickly. He quickly added, "Sorry about that..."
"Don't listen to that jerk," Jack said dismissively, "He tries to rile up everyone. If you're ready, you can come back in."
The gang headed back into the lab where Astrid was now holding a baseball cap. Honey Lemon suddenly looked nervous. Astrid held the cap up high, depositing slips of paper that were passed to her, "Alright everyone, put your names in the hat. Don't be shy. Freshmen included."
"Could someone tell me about this?" Hiro looked to his friends.
Karmi's eyes widened, "D'oh! I knew I forgot to mention something!"
She gestured to Astrid, "Everyone puts their names in the hat and taken out at random. Rivalry Week means a lot of roles need to be played. Every day, we need people watching the cafeteria in case SFAI tries to decorate it. We need people to intimidate SFAI, take over other tasks, you get the picture."
Then she smirked, "Freshmen have to do guard duty twice this week. No drawings, no tricks. You get partnered with whoever gets the short straw."
"Great," Hiro grumbled, "Twice the late nights outdoors."
"It's not that bad," Karmi shrugged, "My freshmen year, I got partnered with your brother."
Hiro couldn't believe his ears, "Really?!"
Karmi surprised him even further with a gentle smile, "He was really nice about the whole thing. He showed me how to make a few quick traps and we geeked over our projects."
Hiro returned the smile warmly, "He can get along with anyone."
"Yeah," Karmi nodded in agreement before she stopped herself and looked at Hiro as though she just realized who she was talking to. Hiro mirrored the expression and they turned their heads away and gagged in mutual disgust.
"Quiet in the back!" Astrid called out to them, "If you didn't put your name in the cap, this is your last chance!"
"What's going on here?" A new voice came from the door.
Astrid yelped and dropped the hat.
Professor Granville strode into the lab sternly, other students giving her a wide girth as she passed them. She was the new Dean of Students at the start of the semester, also fulfilling the role of teacher in at least one of Hiro's classes. The woman was certainly strict – and in some cases, a hard case – but there was no doubt that she was well intentioned. Right now, however, it seemed like an awful time to get on her bad side. As she made it to where Astrid stood, Hiccup suddenly spoke up.
"Don't worry, Astrid! I'll help you with your remote-controlled baseball project!"
Granville ignored Hiccup's lie and plucked the cap off the floor. She withdrew a slip from inside and looked at Astrid with a furrowed brow.
"Let me guess," she began coolly, "Instead of working on your projects and mid-terms, you have all decided to dedicate your energy towards our little competition with SFAI."
Astrid's shoulders slumped in defeat as she nodded. Granville turned around to face the rest of the students in the room. No one dared to draw a breath.
"As Dean of Students, I forbid this misuse of time..."
Honey Lemon let out a loud sigh of relief. Several people stared at her.
"...without explicit permission. Which you now haa~ve!" Granville trilled blissfully at the end. Cheers filled the air and someone threw their cat up a few times. Granville held a finger to her lips and the cheering stopped. She strode over to a small table towards the corner of the room and placed a narrow console on it. She tapped a button and the table suddenly showed a 3-D model of SFAI's campus where the statue was located.
"We strike TONIGHT!" Granville raised a finger to the sky. More cheering – and cat throwing, much to the animal's dismay – ensued before she continued, "We will unite as one and show SFAI our scientific wrath!" She brought her hand down at the last word and smashed the hologram model of Lenore Shimamoto into pixel pieces.
Astrid was calm, though she fought down a fierce grin, "Better get this over with then. Last call for slips! Anyone who doesn't put their name in gets volunteered to do it anyways."
"Right here," Hiro bustled over to the girl and dug into his pockets for a pen. Someone handed him a scrap of paper and it was shoved into the hat a few moments later.
"Alright, drum roll please."
Fred proceeded to rap Hiccup's head with a pair of pencils repeatedly until the other boy grabbed them out of his hands and snapped them, handing the pieces back to Fred.
"Our attack team will consist of...Jack...Go Go...Wasabi...Astrid - wait, that's me!...and Honey Lemon."
No one failed to notice how uncomfortable Honey Lemon had become.
"Friendly intimidation shall go to...Hiccup...Snoutlout...Fred - wait, you're not a student here!" Astrid looked at Fred sharply.
"I'm the mascot!" Fred protested. "Doesn't that count for something?"
Astrid considered this for a moment and grunted in agreement. She continued drawing names, "Okay...uh...Ferb...aaaand...Phineas!"
"Alright!" A red-haired teenager with a pointy nose high-fived the taller, green-hair teenager with a stout nose.
"Guard duty consists of...Karmi..."
Karmi pouted at this.
"...and Perry?..."
A platypus next to the red and green haired teenagers growled lazily.
Astrid looked at Hiro, "Alright, fresh meat. You're on guard duty too."
"Figures," Hiro rolled his eyes before he looked at Karmi with realization, "Oh..."
"Excellent!" Granville clasped her hands together with a smile before pointing to the newly formed attack team and Karmi and Hiro, "Both teams, meet me after classes. We will show SFAI what we are made of!"
Hiro gave Karmi one last look before gulping. Between last night and this evening, she was going to start thinking they were turning into a couple...
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Author's Note: Setting up for the Statue Grab, showing that Tadashi's Chronic Hero Syndrome is catching up to him, Hiro shows he is still ruthless to those who piss him off royally and Jack is not Hiccup's side-rooster.
I apologize again for the long absence. Writer's block is killing me! Please review!