It had only been a matter of weeks since Karmi left after Christmas, but the newly found lovers were set to reunite on the eve of a new glorious year. Karmi was dressed in her fancy blue dress that she wore to Amara's gala and hoping to make Hiro speechless. She was pacing about atop her roof and staring up at the sky every few seconds anxiously. Her feet were starting to hurt from walking up and down in her high heels and she was getting restless. She stopped and held her hand out. On her finger was the purple ring Hiro had got her for Christmas. She fiddled with it nervously.
'Where is he?' she muttered to herself. 'He's late.'
She took a breath of fresh new air and tried to stay calm. It had already gone well past midnight, as "Auld Lang Syne" rang out across the globe and everyone embraced their loved ones. So where was Karmi's beloved? She wondered if she'd been stood up or worse - dumped without so much of a word of warning. Karmi shivered in disgust at the thought. She knew they got together a little unconventionally and she left just as their relationship was born, but getting dumped two weeks later? Surely that was harsh. Surely Hiro was still coming. But it was coming up to half past and she was starting to think he REALLY wasn't coming now. All Karmi wanted was her fairytale New Year's kiss with her Disney Prince. Was that too much to ask from the universe? Then her sadness quickly turned to anger as she suddenly turned on the balls of her feet and stomped towards the roof door.
Karmi was about to twist the doorknob when she felt a strong gust of wind blow furiously on her. She wasn't wearing her hair band tonight as her long brown locks took flight in the night air. Then she heard a whoosh and what sounded like a mini rocket landing. The roof shook slightly and then the air settled. Then silence. Karmi stayed exactly where she was. She didn't know whether to bother turning round or not as she was too upset to make a rational decision, but that choice was about to be made for her.
'Now, where's that beautiful face I flew 100 miles for then, hmm?' said a rather gruff voice.
'Pfft! More like 90, Genius Boy!'
She was hopping mad but that voice made Karmi's heart flutter like a cherub every damn time she heard it. Even with her emotions running high, she still wasn't immune to this symphony chorusing to her. Karmi resisted the urge to turn around and instead just sighed with a mixture of annoyance and unintended pleasure. Karmi couldn't deny that she'd been longing to hear it for weeks, even if she was angry at him right now. And this was the pinnacle of every fantasy she had had every day she spent without him. He was standing right behind her, arms on hips and probably looking hot as hell in his super suit. And most importantly, he was safe and he kept his promise - even if he was half an hour late. Maybe she was being a little harsh, she thought. But it still wasn't good enough for her.
'Hey? What's wrong, babe?' said the gruff voice. This time it sounded a little strained.
Karmi bit her lip loving how he said "babe" in that sexy, deep heroic voice. She didn't know how much longer she could stay away at this point.
'You know what's up, Captain Late!' Karmi folded her arms and stubbornly kept her back turned from her boyfriend.
'Hey! That's… Captain… Cutie… and you know it… Karmi!' said Hiro, struggling to get his words out this time. He coughed.
Karmi could hear the pain in his voice now and immediately changed her stubbornness to concern in two seconds flat. She didn't want to give in so easily and was still hurt he was late, but turned around out of pure love for Hiro. As soon as she turned, she saw him leaning on Baymax for support. His helmet was cracked slightly and his face looked worse for wear, with a bruise on his cheek. Hiro forced himself to smile even though it was hurting him.
'Now, that really is a sight for sore eyes. Are you really my girlfriend? Or did I just imagine that?'
He sounded a little delirious as he said it and chuckled. Baymax was low on power and looked quite rough too, so laughed along with him and said something unintelligible.
'Oh my god! Are you okay? What happened!' screamed Karmi.
She rushed over to him, forgetting she was ever mad at him. She examined him and made sure he wasn't too badly hurt.
'Yeah, don't worry. It's not as bad as it looks. I just need a hug and a nice long lie down.'
Karmi flung her arms around him. Hiro slowly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back.
'God, you don't know how long I've been needing this for,' said Hiro.
'Well, I'm here now babe. Everything's gonna be okay,' soothed Karmi. 'It'll be a bit of a shock for my parents in the morning, but you're in no fit state to go anywhere, so you're staying here for the night at least. Come on, let's get you inside.' They broke apart.
'Okay. Thanks, Karmi. I really appreciate it.'
Hiro hoisted himself up from Baymax and limped forwards a few paces, but it was futile. He collapsed headfirst into Karmi's arms.
'Okay. You definitely need a lie down, mister. Come on, let me help you inside and then I can have a proper look at you.' She looked at his bruised, but still handsome face and smiled lovingly. 'You've got some real battle scars there, Captain Cutie... Oh and don't forget, you still have to tell me what happened. When you can, of course.'
Hiro couldn't do anything more than nod. Karmi put an arm round Hiro and helped him downstairs into her room.
'Easy does it, babe.' Karmi lowered him down onto her bed. 'Now, I'm gonna take your suit off really slowly and carefully. We need to see if you've broken anything. It's a shame Baymax is out of energy. He could treat you much better than I can….' Baymax was slumped face down on the floor.
'It's okay, Karmi. I know you'll do your best. I trust you.'
'Right, well I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way. I'll go get you an ice pack for your cheek, after I've checked you haven't broken anything.'
Karmi started to remove the suit as Hiro winced in pain. This wasn't exactly what Karmi had in mind to spend New Year's day doing, but she was kind of enjoying the intimacy of the moment nonetheless. She lifted up Hiro's legs first and asked if it hurt. Hiro shook his head. Then she lifted his arms one by one. As she lifted the right arm, Hiro screamed.
'Shh! You're gonna wake my parents!'
'Oh, yeah. Sorry.'
'It seems you might have fractured your arm, Hiro. I mean I'm not a doctor, but I think we should go and get it checked out tomorrow. For now, I'm just gonna bandage it up for you. Try not to put too much pressure on it. I'm just gonna get the first aid kit. I'll be back in a minute.'
'Okay, thanks.'
Two minutes later, Karmi came rushing back in and immediately began wrapping a bandage around Hiro's afflicted arm. She also brought the ice pack with her, but this meant she had to remove Hiro's helmet first. She climbed on top of him and lifted it off gingerly and could now see her boyfriend properly, eye to eye. Hiro was astonished as he noticed for the first time tonight, just how good Karmi looked in her dress. And then a rush of something new hit him. He couldn't begin to describe it, but something stirred inside him. Then there was a feeling in his pants he had never had before. Hiro really didn't know what was happening but he liked it. He grinned goofily. Karmi laughed and put the helmet down.
'Now what's that stupid face for?'
'Oh, nothing. You just look good in that dress. Like really good.' Karmi slowly raised an eyebrow.
'Huh, well I picked it out especially for you, you know.'
'Oh, yeah?'
'Yeah.'
They gazed into each other's eyes. Karmi wasn't expecting to be in this position at all tonight, yet it had been far too long since she was this close to him. Hiro stared back at her and Karmi suddenly got that breathless feeling again, she got from that blissful Christmas kiss on the roof. She figured this was as good a time as any to reignite that bliss and gently grabbed Hiro's face. Hiro closed his eyes in eager anticipation as Karmi leaned forwards and closed hers too. She kissed him softly on the lips once and then they both slowly opened their eyes. It was perhaps the least passionate, most brief kiss they'd had to date, but it seemed to mean much more to them than any other one. It was a comforting one full of love and tenderness. And no words needed to be said. Karmi wanted more, but decided it was more important to treat Hiro's bruised cheek and placed the ice pack on it.
'Aw, I was enjoying that!' groaned Hiro.
Karmi smirked teasingly. Hiro held the ice pack in his hand now and numbed his pain.
'Well, you'll get more when you've got better.'
She winked at him and then joined him on the bed. Hiro pouted. That feeling he was having was fading away and his body seemed to be returning to its normal state again. He almost forgot he was injured in that burst of pleasure. Karmi was enjoying teasing Hiro like this.
'What am I gonna do with you, Genius Boy?' she said, placing her hand on his chest and getting her face close to his again.
Hiro smiled and touched Karmi's hand with his. Then his eyes became heavy. He wished he could have more time with her, but his sore body needed urgent rest. Karmi wanted to ask him who did this to him, but she could see the most important thing for him was to rest right now. Hiro closed his eyes and seemed to enter a slumber until his mouth moved.
'Hey, Karmi.'
'Yeah, babe?'
'I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I promise it's not always this bad. It's just this time there was… there was this man-' Karmi shushed him.
'Hush! You can tell me later.'
'No! You have to know! I'm not gonna keep anything from you ever… This man - I'm not sure he was even human - attacked us out of nowhere. We were caught off guard and pretty badly hurt. But we managed to defeat him in the end. At least we think we did anyway. And his name… His name was…'
Hiro couldn't fight his fatigue any longer and drifted off to involuntary sleep. Karmi was hanging on to his every word and paying close attention, so was disappointed she couldn't find out who this man was. She would definitely need more information later, though she was happy that Hiro was being very open about his superhero lifestyle. She smiled warmly at his sleeping face and removed the ice pack. Then she grabbed her covers and wrapped them round him. She spooned closely with him and entered dreamworld with him.
Sequel to "Memories are Made of Bliss." But it can totally be read as a standalone so you don't necessarily need to read the first one, but would be great if you could :)
*also for those who might be worried it's going to be a mature fic, it's not going that way at all. It's just going to be subtle intimacy.
