"I still have questions about that cow costume you mentioned." Ari raised an eyebrow. "Is Krei secretly a cow fan or something?"

Hiro shrugged, it was the day after the whole intern thing and being kidnapped by NBB and he was enjoying some free time after his first official day. It went better than last time, he didn't have to work all afternoon in case he had superhero duties thanks to working out a deal with Krei, although he wished he was paid a bit more.

But at least he was being paid at all. "Maybe it's his secret party trick, people like something fresh and new instead of a stuffy CEO to invest in."

"He's a cow fan, I'm just saying." Ari took a sip of water.

"How has school been treating you?" Hiro asked. "Nobody has been picking on you, right?"

"Let me tell you bro, being friends with the 'popular' people makes people less inclined to bully you." Ari did air quotes at the word "popular." "Work is okay, it gives me something to do, I'm not the best at health."

"Good for you is that Baymax can help you with that." Hiro winked. "He's a healthcare companion after all."

Ari gave a slow nod. "Yeah, I'm just mostly worried when they get to the part of uh…" She turned beet red. "Y'know, when Baymax talks about uh... that?"
Hiro turned a similar shade of red. "Yeah, that's... that's embarassing."

"That's an understatement!" She exclaimed. "My uh, parents never really talked about it except the bare minimum." There were some parts she knew, but remembered them not telling her about. Maybe I did my own research? She didn't know, curse her amnesia. "Hope it's less awkward then when Baymax explains it."

"Hope so!" Hiro would feel bad for his sister if it wasn't, and Baymax had a talent for making things real awkward.

Ari then put a hand to her chin, seeming to be in thought. "Hiro, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Did your brother ever date anyone?" She looked away. "You mentioned Sara had a crush on him once, and I have a crush on Juniper-"

"Don't remind me."

"Just curious."

"Well not telling you if he dated anyone before the- but uh…" Hiro glanced away. "He dated a few guys, it was mostly one or two dates, most of them were either narcissistic or they were jerks so it didn't last long." He felt something heavy in his throat, talking about crush stuff with his sister. Tadashi would've loved to talk about that stuff with Ari. But he couldn't.

"Hiro? I'm sorry for-"

"Don't apologize for your curiosity." Hiro looked at Ari, who seemed upset.

"I remembered something bad yesterday." She confessed. "Remember how I was uh, in a self-loathing mood in the chat?"

"Mhmm." He nodded.
"I remembered my dad yelling at me." Ari told him. "I had gone out past my curfew which was a big rule, and my dad was really mad because I broke his trust and he told me that people who break others trust don't deserve to be forgiven ever-"

"Ari, that's terrible." His eyes widened in horror. She always talked about her parents in a positive light, he couldn't believe that they'd ever treat her like that.

"He did apologize, but I'm really worried there's other moments like that." Ari squeezed her arms. "My parents aren't bad people, they can't be, right?"

Hiro didn't know what to think he just hugged her. "I've gotten into some arguments with Aunt Cass and Tadashi a lot when I was younger." He stroked her hair. "Mostly about the bot-fights, but your parents love you Ari, sometimes there's just bad moments with them. That's all."

She sniffled. "You sure?"

"I'm sure, I promise sis." Hiro looked into her eyes, there was fear in them. "Is that the first bad memory you had of them, besides their murder?"

"Y-yeah." She stuttered. "But, I don't know if they were really murdered, I sometimes think maybe they were yelling at each other so bad it turned into violence and they shot each other-" Ari sharply gasped. "That's what I thought when I first remembered."

"And it's why you recklessly chased after High Voltage?" Hiro questioned.

"Mhmm." She looked at the clock. "Speaking of them, I want to visit them today, can you drive me over?"

He groaned. "Fiiine. Fifteen minutes each, and-"

"And try to get them to not do criminal stuff blah blah blah, you tell me this every single time man!"

"It's serious stuff!"

"It's serious stuff David!" Sara huffed. "Wasabi keeps bringing up that Chris we met at Sycorax."

"Someone's jealous." David rolled his eyes. "He's not gonna fall in love with someone he just met."

"You did, with Sienna."

"We were friends at first." He frowned. "Love at first sight only exists in fiction, and your paranoid brain."
"I'm not acting paranoid!"

David shrugged. "Well either way, chill, Wasabi's allowed to like who he likes. What are you, that lifeguard?"

"Please don't bring Chad up." Sara turned beet red. "That guy was a womanizer."

"Just tell Wasabi you like him you dork." He patted her shoulder. "Simple as that."

"I can't, I'm not ready for a relationship." She blushed, in hindsight, she was sounding a little like a possessive creep. "Chris is pretty but so was Chad, and I really wish you and Mika would not tease me about how I feel head over heels for that idiot-"

"Sorry."

"Just, a part of me is worried that he'll be like that guy, and take advantage of Wasabi." She shuddered, rubbing her leg. "Like he did with me."
David's eyes widened. "He did what-?!"

"Okay maybe I worded it wrong, but he is one one-time date I will never talk about for a reason." Sara rolled her eyes. "I know that sounds stupid that I don't trust Chris because of that, but I just don't want Wasabi to fall for a jerk. I'm allowed to be concerned, we don't know much about him!"

David patted her shoulder. "It's okay, as long as you're not a jerk about it."

"I won't, I promise."

"Okay."

Sara chuckled. "Thanks for listening to me."

"Anytime." He smiled. "Y'know, you can just tell Wasabi how you feel but you're not ready."

"I-I can't do that!" She huffed. "That's not how it works, I'll tell him when I'm ready!"

"Fine but don't whine if he ends up with someone else because you were too tsundere to-"

"Stop calling me a tsundere!"

Ari tapped her fingers nervously on the stone table. "Sorry." She apologized. "I had a whole thing I was going to say today, but I was talking about feely stuff with my brother, and now the words in my head are all mumbly-jumbly, frick."

The blonde from across the table let out a warm giggle. "No worries, I have a problem blurting out whatever pops into my head at times."

She raised an eyebrow at Juniper. "Huh, you seem so well composed."

"Ha!" The blonde wiped a tear from her eyes. "You're so flattering Ari."

Ari felt her cheeks turn red. "Was that a compliment?" She flustered.

Juniper noticed her blushing face and her expression turned neutral. "Yes, but I meant it as a friend."

"I know." Ari nodded. "You don't have to remind me, do you think I'm that kind of person who'd harass you over it?"

She rapidly shook her head. "No!" Juniper frowned. "I don't know… maybe." The uncertainty in her tone gave Ari the chills.

"Did someone not take 'no' for an answer in the past?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Juniper shook her head. "I've not been having the bestest of days lately."

Ari glanced at the walls. "Considering you have to spend all of them in here, that would explain it."

Her friend giggled. "Oh, you started public school right?" Juniper looked up. "How has it been?"

"Okay." Ari shrugged. "But do you wanna hear this really funny story that has to do with my brother getting an internship, and one of those classic lessons to be learned in terms of cartoon shenanigans?"

"Would I?!"

Ari did her best to leave out the superhero details, and the ones involving NBB. But mostly ranted about how her brother was being a jealous idiot as usual over a simple internship, though she didn't bring up the cow costume, that would've been awkward.

"And uh, now I'm gonna see him less I guess." She realized. "And I already didn't see him much with school, and uh… his other activities." Ari bit her tongue at the memory of him explaining NBB kidnapping him. "I'm worried something bad will happen when I'm not looking."

"I'm pretty sure nothing bad will happen." Juniper reassured her.

Ari just raised an eyebrow. "Remember that one time you and your mom got into a spat and didn't care about throwing lightning everywhere and it caused a lot of damage? Because I remember and I scraped my knee on some of the debris."

"I said I was sorry..."

She just sighed. "Though you're right, Hiro can take care of himself. Sides he worries something bad will happen to me most of the time."

Her friend nodded. "Yeah, I can relate to that. I really don't want anyone to hurt my mom, and I don't want anything happening to you either."
"Aww Juniper." Ari's eyes softened. "Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen to me or you anytime soon."

Ferns and Nerds group chat:

Mikan Ferns: Double checking, is that party thrown in Karmi's honor of her internship today aka this Tuesday and not next Tuesday?

TheLittleMermaid: It's today

Mikan Ferns: Okay y'all have fun

David Ferns: You're not going?

Sara Ferns: WHYYY

Mikan Ferns: I didn't get an invite

Hiro Hamada: Karmi sent you one tho

Gogo: How do you know that?

Hiro Hamada: I asked her about it

TheLittleMermaid: OOOOOOOOOOOOOH

Hiro Hamada: SHUT UP ARI

Mikan Ferns: Do you guys want to see me there?

Wasabi: Uh sense when did you care about our opinions

Gogo: *since

Mikan Ferns: I don't wanna make y'all uncomfortable since I messed up. Sides I have a test and I wanna study instead of party

Honey Lemon: Good luck on your test

Mikan Ferns: Thanks.

Rachel Rosemary: I have no idea what y'all are taking about

Sienna Kline: Me neither

David Ferns: I'M BRINGING YOU WITH ME SIENNA

Sienna Kline: Sorry cookie I forgot

Sara Ferns: COOKIE?!

TheLittleMermaid: OMG OMG

Honey Lemon: omg

Fredzilla: 10 bucks says someone gets a shovel talk at the party!

The party was hosted at a green tent outside campus. "I didn't even organize the party, Mikan did." Karmi had told him when he asked about it earlier. "She talked to Granville, and set this all up."

"Did you know she wasn't going to show up?" Hiro then asked.

"Yeah, she said she pushed everyone's buttons and told me to not do that, for some reason." She frowned. "But to be honest, I did like that sleepover, so I didn't protest."

"Did you still wish you answered that question instead of taking that bitter drink-?"
"Stop putting words in my mouth, Genius Boy!"

He gave a light chuckle at the memory. Karmi was currently chatting up with his sister, who kept congratulating her on her internship. Despite his earlier jealousy over it, her internship was impressive, he'd never say it aloud though.

Hiro looked at the others, who were chatting with each other. He saw Honey Lemon and Gogo talking to each other, Wasabi and David trying to get Sara to not give Sienna the "shovel talk", and Fred was at the snack table talking about comic stuff with Mini-Max and Baymax, he was the only one by himself.

But to his surprise, Ari started to drag Karmi over to where he was. "Oh, by the way, Hiro got an internship himself!" She was telling the biotech major. "At Kr-"
"Krei-Tech, I know." Karmi rolled her eyes. "He bragged about how much 'important work' he had. Plus, we both saw that cow costume."

Both girls snorted at the memory. "Yeah but it's official!" Ari had a mischievous grin. "I'm gonna chat with Fred, you two compare work environments." Then she left.
"Ah." So that's why she brought Karmi over. Curse my sister and her meddling, at least she didn't bring up the shipping.

"At least she didn't bring up the shipping." Karmi commented.

"That's what I was thinking!" Hiro chuckled, then paused. "Uh..." He didn't know what to say. "Sorry for rubbing my internship in your face, I was being petty."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why did you do that anyways?"

"I was jealous." Hiro confessed. "Of your internship, I mean you work at this big and fancy company and you get to work with Liv Amara."

Karmi chuckled with amusement. "I wouldn't blame you for being jealous, Genius Boy." She then gestured outside the tent. "Can we talk outside for a bit?"
"Uh, sure." He shrugged. "It's your party."

They had walked a few feet outside the tent, the wind brushed against his jacket. Both teens lied down on the soft grass.

"To be honest." Karmi began. "I'm honestly really scared I'll screw up at Sycorax." Hiro blinked in surprise, the biotech genius was venting her feelings to him. "You might be the worst sometimes, but you are a good listener."

"Uh, thanks?" He raised an eyebrow. "And I doubt you can mess up, Liv really liked your nanorecepter at the gala, it did help Big Hero 6." He reluctantly added.

She grinned. "Yeah, even Captain Cutie was impressed! Captain Cutie!"

Hiro scoffed. "Sure Karmi, sure." He then cleared his throat. "Thanks for telling me this, I know we don't get along, but I don't mind lending an ear."

"I uh..." Karmi flinched, she covered her mouth, stumbling to get the words out.

"Hm?" Hiro turned to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She looked down. "Um, do you remember that offer of friendship you gave to me at the beginning of last semester?"

"Mhmm, I remember." He nodded. "Karmi, do you know why Granville had me hang with you that week?"

To his surprise, she gave a slow nod. "Yeah, I'm aware of my loner status on campus. When I first attended, Sara, David, and Mikan immediately tried befriending me. It kind of freaked me out so I started pushing them away, I thought they were gonna trick me, I'm used to that."

"Same." Hiro crossed his arms. "High school students."

"Yeah, and I thought you were gonna do the same when we met, but then I thought you were kind of arrogant and a reckless show-off."

"Wow. Rude, I'm starting to regret that friendship offer." He sarcastically stated, but he knew she was joking.

"I kind of still do, but you're nice. And so are your friends, and Ari." Karmi rambled. "She's just so bubbly and kind, she reminds me of Haley a little."

"Who's Haley?" He raised an eyebrow.

"My younger sister." She told him. "I have two younger siblings, Haley and Ryan."

"Twins?" When another nod confirmed his thoughts, he gave a small smile. "Y'know, I kind of wished I had a twin when I was younger, so I could do that switcheroo thing twins do."

Karmi let out a laugh. "Pfft, you'd have to have an identical twin to pull that, I don't think I could handle two of you!"
"Hey!"

They both chuckled. "The friendship offer is still up." Hiro told her. "If you want to be friends."

"I want to but we bicker a lot." Karmi sighed. "Friends don't fight with each other so much."

Hiro barked a laugh. "Friends sometimes fight a lot, I argue with my friends and Ari, heck I used to argue a lot with my brother. Arguments happen." He stared at her reddish-brown eyes, it felt like they made eye contact for hours. "I'm sure the others will enjoy being friends with you, Ari does a lot."

He wouldn't push her though. "But only if you want them to."

Karmi did two things, first she took a deep breath, then hugged him all of a sudden. It felt very warm, like one of Baymax's hugs, but different in the nice way. "Thanks for talking with me Hiro." She smiled. "That's what friends do, right?"

"Right." He smiled back. "Do you go back to the party?"

"Yeah." Karmi sat up. "I'm starting to get cold out here."

"Wanna borrow my jacket?"
Her response was a light one. "I'm not that desperate for warmth!" He kept chuckling as they walked back.

When they returned, Karmi slowly walked up to Honey Lemon and Gogo, and joined the conversation with ease. He flashed a small smile. At least she's now having fun at her own party.

"Sooo?" He almost leapt into the air as Ari slided up to him. "I saw you two leave and come back, did you kiiiiiss?"

Hiro sputtered. "Wh-wh you read too much fanfiction Ari! We're just friends!"

"For now." Ari beamed. "And you called her a friend, that's progress!"

"She's still annoying sometimes." Hiro glanced away. "We are never going to become a couple."

"I will never give up on the Karmiro ship!"

"Karmir-did you SERIOUSLY come up with a ship name?!"

"Yep. Karmi seemed to like it when I told her this morning, she turned red as a tomato!"

"Uhhhhg, Ariiii!"

He continued to groan as she giggled at his misery. But at least the party wasn't as bad as he thought.

AN: Hiro and Karmi are officially friends! Also Ari name-dropped the ship. Congrats Ari for being a stand in for the readers.

Also this Wednesday update is brought to you by spring break!

Edit: took out some of the uh... raunchy humor?

F in chat for Sara tho. The whole Chad thing is a sore subject. But for more info I can give rn, she fell for a lifeguard named Chad (NOT Chad Porter the Bridgeton student), and he took advantage of her crush for his own gain, she ditches him once realizing he wasn't interested in her for romantic purposes, but it's caused her to have concerns for Wasabi due to her own experiences with supposedly handsome gentlemen.

Now THAT'S out of the way, hope you liked the other stuff n.n;

QOTW: If you were to teleport into the bh6 universe, which time would you enter the universe in and why?