Sally was tired.
Tired of having to deal with her kids arguing about whatever topic this week.
"And you know how I feel about confessionals Mika!" Her niece was arguing. "I'm not gonna tell him like that!'
"He's gonna be taken by the time you work up the guts, Sara!" Mikan argued back.
"He already likes that Chris guy!"
"Dude is still single, go for it coward!"
"Guys-" poor, poor David tried to settle the argument between the girls, but he never really learned that lesson.
"Shut up!" Mikan snapped at him.
"Mika, don't yell at him!"
"Oh, so I'm the bad guy now? Touche Sara, touche!"
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
They both froze, turning around to see Steven knocking on the door. "For goodness sake, girls please don't argue so loudly." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "What are you even arguing about?"
"Mika is pressuring me to confess my feelings." Sara explained.
"Trying to get Sara with the love of her life." Mikan added.
Steven groaned. "Mikan, please do not force Sara to confess." He took a deep breath. "Perhaps you two should calm down."
"Fine!"
"Fine." Both girls went to opposite sides of the house.
Sally gave a sigh of relief, she walked up to her husband. "Thank you for de-escalating that situation."
"It's fine." He chuckled. "Those two are starting to give me grey hairs."
"Sara technically started it." David chimed up. "She was starting to complain about how she was never gonna be able to get her crush's affections, and Mika snapped."
"I see…" He hummed. "Well, that reminds me of someone, doesn't it?" Steven winked at Sally.
She blushed red. "I was not 'pining' after you like a doe! You were the piner."
"And you were the tsundere."
"Hey!" They both giggled, bringing warmth to the house.
David laughed the loudest of all. "I love you guys."
They smiled, pulling their son into a hug. "We love you too." Sally knew that he was still recovering from the aftermath of being a witness to his mother's mutation, and she was glad that despite that, he didn't lose his smile.
Meanwhile in another disaster household.
"Hiro, why do you have to be the leader of Big Hero 6?" Ari groaned, clicking the computer mouse. "If I see one more female reader x Captain Cutie fic on my dash I'm gonna make you tell the press that you're gay."
"Wrong sibling." He replied, too busy tinkering with one of his magnets. "At least between the two of us."
Ari turned off the screen. "At least it's not shipping you with one of your own teammates." They both suppressed a gag.
"Gross." He scrunched his nose.
"Yeah, and people think the Karmutie ship is problematic." Ari winked at him. "At least you two are at the same age."
"Ari!" Hiro blushed red. "Why are you looking at ships anyways?"
"Umm…" She turned crimson, pushing away her half-written letter. "No reason."
"Wait, were you looking at fics about-?"
"Don't give me that look Hiro!"
"You talk to the girl, seriously Ari? Didn't she friendzone you?"
"Let a girl dream!" She hid her face behind her cheeks. "Sue me for occasionally thinking of holding her hand while staring into the sunset... in the platonic way but still!"
He threw a pillow at her. "May I remind you that Juniper is part of High Voltage? Aka one of Big Hero 6's enemies?"
"You only fought them twice." Ari argued. "And the second time they were fighting themselves."
He slumped onto his bed. "Why can't you have a crush on normal, non-supervillain girls?"
"Why can't you stop arresting my crush?" She argued back.
"What's the point of arguing about this?" He pressed a pillow to his face. Maybe it was because he couldn't understand having a crush, because he never was infatuated with someone. Everyone was either older than him or a jerk.
Except for Karmi…
What what? "Sorry sis."
"I'm just frustrated." Ari sighed. "You got kidnapped by Obake last semester, now Knox. I feel like maybe if I took up that superhero offer, you wouldn't be in danger."
"But you'd be in danger!" He argued. "Maybe you could join our training sessions at Fred's house, or work on your water powers."
"Waterbending." She teased.
"Right, waterbending, so in case something happened and you were nearby, I'd feel safer knowing you could take care of yourself." Hiro suggested.
Ari grinned. "Speaking of that, I learned a new trick, be right back!" She ran downstairs, and returned with a water bottle. "Watch this." She drew the water out of the bottle, and created small bubbles, it was one of her favorite tricks to do.
She then drew her hand down, Hiro felt the temperature in the room grow colder, then the bubbles froze.
"Woah." He gasped, then shivered. "Can you turn the heat back on?"
"Sorry!" She unfroze the room, and bended the water back into the bottle. "I learned this awhile ago, Aunt Cass has me do that sometimes to refreeze stuff." Ari giggled. "I don't mind."
"Can you use it to heat up water?" Hiro asked.
"Yeah." She then hummed. "Maybe I could use it to boil spaghetti without turning the stove on."
"Boiling water is cancelled!"
"Ha!"
They spent the rest of the afternoon watching dumb cat vines together. "Oh my god he flopped like a potato!" Ari would giggle. She even suggested they do vines of Mochi.
"I think Mr. Sparkles would kidnap him again." He lightly chuckled.
"Screw him. He touches my cat I'm gonna punt him into the ocean."
"I'll help you." Hiro entertained the mental image of him and Ari in their scuba gear tossing Sparkles like a ragdoll into the ocean. It made him laugh more than the video of the cat imitating a metal headbanger playing at that moment.
Then the evening rolled around, Cass and his sister were dressed up to see some stupid rom-com movie. "Have fun being a housekeeper!" Ari teased him.
"Thanks." He replied, he'd usually have Baymax to keep him company when he was home alone, but the healthcare companion was with Wasabi to do a yoga session, so it was just him and Mochi.
"Make sure to take of Mochi!" Cass waved him goodbye. "We'll be back soon!"
"Have fun at the movies!" He waved back at the girls.
"See you later Hiro!" Ari waved one more time before she and Cass closed the door, leaving him alone with Mochi.
"So." He looked down at the calico. "I hope you don't mind me inviting company over."
"Meow!"
Karmi had arrived fifteen minutes after he was left home alone, as he unlocked the door and let her in, she was gasping at the cafe. "Wow, when Ari said you guys lived in a cafe, she really wasn't kidding."
"I thought you wouldn't react since Fred lives in a mansion." He shrugged. "But sure." He then pointed to the cat nuzzling his legs. 'This is Mochi, our family cat."
"Aww!" She knelt down and gave him a few head scratches. "He's so cute!"
"Yeah." He picked him up, and she followed him to the living room, they took a seat on the couch. "Do you have any cats at home?"
Karmi shook her head. "My dad's allergic to cats, so is my younger brother Ryan, we have a nice german shepherd named Diggs and a dalmatian named Domino."
She pulled out her phone, and showed him a picture of two dogs, a large one brown and black one, the puppy-sized other reminding him of the litter of fifteen puppies from 101 Dalmations. "They're both boys."
"Cute." He chuckled. "Before Mochi, there was this old orange tabby Aunt Cass had named Oliver, I don't really remember him."
"How did you get Mochi?" She asked. "Was he from a breeder? Male calicos are a really rare breed of cats."
"He was a stray." Hiro explained. "Aunt Cass calls him 'the one good thing from me going out to bot-fight.'" He sighed, stroking the calico's fur, Karmi tried stroking Mochi at the same time and their hands touched, both of them blushed and looked away.
"So… details?" She was trying to save face.
"It was after a night of bot-fighting, I had spent most of the cash on snacks, I usually mail the rest to my aunt and cousins in New York, they're tight on money so I like sending them my wins." Hiro told her.
"One night, I decided to take a break from walking by sitting on a bench and I took out one of my snacks. Then a little calico kitten was at my feet, mewling for food." Mochi's eyes were so wide, and his white fur had been grey and dirty, water dripping down his pelt. He almost cried thinking back on it.
"That was Mochi?"
"That was Mochi. I just called him 'scrap' because he looked like a tiny scrap." Hiro confirmed. "I fed him some chips and picked him up, I couldn't let him stay like that in the streets. Then when I got home Aunt Cass and Tadashi were waiting for me, like how a villain waits for a superhero in his lair."
Karmi giggled with amusement. "I doubt your aunt can be intimidating."
"You should've seen her when I was in middle school, I love my aunt but she ran on coffee for years because of our antics." Hiro chuckled. "The 'bad cop' was gone when seeing the small kitten under my jacket because I wanted to keep him warm."
"Awww." She awed, scratching Mochi's ears. "What happened next?"
"Tadashi gave him a bath, and Aunt Cass told me that I wasn't grounded but I had to take of Mochi while he was a kitten." He explained. "My brother was the one who named him Mochi, I never asked why though…" Hiro sighed. "I wish I did."
Karmi placed a comforting hand to his shoulder that made him feel a little better. "It was a good story." She told him. "You're really sweet for picking up Mochi like that and giving him a home."
"Well, I seem to have a habit of collecting strays, according to Aunt Cass." He teased her. "How'd you get your dogs?"
"Rescues, Diggs was from a bad owner and Domino was from a dog hoarder. We got Dom after I went to SFIT, so he's more of the twins' dog than my dog." Karmi explained. "Diggs likes me more than my parents, he used to sit on my lap and let me cry my eyes out on his fur after a bad day at school."
"Oh." He hummed. "I'd just curl on my bed and cry myself to sleep."
"Yeah, that's always the worst feeling."
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"So, cat videos?"
Both of them decided to watch a couple videos to entertain themselves, Hiro microwaved a bowl of popcorn for them to enjoy. Though if he foresaw them reaching for the popcorn at the same time for five instances, he would've just given Karmi a separate bag of chips and called it a day.
Mochi was curled on Karmi's lap while he held the phone in his hand. Hiro thought it was adorable how she'd scratch under his neck and let him lick her buttery hands.
"I bet if I filmed you and Mochi together you'd get a million views." He joked to her.
Karmi sputtered. "S-shut up, Genius Boy!"
"You're welcome Karms." Hiro grinned seeing her all flustered. Even though they were friends, they were still rivals at heart, but in a more friendly manner.
Then to his horror… the doorbell rang.
"Hiro, we're home!" Frick.
"Hide!" He whispered to Karmi. "I didn't tell Aunt Cass and Ari you were visiting."
"Why didn't you tell them?" She whispered back.
"Um… because then Ari would make a deal out of it?" Hiro explained.
"Oh."
"Hiro?"
"Just hide upstairs, or something!" He quickly ran to the front door to greet his aunt and sister, and tried to not screw up with his bad lying skills. "H-hi guys! How was the movie?"
"Funny." Ari giggled. "Kind of meta though."
"Oh, fun!"
Aunt Cass raised an eyebrow, but she didn't push it. "I'm probably gonna go to sleep."
"Same." Ari nodded, and then he panicked.
"Wait, Ari! I need your help in the garage first!" Hiro exclaimed.
"Really?" She whined. "But I'm so tired…"
"It's about your waterbending." He quickly lied. "I need to find out if…" Quick, come up with something! "If you can carry heavy stuff with the water!"
Ari gave him a look. "Is this because of our conversation this afternoon?"
"Yes!"
"Okay then…" She shrugged. "I'll wait for you in the garage then."
"Perfect." He gave her a small wave. "I'm gonna go… grab stuff upstairs." He then bolted.
Ari gave the doorway a look. "Did he have too much sugar?"
"I honestly don't know." Cass shrugged.
When he got upstairs, he let out a sigh of relief. "Karmi?" He whispered.
"Over here." Hiro turned and saw her sitting next to the other bed in his room. He walked over.
"Coast is clear, Aunt Cass is going to her room and I managed to get Ari to just go to the garage, so we better go quickly." He told her.
"Is this Ari's room?" She asked, he gave her a confused look, but nodded. "I couldn't tell, I don't see any of her things in here." Karmi brushed the sheets. "Was this your brother's room first?"
"Yeah." Hiro sighed. "When Ari first found out she felt awful and insisted she'd sleep on the couch or floor, Aunt Cass and I struggled to convince that it was okay, and that Tadashi wouldn't mind that his bed was used to give someone a place to rest."
He looked back at Karmi, then back to the bed. "She always keeps her things in the living room or garage, she 'didn't want to ruin the room's image,' she said."
"I really hope you don't think of her as a replacement, Genius Boy." Karmi's gaze darkened. "Otherwise I'll destroy you."
"Karms the one and only time I ever compared Ari to Tadashi was and always will be the biggest regret of my life." Hiro flinched at the memory of the awful argument, the awful things he said. "She's not Tadashi, or his replacement. She's my sister, and our friend." He felt his eyes tear up when he said our, but he wasn't sad. "Um, you should probably go before Ari suspects anything."
"Oh, right." Karmi dried her eyes. "Thanks for having me over, Hiro. Next time maybe it could be…"
"The arcade?"
"Right. The arcade." She chuckled. "Mind walking me out in case I accidentally bump into your aunt?"
"Sure thing."
Two nerds group chat:
Genius Boy: Did you change the chat name?
Karmi: Yes, and also I got home safe
Genius Boy: Phew
Genius Boy changed Karmi to Karms
Karms: Really Hiro?
Karms: Really?
Genius Boy: No regrets
Karms: Ari doesn't suspect anything, right?
Genius Boy: Nah but she's giving me weird looks because I'm texting while she's trying to sleep
Karms: Can I ask you something?
Genius Boy: sure
Karms: I overheard a little bit of your convo with your family. And you mentioned something about waterbending? What's the deal?
Genius Boy: I'd like to tell you but I can't
Karms: How come?
Genius Boy: It's Ari's secret not mine, but I'll ask if I can tell you anything, it's complicated.
Karms: Okay, I believe you. It's not dangerous or anything right?
Genius Boy: Ari and dangerous aren't even synonyms so no
Karms: Good
Karms: Also thanks again for inviting me over.
Karms: SFIT is great but I honestly feel lonely
Karms: The Fern kids are nice but they're too pushy and honestly it makes me uncomfortable
Karms: But even though you can drive me crazy you also respect me and my boundaries
Karms: And it makes me happy to call you my friend
Karms: So thanks Hiro
Karms: You didn't fall asleep on me did you?
Genius Boy: Can you NOT give me feels at 9PM?!
Genius Boy: I AM TRYING NOT TO CRY AND ARI'S GIVING ME A WEIRD LOOK DANGIT KARMS
Karms: rofl
"You know I bet I would've had a great sleep last night if someone didn't stay up texting!"
"That's the third time you said it Ari, give it a rest."
"Look at the bags under my eyes bro. Look at them!"
"You're a drama queen." He yawned. Hiro stared at his sister, she was on the computer for some reason. "What are you doing?"
"Editing my search filters and deleting some of my bookmarks." She replied. "I thought about what you said yesterday and you're right."
He blinked. "C-can you repeat that?"
"No!" Ari huffed. "I mean you do have a point it's weird that I read ship fanfiction of a person that I know-"
"You literally help Karmi write fanfiction about me."
"Not the point and that's an exception." She rolled her eyes, the half written letter was no longer on the desk. "It just felt weird since you brought it up. And I would die of embarrassment if Juniper ever found out I read fanfiction about her."
Hiro hummed. "Oh, would you?"
"You better not tell her!"
"Yeah, like she'd believe me." Hiro shrugged. "Speaking of that… weird question, how did you find out you were crushing on her?"
Ari raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I just felt this fluttery warm feeling when I thought of her nonstop, why do you ask?"
"No reason." Hiro shrugged, his hand tracing his phone. "No reason at all."
AN: Surprise Wednesday update! This is because I'm at the end of my school semester and I'm catching up on some well deserved rest, lol. And also I want to at least get Something's Fishy posted before I go on vacation in a few weeks.
So that means... We'll be getting to Something's Fishy this week ladies, gents, and everyone neither or between. Grab tissues and stEEL yourself for this ep, I've rEELly worked hard on this and I've cooked up a rEEL surprise.
Blame Baymaksu for the eel puns, they rubbed off of me.
But yeah, I wanted to write this wholesome chapter of Hiro and Karmi friendship + Mochi third-wheeling before getting to that episode. It's fun writing the softer side of their relationship when they're not butting heads.
QOTW: Any pet adoption stories you wanna share?