For the most part, Hiro had been enjoying the days spent with his cousins. He'd bond with Peni over related superhero shenanigans, exchanging tips and tactics on how to tackle their enemies.

"When you mentioned you were looking into more of the multiverse besides the other Spiderverses, do you think..?" Hiro of course had been thinking of his own experience dimension-hopping when he brought that up.
"You think you might be able to get the original Baymax one day, yes you've told me." Peni had paused work on her mech-suit repairs. "I poked through myself and I'm pretty sure that dimension is sort of like a bubble around ours."
"A dimension inside a dimension?"
"More like a barrier to protect ours, I'll try and figure out a way we can travel through without compromising our world's safety to void monsters or what happened in Miles' world. But I'm going to be honest, it'll take a long time without any outside interference." Then they spent the rest of the afternoon working on adding improvements to Sp/dr to strengthen the web fluid.

He was hoping he'd be able to one day rescue the Baymax Tadashi had built, just so he could have something else that his brother made. But also he did not want to compromise the safety of his world.

Hiro also had plenty of bonding moments with Peter, mostly talking about science and comparing schools. He had to admit, were it not for the steep tuition prices he wouldn't mind going to Horizon, Hiro was more content as an SFIT student though.

But all good things had to end, for today was their last day before heading back to San Fransokyo.

So there they were now, huddled in Aunt May's car on their last evening before their flight at midnight going to a restaurant.

Aunt Cass did say it was his treat after completing his first semester, and Ari wasn't complaining either.

"Can we not go to a pizza place?" Ari questioned. "I've already had enough pizza here to last me a lifetime."
"What's wrong with pizza?" Peter raised an eyebrow.
"Too much cheesy goodness…"
"Mood." Hiro stated, causing all four teens to giggle.


"Settle down kids, we're here." May told them as the car stopped, Peni had poked her head out the window to identify the place.

"Oh sweet! I love the food here." She exclaimed. Hiro poked his own head out of the window to see neon lights illuminating the title of a place he could not say properly.

But he knew it was a Japanese barbeque place, which was good.

One round of beverages and appetizers later..

"I love eating here." Peter was telling Ari. "Harry treated a whole bunch of us here once and it was the best. Gwen and Anya also like coming here for dates."
"Dates?" Ari raised an eyebrow. "Oh, your friends are dating?"
"Yep."
"He wishes he was dating Harry though." Peni smugly added.

"Dude!" Peter blushed red with embarrassment as his sister howled with laughter.
"I don't get it." She turned to Hiro, who shrugged. "Wait he has a crush on Harry?"
"It's not a crush!
Hiro shrugged. "Eh, I don't care. As long as whoever my cousins date are nice to them, or else… and that extends to you too sis! You have terrible taste in crushes."
She glared at him. "You suck."

"I agree with Peni though." He turned to the two cousins, who were both giving each other glares as May tried to ease the tension. "Peter's definitely crushing on his friend."
"Oh, when did you get so high and mighty on romance?" Ari flashed a smirk, she then turned to their aunt. "Hey Aunt Cass?"
She placed down her glass of water. "Yes?"
"Has Hiro ever told you about his classmate Karmi who's around his age and-"
"ARI!" He was starting to blush red and quickly tried to cover her mouth, but she chuckled and leaned back.
"They're so cute together, he totally has a crush on her."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Aww Hiro, you didn't tell me there was a classmate around your age." Cass chuckled. "You should bring her over! I need to make sure she's worthy enough to date my nephew."
His sister tried covering her giggles with her mouth but failed as he felt his whole face flare up. "Aunt Cass the-there's no way that'll happen! She's the literal worst!" Hiro protested.

"Sureee." Ari giggled. "For someone 'whos the literal worst' you sure thought she was pretty at the gala!"
"HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT THAT!?"

"Little sisters see all!"

Things had calmed down a little when the main course arrived. Peni and Cass had opted for vegetarian options while everyone else had meat or fish to cook on the grill. As Ari picked up a piece of beef Hiro protectively blocked her.

"Here, I'll do it." Hiro snatched her piece and placed it on the grill.

Ari pouted. "I can cook my own food y'know."
"You haven't been to one of these places before." He argued. "I don't want you to get burned."
She continued to frown at him.

"Aw cheer up Ari, I know how you feel." Peni patted her shoulder. "Peter would probably wrap me up in bubble wrap if he could."
"Is that possible?" He looked up from his food.
"See?"
Hiro rolled his eyes in amusement. "Man I missed talking to you guys."

"You better still video chat us." Peni pointed a fork at him. "And bring Ari too. She's fun."
"Aww, thanks." She blushed. "You guys are fun too, I never knew having cousins was awesome!" Then she turned to May. "You're fun as well Aunt May."
"Why thank you." May smiled.


By the time dessert rolled around and they finished eating, they had to catch their flight.

There was a heavy feeling in the air as May was driving them to the airport. Ari and Peter were talking in the middle row, Cass and May were also chatting in the front row.

Which left the two teen geniuses in the back.

"I'd suggest you keep on your guard." Peni whispered to him. "Just because the villain who caused the star might be gone, doesn't mean there will be other villains."
"I know." Hiro nodded. "Sparkles is still out there, not to mention the Mad Jacks but what are the chances we'll see them again? And whoever was behind Ari's amnesia."
"You think it wasn't an accident?"
"She remembered her parents being shot, and her amnesia was injected by chemicals, connect the dots, Peni." Hiro pointed out. "I'll get to the bottom of it, but if you find anything on your end..."
"I'll let you know." Her gaze darkened. "But can I ask you something?"
"Sure." He nodded.
"What happened about that whole Knox incident?" Peni had a serious look on her face. "There is no way one of the richest men in San Fransokyo was turned into a monster by accident."

He frowned. "You think someone caused that?"
"Now, I might be biased because of the whole spider monster incident the Jackal caused, not to mention the Rhino..." She grumbled. "But yeah, I think someone was puppeting the strings, be careful."
"You too." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know that you help your spider friends from other dimensions."
"What? Sometimes we get food afterwards." Peni argued. "Maybe one day I'll show you this really good burger joint in Miles's dimension."

"Sounds good to me." He smiled.

As they stopped by the airport, Ari was waving goodbye to her cousins with both of her hands. "I'll miss all of you!" She exclaimed.

"Maybe next time we'll visit!" Peter called out.

"Bye." Peni waved.
"You kids have a good flight." May told them.

"Bye May!" Cass waved to her. "See you soon!"

And as the Parkers drove away, Hiro released a breath he didn't know he was holding. I really needed this break.

Hopefully the flight back would be less draining as the flight here.


AN: All good things had to end. Next week is gonna be the epilouge, and I'm debating when to start posting the next installment Tempest of Hearts

I hope you guys liked my characterizations of the Parkers, their friends, and some of the baddies... we can all agree that August is the worst (it's not the last time he will be brought up. hahahahaha)

Don't forget you can ask a character in the comments!

Anyways, more questions from AgentOfAngst~

To Gogo: Do you believe in ghosts?

"Haha you're funny, no. There's metaphorical ghosts, but I don't believe in spirits that have unfinished business..."

To Wasabi: How's your break so far?

"I've been staying in the city for my break, home's too far away from the city but I'll come back to my folks during the winter holidays. It's been nice to relax except for patrols, not much activity since the star, guess the criminal here were shocked by events and are laying low, wouldn't blame them."

To Fred: Any dating advice?

"Well not as if I recently dated or anything hahaha... But my advice is to respect your partner's boundaries and consent! And to not make fun of their interests."