Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is the property of Disney Animation. You will immediately know which scene I decided to build this story upon when you get to it.

Disclaimer #2: Spoilers are abound for this series (especially this one), so if you don't wish to be spoiled, don't read this until you do.

Chapter 3 – They Hate...?

Hiro walked into the Periodic Cafe, starving. Working up an appetite was easy when you went to bed with no food after being carried around the city by a mutated human being-turned-monster. After his impromptu trip around the city and in the sewers, "rescue" by the team, and trip to Sycorax to turn Knox in, he barely had time to say hello to his Aunt before heading upstairs and immediately to bed.

And the next morning brought nothing but pain and soreness.

At least his feet looked better than Karmi's had.

Hiro scanned the food court, trying to decide on what to eat. Noodle Burger was out; too much of his diet was consisting of that these days. Not sushi, not pizza. What else was there?

He turned to one of the places near the far end...and grinned.

Guess he was in the mood for a burger.

Hiro walked over to the end of the counter and grabbed a tray, swiping his ID to prepay for the food. Upon hearing the beep, the only other person in line looked his way, then turned her head away.

...And then looked again.

"Hiro?"

"Taking a break to walk with the normal people?"

Karmi narrowed her eyes, pushing her tray with her index finger down a little ways to get her toppings. Needing to wait for the machine to cook his pattie, Hiro stayed in his place.

"Did you manage to cure Orso Knox with your serum?"

She didn't appear to hear him as she grabbed a small container of ketchup. The burger was done, so Hiro set it onto his tray, pushing it closer to Karmi's. As soon as he did that, however, she pushed hers even further down to the drink counter.

He stared at her as Karmi turned to him, an amused eyebrow raised.

"Is the game we're playing now? 'Keep Away'?"

"I don't have conversations with people unless they're next to me."

Grinning slightly, he started to push his now completed plate down next to hers. "Am I close enough now?"

"Maybe."

His tray came to a stop right next to hers, its journey and game complete. "So, Karmi...did your serum work?"

"Yes," she said, pouring ketchup on her burger and putting the bun on top. "But..it's not my serum. At Sycorax, we don't like words like...'my' or...'me'. The breakthrough was a team effort."

She bent down to grab her cup of water and straw. She hesitated for a moment, looking away from him. "Based almost completely on...my work."

Hiro watched her take a sip, noticing the carefully placed emphasis in her words. He bent down to get his own drink. "Well..."

Karmi looked over at him, intrigued.

"I guess Mr. Knox really owes one to the Sycorax team," he said with a grin.

She returned his smile. The two continued to stare at each other for a bit, until Hiro remembered his food was in front of him.

"I have to go eat now. I...guess I'll see you later." Hiro started to walk away from the counter, but stopped when he felt some pressure on his arm.

"Hiro, wait."

He turned back and saw her hand grasping his sleeve.

"Can...can we talk?"

Hiro faced her, a little surprised. "You actually want to talk to me?"

"Hey, don't try to make me change my mind."

"Umm...sure." He grasped his tray and looked around. "Where do you want to sit?"

Karmi nodded in the direction of the stairs. "We can go upstairs. There's usually not a lot of people up there."

He glanced around the bottom level. "And down here's not good enough?"

"I mean, it's quieter up there. More secluded."

"...You're going to murder me, aren't you?"

"No." Karmi took the first step up, not looking at him. "If I wanted to murder you, I'd do it in my lab."

Cautiously, he walked up the steps behind her, leading up to the second floor. Strewn around the edge of the balcony were small tables, going all the way around the opening to the food court below. Karmi walked over to one of the tables near the window, setting her tray down there.

"Good spot." Hiro placed his food there as well, looking out to the lawn below. "At least if you throw me out here, there will be witnesses."

The two of them settled into their chairs, enjoying the view. Then, they turned to each other.

"Hiro/Karmi, I-"

They recoiled, as they didn't expect to speak at the same time. They began to laugh, the ridiculousness of the situation evident.

"What is wrong with us?" Karmi chuckled.

"A lot, apparently." Hiro said. He waved over to her. "You go first."

"No, you."

"Ladies first. I insist."

"Hiro, I swear, if you don't talk-"

"OK, OK. You make a convincing argument."

Karmi sat back in her chair, taking a bite out of her burger.

"Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. The whole reason that we even got into this whole mess is because I was being nosy about things. I almost got you fired from your internship..."

He leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table. "And I almost got you hurt too. It was stupid for me to ask you to do that. It won't happen again."

"I don't care."

Hiro saw her face rise, her eyes bearing right down at him. "Um...sorry?"

"To be honest, I'm mad at you."

"And you have every right to be. I'm not-"

"No. You don't understand." Karmi glared at him. "I'm mad at you."

"Karmi, the emphasis doesn't change anything about the-"

She cut him off again. "Hiro, for once in your life, be quiet and listen to me."

Hiro was startled, but relented. "OK. I'm listening."

Karmi let a couple of breaths out through her nose before starting. "Hiro, every time you come around me, things go wrong. Something breaks, something gets destroyed, something always happens. I've lost so much stuff because of you, and I thought that this one thing...this internship... would be my thing. And then you showed up."

He looked down at the table, silent.

"And you know what? When we started poking around and exploring everywhere, I liked it. It was exciting. And then...Orso Knox happened. And then you-"

His eyes narrowed. Hold on a sec...

"You..."

His head snapped back up. Karmi was now sitting stiff in her chair, her arms in her lap, shaking.

"I what?" he whispered.

"You left me in that lab. I made all of the components to fix his mutation, and I came out to try to find you. And then I saw the cages, and your phone destroyed, and...no sign of you or him."

Hiro got up from his chair, slowly making his way over to her.

"I came out of the lockdown with everything I could use to cure him, and I heard he had...taken you. And I wasn't sure that..."

Karmi shook her head, trying to keep her emotions in check. "Hiro, I don't care that you break my stuff, or do stupid things when you're around me. I mean, I do, and that's why it seems like I'm always mad at you. But after yesterday…"

Her chest heaved as she tried to get her breathing under control. "I don't care about all of that, because if he had hurt you, I..."

She felt his presence next to him, and his hand slide onto her shoulder.

"Karmi, I'm fine. He didn't hurt me. I don't think he was ever going to hurt anyone. Trust me, Karmi, you can't get rid of me that easily."

Her hand climbed up her arm, gently coming to a rest on his.

"I don't want to get rid of you."

"...Those words would mean a little more if you didn't just threaten me with murder about ten minutes ago."

"I didn't threaten to kill you. I just told you how I would do it if given the opportunity."

Hiro squeezed her shoulder and laughed. "Now who's arguing semantics?"

Karmi grinned as he made his way back to his chair. Content, he brought the burger up to his face...

"I don't hate you, you know."

Hiro paused, his food almost at his lips. "That's an odd thing to say."

"I just...maybe thought that you thought I did."

"No, I don't think that." He set the burger down. "For the record, I don't hate you, either. We're just different, that's all."

Karmi drummed the side of her cup. "I keep telling myself I would be better at being friends by now. Guess I'm a failure at that."

Hiro stared at her, seeing her lost in thought. His mind went back to the earthquake demo, rubble everywhere and a wet paint handprint on his face.

"We learn more from our failures than our successes, Karmi. How boring would it be if we succeeded at everything? It keeps things interesting."

"That's surprisingly wise coming from you."

"Someone else told me that. Now," Hiro pointed down to her plate. "Are you going to eat that or not?"

Karmi had forgotten she even had food in front of her. She reached down...

"But first..."

She looked up to see Hiro extending his arm out, his soda cup in his hand. "To failures."

She brought her own one up, smirking. "Nah...to successes."

They paused, then tapped their drinks between them, completing the impromptu toast together.

"To both."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope (perhaps against hope) that "Prey Date" will finally be the turning point for Hiro and Karmi's friendship. And I'm not even saying that because I've written a bunch of Hiro/Karmi stuff. I say that because you can tell that Karmi legitimately worries about him at the end of the episode, and they have their first conversation where they don't actually make fun of each other. Baby steps, people.

And I say this...knowing which episode is coming up.

I already have an idea for a story without even having seen the next episode. Let's see if "Something's Fishy" will allow that idea to stay.

Read and review, if you like. Until tomorrow.