I'm not American nor have I ever been to college, so my writing about it may not be entirely accurate haha

Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6 or any characters

~princess

Hiro and Tadashi were enjoying their time off. Hiro had suffered from dizziness and occasionally sickness in the beginning, but he was much better now. Tadashi was completely fine apart from his leg, although that was healing rapidly. Both brothers had suffered minor burns but had received treatment.

Two days after Tadashi came home, Hiro woke up late. He stretched and yawned, gazing at the clear blue sky out of the window. His stomach grumbling, he clambered out of bed and rushed downstairs, skidding to a halt when he saw Tadashi examining what looked suspiciously like timetables.

"Are those…?"

"Our timetables, yes," nodded Tadashi, holding out Hiro's. The boy took it in his hands. "Wasabi picked them for us from college."

Hiro scanned the timetable. There were a lot of free periods where he could study or work on projects, which was good. Comparing it with Tadashi's, he was pleased to see that many of their free periods were at the same time.

"What do you think?" asked Tadashi, watching Hiro's face closely.

"Great!" said Hiro, smiling at his older brother. "I can't wait to get started."

Tadashi sighed in relief and nodded. "I can't wait, either. But for now, how about we get some breakfast then have a game of Fifa?"

"Good idea!"

Time skip

It was a Sunday night and the next morning, Hiro was starting at SFIT. So was Tadashi, but it was Hiro's first time so he struggled to control his butterflies as he brushed his teeth and got into bed.

"Got your stuff ready, bro?" asked Tadashi, who was trying to squeeze a notebook into his bag amongst the millions of notebooks that were already in there.

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Dude, your bag's been unnecessarily packed for weeks. I'll do mine in the morning."

"You won't want to in the morning," pointed Tadashi.

Hiro shrugged.

Tadashi could obviously tell that something was bothering him because the older Hamada came pattering over to Hiro's bed, pushing back the blankets to hug his younger brother. "How are you feeling, bonehead?"

"Fine," said Hiro, squirming in Tadashi's arms.

"Are you sure?" cooed Tadashi.

"Yes," grumbled Hiro. "Don't talk to me like that, I'm not a baby."

"You're my baby brother," murmured Tadashi. Hiro rolled his eyes.

"I'm fourteen! FOURTEEN."

"Exactly," teased Tadashi, tucking his brother's blankets in. "Goodnight, Hiro."

"Mm…night…"

The air was burning. Flames were crackling all around him. Hiro took a deep, shuddering breath. Tadashi had gone inside the building, and he hadn't come out.

Hiro was trying to look for him, but it was too hot…suddenly he was seeing ghostly images of Tadashi…he cried out, the fire burning his back…

"HIRO!"

Hiro sat bolt upright, taking huge, gasping breaths. Sweat was dripping off him like a tap, and he was holding his sheets so tightly that his knuckles were white. His face, however, was bright red.

"Tadashi!" sobbed Hiro trying to get out of bed. Tadashi gently held him in place. Hiro struggled and whimpered.

"I'm here, bonehead," said Tadashi, taking Hiro's hand and squeezing it.

Hiro raised his tear filled eyes; when he realised that it was Tadashi, he flung himself on his brother.

"There now, it's all right…" Tadashi squashed himself into bed with Hiro, wrapping his arms around him. His little brother clung to him tightly, tears cascading down his face. Tadashi's heart was slowly breaking but all he could do was hold the boy. Gradually, Hiro calmed and took regular breaths.

"Bad dream?" said Tadashi quietly.

Hiro nodded slowly. "You went into the fire and you didn't come out."

Tadashi hugged him tighter. "I would never do that. I'm safe. I'm right here."

Hiro nodded, staring at Tadashi as if he thought his brother would disappear if he took his eyes off him.

Hiro was eventually fell back asleep, still clinging to Tadashi like a koala bear. Tadashi smiled warmly and fell asleep too, his cheek resting on Hiro's fluffy black hair.

The next morning:

Hiro groaned when his alarm clock woke him at 6:00. He and Tadashi both had their first class at 10:00; what was his brother THINKING?!

"Why are you getting me up this early?" demanded Hiro, when he had stumbled downstairs and shoved bread into the toaster.

Tadashi glanced up from his newspaper. "It's good to be prepared."

Hiro snorted. "You look like an old man with that newspaper."

"You look like a little kid with those slippers," retorted Tadashi.

Hiro looked down at his feet and blushed as Tadashi laughed. "My feet were cold!" protested the fourteen year old. "Anyway, where's Aunt Cass?"

"Downstairs, opening the café."

The brothers ate a peaceful breakfast together. Because he been awoken at such a ridiculous time, Hiro showered and dressed at his leisure then flicked through some notes on robotics; he knew everything there was to know already, but he wanted to feel prepared. He then sketched some designs in his notebook.

At 9:15, he and Tadashi left on Tadashi's moped. Hiro's butterflies increased drastically as he jumped off the back of it and followed his brother into the college, pulling his backpack on more firmly.

"What's your first class, little bro?" asked Tadashi, once they were inside the main building.

"Computer science," said Hiro.

"Mine's biology. I'll come and get you after class and we'll get food; it'll be lunch by then."

Hiro nodded. "Where's my classroom?" he asked, in a small voice.

Tadashi face palmed. "I forgot about that!" he chuckled. "Come on, follow me."

Hiro was overwhelmed at the size of the place. Now that he was actually a student who had to get to class, the buildings all seemed ten times bigger.

Tadashi delivered him at his class and leaned down to hug him. Hiro shoved him away, embarrassed.

"There's people there!" he hissed.

"Aww come on, it's just brotherly love," teased Tadashi, but respected Hiro's wishes and didn't hug him again. "Well I've got to go, bonehead. I'll meet you here after class, all right?"

Tadashi walked away and Hiro felt very lost without him. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and walked into class.

The other students were sitting down and talking quietly, waiting for the teacher. Hiro sat in the only available corner and pulled out a notebook and pen, biting his lip.

His mind and heart were racing as he glanced around at the other students, who were so much older and bigger than him. His breathing rate was becoming unhealthy and he could almost hear Tadashi telling him to relax. In an attempt to calm himself, Hiro began to mumble the states in alphabetical order.

He had reached Oregon when he realised someone had sat down next to him, and could hear him. His voice trailed off and his cheeks turned pink; avoiding eye contact with whoever it was, he turned his head to look out of the window.

The person burst out laughing. Hiro glanced back warily and saw that it was a young man, a little younger than Tadashi. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and an untrustworthy face.

"Hey, kid," he said. "What's your name?"

"Hiro Hamada," murmured Hiro.

"Just as I thought. You're the prodigy, right?"

Hiro shuddered at the way he said 'prodigy'. "Yeah…I-I guess…"

"I'm Ty," he said.

"Nice to meet you," said Hiro politely, but something told him that meeting Ty was anything but nice.