Chapter Eight

After Masashi had been released from the hospital, he barely went anywhere for some days. The only time he had gone out was to pay respects for the fifteen students and three staff members at the university who did not make it out of the building in time. The scars on his face still could be seen. The last time he had gone anywhere was last weekend after Tadashi, Hiro and their other friends 'kidnapped' him out of his apartment complex.

Everything had been fine at first, but after hearing some girls talking bad about his scars and mocking him of his lack of a right arm that was that.

"Masashi! Come on man, please come out?" Wasabi had begged outside his door.

"Yeah dude it's not the same without ya!" Fred chimed in. "I'm REALLY, REALLY sorry for choosing your nickname as 'Scar-Face'…if it makes you feel better Gogo gave me a good hit in the chin."

The red haired male glared at his closed bedroom door, blanket wrapped around his body making an attempt to hide himself from the world as if he were a monster. "You can just forget it guys. I'm not going anywhere else ever again."

A sigh could be heard-Tadashi's no doubt. "Alright Masashi," his voice stern like how he talked to Hiro when he refused to do a chore or something of the sort. "If you don't come out right now we're busting the door down."

"…..I'd like to see you try." They heard Masashi mutter out loud making the three older males nod with determination at one another.

Tadashi cracks his knuckles. "Okay. Here we come…."

Just as he predicted, Masashi rolled his eyes hearing them cry out in pain and cursing picturing them fall on their backs after their futile attempt at breaking his door down. "Damn it. We WILL be back later!" Tadashi huffed.

And sure enough…they were. Except this time Gogo was the one to kick his door open, eyes narrowed as she spotted their friend hiding himself under the blankets. "What in the hell? H-Hey!" He couldn't help but yelp, face flushed with sheer embarrassment as he's picked up effortlessly over her shoulder narrowing his eyes at his three male friends. Fred giving him a sheepish wave as they walked out of the apartment, Masashi feeling more humiliated as people watched Gogo carry him over her shoulder still until they arrived at the newly restored university.

Honey Lemon was biting her lip nervously pacing back and forth in her lab, only to be relieved when the group walked in with Masashi. Her eyes practically lit up the minute she saw Gogo put him down. "Oh perfect timing! Masashi, I know you're going to thank me for this later."

Masashi arched a curious brow watching their slightly…sometimes crazed friend hop around muttering 'Now where did I put it?!' looking up at Tadashi and GoGo.

"Okay. What's she going to do to me?"

"Relax you big baby," Gogo rolled her eyes, putting a hand on her hip. "Honey Lemon worked her butt off making this to help you out."

"Aaaaaaaand….here we are!"

It didn't take much for Masashi's jaw to drop in complete shock at what Honey Lemon excitedly presented him. Mechanical arm. She actually made him a real as can be…mechanical arm.

The color of it was a polished black and red reminding him a bit actually of a certain anime character who also bore a mechanical arm. "Y-You made this for me?"

"Of course!" Honey Lemon laughed softly, motioning him to sit at her 'operating table'. "I sort of copied it from that anime series you really like. You can also take it off at will anytime you wish." She adjusts her glasses, frowning in thought. "It's…I'm not going to lie to you. It's going to hurt a lot when I put it on you…"

He gave a one shouldered shrug. "Can't be any worse than actually getting my arm cut can it? …Do it."

Just as she warned him, the installation process was indeed brutally painful. Like that day at the hospital, Masashi squeezed Tadashi by his hand as tight as he could while Honey Lemon orders Wasabi to give him a cloth to bite down on.

"SON OF A FLYING HORSE!" Could be heard throughout the entire building.

By the time the process was completed, sweat dripped down from his face as he grinned up at his friends. "S-See? No worse…"

Tadashi heaves a heavy sigh, only to chuckle softly and ruffle his hair grinning down at him in return. "C'mon. We should go check on Hiro to see if he wrecked the place yet." He joked, knowing how his little brother tended to be if Cass was out running errands.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

It was oddly quiet when they arrived back at the café in which Tadashi and Masashi shared bewildered looks. Too quiet both had thought, making their way up the stairs noting Hiro's university letters still on the table that Masashi picked up frowning in thought.

"Is he sick or something?"

"Dunno…Something must be up though. Hiro's NEVER this quiet."

The café was lacking the typical chaos Masashi was so used to hear every day. No yelling nor complaining. "…Hiro? Bro, are you alright?" Tadashi asked in a soft tone, poking his head through the door with Masashi behind him. His mechanical arm clinked against the wall on accident.

"What?" Hiro asked, looking up from his spot on his bed. "What?"

Masashi winced at his tone that was truly unlike him. "Sorry…We just wanted to check on you. Thought you were up to something." He tries to make a joke out of it but Hiro doesn't laugh or even grin which makes the other two males even more concerned.

Hiro sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry. I just…I'm sorry I got you both hurt."

"What?" So this is where he's going "None of this was your fault. It's not ours either."

"Just a freak accident." Hiro muttered but all three were really thinking the same thing.

Attempt of murder and assault Tadashi and Masashi sat on either side of the younger male, Masashi wrapping his real arm around his shoulders laying his head against his as did Tadashi. Hiro grips onto Masashi's mechanical arm with a small grin. "Honey Lemon's work?"

"Yup." He chuckles softly. "Pretty neat eh?"

"Maybe I could use you in a Bot fight now instead of Megabot." Hiro jokes but Tadashi's lips twitch in a semi grin/semi frown. Not believing-well he could believe he supposed-that Hiro still thought of those stupid Bot fights.

Masashi gives him a gentle noogie. "I don't think so squirt."

They had been like that for awhile until Tadashi remembers his university letters, asking Masashi for them. "Oh yeah. You got a call from the university some days ago…classes had already started but they said you could come back whenever." He tried putting them in Hiro's hand but all he did was toss them with ease in the waste basket.

"To heck with those letters," he grumbles out, finally pulling himself away from the two shocked older males watching as he grabbed his hoodie and Megabot. "I'm going out for some air."

"You know this is illegal." Masashi states with a furrow of his eyebrows, wincing as he still feels a bit of pain when he stands thanking Tadashi for helping him up.

"I don't really care. Maybe I can earn enough to get you guys a better doctor that can actually do something."

Tadashi purses his lips in a thin line, but looks over at Baymax still residing in his red case. "How about we just activate Baymax instead?"

"He was in the building," Hiro scoffs, putting his Megabot inside his hoodie. "I bet he's screwed up now."

"You mean like us?"

Silence surrounded the trio at Masashi's words when he made a move to stop Hiro from leaving the room only to have his knee slam into the dresser. "Ow! Ow, ow, ow…oh damn that freakin hurt." He hissed.

They all hear something beep and blink at one another in confusion.

"Did…either of you just beep?"

"Not me. Did YOU?"

"Tadashi if I beeped don't you think my lips would have moved?"

"No need to get-."

Out of fear, Hiro and Masashi quickly hide behind Tadashi whom is amused greatly at their reactions grinning softly as he watches Baymax inflate accidentally knocking over some of his books waddling towards them. "Hello, I am Baymax: Your personally healthcare companion." Baymax greeted with a cute wave to top it off.

"Hey Baymax." The trio say in unison, holding up their hands. "Ha! Still active just as I figured: No more Bot fights." Tadashi sounded. Just a smidgen of relief in his tone.

"I was alerted to the sound of distress. What seems to be the trouble?" He asked, tilting his head.

"I only hit my knee. It's fine though." Masashi stated honestly, smiling at the all too familiar scene.

"On a scale of one to ten: How would you rate your pain?"

Tadashi sweat-drops as Masashi and Hiro grin at one another, then back at him and finally at Baymax. "…Eight." The red haired male cannot help but wink in playful manner at Tadashi's eye roll muttering something about 'Can't you be more creative than just eight?' but chuckles at his antics.

"I will scan you now." Baymax blinked and in a second the scan was complete. "Scan completed. Your knee will be just fine…however, while you don't have any other bodily injuries Masashi, your neurotransmitter levels and hormones are fluctuating. More so around Tadas-."

"WHOA!" Masashi called out, waving his hands in front of him as Hiro cracked up at his behavior even earning a snicker from a smug faced Tadashi. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! We are NOT going down that road Baymax! Remember?"

"But it's quite normal for a young man such as yourself to-."

"NEIN!" He made his arms into an X shaped form. "I already got that talk from dad when I was fifteen. Oh god…the memories are replaying over and over in my mind like a broken banjo…"

"Very well. One of you may trip…" Baymax said looking around the room.

"Sorry Baymax, but I don't think that's going to-." Tadashi had begun to say, but when he snatched Hiro's Megabot out of the younger male's hands ignoring his protests a piece of the shelf he leans against breaks off the wall. "OW!"

"On a scale of one-."

Hiro, whom is unfortunately beside Tadashi snickers at his brother's misfortune only to have something fall on his head next.

"Ow!"

"On a scale of-."

"OW!"

"On a scale of-."

"OW!"

"On a scale of-."

"Owwwww!"

Masashi shook his head as he watched the comical scene that he wished he had a camera for…Gogo and the others would really get a kick out of this. Oh sure, there was that part of him who wanted to save the brothers from the rain of Hiro's toys…and yet there was that tiny, mischevious side that just watched it all happen. "Wow. Aren't you a couple of smooth criminals?"

Tadashi and Hiro gave him a growl as response. He raises his hands in defense.

"On a scale of one to ten how would you rate your pain?"

"Zero. Like nothing. Nothing at all." Hiro groaned, rubbing his aching head thanking Tadashi for helping him up.

"It is alright to cry."

Tadashi smirks. "He's not crying. It's allergy season."

Masashi laughs in his mind at Hiro giving Tadashi a heated glare making his way over towards Baymax. "Alright. Time to get back in your box…" Masashi and Tadashi look on with amusement, watching as Hiro makes an attempt to push the robot back inside his red case. Masashi leans in to whisper in his ear, glancing at Hiro trying to push Baymax's head down.

"Should we remind him what needs to be said in order to deactivate Baymax?"

Tadashi whispers in return. "Nah…he'll figure it out eventually."

Neither of them could take it when Hiro climbs on top of Baymax's head thinking that would give him better results. Masashi was rolling with laughter on the floor and Tadashi falls back on his bed holding onto his side, tears streaming down his face as Baymax looks around.

"I cannot deactivate until you say you're satisfied with your care."

"Fine! I am satisfied with my-."

WHOOSH

Baymax slides out from under Hiro. Masashi and Tadashi both lose it, cracking up as Hiro gives them the nastiest look imaginable. "Oh will you two just shut up?!"

Masashi was laughing and pointing, like Tadashi he too had tears on his face shaking his head. "Y-Your face! Oh you should see your face! Whoa: Hey!" He scolds, narrowing his eyes when he finds himself on the floor glaring at Tadashi who snickers at his misfortune now.

"Sorry: Hand-spasm." Hiro shrugs one shoulder, looking as 'innocent' as ever but Masashi could see right through him.

Devil incarnate

Masashi huffs, getting up off the floor and making it seem like he's going back downstairs…but instead he turns on his heel and tackles Hiro to the bed earning a cry of surprise resulting in them both landing on the floor. "Masashi!"

"Karma my friend: Sweet karma!"

"Oh I'll show you your stupid karma!"

This was their stress reliever. Whenever any of them were stressed, all it took was a wrestling session to get back into their usual selves. One of them ignoring his still healing body and the other two attempting to mend his heart. "You guys don't stand a chance: Victory is mine!" Tadashi states with vigor, but Masashi and Hiro refuse to surrender.

"Liar!"

Before he can even blink, Masashi has Tadashi pinned with ease to the floor grinning mischievously down at the eldest Hamada brother. "Masashi get off!" Tadashi laughs, all the while trying to fight a blush creeping up on his face.

"Nah. I actually like this position if you ask me."

Baymax waddles over to the both of them, picking Masashi up effortlessly and helping Tadashi up. "Violence is never the answer and rough housing leads to bodily harm. Please stop."

The three males grumbled in response, Hiro rubbing the back of his neck blinking as the trio smile at one another. "You know. I think I do actually feel a bit better."

"So do I." Masashi responded, seating himself on Tadashi's bed beside the older male.

"Same here: Guess it's that Hamada/Nishino hard headedness."

"Are you satisfied with your care?" Baymax asked, watching Masashi reach over Tadashi grabbing a book from his shelf.

"Not yet." He states, opening the book up. "Besides: It's nice to see Hiro active for once."

"Screw you Masashi."

"Sorry kid but you're not my type."

Hiro scoffs but laughs along with Tadashi at his actually decent comeback, picking up pieces of his broken Megabot reaching under his bed to get one. He notices his shirt from the morning, blinking as he spots a little one of his microbots wiggling inside. "Huh? A microbot…"

"You still have one?" Tadashi pipes up, arching a curious brow.

"Yeah I thought Ackerman stole the others…" Masashi added. Cringing just saying his used to be role models name.

"Yeah but… It's moving…" Hiro put it into a petri dish and set it aside. "It thinks it's attracted to the others… Guess it's busted."

Tadashi and Masashi share a look frowning in thought at the other. This was very strange indeed. "Busted. That's the reason." Masashi mutters, obviously not convinced.

The boys soon fall quiet when Baymax waddles over towards the microbot, picking it up tenderly in his hand examining it in the petri dish. "Your tiny robot is trying to go somewhere."

"Oh yeah?" Hiro smirked. "Why don't you go and find out where it wants to go then?"

"Real funny." Tadashi rolls his eyes. Crossing his arms over his chest.

When everything grew quiet it began to worry Masashi perhaps just a bit. They couldn't even hear the microbot attempting to wiggle free out of its glass prison. He opens his mouth, like he's going to make the comment first when realization finally hits Tadashi and Hiro. A panicked expression on both their faces.

Baymax was gone.