"Hey, Wasabi, have you seen Fred?" Hiro asked, approaching the large man's work desk. Despite the almost overwhelming urge, Hiro kept his hands to himself as his eyes roved over the freakishly neat space.
"Uh, no. Last I saw, he was talking to Go-go, but she left a while before lunch. Speaking of, I'm kinda hungry..." Wasabi said, looking up from the gadget in front of him.
"Wasabi, classes are way over. Did you not take a lunch break?" Hiro said, running a hand through his unruly hair. Wasabi's eyes widened.
"No, no I didn't. I just... guess I was so in the zone... oh man, Hiro, this is gonna offset my entire schedule! What time is it? Maybe, if I..." Wasabi, frantic, shot out of the lab like a rocket. Hiro groaned.
Something had been bothering him for a couple of weeks. When they weren't at school or fighting crime, he and his friends were usually just hanging out, and he noticed something peculiar. Honey Lemon. Wasabi. Go-go. Freddy, Fredzilla. Nicknames, flying back and forth when they talked to and teased each other. But then he was... he was...
Just Hiro.
He knew Tadashi had had a nickname as well, though he hadn't mustered up the resolve to ask, and no one used it anymore out of respect. Heck, even Baymax was occasionally called Marshmallow when he wasn't in his battle suit! So what was it about Hiro? Did Fred, or the others, not see him as part of the group, really? Was he permanently stuck in the hole left by his brother, a poor replacement?
The door opened, followed by raucous laughter. Honey Lemon and Fred strolled through, bags of fast food in their arms.
"Hey, Hiro! Where is everyone?" Fred called to him, spinning as he searched for an open space to serve the food.
"We brought dinner!" Honey sang, helping Fred move a few things around with her free hand. "We thought it'd be nice to eat and work on Professor Moore's huge assignment together, so..."
The look on his face stopped Honey in her tracks, who immediately dropped what she was carrying to see to him.
"What's the matter? What happened?" Her soft hands were incessant on his face, squashing his cheeks, tilting his chin up to meet his eyes. Fred panicked and piled his food on the floor, running to stand behind Honey. Hiro felt guilt wash through him at once, for doubting their love for him. They had been through some tough stuff together, stuff that had bonded the five, irrevocably. Six, if he counted Baymax, and Hiro did.
Of course, the question of his nickname, or rather, the lack thereof, still bugged him.
"Fred," Hiro began nervously, and a bit garbled, as Honey was still gripping his face. She noticed and backed off with a final shoulder pat, mouthing "sorry!" around a smile.
"Why... why is it that you gave everyone a nickname but me?" He finished in a rush, averting his eyes. Surprisingly, Fred started laughing. Hiro's head snapped up to glare at him, but Fred had him wrapped in a hug before he could move a muscle or get a single word out.
"That's because you already have your nickname, silly!" Fred finally said as he pulled back, ruffling Hiro's hair. "You've just been spelling it wrong." Honey Lemon's eyebrows rose, then she nodded in understanding, a bright grin overtaking her features.
"That's right! You're our Hero, Hiro!"