"This is Tadashi Hamada, and this is the first test of my robotics project."

Tadashi stepped forward and tapped the chip compartment on Baymax's chest, watching his face as it clicked back into place.

There was a clatter as his chalk board hit the floor, and a shrill screech filtered through the lab floor.

"Aah! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!" He slapped the compartment and the chip re-emerged, causing the noise to stop abruptly. Tadashi rubbed his ears, blinking furiously.

"What the hell was that?!" GoGo's head was first to appear in the doorway, followed by Fred, Wasabi, Honey and Elsa. All wore pained expressions, most were still rubbing their ears.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I was testing Baymax and… well. You heard."

Pop. "Yeah. We heard. I think we'll be hearing it for a few hours."

Tadashi sighed and sat back down, legs sprawled in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, looking at Baymax, muttering to himself. The group left him to it.

"Okay! Let's go, let's go, let's go, buddy."

Elsa looked up from her book at Tadashi's door, with a slightly worried look on her face. Wasabi had a similar expression and got up from the common room's fourth-hand sofa, walking to the door, peering in.

"Right. Seventh test."

Elsa listened; there was a pause, presumably Tadashi turning Baymax on, the robot booting up…

"Wait, wait, wait, stop!" Elsa frowned. It sounded like Tadashi was fighting with something and taking the lab with it. She looked up at the door, only to find it now wide open, Wasabi inside, fighting alongside Tadashi to keep Baymax still.
"I got it, I got- .. I don't got it!"

"I thought the snowman look was supposed to be non-threatening?!"

"It is! "

Elsa ran over, book abandoned on the floor and while the two boys struggled to keep Baymax's arms pinned, she reached over Tadashi's shoulder and tapped the panel on the robot's chest. It slowly came to a stop, Tadashi and Wasabi leaning on it and panting.

"Are you two okay?"

"We're fine."

"Fine?! Dude, I just wrestled a six foot "cuddly" spectre of death!"

"He's harmless! He just needs some tweaks."

"Some?!"

"Guys!" Elsa put a hand on their arms very briefly to get their attention, "Guys. I think it might be a good idea if we all shut down for the night, don't you?"

Ever the early riser, Elsa was the first to arrive in the labs that morning. Walking to her workbench, she put her bag in the drawer, and her coat on the back of the chair. Turning towards the coffee machine, she noticed Tadashi's door was ajar. Frowning, she went to the door and peered inside.

On the table, fast asleep, was Tadashi. His cap was askew on his head, his chalk board – now numbered '33' – discarded to the side, a torch on the floor. Strewn across the floor were various tools, with most of them lying at Baymax's feet.

He must've been working through the night this time…

Elsa started over to the desk, but hesitated. She didn't have the heart to wake him. When she realised she was watching the man sleep, you weirdo, she quietly made her way over to Baymax, who had been partially dismantled in an effort to fix whatever had happened this time.

She peered into the robot's inner workings, curious as to whether she could work out what had kept Tadashi from making his way home the previous night. Glancing down at the tangle of wires spewing onto the floor, Elsa caught sight of a tablet sat on the floor beside the robot's feet, and frowned at the code on the screen. Biting her lip, she looked back at Tadashi… then she picked up the tablet and corrected a couple of lines that had no hope of working.

Another two hours passed before she heard anyone else coming into the labs, the sounds of voices alerting her to just how long she had spent tinkering with Tadashi's project. She cringed, feeling slightly guilty, before downing tools and turning to sneak back out of the lab.

Tadashi was sat upright in the chair, cap on the desk, arms folded, grinning. She let out a rather un-Elsa like squeal and jumped. "How long have you been awake?"

"Ooh… from about the time you started cursing in Norwegian." He smirked, "At least, it sounded like cursing." Her face flushed red with embarrassment, and he wandered over, peering over her shoulder at what she'd been doing.

"Tadashi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interfere, I just-"

"Oh wow…" He scrolled slightly through the code, dragging his finger slowly up the screen she held in her hands, "I never thought of that."

"… what?"

"You've managed to simplify dozens of lines of code… this will sort out the conflict that was screwing with the defib safeties… and this line will-." He stopped himself, and grinned at her again, "Thank you."

"Uhm… you're welcome?"

"Listen… if you ever get bored again in the early hours… or the late ones, I'd appreciate your input. Thirty-three tests and he's nowhere near operational." He patted the robot on the head, resting his hand there and sighing slightly, "I'm running out of ideas."

Thus, their partnership began. Elsa would work on her own project during the day, and work with Tadashi during the evening. When she'd finished with her own project, she started working exclusively on Baymax. She would turn up a couple of hours before anybody else, head into Tadashi's lab, put her bag in the drawer of the desk Tadashi had insisted she take, her coat on the back of the chair and get to work.

Tadashi would arrive a couple hours later, more often than not with coffee and pastries from his Aunt's café, they would discuss what Elsa had done already, and they would continue from there. They conducted dozens of tests, morning, noon and all too often at night, one of them asleep at the desk, the other holding the chalk board in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. Thanks to safety features Tadashi had implemented after the seventh test, or as Wasabi called it, 'The Test That Shall Not Be Numbered', Elsa was able to conduct a couple of her own midnight tests without fear of Baymax sending her flying across the lab.

Slowly, but steadily, they appeared to be making progress.

"Okay. This is the…" Tadashi paused – he'd lost count weeks ago.

"Eighty-forth." Elsa deadpanned. She certainly hadn't.

"-eighty-forth test." He put the chalkboard aside, and tapped the button with a sigh. They'd reached a plateau. The past dozen or so tests had always had the same result – absolutely nothing. No sounds, no lights, no change to the robot's facial expression. The frustration had meant the pair were at their wits end, arguing over the tiniest little things. Tadashi's coffee consumption had skyrocketed, Elsa's insomnia had returned with a vengeance, and the combination was enough to ensure those who shared the same floor – heck, the same building – kept a respectable distance from them after they had tested Baymax.

In addition to the original 'When will Baymax finally work?' betting pool, Fred had now started up a 'When will Tadashi and Elsa kill each other?' pool. It was the Institute's best kept secret.

Tadashi waited, listening to the quiet hum of Baymax's hardware whirring to life, yet again wondering whether this might be the test that finally worked, or if it would be just another failure.

"Hello. I am Baymax."

He stared into the robots beady black eyes. Behind him, Elsa had moved out of her chair and had stood beside Tadashi, blue eyes wide, gaping.

"Do either of you require medical assistance?"

"It worked!" Tadashi jumped back, his arms outstretched, a stunned look on his face. He turned on the spot, hopping around the lab. "This is amazing!"

Elsa just kept staring up at the robot in awe, a grin forming on her face. She reached out to touch Baymax's chest –only a few hours ago, he had had no vinyl covering and his inner workings had been strewn everywhere. It had taken months… but he was finally working.

Baymax cocked his head slightly, looking down at her, "Do you require medical assistance?"

Elsa laughed, unable to do much else. Then, she squealed as Tadashi ran over and lifted her up into the air, "Elsa, he works! He works, he works, he works! We did it!" He was bouncing up and down, crushing her in a hug, but then he suddenly put her back down on the ground and kissed her on the cheek.

Elsa reached up and put a hand to where he had just kissed her, blushing furiously. An inch or so to the right and it would have been her lips, rather than her cheek. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw the moment when Tadashi's mind registered what he had done, his mouth turning into a perfect 'o'. He winced, holding his hands up apologetically, when Baymax broke in with, "You are both experiencing raised levels of endorphins, commonly associated with extreme excitement and happiness. Are you happy?"

Tadashi was the first to speak, though he wasn't entirely sure at whom his answered was directed, "Yes. Very, very happy." He couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, both still red from his earlier display, "Just wait until my brother sees you. You're going to help so many people, buddy. So many!" He chuckled, the euphoria slowly melting away, his racing heart slowly calming. "Well, that's all for now." He cast a look over his shoulder at Elsa, then looked back to Baymax.

"We're satisfied with our care."