hey guys! thanks sooo much for all the positive feedback on my first chapter! it means so much you don't even know! ^^
i really hope you enjoy chapter 2 as well^^
Chapter Two:
Hiro took a deep breath as he held his hand steadily on the doorknob of his aunt's café, praying that his earlier attempt at disarming the security system actually worked this time. "Okay, Baymax," he whispered to the big marshmallow of a robot behind him, "We have to be real quiet, alright? Absolutely no noise."
The robot tilted his head, but nodded in agreement as he put his finger to his mouth and let out a low 'Shhh'.
Hiro smiled, exhaled, and then carefully opened the door before tiptoeing inside.
Normally, Hiro Hamada would never worry this much about entering his own home, but in these circumstances, he was horribly past curfew, and if his aunt caught him sneaking in yet again, he would be in serious trouble.
The first time was a simple mistake, walking through the front door and having the security alarm which was supposed to be disabled end up blaring and beeping twice as loud as it normally would. God, his aunt's face when she came running downstairs… hair a mess and armed with a baseball bat. If looks could kill, he would have dropped dead in an instant. Thank God Baymax was there, just in case he needed to be revived.
The second time was rather embarrassing on his part. He had successfully scaled the roof and easily slipped into his bedroom without a sound, but had horribly miscalculated Baymax's size, causing the poor health care companion to get stuck in the window frame. Add the loud crashing of books and knick-knacks hitting the floor as he accidentally slammed into the wall (after a vain attempt to pull Baymax through), and the utterly awkward noise of said robot deflating himself to become smaller, Hiro didn't stand a chance.
"Huh… no repulsively loud alarms… no flashing lights… so far so good, huh, buddy?" he said with a cocky grin, continuing to slowly creep though the room as his robotic friend waddled slowly but surely behind him.
Then, just as he thought he was home free, everything exploded at once. Couldn't just one of his attempts at sneaking in be easy?
Hiro's eyes widened as his phone suddenly started blaring in his pocket, its horribly obnoxious ringtone echoing throughout the room. "Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap!"
"Shhhh, we must be very quiet. No. noise." Baymax repeated in a hushed like voice, placing his finger to his mouth once more.
Hiro shot him a glare and desperately fumbled around with the continuously ringing device. Finally, he managed to find the 'end' key, and successfully silenced the noise. He sighed and mentally vowed to spell doom for whoever it was that broke his cover. That is, until he saw who it was. Looking down at the tiny glowing screen, Hiro couldn't help but flash a smile as he clicked the icon that read 'new text message'. "Hey Hiro." It read, "We kicked some serious butt tonight, Make sure you get some rest, nerd. I'll see you in class tomorrow -GoGo"
Hiro chuckled to himself, all previous frustrations forgotten. He was just about to send a reply, temporarily forgetting his current situation, but as the café lights suddenly flickered to life and an "Oh, no" was heard from Baymax, he quickly returned to reality.
"Hiro?!" his Aunt Cass' voice bellowed as she practically jumped down the stairs. "Hiro Hamada!"
"Heyyyy, Aunt Cass," he said quickly, giving her a wave and a nervous smile. "I, uh, didn't think you'd be up…"
His aunt flashed him a look that was fierce enough to make inmates in a prison cower in fear. "What on earth, Hiro!? Do you have any idea what time it is? You had me worried sick! Are you alright?!" Cass' face quickly turned from a look of rage into a look of fear and worry, making Hiro's stomach knot with regret. She ran towards him, engulfing him in a tight hug.
"I'm fine, Aunt Cass, I'm promise," he said, giving her a reassuring squeeze right back.
"Good." She said simply, releasing him from her hold and taking a step back, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so. "Because you are SO TOTALLY, COMPLETELY, AND UTTERLY GROUNDED!"
Hiro flinched as he bit down on his lip. "But Aunt Cass, I was just-"
"Nope! No 'buts', Mister Hamada! I mean, what were you even doing out this late- And is… is that blood on your face?!"
Hiro's eyes widened a fraction, and he moved his hand to his cheek, feeling along a small gash. Sure enough, when he pulled his hand away to inspect it, a brilliant red substance coated his fingers.
Aunt Cass covered her mouth with the palms of her hands, tears misting over her big brown eyes.
"I promise it's not as bad as it seems!" he reassured her, "I was just doing some Hero stuff with the gang and some debris must have nicked me, it's no big deal."
"Hiro," she sighed, "you know that nobody is more proud of you than I am about how you and your friends stopped that yokai, but I've told you time and time again, that this whole super hero thing has to stop! You could get seriously hurt!"
Cass Hamada had a right to worry about her nephew; after all, it had only been two years since she lost her oldest -Tadashi- to that horrible fire. And though she knew that he wasn't alone and was helping others in need, she would be damned if she lost Hiro, as well.
Hiro shook his head and walked to grab a bottle of water from the mini fridge that was behind the front counter. "It's not like I can just quit," the boy argued, taking a quick swig of his beverage, its coolness feeling like magic to his dry throat. "Besides, I have Baymax! And trust me, nothing bad is going to happen to me with him around."
Baymax, who stood quietly in the background, gave a small nod. "Yes. Hiro is my patient and friend. I will always be there to insure that he is in full health."
"See?"
Aunt Cass sighed once more, hands planted on her hips. "But… but what if someone catches you when Baymax isn't around, huh? Or if someone managed to find out what your true identity was! They could find your school! Or find out where we live!" a sudden gasp escaped her, and she ran across the cafe to close all the blinds, peeking through the small gaps and eyeing the streets for any suspicious characters.
Her nephew chuckled, though it was immediately silenced once her gaze returned to him. "Hiro, I'm serious!"
"You trust me, don't you, Aunt Cass?" Hiro asked, taking her hand gently into his own; his enormous brown eyes shining brightly up at her. God, she hated when he did that.
There was a moment of silence, and his aunt narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Yes…." She said finally, though her hesitation said otherwise.
"Well, then, you have to believe me when I say I have it under control. Baymax was made to help change the world," Hiro's face suddenly fell as memories of his brother came flooding into his mind. I'm not giving up on you buddy, he would say. You're going to change the world for the better. I know it. The teen shook his head, pushing the thoughts of Tadashi to the back of his mind like he normally did, and proceeding to focus on the distraught woman in front of him. "And that's… that's what I'm going to do. You can't ask me to stop doing this, Aunt Cass... Please."
Cass looked down at her nephew sadly, though she couldn't help the glimmer of pride that she felt as well.
She was silent for a while, a mixture of thoughts and emotions going through her head. It wasn't until she let her infamous 'fine, you win' sigh, that Hiro let a smile cross his lips.
"Oh, alright…" she drawled, removing her hand from the boy's, "I know I can't stop you… but please, just be careful! And no more missing curfew! Your shift as superhero Hamada ends at 11:30 got it?"
"Yes, Aunt Cass," he said with a grin.
"I'm serious, young man. If I catch you late one more time, you'll be in deep shi…shi-"
"Shit, Aunt Cass?"
Cass narrowed her eyes at her nephew, pointing her index finger in his face. "I do NOT like that language, but that's exactly what you'll be in! Now… now you just go to your room!"
Hiro smirked, giving her a small nod before quickly taking his leave up to the attic. "I love you, Aunt Cass." He said sweetly as he ran up the stairs.
"Yeah, yeah, I love you too." she replied dryly as she waved him away, before taking a rather large bite out of a jelly donut that was left on a nearby table.
"You know, Miss Hamada, stress eating can often lead to obesity and other deadly eating disorders."
"Hiro! Your talking marshmallow is grounded along with you!"
Hiro wasted no time stripping out of his clothes, into his underwear and climbing into his overly soft bed, the material calling him to sleep. He let out a soft, tired yawn as he placed his head on the cool silk pillow and wrapped himself up in the covers. It had been a very long day, what with stopping a robbery in progress, and then helping to end a police chase and what not. And the young hero was definitely ready for some sleep. But just as he felt himself slipping away into sleep, he heard Baymax's soft voice sound by his charging station.
"Hiro?" he asked, eyes fixated on the desk that was in front of him.
"Hmm?" Hiro asked tiredly, eyes still halfway closed, "Whazzit, buddy?"
"Who is the person in this photograph? The one with you and Tadashi?"
Hiro's eyes popped open at the sudden question, and he quickly shot into a sitting position. "What are you talking about, bud?"
Baymax pointed to the small glass frame that was located on his computer desk. It was him, Tadashi and an old friend, immersed in a giant group hug. Hiro smiled sadly as he walked over and held the photo in his hands. Tadashi, as usual, didn't seem too amused in the picture, while Hiro and the other child smiled madly while they made funny faces into the camera.
He had found the picture while cleaning out some of Aunt Cass' old things a few weeks back; and upon catching him staring at it for quite a while, she decided to let him keep it as his own.
Hiro put the photo down, yawning and stretching his arms out until loud cracks were heard. "It's no one, buddy, just an old friend..."
Baymax tilted his head, "A friend?" he questioned. "I do not recognize her as someone in my database, would you like me to add to your contacts?"
"What? No, no, Baymax that's okay. I don't even know where she lives anymore…" Hiro staired at the ground for a moment, small memories of his childhood coming back to him. He always wished he would have tried harder to keep in contact with her. She had been, after all, his only friend back then. But as the weeks turned into months, and the months into years, he found it harder and harder to reach her. He had school and after school came academic classes, and not to mention tons of studying and work to do. Hiro sighed as regret fluttered around his gut, there was always time to spare for friends, and he hated that he didn't try harder.
"You miss her?" Baymax asked, snapping Hiro out of his sullen thoughts.
"Yeah, but it doesn't really matter, buddy, it's been a long time… I honestly doubt she even remembers me." Baymax blinked, but didn't ask any more questions, instead he just deactivated into his charging dock.
Hiro flopped down and made himself comfortable in bed once more, his arms and legs spread out on the mattress as he stared blankly at the ceiling. So far, he'd managed to do a really good job pushing all the negative thoughts he had to the back of his mind. But this… this just seemed to sit front and center, not willing to go anywhere.
The teen's eyes wandered to the clock on his wall, suddenly unable to sleep. It read 1:45. He still had four hours to go before he needed to wake up again. Hiro sighed in frustration as he covered his face with his pillow.
Nerd School was going to suck tomorrow.
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