Chapter 2: Time

"Come on, Honey! If you can make giant metal balls disappear into pink powder, then an invisible sandwich should be nothing!"

"For the last time, Freddie," Honey Lemon sighed, "an invisible sandwich isn't real science. I can't help you with that."

"Hey, Fred, guess what," Gogo said sarcastically, "if you ask her in another year, her answer will still be the same."

"What about-"

"Don't you dare ask for that shrink ray again, cuz like I said last time, it's not possible." Wasabi said sharply, throwing an elbow out and hitting his mascot suit-wearing friend.

"Don't worry," Fred snorted as he rubbed his newest sore spot. "One of these days, it'll happen…"

"I wouldn't keep your hopes up on that, Fred," Tadashi laughed as the group turned the corner. He could see his house and he was dying to jump through the door and just curl up and sleep on the floor. Not only had the upgrades he was trying to add to Baymax's system not cooperating with him, but he also had to rewrite most of his coding when the new ones he added ended up corroding his data. Luckily, he was able to save Baymax's "personality", but by the end of the day, the college senior had gotten almost no work done.

"So, dinner tonight? At the pizza place?" Gogo asked as she blew a bubble.

"Sure," Tadashi yawned. He smiled dreamily as the image of Italian food and a warm bed to sleep in danced through his head. It felt like a gift from above that there was a long weekend coming up, meaning more sleep and more catching up. "Let's go tell Hiro where we're going tonight. Kid's gonna freak."

Just as the friends walked up the steps, the door flew open. An angry, older woman fumed out, glasses askew and papers stuck to her clothes. As soon as she saw Tadashi, she rummaged through her purse and shoved an envelope full of money into his hands. "Take it!" she screamed. "I'll give it all back to you if I don't have to keep working with that… that little devil!" With that, she stormed down the street, leaving a trail of dark screeches and papers behind her.

While his friends were baffled, Tadashi just sighed. "Can we reschedule that pizza?" he asked wearily.

Honey Lemon looked at him sympathetically. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled gently. "Call us when you're ready, okay?"

Nodding appreciatively, he entered his home with a heavy heart and a long sigh.

The house itself was relatively clean. A trail of papers that lead to the door showed Tadashi the route the private tutor had took to leave the house. Sighing again, he followed the trail to the kitchen, unsure of what to expect.

Mochi was curled up on top of a stack of papers. He purred contently, despite the chaos that surrounded him.

The floor was covered with papers. Some even floated lazily through the air. Tadashi grabbed one just as it flew near his face. Reading the contents, he groaned when he realized what it was.

Knowing exactly where to find the troublemaker that made this mess, he quietly crept up the stairs, towards his room. He left his bag and Baymax's case on the floor, then quietly pushed the door open.

He almost didn't notice where Hiro was. The room looked normal enough, his side neat and orderly while Hiro's side was beyond saving. Said little brother was sitting in the chair in front of the computer, legs crossed as he typed away on some coding (probably for another bot). Tadashi didn't notice him until he saw the messy hair that stuck up from behind the chair. Tiptoeing over to the rolling chair, he positioned himself for the ultimate sneak attack.

He grinned when he realized Hiro didn't notice his entry (most likely too absorbed in his coding), and promptly spun the chair around and grabbed his little brother's ankles. He heard a surprised "what the-" as he threw his brother behind his shoulders, leaving him dangling upside down, the only thing holding him up being Tadashi's grip on his ankles. For extra measures, the older Hamada bounced around the room, happily laughing at every squawk of protest that came from behind him.

"Tadashi? What the heck, bro!" Hiro yelled furiously as he dangled limply behind his brother's back. The nine (almost ten)-year-old had learned from past mistakes that there was no fighting his brother's iron grip.

"Nice to see you too, little brother," Tadashi laughed back, giving Hiro an extra shake.

"Tadashi, let go!" Hiro squeaked, pounding on his brother's back (or at least, what he could reach).

"Anything you say," was his reply as he walked over to the bed. Turning around, Tadashi let go of his prisoner, letting him fall to the bed. One undignified grunt and a poorly aimed smack later, Hiro was sitting cross legged on his blankets, glaring daggers at his older brother.

"There are easier ways of saying you're home, you know," Hiro sighed, absentmindedly smoothing down his wrinkly blankets.

"I know," Tadashi sniggered, "but it's so much more fun this way."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Of all the brothers I could get, I get the weird nerdy one," he muttered.

"Anyways," the older Hamada laughed again. He reached down and ruffled his little brother's always-messy hair, a large grin plastered across his face. "I'm home little bro."

Hiro couldn't fight the smile that appeared on his own face. He swatted at his brothers hand and replied, "Welcome home, big bro."

"So," Tadashi started, raising an eyebrow. "About the kitchen…"

"I'll clean it later," Hiro replied hurriedly. Tadashi was sprawled out on his own bed and Hiro had returned to his coding. After trying to decide how to start the conversation that both brothers knew would not end well, Tadashi finally decided "what the heck" and went with the most awkward one.

"That's the 37th home tutor you've driven away, Hiro," Tadashi sighed. "This year!"

Hiro shrugged. "They don't like me. I don't like them. It's the best of both world if they leave."

"And printing out all the information from their private lives is the way to do it," Tadashi said sarcastically, holding up the previous tutor's electricity bill. "You don't have to show them you're smart by hacking into their computers, you know."

Hiro spun around, giving his brother a wide-eyed stare. The stare immediately turned devious as a smirk formed on the kids face and one eyebrow raised. "But I didn't hack it," Hiro chuckled evilly.

"Using your technopathy counts as hacking," Tadashi stated bluntly.

"Oh, come on, Tadashi," Hiro whined. "This one was so mean! She never showed up on time and she would only teach me things I already know!"

"Don't forget that, in the books, you're only at ninth grade level right now, remember genius?" Tadashi sighed wearily.

After their giant adventure three years ago, their wealthy (at the time rival) acquaintance, Yoichibei Sayaki, had promised to erase all records that showed what had happened. Medical forms, property damage, everything that marked any record of the damages that woman had made were wiped off the face of the Earth. Unfortunately, that included Hiro's certificates that showed he passed eighth and ninth grade by his home tutors. Not only did he have to suffer through eighth and ninth grade again (because the local law offices were just too stubborn to listen), but he also had to endure the private tutors teaching him all the same material as before. The kid felt so bored every day that he practically made it a living to piss off and drive away home tutors. His record was fifteen in a week.

"I know, I know…" Hiro grumbled. He turned his kicked puppy look on to full blast as he looked over to his college-leveled brother. "Why can't I just go to college with you guys?"

"Hiro, we've been through this before," Tadashi groaned, trying to look away. Whenever Hiro did that look, Tadashi always felt guilty, even when he didn't do anything wrong. "You're too young! And besides, you don't even have your high school degree yet, and-"

"Then jump me up to twelfth grade material!" Hiro yelled, jumping out of his chair. "Let me graduate already! Is it too much to ask for you to just let me finish all this easy stuff?"

"Well," Tadashi tried weakly, "it's not that simple, little bro, you see-"

"I know what it is," Hiro said sharply, eyes blazing with fury. "You don't want me to graduate. Because you don't think I'm ready for the 'real world'."

"Well, yes…" Tadashi replied lamely, "Yes, that's one reason, I suppose-"

"For the last time, Tadashi," Hiro snapped. The lights in the room began to flare. Tadashi quickly shot Hiro a warning glance, which the child pointedly ignored. He balled his hands into fist and gritted his teeth, snarling, "Stop," each bulb burned brightly at its max capacity, "Babying," Tadashi could almost feel the room begin to heat up, "Me!" At his last word, the lights in the room all burst, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. The streetlights outside also blew out, most likely along with the lights in every house within a fifty-foot radius. Tadashi managed to dive aside and avoided any major injury from flying glass, and looked up wearily to his angry little brother.

The kid still looked furious. However, the anger was leaving his eyes as dizziness started to settle. Hiro wobbled on his feet, holding his head as he leaned to the side precariously. "Wha-" he groaned as his face paled.

"Whoa, easy there, buddy," Tadashi jumped out of his hiding place, carefully avoiding the glass on the floor. He caught Hiro just as his little brother started to fall, saving him from a face plant into shards of glass. By some miracle, Hiro wasn't hit by any glass shrapnel either.

Hiro gazed up dizzily, eyes glossy as he stared past Tadashi's head. "Did I graduate," he slurred, then covered his mouth as the nausea set in.

Tadashi smiled down grimly as he helped his brother get to a trash bag. "Not yet, buddy," Tadashi sighed, patting his brother's back as the kid emptied his stomach of everything he ate that day. "Not yet…"

"What happened," Hiro groaned, looking around the room blearily. "Why are all the lights out?"

"Long story," Tadashi sighed, giving his brother a weak half smile. "How much do you remember?"

"Uhh… we were talking about school?" Hiro made his statement a question and looked at Tadashi unsurely. "Then I got mad… and I'm not sure about after that."

"That's pretty much what happened," Tadashi said as he lit a candle. He also started to rummage through their drawers, hoping to find a flashlight. "And now the entire street has a freak power outage."

"Ugh, my head is killing me," the child groaned, massaging his temples with his fingers. "What'd I get mad at?"

"We'll talk about it later," Tadashi sighed. "In the mean time…" He gave his brother a stern glare and said, "You really have to watch your emotions there, buddy. It's already bad enough that it affects other people. And it drains you this much afterwards…"

"Sorry," Hiro mumbled. "I'll be more careful next time."

Tadashi sighed (again) and gave his brother a small smile. "And no more hacking into other people's computers."

"Yes, sir," Hiro grumbled mockingly. "Should I do the dishes and clean the rooms for you too?"

"Hmm," Tadashi pretended to give some thought to his brother's request. "That's not a bad idea, actually…" He laughed when his brother sat up disbelievingly. "Anyways," he chuckled, "You hungry? Wanna order in?"

"My stomach still isn't feeling that great…" Hiro mumbled, holding his stomach and covering his mouth. "Maybe tomorrow?" he offered weakly.

"Sure," the older Hamada grinned and said, "It's a long weekend anyways."

Hiro's face lit up. "That's right!" he exclaimed happily. "We're still going to that tech convention, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Tadashi replied. "I'll call the private tutoring company tomorrow and ask them for another tutor tomorrow. Now get some rest, okay?"

"Sure," the younger Hamada yawned and grinned sleepily. "G'night, Dashi."

"Good night, knucklehead," Tadashi smiled and ruffled Hiro's hair affectionately.

Unable to find a flashlight, he grabbed the second best thing: his phone. He quietly closed the door and walked back downstairs, letting out a deep breath when he looked at the forgotten mess in the kitchen. Mochi had relocated to a comfier spot, leaving the papers labeled with the poor woman's bank records, list of purchases, emails, and basically her whole life strewn across the table and floors. Tadashi groaned at the thought of waking up to clean this mess, but it had to be done one way or another. Trudging past the paper warzone, he went to the counter and picked up the mail he had dropped there a few days before. The very first letter screamed bad news.

It was from the private tutoring company. The fifth company Tadashi had to switch to since Hiro had his records erased. He didn't have to open it to know what it said. It's the same story, he sighed inwardly. Sorry, Mr. Hamada, we have no more tutors available to work with you, we regret to inform you this, blah blah blah… Tadashi snorted in irritation. Excuses to say that there were no more teachers willing to put up with his brother.

Tadashi stretched his arms above his head, a wide yawn breaking across his features. He tiredly looked at the clock and groaned. Almost two in the morning. Well, it had taken him a considerable amount of time making sure Hiro was feeling better, and to clean up all the glass shards without his brother noticing. To say he was tired was an understatement. After the long day he had, and the argument that caused a street blackout, Tadashi felt ready to fall into a coma for at least a year.

Wearily dragging his feet up the stairs, he gave the messy kitchen one last glance. Even though it had been a while, and Hiro had learned to keep his powers mostly in control, Tadashi was still worried about the effects that the leftover abilities of that chip could do to his little brother. Sure, it was cool and all, but he still remembered the day they came back from the hospital. Hiro threw a huge fit and destroyed every electrical appliance in the house, which promptly ended up with him getting another high fever and Tadashi having to replace every item in the house. From what he could tell, Hiro had thrown the tantrum because the "machines wouldn't shut up," as the child had so gracefully stated.

Sinking into his soft mattress, Tadashi let out a content breath. He turned to face his sleeping brother, a million thoughts swarming through his head. He knew the consequences that would come if anyone found out about Hiro's "talent." Yoichibei had warned him that there were many greedy business men out there that would do anything to get their hands on someone with abilities like Hiro (Tadashi had glared at the large man who had resorted to kidnapping and killing, yet he was talking like he had nothing to do with anything.)

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when you said things were gonna be complicated, Aunt Cass, Tadashi sighed, for what felt like the fiftieth time that night. I was expecting killer robots, or gang fights… not weird sci-fiey stuff that sounds like it came out of one of Fred's comic books. Those things would be easier to deal with than this.

Robots could be taken apart.

Gangs could be arrested and jailed for life.

But this? No. There was no escape from this.

Because the only way to get away from this was to leave Hiro. And that was one thing Tadashi was not willing to do.

"Well," Tadashi exhaled out loud, "I'm still sticking by my promise. I'm staying by Hiro. Even through all this crazy stuff. Cuz I promised…" Trailing off, he nodded satisfactorily to himself. Forever, he mused silently, before stretching out and gently blowing out the candle.

Big news! :D

So, I have a friend who read A New Life and invited me onto AO3 (Archive of Our Own ^^), and I posted the first chapter of A New Life on there for all those people to check out~ if you use AO3 as well, help me spread the fire of the BH6 fandom :]

Thank you for all the comments! Hope any confusion is cleared up from this chap ^^" Continue following and reviewing please!~