Chapter 4: Easy

"Hey, bud," Tadashi said cheerfully one morning, "Wanna come to SFIT with me for the day?"

Hiro narrowed his eyes at Tadashi's suspiciously. As much as he loved going to his brother's school, he knew something was up. After he started getting private lessons, Tadashi made sure to keep Hiro away from his college, not wanting him to get distracted.

Speaking of which…

"What about classes?" Hiro asked, raising an eyebrow doubtfully. Tadashi was the attendance king. He was never late or absent for anything.

"Well, I decided," his brother laughed, rubbing his neck nervously (a habit Hiro had learned to mean "trying to hide something"), "why not give you a day off, ya know? Besides, you haven't been to the lab in forever."

"Last time I went, I got sick," Hiro replied bluntly. "And got us kicked out of the on campus café." Shortly after New Life, Tadashi took Hiro, who was still having issues controlling his new abilities, back with him to school. Their first mistake was entering the lab. The voices were so overwhelming from all the different tech that Hiro passed out as soon as he walked into the building. The café… now that's a whole different story.

"It's been three years, Hiro I'm sure you can handle it now," Tadashi urged. "Besides, I'm pretty sure the manager's past the whole 'setting fire to the walls' incident now. At least I hope he is…"

"Fine," Hiro smirked, deciding to humor his older brother. "I'll go with you to Nerd Kingdom. But I expect gummy bears."

Tadashi grinned. "That's the spirit," he laughed, ruffling his little brother's hair (Hiro didn't try to smack his hand anymore, but still grumbled about it). Grabbing Hiro's navy blue hoody and tossing it to its owner, he said, "Get dressed, I'll wait for you downstairs."

Hiro sighed, but smiled nonetheless. He had to admit that, despite the headache he got from his last visit, he really did miss going to the lab. He would always treasure the fond memory of his first visit, before all this technopath mess happened. Quickly changing out of his pajamas and into his every day wear, he shoved his arm through the too-long sleeves of his hoody and walked out the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

"Hold on tight, little brother," Tadashi laughed as he (purposefully) made a sharp turn. "Don't want you to go flying off."

"Then drive like a normal person, nerd!" was Hiro's muffled reply. He had his face buried in Tadashi's back, clinging on to his brother's waist for dear life. Usually Tadashi was always one for following the rules and being safe (like a loser). Turn slowly, stop at stop signs, don't rush yellow lights, the usual traffic laws. He left the daredevil stunts to Gogo. However, for some reason, today he was being extra cheerful, breaking the rules and just acting completely out of character. First, he allowed Hiro to miss a day of lessons, and second, he broke at least ten traffic laws in less than five minutes. If Hiro had to guess, he would've thought that Tadashi was trying to please him for some reason. Which only made the child more suspicious.

"Okay, spill," Hiro said when Tadashi screeched to a halt (extremely out of character, his brother cherished his moped almost as much as he cherished Hiro) in front of the school. He jumped off the moped, slightly wobbly at his feet from his older brother's crazy (but pretty fun, he couldn't deny that) driving. "What's with you today?"

Tadashi didn't answer, and instead said, "Hey, you wanna get some pancakes? There's this place on campus that has great pancakes, they give you all this extra whip cream and fresh strawberries with-"

"Tadashi," Hiro snapped. He didn't intend to sound rude, but he was honestly getting tired of his brother acting so strangely. "Unless it's my birthday, or something bad happened, you never act like this. So what's up?"

At the "something bad happened" part of his question, Hiro saw his brother visibly tense up. Hiro crossed his arms and promptly sat on the floor. It was childish, yes, to sit on the concrete by the parking lot, but he wanted answers. "I'm not moving until you tell me what happened," he declared.

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "Sorry to break the news to you, bro, but that doesn't change anything. I could still pick you up." To prove his point, Tadashi wrapped his arms around Hiro's waist and swiftly lifted him up, much to Hiro's embarrassment. "You really should think about gaining some weight, otouto," Tadashi laughed as Hiro went limp in his arms, sighing dejectedly. "I'd be surprised if a gust of wind didn't knock you over, you look like a noodle."

"It's not my fault you're so freaking huge," Hiro muttered, pushing himself away from Tadashi. Still laughing, Tadashi carefully placed Hiro back on his feet, jokingly dusting off Hiro's head.

"Aren't I allowed to baby my baby brother every now and then?" Tadashi cooed, lightly poking Hiro's still red cheeks.

"It's weird," Hiro grumbled lamely. "You're weird."

"Thank you for that amazing compliment," Tadashi snorted, walking toward the building. Hiro trailed after him, still not looking satisfied. The older Hamada sighed, then said, "Hey." He squatted down to look his brother in the eyes. "How 'bout this. If you let me baby you for the day, I'll tell you what's up before we head home. I won't sugarcoat anything, and I promise I won't hide anything. I'll tell you everything at the end of the day, deal?"

Hiro hesitated, then stuck out his pinky. "Pinky promise?" he asked.

Laughing at their age-old tradition, Tadashi linked their pinkies together and said, "Pinky promise."

Hiro still didn't look happy, but he smiled and said half seriously, "Well, if you're gonna baby me for the day, you might as well carry me into the lab."

"Hah," Tadashi snorted, standing up and patting his jeans. "I said baby you, not treat you like a crowned prince."

Just as the brother's were about to enter the lab, Tadashi stopped and slapped a hand to his face. "Ah, crap," he sighed. "I left some papers at home."

Hiro shrugged. "Go get them," he said, putting his hands in his pockets. "It's not like it's my first time here, I know my way around the lab."

"Are you sure?" Tadashi asked worriedly. "I mean, last time you came, you got sick, remember?"

"That was three years ago, bro," Hiro replied exasperatedly while rolling his eyes. "I'm sure I'll be fine for the next half hour, aniki*."

"Hey, hey," Tadashi chastised, smacking the back of Hiro's head lightly. "Even if we don't speak Japanese regularly, at least remember to be polite."

"Sorry," Hiro muttered, rubbing the back of his head. He grinned and bowed mockingly, "I apologize, onii-sama, please forgive this lowly being."

"Knucklehead," Tadashi snorted, ruffling Hiro's hair good-naturedly. "Anyways, I'll be back in a bit, 'kay? Don't get into too much trouble. Watch out for other students' projects. Oh! And don't wander around! The last thing I need to see if Wasabi calling me about you wandering into his lasers… and don't touch any-"

"Geez, Tadashi!" Hiro grumbled, covering his ears with his hands. "It's like you think I've never been in a lab before! I'll be fine!"

Tadashi still looked unsure, but had no other choice. After another five minutes of fussing over Hiro, he left hurriedly to go back home. Of course, not before sneakily swooping down and planting a sloppy kiss on his brother's head. And, of course Hiro, being Hiro, disgustedly wiped at his messy hair.

Still chuckling, Tadashi started his moped and zoomed out of his school. His heart felt heavy as he rehearsed how he was going to deliver his news to Hiro later that day.

After all, he did pinky promise.

Hiro walked into the lab after Tadashi ran out of the building, still furiously scrubbing at the place his brother had managed to successfully plant his lips. Muttering to himself under his breath, he pushed the big door open and (once again) narrowly avoided a yellow blur.

"Morning, Gogo," Hiro called, carefully making his way over to the Korean woman. He hopped on to a nearby stool and observed his friend at work.

"Hey, squirt," she said as she took off her helmet. Tossing that to the side, she grabbed some tools sitting by the bike and angrily fiddled at her invention.

"Magnetic suspensions giving you problems again?" he asked, tipping his head to the side curiously.

"Nah, it's something else," she sighed, throwing the tools angrily with all her might. Luckily it glanced off the wall and not some poor passerby's head. "I don't know what happened!" she exclaimed angrily. "One second, it's working fine, and then it goes wonky and refuses to go past 60!"

"Want me to help?" the child offered helpfully. "You know, I could just ask it to-"

"No," Gogo cut in sharply, turning and jabbing a finger at the child. "As much as I appreciate the offer, kid, it's my project and I'm gonna fix it on my own." She sighed as she walked over to pick up her tools. "Plus," she added, "Tadashi would kill me if he hears I used your "skills"…"

"True," Hiro sighed, kicking his feet out aimlessly. "Where's everyone else?"

Without looking up from her work, Gogo pointed further into the lab. "Wasabi's out testing his lasers, Honey's mixing up… something, and Fred's being Fred."

Chirping a quick "thanks," Hiro bounced off the stool and ambled over to the tall blond in the corner. Honey Lemon didn't notice him walk over, too absorbed in her work and her music. Curiously, he perched himself carelessly in front of her table, both trying to figure out what she was working on and wondering how long it would take her to notice his presence.

From what he could tell, she seemed to be trying to come up with a fabric that could melt metal upon impact without damaging the person holding it. As he figured it out, Honey looked up and gasped. "Oh! Hiro, I didn't see you there!" she quickly yanked out her ear buds and pulled Hiro in for a hug. "I'm sorry I missed you guys this weekend, my neighbors left for a while and I needed to babysit…"

"That's fine," Hiro laughed. "Chiyeki came back for a bit, I think it was kinda like a quick get together."

"Oh, is that so?" Honey Lemon giggled, making a mental note to ask her friends for more information later. As much as she liked seeing old friends, if one as dangerous as this one came back something had to be wrong. "I heard you and Tadashi went to a tech convention. How was that?"

Hiro's face lit up. "It was great!" he exclaimed happily. "There was a bunch of new tech that came out, and they held this mini competition between the people that were displaying. I wanted to make something too but Tadashi said no… he said it was glorified bot fighting, which is illegal, and-"

Honey Lemon couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm and happiness in her young friend's voice. All her previous worries quickly melted away, and the next thing she knew, she was in a heated debate over the importance of armor and defense in a fight.

A few minutes into their conversation, a professor walked over to Honey Lemon, asking for a quick word. Throwing Hiro a quick apologetic glance, she turned and walked out the lab with the teacher.

Almost melting with boredom, Hiro dragged his feet to Tadashi's office, hoping to catch a few minutes of shuteye. While all the talking from the tech around him didn't overwhelm him, it did make his body feel heavy. Luckily, Tadashi's office was separate from all the chaos, and while the tech in his office also had voices, it was considerably better than staying outside.

Collapsing on the couch with a satisfied sigh, Hiro closed his eyes, ready for yet another dream.

Well, that was an interesting experience, a disembodied voice murmured in his head.

Hiro's eyes flew open as he shot up, looking around worriedly. This was Tadashi's private office. No one should be in here except for him or its owner.

Relax, Einstein, it's me, the voice snorted.

Hiro looked around unsurely, then muttered, "Peniel?"

Surprise! the girl's voice sang. Were you surprised?

"Well, yeah," Hiro said, voice slowly turning from anxious to aggravated. "You only show up in my dreams, how are you suddenly talking now?"

Who know? she sighed (Hiro could practically hear the shrug). Might be all this good quality tech you're surrounded by right now. Your brain is going crazy trying to keep everything under control, which is how I slipped through.

"So is this a regular thing now or what?" Hiro replied derisively. "Am I gonna be hearing you 24/7?"

Hmm… I don't think so, she said vaguely. In fact… Her voice was starting to dim down. I'll go before someone hears you talking to yourself, she giggled quietly before disappearing completely.

Just then the doors of the office burst open.

Tadashi rushed into the lab as soon as he parked his moped. Fumbling with his helmet strap, he weaved his way through the students and different inventions, hurrying to his office. Waving a quick hello to his friends, he burst through the doors, hunching over and panting from his run.

"Tadashi," Hiro scoffed as he watched his brother struggle to catch his breath, "I'm fine, see?"

"Sorry, couldn't risk it," Tadashi wheezed, plopping down next to his brother on the couch.

"Did you get your papers?" Hiro asked absentmindedly, tapping away at some coding on his phone. For future use, of course.

"Yeah, right here." The papers were thrown onto the couch in what was Tadashi's version of anger (so, extremely carefully and not that rage filled.) "Turns out the stupid thing isn't even due till next week."

"Rotten luck," Hiro murmured sympathetically.

"You don't know the half of it," Tadashi groaned back, sinking his face into the arm of the soft cushion. Today was gonna be a long day…

Hiro couldn't remember the last time he was treated like royalty. Sure, there was his birthday, but that was still a good month away. He couldn't deny that today was the best day he'd had in a long time.

Which, of course, only made him more suspicious.

Tadashi's first and only class of the day was cancelled (Hiro had a biting suspicion that his brother was lying and was ditching class to spend time with him, but no proof could back his claim.) They ended up spending most of their time in the lab, tinkering and welding away at small, meaningless inventions. Tadashi even managed to get him some magnetic bearing servos. Hiro had excitedly crafted a small robot out of the three pieces, dubbing it Megabot. He had all the intent to use his new bot for this botfighting that he'd heard so much about. Tadashi didn't approve, muttering about how it was illegal and dangerous, but Hiro merely shrugged off his brother's concern and continued working on Megabot.

Halfway into Megabot's creation, Robert Callaghan had dropped by to say a brief good morning to his student. Tadashi had to hold Hiro down to keep him from running away. After a stuttering "good morning," and a lot of staring at his shoes, Hiro managed to look the professor in the eyes without spazzing out. He even got some advice from the renowned professor, a cheerful, "keep up the good work!" and a pat on the back. Tadashi was pretty sure the kid was gonna faint from happiness after his professor left.

For lunch, Tadashi took Hiro to a small restaurant a little ways off campus that served free dessert with every dish ordered (there was a special promotion going on or something…) Hiro got into a major sugar rush after his giant sundae with extra, extra, EXTRA gummy bears (Tadashi was pretty sure they bought out the store.) His little brother was jumping around so much that Tadashi had to literally sit on him as he paid for their meal. A sugar high Hiro was something no one wanted to see. His little brother already had no filter when he spoke, but the sugar just made what little filter he had completely disappear.

"Hey Dashi, did you know," Hiro babbled on the way back to campus, "that hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words? I mean it's pretty ironic isn't it, that the fear of long words is a super long word?"

Tadashi wasn't sure what was more impressive, the fact that Hiro knew such a useless amount of trivia or the fact that he managed to say that full sentence in less than five seconds.

The trivia wave didn't stop there. In the next ten minutes that it took to get back to school, Tadashi learned more random trivia, incuding info like the first pig flew in 1909, the longest one-syllable English word is "screeched," most calico cats are female, and female named hurricanes are more deadly than male named hurricanes. Where he would use all this knowledge he had no idea, but Hiro didn't seem to care and just kept spouting random facts no one would ever think was necessary to know. When they were one block away from campus, Hiro started spouting out the squares of all the numbers (he got to 59 before Tadashi finally reached the school and got him to shut up.)

Luckily for him, all that sugar eventually caused the child to crash, getting Tadashi almost two hours of rest as Hiro took a nap when they got back to the school. When he woke up, Tadashi activated Baymax and the brothers engaged into a casual discussion over how to improve Baymax's functions (Hiro recommended super capacitors to replace the lithium ion for a faster charge.)

To sum it up, Hiro had the best day of his life and he was glaring at his brother by the end of the day. This day had been too good to be true. Something was definitely wrong.

"Alright, spill," Hiro echoed himself from earlier that day as he and Tadashi walked back to the elder's moped at the end of the day. "What happened that was so traumatic that I deserved such a great day?"

Now, Tadashi, on the other hand, apart from the time he spent with his brother, had one of his worst days today. He received a speeding ticket on his way home to get his stupid assignment that wasn't even due, he had to spend a bunch of his savings to convince one of his classmates to get him the magnetic bearing servos, and he didn't even have enough on him by the end of the day to pay the restaurant tip. As he was dragging a hyper Hiro out, he had to keep his head ducked from all the dirty looks the waiters were shooting him. And don't even mention his drive back to campus (surprising what ten minutes of nonstop talking could do to a headache.)

However, he would've been willing to go through all of that again rather than tell Hiro his news.

"You wanna sit down, little brother?" Tadashi sighed, gesturing to a bench they were passing.

Hiro huffed and sat down, crossing his arms as he hissed, "Seriously, Dashi, what is it?"

"I went to the private tutoring agency the other day," Tadashi began quietly, not meeting Hiro's eyes.

"And?" the child inquired. "Do I get a new teacher? When do we start our lessons? Am I bumping up a grade?"

"Hiro," Tadashi whispered, putting his hands on his brother's shoulders to keep him down. "You have to go to high school."

The silence that ensued was deafening. Tadashi wanted nothing more than to laugh and say, "just kidding, I found you another teacher."

And by the look on Hiro's face, he wanted Tadashi to say that too.

"You're kidding… right, onii-chan?" he muttered disbelievingly. "This is just some sick joke right? Right?!"

"I'm sorry, otouto," Tadashi whispered mournfully. "There aren't any tutors that want to try and teach you. The only other option is school, and…"

No words needed to be said. Both brothers immediately had the same recollections. Tadashi, pulling kids half his age (yet taller than him, what were their parents feeding them?) off his younger brother, biting and scratching and threatening them away with all the strength a 13 year old could muster. Hiro, coming home with fresh bruises and scratches, yet always saying the same thing: "I fell." Tadashi, spending almost every day of his high school career wondering about his little brother's safety. Hiro, walking through the middle school hallways at the age of 6, hearing barely concealed whispers of contempt, "loser"… "weirdo"… "freak."

"Hey, maybe it won't be so bad," Tadashi offered, giving his brother a small reassuring smile. "I mean, kids will have learned to treat others with respect by now, right?"

Hiro only replied with an owlish blink. Sluggishly, almost as though he wasn't aware of his actions, Hiro got off the bench and pushed away Tadashi's hands. "I'm tired," he murmured. "I would like to go home now."

The older Hamada swallowed, heart dropping at how emotionless his brother sounded. "Hey, cheer up," he laughed weakly. "Besides, there's still some time left in the day. Do you wanna drive around town and maybe see some-"

"Please," Hiro whispered, not looking at his brother. "I want to go home."

Tadashi's heart hit rock bottom. "Okay," he sighed. "Let's go home, buddy."

The ride home was quiet. Neither sibling exchanged a word. As soon as they got home, Hiro crawled into bed, covering himself with blankets. Tadashi tried calling him down for dinner, but no reply.

Tadashi sighed, nibbling half-heartedly at the hot wings he had made. Why can't this be easier, he groaned inwardly, slumping and resting his chin on the table. Closing his eyes, he sighed when he heard what suspiciously sounded like crying, soft sobs that echoed through the silent house.

It was never going to be easy.

Heyyo~ xD I was kinda stuck on what to write? But I got through my stump (thank GOD)

Also, when I said the fandom isn't doing so great, I just feel like it's not as hyped as it was months ago? :P might be just me, but let's keep fighting right? xD WAITING FOR THAT SEQUEL

Also, thank you to that guest who used a quote from the movie that was much appreciated LOL

*aniki is kinda a ruder way of saying older brother, more pointless Japanese terminology knowledge (thanks anime)

Review, follow, favorite, all that good stuff