It wasn't until later that evening, when Tadashi was safe (or as safe as he got) at home with Aunt Cass and Baymax on standby, that Hiro made his way down to the bay. He knew of a secluded area that was perfect for quite literally blowing off steam.

Making his way down the rocky front, Hiro gingerly kicked off his shoes at the bottom, wading in the shallow water the rest of the way. The water was still too cold to consider actual swimming, as the early summer sun didn't heat it very quickly. However, by the end of the day, it wasn't terrible, and with his own internal heating system, Hiro could maintain a comfortable temperature… or at least one that wouldn't make him sick.

Since he'd started changing, he hadn't so much as come down with the usual seasonal allergies, his sudden immunity enough to make Aunt Cass take notice. It was nice to not have to worry about getting sick, but the voice at the back of his mind suggested that if he did it wouldn't be good. Honey Lemon attempted to reassure him, saying that it wasn't necessarily that he would get super sick if he did catch something, but perhaps he was just developing an immunity to most things. She herself hadn't so much as gotten the sniffles since she had gotten back from England last fall, so maybe it was just a tame year, allergy wise.

Hiro sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. There was no point in thinking about that right now. He had enough to worry about without dealing with that particular strand of 'what-ifs'.

When he reached the hollowed out space, he breathed deeply, preparing himself. Tadashi had suggested that it might not be such a good idea to always draw on negative emotions when fire breathing, and Hiro agreed that he had a point… eventually. He'd started doing a form of meditation before emptying his reserves, and while it was more difficult to create the fire when not upset or angry, it felt… cleaner, almost. Not as toxic. Or perhaps that was just his mindset speaking.

Standing in front of the water, Hiro closed his eyes, feeling the tide splash against his bare feet and recede. It was extremely difficult to clear his mind, but here it was relatively easier, knowing Tadashi was probably safe, that things were mostly under control—

"Hey. Are you just going to stand there?"

At the foreign voice, Hiro's eyes snapped open.

He quickly turned around, the voice seeming to come from behind him. He saw no one, and a chill went down his spine. Hiro tensed, preparing for a fight. Worst come to worst, he could probably blast him… or well, whoever had spoken. But then the stranger would know, and Hiro didn't want to kill him outright. Not if he didn't have to…

"Wrong way."

Hiro turned again, looking for the source of the voice. It wasn't until a whistle and a glimpse of movement caught his attention that he finally spotted the person who was talking.

"There you go. The echo didn't help, did it?" The voice was understanding, and Hiro would have called it patronizing if not for the tone that seemed to indicate he was nothing but sincere. It was odd.

Hiro almost couldn't see him at all, his bleached white hair and fair skin blending into the surf of the waves. Only his head was above the water, and Hiro wondered how he could put up with the feeling Hiro got whenever he swam like that, like he was always on the verge of suffocating. The water was also freezing.

Hiro frowned, disappointed that his spot had been found by some swimmer. He would have to be more careful, the citizens of San Fransokyo were an eccentric lot, and someone was always doing something unpredictable.

"Can you speak?" The guy called out, and Hiro could hear the echo, understanding why it had seemed so loud earlier, even though he was clear out there.

"Yeah, sorry!" Hiro called out. He didn't know why he was talking to him, he needed to find another place to let out the fire.

"Why are you apologizing?"

Hiro had no answer to that. Wasn't that just what people did? It was a politeness thing, he thought. "I… don't know?"

"Okay…" He sounded like he thought Hiro was the one being strange. "So, are you getting in?"

"Are you kidding? It's freezing!" Hiro was more careful now about acting like his temperature receptors acted like everybody else's, though he still made mistakes at times. "Aren't you cold?"

"No?" He answered like it was a question, as if he were unsure if his answer was right. "What are you doing out here if you aren't swimming?"

"Can you come a little closer so I don't have to shout?"

The guy's head ducked under the water. Hiro waited for longer than he thought was safe, and he was seriously considering going in to check on him when he resurfaced near an outcropping of rocks. It was closer to the shore by quite a bit, but Hiro had sort of meant for him to leave the water.

"Would it kill you to get out of the water?" Hiro asked, glad that he no longer had to project so much to be heard. The other guy had the advantage, the cliffs amplifying his voice.

"Maybe…" He looked like he was seriously considering it, and Hiro smirked. "So why are you here?"

Well, he was certainly direct. Hiro hesitated, wondering if he should just leave. He really didn't owe him an explanation. But… "I'm just relaxing. It's nice out here."

The guy nodded, and it irked Hiro that he didn't have something to mentally call him.

"What's your name?" It was only after the words left his mouth that Hiro realized he'd have to give his own. …oh well, too late now.

"My name?"

"Uh," Hiro's brow creased in confusion. Was this guy on something? That could make this easier, and probably more entertaining. "Yeah, you know, the thing people call you? Or your nickname or whatever, I don't really care."

"Oh." The guy blinked at him, and Hiro was pretty sure now that he wasn't running on all cylinders, so to speak. Maybe he drank too much salt water. "Rei."

Hiro waited for the return question, but it never came. Rei seemed content to just rest there, fingertips peeking out of the water to hold onto one of the rocks.

"How can you stand it?" Hiro felt the need to break the silence, it weighed on him. "Being that far in the water…"

"I've been swimming for a long time."

"You don't look like it." Hiro only belatedly realized that was probably rude. Not everyone who swam spent their days out on the beach, there were plenty of indoor pools that might have kept him from getting tan.

"What does that mean?" Rei didn't sound offended, just confused.

"Uh, nevermind." It was almost like speaking with a child.

Rei frowned, looking back across the water.

Hiro kicked a bit of sand, wanting to leave, but not sure if it was safe to leave Rei here while he was… out of it. He didn't want to see the news the next day that his body had washed up on shore because he'd fallen asleep in the water or something.

"It's getting kinda late, maybe you should head back. Or at least get out of the water or something…" Hiro cringed when Rei glared at him. Actually, maybe just leaving him here was a better idea. It wasn't his responsibility, anyway. Just residual hero instincts, that's all.

"No." Rei's voice was cold. "I'm not getting out of the water. Not while you are here."

Wha…

Hiro stared at him, before deciding it was probably not personal.

"Okay… just, um- be safe or something." And that was the end of his involvement. He picked up his shoes, shaking out the sand as he got ready to leave. "There've been too many deaths around here," Hiro muttered more to himself than anything.

"I could make you forget."

Rei's voice made him jump, the statement itself odd. There were a lot of things he wished he could forget, but whatever Rei's messed up mind was referring to probably wasn't any of them. It almost sounded like some crappy pick-up line.

"Uh… no thanks. I'm just gonna… go."

Hiro shook his head, hurrying back up the slope, even though Rei had said he wasn't getting out while Hiro was there. Whatever, he'd find somewhere else along the coast to let out the fire, no skin off his back. He frowned, glancing back towards the little cove he'd had to abandon.

That was one weird dude.


It was far more difficult to clear his mind after that, even when Hiro found an abandoned stretch where he could blow fire over the water. He had wasted too much time earlier, and with the sun setting, any brightness could be spotted, and he'd had to find somewhere even more remote than usual. Feeling rushed, Hiro gave up on the meditation, just drawing up the fire within him as he was. Calmness was overrated, anyway.

Hiro couldn't damage anything if he aimed above the water. There was nothing to hit, and if he misjudged, the water would douse the flames. It was almost cathartic, like screaming, but instead of noise, flames leapt from his mouth instead.

Finally, he ran out, two empty 'clicks' proving that he really was done. It was taking longer and longer to expel all of it, the sun long gone by the time he had. Hiro wondered if it had anything to do with how he was angry or annoyed more often lately… or was he annoyed more often because of the flames themselves?

Shrugging, he headed home, deciding he'd make note of it to Baymax. It was proving to be quite handy to have a robot that could store information safely, so he wouldn't have to worry about encrypting any documents himself. It would be a pain if someone got a hold of the information, as some of it could be used against him… or Tadashi.

That reminded him, as he crossed the main street, heading through the town towards home. He needed to make sure Tadashi's own powers weren't doing something similar to his. If Tadashi needed to vent, he should probably arrange something with Fred, as any amount of height he might need would make the coast unsafe. It'd be far too easy for someone to see.

Hiro didn't trust the island anymore. He hadn't since they'd found that door, but he'd caved to Fred's insistence that it was safe a couple of times back in the winter. Tadashi had to learn to control his flight, and giving him any tools he might need to get away from someone was alright with Hiro. But…

Hiro couldn't shake the gut feeling that something wasn't right with that place, and he would bear the teasing and poking fun at his paranoia if it meant keeping his brother safe. There had to be some other location that would work.

Or perhaps it wasn't necessary. The odd heat surges had vanished after…

Hiro clenched his teeth, pushing the event itself out of his mind. After he'd gotten him back. The flaming specter remained in his head, and he recalled fearing that that was all that was left of Tadashi. He'd had nightmares that rehashed everything, and all of them ended in disaster. Some of them ended when the roof caved in. In others they made it outside, but when Tadashi deactivated the flames, he vanished. Some replaced his current small form with an older Tadashi, back before the first fire, and he couldn't stand the temperature like Hiro could. Sometimes Hiro made it out alone, and couldn't get back in the burning building.

None of them were conducive to a good night's sleep.

But some good had come of it… right? Ever since that day back in November, when Tadashi had been completely alight, the stripes on his back hadn't overheated, and the rest of his outer temperature remained normal.

Hiro had worried that maybe he had burned himself out, but Baymax confirmed that Tadashi's inner temperatures were still molten, just steady. He didn't have any issues producing or maintaining his wings, and when Hiro had finally agreed to allow him to try to fly, though the mechanics still took practice, they didn't flicker out or collapse like they had the first time.

Tadashi had stabilized.

Once, and only once, Tadashi had taken on the full form again, blazing entirely from his head to his feet. His eyes had burned white, and Hiro couldn't look at him. It was too much, not because it was too bright, but because the reminder was still too poisonous. Tadashi had quickly returned to normal, apologizing at Hiro's stricken look. He never did it in his presence again.