**A.N.: The chapters will get longer from here on out, so there's more to enjoy. Thanks to Telemain's Daughter for beta-ing!**
Tadashi's eyelids fluttered open, squinting at the sunlight peeking through the window. Putting his legs over the side of the bed, he carefully lowered his feet onto the wooden floor. The cold seeped through his socks, but quickly warmed to a tolerable temperature - that was, until he took another step.
The floor had always been cold in the mornings, especially in the winter months, when a persistent chill would permeate the upstairs apartment regardless of how much heat the single vent pushed into the room. Tadashi didn't think it should be this cold so early in November, but chalked it up to having simply forgotten what it was really like in his absence.
He toddled down the stairs to the bathroom, and afterwards grabbed a blueberry pastry from the counter. Making his way back into the room he shared with Hiro, he took a minute to look around 'his' space, taking note of the lack of the clutter that usually littered every surface on Hiro's side of the room. In fact, it looked like it hadn't been touched in all the years of his absence, besides the textbooks that were on the top of his old dresser... that he couldn't quite reach. Huffing, he looked around for something to stand on, when his eyes landed on his little-big-younger-older brother whose covers had slid off of the bed.
Tadashi laughed fondly as memories of Hiro falling asleep watching a movie, half draped on the couch and hanging precariously on the edge came to mind. He had always had to move or resituate Hiro to prevent him falling off completely... or startle him and watch the mad scramble of limbs as Hiro tried to regain his balance and most of the time ended up on the floor, before jumping to his feet and swearing revenge - which usually involved variations of putting Tadashi's toothbrush in something vile. Not that Tadashi ever used the red toothbrush in the cup in the bathroom, but rather the blue one he had stashed away in case Hiro ever acted upon his threats.
He was brought abruptly back into the present when Hiro stirred, remaining blissfully unconscious, and shivered in a subconscious response to the low temperatures of the room. Tadashi found that lifting the winter comforter from the floor proved too much for his five year old strength and debated just going back to sleep himself, since prior experience told him that attempting to drag Hiro out of bed at seven in the morning was practically impossible - or otherwise guaranteed inevitable payback of some form -, even more so now that he couldn't physically move him.
Making up his mind, he pushed Hiro's chair to the edge of the bed and locked the wheels in place, climbing up on to it and then onto the plain blue bedcover. He curled up next to Hiro, facing away towards the computer screen so that they were back to back; the way they used to sleep if and when either of them had had a nightmare during the first few years after their parents had passed away. It didn't take long for Tadashi to drop back to sleep, lulled by Hiro's steady breathing and the faint ticking of the clock on the opposite wall.
Hiro woke up to the feeling of something extremely warm pressed against his back, similar to the sensation of one of Baymax's warming hugs that came in handy as the temperatures took a dip, or if he got caught out in the rain on the way back from work. Sitting up, he turned to look at Tadashi, wondering if it was a nightmare that had brought him over, mentally chastising himself for sleeping through it.
He slid off the bed and gathered up the covers on the floor, bundling them up at the foot of the bed to straighten out later. Grabbing his jacket from the bedpost, he dug his phone out of the pocket, and sent a quick text to Honey Lemon, asking if she would be free to video chat in a little while. Considering the clock showed a little after nine in the morning, Honey Lemon would be preparing for dinner soon, and he wanted the whole team to be as present as possible for the surprise.
While waiting for a response, Hiro began to wade through the paperwork, filling out everything he could without Tadashi's input. Would Tadashi want to register as a new person, or somehow regain his old identity? Pressing fingers into his temples and trying to massage away the ache that was building in his skull, he slipped the papers back into their folder. Once they were properly stored, he headed downstairs to treat himself to some of the leftovers that couldn't be sold tomorrow and to prepare for the day.
After a quick shower, Hiro checked his phone again to see the message from Honey confirming her availability to talk and her insistence that Hiro could call her whenever he needed to, since 'sleep was just a novelty'. Included in the text was a picture which Hiro had difficulty making out the subject of, since there was so much pink.
Apparently, an experiment had gone horribly wrong... or wonderfully right knowing Honey Lemon. A majority of the workspace was colored a bright pink, with a wildly smiling, similarly colored Honey in the center.
Chuckling to himself as he headed upstairs, Hiro debated what he should tell his other friends in order to lure them over to the café, since it wasn't even open. He had been ordered by Wasabi to set aside at least one day where he wasn't required to do anything or to be anywhere.
He had claimed it would help with stress, a claim backed up by Baymax, and while it was admittedly nice to have a day to himself, most of it was usually spent sleeping or tinkering with prosthetics. Tadashi couldn't have picked a better day to show up on his doorstep, as he had all day to get things relatively under control. Entering the room, Hiro spotted Tadashi sitting up on the bed, sleepily rubbing at his eyes.
"Morning, Tadashi."
Tadashi blinked owlishly up at Hiro before grinning widely. "Ohayo, Hiro."
Suddenly, an idea struck Hiro. Holding out his phone to Tadashi, he asked, "Do you want to do the honors?"
"The... honors?" Tadashi frowned, baffled at his cryptic statement. "What do you mean?"
"We've got to tell Gogo, Fred, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon that you're back. Considering they were your friends first, I figured you should call them to tell them the good news and invite them over." Hiro mentally congratulated himself on his solution to the problem, but Tadashi didn't look impressed.
"You do realize I don't sound anything like I used to, don't you, knucklehead? And besides, if Gogo answers her phone while driving, she is probably going to cause a wreck."
"Oh, please. A call from a friend that has been presumably dead for the last five years and is speaking in the voice of a child isn't going to cause her to crash." Hiro paused for a moment to ponder the absurdity of that last statement, but Tadashi wasn't finished.
"I didn't mean from the initial shock. I was referring to a wreck, that she may or may not be a part of, caused by less than legal methods of getting here. Why don't you just invite them over for lunch?"
Hiro stared at his brother. It couldn't be that simple. Hiro looked down at his phone contemplatively as Tadashi went over to his side of the room and started to pull his coat back on.
"Hey, wait. What are you doing? That thing's still wet! You'll get sick."
Tadashi looked up at him with his eyebrows drawn together and the beginning of a pout on his face. "But I'm cold."
A flash of worry crossed Hiro's face. It really wasn't that cold in the room; what if Tadashi had gotten sick overnight? Hiro went over to Baymax's power station and activated him, demanding that he scan Tadashi again for illness.
"Tadashi is still in perfect health, Master Hiro." Tadashi shot Hiro a look, mouthing master? Hiro waved off the question, deciding he'd deal with it later.
"Okay, Baymax. Whatever you say." In place of the damp raincoat, Hiro gave Tadashi one of his navy blue hoodies, having to roll up the sleeves multiple times to keep them from falling over his hands.
While Tadashi busied himself with getting ready for the day, Hiro called each of his friends, knowing that Fred might miss a text message and that they would be more likely to agree to attend if the alternative was to verbally tell him 'no'. The three that were able agreed to meet up, and Honey Lemon, in between various tangents on what she was working on and how Hiro needed to call her more often, agreed to a video chat within the hour.
Hiro went downstairs to prepare the lunch he had promised them, mentally kicking himself because yes, it was that easy. Just as he finished draining the pasta, Tadashi wandered in and pulled a chair up to the counter, tugging up his hood and settling his head on folded arms as he watched Hiro bustle around the kitchen.
"I don't remember you being that good at this."
Hiro automatically knew exactly what his brother was referring to, which was known in the Hamada household as the 'Hot Wing Debacle of Hiro's Senior Year'. Needless to say, Hiro had been summarily banned from the kitchen until he could show enough proficiency to not set off every smoke detector on the block.
"Excuse you, I'm a genius. I figured it out eventually." Hiro carefully moved the chicken wings to the oven, setting a timer to hopefully prevent a replay of the previous occurrence.
"Mmm, I smell cooked starch." Surprisingly, Fred was the first to arrive. "Hey, Hiro, you stuck babysitting or something? We should totally go teach him some ninja moves before his parents come back to get him. It would be the start of our secret ninja army." Tadashi started giggling into the crook of his arm while Hiro simply grunted noncommittally, pretending to be absorbed in his task to avoid giving it away before the others arrived. However, Fred was not so easily deterred.
"So, what's your name, little guy? What horrendous evil did you commit to get stuck with this guy as your babysitter?" Tadashi was saved from answering as the door to the café swung open dramatically, the attached bells jangling harshly, to reveal a windswept Gogo, holding a biker's helmet tucked underneath her arm.
"That food better be ready soon, or I'm going to start eating the merchandise." Gogo set her helmet on a hook and glanced around the café before popping her gum. "Who's the kid?"
Hiro added the butter to the pasta before turning off the heat and glancing in the oven at the wings before responding, "What do you mean? You've known him for years."
Gogo rolled her eyes, assuming Hiro's response was nothing more than sarcasm. "Not Fred, the little one. Though I can understand how that could be confusing. Oh, hey Baymax."
Hiro gave a silent whisper of gratitude to the med-bot for his excellent timing.
"Hello, Gogo. Hello, Fred." Turning to Hiro, he asked, "Should I commence the video chat with Honey Lemon now?"
"Yeah, that'd be great." Hiro glanced at the clock above the stove, wondering where Wasabi was- it went against his nature to be late to anything. Almost as if to answer his silent question, a harried Wasabi burst through the doors.
"Sorry I'm late! An undergrad bumped into my tool table and I had to set everything straight before heading over."
"Dude, relax. We just got here. Is wearing your safety goggles on your head a new thing? Do I need to get some?" Fred seemed to seriously consider this idea as Wasabi scrambled to remove them and place them in his messenger bag.
Tadashi grinned widely against his arm; he had missed this. Hiro struggled to placate Wasabi as he pulled the finished wings out of the oven and began to soak them in sauce.
"Wasabi, it's not like you are technically the last person to arrive-"
"Who's 'the last person to arrive'?" Honey Lemon's voice came from the screen on Baymax's stomach.
Hiro laughed, and Tadashi foot started to tap against the stool he was sitting on nervously, energy and apprehension dawning on his tiny features. He kept his head ducked to avoid suspicion.
"That would be you, Honey Lemon." Hiro reached for the plates. "How many wings do you want, Tadashi?"
Tadashi jolted at being so unexpectedly addressed, while the others froze and looked at Hiro, silently questioning his sanity.
"Just two, Otouto." He pushed back his hood and reached for the proffered plate.
"...Wait, what?" Gogo was the first to recover, but Tadashi decided to have a little fun before explaining himself.
"Well, see, I'm not very hungry, and to be honest, I'm not sure if I trust this bonehead's cooking." Tadashi struggled to keep a straight face as Hiro made a noise of mock offense.
"Just for that, mister, you're going to have to find your own food from now on." Hiro pointed the tongs at Tadashi in a manner that would have been threatening if not for the grin fighting to take over his face.
"Yes, which will be such a hardship, living in a café and all. Whatever shall I do?" The brotherly banter was so familiar, Tadashi forgot for a moment that there were other people in the room attempting to process this rather shocking new development.
"Hiro, did you clone him? Are you sure it's not an alien? Maybe the aliens cloned him! What's my middle name?" Fred's last rapid fire question was directed at Tadashi as he stared at him, as if trying to read his mind to discern whether he was real or not.
"Sebastian. I'm not a clone! ...I think."
Tadashi looked truly troubled at this thought before Hiro launched into the explanation Tadashi had given him about being pulled as an infant from the burning wreckage of the building he had 'died' in. Baymax in turn relayed what he had gathered on his multiple scans of Tadashi, leading Fred to a whole new string of theories. He had gotten past the insistence that Tadashi would have super powers from this occurrence, and was rambling off the list of supernatural creatures he could be such as dragons and the phoenix when Gogo cut him off.
"So let me get this straight. Tadashi's back and living as a five year old kid with messed up bones and a temperature issue." Gogo paused for a second as if considering something, but before Fred could launch into another explanation of why Tadashi had to be a phoenix, she continued, "Is he housebroken?"
Hiro sputtered at the question, as it seemed to come completely out of the blue. He hadn't thought of that, but Tadashi answered with a vehement yes, though his face was bright red and he looked like he was beginning to regret not waiting a few more years before seeking them out. Hiro glanced over at Wasabi to see him looking around the café in an increasingly agitated manner as Gogo continued with her line of questioning:
"Can he read? Can he write? How much does he remember? Do you have clothes that fit him?"
Trying to avoid answering questions that he didn't know the answers to, Hiro made the mistake of asking Wasabi what the matter was.
"This place is not safe for a child! The area under the sink is not locked; he might drink the cleaner! Those knives are the perfect height to pull down on top of him. Is there lead in the paint on the walls? What if he slips down the stairs? What if he walked out the door?"
Tadashi stared at his friend incredulously as Hiro explained that it was Tadashi, he wasn't mentally five, and there would be no reason for him to drink the cleaner under the sink.
"Unbelievable." Turning towards the screen, hoping to find a relief from the insanity that had taken place, Tadashi discovered why Honey Lemon had been so silent.
She had gone to get her camera, and was taking pictures of the screen, asking Tadashi to smile and show off the gap in his teeth while rapidly detailing how she was going to book the next flight over and transfer her work station and she was going to make a new scrapbook and take Tadashi to the park and... Tadashi tuned her out, firmly deciding that all of his friends were insane. Awesome, but insane.
Tadashi's train of thought was interrupted as he was swept into a bone-crushing hug. Gogo's voice was strained as she ordered him to "Never do something like that again, you idiot." Fred and then Wasabi quickly joined her as it turned into a group hug.
"Aww, no fair! I wanna hug him!" Honey Lemon partially got her wish as Baymax joined the group and Hiro finished it off. It was all very sweet until,
"Can't... breathe..."
Everyone laughed and released Tadashi, as Gogo ruffled his hair with a "Serves you right, punk."
"Is no one going to eat the wondrous meal that I slaved over?" Hiro broke the mood and everyone went to grab his or her plates.
They broke into their separate conversations as Gogo and Fred began quizzing Tadashi on what he should remember, ranging from obscure details from the classes they had shared to Fred's favorite comic. Not that he had a single favorite, but he was satisfied with the long list Tadashi rambled off between bites of his food. After they had finished eating, Wasabi pulled Hiro slightly to the side.
"So, how did he take the news about your Aunt Cass?"
Hiro cursed his brain for having failed him just as Tadashi turned his head sharply towards the pair.
"What do you mean, 'about Aunt Cass'? What happened?"
**AN: for those unfamiliar with Japanese, Otouto means specifically 'little brother', which would be strange coming from a five year old addressing an adult. The brothers might not speak a lot of Japanese, but sometimes it feels appropriate. Reviews feed my soul.**