**A.N.: This is so laaaate. Thankfully, sayagirl24 was able to help me out when I was overrun with work, otherwise, this chapter wouldn't be done at this point, so a big thank-you to her.**
"'Dashi. 'Dashi, wake up." Hiro gently shook the shoulder of the sleeping child, trying to be nice after the stress of the previous evening.
"mm... no." Still half asleep, Tadashi buried his face in the pillow, pulling the covers up to his ears in an attempt to return to sleep.
"I've gotta open the shop, so I won't be back to wake you later. Come on." Hiro tried to hide the grin threatening to take over his face. He almost hoped Tadashi wouldn't get up on his own, so he could give him a taste of his own 'big brother' medicine. However, to be fair, he had to give him a chance.
Tadashi simply grumbled, "Make what's-his-face do it."
As the small form continued to show no signs of getting out of bed, Hiro set his hand on top of the covers.
"Alright, don't say I didn't try."
Abruptly yanking back the covers, Hiro scooped Tadashi up and tossed him into the air, catching him a bit closer to the ground than he had intended.
Tadashi shrieked, taking a vice grip on Hiro's arms and glaring up at his traitor brother. "Hiro!"
Wincing slightly, Hiro laughed. "You always made that seem so easy. Glad I caught you."
"I never actually let go of you!"
Hiro's face clearly indicated that he disagreed. Placing Tadashi back on the bed, he began to walk towards the stairs. "Well, now that you're up, Teddy, you may as well get ready. Didn't you want to do some more testing today, or something?"
Tadashi didn't reply as Hiro left the room, opting instead to try and take steady breaths to calm his racing heart after the panic-inducing wake up call. Falling was not a fun feeling.
Scrubbing at his face, he felt the dried remains of tear-tracks on his cheeks, reminders of the problems of the day before. Tadashi glanced over at the desk next to his bed, noticing the capped vial nearly filled with tears. Opening a drawer beneath the desk, Tadashi pulled out two other vials, before climbing up in his chair.
With the utmost care, Tadashi distributed the liquid evenly between the three vials, using the desk to hold them steady as he poured. When the task was finished, he placed all three along a test-tube rack. Resting his head on his folded arms, he watching the orange liquid swirl as it settled, and let his mind wander.
If they worked the way he hoped they would, the tears could help so many people, but like any unknown substance, the margin for error could be deadly. Tadashi felt his gut clench when his mind provided mental pictures of what could happen: blood rushing to expel the unknown compound... a patient going into anaphylactic shock... the orange fluid acting like a toxin and racing through the bloodstream...
Resisting the irrational urge to knock the vials off the table, Tadashi dug his chin into his arm, using the slight pain to derail that train of thought. He'd just be really careful. Besides, he had nearly infinite test samples, so long as he could actually produce the tears. Their acquisition was awkward, though.
Pushing back from the desk, Tadashi began to change into everyday clothes without paying much attention, as his mind was still preoccupied. It was strange to cry with an end in mind, and the action felt... insincere. Even though the emotions leading up crying were his actual feelings, the collection of the tears made it seem like what he was feeling was less important than what he needed the tears for.
And in a way, this was true. Crying had been a rare thing for Tadashi before the fire, and even after, he had become used to suppressing it or distracting himself. Now that the tears were useful, crying was demanded, and was even considered cheap. In addition, he could probably never freely cry again without feeling like he was wasting his tears if he didn't collect them.
Tadashi found himself selfishly wishing that the tears wouldn't have any effect on other people, if only to take that burden from him. Shaking his head, he banished the thought. It was better to help other people and suffer a little, than to keep something like this to himself.
'Besides,' Tadashi thought as he pulled on a clean shirt and jacket, 'Hiro was right when he said there were other ways to collect the tears.' He just had to find them. Tickling worked well and all, but he'd prefer to not feel like his lungs were constricting and sides were aching all of the time. There was a limit.
Fully dressed, Tadashi made his way down the stairs to the living area just above the café. He hadn't bothered to pull on shoes; it was his house, after all. Glancing over at Baymax's crate, he felt bad that he hadn't made much time for his creation, if only to figure out what all Hiro had changed about him. There simply hadn't been much need for him.
Baymax was meant to be a healthcare companion, not a friend, and at the end of the day was to go back into the box until he was needed again. Tadashi hadn't even planned on him staying in a home, aside from the possibility of assisted living. Baymax belonged in a hospital or a pediatrician's office, not the corner of a house to act as an every-now-and-then-first-aid-kit.
Making up his mind to talk to Hiro about it later, Tadashi continued on his way to the café, and spotted Gogo chatting with Hiro over the counter. It was still a good thirty minutes before the café was supposed to open, and Tadashi hadn't even heard her arrive.
Shrugging slightly, he began to look over the options for breakfast, since it would take far too much effort to climb onto the kitchen counter upstairs to reach the cupboard... if Hiro even kept any breakfast food there anymore. Seeing only cherry and strawberry tarts, Tadashi pouted slightly before he noticed Hiro pulling the blueberry variety from the oven.
As soon as Hiro set the pan down, Tadashi used a stool to climb up to the counter and grab one of the pastries off of it.
"Careful! That's still hot!" Hiro reached towards Tadashi before aborting the movement, noticing that Tadashi didn't even seem affected.
The five year old just blinked before looking between the tart in his hand and Hiro. "No, it's not. It's a bit mushy, though." He took a large bite, savoring the sweet taste of blueberries.
Hiro rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It's mushy because it's still hot. I just took that from the oven. You watched me do it."
"Oh." Tadashi shrugged before taking another bite. "I thought you'd just left them in there a while to conserve counter space while they cooled."
Hiro looked on, dumbstruck, as Tadashi finished the tart, which by all means should have destroyed the inside of his mouth, before reaching for another.
"Unbelievable."
Gogo simply smiled before reaching over and ruffling Tadashi's hair, drawing noises of protest. The cut was slightly longer than Tadashi used to keep it, and left to its own devices, it could grow to become as unruly as Hiro's had been. It would need to be trimmed soon.
"Good morning to you too, Teddy." Gogo had caught onto the nickname quickly, finding amusement in the small pout or glare she would receive upon using it.
Tadashi realized with a jolt that he hadn't greeted her. "Morning, Gogo." Turning fully in his seat to face her, he quickly finished the second tart, deciding that it was enough for now. "What are you doing here so early?"
"Yeah, Gogo. I thought you had that project to finish?"
Gogo raised an eyebrow at Hiro, who turned back towards the kitchen supplies while making the gesture of zipping his lips. Gogo's wrath, when fully actualized, was quite terrifying. Tadashi simply looked on without any idea what was happening.
"I just thought I'd stop by for a quick breakfast and to see how things were going."
Tadashi was immediately suspicious. Gogo didn't just 'stop by.' It wasn't how she operated. Gogo was very task oriented, with few exceptions. She had to be invited to something or have her own specific reason for attending.
She requested coffee and a bagel from Hiro, who muttered something about not even being open yet, before continuing to fill her order. After receiving her food, Gogo stood up, placing the bag on one of the tables.
"Hey before I go, can you do me a favor?"
Yup, he knew it. Tadashi looked up warily, never one to agree on a favor for Gogo immediately. Last time he'd agreed to something, he ended up with more than a few bumps and bruises.
"I don't think..."
"Oh, it won't be like last time, just stand up."
Tadashi slowly eased off the stool and stood in front of her, flinching slightly when she abruptly took out a measuring tape. She extended it with practiced ease, putting it behind him from head to foot and then across his back.
"Done, thanks." She ruffled his hair again before grabbing her food and leaving quickly, ignoring the questioning look Tadashi sent her.
After a moment, he shrugged his shoulders before sitting back down and grabbing another pastry. He was hungry again.
"So, where's your new employee?" Tadashi looked up at Hiro, gesturing to the otherwise empty café.
"I asked him to come in a little later, before the lunch rush. Wednesday mornings are slow, and there's no reason to ask him to be here earlier than most people wake up if there won't be anything for him to do. I'm going to pay him by the day instead of hours, since the café's weird about business, anyway."
"Hmm, okay." Tadashi wasn't that concerned about it, since Hiro seemed to know what he was doing.
As the first couple of customers trickled through, Tadashi amused himself by seeing how many saltshakers he could stack one on top of another. He had gotten ten, and was struggling to reach the top to place another one when Fred burst through the door, startling him and causing him to knock over the tower. Luckily they were plastic, but salt got everywhere. Hiro sighed, realizing that he would likely be the one to have to clean it up, and went to grab a broom and pan.
"Hey, Teddy! You ready do some more testing?" Fred was practically bouncing in place, making a backpack rattle on his back. "I brought a few things." He turned his shoulder, letting the bag fall down onto a table. He was about to open it when Hiro came back, wielding a broom.
"Not in the cafe, Fred." Hiro pointed towards the back door with the broom handle before starting to sweep up the mess.
Fred pouted before nudging Tadashi towards the stairs. Tadashi grabbed two of the vials from upstairs before they trudged down to the garage. Fred opened the bag to show various kits for testing with different blood types. As he set them all out, Tadashi uncapped one of the vials, setting the other aside for later. They had enough in the single vial to test with each kit and even had a little extra.
"We can give the rest of this to Honey Lemon for other tests." Tadashi stated, passing the nearly empty vial to Fred, who slipped it into his pocket. "Where is she, anyway? I thought she was coming by today?"
Fred looked up at him, slightly surprised. "Huh, I thought she would have texted you, too. She's caught up at work." Fred pulled at the chapped skin of his lips with his teeth; the November wind wasn't very kind to him. "Wasabi's in class, and I have no idea what Gogo's up to."
"Oh, I guess I didn't check my phone." Tadashi usually silenced it if he didn't want any distractions, but sometimes he missed things. "Gogo actually stopped by this morning, you just missed her."
"What? She didn't even wait for me." Fred scrunched his face and placed a hand over his heart in mock offense, before laughing along with Tadashi.
The two got to work, using each kit with different amounts of tears being placed alongside the chemicals that would react like the blood types would. Once they got their results, they headed back to the café after Tadashi grabbed his phone from upstairs, and were pleased to see that business was still slow.
Hiro sat down with Fred and Tadashi, setting out sandwiches for an early lunch.
"So what all have you figured out?" Hiro asked, munching on a sandwich, before turning to Fred. "And stop pulling on your lip, you've already made it bleed, and you're just going to make it worse."
Fred stopped his actions, sticking his tongue out briefly at Hiro, drawing a laugh from Tadashi.
"Okay, as far as we know, the tears don't harm other people. No weird reactions from the different blood types." Fred proudly stated.
"That's good." Hiro looked over at Tadashi, trying to assess his response.
"Now we just have to prove it." Fred smiled widely, letting them know he was about to do something crazy or stupid... likely both. He whipped the nearly empty vial out of his pocket, making Tadashi jump up.
"Don't! Fred, you need to wait for Honey Lemon!"
Tadashi tried to reach for it, but his small stature prevented him from succeeding. Hiro got up out of his chair, stepping closer to Fred.
"Fred, what are you doing?"
"No worries." He smiled before opening the vial and downing it, wiping his lips when he'd finished.
Tadashi let out a little squeak, reaching up and grabbing onto Fred's shirt.
"Why'd you do that? We don't know if that could hurt you and-" He was cut off by Fred putting his hand up.
"Teddy," Fred said quietly before his grin grew wider and he raised his voice, "I feel GREAT!"
To prove his point, he jumped up onto the table, shouting, "Victory!" The few customers in the store stared in bewilderment.
"Fred!" Hiro hissed in admonishment, pulling him down. "You idiot. That was not a good idea."
He continued to grumble at him as he pulled him away from view, into the back storage room. Tadashi and Hiro started lecturing Fred when a voice behind them broke their conversation.
"Is this a bad time?"
"Oh, hey, Kyouji." Hiro turned around, leading him back towards the counter. "Sorry, slight problem. Anyway, the rush should be here soon, so let's get to work."
Back in the pantry, Tadashi was frantically asking Fred hundreds of questions.
"Are you experiencing chills? Dry mouth? Do you feel nauseas? Are you dizzy? Lightheaded?" He pulled Fred's hand towards him to check if he had broken out in hives.
"Teddy, I told you, I've never felt better. This morning I woke up with a killer headache but right after I drank that stuff, poof, headache gone." Fred ran his tongue over his previously chapped lips. "Even my lips are better. They aren't bleeding anymore."
He gently pulled his hand from Tadashi's grasp and put it on Tadashi's shoulder, leaning down to eye level. "Really, I'm okay."
"Then it works." Tadashi stared in shock for a moment before a wide smile spread across his face. "It really works! I-I can help Aunt Cass. I can- oh, this is amazing!" Tadashi's hands clenched as he brought them up in excitement.
Fred's eyes slightly widened in shock; he hadn't known what Tadashi specifically wanted to do this for, though the explanation made sense. He smiled as well. "Yeah, you can."
"I mean, I'll have to double check things, but this- this could work!" Tadashi started pacing, picking up speed as he walked back and forth. "Oh, I wish Honey Lemon was here, then we could just-"
"Haha, slow down, Teddy." Fred reached out to still him. "You're making me dizzy."
Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck, laughing softly. "Yeah, okay. Sorry."
When the two of them went back upstairs, Fred spotted his discarded backpack.
"Oh! I almost forgot."
Fred reached into the bag and pulled out a packet, handing it to Tadashi, who looked at it questioningly.
"It's your papers, ID, and stuff. A bunch of it is just your original stuff, but a couple of things are new. You just have to declare your birthdate, since your old one doesn't make logical sense."
Tadashi blinked at Fred's explanation, before looked between him and the packet in his hands.
"Already?" Tadashi raised an eyebrow at Fred; that was unbelievably fast.
"Yup. Don't question me." Fred crossed his arms, leaning back slightly, looking very smug.
"I'm questioning you."
"Nope. Not allowed." Fred covered his ears, and Tadashi giggled softly.
"Thanks Fred."
Suddenly, Tadashi reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone, seeing that he had indeed missed the text message from Honey Lemon.
"I better call Honey to get her up to date."
"Sounds good. I'll set up the video games. I've been practicing on SSBB, and I'm going to beat you this time."
"Mhmm, sure you are."
Tadashi called Honey Lemon, but only got her voice mail. He left her a message about the test results and Fred's recent idiocy that ended well. Knowing Hiro would be busy helping Kyouji downstairs, Fred and Tadashi settled in for a long session of gaming.
**A.N.: The next chapter is already underway and should be up by Sunday. Also, as amalgamoffaces or amalgamoffaces-tadashilives on tumblr, I feel like roleplaying as either young Tadashi or Kyouji, if anyone is interested. Seriously, just send me an ask."