Your Wound, My Sutures

Two months later

"I don't know, Hiro. It's a lot of needles." Tadashi held a slim piece of flexible material in his hands. It was about 10cm long and 3cm wide. Its entire surface was covered in thin needles of varying lengths, each individual one about as thick as those used for acupuncture.

"It's either you or me, bro. If you don't do it, I'll do it myself." Hiro retorted, twisting round to face Tadashi. Hiro had been lying face down on his bed and had lifted himself onto his arms in order to facilitate the movement required to face Tadashi. "And since I can't exactly see anything I'm bound to make a mess of it. You're the medical student. You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

"I've only just started medical school." Tadashi said. "It's only been a month."

"Plus all the time you spent working on Baymax." Hiro quirked an eyebrow. "Come on. You know more than all those first year medical students combined. Probably more than most of most of the second year students as well as some of the third years. I know it and you know it too. Now stop stalling and shove it in already."

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea." Tadashi poked one of the needles, still eyeing the device in his hands skeptically.

"Don't you trust me?"

"It's not you I don't trust, it's this." Tadashi poked the device once more. "You haven't even really tested it yet"

"I can't exactly test it properly without a human subject." Hiro pointed out.

"Does that human subject have to be you?" Tadashi asked.

"How am I supposed to ask someone else to do it if I'm not willing to do it myself?" Hiro demanded. "It's my work and I need to have faith in it. Besides you're the one that told me to finish my final year project."

"Yes, finish it, not rework it entirely." Tadashi waved his hands in exasperation. "Even though the core theory may be the same, this isn't even close to what you were originally trying to do."

"It's not as far off as you might think." Hiro said softly. "Please Tadashi… I haven't shown any signs of additional recovery. You know this is my only chance."

Please Tadashi… You know this is my only chance.

That last statement was all it took for Tadashi to give in. The world of implication behind those words was too heart breaking to ignore. Hiro had been hurt, emotionally, mentally and physically. Tadashi couldn't even begin to understand the sheer enormity of the ordeal Hiro had survived. Even with the diary entries that he was not supposed to be privy too. Hiro had gambled his own life, his own existence but most of all his own sanity to make things right and had ended up paying a heavy price for it and it was far from over. He was still paralyzed from the lower back down, still suffered from night terrors, still had bouts of depression and days where he simply withdrew from everything and everyone but he was trying. Hiro was still fighting and Tadashi wasn't about to discourage it any further.

"Alright." Tadashi reached out to push Hiro back down onto the bed, resting his hand on the bare skin between Hiro's shoulder blades. "Lie back down and no staring. I won't be able to work properly if you start to cry on me."

"I'm not a little kid anymore." Hiro grumbled even as he complied with Tadashi's request. He lay back down on the bed, resting his head on the pillow. "You may have missed it but I'm already eighteen. I also managed to catch up three years to you. How many siblings can say that?"

"Not many." Tadashi ran his hand down Hiro's spine, stopping at the small of his back – the location of his injury. "But that's probably a good thing. We don't need too many anomalies in the time space continuum."

Hiro did not reply, memories resurfacing with the statement. Tadashi fell silent along with him, watching Hiro carefully as he looked for traces of an episode. Hiro was prone to extreme mood swings and was capable of being fine one moment and a complete wreck the next. Tadashi couldn't reliably figure out what Hiro's triggers but they were all linked to his trauma and his recovery was going to take some time. Tadashi had been taking things one day at a time and was always grateful for the good days. It would appear he had reason to be grateful. Seeing no signs of an episode, he carefully placed the device against Hiro's back and began to slide the needles into Hiro's spine starting just above the injury. Hiro hissed, tensing when the first needle pierced his skin.

"You know, I can't do this if you tense up." Tadashi said softly, hesitating.

"I know." Hiro closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It's just sensitive. Maybe you can distract me?"

Tadashi quirked an eyebrow. "How do you propose I do that?"

"We could… um… talk?" Hiro suggested hesitantly.

Tadashi frowned. He didn't understand why Hiro would be hesitating. "Isn't that what we're already doing?"

"Yeah but… I've been meaning to ask you something." Hiro said, muffling the last bit by burying his face in the pillow.

Tadashi reached up and tugged Hiro's hair.

"Ow! What was that for?" Hiro demanded raising his head. He completely ignored the sound of inflation that filled the room with his exclamation.

"To prevent you from suffocating yourself." Tadashi resumed inserting the device glancing at Baymax when the Healthcare companion joined them. "Surely, it can't be that embarrassing. You know you can talk to me about anything."

Baymax arrived at the bedside blinking down at the scene before him as he performed a scan. He tilted his head, measuring the neurotransmitter levels of both brothers. There appeared to be no immediate danger so he chose to remain silent as he observed the operation before him.

"It's not exactly embarrassing." Hiro said resting his head on the pillow once more. "It's just… Why?"

"Why what?" Tadashi prompted when Hiro fell silent once more, making no move to clarify.

"Why would you choose to fight with fire when you…" Hiro fell silent once more, clenching his eyes closed as visions of smoke, fire and death filled his mind both from nightmare and reality. He took deep calming breaths in a bid to push away the panic he could feel creeping in.

Tadashi watched him but chose not to comment on Hiro's reaction. He could see the panic attack building as well as Hiro's attempt to keep it at bay. Drawing attention to it would simply make it worse so he chose to give the question some real thought before responding. "Because we were raised to face our demons. Not run from them." His said softly, sliding another needle into Hiro's back.

Hiro hissed, the sharp pain of the needle piercing his skin a welcome relief. It pulled his mind away from fire, death and nightmares and drew him back into the present. Tadashi's response confirmed what he'd suspected all along. Choosing to fight with fire had been a very deliberate choice on Tadashi's part. Tadashi had chosen it because it had been the source of his death and he wasn't about to let it have power over him. Hiro envied the strength it took to make that choice. He didn't think he'd ever be able to use fire as a weapon. Or electricity for that matter. There were too many bad memories associated to both. "Some demons are too powerful to face." Hiro whispered, a hint of sorrow in his tone.

Tadashi paused for a moment, Hiro's words echoing through his mind, before resuming the task at hand once more. "You don't have to face them alone." Tadashi said softly, sliding the last few needles into place. He ran a hand over the slim flexible material making sure it was flush with Hiro's skin before drawing away. "There, I'm done."

Hiro raised his head and blinked at Tadashi before rolling over and sitting up. He reached for the earpiece resting on the table beside his bed and clipped it into place behind his left ear. He reached up to flick the switch, hesitating at the last moment. He glanced at Tadashi, the look in his amber eyes intense despite the messy strands of hair that fell in his face. He quirked his lip before speaking. "Here goes nothing."

The words barely had time to register in Tadashi's mind when they were washed away by the hiss of pain that escaped Hiro's lips the moment he turned the neurotransmitter on. Tadashi leaped forward, reaching for Hiro's ear in order to turn the transmitter off.

"Don't." Hiro's pain filled command stopped him mid motion. "It's just one hell of a case of pins and needles." Hiro said through gritted teeth. He shifted on the bed. "We just need to give it a few minutes to pass."

"You mean, it worked?" Tadashi asked, an incredulous expression on his face.

Hiro grinned through the pain. His eyes sparked and the energy that had always surrounded him returned with a vengeance. "Was there ever any doubt?" He asked cheekily. "It's me we're talking about. Genius extraordinaire. You're the one that keeps telling me I can do anything I put my mind to." He wiggled his toes, grin broadening as the signs of pain began to ease from his face.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, knucklehead." Tadashi retorted, flicking Hiro's ear in relief. It was a success! Hiro was moving his toes, the pain was fading from his face and things were finally starting to look up. He grinned in return, exhibiting every bit as much joy as Hiro himself was. "This test run isn't over just yet."

"Yeah but it's progress." Hiro pushed himself up off the bed into a standing position. He wobbled for a few moments before settling. Once stable he attempted to take a step forward.

"Woah, there!" Tadashi leaped forward to catch him. "Take it easy."

Hiro glanced up at him, a sheepish expression on his face. "This will take some getting used to." He admitted, wrapping his arms around his brother's neck in order to stabilize himself.

"What did you expect? To just get up and walk out of here? Of course it's going to take some getting used to. You'll probably need to continue your physio therapy sessions for a while to help you get the hang of this." Tadashi lifted Hiro and carried him down stairs.

"Yeah, yeah." Hiro grumbled. "I'll give it to you. Just this once. Logically I knew it wasn't going to be as simple as plugging it in and walking but one can always hope."

"There's nothing wrong with hope." Tadashi agreed, a fond smile on his face. "It got you this far."

"Yes it did." Hiro glanced up at Tadashi, his eyes lighting up in sudden mischief. "But on a lighter note, did Aunt Cass make her special gummy bear cake for the belated birthday party you're carrying me off to?"

Tadashi stumbled to a halt half way down the stairs and Hiro burst out laughing at the shocked expression on his face. "Hey!" Tadashi exclaimed, affronted. "That was supposed to be a surprise!"

"If it's supposed to be a surprise, you really shouldn't tell Fred." Hiro retorted, still laughing. "He hasn't been able to sit still for the last three weeks trying to hide the fact that you guys were planning something behind my back. The rest was simply deductive reasoning."

"I'll bear that in mind." Tadashi responded wryly walking down the last few stairs into the café.

"SURPRISE!" A chorus of voices greeted them as they entered. The café was closed and decorated just for Hiro. It was filled with red, purple and black balloons. A large gummy bear cake was placed on the counter. Mochi was floating in the air in rocket boots, looking more than a little disgruntled and all his friends were there. Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Gogo and Fred crowded forward, all bearing piles of gifts and well wishes for his eighteenth birthday. Even Baymax joined the fray, having followed Tadashi down.

"Happy birthday, Hiro."

"We love you, man."

"Sorry it's so late."

"Hey! Don't touch the balloons. I spent all day lining them up!"

"This cake is freakin' AWESOME!"

"Leave some for the rest of us!"

"I'm satisfied with my care."

OWARI

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –

A/N: And we are done! I think we've done very well for a story that was only supposed to be between 20 000 and 30 000 words long XD. I'd like to thank all my reviewers for dropping notes along the way. You guys really managed to make me smile and I'm seriously going to miss you all. This may not be the most popular big hero 6 story around but I like to think its a beautiful little gem with a lot of heart. I am marking this piece as complete as the story itself is done but I may add a bonus chapter or two with fluffy scenes that occur after the events in this chapter.

NotShort: Congratulations on figuring out that Hiro's SKIN project was going to come back into play in order to help Hiro!

madger the badger: Your wish is my command. Is this good enough? ;)

Guest: I am happy to oblige. This story is now finally complete, as I have finally tied up all the loose ends I wanted to address. I also love purple. I started highland dancing three and a half years ago and my kilt is purple XD XD XD. * Tadashi quirks an eyebrow at you, a look of complete disbelief on his face. Hiro smirks. Tadashi turns around and makes Hiro ANOTHER sandwich to eat and places it in front of Hiro giving you a pointed look. Hiro sulks. *

CrazyBlueOwl: I hope so too. I also hope I can afford to fix it because I've been getting some really high quotes in the region of half of what I paid for the car two years ago. I'm glad I was able to convert someone else to Jiro. As for where Jack came from... are you asking which movie he is from? Because Jack is Jack frost from Rise of the Guardians.

Dreamer: Yeah... my car... that's another story altogether. Still waiting for them to give me a final diagnosis on what is actually wrong with it. I think your friends may be right so you may lean towards being whole brain orientated to some degree. There are various degrees of it. I did a test where they test which quadrant you lean towards and I ended up with a circle across all four :P. As or my job being scientific, I guess there is some level of science involved. It can get rather technical at times. I'm so glad you enjoyed my final tribute to future Hiro. I felt he deserved one last mention before I ended the story seeing as he played a very important part in the entire piece. I also like the fact that you perceived him as speaking directly to you and going over the piece again I can see why.

ZoidTheVoid: The beginning of this story starts over three years after the movie but spans several months as I'm sure you've now figured out seeing that Hiro is celebrating his 18th birthday ;)